So how cool is this? I can switch her, nearly at will, though I started off seeing her going counter-clockwise, then she was stuck going clockwise for a while. But now, I can see her either way. I wonder if that did anything to my brain.
Today’s the Day
From NCTE:
ACTION ALERT on ENDA from the National Center for Transgender Equality
House committee meets Tuesday to decide whether or not a version of ENDA that cuts out protections for transgender people will advance in Congress.
Your Representative needs to hear from you TODAY.
The House Education and Labor Committee is holding a special meeting on Tuesday to discuss the strategy proposed by some House leaders to pass an ENDA that cuts out protections for transgender people. A committee vote on the bill is tentatively scheduled for Thursday.
A list of Committee members is available at http://edlabor.house.gov/about/members.shtml
Your Representative needs to hear from you TODAY about your opposition to the flawed strategy of advancing a bill that leaves transgender people behind.
Call your Representative right now at 202-224-3121, even if you have already called him/her already about this issue. Tell him/her to oppose advancing H.R. 3685, the bill that leaves transgender people behind. Tell him/her to push for a vote on H.R. 2015, the transgender-inclusive ENDA, instead.
Please call today. You have been asked to do a lot in the last few weeks to support transgender nondiscrimination protections. The action you take today might make the difference.
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Fantasia Fair 2007
We were planning to go to the whole of Fantasia Fair this year, where I was supposed to present my keynote on Monday, but 2007, being what it has been for us (complicated, frustrating, exhausting) has proved itself more in charge of us then we are. As a result, we’re going to FanFair on Thursday, 10/18, instead.
I will, however, present my keynote on Friday, 10/19, since Stephen Whittle has had to cancel, as has Marilyn Volker.
But the Fair officially starts today for anyone going for the whole week.
They Still Have to Use It
Seattle, WA was the recent site of a conference for people who are researching birth control options for men, including Vitamin A interceptors, a progestin shot, & an oral contraceptive that’s been proven reversible in monkeys.
Considering how hard it can be to get men to use a condom, which is otherwise simple & private & inexpensive to use, I’m not sure if they’re overshooting the goal.
& Of course, birth control still doesn’t protect against STDs – either the male or female forms.
Transgender Families on Oprah
I just wanted to thank the couples, and their children, who were on Oprah show today for the Transgender Families show.
They were all articulate and well-spoken.
So thanks Joan & Sydney, and to Fran & Denise. You made us all look good today.
Fear of Flying
Okay, so those of you who know me know I hate flying, & haven’t flown in a couple of years. Interestingly, perhaps, the last time I flew was also to Denver Airport, for Betty’s family reunion, which was maybe summer 2005 (since the incident is in She’s Not the Man I Married, so I knew it was before I wrote the book in the first half of 2006).
& Really, I did incredibly well considering. I took some new anti-anxiety drugs my doctor prescribed, & they helped a ton; I nearly almost enjoyed the trip out there.
BUT, on the way back, there was a thunderstorm between us & Laguardia. & Getting through it wasn’t the bad part; the bad part is that they needed more time between landings when it’s raining so hard.
Do we had to go into a holding pattern above the airport, flew in circles, through turbulence, for an hour, pitching & tossing & UGH.
I vomited & vomited & vomited. & Sweated. & Shook.
I can’t even think about how it would have been without the anti-anxiety meds.
But otherwise it was a lovely trip, and we met some really great people, all of which I’ll blog about in the upcoming days: I have the lovely luxury of being home five full days before we leave for Fantasia Fair early Thursday morning.
Kitty Contempt
Aurora, looking like her usual contemptuous self. I’m not sure how she manages to communicate so much disapproval with just one little glance.
Either way, we’re back from Colorado and had a great time on both campuses. More when I get over the return flight.
On ENDA, on National Coming Out Day
This is the text of the talk I gave in Denver on Tuesday. It probably won’t surprise anyone that I’ve been busting at the seams wanting to have a say in all of the dialogue going on about ENDA. At least I don’t think it should surprise anyone, not by now.
**
First, let me thank Ed and Jordan and all the students who asked them to bring me here. It’s a pleasure to be here in celebration of National Coming Out Day, a pleasure to see all of you gathered, celebrating who you are. Thanks to all the crossdressers, the gays, the lesbians, the genderqueers, the trans men & women, MTF and FTM, & to their partners. Thanks to all of you who are family, or friends, or allies, for being here.
Betty and I have been on tour a lot this year because I had a book published in March, and we’ve gotten a chance, once again, to meet a lot of people and to talk to a lot of trans people and partners, and this year, we’ve met more gay and lesbian people who aren’t trans than we did before. And it’s been a pleasure all around in hearing people’s stories of their own gender variance, or the stories of how they came out to loved ones, or of their first big crush or the moment when they realized they were trans or gay or lesbian or how they came to understand the first identity they understood themselves to be was not quite accurate in the long run. What I love to hear the most is about how queer people find one identity fits for a while and then not at all; like Oliver Wendell Holmes’ chambered nautilus, queer people build themselves bigger chambers, bigger categories, labels that are not so confining, over time.
That’s how it’s been for us, certainly. By the time people get used to what we’re calling ourselves our identities have shifted a little, changed usually by experiences we never expected and wouldn’t trade for anything. Continue reading “On ENDA, on National Coming Out Day”
Us in Boulder
Today we’ll be part of the TRANSforming Gender 2007 Conference at the University of Colorado @ Boulder. More details about other speakers – including Matt Kailey (author of Just Add Hormones) & Julia Serano (author of Whipping Girl) – can be found on the conference’s website.
Where: Dennis Small Cultural Center, University Memorial Center Rm 457
When: I’ll be doing a workshop on Queer Heterosexuals/Emerging Identities from 3:30-4:45
and then will be part of a panel with the other speakers from 5:15-6:30.
The full schedule is as follows:
- Matt Kailey, 10 – 11:15 am
- Julia Serano, 11:30 – 12:45 PM
- Dylan Scholinski, 2 – 3:15 PM
- Me, 3:30 – 4:45 PM
- All of us for a panel & book signing, 5:15-6:30pm, UMC Senior Dedication Lounge
- and then a screening of Call Me Malcolm, from 6:30 – 9 PM