(What an amazing little song about that profound feeling of having met someone before that you know you haven’t, but with whom, for whatever reason, you resonate in ways that don’t even make sense.)
13 for ’13
NCTE has a list of 13 achievable goals for 2013. They are:
- The President should issue an Executive Order prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation by federal contractors.
- The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission should issue enforcement guidelines for gender identity discrimination in the workplace.
- The Department of Labor should issue guidelines for equal treatment of transgender people in all federal jobs programs, such as Job Corps and One-Stop Career Centers.
- The Social Security Administration should update its gender change and other policies affecting transgender people, and remove gender data from all remaining data matching programs.
- The Department of Health and Human Services should adopt regulations prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation in all federally-funded health care facilities and programs.
- The Department of Education should issue Title IX guidelines to ensure that transgender students can fully be themselves at school.
- The Department of Housing and Urban Development should issue guidelines clarifying that homeless shelters must provide all persons with access to shelter consistent with their gender identity.
- The National Center for Health Statistics shall release Model State Vital Statistics legislation that includes modernized standards for gender change on birth certificates.
- The U.S. Senate should pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).
- The U.S. Congress should pass immigration reform that protects LGBT families and asylum-seekers.
- The U.S. Congress should pass an LGBT-inclusive Violence Against Women Act.
- The President should appoint highly qualified transgender people to key positions throughout the Administration.
- NCTE will support advancement of equality through new laws and policies at the state level.
Go donate $13 (or better yet, $1300) to help them do it.
VAWA Round 2
Chicago: Lurie Children’s Hospital Adds Gender Identity Clinic
Here’s some great news for the Midwest: a gender identity clinic that will treat children:
The clinic, which is up and running but has yet to officially launch, is the first of its kind in the city and one of few resources for gender-variant kids younger than 13. Through the clinic, children dealing with gender identity issues will have access to everything from endocrinology to psychology.
“As a unit, the family is not always ready to embrace terms like ‘LGBT’ or ‘transgender,'” said Dr. Rob Garofalo, director of the Center. “I think coming to Lurie allows people to come to a place where services are hopefully increasingly culturally competent, without threatening the developmental trajectory that these families have to go through.”
Garofalo created the clinic out of a patchwork of specialists already working within Lurie, a move that both has both staffed the clinic and furthered understanding about transgender lives within Lurie, he said. The Center will also employ a psychologist and a social worker.
In past years, Chicago families with transgender kids often found medical and mental health services piecemeal. While many of the city’s LGBT organizations offer youth services, most of those services are designed for kids ages 13 and older.
Some families flew to Boston Children’s Hospital or Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, which both have gender clinics for children. But for families without the time or means to travel, finding specialists that understood gender issues and kids presented a serious challenge.
So very, very cool. The world IS changing.
The Pope Can Quit?
A friend texted me that question this morning and all I could think was, “Does the Pope wear white?” Of course he can quit. He’s the Pope.
I’m pretty sure this is terrifying news, to be honest. This Pope Maledict wouldn’t leave unless he knew someone more conservative even than he will be the next to be elected. Of course that never, ever means it’s a done deal: the Cardinals are not unpowerful men themselves, and depending on how many enemies he’s made while Pope, there are all kinds of conversations going on about who might be next.
My guess? A homophobic cardinal from the Global South.
But it’s time for all of us recovered, recovering, and practicing Catholics who are on the side of the good to maybe say whatever kind of prayer you can muster for a Pope who will lead the real Catholic Church: the one that will start speaking truth to power about poverty and violence and discrimination. It’s what we do best. Let Vatican Council II’s dying embers spark.
Us @ the Fair Wisconsin Education Fund Gala 2/9/13
I kinda love this one: me and my wife listening intently all fancied up.
Last Night Right Now
I was pleased to get to speak to Senator Tammy Baldwin for a brief minute last night – in a gender-neutral bathroom, no less – who gave me a thumbs up when I mentioned that I taught gender studies. That was cool. She spoke while introducing historian Dick Wagner, who was receiving an award from Fair Wisconsin. She told the story of seeing Geraldine Ferraro accept the US VIP nomination in 1984, and it was pretty incredible. From what I hear, she has told that story before, but I had never heard it, and it brought me back to watching that myself – and the same feelings for me, at 15, thinking “anything is possible now.” It was a big, big, audible crack in the glass ceiling — as is Senator Baldwin’s current seat.
I also had a nice talk with Zach Wahls about the terms ally, queer, queerspawn, and the like. He is a pretty remarkable guy, and his talk was the right combination of serious, sad, frustrated, and full of love. We should be very, very glad to have him in these queer communities. And that he speaks on behalf of equality – not just marriage equality, mind you – as an Eagle Scout is pretty damned cool. Hopefully I will do an interview with him in the next couple of months.
Finally: I am not disappearing altogether from blogging. I am taking a huge break from FB, specifically, because I have too many ongoing misgivings with the site, for various reasons – and now seemed like the right time. In some ways, what I’m frustrated by is the odd merger of personal and professional life that FB encourages; here at my blog, it’s a little easier to stay at arm’s length, which is what I need right now. But there is nothing wrong, per se; I am not depressed or angry or hurt or anything like it. A little tired of the shallow ways of connecting that FB also encourages, perhaps, but that is all.
I am happy to have people send me a heads up about interesting things going on about gender or transness or all of the other stuff you know I’m interested in. Feel free to email me or leave a comment if you want to say hi.
A huge THANK YOU to those of you who have written expressing concern or good luck or just to say: you earned a break. It’s very, very much appreciated.
Missing Me
I’m going to be taking a break from blogging and other social networking for a while.
Thanks for understanding.
Dinner With Tammy Baldwin
Tomorrow I’ll be at the Fair Wisconsin Education Fund’s conference; tonight, at Fair Wisconsin’s Gala Celebration, where Zach Wahls will be speaking and Tammy Baldwin will be in attendance.
I’m doing a workshop on gender identity and the LGBTQ, and there are tons more useful and interesting workshops and panels. You can check out the whole conference book here.
It’s not too late to register or buy a ticket to the gala dinner, so get on it!
Lynda Barry Talk
Lynda Barry spoke at a recent Lawrence University convocation, & it was one of the best I’ve seen. This is a totally worthwhile hour whether you’re an artist, a fan of Barry’s, or neither.
I’m not sure how she became who she is, but she’s a miracle as far as I’m concerned.
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