A tweet that I saw posted on Facebook this Sunday afternoon hours before the Second Presidential debate: “Make no mistake, Ladies. Trump may be the face of your rapist, but Pence is every judge who made sure he got away with it”. These words remind us as LGBTQ people, as transgender people, what is at […]
The word “freedom” is tossed about a lot these days. Some would argue that there’s no such thing as pure freedom. There is always something that restrains people from doing whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it. But in general freedom is used in our society to mean you can do what you want if you can afford it and you’re not breaking any laws. The right wing uses “freedom” a lot but they seem to think people exercising their freedom to be themselves somehow takes their freedom away. Here is a column about freedom from our contributor Diane Hutchinson’s husband.
A recent report in The New Atlantis, a quarterly journal with conservative or skeptical tendencies was about a “study” done by two individuals, Mayer and McHugh, who oppose the idea that trans people are real. They ascribe trans behavior to mental illness or a phase of child development. Their “study” has been picked up and disseminated by right wing media outlets. Our own scientist in residence, Dr. Dana Bevan, has been going through the Mayer and McHugh “study” point by point and reveals how the authors cherry picked their data. Today she argues that the Mayer & McHugh Report seeks to bring about the end of gender.
Our political correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein has met a number of trans women who have worked hard, gotten educated and made their way successfully in the business world. Now she is happy to report that two of them have decided to leave their mainstream jobs behind to devote themselves to working for the trans community. What’s exciting is that there are now organizations that serve trans people’s needs that can hire people for real salaries. Meet two of Bab’s friends who are now gainfully employed in a trans organization.
The advanced technology world makes everyone capable of expressing their opinion about any event anywhere in record time to millions of people. Twitter and Facebook, the “social media,” make everyone able to let the world know how you feel about everything, from which movies you think suck to your grief over the latest senseless murder atrocities. All you have to do is type it up and hit Post. Then you get that satisfying feeling of having done something that “matters.” The Artist D suggests that maybe your opinion doesn’t really matter the way you think it does. See if you agree.
The conservative on the right wing of our nation’s politics don’t handle difference and change very well. They look at trans people as aberrations and deny that there is such a thing as a trans identity. Certain political groups know that these people are among their constituents and they work to reinforce their constituent’s feelings that trans people, along with the rest of the LGBT people, are a threat to conservatives. They use bad science to back up their assertions that trans people are a danger. Two of the right wing anti-trans “experts” published a report last week that claims there is no scientific basis for transgender identities. We refute that today in this editorial and in an essay by Dr. Dana Bevan.
Babs Casbar Siperstein reports on the growing amount of trans inclusion at Democratic Party conventions. The latest DNC convention features more trans people as delegates, super delegates, alternates or committee members than ever before. And their was a trans woman on the dais every night, all night. Marisa Richmond was the official Timekeeper. Read about the rest of the trans history that was made at the DNC last month and read Bab’s report.
Babs Siperstein is a superdelegate and will attending the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia, Pa. from July 25 through 28. She reports today that the number of out transgender delegates to the convention more than doubles the number of trans delegates at the 2012 convention. She has a list so you can be informed about the trans delegates who will speak for you.
Babs Siperstein is a superdelegate who is pledged to Hillary Rodham Clinton. While Babs admires Bernie Sanders and gets his message of revolution she believes, from seeing it with her own eyes, that Mrs. Clinton and the Democratic Party are the best choice for trans people in November. LGBT rights are hammered into the Party platform and trans women are featured in Mrs. Clinton’s Primary Victory video. Read why Babs supports Mrs. Clinton.
Cate O’Malley has gotten her dander up. What has her riled? She lives in Florida in an area where there are human rights ordinances that protect her from discrimination. But she works just across the county line in an area that offers no such protections to LGBT people. What has her angry and proposing civil disobedience is the lack of protections for every citizen, everywhere.
The Democratic National Convention is set for this July in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Republicans will be holding their convention in Cleveland. Both parties will put forth a platform with goals they hope to achieve if their candidate wins the presidency. While the Republican platform will contain language that is anti-LGBT, that would ban transgender people from public restrooms, the Democratic platform will embrace LGBT people. For an analysis of where the Democratic Party stands on transgender issues read this post.
Sophie Lynne has been feeling the burden of living authentically. It’s hard for many to be who they are when there are elements of our society that use trans people as a political hockey puck without caring what happens to that puck as long as giving people something to hit with a stick serves their political agenda. Being hit by conservatives was wearing Sophie down but the support for trans people announced by the Obama administration, and an incident at her pharmacy, served to revive her and get her back in the good fight.
With all the negative news about anti-trans laws keeping us out of public restrooms of our choice it’s important to know that we have big guns on our side — from major corporations to rock stars — many powerful people have got our backs. Babs Casbar Siperstein today presents an in-depth look at the blow back North Carolina is experiencing since they passed HB 2, and she looks at Target’s restroom policy. Babs believes that the Jedi Nights will win.
Recently President Obama admonished Black Lives Matter protesters that they need to be doing more than shouting if they want to move their agenda forward. Protest is often necessary but there needs to be another step beyond protest which leads to real change. Too much shouting can actually hurt the cause. There is real science that can be applied to creating change in a culture. Dana Bevan reveals some of it today and urges its use in the fight for trans rights.
Our political reporter, Babs Casbar Siperstein, has the latest on the legislation being used as ammunition by the conservative right in the Restroom Wars. She has tales of victories and defeats, and offers some tactics that the trans community should implement in order to achieve the right to go to the restroom whenever we need to, wherever we need to.
It’s an election year and in November the nation decides who will replace Barack Obama in the White House. There are also many congressional races up for grabs. Republicans want to put the Obama years behind them and get busy repealing everything he has done. Democrats want to elect someone who will maintain the progress and make greater headway on improving the country. Diane Hutchinson is an Independent who has voted for candidates from either party in the past. This year she is voting Democratic. Find out why.
The Restroom Wars rage on with right wing legislators attempting to pass bills to prevent trans people from using public restroom facilities and locker rooms of the gender they identify with. These ill conceived bills don’t recognize the science of gender identity, the biological basis for many genders that prevents simple determination of a person’s gender and makes enforcement of these propose laws next to impossible. Today Dr. Dana Bevan brings in the big guns — scientific facts — in defense of our right to pee where we feel comfortable.
Babs Casbar Siperstein reports on three things that just might get your riled up. She looks at why the first trans person to ever be nominated for an Oscar decided to boycott the ceremony. She discusses the startling fact that the Republican National Committee has issued an official statement urging Republican legislators to vote in favor of bills to restrict trans restroom rights. And she gets you riled up in a positive way over a new trans movement to support Hillary Rodham Clinton as the Democratic Party nominee.
Babs writes about the differences between the two main political parties when it comes to how they view the trans community. One party works diligently to add protections for the rights of LGBT people and the other party puts even more effort into trying to suppress LBGT rights. Even when that party tries to be more inclusive they just can’t seem to go all the way. Babs has all the info on where they stand.
Babs is a bit upset that a convicted traitor to the United States is getting her thoughts on trans matters featured in the media. Babs feels that Chelsea Manning is not the person who should be representing the trans community and she has a number of far better suited people who deserve recognition for all they have done on behalf of the community. Let the media print what they have to say.
Within the trans community there are different factions, cliques, gender identities and opinionated people. Today Cate O’Malley writes about how all those different types of people need to get along and that everyone who identities outside cisgender norms is entitled to full membership in the trans community. Also, they need they need the support of that community.
Restrooms and locker rooms. The ban of many a trans woman’s existence. Should she go into the lady’s room to do what is necessary or should she hold it till she can get home. Many trans people plan their public outings around when they will be able to use the facilities or around a single stall restroom they are familiar with. Why the paranoia? Because of the straight world’s fear that trans women represent a threat to cisgender women in women’s “safe spaces.” Angela Gardner has some thoughts on the matter in a Dispatch From The Restroom Wars.
Babs Casbar Siperstien helped to get anti-discrimination legislation passed in New Jersey in 2006. That passage took a full court press and featured testimony from trans people and their families, a television ad and a lot of time spent walking the halls of the state capital. Babs feels that the efforts in Houston to get the HERO bill passed fell short in reaching many of the demographics that needed to be won over. See what she believes went wrong in Houston and how it could have been handled better.
A close look at the Republican candidates for president shows that the only one of them who has been at all sympathetic to trans people is Donald Trump. He let a trans woman compete in the beauty pageant that he owned. As for the rest? They are not so good on trans rights. Find out how they all stand and how the Democratic candidates stand in our political contributor Babs Casbar Siperstein’s latest blog.
Kimi Cole is a trans activist and Chair of the Douglas Country Democrats in her home state of Nevada. Recently her cellphone rang and when she answered it the person on the other end of the call was Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Why was Mrs. Clinton reaching out to Kimi Cole and what did they discuss. Kimi shares the detail with us.
On Tuesday September 22, 2015, Mayor Steven Fulop announced that “Jersey City would be expanding the health care it offers city employees to include coverage for transgender medical care and related procedures, such as gender affirmation surgery.” Jersey City will be one of only a handful of large cities across the country offering such benefits […]
