The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held its Summer meeting from August 27 -29 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since next year is a presidential election year, this meeting featured a “meet the candidates” session, as four of the announced candidates. Our political correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein was there and reports on the meeting from and LGBT perspective.
Is too much diversity a bad thing when the transgender community is fighting for rights? Does the umbrella of transgender confuse people when they find everyone one from Caitlyn Jenner to weekend crossdressers standing under it? Christine Burr is concerned that it could be the case that the non-trans public won’t be interested in helping us since they can’t figure our who “us” is, leaving her asking “What Next?”
We get closer every day to the time when trans people can serve openly in the military. The Defense Department has now authorized conducting a study to determine the affect openly trans soldiers will have on the various branches of the service. Today Babs Casbar Seperstein runs through some of the important steps that lead to the start of the study and mentions some of the trans advocated who played a large role in moving open trans service along.
Dana Bevan was in the military for a long time. She served as a a stealth trans soldier and devoted much effort to keeping her gender status secret. Today she writes about what it was like to hide for all that time and how she did it. She then discusses what the changes will be with trans people serving openly.
I got an email from Senator Al Franken the other day. I often open his emails since he used to be a comedy writer and he tends to add a bit of humor to his pleas for campaign donations. This email wasn’t one of those perpetual fundraising messages though. It was a call to fight […]
On Saturday May 30, Joseph Robinette “Beau” Biden III, the eldest son of Vice President Joe Biden died after battling brain cancer for several years. Beau Biden was a vibrant supporter of marriage equality and transgender civil rights when he was the state Attorney General of Delaware. Beau Biden was the rising star of a […]
Be a part of the political process in 2016! That’s what Babs Casbar Siperstein tells you to do in this post. Don’t whine about people trying to keep you out of the restroom of your choice. Get involved in the political process and become a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. Babs tells you how to do it. And how to get involved on your local level. Visibility means greater acceptance!
“Religious fascists outflank and out gun LGBT activists.” That’s what Babs Casbar Siperstein believes happened in Charlotte, NC when they tried to pass an anti-discrimination ordinance. The anti-LGBT groups descended on the City Council and intimidated its members while trans people were harassed in the hallways and restrooms. Babs asks some important questions about what happened in Charlotte.
The woman who won the chairmanship of the North Carolina Democratic Party was in a tough race with a trans woman candidate for that job. She even made a transphobic remark during the campaign but won the election. She apologized for what she said but it seems that most of the North Carolina Democrats were okay with it. Today Babs writes about the situation and some of the good that came from the trans candidate’s run.
Every week we make more progress in acceptance of trans people and more and more localities amend their human rights anti-discrimination laws to add protections for trans people. But while this goes on in the legislative bodies and the courts are charged with enforcement we still hear of incidents of violence and discrimination against us. What can we do to change that? Dana Bevan believes we need to work harder at changing our culture. Today she tells you how.
2014 was on balance a very good year for transgender people in America. As a trans activist there was much to celebrate for our movement and even the most negative happenings had a silver lining and gave hope for future progress. In Part 1 of this year end summary I reviewed the many positive things that occurred on a national level, mostly thanks to actions by the Obama Administration with input from our trans activists and policy people.
Links in this post will open in the same window. Use your browser Back button to return to this post. 2014 was on balance a very good year for transgender people in America. As a trans activist there was much to celebrate for our movement and even the most negative happenings gave hope for a […]
The suicide of a trans teen girl in Ohio has caused a flood of reaction through the news media and social media. Her Christian parents still do not accept her gender and refer to her as a boy. Their non-acceptance and efforts to change her into a boy put enormous stress on the girl and to her it seemed the only way ti escape the pain was to end her life. Today Meggan Sommerville discusses Leelah’s legacy.
Too often people on this Earth who claim to be religious and pious are instead intolerant and show bias. The worst of the religious right don’t just condemn LGBT people to Hell for being who they are. They want to put LGBT in Hell by having them executed. This is not just a trait of radical Islamists, or of Christian sects in Africa. Today Meggan Sommerville points to two “ministers” who preach hate.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance is this coming Thursday and Babs Casbar Siperstein blogs about the event and the its significance to the transgender community as a whole. It’s not just about hate crimes against trans people. The violence we suffer is indicative of a pervasive atmosphere of discrimination against trans people in employment, housing and civil rights. Read what Babs has to say about the progress we’ve made and the progress that is still needed.
Some time in the early nineties when I was living a stealth female life and exploring my true gender with my late wife, and with other middle age middle class couples in which the husband was transgender, I became aware of a controversy that was occurring in the summer wilds and woods of Michigan. The Michigan […]
Stormé DeLarverie, an acknowledged hero of the Stonewall Riots and a pioneer LGBT activist, died on May 24, 2014. DeLaverie was 93 years old. She was called the “Rosa Parks” of the gay rights movement. DeLarverie was born in New Orleans on December 24, 1920, and is well known for having a role in the […]
No, we are not talking about Top Gun or 12 O’clock High, we are talking about the tendency of transgender people to join the military. It is well documented that transgender people join the military at about twice the rate of the United States general population. Understanding of why transgender people are attracted to the […]
In my last blog post I expressed concern about actual and perceived transphobia in the State of New Hampshire, a state with all sorts of gay and lesbian rights including Marriage Equality, but without codified basic protections for transgender people. I received an update this week from former New Hampshire state legislator Mo Baxley — […]
The fight for equal rights for transgendered people has hit another snag in the state of New Hampshire. A gay legislator is working to enshrine “sexual orientation” into the language and excluding “gender identity.” Meanwhile the Human Rights Campaign says there’s no need for a new law protecting TGs in New Hampshire. All TGs there have to do is file their discrimination complaint using being trans as a disability. Get the story from Babs!
Eight term Congressman Rush Holt, a dedicated champion of transgender rights, abruptly announced that he is not seeking a ninth term. Our TG politics correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein takes a look back at everything Holt has done to help the GLBT community while he was in congress.
You might wonder what “Bridgegate,” the closing of several traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge, has to do with transgender rights. A bit more than you might think. Our political correspondent Babs Casbar Sieperstien has filed a report that debunks the idea that the bridge closing was retaliation against the mayor of Fort Lee. It may have been retaliation against the biggest ally of transgendered people in the Garden State. Get the politics and why they’re important for TGs from Babs.
We all know that RachelX is into S&M and a little bit of pain (or a lot) doesn’t faze her. But her favorite facial hair removal method sounds like it could really hurt. Her torture instrument? Tweezers. But don’t take our word for it. Rachel compares Laser hair removal, electrolysis, and her favorite method — tweezing — and lets you know just how painful each one is and how effective they are for her. Your results may vary.
The New Jersey Legislature has passed a bill that allows transgendered individuals to change the gender on their birth certificates with only a doctor’s statement that they have undergone treatment for gender transition. They no longer have to have reassignment surgery once the governor signs the bill. Babs Casbar Siperstein looks at this development and some other legal advances TGs have made recently.
