I am always on high alert this time of year for the appearance of anger and bigotry. All the days around April 19th make me a bit nervous. Maybe this is because I’ve lived a life which has seen the David Koresh debacle, the tragic Oklahoma City bombing, and the horrific scenes of Columbine. I have coincidentally had two partners in my life with birthdays on April 19th (and a close friend whose birthday is on September 11th). So these dates stand out to me and many others. Every year I feel as if I am holding my breath this week, worrying that fear and hatred will explode in the ugliest of ways. This year, as April 19th was winding down, I started to breathe a sense of relief, only to find out that the African- American student body president of the local college was stabbed in what appears to be a hate crime. He is now recovering in the hospital days after helping to lead a diversity summit on campus that discussed hate crimes. Apparently, he was accosted by young men who called him racial slurs and would not let him walk by, even when he attempted to walk away. What is it about this time of year that brings out the craziness in people? Why not make April 19th Non-Violence Day or a Day of Compassion instead?
Capitol T: Growing a Movement for Transgender Equality, the 5th Annual Transgender Leadership Summit
This is reposted from the website of the Transgender Law Center.
Register now for the Leadership Summit
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Friday, May 14th
6:00-7:00 PM –– Registration and Social Mixer
7:00-8:00 PM –– Welcome Reception
8:00-9:00 PM –– Plenary Session
9:00-9:30 PM –– Social Mixer
Saturday, May 15th
8:00-9:00 AM –– Registration
9:00-10:20 AM –– Plenary Session
10:30-11:50 AM –– Workshop Session 1
12:00-2:00 PM –– Lunch Break
2:00-3:20 PM –– Workshop Session 2
3:30-4:50 PM –– Workshop Session 3
5:00-6:00 PM –– Plenary Session
8:00 PM –– Sacramento Host Committee Event
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Sunday, May 16th
9:00-10:00 AM –– Registration
10:00-12:00 AM –– Advocacy Day Training
12:00-2:00 PM –– Lunch Break
2:00-2:50 PM –– Advocacy DayPractice
3:00-5:00 PM –– Plenary Session featuring Senator Mark Leno
Monday, May 17th Historic Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Sacramento
8:00-9:00 –– Registration
9:00-5:00 –– Visits with lawmakers
12:00-1:00 –– Lunch and speakers at the Capitol Steps
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It’s that time of the year, time to celebrate the second-ever International Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31, 2010. Originating in Michigan last year, Rachel Crandall of Transgender Michigan started a movement by posting the idea on Facebook. Since then, events have happened all over the world. According to Crandall, she wanted to show the positive side of the transgender world rather than focusing only on the Day of Remembrance which remembers those who perished because of transphobic hate crimes. If you are on Facebook, be sure to look up the page and share the information with others. If you are looking for ideas for how to celebrate, you can look to see what other people are doing. If you already know, take a minute and share your ideas with our readers. Here in California, the day coincides with Cesar Chavez day so many schools are closed and some campuses have decided to celebrate the day early or late to maximize visibility. Our local college is planning a Gender Bender Fashion Show this week, followed by informational tabling and displays on Monday the 29th, a couple days earlier. The plan is to have free temporary tattoos available and t-shirts to buy or order. What are your ideas?
News release from Latino Equality Alliance:
Latino LGBT and civil rights organizations hold community forum
for “hard to count” community to discuss importance of being included
in the 2010 Census.
Los Angeles, CA – The Latino Equality Alliance (LEA) – an alliance
of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community based groups -
MALDEF and the Census Bureau held a community forum last Saturday,
February 27 with numerous families in Highland Park, a largely Latino
neighborhood in Los Angeles, to discuss why and how the LGBT community
should be counted in the 2010 Census. The first of its kind, the forum
was to educate same-sex Latino couples on how to fill out the Census
form to make sure that LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender)
couples participate and are counted.
“The LGBT community is denied a number of federal civil rights
associated with military service, social security, immigration, health
and marriage benefits. A Census of LGBT couples is a good first step
in highlighting the needs of our community,” stated Eddie Martinez,
LEA co-chair and associate director of the Wall/Las Memorias.
An accurate Census count of the LGBT Latino community in the U.S.
will help secure funding for crucial health programs and needed
services for the community. Recent studies indicate that Latino LGBT
communities experience a large disparity in health outcomes compared
to the general population. Census demographic data helps educate
legislators and the public about the specific needs of the Latino and
LGBT community and prioritize funding accordingly.
Reflective of a policy change by the Obama Administration, the
2010 Census is the first national effort to acknowledge same-sex
couples, providing insight into the size and racial diversity of the
LGBT community.
“Same-sex couples filling out the Census can indicate their
relationship to their married spouse by indicating ‘husband’ or
‘wife.’ Other same sex couples can select the ‘unmarried partner’
option to reflect their household status,” explained Matthew E.
Weinstein, LGBT community partnership specialist for the Census
Bureau.
“We appreciate the Census Bureau is recognizing the LGBT community
to be as diverse as the general public and that each community comes
with its own needs,” said Ari Gutierrez, LEA co-chair and vice
president of HONOR Political Action Committee. “The Census does not
ask transgender status or sexual orientation questions but Transgender
individuals can select the gender with which they identify.
Importantly, the Census is completely confidential and will benefit
our community in the long-run,” she added.
Forum speakers include, Lauren Pérez-Rangel, Western Regional
Census Director for MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and
Education Fund) who stated, “MALDEF is deeply vested in making sure we
achieve a full count of all Latinos and that includes Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) members of our community. We are
working with the Latino Equality Alliance to reassure the Latino
community that the census is confidential and extremely important. At
MALDEF, we strive for all Latinos to have fair and equal treatment in
society, and achieving an accurate count of the Latino LGBT community
will assist us in advocating for improved policies and practices for
the community.”
As part of a larger civil rights effort, the Latino Equality
Alliance’s forum provided an opportunity for members of the Latino
LGBT community to actively engage in changing incorrect perceptions
and to increase support by the mainstream Latino community. The Latino
Equality Alliance is funded through a grant by the Liberty Hill
Foundation.
LGBT community service organizations including BIENESTAR Human
Service’s 11 southern California locations, have been designated
Census Resource Centers where the public can access additional
information about how to fill-out the Census form.
For information about the LGBT Census and resource locations visit
www.ourfamiliescount.org or call
1-877-352-3676. Photographs of the February 27 event in Highland Park,
CA also are available upon request.
On January 20th, 2010, the International Olympic Committee officials told the Associated Press that it was recommending the creation of special medical centers that would handle sex-verification cases for Olympic athletes. They also called for the establishment of guidelines to determine gender eligibility on a case-by-case basis, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
Last August, Caster Semenya, won a gold medal in the 800 meters at the Berlin World Championships. Sex testing was ordered after athletes complained that she looked “too masculine.” No one knows if she will be allowed to compete as a woman in future races, but she was allowed to keep the gold medal.
Experts are noting how messy it is to determine biological sex, particularly among individuals who may be knowingly, or unknowingly, intersex. Genitalia may be ambiguous. Do they compete as male or female? This is what happens when the inexact spectrum of gender meets the arbitrary gender restrictions of the gender binary. Chaos ensues.
According to the New York Times, many athletes have complained that sex testing can be invasive and traumatic. Can you imagine getting your sex verified before going into work? Intersex individuals have been humiliated, have lost opportunities, scholarships, friends, partners, and athletic records.
If you look at the history of gender-verification in the Olympics, it isn’t pretty. Physical exams have been required for a long time for the female athletes (guess they don’t think women will pose as men). Then there was chromosome testing, but a Y chromosome wasn’t a foolproof gender marker. In the late 1990s, athletes were required to urinate in front of an observer so genitalia would be readily observable. But what about individuals whose observable genitalia look ambiguous? The Endocrine Society has advocated against the use of medical tests but advocates, instead, for using how the person was raised. Others note that elite athletes inherently have inborn advantages over the rest of the population anyway.
Since 2004, transsexuals have been allowed to compete but only after meeting three stringent requirements. It is questionable, however, if there is sufficient evidence that any competitive advantage exist for transsexual athletes over typically-gendered athletes.
The blog The F Word notes, “The only thing about sex and gender that the Olympic committee know for sure is this: the only women who are undeniably 100% women are royalty, as Princess Anne was the only female athlete who didn’t have to have to submit a sex test at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. And of course it had nothing to do with the fact that she was the daughter of Canada’s Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II.” I am old enough to remember that controversy. If this testing is too invasive and undignified for a princess, shouldn’t it be too invasive and undignified for anyone?
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President Obama surprised the nation by announcing the appointment of Amanda Simpson, a transwoman with a stellar resume designed for the job, as Senior Technical Advisor in the Commerce Department. Reactions were not surprising, with GLBT groups praising the appointment, with conservative groups panicking, and comedians finding fodder for quips. (David Letterman is in big trouble for a joke inferring panic upon learning that Amanda was male-bodied at birth. GLBT activists have stated that the panic-defense is often used by perpetrators in cases about hate-crimes towards the gender-variant. In this case, do punchlines contribute to punches? ) Personally, we love Rachel Maddow’s response to this appointment, which can be seen, along with more about the controversy around David Letterman) at http://www.transequality.org. A few days after the Simpson appointment, we heard that a major government employment site (www.usajob.gov) added language explicitly banning employment discrimination because of gender identity.
Well Hallelujah! I can’t imagine Bush, Jr. making these moves. Setting an example for America is a good thing. At the same time, I keep asking where is ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act right now? Looks like ENDA is in committees in both the House and Senate. Unfortunately, most bills never make it out of committee. Oh, and if you’ve forgotten your high school civics lessons about how a bill is made into a law, check out our old favorite I’m only a Bill from Schoolhouse Rock on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEJL2Uuv-oQ
I’ve heard a lot about Amanda but not much about ENDA lately. Are they going to let it, once again, die a quiet death in some remote corner in Washington. Without being able to feel safe coming out in the workplace as gender-variant, any movement forward towards gender-acceptance is threatened. Stalling ENDA is stalling the revolution. For more information on what you can do to help pass ENDA, we again send you to http://www.transequality.org.
Change at the top is exciting, and Simpson could not be more qualified or deserving. But real change will come when Joe Sex-Change doesn’t have to worry about losing his job because his name used to be Josephine.
Things You Can Do:
- Follow ENDA progress at http://endanow.com
- For the House version, check out http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-3017. For the Senate version, check out http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s111-1584. Both links enable you to also look at a summary of the bills.
- For more information on what you can do to help pass ENDA, we again send you to http://www.transequality.org.
- Go to this link to call or email a legislator (includes suggested wording): http://eqfed.org/campaign/ENDA_CongressionalCampaign_passENDA
- We have also discovered a transgender-specific online employment board: http://www.tjobbank.com/ and a related list of truly gender-inclusive employers: http://www.tjobbank.com/trulyinclusive/













