7/2/08

US Military Don't ask Don't Gay

By Kelli Busey
July 02, 2008
planetransgender

A CBS special titled "Military Soft On Don't Ask, Don't Tell? 60 Minutes: Is Military More Tolerant Of Gay Members In Wartime?"



I am sure that the title of this series could easily lead people to beleave it's content would pander to the homophobic agenda. Instead it presents a human insight to the conundrum facing many of us who served. How can I serve my county faithfully as a LGBT person? To openly admit your sexual affinity to your commanding officer could set into motion a series of events that even the most loyal of officers can not stop. General Court Martial Article 15 of the United States Military Code. I know this code like a old friend, it can be used as a gentle nudge to remind a slightly errant soldier of minor infractions or as a trial by a General Officer where the people stand accused and convicted by a single person, only waiting sentencing.

As a non commissioned officer I was ordered to witness this mock justice performed on my section Sergeant.
What was once a brave and wonderful man was stripped of his dignity and reduced to a crying and pitiful shadow. I could not help but beleave that this show was performed in part for my benefit so I could pass what I had seen on to my fellow soldiers.

Instead what happened almost cost me my stripes, and freedom but I kept my self respect and the respect of my fellow solders to include the very people who where being forced to perform this mockery of justice.
My Sergeant and I served in units who's isolated mountain top operations requires it to be far from any official brigs. Our jobs required high levels of security and technical training, not a highly desirable position mainly filled by people like us. So in this capacity I was ordered to insure that my Sergeant remained in a barracks lock down under armed guard.
Since it was a weekend and I didn't want to burden my troops with this despicable extra duty I remained to stand watch.
My Sergeant and I had discussed our positions. He fully understood that I would honor my oath of allegiance and use all means at my disposal to prevent him from escaping. We also talked about the mock justice we were a part of. I cried when my friend cried. I felt the loss of belief in god and country as my sergeant did. So when he asked me if his girlfriend could spend the weekend with him before he went to Leavenworth I made sure they were not disturbed. When he asked me if he could have beer I sent my runner to fetch it.

My Sergeant was still drunk and laid silly come the Monday morning he was scheduled for movement. Now it was my turn to "stand on the carpet" and "see the old man".

I did not fear this because my Commander was a good man, and I felt the indiscretion was a fair treatment for a unfairly condemned man. I also took great pride in this blatant act of defiance.
My Commander asked me if I know of the brevity of the situation and I replied yes sir. I received a administrative Article 15, a slap on the wrist.
What we see in the Army's reaction to LGBT people is in fact a reflection of the strong race bigotry that is unofficially condoned. As a person who was "different" I became very close to others who did not exactly match the Aryan picture uncle wanted. These people became my life blood. Sometimes I would be questioned as to why white people acted so offensively and to this I can only shrug my shoulders. I was not born with a active bigot bone.

What we are witnessing in the different reactions that the population is demonstrating in IRAQ to the European approach and ours is not exclusively a demographically universal response of the indigent population.
It mirrors my response to intolerance. I too stood and waved my finger in a act of defiance as did my commander in his jurisprudence to my participation in the highly prosecutable weekend activities.

The military can help to end the conflict the politicians created by becoming participants in humanity. We can learn from the worlds inclusion of GLBT people into their military. Contrary to the US ARMY'S official response the consequence of allowing LGBT people to disclose their affinity will not be fatal to our soldiers and would not adversely affect a units readiness. Quite the opposite. My friends knew me much better than I did, but if anything my candor made our bonds of trust unbreakable. Dear Elgin, the man who patiently dragged me, a unwilling student into understanding friendship, Rufus my running partner, James my pudding head best bud and everyone. Thank you.

Reconciling Ministries New Blog Proactive Radical Inclusion



By Kelli Busey
July 1, 2008

The Reconciling Ministries Network is launching a new blog in accordance to it's mission of bringing ALL of God's children home. In following the teachings of our lord, this vision of radical inclusion has been shaped into action by Antony Hebblethwaite and the staff of of the RMN. Among the writers who are contributing are people who have known personally Dr Martin Luther King's struggle, people who have experienced South African apartheid, pastors who are living with the denial of their Church to minister because of sexual affinity and teachers who have dedicated their lives to the good of human kind. All are human rights activists who are now deeply involved with bringing us together in peace. And one transgender truck driver, thats me. I was so inspired to by what I saw in General Conference 2008 that I self promoted my application to contribute to this blog and to my amazement, was accepted. But I got cold feet after reading the biographies that the other writers submitted. I questioned myself about my abilities. How could I ever write on the level as these educated and wonderful people. And lets face it, I'm not the most pious of people. I'm more akin to the 250lb hot dog with mustard and relish eating 9th inning self appointed 3rd base coach! Antony wrote back to me and said "easy girl". This is what reconciling means. Inclusion. So we are all here. And this is the scoop of my life! This world is after all a place for me.

Reconciling Ministries Network is a national grassroots organization that exists to enable full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the United Methodist Church, both in policy and practice.

http://www.rmnetwork.org/

6/29/08

It's a Dick move

By Kelli Busey
June 29,2008
planetransgender

I hope wealthy white gay males and lesbian females fully comprehend what 4 more years of the bush legacy would mean to our personal freedoms and liberties. If bush, ahem, I mean McCain is elected you will have to make sure that closet door is pulled tightly behind you and no peeekeee for 4 MORE YEARS! It is only human to be wary of those that are a little different than us, but please don't let the prejudice you may feel towards a man of color be used as a wedge against common sense.



Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks so eloquently stated "It's a dick move" in referring to the Republican method of courting effluent gays when votes are needed on the QT. Com'mon on out the stalls republicans, no toe tapping around here.

6/26/08

HOUSE HOLDS GROUND BREAKING TRANSGENDER HEARINGS



By Kelli Busey
June 26, 2008
planetransgender

The Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee holds first ever hearings on work place discrimination against transgender people.


The opening statement by Congressman Robert Andrews(D-NJ) set a precedent not heard by transgender people before. Congressman Andrews stated that he feels bias and discrimination against transgender people to be unfair and should be made unlawful. He later stated that he believed this to be the moral obligation of this Congress and the American people to see this to completion .

Congress Woman Tammy Baldwin(D-W) Testified she believes that transgender people need to be protected under law.

Glen Lavy, Senior Counsel for Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative religious group, spoke of the deeply felt religious objections the people he represented felt towards allowing transgender people equal rights.

Congressman Andrews later pressed Mr Lavy on exactly what basis he used to support his argument. Congress Andrews examination of Mr Lavy's position was exact, defining and thoroughly exposed the underlying bigotry that the religious right uses to manipulate, control and subjugate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people.

JC Miller argued that allowing transgender people legal protections would open many unknown legal precedents.
Congressman Andrews then pointed out that it was the duty of the legislature to make laws and the job of the judicial branch to either question them or enforce them.
Congress Andrews stated he felt that this was simply the job that needs to be done.

The following transgender people and allies gave accounts of transition, work place success and failures that they have encountered.

Shannon Price Minter, Legal Director for National Center for Lesbian Rights (founding member of NCTE)

Diane Schroer, Retired Colonel, US Army (member of NCTE)

Diego Sanchez, Director of Public Relations and External Affairs for AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (Founding Board of Directors for NCTE)

Sabrina Marcus Taraboletti, Former Space Shuttle Engineer (founding member of NCTE)

Bill Hendrix, Chair of Gays, Lesbians, and Allies at Dow (GLAD) for Dow Chemical Company testified on the success and economic wisdom of including transgender people in the competitive work place.


The minority party has called the following witnesses:

JC Miller, Partner at Thompson Hine

Glen Lavy, Senior Counsel for Alliance Defense Fund

In a word, a absolutely brilliant day for all gender diverse people. From conception and execution to completion by defunking the misconceptions spun by the right all parties involved should accept a most heartfelt thank you from the transgender community and the nation as a whole.

Involved at the very center of this event is master mind Mara Kiesling and the NCTE. Also involved is the Human Rights Campaign and The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.. A lot of us growl in agony at the thought of HRC becoming once again integrated in our struggle. But I offer that the people who did this were mainly HRC members and it would not have happened without them. And yes our old friend and sometimes adversarial Congressman Barney Frank. Thank you. This happened because you willed it to Mr. Frank.

http://edlabor.house.gov/index.shtml

6/22/08

Jerimarie's transpride speech June 07.2008 Northampton MA





Sylvia Rivera would be proud today and I have no doubt she is smiling upon us; as so many trannies, gender non-conforming, genderqueer and whatever other labels one decides to ascribe to themselves gather here to make a visible statement that OUR TIME has come and we control OUR DESTINY.This Trans Pride March and Rally, which is a statement of VISIBILITY and Empowerment, has special significance not solely because the Trans movement for Employment equality has been sold out by the established corporate indoctrinated gay organizations and politicians; BUT also because of the decades of Trans oppression that our sisters and brothers have experienced!

The rebellions of the sixties, like Stonewall and Compton, were lead by queens, kings and many gender expressive queers as a result of decades of brutal police brutality. However as the Gay Activist Alliance took foothold in the Gay community during the early seventies; the trannies, the dykes, the queens, people of color, street people were cast aside. At the 1973 Pride rally in NYC, Jean O’Leary denounced street Transvestites as men masquerading as women. At that PRIDE, Sylvia Rivera took the stage, almost by force, to express her outrage at the established Gay community for ignoring our trans brothers and sisters in the prisons, on the streets, and in the growing margins of society. Sadly that same evening Sylvia slit her wrists, and would have died, if her long time friend and co-founder of Street Transvestite Activist Revolutionaries (STAR) had not taken her to the Emergency Room. During the sixties and seventies, Sylvia and a small cadre of Trannies bravely fought for Gender Expression and multi-issue queer advocacy, though were marginalized by the assimilist gay community, as were the radical queers in the Gay Liberation Front. In the decades that followed, Trans folks persevered and continued our struggle for equality in spite of the Lesbian Backlash, selling out of Trans rights at the expense of Gay rights and our community being told to wait at the bus station of equality while our good gay and lesbian comrades moved forward without us!

I and many of us are here today TO REMEMBER our past and present Trans comrades who have been fighting a system of oppression that wants to keep an oppressive boot on our collective Tranny necks! We are here today to fight this system of oppression and to say We are Out, We are Proud and we will not take a seat in the back of the bus for Equality! In fact, we don’t need to ride on anyone else’s bus for we are our own power.

One case in point is that both Massachusetts and Connecticut Trans communities are leading the way to assure passage of legislation that will add Gender Identity and Expression within our States non-discrimination statutes. We CANNOT rely on any other community to advocate for us; that we hold the power to our Equality, NOT HRC, Not Gays, Not Lesbians, but us Trans and gender non-conforming folks. However if HRC or any other non-trans organization wants to be at OUR tables of Power, we welcome them as long as they understand what true collaborative work is. And that Gender Identity and Expression is not a dirty word that takes folks time to understand, but that most ALL OF SOCIETY is Transgress Gender to some extent and are by definition Transgender!

However, at the same time we must not get consumed into single issue politics, such as ENDA or Non-Discrimination for we cannot fall into the Marriage trap of single issue politics! We must remember and advocate for needs of ALL of our communities not simply the privileged few. We must be advocates and allies of our many homeless, immigrant, incarcerated, unemployed, differently abled comrades; and that though all our communities have unique differences our rebellion to an oppressive state and society is our bond.

Finally it is imperative that we remember that legislation alone does not affect fundamental Social Change! Laws, politicians and lawyers, though critically important to a movement, will not stop the oppressions that occur and that we must educate, lead by example, build strong and diverse coalitions, and become daily advocates, activists and revolutionaries in the Trans RIGHTS Movement!

EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US MUST USE OUR BODIES AS OUR VEHICLES FOR CHANGE

Peace Love and Solidarity