8/10/10

Stop Corporate Takeover of Web No Pay Per USE

PETITION: STAND WITH ME TO SAVE NET NEUTRALITY AND STOP THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF OUR MEDIA



The Comcast-NBC merger is the first domino. If it falls, the rest will soon follow. If no one stops them, how long do you think it will take before 4 or 5 megacorporations effectively control the flow of information in America not only on television, but online? How long do you think it will take before the Fox News website loads 5 times faster than DailyKos?

It's almost too late to stop this from happening, but not quite. The government can stop them… but first the government has to be MADE to act.

Net Neutrality is THE First Amendment issue of our time. If you want to protect the free flow of information in the country and all that depends on it, you have to help me fight this.


Sign the Petition! Help Senator Al Franken fight the corporate takeover of media

Texas Transgender peoples Lives Riding on Nikki Araguz Marriage Litigation as Attorney General Declines to Rule

Texas transgender people like myself have long understood that living in a specific county and petitioning a particularly progressive judge to amend our drivers licence was key in establishing our correct gender identity, regardless if you were post SRS. Because there was no law or ruling by the Attorney General it allowed us to fly under the radar in this the bluest of states. It was our secret.

This allowed Texas transgender people to live our lives presenting ourselves as who we truly are without fear of arrest in the workplace and in most social situations. Most.

This is all possibly coming about to a screeching halt as our anonymity has become headlines because of the marriage controversies. Texas transgender people such as myself have our worlds riding on the outcome of the Nikki Araguz litigation recently filed in the 245th District Court of Wharton County, In the Estate of Thomas Trevino Araguz III, Deceased, Cause No. 44575.

Source Texas Attorney General Declines To Issue Opinion To Clarify Same-Sex Marriage Controversy In El Paso
"EL PASO, Texas -- El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal on Monday announced that the Office of the Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has formally declined to issue a legal opinion regarding the granting of marriage licenses to individuals who have undergone sex change operations."

"The request was made after two Hudspeth County women - Sabrina Hill and Therese Bur requested, and were denied, a marriage license in El Paso in February of this year. As proof of identification, Hill presented a birth certificate identifying her as a male, a court order approving his name change from a male to female, and an Arizona driver's license with her new identity as a female."

"Presented with conflicting documents, the El Paso County Clerk's Office requested guidance from the County Attorney's Office as to the eligibility of the applicants to obtain a marriage license."

Legal analysis revealed the existence of a legal gray area around this particular issue, raised by recent changes adopted by the Texas Legislature. Up until 2009, the identity and gender of a marriage license applicant was established through a birth certificate.

"However, during the 81st Session, the Texas Legislature expanded the list of documents acceptable to establish proof of identity and age for purposes of obtaining a marriage license. Section 2.005(b) of the Texas Family Code lists the nineteen documents approved and, to make things more difficult, all are given equal legal weight. This is important for transgender individuals, as conflicting information on various personal documents may arise not from fraud, but because of sex reassignment surgery, and so transgender applicants should be able to self-identify their gender, as opposed to a court doing it for them."

"In a letter dated on August 6, 2010, the Texas Attorney General's Office notified the El Paso County Attorney's Office that they will refrain from answering any questions or issuing an opinion, and in fact are closing the file on this request. The reason provided for this action is that issues included in the opinion request are the subject of pending litigation recently filed in the 245th District Court of Wharton County, In the Estate of Thomas Trevino Araguz III, Deceased, Cause No. 44575. The letter further states that, once that litigation is concluded, the El Paso County Attorney could submit another request if these questions remain unresolved."

"El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal expressed her disappointment regarding the decision of the Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott."

"Unfortunately, the ambiguity in the law and confusion for the County clerk remains," Bernal concluded.

8/9/10

Angie Zapata Missed 21st Birthday, Drag Queens and CNN


Drag Queens and Angie haven't been a good mix lately but the reigning Miss Rocky Mountain Shining Star, Leo "Sable" Corona, is doing her part to heal the wounds. What can happen when people act in a socially responsible and caring manner (take note Israel Luna).

According to the West Word Blog Friends and family joined with Sable to remember Angie on her missed 21st birthday and to raise money for a documentary of Angie's life that is missing just one very expensive two minute segment from CNN shot during the Allen Andrade trial. Donations can be made via the Photos of Angie Facebook page or through Just Media, a local nonprofit that backs social justice media projects.

Photos of Angie - Day 1 from Alan Dominguez on Vimeo.

Fort Worth Weekly Writer Jimmy Fowler Fouls Out with "Ticked Off"

Fighting misogony one trashy publication at a time.

Fort Worth Weekly stoops to deceiving, defaming and maligning minorities to increase readership.

"Transgender activists took to the streets to oppose a locally made movie — and made it more successful than ever."
~FW Weekly Tittle and lead paragraph.

FT Worth Weekly author Jimmy Fowler called me and asked if I would interview for a article about TO#WK and my first response was "why now?". I had read the earlier Weekly article which liberally used pejoratives defaming transgender people without attributing the sources and I was very wary. I explained I have turned down similar requests from print and radio media because of their histories of past hate inciting journalism. Fowler reassured me saying previously he was unaware that 'tra##y' was demeaning and that the FW Weekly was blessed with great writers. I was led to beleive it would be a intuitive thought provoking piece.

It was a piece, a piece of crap that is. The second line proclaimed that efforts of all woman to advocate only results in promoting those that would harm us and any further efforts would be futile.

It pissed me off the author claimed ignorance about the word "tra##y. While he never offered he would not use the word 'tra##y' his tone and sincerity suggested that he now understood how harmful that word is for transgender people. That led me to beleive Fowler would at least obscure some of the letters. He did not and in fact Fowler quoted the pitiful excuse Luna made for reneging on his promise to 'blur' tra##y.

In essence, the Fort Worth Weekly is using a pejorative intentionally, being aware of it's injurious nature to transgender people while simultaneously insinuating standing up for our dignity was futile.

It really pissed me off they did not use a photograph of me. The photographer was told I was a principle in the story and that was confirmed by the FT Worth Weekly's Fowler. The FW Weekly had been initially unsure if they were going to pay the photographer for the session, dependent on his editors decision.

These two pictures were supplied by the photographer and should have been next to my interview.

I felt they refrained from including any of my picture from the session was because they wanted the readers to form a perception of my physical being which would not be supported by a photograph showing me as who I truly am.

A beautiful, well adjusted transgender woman.

Why did the Fort Worth Weekly lower itself to such depths?

Of course as anyone who was in the room when Fort Worth city council debated on amending the non discrimination policy to include transgender people will confirm there is a massive contingent of the north Texas population who would See us stoned, raped and institutionalized.

The Fort Worth Weekly editors obviously realized a huge potential for readership and lowered themselves to publish that despicable article catering to sexual perverts, haters and bigots.

I would ask you to comment on the fort Worth Weekly article, but instead of increasing their web visibility, comment here. You will be doing the transgender community good.

8/7/10

Declaration of Transgender Independence.

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to arise and demand the political and social rights other Citizens enjoy, a decent respect to the opinions of humanity requires that they should declare the causes that impel them such.

We hold these truths to be self-evident. Regardless of gender identity, expression and sexual orientation, all people are created Equal – that they have been endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to that end, it is the Right of the People to use the electorate process to change such government and institute new representation that will secure these rights and positively affect their safety and happiness.

Prudence, indeed, would dictate that representatives long in office and that have represented the people well should not be changed for light and transient causes. Indeed, experience has shown that people are willing to tolerate and suffer positions of their representatives as long as such evils are sufferable.

However, when such abuses and usurpations of Civil Liberties arise providing evidence to dehumanize any one group, it is the right and duty of the People to cast aside such representation in favor of new guardians that would secure the future and the liberties of all.

Such has been patient suffering of the Transgender Community, and such is now the necessity to replace those Oppressors with New Representation. The history of the Transgender Community is a history replete with injury and usurpation designed to dehumanize and eradicate a people within a society. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.


    * The trivializing and ridiculing to the Transgender Community before the general populace.

    * The casual abuse of the Transgender Community.

    * Psychological warfare against the Transgender Community has been committed to affect a disassociation between the Community and the General Populace.

    * Censure of the Transgender Community for expressing the desire to be treated with the same respect as other Citizens.

    * Allowing the Abuse of Freedom of Speech to inspire and incite violence and maltreatment against transgender people.

    * Deprivation of liberty against the Transgender Community.

    * The committing of Murder against the Transgender Community with the purpose of eradicating an entire Community within the general populace.


In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. Any representative whose vote and actions have given concurrence with these oppressions is unfit to be a representative of a Free People. And, thus, must be removed from office using the electoral process to place New Representation in its stead.

We, therefore, the Transgender Community, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, declare that we are a Free People – Equal with all other citizens and subservient to none. We state now and for all time that we have the right to Fair Treatment under the Law; retention of employment and housing; medical treatment as deemed necessary and prudent; to love and marry those whom we chose and do all other acts that a Free People may of right do.

And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our live, our fortunes, our time and our sacred honor.


*********************
About the author Shauna Marie O'Toole,

It was recently discussed online that we need a declaration of what we believe and stand for. And, just as Concord & Lexington occurred over a year before the Declaration of Independence, we, too, are at war. As long as there is a need for a Transgender Day of Remembrance to honor those recently killed in hate crimes, we are at war.

What we seek is the peaceful installation of representation that would secure the rights of the Transgender Community as well as those of all Americans.

I have taken some thoughts that Mr. Shay has shared with me and merged them with a familiar document

You may friend Shauna Marie O'Toole on facebook here

8/4/10

Ball Memorial Hospital Refuses Woman Coughing up Blood because She's Transgender

Erin Vaught after correctly filling out the ER admittance forms ...was told "we don't know how to go about treating someone with your condition," referring to her transgender status. Star Press

"Ball Memorial spokesman Will Henderson said the hospital first became aware of Vaught's concerns on July 19 via a Google alert, and that a patient representative was investigating the issue. We take our patients' rights policy very seriously," Henderson said." The Indy Channel 6


GOOGLE ALERT THIS BALL!

Sign the Change.org petition Demand Ball Memorial Hospital Stop Discriminating Against LGBT Patients

Then leave a comment on the Ball Facebook page