1/31/12

Transsexuals Want Out of DADT? Get Out of the DSM! No Short Cuts!


In response to the Out Serve article Transgender the New DADT there have been a number of transgender bloggers making a case that our exclusion from the DADT repeal was because gay people wanted it to happen so bad they pushed us from the table to get it done.

This time it wasn't a fault of gay peoples action or inaction we did not advance our agenda's simultaneously.

It's our fault. We have sucked at getting off our asses away from the keyboards to make ourselves visible.

Out of the DSM out of DADT! No short cut to that happening.

As founder of the growing online group Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies I stood alone in front of the hotel the Texas APA convention despite lobbying heavily for members to attend. No one else bothered to show up. Our european community has made headlines why can't we in the states?

Gay people set the stage for the repeal of DADT by their hard work, protesting and educating which eventually led to the 1973 removal of homosexuality from the DSM. The following membership vote demanded by those opposed validated the Boards decision.

A retired Army Staff Sergeant's opinion on how to eliminate DADT for Transgender people in the service. One, We must continue laying the ground work changing society's perceptions of us.

Two, We must focus as much energy as we can getting ourselves OUT of the DSM.

Transgender people are barred from the Army by Reg. 40-501:

Paragraph 3–35. Personality, psychosexual conditions, transsexual, gender identity, exhibitionism,
transvestism, voyeurism, other paraphilias, or factitious disorders; disorders of impulse control not elsewhere classified."

Which references our pathologization by the APA as the
authenticating medical journal..........


"DSM–IV
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Revised, American Psychiatric Association
(Cited in paras 3–30j and 4–23. This manual may be ordered at www.appi.org.)"

AR 40-501 pdf

IF TRANSGENDER PEOPLE WANT TO SERVE IN THE MILITARY WE MUST BE REMOVED FROM THE DSM. THERE ARE NO SHORT CUTS!!!

Start by signing the Change.org petition Remove Transgender from the DSM-5

Together with Amnesty International the Danish Transgender petition against psychopathologizing has now reached 10.000 signatures.

Education and protests are seriously changing Europe with a all out effort to remove transgender people from the ICD-10.

In the states we have in comparison done nothing and the window of opportunity is quickly closing.

Join with 5,000 others on the Facebook event

Find out where the APA conventions are in your state. Let them know we are alive!There is a vocal growing discontent from the APA's own membership as to the process of amending the DSM but not a mention of transgender people has been made in anything I have read!

The onus is on us! Act now!

1/24/12

planetransgender Takes on "Tranny" Part 2


Tranny. Faggot, are words that harm equally those they are meant to offend. Not using them is a simple request that's generally respected with a few exceptions.

However, many high profile gay people feel its their right to defame transgender people and have long done so despite our requests, then demands and most recently glittering.

And as absurd as it is many Gay people are offended that we take exception to this defamation. Lord forbid we should post stories about actions taken against gay icons highlighting our angst over being defamed.

Demand the Dallas Voice Stop Using "Tranny"


A gay man, Steven Publicover commented that I should stop shrieking like a 'harpy' on my facebook profile when I posted about the recent glittering of Dan Savage and other transgender responses to gay misogyny.

"If trans activists don't want our help, fine. I'm tired of all the bitching and complaining and shrieking like a harpy. Think you can do better alone? Go for it.
Having never heard the term "harpy" before I looked it up thinking it was a slur against Jewish people but as it turns out its Gay misogyny personified in the dehumanization of the sacred female as a "filthy beast" who is a "a scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman".

If their ever was a insult this is it so I will turn that around. I feel a personal attachment to this transformed woman fighting her for life with only her wings of feathers to defend herself against this man's gay blade.

As she valiantly fights you can't help notice the vultures circling like gay media waiting for the next opportunity to pick a transgender person apart.

There is a response online. I begun a petition asking that Logo drop RuPaul's drag race for his sensationalistic commercialization of "tranny". Although there are only a few signatures at this time they are from all over the world representing not just US activists but a consensus from our worlds population.

Tranny hurts.

1/15/12

What, RuPaul the Clown again?


Bring in the clowns, or as Marty so eloquently wrote at the TransAdvocate Rupaul: Fuck You You Silly Faggot

Seems Rupaul's is trying to drum up support for the next season of the tired drag show and as usual he's doing so by offending the sensibilities of the transgender community.

But this time he feels like the one being offended attacking GLAAD who FINALLY begun calling out gay men for using defamatory language.

RuPaul compares his show business acting career comically imitating woman with the presidential race:
"Politicians are really like show people, people in show business -- except that they have not as good costumes in politics. You have to appeal to the masses in show business. You appeal to Betty and Joe Beer Can. For someone like Obama to survive -- he's a very smart man -- he's had to do some dumb things because people don't want the truth. It's the same thing with drag."~Huff Post
In essence Rupaul says politicians and actors are the same in that the abdicate morality to play a popularity contest. I'm sure there's at least a few actors and politicians who would also say you are not speaking for them!

I couldn't have made my point any clearer than a comment published by Don Charles a advocate without borders and gay man on Towleroad
"RuPaul is an opportunist and a tool of the oppressor, with her tired-ass drag diva stereotypes. Thank God we have an increasingly activist Transsexual population that takes crass exploitation seriously. Their high degree of consciousness puts the so-called "Gay community" to shame."
Don Charles blogs over at Ignorance is Plentiful, and like me has been banned from commenting on many gay rags for speaking up.

Rupaul is much the same as the gay man, Sand in the Crack who recently featured in the Tampon ad. Both are perfectly willing to sell their souls for a dollar regardless of the consequences to other human beings.

But RuPaul is extraordinary horrible in that he tries to speak as a authority for transgender people.

You're nothing but an immoral gay clown RuPaul who's good at playing the popularity game appealing to the same.

Sending that clown away with a flick to the forehead. flick.

1/14/12

ABC Work It is Axed! WE WIN!


ABC PULLS WORK IT AFTER TWO EPISODES!!

We can't take all the credit for Work It's demise, it was just god awful. But we will bask in this victory. Work It's problematic transphobia inspired people internationally to consider our shared humanity and after reading our petition they signed by the thousands in solidarity.

People came from all corners of the globe to stand shoulder to shoulder with us making our planet just a little more friendly to everyone.

We couldn't have done this alone. We were stagnated around 200 signatures until a article written by Emerson Whitney was published on Huffington Post. That kick started our petition and coupled with the Dallas Transgender Advocate and Allies event and a Care2 guest post I was so graciously invited to write, our cause began to gain some legs.

Then HRC and GLAAD stepped in and added their support but sadly without mentioning the grass roots advocacy that had preceded their involvement.

But our victory highlights just exactly what transgender people can do when we take possession and responsibility for our condition. We can change the world!

Now I hope that the president of ABC Paul Lee is a little more understanding of what made Work It so very offensive. Paul Lee stated it's in his contract he's obligated to produce "cross Dressing" shows. If he attempts a show about gender diversity again lets hope he does it with intelligence, insight, compassion and reality.

The reality is Paul Lee, the world demands it.

1/13/12

Rep. Richard Floyd, Tennessee Legislator Promises To "Stomp A Mudhole" In Me


The face of hatred of all that is gender gifted, Rep. Richard Floyd author of the Tennessee house transgender hate bill HB2279 is quoted as saying:

“I believe if I was standing at a dressing room and my wife or one of my daughters was in the dressing room and a man tried to go in there — I don’t care if he thinks he’s a woman and tries on clothes with them in there — I’d just try to stomp a mudhole in him and then stomp him dry,”


The same day that Floyd's threat was made public Tennessee Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson who had sponsored the Senate version of the house hate bill abandoned Floyd, withdrawing the bill. Watson said he sponsored the bill as a standard courtesy to local House members, but there was more pressing issues and he didn't want to get "Side Tracked". The truth is Watson agrees with Floyd, he's just trying to say his pathetic political ass.

What does Stomp a Mudhole and walk it dry" mean? The Urban Dictionary defines it as: "To tear someone a new ass, to beat them to near death or to otherwise hurt someone to the point that they can not fight back."

This threat by a Tennessee Representative towards people he was in trusted to protect must not go unpunished let alone dismissed as unimportant as Senator Watson wishes. When this article went to press the people of Tennessee have voted in a poll by a margin of 88% in favor of letting transgender people use the public accommodations that are in line with our gender presentation.

To do otherwise for transgender people would be to invite beatings as Tennessee Legislator Rep. Richard Floyd promised he would do to me.

This is personal. Floyd, I live in Arlington Texas. I am a transgender woman. I will be at a dressing room of your choice at a time you designate. Just a friendly invitation to the Yellow Rose.

1/11/12

I'm buying a Case of Girl Scout Thin Mints For Equality


Everyone is sure to have read the heartwarming story of the transgender girl, Bobby Montoya, who after initially being turned away by the Girl Scouts was later invited to join.


Well, its not over yet as one Girl Scout has initiated a campaign to ruin the annual Cookie fund raiser as her way of protesting the Girl Scouts inclusivity.



A Girl Scout's video response to the proposed boycott:



Ellen Braverman authored a Care2 petition Thanks Girl Scouts! This Year I'm Eating Thin Mints for Equal Rights.
"Dear Girl Scouts of America,

Thank you for standing up for equality, LGBT rights, and the right of every girl to have a welcoming, supportive community behind them. Please ignore any bigoted people threatening the boycot cookies sales this year. Those of us who know how important it is for ALL kids to feel loved and supported will eat enough thin mints for everyone."
I think equal rights is at issue here but most importantly we must consider what affect this transphobic hyperbole has on young girls, be they cisgender or transgender. That being said, our contribution to the well being of these youth begins with signing and sharing the petition and eating Thin Mints for Equal Rights.

I always buy at least one box of thin mints every year. This year I'm buying a case.

Click here to find the closest location of these delicious cookies!