Aurora School Board Disbands The Ad Hoc Committee: Hate Won This 1

With the echo's of Newtown ricocheting in our souls we awaken to another evil manifesting itself in an Elementary School. The Aurora School board has by example let it be known to school children physical assaults and verbal abuse of transgender classmates is acceptable and worst yet satisfies cravings to do harm to others different from them.

"We were kicked and pushed by the IFI and associates at the Ad Hoc meeting. They were trying to prevent us from entering the school." Crystal Ann Gray Committee member.

President Obama called on us to protect ALL of our children. He did not say except the children the IFI a designated Hate Group  wish to dehumanize.

The Aurora School Board disbanded the Ad Hoc Committee during it's December 17th meeting. The committee was just formed by the board to discuss its transgender policy after the outrageous conduct by the IFI at the regular School Board meeting made future discussions impossible. This action effectively ended any hope transgender students in the district had of ever feel safe, respected or  accepted.

"The IFI won this battle but not the war" Crystal Ann Gray president of the Illinois  based United States Transgender Transgender Advocacy told me in a phone call after the meeting.  Ms. Gray one of two transgender Ad Hoc committee members said "They won by intimidating the school board."

Glsen 2011 Survey

Ms Gray who was invited onto the Ad Hoc committee as a expert witness used the  Glsen 2011 Survey  to educate committee members of the inadequacies of the School's anti harassment policies. Gray explained the inexplicable about face the board took "The School Board justified their action by saying that Illinois state law will suffice despite being fully aware it doesn't."

My take? They scared the Board so bad with there petition  calling on their firing the board forgot the reason they unanimously voted for protecting every child in the first place.

The transgender inclusive policies unanimously approved by the Aurora School board are now officially history and so is the School board. They will forever be remembered for what was shouted at them when they rescinded the policy by the parents at that meeting.

Spineless Cowards

Why I support Levi Pine

Today's guest post is from a good friend and author who has graciously agreed to write in response to a earlier controversial post on planetransgender.

Zoe E Whitten is the author over 30 books, including Sandy Morrison and the Pack of Pussies, The Life and Death of a Sex Doll, Zombie Punter, and Confessions of a Zombie Lover. When she isn’t writing fiction, she can usually be found on  Twitter  ranting incoherently about isms and bullying.

Why I support Levi Pine

by Zoe E Whitten

After a brief discussion this weekend on Twitter, Kelli invited me to send a guest post on her article about Levi Pine, and I’m going to disagree with her assessment of the case and explain why I can’t accept her thinking about how trans rights should be presented to cisgender folks.

I don’t believe Levi Pine is wrong for making a discrimination case because it is discrimination to suggest that a trans person should have to use a separate but equal shower facility. If we replaced trans man with black man and suggested that it would be immoral for little white boys to see adult black naked men in the same setting of a public shower, the inherent prejudice of such an arrangement would be obvious, and no one would stand for it.

That some trans people agree that it is immoral for us to be nude around children suggests that we are internalizing guilt for the stereotype that we’re one step up from child molesters, and it’s not a healthy mindset for us to be taking on. Our transitions are all about shedding societal expectations and guilt, but what do non-ops of either gender do if they decide they’re happy without a lower surgery? Do we tell them they aren’t fit for society while passing post-ops are okay? All that’s going to do is create a class of have-nots within our movement, and we already lack the clout not to be forced in GL lobbies that rarely represent our best interests.

I also think it’s hypocritical of cisgender folks to suggest that exposing young boys to nude cis men is okay, but them seeing a trans man’s vagina is immoral. Nudity around children is either immoral in all cases, or it isn’t in all cases, full stop. To suggest that a trans person’s nudity is somehow different from a cis person’s is asking us to voluntarily accept a prejudice held against us and our bodies. We should be proud of who we are and of our struggles against gender prejudice. Anything less is like keeping a toe in the closet because we’re supposed to be ashamed of our genitals.

We shouldn’t accept this idea temporarily to advance our cause either, because we’ve been fighting since the 60s over the same basic issues over and over, with both straights and with our GL allies. If we accept that it’s not right for us to shower in public, we’re sliding down a slope toward accepting that we can’t use public toilets in our chosen gender either. And honestly, I’m getting sick of people throwing “confusion of the kids” in our faces as an excuse for why we can’t have equal rights.

Returning to a black civil rights analogy, this is like suggesting that maybe we should ride at the back of the bus another decade, just in case it might change someone’s mind about us. But civil rights history should have taught us by now, you don’t confront prejudice by agreeing to accept a stereotype, not even temporarily to placate an enemy. You move to the front of the bus and make a scene. You go get in the shower where you feel you belong, and you don’t accept a separate but equal offering for a private isolating shower.

I think the real problem is, people sometimes forget that we are in a civil rights fight. Not a debate, and not a discourse. This being a fight, it’s okay to offend our opponents without it hurting our current position one way or the other. They have no problems offending us with insults and physical attacks, so it doesn’t make sense to be accommodating on this one issue. We’re on the losing side no matter what, so why should we accept the idea that there’s something shameful about our bodies when what we’re fighting for is to remove these social stigmas?

Moreover, accepting this idea that our nude pre-op bodies are immoral means post-ops end up abandoning non-ops. It’s a divide and conquer strategy being used against us, and I cannot accept that we walk away from so many of our brothers and sisters for the sake of political expediency. We didn’t like when the gay lobbies did it to us with ENDA over and over, so let’s not make the same mistake within our own ranks.

We should be pushing this issue just as strongly as gays push their marriage agenda. There is nothing to be ashamed of in being trans, and there is nothing immoral about our bodies, non-op or not. To suggest otherwise is to internalize the hatred cast upon us by society, and I am done bearing the burdens of their hate simply for being born.

Is Levi Pine’s case an “agenda killer”? Only if your agenda was playing nice to prejudiced people in the hopes of them one day hating you less. But my agenda is getting up in peoples’ faces and reminding them that there’s nothing wrong with us. Which is why I feel this is another prejudice that we should work against, not embrace and compromise on. We should be thanking Levi for having the guts to stand up to societal bullying, not tsking him for embarrassing us with his “immoral” naked body.

IACHR: 65% of LGBT murdered Oct. - Nov. 2012 Were Trans

Source Transgender Europe (TGEU)

CIDH llama a LatAm para defender a las personas LGBTI.

The America's are far from safe for trans people as the graphic illustrates. There are a lot of variables that contribute to the final numbers, such as freedom of the press, cultural acceptance and state of advocacy. The higher numbers in a given country could also represent a strong surge towards acceptance by the trans community and the inevitable backlash of violence.

Of the 54 reported murders of LGBT people in the America's during Oct Nov 2012 34 were trans. with Brazil being especially deadly with 20 reported murders during that period, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reports.

Reported murders trans during Nov. Dec. 2012: Argentina (1), Bolivia (1), Brazil (20), the Dominican Republic (1), Honduras (1), Mexico (8), Nicaragua (1), and the United States (2).

Also, the Commission received information on 15 murders of gay men or men perceived to be gay during these two months. These occurred in Brazil (12), Mexico (2), and Nicaragua (1). Finally, the Commission also received information that there were 4 homicides of lesbian women or women perceived to be lesbian, occurring in Brazil (3) and Ecuador (1).

Brazil reported 35 murdered or 65 percent of the total for LGBT people.

RED FLAG

Transgender people comprise only 1% of the overall population yet we are being murdered at this phenomenal rate? Why?

The IACHR calls on governments to investigate these murders. Many of these murders and acts of violence are not investigated and if they are, the perpetrators go unpunished. This only serves to fan the flame of hate, empowering criminals ultimately increasing violence against LGBT people.

CIDH expresa preocupación sobre homicidios y actos de violencia contra personas LGBTI en las Américas and the IACHR Press Release in English

Video: 100 Ballons Loosed amid Happy Birthday songs for missing Trans Youth Dashad "Sage" Smith

Dashad "Sage" Smith is still unaccounted for but that didn't stop her friends and family celebrating her 20th birthday...

Dave Norris, Executive Director of The Charlottesville Institute posted this picture on the Find Dashad "Sage" Smith facebook page.

"Here's Dashad "Sage" Smith (on the left) at the Cville Pride drag show that I MC'd in September. Today is Dashad's 20th birthday. One small thing you can do today in his honor is to "like" the "Find Dashad 'Sage' Smith" page on Facebook to stay up-to-date on news about his case. And please encourage others to do the same."

One person commented: "I love this pic.... I am the queen with the longer curly hair with the mirrored bra.. I have known Sage for a while and she is in my thoughts... I cherish that moment and this pic!!!! Here's to Sage, and the hopes of a safe return!!!"

She is so full of life. This is so sad. Her grandmother's heart is breaking. If you have information on Dashad Laquinn Smith or Erik McFadden or any knowledge of this case please contact Sgt. Marc Brake at 434-970-3970 or Crimestoppers at 434-977-4000.

NYC Transwoman Arrested For Presenting Court Name and Gender Marker Change To HRA

Jolie Estrella, a transgender woman  is still depending on friends for food because the city's Human Resource Administration (HRA) has refused to accept her court order correcting her name and gender marker.

When Ms Estrella tried to present her name and gender marker court paperwork on November 2011 she told the Queens Chronicle: 

" They were bewildered,” Estrella said of her visit. “One of the girls was confused and didn’t know what to do. She went to a supervisor, or a coworker, someone who she respected. He accused me of having fraudulent documents.”

She left that day and returned dressed in a sweatsuit, I presume in a atempt to appear androgynous, prepared to be abused for food the Queens Legal Service reports:

"The Center’s Case Manager refused to process her request to change her name, refused to correct her gender marker from male to female, and refused to use the correct pronouns and her legal name despite repeated requests. Furthermore, the Case Manager made stunningly inappropriate, discriminatory and demeaning remarks about Ms. Estrella’s sex, gender, orientation and physical disability (including telling her that she had low self-esteem and could not “make it as a man”)

When she asked to speak to a supervisor, the individual allegedly refused to use her legal name and instead sent her to another location where she was met by HRA security guards who ordered her to leave the building.

When she refused, a guard allegedly dragged her into an office where she was issued a summons and citation, again in her former name.

HRA failed to process Ms. Estrella’s application for benefits in her correct name. Because of this treatment, Ms. Estrella was denied equal access to benefits. In April 2012, an Administrative Law Judge ordered HRA to process Ms. Estrella’s Public Assistance application in her legal name and to provide her with retroactive benefits. Stunningly, HRA continues to address Ms. Estrella by her former name in all correspondence.

These actions by HRA staff constitute violations of the New York City and State Human Rights Laws, which prohibit such discrimination in public accommodations. The actions further violate HRA’s own Procedure No. P-09-22, “Serving Transgender, Transsexual, and Gender Nonconforming Individuals,” which was issued in December 2009 after years of advocacy by the Audre Lorde Project, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and Housing Works. The Procedure instructs HRA staff to ask clients what their preferred name, title, and gender pronoun are and informs staff that refusing to abide by their answer is a form of harassment.


“Ms. Estrella has a right to be treated with respect and to have her documents reflect who she is, as does any applicant for benefits,” said Richard Saenz, Staff Attorney at Queens Legal Services. “Transgender individuals are constantly forced to accept harassment or give up their benefits. That’s not a choice that anyone should be forced to make, particularly at agencies that serve as a last defense against poverty, homelessness, and poor health. As a City agency, HRA must abide by the laws and regulations of both the State and New York City.”

The new suit follows a similar suit filed against HRA in June by Manhattan Legal Services and South Brooklyn Legal Services on behalf of another transgender woman whose request to change her name and gender marker were denied, despite the fact that she had in her possession both a name change order and a letter from her physician. LSNYC’s clients seek damages, an order that the defendants and their employees will refrain from such discrimination against the clients or any other person, trainings for HRA staff on the rights of transgender people, and a clear procedure for changing gender markers on identity documents.

For more information contact Richard Saenz at 347-592-2207 or Jennifer Ching at 347-592-2242

European Parliament Takes Russian LGBT Discrimination To Task

The European Parliament adopted it's 2010 2011 review of human rights in member states. In doing so it made it clear to the Russian and Ukrainian governments, among other violators, you want to be known as civilized society? Then act like you do and stop persecuting LGBT people. Member states who cooperated with CIA rendition were also taken to task.

39. Calls on the Member States to properly fulfil their obligations under international law, which they have so far failed to do, to investigate serious human rights violations carried out in the context of cooperation with the CIA counter-terrorism programme, to step up the fight against trafficking in human beings and organised crime and to afford full redress to victims;

Transgender Europe Reports:

93. Calls on Member States to ensure the protection of participants in LGBT public events, including pride marches, and to ensure that these events can take place lawfully.

This addresses the illegal  Russian "Gay Propaganda" laws which effectively isolates and outlaws LGBT gathering and media.

94. Deplores that transgender people are still considered mentally ill in a number of Member States; calls on Member States to introduce or review legal gender recognition procedures, on the model of Argentina, and review conditions (including forced sterilisation) set for legal gender recognition; calls on the Commission and the World Health Organisation to withdraw gender identity disorders from the list of mental and behavioural disorders and to ensure a non-pathologising reclassification in the negotiations on the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).

Source: Gay Star News"Michael Cashman MEP, co-president of the LGBT Intergroup, reacted: ‘Both Russia and Ukraine signed up to the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenent on Civil and Political Rights. No-one forced them to, and they must now respect their international obligations.

‘The European Union will remain strong in its demands, and will continue supporting the activists who bravely defy these unfair laws.’

Son of Anna Politkovskaya criticises murder trial deal for policeman

Ilya Politkovsky says deal for officer accused in killing of Russian journalist won't help find person who ordered the murder
Politkovskaya, a sharp critic of the Kremlin...and its policies in Chechnya, was shot dead in the lift of her Moscow block of flats on 7 October 2006. Investigators have failed to determine who ordered the hit.