7/6/13

Video: Highest ranking Transgender Officer Lieutenant Colonel Cate McGregor Speaks About Transition

Transgender Lieutenant Colonel Cate McGregor speaks out about abuse and support in the Australian Army. Original news report by Ian McPhedran seen on ABC and uploaded to youtube by Trans Health Australia.

THE person behind the stirring speech delivered by army chief Lieutenant General David Morrison in the wake of shocking revelations about an army email sex ring was his transgender speechwriter, Lieutenant Colonel Cate McGregor.

Formerly Malcolm McGregor, Lieutenant Colonel McGregor is the highest ranking of six transgender people serving in the Australian Defence Force, as well as being a globally renowned cricket writer.

One of her strongest supporters is Lt General Morrison, who refused to accept her resignation when she went public and told him that she was causing embarrassment to his office.





The support was in place early and as soon as McGregor confided in her boss and friend Morrison told her that "I want you to know that I'm privileged that you felt you could tell me about the crisis you're facing and I will be with you every step of the way''.

"And I was very moved by that. I felt, up to that point, very isolated, I couldn't see a future in the army with this condition and he said 'let me know what you need to do, but you have my support.'

"More often than not I've quit and resigned and said 'I'm causing embarrassment to your office' and he has unfailingly supported me and insisted I continue to serve on,'' she tells ABC TV's "One Plus One'' program today.

Expanding on the themes touched on in the now famous speech, Lt Colonel McGregor says that her boss took the view that the army simply could not survive if it became a demographic ghetto, a smokestack industry in a changing world.

"He knew that there needed to be more women in the army ... that if you were physically and mentally good enough to be a soldier, then the army wanted you and he's rigorously enforced that, whether on grounds of gender, race or sexuality.''

The email ring, known as the "Jedi council'', distributed degrading images and messages about women, both in and outside the services, who might be exploited for sex.

"Those who think it is OK to behave in a way that demeans or exploits their colleague have no place in this army,'' Lt Gen Morrison told the troops by video.

"Show moral courage and take a stand against it.''

Lieutenant Colonel McGregor said the most difficult part of her transformation had been telling her then wife.

"It was very taxing for both of us. It was the hardest conversation I have ever had with another human being, telling her what was going on,'' she says.

"She had watched with growing alarm and sadness as I struggled with something that I couldn't put a name on and it was distressing in the extreme for her.

"She's experienced terrible loss in this in that she's seen a husband essentially die but not had the closure of a funeral. But we get on very well. We're soulmates, we're very, very close and she's the most wonderful person I've ever met."

* Lieutenant Colonel McGregor will today appear on One Plus One in her army uniform to tell Jane Hutcheon and the world about her struggles, including the "drumbeat of personal abuse'' she has suffered and the incredible support she has received.

As McGregor told her good friend and news.com political editor Malcolm Farr last November: "Actually mate, in the best tradition of the Australian army I have become Cate - or mate which represents the amalgam of mate and Cate.''


7/5/13

Court Upholds Arbitration: Sheena Monnin Owes Trump 5M for Transphobic Rigging Accusations



Rather than address her transphobia Monnin has been ordered to pay Donald Trump five million dollars according to the Post Gazette.
"A federal judge this week upheld a 2012 ruling that a Cranberry woman who resigned as Miss Pennsylvania USA, claiming the pageant system was fixed, must pay $5 million in damages to the Miss Universe Organization.
An arbitrator in December found Sheena Monnin, 28, had made defamatory comments against Donald Trump's organization last year and that there was "virtually no possibility that the judging was rigged."
In a 30-page opinion filed Tuesday, U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken of New York supported that ruling.
"The Court does not take lightly that Monnin is compelled to pay what is a devastating monetary award. ... Sympathy, or apparent inequity, may play no role in a court's legal analysis, and here, the law is clear," he wrote."


Monnin posted this on her support page and she ain't backing down:
On July 2nd, the Southern District Court of New York ruled on my appeal of the $5 million arbitration award.

I am grateful to Judge Oetken for his review of the case before affirming the award.

I was hopeful for a different outcome, but I am pleased that the true nature of the Miss USA judging procedure has been exposed by the testimony of the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) and Ernst & Young during the arbitration proceedings – testimony that reveals that the MUO does select the top 15 contestants irrespective of the preliminary judges’ scores.

This is not about me being a ‘sore loser’ or wanting my ’15 minutes of fame’. This is about the MUO’s admission under oath that they manipulate the judges’ results to suit their own ends. This is not what they advertise to the public.




7/4/13

Canadian Trans Rights Bill Fails Despite Having Needed Support

This is such a heartbreaker for our faimly up north. Once again our jn

CA Gov Brown to sign bill ensuring trans students have full access to athletic facilities and programs


Sacramento, CA, July 3, 2013 the California State Senate passed the School Success and Opportunity Act (Assembly Bill 1266), sending the bill that ensures transgender students have the opportunity to succeed in school to Governor Jerry Brown for signature. Authored by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, the bill passed the Senate with a 21-9 (unofficial). The bill passed the California State Assembly last month with 46-25 vote.

Bill Text Source: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/
"This bill would require that a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs, and activities, and facilities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."

"(f) A pupil shall be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs, and activities,  and facilities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil’s records."

AB 1266 will ensure that California public schools understand their responsibility for the success and well-being of all students, including transgender students, and will allow transgender students to fully participate in all school activities, sports teams, programs, and facilities in accordance with their gender identity.

A huge shout out to all of those who fought so hard to make this a reality including:
Erik Olvera, National Center for Lesbian Rights, 415.365.1324, EOlvera@NCLRights.org
Jesse Melgar, EQCA, 323.848.9801, Jesse@EQCA.org
Rebecca Farmer, ACLU of California, 415.621.2493, x374, RFarmer@ACLUNC.org
Jill Marcellus, GSA Network, 516.313.9659, Jill@GSANetwork.org
Mark Snyder, Transgender Law Center, 415.865.0176, x310, Mark@TransgenderLawCenter.org




7/3/13

ENDA To Be Voted On In Senate Committee July 10th

The Senate Health Labor Education and Pensions Committee is scheduled to vote on S.815, Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 (ENDA) July 10th.

The Senate currently has 52 Democrats, 46 Republicans and 2 independent congress members. It appears by all accounts on the ground there's a good possibility ENDA will receive an up vote in Committee and move to the Senate floor were it needs 51 votes to pass.

But its prognosis is not so bright according to a new statistical formula provided by Gov. Track which says ENDA has a 5% chance of getting past committee and only 1% chance of being enacted.

In any case it's doubtful Enda would pass the House of Representatives since it would need 218 votes to pass and there are only 201 Democrats and 234 Republicans.

If somehow ENDA is passed S.815, Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013 will make it ...unlawful employment practice for an employer--

(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise discriminate against any individual with respect to the compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of the individual, because of such individual’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; or

(2) to limit, segregate, or classify the employees or applicants for employment of the employer in any way that would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment or otherwise adversely affect the status of the individual as an employee, because of such individual’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

Read more about Enda at the Washington Blade and the Metro Weekly.


7/1/13

Update: Mia Macy The Trans Woman Who Won The Right To Fight Discrimination Under Title VII

With all of the despairing over the lack of movement of ENDA and a perception that without it trans people are powerless to fight workplace discrimination, just a reminder (to myself as well) we are protected.

Prior to transitioning Mia Macy, a veteran police officer, applied with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agency in December 2010. She was told the job was hers pending a background check but when she contacted them again to inform them of her transition they first told her the job had been eliminated due to budget cuts. Unsatisfied with that response she pursued it again and they told her the job had already been taken.

On June 13, 2011 Ms. Macy filed a complaint with the EEOC.

In her complaint, Macy checked the box for "sex" as the basis of her discrimination claim. In addition, Macy typed onto her complaint form that "gender identity" and "sex stereotyping" also formed the basis of her complaint against the Agency. Macy further explained in her complaint that she had been discriminated against on the basis of her "sex, gender identity (transgender woman) and on the basis of sex stereotyping."



The EEOC sent her a number of replies indicating they would not process her complaint regarding gender identity stereotyping so Mia Appealed.

In a long and drawn out battle Mia finally won the right for transgender people to be included under Title VII because the EEOC ruled on appeal that the"...term “gender” encompasses not only a person’s biological sex but also the cultural and social aspects associated with masculinity and femininity.

Mia Macy,
Complainant,

v.

Eric Holder,
Attorney General,
Department of Justice,
(Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives),
Agency.

Appeal No. 0120120821

Agency No. ATF-2011-00751

DECISION

On December 9, 2011, Complainant filed an appeal concerning her equal
employment opportunity (EEO) complaint alleging employment discrimination
in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII),
as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq. For the following reasons, the
Commission finds that the Complainant’s complaint of discrimination
based on gender identity, change of sex, and/or transgender status is
cognizable under Title VII and remands the complaint to the Agency for
further processing.

Further reading:

Cal employment blog

EEOC decision

Mia Macy Facebook


Find more music like this on Swirl Radio

Mia Macy is a veteran, police detective, loving wife and radio and television personality - she became an accidental activist with ground breaking Macy V. Holder case
catch her each Saturday night on Swirl Radio .