8/31/13

P Club Update: Judge Awards Portland T Girls $400,000 but they don't want the money

Almost exactly one year ago I reported on a group transgender woman   in Portland Oregon who were thrown out of a local bar, the P Club. The owner of the club left a voice mail on one of the woman phones telling her and her friends not to come back because he didn't want people to think he was running a 'tranny' bar.

Well, that man is out $405,000 dollars.  Oregon's Equality Act makes it illegal to discriminate against transgender people in public accommodations.



It's not about the money.

Susan Miller posted this to her blog August 31st giving us an idea why.
"It has been a long 14 months and although we won it is not over as we are sure and actually looking forward to Chris Penner the bar owner appealing this ruling. This was an administrative Judge ruling which is good but an appeals Judge ruling or even the state Supreme Court ruling would be better." 




8/30/13

An Act of Violence: Evangelist "Dr. Chaps" Klingenschmitt's "debate" with Dr. Dana Beyer about ENDA

The embedded video by "Dr. Chaps" Klingenschmitt a retired Air Force chaplain, is framed by him as a debate although Dr. Klingenschmitt doesn't debate.
He only asks leading questions about  ENDA'a mark up which much to the credit of Dr. Beyers, were answered truthfully with tact and grace.

I was aghast as Klingenschmitt maliciously insulted Dr. Beyers in every way he could on the video and accompanying article Co-Ed Bathrooms? Chaplain Debates Transgender on ENDA Bill, yet Klingenschmit seemed so respectful while interviewing Dr. Beyers.

Calls to Dr Klingenschmitt media contact number have not been returned at this time.
* Update Dr. Klingenschmitt has left a voice mail which I intend on answering.

I was successful in contacting Dr. Bower for a statement regarding this interview. She offered this:

I will say: “I think it’s time that we in the trans community learn from our gay allies, who leap from success to success, and come out fully so that America can get to know us. Coming out is the critical act, and that includes speaking with those who are most opposed to our rights, be it from personal bias or just plain ignorance. I have been speaking with religious fundamentalists for years, having grown up in an orthodox Jewish environment, and have actually made inroads. Too often, though, some let their prejudices overwhelm them and they hoist themselves on their own petard. I had no expectations of the interviewer, and we treated each other civilly during the process.

I asked Dr. Beyers if she had any inkling of Klingenschmitt Malintent.

"Apparently he just couldn’t help himself. It’s his loss, but I remain hopeful that some in his community will see how limiting close-mindedness and incivility can be.”




ENDA as marked up exempts religious employers so Klingenschmitt's arguments against ENDA are not founded on legislative fact.

Dr, Klingenschmitt's arguments against ENDA are not based on Biblical truths ether. This was clearly intended as a act of violence by Klingenschmitt to willfully hurt Dr. Beyers.

It is a sin when a man, who proclaims to speak for the lord invokes hate maliciously against fellow humans especially when then the bible tells him to do otherwise.

It is a sin because biblical passages by God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit make it clear transgender people are welcome in the kingdom.

Dr.Klingenschmitt's youtube comment policy:
 COMMENTS will be APPROVED unless vulgarity or name-calling. (After 
20:27 is best)

I posted this comment  to Dr. Chaps You tube but it was not approved at post time.
*Update Dr. Klingenschmitt has informed me he has published my comment..

Mr. Chaps please read these Biblical passages:

Isaiah 56: "Do not let the foreigner joined to the LORD say, ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people’; and do not let the eunuch say, ‘I am just a dry tree.’ For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths . . . I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters.

Mathew 19:11 and 12 Jesus asks his disciples to accept transgender people.
Acts 8:26-40 Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

*edited: I hope Dr.Klingenschmitt reads these Biblical passages confirming transgender peoples place in gods kingdom.


8/29/13

District Judge: If Inmate Ophelia De’Lonta is transgender she is entitled to state funded SRS


Virginia transgender inmate Ophelia De’Lonta is a 'step closer'  to getting the medical treatment prescribed by the APA. A district Judge has ruled that Ms De’Lonta has the right to be diagnosed by a therapist of her choice and if the prognosis indicates she is transgender she has the right to get state funded gender confirmation surgery.



The APA  definition of transsexualism  published August 19th 2013 in their Healthy Minds blog:
"A transgender individual is someone with the desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex. This can be accompanied by the wish to make his or her body as congruent as possible with the preferred sex. A transsexual individual is someone who has taken measures, through surgery or hormone therapy, to achieve their desire of living and being accepted as a member of the opposite sex. In general, transgender individuals prefer to be addressed using pronouns and other culture norms that are congruent with their preferred gender identity.



"You want to be a woman? Don’t rob, don’t murder. Act like a lady"

There are some even within our community, who feel that if a trans person commits a crime she or he has lost the right to medical treatment. If Ophelia De’Lonta receives SRS it would further confirm our right to medical treatment and you will see a lot less commentary like the following video.




8/28/13

Video: Islan Nettles Vigil Draws hundreds

Vaughn Taylor-Akutagawa, the leader of Gay Men of African Descent, spoke at the vigil and referred to Nettles as "he."

"She was a woman!" shouted Mariah Lopez, a transgender activist who told The Huffington Post that she asked to speak at the vigil and was turned down by organizers. "Gay Men Of African Descent shouldn't be speaking for trans people, period."





Vaughn Taylor-Akutagawa, the leader of Gay Men of African Descent, spoke at the vigil and referred to Nettles as "he."

"She was a woman!" shouted Mariah Lopez, a transgender activist who told The Huffington Post that she asked to speak at the vigil and was turned down by organizers. "Gay Men Of African Descent shouldn't be speaking for trans people, period."

"My girlfriend died last year and the year before," Lopez continued, over the speaker on the stage. "And none of you came, none of you!"

Taylor-Akutagawa said on Wednesday that working with the transgender community at a vigil like this is "still a learning process for me."

"We do our best to include them, but what wasn't being effectively communicated yesterday is that the family determined who was going to speak, and why," he said.

Read more at Huffpost and Pix11.com


8/27/13

SB 323 a bill that strips tax exemption from Boy Scouts Little League and FFA to get final vote

A California bill that could strip tax-exempt status from Little League, the Boy Scouts of America and other “discriminatory” nonprofit youth-serving groups could come up for a final vote this week.

The first-of-its-kind bill, SB 323, passed the California Senate and sailed through Assembly committees to a floor vote, possibly this week.
But opponents are taking heart that there might not be enough votes in the state Assembly to pass the bill.



The chamber did not consider the bill in its Monday session, but may take it up when it convenes Friday.
The bill, introduced by State Sen. Ricardo Lara, names the Boy Scouts, Little League, Future Farmers of America and 19 other organizations as examples of groups that could be stripped of their tax-exempt status if found to discriminate based on gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, race, religion or religious affiliation.

The measure also threatens tax-exempt status for public and private schools found to sponsor discriminatory youth groups. One critic said it could even threaten an exemption status held by a church.
“Traditional values regarding heterosexuality are being branded as the legal equivalent of racism, and so there’s the quite genuine fear that the tax code really is the battleground against the traditional churches,” said Alan Reinach, executive director of Church State Council, which opposes SB 323.

Read more: Washington Times

This bill ( SB 323 leginfo.ca.gov) would revise the Sales and Use Tax Law exemption for those
organizations, as provided. This bill would also provide that an
organization that is a public charity youth organization that discriminates
on the basis of gender identity, race, sexual orientation, nationality,
religion, or religious affiliation is not exempt from the taxes imposed
by that law.

The right wings worst nightmare


Transgender woman are being slaughtered at a rate 50X that of LGB people

Walk late at night. Go to night clubs. Take the bus. Live in a apartment. Walk across the street.Being black and transgender. Any of this puts a target on a person's back if that person is trans .