Stand Together

10-year-old trans girl on being bullied by adults and accepted by her peers

cassket:

I love it when we get to hear from young people about what’s going on in their own lives. Too often, the voices of those most impacted by youth issues are ignored in favor of adults. So I was glad to read the words of a 10-year-old trans girl in England who returned to school this year presenting her actual gender.

The girl’s mom told the Worcester News (in an article unfortunately trapped in the “trapped in the wrong body” frame, but which does keep the girl’s identity anonymous) that the school administration has been supportive of letting her daughter present as a girl, but some parents have walked by them muttering, “That’s that freak family. That’s that freak child.”

Her mom said there has been some bullying from the girl’s peers, but that the cruelty has mostly come from adults. Now let’s hear from the girl herself about how she’s been treated by her friends at school. From an interview on BBC 5 Live, via Pink News:

Of her friends, she said: “They haven’t really said anything. It’s been a little eye-up and then, ‘Whatever’.

“They haven’t really taken any notice. There have been a couple of little glitches but that’ll pass.”

However, she said she was forced to change for games in the disabled toilet after parents complained.

“It is split for girls and boys, but in PE and stuff I do have to be with the boys’ team,” she said.

“But my friends stick up for me and say, ‘He feels like a girl so he can be on the girls’ team’.”

I hope it’s clear that the acceptance she’s felt from her peers is much more important than the specific pronoun they use. Yes, language matters, but I know I greatly prefer the support I get from a friend who genuinely accepts me as myself, even if they’re not up on all the lingo, to someone who talks the talk but doesn’t ultimately treat my identity as valid.

Further, this girl’s experience is a pretty great refutation of “won’t somebody think of the children!”-type moral panic. Actually, seems like the kids will be fine, provided adults don’t poison them with their own hateful ideas.

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

Top 20 Things That Owe Their Existence to Queers

pansexualpride:

Editors’ Note: Guest blogger Jeremy Redlien is the author/creator of the blog Queering the Closet and holds a B.S. in Philosophy, with a minor in Mathematics from SUNY Oneonta.

After reading the Bilerico Project’s list of the Top 20 Most Important LGBT Figures in History by Adam Polaski, I thought that it would be a good idea to create an entirely different sort of list. Rather then focusing on individuals, I decided to focus on the accomplishments of queer (or likely queer) individuals that had a positive or significant impact on human history.

Thus, I give you:

The Top 20 Things That Owe Their Existence to Queers (or at least a hearty thanks)

20 - Copernicus’s Model of the Solar System

Queer to thank: Georg Joachim Rheticus

Nicolaus Copernicus developed the heliocentric model of the solar system which still happens to be viewed as true today, despite the best efforts of the Flat Earth Society. In any case, Copernicicus’s work could have been lost, if it had not been for the efforts of George Joachim Rheticus. Copernican scholar Edward Rosen posited, “Is it going too far to claim that without Rheticus, no Copernicus, without Copernicus, no moving Earth; and without geodynamic astonomy, no modern science?” In 1551, Rheticus was accused of trying to seduce a 17 year old male, which resulted in Rheticus being exiled from Leipzig for 101 years

19 - Sexuality of the Human Male, Sexuality of the Human Female, Coming of Age in Samoa,Sex and Temperament in Three Primitive Societies

Queers to thank: Alfred Kinsey, Margaret Mead

Combined the above works led directly to what is referred to as the Sexual Revolution, a cultural phenomenon whose fallouts are still being felt today. It probably should not come as much of a shock that both of these individuals were bisexual. Kinsey experimented with sexual relationships with both sexes. Mead herself was married three times and letters published after her death revealed that she had an intimate relationship with Rhoda Metraux.

18 - The British Broadcasting Corporation

Queer to thank: John Reith, 1st Baron Reith

John Reith played a critical role in the formation of the BBC, so much the term Reithian became a word, describing his particular management style. The BBC model that Reith pionered - based around his summary of what the BBC’s mission should be, Inform, Educate, Entertain - also influenced other broadcast organizations such as PBS.

Reith himself was intimately involved with a man named Charlie Bowser, the depth and intimacy of the relationship which was revealed in Reith’s diaries when they were analysed by Ian McIntyre.

17 - Keynesian Economics

Queer to Thank: John Maynard Keynes

Keynesian Economics, first presented in the 1936 book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes, has profoundly influenced economic theory ever since. Keynesian Economics was the reason for the controversial stimulus plans backed by President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama.

Keynes was always open about his sexuality and the numerous affairs he had with men.

16 - Peanuts, Soybeans, Pecans & Sweet Potatoes

Queer to thank: George Washington Carver

Here is an exercise for anybody reading this list. Go to your fridge or any cabinet in your house. Pick an item at random. Chances are, the item you are now holding, would not exist in it’s current form if it were not for the work of George Washington Carver, a black man born in 1864 Missouri. Carver is credited with developing hundreds of uses for peanuts, soybeans, pecans, and sweet potatoes. He also developed or popularized uses for such products as diverse as shaving cream, bleach, buttermilk, chili sauce, instant coffee, linoleum, mayonaise, meat tenderizer, shoe polish, talcum powder, cosmetics, and synthetic rubber.

By promoting peanuts, soybeans, pecan trees, and sweet potatoes as alternative crops, Carver helped save agriculture in the south, as these products restored soil nutrients lost thanks to cotton farming, which monopolized farmland at the time.

Carver is thought to have been intimate with Austin W. Curtis, Jr.

15 - Eradication of Tuberculosis

Queer to thank: Alan L. Hart

In the early Twentieth Century, tuberculosis was the number one killer in the Unites States. Today, less then 10 percent of the U.S. population typically test positive for the disease and for those that are found to be infected, the chances of survival are dramatically better than they were 100 years ago. This can be attributed in part to the efforts of Alan L. Hart, who innovated numerous ways of detecting and treating the disease. Early detection methods pionered by Hart, such as using x-ray screenings, also helped prevent the disease from infecting more patients since doctors could quarantine those individuals found to have tuberculosis. His efforts are credited with helping to contain TB and therefore saving thousands of lives.

Born Alberta Lucille Hart, Alan L. Hart was among the first female to male transsexuals to have a hysterectomy and gonadectomy performed in the United States.

14 - Abolition of Slavery (United States)

Queer to thank: Abraham Lincoln
Honorable Mentions: Susan B. Anthony, Alexander Hamilton

Although slavery would not be abolished entirely in the Unites States until the passage of the 13th Amendment, it was Abraham Lincoln who first wrote the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves on a large scale. Without the Emancipation Proclamation or Lincoln’s leadership during the Amercan Civil War, the North could have lost and slavery would probably have continued in the Confederacy.

Lincoln wrote one of the earliest explicit gay themed poems in American literature and shared a bed with Captain David V. Derickson, who was the head of his guards.

Other notable queers involved in the abolishment were suffragette Susan B. Anthony and Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton even used Britain’s support for slavery as one reason for the colonies seceding from Great Britain.

13 - Woman’s Suffrage

Queer to Thank: Susan B. Anthony
Honorable Mentions, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, Nancy Cook, Jane Addams, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Charley Parkhurst, Eva Gore-Booth

Susan B. Anthony founded the National Woman Suffrage Association, one of the earliest organizations dedicated to woman’s rights in the United States. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton originally wrote the original draft of what would eventually become the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which reads as follows:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Other notable members of the suffrage movement include Anthony’s lover, Anna Elizabeth Dickinson, as well as Nancy Cook, who became the intimate of Eleanore Roosevelt.

Trivia: It is thought that Charley Parkhurst was possibly the first biological female to vote in the United States. Parkhurst was stagecoach driver in California and after his death in 1879, it was discovered that Parkurst was not biologically male.

12 - The Napoleonic Code

Queer to thank: Jean Jacques Régis de Cambacérès
Honorable Mention: Napoleon Bonaparte

The Napoleonic Code was written by Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, who was open about his sexuality and preference for men. The Napoleonic Code is one of the most influential documents of the modern era. Napoleon biographer Robert Holtman declared in his The Napoleonic Revolution that The Napoleonic Code was among the few documents to have changed the entire world.

The code was originally enacted in the European territories that Napoleon had conquered. Specifically, the Napoleonic Code forbade special privileges based upon birthright, secret or unpublished laws, special laws that applied to specific incidents, and ex post facto laws (laws written and applied to events that have already occurred). Just as importantly, The Napoleonic Code reformed judicial procedures and the treatment of criminals.

As for the Emperor himself, he was rumored to have had many male lovers among his aides, guards, and fellow soldiers. According to biographer Evangiline Bruce, Napoleon once wrote a note declaring that whenever he met a good looking man, Napoleons feelings were felt “first in the loins and in another place I will leave unnamed.”

11 - Helicopters & Modern Aviation

Queers to thank: Leonardo da Vinci, Howard Hughes

Leonardo da Vinci was the legendary Renaissance artist who was arrested twice following accusations that he had engaged in same-sex activity. Gian Giacomo Caprotti da Oreno, who inherited the Mona Lisa, had an unusually close and suggestive relationship with da Vinci. However, one possibility regarding who the real life subject of the Mona Lisa was provides a scintillating clue here. This proposal put forth by Susan Dorothea White, has that the Mona Lisa was actually a self portrait of Leonardo da Vinci in drag. Also, Keith Stern claims that an article published in the April 1995 edition of Scientific America described a computer scan that came to that conclusion as well.

As for helicopters, Leonardo da Vinci designed many fantastical mechanical devices, but unfortunately the materials necessary for those devices to actually work were not created until many years after his death. One such device was a primitive helicopter, with Leonardo’s design used as the inspiration for the modern flying contraption.

Howard Hughes was the producer and director for The Outlaw a movie filled with homoerotic subtexts (and Jane Russell’s bosoms). In her autobiography, Greta Keller claimed that Hughes engaged in a sexual relationship with her husband, David Bacon. Bette Davis who had a sexual relationship with Hughes, claimed that Hughes frequently liked to fantasize that she was a man.

Howard Hughes is credited with quite a few aviation innovations and set many world records flying air-planes that he had commissioned. Hughes was awarded several aviation awards, in addition to the Congressional Gold Medal in 1939 for his contributions to the industry.

10 - The Computer

Queer to thank: Alan Turring
Honorable Mentions: Lynn Conway, Mary Ann Horton, Sophie Wilson, Audrey Tang, Kate Craig-Wood

Alan Turing was an early pioneer in the field of computer science and artificial intelligence. His work included developing the Turing Test, which is intended to test if a computer has achieved human level sentience. He also helped design the ACE (Automatic Computing Engine) which was the first computer built in Great Britain. Turing’s numerous accomplishments have lead many to declare him the father of the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence.

Tragically, Alan Turing was convicted for committing homosexual acts and sentenced to probation and chemical castration. This punishment is thought to have led him to commit suicide in 1954 at the age of 41.

Lynn Conway is a computer engineer who first worked at IBM, but was fired in 1968 when she transitioned into a woman. She is credited with having developed numerous computer science innovations, many whose names make no sense to me, such as generalised dynamic instruction handling and Mead & Conway revolution in VLSI design.

Mary Ann Horton is a computer scientist and trans activist whose innovations aided the developement of Usenet and later the Internet itself. Sophie Wilson is a trans woman who designed the Acorn Micro Computer.

Audrey Tang, who transitioned from a man to a woman in 2005, is a Taiwanese free software programmer, who taught herself Perl at age 12 and is considered to be one of the “ten greats of Taiwanese computing.”

Kate Craig-Wood is a British innovater, co-founder and managing director of Memset, the first British carbon neutral ISP. She is a proponent of greater energy efficiency in electronic technology. Kate Craig-Wood transitioned in 2005.

9 - Christianity

Queer to thank: Alexander the Great
Honorable Mentions: Desideririus Erasmus, Théodore de Bèze, King James I

The exploits of Alexander the Great, who was lovers with Hephaestion, are legendary. Most people know that he conquered “the known world” spreading Greek culture as he went. What many people, outside of historians, are not so aware of, is that this hellenization (as Alexander’s spread of Greek culture is referred to) later helped ease the subsequent growth and spread of Christianity.

Desideririus Erasmus was the controversial writer/editor behind several influential editions of both the Old and New Testaments. Erasmus’s writings also included many letters to his fellow monk, Servatius Roger, that were highly suggestive and included phrases like, “You are half my soul… I have wooed you both unhappily and relentlessly.” Roger’s responses were usually more to the point and included phrases like, “What is wrong with you?”

Théodore de Bèze was a follower of John Calvin and played an important role in the Protostant Reformation. After the death of John Calvin, Bèze succeded Calvin as the leader of the reformation. Bèze was also criticized for a relationship he had with a young man, Audebert, whom Bèze wrote numerous love poems.

King James I, the man responsible for the King James Bible, had a secret passage that linked his royal bedchambers with those of George Villiers, with whom it was thought that King James I was intimate. He was also rumored/thought to have been intimate with others, including male courtiers, Robert Carr, and Esmé Stewart.

8 - The Great March on Washington & the Civil Rights Movement

Queers to thank: Bayard Rustin
Honorable Mentions: Alain LeRoy Locke, Langston Hughes, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, Alice Walker

Bayard Rustin was the chief organizer behind the 1963 March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Rustin was also a highly influential advisor to King and was the individual responsible for convincing King to adopt non-violence as a key strategy. Rustin was open about his sexuality and in 1986 gave a speech entitled “The New Niggers Are Gays”.

Other important contributions to the Civil Rights Movement came from Alain LeRoy Locke, Langston Hughes, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, and Alice Walker.

7 - The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, United Nations

Queer to thank: Eleanore Roosevelt

Eleanore Roosevelt chaired the committee that drafted The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has proven enormously influential on international law and U.N. policy since it was first adopted. Roosevelt also campaigned heavily for the formation of the United Nations and founded the UN Association of the United States for that purpose.

Roosevelt is thought to have been intimate with suffragette Nancy Cook.

6 - [Insert Title of Pretty Much Any Significant or Popular Work of Art]

Very short list of queers to thank: William Shakespeare, Sapho, Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde,Graham Chapin, Cole Porter, James Ivory, Roland Emmerich, Elton John, Langston Hughes,Dee Palmer, Leonardo Da Vinci, Donatello, Michelangelo, Rupaul, Lady Gaga, Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Lorraine Hansberry, Countee Cullen, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Octavia E. Butler, Billie Holiday, Jacqueline Woodson, Wanda Sykes, Bill T. Jones, Zora Neale Hurston, E. Lynn Harris,Alvin Ailey, Pedro Almodóvar, Charlie Anders, Molly Cutpurse, Candy Darling, Harisu, Dana International, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, Terre Thaemlitz, Pieter-Dirk Uys, Jin Xing, Antonia San Juan, Witi Ihimaera, Bessie Smith, Sylvester James

Nearly every artistic form, genre, and work, from the highbrow films of James Ivory to the lowbrow sci-fi action pornos of Roland Emmerich, to the pop songs of Lady Gaga, there is probably not a single work of art that does not owe some dept, to some queer, somewhere. If a work of art was not created by a queer, then it was probably inspired by some other work that was created by a queer.

5 - U.S. Constitution

Queer to thank: Alexander Hamilton
Honorable Mention: Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben

Although the Federalist Papers were written anonymously, historians generally attribute their primary authorship to Alexander Hamilton. The purpose of the Federalist Papers was to argue that the U.S. Constitution should be ratified by the states. Alexander Hamilton was possibly an intimate of John Laurens, to whom Hamilton wrote, “I wish, Dear Laurens, it might be in my power, by action rather than words, to convince you that I love you.”

Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben was an important military leader in the Revolutionary War, who helped General Washington install discipline into the entire Continental Army. A hero of the American Revolution, Steuben came to America and the aid of General Washington after he was accused of “improper relations” in his homeland of Prussia. Steuben was thought to have been the intimate of John H. Mulligan, William North, and Ben Walker.

4 - Philosophy

Queers to thank: Socrates, Plato
Honorable Mentions: Marsilo Ficino, Francis Bacon, Francesco Algaratti, Goerge Santayana,Gerald Heard, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Ram Dass, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Hazel Barnes, Marquis de Sade, Simone de Beauvoir, Allan Bloom, Judith Butler, Alain LeRoy Locke, Peter Gomes, Saint Anselm, Audre Lorde, Jane Addams, Didier Eribon, Raewyn Connell, Deirdre McCloskey

Thales may be credited as being the “first” western Philosopher, but it was Socrates, along with his student Plato, who took it to the next level. So radical and offensive were the notions of Socrates to the ancient Athenians, that he was pretty much the original Marilyn Manson. After Socrates was put to death following accusations of corrupting the Athenian youth and questioning the existence of the Gods, Plato fled Athens in disgust, before returning to found the original Academia.

In addition to having been teacher and student, Socrates and Plato are also thought to have been lovers. Plato argues in the Symposium that same-sex love is the highest form of love of all.

Trivia: Plato was the teacher of Aristotle and Aristotle in turn would tutor Alexander the Great, making the total influence of Plato and Socrates on world history and culture so great to be immeasurable.

3 - Calculus & Various Mathematical Theories

Queer to thank: Isaac Newton
Honorable Mentions: Andrey Nikolaevich Kolmogorov, Sofia Kovalevskaya, Alan Turing

Granted, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz developed calculus at the same time, so maybe calculus does not owe it’s existence to calculus. However, Leibniz’s and Newton’s versions of calculus differed on several points, so calculus can be said to at least owe a debt and a hearty thanks to both. Isaac Newton also developed an early way of calculating the roots of a function and made many other independent and significant contributions to the field of mathematics.

Isaac Newton is believed to have been intimate with Fatio de Duillier and Newton became depressed when Duillier moved out/broke up in 1693.

Other important mathematical theories were developed by queers such as Andrey Nicolaevich Kolmogorov and Alan Turing. Furthermore, anyone who thinks that a woman cannot compete with men on the same level with regards to fields such as mathematics should read the story of Sofia Kovalevskaya. What makes her notable was that Sofia was forbidden from studying mathematics in Russia, because she’s a woman. Outside of Russia, she was forced to obtain alternative means to obtain advanced degrees, as the university where she was studying would not even allow her to audit classes. Her contributions to the field of mathematics include the discover of the “Kovalevsky top” and the Cauchy-Kovalevski theorem.

2 - Modern Science

Queers to thank: Isaac Newton
Honorable Mentions: Alexander von Humboldt, Count Justus von Liebig, Alan Turing, Georg Joachim Rheticus

Isaac Newton did not develop calculus on a whim, he did it to help with his work creating the three laws of physics that bear his name. Newton’s theories held until Einstein came along and made everything relative. Physicists and engineers still rely on Newton’s equations in situations involving the macro universe and speed not approaching the speed of light. Furthermore, Einstein could not have developed his theories without the previous work of Newton.

Count Justus von Liebig developed the modern chemistry lab set up that is still used today.

1 - Democracy

Queer to thank: Solon of Athens
Honorable Mention: Alexander the Great

Solon of Athens is credited with instituting legal reforms that helped pave the way for the development of democracy in ancient Athens. Solon of Athens also composed poems expressing his love for boys.

The Hellenization brought about Alexander the Great, also helped with the spread of democracy, in addition to Christianity.

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

NBC Developing Progressive Comedy About A ‘Lesbo’

cassket:

NBC has bought a pitch for a comedy about a lesbian, which is great, but there’s a bit of a problem with the title: My Best Friend Is A Lesbo. Deadline reports:

The project, from Warner Bros TV and Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s studio-based Fake Empire, is about two best female friends — one straight, the other gay — who become roommates and help each other navigate life, love, and dating in Los Angeles. The semi-autobiographical comedy is based on the real-life friendship of writers and longtime roommates Sascha Rothchild and Randi Barnes, who will co-pen the script together.

Surely the title will be changed if the show makes it to the air, but you can’t expect studio executives to write out the entire word “lesbian,” or remember a title that doesn’t focus on one character’s “wacky” sexual orientation, just to prevent a few people from being offended. In fact, when NBC was developing Will & Grace, the working title was House of Homos.

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

Gay, Lesbian and Trans Elders, Pioneers Find Themselves Back in the Closet

cassket:

Filmmaker Stu Maddux’s new documentary, Gen Silent, takes a look at how LGBT elders, many of them gay rights pioneers from the McCarthy era on, are going back into the closet. With an estimated 2 to 7 million LGBT individuals over 65, this is no small issue. In the film, LGBT Aging Project Director Lisa Krinsky reports that 50 percent of nursing home employees believe “that their colleagues would be intolerant of LGBT folks.”

The numbers are staggering and the stories are heartbreaking. Residents at religiously affiliated instituions report staff “homemakers going in, taking out a Bible, and having the elder pray and asking for forgiveness.” Gary Shepard, a director at LGBT retirement center Spectrum, says he remembers a gay woman who was given a “feminine makeover” by staff after becoming senile. With these kinds of horror stories and the years of discrimination these people have experienced, it’s no wonder that there’s such a distrust of mainstream institutions among seniors.

LGBT elders are more likely to age alone. KrysAnne Hembrough, a transgender woman who appears in one of the six vignettes throughout the film, was rejected by her family after coming out and is fighting lung cancer on her own. Many gay couples have no children, some individuals had poor relationships with their “families of origin,” partnerships often go unrecognized and nursing home residents may reject their LGBT peers. This, combined with a staff unprepared to meet their needs, leaves residents without support systems either outside or within the institution.

“One of the most common lines we get is, ‘we don’t have any gay elders here,’” reports one man who is working to bring awareness to existing nursing homes. LGBT invisibility is only compounded by the conflation of queer identity with sexuality and the permeating belief that seniors are nonsexual people. Without supportive “homes” that validate them, families that respect them, school curricula that honor them, or a culture that celebrates them, LGBT elders are rendered invisible.

Not only are our queer forepeople much more worthy of respect than this, they’re invaluable resources and civil rights warriors. In the words of one woman, ”We have a whole generation of people who don’t know who we are, that’s really sad. We know a lot. You wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for us.“ With poll after poll showing that homophobia is aging and dying along with those who hold antiquated beliefs it can be easy to forget that elders are not monolithically intolerant. Sometimes wisdom really does come with age.

Gen Silent will be showing at film festivals and special screenings from now through mid-November. If it’s not coming to a city near you, you can opt to be notified when it’s made available for online streaming sometime this fall.

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ Is Officially Over

cassket:

As of 12:01 tonight, homosexuals are allowed to serve openly in the U.S. military! Though Republicans recently tried one last time tostall the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by claiming the new rules haven’t been adequately examined, Pentagon press secretary George Little said on Monday that 97% of the military has undergone training on the new law. He added, “No one should be left with the impression that we are unprepared. We are prepared for repeal.” In a few hours the Pentagon will start acting on applications it’s received from openly gay recruits, and official “Repeal Day” celebrations are scheduled around the country — but feel free to hold one wherever you are.

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

First Person in Scotland Convicted of “Offence Aggravated by Prejudice” Against Trans Woman

cassket:

TRIGGER WARNING: CISSEXISM, TRANSPHOBIA

Terry Porter, a soldier in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, has been fined £350 for trans* prejudice. He is the first person in Scotland to face this conviction.

Last May, Porter verbally abused and threatened Chloe Dow, who was staying her friend, Oliver Bond. Porter, who had been drinking heavily, showed up at Bond’s door at 3:50 a.m and knocked until he opened the door. After asking Bond about Dow’s gender, Porter moved towards her bedroom, yelling transphobic comments and threatening to “drag [her] out or knock [her] out.” When Dow answered the door, Porter called her disgusting, elbowed her, and continued to threaten her as he “was ushered out of the property.”

When the police arrived, they found Dow “extremely distressed,” which is not surprising. When Porter was arrested at his home, he denied committing assault, though he later admitted to his actions in court, including the fact that he was motivated by transphobia.

According to STV,

Solicitor Peter O’Neill, defending, said his client was “immature” and wanted to apologise to everyone involved in the case for the way he had behaved.

“I am sure it comes as no surprise that he had had a lot to drink,” Mr O’Neill said.

“The Army are aware of the charges. He will be disciplined. He accepts he has drunk far too much and cannot continue to behave in this manner. He has had no contact with Miss Dow since.”

Porter was fined £350, which is £150 more than the breach of peace fine. In March 2010, the Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Act, which was unanimously approved, made crimes motivated by sexual orientation, transgender identity, or disability considered aggravated offences. The Act states that when an offence is motivated by prejudice, the court must state in the conviction that that was the case and take it into consideration while sentencing (and has to also show the extent to which the sentence was harsher, and if it isn’t, explain why).

When the Act was passed, Dr. Paul Iganski, of Lancaster University, said,

“Clearly, when a person is targeted because of some aspects of their identity, in this case their disability, sexual orientation, or transgender identity, evidence shows that it hurts victims more than identical crimes that are carried out for similar reasons. Victims suffer particularly psychological or emotional harm and therefore offenders by getting an extra penalty are simply getting their just deserts — the greater the harm, the greater the penalty.”

That Porter’s sentence took the hateful motives behind his actions into account should be applauded. However, there are a few weird things about the case. According to STV, Porter didn’t know Dow previously, which, all things considered, makes no sense, unless he can read minds. It is difficult to show up at someone’s door and demand to know their gender identity if you do not actually know they exist. Also, Porter’s fine was increased from the amount it would have been if he had been charged only with breaching the peace. Breaching the peace, however, only covers behaving in a “riotous or disorderly manner, anywhere, which alarms, annoys, or disturbs the lieges (other people).” This covers the loud knocking and shouting, and the increased fine also takes into account the transphobic nature of that shouting, but it does not consider assault, which definitely took place. Most of the defence as discussed in the BBC seems to be “Sorry I committed assault, I was drunk,” which is, obviously, a terrible excuse.

This morning, Carl Watt, the director of Stonewall Scotland, told the BBC that: “Too many people in Scotland experience hate crimes, and many don’t report it because they think it won’t make a difference or because it happens on such a regular basis.”

While Porter is the first person to be convicted of trans* prejudice and law is generally a work in progress, a much harsher sentence, taking into account all of his actions, would have set a much better precedent for future instances of transphobia.

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

Argentina's big step towards true sexual equality

cassket:

The 15 July last year was a historic day for equality in Latin America. Argentina was the first country in the region to legalise same-sex marriage. People took to the streets in celebration after a long vigil in front of congress. The law, sponsored by the government of the president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, was the result of a long and arduous campaign by LGBTQ organisations and allies against conservative sectors led by the Catholic church.

Although it has not drawn as many international headlines, 18 August 2011 was yet another historic day for equality. The Argentinian congress began the debates for a proposed gender identity law. If passed, this law would allow transgender people to correct their names and gender on all legal documents, including birth certificates, IDs and passports through a quick procedure.

According to first-hand accounts in local media, never before have there been so many trans activists in a congressional debate session. The debates have been set in motion by four different projects, each supported by a group of legislators and NGOs, each of them with a slightly different approach to providing a legal framework for identity issues that are currently addressed through court procedures that leave the final decision in the hands of judges and magistrates. The main differences between projects are based on healthcare services for those who wish to undertake hormone and/or surgeries as part of the transition processes.

If congress approves one of these four projects, the gender identity law would be another landmark in Argentina’s efforts for LGBTQ equality. This path was initiated in 2007, when, in a meeting sponsored by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, the Yogyakarta Principles were launched as a global charter for gay rights at the United Nations human rights council. Due to resistance of several member states where homosexuality and gender identity are penalised, the principles have not yet been adopted worldwide. However, those initial accomplishments paved the way for Argentina’s deep social changes, which resulted in same sex marriage and could possibly grant trans people the right to recognition of their identities.

Argentinian LGBT Federation (FALGBT), together with ATTA (Asociación de Travestis, Transexuales y Transgéneros de Argentina), launched a media campaign to raise awareness of the proposed law and garner public support. The campaign, which includes videos and brochures, emphasises the recognition of gender identity without the need of medicalisation and the subsequent involvement of psychiatric or surgical procedures. Instead, their aim is the depathologisation of trans identities and the elimination of gender-related matters from the realm of psychiatry and the legal system. This campaign has also benefited from the recent high-profile case of Florencia Trinidad, a popular comedian who not only successfully exercised her right to identity through a verypublicised court case but also married her long-term partner and became a mother of twins through surrogacy last week.

A statement released by ATTA explains:

“Trans people suffer discrimination based on gender identity. Many of us are kicked from our homes and rejected by our families. Most of us could not finish school because the system expels us for being different. Even those of us who managed to finish school grow tired of searching for jobs and face nothing but closed doors. Most of us do not have an ID with our names and we have to put up with media referring to us as ‘transvestites’”.

Marcela Romero, ATTA’s national co-ordinator, elaborated on her experience: “Not having an ID for us means the denial of basic right to identity,” she said. “In addition to the moral damage, this lack of ID often limits our access to healthcare, excludes us from the education system, keeps us from getting a job, receiving retirement pensions or signing legally binding contracts. In many provinces, the police stop us, imprison us and kill us.”

The next few months will probably see virulent attacks against this law from the extremely conservative sectors that have not taken Kirchner’s approach to equality and inclusivity well. They will most likely attempt to derail the initiative with tactics previously seen during the debates in congress about same-sex marriage, when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires, regularly used his pulpit to speak out against the bill, which he deemed to be “a destructive attack on God’s plan”.

However, the president’s indisputable victory in the election primary two weeks ago gives LGBTQ organisations hope that this bridge can, once more, be successfully crossed. If that happens, Argentina will again make historical headlines and, given the regional traction that human rights campaigns are taking in South America, this might as well be the first one of several more to come in the continent.

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

Petition: Allow my transgender son to use a safe restroom at school!

inherhipstheresrevolutions:

Tommy Theollyn’s seven-year-old son — who we’ll call ”D.” — looks like a boy. While he was born biologically female, D. feels, deep in his heart, that he is a boy — and wears boys’ clothing and has short hair.

Tommy has done everything a caring parent would do to help a child going through a potentially tough time. D. has been to a psychologist and doctor, both of whom say that the right thing for Tommy to do is allow D. to live as a boy.

So Tommy is trying to do just that for his son. But there’s one big problem: D. has been denied access to the boys’ restroom — or a safe restroom — at his elementary school in Georgia. Since forcing D. to use the girls’ restroom effectively reveals that he is transgender to other children, this decision seriously threatens D.’s safety. Which is why Tommy made the heartbreaking decision to pull his son out of school.

But Tommy believes his son should have access to a safe restroom at school. That’s why Tommy started a petition on Change.org asking the McIntosh County Board of Education in Georgia to allow D. to use a safe restroom at school. Please sign Tommy’s petition today — and he will deliver your signatures to the board on September 15.

signal boost.

(Source: sluteverxxx, via feminismisforreal)

A dispatch from the International Copwatching Conference

cassket:

Police across the country are seeking closer ties with gay, lesbian and transsexual communities, but speakers at a recent international conference on policing questioned whether cops and queers make good bedfellows. 

 While noting that major police departments – most notably in Toronto – have developed queer community liaison programs, march in Pride parades and seem to take incidents of gaybashing more seriously, a number of prominent activists and researchers highlighted the costs of cooperating with law enforcement at the International Copwatching Conference, held in Winnipeg from July 22 to 24. 

“LGBT and women’s movements getting into bed with the police has not made women and trans people of colour safer,” said keynote speaker Andrea Ritchie, from the group Incite: Women of Colour Against Violence. “In fact, working with the police has made us less safe. 

“Policing is a system predicated on violence and sexual harassment. They’re constantly engaging in the policing of gender and sexuality – of classifying people as male/female, racial categories, class. Queer people are seen as disorderly and become objects of suspicion. Gender-nonconformist people are often stopped on the street, questioned or detained.” 

Speakers recalled the police crackdown on the G20 protests in Toronto last summer, emphasizing that the shocking images of mass arrests and tear gas and reports of police misconduct are nothing new in Canada. 

Gary Kinsman, a sociology professor at Laurentian University in Sudbury and co-author of The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation, spoke about organizing against the Toronto police raids on bathhouses in the 1980s. Those raids culminated in what was then the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. The mass-arrest record was unbroken until more than 1,000 were arrested during the G20 in Toronto last June. 

During the G20 protests, queer protesters reported being segregated into special holding cages, facing verbal abuse from police and being threatened with rape. These allegations are currently under investigation, but the Toronto Police Service has so far not responded. 

“We’ve seen an incredible mobilization of state power,” Kinsman said. “National security has always been targeted to expel some people from the fabric of the nation.”

Kinsman railed against claims that incidents of misconduct were the work of a few “rogue” police or mistakes of communication. The same excuses, he said, were made following the 1981 bathhouse raids. 

“[The raids] were blamed on individual homophobia in the police, or a rogue unit of cops,” he said. “But if you base your activism on these sorts of perspectives, you don’t get at the root cause. 

“We have to look at how the police are organized. After the G20, members of the queer community rallied against the police chief [Bill Blair] speaking at The 519 – but that’s not seen as part of what queer activism is about. It needs to be central. We need to work both within the law but also beyond the law.” 

The conference explored police accountability from a variety of perspectives, bringing together organizers from across Canada and the United States. The event was hosted by Winnipeg Copwatch, a civilian police monitoring group that films police on patrol, educates people about their rights and protests against police brutality. 

Racial profiling and racism against indigenous people featured prominently, as did discrimination against sex workers. In Canada, despite comprising only four percent of the population, indigenous people make up more than a quarter of the prison population. Those numbers are as high as 79 and 70 percent imprisoned in Saskatchewan and Manitoba respectively. 

Alexus Young, a two-spirited Metis filmmaker from Winnipeg, spoke of being abandoned by police outside Saskatoon on a winter night in the 1990s as part of the notorious “starlight tours” — which came to prominence after the freezing death of Neil Stonechild in 1990. Young said police left her without shoes or jacket in sub-zero temperatures, and she was saved only when an elderly white couple stopped to offer her a ride. 

“The police just decided I was a target,” the transgender artist said. “They just opened the door and said, ‘Get in.’ 

“I didn’t ask to be driven out of the city or sexually abused or beaten. I’ve lost three transgender sisters to violence. I never know if I will be attacked. But I won’t let that silence me. I now have a voice and I’m silent no more. As citizens we have to say, ‘That shouldn’t be happening.’”

(via djkjfjglgk-deactivated20120430)

Feminist Pizza: Attraction, penises, transmisogyny, and how a non-penis-liking person such as myself has had pleasurable sexual...

pianycist:

I very often hear people say that the reason they wouldn’t want to date or have sex with a trans woman because they’re ~not attracted to penis~. Apparently in the minds of people who say that, penis owners wear huge signs on their heads with detailed drawings of their penises on them, and you can spot a trans woman from a mile away by the fact that she has one such sign on her face.

I really don’t think that the actual state of a person’s genitals has anything to do with whether or not you are sexually attracted to them. The assumption that a person has a certain set of genitals might influence whether or not you are attracted to them, or how strongly you experience attraction to them, but you generally do not know what the person’s actual genitals look like when you’re attracted to them. You generally also don’t know whether they are cis or trans*, unless if they have told you, but let me get back to penises for a moment.

I also very often think about how many people generally assume that if the partners involved in a sexual activity have at least one penis between them, they are obligated to use it in their activity. Maybe it’s because I’m a kinky person, and maybe it’s because I’m asexual (albeit one of those ~dirty~ asexuals who likes sexual activity), but I really don’t see why it’s necessary to involve any available penis in your sexual activity, if there are penis owners involved.

The only person I have had sexual experiences with had a penis. We didn’t involve it in our sexual activities because I was very clear with him beforehand that I found penises to be a turnoff. So his penis was not involved. And we got creative and both enjoyed ourselves a lot, to say the least.

The analogue of “I’m only attracted to women who are cis because I don’t like penises (despite that not all trans women currently have penises)” for me, would be “The only men I am attracted to are trans guys because I don’t like penises (despite that many trans guys have penises).” But this isn’t true, despite that it’s true that I don’t like penises. In fact, most of the men I have been attracted to have happened to be cis, probably because there are more cis men than trans men in the world. The only person I’ve done sexual things with was a cis man. My not liking penis does not lead to my not being attracted to cis men, especially because I can’t actually tell which men are cis and which are not unless they tell me.

That said, if I were attracted to a trans woman, which is unlikely because I am generally not attracted to women, her genitals would be a non-issue, because if I had sexual activity with her, her genitals wouldn’t be involved at all, regardless of how they were configured. The same for a cis woman.

So anyone who says “The only women I’m attracted to are cis women because I don’t like penises” is being a huge transmisogynistic jackass and making a ton of assumptions. They’ve probably been attracted to a trans woman at some point and not known it, for the reason that trans women don’t wear pictures of penises on their faces.

(Source: metapianycist)

My name escapes their minds: A note to all non- queer desis from a particularly agitated queer desi

thesavagesalad:

Yes yes, we do exist. No, it’s not because of GLEE, or Gaga or that one movie with John Abraham and Abhishek Bachan. We’ve actually been around for a really fucking long time. And we’re not that itty bitty fragment of wtf-ery in the diaspora either. We’re your brother, your sister, mother, father, uncle, insert any family member and we’re one of those. We’re that one chick who’s face you partially ate in your attempt to be a randy mofo. We’re that one dude you kept pining over because he fit your mothers bill so hard that you would think said mother would turn back the years so she could pine over him harder than you ever did.

We’re that one person who you assumed was just a “tough girl” when the reality was he was a dude born with a body society would typically perceive as female. We’re the Hijra that your bros cuss at to boost your fucked up perception of manhood when the reality is, is that you’d secretly want one of us to be all over you.

We’re all of these identities, some of these identities, none of these identities, and identities that I unfortunately don’t have the capacity to list due to my partial inebriation at this time of the day. 

The thing is, in our collective pursuit to bring visibility to our dear diaspora- to battle the racism that’s thrown our way on a normal basis, it is mega invalidating and even intimidating when you use our sexual identities as slurs and insults. Or you lesser our experiences by saying that “God/ society/ nature doesn’t approve of what you are so no, you don’t a place in our community”. Because it’s not like the person who represented the majority has never used that same excuse in regards to your ethnicity, religion or social standing /sarcasm

Look, I love the identity I have as a South Asian. I love being involved with the community and I’d defend our community to the death if I had to if anything would come up that would lesser our well being. But why is that when I accept my queer identity be it gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual, unidentified or that I may be trans or non gender specific- that I have to be rejected from the outer community? Why is it that my rights as somehow seemed lesser or null, despite how hard we’d fight for you? 

Why is it that we have to lose our friends and family because of our honesty?

Our security?

To listen to the next pompous arse wipe telling us that our queerness is an insult to our communities?

This list could go on and on and on and even then not every base would get covered.

The thing is, you engaging in the homophobic, transphobic dialogue? You hating on the one dude who acts effeminate? The chick who you think doesn’t act “girly enough”? Engaging in the instant rejection or public outing of someone? Or even the spreading of rumours suggesting the one person you don’t like  is gay like as if it’s a bad thing?

When you do, support, ignore or don’t do anything to prevent these things- you’re really having a hand in all the things that make our desi communities so damn toxic. You’re pushing us in a place where even an “It Gets Better” video won’t do the trick. You become that hypocritical piece of crap who’ll further you beliefs at the expense of a minority- just like the people you loathe always did. I don’t write this with the intent of bad things happening to you- but the same way it cuts you deep when some one in charge, or someone you admire says something racist, Islamophobic or something totally horrid about your family or system of beliefs, then think about us for bit. Because not only do we have to deal with that, but the anti-queer sentiment so common in our communities.

I guess this awfully long and poorly worded note is simply asking for is some basic decency and respect in the way that you talk about us queer desis. A show of some sense of humanity. Just something that says that “our community is always here for you, no matter how you identify or who you love”

[image description: cartoon image of a small child lying in the road in the rain.]

All of this

(via juthikaforpresident-deactivated)