The Begining

The Circle of Dionysos do an awesome queer circle at Pantheacon.

Chewey blog entry.

The Prop 8 debate is on in the CA court. Our prez hasn't offered his opinion yet. Let's encourage him to do so: http://www.eqca.org/site/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=kuLRJ9MRKrH&b=5574543&en=fwJ1KdNQJiIWL6OQLfJ0KdPPJkLZIiO3IiLWLbMZKkJ2IrOeE

http://transgenderlawcenter.org/pdf/StateTransCA_report_2009Print.pdf

The report includes recommendations for many institutions on what they can do to avoid discriminating against trans people.

Thank ghod for TLC!

from the report:
Good News
Transgender Californians have been legally protected from discrimination and harassment in employment since 2004.
Transgender respondents are almost twice as likely to hold a bachelor’s degree as the general California State population.
Transgender Californians have been legally protected from discrimination and harassment in housing since 2004.
California prohibits discrimination in public accommodations, including medical care, based on gender identity.

Bad News
Seventy percent of the transgender community reports experiencing workplace harassment or discrimination directly related to their gender identity.
Transgender respondents are twice as likely to be living below the poverty line of $10,400 when compared to the general population.
1 in 5 respondents have been homeless since they first identified as transgender.
Thirty percent of the community reports postponing care for illness or preventive care due to disrespect or discrimination from doctors or other health care providers.

Interesting ramifications indeed. WA state is embroiled in a battle around a trans man's legal status; when he can legally be called a man. The attorney wants the definition to be about reproduction capacity. Isn't that nice? This after all of the work the medical/theraputic community has put into understanding and making definitions that acknowledge gender is about identity, not 'bits'. Not that that community has't got a helluva long way to go yet. ;-)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/03/2675154.htm

I thought it was interesting the attorney was resisting going with the ruling that being a man was not legally connected to the ability to bear children (described as having or not having a hysterectomy, though of course it's more complicated than that); becuase of the challenges he foresaw in the legal system.

He has a point. The occasional trans man who bears a child will likely make for an occasionally complex legal sitations. Yet there are a lot of complex legal issues, and one or two have revolved around offspring (we're not terribly good at the whole best-for-the-child thing). I don't think one additional thorn is gonna bring down legal civilization.

I don't believe an entire class of people should have their legal gender dependent upon a possible legal inconvenience. 'Let's make sure x can't happen by taking away all those people's identity.' I appreciated the phrasing though... clearly the attorney general wasn't thinking about the lives of actual people, but of just the legal system (doing his job, I'm sure). Which is supposed to be for the lives of actual people. As originally conceived. These things take on a life of their own.

Of course, speculating gently, without some finesse, legal women without a uterus could be defined as legally male... I'm sure that would be a winner. And then there are those inconvenient intersex people...

As wit all medical and legal stuff, it's also interesting to consider how few trans people there are. At that level, it also seems crazy to put effort into making laws which restrict so few people. Isn't that a basic definition of discrimination; to hold against the minority?

Here's hoping the State Administrative Tribunal's ruling stands.

Peter Toscano. Amazing Christian view on transgender. If you're interested in the topic, watch the video.

I'm not Christian, but wow, I know a lot of folks have suffered around the intersection of that religion and their gender identity.

7/16 Follow on - today I called the local office of each of my representatives. It took three minutes to do both. :-)
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--- some of us queer folks lie so we can give blood, some of us don't donate at all, in protest/compliance with the stupid no gay guys rules. Here's a hope for sanity -

from: http://www.thebody.com/content/whatis/art51602.html
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation • U.S. News

California Proposal Would Lift FDA Ban on Blood Donations From MSM

May 4, 2009

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Find out who your legislative reps are at:  http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

and give 'em a call!

I gotta track down more of Larkin Grimm's work She is fascinating. This article has one video of her performing lakeside.

http://coilhouse.net/2009/06/17/larkin-grimm-advanced-shapeshifter/

Now she would be a cool role model for girls! Scare just about everybody in all the best ways. :D