6/3/14

WHO Issues joint statement condemning forced, coercive and involuntary sterilization

The World Health Organization report begins by acknowledging that sterilization is the most-used contraceptive method and fully acceptable by consenting adults who choose it freely.

There in lays the problem. According to Transgender Europe 21 countries in Europe require forced sterilization for identity recognition of a trans person.

In the age of enlightenment TWENTY ONE countries!

RED Sterilization Required
Grey Legal Gender Reconiztion 
Blue Sterilization Not Required

Source World Health Organization (WHO):

Like any other contraceptive method, sterilization should only be provided with the full, free and informed consent of the individual. However, in some countries, people belonging to certain population groups, including people living with HIV, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities, and transgender and intersex persons, continue to be sterilized without their full, free and informed consent .

Other individuals may also be at risk of coercive sterilization, such as persons with substance dependence.While both men and women are subject to such practices, women and girls continue to be disproportionately impacted.


Sterilization without full, free and informed consent has been variously described by international, regional and national human rights bodies as an involuntary, coercive and/or forced practice, and as a violation of fundamental human rights, including the right to health, the right to information, the right to privacy, the right to decide on the number and spacing of children, the right to found a family and the right to be free from discrimination. Human rights bodies have also recognized that forced sterilization is a violation of the right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

International human rights bodies and professional organizations have explicitly condemned coercive population policies and programmes, noting that decisions about sterilization should not be subject to arbitrary requirements imposed by the government (36–38) and that states’ obligations to protect persons from such treatment extend into the private sphere, including where such practices are committed by private individuals, such as health-care professionals. Coerced and/or forced sterilization of women has also been characterized as a form of discrimination and violence against women. Any form of involuntary, coercive or forced sterilization violates ethical principles, including respect for autonomy and physical integrity, beneficence and non-maleficence.

This statement aims to contribute to the elimination of forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization. It reaffirms that sterilization as a method of contraception and family planning should be available, accessible, acceptable, of good quality, and free from discrimination, coercion and violence, and that laws, regulations, policies and practices should ensure that the provision of procedures resulting in sterilization is based on the full, free and informed decision-making of the person concerned. It highlights guiding principles for the prevention and elimination of coercive sterilization and provides recommendations for legal,

Eliminating forced, coercive and otherwise involuntary sterilization - An interagency statement

CRPD United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
OHCHR Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
UN Women United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
UNAIDS Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNFPA United Nations Population Fund
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
WHO World Health Organization


6/1/14

Referendum effort FAILS in Maryland. Transgender people to keep citizenship rights

Standing at the Secretary of State's office in Annapolis at midnight key leaders in the effort to pass the law were overjoyed when no one appeared to submit signatures.  Therefore, the Fairness for All Marylanders Act will go into effect as planned on October 1.
Immediately, after the Fairness for all Marylanders act was passed ultra-right wing delegate Del. Neil Parrott announced that he would try to repeal it.

The specter of having a majority vote on a minority's right is daunting enough. Added to that PETITION. MD had a slick online process with which they had previously collected enough signatures to force votes on progressive legislation.

But this time the public wasn't taken in with their hate mongering, dismissing the fears that were trying to instill in them by warning of predictors who were actually men, but in their minds thought they were a woman (sic) Transgender woman, who would use the "Bathroom Bill" to prey on children.

Having lived in Maryland this was personal. In 2011, I was a part of coalition of transgender people who fought tooth and nail against Equality Maryland. We opposed a trans bill supported by them and HRC that was stripped of public accommodations provisions, resulting with the implosion and subsequent rebuilding of EQMD.

This year they got it right and besides a little inconsequential sour grape by wannabe stars, the whole community got behind this.

The tension increased with every tick of the clock as May 31, 2014 as Midnight was the cutoff for Petition.Com to submit the required signatures.

Source HRC Blog:

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Midnight in Annapolis: Opponents of Fairness for All Marylanders Act Fail to Send Law to Ballot

May 31, 2014 by Marty Rouse, National Field Director.

Pictured right: Delegate Luke Clippinger, Senator Rich Madaleno, Carrie Evans and Keith Thirion of Equality Maryland.

In May, Governor Martin O'Malley proudly signed the Fairness for All Marylanders Act that added gender identity and expression to Maryland's non-discrimination law. However, an opponent of the law, Delegate Neil Parrott, launched a signature collection effort to put the law on the November ballot.

The deadline to submit the first third of the required signatures to the Secretary of State was midnight last night, May 31.

Standing at the Secretary of State's office in Annapolis at midnight key leaders in the effort to pass the law were overjoyed when no one appeared to submit signatures. Therefore, the Fairness for All Marylanders Act will go into effect as planned on October 1.

HRC was proud to be a leader in the effort to pass the bill along with Equality Maryland and others. We also recognize the strong and strategic support from Senator Rich Madaleno and Delegate Luke Clippinger.

P.S. On a personal note it was very special to be standing in Annapolis at midnight with others for whom the fight for LGBT equality is more than just politics; it is personal. Why else would we all be standing outside the Secretary of State's office at midnight? For years, it has been my pleasure and honor to get to know Senator Rich Madaleno and Delegate Luke Clippinger. Their personal commitment to and leadership on marriage and transgender equality has helped make Maryland a national leader on equality. They are dedicated public servants.

Carrie Evans, Executive Director of Equality Maryland, and a former colleague at HRC, has fought hard and smart for LGBT equality for well over a decade. Her personal commitment and political savvy has helped make history in Maryland and beyond. I'm honored to be standing alongside such leaders, no matter the hour.

**************


Big Earls Bait shop and Bar East Texas Gets a Big LGBT Make Over.



Just a few days ago a couple were told we don't like fags and told not to come back to a east Texas eatery and bait shop. "We don't want men wearing dresses coming here" said Big Earl who owner of big Earls Bait Shop just east of Pittsbug Texas .

If Big Earl was talking about them thar transsexuuals, I guess he meant me. I live in Fort Worth, which is a fairly friendly place so I was taken aback by Earls hostility.

Since then Big Earls has had a total makeover, becoming one of the best known stops for LGBT people in east Texas. Earl says y'all come on down to big Earls. According toYELP and Google reviews the food sucks but you might get a lap dance from the big toothless queen, if you are lucky.

KLTV.com-Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville, Texas | ETX News


5/31/14

Two arrested for attacking and stripping transgender woman on a MARTA train

Two of the men who attacked the transgender woman last week on the MARTA train have been arrested. The ensuing fight which resulted in one of the woman being stripped naked made global news.

Source The Alanta Journal-Constitution:

MARTA Police have arrested two men for their alleged involvement in a fight last week that was caught on video and went viral on the internet.
Frederick L. Missick and Luther L. Thomas were charged with disorderly conduct and have been suspended from the transit service, MARTA officials said.
Two passengers said the fight began after they were harassed by Missick and Thomas because they are transgender, MARTA officials said. Although the brawl was taped by other passengers, MARTA officials say the investigation was hampered by a lack of witnesses willing to come forward.
Missick, 35, was arrested today, according to jail records. Thomas, 34, was arrested Thursday. Both are being held at the Fulton County Jail on $2,500 bond.
Jail records show that Thomas has been arrested twice before by MARTA police. In December 2005, on charges of simple battery, theft by taking and criminal reproduction and sale of recorded material.


Feds spend $200K to find out why transwoman on Facebook get HIV/AIDS and addicted at disproportionately high rates.

From the are you out outta your fucking federated mind file.

The Free Beacon  reports that  "The Friends Research Institute", based in Maryland, received $194,788 last month to begin the project operating on the premise that due to “transphobia” transgendered women are forced to use social media as an outlet, often leading to risky sexual behaviors."

“As a result of discrimination/stigma, prejudice, and individual and structural forms of transphobia, transwomen form dense communities comprised primarily of other transwomen,” it said."

"The latest government research project argues that transwomen use social network websites to “develop social support structures, connect with members of their community, receive positive and re- affirming perspectives on their gender identity, and inform behavioral norms.” They also use online groups to gain illegal hormones and find “sex work partners,” according to the grant."

The grant will enable researchers to understand why our using Facebook as a medium for socializing leads to drug addiction, barebacking, wild drug parties and prostitution.

The sound of screeching brakes followed by a thick blue cloud of WTF?

OK, maybe I don't travel in circles that encourage chasers or drug use and I'm sure there are groups of people on Facebook who leave themselves open to suggestions for said activities, but as a preponderance of purpose for us to facebook I'm like, are you outta of your ever loving federated minds?

When I lived on the street the last thing I had money for was Internet. Seriously feds, get a grip.

Or am I just naive? You tell me. Is there an increased risk of HIV infection should I click the facebook icon?

I know I'm a constant target for predators there, and I suppose if I were young dumb and full of estrogen I might have actually met one of those men who have tried to engage me. Today someone started a PM and quickly asked if I wanted to 'party' and see pictures of him. Was that one of the fed's hand puppets?

Or was that a missed opportunity to become re-addicted to sex and drugs?

In any case I feel like I am being spied on by the federal government in the only safe space I know of. Hey feds I got a message for you. FUCKING FUCK OFF and leave us alone. Yes this is the only safe place we have to gather. DUH? Put that in your study and smoke it.

Or is this study a good idea? Supposedly this study will be contained to "IPAD Studies" and not entail  casually trolling our pages like I'm sure that they did in the first place in order to get the idea for the grant.


Is Laverne Cox helping or hurting transgender people?

This magazine rip off is not a exercise in narcissism. I just fit all of the parameters.

With the recent plethora of gorgeous gender conforming trans spokes people, I have a question. What about the 99%? The people who nominally fit stereotypical gender expectations? Or what about those of us who don't fit at all.

And what of those of us who refuse to conform at all? Those people were once covenanted for their nonconformity as pioneers. Will they now be considered pariahs?

Personally I think this has been great, like riding a social tsunami triggered by the overwhelming female humanity of Laverne Cox.
But what happens after we are washed up 100 miles inland stranded alone in our personal realities dealing with anxiety, the kind that convinces so many us to get 'pumped'?

One gender therapist warns us to be aware of the machine that is making this happen saying
And how can we not be left with our mouth agape at the head-to-toe shot of actress and trans activist Laverne Cox. The caption reads, “Laverne Cox, a star of Orange is the New Black, is one of an estimated 1.5 million Americans who identify as transgender.” I have watched hundreds of my social media friends in the transgender community commenting on this cover story with astonishment, joy, and hope. My own initial reaction was one of shock, followed by great excitement.

However, as the day progressed on, and the news continued to spread, and the comments continued to pour in, I felt something…unsettling come up for me about it. I couldn’t put my finger to it until I had a conversation with one of my clients, when I asked her what she thought of the upcoming cover story.
Laverne Cox is now the “face,” and therefore the voice, of the Transgender Population in the eyes of many Americans.

Now…let us not forget that Ms. Cox also just happen to be drop-dead gorgeous.
So let’s be honest about what that means as we look at this snapshot of this moment in time (no pun intended).
There was a conscious decision made to put Ms. Cox on the cover of TIME magazine. Not a montage of “everyday transgender folks” that included persons having many different experiences, including those who transitioned from female-to-male and who are gender non-conforming.
This is a glamorous photo of a very feminine, well-dressed, television actress who happens to be transgender. This photo represents the entire “transgender civil rights movement.”

Continue reading what DARA HOFFMAN-FOX says via her facebook post. Its thoughtful, respectful and insightful......