Seattle Trans March kicks off Pride with 2000

SEATTLE - Gay pride is a mainstream cause in Seattle, symbolized by a glittering Sunday parade that in recent years has moved from the LGBT heartland of Capitol Hill to Fourth Avenue downtown.

TransPride, the cause of the transgender community, is newer, edgier and angrier, the product of continued discrimination abroad in society and mistreatment even at home in the LGBT community.

But a TransPride rally, on a cool Friday night, drew to Cal Anderson Park a crowd of nearly 2,000 people.

"It is amazing to see you all. What a ***damned gorgeous crowd. I could not imagine this growing up, which is not too long ago. You were lucky if you knew even one other trans person," said keynote speaker Elena Rose, a writer and religious scholar.

Kai Green, a writer-poet-filmaker from California, described twin prejudices that make for the edginess: "I think homophobia is still with us, and trans-phobia still exists in the gay community. These are two things that we have to tackle simultaneously."

Transgendered people have long been stigmatized, but Green argued that they cannot be stereotyped. "We come in all different shades of color, from all class backgrounds, from all parts of the country. There is no single 'trans background,'" he added. "It's part of the reason why the trans movement intersects all sorts of movements about social justice." More at KOMO News

Homeless Transsexual New Bohemian Pays it Forward Hoping To Build An LA Empowerment Center

There is a New Bohemian, a transsexual sister on the streets, and she wants to pay it forward. Alexis is raising awareness of the plight of the city's homeless trans population and hopes to empower our dispossessed community in the Los Angeles area.

She is petitioning Guyton Colantuono, Director of Interim Housing at People Assisting The Homeless (Path) asking that this non-profit help builds a Transsexual Empowerment Shelter based in LA.

Alexis is seeking 200 signatures for her Petition. When that goal is reached, she will take it to Mr. Colantuono and is confident he will help.

The need is real. We read about our slain sisters almost daily and really, 200 signatures isn't asking a lot. So I asked Alexis to tell us about herself and what she hopes to accomplish.

In her own words.....

I have always wanted there to be more attention brought to helpful resources that improve people's lives.

In Nov of 2013, I had some very tough personal things going on in my life that was deeply affecting my outlook. I had had some friends come in my life that were instrumental in helping me avoid isolation, I had been homeless for a couple of years following a heartbreaking divorce...
It wasn't easy to get through those months because when I entered homelessness I had to distance myself from a previous support network of friends, I didn't want to have my friends see me as a failure because I lost my family, home and job. I was the provider that people counted on and I was feeling defeated, humiliated and exhausted.

At the same time I had been helping many people on the streets with empowering themselves and I was feeling abandoned by my community because I felt so isolated.

I was communicating the same shelter/center ideas with many organizations in the non profit world, but nothing was really being done it seemed.

I had some new acquaintances enter my life that became my friends and they were in the trans community. When I was feeling like nobody cared, they showed me that in fact some people do care, and aided me with some much needed support.
I had to put things into perspective, I was no longer feeling alone, I had finally found other good hearted people in the community that helped me hold things together emotionally and my heart started healing.
Knowing that I would pay it forward I began to revisit the ideas I had for the community that were geared towards improving another's life.

I knew I had a good design for a empowerment program/shelter and wanted to see it go from an idea to a reality.

So I pursued it while I still had a momentum.

I don't enjoy popularity and don't want to be considered a leader of trans people. I believe in equality where everyone can lead themselves and we have no hierarchy. I am a very private person and I don't like a lot of attention, so it's difficult for me be an advocate and have my privacy surrendered.
I realized I had to do something though so I followed my heart. It has taken me here...

So, to answer your question...

I have had people in the community help me stay strong enough to follow through with tackling the challenges and working together to improve our shared community. And it just became apparent that I had some pretty revolutionary ideas on how to do that. I felt it to be a worthy challenge to follow through with.

I have lived in two shelters and dealt with much abuse and want to see a world where trans people can enter a shelter and get treated with respect. I have lived on the streets for almost 3 years, aside from a brief exodus.

This shelter/center is about community and discovering a support network while improving the quality of life for yourself and those around you.
It is a dream I have always had.

Please sign her Petition and we can all pay it forward.

Armed and dangerous Quamar Edwards wanted for the murder of Ohio transgender woman

Considered armed and dangerous Quamar Edwards is
 wanted for the murder ofTransgender woman Tiffany Edwards. 

Police said Quamar Edwards, who is of no relation to the victim, is wanted for the murder of transgender woman Tiffany Edwards. Quamar Edwards is 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds and was last known to live in the 1000 block of Winfield Avenue in West Price Hill.

Tiffany Edwards, 28, was found Thursday morning dead of an apparent gun shot wounds according to Outlook Columbus.

Edwards’ death is the fourth murder of a transgender woman in Ohio in the past 18 months, and the third murder of a young transgender woman of color:

• Cemia “CeCe” Dove, 20, was killed in January 2013 and her body was found three months later in a pond outside Cleveland. Andrey Bridges, 36, was convicted in November and sentenced to life in prison.

• Betty Skinner, 52, was found dead in her Cleveland apartment in December by a home health worker.

• Nicole Kidd Stergis, 22, was found dead in a car in Cleveland, also in December. She had been beaten to death. Delshawn Carroll, 19, was arrested and charged with aggravated murder earlier this month.

Anyone with information regarding this homicide should contact CrimeStoppers at 513-352-3040.

"Boy" Short Danish film about a FTM Teen

BOY er STAMMEN's hovedproduktion 2014. Produceret hos Station Next.
Emilie er født som en pige, men indeni føler hun sig som en dreng.
Description
BOY

Cast:
Laura Hancock
Christina Selden... See More
Plot Outline
Emilie er født som en pige, men indeni føler hun sig som en dreng.
Emilie is born as a girl, but inside she feels herself as a boy.
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Via Cross Dreamers Tumblr

Trans Latino teen Jane Doe's transfer out of solitary is only a partial victory

Jane Doe, the 16 year old transgender teen , who committed no crime, has been freed from solitary yesterday. This happened because her family, that's us, didn't allow her wrongful imprisonment in solitary to stand.

The Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF), her legal guardians since age 5, were literally forced to take action thanks to unrelenting advocacy, legal representation by Aaron Romano, social media and outstanding articles from mainstream newspapers like the Hartford Current, and the New Haven Register.

Janes transfer to the Middletown Albert J. Solnit Psychiatric Center is only slightly better.

According to the Boston Globe DCF Commissioner Joette Katz said

‘‘Given the progress Jane Doe has made, we are convinced that this interim step of placing her today in our program for girls in Middletown is a more appropriate place for her than the adult York Correctional Institution,’’ Katz said in a statement. ‘‘This certainly has been a difficult ordeal for Jane Doe, and I am hopeful that she will continue to heal from the very traumatic experiences she has suffered.’’

Jane's lawyer Aaron Romano is horrified that Commissioner Katz would consider Solitary confinment which is defined as torture, therapeutic!

‘It shocks the conscience that the commissioner makes a claim that jail serves a therapeutic purpose for a child,’’ he said.


Saying Journalist Andy Thibault blew the lid off DCF Commissioner Joette Katz lies regarding the departments treatment of Jane Doe would be a understatement. Thibault nuked DCF with COOL JUSTICE: DCF boss / ex-judge Katz has robitis bad, and that ain’t good.

Thibault then followed up like a bull dog unrelenting hounding Commisioner Katz's every injustice on his blog Cool Justice.

Q: How do we fight against a system that oppresses the most vulnerable among us? A: We fight the system together, shoulder-to-shoulder.
— Justice for Jane (@Justice4JaneCT) June 25, 2014

Struggle isn't over: Middletown is improvement over prison but still locked unit. And there are many John/Jane Does suffering in DCF&prison
— Justice for Jane (@Justice4JaneCT) June 24, 2014

Candle Light Vigil For Yazmin Shancez Draws Hundreds

31-year-old transgender woman Yazmin Shancez's body was found shot and shot and burned beyond recognition behind truck rental business in Fort Myers Florida Thursday.

"While the police aren't calling this a hate crime her family says it took plenty of hate for something like to this to happen" ~ Fox 4 News

200 people came to remember a life ended too soon and way to violently for moral people to comprehend. Picture gallery



Anyone with information is asked to call the Fort Myers Police Department at 239-321-7700, Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS or text message C-R-I-M-E-S (274637) Keyword FMPD.