4/12/14

Trans twitter engineer Dana McCallum accused of spousal rape

Dana McCallum Photo Business Insider

Transgender twitter engineer Dana McCallum has been charged with five felonies according to the SF Examiner:
"McCallum, 31, who was born a male, openly identifies as a female and whose legal name is Dana Contreras, was charged Jan. 29 with five felonies, including three counts of spousal rape, one count of false imprisonment and one count of domestic violence, according to the District Attorney's Office. She has since pleaded not guilty."

The rest of the story is essentially speculative, offering no further evidence. The comments are filled with TERF's using it as a gotcha moment. Yes TERF's most transgender people have original plumbing for many reasons. Most everyone already knew that. Dana McCallum's last tweet:




Monica Jones, AZ Transgender woman convicted of the crime "Walking While Trans"

The day after Monica Jones was profiled protesting the failed religious discriminatory law in Phoenix, she was offered a ride while walking to a bar. The driver turned out to be an undercover police officer who then arrested her for "manifestation of prostitution'.

This law is a vague statue which enables officers to arrest woman for no other reason than asking if they are police. The law is used to feed people to "Project Rose" as the city conducts massive drag nets hauling in dozens of individuals at a time. This profiling of woman by police is contested by the Arizona ACLU which notes that "The difference between 'innocent' and 'criminal' behavior often comes down to how a person looks.

A 2011 study  in NYC found that 59% of transgender respondents said that they had been stopped by police. So over half of our sisters in NYC had they lived in Phoenix would have faced the prospect of "Project Rose".

Busted for "Walking While Trans"




Since Jones hadn’t been previously charged with similar ‘crimes’ she was offered a deferral if she enrolled in “Project Rose” and successfully completed it.

Project Rose, which has a 28 percent success rate, shouldn't be condemned for its low percentage of successful completions. But anyone who has gone through drug rehab knows that number is most likely inflated and since there is no information available on the recidivism rate it is pretty meaningless.

In conception, it's not a bad idea except.....knowing a conviction was guaranteed leaving no option,

It requires a person, who may or may not have broken a law, help in finding employment, even if they don't want that help...



Jail or Church?


Project Rose's capstone is religious and moral programing, even if they don't want it.
"Catholic Charities DIGNITY Diversion programs offer those arrested for prostitution the opportunity to avoid jail time. Offenders attend intense education to divert them from re-offending.

Run in conjunction with the City of Phoenix Prosecutor’s Office, our program provides 36 hours of self exploration and education to develop self esteem and give hope. Participants also receive rehabilitation services including support, education, and treatment to help them escape prostitution. Job placement assistance is also provided. Those who complete the program have their charges dismissed."



Monica Jones bucked the trend and decided to fight this unjust, unconstitutional law saying
"I believe I was profiled as a sex worker because I am a transgender woman of color, and an activist

But the court refused to recognize the unconstitutionality of the law and convicted Monica even though two witness testified that the officer was the one who approached Monica, invalidating the key provision of the law leading to her arrest.







Contact: Margie Diddams, 480-553-3777,
swop.phx@gmail.com

Guilty Verdict for Monica Jones Reveals Broken Legal System: Urgent Need For Action

PHOENIX--- Over 50 supporters rallied in front of the Phoenix Court house this morning in support of ASU student and anti-1062 activist Monica Jones. Ms. Jones was facing unjust charges of “manifestation of intent to prostitute,” a vague and discriminatory law that criminalizes activities like waving at cars, talking to passersbys, and inquiring if someone is a police officer. The ACLU of Arizona joined Jones’ lawyer in contesting the constitutionality of the manifestation statute. Dan Pochoda of the ACLU explained in his arguments, “The statute eviscerates first amendment rights.” In a packed courtroom filled with supporters wearing “I Stand With Monica Jones: Stop Profiling Trans Women of Color” t-shirts, the judge found Ms. Jones guilty based solely on the statements of the police officer who targeted for her race and gender. Supporters across AZ and the nation are in an uproar about the injustice of this ruling.

In Arizona and across the country, trans women of color like Ms. Jones are routinely profiled and swept up in the criminal justice system on prostitution-related charges, due to a phenomenon many call “Walking While Trans”---a widely held belief by law enforcement and others that all transgender women are criminals. Because of the injustice that leads people to take pleas against their best interest due to lack of community support, Ms. Jones decided she was going to fight the charges, so that no more trans women, sex workers, or people profiled as sex workers would have to face these injustices. Ms. Jones has remained adamant about her innocence, and that sex workers need rights, not arrests. Ms. Jones stated after the verdict, “As an African American and as a woman, the justice system has failed me.”

In light of this devastating ruling, SWOP Phoenix (Sex Worker Outreach Project) and Monica Jones will fight the case in an appeals process, while building national and international momentum against unjust policies that target trans women, people of color, and sex workers. SWOP Phoenix is calling on people from around the country to keep demanding justice for Ms. Jones. Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders is monitoring the trial as an example of discriminatory policing and retaliation on activists organizing for human rights.

Ms. Jones states, “I am saddened by the injustice that took place at my trial this morning, but we are not giving up the fight. It’s time that we end the stigma and the criminalization of sex work, the profiling of trans women of color, and the racist policing system that harms so many of us.”



Monica Jones presents at the University of Arizona Women's and Gender Studies Program
where she is a third year student.
 Photo by PJ Starr.

4/11/14

Victory in Texas! Lumberton School reinstates transgender teacher Laura Jane Klug

Laura shared her good news on  facebook
  

Last night in the Lumberton ISD in a surprise move reinstated transgender teacher Laura Jane Klug. Although it was expected that Ms, Klug would keep her job the quick response by the board was unexpected. Firing her for her transgender status would have left the ISD open for an EEOC complaint and a possible lawsuit.

Roughly half of the people commenting spoke in support at thestanding room only meeting. Laura had told planetransgneder yesterday  that she was amazed by the heartfelt response from her town and the states LGBT community.

Laura told planetransgender this morning  "I was so exhausted by the time the word was delivered to me that it didn't fully sink in."

The Board went in to an extended executive session after the regular meeting had ended.
Ms. Klug wasn't told the good news untill the early am after they had ajourned.


4/10/14

Laura Jane Klug, transgender teacher at Lumberton Texas ISD suspended for no reason

Lumberton Texas ISD suspended of Laura Jane Klug, a transgender teacher at the intermediate school reportedly after parents complained about her transgender status.

Parent, Rodger Beard, said he doesn't have a problem with transgender people but he does think it (sic) she causes a disruption in the class room:

"I don't want them teaching, especially at this age group, ah they can do many things in life but if it affects the young people, our little children, and their ability to learn and grown naturally, I think I have a issue with that."


Klug says she has been substituting at the school for some time and hasn't had anyone complain before, and is unsure what started all this telling 12 News

"I have always conducted myself in a professional manner and would never discuss my gender identity in school," Klug said.


The school board will be deciding whether to continue her employment tonight, but have been put on notice by Equality Texas terminating someone solely for their gender expression is in violation of EEOC title V11 and could put the ISD at risk a lawsuit.


12 News KBMT and K-JAC. News, Weather and Sports for SE Texas

4/9/14

Open letter to Andrea James and Calpernia Addams.


Calpernia Addams waited three months  to announce her advisory role after Dallas Buyers Club premier  as the trans community speculated on whom or if anyone has advised Jared Leto for "Rayon". Then, after announcing her involvement in the movie she slammed those who posted opinions about his problematic role as "elitist hypocrisy."

Op-ed written by Marti Abernathey and kelli anne Busey

It started with Addams March 5th Advocate Op-ed: In Defense of Jared Leto followed by Parker Marie Molloy March 10th Advocate post, critical of Addams, titled "Op-ed: What People Don't Get About Dismay Over Jared Leto. Everything was civil up to that point, but that civility came to an end with Calpernia Addams dismissive April 2nd Huffington Post article "Parker Marie Molloy's Transphobic and Homophobic Slurs Don't Matter, but Our Response Does".  Addams inexplicably attempts to invalidate Parkers transgender identity because of her youth and  attacks her style of journalism and advocacy writing:


“A few weeks ago newcomer to transition and lesbian/trans issues Parker Marie Molloy purposefully misgendered me and called into question my identity as female in an op-ed piece for Advocate.com by calling me a ‘drag queen’ and saying that I ‘[refer] to [myself] as 'a transsexual.’ Apparently she's expressed similar sentiments about Carmen Carrera and others. I was freshly returned from speaking at Oxford University and recording my acoustic LP in London, so I filed the incident under ‘See If This Still Matters to You in a Few Days" and resumed my busy life here in Los Angeles.’”


“I wasn't sure who Molloy was, but I assumed that she was another one of the nutty trans hacktivists who had been ‘triggered’ by the buzz generated when Jared Leto thanked me in his Oscars acceptance speech.”


Blatant ableism of Addam’s “nutty trans hacktivist” aside, the dismissive and elitist tone of her piece is evident. If you disagree with her, you’re wrong and a “nutty trans hacktivist.”.


Addams and James have stated Molloy slurred her by calling her a drag queen and a transsexual. One look at Addams’ website and you’ll see that she brands herself as “America’s Transsexual Sweetheart.” As far as being called a drag queen, since when is that a slur? Self identification should be respected, but the implication here is that being a transsexual is at odds with being a drag queen. Drag is performance art, drag queens are performers, and they perform at drag establishments such as Hamburger Marys. If you perform at a Vegas show club, you're a showgirl. If you dance and sing at a drag bar for money, it’s not a slur to call you a drag queen regardless of your gender. How different is “drag queens are men, drag kings are women” than “trans women are men, trans men are women”? Is Monica Beverly Hills not  trans because she identifies herself as a drag queen? From LOGO’s Mark Blankenship on why Hills was not cheating while being trans on RuPaul’s Drag Race:

“Because ‘drag’ isn’t just about dressing up like someone of the opposite sex. It’s about donning a persona. It’s about an artist using his or her talent to create a larger-than-life performance that somehow captures, critiques, celebrates, or enhances our typical understanding of identity. Think about RuPaul’s Drag U, which focuses on turning biological women into “drag queens” for a day, just so they can feel fabulous. When they dress outrageously and take on stage names, those women ARE drag queens.


I know where this argument leads: By my logic, you could say that anyone dressing up in any kind of costume or notable outfit is putting on drag.


And… yes. That’s exactly what I mean.


Drag is everywhere. In this history of drag balls, for instance, there have always been categories like “executive realness,” in which gay men dress as heightened versions of heterosexual business men. In those cases, those queens aren’t rocking girl drag, but they were still in drag. When I put on a suit and tie for a work event, I’m rocking executive drag. And so is Donald Trump.


The point is, we’re always putting on identities. We’re always performing a self for the world. We’re always in drag. All of us.
---------------------------
While Addams can choose what to call herself when she performs at a drag establishment, implying that drag queen is a gender identity is a form of internalized transphobia. There’s a difference between a performer’s gender identity and their performance. Being called a drag queen isn’t a misgendering slur.


On April 5th Andrea James chimed in with her vitriolic screed “I F*cking Hate @RuPaul”. She began by slamming Molloy for a tweet, since deleted, in which Molloy expressed her frustration over RuPauls unrepentant transphobia. This tweet made its way to the pages of TERF central 'Gender Trender'. Cathy Brennan, a virulently transphobic woman spends much of her time examining the trans agenda using every opportunity to insert hate hoping to drive a wedge between trans people and the feminist movement.

This image has since been deleted from Gender Trender but its important to note, if Brennan agrees with your sentiments, its time to check yourself.


A  quick synopsis of James’ post on Boing Boing:


  • Parker Molloy is a newbie trans person, an unethical journalist, who has an unhealthy addiction to Twitter.
  • The Advocate isn't the same as it used to be, and Molloy is just trafficking outrage for linkbait.
  • Molloy is a heckler, not a journalist because she isn't polite.
  • RuPaul is a drag queen who is allowed to be transphobic because he's a boundary breaker/drag queen/entertainer.
  • Molloy has disdain for drag, and is an internet shut-in who uses made up pseudo-academic jargon.
  • Most vocal anti-RuPaul hecklers are trans women who are primarily attracted to women.
  • She-male, tranny, he-she, shim, chicks with dicks, dolls with balls, sluts with nuts, or guys in disguise, are hilariously offensive slurs, but drag queen is a slur that must not be used.
  • Twitter activists are mean and don't build bridges and don't do anything, witness #CancelCOlbert.
  • I don't hate Rupaul, Rupaul has made a lot of money, sold a lot of product and donated a lot of money to LGBT charities.


Suggesting that Molloy is a pseudo-journalist “shut in” is not only ableist, it’s factually incorrect. Molloy is a well respected journalist who has contributed to Rolling Stone, The Huffington Post, The Advocate, and Salon.com. She also has a Twitter account at ParkerMolloy and a website of her own where she provides personal opinion and commentary. The meme that James is trying to promote that Molloy isn’t a journalist is simply an ad hominem. Plenty of journalists have Twitter accounts where they communicate their own personal views.. By James’ logic, Ezra Klein, Andrew Sullivan or Glenn Greenwald aren’t journalists because they have twitter accounts where they discuss their own personal opinions.


It’s also a bit odd that James complains about new/social media on Boing-Boing. Boing-Boing is definitely not part of the old media establishment. This amounts to "GET OFF MY LAWN, YOU YOUNG KIDS" while standing on someone else’s (new media) lawn.


James goes on to say “These trans folks have developed their own pseudo-academic jargon like cis-het, which means ‘cisgender heterosexual,’ which itself means ‘non-transgender straight person.’”Pseudo-academic? James might want to check with actual academics, since it’s a term used in, you know, academic papers.


James also gives RuPaul an out because he’s a drag queen and suggests that Twitter activists don’t actually accomplish anything. This simply is false. James asks "Why does Molloy, who is transgender, fucking hate RuPaul? Ru used the word “shemale” recently on RuPaul’s Drag Race and has unapologetically used a number of other taboo words over several decades, like “tranny” and what-not."



Trivializing transphobic words and phrases that are used by those who kill only serves to highlight James’ separation from the transgender reality.


RuPaul has made a living using transphobic verbiage in his show, capitalizing on the outrage from our community to rake in the dough. RuPaul shouldn’t be given any more of a pass than Kelly Osbourne was given for her “chick with a dick” comment. Calling out Osbourne did have an effect. She apologized and her millions of twitter followers were educated along with her about the Transgender Day of Remembrance. You can point to other Twitter led movements as well that had actual positive results. Even James’ example of #cancelColbert fails to prove her point. The Colbert Report has a viewership of 1.9 million people a night and the controversy made into the New Yorker, The Huffington Post, The Wall Street journal, and many well respected media outlets. The people who viewed Colbert’s show or read about the hashtag activism were informed of controversy around the Washington Redskins name. Awareness of the problem is one of the first things you need to do to fix a problem, and #cancelColbert did just that.


James also alluded to Malloy’s sexual orientation, saying “It’s noteworthy that the most vocal anti-RuPaul hecklers are trans women who are primarily attracted to women.” Why is this noteworthy? Would mentioning that Calperina “I date straight guys, dumbass” Addams spends much of her time working in gay male culture be remotely relevant to the conversation at hand?  For all of James’ comments about not bridge building and the Twitteratti simply being a “ the worst of two worlds: heckling and gotcha-style journalism”, what exactly does mentioning Molloy’s sexual orientation prove? Trying to judge someone on their intention or motivations is troublesome and doesn’t do anything to build any bridges or heal any wounds. Seems more like “gotcha-style journalism” that James complains about in her own post.


In the end, I’m not sure why either James or Addams have chosen to point their sites on Molloy, rather than on the the questions Molloy asks about RuPaul, or the industry they work work for. Does the industry need someone to speak up for it? Worse, do they need someone lobbing personal attacks in defense of the indefensible?


Those that claim to be allies or part of a larger LGBT community shouldn’t be given a break because of who they are. In fact, they should be held to a HIGHER standard than those people who do not self identify as LGBT or as an ally. No amount of personal attacks on Molloy, “shooting the messenger”,  willl change that.




4/8/14

Maspeth High School senior told she can't take her transgender boyfriend to prom

Anais Celin and her transgender boyfriend  Nathaniel Baez.
Masbeth Queens High school student has told PIX 11 her school will not allow her to take her transgender boyfriend to prom.

The School Martin Luther High requires students to submit an evaluation from their pastor told her the reason for the denial was that her boyfriend's transition was 'unconventional'. The couple has lost hope that the school might change their minds and plan a separate celebration.