The last critical hours for Kickstarter "ASSIGNED SEX" and it's down to the wire.

ASSIGNED SEX: A DOCUMENTARY FILM by Shaun Dawson a Kickstarter documentary film, has JUST hours to go on kick Starter. As of this morning the movie needs just a few bucks to reach the $5000 goal and only a few hours left.

I am supporting this project because it will help to illuminate our wonderful transgender intercity youth's lives. You know them. The ones we read about almost daily. The ones being slaughtered by bigots, spawned by ignorance fueled hatred? It's a all or nothing with kick starter and it's all or nothing for these youth. Let them live. Please support!

Why Shaun needs our help:

Up until this point, we've funded this project completely out of our own pockets. We believe in this story that much. But, we've officially broken the bank. We need your help to raise the money necessary to keep the cameras rolling.

Here's exactly what your generous contributions will pay for:

•Sound design, sound editing, and mixing the sound
•Creating the musical score
•Procuring archival footage
•Polishing of the picture elements: color correction, titles
•Transfer to digital projection format
•Marketing and advertising for screenings in select cities
•Press and promotional materials

If you haven't been involved with something like this please give it a try. Those who have will tell you it's such a rush doing this. With your donation you become a integral part of a success when the film shows in your city. You can stand with pride. You will be able to pick us out at a screening. Many of us will be wearing an "assigned tee shirt". I will be. It is immensely rewarding supporting our community this way.



Columbia Journalism Review Slams Plain Dealer and FOX over Trans Womans Cemia Acoff Articles

The CJR headline "How not to report on a transgender victim" is spot on. The Plain Dealer's articles if let uncontested would have drop kicked journalistic standards on reporting transgender issues back twenty years.

Fox8 certainly jumped on that band wagon quick.

Fox8 in this painful exercise of transphobia revictimized Ce Ce by using male pronouns and her birth name despite being fully aware she was a transgender woman who went by the name Cemia.



However, I will have to come to defense of the Plain Dealer on one count. CJR criticized the Plain Dealer for using a mug shot of Ce Ce. I used the same picture on the planetransgender post "Plain Dealer reports the Murder of a Transgender Woman as A "Brutal Slaying" of a Oddly Dressed Man" because at that moment there were none better of her. I posted her mug shot because I wanted her murderers caught. As bad as that picture was it was all I had. I have since updated that post with a better photo of her.

I'm not implying the Plain Dealer had good intentions posting those mug shots only that they may not have had any options ether. The Plain Dealer has not updated their picture.

The rest of the CJR critique is on target particularly these paragraphs about the last article:

The second story, “Brutal slaying marks the end of Clevelander’s fight for acceptance,” at first seems like it might be better. Except that story, too, starts by identifying her as Carl, which means her fight is far from over. This is ironic, because at the end of the story an italicized note says, “This story has been edited since originally posted to bring it within the style recommended by the Associated Press involving transgender people.” I don’t know what the original said, but I do know what the AP Stylebook says, which is this:

Transgender: Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth. If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

Instead, the story drops all pronouns and refers to Cemia as Carl, which seems like a half-hearted effort to be consistent with the AP’s recommendations.

Thankfully these article will not be accepted as status Que. They were mean spirited, hateful, malicious attacks on transgender people. Thank you Columbia Journalism Review for making this clear.