Why we are protesting (one reason) "Ticked Off Trannies With Knives"

I was watching this TO*WK trailer and was actually enjoying the acting UNTILL one of the characters commiserating with another about her facial injures sustained during a beating suggested humorously that she should 'put a piece of meat on her eye'. This was a obvious sexual innuendo suggesting her pain would be alleviated and guilt assuaged if a penis and scrotum were resting on her face.

VIOLENCE against transgender woman OR any woman is NOT funny. It is odious to even suggest that rape is warranted, pleasurable or desired by the victim.



And BTW, transgender woman do NOT need to trick men into desiring us by "putting duct tape in all the right places." Those of us who are attracted to men present ourselves honestly and forthright. As all of who live 24/7/365 days a year authentically know, to do otherwise invites horrific violence and even death.

To save maybe (one) life. Those who are yet to transition must be spared this pain. It is unreasonable to expect our effort to expose this horrible movie will completely change the world but to not even try would be unimaginable.

GLBT Wedding and Anniversary Expo Dallas Texas

Few things for a Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Transgendered GLBT couple in a committed relationship is more exciting than their BIG DAY.

Some may call it a Pride Wedding, Holy Union, or Commitment Ceremony; either way it is a trade-marking event for any relationship.

Daniel Lewis, celebrity stylist and national fan favorite of Bravo’s Shear Genius and founder of Green Peridot Salon to host the 2010 GLBT Wedding and Anniversary Expo.

Planning this special day or just planning an anniversary celebration will exhaust every talent and effort to get all the many details complete from ordering the cake to planning the honeymoon. Our GLBT Wedding & Anniversary Expo, billed as a one-stop shop to assist couples, will showcase wedding and travel vendors, introduce specialists, present ideas and host a fashion show to help with the celebration. You’ll find an extensive array of wedding specialists at the Expo. All the major categories of wedding planning may be covered: photographers and videographers, function facilities, bridal and tuxedo shops, florists, cake bakers, DJs/bands and limousine companies may be in attendance.

In addition, you will find travel specialists ready to help you plan that special romantic honeymoon. Many vendors will be giving away items as a promotion of the show, and you can only benefit from these if you attend. Also join us for fabulous raffles, door prizes.

Sunday, May 16, 2010
Time: 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Dallas Warwick Melrose Hotel
Street: 3015 Oaklawn Ave. Dallas, TX
(214) 521-5151
Map

Vendors are still being accepted, but hurry space is limited!!

Tickets are $10 can be purchased at the door or online at WhyWouldWe.org or buy.ticketstothecity.com

For more info: Kimberly Truax at (214) 924-9302

You may RSVP @ GLBT Wedding and Anniversary Expo Facebook Event Page

Girl Talk: A San Fransico Cisgender and Trans Woman Dialogue

Queer cisgender women and queer transgender women are allies, friends, support systems, lovers, and partners to each other. Trans and cis women are allies to each other every day -- from activism that includes everything from Take Back the Night to Camp Trans; to supporting each other in having “othered” bodies in a world that is obsessed with idealized body types; to loving, having sex, and building family with each other in a world that wants us to disappear. Girl Talk is a spoken word show fostering and promoting dialogue about these relationships. Trans and cis women will read about their relationships of all kinds – sexual and romantic, chosen and blood family, friendships, support networks, activist alliances. Join us for a night of stories about sex, bodies, feminism, activism, challenging exclusion in masculine-centric dyke spaces, dating and breaking up, finding each other, and finding love and family.

Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Time: 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Location: S.F. LGBT Community Center - Ceremonial Room
Facebook event page Girl Talk: A Cis and Trans Woman Dialogue
Tickets: $12-$20 online at Brown paper tickets.com

CAST BIOS:

D. Rita Alfonso teaches LGBT and Queer Studies at UC Berkeley, and offers LGBT seminars to the queer public under the rubric of www.LGBTStudies.ning.com. Photography is another of her passions, and you will often see her about town documenting queer and trans events and performers; her photography can be found at dralfonsophotography.com.

Ryka Aoki de la Cruz is a poet, performer, and composer who has been honored by the California State Senate for creating Trans/Giving, LA’s only art/performance series dedicated to trans, genderqueer, and intersex artists. Ryka’s long poem “Sometimes Too Hot the Eye of Heaven Shines” has won RADAR Productions’ first Eli Coppola Memorial Chapbook Contest, and is forthcoming from Inconvenient Press. Her current project is Trans Office Hours, which matches trans-identified professors with trans-identified students entering or re-entering college. Ryka has a third-degree black belt in Kodokan Judo and is a professor of English at Santa Monica College.

Daughter and granddaughter of anarchist feminists, Danielle Askini is a feisty high femme hailing from all over. A queer activist since the womb, Danielle grew up doing battle with big boys--and winning. As a Trans activist Danielle has focused her work on creating safe schools, depathologizing trans and femme identities, and liberating health care for all people. Her writings have included "Social Work or Sex Work?" a critical examination of class inequality in social work education, and "Gender Refugee" a chapbook of poems and essays on gender transition and migration. She is fluent in Dutch and working hard on Swedish. Stockholm is her second home.

Annie Danger is a fierce and fearsome performer. Raised in the desert by a pack of drag queen werewolves who were themselves a litter produced by Leigh Bowery, Marina Abramovic, and Andy Kaufman, Ms. Danger wants nothing more than your allegiance to the tenets of your own thoughtful ethics and a sturdy but flexible sense of humor. She is a transsexual woman who lives and loves in the San Francisco Bay area mostly. You can find out more at: www.anniedanger.webs.com

Gina de Vries is a queer cissexual femme woman, a Paisan ex-Catholic pervert, and a writer, performer, and activist with a long history doing political organizing in and with queer and trans communities. As an activist, she is especially interested in the intersections of intersex, trans, reproductive justice, sex worker, multi-cultural, cross-class, and disability activism; and using art, writing, and performance as political tools. Gina's writing has appeared dozens of places, from the academic to the pornographic – recent publications include Issue #4 of Bound to Struggle: Where Kink and Radical Politics Meet, Girl Crush, and The Revolution Starts at Home. Gina has performed, taught, and lectured everywhere from chapels to leatherbar backrooms, and recent university appearances include Reed College, Yale University, and Harvard University. She is the founder and facilitator of Sex Workers' Writing Workshop, a writing class for current and former sex workers at San Francisco’s Center for Sex & Culture (where she also serves on the Advisory Board). And, she’s currently pursuing her MFA in Fiction Writing at San Francisco State University. She likes glitter, the color fuchsia, leopard print, and political discussion as foreplay. Find out more at queershoulder.tumblr.com.

Julia Serano is an Oakland-based writer, performer and trans activist. She is the author of Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity (Seal Press, 2007), a collection of personal essays that reveal how misogyny frames popular assumptions about femininity and shapes many of the myths and misconceptions people have about transsexual women. Julia’s other writings have appeared in anthologies (including BITCHfest: Ten Years of Cultural Criticism from the Pages of Bitch Magazine, Word Warriors: 30 Leaders in the Women's Spoken Word Movement, and Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape), in feminist, queer, pop culture and literary magazines and websites (such as Bitch, AlterNet.org, Out, Feministing.com, Clamor, Kitchen Sink, make/shift, other, LiP and Transgender Tapestry), and have been used as teaching materials in gender studies, queer studies, psychology and human sexuality courses in colleges across North America. For more information about all of her creative endeavors, check out www.juliaserano.com.

E. Rose Sims, a Filipina-Ashkenazic mixed-class trans dyke mestiza, is a writer, religion scholar, medic, and survivor from rural Oregon. Dedicated to the projects of media justice, radical love, and community building, she writes online as "little light" at http://takingsteps.blogspot.com and elsewhere, serves on the advisory board of the Allied Media Conference in Detroit, and was a charter member of the Speak! Radical Women of Color Media Collective. She has recently performed with such diverse organizations as Detroit's Allied Media Project, Seattle's TumbleMe Productions, the National Queer Arts Festival, and the Bay's own Mangos With Chili. Her writing has found its way everywhere from law school classrooms and academic conferences to bathroom mirrors and protest marches. Rose is currently busy being in good stories and getting preachy in Portland, Oregon, and is moving down to the East Bay this fall; she carries a pen, her ancestors, and the mismatched ID of a citizen of the borderlands with her at all times.

Zarah Ersoff is a queer musicologist, Southern dyke, teacher and activist. She divides her time in academia between exposing college students to the pleasures of camp, codes and concealment in LGBT popular music, and writing about the relationship between same-sex desire and colonialism in 19th-century French music. Originally from Winston-Salem, NC (illustrious home of Krispy Kreme donuts and Camel cigarettes), she now enjoys living richly without riches in Los Angeles with her lovely and talented partner Lauren Steely.

Meliza Bañales aka Missy Fuego writes books, sews clothes, and makes movies. She has toured with Sister Spit: The Next Generation and Body Heat: The Femme Porn Tour. She is currently working on a spoken-word album with Crunks Not Dead Records and another collection of short stories, Life Is Wonderful, People Are Terrific. She makes art in San Francisco.

***This event received a Creating Queer Community Commission from Queer Cultural Center funded through the San Francisco Foundation.***

Facebook event page Girl Talk: A Cis and Trans Woman Dialogue

Dallas Voice Belching Trans Toxic Trash again

Dallas voice attacks me. Again. At least this time they had the guts to call me out by name.

I stand accused by the Dallas Voice author Arnold Wayne Jones of promoting the San Francisco event called 'tranny Fest' while simultaneously protesting the movie 'ticked off trannies with Knives'. Presumably the offence is having a double standard because both events contain the word 'Tranny' in the title.

Yes I did publish that story about 'TrannyFest' I was asked to do so by a transgender person living in San Francisco who deeply wanted the this event to succeed.

In San Francisco it seems unlike most of the rest of the county, the word "Tranny" is more accepted by transgender people. It is used often casually within the transgender community while addressing each other with dignity and respect.

GAY PEOPLE, READ THIS!

Within the transgender community we occasionally use the word tranny to show affection in the same way some of my black friend call each other "Nigger".

Like the 'T' word, the 'N' word often makes me uncomfortable and I tell my friends so. None the less I have been called the 'N' and 'T' word on occasion by my friends and when they do, my chest pumps up with pride, because they are acknowledging me as an equal and as a confidant. I am proud to be considered their equals because in my heart I know I can only admire many of there qualities and aspire to emulate them.

That is what dignity is. That is what respect for yourself and others earn you.

I recoil in disgust when white people gather in little groups and hate on black people calling them "Niggers". God I despise that. I recoil in disgust when gay men gather in there little building to hate on transgender people. Same thing.

The Dallas Voice published a story here once again attempting to drag me to their pitiful depths all because I had once again asked to be interviewed so I might present a local transgender persons side of this issue. This has never been allowed by the Dallas Voice. And when I accused John Write the "News" editor of misogyny because he positioned a wonderful considerate and well written synopsis by transsexual advocate Ashley Love's on the movie TP*WK" as "Scathing'.

Reading that, Wright in a redux of 2009, puffed himself up and warned me "Do you know who I am?" Yes john you are a misogynistic pig and only a coward would encourage others to hurt people and then attempt to obscure themselves behind their Blogs coat tails. When I questioned him about this article he replies 'it's the blog and I don't feel anything ether way about it.' You are a low life coward John Wright.

You are the news editor of the Dallas Voice. The DV banner on your blog clearly indicates it is the Dallas Voice who publishes this tripe. You IP address indicates it is the Dallas Voice who publishes this blog.

Own Up.

I have to come clean. I'm ashamed to admit but I called John Wright's blog author a faggot at that point. Well you are what you are. I will be confessing this to my pastor tonight.

No john wright Ms. Love's dissertation about TO*WK was not scathing. It is a centralist and moderate response to gay peoples efforts to dehumanize and marginalize us.

The word controversy began in 2009 because the Dallas Voice used the word 'Tranny' repeatedly and intentionally in a defamatory manner.

The first paragraph in my first article explained my position when I asked them to treat transgender people with respect.

I wrote: "I hope everyone who watches[reads] this comes to appreciates how harmful it is to the self respect of transgender people when you call us "Trannie" and unless we are a entertainer with published articles which we identify ourselves individually as a "Drag Queen or Tranny" please do not call us by these names."

The promoters of "TrannyFest" identified themselves as 'trannies' a word I still find to be derogatory mainly because of gay people who love to sling it around in a demeaning and insulting fashion.

Wit the Dallas Voice.

I do not live in the vindictive hateful depths that these people seem to so thrive in. I will not revert to using slurs against the writer of this article or the Dallas Voice.

I will allow them to illustrate to the world once again who they truly are. They can do this filthy work themselves.

Translations 2010 - The Seattle Transgender Film Festival

$50 for a festival pass
$8 for single tickets
$6 for single tickets for Three Dollar Bill Cinema Members. Limit twotickets per member per screening.
$5 youth & senior discount (youth are 21 and under, seniors are 65and over). Youth and Senior discount is only available day of show at the boxoffice. Must present ID.
Reality TG is a free program.
Buy your tickets in advance and save $1 per ticket! (not available for passes or the youth/senior discount)

Buy a Festival Pass! Get into every screening at this year’s festival for just $50.

Translations: The Seattle Transgender Film Festival

Venues

The Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave.
Seattle, WA 98122

The Erickson Theatre
1524 Harvard Ave
Seattle, WA 98122

Capitol Hill Library
425 Harvard Ave. E.
Seattle, WA 98102

Reality TG
Thursday, May 13
6:15pm
Capitol Hill Library
FREE

Is visibility a means to social acceptance? Do the drawbacks of too much (or unchecked) visibility outweigh the good it can accomplish? There has been an explosion of transgender people on talk shows, dramas, and especially reality television. We’ll screen some recent episodes of reality programs that feature transwomen as cast members and discuss how this representation affects the whole trans community.
Watch some TV and then join Sara Michelle Fetters, film and TV reviewer, and Three Dollar Bill Cinema Executive Director Rachael Brister for a discussion on this fascinating broadcast trend.
This is a FREE event. No tickets are needed.


Riot Acts
Friday, May 14
7:30pm
Erickson Theatre

Seasoned musicians, music aficionados, or anyone interested in world of music will enjoy this film about the transgender people who play it. RIOT ACTS follows the careers of some of the best and brightest musicians playing across North America today. With interviews and performances by first rate musical acts such as The Clicks, Coyote Grace, Katastrophe and The Degenerettes, RIOT ACTS explores the passion these musicians have for their craft, the impact gender has on their careers and their perspectives on a wide array of topics from their audience to their lyrics. Through interviews with artists across every genre and gender, RIOT ACTS gives transgender bands and musicians the chance to speak (and sing) from their own experiences, illuminating the challenges and triumphs of transgender people putting themselves out there by taking the stage.

RIOT ACTS,
Madsen Minax;
2009; US;
72 min.

Following the exhilarating screening of RIOT ACTS director Madsen Minax and featured musician Adhamh Roland will give an exclusive performance during our Opening Night party!
Madsen Minax is a filmmaker, musician and multi-media artist come hell-raiser currently living and working in Chicago, IL. He currently plays with the technically savvy and emphatically suave triad, The Homoticons, and actor slash model, a group that draws from vaudville, folk, and bluegrass roots.
Adhamh Roland is a guitar strummin’, accordion squeezing, whistling warbler who fancies reminiscing about his Midwestern roots while devising collective strategies for liberation. Adhamh has coughed up 4 solo albums in the last several years and is collaborating with musicians in his new home of Berkeley, California to form a Euro-folk inspired trio that has yet to be named.


Diagnosing Difference
Saturday, May 15
1pm
Northwest Film Forum

Most of us know that Gender Identity Disorder, or GID, is a disorder listed in diagnostic manuals used by the medical community and insurance companies to categorize transgender people. While some in the transgender and gender variant communities support the purpose of a GID classification, others say it’s completely useless and some believe it’s outright harmful. DIAGNOSING DIFFERENCE examines the issues surrounding Gender Identity Disorder through interviews with some of the best and brightest in the transgender and medical communities. This topical, informative, and occasionally humorous documentary brings an important issue facing the trans community front and center.
DIAGNOSING DIFFERENCE, Annalise Ophelian; 2009; US; 63 min.

Preceeded by:
DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
A student produced news report on the signing of the historic, gender identity inclusive, hate crimes bill and a memorial to those who lost their lives to anti-transgender hatred.
DAY OF REMEMBRANCE, 2009; US; 3 min


Forever's Gonna Start Tonight
Saturday, May 15
3pm
Northwest Film Forum

In her heyday, Vicki Marlane was part of the first wave of people on the performance circuit of what we currently understand to be drag. But Vicki is not just a drag queen. In fact, Vicki’s not in drag at all. Vicki is Vicki: a performer in her 70s who still works in San Francisco’s nightclubs, bringing down the house with her seductive routines and putting female performers more than half her age to shame. This revealing documentary follows Vicki’s wild journey through life, from carnival sideshows and romantic road trips to present day San Francisco. With both regalement and touches of sorrow, FOREVER’S GONNA START TONIGHT tells the story of an unparalleled woman and the losses, loves, and places that filled the spaces between her hot and racy burlesque performances.
FOREVER’S GONNA START TONIGHT, Michelle Lawler; 2009; US; 54 min.

Preceeded by:
JANENE
Seattle performer Anita Goodman plays a lonely escort, enjoying the last few hours of her day before a rendezvous with a sailor.
JANENE, Joriah Goad; 2009; US; 5 min.


Mainstay
Saturday, May 15
5pm
Northwest Film Forum

In the wintry landscape of rural Maine, Fischer has just returned home upon hearing of his ex-lover Hannah’s sudden death. After a two-year absence from his family, Fischer is well into his transition from female to male – an experience that he shared only with Hannah. With the loss of this source of validation, Fischer begins to rebuild his fragile relationship with his brother and mother. In the public realm of the small town, Fischer must engage with the people of his past, thus forcing him to negotiate the tenuous boundaries between his queer identity and his perceived “straight” male body.
MAINSTAY, Elliot Montague; 2009; US; 50 min.

Preceded by:
AMATEUR
A withdrawn country boy goes on a camping trip and becomes interested in a confident gender-bending girl named Sam. When she forces him to question his true feelings, he must confront his own insecurities before he can accept Sam and himself.
AMATEUR, Daniel Trevino; 2009; US; 15 min.


Maggots and Men
Saturday, May 15
7pm
Northwest Film Forum

In Russia, the Kronstadt sailors had a long tradition as radicals and courageous fighters. MAGGOTS AND MEN is an experimental historical narrative set in a mythologized, post-revolutionary Russia that re-imagines the 1921 rebellion of the Kronstadt sailors with a twist of gender anarchy. The film is set in the all male environment of a Russian naval base, but cast with actors from a range of masculine gender expressions, resulting in a film that redefines male, challenges the binary gender construct, and intentionally creates confusion. And acknowledging a long tradition of homosexuality amongst sailors, the film has provocative sex scenes that evolve organically out of teamwork in close quarters.
MAGGOTS AND MEN positions the struggle for gender equality within a larger struggle for peace and justice, while bringing together both transgender and queer communities. It documents a rapidly evolving transgender community and illuminates the gender revolution currently taking place in our society.

MAGGOTS AND MEN, Carey Cronenwett; 2009; US; 53 min. (in Russian & English)


Dinah East
Saturday, May 15
9pm
Northwest Film Forum

Have you ever heard the rumor that larger-than-life actress and icon Mae West was actually a man? DINAH EAST takes that story and runs with it in this campy cult classic from the 70’s. Jeremy Stockwell and Warhol superstar Ultra Violet star in this sexy and scandalous rags-to-riches story of a girl who makes it in Hollywood while hiding an explosive secret about her “true” identity. The movie itself spawned a new spate of rumors – did the real-life West have the film pulled from distribution and all copies destroyed, as the producers claimed? Or did she see it ten years before her death and find the whole thing hilarious? While it helps to have a sense of humor and imagination to enjoy DINAH EAST for what it is, at its core is a refreshing story focusing on the importance of individual human relationships, while steering away from labels and the conjecture of identity.
DINAH EAST, Gene Nash; 1970; US; 90 min.


Queerly Canadian
Sunday, May 16
1pm
Northwest Film Forum

These short films from our neighbors up north present two unique perspectives on gender queer experiences.

COMPROMISING POSITIONS presents a world where gay-bashings and trans-bashings menace, yet scrappy young queers willingly risk injury in one another’s hands in queer wrestling. This unruly combat sport is a sub-cultural phenomenon popping up in urban centers cross-Canada. Jimmy Stray and Johnny Trouble, two genderqueer rascals with a passion for kicking ass, embark on a filmmaking adventure to explore queer identity through combat. Along the way, they confront a series of unexpected demons and discover what they are truly wrestling.

AND THE REST IS DRAG, explores gender from the perspective of drag kings who consciously and politically queer their gender, both on and off stage. Using an eclectic mix of performance footage, still photography, and interviews with members of the Alberta Beef Drag King Troupe, the film draws audiences into the sexy, rebellious, and sometimes humorous world of drag kinging.

COMPROMISING POSITIONS, Auden Cody Neuman & Mik Turje; 2008; Canada; 35 min.
AND THE REST IS DRAG, Melisa Brittain; 2009; Canada; 31 min.


Love Interests: Short Films
Sunday, May 16
3pm
Northwest Film Forum

This collection of transgender short films examines the dynamics of love in myriad relationships. Calpernia Adams plays a woman unsure about coming out to her new boyfriend and goes through a hilarious process to make her apartment TRANSPROOFED. CAT’S CRADLE uses a childhood game to represent our relationships to others and ourselves. REMEMBER ME IN RED is the wish one woman tries to fulfill and to rightfully honor her friend’s memory, while a secretive SEÑORITA leads a double life to be a guardian to a young boy in her care. GOSSAMER WALLS shows an abstract memory of family and childhood through the negative lens. A rumination on the dangers of first crushes, BLINK also reveals the habits of sea cucumbers. And AMATEUR is about staying in the moment, taking a risk, and learning to forgive.

TRANSPROOFED, Andrea James; 2009; US; 14 min.
CAT’S CRADLE, Raymond Rea; 2010; US; 4 min.
REMEMBER ME IN RED, Hector Ceballos: 2010; US; 15 min. (in Spanish)
SEÑORITA, Vincent Sandoval; 2009; Philippines/US; 15 min. (in Tagalog)
GOSSAMER WALLS, Malic Amalya & Peter Miller; 2007; US; 5 min.
BLINK, Silas Howard; 2009; US; 11 min.
AMATEUR, Daniel Trevino; 2009; US; 15 min.
Total Running Time: 79 min.


My Buddy Claudia
Sunday, May 16
5pm
Northwest Film Forum


For over thirty years Brazilians came to know Claudia Wonder through music, magazines, and film. She was a transwoman from São Paulo who managed to come out of the newspapers’ crime section to become a highlight in the culture pages. MY BUDDY CLAUDIA follows this remarkable woman from her difficult childhood (she spent 15 days in jail by order of her military grand-uncle), to her role as the first travesti to act in ’70s mainstream soft-core, to her days of activism and being a rock star in the ‘80s. Through the film we learn much about Brazil itself, while being exposed to Claudia’s many facets from courageous to profane.

Warning: Contains brief nudity and sex on screen.
MY BUDDY CLAUDIA, Dácio Pinheiro; 2009; Brazil; 86 min. (in Portuguese)


Open
Sunday, May 16
7pm
Northwest Film Forum

Winner of the Special Jury Award for LGBT film at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival, OPEN presents a visually striking and emotionally moving portrayal of relationships for a new millennium.
When the young hermaphrodite Cynthia meets Gen and Jay, a couple recovering from plastic surgery, she learns of Pandrogeny, in which two people merge their facial features in order to reflect their evolution from separate identities into one unified entity. Inspired by this, Cynthia abandons her husband and suburban life to embark on a road trip with Gen through anachronistic America.
A young transman, Syd, meets a young punk, Nick, and after a sexual encounter they find themselves falling in love. But are Syd and Nick ready to deal with the implications and consequences of their unique romance?
OPEN’s cast of real hermaphroditic, pandrogynous, and transpeople bring authenticity to this story of emerging possibilities for human connection.

OPEN, Jake Yuzna: 2009; US; 90 min.

Translations: The Seattle Transgender Film Festival

Ticked off trannies with Knives: Controversy Dogs Ticked off in Texas

Israel Luna's 'Ticked off trannies with knives' returns home. Transgender activists poised to protest.

Many cisgender men and a smattering of transgender people in north Texas beleive TOTWK has established an important new genre, camp transexplotion and are defending what they perceive as an attack on freedom of speech by trans activists opposed to TOTWK. Many of movies supporters and actors also feel the transgender community is over reacting to this violent revenge flick and have commented that they should just "lighten up" because it's 'just a movie'.

BBC Amrica interview of Transsexual woman Ashley Love and Israel Luna


Transgender people are not amused.

Conversely the transgender community has protested vigorously denouncing the commercial exploitation of the systemic violence committed against transfolk so graphically and gratuitously depicted in TOTWK as unethical and immoral. Most transgender people are also upset over the pejorative "tranny" in the tittle and have persuaded Luna to leave blank the letter 'n' in tra**y, ostensibly in a effort to obscure the dehumanizing effect of the movies title.

WNYC NPR Fresh air interview of transsexual activist Ashley Love and Israel Luna about the Transgender Controversy at Tribeca Film Fest

Controversy dogs ticked off trannies in Texas.

Tod Camp artistic director of Q Cinema Ft. Worth TX, the next stop for ticked off tra**ies defended his rational for featuring TO*WK in June despite the outraged local transgender community while commenting on a public facebook note:

Camp wrote..."I think the fundamental disagreement we have is what this film is actually about. This is NOT a film about the trans community, it's a film about drag performers, some of whom are transexuals, who call themselves "trannies," as many of them do. They're not PC, they're drag queens " Camp reasons.... "It is no more about the transexual community than "Boat Trip" is about the gay community. "As to his overriding the transgender communities objections.... "I will not be dictated to by anyone as to what i screen at this festival. You are welcome to protest, debate, preach and opine my decision to screen it, but know that this film will be screened."

The Texas transgender community is somewhat relieved that Tod Camp 'Gets it'. However his unlikely comparison of Boat Trip to the murderous characters of "ticked off' leads me to wonder if Camp truly grasps the differences between having light hearted fun poked at you and the end of a baseball bat slamming into your face.

The transgender community has a few small 'successes' to show for their efforts to this point

Luna has removed the references to real murdered transgender woman in the trailer and obscured the titles defamatory slur and in this way tacitly agreed with Camp's opinion that "This is NOT a film about the trans community, it's a film about drag performers". Sadly, however the misconceptions seeded by the tittle and information supplied by the producers still leads one to believe it is about transgender people.

As noted social commentator C. L. Minou recently wrote "This isn’t standing up to oppression. This is fucking illustrating it."

The North Texas community has identified the need to educate the greater LGB and straight community and will do so by holding a educational protest/rally on the opening night of TOTWK.

Protest/Rally information

Facebook event Protest 'Ticked off Trannies With Knives' at Q Cinema FT Worth

Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies call to action.

Religious Leaders Take a Stand against "Ticked off trannies with knives'

A transgender person of faith responses to "Ticked off Trannies with Knives".

There comes a time when people of faith must look beyond ourselves and to our God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit solely for direction. There comes a time when our religious beliefs must be allowed to guide us past our earthbound alliances and interests.

That time is now.

There is a movie written and directed by a Dallas gay man, Israel Luna called "Ticked off trannies with knives"(TO*WK). This movie sensationalizes the murderous violence committed everyday against transgender woman. This movie commercializes on a fantasy concocted by Luna in which violent retribution is subsequently committed by these 'hot, sexy and fierce' transgender victims.

The movie TO*WK misrepresents transgender people as comical caricatures of females who intentionally "fool" men into believing they are 'real woman' who desire heterosexual sex. Upon being discovered by their intended partners as 'men in women's clothing' the transgender woman inconceivably allow themselves to be willing victims of these murderous men. These transgender victims are then transformed in the last moments of the movie into vigilantes who then violently exact revenge on the original perpetrators of the violent acts.

This movie lends credence to the discredited and abhorrent 'transpanic' defence. Prior to the trial of Alan Andrade for murdering Angie Zapata this tactic was successfully and often used in defence of the killers of transgender woman. Andrades claims that he murdered transgender woman Angie Zapata because she had 'fooled' him were not allowed by the court and he received the maximum penalty.

The 'Transpanic defence' has not been attempted since and the reality of receiving equal punishment for murdering a transgender person undoubtedly has played a major role in the demented minds of those considering this violence.

Israel Luna incensed the transgender community by placeing Angie Zapata's name in the begining of the TO*WK trailer and remained there untill he was forced to remove her name by outraged transgender people.

"Ticked off trannies with knives".

Nothing could be further from the truth about the transgender experience. Nothing could be more dehumanizing or damaging to transgender peoples welfare. The uneducated will be terribly misled and transphobic people, regardless of sexual orientations, will use this tragic movie to further there own hateful agendas.

Religion and "Ticked off trannies with knives."

Despite my objections my pastor is attending the showing of TO*WK at the Fort Worth Q Cinema in June and plans to engage in dialogue with other movie goers about it afterwards.

I contend that the a Cisgender male pastor of a MCC church should not enter into a discussion that normalizes the usage of 'tranny', a pejorative so dehumanizing, harmful and hated by transgender womankind.

I contend that the message that TO*WK communicates should not be supported by the Metropolitan Community Church in any way. My Church, Trinity MCC Arlington Texas, does this by supporting Q Cinema, which is featuring TO*WK at it's film festival despite the transgender communities pleas that it does not.

I contend that the primary mission of a pastor at a MCC Church or any other Church, is the well being and safety of their congregations and this priority should not be ignored so as to preserve a social association or obligation outside of the Church.

Will Trinity and all of the other Churches in North Texas who claim transgender people as welcomed by god and by their congregations as equals, sit in silent acquiescence to the damaging misconceptions of TO#WK?

Will Metropolitan Community Churches defend ALL of it's congregants, or will it's allegiance to a earth bound agenda prove more important.

I invite all LGBT welcoming Churches to consider this a invitation to take a stand against the transphobic violence inspiring misogynistic message of TO*WK. I invite all transgender inclusive churches to come to the informational rally at the opening night of TOTWK at Q Cinema in Fort Worth.

Kelli Anne Busey
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies

#########

Trans Forming Media (TFM): "An Image I'd Rather Forget" - My Synopsis Of TOTWK

Ashley Love of Trans Forming Media has watched Israel Luna's "Ticked off trannies with knives" debuting at the Tribeca Film Festival and offers this critical review;

"The film “Ticked Off Tra**ies With Knives” spreads a fear, misogyny and hate stemmed ideology. I have seen the film and it’s very upsetting that people unfamiliar with transsexual and transgender women will walk away from the film with a stigmatizing perception of trans women. This film is dangerous propaganda, whether intentional or not. TOTWK leaves the viewer with the false impression that transsexual and transgender women are unauthentic in their gender identity and really “gay men in drag.” The film portrays all trans women as hypersexualized, jokes, murderous and/or unstable. This is not only inaccurate, it's offensive and incites further misunderstanding and violence."

Read Ashley Love's review in full at Trans Forming Media (TFM): "An Image I'd Rather Forget" - My Synopsis Of TOTWK

University of Virginia Student Council Bucks VA AG: passes Inclusive Non Discrimination Resolution

By kelli Busey April 21, 2010

The student council and 62 campus groups stood up to the Virginia Attorney General and passed a resolution urging the legislature to amend the states non discrimination policy to include gender identity/expression and sexual orientation.

Source UVA Independent Student Newspaper April 21 2010 The Cavalier Daily;

"Student Council unanimously passed a resolution yesterday night to affirm its support for a fully inclusive non-discrimination policy and to urge the Board of Visitors, the Virginia General Assembly and U.S. Congress to pass legislation supporting protections “against discrimination in local, state, and federal employment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”

The resolution comes on the one year anniversary of a hate crime against a gay student and in response to the VA AG who has campaigned stridently against LGBT rights in Virgina.

Source March 3 2010 towleroad

"Virginian Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has written a letter to all of the state's public colleges encouraging them to abolish policies that prohibit discrimination of gays and lesbians."

A paragraph from the VA AG Ken Cussinelli's anti equality letter which so inflamed students passions;

"It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including 'sexual orientation,' 'gender identity,' 'gender expression,' or like classification as a protected class within its non-discrimination policy absent specific authorization from the General Assembly."

On March 11 2010 the Virgina Governor did a 180 degree about face, rescinding his previous executive order removing protections from LGBT state workers and rescinding the AG's letter recommending removal of protections. Many saw this as a pragmatic political maneuver since it does not mandate state reporting or enforcement.

Source The Christian Science Monitor March 11, 2010;

"Mr. Cuccinelli ruled that only the state legislature can extend such protections. McDonnell says he agrees with Cuccinelli’s basic legal interpretation, but as he rescinded Cucinelli's letter Wednesday he acknowledged that an executive directive can, in fact, extend some rights to workers and is symbolically important. (So far, Virginia's Republican-dominated legislature has not passed a law extending workplace rights to gays.)"

Republican Governor McDonnel's letter reaffirming his commitment to an inclusive nondiscrimination policy included this paragraph and is seen by conservatives as a bellwether for republican policy as most are similarly beset by overwhelming fiscal problems and a population demanding equality;

"We will not tolerate discrimination based on sexual orientation or any other basis that's outlawed under state or federal law or the Constitution, and if it is reported, then I will take action, from reprimand to termination, to make sure that does not occur," McDonnell said Wednesday.

Debunking the deceptive misconceptions of Q Cinema's Director Tod Camp

I am writing this rebuttal after being alerted by a email from 'Kyle' asking me how I respond to Todd Camp's: A response to the "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives" controversy... found on facebook here

I will publish Tod Camps note and respond to it's misinformation categorically. In "quotations" are found excerpts from Tod Camps facebook note. Sentences in italics are my response.

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

Todd Camp: A response to the "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives" controversy...

"Kelli Anne Busey's recent screed against Q Cinema on the Planet Transgender blog (read it in full at http://planetransgender.blogspot.com/2010/04/tranny-this-pejorative-is-not-up-for.html) finally ticked me off enough to write a response. As many of you know, Q Cinema will be presenting Israel Luna's controversial film at this year's film festival and I wanted to take a minute to counteract some of Kelli's misguided claims:"

"I have to take issue with several of Kelli Anne Busey's comments, especially since she has gone so far as to label the planners of Q Cinema as liers. As the founder of Q Cinema and its artistic director for the past 12 years, I can say that I honestly have NEVER had a conversation with Kelli - via phone, e-mail, Facebook exchange, anything - regarding Israel Luna's film "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives."

I do not dispute this fact. Tod Camp has never attempted to contact me by the aforementioned methods of communication, including this note which I was not a recipient, even though we remain 'facebook friends'. I only became aware of it's existence after being alerted to it in a email from someone named 'Kyle'

I monitor her Anti-TOTWK Facebook page and read her posts but we have NEVER spoken directly nor has she made any attempt to do so.

I am not the creator or a administrator of "The boycott TOTWK" facebook page that Camp incorrectly alludes to as "anti TOTWK".

I do post there like I do on TOTWK page. However unlike the TOTWK gang the members of the Boycott TOTWK group are thoughtful and carefully respectful of others feelings. I do post more often on the Boycott page for those reasons plus of course our passions are more closely aligned as transgender brothers, sisters and allied people.

I actually had no intention in revisiting the controversy surrounding "tranny" after my protests of it 2009 were ignored and shouted down by transphobic gay bloggers and I was doing my very best to ignore TOTWK.

I had said my piece in 2009 and felt that any further efforts would have 'Zero bearing' on the Gay people's insipid campaign to force a despised pejorative down transgender people's throats.

But I found myself drawn back as I could not remain silent after seeing Angie Zapata's image and a recount of her murder on the begining of a "transploitive camp comedy" uncaringly exploiting transgender violence.

Camp continues "To take her points one at a time:"

"I cannot fathom how the phrase "opening an avenue of discussion between ticked-off typists and the filmmakers and cast" from our press release can possibly be misconstrued as an example of "the blatant gay transphobia and generic straight transbaiting and cyber bullying that transgender people are forced to endure."

Tod Camp can not imagine how the invitation to "Ticked off Typists", shortened from "Ticked off trannies with key boards" as we are called by his minions on facebook, for us to watch comical caricatures of ourselves being violently attacked in a movie who's name is so retched, in a packed, closed room filled with people that consider our request to be treated with dignity a joke, could ever be construed as anything other than an a honest good willed invitation to a welcoming safe environment conducive for intelligent discussion. OMG!

Film festivals are about film and talking about film. If you want to get your point across to someone, angry online screeds tend to be far less effective then simply face-to-face interaction. Apart from some weak, poorly chosen alliteration on my part, there's absolutely nothing in the above quote that I would consider trans-bashing, but as it does come off as a bit smug, I'm happy to change the wording to come off as more respectful."

It's not smug Camp. Its disrespectful, insulting and dismissive and practice what you preach Mr. Camp. Maybe you could make me a recipient to your next facebook kelli-bashing note(screed).

[Camp]"went on to say:
"After I complained to key sponsors of the Q Cinema a watered down version appeared containing a quote from the GLAAD call to action suggesting that GLAAD was the first and only organization ever opposed to this movie."

I was making a point that this is a transender issue was just recently joined by GLAAD at transgender peoples request. I had long telephone conversations with GLAAD about this issue in January and February of 2009 and they had decided at that time they were not going to be a participant in the conversation.

"As the decision to include this film was mine and mine alone, and we have never spoken, I have no idea who you spoke to and I can assure you that whatever you may have said had absolutely zero bearing on the press releases and announcements that went out regarding the film, all of which I write myself."

My pastor at Trinity MCC has said he emailed you previously regarding your decision to show TTWK and you have not responded. Although we passionately disagree on some things about TOTWK our conversation is proof positive to me that he deeply cares and I will be in his congregation next Sunday. However this paragraph does illustrate how transgender sensitivities are of 'zero bearing' to you Mr. Camp.

As to our "out right lie" that:

"Q Cinema staffers had made the determination to show the film before the trans tempest began stirring..."

...the tempest I was referring to was the call to pull the film from Tribeca. I was well aware of early objections to the film's title, but as someone who spent 25 years in the word business as a journalist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and other metropolitan dailies, I have an appreciation for the fact that our language is a living breathing thing that is forever changing. At the top of your blog, you mention a laundry list of derogatory words GLAAD arbitrarily assembled as a sort of George Carlin's list of seven gay words you can't say on television.

This is by far the most odious debasing and contemptuous statement by Mr Camp. He clearly believes transgender people and the organization committed to our welfare in the media are a joke. But his social commentary then extends further debasing all minorities in one fell swoop.



Camp is advocating to make common usage among society these words and "Faggot", "Sodomite", "Tranny", and "it"! "It's" unlikely inclusion to the list was undoubtedly why Tod Camp finds GLAAD's list funny. However, it's inclusion probally could be attributed to a emotional response of a GlAAD staffer after personally attending the court room when Allen Andrade recounted murdering Angie Zapata with a finale blow because "IT" moved again.

RIP Angie we love you, and we will not allow your memory to be desecrated.

The list of hateful defamatory slurs is as expansive as Camps desire to hold 'conversations' about them.

Our culture is held together by social conscripts. Since we have progressed to a point were we rely on guidelines set by socially responsible groups I decry Camps attempt at degrading GLAAD as it is so needed today in defense of Gay people.

"I have seen or screened films by gay and lesbian writers and directors using every one of those films in the TITLE, so forgive me if I chose to reserve judgment on Israel's film until I had actually had a chance to screen it."

How convenient. Judgement by a cisgender man on a production by a cisgender man who's mainly cisgender employees and cast jumped at chance at fame and fortune, regardless of the consequence to the transgender community. That's OK by you.

"Lastly, as to your comment:

"Truth is first and foremost Q Cinema chooses self promotion and profits over transgender dignity, and well being"

"Sadly, and with all due respect, you obviously don't know a damned thing about who we are and what we do. For starters, we are a non-profit, all-volunteer organization and neither I, nor a single member of my amazing and hard-working staff has ever earned a dime off this organization. Every dollar we make goes right back into fulfulling our mission."

Monetary gains are but one way hateful transphobes profit from TOTWK.

In the past 12 years, we have shown countless films that provided positive portrayals of the trans experience. We have consistently reached out to trans organizations and individuals yet attendance was often minimal to negligible often costing us hundreds in rental fees to play pictures to tiny audiences. That didn't stop us. We feel that reaching out to every part of our community is crucial to who we are and what we do.

Yes, yes, yes I know. The gay blogosphere and now the gay theatrical component utilizes this fact to there utmost benefit, whether it's overpowering us in media or playing the victim card.

The 1/2% of the 1% of the population who live in the DFW who have transitioned and could be in attendance, if unencumbered by poverty and fear do not very often attend Q Cinema productions. Wondering why?

However, a Q Cinema production was the FIRST time I attended a social gathering in public. It was so such a awesome experience I had to write about it. I will never forget the sisterhood on that warm Texas day and thank you for making a safe place for me to further transition. I have through the Metropolitan Church, been a supporter of Q Cinema and find our current status the most sad state of affairs.

"When the Fort Worth City Council recently voted to add protection of transgender citizens to the city's anti-discrimination policy, I was there with my executive staff speaking on behalf of transgender rights. I don't remember you being in the crowd that night."

I was there Tod Camp and I remember you being there also. I was one of only three transgender people to join with the multitudes of Gay and Lesbians who spoke in front of the City Council that night. I am in awe to this day, of the overwhelming support Lesbian and Gay people have for transgender people.

I Decry Tod Camps attempt to further alienate transgender people in the DFW from the larger GLB community.

But Mr Camp, were you then listening to our transgender voices?

[camp continues]"So before you try to characterize as "trans-bashing" Q Cinema, Tribeca or anyone else who has the audacity to challenge some of your assertions, do a little research and you might learn that we're actually on the same side."

I am a author on a tiny under read blog who has stood up against overwhelming gay trans-bashing to give a voice and empower the transadvocates to come, like Ashley Love in New York City. I am audacious and it riles transphobes to no end that we will not "shut up" as so often demanded.

For the record. Don't you ever call me a 'tranny'. This controversy is about our oft silent and invisible minority claiming our identity again, but NOW we are doing so collectively LOUD and PROUD.

I hope you are listening now.

Respectively,

Kelli Anne Busey
Transgender Advocate
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies
planetransgender

"Tranny" This pejorative is not up for debate

Defamatory Language: “fag,” “faggot,” “dyke,” “homo,” “sodomite,” “she-male,” “he-she,” “it,” “tranny” and similar epithets.

Ref.GLAAD Media Reference Guide 8th edition

The original announcement that Q Cinema Fort Worth, Texas will make Ticked Off Trannies with Knives" it's 'first centerpiece' film at it's film festival included this invitation to transgender people to watch the movie and then engage in dialogue

"opening an avenue of discussion between ticked-off typists and the filmmakers and cast."

This is illustrative of the blatant gay transphobia and generic straight transbaiting and cyber bullying that transgender people are forced to endure.

After I complained to key sponsors of the Q Cinema a watered down version appeared containing a quote from the GLAAD call to action suggesting that GLAAD was the first and only organization ever opposed to this movie.

The latest statement contained these key paragraphs, one a lie, and one a pathetic truth.

LIE

"Q Cinema staffers had made the determination to show the film before the trans tempest began stirring..."

This is a OUT RIGHT LIE.

Worldwide condemnation of TTWK was voiced by the Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies, myself and transfolk everywhere communicating clearly that we were OUTRAGED and communicated this to the gay community in the Dallas Voice begining FEBUARY of 2009, after Luna announced this project on THE SAME Dallas voice article transfolk were voicing our objection to the defamatory slur "Tranny" as it had been so often indiscriminately used in that publication. That was long before this movie was funded or even in production.

Combined with the cascade of gay publications who then ganged up on planetransgender attempting to force 'tranny' on transgender people, this crescendo would have been impossible to ignore by Luna's friend and Q Cinema director Tod Camp, and in fact was probably the motivation Luna needed to so enthusiastically pursue ticked off TRANNIES in the first place.

Sad pathetic truth:

"Q Cinema, first and foremost, has been a supporter of local filmmakers and Israel has been a long-time friend of the festival..."

Truth is first and foremost Q Cinema chooses self promotion and profits over transgender dignity, and wellbeing. This is the sad truth.

Israel Luna has won this Pyrrhic victory by pasting a pejorative defaming transgender people in theater marquees, but at what cost?

Luna has alienated transgender people from the gay population. He has Instilled a disdain and anger at anything gay in transfolk for generations to come.

It is revolting that some gay people so enthusiastically capitalize on transgender violence, then find ways to morally justify these despicable actions to themselves and hateful fear mongers, regardless of sexual orientation.

And then they have the balls to claim that they are welcomed in their churches and community groups!

No thank you. Transgender people do not need you or your awful hatefulness of tricked off trannies with knives.

Mujer transexual de mexico encontrado decapitado

La imagen izquierda, es la de la mujer transexual asesinada de forma brutal, son imágenes muy fuertes, pero hemos creído necesario ponerlas, y no mirar hacia otro lado. Para mostrar la brutalidad y como se nos masacra aun en todo el planeta por el mero hecho de ser personas transexuales. Sobre todo para esas personas que aun cuestionan el por qué nos visibilizamos en la búsqueda de la normalización, alegando que ya somos hombres y mujeres y que esta todo andado y conseguido.

En una nueva forma de ataque contra la comunidad de transexuales, ayer fue encontrado el cuerpo de un una mujer transexual, en Chihuahua, México, que fue decapitada y cuyo cuerpo fue tirado en una colonia a un kilómetro de donde fue encontrada su cabeza.

Medios/Diario Digital transexual-. De acuerdo con los hechos, el hallazgo se realizó a las seis de la mañana, en las calles 25 y Salvador Zubirán, al sur de la ciudad. En ese lugar fue encontrada la cabeza cercenada de una chica transexual. El rostro presentó signos de haber sido decapitado en vida, ya que tenía los ojos abiertos en señal de miedo y terror.

En las calles 16 y Justiniani fue encontrado el resto del cuerpo que vestía una blusa femenina color negro, pantalón strech de mezclilla, color azul y tenis color blanco. El cuerpo fue trasladado al Servicio Médico Forense para practicarle la autopsia de ley. Hasta ayer a las dos de la tarde el cuerpo no era identificado. De las investigaciones se hicieron cargo elementos de la Unidad Especializada en Delitos Contra la Vida. Cabe señalar que este es el segundo ataque en contra de una transexual en un mes, ya que anteriormente otro chica conocida llamada, Carola, fue herida en el vientre con una navaja por un sujeto desconocido.

Este Diario es un PERIÓDICO DIGITAL DE NOTICIAS, las cuales reproducimos -ya sean bien de agencias, comunicados de colectivos u otras fuentes- aparte de propias redacciones originales. La información que aquí se publica se realiza en aras de la libertad de expresión y del conocimiento. Independientemente de que se este de acuerdo con ellas o no, siempre prevalece el derecho a la información. En la Red desde el año 2.000.

Diario de Noticias
Gracias a aka william.com para romper esta historia

Transgender Woman Decapitated Chihuahua, Mexico

Source Journal de Noticias: "The left image is that of the transgendered woman killed in a brutal way, are very strong images, but we believe it necessary to put them, and do not look the other way. To show the brutality and massacres as we are still on the planet by the mere fact of being transgender. Especially for those people who even question why we are visible in the search for the standardization, arguing that because we are men and women and that everything is gone and achieved."

"In a new attack against transgender community, was found yesterday the body of a transgender woman in Chihuahua, Mexico, who was beheaded and her body was lying in a colony than a mile from where her head was found."

"Media / Digital Journal transsexual. According to the facts, the discovery was made at six in the morning in the streets 25 and Salvador Zubirán, south of the city. In that place was found the severed head of a girl transsexual. Her face showed signs of having been beheaded in life, because her eyes were open as a sign of fear and terror."

"In the 16th and Justiniani was found the rest of her wearing a feminine blouse black, strech denim pants, blue and white tennis. The body was transferred to the Medical Examiner for autopsy law. Until yesterday at two o'clock in the afternoon the body was not identified. The investigations took over elements of the Special Unit for Crimes Against Life. Note that this is the second attack against a transsexual in a month, since a previous call girl known, Carola, was wounded in the belly with a knife by an unknown subject."

"This is a digital newspaper Journal de Noticias, which are well reproduced, and agencies, news groups or other sources, apart from their own original compositions. The information appearing here is done in the name of freedom of expression and knowledge. Whether one agrees with them or not, always prevails right to information. On the Web since 2000."

Journal de Noticias
Thanks to aka william.com for breaking this story.

Diario de Noticias
Gracias a alias william.com para romper esta historia

$2000 Reward for Information in Amanda Gonzalez-Andyhar Murder

Queens Gazette Queens detectives are seeking help from the public as they try to piece together the final hours of a transgender woman’s life.

Friends who had not seen nor heard from Amanda (Edelbuerto) Gonzalez-Andyhar in several days asked her landlord to let them into her Glendale apartment last week.
The friends stumbled on a gruesome image inside a bedroom at the apartment —Edelbuerto, who went by the name Amanda, was found dead, lying naked, sprawled across her bed. The apartment was ransacked and her collection of Marilyn Monroe photos had been destroyed, police said.

The city medical examiner is performing an autopsy to determine the time and cause of death.

Investigators are combing the neighborhood for information on Gonzalez-Andyhar’s final hours, knocking on doors and asking neighbors if they heard signs of a struggle coming from the apartment prior to her death.

Police are also seeking information on a possible suspect who might have surprised Gonzalez-Andyhar, murdered her and ransacked the apartment searching for something.
Gonzalez-Andyhar’s friends told police her laptop computer was missing from the apartment.

Investigators are also analyzing a surveillance video taken inside Gonzalez-Andyhar’s building to try to identify a man who was there at the approximate time of her death.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Crimestoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS. The Hotline is offering a $2,000 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest and conviction of a suspect.

Dallas Transgender Advocates DEMAND R-E-S-P-E-C-T at the Tribeca PROTEST

Press Release
April 6, 2010
For Immediate Distribution

Contact
Kelli Anne Busey
email: kellibusey@yahoo.com
Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies
DTAA Call to Action

Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies urge attendance at the Tribeca protest in New York City.

The Tribeca film festival chooses to abdicate it's moral responsibility by ignoring AP and Glaad media guidelines and proceeds with premiering 'Ticked Off Trannies With Knives" (TTWK) despite transgender peoples strenuous plea's that it be removed from their upcoming festival lineup.

Kelli Busey, founder of the Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies was the first to protest and take action against the unaccredited and indiscriminate usage of the word 'tranny' by the Dallas Voice in 2009, and was subsequently the first to become acquainted with Israel Luna's proposed project 'TTWK'. The trans community at that time upon learning of TTWK clearly stated it's objection to it's name and message.

Kelli Busey says "Transgender people, STAND UP for your dignity". Make a statement today that you are not allowing gender slurs to be used freely without attribution in the press or by movie producers, be they straight OR LGBT." she elaborates, This is not censorship. It is transgender people claiming our place in society!" She states emphatically, "We have stood shoulder to shoulder with gay and lesbians in outrage when media has defamed them with slurs targeting their sexual preference, DEMAND the same R-E-S-P-E-C-T today from gay movie producer Israel Luna at the Tribeca protest!"

Tribeca protest details

When: Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
Time: 6:30-8:00pm
Location: Tribeca Cinemas @ 54 Varick Street, NYC
Google map

Protest Organizer:

Ashley Love
email magnet_right_ now@yahoo.com

Facebook April 6th Protest Event Info & Press Release

Home PageMedia Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People (MAGNET)

Media guidelines recommended terminology and definitions of defamatory language PDF Glaad and AP style guide

* * * *

The Dallas Transgender Advocates and Allies (DTAA) are a Texas based worldwide group of Transgender, Queer, Intersexed, Asexual, Questioning and allied people advocating for Equality in Politics and Religion. DTAA dallastaa.ning.com

Protest At Tribeca NYC Cinema planned For Premiering “Ticked Off Trannies With Knives”

Press Release: For immediate release April 4, 2010

Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People (MAGNET)

“Protest/rally Against Tribeca’s Decision to Premiere Transphobic Film “Ticked Off Trannies With Knives”

What: A protest/rally demanding that Tribeca Film Festival remove the transphobic film “Ticked Off Trannies With Knives (TOTWK)”. Melissa Sklarz- Director of New York Trans Rights Organization, celebrities, elected officials & LGBT activists will be speaking. A candle light vigil for trans victims of hate crimes will also be held.

When/Where: Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 6:30-8:00pm @ Tribeca Cinemas @ 54 Varick Street, NYC

Why: The movie makes light of violence and rape against trans women, exploits the high-profile murder of teenager Angie Zapata, includes the pejorative term “trannies” in its title, inaccurately depicts trans women’s identities as drag queen “performers” and “caricatures” and misrepresents the lives of an extremely disenfranchised group who suffer violence at alarming rates.

Kim Pearson, Executive Director of TransYouth Family Allies, says "Negative and stereotyped media portrayals of transgender people hurt the community because Americans still need more education on transgender issues. The images in this film (TOTWK) make a mockery of their lives. I want more for my child and all transgender people.”

“The transsexual and transgender communities are all too often the victims of violence, marginalization and discrimination as a result of inaccurate media depictions like this film, which is offensive, dehumanizing and misogynistic and causes further misunderstanding and harm to an already dangerously oppressed minority group”, states Ashley Love, Organizer of Media Advocates Giving National Equality to Trans People (MAGNET).

MAGNET had a meeting with staff at Tribeca Center on Friday, March 26, educating them about why this film is extremely problematic and dehumanizing. They refused to remove the film or make a statement that they don’t endorse the oppression of transsexual and transgender women, so MAGNET is now organizing a protest/rally, in association with Families United Against Hate, International Foundation For Gender Education, New York Trans Rights Organization, World Gender Coalition and Remembering Our Dead, to demand that they remove the film, and to draw attention to injustices trans people face in everyday life and in the media. Many trans advocates, trans organizations, women’s groups and allies voiced their concerns to GLAAD, expressing they needed aggressive action. GLAAD issued an uncompromising and strong petition & call to action demanding that Tribeca remove the film:

To support or endorse protest on Tuesday, receive information about issues raised or press questions, or become involved in anti-defamation/media work for the transsexual and transgender communities:

Join the Boycott TOTWK” Facebook page & find more info/articles on the story:

CONTACT: Organizer of MAGNET: Ashley Love- Email: magnet_right_now@yahoo.com

For info/articles on issues raised: Ashley Love’s blog: Transforming media.blogspot.com

Texas A+M Lecture ‘Gender Identity Issues and Workplace Discrimination: The Transgender Experience’

A&M-Central Texas Lecture Highlights Gender Identity Issues and Workplace Discrimination

By tamuct

Department of Marketing and Public Relations
1901 S. Clear Creek Road, Killeen, Texas 76549
Alison Rex, Communications Specialist
254-519-5790 rex@tarleton.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2010

A&M-Central Texas Lecture Highlights Gender Identity Issues and Workplace Discrimination

Killeen, TEXAS—Texas A&M University-Central Texas Assistant Professor of Sociology, Dr. Michelle Dietert, will conduct her presentation of ‘Gender Identity Issues and Workplace Discrimination: The Transgender Experience’ on April 8, 2010 from 6­­–7:30p.m. in Warrior Hall.

Dr. Dietert will share her presentation and research with A&M-Central Texas before it becomes published in the Journal of Workplace Rights. The lecture will include an introduction to the social issue, the literature, methods, data (actual words collected from some of the participants), and a question answer session with the audience.

The focus of Dr. Dietert’s abstract is how mainstream social constructions of gender tend to demand conformity by adhering to only two choices of gender identity, male and female. Transgender individuals transgress this binary conception of gender by deviating from societal gender norms associated with assigned sex at birth. Using a combination of face-to-face and phone interviews to collect data, twenty-six interviews were conducted with male-identified transgender individuals aged 18 to 57 from throughout the United States. All participants were born female-bodied but eventually expressed gender traits that align with male identity rather than female identity. Participants were recruited using purposive and snowball sampling techniques. Our findings reveal the workplace experiences of a sample of female to male (FTM) individuals and provide accounts of how male-identified transgender individuals negotiate their gender identities within the workplace and deal with issues that arise as a result.

Dr. Dietert states, “I think the TAMU-CT faculty, students, staff, and community can learn a great deal about a social group that is not often talked about, namely transgender female-to-male individuals.” She continues, “This population faces a great deal of discrimination in all areas of their lives, including in the workplace. They often cannot find employment or are fired from their current jobs for being transgender.”

The presentation will take place at A&M-Central Texas North Campus in Warrior Hall (701 Whitlow Drive Killeen, TX 76541). For more information please contact Dr. Michelle Dietert at DIETERT@tarleton.edu

# # #

A&M-Central Texas Lecture Highlights Gender Identity Issues and Workplace Discrimination

Transfolk just want to 'Give Peeps a Chance'

There is a inane urgency expressed by Gay and hetero Cisgender people to hang a new moniker on transfolks that's more writer friendly, cuter than the longer and more difficult to use respectful adjective "Transgender" .
Whether we like it or not!
Some of our preferred titles shortened from transgender such as 'Transmen' and 'Transwoman' remain unused, languishing in mainstream media and gay bloggers keyboards.

WE have and will continue to demand respect and loudly reject the misogynistic pejorative 'Tranny' as a accepted term in media and society despite cisgender gay peoples insistence we should 'own this' reviled defamatory slur.

Then call us 'Tranpeeps'! This word is universally accepted within the trans community and is commonly used as an endearment usually in times of heightened passions or turmoil. Additionally transpeeps are strong, intelligent sensitive and insoluble in acetone, water, sulfuric acid, and sodium hydroxide! And we are now available year round!

If cisgender folks must use a name other than 'transgender' you may call us transpeeps. It's clearly not misrepresentational since transpeeps does not conjure a mental vision of transgender people being 'fierce hot' or violent over the top parodies of femininity bent on inflicting vigilante justice.

wiki 'People' "The concept of personhood (who is a person within a society) is the fundamental component of any selective concept of people. A distinction is maintained in philosophy and law between the notions "human being", or "man", and "person". The former refers to the species, while the latter refers to a rational agent (see, for example, John Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding II 27 and Immanuel Kant's Introduction to the Metaphysic of Morals)."

"Central issues of interest to people are the understanding of the human condition and the meaning of life, and survival. Religion, philosophy, and science show or represent modes and aspects of inquiry which attempt to investigate and understand the nature, behavior, and purpose of people. Sociology, economics, and politics represent modes by which people investigate how to maximize a collective survival strategy."

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Man Charged in murder of Baltimore Transgender Woman Dee Green

Baltimore Sun Larry Douglas, 20, of Baltimore has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing of _____ Dee Green__, 25, of the first block of N. Woodington Road in Southwest Baltimore.

A counselor said she knew Green as "Dee," and that Green identified as a woman.

In November, Green was recognized at a vigil at City Hall commemorating International Transgender Day of Remembrance, according to an item on Baltimore Brew, a local news Web site. One who attended the event, Cydne Kimbrough, founder and director of the Gender Learning Advocacy and Support System, said in an e-mail to The Baltimore Sun that Green had been a client.

"We were helping her start the process of going to school and [the] name-change process," Kimbrough said. "She was very interested in a better quality of life for herself."

Dee Green is listed on the Transgender Day of Remembrance Memorializing 2009

Unidentified person [Dee Green] dressed in woman’s clothes
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Cause of Death: Stabbed
Date of Death: October 25, 2009
Police found her lying unconscious and bleeding in the street.
They took her to the hospital where she died a half hour later.
Original Source: Baltimore Sun


The first Day of Remembrance was held in San Francisco in 1999 as a vigil for Rita Hester, murdered in that city on November 28, 1998. Since then, Day of Remembrance ceremonies have spread to over 150 cities, from Minsk to Tel Aviv to Yogyakarta, Indonesia—anywhere that transgendered people live, die and are not too afraid to speak out in public against the violence, discrimination and prejudice they confront daily.

“We have to fight every day just to maintain a sense of self,” said Falina Laron, a peer educator and trans outreach worker at AIDS Action Baltimore.