5/3/10

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.

5/2/10

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