6/13/13

Nicole Maines' Transgender Rights Case Heard By Maine Supreme Court

At question, do transgender students have the right to an education? This case is critical as it will set a legal precedent right wing haters attorneys will defer to in the future when deciding whether to persecute transgender students or not.

Nicole's dad talks about the inhuman treatment of his daughter that brought the case to where it is today:
"In the fifth grade when Nicole was ten years old another student made her life a living hell. He came into the bathroom one day and called her a 'faggot'. It Turns out this young mans grandfather was active in Maine's Christian civic league and he wanted to protest Maine's new law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression."

'He told his grandson "if that boy can use the bathroom (girls room) so can you".

"Instead of enforcing Nicole's rights the school scared of being sued by the Christian civic league told Nicole she could no longer use the bathroom. That separation from Nicole's peer's made her feel like a freak."



Nicole's dad tells of what brought there family this point.



They discriminated by failing to allow her to use the proper restroom and failing to stop harassment.

How do you tell your to children it's adult that do not under stand you. How do you explain to your children adults are using you as political pawns? To make matters worst the boy began a two year campaign of harassment and intimidation calling Nichole hateful names, constantly following her around school, watching which bathroom she used and tormenting her.

Instead of stopping the bullying the school appointed staff to follow Nicole around punishing her instead of the bully.





6/12/13

Boston Police Adopt New Transgender Policy After Losing Lawsuit

The Boston Police working with the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC) have adopted a new transgender policy in response to to a lawsuit filled by Trans woman Brenda Wernikoff.

Ms. Wernikoff had been staying at the Boston Woods Mullen homeless shelter for a year when a employee called the police on her for using the ladies room. According to the Lawsuit Ms. Wernikoff was arrested and humiliated, made to strip and jump up and down for the officers who then called her by male pronouns. Ms. Wernikoff won this lawsuit and was awarded $30,000 dollars.

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

SUBJECT: TRANSGENDER POLICY

Section 1. General Considerations
The purpose of this Special Order is to establish guidelines for the appropriate treatment of
transgender individuals who come into contact with the Boston Police Department. The policy of
the Boston Police Department is to treat all individuals with dignity, respect, and
professionalism. Officers shall at all times abide by Boston Police Department Rule 102 §9
(Respectful Treatment), as well as the City of Boston Office of Human Resources’ “Guidelines
to Prevent Gender Identity Discrimination” when interacting with transgender individuals. The
following considerations are simply a codification of existing procedures and practices:

Section 2 Definitions

Adopted Name – Non-birth name that a transgender individual uses in self-reference (this may
or may not be in the individual’s legal name).

Gender Expression – External characteristics and behaviors that are socially viewed as
masculine or feminine. Gender expression is the external manifestation of one’s gender identity.

Gender Identity – A person’s gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not
that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated
with the person’s physiology or assigned gender at birth. Gender-related identity may be shown
by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the
gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any
other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, as part of a person’s core
identity; provided however, gender-related identity shall not be asserted for any improper
purpose.

Gender – An individual’s biological or anatomical identity as male or female
Transgender Individual – A person whose gender identity differs from his/her assigned gender
Female-to-Male (“FTM”) – A person who transitions from “female-to-male,” meaning
a person who was assigned female at birth, but identifies and lives as a male. A “femaleto-male” individual should be addressed using masculine pronouns (i.e. he, him, his),
regardless of surgical status.Male-to-Female (“MTF”) – A person who transitions from “male-to-female,” meaning
a person who was assigned male at birth, but identifies and lives as a female. A “male-tofemale” individual should be addressed using feminine pronouns (i.e. she, her, hers),
regardless of surgical status.

Section 3 Forms of Address

Officers shall address transgender individuals by the individual’s adopted name. This is true even
if the individual has not received legal recognition of the adopted name. In addressing or
discussing a transgender person, officers will use pronouns appropriate for that person’s gender
identity (e.g., she, her, hers for a prisoner who is male-to-female; he, him, his for a prisoner who
is female-to-male). If officers are uncertain about which pronouns are appropriate, then officers
will respectfully ask the individual.

Section 4 Calls for Service

Calls for service or complaints generated by transgender individuals shall be addressed and
investigated in a manner that is consistent with all Department policies. No officer shall fail to
respond to a call for service based on the gender identity or expression of the caller.

Section 5 Stop and Frisk

Officers shall continue to use standard practices and procedures when conducting “Field Stops”
and “Frisks”, and shall abide by Rule 323 at all times. Additionally, a search or frisk shall not be
performed for the sole purpose of determining an individual’s anatomical gender, and
transgender individuals shall not be subject to more invasive search or frisk procedures than nontransgender individuals.
Section 6 Prisoners

Sec. 6.1. Transportation
Whenever possible, a transgender prisoner shall be transported alone. Officers shall
ensure that additional units are called in order to assist with transporting transgender
individuals.

Sec. 6.2. Booking
The Booking Officer will process transgender prisoners, including persons held in
protective custody and juveniles held in custody, according to normal booking procedures
as outlined in Rule 318. When booking a transgender prisoner, the Booking Officer will
include the prisoner’s adopted name (i.e. name that the individual uses in self-reference)
in the booking, either as the primary name or as the “also known as” (a.k.a.) name. The
transgender prisoner will be booked under the name appearing on the prisoner’s
government-issued identification, as well as under an a.k.a. name where applicable. If no identification is available, then the Booking Officer will use the adopted name for
booking purposes, either as the primary or the a.k.a. name. The prisoner’s birth name will
be used only if it is the prisoner’s legal name or it is required by a legitimate law
enforcement purpose, including but not limited to, a prior arrest record.

Sec. 6.3. Searches
All searches of the transgender prisoner’s person will be conducted by two officers of the
gender requested by the transgender prisoner, whenever possible. If two officers of the
preferred gender are not available, the search shall nonetheless be conducted by two
available officers. If the prisoner does not specify a preference, then the search will be
conducted by officers of the same gender as the transgender prisoner’s gender expression
(e.g., a female-to-male prisoner’s expressing no preference should be searched by a male
Officer). The prisoner will also be required to complete the “Statement of Search
Preference Form” prior to any search (Form #0076-BFS-0413). Any prisoner who refuses
to complete the “Statement of Search Preference Form” shall be searched by officers of
the same gender as the transgender prisoner’s gender expression. Officers shall refer to
Rule 318D regarding proper search procedures.

Sec. 6.4. Conditions during Holding
Whenever possible, a transgender prisoner shall be held in a cell without other prisoners.
The Booking Officer and Duty Supervisor shall make all efforts to ensure that the
prisoner is held without other prisoners, including looking at availability in any and all
other district stations. Transgender prisoners requiring medical attention shall be handled
as any other prisoner requiring medical attention in accordance with Rule 318.

Edward F. Davis
Police Commissioner

Full policy in PDF Here.

6/11/13

Transgender and Gay People Beaten OUTSIDE While The Russian Duma Passed ANTI LGBT Laws

In what can only be described as a day that will live in infamy school children so indoctrinated with hatred by parents and society attacked LGBT people while police watched. The BBC video while good does not, in the tradition of western media, do justice to the violence. I have posted pictures detailing the violence against one LGBT protester shown as a story line.

Published on Jun 11, 2013
There have been violent scenes outside the Russian parliament, with gay rights campaigners clashing with anti-gay activists.

The Russian parliament has overwhelmingly passed a bill that severely restricts the distribution of information about homosexuality. The legislation fines anyone organizing a gay pride event or giving information about gay issues to children Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg reports.



 
 
 


Read about this at vocativ.com



Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli Urinal Photo Doesn't Mean Squat For Trans Rights


Israeli supermodel Bar Refaeli posted this picture to her facebook page and it has since been picked  by many gay blogs and mainstream publishers.

So there is no ignoring it.

 I think it goes without saying its controversial, but does Refaeli's picture promote equality by 'raising the Bar' as Queerty would have us believe? Or is it a tasteless self promotional stunt needlessly stigmatizing transgender people like most of the commentators on her facebook page believe?

My take on it? I think she thought it was edgy. Maybe she thought she was helping us. In any case she knew her superstar status would get a boost from it. News flash Bar, you're not helping us. You're picture doesn't mean squat for transgender rights.




Bar, I'm pretty sure you don't deserve the condemnation that "Work It" received with this image. We in the blogosphere fought long and hard, eventually helping to purge the ABC network of that plague.

Bar Refaeli, you are gorgeous and a ally, but that does not give you a free pass. If you really wanted to help try being real. Take a picture of yourself taking a squat. Now that would be edgy. For real.



Lex and Terry Show Offer An "Apology" Based On Lies and Transphobic Assumptions

Lex and Terry have responded to a story first appearing on the TransAdvocate about an attempted murder of a Tampa transgender woman and have issued an apology after making transphobic comments on air about this hate crime.

As heard on that segment: "There’s a teen that shot a tranny after finding out that it was a man after they had a little sexual encounter. A co-host responded, I don’t blame him. I would have shot his ass too."



Up to that point in time with no apology forthcoming SiriusXM Senior Vice President of Communications, Patrick Reilly notified us that Lex and Terry show had been pulled from the SiriusXM network. “As you may already be aware, the Lex and Terry show is no longer on XM. The show was dropped yesterday, Thursday, from the Extreme Talk channel on XM. That’s the channel under the control of Clear Channel.”

According to All Access.com Lex Staley released the following apology:

"I want to reach out the best way I can to the transgendered community. I deeply apologize for an insensitive remark concerning a news story being discussed on my radio show where a 16-year-old boy shot a transgendered person after they had intimate contact."

"Please know that my off-the-cuff remark was not intended to offend or hurt anyone, but after listening to the audio I understand why the comment caused hurt and anger. I had originally hoped to explain the context of what I said, but quite honestly, what I said was just plain wrong and there is no context in which my statement is acceptable and I take responsibility for it."

"I would like to clarify two things. One is that I work every day on a very liberal program. We are an advice show that has helped the LGBT members of our audience for the past 21 years. We have consistently supported LGBT equality rights on our show, well before it was popular to do so."

"Secondly, as a father of a young daughter I am always distressed when I hear of adults having inappropriate contact with minors. But instead of properly expressing my distress in this situation I made a stupid comment that had no place and failed to express what I was actually thinking."

"I deeply regret the insensitive and hurtful remark I made. My on-air partner and I will be devoting a segment on an upcoming show to discuss the serious issue of discrimination in the LGBT community. We’re all human and deserve to be treated with respect and dignity – as members of the media, we embrace our responsibility to use our platform to help our greater community." ~ All Access.com
Note, this apology does not appear on the Lex and Terry Facebook, web page or twitter.

I was blocked by Lex and Terry after the first post Does Clear Channel Approve of Lex And Terry's Rant Promoting Transpanic Murders? They Haven't said Otherwise.

It appears that Lex and Terry were highly upset that a transgender person would have the audacity to confront them openly about killing us. Posting this article I mentioned them in a tweet and as an act of good will attempted to reach out and follow.

The real issues:

Staley said the shooting occurred after intimate contact. The basis for Staley's angst was an unfounded assumption. Coco, the transgender victim was not arrested for having sex with a minor. She would have if she had been charged with having "intimate contact" with him. I can not find any media reports that state she was arrested for that.

The minor had 'expressed interest in dating" Coco as a means to lure her to an abandoned house to murder her not for sex.

I honestly do not know why Staley would issue an apology based on those untruths but I will offer two possible explanations.

1. You did not take the time to read the news reports nether before your screed or before offering this apology.

2. You suffer from latent  transphobia. We can help with that.  As a matter of fact some transgender people suffer from internalized transphobia as well. But the truth is I believe you are an intelligent man who normally would not allow ignorance to govern your actions, however...saying you lie is rough..but think of this as tough love, a transgender intervention of sorts. The kind you are asking for.

I cringed while reading your apology. Staley, you danced around the crucial points. You used a transgender slur, intentionally maliciously misgendering the victim saying you would have done the same thing (a trans person is murdered globally ever day and a half). I cringed again after reading your defense that you are liberal. Transgender people do not need people to be 'liberal' to be decent human beings.

Staley, you are not only lying to yourself about the reason you reacted as you did but your untruths are ultimately reinforcing transphobia which leads to....yes...more murders.

I seriously look forward to the Lex and Terry show addressing these core issues during the on air segment as promised. If that happens I will advocate for your return to the SiriusXM network.







6/10/13

Father Confronts Transgender Child Shopping for Prom Dress. What Would You Do?

Its time to feel good. About ourselves. About the people we share the earth with. Well, most of the people in this edition of "What would you do?" will make you feel good, but that's life. OK, so I feel a little guilty about enjoying these innocent people's emotional responses, but that being said, Enjoy!



Hat tip to Towleroad!