Chicago TransMan Levi Pine's Complaint Against King Spa is Wrong

A Chicago man has filed a discrimination complaint against the  King Spa and Sauna for denying him the use of the men's shower, pictured right. According to the Windy City Times Levi Pine felt degraded after the manager approached him while he was naked asking to speak with him.

The manager, who identified himself as John but declined to provide a last name to Windy City Times, questioned Pine about his gender. Pine told John that he was transgender, and John said he could provide Pine with a private shower.

Pine said he did not want a private shower and that he could use the same facilities used by other customers. But, John said, other customers had complained.

So I was curious, are youth allowed in the King Spa and Sauna so I called the Chicago facility.

The service representative told me children under 12 are allowed as long as they are accompanied by an adult of the same sex. Children over 12 after being admitted with an adult are allowed unrestricted access to the faculty.

"I shouldn't have to be sequestered into a private area," Pine later told Windy City Times. "Just because some people who go there are uncomfortable with my body, shouldn't change what I have to do and shouldn't change my rights as a customer."

The nity gritty. Transgender men have become used to identifying there Sexual Reassignment Surgery as a breast reduction and reconstruction and in addition to affects of hormone replacement therapy most trans men 'pass' easily. Until you drop you're drawers then passing becomes problematic.

The lone commenter on the Windy City Times, Amber, made a argument for his rights to use public accommodations as did John Knight, LGBT project attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and my good friend Attorney Joanie Rae Wimmer.

Amber makes a case for blind justice for transgender rights but in this case I think the blinders should come off.

Pine probably has a valid case under law but..
My 2cents.....

Mr. Pine is ether ignorant about the Spa's policy on admitting children, caught up in the cause or he's just uncaring.
I feel we have a moral responsibility as do the vast majority of those previously polled regarding nudity in public accommodations with to respect children.

It's not optional, it's not a case of discrimination regardless of consequences, its our duty as citizens if a person has not had bottom surgery, full nudity must be considered a condition reserved for consenting adults. If children are present or the possibility exists a child could enter the room under those conditions, it's not just wrong, it's immoral.

Trans bloggers and Other People of Good Will: You are Being Hijacked

Who would stoop to that level to intentionally misdirect and misinform with hateful lies?

Radscum. Filthy dirty filthy low life nasty hateful radscum.

I was playing with the idea of buying a domain for this blog and found that it was unavailable because it was already registered. The scum have registered planetransgender.com pointing everyone who searches for this blog using that domain to their wordpress hell hole! Those are some dirt bags for sure. Googling "planetransgender.com" you end on rad scum central. Just a heads up to other trans folk and other people of good will.

You might want to check this out. The scum might be hijacking you too.

ESPN Radio 980 Suspends Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin

ESPN 980 (Washington, D.C.) radio hosts Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin suspended for their transphobic tirades berating transgender basketball player Gabrielle Ludwig.

The radio station belatedly took action following the outrage expressed by you and I.


The following message was posted on the ESPN 980 Facebook wall:

Many including myself felt the appropriate response would have been to fire these two after there second rant thinly discussed as an apology.

However the independently owned and operated sports radio station felt a suspension was fitting.  Awful Announcing brought up the point firing could and probably would have, in all fairness, inhibited future discussions about transgender people (transgender people's rights?).

This begs the question, what if that bigoted rant were focused at a black person? People of color are defined as a minority just as Gabrielle Ludwig is, would the station have felt a suspension an appropriate remedy then?



So what do you think?

Lady Gaga Born This Way Санкт-Петербург Россия

Lady Gaga говоря бросил переводчик сказал, что она "хочет уважения прав геев". Lady Gaga хочет сказать, что она ожидает уважения от других - она не здесь, чтобы оскорбить религию никому или веры, она здесь, чтобы объединить нас ".



Lady Gaga said at the concert that she "wanted to respect the rights of gays." Lady Gaga wants to say that she expects respect from others - she is not here to offend anyone religion or faith, she is here to join us. "

"Artists in Russia have begun warning of a new "iron curtain" falling over the country, as ever more western stars become targets of the country's crackdown on culture. Last week, prosecutors in St Petersburg opened an investigation into the Hermitage museum after complaints that an exhibit by British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman showed signs of extremism. Responding to the investigation, the Chapman brothers said in a statement: "Note to selves: remember, forget Russia."

"The campaign against western artists has grown since the jailing of the punk band Pussy Riot, a case that highlighted the crackdown on freedom of expression in Vladimir Putin's Russia."

Source: Guardian

Tegan Smith Handcuffed Dragged Off Plane at Dallas Love Field "for being trans"

Transgender woman Tegan Marie Smith handcuffed, removed from a plane at Dallas Love Field because the "police" wanted to know "why she was transgender."

Rebecca Heineman posted about this on facebook:

Around 6PM Dallas time on Monday, December 10th, 2012, my good friend Tegan Marie Smith was at Love Field in Dallas TX on board her flight to Atlanta GA when the police boarded the aircraft, handcuffed and arrested her. They held her for a few hours telling her she had no rights and demanded why she was "Transgender". In the process she lost her phone and several other personal items and missed he...r flight. She is currently in a hotel in Dallas awaiting the next flight home..

This is a total outrage!! She didn't deserve this treatment. She only was in Dallas to see her family and was on her way home.

This is the text from Tegan's facebook page.

"Arrested in Dallas, detained for two hours in handcuffs, released. Most of my stuff, including phones, missing. I still had one credit card and my drivers license, so I got a nearby hotel and will try to fly home to Atlanta tomorrow. I had to give life story about being transsexual to officers. My earlier flight was cancelled, and I had a few drinks at the bar, no more than the others I was with. I was boarded, then removed, placed in handcuffs, not read any rights, was told I didn't have any. They demanded to know why I was transgender. I was finally released, my wrists are bruised, the handcuffs hurt like hell but I sure as hell wasn't going to let them see me cry. I feel pretty bad right now, I was singled out of six people from the bar near the gate, I am certain because of my height and size. I don"t have any phone numbers but one. my phone is gone, and she is not answering. A wonderful weekend in Dallas gone bad for no reason. I was told to stay away from the airport tonight, to fly out tomorrow. Likely I will have to buy another ticket, and I have no idea where my carry on bag, hormones, etc are.

No one is going to see me cry. Yey though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for I am the toughest Bitch in the valley."

Apparently Tegan is safe and on her way home. This was posted by a friend of hers...

(Tegan)"...messaged me to say that she had a stand-by boarding pass to get home on a 1245 flight, no charge. She said that the groundcrew at the check-in apologized and told her that her arrest was a manager's decision and that they never would have pulled her off of the flight themselves, but said that they couldn't do anything about it though.

All of her possessions were returned ...to her intact!
She has taken her prescriptions and photographed the marks on her wrists from the handcuffs that the police put very tightly on her yesterday. She said that NBC wants to talk with her. I don't know if they got to yet though. Let's all please say a prayer that she gets home safe and sound! A subsequent text message from her indicated that she was boarding at 12:32, so apparently she's in the air now!

There will be a lot in the mainstream news about this I'm sure.

ESPN Radio: Fire Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin

This sort of hate speech has no place on the court, in the stands and especially not on the Radio. This kind of attack was exactly what Gabrielle was so anxious about  although I don't think she could have imagined it would have originated from mainstream media.

What made this attack doublly dispicable is they did it in response to the incrediable article published by


"ESPN Radio's Steve Czaban and Andy Pollin went on a deeply transphobic rant about trans college basketball player Gabrielle Ludwig, calling her "it" and saying transgender people have no place in sports. Source: Out Sports.





chucksapienza980@gmail.com
Chuck Sapienza

Vice President/Programming
Red Zebra Broadcasting

ESPN980 and SportsTalk 570

The Illinois Family Institute employs Nazi Tactics at The Aurora AD Hoc Committee Meeting

Will the mob organized by the Illinois Family Institute strong arm the East Aurora Ad Hoc committee from doing what the school board originally accomplished when they unanimously approved transgender inclusive policies?

Its possible according to the Beacon News as the Ad Hoc committee chairwoman has indefinitely postponed the next meeting for fear that some of the committee members are at risk of being harmed.

Why would Chairwoman Anita Lewis feel there was danger and who's behaviour at that meeting would have led her to think that?

Intimidation Tactics:

Transgender committee member Joanie Rae Wimmer wrote in her letter posted below that she felt intimidated by one the IFI recruits who was for some unknown reason allowed to stand closely behind her for the entire meeting, gesturing and pointing at her while making obnoxious comments disparaging her gender.

That person has been identified as Brian Anderson a founder a local recruiting company which quite incredibly claims it does so in the best interest of there clients by hiring the best heterosexual cisgender person for the position.

The other transgender committee member Crystal Ann Gray posted this on her facebook page about the struggle just to get past the IFI protesters:

"Shari and I are here for the meeting in Aurora and we were met at the door by IFI supporters with protest signs. We almost did not get through the door. We are safe for now and Aurora PD is on the way to make sure everyone is safe and that it is uneventful."

The following open letter is by committee member Joanie Rae Wimmer:

An open letter to the Ad Hoc Committee of East Aurora School District 131

Dear Fellow Ad Hoc Committee Members,

One of the nice things about being in business for myself is that I enjoy the freedom to speak my mind without fear of having my employment terminated or other negative repercussions. I was invited to serve on the Ad Hoc Committee and have every intention of continuing to do so. ...But I cannot go through an experience like last Thursday night's meeting without saying what I need to say about it. I didn't speak up at the meeting only because I understand and respect Robert's Rules of Order and the process by which governmental and quasi-governmental bodies operate.

Never have I seen so many people gathered in one place so determined to display their own ignorance, bigotry, and mean-spiritedness. I should not have been surprised because the protest was organized by the Illinois Family Institute, which has been certified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The Beacon News had a photograph of David Norck of the Illinois Family Institute assisting the protestors. It would be like having the Ku Klux Klan come to a meeting of a committee whose work was to craft a policy for racial integration. We had speakers tell us that transgender people have "twisted minds" and are "gender confused". My favorite part of the evening was when a speaker, who for some reason was allowed to stand behind my chair for the entire meeting in an intimidating posture, pointed his pen at me, and told the assembled throng that I was there to "push my lifestyle" on the children of East Aurora. This same person had never met me before that evening; doesn't know anything about my "lifestyle"; doesn't know if I spend my free time with my children, in the library, out clubbing, or at church; and knows nothing about me other than the fact that I am transgender. Because he knows nothing about me other than the fact that I am transgender and feels justified in attacking my "lifestlye", he is nothing but a hate-filled ignorant bigot. It is no different from making assumptions about a person's "lifestyle" because they are black or Hispanic.

We heard a lot of talk about putting girls in the boys' bathroom and boys in the girls' bathroom. But the only people at the meeting who want to put girls in the boys' bathroom are the people who want to force transsexual girls into the boys' bathroom where their identity, comfort, and safety will be compromised.

I was disappointed not to have had an opportunity to speak out at the meeting, and to have to listen to ninety minutes of transphobic diatribes.

We cannot let a certified hate group prevent the Ad Hoc Committee from having its dialogue, proposing policy, and taking a vote. We don't have mob rule; we have a democracy. And while the First Amendment certainly protects every one, including bigots (the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the American Nazi Party to march in Skokie), reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions may be imposed on the right of public comment so that government bodies and quasi-government bodies can do the work that they are charged to do. It is my suggestion that we, as a Committee, or the School Board, itself, adopt reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on public comment so that the Committee can do its work.

This letter will be an open letter which I post on my blog.

Joanie Rae Wimmer
Attorney at Law

Laurie Higgins of The Illinois Family Institute responded to Wimmers letter hatefully, not missing a opportunity by posting this vile screed attacking the transgender committee members on the IFI website.

In all reality we don't have to look any further to know who the Ad Hoc committee is afraid of. This hateful rhetoric by the IFI endangers not just the committee members but all gender gifted people.

It's time the Christians who participated on behalf of the IFI to consider this. Transgender people were spoken of THREE times in the bible. Once by God, once by Jesus and once when a angel helped a conservative preacher understand, we are all loved. Your actions are in direct disobedience to the teaching of our lord.

Video: Kiev LGBT Protesters Gassed And Harassed

Source NewsWorldNews: "Hundreds of Ukrainian lesbian and gay activists have joined a rally in the centre of Kiev, defying a court order. Protesters denounced a proposed new law that would ban any positive depiction of homosexuals including gay pride marches."

"Clashes broke-out after anti-gay activists tried to disrupt the rally by letting off gas in the crowd. Several people were arrested."



According to Gay Star News there were arrests and beatings at Ukraine gay human rights protest   including Olena Shevchenko, the head of Ukraine’s main LGBT organization "Insight" who was arrested.

Suspended Teacher Reinstated after Showing MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - SAME LOVE feat.

Could you imagine a teacher being suspended for playing this video requested by her students?

Well nether could she and she talks about that in the next video. Its about human rights. Its about love. It's about equality, hope and freedom.



Facebook Cause "Gay Rights are Human Rights" would like to know what you think... More about this at Huffington Post

Video: NY Post Slams US With "Tranny" But Balks At F__ot

This "Article" by the NY Post has to be without a doubt the most hurtful and incendiary transphobic pieces of shit ever published by one of Murdoch's media maggots.

GLAAD,who's article brought this to my attention claims it was they who were responsible for the NY Post's gay awareness. GlAAD says they stopped using the F word because of their efforts during the AIDS crisis.

However GLAAD is apparently unable to stop them from using the T word. I think it may also have something to do with the assailant being associated with the NYFD and everyone knows there's no gay firefighters. (The Mahmoud Ahmadinejad syndrome)

So you might ask, why bother then? Glaad with all its might is seemingly powerless to stop that trash heap of a rag, Kelli what could you do with your little planetransgender bloggy thangy?

Although I have not been a big fan of the duplicitous GLAAD in the past I have seen some major changes in them recently. And a TRUE Ally against transgender defamation is our ally.

And if need be, the next time one of there runway cisgender money making queens utters the T word in public claiming he is 'reclaiming' it on our behalf I will be the first to remind GLAAD of the snip to the right from there own blog.

This video from the NY Post appeared in my daily google 'tranny' alert after I wrote the post and thought I'd include it. Don't buy the NY Post. Really.

APA DSM-5: The D word Switcharoo

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, published by the American Psychiatric Association APA, contains descriptions, symptoms, and other criteria for diagnosing mental disorders.

These criteria for diagnosis provide a common language among clinicians and mental health professionals who treat patients with mental disorders. The APA is currently developing the latest edition, DSM to be published May 2013

There are extremes in all communities and ours is no exception. Being radical it seems right that I occupy the one on the far side advocating for our removal lock, stock and barrel from the DSM-5.

I'm also open to others opinions and since it's such a hot button issue, one I felt needed our attention I created a Facebook event that was joined by five thousand people for conversation. Some against some for our removal and some in the middle, but all respected.

Did those of us who wanted our removal succeed?  No, most likely we failed despite my best efforts at getting local people out from behind their keyboards. That was somehow my fault. Not the gay communities.  We didn't take to the street at key moments and gain the spotlight as they did twenty years ago.

The facts.

The December first 2012  press release from the APA announcing the next bureaucratic step needed to publish the DSM-5 had been taken by the board voting it's approval.

And the world fell over themselves to announce trans people were no longer listed as "disordered" by in the DSM.

Did I miss something in that press release?

The  Message From APA President Dilip Jeste, M.D., on DSM-5 offers no specifics, only justifications and denials regarding the process.

So whats up?

The often quoted Med Page published in May following the last public meeting reports what may not up:

"Gender identity disorder. Individuals who believe their biological gender doesn't match their gender identification will no longer be labeled with a disorder. Instead, if they seek psychiatric treatment, they can be labeled with "gender dysphoria."

The workgroup responsible for dealing with the hot-button issue considered a variety of other approaches, addressed later in this article. Ultimately they settled on a formal diagnosis -- potentially qualifying a patient for insurance-paid treatment if they want it -- but with a less pejorative name than "disorder."

So the name might change but what is the difference between the two words and what does it mean to trans people? The free medical dictionary defines....

Gender Identity Disorder:

"The psychological diagnosis gender identity disorder (GID) is used to describe a male or female that feels a strong identification with the opposite sex and experiences considerable distress because of their actual sex."

Gender Dysphoria:

"unhappiness with one's biological sex or its usual gender role, with the desire for the body and role of the opposite sex.

Not much difference between the two words is there?

Please understand this is just conjuncture since no further official information available untill the DSM-5 is published in May 2013.
But given that one D word is being substituted for another what's the end result?

We remain pathologized by the APA

pa·thol·o·gize

/pəˈTHäləˌjīz/Verb

Regard or treat (someone or something) as psychologically abnormal or unhealthy

Which in my opinion denies  us our rightful place among the worlds well adapted productive citizens.

So try as hard as I may I failed, kind of. Who knows. I did give space to those who wanted conversation. But most importantly, those who wanted our total removal from the DSM as well.

 But now its just a waiting game. The APA has what it wants, our undivided attention, our money, the guidelines to normality, acceptability and our chances at success in life.

Gabrielle Ludwig: Transgender Basketball player At Center Court

"Come out and be Gabrielle the player," head coach Corey Cafferata tells her. "You worked hard to get here. This damn team in here, everyone has your back!"

Ludwig nervously runs her hand over the sock approaching the tattoo on her leg. She has long been eager yet apprehensive about this moment. Can she still play? What will she hear from adults in the stands? What will her opponents on the court whisper? And can she keep her emotions in check? Glancing up from the dirty rug, she says she is calm. She didn't know if this day could ever arrive: Tonight, before spectators who will cheer and curse her, she hits the reset button on her life.

Read more of this celebration of life on USA Today

Twenty Tennessee Equality Organizations to Rally Dec 9th

"Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community—it was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall.
My understanding is that it is virtually—not completely, but virtually—impossible to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex."

Michelangelo Signorile interview with TN Sen. Stacey "Don't Say Gay" Campfield 

Why should the rest of us care? The weakest Link, Tennessee has the most oppressive Anti LGBT Legislature in  the USA.

Twenty Equality Organizations will gather December Sunday 9th rallying for the full range of equality issues--for safe schools and against bad legislation like the Don't Say Gay and License to Bully bills, for legal recognition of our relationships, and safety for our community from violence and hate, including hateful legislation like the Police the Potty bill that targets transgender people.

Video: Islamic Thugs Shut Down Jakarta Festival Waria Berbudaya [Cultural Transgender Festival]

JAKARTA – A transgender festival was forced to shut down on Monday night after an Islamic group armed with sticks turned up at the event to protest against it.

UPDATE  Festival Organizers claim police are in cohorts with the Islamists leaving them unprotected. Source: Jakarta Post


The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a fundamentalist group that aims to implement shariah law in Indonesia, claimed the organiser of the Miss Waria contest in Pasar Festival, South Jakarta, did not have a permit from the police.

“The local community did not want the contest to be held in their area. They asked the police if there is a permit for the contest, but there is not,” Salim Alatas, chief patron of the FPI’s Jakarta chapter told the Jakarta Globe.

“We will deny if there is such thing as a transgender contest in our country. It’s morally destructive and not educating.”

Witnesses said that FPI members wore helmets and were armed with sticks, but Mr Salim denied the claims, saying that his men were unarmed and came in peace.

South Jakarta’s Setiabudi Police precinct head AKBP Lalu Muhammad Iwan confirmed that police did not issue a permit for the event.

Festival organiser Merlyn Sofyan, winner of Miss Waria when the event was first held in 2006, denied the show was a transgender beauty contest.

“It’s called Festival Waria Berbudaya [Cultural Transgender Festival], not a pageant where contestants are judged by their looks,” Merlyn told the Jakarta Globe.

“Festival Waria Berbudaya is an attempt to answer the wrong perceptions in our community by producing decent human resources of waria [transgender people]. It’s not going to be instant, but we’re trying to nurture them.

“If we’re talking about religion, who has the right to judge other people?”

All 20 contestants left the contest peacefully and continued the event at the Legal Aid Foundation in Central Jakarta.

Source: Bangkok Post

Video: Helena LGBT Human Rights Ordinance Advances Amid Fears Based on Hearsay

LGBT human rights activists and opponents of equality gathered in Helena Montana to voice support for and against the Non-Discrimination Ordinance.

Trans people and our allies also spoke against the proposed amendment restricting public accommodations provisions for trans people.

Apparently orchestrating the opposition was Joseph La Rue, legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom in Scottsdale, Ariz. a quasi religious organization, who spoke against the Ordinance.


Source: Independent Record: "The amendment to section 1-8-4 read: “However in any place of public accommodation where users ordinarily appear in the nude, users may be required to use the facilities designated for their anatomical sex regardless of their gender identity. Such requirements shall not constitute discrimination for purposes of this section 1-8-4.”
"The amendment, Thweatt explained saying he was ambivalent about its merits, would allow the owner of a business to remove a person who, for example, was born male but is now a transgender person who had exposed genitalia in a sauna."

"The explanation was in reference to reports of this happening at Evergreen State College, in Olympia, Wash. The college has disputed specifics of the incident. In a similar case, a parent of a swim club member complained of indecent exposure but local prosecutors there declined to charge the person."

****************************
I find it outrageous that Council Member Thweat would site ONE  instance of hearsay to validate to discriminating against transgender people.
Support our equality by signing the Helena Human Rights Petition

CBS CSI: - "Strip Maul" Transgender Peoples Nightmare

"Strip Maul" Strips trans people of diginity.

While the officers are searching for 'wacko's' at the mall they encounter a person in womans clothing who identifies as a female, but with one bizarre twist, she's trans and claims to be pregnant.

The trans person's scene's are always at key moments. It's obvious CBS is well aware that a trans person acting bizarrely will sell this episode. Eventually the trans person begins to threaten herself and her baby and does kills herself.

That scene was deleted from the online version but according to Nick Adams, GLAAD’s Associate Director of Communications "In the next scene, Joslyn has been released from the chair, but now she is even more hysterical, claiming that her water has broken and the baby is coming. She again violently attacks everyone in the room, grabs a pair of scissors and repeatedly stabs herself in the stomach. The show lingers on a shot of her bloody body lying on the floor of the station. Immediately after the commercial break one of the detectives says, "Hospital said our pregnant transvestite was D.O.A."

APA Changes: DSM-5 Transgender Disorder to Dysphoria. It's Official, Kind of

Source AP December 1st 2012: "The board of trustees for the American Psychiatric Association voted Saturday in suburban Washington, D.C., on scores of revisions that have been in the works for several years. Details will come next May when the group's fifth diagnostic manual is published. "

"The trustees made the final decision on what proposals made the cut; recommendations came from experts in several task force groups assigned to evaluate different mental illnesses."

The only thing for sure is that they are -- Eliminating the term "gender identity disorder." Minnesota Public Radio 

*********

The APA will not officially disclose the actual changes until the DSM-5 is published, but from earlier in the year we have a pretty good idea anyways...

******

Source Med Page Today:

Whats changed:

Gender identity disorder. Individuals who believe their biological gender doesn't match their gender identification will no longer be labeled with a disorder. Instead, if they seek psychiatric treatment, they can be labeled with "gender dysphoria."

The workgroup responsible for dealing with the hot-button issue considered a variety of other approaches, addressed later in this article. Ultimately they settled on a formal diagnosis -- potentially qualifying a patient for insurance-paid treatment if they want it -- but with a less pejorative name than "disorder."

What the APA refused to change:

Transgenderism as a V code. In seeking to destigmatize what was called gender identity disorder in DSM-IV, one proposal was to list it -- with or without a new name -- as a so-called V Code. In DSM-IV, this was a chart code used to flag items of clinical interest that were not diagnosable or treatable conditions in their own right -- such as problems at school or noncompliance with treatment.

It was rejected, as were suggestions that the condition be dropped from DSM-5 altogether.

Read more ar 'Med Page Today' published May 10, 2012

Video: It's Over, Stacie Laughton Signs Resignation Letter

 

November 30th at the 17:30 mark on this lenghty video Transgender woman NH Representative elect Stacie Laughton signed her resignation letter.
This video did answer one question I had, why did the rest of the Democrats remain quite? Answer: Her seat broke the super majority the Republicans had (now have again) in the New Hampshire House.