from Dean Spade:
CeCe just took a plea deal—2nd degree manslaughter with a recommended 41 month sentence (actual sentencing hearing will be in a month). Horrifying to watch her forced to recount the events of her attack on the stand, to watch the judge speak to her condescendingly about how pulling scissors out of her purse as her attacker chased her down the street unlawfully endangered her attacker. This system is so disgusting. Still, I am inspired by her support team here in MN and people all over sending love.How fucking awful that a woman can’t even defend herself. While the outcome is surely not the most ideal, at least that fucker is dead and can’t hurt anyone else.
“PHILADELPHIA – Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE) is pleased to announce that, after a lengthy grassroots campaign by transgender and gender non-conforming Philadelphians and our allies, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) plans to remove the gender stickers from all monthly transit passes by 2013. A fare policy proposal will be submitted to SEPTA’s board of directors that includes this change beginning in the second half of 2013.
RAGE began organizing to remove the stickers in 2009. After collecting thousands of signatures on a petition, RAGE members met with SEPTA general manager Joe Casey. At that meeting, Mr. Casey agreed to remove the gender stickers when the new fare system was implemented. However, the project has met with delays, and though the new fare collection methods are planned to begin in 2014, the difficulties facing the transgender community have continued.”
I hope this marvellous woman gets as many tributes as Adrienne fucking Rich has. Something tells me i’m hoping in vain, however.
Video courtesy of the Huffington Post.My thoughts are with the family and friends of this strong, beautiful, fierce woman.
This just sucks
:( RIP.
(via tranqualizer)
“Pinocchio” by Eli Conley
My friend Eli is a pretty bad-ass trans folk artist in the bay. This song is one of my favorites!
”I am not a real man, I’ll tell you why
It’s not the reason you are thinking of
Lean in close, I’ll share with you a secret
No one is a real man at all
Pinocchio, you are a boy
it doesn’t take no fairy blue
much less a therapist, three doctors and a knife
to cut your flesh and make you real
you are as real as dreams come true
I’m tired of tracing one straight line back through our lives…” (transcript cont. here)
this is rad.
(Source: delisubthefemmecub)
I WOULD LIKE TO START A SUPPORT GROUP/DISCUSSION GROUP FOR QUEER/TRANS PEOPLE OF COLOR WHO DATE OR HAVE CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS WITH WHITE QUEERS. or generally want to talk about their experiences w/ white queer people?
there are lots of white queer people who i hold very near and dear to my heart. my best friend/platonic life partner, my girlfriend, and many of the queer people who i am closest to are white. my mom is also white and is kind of queer. i think they all identify and work on being anti-racist white people but there are still, obviously, plenty of instances where i feel alienated and/or silenced by the unintentional affects of their whiteness/white privilege. it is not uncommon that i am in a space where everyone is queer and/or trans, and i am the only person of color. i think right now i have lots of things i need to explore regarding WHITE QUEERS and my experiences with them. i would like to do this with other QTPOC folk. is anyone interested in starting a private facebook group, for starters? does anyone have any recommendations for other ways this group could happen?
please signal boost! <3
this also should include queer and trans people of color who have white family members, such as queer people of color who were transracially adopted or come from a mixed race family.
signal boost
black stocking hat - ragstock
vintage jacket - gifted from mommy!
grey/purple/teal sweater - thrifted
black jeans - delias
black boots - dr. martins
(Source: femmeboi-fashion)
In honor of Queer History Month, Ms. Bloggers will be giving shout-outs to some of their queer heroes of the present and past.
Leslie Feinberg has been fighting the fight (or more accurately, fights) for more years than I’ve been on this earth. In that regard, ze is my elder. I use this as a term of reverence for someone whose work has changed my life. And that’s exactly what Feinberg is—a teacher and a life changer. Other words to describe ze are activist, coalition builder, writer, transgender warrior and social justice leader. In case this is your introduction to Leslie Feinberg, here is some background to orient you:
Feinberg is the author of several books including Stone Butch Blues (1993), Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman(1997), Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue (1999) and Drag King Dreams (2006). Feinberg’s novels take readers on an emotional journey through the ever-changing lives of characters I dare you not to love. Always at the frontier of transgender politics, hir non-fiction books reveal the complexities of gender in a way that everyone can grasp.
(via adailyriot)
photos remonved from this post because they’re a little gory and definitely could be triggering.
TRIGGER WARNING: Hate crime against a trans man
19 year old transman violently attacked for being trans
19-year-old transman, James Alexander, was violently attacked for being trans yesterday morning while going for a walk in his neighborhood. To get to his destination, he had to walk past the house of a girl he was once interested in who had turned him down in the past (saying that “she can’t be with him because he’s not a real man” and that “she’d consider him IF he had a penis.”, and also calling him a “faggot”.), but he didn’t think anything of it, as he’s lived in the area for three years. He certainly wasn’t expecting what was to come.
As he walked past the house of the girl, she came out, and told him she wanted to talk to him. James stopped, to be polite, and because he figured he’d let her say what she needed to say. She asked him if he is a man, to which he said “Yes.”. She then told him to prove he’s a man. He told her off, and began to walk away. As he was walking away, he felt someone grab the back of his shirt. The person spun him around to face them, and he discovered that it was the girls six-foot-five, 25-year-old boyfriend, Mark. Mark yelled in his face and also told him to prove he was a guy. James told him to back off, and shoved him away. Both the girl and Mark called James a “faggot”, and he began to cry. The two of them then proceeded to make fun of James for crying, saying “Oh look, the little girl is crying”. James started to walk away again, as Mark approached him and punched him in the face, right in the eye.. and continued hitting him repeatedly, while laughing, because James was crying.
James, who is significantly smaller than Mark, at five-foot-eight, and is not a violent person at all, defended himself as best he could, and got away.. but not before he sustained injuries to his face and hand, as well as psychological trauma.
James’ mother called the police, and also had him take photos of his injuries.. but it would seem that Mark is not going to be charged, after all. James explains, “It’s his word against mine. He has his mom, his girl, and three other people saying he didn’t do anything.. so even though I have a broken face and can’t physically stop crying or shaking, he is just getting a warning. I’m pressing charges, but he won’t be arrested. Just told to go to court on a certain day I guess.”
The bottom line is that he was attacked for a specific reason; for being trans. That qualifies what happened to him as a hate crime. This was a violent transphobic attack, and the guy who did this to this 19 year old transman, needs to be charged and convicted accordingly. It’s unfortunate that they won’t arrest Mark.. but I do hope that once this goes to court, he’s punished. He shouldn’t be able to just get away with this. Too many times has an incident like this happened, and the attacker gone free. It’s time we (transgender individuals) started being taken seriously when things like this happen to us.
If anyone who is reading this knows of any resources that could help James to ensure his attacker is convicted (legal counsel for trans people, etc), he can be contacted at ericjames1302@yahoo.com.
Also, if you’re a journalist who would like to write about this, I encourage you to do so, as increasing awareness about this incident is very important. There needs to be a huge public outcry about this. This boy needs all the support he can get. Then, maybe something will be done.
Once again, James can be contacted at ericjames1302@yahoo.com.I hate knowing that these kind of crimes are going on unpunished. :(
this makes me so sad..and so ..furious.
signal boost, hopefully someone has resources or information that could help?
Signal boost to share the reality of violence he had to face just for being himself, and hopefully someone experienced in law can help out or point him in the right direction?I’m sorry James, I hope someone can help, and know that we stand behind you.
This is not fucking okay. I want to RAGE.
(via cage-veil-cunt)
"
This was a very, very important task. Just the title is a fundamental change — you do not see Gender Identity Disorder…
We’ve made a clear statement that gender nonconformity is not pathological.
We’ve set a whole different tone. It’s more about what the professionals have to do” and not about transgender people having to prove their health needs to the professionals, he explained.
"—
Eli Coleman, chair of the WPATH revision committee, which just released Version 7 of the Standards of Care, which has long needed an update.
THIS IS A BIG DEAL.
Some key revisions:
• Psychotherapy is no longer a requirement to receive hormones and surgery, although it is suggested.
“It used to be a minimum amount of psychotherapy was needed. An assessment is still required but that can be done by the prescribing hormone provider,” Bockting explained.
• A number of community health centers in the U.S. have developed protocols for providing hormone therapy based an approach known as the Informed Consent Model. These protocols are consistent with version 7 revisions of WPATH’s standards of care.
“The SOC are flexible clinical guidelines; they allow for tailoring of interventions to the needs of the individual receiving services and for tailoring of protocols to the approach and setting in which these services are provided,” Coleman explained.
“Access is more open and acknowledges transgender care is being provided in community health centers. This certainly makes it easier to access hormones,” Bockting added.
• There are now different standards for surgery, as well. For example, a transgender man who wants a hysterectomy no longer has to live one year as a male in order to receive the surgery. Likewise, a transgender woman who wants her testicles removed does not have to live one year as a female.
For people who want genital reconstructive surgery, however, the standards of care recommend living a year in the role of the gender they are transitioning.
• Another major change, Bockting explained, is that the standards “allow for a broader spectrum of identities – they are no longer so binary.”
“There is no one way of being transgender and it doesn’t have to mirror the idea of a change of their sex,” Bockting explained.
“These standards allow for a gender queer person to have breasts removed without ever taking hormones,” he said.
The WPATH conference in Atlanta, along with the Southern Comfort Conference and the conference of the Gay & Lesbian Medical Association, was a joint effort to show the world what is being done in the area of LGBT health.
But, Bockting added, the new WPATH standards of care also show the tremendous effort that transgender people themselves are doing to ensure their access to healthcare.
“Oftentimes the standards of care were perceived as a barrier even though they were meant as access to care for hormone therapy and surgery,” he said.
“The new standards showcase the important role [transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people] have played in changing the landscape of transgender health in the U.S.,” Bockting added.
Read More: WPATH announces new standards of care for transgender and gender nonconforming people
(via xxboy)
(via tjjourian)
