Early recovery! What does this mean to the LGBT individual who has made the decision to free him or herself from the addictive and abusive cycles of substance use? You’ve decided to embrace a new way of living. You’ve participated in local self-help groups, entered and perhaps completed treatment and have set the intention to…
Like most medical students, I took anatomy in my first year, spending hours dissecting a cadaver with five colleagues. Every five weeks, our full day of testing ended with a practical exam. It began by circulating through a room full of bodies guessing the name or function of parts identified with a pin and ended…
Within the past week, A 16th trans person (or 10th, depending on who’s doing the counting and what criteria are being used) has been killed since the first of this year, and all but one has been a person of color. This time it was a 25-year-old black woman named India Clark, found beaten to…
Whoa … not so fast! As the celebration of marriage equality winds down our community appears poised to pivot toward, and bring the primary focus of our formidable influence, to the fight for passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). It may seem the obvious course. After all, as the saying goes, a gay or…
SAN DIEGO: Remarks by Nicole Murray Ramirez at St. Paul’s Cathedral rainbow lighting ceremony, July 14: Good Evening, it is my deep honor to have been asked to speak tonight. These are indeed historic times for our great nation and all Americans. The Confederate flag is coming town in many Southern states and the White…
A number of people have asked what I think of the “die-ins” planned for Saturday’s parade. It’s complicated. As a political strategy, I think the “die-ins” are a bad idea for a number of reasons. Perhaps most importantly, it is causing division within the transgender community. While it is not uncommon for groups to have…
A diverse judicial branch is one comprised of judges from each diverse category of persons, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. As the judicial branch of California has recognized, “in order to serve the state of California effectively, the judicial branch should reflect the diversity of the state. The judicial branch must continue efforts…
The San Diego Union Tribune has had a mostly negative relationship with the LGBT community, especially in the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s, referring to us for a long time as the “homosexual community” and refusing to use the word “gay.” They ran negative articles and editorials, including ugly cartoons. (“Being gay” was not even…
Pride 2015 – the summer when love wins! With the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, we witness the long arc of history bend a little more toward justice. We know our community has much work left to do on many issues, but on the issue of marriage equality we can finally and truly claim this victory!…
It’s another Pride season. And every year at this time our thoughts turn to parades and celebrations, and to looking at what we’ve achieved and what we have left to do. This Pride, though, is a little different for me. Because I can’t shake from my thoughts three bright, sweet transgender kids from San Diego…
