State Rep. John Kavanagh (R-8th District) recently submitted an amendment for state Senate bill SB 1432. He’s stated that the amendment is a response to Phoenix passing an ordinance granting housing, employment and public accommodation antidiscrimination protections based on gender identity for transgender citizens. His proposal is to limit public restrooms and locker rooms usage…
At what age do transgender girls become perceived predators? Do we consider a transgender girl in kindergarten – a girl born with male genitalia – to be a predator toward other girls in her elementary school class should they all use the girls bathroom? Would the line be a third grade/8-year-old trans girl? A sixth…
March 9, OutServe-SLDN’s Executive Director Allyson Robinson gave a speech at a Washington, D.C. fundraiser for her organization that was billed as “The State of LGBT Military Service Address.” In her speech she gave a description of how her family supported her through her time, first at West Point and then later during her military…
I would never refer to African Americans by the terms “colored” or “negro” even though Martin Luther King Jr. used those terms frequently. Times have changed, and the terms we use for the African American community and its members have changed. Many, if not most, African Americans now consider those terms to be offensive, although…
Should there be a third gender category birth certificate gender assignment? The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) is considering just that after its Law Reform Advisory Council advised the government in Canberra that gender options for birth certificates and other identity documents should include the options female, male, intersex, to be advised or indeterminate. In 2010,…
I own a butterfly kite. It’s has an ombré color fade from blue to purple in the wings, as well as a pair of 50-foot long rainbow tails. When the wind is blowing and it’s in the air it’s quite a sight to see – the wings even appear to flap in the wind. Last…
I want to love RuPaul as a drag performer for his trans-positive actions, yet I find I can’t because of his trans-negative statements. I can’t quite reconcile my mixed feelings about him. RuPaul’s Drag Race (on Logo’s basic cable channel) has had three transgender contestants on it. Two of those contestants came out as trans…
Feb. 6 2003, I went to my place of employment as Autumn for the first time. As many already know, I served in the U.S. Navy from 1980 through 2000. I’m a retired, disabled, Persian Gulf War veteran; my disabilities are service connected and my Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability rating is 100 percent….
Last September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill protecting LGBT youth from the psychological abuse of reparative therapy (sometimes referred to as conversion therapy). SB 1172, due to a temporary injunction by the federal courts, isn’t currently being enforced. The Liberty Counsel argued for three plaintiffs who practiced reparative therapy that implementation of the law…
The media often facilitates the barriers in the way of tolerance of trans people in broader society, and sometimes are the barriers themselves. One recent example is from Great Britain. Columnist Suzanne Moore wrote an article entitled Seeing Red: The Power Of Female Anger for the British newsmagazine The New Statesman speaking to how women…
