I was enamored during my first San Diego Pride in 2003. I’d began transitioning in early February of that year, then went to my first trans peer support group in late May, and then agreed to staff the trans booth in July. Frankly, I can’t remember whether or not I marched in the trans contingent…
COMMENTARY: BY AUTUMN SANDEEN According to a former OutServe-SLDN leader, 19 chapters of OutServe-SLDN are threatening to breakaway unless the majority of the existing board is replaced. In particular they are seeking the resignation of Josh Seefried, co-chair of the current OutServe-SLDN board of directors and alleged instigator of the plan to replace Allyson Robinson….
Today is the day LGBT blog Pam’s House Blend will finally close down after nine years. Considered a trailblazer in the LGBT blogosphere, Pam’s House Blend gave voice to members of the LGBT community who had been largely shut out of the national discussion. In a farewell message on the site, creator Pam Spaulding wrote, “The Blend…
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) bills itself as the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the U.S., but it has a reputation of not being trans friendly. In the 110th Congress (2007/2008), the HRC was the only LGBT civil rights organization that supported the non-trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) put forward in 2007 by congressional…
GetEqual staged a sit-in at Republican House Speaker John Boehner’s Washington, D.C. office June 13 where eight LGBT protesters were arrested. The protesters staged the sit-in to demand a vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the U.S. House of Representatives. One aspect of this protest story that wasn’t reported on much in mainstream…
Retired Senior Chief Kristin Beck’s book Warrior Princess was recently released about her 20 years in the Navy and the beginning of her transition from male to female. I won’t presume I can editorialize about or retell her personal story found in the pages of her book better than others have – I’m certainly not…
The case of Leyland v. Orr was argued and decided in 1987 by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Jane Anne Leyland was a reserve officer who had served in the Air Force and Air Force Reserves for a total of 15 years, and shortly after being selected for lieutenant colonel she had a vaginoplasty…
One of the things that has propelled the gay community forward through the years has been its nonprofits, and community support for these organizations. The HRC, for example, began as a gay specific civil rights organization that was supported by members of the lesbian and gay community, and after decades of work the organization began…
Why should I personally go forward as a trans activist pushing for change? Why do anything for trans and LGBT community members when I have received a significant amount of pushback through the years from the religious right, LGBT community members, radical lesbian feminist separatists and even transsexual separatists? I’ve written in the past about…
During the past few years I’ve been changing my documented gender at various government agencies. I’ve obtained a court ordered change of documented gender with the state of California and used that court order to obtain a new birth certificate indicating I was born female. I also have provided required documents and followed specified procedures…
