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…
San Diego will help rewrite the way stories about transgender people are told thanks to Visible Bodies an exciting exhibit of more than 30 portraits of people in the local transgender community. Visible Bodies, a photography series highlighting transgender and genderqueer individuals will be exhibited the entire month of May at Art of Pride in…
There is an Asian-Pacific Islander (API) community, and there is API community activism. There are differences between those of Samoan ancestry and those of Chinese ancestry; there are differences between those Americans who have familial or ancestral ties to Japan, and those Americans who have familial or ancestral ties to Indonesia. But along with differences…
Transprogressive BY AUTUMN SANDEEN Saturday, April 20, I attended the GLAAD Media Awards with media credentials as a columnist at San Diego LGBT Weekly. I listened to the acceptance speech of Steve Warren of GLAAD’s board upon being presented with the Steven F. Kolzak Award, as well as listening to former President Bill Clinton’s acceptance…
In the week since I wrote my last column, scheduled Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival (MWMF) performer Ubaka Hill released a statement in response to the Change.org petition asking that this year’s performers at the festival boycott the event. She stated, “My response to your courageous request that I cancel my Drumsong Workshop and the Drumsong…
The community gathered April 5 at The Center to celebrate the 10th annual Transgender Day of Empowerment, “An evening of celebration, education, and entertainment.” The auditorium was filled with a diverse standing room only audience including many families and youth. Connor Maddocks was the emcee and welcomed special guests, sponsors, keynote speakers and elected officials….
In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Martin Luther King Jr. stated: “The nonviolent resisters can summarize their message in the following simple terms: we will take direct action against injustice despite the failure of governmental and other official agencies to act first. “We will not obey unjust laws or submit to unjust practices. We will…
On the day the constitutionality of Prop. 8 was being argued before the Supreme Court, a rally was organized by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, Family Equality Council, GetEQUAL, Marriage Equality USA and the New Organizing Institute. The rally was successful, almost in every way, in how the…
