When trans people are imagined in the minds of many folk who’ve never actually met a trans person, we often are imagined as one or two-dimensional male creatures dressed as females that are interested in sex and trans related surgeries. Thoughts of trans people having parents, children, jobs and hobbies seem lost to caricature. Well,…
What a weekend it was for the LGBT community this past Mother’s Day weekend. Michael Sam became the first openly gay football player drafted by an NFL team, drag performer Conchita Wurst won the annual Eurovision Song contest and the Arkansas State Supreme Court ruled for marriage equality. But in a development that truly made…
With marriage equality at some point becoming the law of the land, and although conservative Christians and other social conservatives are aware that this is the case, they still rail against it even though the vigor is lost. Time to change what social conservatives focus on in their culture wars. And, it’s trans people that…
Monday, the Department of Defense (DoD) released a new DoD Human Goals Charter, signed by Secretary of Defense Hagel. The last iteration of that document was released in 1998, and included mention of equal equality based on sexual orientation for civilian employees, but not for military servicemembers. The new iteration includes a language based on…
A friend recently pointed me to a video of trans advocate Sylvia Rivera’s Y’all Better Quiet Down speech at New York City’s 1973 Liberation Day Rally. In the speech she stated, “I believe in the gay power. I believe in us getting our rights or else I would not be out their fighting for our…
“There is a Trans Action Committee that’s part of Canvass For A Cause,” stated Canvass For A Cause’s Holly Hellerstreet in an interview with LGBT Weekly. “And we have been working to support transgender people in San Diego. We’re really excited here in California that we have the School Success and Opportunity Act which is…
Following the controversy surrounding RuPaul’s Drag Race use of the term “she-m***”, Logo TV have pulled the episode featuring a mini-challenge on the show titled “Female or She-male,” and issued an apology. In the mini-challenge, contestants were asked to identify whether a photo showed a cisgender (non trans) woman or a former “Drag Race” contestant…
I know I’m getting old. I used to watch the television show Roseanne when it was in the first run, and thought it was pretty funny. I thought it was pretty progressive, often having lesbian characters sprinkled through storylines. And, with Roseanne Barr being an executive producer on the show I thought she must have…
Trans people are often tagged as either being predators or enabling predators in public restrooms. It seems to always be the one sure thing that will be trotted out when arguing against civil rights for trans people, especially public accommodation protections. Within the last month, Maryland has passed legislation that adds employment, housing and public…
Today, March 31, is International Transgender Day of Visibility (TDoV), a day dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide. Rachel Crandall, the head of Transgender Michigan, created in TDoV in 2010 to celebrate the trans community in a positive light. According to transstudent.org, “TDoV is a day…
