Amplify Issues - GBLT Rights

Weekly Round-Up: 1/30- 2/4

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:10:00 -0500

Each week, I’ll be posting a list of the most news-worthy and/or inspirational, informative, well-written, thought-provoking, and/or unique posts of the week. While every post and every contributor is valuable to our community, these are the blogs that I feel are must-reads.

January 30- February 4

Stats this week: 27 posts by 22 writers

Sommers in WaPo: Wrong about the CDC and wrong about enthusiastic consent- by AFY_EmilyB

Inside this post:

Christina Sommers recently criticized the CDC’s (accurate) definitions of rape and enthusiastic consent. What’s problematic with her viewpoint is that it is 1) dismissive of people who have been raped after they were knowingly or unknowingly using alcohol or drugs, and 2) it ignores the wants of those who do not want to participate in, or further participate in, any form of physical intimacy.

National Strategy for Black Gay Youth in America- by i_speak_out

Inside this post:

The National Youth Secretary for Youth Pride Services talks about a new project to survey “what it is like to grow up being black, gay, and young in today’s society.”

Think Before You Leap- by Amara-NycoleYouthResource

Inside this post:

Hear from a peer educator teaching high school students in North Carolina about sexuality, healthy relationships, and how to become peer educators themselves.

[More]

Welcome to Charm City!

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:22:00 -0500

This past weekend, I attended the LGBT Equality Conference: Creating Change. I must say that it was one of the GREATEST experiences of my life. I learned a lot, I listened even more and the things I saw were incredible. On my flight going to Baltimore around this time last week I was hoping to find something to dedicate my passion to and as I expected I came back home to North Carolina full of inspiration and motivation. The human rights movement is an amazing one. Hearing Ben Jealous, President of the NAACP, spoke volumes to me. I realized I have responsibility to my NAACP chapter at home and the greater community to speak up on the issues of education, jobs, housing, immigration, marriage, and the right to love, dignity, and respect. All these things affect all of us regardless of whether we are black, white, purple, gay, transgender, rich, poor and everything in between. Once we start to realize that we are one human race, I guarantee we will be better off. But honestly, if we knew that I wouldn’t be posting this blog nor would there be a need for Creating Change.

To anyone reading this, you don’t have to go to a conference or travel anywhere to get involved in a movement. Find something to be passionate about whether its LGBT rights or the DREAM Act. Make sure that it comes from the heart and I promise everything will fall into place. There are an abundance of organizations, that specialize and do advocacy work in ALL areas. We live in an era where the world is literally at our fingertips (those who have that privilege… conversation coming in my next blog). Don’t let ANYONE deter you from your goal… the work isn’t easy nor will it happen overnight but it can be done. Like my mother tells me all the time “The world is yours, take it”

Go out and Create Change.

The proof that one truly believes is in action. –Bayard Rustin

With Black History Month, quickly approaching (tomorrow)… take the time to attend events highlighting the achievements of African-Americans not the Martin Luther Kings or Malcolm X’s. But those who helped them get where they are in history. Find your passion and find a spot for yourself.

BREAKING: Proposition 8 Declared Unconstitutional

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:08:00 -0500

Great news today! The 9th Circuit Court has declared California's Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage in the state, unconstitutional.

In May of 2008, California's Supreme Court ruled that California law restricting same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Proposition 8 was a ballot measure and a constitutional amendment that overruled the court's decision. It passed with 52% of the vote, after heavy lobbying from religious conservatives, especially the Mormon church.

In 2010 Judge Vaughan Walker overturned the decision, finding it unconstitutional. Today's decision upholds Judge Walker's decision.

The decision will likely be appealed to the Supreme Court, but nevertheless today's ruling is an important victory for proponents of equal marriage.

Read the decision here >>

Think Before You Leap

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:39:00 -0500

I currently have an internship at local highschool in North Carolina with a teen prevention program that aims to give students to skills to make good decisions and become peer educators (like me!) in their communities and to students in the local middle schools.

These are all kids in 10-12 grade, so when we talk about sex I get all kinds of questions and I am grateful to be able to give them medically accurate information. (I hear some crazy stuff) However, today the topic of homosexuality came up.

One student, asked me "Miss. Amara, if a guy performs oral sex on a guy because he just wants to try it... doesn't that make him gay?" Before I could answer, she continued "And if a girl does it to another girl, she is just experimenting or is she bi (bisexual)?" I smiled. Everyone was listening intentally, closer then they had all class period. I told them that no one can tell anyone else what their sexual orientation is. Only YOU can make that decision, it is not up to anyone but themselves. If they want to experiment that's fine (as long as they protecting themselves) but no one can make that decision for them but them. I encouraged them to be careful about how they identify other people because again that isn't their decision and as peer educators you have to encourage others to educate themselves.

I may have gotten a little radical, had a small flashback to Creating Change. By saying "You realize that these identities that you speak of such as performing a certain behavior makes you a certain way, someone else created those and they (whoever they are) do the same to people based on their race and class. So remember that before you tell someone who THEY are. Don't play a part in the same oppression that oppresses you.

Love.

Quick Hit: Tony Perkins has a lot of time on his hands

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:16:00 -0500

This week Tony Perkins of the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council denounced the BioWare video game company's decision to allow same-sex relationships in the new online role-playing game Star Wars:The Old Republic.
Said Perkins:

In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists! [Ed. note: Vomit] The new video game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, has added a special feature: gay relationships. Bioware, the company that developed the game, said it's launching a same-sex romance component to satisfy some complaints.

He later goes on to observe that "homosexual activists" are celebrating the news.

The complaints had come when BioWare claimed that there was no such thing as gay in Star Wars, and that therefore, those words would be censored out of forum discussions of the Star Wars games. I'm sure someone more familiar with the Star Wars canon could say how true this is, but the fact is that an unknown percentage of human players certainly are LGBT. If there are going to be romantic relationships in any game, it's weird to restrict these to heterosexual ones.

But let's step back a second and think about Tony Perkins' call to parents to flood BioWare with homophobic email.

In SWTOR, which is rated T for teen, you can:

- "possess a morality at any point along the light/dark spectrum"
- engage in bloody combat
- lie, steal, cheat
- have multiple romantic partners who do not know about one another
- choose to identify as entirely evil and committed to world domination
- be a professional assassin - that is, murder people for money

You can do this stuff in a lot of games. The "moral spectrum" is a major component of many highly rated games. Yet what has the Family Research Council elected to complain about?

That a boy can date a boy or a girl can date a girl. Priorities, people. Every hate group has theirs.

Tennessee Bathroom Bill...Down, But Not Out

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:37:00 -0500

It's seems like the Volunteer State has been on a phobia kick lately. Between the "Don't Say Gay" bill, a potential Romer v. Evans violation, and trying to allow students to bully LGBTIQ students if they do it in the name of Jesus, the Tennessee legislature sure has time to go to the bottom of the cracker barrel; even in light of the fact that Tennessee is suffering from a major deficit and 9% unemployment, they sure have found something to focus their attention on:

A bill that would limit who could enter public restrooms has been filed in the Tennessee General Assembly. The proposed legislation would restrict access to public restrooms and public dressing rooms designated by sex, to members of that particular sex.

State Representative Richard Floyd drafted the legislation after an employee at a Texas Macy's store was fired in December for stopping a transgender teenager from trying on clothing in a women's dressing room.

"I cannot imagine firing anybody for something like that. I just cannot, I cannot grasp that, I can't get my mind around it," Representative Floyd explained.

What is disturbing about the bill is the definition of "sex":

“Sex” means and refers only to the designation of an
individual person as male or female as indicated on the individual’s birth
certificate;

This definition basically excludes practically every pre-op trans* person, as well as some post-op trans* people, for if you are unlucky enough to have been born in Idaho, Oklahoma, Ohio, or Tennessee, the sex marker on one's birth certificate can never be changed.

And here's the kicker:

A violation of subsection (b) is a Class C misdemeanor punishable by
a to a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00).

[More]

Weekly Round-Up: 1/15- 1/21

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:18:00 -0500

…the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today that it would not expand religious exemptions to no-copay birth control requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

Thank you to everyone who posted a blog this week! You are part of what makes this community great!

~ Samantha
Community Editor

Exposing the "Honest Girl Scouts"

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:50:00 -0500

Ya know, children are our future, and it is best that tolerance is taught early. I remember when I was at home for Christmas, my 11-year old cousin came to my parents house unexpectedly, and had not been previously briefed on my gender transition. She handled it just fine, which of course, gives me hope for the younger generation.

Of course, it makes me sad that some girl in California has decided to let bigotry stand in the way.

TRIGGER ALERT FOR FOLLOWING VIDEO:

Apparently, one girl scout, angry that the Girl Scouts decided to let in seven year old Bobby Montoya, a transgender child (note that we do not yet have a preferred name for Bobby, she is male assigned at birth who is transitioning to female), decides that she should go on a campaign to boycott girl scout cookies, simply because all girls are allowed.

Now, it is true that the Girl Scouts are a all-girls organization. However, Bobby Montoya and other transfeminine children ARE NOT BOYS!!! We are not talking about allowing boys in, indeed, if Bobby was a boy, identified as a boy, presented as a boy, and was proud to be a boy, Bobby would not have been allowed in, and rightfully so. But Bobby is a GIRL, and thus, she needs to be in the GIRL SCOUTS. Now, everyone thinks that allowing transfeminine children into the girl scouts will create problems, however, as stated before, children are an adaptable bunch, and my 11 and 13 year old cousins have been able to accept me as a girl.

Also, one of my biggest pet peeves is bullying. This hateful screed may not necessarily be overt bullying, harassment, or intimidation, but almost a third of all trans youth have attempted suicide at one point in their lives. This girl from California is just stoking the fires, and if Bobby or any other trans* child killed themselves just because one person cannot stand the concept of gender self-determination, she would have blood on her hands she could never wash off.

But of course, around the same time as this video, a website went up called "Honest Girl Scouts", which is basically trying to turn the Girl Scouts Into The Boy Scouts. Among other things, they:

-Rip people who are considered role models to the Girl Scouts, such as Houston mayor Annise Parker, singer Sara Bareilles, and TV anchor Katie Couric, all because they are pro-choice and pro-queer. But lets forget about their politics for a moment and remember, these are all powerful women who have made something of themselves. Hell, there are major cities in America that have never even had a female mayor (my home, Philadelphia, is one of them), and when the Today Show, which launched Katie Couric's career began, it was a total boy's club (including the monkey). In fact, I am mature enough to say that Susan B. Anthony, an anti-choice woman who gave us the right to vote, is an empowering woman, even if I'm not a fan of her views on reproductive health.
-In an image of a broken girl scout cookie, HGS claims that Girl Scouts "Support United Nations Anti-Population Goals". Because apparently, this group thinks that world overpopulation is a good thing, and that women should remain barefooted breeders.
-Repeatedly claiming throughout the site that Girl Scouts are connected with Planned Parenthood, a meme that has been circulating throughout the internet:

It was hard to find any article linking the two that was not from some pro-life, "pro-family", mouthpiece, but on page two of my search results, I find this article by Amanda Marcotte from Slate.com

The realities behind the Girl Scouts-U.N.-Planned Parenthood myth perfectly illustrate the moderately feminist approach the organization takes toward scouting. Almost the moment the myth began to spread last year, the Girl Scouts' national organization circulated a statement debunking it. According to this statement, in March 2010, the Girl Scouts held a meeting at the 54th Commission on the Status of Women at the United Nations, gathering 30 to 35 teenage girls and encouraging them to "take action on global issues concerning women and girls." The International Planned Parenthood Federation brochure that the right-wing blogosphere accused the Girl Scouts of having passed around ("Healthy, Happy and Hot: A young person's guide to their rights, sexuality, and living with HIV") was not distributed at the meeting. None of the girls in attendance or their chaperones ever saw the brochure until after it started circulating on the Internet, according to a Girl Scouts of the USA press spokesperson.

The article also contrasts the Boy Scouts focus on traditionalist viewpoints, with no change for the times, with the Girl Scouts, who have addressed many current issues, from body image to bullying, and sexual health, in which sex before maturity is discouraged. This is just another example of the double standards that exist in society, where women (of all stripes) calling for their empowerment is looked upon as unholy and somehow something to be shamed.

And even if there is more of a connection between the two groups, please remember that Planned Parenthood does a lot more than just abortions. They deal with a lot of women's health issues, including breast cancer screenings (a special concern for women, and yes, that includes transwomen) and, *gasp*, even men's health too. Believe me, the male opponents of reproductive choice could benefit heavily from regular testicular cancer screenings.

Oh, and as a bonus, here's another interesting faux outrage concerning the Girl Scouts, which was picked up by religiously conservative media:

The incident involved Renise Rodriguez, a 21-year-old Girl Experience Associate for the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona in Tuscon. She was wearing a “Pray to End Abortion” shirt when she went into the office during off-duty hours to prepare materials for a meeting. It was there that she was told twice by a supervisor to turn her shirt inside out if she planned to stay in the office or attend a troop meeting, according to Priests for Life

But then, they manage to cover this part of the story:

The leaders had decided that all employees, volunteers and troop members should be in professional business attire, Girl Scout attire or plain shirts without any social, political or commercial messages when present in the council offices.

So, if she was wearing a pro-choice t-shirt, she would have been told to change also, and I doubt that somebody who was in that position would be unreasonable enough to say "boo" over it, nor would Planned Parenthood be calling for an inquisition.

The moral of this story is, while the Girl Scouts, as well as the pro-choice, pro-queer movement handles their points of view in a mostly mature manner and back up their assertions with facts, the anti-choice movement continues to run with simple lies, straw person arguments, and scare tactics.

In conclusion, I would like to say to Bobby Montoya and all transfeminine children who wish to join the Girl Scouts: You go girl, don't ever let anyone get in the way of your dreams. You were always a girl, and nobody can ever take that away from you.

-Jordan Gwendolyn Davis

Major reports this week on bullying; abortion

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:50:00 -0500

Two reports with ramifications for youth's reproductive and sexual health and rights came out this week.

GLSEN's Playgrounds and Prejudice: Elementary School Climate in the United States found that almost half of students hear "gay" used in a negative way or hear the word "retard" used as an insult - these are the most commonly heard negative remarks in elementary schools. Over a third have heard sexist or gender-stereotyping remarks. And, while most students feel safe at school, gender-nonconforming students are much likelier to feel unsafe in school. Students who were bullied were also unhappier in school and less likely to report getting good grades.

We already know that in high school, anti-gay bias is rampant: 85% of LGBT students report hearing it. And we know that LGB youth in high school are much more likely to feel unsafe. It's clear that bullying can begin at a very early age for LGBT youth. (The late Lawrence King, murdered by a classmate at 14, reported being called homophobic names and bullied in third grade.) That's one of many reasons why the new National Sexuality Education Standards are so important. They teach as early as second grade that bullying and teasing are wrong. It's also why laws such as those proposed in Michigan and Tennessee which create a so-called religious exemption to rules against bullying are so misguided. No matter what age young people are, and no matter what excuse someone uses, it's not ok to bully a student because of their sexual orientation or gender expression. It's wrong, and it can cause long-lasting damage.

Also this week, the Guttmacher Institute released the report Induced Abortion: Incidence and Trends Worldwide from 1995 to 2008. They found that, with some regions excepted, there has been a slowdown in the abortion rate that corresponds with increased use of contraception. They also found that unsafe abortion remains a concern, especially in the Global South. Half of the world's abortions are unsafe, and most unsafe abortions occur in the Global South. Almost 50,000 women die from unsafe abortion every year. And as we know, outlawing the practice doesn't fix the problem: according to Guttmacher, "restrictive abortion laws are not associated with lower rates of abortion." In fact it's the opposite:

For example, the 2008 abortion rate was 29 per 1,000 women of childbearing age in Africa and 32 per 1,000 in Latin America, regions where abortion is highly restricted in almost all countries. In contrast, in Western Europe, where abortion is generally permitted on broad grounds, the rate is 12.

This report is important for activists working in low and middle income countries AND in the U.S. I couldn't say it better than Guttmacher does: “Condemning, stigmatizing, and criminalizing abortion are cruel and failed strategies. It's time for a public health approach that emphasizes reducing harm - and that means more liberal abortion laws."

Living in a Glass House & Throwing Stones - Syd 'tha' Kid

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:17:00 -0500

It seems pretty ludicrous that Syd ‘tha’ Kid of the infamous, controversial group OFWGKTA (Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All) would dare to openly criticize others about their lifestyle choices. Syd recently revealed her sexual orientation in the music video for ‘Cocaine’, one of the collaborations between herself and Matt Martians, the second half of the sub-group ‘The Internet’.

In an interview for LA Weekly, Syd shared some unsolicited information about the sexual orientation of certain celebrities.

"There's Alicia Keys, who's married to Swizz Beatz - we know that shit ain't real. You got Queen Latifah kissing Common in movies. Missy Elliott saying she don't wanna hang with bitches. You know she loves her some bitches."

Granted, the question was about the lack of out and proud urban artists, and I completely get the frustration she feels as a young gay woman who doesn’t have too many people to look up to. Still, I can’t believe that someone who is affiliated with a group as hateful as Odd Future, would dare to point fingers at anyone else over their lifestyle choices.

It’s baffling enough that a GAY WOMAN would ever defend homophobic, misogynist, racist music. It’s like the story of the half Hawaiian/half Hispanic woman who married a white supremacist on Hitler’s birthday. How can anyone associate with someone who seems to hate a part of their identity? I don’t get it.

I can’t say anything about the sexual orientations of the people who she ‘outed’. If there’s one thing that I have learned, it’s that human sexuality is way too fluid and complicated to ever be categorized as one thing or another. People constantly evolve, and when they do, we learn new things about the human capacity for love and desire.

Take for instance concepts like pansexuality, queer-genderedness, and the identifier ‘masculine of center’. A few years ago, we hadn't heard of these. We never knew that anyone could possibly feel this way. And while most people can barely wrap their heads around ‘queer’ and ‘intersex’, let alone pomosexuality and others, they exist. Maybe the reason why these people haven’t come out is because they still haven’t figured out who they are.

Hey! It happened to Chris Crocker. He went from being a pretty boy, to a pretty girl, and now he’s back to being a good-looking young man with a stubbled chin. When asked why he went back to identifying as a man, he said that was who he felt he was right now (“…isn’t the point of life to grow and to change?”). It’s all about evolution and transitioning. There’s absolutely nothing that dictates that we must nail ourselves to a certain identity.

It could be said that Syd is at a stage in her life where she hasn’t quite decided who she is. Hence her dislike of the word ‘lesbian’ and hanging out with ‘groups of lesbians’. Maybe she’ll come to identify as queer. Maybe she’ll identify as male. The point here is, for someone with such a scrambled agenda, you’d think she would sympathize with Queen Latifah and co. instead of stating unfounded accusations as though they were hard facts. Hell, it’s almost as if she felt lonely after coming out and decided to out some other people to keep her company.

As for the whole Odd Future controversy thing, the duo had this to say,

Martians: "Hodgy, Tyler and Earl didn't plan to rap about those things to get a reaction from the media. They were doing it from the jump. So don't crown us for being these 'important' guys, and then what you crown us for, you wanna clown us for. We didn't ask for you to put us up here like this."

Syd: "If you don't like it, don't listen to it."

Martians: "Right. But a lot of people do because they feel like they have to listen to Odd Future. They feel like they need to have an opinion."

Syd: "That, and a lot of people feel like they don't have a cause to fight for. So when they can get on the internet and rant about something, they take their chance."

Martians: "People like being offended. Let's be real."

If the interview was a courtroom and they were the defendants, they’d lose the case before it even started. First, if they had been rapping like that from the get go and people had started to tell them their music was hateful, why didn't they just stop? If they recognize that their lyrics celebrate rape, homophobia, and misogyny (all bad things clearly), isn’t there a better way to express their talent without offending so many people?

Second, it’s true that we could all just not listen to their music if we don’t like it. I personally have applied the “shut your eyes/ears if you don’t like it” theory, but I bet that if I came on the radio everyday and said something hateful directed at the group (Like Will & Grace’s Karen Walker did to Beverly Leslie – “Attention Republicans! Beverly Leslie is a homosexual. I repeat, a homosexual”), I bet they’d have some interesting things to say.

I’m going to break my rule about not calling things stupid just because I don’t agree, to say yes, the theory that people are so mad at Odd Future because they feel they need to have an opinion and have no other cause to fight for is stupid. The statement claims that people essentially do not have anything better to do. Stupidest of all, is the statement that people like being offended. REALLY?! I don’t know about you but I don’t like to get my feathers ruffled for no reason. Like anyone would ever go, “Hmmmm, I’m bored. Lemme go on the internet and find something to get angry about.”

I blame the people who are constantly hyping up their music, telling them that they can do no wrong and to please, go ahead and call everyone names even if the world keeps telling you we don’t like it.

You're straight -- why do you care about same sex marriage?

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:49:00 -0500

I frequently find myself wondering how I got into this social justice work. I am a white, heterosexual female of privilege; I was raised in an upper-middle class, Christian, small business owning family. Looking back, I sometimes feel as if I grew up in a story book… I never had a care or worry in the world when I was young. I was simply never exposed to much outside of our happy little American dream bubble. My parents were very conservative, and while they did a lot of work to support our local community on behalf of our business and our family, they never pushed any social justice messages upon me. Although, the one thing I do remember my dad always saying was “Always leave a place better than you found it.” While this could be applied to a Boy Scout’s camp site (which is where he got it from), I found that I applied it to life in general. Today I feel that our world would be a much better place if we could reduce hate and increase love and respect for ALL people.

Again: white. heterosexual. upper-middle class. college educated. These things I identify as would not indicate a personal connection to many of the social justice issues we frequently hear about, yet I cannot help but be outrageously passionate about these issues – specifically, same sex marriage. The first time I realized I cared about this was when a family member had come out on a social networking site, and when discussing it with a cousin of mine who firmly stated that acting on feelings toward someone of the same sex was a sin and would result in that person going to hell I found myself in a great state of confusion and hurt. I cried and cried trying to express to my cousin that I simply didn’t understand how she could say such terrible things about a family member’s life. At that moment, it hit me how much this means to me. It’s not because I have family members and friends who identify as LGBTQ; it’s because I believe in fairness and loving all people equally.

More recently I found myself discussing same sex marriage with a friend who was unsupportive with the argument that “as a Christian, I have to support what the bible says.” Now, it must be stated that I no longer identify as Christian for a variety of reasons, but I do have respect for all religious beliefs. In that moment, again feeling my heart sinking & tears welling up in my eyes, I simply said “Do you feel that it is okay for every person in our country to live by Christian doctrines?” Not expecting (or receiving) a response, I continued to say that as a heterosexual person I do not feel that I am entitled to any more rights than another person simply because God made me heterosexual.

…And that’s what it all came down to. I simply do not feel that I am any more of a valuable asset to this country than any other person. I do not feel that I should be entitled to any more rights than anyone else because I happened to be born as this type of person. So if you find yourself thinking that same sex couples should not be entitled to full rights with marriage equality, this is what I challenge you to: Ask yourself, “Am I more valuable than someone else because I am heterosexual? Is the love in my relationship more meaningful than the love in another couple’s relationship? Knowing that there is a separation of church and state, can I truly say that our country should refuse certain couples the right to be married? Will someone else’s marriage (gay or straight) impact how much I love my partner?” Simply ask yourself these things... and think.

If you find that you are some who does not support same sex marriage, but also claims that you do not support discrimination or hate, then how do you define discrimination? I define it as viewing another individual as less equal due to a particular characteristic about them. Denying a couple the right to marry is discrimination. Discrimination is simply based out of ignorance. Equality does not exist in the United States... not yet. We must keep living the words of the Constitution and Martin Luther King, Jr., “We hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL men [and women] are created equal.”

I have a dream.

Weekly Round-Up: 1/8- 1/14

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 02:34:00 -0500

How can this restrictive and cruel policy make any sense, especially given that sexual assault is more common in the military than among the civilian population? The military should work to decrease incidences of sexual violence within its ranks, and also ensure that after a servicewoman is sexually assaulted she has access to all medical services.

VIDEO: Senator Al Franken Speaks Out on the Student Non-Discrimination Act- by AFY_Nikki

Inside this post:

Minnesota Senator Al Franken has released a new video in support of the Student Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would protect public school students against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Thank you to everyone who posted a blog this week! You are part of what makes this community great!

~ Samantha
Community Editor

------------------------------------
My post this week:
My moment of horrified shock during "Toddlers & Tiaras"

VIDEO: Senator Al Franken Speaks Out on the Student Non-Discrimination Act

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:55:00 -0500

Minnesota Senator Al Franken has released a new video in support of the Student Non-Discrimination Act, a bill that would protect public school students against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Senator Franken and Representative Jared Polis (CO) introduced the federal legislation in March 2011.

In the video, Franken reminds us:

"Nine out of ten LGBT kids are harassed or bullied in school. A third skipped school in the past month because they felt unsafe. And study after study has shown that LGBT kids are much more likely than their peers to attempt suicide. This is a tragedy and it's happening right now.
But the sad truth is that our federal laws…do not protect these kids."

Here's what you can do: Visit the Amplify Take Action Center and take one minute to email your Senators. Tell them to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act.

Thank you!

Train Harassment And Free Will

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:45:00 -0500

Early this week, I was riding on New Jersey Transit's River Line minding my own business when I notice some dude starts filming me and calling me a "tranny" and saying "Only In New Jersey", which is really strange. I then decide to whip out my Droid and photograph the man, as you can see in this photo, he is quite resistent, and even threatened to break my head if I filmed him.

Now, I posted this up to my personal Facebook and there was a debate about passability. Now, I wish I was a lot more passable, but we don't have it as easy as transmen, who can practically shoot 'mones for six months and have a permanent, somewhat passable appearance.

And just today, while taking the Broad Street Line up to the Temple Library, a bunch of young people come onto the car and start screaming "That's a n*gger" and "He's gonna rape you" and even started wiggling their butts at me while they were leaving the train. What was especially upsetting was that after a really loud fit from them, the operator stopped the train for about 10 minutes at the Fairmount stop. I do not know why the train stopped, but it made me nervous, thinking that it had to stop because they were laughing like hyenas and would draw even more attention to myself. Luckily, the train rolled again and they got off at Girard.

It was then I began to think about the concept of free will. These people do not HAVE to scream at me and mock me just because I am a trans person, but they do it anyway, and it seems like society, much like with sexual abuse, likes to victim blame. I remember as those kids were running through the subway laughing at me how none of the people on that train dared stand up to these kids; no wonder we are having issues with flash mobs.

The responsibility lies with the people who perpetrated the deed, and to a lesser extent, the bystanders who just let it happen. We all have a collective responsibility to stop things like these, whether it be harassment towards women and/or transpeople or anyone else, before it becomes tragic.

-Jordan Gwendolyn Davis

Weekly Round-Up: 12/25- 12/31

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 16:02:00 -0500

December 25- December 31

Stats this week: 9 posts by 8 writers

Being An Activist- by abril_flowers

Inside this post:

An activist with the Texas Freedom Network at the University of Texas at Brownsville talks about her work educating her fellow students about the state’s current sex ed policies and what they can do to make sure their peers have the information they need to stay safe.

Mobilizing 4,000 for LGBT Rights- by AFY_Nikki

Inside this post:

Ernesto shares his experience organizing a solidarity event after an LGBT hate crime in his city with the skills he learned from training sessions with Advocates for Youth.

Trans* People in Philly Hold Clothing Bank- by Jordan

Inside this post:

Jordan talks about donating old clothes to a transgender-focused clothing drive.

807,615 Voter Signatures- by rikkiyouthresource

Inside this post:

Rikki talks about an initiative in California to gather signatures around the state to get a proposition on the 2012 ballot to repeal Prop 8.

Thank you to everyone who posted a blog this week! You are part of what makes this community great!

~ Samantha
Community Editor