PETA is made of fail and racism (as well as ableism, transphobia, sexism, etc--check the Feministe comments). I recommend tweeting them to tell them how fucked up they are (@officialpeta)
Ren (and others) have been refuting a group of radfem's Thoughts On YaoiBDSM.
(btw, her epic comic post is pretty awesome- and this LJ comm is also fun)
Ginmar has some links for how you can help victims of he brushfires.
Recently, a Black man was posthumously exonerated for a crime he didn't commit--raping a White woman (this comment also has some great links).
I thought this post was very interesting, a genderqueer lesbian's thoughts on hir genitals and cultural messages about them (ugg, beware the cissexism in the comments though).
Georgia legislators are trying to get rid of Georgia Universities queer theory classes.
But here are some legislators doing the right thing: adding sexual orientation and gender identity to their local anti-discrimination laws. ^_^
Also, random tangent thingamajig...
Someone found my blog searching for "sexual magic blue pill "blogspot"" and then left a spam comment advertising viagra. The really, really weird thing is...the comment had good spelling and grammar. wtf world, wtf. o.0
(yes, I deleted it anyway)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
yeah, moar links
Saturday, February 7, 2009
17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson
Just saw this at Renee's:
On December 8th, 17-year-old Billey Joe Johnson died from a gunshot wound to the head. Police say he killed himself with a shotgun after being stopped for a simple traffic violation in Lucedale, Mississippi.[1] Several things seem to cast doubt on the official story, including an independent investigation that concluded it would have been impossible for the shot that killed Johnson to have been self-inflicted.Fuck you coppers, my baby sister (also white), who is only a little bit younger than Billey, was able to say that there is something fishy about this "suicide"; if you won't, you are either stupid or just fucking racist (or both). And last time i wrote about corrupt police officers I asked for slang names that weren't pig; wiki has a list--I'll be using DRC (dirty rotten cops).Many on the ground smell a murder and a cover-up. We don't have all the answers, but it's clear that in the racially divided town of Lucedale, all the ingredients exist for a miscarriage of justice.
I've joined ColorOfChange.org in demanding answers and justice for Billey Joe's family. Together, we can help ensure that the District Attorney feels the presence of a national spotlight, and let him know that anything short of a thorough investigation will result in massive attention and a call for outside intervention.
Please join me. It takes only a moment:
http://www.colorofchange.org/billeyjoe/?id=2044-495171
From the beginning, the District Attorney has treated the investigation of Billey Joe's death as a suicide or the result of an accidental self-inflicted injury. Based on his public statements and interactions with Billey Joe's family, it appears that the District Attorney hasn't looked into whether Billey Joe was killed by an officer or someone else. Again, we don't have all the answers, but here's what we do know:
- Billey Joe was at his former girlfriend's house minutes before the killing.[2] He never entered the house, but police were called to respond to an attempted burglary there.[3] This fact was not a part of the original story given by the police.
- Billey Joe's family say that his ex-girlfriend had been staying at her father's house because her mother threw her out for dating Billey Joe (she is White and Billey Joe was Black). They said Billey Joe knew to only go to the house when the girl's father was not present, that the two of them were on good terms even after he had broken up with her, and that the breakup was largely because of pressure from her father. The family also claims that there is a relationship between the officer present at the scene of Billey Joe's death and the girl's father.
- A witness heard two shots, not one, at the scene where Billey Joe died, according to an independent investigation launched by the Mississippi NAACP. The pathologist in that investigation has indicated that it would be impossible for a bullet from a a self-inflicted shot to enter in the manner that it did. He also said that given the length of Billey Joe's arms and the length of the shotgun, it would have been impossible for him to hold the weapon and fire it at himself.
- Billey Joe was a star athlete with scholarship offers from more than half a dozen schools. No one--including family, friends, and coaches--could think of a reason that Billey Joe would want to end his life.[4,5,6]
A true investigation would sort out fact from rumour. But we can't be sure that Johnson's family will get the investigation it deserves. In the case of the Jena 6 we saw a District Attorney and a judge incapable of carrying out justice in a racially charged environment. In the recent case of the murder of Oscar Grant by police (and many like it), we see how unlikely it is for District Attorneys to do their job when the suspect is an officer of the law. But in both these cases, public pressure has made all the difference by shining a spotlight on local authorities.
In the case of Billey Joe Johnson, we're looking for the truth and for justice. A minute of your time can help ensure his family gets both:
http://www.colorofchange.org/billeyjoe/?id=2044-495171
References:
1. http://tinyurl.com/aul9hd
2. http://www.sunherald.com/local/story/1050689.html
3. http://www.wkrg.com/news/flash_paper/12_19_08_billy_joe_johnson/
4. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0812/17/cnr.07.html
5. http://tinyurl.com/cs7cjm
6. http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_11280331
A woman was set on fire outside the club she worked at.
ETA: Here is some info on how you can help her. She is in stable condition, despite the burns on 60% of her body. She's going to need a lot of financial help as she has kids, won't be able to work at all for a while, and her previous job is no longer available.
They are attempting to forcibly divorce the same-sex couples who got married before Prop 8. Gin posts a video from various couples and their kids asking not to divorce them.
The UK will be forcing trans* people to buy two national ID cards; Helen has a post up at her blog with a lot of info and a petition and an abridged version that has more links in the comments at QT.
Zucker is attempting to suppress the truth about him on Lynn Conway's website by saying that she has caused irreparable harm to his career with libelous accusations.
Hopefully, this "irreparable harm" bit means we'll be hearing that him and his buddy Ray have been kicked out of the DSM-V committee...Please, please, please, can I get this for my birthday???
Saturday, January 31, 2009
My take on a transphobic trope
Sometimes this is expressed in a more more subtle manner: concern-trolling about poor lesbians and/or masculine girls who might get confused and transition, people who are anti- certain body modifications comparing medical transition to those body mods, or even throwing out a comment about how trans-related surgeries don't look/function well.
Sometimes, they are very, very obvious: talking about chopped up or mutilated bodies, outright saying that ev0l doctors and trans* people are coercing lesbians/butches into transitioning, that we're just delusional freaks, or that trans* people are like anorexic folks and medical transition is like liposuction or gastric bypass surgery.
First of all, compare a transphobe's thoughts on how being trans* is self-harm to a homophobe's view that being queer is self-harm.
There really won't be too many differences.
Usually the transphobe will say something about how patriarchy/Satan/etc causes trans* people to Not Be Good Cis* people or how in a more godly/feminist/etc world there would be less of us. Replace trans* with queer and cis* with straight and you have a homophobe's thoughts.
Compare “transitioning is harmful and it's wrong to remove healthy tissue!” to a homophobe's thoughts on how queer sex is Dangerous and Bad For You.
They sound the same and they are both just as wrong.
If you believe the notion that being trans* is self harm that means you believe there is something wrong with being trans*; that it is right and natural to be cis*.
It follows that you believe it is better to stop trans* people from being trans* (or, openly being trans*) than it is to remove transphobia and cissexism.
Because, in this view, transphobia and cissexism are good, right, normal, and natural; after all, if we didn't mess up your perfect world we wouldn't get hurt.
Sure, you'll say that they don't want people to be hurt, but then...as long as we just shut up you don't ever have to think about it, now do you?
Or, as Cedar says, “Society’s myth of universal cissexuality *is* incredibly fragile, and has to be protected at all times–but what has to be done is not to create a stronger foundation (which they never ever do) but to disrupt any other conversation that’s happening.”
Yes, being trans* can be difficult.Yes, there are a lot of dangers out there for trans* people.
But, removing transphobia and cissexism will remove most of those difficulties and dangers; really, the only ones intrinsic to being trans* are body dissonance, gender disphoria, and things like depression that result from denial and such.
Medical transition usually removes the body dissonance. Living as your actual gender, without discrimination and harassment, will take care of the issues caused by pretending to be the wrong gender; having your loved ones and social circle gender you correctly will as well. Therapy will take care of whatever that doesn't; talking through issues that childhood denial caused (and childhood denial should happen less often in a world without transphobia), therapy or anti-depressants should help with depression, etc.
So, since in a world without transphobia there would be few, if any, major difficulties or dangers to being trans*, being trans* is really not all that intrinsically harmful--it's the cis* world's cissexism and transphobia that are the problems.
I suppose to someone out there in the world there is some knee-jerk validity to the idea that you shouldn't perform surgery on healthy tissue...
But, you have to look at what you are considering healthy tissue and on how you are defining words like harm, needed, unnecessary, etc.
Is tissue that you feel, deeply and instinctively, to not even belong to you really all that healthy?
Is psychological pain not considered harm?
Should a person have to attempt all sorts of therapy and mental gymnastics to accept how their body is currently shaped instead of having surgery or hormones?
Is the former not as harmful as the latter?
Is removing psychological distress unnecessary?
Do you think that people can just ”get over it”, “cheer themselves up”, or ignore anything that isn't purely physical?
Well?
Well, I would say, that is someone needs to medically transition then whatever hormones or surgery they have are needed and necessary.
(personally, I do not have issues with body mods or other “unnecessary” surgeries, so if a trans* person who doesn't need to medically transition wants to, I have no issues with that. But I think that may be a little off-topic, I just wanted to make that clear...)
Sometimes you get people, sometimes well meaning but sometimes mean spirited, bringing up the actual or supposed limitations of medical transition: “Why would you want to have a penis that doesn't function?” “Aren't you afraid of looking like a freak?” “Wouldn't you rather keep your body how it is than worry about what sort of health complications transition could bring?” “But you're such a pretty girl?”
First of all, what is functional, working, pretty, etc is defined by the individual. Like how you hear a lot of static about how ugly and nonfunctional phalloplasty is, yet every guy I've heard from who actually had it loves the results.
Honestly, I don't see anything “freakish” about trans* people's bodies. Our bodies, no matter what medical treatments we have or have not chosen to have, are not freakish or ugly or disgusting. A lot of people have scars. A lot of people have had invasive surgeries to improve their quality of life; there is nothing disgusting or ugly about it.
Everyone has different preferences for facial features and the like; some people find “feminine” looking men (trans* and cis*) attractive, some people find “masculine” looking women (again, trans* and cis*) attractive. We will be attractive to some people out there; moreover, attractiveness is not the be and end all of happiness.
We also weigh the health consequences carefully. Yeah, when we choose to take hormones or have surgeries we gain a greater likelihood of some complications, but there are usually complications to not having those procedures as well.
Remember, how are you defining healthy? I'd say not-suicidal yet at a greater risk of heart problems is a hell of a lot healthier than being so depressed you can't take care of yourself and constantly try to kill yourself.
It's not like we jump into medical transition without thinking.
For instance, I've seen a few trans* guys who've had to come to terms with their beliefs about what constitutes healthy tissue and unneeded medical procedures and their need for surgery. Some suggested that trans* folks wrestling with these feelings think through it like I did above. Others said that they had had a dialogue with their body; telling their chest or uterus how while there may not be anything wrong with them, they simply didn't belong on their body, how much they needed this surgery, etc.
I don't think there is anything wrong with the trans*folks that had/have these feelings; we live in an ableist and transphobic world after all. But I do think we should examine these feelings and decide what are our ethical beliefs and what is just internalized shit.
There's also this idea that “1950's psychologists" invented trans*ism as a way to make queer and gender-nonconforming folks into straight conforming folks. Check out any decent history on trans*ism or trans* people, The History of How Sex Changed, Transgender History, etc, and that trope will be proven wrong.
Trans* people would comb through science/medical journals, write to the few drag/trans* newsletters, write to Christine Jorgenson, etc. begging for information on how to transition and who to go to. Women would take BC pills and other forms of estrogen and then go to doctors and say they were intersex. Even now we still have to work to get any help medically transitioning at all.
And ya know, we really don't seek out questioning people to convert to our Dangerous Lifestyle; our communities constantly have trans* people just coming out of denial coming to us asking for information and help.
Whenever I've seen people ask for help in figuring out their gender and what path is right for them, I always see people tell them that there are a number of possibilities and only they themselves can figure out who they are and what is right for them (though, yes, books and therapists and talking to others can help).
Though this trope is often thrown out too, I really don't want to address “butch flight” because I was never butch or involved in any lesbian/womens communities--but Gauge wrote a great piece.
There is also the ableist idea that being in an unaltered (“natural”) body is more moral/better than being in an altered (“unnatural”) body. --This feeds into the idea that our differences mean we are defective and wrong and need to be cured or eradicated.
There is the idea that being trans* is caused by some defect in us; whether a defective uterus that gave us the wrong dose of hormones, a defective brain that makes us hallucinate, or a society that gives us defective socialization. While some forms of trans*ism may be caused by hormones in the uterus or brains that are shaped differently or whatnot, this is not a defect (seriously, natural variations in populations do occur!).
(Eli Clare has written a few things on the similarities and intersections of trans*ism and disability much better than I ever could)
This is, by the way, true even if you ignore the times we are called crazy, insane, psychopaths, nutjobs, etc.
(I don't really know where I'm going with this point exactly, I just don't think this trend should be ignored. Maybe someone who has a better understanding of ableism would like to look into it, I really don't feel knowledgeable enough to do so.)
ETA: Cedar's poem Diseased is amazing.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
If you saw something; say something
Another Memphis Trans* Woman Shot:(h/t Monica)
Here we go again in Memphis, TN. A transwoman was shot in the face and is in critical condition.
Memphis police say the shooting happened sometime around 5:00 a.m. Tuesday, December 23, 2008 in the 3100 block of Boxtown Road in south Memphis near T.O. Fuller State Park. Leeneshia Edwards was last seen about an hour earlier at the “C.K.’s Coffee Shop” on Union Avenue in midtown Memphis.
Edwards' cousin reports that Lenneshia was shot in the jaw, side and back and is undergoing multiple surgeries.
So peeps in the Memphis area, if you saw anything that night, do us and the family of Leeneshia Edwards a favor. Call Memphis Crime Stoppers if you have any information about either this case, Ebony Whitaker's or Duanna Johnson's at (901) 528-CASH that gets the po-po's one step closer to resolving these crimes. Remember, the peeps that did this could one day strike your family, so the sooner you get them off the streets and behind bars, the safer Memphis becomes for you as well.
For those of us who live in Memphis and beyond, keep Leeneshia in your prayers this holiday season.
When the 110th Congress opens for business,, as soon as an ENDA bill is filed, we need to demand that it not only include transgender people, but it be passed without delay.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Important News, Please Read These Links
If you're in the UK, please speak out against these proposed laws to your gov; they'll be very bad for sex workers and won't help prostituted folks. (h/t Ren)
Also, my bad, but I missed International Sex Workers' Rights Day. (in my defense, I was mostly freaking out about court that day)
ETA: from Debi Crow:
Please sign the petition here, organised by the English Collective of Prostitutes to decriminalise sex work and prioritise safety in the UK.
The petition reads:
* The tragic murders of five young women in Ipswich caused an unprecedented outcry. Each of us deserves to be safe regardless of gender, occupation, sexual preference, race, age, nationality, immigration status or lifestyle.
* Prostitution is a survival strategy to deal with poverty, debt, rape, low wages, homelessness, unemployment... Most sex workers are mothers or young people; often they are both. Many have been in care or have had their children taken from them.
* Criminalising consenting sex – targeting sex workers, clients or both – pushes prostitution underground. It deters women from reporting violence & exploitation. Fines & ASBOs force women into isolated, less well lit areas.
* When prostitute women are not safe, no woman is safe. Serial rapists & killers often have a history of attacks on partners & prostitutes. (The conviction rate for reported rape is a shocking 5.7%. Over 200 women are murdered each year.)
* Raids on premises increase street prostitution which is 10 times more dangerous.
* Criminal records prevent sex workers from getting other jobs.
* "Rehabilitation" for drugs or anything else doesn’t work if it is compulsory.
* New Zealand has successfully decriminalised prostitution, improving health & safety.
WE DEMAND:
1. The decriminalisation of prostitution. Sex workers must have the same rights and protection as other workers.
2. An end to Community Rehabilitation Orders, Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and Anti Social Behaviour Orders which reintroduce prison for street offences through the back door.
3. The enforcement of laws against domestic violence, rape and other violence against women and children must be a priority.
4. An end to the use of anti-trafficking legislation to deport immigrant sex workers. Trafficked women must have the right to stay so they can report violence.
5. Viable economic alternatives to prostitution. Voluntary drug services, affordable housing, benefits, training, pay equity.
Sign here. Hat tip to Helen for the info about the petition, and make sure you check out the other links on her post too, if you haven't already.
Bush is a total fustilarian; I'd love to thank him in person for signing the order for doctors and everyone in the health industry to murder trans* folks, anyone with the ability to get pregnant, anyone with female-assigned reproductive organs, people with disabilities, sex workers, POC, actual or perceived illegal-drug users, and anyone else they see as less than human!
More police brutality, racism, sexism, etc. This time, they beat and attempted to kidnap a little twelve-year old girl because they thought she was a prostitute (obviously, if she had been a prostitute this would have been just peachy). Her and her father were both charged because she fought back (obviously, if someone attempts to kidnap you girls, you should just let them!) and her father tried to stop them as well.
Two years later and the little girl still has nightmares.
Galbeston Chief of Police, Charles Wiley, can be reached by phone at 409-765-3790, or by email at cwiley@cityofgalveston.org.
And these next two are not quite so urgent:
Julia Serano is looking for quotes, anecdotes and insights from trans* women and other mtf-spectrum folks about ways you have been hyper-sexualized.
If you are a trans woman (i.e., someone who was assigned a male sex at birth, but who identifies and/or lives as female), I would be interested in possibly including your experiences in my web article. I am particularly interested in the following types of scenarios:More info at her journal.
1) occasions where somebody sexualized you in an especially extreme or explicit manner specifically because they knew you were trans.
2) occasions where somebody assumed that you were motivated to transition to female for primarily sexual reasons (for example, to receive sexual attention from men, to engage in sex work, or to fulfill some kind of sexual fantasy or “perversion”).
3) occasions where medical or psychiatric professionals (particularly those fulfilling a “gatekeeper” role) made especially sexualizing remarks about your appearance, behaviors or motives/desire to transition, or were sexualizing in other ways.
4) occasions where someone sexualized your trans body, identity and/or motives for transitioning in order to dismiss your female identity or to insinuate that you are not a “real” woman.
And I should have included this in my last post, but I just remembered the post; Sylvia Rivera was a part of the Young Lords and her group, STAR, marched with them several times.
Btw, donating to SRLP would be a very nice thing to do this holiday season...
Thursday, November 13, 2008
back
Back from my grandparents house. OMG, I really dislike my grandma. I have to fight her to do any cleaning beyond dishes! I had to dust the walls/ceilings in secret because she got mad at me for doing it. o.0
I wanted to tackle a bit of the mess they call an attic, but noooo.... I can't be moving her precious shit around and actually putting it into boxes and stacking it neatly and getting rid of the obvious trash! GRRR.....
And there is way too much shit to process going on in the world:
Apparently Minnesota is all "yay forced electroshock-[torture]!!!"
And Duanna Johnson was murdered. Most likely by ex-officers Bridges McRae, James Swain, and/or their buddies on the force.
And the fucking [police]** don't have any leads. Because its not like she was beaten by two police officers a few months ago--which led to their being fired. Its not like she went public and was suing the city or anything (though the lawsuit will be going forward!). Its not like she was being harassed by the police for "prostitution" (aka: existing while black and trans* and a woman. and even if she was a sex worker, she may not even have been working at that moment).
**Does anyone know of a slur for the police other than "pigs"? I'm not a fan of pigs because of the fatphobic associations with the word pig.
Despite having a relative who was an officer (who does still have my respect), I have lost all respect for the institution and all members unless the individual proves they are not a power-hungry, abusive, rapist, bigot.
ETA: A paypal account has been set up to help Duanna's mom pay for her funeral.
Folks who think that prop 8 passed because of t3h 3vil POC can go DIAF. Seriously, blame the mostly white mormons and catholics for funding the bigoted/lying campaigns. Or maybe your own organizations' racism and FAIL.
Yes, I am in a bad and violent mood.
Uppity Brown Woman is also angry about several things; like Duanna's murder, "honor" killings, and lesbians being beaten for daring to pick their kids up from school.
Who'd have thunk that preaching racist anti-immigrant hatred all over the USA government/media would result in folks going out "beaner hunting"?
In other news, bears do, in fact, shit in the woods.
And I am totally failing at Nanowrimo; I have practically nothing written because of being at grandparents house and various apathy/depression things leading to writers block. But after I (eventually) get some sleep I'll post some of what I have in my lj (needs m0ar editing...). Theres also a story for Duanna; as she is unlikely to get justice.
But here is a killer bunneh and some pretty guys (yep, all three are guys) because I need some smiles and pwetty.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Link Farming
Lisa and a friend of Ginmar both could use some donations Ginmar's friend could also use some resources for MN sex workers, single moms, etc.
Australia to follow China's lead on censoring the internet? (h/t Ren)
GOP is yet again trying to steal the election, except this time they're also accusing Democrats (& ACORN) of voter fraud (h/t). And yes, this does affect trans* people as well as many other oppressed peoples.
Women's Rights advocate, Esha Momeni, was arrested by the Iranian police. She is a student and she went to Iran to work on her Masters thesis on the Iranian women's rights movement.
The shit with Stonewall and Julie Bindel is still going on. If you're in the UK near London and can get to the demo, please go and support trans* people.
(from transe-generation, which seems to be down atm)Yes, saying that trans* people should be morally mandated out of existence or that we should be barred from medically transitioning and instead go through
We are an oppressed group of people that you want to make not exist; what other word would you use for that? Or do you consider what Zucker is doing a "good start"?
"Talk therapies" DO NOT work to "cure" us; they murder: us, our self esteem, our voices, any chance of happiness...
"Talk therapies" are aversion/reparative therapy just as much as electro-shock therapy was. They have tried everything to "cure" us, from drugs to behavioral to the wrong set of hormones, and all they do is suppress our trans*ism and cause us pain and suffering and death.
We don't need curing. We don't need fixing.
Everything that is "wrong" with us can be fixed by fixing this transphobic, kyriarchal society and allowing us to self-determine what sort of transition is best for ourselves. AKA, we aren't in the wrong, y'all are.
(If anyone reading this has a facebook, you can link this on the wall to prove that Bindel has in fact endorsed "ex-trans" therapy).
And yes, I'm ranting and angry and my tone is totally not polite at all. Perhaps if I make her kri ;_; from my m33n words, Bindel should sue me with her e-laywers/gf. ;_;
Fuck the District of Columbia Department of Corrections.
Nix has an awesome excerpt from a lecture he'll be giving on cissexism in criticisms of Boys Don't Cry.
Dear Candidates, there are more colors than "Black, White, and Whatever". "That One" is also quite racist.
Palin is most definitely not an advocate for people with disabilities.
City dwellers and POC are "pro-American" too. I for one, was really moved by Biden's speech.
How black fathers are put on pedestals at the expense of black mothers via Womanist-Musings.
This is an interesting look at [transsexual-centric] transition; especially the difficulties of. One thing I'd like to add on the subject of Mike/Christine's re-transition, is that a number of trans* people have transitioned, re-transitioned, and then later transitioned again (often in a different way and/or to a more genderqueer gender). Most of the stories I've heard said that the pain, danger, etc of transition caused them to re-transition until they were in a better place or were more prepared for the hurdles of transition.
Happy news, I'm going to try Nanowrimo! Yeah, I know I haven't been updating much, but I hope this will get rid of my writers block and apathy.
ETA: I've also slightly edited my definitions post.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Medics detained and harrassed
Medics were illegally detained and removed from hurricane-affected areas because "no one here needs help".
The article below is at these alternative media sources
US indymedia:
http://indymedia.us/en/2008/09/33818.shtml
and upper right hand column (tonight):
http://us.indymedia.org/
Colorado
http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/1202
Houston
http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2008/09/65061.php
Portland
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/379983.shtml
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Street Medics Illegally Detained and Harassed by FEMA in Hurricane Relief Campaign
First Hand Accounts and Update,
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
by Petros Evdokas, ttetpos@yahoo.com
Portland Street Medics member
You might be aware of the situation that evolved on Sunday, September 21st during which a mission of volunteer Street Medics from Colorado arrived in Galveston, Texas, to provide free medical care to the communities struck by the hurricanes. The mission was oriented with a special interest to address the needs of indigenous, poor and undocumented people whose needs are in general ignored by "official" rescue operations. Also, these are communities of people who often have good have reasons to avoid or hide from such "rescue" operations, especially if they are occurring under martial law and in conjunction with immigration Police.
Instead of being integrated by authorities into the efforts, or at least left to their own devices in order to provide help to people, the Street Medics were detained in dubious circumstances, harassed, threatened with arrest and physically removed from the area by Police.
Please see a first hand account from one of the Street Medics published this morning - the Medic speaking here is Zoe Hallez Williams, known to the wider Medics family as "Zoe the Medic":
"...[The agent] spoke for well over 30 minutes about how no one needed our help and our training was worthless. He stepped outside and locked us in the room with the paramedic supervisor. She informed us that FEMA credentials would be required to enter any area hit hard by the Hurricane and that no one needed help–quite contrary to reports coming from undocumented workers fleeing FEMA and the rest of the federal government.
...Moments later a State Trooper and Galveston Police vehicle arrived. Three officers were on scene. The trooper approached, demanded to see IDs and credentials and informed us we were being detained and potentially arrested because we did not work for FEMA. While he ran our IDs another officer began to document our vehicle. The officers were abrasive, rude and...":
From:
"How did we get to Shrimper’s Row?"
http://streetmedic.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/how-did-we-get- to-shrimpers-row/
The first breaking out of the Street Medics story in alternative media yesterday is here:
Street Medics Harassed by Police & FEMA during Hurricane Ike Relief
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2008/09/379931.shtml
Mainstream and establishment media are still ignoring or burying the news about FEMA harassment of Street Medics, even though a few days ago the media themselves were targeted when the iron curtain of the military police state came down on them as the area over Galveston and Bolivar in Texas were declared to be a "no fly zone" (just like Iraq before the US invasion) by a source within the shadow Government which even the Governor of Texas was not at liberty to name. Mainstream media complained about this illegal restriction of Constitutional liberties - you might have seen that report by ABC here:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6391294
or here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arptvzj5bEE
Our colleagues, the three Street Medics who were targeted by this harassment in the Galveston incident are exceptionally well-trained healthcare workers. Two are veterans of the grassroots relief efforts after Katrina, plus all of them are recent veterans of the tremendous organizational challenge faced by Street Medics in Denver during the Democratic National Convention protests - they had helped put together and operate a network and support mechanism of Street Medics that aimed to ensure our safety and liberty as we provided medical care to people who were injured by Police or became ill in the streets, in the parks and in jail during the events there in late August.
Skills among them include First Responder training and certified nurse's aid skills - the latter means providing some very personal care to people who are unable to take care of themselves; it is the most crucial work in healthcare which usually no one wants to do, and which very few are capable to do with the right attitude. First Responder skills include assessing and handling unexpected medical emergencies in both wilderness and urban settings.
The most important part of the Street Medics training is a set of skills, social and personal values and principles which is only taught and learned among Street Medics who are active within the Peace and Justice wings of the liberation movement: how to provide first aid and some forms of aftercare in settings where there is conflict, disaster, or danger, in situations where conventional ambulances, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, rescue workers are unable, unwilling or not allowed to go. These situations include riots, street conflicts, scenes of mass violence, or large assemblies such as marches, parades, demonstrations, etc.
Street Medics abide by a code of ethics which is far more stringent, mindful, all-embracing and inclusive than Corporate or State- sponsored paramedic teams are expected to have: we embrace anti-authoritarian principles, awareness of oppression, we are guided by the politics of solidarity and community self-organizing in everything we do, with special attention to how racism, sexism, homophobia, issues of gender and sexual identity politics play a tremendous role in all sorts of interactions within healthcare and first aid. That's why our charter as Street Medics comes from the liberation Movement's counter-institutions powered by the people and not from Capital or the State.
It's also the reason why the Corporate State opposes our presence and interferes with most of our operations wherever it gets a chance.
Things You Can Do To Help
If you're into writing letters or making phonecalls to officials, politicians, policy makers, media please help us by doing exactly that.
Here's some contact information:
The Texas Division of Emergency Management
5805 N. Lamar
Austin, Texas 78752
(512) 424-2138
(512) 424-2444 or 7160 FAX
www.txdps.state.tx.us/dem/
Contact the National Offices of FEMA here:
FEMA-Correspondence-Unit@dhs.gov
Telephone: 1 (800) 621-FEMA (3362)
TDD: 1 (800) 462-7585
Fax: 1 (800) 827-8112
You can also help us by distributing this story plus all the related materials on this page to online open publishing sources, media contacts, email lists of organizations and friends in your address book.
Helping with Supplies and Finances
Money and Supplies are crucial to the rescue efforts. Please keep visiting these pages for the updated list of needed supplies and ways to send them:
http://streetmedic.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/hurricane- relief/
and
http://streetmedic.wordpress.com/
Right now the best we have is this announcement:
"Please contact us at zoethemedic@gmail.com for a mailing address for donations or to set up a pick up." More instructions and specifics will follow as things get better arranged.
Due to the illegal harassment by authorities, the Street Medics were forced to move the relief operation to another hurricane-struck area in Dulac, Louisiana.
The new location they're in is between normality and disaster. According to Bryan Garcia, one of the Street Medics, some services exist in Dulac, some don't. Food is still being distributed in the streets, there's piles of mud and filth around, phone reception is tricky, a few miles down the road there's no electricity, and some places still don't have water. Postal deliveries are not necessarily normalized for every location there, but our friends are going to make some arrangements and we'll have a way for deliveries established hopefully soon.
The Colorado Street Medics' long journey to setting up clinic in Dulac is documented in a series of updates just posted on their website,
http://streetmedic.wordpress.com/
but the team's access to the internet is not guaranteed and updates may be irregular.
The new location in Dulac was worked out in co-operation with the Four Directions Indigenous Solidarity Network:
http://www.eswn.org/
whose network in Dulac operates a grass roots backyard Free Store, a community center from which basic supplies are distributed to the community. Here's a link to an eight minute video about the Free Store and its role in community-based grass roots relief efforts. The video is a brilliant mix of documentary and visual poetry that captures the spirit of co-operation, community pride and love in action that flows out of the Four Directions Free Store in Dulac:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid= 8633161211427080212
And a related update from the Street Medics:
http://streetmedic.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/the-free-store/
At this point, the two most important necessities are:
- to help create a political climate that generates a "Hands Off the Street Medics" safety net and support network, so that illegitimate authorities will think twice before interfering again with the relief efforts,
and,
- to ensure a steady stream of supplies and money to the mission so that it will be able to address the health needs of the indigenous, poor and undocumented people in the community. This is the population toward whom the Street Medics intend to give their primary attention.
Please give your political and material support generously to this volunteer mission. It's the real thing: worthy, honourable, indispensable.
Petros Evdokas
volunteer, Portland Street Medics
http://petros-evdokas.cyprus-org.net/Another-sort-of- Introduction.html
___________
Some Related Materials
How did we get to Shrimper’s Row?
http://streetmedic.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/how-did-we-get- to-shrimpers-row/
Four Directions Indigenous Solidarity Network:
http://www.eswn.org/
Accomplishments in Louisiana
http://www.eswn.org/success.html
Portland Street Medics
http://street-medics.portland-or.net/
Arrested Street Medic Speaks - Press Release
http://colorado.indymedia.org/node/1147
____________
BTW, the medics probably also need donations for their legal fund to fight the illegal arrests that occurred at the RNC. It would be nice if we could donate 46k (in goods and/or cash) for them.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Some bits of bittersweet
Allen Ray Andrade, murderer of Angie Zapata, was just charged at his preliminary hearing with first-degree murder after deliberation, bias-motivated crime, felony motor vehicle theft and felony identity theft in her death. The case will go back to court on November 16th. Helen has a lot more info, and links to her previous writings on Angie's murder and murderer. I hope he gets life in prison with no chance of parole ever.
Police finally confirm that there was no violence on the part of the trans* folks at London Pride.
A federal court found that the Library of Congress refusing to hire Diane Schroer because she was transitioning is a clear-cut case of discrimination based on sex. This sets an amazing precedent and hopefully the court of appeals will agree with this amazing ruling.
I really like this part:
Imagine that an employee is fired because she converts from Christianity to Judaism. Imagine too that her employer testifies that he harbors no bias toward either Christians or Jews but only "converts." That would be a clear case of discrimination "because of religion." No court would take seriously the notion that "converts" are not covered by the statute. Discrimination "because of religion" easily encompasses discrimination because of a change of religion. But in cases where the plaintiff has changed her sex, and faces discrimination because of the decision to stop presenting as a man and to start appearing as a woman, courts have traditionally carved such persons out of the statute by concluding that "transsexuality" is
unprotected by Title VII. In other words, courts have allowed their focus on the label "transsexual" to blind them to the statutory language itself.
This isn't bittersweet, its just wrong:
Troy Davis was denied clemency last week by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole and is scheduled to be executed on September 23, next Tuesday, despite the tremendous amount of doubt that surrounds his conviction. Besides the Board of Pardons and Parole, the only entity that can stop the execution is the US Supreme Court. However, Amnesty International sent out an action alert today that states that the Board of Pardons and Parole can still reconsider its decision
...
Amnesty International is asking that people send emails and letters to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole urging that they reconsider their decision in the face of the considerable doubt cast upon Troy Davis’ guilt. Please take a few moments to do this; this may be one of the last chances that Troy Davis has to escape being murdered unjustly by the state.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Three Notices
For Immediate Release
September 17, 2008
For information Contact:
Randy Alexander (901) 359-4982
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504
www.adapt.org
www.duhcity.org50 Arrested as ADAPT Takes Affordable, Accessible Housing Crisis to Congress
Washington, D.C.—From their base at “DUH City”, groups of ADAPT activists fanned out on the Hill to hit congressional leaders who have responsibility to help solve the housing crisis for low income people with disabilities. Visits to the offices of Rep. Barney Frank (D, MA), a longtime leader on housing issues, and Senators Chris Dodd (D, CT) and Richard Shelby (R, AL), the Chair and ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs resulted in a total of 50 arrests.
“Our first stop was to see Rep. Barney Frank,” said Diane Coleman of ADAPT in Rochester, New York. “ADAPT has been in talks with him over the past year, and early on he told us in no uncertain terms that he could get 500 housing vouchers from HUD that would be targeted to free people with disabilities who live in nursing homes and other institutions. He repeated that promise for months, and we kept trusting his word, and then one day he suddenly says he can’t help us. We were also working with him to get funding that pays for segregated housing redirected to support integrated housing and more vouchers. Sen. Frank arranged a hearing on this funding, and not only did he not invite any people with disabilities to testify, he didn’t even notify us about the hearing. So, today, we decided to confront him on his broken promises and bad faith.”
Shortly after 13 ADAPT members entered Franks’ office, he ordered staff to have them arrested, refusing to even discuss the ADAPT concerns, or strategies to address the housing crisis for low income people with disabilities trapped in institutions for lack of affordable, accessible, integrated housing.
ADAPT went to the offices of Dodd and Shelby because HUD and housing fall under the purview of their committee. Sen. Shelby declined to work with ADAPT saying, “I don’t help people who can’t help themselves.” There were 19 arrests made in Shelby’s office. An aide to Sen. Dodd spoke with ADAPT, but declined to put her remarks on paper after indicating she might be willing to do so. ADAPT conti
nued to wait for the written statement, and eventually nearly 25 people were arrested.“The TV is full of news about the bank crisis, and the mortgage crisis, and the need for candidates to appeal to middle income people,” said Cassie James, Philadelphia ADAPT organizer. “Meanwhile, people who live on disability benefits, and people who are trapped in nursing homes because of no housing are being held hostage while the government bails everyone else out. Rent has gone up so much, it’s higher than many monthly disability benefits. Not only do us younger people with disabilities need affordable, accessible housing, older people need it, too. This is a crisis, and we need help to solve it.”
ADAPT has been in D.C. since September 13, erecting DUH City, a tent city, on the plaza outside HUD headquarters to bring attention to the situation of the people who have been ignored in this election year- low income people with disabilities. The crises with the economy and housing extend well beyond the middle class, but the Presidential candidates and their parties have seemingly forgotten that fact. Not so, ADAPT.
Press release also posted here and here.
h/t Monica Helms and Lisa
save Bitch Magazine!
as many of you know, a slew of really awesome independent magazine (such as Clamor, Punk Planet, LiP, Kitchen Sink, to name a few) folded over the last year or two as a result of the whole IPA debacle. One of the few to survive was Bitch Magazine, but now they're facing more financial difficulties. So I highly encourage you to find out what you can do to help!
this is from their website:
First the bad news: The print publishing industry as a whole is staring into a void. Across the board, newsstand magazine sales are in a slump, subscriber numbers are down, and paper and postal costs continue to rise. But it's not magazines like US Weekly or Vogue that you'll see disappearing from the newsstands—they have the parent companies and the resources to weather industry ill winds. It's the small, independent magazines like Bitch that will disappear, because the odds are already stacked high against us. And simply put: We need to raise $40,000 by October 15th in order to print the next issue of Bitch.
Now the good news: While it's true that $40,000 is a lot of money, we know the number of you Bitch supporters is in the hundreds of thousands. And we're asking each of you who values independent, nonprofit media and intelligent feminist cultural analysis to contribute what you can to ensure that Bitch thrives. And while we can't say what form Bitch will take in the future (our direction will depend, in part, on your feedback), we can say that we've been hard at work to find an innovative publishing model that will allow us to maintain the spirit and integrity of Bitch while also reflecting the changing world around us.
Once again, the link to donate is:
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/bitchs-fat
help make the weiner dog grow!
-julia
Copy/pasting Lisa's edit:
Edit:
"As Cedar says in comments:
I’m frustrated, though, that 1)the few feminist presses that actually take (white) trans women seriously and publish folks like Serano & Stryker do busted, racist shit (I want there to be good folks and bad folks, damnit!), and 2)that other folks aren’t willing to say yeah it’s not ok, but they’re the only folks that are not doing this other kind of not ok thing… I don’t know, it feels very hierarchy of oppressions to me. …I want them to be held accountable and not have an option to keep doing this shit, AND I want to have the only people who have my back to stick around. (no, feministing does not have our backs)
And Renee:
I have not been reading bitch for long but I do know that it speaks for some women. They did have a good article up about black motherhood not to long ago. I believe that any magazine that is not created for the specific purpose of serving WOC means that white women will be privilege within its pages. Is that in and of itself reason enough to wish that Bitch closes…I don’t think so. It is still far more progressive that say a glamor magazine and we can over time push for it to take a more inclusive approach. When I think of where the best chance of being heard as a WOC is in a traditionally white magazine, I tend to think it would be at places like bitch over say cosmo.
And of course this scandal earlier this year. There may be other stuff (but I’m not clued in at the moment, and google hates me).
And this kind of thing, I think. Although Lisa Jervis fixed that quickly."
24,700 crowns and 5 years
That is what a Romany teenager's life is worth.
"The youth who beat dead with an axe a Romany, aged 14, in a street in Jasov, East Slovakia, was sentenced to five years in prison today, court spokeswoman Marcela Galova told CTK.
Besides, the assailant must undergo psychiatric treatment and pay a compensation of 24,700 crowns to the family. [currency converts at 813 British pounds, or 1,457 US dollars]
The attack was racially motivated, Galova said.
The attack occurred in early last December when a boy, aged 17, attacked the boy outside a house and repeatedly hit his head with an axe.
The Romany boy tried to escape, but as he fell down, the assailant dealt him more blows. He then pushed the body to a brook and left the scene.
He caused to the Romany boy a fracture of skull and brain concussion. The Romany boy died in hospital after a week.
The punishment was proposed by the prosecutor. The court today approved an agreement on guilt and punishment. There is no appeal against the verdict.
The assailant told the court today he regretted the crime, Galova said."
h/t Debi
Thursday, September 4, 2008
RNC Brutality
Theres been a bunch of stuff happening that I really should have been blogging about. I'm sorry, but I just wasn't up to it; loads of stuff offline and personal things, but I'm also getting burned out. I am so tired of the same old cardboard arguments getting thrown at us, the same old trolls sapping our energy, and the constant betrayal for crumbs from the kyriarchy. But I'm not the only one and getting tired of getting shit thrown at you and yours is bound to be tiring. I'll rest when I need it and get back to cleaning when I can. ^.~
So, back to what I should be writing about:
RNC. Blackwater, targeting medics(!!!), illegal arrests (journalists!!!), illegal searches(!!!), police brutality(!!!), fascism, actual assassination plots going unpunished (who cares if Obama gets killed), media blackout, gathering info on undesirables...
Need I go on? (no need, BFP has been awesome)
Of course, everyone is focusing on Palin and her baby's baby and not the Illegal Activity the government is participating in. I don't give a fuck about who is preggers and who wasn't.
I give a fuck that the government is stepping up it's fascism and brutality to levels that are obvious to anyone with eyes. How long until this becomes the common way of treating all citizens? (already intersections of POC, queer/trans* folks, homeless folks, poor folks, etc are treated this way)
How long until running to Canada is more than just talk? How long until the doors of moderate straight, white, cis*, men and women are getting broken down because they said something unpatriotic? How long until the S.O.S. men are real?
PS: petition to drop charges against the journalists.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
War
I just got this video from Lisa; and it's...chilling.
I hope to the Gods that this Scott Ritter is exaggerating or mistaken. I do not want nuclear war; do they not know that MAD stands for Mutually Assured Destruction?
I agree with Lisa; we cannot let McCain win.
Almost forgot, Don't click play if you can't handle disturbing video. Including small children who are injured/dead.
ETA: Sorry Andy, I completely forgot to give a summary I watched the video and thought "I have to post this, I am terrified of this possibility"; parts of the video are text though.
Basically its a bunch of quotes from Republicans and various military higher-ups about how McCain is a loose-cannon and the idea of him being POTUS scares the hell out of them.
I'm not sure about the details or the validity of his statements, but the author Scott Ritter is talking about his book and how the Bush administration has made it easier to use nukes on "enemies".
Theres also a lot of quotes from McCain about how we'll be in Iraq for 100 years and how there will be more wars in the next few years (Iran was mentioned as a specific example). Also about how the "young people" in his audience would be serving in those wars.
This makes me hope that if McCain wins, DADT stays in place; because you just know they will make it impossible for us to get out of McCain's draft otherwise. And yes, McCain would like to reinstate the draft. Fyi, my spiritual beliefs would make me unable to participate in a war unless it was entirely defensive (like, if Canada invaded MI) but because I'm not a Christian, and my beliefs aren't written in some holy book, so theres no way they'd let me out of a draft.
Various links and a wittle rant
This is why I want a gun of my own.
(Triggering)A Philadelphia judge has acquitted the killer of a trans woman of murder charges, despite an impassioned plea by the prosecutor that malice was behind the shooting. At the end of a three-hour bench trial on Aug. 18, Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart convicted Terron Oates of voluntary manslaughter in the death of Alexis King.
Oh "trans panic" defense don't we hate you; though cis*folks are all too ready to believe you even when the evidence completely disproves you:
[...]
Minehart didn’t explain his ruling, but it appears he accepted the defense’s position that Oates acted in the heat of passion after he picked up King for sex in February 2006, then shot her twice after realizing she was a biological male.
[...]
“Mr. Oates isn’t so naïve that he can’t find a gun,” she said. “He has an illegal gun in his car, he’s out at five o’clock in the morning on a school night and he’s going to a strip club when he’s underage. He’s sophisticated enough to be doing those things. Yet the defense portrayed him as an innocent, naïve little boy.”Oates told police he didn’t realize King’s biological status until King grabbed Oates’ hand and placed it on King’s penis, inside the car.
Because Ms. King would totally put herself in danger (and out of a paycheck at the least) by being "sexually aggressive" and forcing her john to acknowledge that she isn't a cis*woman. Because, while getting shot in the back, she would totally be tucking herself back in. Then, more magic powers here, she would teleport herself and her blood into the street (not a hospital).
Oates did not testify during the trial but his early statements to police were read for the record.
However, Sgt. Daniel Dutch, who’s worked undercover as a “john” in the area, testified that he’s never heard of — nor experienced — such behavior by a transgender sex worker.
To the contrary, transgender sex workers normally go out of their way to avoid having the johns touch their penises, Dutch said.
And medic William Murphy, who administered emergency care to King after she was shot, testified that King’s penis was “tucked” between her legs, held in place by her panties, when he got to her.
The shooting happened in the Nicetown section, near the intersection of Bott and Kerbaugh streets. King was shot twice, from the side and rear, according to the medical examiner’s report.
Her body was found about 120 feet from Oates’ car, where she collapsed in a pool of blood, evidently trying to run for safety, said Feeney.
McMonagle [the defense attorney] said the shooting happened during “pandemonium” in Oates’ car, after he felt King’s penis, tussled with her for Oates’ pistol, then King moved toward him.
But Feeney refuted that scenario.
“At no time was she ever coming toward him when he shot her, because she was shot from the side and rear,” Feeney said. “That tells you right there that the defendant is lying. If you’re coming toward someone, your front would get shot.”
She said Oates’ actions after the shooting also contradict a heat-of-passion defense.
“He immediately got rid of the weapon,” Feeney continued. “If you can’t think straight, you’re not going to do that. Then he calls 911, does this act on the phone about a robbery and unknown gunman and lies to the responding officer and detectives. To me, that shows a pretty good presence of mind, don’t you think?”
Fuck that noise.
If there are any mutants or aliens with super powers in Philly, I nominate Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart and Terron Oates as the next recipients of your justice. And, please, only mutants and aliens with super powers; we all know ('cause Marvel told us so) that you folks aren't real vigilantes and you always do things for the right reasons and never get caught.
Helen is asking What If?
I'd like to ask too. So, transphobes whether you be feminist or Christian or just an average Joe/Jane, what the fuck do you expect us to do in your utopia? I know we've been told to pray harder, examine our beliefs, and choose a different life...but what if that doesn't work or we are post bottom surgery? Do we join the priesthood (despite some of us not believing), do we kill ourselves?
What exactly do your theories mean for us--the real live trans* people?
Fuck ableism. Making a woman crawl off a plane, beg for a frigin bathroom break?
Fuck the comments too; access to water and a bathroom are human rights. So is basic respect and dignity.
OMG, the military discriminates against trans* folk! Who knew?
But hey, the APA said they're going to try to take a leading role in ending discrimination based on gender identity! Though for some reason this sounds hollow to me (maybe because Zucker was on the task force and will still be working on the DSM-V).
Shout out to Rozk; and her awesome post about how transphobic feminists can and do really hurt trans* folk and anyone who cares for trans* folk.
Shout out to Cedar; I especially like this piece.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
'Stupid assumptions' is redundant
"Intolerance is the most socially acceptable form of egotism, for it permits us to assume superiority without personal boasting."
"It's surprising how many persons go through life without ever recognizing that their feelings toward other people are largely determined by their feelings toward themselves, and if you're not comfortable within yourself, you can't be comfortable with others."
--Sydney J. Harris
There is a part of me that just can't let go of the idea that we transition to be straight and/or to conform to man=masculine/woman=feminine ideals.
With my knowledge of myself and other trans* folks, it just makes no sense.
This idea ignores genderqueer folks as well as other trans* folks who don't identify entirely as either a woman or a man.
It ignores queer trans* folk.
Theories that contain this idea ignore feminine ftm-spectrum folks and masculine mtf-folks.
The idea completely ignores androgynous trans* folks as well as others whose gender expression is neither masculine nor feminine.
And most of all, this idea erases all that we say about ourselves.
I absolutely hate refuting this idea/theory.
Because I find most simple answers are subversivist and/or ignore trans* folks who do not feel the need to transition.
Because I never remember to answer the base assumptions instead of the surface arguments.
This argument is so tired and old and has been used by everyone from transphobic queers to religious fundamentalists to transphobic feminists to social conservatives.
The assumption that masculinity is forever tied to 'man' and maleness and that femininity is forever tied to 'woman' and femaleness.
This theory assumes that there is something inherently sexual about being trans* or transitioning.
It assumes trans* and trans* folks are a monolithic group/ideology.
Proponents assume that there is something bad about being trans*, something horrible about transitioning. That no one would transition or be trans* if we didn't have to.
When for many trans* folk, being trans* is about their sex, being trans* is about their gender not fitting into either man or woman, being trans* is about their soul, being trans* is a very individual thing and is not easily explained, and there are so many ways of being trans*.
While many of us are sexual beings (just as many cis* people), we do not all view genitals as being inherently sexual.
There is a huge amount of diversity in the trans* communities; both in what 'trans' means to people and in our interests and views.
I am so glad that I am trans*; I feel like even if my life ends tomorrow, I will have grown so much in this life just from being trans* and meeting people through being trans*. I am not alone in this.
I felt so much more free after I was finally able to be out about being a guy. I feel so trapped in not being able to start T or get surgeries. I am not alone in this.
If there was a pill that would make me a cis*woman, I would refuse it. If there was a way for me to go back in time and make me a cis* person (woman or man), I would refuse it. If there was a way to make sure no trans* people would ever be born, I would fight against it. I am not alone in this.
If you listen to us, most trans* folks would not be helped by just getting rid of gender or getting rid of rigid gender/sex roles.
Try listening to us, we know that Jesus/Allah/Kali will not "fix" us if we just prayed more (God[s/ess] makes no mistakes, right?).
Listen and you'll know that ideology and talk therapy will not "cure" us.
Listen and you'll see that drugs and behavioral therapy do nothing to help us.
Listen; don't assume, listen.
For some of us, medical transition is a necessity for continued life and/or happiness.
For some of us, being able to have nongendered pronouns known and respected is necessary.
For some of us, unisex toilets are a temporary or permanent necessity.
For some of us, legal gender/sex markers need to be changed or done away with.
But for all of us, respect and acceptance and love are necessary.
This is the reality, the logical conclusions.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Fucking Hell
I love how much privilege us trans* folk, especially trans* women get.
While so many of you radfems are trying to prove how m33n we are and how we are all liars and can't possibly be telling the twuth about ourselves and how you must know more about "trannyism" than us...
This SHIT was happening!
(Warning for triggers and RAGE)
Kellie Telesford's murderer, Shanniel Hyatt, was declared innocent because she must have killed herself in a kinky sex game and then covered herself with a blanket after he stole her stuff. trans* women, especially black trans* women, have magic powers and are all into kinky sex games! And even if he did kill her, she is a tranny and of color and into kink and probably a slutty whore and she deceived him, so obviously she deserved it. *sneer*
I just missed another anniversary of death.
A neighborhood is harassing sex workers, especially the trans* ones. Because obviously trans* sex workers create all sorts of crime, and they can totally go get high paying jobs with no fucking problem.
And on the radio and TV we have folks dehumanizing more trans* women!
Because Ange Zapata also deserved to her her head smashed in with a fire extinguisher.
And any trans* woman willing to go on TV deserves to get all the fucking tranny jokes you can think of thrown at her.
Zucker and other fucking quacks are being invited to speak on "GID" youth.
Because reparative therapy works so fucking well.
Vancouver Rape "relief" is proven to be fucking bigoted assholes.
I have to hold in my rage and tears. I can't scream and cry and break things.
I can't because I'm at home and I can't let my parents know how much danger being trans* is.
I can't let them worry that much.
Here is my dirty little secret:
I want to put on my most angry music and destroy something.
I want those super powers I've been told we use to destroy feminism.
I want to fly to Shanniel Hyatt's home and destroy him.
I want to hear my metal-enclosed fist break Anthony Tyrone Biscoe's face.
I would like to tear Adrian Williams' mind to shreds and watch him gibber in a corner.
I want to watch the blood flow after I cut Allan Ray Andrade's throat.
And I am not all that violent of a person; vegetarian and anti-war and all.
Where is our super hero?
Where can I find out masked crusader?
How long till we get our Bruce Wayne, or even our Magneto?
Because we don't get justice.
We get told we deserved it.
If the police won't help us, if they take part in raping and killing us, it seems like we will need to make our own justice.
And I am beyond pissed off right now.
ETA: Just remember straight and/or cis*folks, you don't have to be queer or trans* to be killed by a heterosexist/transphobic person.
