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Janis Ian FTW
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Jan. 18th, 2008 @ 10:53 pm
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So I'm a Janis Ian fan and from time to time, I go by her website, especially to the downloads page. She has one up, an unreleased single that she does live (and apparently from the sound of it, has a grand old time with the song with the audience laughing and cheering in the background) that's available. I grabbed the lyrics, and if you want the MP3, just head over this-a-way.
( We're married in London / But not in New York / Spain says we're kosher /The States say we're pork. )Current Mood:  amused |
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US, MA: Trans bill briefing draws a crowd
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Jan. 18th, 2008 @ 10:36 am
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http://www.baywindows.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=glbt&sc2=features&sc3=&id=54949
Trans bill briefing draws a crowd
by Ethan Jacobs, staff reporter
Thursday Jan 17, 2008
About 40 people, a mix of lawmakers, aides and LGBT advocates, turned out at the State House Jan. 16 for a legislative briefing on House Bill 1722, which would update the state's non-discrimination and hate crimes laws to make them Transgender-inclusive. The Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition (MTPC), the lead organisation in the coalition to pass the bill, presented lawmakers and their aides with a panel to explain the basics of Transgender identity and anti-trans discrimination as well as personal stories from Transgender people about their own experiences with employment issues. The briefing is part of MTPC's run-up to the Judiciary Committee hearing on H.B. 1722 that is expected to take place sometime in the next two months.
( Read more... )Current Music: Virgin Radio |
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Transbigotry?
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Jan. 18th, 2008 @ 10:29 am
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http://www.bilerico.com/2008/01/transbigotry.php
Transbigotry?
Filed by: Guest Blogger
17 January 2008 8:30 PM
[EDITOR'S NOTE:] This post comes to us from Mercedes Allen. She lives in western Canada and blogs at Dented Blue Mercedes.
Mercedes Allen
When I was about three or four years old – enough to be talking but not enough to be in kindergarten – my mother carried me through the lineup to the tellers at the bank. I had never seen a person of colour, and so I’d been awed to see a tall fellow with that “purple”-deep colour of skin. I turned to my mother and said, “Oh, Mom, I’d never let myself get that dirty.”
My embarrassed mother kindly explained that some people are simply born with darker skin, and that ended my experience of personally-felt racial bigotry. A few years later, I learned from a close friend I’d made from Trinidad that skin colours sometimes come with cultural differences. It never occurred to me that any one skin colour or culture was any better than any other.
But I did also learn quickly that others didn’t necessarily share that same blissful innocence. As much as it clearly puzzled me when people expressed their contempt for my friend, it was certainly apparent to me that their contempt was very real. Even in Canada, where hatred was nowhere near as entrenched as it was further south, racism thrived.
I’ve also experienced it from the receiving side, twofold, one from the perspective of being Métis, in a culture where Natives are largely despised. In this situation, shame is taught implicitly, where it is intimated that a person should take refuge in their French last name, or resort to referring to their nationality as “mongrel” rather than identifying themselves as Métis. While I have since learned to be proud of my culture and now mourn not having been able to learn more of the traditions associated with it, it was still a painful experience hiding and pretending that nothing was amiss.
My other experience of bigotry came from being transgender. Even though it took me several decades to finally transition, the feelings were always there, and every crass joke that people made about men in dresses or every condemnation of “those perverts” served to drive me further into hiding, further into shame and further into the nightly suffocated struggle that almost culminated in suicide many times.
So if we learn so intimately how painful it is from the side of the victim, why is bigotry so easily foisted around in our own community?
( Read more... )Current Music: Virgin Radio |
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US, AZ: Volunteers Needed to Staff Trans Conference
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Jan. 18th, 2008 @ 10:26 am
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Wingspan's Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA) is seeking volunteers to help with the IFGE 2008 international Transgender conference that will be coming to the Doubletree Inn Reid Park April 1-5, 2008. SAGA is the local host committee. The conference will feature more than 100 educational seminars, a variety of social activities, and much more. Transgender activist Jamison Green will present the keynote address, with opening remarks by Mayor Robert Walkup (R-Tucson) and Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ).
For more information about the conference, visit http://www.transeventsusa.org/ifge , where you'll find the complete workshop schedule, all the entertainment, and many social activities already posted!
SAGA invites our friends to join us in welcoming hundreds of Transgender and allied people to Southern Arizona. We're currently in need of volunteers for the following positions:
( Read more... )Current Music: Virgin Radio |
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US: Transgender activists turn on one of their own
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Jan. 11th, 2008 @ 10:50 am
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NATIONAL NEWS | http://washingtonblade.com/
Transgender activists turn on one of their own
Once lauded, Stanton denounced as traitor after interview with FL newspaper
By LOU CHIBBARO JR
Jan. 11, 2008
Less than one year after being fired from her job as city manager of Largo, Fla., because of her status as a transgender woman, Susan Stanton has come under fire from transgender activists, who have called her a sell-out to their cause.
In a series of developments that would have been unthinkable just months ago, Stanton’s perceived status as a positive role model for the transgender community has soured, with transgender activists expressing outrage over a recent newspaper article quoting her as calling trans people “men in dresses.” Stanton says the article misrepresented her views.
But Stanton remains firm in her support for gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and the Human Rights Campaign, over their controversial decision to back an employment non-discrimination bill (ENDA) for gays that excludes protections for trans people. Frank and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have said there weren’t enough votes to pass a trans-inclusive bill and that moving ahead with a gay-only version would make it easier to pass a trans-inclusive bill sometime later.
“I think we need to do a whole lot more educating before we’re going to be able to realistically have the support on the national level to get this passed,” Stanton said of a trans-inclusive measure. “I personally don’t feel denying the rights of one group should be perpetuated unless everybody has those rights,” she told the Blade.
( Read more... )Current Music: Plain White Ts - Hey There Delilah (Virgin Radio) |
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Nepal Supreme Court Orders Government To Guarantee GLBT Rights
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Dec. 23rd, 2007 @ 09:31 am
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http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2007/12/another-giant-leap-for-glbt-rights-in.html
Nepal Supreme Court Orders Government To Guarantee Gay Rights
AFP - France
December 21, 2007
[12/21/07]
KATHMANDU (AFP) -- Nepal's Supreme Court Friday ordered the government to enact laws to guarantee the rights of gays and lesbians, who have long complained of discrimination in the highly conservative Himalayan nation.
"The government of Nepal should formulate new laws and amend existing laws in order to safeguard the rights of these people," the judges said in their ruling.
"Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex are natural persons irrespective of their masculine and feminine gender and they have the right to exercise their rights and live an independent life in society," the judges said in the ruling, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
The court also ordered the government to form a committee to study existing laws and provisions of foreign countries on same-sex marriage and prepare laws to give it legal recognition in Nepal.
Rights activists hailed the ruling as a landmark decision.
( Read more... )Current Music: The Geoff Show - 2007/12/04 Virgin Radio Podcast |
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It's National Coming Out Day!
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Oct. 11th, 2007 @ 03:17 pm
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( Question under cut )
-ArmandCurrent Mood:  curious Current Music: Disturbed, "Bound" |
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As I just posted in my journal...
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Aug. 17th, 2007 @ 07:50 am
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I just found out. When I drop my girlfriend off and pick her up at work, before she gets out and after she gets in, me giving her a quick kiss is considered "third party harrassment". Despite the Corporation supposedly having a non-discrimination policy and half the night staff being gay. I really want to know if heterosexual couples get smacked with that "ZOMG NO PDA U DIRTY FREEK" bullshit too. Probably not.
Fortunately, I don't have to get out there for a bit longer yet, because if I had to leave right now, I think I'm a little too pissed off to drive and/or not giving a certain night shift security guard who raised hell at her for it once a look of pure malice.
Oh, I know I've got it easy in comparison to a lot of places, I just also know what the policy supposedly is, and if het couples don't get this same grief, it's just... grr. (EDIT: Okay, it applies to everyone regardless, no matter orientation, so at least it's not discrimination, just insanely extreme political correctness to 'you're a special kind of stupid, aren't you?' levels. See comment within.)
Anybody else been in that position before, where companies throw fits over you giving your SO a quick smooch in the car when being dropped off, or doing the dropping off?Current Mood:  bitchy |
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[small update]
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Sep. 15th, 2006 @ 08:07 am
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So how about the fact that it's going to be my girlfriend & I's one month anniversary on the 19th, and I haven't talked to her in almost a week... That's depressing.
In other good news, I started a GSA in school. If you don't recall, I was trying to start one when I was in 10th grade, nearly two years ago, but I couldn't find a sponser. I decided to try again, and actually found one. Today's the second day of signups, and already over 30 people have signed up.
I'm in shock, rofl.Current Mood: happy |
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Apr. 27th, 2006 @ 08:53 pm
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So... did anyone else participate in the Day of Silence earlier this week? I did... share any experiences here! :) |
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Mar. 20th, 2006 @ 12:43 pm
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Has anyone ever heard of Soulforce? Well, here's the site. www.soulforce.org
The reason that I am posting this is they just made a stop in my town, at Lee University. |
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Feb. 21st, 2006 @ 10:09 pm
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I've been ignoring this asylum somewhat -- so, tell me, are there any concerns as to what is going on here? Anyone causing trouble, trolling, etc.? Let me know and I'll fix it, because I'm cool like that.
- Ryan
GLBT Maintainer |
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Comment to help me.
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Feb. 18th, 2006 @ 10:59 pm
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So... what do I do if my ex is interested, but what she wants isn't really what I want? Like, I know this sounds shallow, but I'm tired of serious relationships, and I just want something casual for a little while. But she wants to pick up where we left off, basically. |
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Oct. 23rd, 2005 @ 03:16 pm
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Did any one celebrate National Coming Out Week? I was excited when I found out that the wall in front of Hartwick College had a big rainbow painted on it.Current Mood: curious |
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Oct. 8th, 2005 @ 09:31 am
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After a break-up, when do you feel is the right time to start dating again? in other words, when is too early to date after you broke up with someone?Current Mood:  contemplative Current Music: Il Divo *hell yeah!* |
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Sep. 30th, 2005 @ 11:04 am
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i'm not sure if anything about this has been posted in the past, but i have some question.
i know that being gay isn't really a choice for me, it's just how i am. so the first question is this. did you choose to be gay, or is it just the way you are? also, if you had the choice, would you still be gay?Current Mood: curious Current Music: Fields of Gold-Sting |
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Sep. 22nd, 2005 @ 08:16 pm
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After coming back from my very first GSA meeting, I got to thinking about other schools. Does/did yours have a GSA?
Being the IJ-geek that I am, I created a poll. You can find it behind the cut.
( cut )
thanks for participating! feel free to ask me if you have any questions regarding this asylum, as I'm one of the maintainers. |
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Paperwork
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Sep. 21st, 2005 @ 08:14 pm
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So, I'm taking this course this semester called "The Seventies." It's -who'd have thunk it?- a course of the history of the 1970's. We have a research paper and several other small projects to do during the course of the next couple months and guess what! I'm doing all my research about the gay rights movement. Our campus library has so many interesting books...I'm really excited about it!Current Mood: excited |
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Just a Thought...
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Sep. 6th, 2005 @ 07:37 pm
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Question for y'all:
Does it bother you when people say things like "that's so gay!" or "how gay was that?"
It pisses me off...Mostly because when I was younger, I used to do that.Current Mood: curious |
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Hello and HELP ME PLEASE!!!
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Aug. 30th, 2005 @ 02:25 pm
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Hey everyone,
My name is Tyler, though some call me Laris. I'm a 19 year old college freshman, and I'm desperate need of some help/support.
At summer orientation, I met a guy by the name of Josh. He was also a freshman, and also interested in the same major as I. True, i thought his neatly trimmed dark brown goatee, equally trimmed figure, and short dark brown hair made him VERY appealing. However, there was also something in me that clicked whenever we were in the same room. My pulse quickened, i was slightly short of breath, and i couldn't stop smiling when we talked. We got to discussing religion, and I told him i was Wiccan, and he told me he was Mormon. I just about died then, because I had a very strong feeling that we would never get together. Anyway, all through orientation, I couldn't get my mind off him. on the final day of orientation, just as everything was wrapping up, i finally confessed my feelings to Josh. He simply said that he was expecting it to happen, and that he was straight. I told him i completely understood where he was coming from, and that (jokingly) he broke my heart. when we left for our respective homes, i ended up crying the entire way home (3 hours of crying while trying to drive is extremely difficult, let me tell ya). As the summer progressed, i slowly but surely got over my crush.
HOWEVER, when I came back to the campus, this time for the real deal, the memory of the painful crush returned, and i found myself wondering what would happen if Josh and I ever ran into each other. Would i still feel the same way for him? Had i gotten over my crush for good? Not until the second day, during my very last class, did i find out. I walked into the classroom, and there, sitting in the front row, was Josh. We exchanged the standard "hey, how's it going?", "how was your summer?" type of conversation. As before, i felt the feelings of quickened pulse, short breaths, and a small crack of a smile emerge from the depths of my soul. Remembering the pain i felt before, i forced those feelings back into my heart. I refused to even look at Josh during the entire class.
So, my question is: what should i do about it?
Thanks for everyone's help,
TylerCurrent Mood: confused Current Music: Il Divo |
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