5. juni lanseres antologien fra Forfatterstudiet i Tromsø, foreløpig uten tittel. Det vil bli opplesning på Circa og avduking av tekster i glass og ramme samme kveld.

13.-15. juni går Transfabulous av stabelen i London. Jeg er invitert som transmann og forfatter og har gitt programpunktet tittelen "My body is my logo": Transwritings - between therapy and public presentation. Det foregår lørdag 14. juni kl. 15.00-17.00

Uka etterpå skal jeg sannsynligvis til Harstad for en kveld med opplesning og opplysning i regi av den glimrende organisasjonen LLH Harstad (må ikke forveksles med sirkuset LLH Troms!). Nærmere tidspunkt kommer.

20.-29. juni er det klart for Skeive dager i Oslo, hvor jeg er invitert til å lese fra Framandkar i regi av Skeiv Ungdom. Nærmere tidspunkt kommer.

Deretter tar jeg en pause hos mine foreldre på vestlandet, før Jafnadr er i gang.

16. juli har jeg nemlig fått i oppdrag å holde kombinert foredrag/diktopplesning på Jafnadr, Skeiv Ungdoms sommerleir. Tittel: «Hvem er du i dette landet mellom fitte og kuk?» - Hvorfor trans-spørsmål også er homo-politikk. Dette skjer kl. 15.00

25.juli-3.august arrangeres EuroPride i Stockholm. Jeg har søkt om å få holde både skriveverksted og opplesning, og håper at i alle fall en av delene går i orden så jeg får dekka reisa. Nærmere info kommer.

Og så...

...er sommeren over.

Det har slått meg at jeg burde få meg sommerjobb i stedet for å farte rundt. Men det er så mye mindre lystbetont og givende.

Se forøvrig kalenderen min for å holde deg oppdatert på når jeg kommer til et sted nær deg!

Lancaster on the other hand is a small town and when I came back I knew that there wouldn't be as many groups to get involved with other gay, lesbian, trans and bi people but I was surprised that a google search returned few listings in the area.  

So rather than sit about fantasizing about a move to Manchester or Brighton I thought I'd get on the job myself and start an area book group for lesbian, bi, gay and trans people (and their friends) in the area. It started with me emailing all of my friends and facebook aquaintences and starting a group there, where response was a little slow but promising none the less.

Soon after I met three other friends who now co-run the group,  (if you get in first you get power!) originally called Queer Book Group Lancaster, but I was gracioulsy advised this may be a little too provocative a title for a social book group. Now we seem to be going from strength to strength, with a wonderful blog (thanks, Graham and monthly meetings- the next in June, 2nd sunday of the month as always, The Well of Lonliness) and it makes me proud to think now when lancaster book group is entered into google our group shines at the top of the board, where only a few weeks ago the only results were in Pennsylvania, USA. (I'm also proud of my attempts of publicity with the flyer I made- however this has received mixed results.) I'm looking forwared to seeing our entry in Wikipedia, but it hasn't happened yet, but as soon as I work it out, we'll be immortalised forever in the internet annals (don't snigger). It may take some time so if you're a local historian it may be quicker to make an entry yourself.

Oh, and there was also that broken promise to the trans community.

When the Mike Harris government was still around cutting social services to the bone, one of the casualties was sex reassignment surgery (SRS). The procedure, which had been covered for many decades and didn't represent a particularly egregious cost for the government, was delisted by the Cabinet with very little consultation with stakeholders.

I had the opportunity to interview some of the people who were still working their way through the system at Toronto's GI Clinic, and the move was pretty devastating.

One of Smitherman's promises when he took the position of health minister after the Liberal government was formed was to reinstate the funding. But then the government started pussyfooting around.

They had said that if a related case working its way through the human rights commission "recommended" that they put the funding back in place, they would follow suit. But although the human rights case was decided in favour of three of the four complainants, there was no such recommendation to be found.

Nothing really happened on the file. Until yesterday:

The small number of Ontarians hoping for sex-change operations will soon see the surgery covered by provincial health insurance again.

The decision is expected to cost a total of $200,000 a year because just "eight to 10" people annually are expected to pass the "very rigorous" psychological evaluation required before sex reassignment surgery, Health Minister George Smitherman said yesterday.

"It's a very serious medical condition that affects a very small number of people," he told reporters, noting that other provinces including Alberta pay for the surgery. [Toronto Star]

Finally! It took long enough, but I am glad to see that Smitherman has finally grown a pair -- no pun intended. Really. -- and lived up to the promise he made many years ago. I'm sure the news comes as a relief to the trans community. Small as it may be, its essential for the government to recognize and compensate for their unique medical needs.

Now, how about you get around to helping the other people who have been shafted by the health system. Like...oh, I don't know...the guy who is on a hunger strike outside your legislature because his autistic son doesn't have proper access to therapy?

I was standing in front of a full-length mirror with my leg stretched out, modeling at its end for my own consumption the left half of a pair of kelly green steel-toed Doc Martens knee-highs I had just bought, in spite of their outrageous price tag. "Girl, those boots are hot!" came the voice from beside me. This was St. Nate of the Perfectly Shaped Eyebrows, my coworker and friend, who would, one day, find himself at my parents' house in the suburbs racing through their kitchen as I screeched, "Get the baking soda!" to help put out a fire I'd started on their deck with the grill. But today he was admiring my boots. And admiring me.

"God damn, look at you!" He pulled my shirt from the back so it clung to my form. This was not a look I felt was particularly good for me, even in those thinner days, and I pushed his hands away, squirming and frowning at myself in the mirror. He raised an eyebrow and frowned back, then turned me around by the shoulders, away from the mirror.

"Bitch, be fierce…"
 

* * *

Nate was one of many people who fall under the "T" in LGBT who have been important to me in one way or another, many of whom have played vital roles in helping me understand and appreciate my queer-brained self, and sort out what it means for me to be a woman. This is, quite obviously, no coincidence. Being myself a person who is, like many non-trans feminists and queers, uncomfortable with, and thusly constantly challenging, the expectations imposed on my sex and gender, I have found it valuable (and, in my personal experience, inevitable) to engage with Ts as part of divining my own self-definition. Which is to say nothing of simple and precious friendships.

The thing about getting together with a group of friends which includes straight, gay, bi, asexual, and trans men and women is that you're almost guaranteed to have every gender variation in the room and thusly no easily divided gender groups. The group may split into smaller clusters that talk about kids, or sports, or politics, or film, but the divisions aren't drawn by sex; the ladies-in-the-kitchen, gents-watching-the-game sort of thing is totally, completely, hilariously inoperable. And when you have a group of friends like that, you tend to forget that there are people who don't believe a man can learn something about being a man from a woman, or a woman can learn something about being a woman from a man—a man who loves men same as you, or a man who used to be a biological woman, or just a man in a dress, like St. Nate.

And when you have a group of friends who—irrespective of individual sex, gender, or sexual orientation—take it as read that all we gender-queer lot are in this together, you tend to forget that there are some people who you'd presume to get that, but don't.

(Although in this particular case, perhaps we shouldn't be terribly surprised.)

Realistically, the breadth of allies in a comprehensive challenge to the patriarchy is vast and varied. Though all of us, sans rigorous philosophical exertion, are hapless conduits for every limiting and oppressive archetype upon which the patriarchy depends, conveying the bars of our own cages, very few of us are its unconstrained beneficiaries. Even the average straight, white, middle class American man exchanges privilege for severe limitations on his personal expression and emotional life—and he is encouraged never to examine that devastating trade-off too closely, lest the veneer on the alleged bargain prove thin enough through which to see. We all serve the same callous master, and there's little to celebrate in being the favored slave—especially compared to a life of freedom.

It is foolish to believe that there is more feminist, gender-queer cisgendered straight women, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and the Ts don't all have in common culturally and politically than that which we do, given the particular restraints and prejudices of the patriarchal structure and its rigid notions of sex, gender, and sexuality conveyed in all its aspects. We struggle to achieve and/or maintain, to varying degrees, autonomy over our own bodies, and, crucially, freedom of choice with regard to what we want to do with those bodies. Life- and identity-changing events hang in the balance for us all—parenting, marriage, gender reassignment, being legally able to keep a job in spite of prejudice.

The only question worth asking is how willing any of us are to secure rights for some of us at the expense of rights for the rest. Because we are in this thing together.

We are natural allies. We must be fierce together.
 

* * *

…Nate stood back and looked at me. "The hair, the fucking indigo eyes—I'd kill for those eyes!—the cheekbones, the tits—my god, those tits!—the ass, the 'tude…no one brings the 'tude like you do. Honey, you've got it."

So I did. I had a lot of other stuff, too, that Nate left out—things known as "flaws." But fuck it, I thought, as I turned back to the mirror. Since when has darkness meant there's no such thing as light? I looked at myself again not through a prism of external expectation, but with my eyes alone. The crushing weight of Everyone Else's Opinion was gone. I felt beautiful—not in a slamming-dress- and-perfectly-executed-hair-and-make-up way, which is itself a distinct kind of allure to which I am particularly ill-suited, being unfit in both manner and form for couture, but in a je ne sais quoi way, compared to no standard or expectation, and offering as its only alternative an absence of the beauty specific to me.

I had what I had, whatever it was, and that was that. Anyone who wanted me to measure up to a measuring stick I hadn't given them was going to be shit out of luck and sorely disappointed.

And so they are still.

Figlia lesbica, madre l'accoltella

Pesaro, salvata dalla cintura

In preda a un raptus ha sferrato una coltellata all'addome della figlia di 16 anni dopo che la minore le aveva confessato di avere una relazione omosessuale con una 18enne. E' successo a Pesaro. E' stata la stessa 16enne a telefonare al 113. Fortunatamente la lama si è fermata sulla fibbia della cintura e non ha causato alcuna ferita alla ragazzina. La madre è stata denunciata.

Fonte TGCOM del 14 maggio 2008

IL MIO COMMENTO

Io sono madre, ma non riesco a comprendere cosa può spingere un genitore a tentare di uccidere la propria figlia perchè lesbica!? 

Ancora oggi l'omosessualità è per alcuni genitori un'onta che va lavata nel sangue! Avviene la stessa cosa nei Paesi fondamentalisti Islamici, come in Iran ad esempio, terra Mediorientale in cui l'omosessualità è punita con la morte. Non pensate che sono solo le autorità locali a commettere la repressione con la pena capitale! Spesso sono gli stessi genitori ad uccidere pubblicamente i propri figli per togliere la propria famiglia dal disonore e dal peccato. Ma quale disonore e peccato più grande ci può essere di quello in cui un padre, o una madre, uccide il proprio figlio?

L'amore non può essere incatenato nella prigione che distingue i sessi! L'omosessualità non è una devianza ma un orientamento della sessualità dell'individuo, che va assecondato e rispettato!

Amate i vostri figli e non create in loro il senso di colpa o la mortificazione del peccatore, perché sono croci che non meritano di portare.

Pensate a quanto sia difficile vivere l'omosessualita?! C'è ancora una mentalità discriminante e ipocrita, in cui la derisione e la colpevolizzazione, obbligano i gay e le lesbiche a nascondersi nell'ombra e a vivere esistenze prive del diritto di poter amare pubblicamente e di veder riconosciuti i propri diritti.

Io, donna credente e cattolica, credo che se la Chiesa non amplierà la sua sensibilità, adeguandosi alla società del terzo millennio, rischierà di perdere autorevolezza e proselitismo.

Iniziamo a ripsettare la sessualità di chi non commette violenza o atti illeciti! L'amore appartiene all'anima e non al corpo!

Spero che quella mamma che ha cercato di accoltellare la propria figlia perchè lesbica, si ravveda e si penta a tal punto da chiedere perdono alla figlia e a tutte le persone omosessuali.

Prof.ssa Anna Ciriani

Ich habe mich in letzter Zeit sehr oft gefragt, ob es mir nicht viel lieber gewesen wäre, wenn stattdessen eine Mastektomie stattgefunden hätte. Und ja, _das_ hätte ich eindeutig bevorzugt. Schließlich ist die Brust das nach außen sichtbarste weibliche Körpermerkmal.

Aufgrund dieser Gedanken sind wieder die Überlegungen in Richtung Transmann stark in den Vordergrund getreten. Wie weit will ich eigentlich gehen? Brauche ich das wirklich, um mich sicherer, wohler, authentischer zu fühlen?

Diese Fragen habe ich noch nicht eindeutig beantworten können.

Was mich dabei auch zurückhält, sind unter anderem meine Beobachtungen in einer bestimmten Community. Sehr viele Butches haben sich auf den Trans*weg gemacht. Teilweise habe ich den Eindruck, es herrscht ein Wettbewerb: wer macht alles mit, wer ist schneller "fertig"? Das gegenseitige Beglückwünschen, wenn eine neue Etappe geschafft wurde, diese Euphorie dabei... Manches Mal habe ich schon gedacht: "Hoffentlich ist es wirklich das, was sie für sich selbst am meisten brauchen und wollen. Hoffentlich bereuen sie später nicht, dass sie diesen Weg so extrem schnell gegangen sind!"

Außerdem kommen noch manche Äußerungen und Handlungen bestimmter Trans*leute dazu. Für sie sind Transgender unentschlossen, können sich nicht entscheiden. Diese Vorwürfe kommen offen oder in Andeutungen rüber.

Oft erschreckt mich die Rücksichtslosigkeit gegenüber ihren PartnerInnen. Für Transmänner scheint wirklich nur wichtig zu sein, wie sie schnell vorwärts kommen. Wie es den PartnerInnen damit geht, ist anscheinend völlig egal.

Klar hängt es von jedem selbst ab, wie er die Menschen, die ihm wichtig sind, mit einbezieht, aber ich hätte einfach Angst, zu einem egoistischen Macho zu werden.

Wenn ich das jetzt alles nochmal durchlese, habe ich doch deutlich mehr Argumente gegen den Trans*weg als ich dachte. Ich glaube, dieser Denkprozess ist noch lange nicht zu Ende, aber so schnell werde ich wohl doch nicht aus vollem Herzen JA schreien.

***

Andererseits hat mich auch gerade die Zeit im Krankenhaus ziemlich dünnhäutig gemacht. Dieses Hetero- Gelabere "der Uterus ist _das_ weibliche Organ, wie kann eine Frau sich ohne ihn noch weiblich fühlen?"... Die ständigen Geschichten nach dem Motto "nur mit einer Mann- Frau- Rollenverteilung kann die Familie richtig funktionieren und glücklich werden" Diese ganze Klischeeabspulerei hat mich ziemlich wahnsinnig gemacht. Damit konnte ich absolut nichts anfangen und habe manches Mal vor Wut ins Kissen gebissen.

Aber die Frauen haben wirklich an das geglaubt, was sie da erzählten. Es war anscheinend ihre Art sich zu bestätigen, sich zu vergewissern, dass sie trotz der OP noch Frauen sind... Trotzdem musste ich mich oft genug zusammenreißen, ihnen ihre Welt nicht auseinanderzupflücken. Nur weil ich wusste, dass sie in einer ziemlichen Ausnahmesituation waren, habe ich nicht sehr viel dazu gesagt.

Allerdings hat mich das darin bestätigt, dass ich wirklich keine Frau in ihrem Sinne bin, ja nicht einmal ansatzweise sein will.

***

Aber was bin ich denn nun?!?

Transmann passt (noch?) nicht, Frau aber erst recht nicht. Transgender trifft es, damit kann ich mich identifizieren. Aber wer kann damit wirklich etwas anfangen? Wer akzeptiert das, ohne wenn und aber? Wer gesteht einem diese Uneindeutigkeit zu, glaubt, dass man sich so, wie es ist, am wohlsten fühlt?

Also ist es doch einfacher, den Weg zum Mann zu gehen und dadurch auch nach außen "richtig" einordbar zu sein???...

So what does the "F" stand for?

Frank.

More specifically, Barney Frank. Even more specifically, Representative Barney Frank. For many years, Mr. Frank has been an "out" homosexual man, which logically makes him part of the "G" community. However, I'm not so sure if he belongs in the "G" community, or the GLBT community for that matter. Now before I get hounded by militant elitist homosexuals about how I'm "gay-bashing", check this out...

I read this on Pam's House Blend (excellent source of news, IMHO), and the author is none other than our friend of the community here at Some Notes On Living, Autumn Sandeen. These are actual quotes from Mr. Frank himself:

"Part of the problem, I have to say, is this: I've never seen a worse job of lobbying done by the transgender community. They seem to think that all they had to do was to get the gay and lesbian community to say 'OK.' I think they thought that this was a train, and that they were a car on the train. I said to them, You've got to work this, you've got to lobby people. They did a terrible job of lobbying, and so we didn't have the votes."

EEEEEEERRRRRRK!!!! Put on the brakes! Stop the presses! WHAT?!?!

"I think they thought that this was a train, and that they were a car on the train".

Mr. Frank, the last time I checked, the GLBT community was called the GLBT community because we're all part of this community. "G"ay, "L"esbian, "B"isexual, "T"ransgender. Let's see here... if "G" (or in some cases, "L") is the locomotive, that would make the other letters attached to the locomotive the train cars. Since "T" is the last letter, that would make the transgender community the caboose. So not only are we a car on the train, we're a "special" car. Looks like a train to me, Mr. Frank. We are part of the community, like it or not. Some of us are even MORE of a part of the GLBT community than you are, Barney.

And another wonderful quote:

"The overwhelming majority of opinion in the gay and lesbian community was supportive of what we did." after the fold".

The overwhelming majority of opinion in the gay and lesbian community? Where are you getting your statistics, Barney? Me personally... I'm transexual, which means I'm part of the "T", but I'm attracted to women. Since I am a transexual woman who is attracted to women, that means I'm also part of the "L" community. Many of my transgender friends are also lesbians (and a few gay transmen as well). I don't support what you did. None of my friends in the GLBT community support what you did. In fact, we despise what you did.

And another wonderful Frank quote:

"No. I understand the problem of having [transgender protections] put in the bill and taking it out. It would have been better not to have put it in the bill in the first place and to have two separate bills in the beginning.... Unfortunately, people in the trans community and their allies didn't want to accept reality".

Are you an idiot, Barney? It's time for you to accept reality. People are EXTREMELY ANGRY at you and the HRC for throwing the transgender community under the bus. That's the truth.

Go on, Mr. Frank.

"There are workplace situations -- communal showers, for example -- when the demands of the transgender community fly in the face of conventional norms and therefore would not pass in any Congress. I've talked with transgender activists and what they want -- and what we will be forced to defend - is for people with penises who identify as women to be able to shower with other women".

Ok, but what about people who have undergone SRS (that's when those "people" have surgery to change their "penis" into a vagina, Mr. Frank) who identify as women to be able to shower with other women? (By the way, Barney, a vagina is a woman's genitalia... the kind you don't like). On a side note: I'm a transgender activist. I could care less about communal showers. I wouldn't use one. I don't like using public restrooms, let alone using the same showering facilities with a bunch of other people. All I'm asking for you to defend is my right to not get fired from a job because I'm mid-transition. I want to be able to hired for a job without someone saying, "I can't hire you, you're transgender". That's what I want, plain and simple. I just want respect as a human being. That's what most transgender people want. I want to be able to use the women's restroom, without freaking people out. I'm there to use the toilet, not to check out other women.

So here's the deal, Mr. Frank. You want us to jump train? Fine. I'm still part of the GLBT community. I'm not going to turn my back on the GLBT community - They're the ones that support the trans-inclusive ENDA. They're the ones that aren't smiling in my face and then stabbing me in the back. Here's what I suggest you do, Mr. Frank:

Start your own community, separate from the GLBT community. We'll call it the "F" community. The only people that can be part of this community are transphobic, ignorant, feeble-minded buffoons like yourself. We, the GLBT community will acknowledge you as the "F" community... almost like a "Homosexual Reorganized Community". (Wow... that's quaint... "H"omosexual "R"eorganized "C"ommunity... "HRC"). If you want the trans caboose gone so bad, here's your chance. The transgender community doesn't support you. We don't want you. The GLBT as a whole doesn't want you. The transgender movement is alive and well. Our voices are strong, but it's people like you that turn a deaf ear to us. At least we still have one right - The right to cast people out of our community.

Thanks for flying Trans Airlines, Mr. Frank... buh-bye! ***As we give you a swift kick in the buttocks on your way off the plane***

Thanks for digging up these gems, Autumn.

Love and Peace,

Chloë Elise

TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

It is the slogan of the Trans Human Rights Campaign here in Ontario to amend the Ontario Human Rights Code to include gender identity. To effect this change the current vehicle is Toby's Law--though only yet a private member's bill in the Ontario Legislature.

I let out a yelp of joy--I'm sure no one on the bus realized why I was so excited.

And yes, I am SO excited.

The world has changed.

Over the few years I've been an advocate for trans people, I've known so many who will, in private, express their support but manage not to give public voice to it.

One candidate for the New Democratic Party (NDP) nomination to run for Parliament in my riding in the last federal election spoke movingly about the power of coming out as a gay man in his speech. And yet he responded to my email asking if he supported amending the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression (GI/E) by saying he would never say this in public. None of the other candidates were that blunt.

Fortunately, he never did win the nomination.

The outgoing Member of Parliament--Ed Broadbent, a former leader of the NDP--in his speech to the meeting mentioned "all sexual orientations" but said nothing about GI/E, as if sexual orientation said it all--clearly a common misconception and sometimes intention.

One non-candidate for the nomination who gave a speech actually said "all sexual orientations and gender identities." I went up to her after the speeches and thanked her--I always do this when people declare themselves because it is so rare and so wonderful; she didn't think it was anything special.

And it shouldn't be.

I have always why wondered those who present themselves as champions of the marginal and excluded are so unaware and/or unwilling to break the silence about those who remain excluded from the formal articulation of their human rights, probably the last marginal people who are--and as a consequence of this silence remain among the most marginal in society.

In my own case, I know precisely why I was silent--for 40 years.

I was ashamed.

Growing up in the 50's and 60's it was part of the very fabric of my being that I could not speak this. People coming along now do not understand how effectively this shame was transmitted, especially to male-bodied children. There was no time when I did not know this shame and the reason why.

No words were needed.

As an adult it took 12 years of therapy--for depression, of course--before I could say the words. And although my psychiatrist had never worked with a transsexual person before, he knew me more than well enough by this time that he gave me my first diagnosis on the spot. Within the year I went to the only doctor in Ottawa who prescribes hormones and the rest is history.

For myself, I realized that to get the words out was quite simply to change the world.

Reflecting, I realized this is the flipside of cissexual privilege and why the world remains silent about people like me and I learned a truth about privilege and its flipside, oppression.

I had expected all gay and lesbian people and their organizations--and especially when they adopt the T--to understand this in a way those who share in the privilege of white, middle-class, heterosexuality just don't. That they would have examined privilege and understand that, as I now do, it is not so much a stagnant body of water it is, like oppression, a series of cascades.

And that we are all quite capable of it.

I know I am.

But how can they be silent? Or worse, speak what is clearly not true? Is it shame, that maybe if they acknowledge that GI/E is different from sexual orientation they will lose their status in society? And be reviled as so many trans people are?

Or that as individuals they will lose their positions, income and personal privilege? This is not, of course, shame. It is inconvenience.

The struggle for human rights is not convenient and it is certainly divisive.

But on whose side will you be counted?

On the posters on the windows of the CUPW storefront are big, beautiful butterflies.

This has become more and more a symbol used by those few who serve our communities. When recently in Montreal for surgery, I noticed that Dr. Pierre Brassard--pretty much one of the very best, if not the best in the world--uses it. As does Helma Seidl the gender specialist, actually better described as a transition assistant here in Ottawa who has helped me through so much.

Through transition and even more so now post-op and through all the truly metamorphic changes in my life I know that even while their convenient silence continues to offend my sense of right, it can no longer shame or harm me in any way.

I don't need them. And more importantly, we don't need them.

The world is dividing into those who are right and those who are wrong. The die is cast.

The divisions will be clear for all to see and the excuse "It was inconvenient" will take its place in history with "I was only following orders."

TRANS RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS

For those interested in knowing about trans culture in Mexico City, we invite you to the First Festival of Trans Culture. Sexuality, Politics and Health. It will be celebrated from May 14th to 16th, at Contempo Cinema. Some luminaries of the Mexican trans/gay scene will be there, like Alejandra Bogue, Hazel Davenport and the transmigrated-Spanish sexologist Anabel Ochoa. It will be in Spanish, in case you are interested in practicing your listening skills. Click here for a full schedule of events.

The opening starts at 4 and the entrance is free.

Contempo Cinema. Londres 161, Plaza del Ángel, Zona Rosa. Tel. 5208 4044

Sånn blir jeg hvis ikke GID-klinikken får ut fingeren snart!

Ikke så veldig beskrivende for min familie, håper jeg. Syns den var utrolig bra tegna!

Forklaringa på hvorfor jeg ikke jobber på gatekjøkken?
Kanskje min favoritt.

Og vi gleder oss til sommeren...

Å joda, det kommer til å virke. Men bare fordi jeg er 110% åpen. Unnskylder meg stadig med at jeg ikke har nådd puberteten ennå.

Syns den var søt.

This seems to be common misinformation since same-sex marriage became the law of the land--Canadians for Equal Marriage made this error in its last press release; the Ottawa Pride Committee made this same error in its Official Pride Guide at the same time.

All these organizations certainly ought to know better.

An argument can be made that having sexual orientation in federal, provincial and territorial human rights law is meaningless--but I have not heard that message very clearly articulated. Nor have I ever heard any call for removing sexual orientation from these laws.

This is significantly worse for the most marginal of "LGBTQ people in Canada" (no formal human rights is fundamental evidence of this greater marginalization) than the usual silence as it persuades those who might otherwise join in the struggle there is no longer any need.

And it casts those of us who have long been deeply concerned with this and stood up for our human rights--as gay and lesbian people long have and long been our inspiration--as crazy liars and "justifiably" silenced.

It is difficult to understand how one who has signed a letter of support for Toby's Law--Cheri di Novi's private member's bill in the Ontario Legislature to add gender identity to the Ontario Human Rights Code--could make this casual error.

After the purges of transactivists from committees--and expulsion from membership--the secret abolition of the Trans Issues Committee, the retreat from the federal jurisdiction and abandonment of long standing policy to lobby for the amendment of the Canadian Human Rights Act to include gender identity and gender expression and abandonment of the policy to bring over the supporters of same-sex marriage to support this, what are the transgender and transsexual people of Canada to believe about Egale Canada, its staff and Board of Directors?

What are all those whose commitment to equality and dignity for all is profound and steadfast to think?

Is it really so inconvenient and divisive to acknowledge that gender identity and gender expression ARE different from sexual orientation, that they have no necessary connection to sexual orientation and that the message must be different and must be just as loud, clear and long lasting as the message, and the struggle that followed from it, that placed sexual orientation into legislation--and for precisely the same reasons?

I have always wondered why Egale Canada has never had the political will to work with transgender and transsexual people to craft this message and work with us on this necessary long term struggle..

We have watched virtually all American LGB, LGBT, and T organizations come out loudly and proudly from an inclusive ENDA because of their profound belief that T's are not parasites on the work of the G's and L's, but have been part of the same movement from the beginning and that there is no true equality while some of us remain excluded because it is just inconvenient to include us.

(Except for the Human Rights Campaign.)

Can we as Canadians do any less? It certainly seems so.

"We may have human rights for LGBTQ people in Canada, but you'd never know it based on these results," said Helen Kennedy, executive director of Egale.

it's not finished, actually it's still at the draft stage, but i'm trying to get some thoughts out. trying to create a foundation of basic positions i hold, upon which i found arguments, and legitimise what i'm doing.

Una belle breve storia che ci fa capire che anche anche gli uomini, che notoriamente soffrono molto di più delle donne nella "situazione ceretta" (Like all men he's not great with pain) , preferiscono usare Philips Satinelle Ice Epilator.

L’ArciGay: ”Messaggio forte e chiaro.

L’omosessualita’ non e’ una scelta ma un dato immutabile da rispettare”

Usa,studenti difendono amico trans
A scuola con abiti dell'altro sesso

Gonna borsetta e parrucca per i maschi, gessato, camicia e cravatta per le femmine. Questa la forma di protesta degli studenti di una scuola di New York che si sono presentati alle lezioni con vestiti scambiati per solidarietà a un compagno trans insultato e minacciato dalla stessa istituzione. Ma, l'istituto, la Brewster High School, smentisce e dice di aver preteso solo abiti non volgari da Micheal Loscalzo, 17 anni.

Qualche tempo fa, Micheal ha annunciato la sua ambizione di diventare una donna e ha iniziato a vestirsi come una ragazza anche per andare a scuola. Per questo è stato preso in giro e anche aggredito.

Dispiaciuti per il trattamento riservato al ragazzo, i suoi compagni si sono presentati in aula con gli abiti incrociati - vestiti femminili per i ragazzi e viceversa - e hanno protestato contro le autorità della scuola che avevano vietato a Micheal di vestirsi da donna minacciandolo di sospensione.

Tuttavia il liceo ha smentito: "Vogliamo che tutti gli studenti siano accettati per quello che sono, per come vestono e per il loro orientamento sessuale - ha detto il preside Matthew Byrnes - Chiediamo solo che a scuola ci si vesta con abiti appropriati e non in modo volgare".
Fonte TGCOM 10/5/2008

IL MIO COMMENTO

Se la notizia dello scambio d'abiti è vera, trovo che questo atto di solidarietà nei confronti del giovane Micheal, sia stato un grande insegnamento per il preside di quella scuola che ha proibito all'alunno di indossare degli abiti femminili.

La sessualità deve essere rispettata al pari della personalità! Sono d'accordo che bisogna vietare abbigliamento e comportamenti non consoni all'ambiente scolastico, ma sono altrettanto convinta che, se si è nel lecito e nel rispetto delle regole, dobbiamo tutelare la diversità, la sessualità e la personalità anche quando non la condividiamo, per gusti e abitudini differenti.

Dobbiamo educare al rispetto della diversità e non imporre regole che reprimono e mortificano chi non è uguale a noi. Il problema non è essere un trans ma non far rientrare nella normalità chi è nato uomo in un corpo da donna e vice-versa.

In parte anch'io sono stata discriminata per il mio modo di vivere liberamente la mia sessualità e la mia nudità e la scuola non ha assecondato il mio modo lecito di vivere, bensì l'ha punito sospendendomi dal mio ruolo di docente. Hanno insegnato agli alunni che la sessualità o esibire, in ambienti consoni,  con disinvoltura la propria nudità è un peccato o un'azione che va punità!

Bene, insegnamo a punire, a perseguire e a reprimere gusti, abitudini sessuali e personalità differenti dalla propria o da quelle che rientrano nella normalità!

Per fortuna ci sono i giovani che con coraggio si ribellano, fino al punto di compromettersi con gesti di solidarietà come quelli che hanno fatto i compagni di scuola di Michael. 

Mi ripeto, ma non dobbiamo discriminare e limitare la libertà dell'individuo se non si commettono atti illeciti e se si osservano le regole del rispetto!

Prof.ssa Anna Ciriani

Privilege is everywhere in our society and depending on your class, race, economic status or gender expression you may or may not enjoy privilege. Being Caucasian in our society affords you a great deal of privilege. Our society is geared to make life easier for people who are white. All of our institutions are inherently racist and difficult for people of colour to navigate and receive fair treatment. If you don't believe me ask a person of colour what their experience is at a bank or worse trying to get welfare or other government services. When I worked in a downtown eastside welfare office in Vancouver there was a great deal of racism dished out to people of colour and particularly aboriginal people.

Class is another area of privilege. I certainly noticed that as a homeowner I am treated very differently by service people than I was when i was a renter. The white woman in Kerrisdale is treated much differently than an Aboriginal woman from the downtown eastside. Many of our judgements about class are rooted in the Protestant work ethic and Protestantism in general. One of the foremost Protestant thinkers, John Calvin, believed that it was predetermined who was going to heaven and who was not. Those people who were successful in life were assumed to be going to heaven and therefore treated differently from those who were impoverished. It was also believed that if those who were not successful 'just tried a little harder' they too could be successful. The old adage of 'pulling up their boot straps' applied. We may not consciously think this way but these ideas inform our culture and the way we view the world and the people in it.

Gender expression is another area of privilege. Those who fit into society's binary gender roles of male and female enjoy privilege. There is no question which bathroom to use and you are treated with respect. Those who are gender queer, gender ambiguous or trans have murky waters to navigate. A male to female transsexual for example may be harassed for using the woman's bathroom. Gender expression seems to invoke violent responses from some people. Many trans people are routinely targeted for abuse by people in our society who are uncomfortable with their gender expression.

It is interesting to talk to people who are different from you and to learn how privilege or the lack thereof impacts their lives. As a white woman I know that I enjoy a fair amount of privilege in our society. I have privileges of class, race and gender. However, somethings work against me. As a fat lesbian woman I have been the target of discrimination and hate although not that often. The group with the most privilege in our society are straight, white men. It is interesting to determine what privilege you enjoy and why you have it. Deconstructing privilege helps us to understand how our society works and how we can work to be allies to those who do not enjoy the same privileges that we do. It takes a great deal of work to look inside and see what is really there - the racist and classist thoughts and to try and understand how they impact our interactions with other people. It is a life-long process and one that is very difficult. Realizing our own racist, classist and gender biases can be uncomfortable. Talking about them and challenging others racist, classist and gender biases is even more difficult. If, as an individual, you are committed to an egalitarian society it starts with you.

Io ho rispetto per le persone omosessuali, ne conosco alcune, ma temo che il Gay Pride sia un'altra cosa: è un fatto di esibizionismo sessuale ed io sono contrario a qualsiasi forma di esibizionismo, sia omosessuale sia eterosessuale. […]il problema non è omosessualità sì o no, ma esibizionismo sì o no

Ma Alemanno rassicura :

Nel centrodestra c'è una cultura liberale che non mette in discussione i comportamenti, le libertà individuali e il rispetto della privacy

Evidentemente allora i fascistoidi che non apprezzano i froci sono di sinistra.

In sostegno di Alemanno arrivano I Gay-Lib, i gay liberali del centrodestra, che propongono

Facciamo il corteo in giacca e cravatta

Mentre Assunta Almirante chiosa:

Io personalmente al Gay Pride non ci andrei, per il rispetto generale della città

Il centrosinistra insorge compatto, e Paola Concia (portavoce del tavolo Glbt del Pd) afferma:

Il Pride è un evento positivo e propositivo che vuole ribadire il valore fondamentale della libertà

Dicendosi semmai preoccupata dai

saluti romani esibiti in Campidoglio da alcuni sostenitori del centrodestra il giorno della vittoria al ballottaggio

La liberta' non implica il concetto di tenere una manifestazione pacifica che inneggia alla liberta' (sessuale)?
Se il problema e' che alcuni durante queste manifestazioni vanno in giro mezzi nudi, se questo e' un problema in Italia (mentre in tutti gli altri paesi occidentali i gay pride si svolgono senza troppi problemi), si applichi l'art. 527 del codice penale italiano (atti osceni), il quale prevede che "chiunque, in luogo pubblico o aperto o esposto al pubblico, compie atti osceni è punito con la reclusione da tre mesi a tre anni".
Dopodiche magari Alemanno ricordi al suo leader Berlusconi di eliminare "qualsiasi forma di esibizionismo, sia omosessuale sia eterosessuale" anche dalle televisioni di proprieta' della famiglia Berlusconi.

Dunque, probabilmente con Alemanno a Roma non vedremo piu’ le coloratissime sfilate dei Gay Pride, ma consoliamoci col fatto che non sara’ fatto piu’ nemmeno il Family Day, perche’ Alemanno e’ anche contro l’esibizionismo eterosessuale.

Citazioni dall’articolo de La Repubblica : Alemanno contro il Gay Pride

Temi correlati:

• Gay Pride: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_pride
• Moti di Stonewall: http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moti_di_Stonewall

but i didn't really care. when people said things like, "oh, i can't eat that, it'll go straight to my hips," i scoffed and rolled my eyes. i considered myself a fat ally, and stuck up for people who made anti-fat comments. i hated the diet industry and all of the ridiculous products it peddled on the basis that making people hate themselves could be profitable. i read articles about dieting second graders, and small children being sent to "fat camp," and i was disgusted at the cruelty of others.

but i guess it was easy for me, because as a butch dyke, i never felt like any of those rules applied to me. when you have unfortunate kitchen haircuts, hairy legs, and your major fashion accessories are black leather and spiked, it's hard to feel any kinship with the women in vogue, let alone any sympathy for their struggle to lose two pounds.

when i started identifying as trans, i liked my belly. it made me feel more masculine, especially when compared to the skinny women around me. it marked me as different.

but then i started taking testosterone, and it shifted my body fat all around...namely, to my stomach. but it wasn't so bad, because it helped me hide my chest. then the day finally came when i had chest surgery, and suddenly realized that i had become my dad: mostly skinny, but with a fat stomach. although i was in love with my new chest, i still couldn't shake this feeling of self-consciousness at taking my shirt off in public. i figured it was just leftover from the days before surgery.

in the days leading up to surgery, i made lists of things i had always wanted to do, but had been prevented from doing by my chest. swimming, yoga, working out. i began reading men's health magazine, once i finally had a body that fit into their readership. i read articles about fitness, thumbing through pages of muscular, smooth-chested guys demonstrating the right way to lift weights and do calisthenics. and somehow through it all, i started to notice that the cover of almost every men's magazine promised that the secret to flat abs was inside its pages. these messages seeped into my brain. "you're gross." "you're out of shape." "you're fat."

this was a shock. men had a body ideal to live up to? men, in all their patriarchal glory? bodily insecurity wasn't just meant for straight women and transsexuals? men were self-conscious about their back hair, their round bellies, the length and usefulness of their cocks?

mind-blowing, i tell you.

but what really hit me was that i had become vulnerable to those messages. as a punk rock dyke, ex-riot grrl, i thought i was immune. after all, hadn't i read piles of zines about fighting against mainstream body ideals? hadn't i had millions of conversations about how damaging those ideals could be? wasn't i above all of that? and yet, there i was, staring disgustedly into the mirror at myself. there i was, half-assedly counting calories and trying unsuccessfully to lose some weight. i had become exactly what i always scoffed at....another boring american obsessed with looking good.

somehow, i had become vulnerable to the same messages.

Johnny ser derimot ikke ut til å ha sperrer på dette feltet, heldigvis, og har nå skrevet årets mest geniale bloggpost. Jeg skulle kunne skrive under på det aller meste der, men har heller ikke nå tenkt å gå i detaljer. Les og bli klok (eller bare forvirra)!

Det nedenforstående sitatet er min favoritt fra teksten:

Ibland tänker jag dock den helt befängt heteronormativa tanken: Jag kanske egentligen bara tänder på tjejer - mitt pojkvänsideal är typ ett flickvänsideal. Men vad är egentligen så motsägelsefullt med att gilla ett “kvinnligt” beteende på någon som har kuk? Ursäkta för mitt ovårdade språk, men jag tycker faktiskt kukar är otroligt sexiga. Och kombinationen kuk+ett androgynt ansikte är ännumer sexigt. I alla fall om de ser sig själva som män trots att de kanske ses som lite fjolliga.

Johnny Scharonne

Festivalutvalget jobber på spreng for å gjøre alt klart til påmeldingen, som starter mandag 12. mai. Spennende gjester som forskeren Agnes Bolsø og poeten Tarald Stein kommer, filmen «Gender me» blir vist.

sier nyvalgt leder i Skeiv Ungdom Stian Antonsen til Blikk.

Gratulerer med valget, Stian!

Bad Questions to Ask a Transsexual: The Director's Cut

Jeg har som kjent ingenting imot å svare på spørsmål, uansett hvor dumme de er. Folkeopplysning er del av mitt kall.

Når man bruker dette begrepet sikter man gjerne til operasjonen av kjønnsorganer der man lager en penis (FTM) eller vagina (MTF) og at akkurat denne ene operasjonen gjør at man får nytt kjønn.

1. De aller fleste transkjønna opplever at de ikke skifter kjønn, men får kroppen til å stemme med kjønnsidentiteten. Derfor oppleves det for mange som sårende når noen bruker begrepet kjønsskifte.
2. Rent juridisk får man nytt kjønn ved fjerning av reproduktive organer (livmor og eggstokker for FTM), og ikke ved den ytre operasjonen for å lage en penis. Dette er en operasjon som også mange kvinner går gjennom p.g.a. kreft eller annet. Ingen ville vel påstå at de dermed skifter kjønn?
3. Operasjon av kjønnsorganene er ofte siste steg i en lang prosess. Personen er oftest gjenkjennelig som sitt ekte kjønn lenge før disse operasjonene, f.eks. vil en FTM oftest ha vært gjennom en mannlig pubertet med stemmeskifte og hårvekst, har fjerna brystene, kan ha begynt å få måne og er på de aller fleste måter gjenkjennelig mannlig.
4. Mange transmenn (FTM) avstår fra å skaffe seg en penislignende utvekst på kirurgisk vis fordi resultatene ikke er tilfredsstillende. De velger å vente på framskritt i forskninga, eller er fornøyde med den utveksten som testosteronet har resultert i. De er ikke mindre menn av den grunn. På samme måte som menn som skulle være så uheldig å få den kappa av ikke automatisk blir kvinner.

Jeg har ikke så store problemer med begrepet. Min innstilling til verden og mennesker er at de færreste ønsker meg noe vondt. Sunn fornuft er dessuten ganske utbredt. Sett utenfra ser nok denne prosessen ut som at jeg skifter kjønn, i betydningen sosialt kjønn i alle fall. Det synes jeg folk skal ha lov til. Jeg har ingen rett til å kreve at alle andre skal se ting fra mitt persektiv.

Flere ganger har det oppstått misforståelser når jeg har godtatt ordet kjønnsskifte som beskrivende for det jeg allerede har gjort og er i ferd med å gjøre, altså et sosialt kjønnsskifte. Da tror folk gjerne at jeg er ferdig operert. Det er det flere år til jeg blir, og forskjellen hormonene vil utgjøre for kjønnssuttrykket mitt vil være stor. Begrepet er strengt tatt mye verre på engelsk (sex change) fordi det eksplisitt sikter til det biologiske kjønnet.

Jeg anser at jeg har skifta sosialt kjønn allerede. Det er over to år siden jeg siste gang hadde på meg et skjørt og høyhælte sko. Det var en lettelse å slippe forsøkene på å oppføre seg som kvinne. Endelig kunne jeg framstå litt mer som meg selv, slutte å tenke på om jeg stod, satt eller gikk riktig. Hvis det skal være noen mening i begrepet kjønnsskifte, bør det vise til sosialt kjønn og kjønnsuttrykk, ikke biologisk/fysisk kjønn.

Foreløpig har ikke det sosiale kjønnsskiftet gjort gjort at jeg framstår 100% som den mannen jeg er. Til det er kroppen min for åpenbart kvinnelig. Men det hender i alle fall stadig oftere at folk ser meg som den jeg er.