G's Spot

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-10-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

I used to wake up in the morning and wonder; "What am I doing today"? Now I get up and wonder "What WON'T I do today"!

National Coming Out Day, 2011 Photo Op...Los Angeles And Other Info

2011-10-07T10:34:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all,

Calling all LA girls & guys. as you may know National Coming Out Day is Tuesday, Oct 11. As part of the social media explosion that will happen on that day, the LA Gay & Lesbian Center is inviting people to come to the Center (1625 Schrader) on Monday, Oct 10 at 1 p.m. and help us form a human configuration of the word #OUT, which will be photographed from above and used for our NCOD social media campaign. Whether you are LGBT or an ally, this is going to be a fun way to show support, So I hope to see you there!!

RSVP at the link below and PLEASE spread the word!
http://bit.ly/qnHRkB

The Center is also part of a grassroots effort to make NCOD 2011 the best ever! PLEASE check out this Facebook page for details on how you can be part of this momentous occasion!

Two Years Old

2011-10-02T12:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the two year anniversary of my moving to Los Angeles and FINALLY beginning my life as my TRUE self. It was a truly day for celebration, which I did and then some! It's been such an amazing period of growth and re-affirming wonderment that I still sometimes just have to sit back and smile in disbelief at how beautiful life has become.

It wasn't that long ago that I was miserable and basically a shut in over my inability to be who I knew I really was. Through a mix of frustration, support and blind faith, I loaded up a u-haul, made my way down the coast and made Gina my reality. My world turned upside down. I went from an unemployed, apathetic invisible being, to a thriving, caring soul that is happily employed at a job that is making a difference in the LGBT community and I have an incredible network of love and support that I sometimes feel guilty over it all.

The last two years have been THE most wondrous of my entire life. The love and support I received from family and friends has been nothing short of remarkable. Their new found respect and awe over my transition and rebound from the shell of a human being I used to be is called inspirational to some. I just look at it as self-preservation, but I relish being able to enlighten people that transgender people aren't freaks or sexual deviants. All we want is to live productive, and most of all HAPPY lives.

I've finally gotten to the point in my life that I can truly look at the mirror and smile. Not only at my physical reflection, but what I've accomplished in my heart& soul. If there is hint of regret, it's that my beloved parents didn't make it to see their child finally reach absolute bliss, but I know they are looking down and so proud of their baby!

I've received some many wonderful well-wishes from friends and family that have truly touched my very soul. One in particular was so awesome to me that I had to share it. So to all my wonderful friends and family...THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LOVE AND SUPPORT. I will try every day of my life to exude and share the love you have shown me. This hat toss is for you...

And to my pal CiCi, thanks for the new theme song, babe!

With friends like you, it looks like I really did make it after all!!!

I did it MY WAY!

2011-09-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Never forget the soundtrack of your life. Especially the tracks that come from a place where you were completely lost! Those are the ones that can now be celebrated!

This got me through a lot of bad days...

My "Love" Letter to Linda Harvey

2011-09-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

I came across some rather unfortunate comments by Linda Harvey, member of the unenlightened party, tonight. After reading this article, I felt compelled to say "Hi" to her.

Here is the article I read...

Anti-Gay Christian Right-Wing Activist Says ‘There’s No Proof’ LGBT People Exist
By Stephen D. Foster Jr.

Linda Harvey, the founder of Mission America, says that LGBT people don’t exist. She made the comments during her weekend broadcast while she was attacking the Gay, Lesbian, And Straight Education Network.

Harvey was particularly perturbed by the GLSEN Sports Program which works towards “creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all students, teachers and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.”

Harvey believes there is no need for such a program because according to her, there is no proof that LGBT people exist.

Harvey: “There’s one big fact that’s not backed up. There is no proof that there’s ever anything like a gay, lesbian or bisexual or transgendered child, or teen or human. One of the other things you’re gonna see as I mentioned is a big campaign GLSEN’s gonna roll out this year calling for ‘respect,’ respect! Not just for people, but for homosexual lifestyle. The PR campaign to hold up gay as a good thing: the lifestyle, not the person, because there are no such humans.”

Mission America’s major area of focus is homosexuality from a conservative Christian viewpoint, particularly as it relates to American youth. It also opposes the influence of Pagan and feminist spirituality, and provides a range of apologetics for Christianity.

Linda Harvey is hateful and in denial. There are many LGBT people in the public eye who are living proof that gay people exist like Rachel Maddow, Barney Frank, and Ellen DeGeneres, just to name a few. If you are part of the LGBT community, feel free to contact Harvey and her organization to let them know that you exist.

Mission America
P.O. Box 21836
Columbus, OH 43221-0836.
webmaster@missionamerica.com
www.missionamerica.com

Here is my "love note" to Ms. Sunshine...

Dear Ms. Harvey,

As a healthy, productive and happily EMPLOYED Transgender Woman, I'd like to thank you for your ignorance and unenlightenment. It's your brand of insane and hateful rhetoric that only emboldens our cause and presence. I will not allow myself to fall any further into your trap of hatred and misunderstanding. Instead, I wish you and yours nothing but peace, and hope that someday you can experience the same kind of happiness and bliss that I have. Oh, and just so you know, YES; I ABSOLUTELY, 1,000% do exist, as do you and yours, and I hope someday will see your way to being a part of a world where understanding and compassion, not hatred and ugliness reign.

Most respectfully,

Gina Bigham
Los Angeles, CA

Zihuatanejo

2011-09-21T18:57:00.001-07:00

I've always adored the movie "The Shawshank Redemption". From the first time I saw that film, I've felt a connection with Andy Dufresne, but I could never quite pinpoint what it was about that character that drew me to him. As I watched the movie for the 100th or so time recently, I had quite the epiphany and finally understood why I was so enthralled with Andy and his unrelenting devotion to hope.

In the scene below, Andy and Red are having a very deep conversation. I can't believe it took me this long to figure it out, but it dawned on me that this conversation was very similar to discussions I had had with myself many, many times before, as I struggled with my transition.

I realized that Andy is me, the me I am today. The wise, bright-eyed optimist that always sees hope and goodness, even in the face of the deepest despair. Someone that was able to escape and never let anything or anyone ever again keep me locked away from my dreams, my goals, my Zihuatanejo.

Red, on the other hand, was completely how I used to be...hopeless and imprisoned by fear. Scared, negative, and a total pessimist through and through. It wasn't until my Shawshank revelation that I realized how much like Red I was and how; like Red, once I opened my heart and my mind to my own Andy-like spirit and inspiration that without even really realizing it, I had done it. I had become the living, breathing epitome of "the phrase". That so simple to say, yet oh so very difficult to put into practice phrase..."Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'".

We all dream about being able to live OUR own lives, OUR own way. We'd love to be able to abandon our inhibitions, our fears and stop listening to that meddlesome little voice in our heads that says over and over, "Oh, there is no way you can do that". That voice; that fear keeps us locked in our own Shawshank. We're imprisoned by the fear of not being able to "make it on the outside". We basically become "institutionalized", like Red was, like I once was. Clinging to some bullshit commitment to self-imposed mediocrity. Thinking that I was somehow doing the right thing by just towing the line. Hearing over and over in my head that this is how it is, because Warden Fear says so. Because this is how all the other inmates are.

The scene below symbolizes where it finally happened for me. Where hope won out and where Gina finally convinced Sean to be true to thy self, to "come a little further" and realize that "hope and being true to myself was a good thing, the best of things; and no good thing ever dies." This is when the two halves of my soul were melded into one. This is when I escaped and became ME.

Vidivodo.com : the shawshank redemption - final scene Etiket: movie

**Hit play and then by click the yellow "X" at the top right, to skip the ad**

Red's soliloquy on his enlightenment of hope shows that with an open heart and a willingness to throw caution to the wind, even the most cynical and hopeless of us can find ourselves finally too busy LIVING. It took Andy 20 years of digging at that wall, and what did he get for his patience, determination and HOPE? He broke free of his shackles and oppressors forever.

I'm living proof that hope is indeed a wonderful thing. Your own Zihuatanejo is out there waiting for YOU. Just know that you may have to crawl through a river of shit to get there, but it's so amazing how clean you will come out on the other side.

"Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'. That's goddamn right!"

Amazing article from an unlikely ally

2011-09-20T13:49:00.000-07:00

This is an article I found today during my daily work searches of LGBT media. It's such a wonderfully uplifting piece it just had to be shared! It would be fab if you all could share this with as many people as you can, as well because it's that damn good, and that damn profound. It's actually even more amazing when you see who wrote the article. Seeing who the author is; is a prime example of how stereotyping by group is an awful, awful thing. I'll leave the big reveal for the end of the piece, so happy reading!

Trans-Stonewall: Chaz opens the door
By Kathy Baldock

Forty years ago, the LGBT communities tumbled out of the closet at Stonewall, never to go back in again.

Stonewall conveniently produced a replacement for the now-gone communists; after all, nothing unites people like a good ol’ fashioned enemy!

Gay people became the new devil to be protected against. “Hide your kids, your church doors, your family values—here come the gays.” And, it worked. For a time.

Politicians, preachers and conservative groups all found that by building a storyline of the “radical gay agenda,” more people huddled together in fear and supportive wallets popped open.

Small enough in number (only about 5 percent of the population), the gay, lesbian and bisexual communities became an easy target with benefits. But, dang it, they are no longer co-operating as child recruiters, family destroyers and Bible burners. We are starting to realize they are born gay, they love their partners and families and they can be Jesus followers.

Who, oh who shall be the next “enemy” in historical parade of foes: slaves, Nazis, Communists, gays . . . oh, there, looming on the horizon, there they are: the transgender community.

Mark my word on this, it is happening. The reactions to Chaz Bono dancing across a stage on “Dancing With the Stars” with a beautiful woman in his arms will clearly reveal the next wave of brewing hatred from politicians, preachers and conservative groups.

A familiar repeat of an old pattern about gays and lesbians but now targeting the trans-community is already emerging:

* Set the stage with fear and dispel the fact that transfolks are actually people. Reduce them to “freaks”.

* Talk about their sexual confusion, a lot.

* Find many professionals that will sound smart (even though every professional medical organization will have discounted those “experts”) and cite obscure studies with forty year old data.

* Cite and talk about other variations of body “mutilation” like people who cut their arms and legs off. Equate that to sex reassignment surgery (SRS).

* Manipulate statistics mixing gay and lesbian issues, which are about sexual orientation, with gender identity issues. So intertwine the two issues that people stay confused and uninformed.

* Find some trans-people that were not properly guided in the process and transform them into poster children for the cause. They will tell us that they never should have transitioned. Make videos and flyers about them and push them out through Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Americans for Truth, the Liberty Council, NARTH and the up and coming brigadier general of the anti-trans parade, Michael Brown of the Coalition of Conscience.

* Tell us about the rare situations and kinkiest situations as if they are the norm. And then, tell us again, and again.

* Tell us that transgender people are confusing our children so that our kids are now living in daily fear and questioning of “am I a boy?”, “am I a girl?” Warn us this will be part of the “recruitment of our children” during their vulnerable years.

* Make us fearful of the society-wide blending of gender and role confusion that is inevitable. The family will disintegrate in a downward spirally of our sexual moral compass.

* Remind us that trans-community is well organized with an “agenda” and if they get their rights to love and marry, pedophiles will soon be demanding their rights too.

* And, with every threat and fear-based “fact” include what the what the Bible clearly says (to you) about transgender people. Make it sound really loving. Tell us you are only speaking up because you love truth and the transgender community.

Game on

Transgender people are beginning to stand up publicly and join churches; they are becoming business and governmental leaders and are no longer conveniently hiding. They are a very small percentage of the population (again, a good target) being only about .25% to 1%. Insignificant? Maybe in a room of fifty people, but in the US, that means at least 900, 000 people. That is not a toss away number.

If you do not understand the transgender issue, then please, get some understanding so that you no longer say stupid and offensive things. Gender Dysphoria Organization is a good start or even my own simple post “Can Sized 14 Heels Keep You Out of Heaven?” from a Biblical point of view. Simply:

* Gender and sex are NOT the same. Gender is what your brain says you are; sex is what your body says you are. It is a common childhood fantasy of trans-people to go to sleep and wake up the next day with brain and body matching. You can’t “pray the brain chemistry away” and, you surely can’t “pray the penis away”.

* They know between 5 and 8 that they are different yet they do not have the language to identify the difference. It is not “sexual” in context, it is a “knowing”.

* Sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) is not “self mutilation”, come on. No one is allowed to undergo this process in the US without long, prescribed medical and psychological counseling. It is carefully monitored.

* The pronouns and nouns used to refer to transgender people are the ones with which they identify themselves no matter where they are in the process. Intentionally calling a transman by “she” and “her” is intensely offensive and incredibly mean spirited.

As the trans-community is bravely raising its
head and stepping out publicly, they are challenging society’s definition of gender and it will not be comfortable on either side. This
highly marginalized group is now in their own “Stonewall” period.

“We are here, we are valuable, and we too are children of God.”

Chaz dancing across a stage will be too much
for some people and it will add to the already brewing rumblings of “oh no you don’t.”

Be better than that. Don’t add obstacles to the already difficult road laid before trans-men and trans-women. They have the highest attempted suicide rate in the US. The highest unemployment rate. The highest rate of employment and housing discrimination. They want what we all do: dignity and respect. Not transgender rights. Just equal rights.

Someone voiced a valid comment to me when I suggested the onus be upon her/you to get informed about this small minority. Genia said:

"HOW are those of us who are NOT members of the T community supposed to educate ourselves on issues that affect members of the T community when so many members of the T community have varying opinions and ideas on what it means to be transgender? We are often met with responses like “it is up to YOU to get educated” when we ask questions or when we ask for clarification."

So how do we go about gaining practical, relational knowledge when the likelihood is that most of us probably don’t know any transgender people? Transgender people, for the most part, are masters at suppressing who they are to survive. They invent ways to keep their identity hidden just to stay alive sometimes.

If intimacy in relationship means uncovering that, they need to feel safe. If you are a person that already indicates discomfort with the gay, lesbian and bisexual community, you would not be a safe or approachable person.

Good question, Genia. I learned this concept in my own relationship with my first very close lesbian friend, Netto. She did not tell me for a year that she was gay. It took her that long to assess me as “safe” and “trustworthy”and that was the beginning of my understanding and empathy for her and the LGBT community at large. When people feel safe, they will be more open and intimate. And thus, begins the process of mutual trust.

Until then, practical knowledge can be an entrée to conquering ignorant thinking about transgender people. The lies and misinformation I hear people babble about this group is maddening. When I started to understand gender dysphoria, oh my, did the trans-friend flood gates open! I was seen to be safe, compassionate and understanding and now, my friend-garden is filled with the most interesting of people that do not fit into my neighbor’s pink and blue flower box. I am the blessed one.

And to the transgender people reading this, forgive us for being uninformed and fearful. The encouragement to you is that five years ago, I too discounted you. I walked to the center and so did the very gracious Cecilia. Actually, she walked most of the way and I stumbled onto her path. If you see that there is that “thing” in us that looks safe and you are confident, please help us understand you.

So, here is a final story with flesh.

Recently, I was traveling back to my home in Nevada from California with a transwoman friend of mine, Lisa. I live near Lake Tahoe and was intent that she should swim in Tahoe before she went back home.

“Make sure you bring a bathing suit with you,” I told her.

As a little boy at ten, he was self conscious about his naked chest. Something in his head told him to cover up. Not even knowing anything about the differences between boys and girls beyond “girls wore dresses, were smaller and had long hair”, he felt “exposed” and tried to hide his chest when he swam. Gym class was a nightmare when the teams would break into “skins” and “shirts”. If he were on the topless “skins” team, it was intensely embarrassing. He purposefully missed swim team group photos; this was not a “body image” issue, it was a “deep knowing”; the sight of his penis was “awkward,” like it did not belong.

I did not know any of this when I invited my friend Lisa to swim that evening in Lake Tahoe. It was the first time she had gone swimming since her SRS. She dove into the water looking gorgeous in her swimsuit and got out and walked comfortably back to our towels in front of a group of young men. She did not cover her chest, she was no longer ashamed. Her body matched her brain and the disconnected pieces were now melded. She also realized she was no longer covering up and it overwhelmed her as she told me her story. A simple swim for me was freedom to Lisa.

When Chaz hits the floor dancing on September 19 on “Dancing With the Stars,” he will be dancing for so many of you, publicly standing in the face of bias and bigotry that so many of you face.

We can attempt to force our binary pink/blue view on the .25 – 1% because they are messy to us and we need them to exist within our comfort zones. Or, we can try to be Jesus-people and accept others for who they are.

I imagine I serve a Wonderful Creator Who really is creative; in all this lovely complexity of humanity, He understands both gender and sex. Plenty of people are already plotting the next onslaught of bigotry directed at the transgender community.

Some people will react with scorn and “how dare he/she” comments. Try not to be in that prison with them. I say “Dance Chaz.” “Swim Lisa.” God loves you just the way you are.

* Note: Although the trans community was VERY present at Stonewall, they did not become the focus of the public backlash. We have ignored them until recently.

**Kathy Baldock, is a straight Evangelical Christian, working to repair the breach between the the church and the LGBT Christian community.**

You don't see a lot of straight Evangelical Christian's going to bat for the LGBT community, so for that may I say...bravo and THANK YOU, Kathy!! You are truly an inspiration!

Show your support for Chaz!

2011-09-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Show your support for our favorite "star" and give Chaz your support and good wishes! Let your voice be heard on twitter and let's get #ProBono trending WORLDWIDE!

http://www.glaad.org/probono

Tell Dr. Keith Ablow where to go!

2011-09-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

Fox's resident quack, "Dr" Keith Ablow, famous for his flip out over the J Crew ad where a woman had painted her 5 year old son's toenails pink, is espousing more transphobic rhetoric, this time aimed at Chaz Bono's inclusion on Dancing With The Stars. "Dr" Ablow claims Chaz's presence on the show will influence "tomboyish girls" or "less stereotypically 'masculine' boys" to believe they are transgender. He also states that the message Bono is trying to send is "very nearly insane. It's a psychologically destructive myth and can erode our children's evolving senses of self."

This man should NOT be allowed to spread this vile kind of hated and misinformation. You would hope that the role of a "psychiatrist" would be to help a person be as mentally strong and as vibrant as they can be, not spout biased, hurtful and potentially deadly nutjobbery. It's people like him and his suppressive, demented teachings that will erode our children's sense of self, because if it were up to him, if that sense of self wasn't "normal" like his, it should just be stuffed deep down into the soul and left to fester until it manifests itself in ways harmful to both the the person in question, and people around them. He is such a detriment to his profession. If I had kids, I'd surely let them watch Chaz Bono try to dance before I let them listen to one hateful word this man had to say.

You can tell "Dr" Ablow he is dead wrong by signing this petition organized by the Human Rights Campaign. PLEASE sign and let it be known that transphobia and misinformation have no place on public airwaves.

Tell "Dr" Ablow where to go!

Transgender equal rights: Transgendered people deserve same rights that others enjoy - OrlandoSentinel.com

2011-08-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

This is a really great article by David Moran from the Orlando Sentinel. It gives some pretty sobering numbers, but we already knew that, didn't we? I'd like to thank and applaud David for his candor and support! The more and more people like David who become enlightened to the REAL plight of Transgender people makes me believe that WE SHALL OVERCOME this climate of hate & violence and be able to live productive, happy lives!!

New Voices: Transgendered people deserve same rights that others enjoy
By David Moran | Special to the Sentinel
12:00 a.m. EDT, August 27, 2011

A friend of mine recently told me that she was kicked out of a bar in Kissimmee for being transgendered.

She had ordered a drink and was waiting for her friends to arrive when three male bar-staff members confronted her. They accused her of being a man. She was told she was not welcome there and was escorted out.

My friend thinks the bouncer at the front door suspected she was transgendered after looking at her identification, and that he notified the bar staff. My friend was not disorderly, violent or causing a scene. She was simply a paying customer out for drinks with friends, minding her own business.

I am appalled that my friend would be kicked out of a bar simply for being transgendered. Should all diabetics or people with high blood pressure be thrown out of bars, too? Her transition from male to female is to accommodate a medical condition, just like insulin or blood-pressure medicine are methods of treatment.

What kind of example does this set for youth? That it is OK to bully people and treat certain individuals like second-class citizens because they are different?

The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network found in its 2009 National School Climate Survey that nearly nine out of 10 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students experienced harassment at school in the past year, and nearly two-thirds felt unsafe because of their sexual orientation. We are already breeding fear and ignorance in our schools.

This incident at the Kissimmee bar is more evidence of an ongoing, nationwide transphobia epidemic. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, transgendered people face well-documented and unconscionable levels of hate violence as well as workplace, housing and health-care discrimination.

Twenty-six percent of transgendered people have been fired because of their gender identities; 19 percent of transgendered people have been homeless because of their gender identities; 15 percent of transgendered people have incomes below the poverty level.

Transgendered people of color are even more profoundly impacted, with 28 percent of Latino transgendered people and 35 percent of black transgendered people living in poverty.

The Human Rights Campaign estimates that one out of every 1,000 homicides in the United States is an anti-transgender hate-based crime.

The 2010 National Transgender Discrimination Survey found that 41 percent of respondents reported attempting suicide compared with 1.6 percent of the general population.

Transgendered individuals are human beings with basic rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness like everyone else. I once was ignorant toward the transgender community, but I now am becoming educated on the issues.

Orlando has certainly made strides with the anti-discrimination and human-rights ordinances that aim to protect residents from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

Central Florida is also fortunate to have community organizations like the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, the Metropolitan Business Association, and the Transgender Women's Business Council, which continue to improve the visibility of transgender issues.

The Zebra Coalition is also working to provide services for transgendered youth.

I admire and respect members of the transgender community for having the courage to be true to themselves, in spite of such unnecessary adversity. I am proud to be an ally and an advocate, and I challenge others to educate themselves and do the same.

Email submissions of about 600 words to newvoices@orlandosentinel.com. Include a high-resolution JPEG image of yourself.

David Moran, 27, of Orlando is pursuing an Emerging Media Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Central Florida.

Transgender equal rights: Transgendered people deserve same rights that others enjoy - OrlandoSentinel.com

Crazyeye McGee strikes again!

2011-08-28T16:49:00.000-07:00

Just WOW!

Now in the interest of fairness (which she doesn't really deserve, but I try to be better than that) and full disclosure, apparently a group called the "White People Soul Band" (they sound like a hoot, don't they?) was the band that was on stage before Crazyeye McGee came out, but still...HOLY CRAP, this doof wants to be president?????!!!!!!!

I have a feeling if you did an x-ray of her brain, there would be a cartoon monkey from the 50's in a cute little hat on ice skates just going around in a circle. I swear, Ol' Crazyeys makes the homeless lady that screams at cars near my house look like Susan B. Anthony!

I'm guessing her brain scan might look something like......this;

Same music, but ony with an ice skating monkey!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

2011-08-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday, Dad! Our time together was way too short, but I feel your presence and love EVERYDAY! I love you!

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MISSING TRANSGENDER WOMAN?

2011-08-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MISSING TRANSGENDER WOMAN?
Posted 8/23/2011 10:45:00 AM
Karen Ocamb - Frontiers Magazine

Friends of Sara Nykole Del Rosario (natal name James Boober) are very concerned about her apparent disappearance around Sunday, Aug. 2 from the San Diego area. Friends say Sara, who is sometimes called Nikki, had a restraining order against Gabriel Cisneros (aka Johnny Good) and they are concerned about her safety.

Sara is the godmother to two very young boys who friends say miss her dearly. Apparently there is a Missing Persons Report out for Cisneros, as well.
If anyone has any information, please contact Kim at (619) 269-6769 or contact the detective on the case, Catharine Millett, at (619) 531-2277. If she is not there, please leave a message. The case number is: 11-031499.

Link to story...http://bit.ly/okNyTG

Idiot!

2011-08-16T19:51:00.000-07:00

I swear, Michele Bachmann makes Sarah Palin look like Eleanor Roosevelt. Oh yeah and happy birthday Elvis!

Hey Crazy Eyes, maybe get on your crazy bus and instead of your delusional "Take The Country Back Tour", you take your crazy ass down to Graceland and read a tombstone!

LA Gay & Lesbian Center's Gun Hill Road Screening

2011-08-15T22:38:00.000-07:00

So check it out...I was able to put the bug in the right people's ear at my work and guess what???

The LA Gay & Lesbian Center is hosting a special Center-sponsored screening of "Gun Hill Road," the critically acclaimed independent film about a Transgender teen coming to grips with her identity while her macho, Bronx-bred, ex-con father's struggles to overcome the streetwise ideals that blocks him from unconditional love and understanding for his child. It's showing this Wednesday, (August 17) at the Laemmle Sunset Five at 8 p.m.

One of the stars of the movie; Esai Morales will be on hand to sign posters and participate in a Q&A session after the film.

Check out the trailer and I hope to see our LA Trans Community out in force at the show!

You Gotta Own It!

2011-08-14T12:58:00.000-07:00

Bravo to the author for not only a well-written essay, but having the kind of healthy, positive and enlightened attitude that we need to see MUCH more of in our Trans community!!!

As an out and productive TransWoman, I always tell people that a major part of the reason I'm thriving in this world is because I learned to "own this!" i.e. being Trans and being ME.

I always say, people are like dogs, they can sense fear in someone and will pounce upon the weak. Being strong, confident and "owning" who you are is so vital to making our lives as TransWomen viable.

Once again, I totally applaud this smartly written article and the author's enlightened and empowered outlook! Be sure to share this article with everyone you know!! The mainstream needs to see and hear more stories like this!!

Transgender: Anger or Humor, How to respond?
Date: 08 August 2011
By : by Brianna Austin

As trans people we run into ignorance all the time. I have often said to friends that when they get angry at some crude, rude or nasty comment that "you give away too much power."

What I meant by that was, that when you allow someone to "push your buttons," you're essentially giving them control over your actions.

Living in NYC I have -- and do -- run into tourists from all over the world. And they each have their own way of dealing with the confrontation of a trans-person. But in all the years that I have been out… 10... and even those infrequent outings before I was out, I've had very few confrontations. And I believe strongly that this is due to a comfort level within myself that people pick up on. 　

This is not to say that I have never run into intense situations, because I have. On one occasion, no matter what I said or did, this one guy in line next to me (to get into the Limelight Club years ago) did everything possible to avoid me as though I was radioactive: and he was the one that kept initiating the conversation. In another situation early in the morning after a night of clubbing, I found myself alone on 9th ave when a car full of young, drunk guys yelled out their windows and then made a U-turn. 　I didn't bother to hang around and try to converse with them: sometimes you have to sense danger and be scarce.

Yet in ninety percent -- or higher- of the incidents I was engaged in, I found that a combination of self comfort and humor disarmed people.

For example, on one night I was walking down Broadway -- a small group of friends in tow – when just as I crossed West 22nd Street I heard a voice shout out, “Hey, beautiful, is that an Adam’s Apple you have”? I turned, with a grin upon my face and saw four or five guys in their late-20s, sitting in their compact car (no doubt part of the “bridge-and-tunnel-crowd” that descend upon Manhattan from New Jersey, Connecticut and the other New York boroughs each weekend) laughing as they waited for the light to change.

Honey, that’s the least of what I have,” I said with a giggle, prompting them to laugh once more. We then engaged in a playful banter for the next few moments. Were they initially laughing at me? Perhaps, though I wasn’t sure, but, now, they were laughing with me. As the light changed they pulled off with a parting, “you’re pretty cool, have a great night!”　 And so I did. 　

Since I had walked out of the closet so many years ago, encounters like these had become a regular occurrence for me. I don’t necessarily go looking for them; but it’s pretty hard not to find them when you’re walking down the street in a pink, spaghetti strap, Gucci mini-dress and matching spiked sandals. And though things don’t always go so smoothly, I have to say that most times they do.

For all the remarks that are aimed at me, I never took any of them too seriously. Several of my friends were offended at the Adam’s Apple remark, and given the chance would have opted for a simple, “F-ck you,” or some other aggressive response. But it seems to me that many of the guys who are arrogant with TG girls are often insecure within themselves to start with, making for a potentially explosive situation. So, when met with head on anger it is a breeding ground for physical confrontation. Leaving me to wonder why any TG would risk the possibility of physical harm as their first course of action? What purpose could such an action provide?

Even if I had taken an aggressive stance, met a physical confrontation head on, and emerged victorious, what is the prize? The odds are higher that I would have ruined my new shoes rather than changed anyone’s views about me. Not to mention that the rest of the evening I would have been all worked up emotionally, only to have me right back where it all started anyway. That’s not to say that I take everything that comes along, because sometimes, you just have to stand your ground. But I at least try to give the antagonist a way out by trying to ease the tension first. If it doesn’t work, then sometimes you have to decide your next option. In fact later that same night, outside of Centro Fly, the club we were en route to, another fellow yelled out from his SUV, as he was waiting to park.

Again – with a smile – I found myself in a verbal banter; however, this time was different.　 This guy was hostile and arrogant. The more my remarks brought laughs from his friends, the angrier he became. But, I never downgraded him; I only made light of the situation. It is easy to keep a lighthearted mood if you don’t allow people under your skin. By realizing that their words don’t define you, but only them, makes that easier to do. Someone calling me a freak, fairy or jerk doesn’t necessarily make me those things; but does define them for saying it. With every insult he threw, I tossed back something light and easy, until finally, when he had been verbally out jousted long enough, he screamed, “ I’m gonna kick your ass fagot!”

What was I to do? My friends were quite stunned when I reached down and took my shoes off, looked at him and quietly said, “OK, come on. How bad a beating I give you will depend on how dirty you get my dress.” He stood there a long minute, absorbing the words, and finally, cracked a smile and started to laugh. And that was that. Maybe he realized how ridiculous the whole affair was, or perhaps he suddenly realized that had he lost his friends would never have let him live it down. Still, right until the very end I kept offering him a way out through humour, and just in time, he took it. Confronting someone is always a last resort however, and only if you’re confident you can handle the situation. Otherwise just walk away: use your head, not your ego. Believe me, I have walked away from many hostile situations where I felt that I was in danger.

For the most part I have found that being candidly transgender disarms people. Straight guys love to yell, “You’re a guy,” or something to that effect. But, when you shrug it off as though “Your point being,” what else is there really left for them to say? Their punch line came and went, and had no effect. When they then know that you know that they know, everyone is more comfortable. That doesn’t imply abusing yourself for their sake, but rather making light of the obvious. There are times when being TG can be funny, and onlookers shouldn’t be expected to pretend that something out of “their” ordinary hasn’t occurred. When someone yells out, “Hey, you’re a guy,” that’s an observation not necessarily an insult. And even if it is first intended to be, most people chuckle when my friend Dahlia would counter, “Thanks for reminding me, I had almost forgotten.”

In the end, we are new to people in the mainstream, and many, especially young straight guys, are intimidated and insecure. So, to cover it up they try their hand at an insult for laughs. Our society breeds contempt and insult, just watch any of the late night talk shows. So I say, there is too much drama in the world already, why add to it. Does it make you feel better to be hostile in trying to make a statement? Get over it, and make your point by example: live and let live with a smile. Even if the other person is a little slow to grab the idea, usually they’ll realize how silly they are acting in time.　 Besides, wouldn’t you rather be trying on a new pair of shoes?

Until next time, be happy, be safe, and always think pretty.

The link to the article is here...http://bit.ly/p0i2qW

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-08-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

"I am TRANSGENDER WOMAN and sooooooooo insanely proud of it!!!! Please feel free to scoff, disparage, laugh or look at me any way you like. All I ask is that you remember to add STRONG, CONFIDENT, HAPPY and LIVING MY LIFE ON MY TERMS to your description of me! Oh, BTW...I've got a question for the unenlightened; can you paint that same portrait I've painted about myself on your canvas?"

I've Got Two Tickets To Paradise!

2011-08-11T19:13:00.001-07:00

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-08-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

"You are your own biggest advocate; rely on YOU and no one else!"

What a way to spend a birthday!!!

2011-08-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

So anyone who know me, knows my late father was a huge Beach Boys fan and bore a striking resemblance to Brian Wilson. Soooooooo, is there any better way for a daughter to celebrate her Dad's birthday then by seeing Mr. Wilson himself with my bestie! August 27th; The TerrorTwins & Brian in Cerritos, CA! OMG, I have to go cry tears of joy now!!!

I KNOW both Dad & Mom will be right there with me!!

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-08-02T20:15:00.000-07:00

Whenever you hear someone start a sentence with the phrase "I think...", it's a pretty good bet they haven't.

NYT: Acting Roles For Trans Performers Track Stereotypes

2011-07-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

This needs to be read and UNDERSTOOD! We will endure and overcome!!!!! The New York Times has an article up in the Arts & Leisure section discussing trans performers.

It's all too often that trans actors are passed up in favor of their cisgendered counterparts, even for roles about trans people. Yes, I know it's called "acting," and one doesn't have to inhabit a particular social identity in order to perform a role. But when a particular social identity is largely excluded from acting roles over a long period time, except for very specific roles that perpetuate social stereotypes, then something's up, and we as a society ought to examine it and move to change it.

This isn't a new phenomenon exclusive to transgender and transsexual actors. It's been well-documented as a long-standing problem for African-American actors, and Asian-American actors, the celluloid closet of gay actors, and others. The exclusion of certain types of actors tells us something about the biases of the people who sell the "suspension of disbelief" for a living.

Transsexual actors who don't look transgender can't get a role playing a trans person, because those roles are usually based in crude stereotypes. The Times Article quotes Laverne Cox, a reality-television star with a role in the coming Susan Seidelman film "Musical Chairs":

"Ms. Cox said that many casting directors don't know what they want when a script calls for a transgender character and think she looks too feminine to convincingly play someone who was born male. To her dismay, she said, she finds herself 'in auditions with drag queens a lot.'"

It's clear that Ms. Cox isn't saying anything negative about drag queens, but is pointing to the fact that casting directors want someone visibly genderqueer for these roles because the role is playing to a stereotype.

This is reminiscent of the great short film made by Calpernia Addams and Andrea James, Casting Pearls, which makes the point humorously but eloquently.

Casting Pearls from Frameline on Vimeo.

As important as issues of law and politics are to obtaining formal recognition of respect for our community, issues of culture and the arts are equally important in creating the respect in the social system that must necessarily precede any foothold in law and politics.

The title of the New York Times piece gives me pause: "When They Play Women, It's Not Just an Act." That's very sly -- it's saying it's not just an act, so it's validating, but it is an act, because it's an act that's not "just an act." Wait...my head is exploding. Well, I'll let others chew over the issues of respect and not-quite-respect that it implies. Sometimes, any publicity is good publicity.

In any event, the piece details the casting of actress Harmony Santana, opening commercially in New York on Aug. 5. The way it's written, the foregrounding is that she has little acting experience and lives in a group home. Not exactly the kind of publicity I'd want as an actress. I'm not saying that it's not the truth, or that there's anything wrong with being upfront about her experiences, but it's not the first thing to know about an amazing young actress.

Monica Roberts of TransGriot gave the film a thumbs up and the trailer she posted gave me the chills. I recommend you take a look at the TransGriot post and the trailer there. Santana is an amazing actor. I want to see that film after reading Roberts' review. I didn't particularly want to see it after reading the New York Times piece, and I checked it out only because I wanted to be thorough. But my criticism is really a quibble, because it's important to see this issue of the exclusion of trans performers being discussed. Kudos to author Erik Piepenburg.

The piece goes on to discuss cross-dressing in film, and correctly notes that trans actors "are for the most part left to watch from the sidelines." The author also points up, thankfully, the important differences between drag and gender identity. Laverne Cox hits home the point well:

"I have such respect for drag queens," said Ms. Cox, who has been living as a woman since the late '90s and competed on VH1's "I Want to Work for Diddy" before starring in a VH1 makeover reality show, "Transform Me." "But what is troubling about the mainstreaming of drag, and people conflating drag and being transsexual, is that people think this is a joke. My identity is not a joke. Who I am as a woman is not a joke. This is my life."

The author goes on to talk about the discovery of Ms. Santana, quite a story in itself, and the uproar about the dreadful film "Ticked Off Trannies With Knives.."

It would have been apropos to talk about the upcoming role of Jamie Clayton on the TV show "Hung," but I suppose there's only so much you can put into a newspaper story.

Bottom line: I want to see more of the amazing trans performers out there in roles in TV and film, both in roles involving trans characters and non-trans characters. It's high time that writers, directors and producers recognize that trans people are more than a joke, a tortured soul or a prostitute.

NYT: Acting Roles For Trans Performers Track Stereotypes

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-07-24T20:38:00.001-07:00

Just got done watching "Tommy", Ann-Margret is about a million kinds of awesome!

Mobile G...

2011-07-24T15:12:00.001-07:00

I love getting carded!

How I Learned to Hate Transgender People

2011-07-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

Despite being titled "How I Learned to Hate Transgender People", this article by Cord Jefferson is a a wonderful and very illuminating piece on the portrayal of TransWomen in the media and is something that should totally be shared by all in our LGBT community and beyond.

How I Learned to Hate Transgender People
by Cord Jefferson; Senior Editor, Good.is

The first time I openly laughed at a transgender person I was 12 years old. It was February, but I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, so the movie theater in which I was seeing Ace Ventura: Pet Detective had the AC on. The laughter helped me shake off the chill.

We, the audience, had just learned that Sean Young's character, Lt. Lois Einhorn, was transgender. Prior to identifying herself as Lois Einhorn, she'd been the pro football player Ray Finkle, who everyone thought was an at-large criminal. "Einhorn is Finkle!" screamed Jim Carrey, cracking the case before our very eyes. "Finkle is Einhorn! Einhorn is a man!" Then, more to himself: "Einhorn is a man?" Then he went to vomit.

The joke, if you can call it that, rested upon an earlier scene in which Carrey kissed Lt. Einhorn. "Your gun is digging into my hip," he'd told her as they made out. Now the memory of kissing a transgender woman was forcing Carrey to puke profusely, burn his clothes, and weep. In the background played Boy George's "The Crying Game," the hit song from two years earlier that had soundtracked a dramatic film with a prominent transgender character.

Looking back, I'm ashamed at how much I guffawed at Carrey's revulsion. We all know what the real joke was—it was disgusting to kiss Einhorn because there's something weird and gross about transgender people. The mockery gets especially debased when Carrey forcefully strips Einhorn down in front of an army of police officers in order to expose her tucked-away penis. Everyone dry heaves when they see the bulge. Carrey eventually tells someone to "read it its rights."

The laughter at transgender people's expense didn't end there, either. One month after Ace Ventura premiered I saw Naked Gun 33 1/3, the hit comedy in which Anna Nicole Smith's character does a sexy silhouette striptease that ends up revealing a penis. Once again, her former suitors are appalled. Then there's the famous Tone Loc frat anthem "Funky Cold Medina," the second verse of which finds Loc talking about a girl he meets named Sheena. After the two flirt, Loc takes Sheena home, where it's revealed that she's transgender. The rapper, who you might remember also co-starred in Ace Ventura, throws Sheena out of his house, saying, "I don't fool around with no Oscar Mayer wiener." Even in supposedly queer-friendly movies like 1991's Soapdish you'll find characters disgusted by transgender people, like when Robert Downey Jr. gags after having a romantic interlude with a trans woman.

Repugnance is a common theme in the trans-people-as-jokes canon. But more prevalent is the element of deceit. Time and again in both comedic and dramatic films, transgender people are cast as deviant tricksters out to fool innocent victims into sleeping with them. This narrative plays upon two of America's deepest fears: sexual vulnerability and humiliation. Not only is your sex partner "lying" about their gender, victims who "fall for it" are then forced to grapple with the embarrassment of being had, of being seen as gay. Men "tricked" into sleeping with another man are embarrassed by the threat to their masculinity. So much culture has taught us that transgender people aren't just sexual aliens, they're also predatory liars.

In reality, we know the real predators are straight people afraid of transgender interlopers. Transgender men and women have been raped, beaten, and killed, often with impunity, throughout history, but only recently have we been keeping count. In 1993 Brandon Teena was raped by two former friends after they discovered he was born a woman. Teena reported the rape, but his local sheriff, who called Teena "it," refused to arrest the attackers. Five days after assaulting him, they returned and murdered him. Similarly, in 2002, four acquaintances of Gwen Araujo, a 17-year-old girl in California, beat and strangled her to death after discovering she was transgender. In all, the Human Rights Campaign estimates one out of every 1,000 murders a year are transgender hate crimes.

More recent cultural depictions of transgender characters are less reactionary, but they're still not very humanizing. A character on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia did date a transgender woman, but they concentrated most of the jokes around his girlfriend's big penis. And in the recent hit sequel The Hangover 2, Ed Helms has sex with a transgender prostitute who may or may not have taken advantage of him when he was too drunk to function (once again, trans folks are portrayed as predatory). We have made some progress, sure, but tell that to the transgender woman who was beaten into a seizure in Baltimore in April. We've still got a long way to go.

In the years since I laughed along with Ace Ventura, I've grown up and stopped getting a kick out of LGBT people—you could say I've gotten better. I've also started to consider what I was laughing at in the first place. I'm willing to agree that society is improved if we grant some leeway to comedians and artists to push the limits. But when pushing the limits becomes debasing an entire group of people as twisted quasi-rapists, we cross the line from comedy to bigotry. When I was laughing at Ace Ventura I was laughing because I was uncomfortable with a biological man living as a woman. I have to wonder if Brandon Teena's killers laughed, too.

How I Learned to Hate Transgender People - Culture - GOOD

Transgender: OUT!wear Pridewear Selling Anti-Trans Woman T-shirts!

2011-07-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

This is a re-post from a transwoman named rebbeccasf. I saw it today on Facebook and thought it was a very poignant piece and needs to be seen by as many people as possible. Not just because of the ridiculousness of a stupid t-shirt and some lame sounding music fest, but just to get across one simple point...We are ALL just PEOPLE; OK?? And I'm not just talking about just trans people here, I mean EVERYONE! As a transwoman I deal with weird looks and labels and all that everyday. I knew that was part of the package when I decided to live my life MY WAY, and I'm OK with that. What I want to know is when are we going to get past all of this petty b/s and live as human beings who all share ONE planet. Not men or "womyn", or black, white, gay, straight, bi, tri, or whatever. Just simply ONE people!

OUT!wear Pridewear Selling Anti-Trans Woman T-shirts!

By rebbeccasf

This afternoon I came across a company selling WBW t-shirts. Their home page states the following.

OUT!wear™ is quality custom Pridewear and Accessories "WORN WITH PRIDE" to promote visibility, unity and self esteem amongst Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans-gendered persons.To promote a positive image within our community, whether bold or discreet.

The womyn-born-womyn policy of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival is rooted squarely in prejudice and has aided the marginalization of trans women for 36 years. The selling of WBW items is clearly anti-trans woman and goes against everything in the companies own statement above. If you don't know what the WBW policy is, please read my (very) brief herstory of the exclusion of trans womyn from womyn only spaces below.

It's astonishing that an LGBt company would actually attempt to profit off the marginalization of trans women. I had made a few posts on their facebook page along with at least a dozen others, asking them to stop selling these items. I also sent an email to the addresses on their contact page with no response. A little while ago they deleted all wall posts and comments from their fb page they deemed negative while leaving many comments in support of the WBW policy at MichFest. They then banned everyone who posted comments asking them to stop selling the t-shirts from posting again. The deleting of the comments was especially sad because there was some really good dialog going on between a few of us and some of the supporters of the wbw policy. I feel like a good opportunity for discussion has just been completely nuked and will never appear again.

As a community, I'm looking for some ideas on how to respond. So far, there has been only silence and censorship from OUT!Wear. I think a good first start is to repost this on your own blog and ask your friends and all trans allies to do the same. I've reposted this already to the blogs below. I was thinking of trying to get a google bomb together to label them anti-trans. Also, they seem to be a large supplier of shirts and other items to PFLAG. If PFLAG truly supports the T, they should cease all business with them until they stop selling WBW gear. At the very least, OUT!Wear should remove any reference to trans people from their website since (at this point) it appears to be an absolute lie!

Let me know what you think!

Love and respect,
Bex Cat-herder

A (very) brief history of the exclusion of trans women from women only spaces.

The history of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival's womyn-born-womyn policy is based on the notion that trans womyn are really men. It relies entirely on biological determinism, something feminists have been fighting against since there was feminists. It also completely ignores the life experiences of trans womyn and their chosen identities.

The implementation of the wbw policy in 1979, was a time when radfem lesbian separatists were carving out space for themselves and completely throwing off all reliance on men, financially, emotionally and politically. In the fervor, lesbians also began excluding trans women from their spaces claiming they were men infiltrating the burgeoning lesbian movement as a patriarchal attempt to disrupt. It's a beautiful history marred by this legacy.

The first well documented case of trans exclusion came in 1973 at the first West Coast Lesbian Conference held in southern California. One of the co-organizers, a trans woman named Beth Elliot, was at onetime the vice-president of the San Francisco chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis and also a folk singer. She was scheduled to perform on the first night of the conference, and as she was getting ready to take the stage, several women began shouting, "There's a man on stage!" Immediately a discussion ensued about Beth's legitimacy as a woman and her right to attend the conference she had helped organize. At one point, it was decided to put her presence to a vote. By one account, the vote was 75% in favor of Beth's attendance. However, the disruptors vowed to continue their activities if she stayed. Beth was so distraught by the often times bitter and cruel debate, that she left early the next morning.

In 1976, the struggling women only record label Olivia Records was threatened with a boycott if they didn't fire their chief sound engineer, Sandy Stone. By all accounts, Stone, a trans woman who had recorded with Jimi Hendrix, was generous with her talents teaching other women at the label the intricacies of sound recording. However, the threats from fellow radical lesbians became enough, that she left of her own accord in an effort to ensure the survival of the label.

In 1978, Mary Daly published "Gyn/Ecology" and a year later, her protégé, Janice Raymond, published "The Transsexual Empire: the making of the she-male." Both books promote the notion that trans women are men and accuse them of colonizing women's space. Raymond’s book was particularly caustic towards trans women. In it, she writes, "All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves .... Transsexuals merely cut off the most obvious means of invading women, so that they seem non-invasive." She also referred to trans women as "male-to-constructed-females" while largely ignoring and dismissing trans men.

In 1991, the National Lesbian Conference in Atlanta passed a resolution declaring the conference only open to "genetic women" and explicitly excluding "non-genetic women". Using the term "non-genetic" to refer to trans women is particularly de-humanizing as all humans are genetic. It is akin to calling them "it" or "things".

Just weeks after the conference, the Michigan Womyns Music Festival ejected Nancy Jean Burkholder, a self identified post-op transsexual. After receiving much criticism, the festival sent out a press release. In part it said, "In the simplest of terms, the Michigan Festival is and always has been an event for womyn, and this continues to be defined as womyn born womyn." It continued, "When it was clear this summer there was a known transsexual man attending the event, the festival security staff dealt with it as respectfully as possible." It's obvious from this wording that the organizers of the Michigan Womyns Music Festival do not respect the identities of trans women and are using an essentialist and non-feminist argument for excluding trans women. I'm also fairly certain that Nancy Burkholder would not refer to the way she was treated as respectful!

While the language of trans women exclusion has changed over the years, the prejudice and animus remain. It's time to put the term "womyn-born-womyn" in the history books and to give trans womyn the same dignity and consideration that is given to non-trans womyn by respecting their identities and not policing their bodies. Trans women are women, and like all women, they may have several other identities too (lesbian, trans, Christian, Asian, etc.). I'm asking OUT!wear to live up to the statement on its home page to "promote visibility, unity and self esteem amongst Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans-gendered persons" and to fully respect trans women. Please ask them to stop selling WBW schwag!

transgender: OUT!wear Pridewear Selling Anti-Trans Woman T-shirts!

WWJD...What Would John Do??
He'd sing...

Violent crimes against LGBT individuals up 13%, report says - latimes.com

2011-07-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

We've come so far, yet there is still so far to go! Stay safe and stay aware everyone!!!

An 18-year-old gay man from Texas allegedly slain by a high-school classmate who believed his friend was making advances toward him; a 31-year-old transgender woman from Pennsylvania found dead with a pillowcase around her head; and a 24-year-old lesbian from Florida purportedly killed by her girlfriend’s father, who disapproved of the relationship.

The homicides are a sampling of 2010 hate crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people compiled by a national coalition of anti-hate organizations.

The report, released Tuesday, showed a 13% increase over 2009 in violent crimes committed against people because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or status as HIV positive, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Projects.

Last year's homicide count reached 27 -- up from 22 in 2009 and the second-highest number since the coalition began tracking such crimes in 1996. Of those killed, the data show, 70% were minorities and 44% were transgender women. The attacks also show a higher level of brutality, the report concludes.

The trends, said Jake Finney, project manager with the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, one of 43 groups that participate in the coalition, “will not change without raising awareness of this brutality and taking affirmative steps to address transphobia.”

The 2010 murder count is second to the 29 logged in 1999 and 2008. Among the 2008 fatalities was gay Oxnard high school student Larry King. The classmate charged in that killing, Brandon McInerney, is currently on trial in Superior Court in his murder.

Not all the crimes were classified by law enforcement as hate-motivated, in part because some states have no such statute. In other cases, the coalition’s member organizations pushed police to recognize the hate bias.

Among those, Finney said, was the case of a transgender man who was attending a Los Angeles area university and was attacked in a campus bathroom.

“The attacker used a sharp instrument to carve the word ‘It’ in the victim’s chest, and campus police were not clear that the word 'It' was a slur and indicated anti-transgender bias,” Finney said. “It took a great deal of advocacy to have them classify that incident as a hate crime."

Violent crimes against LGBT individuals up 13%, report says - latimes.com

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-07-07T13:48:00.000-07:00

I put a tweet out on my Twitter page earlier today and it got a decent amount of reaction, so I thought I'd clarify my position just a bit. The tweet said...

"Your TRANS lesson for today; Calling a Transgender person a tranny is like calling a gay man a f*g or an African-American the n-word. Ya get it??"

I know this is a word that gets tossed around a lot in our "world". Some TG's hate it, some don't mind it, and however they feel about it is OK by me, we all have our own perceptions. I just feel that as we move further and further into the mainstream, that at it's core, and how it is usually used within the context of the media, it's offensive, wrong, and as derogatory as any of the slurs I mentioned above.

I'm not trying to be some sort of crusader (at least I don't think I am), but I do like the sound of being an enlightener. So consider this my lil stab at enlightening the masses for today!

Katy Perry: Part-Time “Tranny”, Full-Time Bimbo?

2011-07-06T14:06:00.000-07:00

Looks like hipster hottie Katy Perry stuck her foot in her mouth by saying "You can’t be a full tranny every day of the week, that’s an exaggerated part of my personality." in the latest issue of "Rolling Stone". Hey Katy, seems thinking before you speak is something else you don't do every day of the week. Being "TRANS" is something you obviously know nothing about or else you wouldn't use B/S words like "tranny". Try catching a clue a couple of times a week!

This article came from Tomas Mournian of online the magazine "Queerty"....

"You can’t be a full tranny every day of the week," Katy Perry says in this week’s Rolling Stone. “”That’s an exaggerated part of my personality.”

Perry’s quote appears in the print version of the magazine (pg. 74) , but has been scrubbed from contributing editor Erik Hedegaard’s on-line version. Perhaps “someone” at Rolling Stone, the once legendary magazine now known for its “hot” profiles of, um, Paul Simon, had sense enough to realize Perry’s comment shouldn’t go beyond print (which ~~nobody~~ ~~few people buys~~ they give away on Virgin Atlantic).

Billed as “backstage kick off her ‘California Dreams tour,’ Perry the still (being) Born Again singer, the profile’s packed with quotes like, “When I was a kid, I asked questions about my faith. Now I’m asking questions about the world.” She continues, “Our priority is fame” … “I saw this knowing full well that I’m a part of the problem.”

No kidding, Katy! While you were moaning about your part-time “tranny’ness” – besides being a transparent bid for hipster’ness (fail) – and flaunting your heteronormative privleges, did you ever pause to think (burp) that some people actual live as trans … full-time? Or, that it’s not a costume to take off when their feet hurt?

“Just because she dresses up for her shows or peformance that doesn’t mean she’s a trans person,” says Bamby Salcedo, the Los Angeles based trans activist who is the Project Coordinator for the Transgender Harm Reduction Project with Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. “She hasn’t been harassed in any way. You can’t really say you can relate to a community when you’re not part of it.”

A few months ago, Salcedo was invited to participate in a panel at the White House for HIV & AIDS women and girls awareness day.

“Everything was good, I had my plane ticket, and then got an emergency call saying I wouldn’t be able to get in,” Salcedo says, recalling the Secret Service’s ad hoc denial. “A community that should have been recognized as part of mainstream was not included in the panel, or discussed.”

“Yes, I do have a past, and a history, and they went with that rather than looking at everything that I’ve done in the community.” Unlike Perry, who’s able to flaunt her “tranny’ness” in mainstream media, Salcedo’s work spoke for itself – amongst other accomplishments, Salcedo’s founded Angels of Change, a fundraising mechaimism for transgender adolscent and young adult clients who don’t have insurance at Children’s Hospital.

For her part Perry maintains that “slowly” the “wool” is being removed from her eyes.

Glad you’re on top of that “wool removal,” Katy, and that you’re cultivating the self-awareness to say, “I know I’m not a dummy.”

http://www.queerty.com/katy-perry-part-time-tranny-full-time-bimbo-20110706/

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-07-03T02:56:00.000-07:00

"Through chaos comes calm"
-- G

Old Hollywood

2011-06-17T08:52:00.000-07:00

I love old Hollywood! It was such a fabulous time. Even today, it hits me just so when I'm leaving work and see all the neon signs atop the buildings and think of all the history at places like Musso & Frank's etc. I've also become a huge fan of the show Hollywood Tresures, where Joe Maddalena and his team scour the country for pieces of old & rare Hollywood memorabilia. It's really fascinating stuff.

Anyway, I saw an episode this week where they were doing inventory on Debbie Reynolds' ENORMOUS collection of Hollywood goodies and tomorrow in Beverly Hills, almost her whole collection is being auctioned off. This stuff is worth like tens of millions of dollars and you can check out the catalog at the link below MM's pic.

Speaking of millions, anyone got a couple of mill they can float me to buy Marilyn's subway dress?

Profiles in History - The nation's leading dealer in guaranteed-authentic original Hollywood memorabilia, historical autographs, letters, documents, vintage signed photographs and manuscripts. - PROFILES IN HISTORY

Does TSA stands for "Trans Stay Away"?

2011-06-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here is another prime example of society's narrow-minded unenlightenment. I know things are changing for the better everyday, but damn, we are still SO far away from a peaceful existence. Story's like these that make me weep for the uneducated, but I'm glad to say that this story has a happy ending.

Sad

2011-06-13T09:40:00.001-07:00

: (

Transgenderism's Rich History (A GREAT ARTICLE!)

2011-06-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

This is a really wonderful & uplifting piece that my sista, Nikki turned me on to. On this weekend of L.A.'s Pride festivities, this really does make me proud. With a lil more positive "press" and good ol' fashioned enlightenment, we are truly "emerging from the margins".

Transgenderism's rich history
Posted by Juliet Jacques - 26 May 2011 15:59

A culture’s latest milestone.

Trans icon Candy Darling (left) and Andy Warhol, photo by Anton Perich

"The transgender experience is one of the few human conditions almost completely without cultural, literary or artistic landmarks ... Transgenderism remains so foreign a concept to those who have not experienced it that its explanation falls totally to those who have."

These are two of the more eye-catching statements in Mary McNamara's LA Times review of American TV documentary Becoming Chaz, on Chaz Bono's transition from female to male. The assertions may sound accurate, but they belie a more complex reality than some cisgender (crudely, non-transgender) critics realise.

McNamara suggests that "the idea that a person could be born into a body at odds with his or her sense of gender has only recently entered the public conversation" via films such as Boys Don't Cry (starring Hilary Swank as murdered trans man Brandon Teena) and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Historically, trans individuals have been denied control of their stories within the mainstream, having them framed by cisgender journalists, filmmakers and editors in ways that are frequently sensationalist or deliberately transphobic, or that cast people as passive victims. From both necessity and choice, trans people's creative reflections have often been produced out of the spotlight, and their relationship with the media has been fractious -- hence the casual observer's perception that we have scant heritage.

For those willing to look, there exists a century of cultural landmarks, often intertwined with, and sometimes overshadowed by gay and lesbian history. This begins with the gay German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld. Aware that what later became understood as transgender behaviour had existed across a variety of cultures for centuries, he published the first specific investigation into the subject in 1910 -- The Transvestites: The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dress. Hirschfeld coined the first trans-related term, "transvestite". It held a broader meaning than today, as other words have since evolved to represent differing positions on the gender-variant spectrum.

Hirschfeld also devised the term "transsexualismus" (but did not popularise "transsexual") before overseeing the first sex reassignment surgery in 1930, on Danish painter Lili Elbe. Elbe died a year later, but her collated memoirs were published as Man Into Woman in 1933. This was the first transsexual autobiographical text, initiating what became the dominant means for people to explain their transitions.

Hirschfeld and Elbe attracted little attention beyond Germany. Roberta Cowell and Michael Dillon, the UK's first male-to-female (MtF) and female-to-male (FtM) transsexual people hit the British headlines. But the first internationally famous transsexual woman was Christine Jorgensen, who appeared on the New York Times' front page in December 1952. Like Cowell, Jorgensen wrote an autobiography, and a biopic was later produced. Subsequently, transsexual issues found their main expression in queer American counter-culture -- particularly underground film.

During the Sixties, avant-garde US directors including Jack Smith and Ron Rice cast drag queens and trans women in provocative movies such as Flaming Creatures, which presented a loose set of highly sensual scenes in which participants did not need to define their gender. Works produced around Warhol's Factory, particularly Women in Revolt, created trans icons in Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis. Darling and Curtis later became documentary subjects, as did the trans women who fought police oppression at Compton's in San Francisco in 1966, three years before Sylvia Rivera and others struggled alongside gay and lesbian people at New York's Stonewall Inn.

By the mid-Seventies, there existed a trend for Hollywood films to show trans people as psychotic, seen in in Psycho, Dog Day Afternoon, Dressed to Kill and others. Cultural portrayals focused almost exclusively on male-to-female identities. So too did the "radical" lesbian feminist Janice Raymond's assault, The Transsexual Empire (1979), which accused Gender Identity Clinics and their patients of propagating misogynistic models of femininity.

Raymond's tract galvanised transsexual women and men into reasserting and reassessing their personal histories and cultural traditions. Sandy Stone's response, The Empire Strikes Back: A Post-Transsexual Manifesto, questioned the portrayal of the effects of gender reassignment in several autographies. She suggested that people go beyond "passing" in their acquired genders to form a strong, specifically transsexual identity that could withstand transphobic stereotyping.

Stone inspired a generation of writers who thought past traditional gender conventions, trying to unify disparate people under the transgender banner to fight shared oppression. Trans man Leslie Feinberg argued for "transgender liberation" and collected a history of gender variance "from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman". Kate Bornstein and Riki Ann Wilchins, meanwhile, pushed for greater recognition of the grey areas within the recognised binary.

In Britain, Press For Change, founded in 1992, strove for legal reforms for trans people, their greatest triumph being the Gender Recognition Act (2004) which won official acknowledgement for transsexual people. Throughout the Nineties, screen portrayals of trans people increased, for example in the European arthouse films of Pedro Almodóvar and Rosa von Praunheim. In more mainstream productions, trans actors rarely played trans parts, but docu-soap and reality TV formats allowed certain trans individuals greater self-expression -- and showed producers that the public was prepared to listen.

Building on the sense of identity formulated by activists and academics, and aware that the mass media is becoming more ready to let them represent themselves, trans people -- and particularly trans men -- are finally being allowed to document their own experiences in more visible contexts, in greater depth and with less editorial intervention. With heightened consciousness of the effects of negative print and screen portrayals, a plurality of voices that express the diversity of transgenderism is slowly emerging from the margins. It could not have happened without this rich cultural history; one from which transgender people of all shades continue to draw confidence.

Here is Christine Brown's "Just Plain Sense" podcast interview with the author of this piece, done by in Dec, 2010...

Massachusetts Lawmaker Asks If Transgender People Change Genders ‘On A Day-To-Day Basis’ | ThinkProgress

2011-06-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

I can also turn into a genie, a monkey, and a lawn mower, if I try really hard.

Massachusetts Lawmaker Asks If Transgender People Change Genders ‘On A Day-To-Day Basis’.

TheSpec - Trans people trying to be just ordinary

2011-06-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

This is a really good article!

Trans people trying to be just ordinary

When I was in my early teens, I read an article that changed me. It was a Street Beat column by Paul Wilson. Paul was writing an obituary for Christine Mackie, a transsexual woman who ran a used bike shop. The article was about her life and business. The woman was just … normal. That was Paul’s point. Though I am not trans myself, I took the idea to heart.

Trans women, to be clear, are people born biologically male who identify as female. Trans men are born biologically female and identify as male. “Transsexuals” undergo hormone therapy, surgery, and counselling to change their physical sex features and to adjust to life as their real gender, female or male. “Transgender” — a more common word — refers to all people with unconventional gender behaviour, particularly including transsexuals. But the words “trans,” “transgender” and “transsexual” are often used interchangeably — like “black” and “African-American” in the United States.

Interestingly, very few trans people are gay. That is, only a minority are born male, transition, and live as lesbians, or are born female, transition, and live as gay men.

Science has recognized for years that being trans is no way a medical or mental problem. This is why doctors prescribe sex change. Rather, transgenderism is only a problem in that it is hard to be trans in our society, and the process of sex change is literally painful. The “problem” is with people who treat trans men and trans women as freaks.

On Tuesday, June 14, an event will take place at the Downtown YWCA that will attempt to address that injustice: The YWCA will be hosting a transgender-only swim, from 7 to 8 p.m. The swim is put on by The Well, the Hamilton area’s “LGBTQ” Community Wellness Centre. (The Hamilton area’s “unofficial” LGBT Pride Week runs June 9 to 19.) The swim is a good idea because trans people face violence and harassment in public places all the time.

Community pools and change rooms are a troublesome area. Many non-trans people are uncomfortable with the idea of a person of the “wrong” sex changing near them. Violence often ensues. It is a pattern that keeps many trans people from swimming.

In many ways, a segregated swim is not ideal. We can hope for a time when private, individual changing areas are available at pools for anyone who wants them. Certainly, trans women need to keep in mind that most women have a justified fear of being nude with strangers (also nude!) who seem to be men. This is one reason why individual changing spaces are good. At the same time, non-transsexuals have to know that the vast majority of trans people are not threats in any way. Moreover, they have an equal right to swim.

The legal question of transgender rights is a thorny one in Canada right now. It splits the Conservative Party. This year, Parliament voted on whether to add the terms “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the Human Rights Code. Unfortunately, Parliament dissolved before the debate was completed. But the debate that did take place was interesting.

Most Conservative MPs, including Hamilton area MP David Sweet, voted against the addition. Some said it was unnecessary because trans people are already protected in law. But this is only partly true. (And even if it was true, what’s the harm in making a symbolic statement of equality?) Others suggested that the words would lead to a trans invasion of public bathrooms.

Lisa Raitt, Conservative MP for Halton, had a different view. She voted to add the terms. Explaining why, Raitt spoke about how a transsexual cousin who she loves had led her to see trans people as equal. In her thinking, trans people are just more evidence of human diversity. Needless to say, trans people and their supporters hope that Raitt’s argument, and not Sweet’s, wins out.

Meantime, the YWCA will host the swim. Some perfectly ordinary women and men will splash. We will be a very small bit closer to the day when we will judge people by the content of their character, and not by whether they are trans.

The spirit of this was summed up by Dolly Parton. She wrote Travelling Through, a hymn in the voice of a transsexual. The speaker is compared to a journeying pilgrim from the Bible: “Questions I have many, answers but a few/But we’re here to learn, the spirit burns, to know the greater truth …/As I’m stumbling, tumbling, wondering, as I’m travelling through.”

The trans person’s search for “home” is like everyone’s.

Aidan Johnson is a Hamilton community activist working in constitutional law and poverty law.

TheSpec - Trans people trying to be just ordinary

Interesting flyer on a newspaper box in front of my apartment.

2011-06-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

I'm totally not paranoid, but I find this oddly intriguing that in Koreatown, and only in front of MY apartment building, have I seen this. Weird & cool all at the same time.

Hearing held on transgender rights bill - The Boston Globe

2011-06-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

God knows, the only reason I'm Trans is so I can skulk around bathrooms. I mean, duh!!

Hearing held on transgender rights bill

By Brian MacQuarrie Globe Staff / June 9, 2011

Depending on the arguments heard yesterday at the State House, a bill to ban transgender discrimination is either the next leap for civil rights in Massachusetts or a way for predators to gain access to bathrooms and locker rooms used by the opposite sex.

“We know that our Commonwealth is stronger when every person can live and work free of harassment and threats,’’ Attorney General Martha Coakley testified before the joint Judiciary Committee. “The unfairness is clear, but the remedy has not been clear.’’

Under bills filed in the House and Senate, Massachusetts would join 15 other states, including every other New England state except New Hampshire, in outlawing transgender discrimination in employment, housing, education, credit, and access to public accommodations. The bills also would add offenses involving gender identity and expression to the state’s list of hate crimes.

In emotional testimony before hundreds of spectators in Gardner Auditorium, Representative Carl Sciortino of Medford, a Democrat and cosponsor of the House bill, read the names of several transgender individuals who had been murdered in Massachusetts since the late 1970s.

The list included Rita Hester, who died in Boston of multiple stab wounds in 1998, and Lisa Daniels, who died in Dorchester in 2005 when she was shot 17 times below the waist.

“What we are asking here today is so very, very simple,’’ Senator Susan Fargo, Democrat of Lincoln, told the committee, which will vote on whether to recommend the bill for approval. “It extends civil rights protection to a group that has been forgotten.’’

Opponents, however, lambasted the bill as vaguely worded and an invitation for predators who could use legal protections for gender identity and expression to enter bathrooms and other private areas that otherwise would be off-limits.

“I think that this bill would compromise the basic standards of safety and privacy that women and children deserve and expect in society,’’ Representative Marc Lombardo, a freshman Republican legislator from Billerica, said after his testimony. “As a father, I do not want to see men in the ladies room with my daughter.’’

The bill, he said, “may be well-intentioned, but it would change so many elementary items of the way we live our day-to-day life.’’

Lombardo was joined by Representative James Lyons, a Republican from Andover, who characterized the proposal as an assault on the working class.

“Is there not some moment when we say to ourselves in the Legislature of the Commonwealth, what are we doing?’’ Lyons asked the committee. “Now, the working families of our Commonwealth must worry about the moral environment.’’

Robert Joyce, a Newton lawyer, predicted the bill would force business owners and others to “determine the impossible’’ when dealing with transgender people and expose them to unnecessary litigation. The bill, he said, “is nothing but a legal ambiguity.’’

Joyce said that additional protections are not needed for transgender individuals in the state. “What I’m saying here is that it ain’t broke in Massachusetts,’’ Joyce told the committee. “The law protects people with gender-identity concerns.’’

To Coakley, critics of the bill have stoked “unreasonable fears’’ and “grossly mischaracterize what this bill does.’’

Transgender witnesses yesterday spoke of a harrowing, lengthy process to reorient themselves to a new identity and to the obstacles they encounter.

“Most of us work really hard to be invisible in society,’’ said Gunner Scott, director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, who now has a male identity. “Unfortunately, most of us have no choice but to come out of the closet.’’

Brian MacQuarrie can be reached at macquarrie@globe.com.

Hearing held on transgender rights bill - The Boston Globe

VIVA Beverly

2011-06-08T21:03:00.000-07:00

I just ran across this on TV. I haven't watched AITF in ages, and the one I see has to feature the one and only...VIVA Beverly LaSalle!!!

Windy City Times - Chicago to run transgender TV show - 111

2011-06-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

This is something that should happen in every large city in the country!

Windy City Times - Chicago to run transgender TV show - 111

Catholic School Bans Rainbows at Anti-Homophobia Event

2011-06-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

I'd say I'm shocked, but I survived 12 years of catholic school, so it's just par for the hypocritical, ridiculous, catholic course!

Catholic School Bans Rainbows at Anti-Homophobia Event

TG trailblazer Janet Mock shares her story!

2011-06-07T16:37:00.000-07:00

This is a definite must hear! Janet Mock is the people.com editor who courageously came out recently as being transgender, tells her story of family & transition.

She is such a role model for ALL of us, Trans or not!!! Compassion and enlightenment knows no gender! Here is her "It Gets Better" video...

WONDERFUL article about Trans-life!

2011-06-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

This is such a great piece written by Eva Hayward of the Independent Weekly out of Durham, North Carolina. I'm so taken with it cause it really echoes exactly how I feel about our Trans-world! It's wonderfully written and a total MUST READ!!

Transgenderism and transsexualism are expressions of life-loving invention
by Eva Hayward

A love affair broke out between a transsexual woman—male to female—and a transgender man—female to male.

I have lived as a woman for years, and he had recently transitioned from female to male. I define as transsexual—someone who feels an essential need to modify her body—and he is transgender—not necessarily wanting sex reassignment. I always desired men, and he always women. While sex and gender identity do not define one's sexuality, we moved across cultural categories of gay and lesbian, man and woman. Neither of us was looking for a transgender lover, but we found each other and became a different kind of heterosexual couple.

Although relationships can be complicated, love is often quite simple. In many ways, our relationship is no more or less convoluted than any other: Do you desire me as much as I desire you? Has this relationship changed me, or not? And in other ways the coupling feels novel.

Transgenderism and transsexualism are expressions of life-loving invention. Simply, transgender people, like all people, are part of life's exuberance, the planet's investment in change and potential. Even a casual reading of Charles Darwin reminds that organisms flourish because of their ability to transform or adjust, not because of their capacities for strength or intelligence. And a more careful reading of Darwin invites us to see how nonreproductive members of a species are not detriments but advantages. So, might it be true that variation in sex, sexuality and gender is indeed "natural"?

What makes this male-to-female and female-to-male couple fresh is that bodies shift across seemingly inherent cultural codes. Rather than suggesting the apocalypse of society (although I confess that on some Monday mornings I long for nothing else), this couple expresses elasticity in identities that most Americans assume are true and enduring. Bodies are potentials rather than absolutes. The interest in Chaz Bono, Thomas Beattie ("the pregnant man"), America's Next Top Model candidate and transwoman Isis King and author Jennifer Finney Boylan demonstrates this as a cultural truth. If you need more proof, watch the Oprah Winfrey Network for a few hours.

Transpeople define themselves in numerous ways. There is probably no single term that adequately conveys this diversity. Self-identifying language in the transcommunity is rapidly changing. What worked a couple of years ago—for example, "tranny"—is suddenly wrong or misrepresenting. "Tranny" is now viewed as offensive, a slur. These changing definitions are not arbitrary, but indicate a people finding their voice in a larger context.

It's common to read about why people transition genders—it seems some researcher is always searching for some biological code or psychological event that triggered it—but the question is often irrelevant. How do any of us know how we became gendered? Or why we desire a particular gender or sex? Perhaps too much misguided time and money is spent on defining a genetic code or a traumatic experience that will account for all the ways transgender people become transgendered.

The real question is why we pose these questions. Are they meant to secure better health care or to foster social justice for a politically disenfranchised population? Or are their purposes less altruistic? Behaviorist psychologist John Money studied why transsexuals feel an innate need to change their sex and concluded that such feelings are indicators of mental illness. Consequently, the American Psychiatric Association listed "Gender Identity Disorder" in the 1994 revision of the diagnostic manual, which has since impacted the lives of transsexual and transgender people.

Usually transgender people are written about. Their stories are interpreted by sometimes sympathetic writers, but more often than not by insensitive journalists, interviewers, academics or health care providers. This isn't to dismiss our political allies; they are crucial for solidarity projects and cultural change. But even allies should give voice back to a community that has for too long been named, defined and pathologized.

Even the inclusion of "T" in LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) pays only lip service, and lesbian and gay organizations ignore issues that are unique to transpeople. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) introduced in Congress would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of their sexual orientation. In 2007, The Human Rights Campaign Fund, one of the largest lobbyists for the lesbian and gay community, refused to extend ENDA's protections to include gender identity: transgender and transsexual.

A lot of education is needed even in local news reporting. Sam Peterson, a local artist and activist who organized ChestFest at The ArtsCenter in Carrboro, described an encounter with a local person who "looked like a man." The interviewer told Sam that he didn't look like a man to him. The irony of course is that all men try to look like men, but without the assumption that they are not actually men.

In general, news stories constantly refer to transpeople using the wrong pronouns—"A man dressed in women's clothing was found murdered," read a Baltimore news article, or "She tricked this other woman into thinking she was a man," a British publication reported. But it is not just disrespectful misrecognition that is the problem, but the way transpeople are either criminalized or represented as deserving victims of violence.

Far from resembling the character Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs or Norman Bates in Psycho, transgender women as a group risk being assaulted and killed at a much higher rate because of who they are. The Transgender Law Center conservatively estimates that one in every 900 homicides in the U.S. is an anti-transgender hate-based crime.

As for claims of deceit, there is nothing about having sex with someone that requires disclosure about one's trans status. Don't we all risk some self-discovery when we are intimate with another person? Is the anxiety of non-transgender people that they will be tricked actually a fear that sleeping with a transgender person could affect their own identity?

By living their lives, transpeople invite everyone to question his or her assumptions. The invitation is a reminder to us all that change is what we are. We don't sustain ourselves because we are intact or perfect, but because we embody the reach and possibility of our experiences. Our sense of self is created out of ingenuity and necessity. We should not only want to live and love according to variation, but we must.

Eva Hayward is a new columnist for the Independent Weekly. Her columns will be published the first Wednesdays of the month.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/transgenderism-and-transsexualism-are-expressions-of-life-loving-invention/Content?oid=2498070

Livin' The Dream!!

2011-06-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

I had a wild revelation as left work in Hollywood tonight, and I just had to share it. I thought back to 2007 when I walked these exact same streets with a dear old friend of mine. Now, 2007 obviously isn't all that long ago, but it might as well be a different century for me.

I was on a road trip with one of my best friends ever! We have been friends since we were little kids. We played baseball together, we grew up together, and our moms even became best friends because of us. He was the first person I ever came out to, and someone who has done nothing but support and love me since the moment I told him.

Anyway, in 2007, I still wasn't out to him yet and it was killing me. All I could dream of as we toured Hollywood Blvd was living my life the way it was meant to be lived. I could see myself living as Gina, living and working in L.A. and finally being 1,000% happy with who I was. My terms and only my terms.

Fast forward to my revelation of this evening. Here I was leaving work, looking at all the fabulous old architecture, all the history of Hollywood and it hit me. I really am livin' the dream. I DID IT! MY rules, MY way, MY dream!! I still can't get the smile off of my face and I just had to jot down a few thoughts before the elation subsided.

I guess the moral of my lil story is that dreams really DO come true. It may sound cliche, but if you keep believing, keep moving forward and NEVER, EVER lose sight of what you REALLY, TRULY want, it can totally happen!

I mean, geez...if I could do it, I suppose just about anyone can!

First day is done!

2011-05-31T20:25:00.001-07:00

Day one of my new job is the in books and it was AMAZING! I'm bustin' at the seams here! Thank you everyone for all the warm wishes and support! I could totally feel all your love!

Excitement!!!

2011-05-31T06:34:00.000-07:00

A new chapter in my life begins! Advocacy by example starts TODAY and...

The Riches Of LIfe

2011-05-25T03:40:00.000-07:00

"I am wealthier than any billionaire on this planet cause I have the riches of TRUE friendship!! My happiness cup overflows!"

I'm So Glad To See My Giants Don't Just Keep Their Winning To The Field!

2011-05-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

As a lifelong San Francisco Giants fan, it makes me just so HAPPY that my team listened to the voice of the people and will go ahead and make an "It Gets Better" video! I can honestly say I'm probably more proud of my team for this than for winning the World Series last year! Bravo Giants! Way to stay classy!!

(05-16) 17:50 PDT San Francisco

The San Francisco Giants will become the first professional sports team to jump into the burgeoning anti-homophobia campaign with an upbeat "It Gets Better" video designed to bring hope to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people.

While celebrities, politicians and everyday people have posted more than 10,000 "It Gets Better" videos to YouTube to build awareness of the continuing problem of gay suicide and anti-gay bullying, no teams in the pro sports world have stepped forward to produce a video.

Recently, Grant Hill and Jared Dudley, who play for the Phoenix Suns basketball team, filmed a public service advertisement for the "Think Before You Speak" campaign, telling viewers that anti-gay remarks aren't cool. And on Sunday, Suns President and CEO Rick Welts came out publicly as a gay man, hoping, he told an interviewer, to peel back the veil that shrouds homosexuality in pro sports and to serve as a role model for others.

6,000 sign petition

Now comes the effort of lifelong Giants fan Sean Chapin, who began an online petition drive on the San Francisco website Change.org to get his hometown team on board the "It Gets Better" project and persuaded more than 6,000 people to sign on.

"The San Francisco Giants are in an extraordinary position to lead the rest of the professional sporting world and possibly make the most important 'It Gets Better' video yet - not just as the recent world champion of Major League Baseball, but also as ambassadors of an iconic city, revered for celebrating diversity and differences with open arms," Chapin said in his own online video pitch to the Giants.

In an interview Monday, Chapin, a 35-year-old accountant who lives in San Francisco and works in Oakland, described the team's decision, announced Monday, as a "breaking bubble" that will have profound reverberations.

Giants spokeswoman Staci Slaughter said that the team had been thinking of joining the campaign before Chapin started his petition drive, but that his efforts speeded things up. She said the exact content of the video and which, if any, players or members of the coaching staff will participate have not been determined.

Originally, the plan was to produce the video for the Giants LGBT Night home game in August, Slaughter said, "but now we're trying to get it done sooner than later."

Previous incidents

The Giants have a strong gay and lesbian fan base and as an organization have a history of promoting tolerance, she said. In 1994, the Giants became the first team in the majors to dedicate a game every year to raise money and awareness for the fight against AIDS.

Chapin said he got the idea to lobby the Giants to make a video after Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, angered over a foul called against him, mouthed an anti-gay slur at a referee last month. The National Basketball Association fined him $100,000 for the offense.

That was followed by an April 23 incident in which Atlanta Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell reportedly asked three men in the stands before the start of a Giants game in San Francisco, "Are you guys a homo couple or a threesome?" A witness said McDowell then made suggestive gestures with a bat. McDowell, who later apologized, was suspended by Major League Baseball for two weeks.

Chapin, a native San Franciscan who came out as gay in high school, said he would like to see a day "when LGBT people can go to a pro sports game and be themselves, not feel like they have to hide who they are." He said he never really felt threatened, but noted that he wouldn't feel comfortable holding a boyfriend's hand or giving him a big smooch when the "kiss-cam" came around.

"Professional sports is one of the last havens for homophobia," said Susan Zieff, professor of kinesiology at San Francisco State University, who has focused on the socio-cultural study of physical activity.

She said the Giants planned video "could make a huge difference" in helping blunt acceptance of anti-gay rhetoric and behavior.

"A large number of fans are young people who look up to athletes as role models and there's a real potential to raise awareness about an issue that is bigger than sports."

Even if the Giants get some complaints from fans, Zieff said, "it's the right thing to do."

For more information or to make your own "It Gets Better" video, please go to http://www.itgetsbetter.org/.

Fear & Loathing Isn't Just in Las Vegas for Transgendered People.

2011-05-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

Fear of violence always on mind of transgender people

By Doug McMurdo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Posted: May 16, 2011 | 1:59 a.m.
Updated: May 16, 2011 | 7:27 a.m.

The video is disturbing on multiple levels. A woman and a teenage girl at a Baltimore area McDonald's beat a transgender woman while others stand by, doing nothing.

The violence was captured April 18 by an employee of the fast-food giant who can be heard laughing as the woman is pulled by her hair across the restaurant and then to the ground, repeatedly kicked in the face, the back of the head, the ribs.

An epileptic, the woman went into a seizure before the violence ended.

Nobody lifted a finger save for one elderly woman, who was punched in the face for her trouble.

A second employee eventually stepped in, with apparent reluctance, to separate the women.

Others decided to help the attackers, warning them that police were en route.

The victim was Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, who said she was more upset that only one person would help her than she was about the attack itself.

McDonald's fired the employee, but not before he posted the video on YouTube under the title "Two Girls Beating a Man/Lady at McDonald's."

An anonymous poster seemed to suggest Polis' gender expression justified the violence: "That was not a female that was getting beat up. That was a man. He was dressed like a woman and he was in the females bathroom knowing he was a man."

Transgender people can best be defined as identifying with a sex other than what they were assigned at birth. Transgenders can be male to female or female to male. Some take hormones prescribed by physicians, and some submit to gender reassignment surgery.

Although the incident in Maryland is extreme, people who are transgender live in fear of violence as they seek acceptance.

"Discrimination is widespread against the transgender community," said Mel Goodwin of the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada. She gave as one example the recent controversy involving a transgender woman allegedly evicted and banned from The Cosmopolitan hotel for using a women's restroom.

"They face discrimination getting and keeping jobs, housing, medical care. They've even been barred from getting help at emergency shelters," Goodwin said.

RESORTS ARE AHEAD OF THE CURVE

And while lawmakers in Carson City contemplate several proposed statutes aimed at protecting members of the transgender community, the Nevada Resort Association and many of its members are far ahead of the curve.

Nevada lawmakers this legislative session introduced several bills to protect transgender people from discrimination in employment. Under the legislation, employers can't refuse to hire someone who is transgender or fire one who is transitioning. Employers, however, have the right to establish dress codes. The legislation applies only to businesses with 15 or more employees.

Lawmakers also are considering a measure to outlaw housing discrimination against transgender people. People renting out a room or those who have fewer than four units would be exempt from the law.

Clearly, the jobs bill is the most important one to the transgender community. Two of Las Vegas' largest casino companies have provided a blueprint for others to follow.

"We've taken the lead in implementing a full anti-harassment policy," said former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, a senior vice president at Caesars Entertainment.

Jones said the Human Rights Council has given both Caesars and the MGM Grand perfect scores for the companies' efforts in educating the larger community regarding treatment of transgender people, and for implementing workplace policies aimed at preventing discrimination against them.

"Any discrimination is unacceptable," Jones said.

She said she thinks state laws don't go far enough to protect the transgender community. As a practical point, she said, including transgender people in a company's anti-discrimination policy is not only the right thing to do, but protects the employer from potential litigation.

Attorney Kathleen England offers succinct advice for employers concerned with the new legislation.

"Don't discriminate," she said. "The whole point of civil rights law is that you judge people by their job performance, not the color of their skin, not whether they're of the Mormon religion or Catholic religion or no religion at all."

England also has this counsel for employers confused by what exactly constitutes discrimination against a transgender person: "Change transgender discrimination to racial harassment. We all know racial harassment is not OK. We all know sexual harassment is not OK. Treat people like human beings."

England, who represents clients in employment discrimination cases, said employers are obligated to put an end to harassment.

"It's the right thing to do," she said. "And harassment costs you money. Employees who harass other employees are not working. They're not productive."

Attorney Greg Kamer of the Kamer Zucker Abbott law firm represents employers in discrimination cases. He said Nevada is on the cutting edge when it comes to protecting the lesbian and gay community.

"This is good legislation for Nevada," he said. "The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community is entitled to equal rights, and that includes transgenders."

Kamer said the group is a "good leisure customer," and he suggests businesses don't want to alienate those customers. He said he would tell his clients the new legislation changes nothing in regards to civil rights laws with the exception of restroom use.

"It's a matter of sensitizing your work force," he said. "The best policy is to allow transgenders to use the restroom that represents their gender expression. If they dress like a woman, let them use the women's restroom. This is a true equality issue."

WOMAN IS AMONG THE LUCKY ONES

Stephanie Antoniuk considers herself one of the lucky ones. A network administrator with a California firm that has a satellite office in Las Vegas, Antoniuk said California laws that specifically include the transgender community in anti-discrimination laws protect her.

"Nevada has to do the same," said Antoniuk, 37. "Right now I'm one of the rare few fully employed transitioning people, but if I lose my job, it is going to be extremely difficult to get another one."

Studies suggest the jobless rate for transgenders is roughly twice the national average.

Antoniuk said her colleagues have been very accepting of her lifestyle and so have the hundreds of customers with whom she has interacted.

Outside of work, however, life becomes more complicated.

"We do face harassment," she said. "I think half of it is because of curiosity, and the other half is people find transgender persons distasteful."

She said she has had "brief encounters" in restrooms where women have been insulting, particularly early on in her transition.

Still, the fear of violence is never far away. "It's kind of always in the back of my mind," Antoniuk said.

"I realize people become uncomfortable, and occasionally they can be outright rude," she said, "But mostly, I think people are curious."

She also thinks the transgender community can avoid violence by following the same common-sense guidelines any vigilant person would adapt. "I avoid places where I might be harmed," she said. "The same as anyone else would. Don't go to dangerous places."

Antoniuk, whose doctor has her on a hormone replacement regimen, said she has yet to decide whether to undergo sexual reassignment surgery.

But she has legally changed her name, and the sex marker on her driver's license indicates she is a female, which is allowed in Nevada even if the person hasn't had surgery.

That designation, more than anything else, is what gives Antoniuk the confidence to use public restrooms assigned to women.

"Being able to list our sex as female on our driver's license is a big benefit to the transgender community," she said. "It's a comforting thing to know, especially when it's far more dangerous for us to use the men's room."

And to those who fear someone might pretend to be a transgender person to get into the women's restroom to commit a sexual assault, Antoniuk said there is no evidence any such attack has ever occurred in Nevada or anywhere else in the United States.

She said she thinks the business community in Southern Nevada as a whole is at best neutral on the issue of gender expression.

"The best thing a business could do is establish guidelines and then follow them," she said. "They can outline the protocol. They can tell transgender employees, 'these are the steps to take to be transgender in our workplace.' "

The bill that will soon land on Gov. Brian Sandoval's desk explicitly gives employers the right to enforce dress and behavior codes.

Antoniuk also encourages employers to look past the transgender status and instead focus on qualifications.

"As a community, we are highly skilled, highly educated. We bring a lot to the table, and we are not a liability," she said.

HATE CRIME BILL FAILS

The beating of Chrissy Polis will be treated as a hate crime in Maryland. But in Nevada, the Senate last month shot down Senate Bill 180, which would have included transgender people as protected parties in existing hate crime laws. The bill died 10-11 when every Republican state senator and Democrat John Lee, D-North Las Vegas, voted against the measure.

Under existing law, anyone accused of violence against any person regardless of their status is subject to criminal prosecution.

Help Bryan!

2011-04-13T14:45:00.000-07:00

These are the two animals who savagely beat and almost killed Santa Cruz Paramedic Bryan Stow on Opening Day at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. All because Bryan was a Giants fan. As a trans woman who has lived in LA for a year and a half now. Most Angelino's have really shown a lot of class and shame in light of this tragedy. I realize in a city this huge, or any big city for that matter, there will be thugs, low lifes, and the general unenlightened, so I always am on guard. Violence against anyone is abhorrent, but for this poor man and his family to have their whole world turned upside down over a baseball game?? That is just one of the saddest things I've ever heard. Another sad thing is that these two animals are still running loose out here, somewhere.

If there is a God in heaven, they will be brought to justice.

Here is the story from the LA Times from yesterday...

The brutal beating of Bryan Stow in Dodger Stadium is being investigated by 16 detectives and officers working around the clock to examine a growing pile of information from witnesses and others, the lead investigator said Tuesday.

Det. P.J. Morris said that with the large reward and growing publicity surrounding the opening day beating that left the San Francisco Giants fan with brain damage and in a medically induced coma, investigators are now having to filter through dozens of tips.

“Detectives are working shift after shift," Morris said. "When one team goes off another one comes on.”

Morris said Tuesday that the identity of the two assailants who kicked and punched the father of two remained a mystery.

The suspects have been described by police only as Latinos from 18 to 25 years who had tattoos visible underneath their apparel. The LAPD is working to get more details on the suspects' appearance and Capt. Bill Murphy said the department may update the descriptions.

The pair may have been with a young boy. Morris said investigators did not know what type of vehicle they drove away in.

Although many people were milling around in the parking lot after the game, no one seems to know where the assailants fled.

Stow remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday. More than $60,000 was raised Monday during a fund-raising drive in the Dodger Stadium parking lot to help the family with medical bills.

Anyone with information can reach detectives at (213) 847-4261.

RELATED:

Friend describes the attack

Nearly $200,000 raised for Giants fan beaten at Dodgers opening game

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-04-04T14:10:00.001-07:00

Job fair's are so ironic. They aren't fun, they aren't fair, but they sure take you for a ride.

Infuriation

2011-04-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

"No one ever hears the listener."

I'm the one who always takes the high road. The one that other's come to for answers. The one who holds her tongue, espouses encouragement and avoids confrontation whenever possible. These are lessons I learned from my beloved Mother and I will NEVER, EVER change that part of me. Yet I still get just as mad, or depressed or frustrated as anyone else and what do I get? Looked over and taken for granted. Gina is a happy soul, so let me just keep worrying about my own agenda and not worry about her woes or problems. She is strong enough to deal with then.

My Mom was the same way, and I now understand some of her pain. She taught me well, VERY WELL, but I still get f@cking pissed off when my feelings are overlooked, just cause I'm always the happy, wise one. Well, I can feel sad too, and when I do, I think...

"It's who we are".

Please take a moment to listen to this!!!!

2011-03-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

Let me start off by saying, I feel quite blessed that I've been VERY fortunate to have received so much love & support from my family and friends during my transition, and for that I'm forever grateful. But even with all that love & support, I know all too well the sting of the many things discussed in this piece. The objectification from those who think that just because I'm trans I must be a hooker or some kind of sex freak. The rude & downright disgusting comments. The weird looks & snickering behind my back and DEFINITELY the discrimination of trying to find a job as a trans woman.

Even with all my trials and tribulations, I still consider myself lucky that I have such a wonderful support network of family & friends, but there are still WAY too many of us out there that aren't so lucky. There is SO much work that needs to be done in letting the world know that we are no different from anyone else walking this earth, and all were asking for is just a little bit of understanding and compassion! We are not jokes, we are not freaks, we are just HUMAN BEINGS trying to live happy, fulfilling lives like everyone else!

This is a VERY SERIOUS matter and I hope you take a few moments to listen to this piece and just try to understand that it's hard enough for us to deal with our own emotional roller coasters, and all we are asking for is to be treated like any other human being, with dignity and basic common decency.

For those that have been so kind and gracious to me and others like me, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. For the rest of you, listen to this and open your minds and hearts!

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-03-26T14:58:00.001-07:00

You know when I see those toilet bowl cleaner commercials on TV, the first thing I think is..."What the hell are these people eating?? Good Lord!!"

Goodbye My Precious

2011-03-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

Goodnight, my precious Frehley! You were my bestest lil buddy & companion when I truly needed someone, and your personality and uniqueness will never be forgotten nor replaced. Go play and frolic and be free to your hearts content. Thank you for filling our 15 years together with such, joy love and happiness. You we're absolutely a one of a kind and loved beyond words. Now go hop on Grammie's lap and give her a good nuzzle for all of us left down here.

I may or may not write more on the passing of my sweet lil pal, but I was up with him literally ALL last night and can barely see the screen at this point, but I felt I owed it to him to just jot down at least a few thoughts on how special my "Freh-bird" was to me. I can tell you that Frehley's end was VERY peaceful. I put together a small playlist on my phone and we played "Free As A Bird" by The Beatles, and "Forever" & "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys as he went to sleep. My sister Jennifer and I held his paws right til the end. It's been an exhausting day as you can imagine, so I'm off to night nite land. Thank you all SO MUCH for all your wonderful vibes and condolences!!

I love you Birda, and know there is forever a hole in my heart that can only be filled by my thoughts, memories and love of you!

For more pix of my precious kitty, check him out
here

I Need Your Help!

2011-03-17T02:38:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Again I really want to thank you for all the wonderful birthday wishes the other day, but I need your help big time now! My bestest pal in the world, my beautiful kitty Frehley is VERY, VERY ill and things do not look good. In fact, we will unfortunately put him to rest this morning, but PLEASE I ask for your prayers, good vibrations or whatever you got to help Frehely (yes, I'm that dorky that I named my cat after the KISS guitarist), my sister and I get through this night. Which makes this doubly sucky is that today is his 15th birthday. It's gonna be a long night, just making sure my Bird is as comfy as possible. I should give a lil background though, yes his name is Frehley, cause from the moment I saw him at the rescue shelter way back when, the grayish/silverish patches around his eyes just made me think Ace Frehley. As time went by, I would still call him Frehley, but then the nickname Free Bird (which had nothing really to do with the Skynyrd song) came about then that just got shortened to Bird. So when I talk about my Bird, you know where I'm coming from. We actually just fed him a Joe's Of Westlake Ravioli (which he always loved, and scarfed down, btw), so he still has some kick left in him, but things aren't good, and we are still planning on putting him to rest this morning. I can't believe I'm saying something like this about some one I who is like a child to me, but it's got to be what is best for him and not me, so I just rub and kiss him and reminisce about all our adventures.

Birthday Thoughts

2011-03-14T14:41:00.000-07:00

Well, another birthday has come along. I'm another year wiser (the word older will never cross my lips) and I have to say that my life is progressing just like a fine wine, only getting better with time! I want to thank all my wonderful family and friends for their oh so sweet birthday wishes, you have no idea how much they mean to me!

I do however, get a lil teary eyed though when I realize that the one call I always looked forward to most on this day doesn't come anymore. I MISS YOU SO MUCH, MOM! I think that cliche of time healing all wounds is pretty much bullshit, cause your loss hurts just as much today (especially today) as it did those six long years ago that you left us.

So on this day when I get all the adulation and celebration, I thought I would take a moment to celebrate you. You brought me into this world with trepidation, fear, but most of all with undying love. From that day forward, you were not only a wonderful mother (and father for that matter), but my hero and best friend!

I can never forget that awful December day six years ago when I held your hand and whispered to you that "Dad was coming to take you home", it was so surreal that I felt him there taking you in his arms and giving you the hug you'd been so patiently waiting for since he was so unfairly taken from you all those years ago. I felt a complete family unity that I hadn't felt since I was a baby and that made the unfathomable pain of losing you a little easier to take, because I knew you were now with him and Granny, Grandpa and everyone else who loved you so dearly. I'm sure there was quite the shindig happening in heaven that night and I bet Uncle Andy had an unending box of wine under his arm making sure all glasses stayed full as they celebrated your arrival. It was that image that at that horrible moment of devastation, where I actually felt an inner peace that I've never felt before or since. I knew in that instant we completed a circle of life that will bond us for all eternity. I know this sounds bizarre, but that moment will go down as one of the proudest of my life.

So while it's happy birthday to me today, I just want to say happy "birthing" day to you! And even though I may not physically get that phone call I so long for, I hear your sweet voice always.

I LOVE YOU MOM!

2011-03-05T14:00:00.001-08:00

I'm definitely feeling better than I look.

2011-03-04T07:53:00.001-08:00

This is really happening! See y'all on the other side.

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-03-04T00:04:00.000-08:00

"Well, those good ole' Winds Of Change are a blowin' once again! This time they are comin' in at a gale force! As of tomorrow at 10am, I will be forever changed! From now on you can just call me Hootie McBoob!"

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-03-01T13:16:00.000-08:00

"Ego should be treated the way children of yesteryear used to be. They should be seen and not heard".

An observation

2011-02-12T20:38:00.001-08:00

I was just at 7-11. In their "hot section", they had these chicken tenders. I'm POSITIVE they were neither chicken nor tender.

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-01-25T14:32:00.001-08:00

Life is short enough! Don't make it shorter by complaining and ranting about people doing the same exact things that you do to them.

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-01-24T10:12:00.000-08:00

"Know-it-all's" THINK they know all, but you know better!"

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-01-21T23:54:00.000-08:00

I swear I can hear the words coming out of my mouth. Why can't everyone else? Maybe because they don't LISTEN!!!

Spooky Food

2011-01-13T20:46:00.001-08:00

OK, one of my favorite restaurants on this planet is Joe's Of Westlake in Daly City, CA (very, very close to where I grew up). Anyways, I posted this pic of "my favorite foods" on a web board I'm a part of. A very good friend of mine pointed out to me that she observed that this plate of my all-time fave dish from Joe's (half spaghetti and half ravioli, with meatballs) was staring and scowling at me!

And, by crackee, she was right!!!!

I think that the scowl is supposed to be a warning of some kind, but I'm too weak to adhere! He doesn't look happy, does he??

RIP Phil Kennemore; October 20, 1953 ~ January 7, 2011

2011-01-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

Today, I am PROFOUNDLY bummed. Phil Kennemore, bassist and one of the founding members of one of my favorite bands of all time, Y&T, passed away this morning at the age of 56.

For those who may not know, Y&T was a Bay Area hard rock band that started in 1974. They began as Yesterday And Today and then shortened their name to Y&T in 1981. Y&T was one of those bands that was never flashy or "gimmicky", and as such, they were unfortunately never a mega commercial success. They just came at you with an assault of kick ass rock-n-roll. But the rest of the world's loss was the Bay Area's gain. As an SF Bay Area native coming of age in the late 70's/early 80's, I always thought of Y&T as "my' band. It was such an awesome thing to have such an incredible band in my "backyard" so to speak, and I was always so proud to spread the gospel of Y&T everywhere I went. I've seen them live everywhere from small, intimate clubs like the Old Waldorf to mega venue's like Day On The Green, and one thing never changed...they always kicked ass!

Even though they never hit the "mega heights" that other bands might of hit, I always held onto that pride that Y&T belonged to the Bay Area and were the superstars of our hearts. I was so glad that the band has continued on to this day, and I had the pleasure of meeting the band when in more recent times they would hold "meet and greets" after shows. I was able to tell my heroes how much their music meant to me.

I remember seeing them at the Independent in San Francisco where they played two of their seminal albums; Black Tiger & Mean Streak in their entirety. Two days later a friend and I were flying to Vegas and heard some people on the plane talking about going to see this "kick ass" rock band at a club in LV that night. The band, of course was Y&T. We had no idea they were playing in Vegas, but automatically made a change in plans and went to the show. As we were walking up to the venue, I saw Phil near a backstage door. I approached him and told him how great the show was a couple of night before in SF. He actually remembered me from the meet & greet. We shared a smoke and talked about the band. He was a genuinely sweet guy. No big time "rock star" ego, just an awesome soul!

Today is a sad day indeed. A member of my "musical" family has left, but his impact on my life will never be diminished. Rock on Phil. Thank you for being part of the soundtrack of my youth! You will never be forgotten!

This is a song that Phil sang lead on from their second album in 1978. The song is called "Stargazer" and it seems very appropriate at this time.

This one is called "God Only Knows", which Phil wrote. His words are quite touching at this moment, as the last lines of the song says..."Lay my head down, turn out the light, as I pray it all will be all right, silently I close my eyes, as I whisper to the world, goodnight"

"Lay my head down, turn out the light
As I pray it all will be all right
Silently I close my eyes
As I whisper to the world, goodnight"
~ Phil Kennemore

Ladies & Gentlemen, boys and girls, please welcome to the stage, the best f*#cking rock band you will ever see...CHEAP TRICK!!!!!

2011-01-03T20:06:00.000-08:00

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

G's Thought For The Day...

2011-01-01T13:11:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's 1:11pm on 1/1/11

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2010-12-31T15:50:00.000-08:00

From my settling into my new surroundings in LA, the wonderfulness and support of my friends & family, meeting my "Wou" and the sheer awesomeness of my beloved Giants finally bringing home the glory, 2010 was an unbelievable year of growth and good fortune for me. I hope you were as fortunate as I to have such an amazing year. I bid 2010 a fond adieu and wish all my family & friends nothing but LOVE, JOY & PROSPERITY in 2011. Be safe and have yourselves a time tonight!!!!!

I LOVE YOU ALL,

G

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-30T18:12:00.000-08:00

Home is where the heart is, and like Tony sang, "I left my heart in San Francisco", so you do the math. -- Gina

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-29T10:09:00.000-08:00

"There will be a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning." -- TG Forum

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-28T18:40:00.001-08:00

Why is it when I'm in San Francisco, it's 101, but when I'm in LA, it's "the" 101. -- Gina

Hangin' with Lefty and his arm!

2010-12-28T18:11:00.001-08:00

In July, I posted a story here in my HotHouse of a wild SFGate article involving one of my favorite SF bar's Lefty O'Doul's. It seems that back then, someone had stolen the mannequin of Lefty's left arm and taken it on quite the lil adventure. As you can see, the arm was returned safe & sound and is now under lock & key. Only in SF!!!

12 GIANT Days Of Christmas

2010-12-25T13:13:00.000-08:00

Sing Along...

On the twelfth day of Christmas the baseball gods brought to us,
12 runs allowed,
11 different lineups,
10 seasons in waiting,
9 swings and misses,
8 shutout innings,
7 two-out runs,
6 Brian Wilson saves,
5 Game 6 relievers,
4 one-run games,
3 Freddy Sanchez doubles,
2 Cody Ross homers,
and an Aubrey Huff bunt in Game 5 of the World Series.

Read the full story

Happy Christmas

2010-12-25T00:33:00.000-08:00

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all! Here's to a 2011 filled with peace, love and joy!!!

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-24T21:39:00.001-08:00

"I find tinsel distracting." -- Frank Costanza

Sassy Christmas pic with my "G-Cool" pal

2010-12-24T19:36:00.001-08:00

I had such a WONDERFUL Christmas Eve with my family at my cousin's house. This my adorable little cousin Genevieve. She is just so awesome and her and I are (according to her) G-buddies, since I'm Gina and they call her Gena. I've received nothing but love, support and positivity from my family, and I can't tell you how blessed and lucky I feel to have them.

Getting The Band Back Together!!!

2010-12-23T17:19:00.000-08:00

Getting ready for dinner with some of my oldest & dearest friends tonight! It's so exciting!!! Their first gander at my new gender!

LOVE

2010-12-22T00:06:00.003-08:00

Exactly 6 years ago, I lost one of the most important people in my life. Do me a favor and make sure you tell those closest to you how much you LOVE them. I love you, Mom! I miss you sooooo much!

No Title Needed

2010-12-21T08:56:00.001-08:00

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

The only difference between me now, and me "then", is that it simply takes me a lil' longer to get ready. -- Gina

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

Another original Haiku...

Love is listening
Hearing what you don't want to hear
Then making it right -- Gina

Somewhere Mom is smiling

2010-12-16T10:21:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite memories of going to Disneyland in the past was when my Mom would take us to get Mickey Mouse pancakes. She used to make them for me and my sister at home too. So today at "the happiest place on earth", Katie and I made a point of getting breakfast at the River Belle Terrace. Mom always wanted to see Disneyland at Christmas time, but never got to. Yesterday I know she was with me!

Can you guess where I am???

2010-12-16T09:59:00.001-08:00

RIP Rapid Robert, Thanks For The Stories

2010-12-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

I had a couple of occasions to meet and interview Bob Feller and he was not only one of the finest pitchers of all time, but a great American. His stories of both baseball and his time in the military were legendary in our eyes. It was way cool that some nobody minor league radio person got to hear some of his a mega Hall Of Fame tales!

He was as crusty as they come and quite honestly very bitter that players of the more modern era "couldn't hold his jock and were making millions" (he actually said this to me after tape stopped rolling on an interview I was doing with him) and he had some very interesting things to say about Mickey Mantle as I had the pleasure of interviewing Bob on the day of Mantle's death, but I think I'll keep that between me & Bob. Thanks #19 for all the great stories!

Bob Feller Obituary

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-14T14:25:00.000-08:00

Today's thought is actually another haiku I wrote. It's dedicated to Trans people the world over...

We are a treasure
We are strong, exhaulted
We are THE CONTRARY -- Gina

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-11T16:02:00.000-08:00

Original Haiku from G...

When you receive praise
Appreciate it, absorb it
Then forget it -- Gina

Christmas of a Giants fan

2010-12-09T19:30:00.001-08:00

Remembering John

2010-12-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to take a moment to remember someone whom I've never even come close to meeting, but is still a very influential person in my life. 30 years ago today, in an utterly senseless & all to ironic act, John Lennon was gunned downed in front of his apartment in NYC. The irony comes from his longtime calls for peace and the fact that he had finally decided to grace us with new music and insight after years of well deserved "private time".

I love you, John! The world misses you!

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-07T22:39:00.000-08:00

"Should I stay or should I go?"

5 Yoga Poses to Get Jennifer Aniston's Body

2010-12-05T13:22:00.000-08:00

"I'm still very much a yoga beginner and have no delusions of grandeur that by doing these exercises I'm going to rock a body like JA, but I'm a firm believer in what yoga can do for both body and mind."

At 41 years old, Jennifer Aniston has a body that's the envy of women half her age. And she credits it all — those lean legs, six-pack abs, and glowing skin — to one woman: her yoga instructor, Mandy Ingber.

"Mandy's yoga style has changed my life," the star has said of Ingber's routines, which are a hybrid of traditional yoga poses paired with traditional toning exercises. "This is one of the most fun, challenging workouts I've ever had."

Although Aniston has been known to work out with Ingber up to five times a week and has even taken her along on vacations, the L.A.-based instructor promises that getting fit through yoga is possible.

"Practice a little bit each day," she advises. "Do what you can, but if you can incorporate even 15 minutes of yoga into your day, you will notice your body, mind, and emotions begin to shift and change."

Ingber — whose DVD, Yogalosophy, includes two 30-minute routines and an hour-long challenge — is sharing her top five yoga poses with Marie Claire.

1. Temple Pose
Targets calves

Plant your feet wide, bend your knees out to the side, and open at a 90-degree angle. Sink your butt down in alignment with your knees then plié, squat, and hold for 30 seconds. Plié deeply 8 times, followed by 8 quick, shallow pulses.

2. Chair Pose
Targets legs and butt

Sink down as if you’re sinking into a chair. With your feet aligned, hip-width apart, rock back your weight from the balls of the feet to the heels and shift your hips back. Align your knee over heels, butt back, and peel your belly off your thighs by extending your arms overhead. Do 1-3 sets. If you really want to tone up, you can also do squats.

3. Sun Salute
Targets abs and hamstrings

As you the inhale, sweep your arms over your head, and then as you exhale, dive forward — a swan dive with down-hinging hips. Put your hands on the floor and extend your chest forward. Step back to the top of a push-up and put palms directly below your shoulders. Firm your thighs and make sure your hips and shoulders are aligned. Resist the floor as you lower to a low push-up. Scoop your chest up and arch into an upward facing dog, keeping thighs on the floor. Roll over the toes and press back to downward facing dog, using your inner thighs and abs.

4. Tree Pose
Targets abs and thighs

Stand straight, shifting your body weight on to your right foot with your knee up to your chest. Turn your knee to the side and press the sole of your foot to your inner thigh or calf, depending on your flexibility. Put your palms together, extending to the crown of your head. Hold it for 5-10 breaths.

5. Reclining Pigeon
Targets chest and thighs

Lie back with your knees bent and the soles of your feet on the floor. Cross your left ankle over your right knee and flex your foot, then draw your right knee in toward your chest. Wrap around your hamstring and gently draw your knee towards the chest. You'll feel the stretch of your left hip.

More Tips from Mandy:

* "Make it fun by adding your favorite music," suggests Ingber, who plays tunes with Aniston. "Yoga doesn't have to be completely silent."
* Before you start any routine, take three long deep breaths. "Breath is the bridge from the mind to the body, so the place you set your mind affects your body," she says.
* Practice control. This extends into all aspects of life, including diet. Aniston, Ingber says, "is about the only person I know who can eat three chips," but having restraint is key.
* "Never force a stretch or a pose," she warns. "Simply allow your body to move to its edge."
* Pay attention to opposing forces. "There are three energies in each pose," she says. "Gravity sinking you down, inspiration extending upward, and the center point."

5 Yoga Poses to Get Jennifer Aniston's Body

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-12-03T22:30:00.001-08:00

"Who hears the listener?" -- Gina

G's Thought For The Day...

2010-11-30T14:07:00.000-08:00

"Sometimes silence is platinum." -- Gina

Happy Birthday Mom!

2010-11-16T07:09:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to my hero, my friend, my MOTHER!

I miss you more than words can EVER say! Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!

They did it!!!

2010-10-11T20:57:00.001-07:00

OMG! What a gut wrenching ride! Every game a one run affair. Every single pitch; sweet, sweet torture, as only my boys can do, but in the end, it's sweet, sweet VICTORY that covers me like a warm orange & black snuggie. The Giants have moved on to face Philadelphia in the 2010 NLCS! We went down to Georgia like a bunch of orange & black devils and ruined Bobby Cox's retirement tour. Sorry Bobby, hats off for being an icon and all that, but not this time! Give it up for my boys though for giving Bobby his props after we went into his house and by hook or by crook won two in a row from the team with the best home record in the NL this year!

As always, we're underdogs against the Phillie juggernaut, but how f#*king kewl is Lincecum v. Halliday, Cain v. Oswalt and Sanchez v. Hamels. It's a tall order to take out the Phils, but isn't this what makes it our grand old game? I'm sure of another 45 to 63 innings of sweet Giant torture, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!

And while baseball is all about the ultimate prize and being #1, sometimes it's nice to just be in the mix and keep the juices flowing. When a team becomes a part of the family, but has caused more heartaches than triumphs (as my boys have), it's just a privilege to get another ride on the roller coaster!

So for my Uncle Rich, and my late Grandmother Norma, my late mother Stephanie (who wasn't a huge fan, but was devastated when we were devastated), I say; well here we are, and wherever you may be, let's enjoy what's REALLY important...family, friends, the memories given to us by our boys and the exultation of the journey!

So as I celebrate, and write this with tears in my eyes, I recall a brief exchange had by two Giant greats, on perhaps one of the happiest days of my life. When before his at-bat in Game #5 of the '89 NLCS with the game hanging in the balance; Kevin Mitchell said to Will Clark, "Let's get the job done." The Thrill's reply..."It's done!" He then slashed a two out, two run single off of Mitch Williams which secured the Giants first pennant in 27 years! And so as it was then, hopefully it shall be again!

Now it's on to Philly and let's have another magical ride!!

OMFG; we're in. Giants win the west!!!!!

2010-10-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, what an emotionally exhilarating and draining day all rolled into one! My boys made it! After two games of complete frustration, the Giants beat San Diego today 3-0 to win the NL West title and punched their ticket to the 2010 playoffs! A place the Giants haven't been since 2003.

I know it's just a game, and blah, blah, blah, but this team is like family to me. My Uncle (who is more like a father to me) got me into them when I was like six years old. He was a life long fan and also a vendor as a teen out at Candlestick back in the 60's. Because of his job at the park, my beloved Granny became a fan from listening to Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons to know when the games were over, so she could go pick him up.

While she was beginning to battle Parkinson's disease, her love of the Giants never wavered. In fact one of the highlights of my life came when I was around 11. It was middle of summer and the Giants were playing a day game against San Diego and best of all it was batting glove day! The problem was there was no one to take me to the game. I was devasted. My Granny stepped up and even though she couldn't get around very well, volunterred to take me to that game. I still get choked up when I think of walking arm in arm with her (the only way she could really walk) into our lower reserved seats that cloudy summer day at Candlestick. I have no recollection of whether the hometowner's won or lost that day, but the thrill of getting my batting glove and more importantly being with my Gran for her last in-person game will live with me til the day I die!

As she gradually succumb to that shitty disease, I'd always make time to sit with her and listen to the games on the radio. Again, it's another memory I will take proudly to the grave.

There have been many, many wonderful & heartbreaking moments that this team have given me and my family, so win, lose or draw, this team is as big a part of me & my family as anyone. So it makes me deliriously happy that on this the day of one of the Giants biggest moments some 59 years ago, that I can proudly pop a bottle of champagne and shout; "We're back in the post-season!!!!" (Something that doesn't happen much in Giantland)

See, the Giants have never won a World Series title since they came to SF in 1958. So neither my Gran, my Uncle or I have ever been able to celebrate that ultimate victory. Which is pretty sucky, but sometimes going through the heartbreak of "almost" is just as much fun as finally achieving that mega-prize. Just the same, the fact that our 2010 Giants have made it this far and gotten back to the play-offs, after a seven year absence is just pure delight and adulation!

So while yes, I know it's just sports, and it's just a game, this team is much more than just a baseball team to me, they are family! And I couldn't be happier at this very moment! I know somewhere out there, my Gran is smiling at the fact that we have another chance at gaining that ultimate baseball prize.

So Gran & Rich, I write this is for you! I love you both more than words can say, and in the words Kevin Mitchell & Will Clark; "Let's get the job done...It's done!!!!

Here is a shot of my Uncle's precious lil girl, Julia at our family "brick"; McCovey Cove at AT&T Park.

Happy Bobby Thomson Day

2010-10-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

It was 59 years ago today that Bobby Thomson hit his "Shot Heard 'Round The World"; a seminal moment in Giants lore. Today, HOPEFULLY they add to the lore!

My One Year Anniversary

2010-10-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

It was exactly one year ago today that I pulled up in my bestie KiKi's parking lot at sunrise in a 15 foot U-Haul with my car in tow and began my new life as not only an Angelino, but as Gina 24/7!

What a truly wild ride it's been and I couldn't be happier. To say that I've grown over this year would be the understatement of the century. I have not grown, but blossomed into the person I always dreamed I would be. I still pinch myself and can't believe that I've come as far as I have in such a relatively short period of time, but here I am. As much as I'd love to pat myself on the back and say I did it all on my own, that is just impossible to do. There have been so many awesome, wonderful family members and friends that have helped me achieve my dreams that it would take another year to list them all, but please know that I'm sending much, much, much love to all those that have supported and befriended me on this crazy trip. I'd be remiss however, if I didn't throw out some special love and admiration to some very special people.

Katie, my love, my wou! You have changed my life in way's I would have never thought possible. You brought real love into my life and I can't imagine ever being without my wou! I love you with all my heart.

Tricia, my pizza partyin' most awesome & generous pal. If it wasn't for you coming up to a shy, lost part-timer that night way back in 2007 at Encounters and showing me your enormous heart and compassion, I wouldn't be where I am today. Your love and generosity have been immeasurable to me and you will forever hold a special place in my heart!

Lastly, my bestie KiKi. Oh KiK, what a wild road we've shared. We've supported and watched each other grow from part time wandering waifs, into full time, kick ass, confident women. We've traveled down such similar paths on our way to awesomeness. It's been my honor and such a total gas ridin' down that long & winding road with you! You are my sister, my bestie, and no matter what, I LOVE ya always! TerrorTwins-4-Life!!!!!

There are so many wonderful people who have shown me kindness and helped me become me on this insane adventure, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and I'm honored to call you friends!!!!

Ode To My Fan

2010-09-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

OMFG! It was like 113º today in LA. As I sit here sweltering, I take a moment to pay homage to my new best friend...

Ode To My Fan

Thank you o' giver of windy goodness
Thank you for your blowy coolness
You keep me free from the sticky hot
Which without A/C means a hell of a lot
Thank you my fan for being so cool
For being my fan, makes me a fan of you!