FB messages between me and the SPLC

The trans community has asked itself recently why the supposed watchdog of extremist hate-groups – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) – has historically given Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) a pass. I wondered too and I decided to ask them about it. Here’s my the FaceBook email exchange:

ME: April 23, 1:48 PM  

Why do you endorse hate group leaders on your site?

http://www.transadvocate.com/radfem2013-lies-london-irish-centre-truth-a-preview-of-sheila-jeffreys-new-terf-book.htm

The very person your site uses to hold up as the voice of reason is clearly seen as being a hate group leader by most. She’s tried to organize TWO conferences to support her hate and BOTH time (2 years in a row, now) her conferences have been expelled from the venue once they learned that she represents a TERF hate group.

SPLC:  April 25, 9:18 AM

Hi Cristan, I did some checking and as far as I can tell we do not support this or have any connection to it. Can yo point me to what part of the site you were looking at?

ME:  April 25, 9:57 AM

Certainly. Here is where you interview one of the organizers of RadFem2013 conference (which just got booted from its venue for being an anti-trans hate group), Cathy Brennan:

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2012/05/15/intelligence-report-article-provokes-outrage-among-mens-rights-activists/

The context of this post is that Brennan is featured in your article as being the voice of reason against MRA hate. This was in 2012, the very year Brennan, using her status as a lawyer, petitioned the UN to remove its transgender equality protections from its books.

This intelligence report seems to give a pass to that Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminist (TERF) organizing site, RadFemHub. The site was infamous within the trans community, espousing falsehoods which even the Klan would not make (eg, all trans people rape cis women; the 1st link I sent you in the PM you responded to, Brennan – the person you feature as the voice of reason in your report – is making this very argument).

Lastly, you’ve at least made a report on MRAs, but not TERFs. Why is that?

They’ve been working to destroy trans people since the 1970s. Did not the TERF leader Janice Raymond assert that transness should be legislated out of existence? Was not her position paper submitted to 2 US administrations advocating for a national program of forced reparative therapy for trans folk? Did not TERF ideology play an arguably significant part in the death of Filisa Vistima? Do TERFs not have a well-documented history of hunting and outing trans people to their employers with the aim ending careers (eg Sandy Stone)? Do not TERFs, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, continue to argue that there is no such thing as cisgender privilege? Do TERFs still not organize against trans equality efforts?

Are these actions against trans people, informed by an explicit anti-trans ideology, that’s well documented and reveal a decades-long pattern of anti-trans hate?

Here’s a few current TERF websites that Brennan is involved with running:

http://pretendbians.com/
http://bugbrennan.com/2013/04/16/trans-activists-and-mras-same-women-hating-peoples/
http://genderidentitywatch.com/

Why has the SPLC turned a seemingly blind eye to this? Why has the SPLC featured a leader in this anti-trans hate group as the voice of reason against hate in a SPLC intelligence report?

SPLC:  April 25, 10:54 AM

Thank you for the information. I’d like to look into this further. One of our legal advocates was pretty clear that we do not have a relationship with her or support her (as the center) so reviewing this material and bringing it up to our staff in the hope of clarifying our position will be helpful.

ME:  April 25, 12:00 PM

Please be clear about perception. How would it affect your anti-hate credibility if you interviewed the Klan to talk about the need to protect freedom of speech from those who hate freedom of speech? Would adding a line or two about how the Klan doesn’t represent the opinions of the SPLC make it okay?

In this case, you’ve interviewed someone who is proudly anti-trans. You’re giving airtime to a movement how has, for decades, made it clear that the world would be a better place if trans folk weren’t in it:

… their arrogance and oppressiveness is amazing. It is funny though that they are so used to Feminists immediately bowing before them that they don’t know how to deal with that we don’t care what happens to them. They expect we’ll be shocked to see statistics about them being killed, and don’t realize, some of us wish they would ALL be dead.
– BevJo, early TERF leader, author and poet

Here’s a post from Brennan from just yesterday:
http://pretendbians.com/2013/04/24/lesbians-must-be-punished-for-noticing-men-pretend-to-be-lesbians/

Note the way TERF leaders successfully worked to have access to trans heath care removed from the trans community. Here’s an early TERF leader setting up the plan:

While there are many who feel that morality must be built into law, I believe that the elimination of transsexualism is not best achieved by legislation prohibiting transsexual treatment and surgery but rather by legislation that limits it and by other legislation that lessens the support given to sex-role stereotyping, which generated the problem to begin with. Any legislation should be aimed at the social conditions that initiate and promote the surgery as well as the growth of the medical-institutional complex that translates these stereotypes into flesh and blood. More generally, the education of children is one case in point here. Images of sex roles continue to be reinforced, at public expense, in school textbooks. Children learn to role play at an early age.

- Raymond (1980), Technology on the Social and Ethical Aspects of Transsexual Surgery; position paper submitted to the Carter and Reagan Administrations

Here’s the plan being executed [google books link]:
http://books.google.com/books?id=rxwFKLOSF5UC&lpg=PA81&ots=EfxKZlCFuM&dq=%22janice%20raymond%22%20medicare&pg=PA81#v=onepage&q=%22janice%20raymond%22%20medicare&f=false

The TERF movement has been explicitly targeting the trans community for decades. Their rhetoric is such that their last two conferences were evicted from their meeting place due to their anti-trans hate speech.

I implore the SPLC to clearly state that they in no way support TERF ideology or, at the very least, produce a TERF intelligence report comparable to the MRA SPLC intelligence report.

ME:  April 25, 1:00 PM

In other words, you have reports on misogyny, but not transmisogyny; you have “gay hate groups” listed but no “trans hate groups”. When the Vice President, while campaigning no less, asserted that transgender discrimination is “the civil rights issue of our time,” it seems that your failure to specifically deal with these issue is somewhat glaring.

For instance, it seem that the last time the SPLC issued a report explicitly dealing with anti-trans hate was a decade ago:

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2003/winter/disposable-people#.UXlr-7WG12A

It seems that most of the time statements affecting the trans population are made within the context of commenting against an anti-gay effort by extremist groups. The trans population is mentioned in the larger context of “gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender,” but it seems to be a rarity that the SPLC addressed explicit issues of anti-trans hate. I can’t find anything more current than 2003 in which the SPLC explicitly deals with anti-trans hate directly.

Consider the following press release by the American Psychiatric Association:

Gender variant and transgender individuals must cope with multiple unique challenges, including significant discrimination, prejudice, and the potential for victimization from violent hate crimes. They often experience discrimination when accessing health care and are denied numerous basic civil rights and protections… transgender and gender variant people are frequently denied medical, surgical, and psychiatric care related to gender transition. Access to medical care (both medical and surgical) positively impacts the mental health of transgender and gender variant individuals.

Being transgender or gender variant implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social or vocational capabilities; however, these individuals often experience discrimination due to a lack of civil rights protections for their gender identity or expression. Transgender and gender variant persons are frequently harassed and discriminated against when seeking housing or applying for jobs or schools, are often victims of violent hate crimes, and face challenges in marriage, adoption, and parenting rights.

Discrimination and lack of equal civil rights is damaging to the mental health of transgender and gender variant individuals. For example, gender-based discrimination and victimization were found to be independently associated with attempted suicide in a population of transgender individuals, 32% of whom had histories of trying to kill themselves, and in the largest survey to date of gender variant and transgender people 41% reported attempting suicide.*

The APA joins other organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, in endorsing strong policy statements deploring the discrimination experienced by gender variant and transgender individuals and calling for laws to protect their civil rights.

- The American Psychiatric Association, 8/16/12, Release No. 12-36

In light of the APA, AMA and the other APA noting the depth (and effect) of anti-trans discrimination, that the SPLC has remained largely silent seems to me (and to many within the trans community) problematic. It’s been the topic of recent discussion on FaceBook, Reddit and numerous trans sites.

ME:  May 14, 12:21 AM

Hello?

What, if anything, are we to make of the SPLC’s (in)actions? The SPLC’s site still features a TERF leader as being the voice of reason in their hate-group reports.

The SPLC maintains a list of hate groups defined as groups that “…have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” It says that hate group activities may include speeches, marches, rallies, meetings, publishing, leafleting, and criminal acts such as violence. It says not all groups so listed by the SPLC engage in criminal activity. The Southern Poverty Law Center is listed under the resources section of the Federal Bureau of Investigation web page on hate crimes. – WP

So, why the silence, SPLC? Do you look at the decades of anti-trans TERF “speeches, marches, rallies, meetings, publishing, etc” and like what you see? Is that why you seemly choose to ignore TERF actions against the trans community? What other conclusions are we to are we to draw from your silence?

The FBI is fairly clear about their methods for detecting anti-trans hate:

When crimes are committed against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity, epithets often reveal the motive for the attack. Typical gender identity-related epithets and terms include: “he-she,” “she-male,” “tranny,” “it,” and “transvestite.” Also, the terms “cross dresser” and “drag queen” may be used in a hateful way, even though some individuals may self-identify with these terms. It is common for perpetrators of anti-transgender hate crimes to attack the victim after learning the victim is transgender. - FBI’s Hate Crime Data Collection Guidelines and Training Manual, page 17

Yeah, you know… like:

Trans people are a protected class under Title VII of the civil rights act. Under Title VII and it’s a violation of an employee’s civil rights to use incorrect pronouns, attempt to bar trans folk from the restroom, release personal info about trans people and… you know… all the general TERF behavior witnessed each and every day by the trans community. I only mention these hate metrics because they are the very methods the SPLC’s federal partners uses in identifying hate.

Speaking of employment… Need I again mention the history TERFs have of putting trans people to their employer in hopes of ending their careers? I’m sure Sandy Stone would be happy to give you some first-hand experience with that TERF tactic.

More from the SPLC’s voice of reason on MRA issues

So, SPLC… what’s your excuse? Why the seemingly willful blind eye?

More from the SPLC’s voice of reason on MRA issues

Why continue to feature anti-trans TERF leaders as being a reasonable voice on your website?

And, SPLC… just so you know, your voice of reason isn’t saying anything that the TERF movement doesn’t itself promote.

Cathy Brennan, contributor to the Radfem2013 conference, has sunk to yet a new low.  She is now trying to exploit the death of our sisters (Transgender Day of Remembrance – TDOR)  to further her justification of transphobia. She wants us all to believe that it isn’t transphobia that kills us, it is male violence. While it is true that the majority of murderers are male, transphobia is the cause of the high death rate. I think we all know that TERFs are not likely to gun us down but their agenda that is filled with hate for transgender folks, mostly trans women, helps perpetuate violence against us. Transphobia is not okay and it really does kill. – The TERFS

Social violence begins with social oppression. The trans population is routinely denied employment, social services and medical care. Cathy Brennan, co-organizer of the Radfem2013 conference (which was booted by the conference venue* for being an anti-trans hate group for the second year in a row) is better known to the trans community for her lead-role in attempting to have UN trans protections revoked. The fact that the TERF “TDOR” site admin is the selfsame UN anti-trans activist (who actively opposes trans  other equality legislation too, BTW) makes her appropriation of trans murder all the more deplorable. Gwendolyn Ann Smith, the creator of the the first Trans Day of Remembrance site, has requested that the TERF leader cease using her content, but Brennan has refused.

The real Trans Day of Remembrance gives trans people a chance to honor the memory of those whose lives were cut short through anti-trans violence. Remembrance affords members of the trans community an opportunity to publicly acknowledge our humanity, our loss and our strength as a community. The TERF DOR site attempts to use the death of trans people to promote the TERF belief that it is not the confluence of cis-privilege and transphobia which leads to the slaughter of trans people, but rather something they call “male violence” – that is, the belief that men are inherently violent by virtue of their maleness. Paradoxically, TERFs believe, assert and promote that transwomen are men.

NOTES:

On Cis Homicide:

In the US: The homicide victimization rate for both cis males and females was at its highest in 1980­ was (at its highest  16.1 homicides per 100,000 for males and 4.5 homicides per 100,000 for females. By 2008, the rates for both groups had fallen, reaching 8.5 homicides per 100,000 for males and 2.3 homicides per 100,000 for females.  U.S. Department of Justice

On Trans Homicide:

America: “Hate crimes against transgender people tend to be particularly violent. Our best estimates indicate that one out of every 1,000 homicides in the U.S. is an anti-transgender hate crime. This estimation is based on data collected by the national organizers of the Transgender Day of Remembrance and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Organizers of the Transgender Day of Remembrance track the number of transgender people killed each year in hate-based attacks using media articles, community reports and other publicly available data. By this count, they estimate that at least 15 transgender people are killed each year in hate-based attacks, although we believe the number to be higher based on transgender people’s common fear of going to the police and widespread misreporting. The Federal Bureau of Investigation estimates approximately 14,000 homicides in the country each year. Based on these figures, we can estimate that approximately one out of every 1000 homicides in the U.S. is an anti-transgender hate-based crime.” – HRC

Internationally: Even if the Brazilian trans population is 50,000 strong, they would still make up only .0003% of the population. Even so, 1 in 10 Brazilians murdered is probably trans. The trans population in Brazil averages 10 trans murders a month. About 1 in every 5000 cis Brazilian are at risk of homicide. If the trans population in Brazil is actually 50,000 strong, about 1 in every 500 trans Brazilians are at risk of homicide.

1/2 trans folks raped:

• 50%: Courvant, D., & Cook-Daniels, L., 1998. Transgender and intersex survivors of domestic violence: Defining terms, barriers and responsibilities
• 59%: Clements, K. SF Department of Public Health, Department of Public Health. (1999). The transgender community health project: Descriptive results. San Francisco: San Francisco.
• 54%: Kenagy, G. (2005). The health and social service needs of transgender people in Philadelphia. International Journal of Transgenderism, 8(2/3), 45-56. doi: 10.1300/J485v08n02_05
• 46%: Kenagy, G., & Bostwick, W. (2005). The health and social service needs of transgender people in Chicago. International Journal of Transgenderism, 8(2/3), 57-66. doi: 10.1300/J485v08n02_06

1/4 trans folks beaten:

• 37%: Clements, K. SF Department of Public Health, Department of Public Health. (1999). The transgender community health project: Descriptive results. San Francisco: San Francisco.
• 43%: Kenagy, G. (2005). The health and social service needs of transgender people in Philadelphia. International Journal of Transgenderism, 8(2/3), 45-56. doi: 10.1300/J485v08n02_05
• 37%: Transgender Law and Policy Institute’s “Transgender Issues: Fact Sheet”

*According to the Executive Director of the RadFem2013 CONFERENCE VENUE, they got the boot for anti-trans hate:

“While our commercial bookings subcontractor [an events firm called Off to Work] has a certain amount of freedom to use the centre when we are not using it for cultural events, if it comes to the charity’s attention that an event goes against our policy, then we will point it out to them.”

“We did some research into RadFem and discovered certain language was used and some statements were made about transgender people that would go against our equalities and diversity policy.

“We have discussed with our subcontractor Off to Work how to avoid such confusion in future and have strengthened our internal communications as a result.” - [NEWS SOURCE 1] [NEWS SOURCE 2] [ORIGINAL: "Radical Feminists Barred From London Irish Venue"]

TERF organizers of RadFem2013 are now asserting that they were not ejected from their venue for anti-trans hate by citing a scripted post made by the TERF’s BOOKING AGENT (which rents an office at the original RadFem2013 location). Obviously the RadFem2013 client (ie, the booking agent) and the actual venue itself have diverging views of TERF rhetoric and behavior. The bottom line is that RadFem2013 – just like RadFem2012 – was booted by their venu because the venue felt that the group’s rhetoric constituted anti-trans hate.

From the TERF TDOR site admin, RadFem2013 co-organizer and TERF leader:

Another TAer asks, Why do TERFs get special dispensation from the Southern Poverty Law Center?

That’s a very, very good question, Kat!

See Also: Revisiting ‘the fallacy of cis privilege, again.’

“I’m 18 years old and have lived under the assumption that I was a cisgendered female – identified as lesbian, never really felt dysphoric about myself beyond maybe a vague envy for the male body, feeling ‘off’ as a woman, a few times being curious about how ‘the other half lived,’ etc. Certainly didn’t hate being a woman, didn’t feel like I was trapped in the wrong body for the most part – until about two weeks ago.

“I was doing some research about a trans* character I was going to include in a story and throughout my research, a few bells rung. ‘Hormone therapy? You mean people can actually take hormones and develop the body they want?’ Well, I began to wonder – am I really a woman?

“And it all hit me, at once. Every doubt I’d had about being a woman, about being a man – all came to light. I’ve been worrying about my gender obsessively for the past two weeks or so, hardly eating, hardly sleeping. I mean, sure, even cisgendered people question their gender – but this much?

“I wonder if I’d be happier as a man, if I’d have a better future, and I can honestly see it. But I wonder if it’s all just a phase and I’ll wake up one morning, realize I was wrong and go back to be being cisgendered without question.

“The reason I’m writing to you is this: Is there any way to know for certain what your identity is, or is it just what feels right at a given time?”

What you are describing is not as uncommon as you might think. Let’s start with the last part first:

Most people do know for certain what their gender identity is, and the way they know is that they just know.

I personally believe that gender identity is innate – that you are born with it. It can change, but it can’t be changed. And there are quite a few people who are absolutely certain that they are a man, a woman, both, or neither.

There are other people who define and live out their identity by what feels right at any given time. But this is also a gender identity – it is just a fluid one. And I believe that this fluidity is also innate and that most people who identify as gender fluid, genderqueer, or bigender are also certain about this.Self-exploration and self-examination are almost always positive endeavors, and you will almost always come out stronger and more self-assured in the end

But that certainty – for either group – does not necessarily arrive at an early age. For some, that certainty was there for as long as they can remember. For others, it took some time, and that certainty didn’t arrive until well into adulthood, particularly when the information they needed to define their identity was not available to them and they have only recently discovered it.

And there are those people who are never certain. This might be because they have not been given the information, the tools, or the models to help them formulate a gender identity with certainty. This can be difficult, but we all live with ambiguity in some areas. This is just another adjustment to make.

There are some myths that still float around out there about gender identity, and those myths might be causing you this anguish, because they don’t fit your particular experience.

Myth #1: If your gender identity does not align with your physical body or who the culture tells you that you are, you will know this and act on it in early childhood.

The reality is that, for many people, this is true. But for others, as I said above, this is not the case at all.

The textbooks will often point to very young children who insist, “I am a boy” or “I am a girl,” when their physical body says otherwise. This is quite common, and these children are certain. They know who they are. But this is not the only experience, and this is not the gold standard to which you should compare your own feelings. This is one way that trans experience manifests.

Myth #2: If you do not feel like a man trapped in a woman’s body (or vice versa), you are not really trans.

The reality is that most trans people don’t use this analogy to describe themselves or their feelings.

I’m sure that this description fits some people to a “T” (pun intended), but my understanding is that it is actually a media creation that was used to describe trans woman Christine Jorgensen. The quote was attributed to her – that of being a woman trapped in a man’s body – but I’m not sure that she ever said that.

So not feeling like this really gives you very few clues about your own identity. Don’t use this cliché to determine the legitimacy of your own feelings.

Myth #3: All trans people hate their body, hate their genitalia, and hate everything about the gender they were assigned based of the sex they were assigned at birth.

The reality is that some trans people do hate their body and hate their genitalia and other sex characteristics that they possess. Some truly hate everything about being a “man” or being a “woman” in the culture because that’s not who they are.

But this is not true of all trans people. Hating your body or your genitalia is not a requirement for having a trans identity. It should not be a litmus test of whether or not you are trans, and it should not be a measure used to define your gender identity.

The same is true of hating or not hating everything about the gender you have been living. There are plenty of things I liked about being a woman, and there are some things I even miss. Some guys miss nothing about being female and think my nostalgia for high heels, dangly earrings, and seasonal eye-shadow palettes is quite a curiosity. But I don’t mind saying that I sometimes miss that stuff. It doesn’t make me less certain of who I am now.

So the first thing I would suggest is to try to let go of some of those myths. They are true for some people, but not for everyone. The next thing I would suggest is to try to lower your stress level about this. It’s going to be more difficult to sort through everything and to figure things out if you are not eating or sleeping and if you are otherwise obsessed with this “gender thing.”

You are eighteen and this is a recent discovery. I am not trying to downplay or dismiss what’s happening for you, but what I do want to do is point out that you have some time to sort through this. Nothing has to happen today, tomorrow, next month, or even next year.

You are just now coming to a realization that you might be trans or that you might have a gender identity that is different from what you thought it was. This is something that needs to be explored, and that exploration can be exciting and eye-opening.

See if you can shift your thinking about what is happening and turn it into something positive and challenging – “Here is a puzzle for me to solve about myself.” Self-exploration and self-examination are almost always positive endeavors, and you will almost always come out stronger and more self-assured in the end – although you might have to go through some rocky times to get there.

Because I believe that gender identity is pretty much hardwired, my personal feeling is that a person does not move from being cisgender to transgender and then back again. That does not mean that questioning doesn’t happen – I think it happens all the time. That questioning and that exploration are what lead to the “certainty” of which you speak.

Is this a phase? I don’t know. Only time will tell. I have read about medical students who tend to develop the symptoms of many of the diseases that they are studying, and even though being trans is not a disease, you are studying it in depth. It’s possible that some of the things that you are researching are ringing true to you, as they might with anyone, trans or not, and this is worrying you when it shouldn’t.

On the other hand, you chose to write a trans character into your story, requiring you to do extensive research. It could be telling that you made this decision in the first place. Again, I don’t know. You’re the only one who knows the answer, and I think that answer will eventually come.

There is no need to panic and no need to rush into anything. Live with this uncertainty for a little while and see what comes of it. Go to a trans man support or social group and see how you feel around trans guys. Talk to a therapist or someone else you trust and work through some of the feelings that you are having.

But first, take a deep breath, get some sleep, and have something to eat. It will help you think more clearly and be better able to examine all the possibilities that are out there and within you. This is just one more step in an evolution toward who you really are, and there is nothing wrong with taking all the time you need to discover that.

Readers, what do you think?

In a January 31 court hearing they defendants all plead not guilty to the first-degree intentional homicide charges they face. The charges come with a maximum life in prison sentence if they are convicted

Young was brutally killed and once the the murder was done one or more of the perpetrators took the body to a trash dumpster behind an apartment complex and set it on fire.  But by the time the police detectives investigating the case discovered that information, the dumpster in question had been picked up and emptied around January 8 at a transfer station before being taken to a massive landfill in Menomonee Falls, WI

While the court pleas were happening, the police on January 28 began searching a 200 by 200 foot section of the landfill with cadaver dogs for Young’s body which ended after 13 days.   Then on February 19 a body was discovered near a dumpster at 63rd and Kraul Streets where evidence in the Young murder was previously found.   It raised the hopes of Young’s family that it was his body, but it turned out not to be.

Despite the lack of a body, police and prosecuotrs belive that they have collected enough crime scene evidence combined with the statements of the alleged killers to secure convictions in this case.

As for the projected trial dates for the defendants in tthe Young case, they are as follows.  Billy Griffin is first up on June 10.  Ron Joseph Allen and Ashanti Mcalister get their day in court on June 24.  Victor Stewart will start on July 1 and Devin L. Seaberry on July 8.    Those dates could change based on whether they change their initial ‘not guilty’ pleas and take plea bargains  or the trials get rescheduled.

Will Evon Young’s family get justice?   That remains to be seen.  But you know I will keep you posted about any developments in this case as I get the information.

RELATED: Trans Rapper Murdered: The Official Story vs. The Friend’s Story

David Hearne declares:

A person is dead, and somebody has his panties in a knot because he doesn’t like the fact that the newspaper used male pronouns to refer to a male person?

That’s some sense of priorities there. When Tyra Hunter was allowed to die in a DC Ambulance, pronouns were not the problem. An EMT that wouldn’t work on Tyra when he discovered that Tyra was male was the problem.

So there can never be more than one problem?

Well, I guess that is the mindset that spreads Marriage Derangement Syndrome.

Will Fostello shows off this fistula:

And we wonder why the DC EMTs thought that they could get away with letting Tyra Hunder die.

Image credit: gudbuytjane.wordpress.com

But, Williams’ response was so obnoxious that it seems as if she’s auditioning for a position with HRC (say, one that will be in charge of disseminating propaganda to the media about why its okay for gay rights organizations to not hire trans women; and, though I’m trying to avoid the issue because I really think that Williams’ arrogance is the bigger concern here, several people have e-mailed me privately arguing convincingly that SF Pride’s rejection of the Manning is indeed trans-related and would not have occurred but for the revelations that Manning might identify as trans.) And that brand of disgusting Gay, Inc., obnoxiousness is worthy of protest irrespective of what one’s opinion is of Manning.  In fact, it should be happening every day in front of every organ of Gay, Inc.

As an addendum: I’ve yet to hear anyone among Williams’ defenders address whether she is a TERF.   If so, that would explain even more.

Rea Carey’s Facebook page:

If it’s difficult for you to see, here’s a close-up of one of her “likes”:

if you’re not sure who Cathy Brennan is, she’s about as iconic in trans circles as Fred Phelps is in gay ones.  So if I were to interview Rea Carey about this issue, I’d ask her a few questions:

Question #1. Do you believe the goal of transactivists is to “erase ‘woman’ from reality” and that trans women are  ”insane males”  that are “actively working night and day” and are trying to “erase us, women“?

Question #2. Are you concerned with the condition of my genitals, in the same way Cathy Brennan is?

Question #3. Do you think that trans women’s bodies are not a female body, but simply “a mutilated male body“?

Question #4. Do believe that “trans activists and MRAs (men’s rights activists) are the same people“?

Question #5. Do you think that “trans is the shit stain on the underpants of MRAs“?

Question #6. Do you believe “yelling ‘transwomen are women’ sounds a lot like “leave britney alone.”

Question #7. Do you think that trans women who ID as lesbian are “scammers” and do you agree with the statement that  ”someone’s mental illness does not mean another group should coddle them or suck their dicks”?

Question #8. Do think “trans are liars“?

Question #9  Do you think “trans erases women“?

Question #10 Do you believe “trans promotes rape culture“?

and then we’d go to the bonus round and I’d ask her:

Bonus question #1: Does the fact that NGLTF’s Sue Hyde has never made an official apology to Sandy Stone concerning the letter Sue signed trying to get Stone fired from the Olivia Records for being trans, a sign that being a TERF within the walls of NGLTF is “A OK!”?

Bonus question #2: How many openly trans women do you employ?

Bonus question #3: If you support the Employment Non-discrimination Act being fully trans-inclusive, wouldn’t it make sense to actually HIRE trans women yourself and lead by example?

Bonus question #4. Since Lisa Mottet (a cis legislative attorney) is leaving  NGLTF’s Transgender Civil Rights Project to work at the National Center for Transgender Equality, will you hire a trans woman to replace her?

 h/t to Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism

29 year old Kelly Young, 30 year old Ashley Sinclair and 20 year old Ce Ce Acoff until this month were living their trans lives.  Now they are all dead because they were fighting the just battle for self determination of their own identities.

Translation from Jordana’s eloquent quote: they died because somebody hated the fact they were trans and arrogantly presumed they had the power to erase them from this plane of existence.

Kelly died on April 3 in Baltimore, MD.  48 hours later Ashley was killed in Orlando, FL and now we discover that Ce Ce Acoff’s body was found with multiple stab wounds on April 17.

Right now I’m angry, and it’s not just because of the jacked up Cleveland Plain Dealer article in Ms. Acoff’s case. I’m pissed off because this is the third African-American transwoman we have lost this month.

What’s making me even more upset right now is the latest girl like us to die was only 20 years old.

I hear the news about this latest April 2013 death on the very night in Oakland they are having a memorial candlelight vigil for Brandy Martell who was killed one year ago today.

The three deja vu trans deaths of April 2013 eerily replicates the deadly trifecta of African American trans murdersthat happened just 12 months ago last April.  So you can understand why I went nuclear over that transphobic Acoff article and mad that history repeated itself .

The painful reality we’re dealing with is that three more African-American transwomen will never reach their 40th birthdays.   In Ce Ce Acoff’s case,she like Chicago’s Paige Clay will never see her 30th, much less her 25th birthday.  It’s three more names we will have to read through blurry, tear soaked eyes on November 20 on a Transgender Day of Remembrance list that will probably be adding more names to it before the cutoff date for the 2013 TDOR memorials take place all over the world.

A TDOR names list that once again will be overflowing with the names of Black and Latina transwomen.

Once again I’ll be headed to another birthday thinking about the transwomen that won’t get the opportunity to grow a year older and celebrate it like I’ll hopefully be doing on Saturday.

TransGriot Update:  Thanks to tips from readers Lilith and Jahaira discovered Ms Acoff’s femme name is Cemia Dove.  Her friends called her Ce Ce.

Back in those days it was political.

I didn’t go to the Christopher Street West Gay Liberation Marches until 1974.  The prior years I was dealing with more pressing issues including surgery dates.

I went to my first Christopher Street West March and Rally in Hollywood, 1974.

It wasn’t a huge event. But there were a lot of TS/TG women there, Hollywood was our turf, home to the few bars and restaurants that would serve us.

The Parade/March started at Hollywood and Argyle and made its way west to Las Palmas.  There it turned south down Las Palmas, past the Gold Cup and the Church on Selma Avenue where the male hustlers displayed their merchandise.

The rally was held in De Longpre Park, south of Sunset Blvd and had speakers, not well known celebrity entertainers.

Morris Kight and Jim Kepner introduced the speakers.  To their credit they remembered me from conferences.

The Founders of the Modern Gay Liberation Movement made an effort to reach out, recognize the diversity of a community that was already fragmenting into various identities.

I was there to enjoy the day and photograph the event.  I didn’t have a prepared speech, but I got up and spoke anyway.

I spoke about how beautiful it was to see gay men, lesbians transsexuals and queens all together on this one day and how sad it was that the rest of the year we lived in our own ghettos with others excluded from our bars.

By 1976 the festival had started featuring entertainment as well as speeches. Booths selling beer, food and trinkets now occupied the park which had been the site of a political rally just two years prior.

By the 1980s  the connection to the Stonewall uprising had become tenuous at best.  The AIDS crisis dominated the LGBT scene as did the militant politics of Larry Kramer and ACT-UP.

Then in the 1990s as the AIDS crisis lessened it seemed as though LGBT people became a demographic to the point where community isn’t defined by relationships, affection or love, nor even by politics, but rather by patterns of consumption.

I’m a product of the 1960s, an unrepentant hippie anti-establishment sort. Many years ago marriage was the last thing on my mind, but old age and awareness of my own mortality as well as that of my life partner have made the legal ties and rights purchased with marriage into something desirable. But the marriage parasites shouldn’t start salivating over the thought of getting a bunch of money from us when we marry. We already had the ceremony performed by our peers a year and a half ago.  We just want the paper and the rights. I sure don’t need an expensive dress or ceremony.

Once upon a time being LGBT was like being a hippie in many ways.  Our lives served as an example of an alternative to the consumerist, the patriarchal institutions of the straights.

With our lives we questioned their assumptions.

Now it seems as though we want to be just like them.

Join the military, wage imperialistic wars of conquest to fatten the wallets of the rich.

Get the useless education in being an efficient corporate tool, destroying the planet and walking on the backs of the working class so you too can afford to attend the MWMF/Dinah Shore/Black Party/White Party with a winter share in Aspen  and a summer share in the Hamptons.

There are a lot of pissed off TS/TG folks who feel forgotten.  Too queer to be a part of the A-List LGBT club.  From the floors of the Big Box Stores to the street corners and squats they still see the personal as the political.

Maybe it is time for working class folks, both White and People of Color who are LGBT to realize many of our issues are class related and not simply LGBT related.

I held my tongue over all the Gays in the Military hoopla.  Because there are LGBT people who are in the military and who need the benefits they earned.  But somehow serving as part of the imperialistic corporate war machine always seemed like a pretty dubious right.

Particularly given the history of the US and its support of brutal dictatorships along with the over throwing of elected democratic Perhaps we need to reclaim the concept of liberation. Freedom isn’t choosing between the latest iPhone and the latest Samsung Galaxy. Freedom is about having equality and dignity.governments.

I have to ask, “Who all are you protecting, the people of the US or the profits of the ultra rich corporate overlords?”

This brings me to the latest act of craven cowardliness on the part of the A-List LGBT folks who run the movement:  Bradley Manning is off limits at SF Gay Pride parade, but corporate sleaze is embraced

It seems that some of the A-list corporate suck-ups were afraid of the controversy surrounding Bradley Manning.  Perhaps they were afraid people might be reminded of the gentle, angry, loving people who marched in the 1960s and 1970s when standing for something was more important than buying the next expensive toy, the next exotic and exclusive gay/lesbian cruise.

Maybe as an old post-transsexual lesbian and left wing hippie I hold the A-List LGBT folks values in contempt.

Maybe I have more in common with the LGBT folks who go to the same concerts at the same funky venues as old straights with hippie roots.

Funny thing is I still feel pretty damned comfortable at demonstration where folks are holding Teachers, Nurses, Communication Workers and Teamster Union signs protesting cuts to Social Security and the war against working people.

More comfortable than at LGBT events featuring A-List members of LGBT Inc.

Speaking of which…  While a lot of gay men died during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and early 1990s a lot of lesbians didn’t and a lot of us working class LGBT folks are facing pretty desolate lives of loneliness and poverty as we age.  Social Security is another inconvenient issue.

From where I stand the suits of Gay Inc or perhaps more accurately LGBT Inc seem pretty much isolated from the depredations of poverty.

But I can pretty much guarantee you this issue will not be raised at the Corporate Sponsored Pride Day Celebrations across the nation.  Mustn’t let corporate selling opportunities be tainted with politics or anything that would cause LGBT consumer to think they are living in a dystopia instead of a virtual paradise.

Maybe it is time for a counter-cultural LGBT revolution, one that throws off the chains of identity politics and forges bonds based on common cause with workers, older people, environmentalists, the lumpen folks who are homeless or working the street, the anti-war folks.

Perhaps we need to reclaim the concept of liberation.  Freedom isn’t choosing between the latest iPhone and the latest Samsung Galaxy.  Freedom is about having equality and dignity.  Not having to go to bed hungry, having a roof over your head, not having to do sex work.

Maybe we need a New Deal 2.0

I’m pretty sure we don’t need a whole lot of what the corporate sponsors of LGBT Inc are selling.

Free Bradley Manning

Free Leonard Peltier

Free Lynn Stewart

Free Cece McDonald

Free Mumia Abu-Jamal

A reader writes:

“I was looking back on an old post where you stated trans guys all ‘pass’ after x amount of time on testosterone.

“I have now been on T seven years. I have changed my documentation. I have a baritone voice. I still occasionally get read as female. This seems to occur more when I am in queer-friendly spaces, and if it happens where I can respond, I simply correct people and say, ‘It’s sir, actually’ or something similar.

“I think it’s important that trans men realize that sometimes you can do things ‘right’ (have a deep voice, act masculine, etc.) and your transition might still take a long, long time.”

It’s true. I have said in the past that, in general, trans guys will not be mistaken for female within a year or two of starting testosterone. And I think this is true for most trans guys – but there will always be exceptions. Transition is a process, not a product, and hormones are going to affect everyone differently.

Some people’s bodies just don’t process hormones in a “typical” or expected way. For some, the genetics just aren’t there for the physical changes that allow for complete assimilation as a “traditional” male (or female).

For me, I have had to accept the fact that I will be “ma’amed” at least 50 percent of the time on the telephone and at drive-thrus. I hateYou get what you get, and you don’t know what that will be until you get there. it, but I don’t think that it will ever change. I don’t have a super-deep voice, but it’s not the deepness that is the problem – it’s the inflection or modulation. My voice is all over the place – up, down, and very expressive.

That is a “female” trait in our culture. I’ve tried the monotone thing, but I have to concentrate too hard, and if I’m not thinking about it, I revert right back. So that’s my annoyance, but it is minor.

I don’t know how you look, act, or sound, but I think that queer-friendly spaces can sometimes be the most difficult for trans men who identify as men and who use male pronouns and titles. When I was first transitioning, I lived in what was considered to be a “gay” neighborhood. In my neighborhood, I got “ma’amed” all the time. But when I went to the suburbs, where gender roles and gender expression are much more established and binary, I always got “sirred.”

In straight, traditionally binary spaces, expressions of masculinity are seen as male, and so those people in traditionally “male” clothing with a “male” haircut and “male” mannerisms are almost always seen as male. In more queer-friendly, non-traditional spaces, the lines are blurred.

People generally rely on their previous experiences to define their current experience. When their previous experiences with masculine-appearing, baritone-voiced people have shown those people to be male, that’s the assumption they will make now and in the future. When their previous experiences with masculine-appearing, baritone-voiced people have been mixed, then they will make the assumption that is most in line with what has happened for them in the past – which might have been that those people were female.

It’s a pain. But you’re right – although testosterone generally makes it pretty easy for trans guys to quickly assimilate into the culture as men if they choose, it doesn’t happen for everyone. Age, genetics, and other factors will always play a role. It’s definitely a process – and it’s also a crap shoot. You get what you get, and you don’t know what that will be until you get there.

Transitioned readers, what has been your experience with others’ gender perceptions of you after many years, and how have you adjusted to any problems, or what have you done to mitigate them?

A reader writes:

“I’m a 20-year-old female. I’ve been researching sex reassignment surgery and it’s not something I think I’d ever be interested in going through. I’m looking for different ways of expressing maleness. I’ve recently begun fixing my closet to ‘guy gay/fashionably butch’ attire, which I like. My voice is naturally flat and low, which I like.

“I also want to achieve a more masculine body shape through building muscle, which I know will be limited by lack of testosterone injections. I already have a good build; I’m tall, broad-shouldered, solid, with decent muscle already, especially in the legs. I’m most interested in shoulders, arms, and abs.

“Do you have any suggestions for products I can use that aren’t injections – maybe creams, supplements, etc.? Any way to alter where weight accumulates? Other suggestions would be great.”

It sounds as if you’ve got a good start with regard to the body shape that you want. There are testosterone gels or patches that you can use in place of an injection, but they will also give you other male characteristics, such as a deeper voice, facial hair, and possibly body hair. They will act on your body just like injections would, and it doesn’t sound as if this is what you want.

I know that some people also use DHEA supplements, which can be purchased over the counter at health stores, as an alternative to testosterone, but I think reviews are mixed with regard to how beneficial DHEA is. It also appears that it can produce some masculinization in females similar to the results of testosterone, which I’m not sure you want.

I would recommend that you look at both male and female body-building magazines – male magazines to provide you with exercises for the appearance that you want, and female magazines to provide you with diet and supplement tips that help females build muscle without the benefits of testosterone.

Also, if you can afford it, you might want to buy a couple of sessions with a personal trainer and describe to him or her the body shape that you want. That person can probably give you some advice on what to do to get as close as possible to that shape.

Estrogen will determine how and where your body fat is distributed, which will affect your body shape. But you can work particular muscles to try to counteract or balance that as much as possible. For example, if your hips are very wide because of fat that is distributed there (you can’t change your pelvic bone structure, which will generally be wider than a non-trans man’s), you can build up your shoulders to balance that out so that your bottom half doesn’t appear as wide.

I believe that I have both male and female readers who work out with weights and do a lot of body sculpting, so I’m hoping that readers will have other suggestions. I now turn it over to the brains (and bodies) of the operation.

Readers – thoughts?