By Autumn Sandeen & Cristan Williams Anti-trans activists in both Mississippi and North Carolina have passed laws that effectively remove trans people from public life. Making it legal on a state level to discriminate against trans people in employment, housing, goods, and services while making it illegal for trans people to use public hygiene facilities that correspond with their transitioned status ensures that trans people cannot function within society. We at the TransAdvocate believe that the evidence shows that erasing trans people from… Read more.

Recently in BuzzFeed in the article Feds “Ready” For Transgender Discrimination Complaints In North Carolina, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Commissioner Chai Feldblum was quoted as saying: I want workers to know that even though there isn’t yet a federal Equality Act protecting them, even though there is not a state law protecting them, and even though city laws have been removed, they can walk into a federal agency called the EEOC. Their claim will be taken, it will be… Read more.

Do you want to know what Just Want Privacy's talking points are? The talking points that the organization gives out to their spokespeople who support of their "repeal the rule" initiative on transgender public accommodations? The things they tell them not to say? Just Want Privacy is the group who wants to repeal the public accommodation antidiscrimination protections based on gender identity in Washington by a statewide initiative. One thing… Read more.

For the The Transgender Day Of Visibility. This lyric video explores the performative nature of gender, the difficulties of navigating the legal system and finding a place where transgender people are protected as citizens against prejudice, discrimination and hate-motivated violence. By including transgender people who are of different races, ages, faiths, and stages in their transition this video showcases the huge spectrum that exists within the community. All of the people included in this video are transgender. Transgender is defined… Read more.

Their Supposed 2 + 2 Didn't Equal Their What They Said Would Be The Outcome Of 4 Just this last year in Houston, the Campaign For Houston created what turned out to be an effective, creepy ad that more that implied that if one gave civil rights based on gender identity to Houstonians, then men would be given the legal right to enter public women's bathrooms unimpeded -- and then… Read more.

The Privacy For All (PFA) coalition that includes the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) -- a Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified active Anti-LGBT hate group -- is raising funds on their website for the Limits On Use Of Facilities In Government Buildings And Businesses Initiative Statute (which they're referring to as the "Personal Privacy Protection Act"). This is in violation of GoFundMe's own Terms and Conditions. Specifically, on their Terms and Conditions webpage, GoFundMe lists under the header What's… Read more.

Pat Cordova-Goff, an 18-year-old college student and Trans Youth Justice Organizer for TRUTH (a position jointly funded by GSA Network and Transgender Law Center) started a petition on the GSA-Network's website entitled Boycott 2015 "Stonewall" Movie. The petition, which currently has over 22,000 signatures, begins by stating: To: the potential viewers of STONEWALL To all considering watching the newest whitewashed version of queer history, It is time that black and brown transwomyn and drag queens are recognized for their… Read more.

In January of 2014 California, Speaker of the Assembly Toni Atkins introduced the Respect After Death Act (AB 1577), and Gov. Brown signed it into law the following September 26th. As of July 1, 2015, it requires the official responsible for completing a transgender person’s death certificate to do so in a manner that reflects the person’s gender identity if they are presented appropriate documentation, such as written instructions from the deceased person confirming their wishes, an updated birth certificate… Read more.

On Friday, July 10, 2015, the Privacy For All coalition announced in an email entitled "The Naked Facts" the kick off of the California Secretary of State named Limits On The Use Of Facilities In Government Facilities And Businesses initiative, previously referred to as the Personal Privacy Protection Act by their coalition, and similar versions of this bill proposed in other states referred to Bathroom Bounty Bills by trans activists… Read more.

Brad Dacus's "Prancing Transgender Voyeurs" Quote The first line of what California's Personal Privacy Protection Act initiative would create as California Health & Safety Code § 118501, should it become law in 2016, is this: Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person shall use facilities in accordance with their biological sex in all government buildings. The Personal Privacy Protection Act is currently a request for a Title And Summary For Proposed Initiative that's been… Read more.

Hi Lisa Vogel, Perhaps you know of me. My name is Autumn Sandeen. I've written about MichFest quite a few times over the past seven or eight years. Have you noticed that the beloved LGBT inclusivity community the past few days has been directing its ire at the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the LGBTQ Task Force, as well as their executive directors Kate Kendall and Rea Carey? Have you noticed that the trans community is directing… Read more.

One of the fairly regular commenters on GenderTrender is Roslyn Hardy Holcomb, a published writer of color. She's been interviewed by USA Today, she has twenty-three books reviewed on Goodreads, and you can buy her books on Amazon. Basically, she's a moderately well-known author in the romance genre. She apparently is also a trans-exclusionary radical feminist, abbreviated as TERF. Holcomb made a comment on the GenderTrender post “We must look, act and live the part” about the Planet Fitness… Read more.

  GallusMag of GenderTrender has, on Sunday, October 19, 2014, been identified as Linda V. Shanko. Linda Shanko Shanko is perhaps best known for mixing false, malicious statements (often sexual in nature) in with her doxxing of trans women on her blog, GenderTrender, and The TransAdvocate won't participate in helping GallusMag hide her identity. Shanko’s actions towards many -- both trans and cis -- may meet the legal criteria for harassment. In fact, Shanko’s actions… Read more.

(Added emphasis to specific statements by Lisa Vogel and/or official MichFest press releases and documents is added throughout the piece with bolded orange text.) Lisa Vogel posted an official Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MichFest) statement on her Facebook page on August 18th, 2014. The statement is in regards to MichFest and the long-running womyn-born-womyn policy/intention for the festival. It's been crossposted a number of times, including to the LGBT news site Between The Lines. Lisa… Read more.

This is a long-form article on MichFest's co-founder and current producer Lisa Vogel. The article contains extensive text of what Vogel has stated regarding trans people over several decades, as well as analysis and commentary on her carefully evolved language, but unevolved perspective, that trans women are males. Lisa Vogel, a co-founder and the producer of the Michigan Women's Music Festival (known more commonly as MichFest and by the acronym MWMF), has consistently defined trans women as both… Read more.

The Chicago Sun-Times published an op-ed by Kevin D. Williamson entitled Laverne Cox Is Not a Woman. The op-ed was Williamson's response to the Time Magazine spread where Laverne Cox was featured on the cover of Time Magazine issue with the header The Transgender Tipping Point. The Williamson op-ed was first published by the National Review and was then picked up for crossposting by the Sun-Times. Included in the text of this op-ed were problematic paragraphs such as these: Regardless… Read more.

Back in 2011, Cathy Brennan and I were among a group of people working to pass Maryland's HB 235 (Prohibiting Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination) into law. I developed what I thought was a friendship with her while working on the bill -- this was the e-mail she sent me that changed the tone of our relationship. I asked her in a comment thread on Pam's House Blend, the blog I then contributed to, whether or not she… Read more.

Bayard Rustin is a civil rights icon of the African-American and gay civil rights movements. In 1986, Rustin gave a controversial speech entitled "The New 'Niggers' Are Gay," and that speech is included as an essay in the book Time On Two Crosses: The Collected Writings Of Bayard Rustin. I believe it's time to revisit Rustin's concept of defining what the current litmus paper and barometer of social change is in 2014. In 1986, Rustin believed that African-Americans are… Read more.

I look to Sylvia Rivera, who passed in 2002, was an activist icon whose action approach to civil rights is one I admire. I like to think I've emulated part of her action approach to civil rights when I chained myself to the White House fence twice for repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but I don't think I've come close to measuring up to her example. But, she used terminology that was appropriate in her day for trans… Read more.

"I don't mind if you take pictures, especially like liposuction me, if you've got any sort of like...yeah, Photoshop -- something like that. But, we're not recording tonight. We recently were targeted by the IRS for those of you on our email list; we recently just finished -- and you'll be hearing more about this -- an audit by the Attorney General that was due on the same day that final numbers on AB1266 came out." - Karen England,… Read more.

On Monday, January 13, I interviewed Judy Chiasson of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for a bit under an hour, and this post is the second segment posted of this interview. You may remember that Chiasson was the LAUSD representative who gave testimony before the California Senate Education Committee in June of 2013. This segment of the interview for the most part was about AB1266 and what the Los Angeles Unified School District policy regarding transgender students. This… Read more.

On Monday, January 13, I interviewed Judy Chiasson of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) for a bit under an hour. You may remember that she was the LAUSD representative who gave testimony before the California Senate Education Committee in June of 2013. The interview for the most part was about AB1266 and what the Los Angeles Unified School District policy regarding transgender students. Key parts of the interview include her take on whether LAUSD is going to change… Read more.

Sometimes, one just has to call out pure, unadulterated bullsh**. The following is my letter to the Toronto Star editor as submitted. Dear Letters to the Editor, I'm concerned about the question in the most recent that Ethically Speaking columnist Ken Gallinger posted in his most recent column entitled Transgender woman’s behaviour in changeroom unacceptable. The question maligns both transgender women and the management of YMCAs and YWCAs, and it wasn't fact-checked for accuracy. The question in the… Read more.

Quoting my anonymous peer activist friend whose helping me with the numbers: San Diego County is in and puts the pro-trans side in a better place than it found itself Friday. Only three counties to go: Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Nevada. I'm getting a feeling this may not make it from spot-checking to the full count. Duplicate signatures in spot-checking drive down validity rate dramatically. San Diego County had a whopping 4 duplicates in spot-checking, but this forced its… Read more.

In their December 30, 2013 press release Co-ed Bathroom Bill Update: Legislature Still Has To Hold It, the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) claims that the California Success and Opportunity Act (the act that that they're attempting to rebrand as the "Co-ed Bathroom Bill") doesn't go into effect on January 1, 2014. Sacramento, CA-- A referendum has put on hold a 37 word bill which would have opened up restrooms, locker rooms and showers in K-12 public schools to students “irrespective… Read more.

The data in this update is in large part from a peer LGBT community activist who wants to remain anonymous, and the commentary is mine. The update is accurate as of the December 10th update found on the California Secretary of State's page on the AB1266 referendum update page. The position of the proponents has improved since the December 4th update. Counties that have completed the spot-checking of signature validity: 32 of 58. Percentage of total signatures turned in that… Read more.

If we don't get it -- enough signatures -- we have to get over a half-a-million signatures, and if we don't...we aren't able to get enough signatures, then it goes into effect on January first. And then it's...we're going to see victims -- I believe we'll see victims all throughout the state of California. Boys and girls -- You know, 13 year-old, 14 year-old girls who suddenly find themselves in the same shower bin as a naked boy...a 16 year-old… Read more.

The Pueblo Chieftain pretty much reported in their November 21, 2013 article Transgender pupil keeps restroom rights that the administrative and criminal cases brought forward by the Pacific Justice Institute are completed. As for the administrative case put forward to the school board: The Fremont Re-2 School Board upheld findings that will continue to allow a transgender student to use the girls restroom at Florence High School. The board voted unanimously to uphold a report issued by Superintendent Rhonda Vendetti… Read more.

The Secretary of State's office described the process and procedure for qualifying the School Success And Opportunity Act (AB1266) for referendum on the November, 2014 ballot: Once the requisite number of signatures has been collected, they must be filed with the appropriate county elections official(s). Counties then have eight working days to report the raw count of signatures to the Secretary of State. If the raw count of signatures equals 100% or more of the total number of signatures needed… Read more.

  This is imagery of the flags we paraded at the San Diego Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) march. Note we flew an American flag -- shown in the center of the photo -- to highlight trans people are Americans. The far right flag is the Transgender Pride flag that Monica Helms designed for the 1998 Phoenix, Arizona pride march. In between the American flag and the trans flag there is a TransAmerican flag -- a pink, white, and blue… Read more.

It's just not enough to know what you're against: we also need to know what we're for, and then work and sacrifice to create the kind of world we want to live in. And, sometimes it takes more than keyboard activism to create that kind of world. On November 19, 2013 -- on a day before the annual Transgender Day Of Remembrance -- The Transadvocate organized an action in front of the Trinity Law School in Santa Ana, California entitled… Read more.

With talking points, it's easy to demonize a class of people as a class of people. When confronted with one, very humanized person who belongs to that class of people, it can be hard for someone to stick to the class demonization talking points. An example on point: the demonization of trans female youth as a class of people -- people described by the demonizers as male -- as bathroom and locker room predators of cisgender girls. The Pacific Justice… Read more.

It's hard for me to imagine the actual discussion language in meeting between Pacific Justice Institute's (PJI's) president Brad Dacus, staff attorney Matt Reynolds, and board member Tim Lefever -- all attorneys -- where they developed plans and talking point for sexualizing trans female preteens by getting conservative Christian adults to think these preteens as future horny male teens, or planning how to message that trans female teens are inherently bullies even when there's no evidence that they actually are… Read more.

I've collected a number of quotes from those against California's School Success and Opportunity Act (AB 1266) referendum signature drive and should it turn out to be successful. There's also some background quotes by some of the characters or organizations involved with signature drive as they give some context for previous comments. So, to give you an idea of the measured words of the PJI at the hearing on AB 1266 (The California Success and Opportunity Act) bill and their… Read more.

Ben Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) testified against California's Success and Opportunity Act at the State Senate Education Committee hearing on June 12, 2013. An excerpt from his testimony: This bill would call for any student and young adult who perceives themselves to be something other than their sex at birth to share shower facilities, restrooms, locker rooms with gender or sex they feel they are at any given time. The problem is that this bill, or current… Read more.

It All Depends On The Audience The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) has been at the center of a controversy because of what they've clamed about the behavior of a trans student at a Colorado high school. They've turned her into a predator...a monster...a "nightmare" example of what trans female youth will do if they are universally allowed into any public school's girls locker rooms and restrooms. And as Transadvocate editor-in-chief Cristan Williams has pointed out, one of their transparent reasons… Read more.

I have some thoughts on how Pvt. Chelsea Manning's gender dysphoria was rolled out. Let me begin by saying I'm going to give, and I'm going to advocate for, respect for Manning's chosen name and publicly embraced gender, and I'm going to use female pronouns and call her Chelsea. That; however, comes with a mixed bag of emotions. I'm going to respect Chelsea's public request in part because of the Biblical teaching I learned as Pentecostal youth that I still… Read more.

Jennifer Usher posted up on her blog a post entitled Slacktivists? ROTFLLMAO!!!!! as a response to my recent Transadvocate post Transsexual Separatist Slacktivism Doesn’t Win Legislatively. I haven't made it a habit of responding to her, but I am doing so this time -- and personally to her at that. Jennifer, I know I'm violating the "don't feed the trolls" axiom about responding to folk who, with intent, try to provoke angry or personal responses, but in this case… Read more.

Call them classic transsexuals or women of operative history; call them true transsexuals or transsexual separatists -- whatever you call them, you can also call them ineffectual slacktivists. Over at LGBT Weekly where I write the Trans Progressive column, the August 15, 2013 column is about this year's California Transgender Advocacy Day. About fifty people, including trans adults, trans youth, parents of trans youth, and allies lobbied for three bills that will impact trans people -- trans people who are… Read more.

It's kind of sad, really. Progressive talking heads on cable television aren't talking about Gov. Jerry Brown (D-CA) signing AB 1266, the School Success and Opportunity Act. (The act will become law on January 1, 2014 -- the tenth anniversary of California's first transgender rights bill, AB 196, the Gender Nondiscrimination Act, becoming law.) From the Transgender Law Center's description of the bill that Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed on August 12, 1213: California law already prohibits discrimination in… Read more.

Editor's Note: This is part of a series on "stealth." The goal of this series to examine the nuanced ways trans opinion leaders conceptualize stealth and how they feel about it. Suzan Cooke kicked off the series with her article, The Many Shades of Stealth. It should be noted that TA is not endorsing any one view, definition or conceptualization. As with the elephant parable, each perception presented in this series represents one representation of the truth; taken together,… Read more.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people. ~Martin Luther King, Jr. During the civil rights struggles of Martin Luther King Junior's day, he was appalled by the silence of those whom he believed were, or should have been, on the side of African-American community civil rights. So with that in mind, The Advocate posted an… Read more.

There's an interesting, but sad story found on the Army Times website entitled West Point sergeant charged with filming naked female cadets. From the article: A sergeant first class on the staff of the United States Military Academy at West Point faces charges for allegedly filming numerous female cadets without their consent, sometimes when they were in the shower, according to the Army. The suspect, Sgt. First Class Michael McClendon, faces charges under four articles of the Uniform Code of… Read more.

fter my surgery and later issuance of a new birth certificate last November, I wanted to apply to the Department of the Navy (DON) to change my recorded gender. The Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) keeps track of servicemembers and retirees genders, so I wanted, for gender affirmation and DOD acknowledgement, my gender reflected in my Department of Defense (DOD) records. There is no gender marker on military identification cards, so it's not an issue of being outed by… Read more.

There are whys to transgender activism, but beyond the whys of transgender activism there are the whats: there are the goals of transgender activism. Here are seven goals of trans activism with some explanation as to why these are trans activism goals. Employment antidiscrimination protections. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE)/Task Force report Injustice at Every Turn A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, trans and gender non-conforming respondents experienced double the rate of unemployment: Survey… Read more.

Dehumanization of murdered trans women seems to be the norm these days. No matter how many times GLAAD and trans activists reach out to teach journalists how not to revictimize murdered trans women -- especially trans women of color -- there always seems to be a "next time." A new example of a "next time" is found in John Caniglia's two articles for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, entitled Oddly dressed body found in Olmsted Township pond identified and Brutal slaying… Read more.

I published an earlier revision of this essay first on January 12, 2011 at Pam's House Blend. I believe the hypothesis of this essay is still true and bears repeating every now and again. ~~A~~ I work on LGBT community issues, as well as transgender community issues. I have, and will continue to work with LGB and T activists working on issues that effect transgender and LGBT community. From what I've learned and experienced within LGBT community, and activism… Read more.

Back in 2009 I asked the the question if there were a right way to be LGB Or T. As I consider the personal difficulties of my past few years, especially those difficulties relating to community orthodoxies externally imposed on me by others, I find myself revisiting the idea behind my now four-year-old question. And now with Suzan asking a similar themed question in her recent post HBS: Play Ground for Frauds, Bullies and Self-Loathing Transsexual-Transgender People and wannabee Transsexuals,… Read more.

This is a personal post regarding a known flame troll who seems to have focused on me. If this isn't the kind of post you're interested in, please just skip reading it. ~~A Update: Well, Jennifer Usher has responded to this post with Mr. Sandeen Has A Complete Meltdown. I think I need to make a point one more time because Jennifer is still imagining that I'm conspiring with others to cause her harm. Specifically, I've never conspired with someone… Read more.

As Cristan Williams pointed out in her recent Transadvocate piece Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, segregation against trans women has been occurring at that festival for a very, very long time. Over the years, many intra-LGBT community allies of trans women have spoken out against the policy -- including the Lesbians for Justice in 1992, the Lesbian Resource Center of Seattle in 1999, and the Lesbian Avengers of Boston in 2000 -- and yet words alone haven't moved the Michigan Womyn’s… Read more.