If "Resistance" means anything, it means removing those from power who act to oppress us. This means that YOU --yes you-- are needed in the fight to ensure that those who are running for political office will fight for justice and equality. Below are the registration dates for the US political registration dates, primaries, and runoffs. Under these dates is a form that will allow you to register. Upcoming Registration, Primary, & Runoff Dates State Primary Date Runoff Primary… Read more.
Today on the show we discussed: Allyson Robinson+IFGE=HRC <3 ??? Here We Go Again: IFGE Elects HRC’s Allyson Robinson To The Board HRC and Their access to power. After expending political capital over Rick Warren, I wondered how much has ole' Joe got. HRC Relishes Sudden Access To White House Obama Fundie Watch Revelations of Truth Why I pray for our new president Dr. Kenneth Zucker's War on Transgenders Non-Discrimination Legislation: Transgender people plead for law change Campaign Puts The… Read more.
Ethan and Marti discuss the Presidential election, building a transgender power base and the issues surrounding the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Read more.
Running for office in 2003, Althea Garrison said that a:
"most compelling reason why someone should vote for me is that I am different and unique from the other candidates, when candidates run and loose [sic] elections most of them goes back to their obscurity not me I continue to fight and bring issues to the limelight,"
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In my last blog post, Where Your HRC Donations Are Going, I reported that HRC had donated money to sponsor the Log Cabin Republicans but that they had donated zero dollars to sponsor the Stonewall Democrats. Let's take a closer look at who HRC is NOT supporting and what that effect has and will be. Read more.
A recent post over at the Indiana Equality blog was enough of a kick in the pants to remind me to post about some recent events. If you know me, you know how jazzed I am about Barack Obama. The first time I ever heard about Barack the “Indianapolis” Colts still hadn't ever won a Super Bowl. It was October 17th 2006, which just so happened to be my 39th birthday. Barack had been to Indiana the previous day to attend a fundraiser for Baron Hill, Joe Donnelly, and Brad Ellsworth (who at the time were three Congressional candidate hopefuls). At the time Jim Shella said: "He then pointed out that the Colts have been "eeking out victories" while the Bears have been winning blowouts. Ever the politician, he said he's looking forward to a Bears/Colts Super Bowl matchup.” (At the time of that fundraiser the Colts were 5-0, and in fact did go on that year to face the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl) When Barack announced in January of 2007 he was running for president of the United States of America, I started to research him relentlessly. The more I learned about him, the more I liked him. My fire for Obama grew steadily over the months, but the turning point for me was the HRC/Logo Presidential Forum. Read more.
In the past week or so I've noticed increasing heat (see also: infighting) from the supporters in the GLBT Clinton camp. Tuesday they pointed towards Hillary Clinton's "fully inclusive" ENDA statement as a sign that Hillary is a more GLBT inclusive candidate than Barack Obama. I unexpectedly found an example of this kind of rhetoric from Nancy Nangeroni (of Gender Talk fame). She included the text from Hillary's statement to the GLBT community that included her support to: pass the… Read more.
Give 'em an act with lots of flash in it And the reaction will be passionate Give 'em the old hocus pocus …. Give 'em the old three ring circus” — Richard Gere as Billy Flynn in the song "Razzle Dazzle" from the movie “Chicago” What the hell is up with being trans? Seriously, why is it such a heinous scandal to have someone attached to anything hinting of crossdressing or transsexualism? One would think that in 2007 we’ve progressed beyond that stage, but clearly that’s not so. A couple of items jumped out at me this week prompting this rant. One was a tabloid (Star or Enquirer, can’t remember which) with a blaring headline replete with photos showing a sad looking Cher, and an alternate photo of daughter Chastity Bono in what appears to be a man’s suit. The headline was: Cher’s Heartbreak Over Chastity’s Sex Change Decision. The other item concerns photos released of Oscar DeLaHoya and trumpeted as lead story on Entertainment Tonight for multiple nights in a row, even bleeding over into the nightly six o’clock local news at one point. The photos have what appears to be the boxing champ in a fishnet bodysuit, spike-heeled pumps and even wearing a wig with a jaunty fedora in one photo. Read more.
Just when you think you’ve heard it all …. Just a couple weeks ago, President George W. Bush let loose what we in Texas parlance (at least among polite company) term “a whopper” (no, not the hamburger). First he went on news saying how we needed to get more results from Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s Administration, and start seeing real progress. This coming right on the heels of the Iraqi ministry taking a month of vacation while the life-or-death issues of this “fledgling democracy” teetering on the brink are put on hold with all the urgency of reviewing a bill on water allocation to farmers. Seemingly, give-‘em-hell-George appeared to be lighting a fire under the Prime Minister. Then at almost breakneck direction change, the Mr. Bush calls another press conference to reiterate his “unwavering” support of Al-Maliki, and blasting critics calling for his ouster. He goes on to chide the critics of Al-Maliki, noting, “it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position. That is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship.” Odd that Georgie would bring that up because a mere year and a half ago, it was Ibrahim Al-Jaafari that appeared poised to be re-elected as Prime Minister in Iraq. Unfortunately for him, the White House wanted none of that. The Bush Administration insisted Al-Jaafari step down, and Al-Jaafari dug in his heels initially and refused. With no small amount of arm-twisting, and some help by enlisting the cleric Ali Sistani to show that Al-Jaafari’s obstinance would hold the nation back, the man who the Iraqi Parliament would’ve elected stepped aside. The man that Iraq’s Parliament on whole were not so keen on (especially the Sunni segment), was instead “democratically elected” – with a little help and wisdom from their neighbors halfway across the globe! Hey, we would expect nothing less in our own democracy, right? And while Bush’s words sounded like the typical beat-up-a-Democrat, Congress-been-keeping-me-back rhetoric, he was actually responding to critics within his own party. The astonishing part of all of this was … Bush did this with a straight face! More impressive, virtually no one called him on it! It’s something we’ve seen a startling increase in, especially in the 21st century: Real-Time Revisionism. Unlike other examples in history, these days revisionism can’t wait for the history-book writers to massage the facts in a decade or two. No, history is now revised now in the span of a mere year or two. This brand of nuanced politic-speak has been perfected to an art form by the Bush / Cheney Administration, most notably with the Iraq War mission creep. Revisionism has also become a well-used defense or attack strategy by the RNC, and to good effect. And in typical RNC fashion, as long as you say it loudly enough and long enough (especially if you shout the challengers down) it becomes fact. It’s notably helpful to have the press in your pocket, where they can participate in spreading the desired outcome of what’s already past. To be sure, this isn’t strictly a conservative trait. Indeed some of their counterparts have watched their success with revision and wish to duplicate for themselves. It’s become a concept that’s in vogue in the GLBT political community as well. It’s not a new approach by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) as they’ve used this to lesser success over the years. Lately, however, it’s become much more forward, particularly with a sales push to the transgender community. Claims made about their historical “support” of inclusive language in either Hate Crimes or Employment Non-Discrimination bills fly directly in the face of reality. In later years they’ve taken note of the pressure of other GLBT organizations pushing them to get with the program that most others adopted years ago: actively pushing for trans-inclusive language. It hasn’t stopped them from trying to support language such as the Senate bill that has gender only as they attempted to slide with in the previous Congress. Now, with the assistance of a few trans leaders they tap to assist in getting their marketing message to the transgender community, the message is all about how they’ve supported us all along. Ahem, nice try. Read more.
While the Dems got through with their debates a week back, in the interest of fairness it behooves me to at least give the GOPpers a report with regards to Trans America. Two weeks earlier, they had their first network debate with all candidates currently declared (Fred Thompson is not one of those) in Iowa; the following week they conducted their straw poll there, with the expected victory for Mitt (the only presidential candidate ever named after a baseball glove) Romney. For the sake of fairness, the other top-tier candidates to date – Rudy Giuliani and John McCain – skipped the straw poll. Fred Thompson has not officially declared, so he’s officially not a candidate and polled better than the aforementioned other skippers. So what does this mean for GOP America? Moreover, what does this communicate to Transgender Americans? Read more.
"A Town hall meeting is an informal public meeting derived from the traditional town meetings of New England. Similarly to those meetings, everybody in a community is invited to attend, voice their opinions, and hear the responses from public figures and elected officials, although attendees rarely vote on an issue. In today's heterogeneous communities with large populations, more often, town hall meetings are held so that people can influence elected officials in their decision making or to give them a… Read more.
That should be the title of Peter LaBarbera's Americans for Truth (AFT) website. His latest post attacks sports reporter Christine Penner. "I challenge 'Mike/Christine' to do a column describing, in detail, 'sex-reassignment surgery' – whereby a penis is turned into a makeshift 'vagina' — assuming he is one day going to go that route. ('Transitioning' people are required to live one year as the opposite sex before undergoing the horrifying operation.) Then we’ll see just how 'natural' all of this… Read more.
