Tag: transgender

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Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance

Established in 1999, the Transgender Day of Remembrance began as a way to memorialize Rita Hester, a trans woman who was brutally murdered the year before. Her murder remains unsolved, as do many of the crimes committed against transgender and gender-nonconforming people.

Here in Las Vegas, a week long series of events is being billed as the first Trans Pride Week.

Every year, hundreds of transgender people around the world are brutally slain for being who they are.

Openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims posted an essay on his Facebook page about the day and what it means.  Here’s just an excerpt:

If you don’t think you know any transgender people, I’m guessing you may be mistaken. Even if you don’t know that you do, take my word for it: Transgender men and women are just as normal (or abnormal) as every one of us! Like you and me, they want to be treated fairly, with respect and dignity and they deserve to be.

I hope you take a moment today to reflect on your own hardships and how your friends, family and neighbors have help to protect you and guide you in those times, and then think about how you can offer more protection and guidance yourself.

Thanks to Brian and all the folks out there trying to make a positive difference in the world, and to help bring equality for all Americans.

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Las Vegas: First ever Trans Pride Week begins November 20th

The first ever Trans Pride Week will take place this week in Las Vegas, NV

This week, Las Vegas will play host to the inaugural Trans Pride Week – five days of events and activities designed to bring awareness and pride to the local transgender community between Nov. 20 – 24.

Spearheaded by The Center, Gender Justice Nevada, Mary Magdalene Friends UCC, Northwest Community Church and Get EQUAL Nevada, anyone within the LGBTQ and allied communities are encouraged to take part in this historic occasion.

Marginalized, victimized and dehumanized, transgender individuals all over the world, including right here in Las Vegas, face unspeakable degradation on a daily basis. Unfortunately, localized data for our transgender community does not exist. However, according to the most recent National Transgender Discrimination Survey compiled by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, transgender individuals are steeped in a number of atrocities:

  • Compared to the general population, transgender individuals are four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000 per year
  • A staggering 41% of the transgender population report attempting suicide
  • Due to anti-trans bias, 55% of transgender individuals have lost a job
  • 64% of the transgender population has experienced sexual assault
  • Transgender youth in grades K-12 report alarming rates of harassment (78%), physical assault (35%) and sexual violence (12%)
  • Trans people of color are confronted with a devastating combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural racism

For a list of events – beginning Wednesday, November 20th – head over to The Center’s official website.

(via press release)

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Texas: Trans student not allowed in yearbook wearing a tuxedo

Why would anyone care what someone wears in their high school yearbook photo?

Officials at the Texas school want to stop Jeydon Loredo, a male student, from being featured in the yearbook wearing his tuxedo like every other boy, simply because he’s transgender.

This kind of discrimination isn’t just wrong – it’s in direct violation of federal law and the school’s very own policies.
 
The issue has been appealed to the school board with the help of our partners in this effort, the Southern Poverty Law Center. Jeydon’s family has asked equality supporters like you to help ensure that Jeydon can appear in the school’s yearbook wearing his tuxedo.

Send a message to the La Feria School Board that this is wrong by clicking here.

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California: Transgender teen voted Homecoming Queen

In what may be a first for the country, Cassidy Lynn Campbell of Huntington Beach California was named Homecoming Queen of Marina High School on Friday, September 20.

Marina High School has policies in place to make sure transgender students like Cassidy are able to fully participate at school as their authentic selves, and has embraced Campbell as a part of the student body just like all the other girls.

“I’m so proud to win this not just for me but for everyone out there and for every kid — transgender, gay, straight, black, white, Mexican, Asian,” Campbell said after being crowned. “It doesn’t matter, you can be yourself.”

“Whether I won tonight or not, I was a winner from the beginning and I knew it. I put my message out there. If this can help one child or more or hundreds or thousands or millions, then it was more than worth it,” she said.

The Principal of Marina High School Paul Morrow told KTLA News, “Were proud of the message from home of the Vikings has been one of equity, acceptance, tolerance and respect.”

Last year, another California transgender teen Devon Marchant was on the Katie Couric Show, where she talked about being crowned Homecoming Princess.

Recently, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law the School Success and Opportunity Act which makes clear that schools have a legal responsibility to allow all students, including transgender students, to fully participate at school. Anti-LGBT organizations are currently attempting to have the law repealed.

(source)

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Fox & Friends can’t handle the idea of transgender people

Via Equality Matters: The hosts of Fox & Friends found themselves confounded by the announcement that Bradley Manning, the former Army private convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, identifies as a female and wishes to be identified as Chelsea Manning.

On the August 22 edition of Fox & Friends, guest host Ainsley Earhart reported that the Manning case had taken a “bizarre” turn with lawyer David Coombs’ announcement that his client wishes to live her life as a woman.

While the GLAAD Media Reference Guide calls on outlets to refer to transgender people by their chosen pronouns, Earhart and co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Steve Doocy repeatedly referred to Manning as a male. Earhart reported that “this news comes as his lawyers, her lawyers – what do you say here, I don’t know” are seeking a presidential pardon for Manning. Kilmeade introduced the segment saying, “You’ve got to take it slow because it confuses people”:

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California now offers new rights to Transgender college students

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law landmark legislation that allows transgender students to participate in school programs, including sports, based on their gender identity. The measure, which passed the state legislature almost entirely on the basis of support from Democrats, removes barriers that transgender students previously experienced to any sex-segregated school program or facility.

“While many California schoolchildren are already protected by policies in some of our biggest school districts, other districts don’t seem to understand that transgender students should have equal access to all programs and facilities,” Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, the bill’s author, said.

Under the new law, transgender students can participate in sports and other activities on the basis of the gender by which they identify. In addition, transgender students will be able to use locker rooms and restrooms on the same basis.

Read more at Queerty

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Colorado first grader wins right to use girl’s bathroom

Coy Mathis wins trangender lawsuit to use girl's bathtroom in Colorado

In Colorado, advocates won what is being hailed as a landmark decision in favor of transgender youth that could have a dramatic impact on future cases.

From the Advocate:

Coy Mathis was a first-grader enrolled at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, a suburb of Colorado Springs, last school year. Although Coy was assigned as male at birth, she has identified as female since she was 18 months old. Coy dresses in girls’ clothing, and teachers, classmates, and her family use female pronouns to refer to her.

But in December 2012, school officials told the Mathis family that Coy would no longer be allowed to use the girl’s bathroom at school, instead requiring her to use the boy’s bathroom, the staff bathroom, or a single-stall, gender-neutral facility on campus. As a result, the Mathises home-schooled Coy for the rest of the school year.

The Fountain-Fort Carson school district contended that because Coy has presumably male genitalia and is listed as male on her birth certificate, she should be legally required to use the boy’s restroom. But the Colorado Division of Civil Rights flatly denied that argument, calling the school’s treatment of Mathis discriminatory.

“Given the evolving research into the development of transgender persons, compartmentalizing a child as a boy or a girl solely based on their visible anatomy is a simplistic approach to a difficult and complex issue,” reads the lengthy decision. “The [school district], moreover, ignores federal and legal documents — more current than the Charging Party’s birth certificate — which undeniably state the Charging Party’s sex as female. The evidence, as such, is sufficient to demonstrate that the Charging Party is a girl and identifies as a girl.”

GLAAD heralded the announcement as a victory and noted that this decision is the first ruling in the nation contending that schools must allow transgender students to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

“Schools should not discriminate against their students, and we are thrilled that Coy can return to school and put this behind her,” Kathryn Mathis, Coy’s mother, told GLAAD. “All we ever wanted was for Coy’s school to treat her the same as other little girls. We are extremely happy that she now will be treated equally.”

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Delaware governor signs transgender rights bill into law

Delaware Gov. Jack Markell on Wednesday signed a bill that will add gender identity and expression to his state’s anti-discrimination and hate crimes laws.

The state Senate by an 11-9 vote margin earlier in the day approved an amended version of Senate Bill 97 that passed in the Delaware House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Sixteen states and D.C. currently have trans-inclusive anti-discrimination laws.  Thirteen of those states and the nation’s capital have also added gender identity and expression to their hate crimes statutes.

Read more at Washington Blade

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Transgender former Navy Seal tells her story in new memoir

Christopher Beck served as a U.S. Navy SEAL in some of the most dangerous battlegrounds in the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan and earned medals and commendations including the Bronze Star and a Purple Heart

But for 20 years while Beck was fighting for his country, he was also fighting an inner battle over his identity. He wanted to live his life as a woman.

After retiring in 2011, Beck did just that. Chris Beck is now Kristin Beck.

Kristin has written a book, Warrior Princess, about her journey as a US Navy Seal and the process of living life in the light today.

Last night, Kristin spoke with Anderson Cooper about the transition from being a masculine Navy SEAL to a feminine woman.

More of the interview below:

Interview – Part One

Interview – Part Two

(via Anderson Cooper 360°)

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Former Navy Seal discusses her transition to a woman in new biography

A former U.S. Navy Seal is speaking out about her transition to a woman in a new biography published over the weekend called Warrior Princess. 

Beck was a member of the elite SEAL Team 6, earned a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, and served in the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, though retired shortly before that raid.

In Warrior Princess, Kristin Beck discusses her two decades of military service in the elite, all-male unit, and her subsequent transition with frank honesty, describing how, over the course of 13 international deployments, she gradually came to terms with her gender identity, though she couldn’t express it during wartime. 
Beck identified as a man named Chris while in the Navy, and after retiring in 2011, underwent medically necessary hormone therapy to facilitate her transition process, according to the Atlantic Wire. 
Beck, who now lives in St. Petersburg, Fla., says her former colleagues were, by and large, supportive, according to an excerpt published in the Atlantic: 
Soon, the responses from SEALs stationed all around the world suddenly started pouring in: “Brother, I am with you … being a SEAL is hard, this looks harder. Peace” * “I can’t say I understand the decision but I respect the courage. Peace and happiness be upon you…Jim” * ” … I just wanted to drop you a note and tell you that Kris has all the support and respect from me that Chris had … and quite possibly more. While I’m definitely surprised, I’m also in amazement at the strength you possess and the courage necessary to combat the strangers and ‘friends’ that I’m guessing have reared their ugly heads prior to and since your announcement. …”

(from Advocate.com)