Two bills aimed at eliminating obstacles facing transgender people cleared the Assembly largely along party lines Thursday, including one measure to let students choose the bathroom and sports team that correlates with their gender identity.
Rohit Singh says she was looking at outfits in Jenny’s Bridal Boutique but when she asked to try one on, she was refused.
Singh said she plans to file a formal complaint about her treatment with the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission.
“It might happen to some other transgender that might come to the store and she will hurt the same,” Singh said. “It so embarrassed me and my husband.”
The male skeleton was found in a suburb of Prague and is buried in a manner previously only seen for female burials.
The body is believed to date from between 2900 and 2500BC and is from the Corded Ware culture of the Copper Age.
Men’s bodies from that age and culture are usually found buried with their heads towards the west and with weapons.
But this skeleton was found with its head towards the east and was surrounded by domestic jugs – as women’s bodies from the time are usually found.
At a press conference in Prague yesterday, archaeologists theorised that the person may have been transgender or ‘third sex’.
Kamila Remišová, the head of the research team, said: “From history and ethnology, we know that when a culture had strict burial rules they never made mistakes with these sort of things.”
Acceptance. A simple word . A sacred word. I choose that day to open my heart and my mind to another human being that defied science. I was asked if I could handle it. My response was, and always is, “Can she handle it?” and “How do I teach her to?
What Men Say About Women When They Think You’ve Never Been One
3. “That bitch ________________________.”
The above sentence can be finished or reorganized in any number of common ways.
“That bitch is stupid.”
“That bitch’s mouth would look a lot better on my dick.”
“Don’t listen to her, she’s just a bitch.”
All of those are things people have actually been said to me.
My impression is that cis-men make these kinds of comments to me with the intention of establishing camaraderie, bringing me into the fold. I think it’s an impulse towards some weird version of intimacy—establishing our common reality as “men.” Unfortunately, the reality described (and produced) by the above comments is not the one I live in. I say “produced” because, for the same reason that saying n*gger in private amongst white people creates enduring racism, making these kinds of disgusting comments about women amongst “just men” (which, as a category, is less coherent when I’m included) creates enduring sexism. Our words become our thoughts, which become our habits.
Bitch is an oppressive word. It constructs women as unintelligent, incapable, and subservient. Women are “bitches” when they challenge male privilege—when they are assertive or self-possessed, or just not deferential enough. “Bitches” are also objects, to be manipulated for male sexual gratification.
Another equally disturbing thing that happens, if not more disturbing, is that it’s not just men who call women bitches when talking to me. Women do too. And I don’t mean the occasional “bitch, please,” I mean like “She should stop being a bitch and just sleep with him.” Women participate in this because of some internalized bullshit - as though to demonstrate subservience or to show me that they’re not a threat to my male privilege.
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| — | Guest blogger Levi Pine is a trans man and a union organizer in Chicago who spends a lot of time with Fierce Ladies in housekeeping uniforms. He appreciates leotards and has spent years talking about starting a fag-punk band called Global Business Solutions. |
I was recently on a train in Boston, and overheard a group of young men talking. One of them said to the other “who you texting?” and the other replied “my bitch….” and sort of noticed me within earshot, and quickly said “I mean, uhhhh, my girlfriend.” Simultaneously funny and upsetting. I don’t know why it surprised me given that, as a white person, I have heard white people “throw a private degradation-of-black-people party” several times. Thank you for connecting those two types of private displays of oppression.
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| — | Ruth Orme-Johnson, in response to article: What Men Say About Women When They Think You’ve Never Been One via The Bilerico Project |
Part 2 of the MSNBC segment focusing specifically on the rights and issues of the transgender community
Melissa Harris-Perry devoted half of her two-hour MSNBC show to a discussion of LGBT issues on Sunday, with one panel focused exclusively on the concerns of the transgender community.
A letter from a therapist is often (though not always) required for trans* people to undergo HRT and gender-confirming surgeries. A lot of people have questions about this therapy, what is generally required for it, and how to find a therapist.
How do I find a therapist? Does the person I go to…
Policy Clarified for Vets Changing Gender Markers
Transgender veterans will now be able to change the gender marker on their medical records by simply providing a physician’s letter confirming gender reassignment, according to a clarification of a Veterans Health Administration policy.
The VHA, which is part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, issued a directive last year on providing respectful and appropriate care to transgender veterans, but it was not clear about the documentation needed for changing the gender marker, notes the National Center for Transgender Equality’s blog. The requirement for “official documentation … was initially interpreted incorrectly by some staff and facilities to require proof of sex reassignment surgery,” the center reports.
Now, with the clarification, “a vet must simply provide a letter from a physician certifying that the vet has changed genders and has had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition,” according to the blog. “To be clear, the physician’s letter does not need to certify that some specific surgery or any particular medical procedure has been completed — only appropriate clinical care for the individual veteran as determined by the physician.”
This is similar to documentation now required by the U.S. State Department for changing gender markers on passports and by some states for doing so on driver’s licenses. The center is preparing “a user-friendly guide” to the policy and will release it in a few weeks.
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here’s the link if you want to read the brief first-hand: http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/03/05/Policy_Clarified_for_Vets_Changing_Gender_Markers/
On 7 March the United Nations Human Rights Council (the Council) held its first dedicated discussion on the issue of sexual orientation and gender identity. The holding of the panel discussion polarised Council proceedings prior to its start.
The divisive discussion saw Pakistan (on behalf of the OIC), Senegal (which noted that it was speaking on behalf of ‘almost all’ the African Group), Mauritania (on behalf of the Arab Group), and the Russian Federation, deny that there is any legal foundation in international law for ‘controversial concepts’ such as sexual orientation and gender identity.
As panellist, Mr Laurence Helfer, of the Center for International and Comparative Law at Duke University in the United States (US) made eminently clear, however, the default position of international law is that it applies without distinction of any kind; nowhere in international human rights law is there any exclusion stated that these standards do not apply to individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. This position was echoed by States including Argentina (on behalf of MERCOSUR), Austria, Australia, Cuba, Ecuador, the European Union, Greece, Honduras, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Sweden, the United States, and Uruguay.
The OIC’s decision not to participate in the debate, aside from through the statement delivered by Pakistan, was openly criticised by some States. Austria commented that States that do not address violence and discrimination against individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender identity are in breach of their legal obligations and that those obligations will not be changed by marching out of UN meetings. Switzerland regretted the decision, and pointed to the importance of dialogue on sensitive issues, a position echoed by Ireland.
The session also saw the delivery of a joint statement by A-status NHRIs, supporting the call for dialogue and reaffirming that the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity is integrated into the existing international legal framework that States have committed to protecting. A joint statement on behalf of 284 NGOs from 90 countries from all regions set out clearly that they were not calling for rights, which already exist as a birthright, but for States to implement their legal obligations and for the Council to fulfil its role in that regard.
The Council took paid specific attention to the rights of the transgendered community and the specific requirement of many European nations to sterilize transgendered persons. They went on to discuss protection for individuals who fought for the rights of the LGBT community and to reaffirm the need for ”respectful” diaologue on the issue as a regular basis. “Echoing this sentiment, the Ambassador of Brazil, making concluding remarks, stated that the panel should not be seen as an historic moment, but rather ‘business as usual’ for the Council, as it fulfils its role of promoting and protecting the human rights of all.”
