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C.d. Kirven Trans & Bi Flag Waver, Bullied By HRC at The Superior Court Marriage Rally Speaks Out

C.d. kirven who along with another person are the people Jerame Davis, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats witnessed being bullied by HRC at the Supreme Court Marriage Equality Rally.

C.d. wants to clear the air and sent this statement on what transpired:

"Happy Easter! The flag belong to Alex Rangel of Get Equal who brought the trans flag at the rally. Brian was waving the flag for Alex as I waved the Bi Pride flag. When HRC asked Brian to remove the flag an argument ensued then another woman walked up to Brian stating she was going to burn the flag while I was having words with the first women then Brian dropped the flag on the ground and ran off crying.

I tried to console him but he kept crying. I grabbed the Trans Pride flag and dared either one to say anything to me. The HRC didn't want the Trans pride flag behind the speakers bc they did not want to explain what it meant to the press. As a matter of fact, the lady from HRC told Brian " This is about marriage equality not the Trans community.

I did pick up the flag from the ground & made sure it was in every shot. I waved it proudly the rest of the rally. I said Trans pride is gay pride and gay pride is Trans pride.

I was forced like the undocumented queer activist to change my speech. Everyone knows I was mistreated the same way he was and since the stories have been released I have told them again but I'm a black lesbian so no one cared! HRC claiming my wording was too aggressive and dark!

My statement as one of the very few asked to change their speech:

"Everyone in the LGBT community knows the HRC has a diversity problem but no serious action has been taken to correct this issue. We will have race & trans protests against HRC starting her in Dallas if serious steps are not taken to become more inclusive of LGBT people of color & the trans community. We are either one in the fight for full federal equality or we are separate seeking justice for ourselves until we make serious changes around diversity our fight for full federal equality will never be attainable."

TTYL,

Chas

C.d is featured in the begining of this MSNBC Last Word video proclaiming at the rally:

"We will no longer be satisfied living in the shadows of freedom"

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Undocumented Queers Demand HRC Apologize For Supreme Court Rally Bullying And So Should Trans People

HRC bullies a trans flag waver "Out of the picture" at the Supreme Court Marriage Equality Rally and tells a queer dreamer not to talk about his life experiences.

Jerame Davis, executive director of National Stonewall Democrats, posted on Facebook he saw a person he knew to be a HRC staffer hounding a person demanding that their transgender flag be taken down.

“I was there. I saw this happen,” Davis wrote on Wednesday on facebook. “It was only the HRC reps asking for the trans flag to be moved. If they’d only asked once, I’d have given them a pass, but they continued to harass this person over a flag.”

HRC maintains they did no such thing and offer no apology posting this statement on Q Notes

" “It was agreed that featuring American flags at our program was the best way to illustrate this unifying issue which is why when managing the area behind the podium, several people were asked to move who were carrying organizational banners, pride flags or any other flag that was not an American flag,” the statement read. “Several people refused and they were allowed to stay. The coalition welcomed the variety of signs and flags that were throughout the plaza that demonstrated the wonderful diversity of our community.”

HRC added, “It is a not true to suggest that any person or organization was told their flag was less important than another — this did not occur and no HRC staff member would ever tolerate such behavior. To be clear, it is the position of the Human Rights Campaign that marriage is an issue that affects everyone in the LGBT community.”

Thursday Davis posted on Facebook "HRC is mishandling this situation. While not directly, they are essentially calling me and John M. Becker liars when we were actually direct witnesses to all of this occurring, unlike the folks putting out the statement."

"No other flags were asked to be removed from the shot. There were pride flags, American flags, and marriage equality flags all on display. I had a flag of my own. And at one point, organizers directed a person with a pride flag to block someone who was hijacking the media with pictures of dead young gays who were victims of discrimination."

"It disappoints me greatly that HRC has chosen the circle-the-wagons-and-deny tactic once again when there were multiple witnesses to what happened. Shameful."

John M. Becker confirmed he also say HRC bully the person waving the trans flag:

"Thursday.Jerame and I attended the rally together and as he pointed out earlier today, both of us saw this happen. I cannot verify the word-for-word accuracy of the quote in this blog post as I was just out of earshot in that loud and exciting envir...onment, but regardless of whether the words spoken were as blunt as the writer alleges or couched in nicer-sounding language, the sentiment and intent were unmistakable. This greatly dismayed me and others nearby, and we affirmed the flag holder and encouraged him to stand his ground. I'm so glad he did."

"I'm sure the staffer was acting out of a misplaced sense of caution in that excruciatingly high-pressure environment -- and I'm equally sure it was not HRC's intent to exclude or deeply offend, but regardless of the circumstances, people *felt* excluded and *were* deeply offended. HRC really should apologize for this regrettable incident before it casts any larger a shadow on an otherwise beautiful event."

The United For Marriage Coalition the organizer of the rally was quick to acknowledge wrong doing had been committed and offered an apology for the events March 27th in this statement found on Bilerico Project"

"Since the conclusion of the rallies on Wednesday, the coalition has learned about the mistreatment of a few individuals who were attending and speaking at the rallies. In one case, a queer undocumented activist was asked to edit his speech to hide part of who he is. In another case, several activists were asked to lower the trans* pride flag in order to keep out of the scope of TV cameras.

We apologize for having caused harm to the individuals involved. Apologies are being made individually and collectively and we are working to make direct amends.

The trans flag waver that HRC bullied has since come forward after this article was published to explain exactly what happened that day.

HRC Bullies Arredondo, a Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project (QUIP) spokes person,

Arredondo, a gay undocumented queer was selected to speak on the group’s behalf. He said that prior to getting on stage, someone from the Human Rights Campaign revised his speech.

“I was told not to share the reality of what it means to be an undocuqueer immigrant in this country,” he says in the video.

Imelda Plascencia, another QUIP member, also appears in the YouTube video. She says the experiences that LGBT people who are undocumented “are not acknowledged but rather continue to be pushed into the closet and excluded from dominant narrative.”

“It is not enough for LGBT communities to say that they are in solidarity with our struggle,” Plascencia says in the video. “Solidarity is love reflected through actions and support.”

Alma Leyva, also a QUIP member, concludes the video asking the Human Rights Campaign to apologize for revising Arredondo’s speech.

It's crucial that our queer trans dreamer community does not allow ourselves to be assimilated, bullied, coerced or threatened by HRC. Our movement is not defined or owned by rich white gay men. I cut my teeth protesting HRC in the South West, failed bargaining with Joe Solmonese personally one morning, and was rewarded with a half dozen horse mounted police and a dozen other cops at his bequest hounding us step for step at the Houston Gala protest.

Fuck HRC. Like a former leader of a major LGBT advocacy group told me once "Fuck them. They'll tell you one thing while screwing you over. Don't tell me you're my friend while you're steady fucking me over."

It was an amazing rally. The first video is artistic and draws our emotions so quickly I wanted to share.

The CSPAN video is three hours long. There are so many amazing speakers it's well worth the time.

NYPD's Hidden Agenda Behind The Brutal Dehumanizing Stop and Frisk Policy of Trans POC

FIERCE held a press conference at the courthouse where the NYPD are on trial for their unlawful Stop and Frisk policy. The NYPD is intent on erasing of transgender people from the city by targeting trans youth of color with continuous public humiliation, threats and assaults ultimately forcing them to make a choice.

As a white trans person, if I was faced with this intolerable life and death situation I would have two options. Conform to the rigid gender binary or leave the city. Trans and queer people of color are left with one choice. The NYPD under the direction of their masters are committed to erasing trans people of color from the city and failing that, gendercide.

Transcript from the FIERCE video:
"...but whose quality of life are they protecting? The reality of our lives as queer and transfolk of color speaks truth to the fact that we are excluded from the 'us' we speak of and the NYPD has no interest in serving and protecting our communities. It excludes us when trans bodies cannot walk down Christopher St. w/o being profiled for being sex-workers b/c they have a condom in their pocket; when a group of queer POC standing on a corner is easily mistaken for being a gang; when black and brown bodies are viewed as violent just b/c of the color of our skin; when we see and hear about our people being killed due to state violence."



"The NYPD has used their power to try and erase us, to keep us silent and to keep our stories from being talked about and heard. Ours are the stories that go unheard and we have been hidden in the statistics for far too long. I'm here today to not only share my story with you, but to tell all of you that these are the stories of many black and brown queer and trans."



"To let everyone know that walking while trans, queer, black and or brown is not a crime."

"I am not the first from the community to be targeted and mistreated by the NYPD and I surely won't be the last. And that is exactly why FRIECE fights everyday to make sure the West Village, a historical safe space for the LGBTQ community remains a safe space for LGBTQ POC."

"In the W. Village we've experienced years of gentrification which has meant the pushing out of our community, policing and more profiling of trans youth and decreased access to public space."

"We believe that the Floyd case is a step in the right direction but is not where our work ends. We know that the NYPD is rooted in institutionalized racism, transphobia and homophobia. These systems of oppression won't stop and neither will we. When this case is done we will remain on the front lines of this fight for justice. We will continue to hold police accountable. We will continue [??]-watching. We will continue to create our own systems of safety that are rooted in community power and resilience. From Amadou Diallo, Cece McDonald to Kimani Gray we will not stop raising our voices, we will not be silenced, we will not lose hope. And we as a whole will continue to fight and expose the systematic oppression projected by the NY Police Dept."

Medicaid Has Withdrawn It's Proposal To Cover SRS While Appeals Board Considers Challenge To "Experimental" Status

Thursday morning Medicare and Medicaid Services (CSM.gov) unilaterally began asking for public comment on changing its policy for Gender (sexual) Reassignment Surgery with the goal of possibly having Medicaid fund those surgeries. It seems the good people at Medicaid realized their rational for disallowing SRS was irrational.

Presently GRS is not covered by the ancient CMS.Gov policy because:

Transsexual surgery for sex reassignment of transsexuals is controversial. Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism, the treatment is considered experimental. Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons, transsexual surgery is not covered.

But the link to the comments didn't work and we assumed it was just SNAFU, but thats not what happened...

Just hours after beginning the 30 day comment period Medicaid changed there minds about asking for public comments and took the link down.

one RED HOT haters POTATO to the Medicade comment section.

Mara Keisling of the NCTE messaged me moments after the last post went up and said there is a better process in place now.

The Hill reports:

"a spokesperson said Friday evening that the proposal has been withdrawn. HHS pulled information from its website Friday after various news media outlets reported on the issue."

"The controversial decision to consider using taxpayer money to cover sex changes was sure to attract criticism from Congress."

"An HHS spokesman said HHS' Departmental Appeals Board is weighing a challenge to the department's ruling that sex-change procedures are experimental and should not be covered by Medicare and Medicaid. While that challenge works its way through the system, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has withdrawn its proposal to reconsider the coverage policy on its own."

Read more: The Hill.

Medicare Wants Your Input On adding GRS Just 1 SNAFU, the Link Is Broken

The Advocate is reporting the agency which determines if a surgery should be funded my Medicaid is reconsidering adding Sexual Reassignment surgery.

Including SRS would be a humongous step forward by the federal goverment. Its crucial we comment especially since there's only 28 days left to do so. Now only if they'd get there link fixed.

I'll update as soon as they do. Hopefully they'll reset the timer.

Presently GRS is not covered by the CMS.Gov

Transsexual surgery for sex reassignment of transsexuals is controversial. Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism, the treatment is considered experimental. Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons, transsexual surgery is not covered.

H/T trans advocate Jani McCauley on twitter ‏@JaniMcCauley

Texas A&M GLBT Center Fighting for Its Life Again

LGBT students attending Texas A&M which the 2011-12 Princeton Law review rated number 7 as one of the country's least LGBT friendly University's have had a rough go of it since day one coming out and apparently the hate continues.

The GLBT student center is at risk of losing $100,000 yearly in student fees if a proposed student senate rule is enacted.

The student newspaper "The Battalion" reports:

The GLBT Funding Opt-Out Bill, introduced at the Wednesday Student Senate meeting, would recommend students who do not approve of the GLBT Resource Center on religious or moral grounds be able to opt out of a portion of student fees that goes toward the resource center.

Miguel, senior women’s and gender studies major, said the bill is no more than an ongoing and poorly veiled form of discrimination.

“It’s a good way of masking prejudice and discrimination against the [GLBT] community,” Miguel said. “It’s making the people who are very against the [GLBT] community sound really nice by using religion as a cover-up.”

Northside senator Chris Woolsey, author of the bill, said the bill does not oppress the GLBT community.

(This is where Woolsy's argument disintegrates)

“The belief that this bill is oppressing the GLBT community or is a way to legalize discrimination is a ploy to distract from the real meaning of the bill, which is to protect the religious liberties of students,” Woolsey said

A quick perusal of the Battalion would indicate everything that is happening at that school is an exercise of religious freedom.

Please connect with the GBLT Center EVENT PAGE for details.

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We Loaded The Gun That AZ Rep. John Kavanagh is Killing Our Agenda With

A while back I posted a highly controversial opinion about Levi Pine, a pre op trans man occupying sauna's where same sex public nudity is normal. Since then there has been one more instance and I reiterate, it is in my opinion, in this country with our current social mores, immoral for a pre or non genital op trans person to be naked in spaces where children are allowed.

Some argued more or less they felt they should not have to conform to public standards and morals at all. Some felt our movement is all or nothing.

I said this was an agenda killer and as we have just seen, it is. We loaded Kavanagh's gun by not coming out as a community and condemning that sort of behaviour.

Zoe E Whitten made a very good argument against my opinion asking among other things 'Is Levi Pine’s case an “agenda killer”? Only if your agenda was playing nice to prejudiced people in the hopes of them one day hating you less.'

I'm not saying I want Rep. John Kavanagh to hate us any less, frankly I couldn't care less if he did. I'm not saying this man wouldn't have attempted to amend Arizona law following Phoenix's passage of its far ranging non discrimination ordinance. What I am saying he might have just been another generic hater popping off with a cap gun, instead he's got a fully loaded 45 and its on auto. And we loaded it.

HB 1045 is not "softened" as the spin doctors at ABC have painted it. It is a statewide bill specifically targeting all gender variant people regardless if they are trans or not, making them subject to Jim Crow style discrimination.

So we have managed to paint ourselves into a human rights quandary corner but there is one option. There have been ordinances passed since those spa incidents that specifically exclude public accommodations protections in places where 'full public nudity is expected'.

Since we seem to have failed to set our communities standards we will have to rely on the goverment to do that.

Kavanagh's amendment is not an equality law. He is intent on enacting this law to discriminate against us. We must stop it and regroup, hopefully to enact trans inclusive laws that protect everyone including children from an immoral few.

Not an Arizona resident? Make your voice be heard and sign the petition Arizona Legislative Bodies: Repeal/Strike Down The Transphobic (Bathroom Bill) SB1045!!!

Sign the petition Pantilione of "Raise The Bar Arizona" has just filed with the state to force Kavanagh’s recall election.

******************************************************************************

Arizona "Bathroom Bill" HB1045 Pushed Out of Commitee #noloo4u

Just now Rep Kavanagh pushed his "Bathroom Bill" through the Arizona Senate Appropriations Committee.

Watching the live feed from the Arizona appropriations committee meeting a very smug Kavanagh sat listening to the yes votes by his committee accruing DESPITE all of people who just testified against it. There was only one person testifying in favor of the bill that I saw. ONE person! This was a injustice and travesty cloaked in democracy.

Kavanagh sums up after the vote "My bill isn't about civil rights"but was forced to pause as the room broke up in spontaneous laughter. Continuing Kavanagh admonishes the attendees "we've had a very respectful evening and and I'd appreciate if we could keep it that way." waiting for more gruffs and humphs to subside Kavanagh raises his voice "Its not about civil rights its about civility and more importantly there are men's and ladies rooms and creating an environment that someone is biologically male in the women's shower as the phoenix law did is going to far and we had to fix it."

Respectively Kavanagh, the whole evening was an insult to the democratic process. You've manufactured of a bill to criminalize our minority when there's no history of criminal activity to warrant a law against us. To everyone in the room EXCEPT your cronies who voted yes on your amendment in your committee it was sickening. Civility was extended as a courtesy by the people who testified against your amendment.

Your statement that your bill wouldn't discriminate against us in the workplace is a pile of horse shit and you know it. When a potential employer is considering us for a position the FIRST thing he is going to weigh is the bathroom. He's going to wonder how his employees would respond but MOST importantly he's going to consider how his state goverment approaches trans bathroom usage.

If an employer knows as you hope he will, Arizona prohibits all gender variant people from public accommodations he will NOT hire us.

And you know that you pompous ass.

Filed under: What a totally pathetic hate mongering bigot. Common Arizona you're better than this.

KAVANAGH Sneaky "Strike Everything" HB 1045 Would Restrict All Arizona From Enacting Trans Ordinances

This will be put up for a vote today in the Arizona appropriations committee. Take this very seriously:

Link to text. Read more at Phoenix New Times.com


PROPOSED

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AMENDMENTS TO S.B. 1045

(Reference to Senate engrossed bill)


Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert:


"Section 1. Title 41, chapter 9, article 3, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 41-1444, to read:

START_STATUTE41-1444. Privacy; public place; public accommodation; state preemption; definitions

A. The regulation of access to privacy areas in places of public accommodation based on gender identity or expression is of statewide concern and is not subject to further regulation by a county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state.

B. A county, city, town or other political subdivision of this state shall not enact or enforce an ordinance or policy that requires a person or business to regulate access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.

C. No person or business shall be civilly or criminally liable for denying access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.

D. This section does not prohibit a person or business from allowing access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression.

E. Any ordinance or policy that relates to access to privacy areas based on gender identity or expression that is inconsistent with this section is void and of no force or effect.

F. For the purposes of this section:

1. "gender identity or expression" means either:

(a) An individual's self‑identification as male, female or something in between and includes an individual's appearance, mannerisms or other characteristics only insofar as they relate to gender with or without regard to the individual's designated sex at birth.

(b) Any other substantially similar self‑identification of gender.

2. "Privacy areas" means areas in places of public accommodation where access is restricted based on sex, including a public restroom, bathroom, shower, bath, dressing room or locker room.

Sec. 2. Emergency

This act is an emergency measure that is necessary to preserve the public peace, health or safety and is operative immediately as provided by law."

Amend title to conform

JOHN KAVANAGH

1045jk.doc
03/25/2013
9:29 AM
C: ns

AZ Rep. Kavanagh Trashes Trans Crow Legislation Will Try New Tactic

Rep. John Kavanagh facing a mounting recall bid in response to his attempted criminalization of transgender people in public accommodations sis trying a different approach.

Instead of making it extremely dangerous and illegal for individual gender variant people to to use the bathroom Kavanagh wants to strip transgender citizens of there constitutional rights by making Arizona businesses statewide immune to legal recourse should they deny transgender people public accommodations.

"Within US law, public accommodations are generally defined as entities, both public and private, that are used by the public. Examples include retail stores, rental establishments and service establishments, as well as educational institutions, recreation facilities and service centers. Private clubs and religious institutions are exempt." ~ Wiki

When asked why he was changing tactics he stated “I’m just saying, ‘You know what, that’s not government’s concern,’” Kavanagh told The Arizona Republic. “We’re simply going to go right back to where it was the day before Phoenix passed its overreaching ordinance with respect to showers, dressing rooms and bathrooms.”

The Arizona House Appropriations Committee hearing on the legislation has been scheduled for 2pm on Wednesday, in which chairman Kavanagh plans to strip a different dead bill, HR 1045 and insert his anti transgender legislation using the "Stike Everything" method.

A lot of people believe that's just political double speak and that Kavanagh, a republican who claims to working for smaller government is in fact bent on imposing draconian governmental regulation on the trans community, a tiny unobtrusive law abiding minority.

Raise The Bar Arizona has just filed the necessary paper work with the state and has begun gathering the 16,920 signatures of voters in Kavanagh’s district required to force a recall election.

The recall if successful would oust Kavanagh just months before the end of his term. Kavanagh can't run again for the house because of term limits, summarily dismisses the effort saying “It gives new meaning to March madness." It would however put a watermark on a bid for the senate which he is considering.

The Arizona Trans Alliance is asking all to "call or email the committee members of the purloined legislation and tell them to vote no on the No Potty for you bill: SB1045."

300 Attend Vigil for Lucy Meadows At the Daily Mail Offices

The 300 people attending the vigil were respectful, memorializing Lucy Meadows the transgender teacher who tragically died shortly after beginning transition and the subsequent horrific article by the Daily Mail. The participants had a memo to deliver to the Daily Mail.

Transgender people will no longer allow themselves to be monstered by this tabloids.

MP Graham Jones ‏who was in attendance tweeted "Just raised the death of #lucymeadows in the House of Commons. Universal sympathy. Speaker described such journalist actions as despicable."

Another participant observed "Oh the irony, looking down on you when much of society is looking down on them."

I personally did not appreciate the Guardian reporting on this so I didn't use them as a source. Read more at Gay Star News.

R.I.P. Lucy

Petition: Moss Point Board of Trustees Fire Superintendent Griffin and MJHS Principal Joanne Pettaway

Moss Point school district has a horrific history of sexual harassment.

Oh, I'm sure they would like to say this condition has been remedied with the letter sent to parents in response to the SPLC demand letter and the inclusive student handbook but evidence tells us otherwise.

July 2012, not even a year ago, a woman was awarded $100,000 for sexual harassment she suffered at the hands of former Moss Point superintendent Kim Staley.

The woman, Tonya Jackson-Hall was a principal at Kreole Elementary in June 2009 when she sexually assaulted, harassed and terminated.

During the same time period Jackson-Hall was awarded these damages a 16 year old lesbian student was being bullied and punished for reporting it so intensely at Moss Point Magnolia Junior High school by staff and students she quit and tried to kill herself!!

There must be drastic actions, large scale investigations and dismissals if these life threatening conditions are to be rectified.

I have begun a unsolicited action, a petition asking that the president of the Board of Trustees fire the Superintendent and Principal. I am demanding the superintendent pay the consequences for ignoring a condition that undoubtedly exists in all of the schools. To assume this homophobia and transphobia is prevalent and encouraged in only one school in the district is naive to the point it might cost yet more LGBT student's right to education if not there life.

Please sign the petition. You could be saving the life of one of our own.

High School in Portland Oregon Opens Up Unisex Bathrooms

Is opening the bathroom door to everyone an appropriate solution for the trans bathroom issue? Or would this simply leave a way in for those people the LGBT students were trying to avoid in the first place?

I'm of the mind full integration with respect to the accepted gender binary is the only path that doesn't end up with segregation. But then I'm old school and always learning.



What do you think?

California Dept. of Education new summer reading list with LGBT and Immigration Literature

Students and teachers are thrilled but not so much the haters. There's a war, a full scale war" says one bigot who's trying to organize a 'walkout' action against students participating in the of the Day of Silence.

He's sure students don't need to know about gender and sexual diversity or immigrants in order to become a well adjusted citizen. This dogmatist knows ignorance will insure this generation is transphobic, homophobic and racist, like him.
A war by LGBT people?

No, Mr Conservative you and your ilk wear blinders leading to wars. We have education, caring and acceptance leading to yes, peace and love.

Vigil For Lucy Meadows At The Daily Mail Monday March 25th

More than 150 people have indicated they will gather outside the Daily Mail offices at Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, Kensington, London W8 5TT on Monday at 6.30pm to hold a Vigil in memory of Lucy Meadows.

London

From the Facebook event:

For those of you who have been upset and outraged by the Daily Mail's treatment of Lucy Meadows, a candle-lit vigil is going to be held outside the offices of the Daily Mail on Monday at 6.30pm.
...
There may be other event pages for this - we found out about the event on Twitter but we can't seem to find any other details/event pages so thought we'd make this one so that we can share information and co-ordinate.

Lucy Meadows was a transwoman and teacher at St Mary Magdalen's school in Accrington. The school were very supportive of her transition but after calls from a minority of parents, The Daily Mail published a highly offensive and transphobic piece by Richard Little john 'outing' her, resulting in Ms Meadows being hounded and vilified by the press. Reports of her death were confirmed yesterday and suicide is suspected but not yet confirmed.

Please share this as widely as possible, and let's show The Daily Mail that transphobia is utterly unacceptable, reprehensible and has tragic consequences. Let's also pay tribute to a brave woman and dedicated teacher.

"The other side" By Abigail Pope .



I wrote and recorded a song today after I found out about Lucy Meadows’ death. It’s so heartbreaking to see such bright lights get snuffed out for no other reason than to sell a paper or feel important. Yeah, we look and sound different, but we’re just people. We need all the things people need, and we are denied them, and for many, it’s too hard a road to walk.
Lucy Meadows, trans teacher whose gender reassignment made news, found dead at home.

The Other Side

Can’t you leave the girls alone
crying in their pillows
They ain’t done nothin to you
except put on makeup and high shoes
How many stares and laughing twits
drives a girl to slit her wrists
Lucy are you crying
I’ll meet you on the other side

Magnolia Junior High Principal Tells 16 Year Old Student "I don't want a dyke in this school."

Targeted with hateful slurs by staff and students, being forced to use the wrong restroom  Destin Holmes was forced to leave junior high school. But she's back and she brought friends.

It's a story all too familiar to trans students. Hateful people could care less why a person belongs to the LGBT community, be it Gender variance or sexual orientation. Its all the same to Moss Point Mississippi Magnolia Junior High school principal, staff and students who were targeting Destin because she was a convenient outlet to vent there feelings of inadequacy and frustrations with life.



SPLC Moss Point Demand Letter

March 21, 2013

Maggie Griffin, Ph.D Superintendent
Moss Point School District 4924 Church Street
Moss Point, MS 39563

Joanne Pettaway
Principal
Magnolia Junior High School 6601 Orange Grove Road Moss Point, MS 39563

VIA EMAIL AND FIRST CLASS MAIL

Dear Ms. Griffin and Ms. Pettaway,

We have been retained by Destin Holmes and her family concerning severe and pervasive harassment Destin experienced during her time at Magnolia Junior High School (“Magnolia”). Destin was formerly an eighth grade student at Magnolia, where she was enrolled from August 15, 2011 until March of 2012. During the seven months Destin was enrolled in the Moss Point School District (“the District”), Destin was targeted for harassment by school administrators, teachers, and other students based on her sexual orientation and gender expression. The harassment began immediately upon

her arrival at Magnolia and intensified following notification by Destin’s family to the principal (“Principal Peyton”) and the Moss Point School District Superintendent at the time, John Ladner. Destin found respite only after she left Magnolia, a decision made after harassment continued unabated and Principal Peyton told Destin during an in person meeting in March of 2012, “I don’t want a dyke in this school.”

School Officials Unlawfully Blamed Destin for the Harassment Against Her

Destin is a young woman who identifies as a lesbian and who wears clothing typically associated
with male-identified individuals—baggy jeans, polo shirts, and baseball caps. For the first three days Destin was enrolled at Magnolia she was repeatedly referred to as “he” by teachers although she repeatedly informed them that she was a “she.” Throughout the year, teachers and students called her “it,” “queer,” and “he-she” in front of other students. Destin was denied access to the girls’ restroom by teachers who knew that she was female. Students regularly called Destin anti-gay slurs with no reprimands from teachers. In one troubling instance, a teacher refused to allow Destin to participate in a classroom math activity in which teams were divided by gender, because, according to the teacher, Destin was “in-between.” Destin cried while the other students joined their groups at the sides of the classroom.

Instead of addressing the harassment and disciplining the students and staff who targeted Destin as a result of her orientation and gender identity, school officials blamed Destin as the cause of the harassment. Destin’s father and grandmother both met with Principal Peyton and Vice Principal Peyton on multiple occasions to report the harassment against Destin, but the bullying did not stop. Instead, Destin’s and her family’s reports led the school administration to further target Destin and blame her for the harassment she suffered. In October of 2011, Destin became so depressed about the hostile environment at school that she attempted suicide. During a meeting to address Destin’s treatment at school, Principal Peyton told her father that “if she’s going to dress like a boy, she’s going to be treated like a boy.” After repeated meetings, in March of 2012, Destin’s grandmother sent a letter to the Mississippi superintendent of schools, the Moss Point School District superintendent, and Principal Peyton describing the harassment against Destin and Principal Peyton’s inappropriate response. Even after such reports, the hostility persisted and Destin was forced to withdraw from school.

Our Investigation Shows that LGBT Students, and Those Perceived as LGBT, are Subjected to a Hostile Environment

Our investigation into complaints of anti-gay hostility in the District, including interviews with other students, confirms that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) students and those perceived as LGBT are subjected to a hostile environment that robs them of equal educational opportunity. School officials routinely ignore severe and pervasive anti-LGBT harassment. Rather than addressing bullying, school officials have blamed the students who suffered harassment and often punish them for defending themselves. Officials have also placed LGBT students in educational isolation for extended periods after reporting harassment. Several LGBT students report being told to “suck it

up” by school administrators after alerting them to the harassment they faced. Notice from families and others has been ignored. Despite being notified of the problem, the District has failed to take adequate measures to address the severe and pervasive environment of harassment aimed at Destin and other LGBT students.

School Officials’ Failure to Adequately Address Anti-LGBT Harassment Violates Established Law

School authorities’ failure to adequately respond to Destin and her family’s complaints of ongoing harassment violate established law and Destin’s constitutional rights. The Fourteenth Amendment provides that “[n]o state shall ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1. This guaranty prohibits a school from singling out any group of students for disfavored treatment based on their membership in an unpopular minority. Doing so sends a message that LGBT people do not deserve the opportunity to learn alongside their heterosexual peers. This violates federal law. School officials have been held liable if they turn a blind eye to harassment experienced by LGBT students. In Flores v. Morgan Hill Unified School District, 324 F.3d 1130 (9th Cir. 2003), after almost five years of litigation, a school district agreed to a sizeable monetary settlement and a three-year consent decree that required extensive policy changes and training. In Nabozny v. Podlesny, 92 F. 3d 446 (7th Cir. 1996), a district that initially refused to address anti-gay harassment eventually agreed to substantial money damages for a former student who had endured anti-gay harassment.

Title IX additionally prohibits sex discrimination by any school that receives federal funding. See 20 U.S.C. § 1681 (“No person ... shall, on the basis of sex, ... be subjected to discrimination under

any education program” receiving federal funds.). The U.S. Department of Education instructs that Title IX can apply to anti-LGBT harassment and that it “prohibits gender-based harassment, which may include acts of verbal, nonverbal, or physical aggression, intimidation, or hostility based on sex or sex-stereotyping.”1 Anti-LGBT harassment in schools can be actionable under Title IX. See e.g., Theno v. Tonganoxie Unif. Sch. Dist., 377 F. Supp. 2d 952 (D. Kan. 2005) (finding liability for anti- LGBT harassment). Moss Point School District’s failure to address anti-LGBT harassment relating to Destin’s gender nonconformity violates Title IX.

Additionally, Destin’s treatment violates Mississippi law that protects against hostile school environments and prohibits disciplinary procedures against students who become involved in altercations as a result of a continued pattern of bullying.2 Mississippi law requires school authorities to protect students like Destin who may be more likely to be perceived as disruptive when they are merely responding to continued harassment.

To Remedy the Discrimination Against Destin and Other Students, the District Must Enact a Comprehensive Plan to Address Anti-LGBT Harassment


Destin wants to go back to school in Moss Point, but she cannot return to an environment where she is targeted because of her sexual orientation and gender expression. The District has a responsibility to ensure that Destin and students like her have an opportunity to learn in a respectful environment. Consequently, the District must take appropriate measures to remedy the anti-LGBT hostility as

it not only endangers Destin but also constitutes impermissible discrimination. An appropriate response is not merely to address individual instances of discrimination as they occur, but rather
to implement a plan to comprehensively address the hostile environment. As the U.S. Department of Education instructs, “[b]y responding to individual incidents of misconduct on an ad hoc basis only, the school fail[s] to confront and prevent a hostile environment from continuing.”3 Thus, it is the responsibility of the District to implement a plan to ensure that Destin and students like her are not singled out for mistreatment due to their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. Merely reacting to incidents when there is a pervasive pattern of discrimination does not satisfy the District’s legal obligations.

One year ago, the Southern Poverty Law Center resolved a case on behalf of several students like Destin who faced a similar hostile environment in the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota. Those students experienced anti-LGBT harassment that the district failed to address. SPLC filed a federal lawsuit and the district eventually agreed to a five-year consent decree with federal oversight. The decree features a multi-faceted plan to improve the school climate and systemically address bullying and harassment as well as a monetary award.

Teaching Tolerance, an educational arm of the Southern Poverty Law Center, recently published a best practices guide to help schools improve school climate.4

Without prompt and meaningful action to remedy the hostile environment against LGBT students
in the Moss Point School District, we intend to file a federal lawsuit seeking full redress for Destin as well as attorneys’ fees and costs. If the District wishes to avoid litigation, we welcome an opportunity to meet with District representatives and discuss potential solutions. We are available for an in-person meeting during the remainder of March or early April.

Thank you for your careful attention to this important matter. Sincerely,

Vanessa Carroll, Senior Staff Attorney SPLC Mississippi Office

Sam Wolfe, Senior Staff Attorney LGBT Rights Project

1 U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Office for Civil Rights, Dear Colleague Letter: Harassment and Bullying, 7-8 (Oct. 26, 2010), www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201010.pdf. 2 Miss. Code. Ann. § 37-11-69 (West).
3 Dear Colleague Letter at 8.
4 Best Practices—Creating an LGBT-inclusive School Climate (2013),

Teaching Tolerance Best Practices

It was Hair And Nails Day Again For This Little Man

unicorn456 added this caption on Reddit "Note: Have posted him before. He is not trans just has a very accepting mother who teaches her boys to ignore stereotypical gender roles.

If a boy wants to paint his nails so be it. If he wants to wear a dress so be it!

Awesome mom award 2013"

You can view his wonderful picture here.

Have a wonderful day:)

$60,000 Raised In Three Days To Help Kate Bornstein Stay Alive! Your Help Is Needed Too

Over $60,000 dollas has been raised by Laura Vogel Go Fund Me project in three days towards the $100,000 needed!

Kate Bornstein has cancer. The good news, direct from the team of skilled doctors on her case, is that the cancer is curable. However, the treatment plan that gives Kate the best chance of beating cancer is incredibly expensive. Kate has spent the past thirty years helping the rest of us Stay Alive—now it’s our turn to give back. Let’s HELP KATE BORNSTEIN BEAT CANCER AND STAY ALIVE!

This August, Kate was diagnosed with lung cancer. She underwent surgery, after which extensive testing led her doctors to believe that the cancer was gone. However, in February, Kate’s doctors discovered that this was not, in fact, the case. The cancer was back. Since receiving this news, Kate has seen numerous talented physicians and other medical professionals. The consensus is that Kate’s cancer IS CURABLE. However, Kate’s treatment plan is more complicated than most because she has suffered from another kind of cancer--CLL, or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia--for over fifteen years. Kate will undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment. She will eat according to strict nutritional diet plan and she will take a large number of supplements that will strengthen her body’s ability to handle the chemo and radiation.

This is the treatment plan is Kate’s best—and only—chance at survival. However, it is also exceptionally expensive. While Kate does have health insurance, she must pay the very high deductable, make high monthly insurance payments, and make co-payments for doctor visits and prescriptions. Also, Kate has to travel to the hospitals that are best suited to administer her unique treatment plan. Right now, this means going to Chicago five times over the next two months for chemotherapy. In the coming months, she may also have to travel to San Diego and Texas for additional treatment. Luckily, Kate will undergo radiation therapy in New York City, where she lives, but because of her weak immune system, she will have to take cabs to and from the hospital five days per week for at least two month s . Additionally, insurance does not cover the high cost of the supplements that her doctor insists are an integral part of her treatment plan.


During the course of her treatment, Kate’s immune system will be seriously compromised, she will be exhausted, and she will experience periods of extreme nausea. As a result, her doctors have insisted that Kate take a hiatus from work-related travel, speaking engagements, performances, and even writing. For the next eight to ten months, Kate will be undergoing treatment and recovering from cancer, so she will not be able to work. This means that Kate will have no way to pay for rent, utilities, food, pet care, or any other normal expense. So, not only does Kate have to worry about paying her medical bills, she also has to worry about paying her basic living expenses. This is where we come in. Kate’s work—her books, lectures, performances, apps, and online presence—has helped countless people choose life instead of suicide. Kate’s efforts have literally saved thousands of lives. Now, it’s time for all of us to save the life of just one person: Kate Bornstein. Through our donations, each of us has the power to give Kate our thanks, to be there for her in this difficult time, and to help her save her life. Please join me in donating whatever you can to help Kate beat cancer and STAY ALIVE.

Lucy Meadows Just Out Trans Teacher Found Dead: Mail Online Deletes Article That Caused Her So Much Pain

When you click the link to Richard Littlejohn's Mail Online now deleted article crucifying Lucy Meadows...... it still appears momentarily like a ghost haunting them from Google's cached graveyard.

I was able to snip it before it fades away completely.

While it's not clear at this moment whether Lucy Meadows committed suicide or whether her death could be attributed directly to the toxicity of this article a number of things are certain.

Her transition would have been a whole lot better if the schools letter to the parents, however well intended, hadn't misgendered her. This letter alone probably wasn't the sole reason Mr Cowie and other transphobic parents contacted the Mail Online about this, but it certainly did not help.

The Mail online removed this article March 21st two days following Miss Meadows death which in my book is a self incriminating admission of culpability.

There was a level of acceptance by students for Lucy Meadows who by all appearances was a lovely caring soul regardless of her gender expression.

Zinna Jones read the article before it was taken down and reports it essentially told her to go away. This is devastating for someone who cares for her students as Miss Jones undoubtedly did.

There is a online petition: Daily Mail: Fire Richard Littlejohn for victimizing Lucy Meadows, leading to her possible suicide.

Note to the Fail Online. Your turn is coming. You can't run, delete or hide. We don't forget or forgive. Anonmyous Open Letter To Richard Littlejohn of the U.K. Daily Mail:

I am writing this to be the voice of Lucy Meadows. Words are not enough for me to describe the sadness and horror I feel on behalf of Ms. Lucy Meadows. As someone who was bullied for coming from an LGBT home, and for having obviously less than male emotions and less than male macho behavior, I know the effects of being bullied to the point of suicide. I almost took my own life back in 1993. I unknowingly tried to overdose on an anti-anxiety med that I became addicted to in my pain and deep depression of that time in my life. I was only 15 years old. I use the word "unknowingly" because I was in such an overwhelmed, separated, otherworldly mental state that was dark, lonely, beyond painful, and truly scary. I was lucky enough to somehow know that I needed emergency medical help. I am still here because I sought help. Lucy Meadows deserved to life her life with encouragement, support, dignity, respect, and she deserved to be treated like a valuable human being.

Richard Littlejohn has done more than just step over the line, he has used his position to commit pre-meditated murder, even if British law doesn't see it that way. Richard Littlejohn, YOU are worse than the lowest and most worthless excuse for a human being! YOU used your position to gain ratings and profit at the expense of the life of another person.

What's real means nothing to you, Dick Littlejohn! The disgusting, skin deep, inhumane mind and existence you live in is worse than that of any other evil that can be referred to. EVIL is too nice to call you, you are far worse than evil, you are a huge zero! Your existence here on this earth never mattered, and will never matter. I am speaking, Dick Littlejohn, as the voice of the person who can never speak for herself, for the voice you stole without any sort of legal or moral justification. Asking who the hell you think you are to do what you did and to have done it at the cost of sending someone to their untimely grave is an opportunity I am NOT going to give you!

YOu didn't give Lucy Meadows ONE CHANCE to live a decent life, YOU did NOT give Lucy Meadows mercy or understanding, YOU are guilty of the worst crime anyone could ever have committed! I AM NOT here to give you a chance to have a voice or a chance to explain, because no one anywhere wants to hear it. YOU DON'T GET A CHANCE to defend yourself! On behalf of the life that was taken, I am reserving that right to take YOUR voice from you in exchange, and what I mean by that is to tell you that you should not even attempt to speak. You should wallow in the same shame, inhumane indignity, and your life should literally become worse than the hell you heaped upon Lucy!

Dick Littlejohn, you stand publicly convicted by public morals and everyday standards of human living. You stand convicted outside the realm of a legal court of law for the crime of being a predator who singles out women whose only crime is to correct their bodies to match their brain. A transgender person live with a very real medical problem for which the only treatment is to transition into the proper physical body and social mode of living. YOU took that HUMAN RIGHT and MEDICAL OPTION away from Lucy, and it led to her death!

Shame is too light of a word to use here for you. On behalf of thee educated, civilized, compassionate, understanding, loving people of the world: RESIGN YOUR POSITION IMMEDIATELY and PERMANENTLY RESIGN FROM EVER AGAIN BEING A MEMBER OF THE MEDIA! After that, YOU CAN GO LIVE A LONELY, SOLITARY, PAINFUL LIFE OF INTERNAL TORTURE UNTIL THE MOMENT OF YOUR OWN NATURAL DEATH! When the day of your death comes forth, I hope you are greeted by Lucy Meadows, and I hope you are tormented by her in the exact way you tormented her! After that, I hope she is granted the power to send you straight to hell if there is such a place!

Smith College Requires a Trans woman to be Sterilized prior to Admittance

In what amounts to forced eugenics, Smith College has told a transgender applicant she must complete sexual reassignment surgery as a requirement before she can attend the school. The Smith College Trans : policy would appear it is a welcoming place.

From Calliope Wong blog "But in order to be legally recognized as “female” on my birth certificate according to BOTH Massachusetts and Connecticut law, I have to undergo vaginoplasty (feminizing genital surgery). From what I understand, Smith College will only evaluate me as a “real” girl if I get sex reassignment surgery."

"If I understand Smith correctly, this is perhaps the most obscene of rights violations that I have ever witnessed from a school. It’s not a loud and boisterous violation, which is all the worse: its sly wording hurts just as much but is hard to detect. By simply stating that only “females” may be allowed to apply and attend Smith, Smith College sets the bar for transwomen applicants impossibly high."

-transwomen are most likely not ready for surgery at 17 or 18, the typical age of a college applicant. It’s a monumental personal decision that usually arises from years of introspection and deliberation.

-transwomen may not even feel the need for genital surgery. Some transwomen do not experience extreme dysphoria about the state of their genitalia, and opt not to undergo vaginoplasty.

-genital surgery is notoriously expensive (several tens of thousands of dollars, easily), and many transwomen cannot afford to pay for vaginoplasty at this point in their lives."

What NOW? A Trans Skateboarder? Ready Or Not Her She Comes!

Given the push back MMA fighter Fallon Fox has received for asking to fight people of her own gender it begs the question asked by JENKEM: Is the world ready for a transgender skateboarder? Photos are awesome and the writing superb. Check out her story here.

Arizona Amendment to S.B.1432 Seeks to Criminalize Undocumented Trans Potty Goers

Rep. John Kavanagh has submitted an amendment to the states disorderly conduct classification effectively making transsexuality illegal. This amendment is being snuck into a bill that has to do with providing an executive director to the board of licensing for massage therapists.
Many believe the amendment is in response to Phoenix adding trans protections which was seen as a stab to the heart by some the most venomous anti LGBT groups in the nation such as Az Policy Institute which happen to be based right in Rep. Kavanagh's back yard.

Rep. Kavanagh told KNAU public radio"...it will not be necessary for people to carry that (a birth vertificate) around, any more than it's necessary for someone entering a men's room or women's room now to produce documentation. "But if you go into a public shower," Kavanagh said, "and you're a male and it's a female public shower, and the police are called, well, you'd better be able to prove that you're a female and not a male. Otherwise, you're going to go to jail, which is where you belong."

The amendment gets it'd first hearing today.