7/31/13

Video: Transgender Student Ashton Lee delivers 5700 signature petition urging Gov Brown to sign AB1266

Lee explains why he is so committed to AB 1266 "The School Success and Opportunity Act": "This will make it easier for us to graduate, to be accepted and understood."

Source Sacramento Bee:

His mom, Catherine Lee, said her son's struggle to assert his gender identity in school had an immediate negative effect on him. She was hopeful that his petition would receive a warm welcome from the governor.

"I've followed Jerry Brown for a long time, ever since I was a little kid and the first time he was governor," she said. "I have faith in him."

Carolyn Laub, executive director of the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, said Brown's signature would send a far-reaching message to transgender students.

"It says that we care about you, and we care about your success in your education and we want you to have all the benefits and opportunities that come with school, like being in P.E. class and being on sports teams," Laub said. "It says that your education matters."

The petition now has 6400 signatures. It's still open so please add your name too.

Gaye from Istanbul found murdered! Already there have been 4 trans murders in 2013

Gaye, a trans woman who had according to reports, just left the sex trade and begun working as a florist, has been found dead in her apartment in Istanbul.

This brings the death toll of Turkish trans people to 4 in 7 months.

“We need a law to combat against hate murders,” said Ebru Kırancı from Istanbul LGBTT told Bianet.

Another person from the LGBT community apparently died from a drug overdose. While its not clear if she was trans her lose is still the transgender communities lose. A article posted on radikal.com.tr expressed outrage over the oppressive conditions that undoubtedly contributed to her death:

"Already that no one cares. The result is a trans died! What family accept what society accepts, nor officially recognized, defined. I just broke a jar of water towards the water is being treated. According to the system because the heterosexist homosexuals, transsexuals, all LGBTs a depraved, perverted, sick, sex-crazed, sinful, layout, racking ..."
"As long as I do not think it would be anything ranging strengthens the LGBT movement. Because everyone in Turkey, which is a heterosexist society and heterosexual Muslim Sunni official anlmda! Under such circumstances the law of this country, judiciary, homophobic, transphobic also be the usual, prime minister, deputy homophobic, transphobic and normal to have"

This memorial facebook page was posted by Trans X Turkey:

Trans X Turkey · 238 like this

19 hours ago near Istanbul, Turkey ·

Bir Kardeşimizi daha kaybettik, başımız sağolsun...

Özge Özge

Went to selçuklu öztekinler kız meslek lisesiIt's ComplicatedMale
Like · · Share

There is much frustration in Turkey as the murders of LGBT people go unmentioned by mainstream media, uninvestigated or under investigated by police, unnoticed by politicians and condoned by religions. This leads many Turkish transgender people to feel that there is a conspiracy against them, a conspiracy of acquiescence.

There are pitifully few accounts of these murders in mainstream media and only one translated to English further widening the awareness gap. Indeed there is a conspiracy in Turkey against LGBT people that encompasses every segment of society.

This is a trailer of director Maria Binder's film, Trans X Istanbul which is in currently in production. It is a documentary with Ebru Kırancı examining the murderous conditions Istanbul Trans people exist in.

What can we do?

Thursday August 1st at Ortanca Park Lambda Istanbul will be hosting an event to foster #kurtulustaneleroluyor: Homofobik ve Transfobik Şiddete Karşı Dayanışma (Solidarity Against Homophobic and Transphobic violence).

This Thursday come together in our forum in the Middle Park, Feriköy our neighborhood, we're going to talk about what we can do against the increasing and sistematikleşen violence.

Our forum Esmeray stylings. As a LGBT individuals to live in this neighborhood, then to talk to, will share their experiences of violence, attacks, we think what we can do together.

We expect all other LGBT residents of the neighborhood and our forum participants.

Ortanca Park

Istanbul, Turkey

View Map · Get Directions

7/30/13

Mylène, French transgender Woman Found Murdered at Home

Thursday evening firefighters responding to a call from friends found Mylène, a transgender woman in her Couzeix residence around 8:30 apparently the victim of an attack. Couzeix is a commune in the Haute-Vienne department in the Limousin region in western France.

According to Gay Star News Mylène,42, was beaten to death with a hammer but the article does not include a link supporting that.

From the article's update on Friday it appears the police have arrested one person in connection to her murder.

From the article linked below "Mylene police still looking for key witness" which misgenders her.

"An appointment made on the internet and gone wrong, could be the cause of the death of this 42 year old hairdresser, appreciated for transmutation performances he gave in nightclubs in the area."

"But according to our information, the police is also investigating the guests at a party hosted Mylène Wednesday night, just hours before his death. Investigators seek such a man considered a "key witness" in the case of voluntary manslaughter. It would be left alone with the victim in the late evening and could be the last to see him alive."

"An autopsy will be performed at the Forensic Institute in the coming days to determine the exact circumstances of the death of Mylène, further clarified the floor of Limoges."

Class Action Lawsuit Targets Walmart's "Straight Talk" Unlimited Data Plan For Throttling Users

This is slightly embarrassing, not something I would normally discuss in public. I used to hide my cell phone when I was among friends. I didn't want anyone to see it.

See, I used to use the cell phone service "straight talk". At the time I worked at Walmart and couldn't afford ATT or T-Mobil service. Like many under employed trans people I couldn't afford Internet at home so the "Unlimited" plan seemed just what I needed.

Except my phone wouldn't open up links a few days after I re-up'd. (bought another $45 service card). Being ignorant I always assumed it was just a lousy phone/service but as it turns out the "Unlimited" plan wasn't unlimited at all. In fact it was another Walmart screw job.

Source ABC News :

A class action suit filed last week in U.S. District Court for Northern California claims that consumers who buy Straight Talk cell phone plans aren't getting straight talk: The plans, advertised as providing "unlimited" data use, in fact have limitations, the suit claims.

The complaint against Walmart Stores and TracFone Wireless, which jointly created Straight Talk in 2009, says that the advertising claim is false, and that customers are routinely subject to having their flows of data "throttled" (slowed) or to having their access to data terminated without notice.

Throttling takes place, according to the complaint, when subscribers near or exceed "internally established, but undisclosed" data usage limits, or when the strain imposed on wireless networks by peak data usage requires easing.

The complaint says customers who objected to being "throttled" were blamed by TracFone service reps for having misused the data service, without being told how they had allegedly misused it.

As an example, the suit cites Northern California wireless customer Edward Tooley, who switched to Straight Talk's unlimited plan from a competitor's plan that expressly limited him to 2.5GB of high speed data, above which ceiling his data would be throttled.

Well, now I use Metro PCS (which is still slightly embarrassing siting amongst my S4 phone friends) but at least they let you know you have a throttle down point, but since I have WiFi at my house it really doesn't affect me.

But I'd really like to get in on this class action suit.

7/29/13

Some activists condemn and Some ignore the fact that the NSW Marriage Equality bill explicitly excludes Trans and intersex people

NSW Australia: Just days after a legislative inquiry indicated individual states had the right to legislate marriage equality New South Wales introduced a bill to do just that, for cisgender couples.

The main problem it seems is the law will inevitably face a constitutional challenge. Some believe that's just a transphobic excuse.

ABC reports that The committee's chairman, Nationals MP Niall Blair, says none of the constitutional law experts the inquiry heard from could give a solid guarantee that state-based laws would hold up in court.

"The drafting and some of the items in that legislation would ultimately have the final bearing on whether that would survive a constitutional challenge, should it actually be determined that it is in conflict with the marriage act," he said.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald "The bill makes it clear it is about the marriage of same-sex couples only. Trans-sex marriages are not allowed, and churches are explicitly exempted."

A pre-operative trans person cannot marry a person whose sex is the same as theirs (which, legally, is usually the old sex on the pre-operative trans persons birth certificate), despite being of opposite gender although getting a passport corrected to indicate female, male or "X" is no problem.

The latest statement by NSW Marriage Equality doesn't mention trans exclusion but the Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) issued a statement Friday that condemns the marginalisation of trans* and intersex people in the proposed marriage 'equality bill' for NSW:

CAAH Co-Convenor Cat Rose "The Liberal Party have never gone near marriage equality with a barge pole in the past. The only reason such a homophobic party has shifted has been because of the mass campaign that we've prosecuted.

Rose continued, "But the exemption trans* and intersex people's rights shows they haven't shifted nearly far enough. Our campaign has been for full equality for everyone, we don't settle for concessions and we won't stand for this transphobia and the invisibilising of Intersex people."

"Using the spectre of constitutional challenge is a smoke screen for bigotry, we've seen in other states that the power is there to pass more inclusive bills if they wanted to test it. Either way our fight will have to continue for genuine marriage equality to be recognised by the federal government." said Rose

Norrie, a resident of NSW recently had hir application to have hir gender listed as not specified by the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages upheld by the NSW Supreme Court. Under the laws Norrie and anyone else who adopts 'not specified' gender neutral documentation will not be allowed to get married

7/28/13

Councilman John Delgado will investigate Baton Rouge Sheriff's illegal entrapment of gay men calling it “despicable, offensive, hateful, bigoted.”

The Baton Rouge Advocate reports that on July 18th "an undercover East Baton Rouge Parish sheriff’s deputy was staking out Manchac Park about 10 a.m. one day when a slow-moving sedan pulling into the parking lot caught his attention.

The deputy parked alongside the 65-year-old driver and, after denying being a cop, began a casual conversation that was electronically monitored by a backup team nearby."

"As the two men moved their chat to a picnic table, the deputy propositioned his target with “some drinks and some fun” back at his place, later inquiring whether the man had any condoms, according to court records. After following the deputy to a nearby apartment, the man was handcuffed and booked into Parish Prison on a single count of attempted crime against nature."

There have been at least 11 other arrests like this by the Sheriff's task force targeting gay men. In this case Bail was set by a judge indicating his belief that a law had been broken.

No laws were broken. In every arrest a similar conversation took place with the undercover cop and his victim leaving the park before any sexual interactions. Each time they went to a private residence where the man was arrested for violating Louisiana’s anti-sodomy law which was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court a decade ago with Lawrence vs Texas.

Even though in every instance the DA refused to file charges Sheriff Gautreaux maintains he was not aware his deputies were making false arrests.

“The Sheriff’s Office has not, nor will it ever, set out with the intent to target or embarrass any part of our law-abiding community,” the Sheriff’s Office statement says.

The DA has refused to prosecute any of the victims. District Attorney Hillar Moore told The News Tribune "The Sheriff's Office's intentions are all good," Moore said. "But from what I've seen of these cases, legally, we found no criminal violation."

Councilman John Delgado ain't buying it:.

Delgado said the deputies’ actions are violations of the civil rights of these men under the 5th and 14th amendments. He said the Sheriff’s Office cannot claim it was unaware of the change in the law.

“Ignorance of the law is no excuse,” he said. “Doesn’t your office tell people that all the time?”

Delgado said he will file public records requests Monday to determine when the District Attorney’s Office informed the Sheriff’s Office that the men targeted had committed no crime.

Delgado also said it’s “beyond insulting” that the sheriff would say he “didn’t know it was against the law.”

The Baton Rouge police department has just posted this statement on facebook:

East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office · 1,999 like this

6 hours ago near Baton Rouge, LA ·

The goal of our statement was to express our intent to the public, which was to keep the parks safe. We admit, however, the approach needs to change. We are not making excuses, simply stating we will learn from this, make changes and move forward. We will be working with all branches of government to find a better solution for keeping our parks safe. Thanks to all for their input.

.......which apparently satisfied the Capitol City Alliance who just tweeted:

‏@ccabatonrouge4h

Victory! @EBRSheriff will work with us to improve his practices and to remove the CAN law from the books!

I wouldn't be so quick to call a victory. There was a reason for Sheriff Gautreaux sudden epiphany. There was an anti gay agenda and the people who promoted it have probably broken some laws. There is justice to be done yet. For the 12 people who they bullied, intimidated and falsely arrested.

Malaysian Trans People Leap Forward With The First Political Appointee and The "My Trans Ally" Project

In possibly a Malaysian political first, a transgender woman Hazreen Shaik Daud, has been appointed as political secretary to DAP's Tanjung Bungah state assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu. The decision's received backlash but Hazreen's determined to help "Ubah" or change the mindsets of the public toward her community.

Malaysia has become known as a very hostile country for trans people even banning movies in which LGBT characters don't repent or die symbolizing "good over evil".

In Malaysia cross-dressing is not technically a crime. However, transgender individuals have often been arrested by police officers under the civil laws governing "public indecency", and if they are Muslim, can be further charged by religious officers under Sharia Laws for "impersonating" women. For example, in 1998, forty-five Muslim transvestites were charged and convicted in court for dressing as women, and twenty-three more transgender persons faced similar fines and imprisonment in 1999.^[3] In 2012, a court upheld the ban on Muslim born males wearing women’s clothes. The High Court in Seremban rejected a bid by four Muslim transsexuals who were born male to declare the Shariah law unconstitutional.^[9]

It has been estimated that a large number of transgender persons are forced to work on the streets as commercial sex workers to earn a living.~ Wiki LGBT rights in Malaysia

Global Voices reports: Former NGO worker Hazreen Shaik Daud is Malaysia’s first transgender in politics after being appointed as political secretary to Tanjung Bungah state assemblyman Teh Yee Cheu of the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

A transgender committee was initially approved in the Penang State to address transgender issues:

The transgender committee will be formed in two months, and aims to collect data and alleviate the status and social stigma associated with the transgender community. Some of their activities will include public forums to spread awareness on the issue.

Hazreen will initially work in the committee but she will also be responsible for other issues as well such as politics, economy, culture, education, health, and human rights.

KiniTV, a Malaysian Internet portal, recognized Hazreen as Malaysia’s first transgender in politics:

Transgender awareness campaign launched in Malaysia (Video)

Activists in Malaysia have today launched the first transgender awareness public service announcement video of its kind on Youtube.

read more about this at Fridae Asia

Published on May 20, 2013
PSA part 1: I Am A Picture Of You.
This is the 1st video in the series.

This educational video campaign is specifically designed to raise awareness regarding the trans* community, in hopes to foster understanding and promote tolerance and acceptance in this society towards trans people and subsequently bridge the gap between the trans* community and the society.

Website: My Trans ally.weebly.com
Facebook: I am you campaign
Twitter: @mytransally

7/27/13

Putin's suspension of the "Gay Propaganda" law in Sochi Russia for the 2014 Olympics acknowledges it's immorality

Will the world validate Putin's Amorality?

MOSCOW, July 26 (R-Sport) - The International Olympic Committee told R-Sport on Friday it has received “assurances from the highest level” of Russian government that athletes and spectators at next year’s Winter Olympics in Sochi will be exempt from a controversial law banning anything deemed to promote homosexuality.

Since it was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin last month, the legislation targeting so-called homosexual propaganda has attracted calls from activists around the world to boycott Russia’s first Winter Olympics.

“As a sporting organization, what we can do is to continue to work to ensure that the Games can take place without discrimination against athletes, officials, spectators and the media,” the IOC said in an emailed statement.

“To that end, the IOC has received assurances from the highest level of government in Russia that the legislation will not affect those attending or taking part in the Games.”

The IOC added that “this legislation has just been passed into law and it remains to be seen whether and how it will be implemented, particularly as regards the Games in Sochi.”

The IOC has decided to ignore the brutal inhuman repression being carried out by Putin's henchmen and will try to forge ahead with the Olympics despite a worldwide cry to boycott it. Despite overwhelming evidence about the true nature of the "gay Propaganda law" available by a google search! That's not too surprising but then nether is the corporate response.

Buzfeed reports: "NBCUniversal, which has the exclusive U.S. rights to air the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, responded to questions about their coverage plans in light of Russia’s anti-LGBT laws with a broad statement that the company “strongly supports equal rights.”

"The statement from NBCUniversal came hours after the International Olympic Committee announced that they had received assurances from Russian officials that the anti-LGBT laws there would not be enforced against athletes and attendees of the Sochi Olympics."

“NBCUniversal strongly supports equal rights and the fair treatment for all people. The spirit of the Olympic Games is about unifying people and countries through the celebration of sport and it is our hope that spirit will prevail,” NBCUniversal senior vice president of corporate communications Cameron Blanchard told BuzzFeed Friday evening."

NBCUniversal, the media center you will be using at the 2014 Olympics?

ifex.org reports that "Semyon Simonov, coordinator of Memorial's Migration and Law Network in Sochi, told Human Rights Watch that officials from the tax inspectorate, the Federal Security Service, and the prosecutor's office arrived at Memorial's office at 11 a.m. on July 23. The officials arrived approximately 90 minutes after Simonov had received a phone call from officials informing him that the inspection would take place. A statement published by Memorial said that the officials claimed there had been a complaint against the group but refused to provide any details. They asked to see all the documents relating to the office's work and read through several files on migrant worker cases that were in folders in plain sight. They did not try to search the organization's premises or gain access to their computers and did not remove any documents."

The officials called the landlord of the building where Memorial rents the office space and asked for a copy of the lease.

"On July 22 Simonov hand-delivered a two-page complaint to the Adler district prosecutor's office describing a range of alleged violations by the construction company. The alleged violations included confiscating migrant workers' identity documents – in some cases for three to four months at a time – failure to pay promised wages and to provide workers with copies of their contracts, and failure to provide sanitary living conditions."

"Among those affected by the alleged abuses are migrant workers who are building the Main Media Center for the Olympic Games."

Mr Putin, upon my arrival at the Moscow airport for the Olympics I will be kissing my girlfriend and while holding up signs denouncing your treatment of my community. Or will I get my head busted open because it's too far from Sochi? What exactly is the time frame of the suspension of your gay propaganda law? Two days before, a hour? And how close do I have to get to Sochi to be assured that my most basic human rights are protected?

Cameron Blanchard at NBCUniversal, at what time does your self professed morality begin? Now with the construction of you're media center? Too late for that now but perhaps when the Olympics begin? How many kilometers from Sochi will your morality encompass? A kilometer for a day or so?

There's only one answer that's not immoral!

Boycott Putin’s Russian Winter Olympics #FreePussyRiot Balaclavas for everyone! No Pussies No Games is petitioning to the world's people not to participate. Not to validate.

I'm homeless

I'm destitute. Haven't had steady meals in months after losing my job and not one good night sleep after my landlord evicted me. Its getting unbearable outside. It's ether steaming hot or freezing cold in Portland Maine.

I have to get inside but there's only a few options for emergency housing and I want none of them.

See, I'm transgender, and haven't shaved in weeks and skirt is filthy. I got beat up a couple days ago and the last time I looked in the mirror I gasped. My eyes like the dead. I begun transitioning in 07 but some of us just never loose that stubble completely and my mannerisms? Damn, being on the street is all about survival. I know if I walk into the woman's shelter someones going to say something.

Oh, god they let me stay. They were so nice, just gave me a bed, but the other ladies just stare and whisper. If only I can tonight. I desperately need sleep. But this lady is standing at my bed twirling a cross. She'd not saying anything but a bunch of them just followed me into the bathroom. Talking loud. Outside my stall door. Someones banging on it now.

Oh fuck. They just called me into the front office. Now I'm hearing that that some of the residents said that I'm really a man. They told the office that because I had a 5 o'clock shadow, no make up and dirty clothes and a deeper voice they want me out of the shelter.

This is really happening at the Florance House:

"I am supposed to be there as a woman with other women," said one of the women, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing her spot at the shelter. She said one of the people in question has stared at her, making her uncomfortable.

But the women who complained said they believe that in at least one case, it was a ruse. They believe one of the people in question is a man who occasionally dresses as a woman to get into the shelter, perhaps for voyeuristic reasons. That person did not have any feminine mannerisms and often dresses in a T-shirt and jeans, sporting a 5 o'clock shadow of male facial hair, they said.

"If they're really living as a woman, I think they have every right to be there," said one of the women who complained. "But he wasn't wearing makeup or wearing eyeliner or anything. Just a man wearing a skirt. It was just odd."

Thank god that this shelter is a fully welcoming place so as of this post the transgender woman still have options.

But this could have been me. After losing my job after beginning transition and getting kicked out of my home I was saved by a transgender man who saw me at a weekly gender diversity meeting. He just asked me out of the blue "do you need a place to stay?" He allowed me the time to find another job. He saved me from having to go through this hell.

After getting my feet back on the ground I found I needed to pay it forward in 09. It was a arduous, tedious time consuming effort but we got the Dallas homeless shelter "The Bridge" to agree to admit transgender clients. They refused to attend even one meeting but the person who signed their checks from the city supported our efforts so we got a 'procedural update' from the shelter. I need to go back to The Bridge in my finest apparel and see if they still are abiding by it. (the Dallas Transgender Advocates is no longer)

H/T Zinnia Jones

7/26/13

Pvt. Bradley Manning's trial nearing the end. So why is the mainstream press mainly silent?

The judge will announce the verdict as early as Monday yet there are only few mainstream media articles about it.

Army private Bradley Manning purportedly came out to his commanders as Breanna and has paid the price while in Marine Corps custody in Quantico. Although his web page defines his gender as male and asks people to refrain from speculating about his gender the article's title does not state this implicitly unfortunately leaving many like myself unaware of his wishes. I researched this issue extensively before publishing because it is extremely important not to misgender anyone.

I apologize for unintentionally misgendering Bradley and have made the necessary corrections.

For nine months he was at Quantico he was stripped, slept naked, mocked and made to stand formation with other prisoners while naked. USA today report Dec 2012 makes me wonder if his major offense was declaring himself trans to his superiors. This happened before DADT was repealed at a time when being trans was considered being gay and from my experience as a vet, the worst crime a soldier could commit. It got you three month's restriction to the barracks while waiting court martial.

FORT MEADE, Maryland (AP) — A former supervisor of the Marine Corps brig that housed an Army private charged with sending U.S. secrets to the WikiLeaks website denied Wednesday that he was making light of Pfc. Bradley Manning's homosexuality when he referred to the soldier's underwear as "panties" in a staff memo.

Marine Corps Master Sgt. Brian Papakie testified as a prosecution witness on the seventh day of a pretrial hearing at Fort Meade, near Baltimore. The hearing is to determine whether the nine months Manning spent in Marine Corps custody in Quantico, Virginia, amounts to illegal pretrial punishment, and whether his case should be dismissed as a result. The military contends Manning had to be confined to his cell at least 23 hours a day, sometimes without clothing, to prevent him from hurting or killing himself during his confinement from July 2010 to April 2011.

Papakie testified on cross-examination about a memo he wrote after the brig commander ordered Manning stripped of his underwear each night starting March 2, 2011. Manning stood naked at attention for a prisoner count the next morning, causing a stir that prompted Papakie to write an email to ensure it didn't happen again.

"Make sure he is not standing at attention naked for evening count right before taps. You should be taking his panties right before he lays down," Papakie wrote.

Under questioning by defense attorney David Coombs, Papakie said he uses the word interchangeably with "skivvies" and "underwear" when discussing men's undershorts.

Marine Corps Master Sgt. Brian Papakie fucking lied under oath. As a veteran Army Sargent I find that repugnant. Now I would have never considered doing what Manning did but I served during peace time long before Drones slaughtered innocent civilians and by remote control.

Her crime? Among other things this video: The RPG? It was latter identified as a camera lens. They slaughtered a journalist and parents carrying weapons to protect there children in a war zone.

So who is Bradley Manning? According to his father (who appears to be lieing) and a friend she suffered awefully as a young person.

Watch The Private Life of Bradley Manning on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

7/25/13

Federal Government Resolves Complaint Filed by CA Transgender Student

Each time a trans child is affirmed and given the opportunity to shine a star gets just a little brighter. The press release from The National Center for Lesbian Rights

Agreement Affirms that Transgender Students Are Entitled to Equal Access in Schools

(San Francisco, CA, July 24, 2013)—Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced a resolution to a complaint filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) on behalf of a transgender student in California’s Arcadia Unified School District. The resolution requires the school district to treat the student as male in all respects and keep his transgender status private. Furthermore, the school district agreed to revise its policies to ensure that all students who do not conform to sex stereotypes, including transgender students, have equal access and opportunity to participate in all of the district’s activities and programs. Those policy changes will be complemented by district-wide training for personnel and students. The implementation of this agreement will be overseen by a qualified expert agreed upon by the district and federal government.

The student and his family—who asked that their names not be made public--filed a complaint with OCR and DOJ in October 2011 when the school district required him to sleep in a cabin by himself instead of allowing him to room with his male peers on an overnight field trip. Not wanting to miss out on this important educational opportunity, he attended the field trip, but could not escape the feeling that he was being "quarantined" for no legitimate reason.

In addition to preventing him from fully participating in the overnight field trip, the school district excluded the student from the boys’ restroom and locker room, insisting that he use the nurse’s office. That arrangement resulted in the student being ridiculed by peers and limited his ability to participate in afterschool activities because the nurse’s restroom was locked during those times.

The student and his family are represented by the NCLR.

"I am glad that my school district has agreed to put in place the protections that I, and other transgender students, need to feel safe and welcome in school," said the student. "Knowing that I have the school district’s suppport, I can focus on learning and being a typical high school student, like my friends."

Said NCLR Staff Attorney Asaf Orr: "We commend the federal government for taking this necessary step to ensure that schools are safe and supportive environments where all students can thrive, including transgender students. Federal law obligates school districts to affirm and respect a transgender student’s gender identity in all of their programs, activities, and facilities. Treating transgender students based on their assigned sex at birth is psychologically harmful and interferes with their healthy social development. Hopefully, school districts will take this opportunity to proactively address the needs of transgender youth through district-wide policies and training."

Read the notification letter.

Read agreement.

Read the complaint.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the civil and human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.
www.nclrights.org.

7/24/13

Spice Girl Flash Mob Birthday Celebration and a Russian LGBT Party: A study in Contrast

San Francisco CA Via the Castro Biscuit "July 20th, in an ‘only in the Castro’ kind of moment, Sister Risque of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, aka Christopher Nathan, celebrated turning the big Four Oh by assembling some gal pals, memorized all the choreography and words of 90′s mega-Pop group, Spice Girls hit, ‘If You Wanna Be My Lover’, and then trooped around in man-sized 4″ heels serving the Castro classic flashmob moves at several iconic neighborhood corners. Filmed by Sister Risque’s pal Mark Kleim the look-a-like crew terrorized and entertained visitors and neighbors alike. Check it out. And happy birthday Sister!"

2013 St Petersburg Pride

Vladimir Putin's killers have been trained to celebrate LGBT love but in a different way. The 2012 St Petersburg pride happened just as the city passed the "gay propaganda" laws. It went off peacefully. This year the gay propaganda law was enforced by police who allowed and participated in the beatings of the LGBT people.

Meanwhile in Russia they are also celebrating diversity and LGBT birthdays albeit a little differently

Via LGBT BuzFeed

36 Photos From Russia That Everyone Needs To See

1. St. Petersburg Gay Pride, 2013:

Image by Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

Image by OLGA MALTSEVA / Getty Images

3. What began as a peaceful march…

Image by OLGA MALTSEVA / Getty Images

4. …ended up turning incredibly violent as anti-gay protesters overtook the rally.

Image by OLGA MALTSEVA / Getty Images

5. A gay rights supporter is beaten to the ground.

Image by OLGA MALTSEVA / Getty Images

6. Smoke bombs are set off.

Image by Evgeny Feldman / AP

7. Chaos ensues.

Image by Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

8. A woman runs from the crowd.

Image by Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

9. Two men flee…

Image by ALEXANDER DEMIANCHUK / Reuters

10. …but are eventually detained.

Image by Dmitry Lovetsky / AP

11. In the end, police officers detained several of the gay activists.

Image by OLGA MALTSEVA / Getty Images

12. The 2012 parade ended the same way.

An anti-gay protester clashes with a gay rights activist.

Image by ALEXANDER DEMIANCHUK / Reuters

13. That event was also overrun by anti-gay protesters.

Image by ALEXANDER DEMIANCHUK / Reuters

14.

Image by ANTON TUSHIN / Getty Images

15. Moscow, May 2013:

An unknown anti-gay activist hits Russian gay and LGBT rights activist Nikolai Alexeyev during an unauthorized gay rights activists rally in central Moscow.

Image by ANDREY SVITAILO / Getty Images