8/25/12
Frameline Stop Holding The Screaming Queens Hostage
"Screaming Queens tells the Little Known Story of the first known act of collective, violent resistance to the social oppression of queer people in the United States.."
We are still fighting that battle today as everyone is fully aware of but here's a interesting fact, our history, our lineage, the basic building blocks that we know as our community is still being held hostage!
Lets NOT keep this history out of reach of the people who would benefit the most by knowing of it!!!
Transgender historian and film documentarian Susan Stryker is interviewed by Autumn Sandeen of Pam's House Blend at the 4th Annual California Transgender Leadership Summit.
Sadly our history is still being held hostage by Frameline
The Daily Kos inspiring chronicle of the Compton riots can be read here then I hope you join Susan and I in asking Frameline to free our history from the shackles of the dollar so that more of us, our transgender community including myself, can see it.
Call Frameline at 415-703-8650 and ask why this historic movie still costs $250 to purchase?
8/21/12
Stav Strashko Toyota Ad Is HOT 彼女の素敵なお尻と
This clip Slav is a little more relaxed behind the scene....
And a small taste of the production's official fashion "Sfgat Store" trends summer 2012. טעימה קטנה מהפקת האופנה הרשמית של "שפגאט סטור" טרנדים לקיץ
APA offers New Position on Transgender Care
*********
APA Issues Official Positions Supporting Access to Care and the Rights of Transgender and Gender Variant Persons
ARLINGTON, Va. (August 16, 2012) — The American Psychiatric Association advocates for removal of barriers to care for gender transition treatment and for the protection of civil rights for transgender and gender variant individuals. APA has long expressed strong affirmation of lesbian and gay civil rights since the 1973 decision to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Now APA is issuing position statements in support of access to care and civil rights for transgender individuals.
Gender variant and transgender individuals must cope with multiple unique challenges, including significant discrimination, prejudice, and the potential for victimization from violent hate crimes. They often experience discrimination when accessing health care and are denied numerous basic civil rights and protections.
Long-standing medical and psychiatric literature demonstrates clear benefits of medical and surgical interventions to assist gender variant individuals seeking transition. However, transgender and gender variant people are frequently denied medical, surgical, and psychiatric care related to gender transition. Access to medical care (both medical and surgical) positively impacts the mental health of transgender and gender variant individuals.
Being transgender or gender variant implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social or vocational capabilities; however, these individuals often experience discrimination due to a lack of civil rights protections for their gender identity or expression. Transgender and gender variant persons are frequently harassed and discriminated against when seeking housing or applying to jobs or schools, are often victims of violent hate crimes, and face challenges in marriage, adoption and parenting rights,
Discrimination and lack of equal civil rights is damaging to the mental health of transgender and gender variant individuals. For example, gender-based discrimination and victimization were found to be independently associated with attempted suicide in a population of transgender individuals, 32% of whom had histories of trying to kill themselves, and in the largest survey to date of gender variant and transgender people 41% reported attempting suicide.*
The APA joins other organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association, in endorsing strong policy statements deploring the discrimination experienced by gender variant and transgender individuals and calling for laws to protect their civil rights.
APA POSITION STATEMENTS
Access to Care for Transgender and Gender Variant Individuals
The American Psychiatric Association:
1. Recognizes that appropriately evaluated transgender and gender variant individuals can benefit greatly from medical and surgical gender transition treatments.
2. Advocates for removal of barriers to care and supports both public and private health insurance coverage for gender transition treatment.
3. Opposes categorical exclusions of coverage for such medically necessary treatment when prescribed by a physician.
Discrimination against Transgender and Gender Variant Individuals
The American Psychiatric Association:
1. Supports laws that protect the civil rights of transgender and gender variant individuals.
2. Urges the repeal of laws and policies that discriminate against transgender and gender variant people.
3. Opposes all public and private discrimination against transgender and gender variant individuals in such areas as health care, employment, housing, public accommodation, education, and licensing.
4. Declares that no burden of proof of such judgment, capacity, or reliability shall be placed upon these individuals greater than that imposed on any other persons.
See the full position statements and background information:
Access to Care for Transgender and Gender Variant Individuals Discrimination against Transgender and Gender Variant Individuals
See also a recent report from the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Treatment of Gender Identity Disorder.
*Clements-Nolle K, Marx R, Katz M (2006): Attempted Suicide Among Transgender Persons, Journal of Homosexuality, 51:3, 53-69 http://dx.doi.org/10.1300/J082v51n03_04
Grant, Jaime M., Lisa A. Mottet, Justin Tanis, Jack Harrison, Jody L. Herman, and Mara Keisling. Injustice at Every Turn: A Report
of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey. Washington: National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force, 2011. http://endtransdiscrimination.org/PDFs/NTDS_Report.pdf
The American Psychiatric Association is a national medical specialty society whose physician members specialize in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and research of mental illnesses including substance use disorders. Visit the APA at www.psychiatry.org.
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This Pussy Writer Riots With Yurodstvo! Balaclavas Everywhere!
As you probably already know the punk rock group "Pussy Riot" will spend the next two years in the most horrible of human conditions for 30 seconds of wild gyrations and a prayer that Putin be driven away by a feminist virgin Mary.
But, really, did they expect that to happen? Literally? Or was there a deeper meaning or other traditions that motivated Pussy Riot? As it turns out there is.
Pussy Riot's wild dance in the Church exposed the Infiltration Of Russian Orthodoxy By the FSB using a tradition familiar to many Russians, yurodstvo or foolishness for Christ. This as it turns out this is a Real Threat not just to Putin but the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church as evidenced by the charges that include 'religious hatred'.
It is love that motivates Pussy Riot worldwide.
'Putin Lit Fires'
State more time in prison
The more arrests - more happiness
And every arrest - with a love of sexist
After swinging his cheeks, as the chest and abdomen
But we can not be resealed in the box
Security officers overthrew the better and more
Putin ignites the fires of revolution
He was bored and frightened people in the silence
Whatever punishment he had - that rotten ash,
With no time in many years - the subject for wet dreams
Chorus.
The country is, the country goes to the streets with audacity
The country is, the country is going to say goodbye to the regime,
The country is, the country is a wedge of feminist
And Putin is Putin goes, leave cattle
Arrested on May 6 the whole city
7 years we have little, give me 18
The ban yelling, slander, and walk,
Take his wife's dad Lukashenko
Chorus 2 times.
Now Putin and his massive police state will not be sedated until they capture the remaining pussy rioters especially since they have vowed to do more performances. We have only one recourse. Everywhere Putin goes, Pussy Riot goes. We are all Pussy Riot.
Why should we as gender diverse the most marginalized of all minorities become Pussy Riot? Because Pussy Riot is everyone of us, regardless if we are transgender, Cisgender L.G.B. or even hetero.
Inside Russia the remnants of Pussy Riot to include their children are being chased and persecuted so we have to take the fight to Putin whenever her travels.
Balaclavas everywhere.
8/19/12
Video: Avionics Pioneer Tamsyn Waterhouse on Trailblazing
Couch Surfing? Check Out the "Transgender Housing Network"
According to the Daily Trojan the sites Creator who goes by Dylan, a junior majoring in gender studies who asked his last name remain anonymous, said the idea for his website, called the Transgender Housing Network, came from browsing Tumblr.
“I noticed that many of the people I followed on Tumblr who identified as transgender needed a place to stay for a night or more, and I thought that it would be fantastic and convenient to have an aggregate of these listings all in one place,” Dylan said.
So if you're a student in need of housing ASP, what are you doing hanging around here? Get on over to the transhousingnetwork.com:)
8/18/12
UK Big Brother Winner Luke To use Money For SRS
This clip from the Big Brother Reality show really highlights the incongruous of cissexualism and transgenderism. On our road less traveled those who are looking for intimacy are often faced with a dilemma. When are hit on and find someone attractive but being pre or by choice non operative at what point do we disclose that. My experiences with the opposite sex was much akin to Luke's.
homorazzi.com reports:
Anderson (who is a chef) told the Daily Star newspaper that he will use the money to complete his gender reassignment surgery. “Obviously you have the NHS if you can’t afford it but this money will definitely help me achieve a decent cosmetic look that I really want. It’s perfect.” He added, “I want to have a chest revision. The scars after my last surgery are pretty big so the revision will make them look like a fine line. The money will really help me get the look I want.”Those who know me as a radical trans activist know I abhor linking trans story's to gay rags but in this case, cisgender publications called his procedure 'getting a dick' but Homorazzi was respectful.
8/16/12
Meteor Advert Advice No Fake Woman Big Mistake
TENI has kicked off a Twitter Campaign with the hashtag #MeteorShame.
They acknowledge they purposely employed a drag queen, who will undoubtedly come to their defen$e, but made they mistake of saying she was not intended to portray a LGBT person. What? A tall ugly woman? Not, that would be socially unacceptable, so why is a drag queen acceptable? It's not.
According to the Irish Times The Eircom-owned mobile phone company said it had not received any direct complaints and offered this statement:
“The actors used in the advertisement are professional drag artists and are not intended to portray or represent the LGBT community in a negative light or context,” Meteor said. It added that the male wifi user “does not look in any way uncomfortable or compromised by the fact he is dancing with the drag artist”.Here we go again. Whats with the UK and transphobic advertising? And what's with all these unscrupulous drag queens?
Dislike the video on YouTube and file a complaint with here.
We are ALL Pussy Riot! Trans and Punk Folk RISE UP
Fear must not hold me back. I didn't know anything about 'punk'. All I knew of the word was in early days of transition when my gender expression fell so far out of the binary I was threatened with the word 'punk'. Not figuratively, but in reality in a dark parking lot by a very large black man.
I knew I wasn't punk, I was afraid of the word afraid of conflating it with transsexualism, but most of all I was afraid of what my friends would think if I was to come out of the closet. Contrary to what haters would have you believe many in the trans community are very 'rule' conscious, like me.
Including the cornerstone rule of being transgender. Be true to yourself. Punk Rocker Louise Distras caught my eye just now as I was checking the twitter hashtag #Pussyriot "we are all Pussy Riot" an idea I have been trying to introduce to our trans community for some time.
Pussy Riot is punk, trans, gay, Bi, straight, queer, ,mom, dad, sister and brother, Pussy Riot is you. We all are Pussy Riot.
August 17th Pussy Riot Global Day! New cities added hourly. Check for updates on Pussy Riot's web site
Barcelona: https://www.facebook.com/events/428870363832253/
Belgrade : http://www.facebook.com/events/353321734744751/
Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/events/341464445932389/
Brighton: http://www.facebook.com/events/476321332380904/
Brisbane: http://www.facebook.com/events/393769817342711/
Buenos Aires: http://www.facebook.com/events/271199299647295/
Chisinau/Moldova: http://www.facebook.com/events/493393557354880/
Copenhagen: http://www.facebook.com/events/424471940927930/ https://www.facebook.com/events/374520859284447/
Derry, Ireland: http://www.facebook.com/events/102245836592357/
Dublin: http://www.facebook.com/events/274613749309206/
Genéve: http://www.facebook.com/events/110110862469275/
Göteborg: http://www.facebook.com/events/274179756015202/
Hamburg: http://www.facebook.com/events/427926530583502/
Helsinki: https://www.facebook.com/events/424531920915641/
Kaliningrad: http://vk.com/event41762298
Köln/Cologne: http://www.facebook.com/events/349557895119950/
Kiev: http://www.facebook.com/events/227350677388464/
Leeds: http://www.facebook.com/events/155657094558291/
London: https://www.facebook.com/events/337559159661689/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/aug/13/royal-court-pussy-riot-readi...
Madrid: http://www.facebook.com/events/350516441690013/
Marseille: http://www.facebook.com/events/347401892005724/
Melbourne: https://www.facebook.com/events/357491980994134/
Mendoza, Argentina: https://www.facebook.com/events/488788877798731/
Milan: https://www.facebook.com/events/134453260030214/
Minneapolis : http://www.facebook.com/events/453640387991012/
Moscow: http://www.facebook.com/events/401297053252028/ http://www.facebook.com/events/337847742969653/
München/Munich: http://www.facebook.com/events/142675212539886/
Murmansk: http://vk.com/pussyriot51
Nantes: http://www.facebook.com/events/351885048219480/
New York City: https://www.facebook.com/events/262241200554708/ http://www.facebook.com/events/336406896449171/
Nice: https://www.facebook.com/events/433177160059098/
Odessa: http://vk.com/event41737295 https://www.facebook.com/events/176445712490602/?context=create
Oslo: http://www.facebook.com/events/408330272558296/
Ottawa: https://www.facebook.com/events/273166786116903/
Paris: https://www.facebook.com/events/477310605615546/
Perm: http://vk.com/event41594563
Portland : http://www.facebook.com/events/454346897919936/
Reykjavik: https://www.facebook.com/events/458139040873098/
Riga: https://www.facebook.com/events/458755374145273
Samara: http://vk.com/freepussyriotsamara
San Francisco: http://www.facebook.com/events/424888970880304/ https://www.facebook.com/events/509970192361811/
Sidney: http://www.facebook.com/events/513418808674744/
Stockholm: https://www.facebook.com/events/345703202177925
St. Petersburg: http://vk.com/freepussyriot170812spb
Tel Aviv: https://www.facebook.com/events/130257380452299/
Toronto : https://www.facebook.com/events/306577532773598/
Toulouse : http://www.facebook.com/events/431789516864929/
Tournai, Belgium : https://www.facebook.com/events/372254449510600/
Tver: http://vk.com/tverforpr
Västerås: https://www.facebook.com/events/367931276613819/
Vilinus: http://www.facebook.com/events/450340734998207/
Warszawa: http://www.facebook.com/events/465259630171770/
Washington: https://www.facebook.com/events/418284021540525/?context=create&ref=book...
Wien/Vienna: http://raw.at/raverse/2012/pussy-riot-solitreffen-am-13-08-12
8/13/12
Transgender and Transsexuals UNITED for Pussy Riot!
8/11/12
Pussy Riot In a Mosque? What would Allah Do? @Freepussyriot
8/10/12
Portland Bar Owner Told "Trannys" Not To Come Back.
Why public accommodations provisions Can't Be Bargained Away.
The owner of a North Portland Oregon bar, the P Club, left this message on one former customers phone, a transgender woman. If what the ladies say is true about there conduct, and I have no reason to doubt them, this is blatant discrimination.
"Hello, my name is Chris. I'm the owner of the P-Club Bar and Grill. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm going to have to ask for you, Cass and your group, not to come back on Friday nights."
"People think that A.) we're a tranny bar, or B.) that we're a gay bar. We are neither. People are not coming in because they just don't want to be here on a Friday night now."
(The Video loads slowly, here it comes...)
CBS Atlanta 46
According to Lambda legal Oregon's Equality Act makes it illegal to discriminate against transgender people in public accommodations.
More at CBS Atlanta.com
Заключительные заявления на суде Riot киска | Closing Statement at the Pussy Riot Trial
Yekaterina Samutsevich, defendant in the criminal case against the feminist punk group Pussy Riot:
During the closing statement, the defendant is expected to repent or express regret for her deeds, or to enumerate attenuating circumstances. In my case, as in the case of my colleagues in the group, this is completely unnecessary. Instead, I want to express my views about the causes of what has happened with us.
The fact that Christ the Savior Cathedral had become a significant symbol in the political strategy of our powers that be was already clear to many thinking people when Vladimir Putin’s former [KGB] colleague Kirill Gundyaev took over as head of the Russian Orthodox Church. After this happened, Christ the Savior Cathedral began to be used openly as a flashy setting for the politics of the security services, which are the main source of power [in Russia].
Why did Putin feel the need to exploit the Orthodox religion and its aesthetics? After all, he could have employed his own, far more secular tools of power—for example, national corporations, or his menacing police system, or his own obedient judiciary system. It may be that the tough, failed policies of Putin’s government, the incident with the submarine Kursk, the bombings of civilians in broad daylight, and other unpleasant moments in his political career forced him to ponder the fact that it was high time to resign; otherwise, the citizens of Russia would help him do this. Apparently, it was then that he felt the need for more convincing, transcendental guarantees of his long tenure at the helm. It was here that the need arose to make use of the aesthetics of the Orthodox religion, historically associated with the heyday of Imperial Russia, where power came not from earthly manifestations such as democratic elections and civil society, but from God Himself.
How did he succeed in doing this? After all, we still have a secular state, and shouldn’t any intersection of the religious and political spheres be dealt with severely by our vigilant and critically minded society? Here, apparently, the authorities took advantage of a certain deficit of Orthodox aesthetics in Soviet times, when the Orthodox religion had the aura of a lost history, of something crushed and damaged by the Soviet totalitarian regime, and was thus an opposition culture. The authorities decided to appropriate this historical effect of loss and present their new political project to restore Russia’s lost spiritual values, a project which has little to do with a genuine concern for preservation of Russian Orthodoxy’s history and culture.
It was also fairly logical that the Russian Orthodox Church, which has long had a mystical connection with power, emerged as this project’s principal executor in the media. Moreover, it was also agreed that the Russian Orthodox Church, unlike the Soviet era, when the church opposed, above all, the crudeness of the authorities towards history itself, should also confront all baleful manifestations of contemporary mass culture, with its concept of diversity and tolerance.
Implementing this thoroughly interesting political project has required considerable quantities of professional lighting and video equipment, air time on national TV channels for hours-long live broadcasts, and numerous background shoots for morally and ethically edifying news stories, where in fact the Patriarch’s well-constructed speeches would be pronounced, helping the faithful make the right political choice during the election campaign, a difficult time for Putin. Moreover, all shooting has to take place continuously; the necessary images must sink into the memory and be constantly updated, to create the impression of something natural, constant and compulsory.
Our sudden musical appearance in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior with the song “Mother of God, Drive Putin Out” violated the integrity of this media image, generated and maintained by the authorities for so long, and revealed its falsity. In our performance we dared, without the Patriarch’s blessing, to combine the visual image of Orthodox culture and protest culture, suggesting to smart people that Orthodox culture belongs not only to the Russian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch and Putin, that it might also take the side of civic rebellion and protest in Russia.
Perhaps such an unpleasant large-scale effect from our media intrusion into the cathedral was a surprise to the authorities themselves. First they tried to present our performance as the prank of heartless militant atheists. But they made a huge blunder, since by this time we were already known as an anti-Putin feminist punk band that carried out their media raids on the country’s major political symbols.
In the end, considering all the irreversible political and symbolic losses ca
used by our innocent creativity, the authorities decided to protect the public from us and our nonconformist thinking. Thus ended our complicated punk adventure in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
I now have mixed feelings about this trial. On the one hand, we now expect a guilty verdict. Compared to the judicial machine, we are nobodies, and we have lost. On the other hand, we have won. Now the whole world sees that the criminal case against us has been fabricated. The system cannot conceal the repressive nature of this trial. Once again, Russia looks different in the eyes of the world from the way Putin tries to present it at daily international meetings. All the steps toward a state governed by the rule of law that he promised have obviously not been made. And his statement that the court in our case will be objective and make a fair decision is another deception of the entire country and the international community. That is all. Thank you.
• • • • • •
Photo courtesy of Alexandra Astakhova. Original text in Russian published here. You can view video of the closing statements by Yekaterina Samutsevich, Maria Alyokhina and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova here and here (in Russian).
Source: Chtodelat
Russian Orthodox Church "Standard Bearers" Burn Pictures Of Pussy Riot and Madonna
The Russian Orthodox Church's response to the world's cry for freedom for Pussy Riot? Burn them.
Study these faces well. If they find you in a place where they can do it, they will hurt you. They are the Russian state "christian" church.
But Pussy Rioters are not blameless they also used fire, fireworks that is, over the prison to celebrate a birthday of a pussy riot member! Салют в день рожденья Кати у следственного изолятора.
..and these tasteful pictorial editorials...
8/9/12
Madonna In St Petersburg Defies Kremlin! Are You Mother Fucking With Me?
I'm with you Madonna. The world minus the haters are with you and sometimes its ok to say it, just say it. I'm with you motherfuckers.
I'm Having A Transgender Family's Baby: Full Episode
Note from kelli: Trans people have for too long been victims in family court.
I wish I could turn the clock back 20 years to the time when society ripped my baby from me. I wish I had a family that believed in me and didn't reject me, a human services department that didn't hate me for being trans. I wish I still had Sean in my life. But times? They are a changing.
More at Advocate
"Common Gender" Hijra Shunned And Clinging To Life
First-time director Noman Robin accidentally walked into a shockingly violent scene that propelled him into the movie making spotlight in his native Bangladesh -- and around the world.
Robin was at a mall as a hijra or transgender female was thrown first out of the men's room and then the ladies' room. As customers began screaming, security guards dragged her to the street and began beating her.
"What are you doing here?" shouted the guards. "I'm human! I need to go to the toilet," she replied.
Today, Robin's film, "Common Gender," exposes the shunned hijra -- transvestites, transgender -- who cling together in slums, rejected by their families and exploited by society that treats them as sub-human.
Common Gender on Facebook
8/7/12
Watch: Madonna At Moscow Pussy Riot, I Pray For Your Freedom
During the show Madonna paused and gave a brief speech, reflecting on the privileges of American freedom and democracy. “As an artist, as a human being, as a woman, I have freedom to express my point of view, even if other people don’t agree with me,” she said. “Even if my government doesn’t agree with me.”
“So I just want to say a few words about Pussy Riot,” she continued. “I know there are many sides to every story, and I mean no disrespect to the church or the government. But I think that these three girls — Masha, Katya, Nadya — I think that they have done something courageous. I think they have paid the price for this act. And I pray for their freedom.”
Later, she appeared on stage in a black bra with the name of the band written in bold letters on her back. She also donned a balaclava, the band’s trademark headgear. -NYTimes
U.S. Embassy St. Petersburg Warn Of Violent Threats Against Madonna And Concert Goers
U.S. Embassy Moscow and U.S. Consulate General St. Petersburg
SECURITY MESSAGE FOR U.S. CITIZENS:
MADONNA CONCERTS
August 7, 2012
This is to alert U.S. citizens in Russia who are planning to attend the Madonna concerts in Moscow on Tuesday, August 7, or in St. Petersburg on Thursday, August 9, that the U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg has received information regarding a threat of physical violence against spectators and performers at the St. Petersburg concert on August 9. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the U.S. Consulate General in St. Petersburg have shared the information with appropriate Russian law enforcement authorities. Russian authorities have indicated to the Embassy that they are taking appropriate measures in light of this information. While we expect that enhanced security measures will be put in place at both concerts, U.S. citizens are reminded to remain vigilant regarding their personal security, and to be aware of their surroundings at all times, especially in crowded areas.
So we have been duly warned, but who is making threats?
Source: Delta World The people’s Congress and the Union of the citizens of Russia organizations have announced an action of protest against the concert the American singer Madonna will offer this Thursday in St. Petersburg.
In a joint statement, these organizations convened to St. Petersburg residents to form a human chain Tuesday in the Nevsky Avenue, the main artery of the city, to express their rejection of the singer.
“The people’s Congress and the Union of the citizens of Russia, as well as thousands of Russians morally healthy, consider inadmissible the holding of concerts in which proclaims the Vice and perversion, and becomes propaganda of violence”, emphasizes the call.
Its still pretty vague. Who is they? No website. No Press Release. Obscurity, the tool of oppressive regimes, but wait, who is really behind the violence? Christians, Orthodox Christians.
Source:Orange UK A spokesman for Russia’s Union of Orthodox Banner-Bearers — a support group for the Church that often wages fierce political campaigns — accused Madonna of interfering in Russia’s internal affairs and putting pressure on the courts.
“It is not in our power to ban her, but we call on the authorities — who position themselves as Orthodox believers — to do so,” the spokesman was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
“This little singer is openly mocking our laws, our traditions and our culture,” he said.
Other religious figures vowed to stage loud protests outside Madonna’s concert later Tuesday in Moscow and another performance this week in Saint Petersburg.
“We will drop by to say ‘no’ to blasphemy… and to explain our position to those who plan to attend her concert,” said Kirill Frolov of the Orthodox Experts Association.
I'm sure the US Embassy has more concrete evidence of potential violence but given the past few years when the police haven't just turned a blind eye, they aided and abetted and these christ-criminals. No not just that, the police are the criminals as the statements indicate. So if you are planning to attend as I wish I was, be careful and forewarned:
Christians will be present and violence is expected.