Don't have too much time to blog, but I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a
For those of you who don't know, August 26th was picked by U.S. Congress as Women's Equality Day because it was the day the 19th amendment was passed, giving women (though women of color were widely left out) the right to vote. Today marks 90 years.

If you're a reader of this blog, most likely you know the seemingly endless list of reasons as to why feminism is still necessary... the simple reason being, "WE STILL AIN'T EQUAL!" And let me try to make up for a fraction of the exclusion faced by most women by the mainstream feminist movement of the first and second "waves" by saying that equality is not fully achieved until it is achieved for ALL women: women of color, women with disabilities, immigrant women (including undocumented), LBTQ women, etc etc etc.

I realize many modern feminists have issues with the suffrage movement because women of color were largely left out, but instead of dismissing this day altogether, let's shape and reclaim Women's Equality Day to be a day of positivity in which we honor the sacrifices our foremothers* made, while looking ahead to the future and thinking about what we can improve.

What's everyone doing to celebrate Equality Day? I'll be here.

*My computer is telling me this word is misspelled, but "forefathers" is correct. Nice.

If you're a huge Degrassi fan like I am, be sure to catch tomorrow night's episode, which will be part one of two (part two airs Thursday night) of the first Degrassi episode to feature a transgender character.

Given that Degrassi has covered nearly every controversial issue under the sun, including abortion, drugs, sex, gay/lesbian issues, and even murder, I'm surprised it took them ten seasons to put a transgender character on the show.

Still, I'm stoked to see the episodes and I sincerely hope they're done tastefully. Here's an interview with the actress, Jordan Todosey, who plays Adam on Degrassi, a new character who is FTM (female-to-male) and deals with the backlash when his fellow students find out.

TRIGGER WARNING.

After finding out about the wonderful Genderfork.com (via Feministing) I had an urge to post an ode to gender-bending, because I just love it so damn much. First of all, if you haven't been to Genderfork, visit it ASAP! It is a lovely blog with user-submitted photos...


...and quotes from those who find beauty and pleasure in androgyny and ambiguity:

"Some days I wish I could set my gender on Facebook to 'It's complicated.'"

"People think they're being invasive when they ask me questions some might consider 'personal'— questions about my body, my gender, the way I look, think, etc. They don't seem to understand I love being able to tell people there's a different way of existing out there. Not everything is black and white, just 'this' or 'that.' There's a 'Thiat' and a 'Thast' and every combination you can possibly dream up."

"I bound and buttoned up for church; I wore a fancy dress that showed off my hairy armpits for dinner. This Easter is one big pastel-colored drag show."

I want to cry at the sheer beauty of people being able to express who they are, despite being a part of an entire society that tells them to conform. Some days I wonder if I would present myself in a more androgynous manner if I had questioned gender more while growing up, or if I wasn't so intimidated by society's reactions. Still, last year when I attended a drag ball, I had a blast trying a different gender on for size:



Genderfucking just... rules.

I've thought a lot about gender, and I know that some may argue that the world we should strive to live in is a genderless one... but my thoughts are that instead of abolishing gender altogether, let's have more gender! People take pride and pleasure in gender expression and identity, and I think the world might be a bit boring if we take that away. Let's have thousands of genders, millions, billions! Imagine a world where instead of checking "man" or "woman" on any mundane form or online profile, you're given a blank line on which to write whatever you want. My body tingles just thinking about it.

So I raise my glass to genderqueer, genderfuck, genderbend, unisex, androgynous, ambiguous, fluid, transgender, butch, and everything else.

I want to conclude with some worthwhile videos, first one of spoken word artist Kit Yan performing an amazing piece on the fluidity of gender:



And, because someone on Genderfork.com mentioned it, the music video for "I Want to Break Free," by one of my favorite gender-bending bands, Queen. Think of it in terms of breaking free from binary gender roles :D

Today is the National Day of Silence, a day in which "hundreds of thousands of students nationwide take a vow of silence to bring attention to anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in their schools."

According to a 2007 study done by GLSEN, nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students report verbal, sexual or physical harassment at school and more than 30% report missing at least a day of school in the past month out of fear for their personal safety.

The Day of Silence is close to my heart, because I began participating in it when I was a wee 9th grader in high school, and it unleashed my then-dormant activist side.

It's a great feeling to participate, and I recommend everyone do it at least once. Even if you aren't a student anymore. But if you aren't comfortable with actually staying silent all day, there are plenty of other things you can do to support the cause, if you visit the Day of Silence website.

Here's what people who walked into the library on my campus were confronted with today:

In case anyone hasn't heard, when you sit down to watch the Superbowl on February 7th, you might have to prepare yourself to watch an anti-choice commercial. Though CBS has never allowed "issue ads" to air in the past, somehow Focus on the Family was able to get through. The ad will feature University of Florida football star Tim Tebow.

I'm betting the ad won't blatantly say "pro-life," and that's partly why it was accepted. Anti-choice activists like to use deceitful tactics to trick people into visiting their websites and their fake clinics. I predict the ad will be a hokey message of "let's celebrate family and babies because WHO DOESN'T LOVE BABIES?!" type of deal. Fast-forward to clueless Superbowl viewers saying, "Well, uh, I think family's important... and I like babies... hot damn, I'm gonna visit FocusOnTheFamily.com right now!"

And FocusOnTheFamily.com is no site to be taken lightly. Enjoy some excerpts from the stuff they're preaching:

[From the section on sexuality]

Boys and Girls Are Different:

God made boys and girls different in order for both to become lifegivers. When you are older and married, you may someday have children. Girls have babies — boys don't. Girls have the ability as they get older to birth babies. A baby is a gift from God and grows in the womb in Mom's tummy.

Affirm Your Child's Gender:

"Isn't it great to be a girl!" "What a strong boy you are." These messages affirm your child's gender identity. Do not (even jokingly ) put down or make fun of your child's gender. "What a baby" or "What a sissy" does not help your young son. Affirm your daughter's unique beauty. Let her know how special she is, particularly in Daddy's eyes.

Babies Come from God — They Should Be the Result Only of Marital Love:

Babies are all made by God. This is why we protect their life right from the beginning. How do babies come into the world? The best way for a baby to come in to the world is through the love of a married man and woman. Sadly, this doesn't happen all the time. However, God's best plan is for a baby to be born with a mother and father that are married.

[From the section on "How We Dishonor God in Our Sex Lives"]

The Challenge of Homosexuality

Male and female are not cultural constructs but God-created parts of humanity made for each other to show forth the image of God in the world. Remember Genesis 1:27: "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Male and female, together, are the fullest picture of the image of God in creation. That's why they need each other. Adam wasn't complete without Eve.

Homosexuality denies this and falsely states that differences in male and female don't really matter. Nothing could be further from the truth. Homosexuality violates the Trinitarian image of complementarity in a profound way.

[From the section on Transgenderism]

We call upon all parents to take a proactive role in their children's development by providing them with a strong, Christian example of what it means to be male and female. Many of the problems associated with transgenderism, like confusion and pain, stem from a lack of parental involvement and guidance.

These people not only preach an anti-choice agenda, but also promote anti-feminist values that include reinforcing gender roles and justifying hatred against queer people. They call premarital sex a "monstrosity" and fully support the harmful practice of putting those with same-sex attractions in counseling to "fix" them. This is a dangerous site, and I worry about the consequences of exposing nearly 100 million people to it.

But of course, reproductive rights activists and feminists are not letting this slide. There are a number of online petitions you can sign and forms you can fill out to contact CBS, including one on the Feminist Majority Foundation site. I'm not sure if CBS will end up pulling the ad (I mean, $2.8 million is a lot of moo-lah), but it couldn't hurt to tell them that we're pissed off that they're allowing this. In your message, try to include some of Focus on the Family's other harmful ideals, such as their stance against LGBTQ people, and Tweet/Facebook/blog about it. We'll see what happens come February 7th.

Obama has made yet another move to demonstrate his desire for equality, and I cannot wait to hear what Rush Limbaugh has to say on this. President Obama appointed Amanda Simpson, a transgender woman, to be the Senior Technical Adviser to the Commerce Department. In a statement, Simpson said:

I'm truly honored to have received this appointment and am eager and excited about this opportunity that is before me. As one of the first transgender presidential appointees to the federal government, I hope that I will soon be one of hundreds, and that this appointment opens future opportunities for many others.

Wow.

Today is the Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day dedicated to remembering those who have been killed by transphobic murderers. The very first TDOR was held on November 28th, 1998 to honor Rita Hester, a transwoman who was murdered.

You can visit the TDOR website to view a list of the countless people who were known to have been killed by anti-transgender discrimination and hatred this year. You can also find an event near you if you would like to do something to honor this day... maybe attend a candlelight vigil or a meeting to discuss trans rights.

But you can also engage in small personal actions if you cannot attend an event, whether it be bringing up trans issues with people you know, or creating a pro-transgender Facebook status or Twitter update. What is everyone doing to honor those who have been killed by hatred?

I'm back from vacay! It was everything I needed and more. But now it's back to the real world, which means facing rainy New York and being a full-time feminist activist. Here's what I missed:

• In India, New Delhi's highest court has officially decriminalized homosexuality, which was made illegal in 1861! This is a landmark case if ever there was one.


• File this under: "where the fuck was all the media coverage?!" Cynthia McKinney, who was the Green party candidate in the 2008 presidential race, was held hostage in Israel after attempting to deliver aid and supplies to the Palestinians. But all the news stations are still talking about Michael Jackson. Thank goodness for blogging.


• The House Appropriations Committee rejected an amendment to the federal appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2010 that would have continued a ban on using local funds to help low-income women in Washington, DC access abortion services.


• Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, challenging the legality of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as between one man and one woman.


• Kai Eide, the United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan, urged Afghan leaders to fight violence against women at a meeting in Kabul where he announced a new UN report on the subject, entitled "Silence is Violence." The report urges that women's rights are not a luxury, but a necessity.


• Sarah Palin has resigned as governor of Alaska. While that may be a positive thing in the sense that it means one less conservative anti-choice politician in power, it also draws attention to the disturbingly low amount of women governors there are today.


• Christian activist Randall Terry has launched a horribly disturbing anti-choice campaign to defeat Sonia Sotomayor.


• A "women's-only" pharmacy in Vancouver is attempting to exclude trans women.


• Last month, NOW on PBS aired "Abortion Providers Under Seige," which examines violence and harassment directed towards abortion providers. You can watch the program online.

Whew. Anything else?

Many of you might have heard about the storm of controversy surrounding the highly offensive "Tranny Alert" website. Essentially, the site would encourage people to submit pictures of what they perceived to be transgendered people and the photos would then be posted, thereby outing those who are trans and insulting those who aren't. It blatantly dehumanized trans people and put them on display like circus freaks.

But thankfully, due to the amazing online activism that took place, led by angry and offended feminists and GLBTQ-rights activists, the site has been taken down.

HELL. YEAH.

You've made me proud, activists. Keep it up.

A verdict has been delivered in the case of the murder of Angie Zapata, a transgender woman who was beaten to death by a man, Allen Andrade, whom she met on the net. Andrade has been charged with first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole.

It makes me absolutely sick what he did to her, and it is just appalling to me that his lawyer attempted to justify what he did with, "He lost control" due to finding out Angie was once a man. That is no excuse whatsoever. There was absolutely no need to do what he did; Angie was no threat to him - his actions were fueled by pure hatred. And as a huge slap in the face to Angie's family, the defense would only refer to her as "Justin" - her name before she transitioned.

But thankfully, the court ruled this as a hate crime. There is really no other way to put it - he committed a crime with pure, intolerant, blind hatred as a motive.

There is a beautiful online tribute to Angie you can visit. But stay away from the comment section... intolerance is everywhere.

25 year-old Ruben Noe Coronado will become the first Spanish man to give birth to twins. He plans to raise the babies with his partner, Esperanza Ruiz, 43. Like Thomas Beatie, Ruben is a transgender man who retained his female reproductive organs, though he plans to undergo a full gender reassignment surgery after the birth of the twins.

More power to Ruben and his partner. Though there are undoubtedly many haters out there, perhaps people like Ruben and Thomas Beatie can help slowly push society in the direction of redefining gender. Unfortunately, some people could use another push, such as whoever was responsible for the inexcusable headline of an article about Ruben on the Daily Mail Online:


Look at the title bar on top. Let's get something straight: Ruben Noe Coronado is a man. Not a "man," a MAN. So fuck you, Daily Mail.

In my Psychology of Women class, we watched a really interesting documentary entitled, "Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She." It discussed transgendered people, children who like to dress up in clothes of the opposite sex, babies born intersexed, trans people in India and Thailand, and many more similar topics. I thought one part was particularly interesting, in which they discussed an experiment that was conducted to test what degree, if any, of sexual arousal homophobes feel when viewing gay porn. The results are very interesting:

I was watching Dr. Phil (I usually can't stand to watch him, but I was flipping through channels and it caught my eye), and there were parents and child psychologists on to debate the issue of transgendered children. Three people believed it is not a choice and it is something to be embraced, and the other three believed that with special therapy, transgendered children can be "cured." I was searching on YouTube to find a video of it to post in here, but I couldn't find it - probably because it's too new. But I did come across this video of the same issue being debated on "The View." The video's rather old, but it's interesting to watch nonetheless.



The only one who is really opposed to breaking out of gender roles is Sherri Shepherd, who is very concerned with adhering to social norms and with steering her children into their narrow gender boxes. Her worst nightmare is her son putting on a dress.

This is great news. Transgender activist Diego Sanchez has been appointed to the position of legislative assistant to Congressman Barney Frank, who represents Massachusetts. He will advise the congressman on GLBT rights, health care, labor, and a range of other issues. According to Bay Windows:

Sanchez goes to Washington with an impressive resume. In addition to his current work at AIDS Action he served as director of JRI Health’s TransHealth and GLBT Health Access Programs. He was named among the Top 100 Most Powerful Latinos in Corporate America by Hispanic Business magazine and one of the 100 most powerful Latinos in Massachusetts by El Planeta newspaper. He is the first transgender person appointed to a Democratic National Committee standing committee, named to the DNC Platform Committee by Chair Gov. Howard Dean and appointed a Party Leader and At-Large Delegate to the 2008 convention in Denver.

A historic step for trans people everywhere.

MSN.com decided to put together a list of the "10 worst fatherhood role models." Among those on the list is Eliot Spitzer, whose daughter probably can't show her face in public again, and Ryan O'Neal, who beat the crap out of his son and supposedly got his daughter hooked on cocaine. Now, coming in at number three on this list? Thomas Beatie, the transgendered man who recently went public when he decided to bear a child. Here's author Jason Daley's rationale:

Teaching kids about sex is tough enough. But when this bearded, deep-voiced transgendered Oregon man popped out a bundle of joy earlier this year, our jobs as fathers became even more complicated: "Sit down, son. I need to talk to you about the birds, the bees…and the trannies." Oof.

Seriously? Seriously? This just shows how narrow-minded our society is when someone is so quick to compare a father who is simply transgendered to fathers who cheat, lie, and beat their children. Unbelievable. Keep up the good work, MSN.

Wow! The next season of America's Next Top Model is set to feature a transgender woman as a contestant. She is 22 year-old Isis, a former receptionist who defines herself as "a woman born physically male."

I think it's wonderful that people who are trans are being put into the public eye, because it's a good way to get transphobic people used to the idea that trans men and women are not going away and deserve every ounce of respect as other people do. I'm really hoping ANTM will present Isis in a positive way. I was so excited to hear about this, but I have to remain a little skeptical because ANTM has lost points with me in the past. For example, I thought it was great that they featured plus-sized models on the show... but then they would always position the models and airbrush the photographs in such a way that they looked like a size 2. But the show has had lesbian and bisexual contestants before, whom were always treated with respect. We'll see. Hopefully this will be a step forward for the transgender community.

Waaaaay too many interesting and important things happening around the world to make individual posts for them all, so here's your Buffet of the Week!

• Time magazine provided some insight into why women live longer than men. Among the reasons: women tend to develop cardiovascular diseases later in life, more men smoke cigarettes, and women deal with stress in a healthy way more often than men do.


• Many gay couples that are getting married in California are using their weddings to enforce a political agenda. Because gay marriage in California is threatened by Proposition 8, which would define marriage as only between a man and a woman, same-sex couples feel that a political wedding is a good way to defend their rights.


• There's an interesting article on AlterNet about how trans women can be unfairly excluded from certain feminist circles. In 1991, a woman was expelled from Michigan Womyn's Music Festival because they suspected that she was transgendered.


• Oh boy. Check out Paris Hilton's harsh response video to McCain's ad that compared her to Obama.


• A man was recently arrested after he brutally raped a 14 year-old girl. Police found his MySpace page, which listed "rape" under his interests. Disgusting.


• An employee for "Girls Gone Wild" (a company I loathe with everything inside of me) was recently charged with sexual assaulting a woman on a tour bus.


• Japanese women are the longest living females in the world, with a life expectancy of 86 years.


• In Zimbabwe, there is a widespread ignorance when it comes to domestic violence laws. Victims don't know their rights, and police officers are not equipped with the necessarily skills to handle domestic violence cases.


• More and more gay couples are now heading to Massachusetts for marriage ceremonies, due to the fact that Governor Paterson ordered that New York recognize gay marriages that were performed in other states.

As always, please comment if I missed anything. Enjoy!

For those of you who are college students in the U.S., I encourage you to go here and fill out a survey for the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition. This survey helps them gauge exactly which campuses are lacking in providing the necessary resources for people of all sexes, gender identities, races, and sexual orientations to feel accepted and comfortable at their schools. Their goal is to help make colleges all over the country a safe learning environment for everyone. You can help by giving them information.

(Thanks to Georgia for the link!)

I don't know who I'm more disgusted with; the transphobic man that this story is about, or Greg Gutfeld for his ignorant comments. Then again, I wouldn't expect anything less from Mr. Gutfeld.

Though there are over 1,000 people in China who have received gender reassignment surgery, 33-year-old Ying Ning is the first one to ever go public with it. She is openly talking to the media about her excitement over receiving her new ID card that lists her as a female. Prior to receiving her new card, Ying had to postpone a trip out of fear that airport security would be confused upon seeing "male" on her ID. Regulations to receive a new ID card under a new gender include providing medical proof of the surgery, and parental consent, even if the person is of legal age (wow, really?)

We have enormous progress that still needs to be made, but look at what has happened just in the past month! The first pregnant transgendered man to go public in the U.S., and the first transgendered woman to go public in China. I think that first person is so important, because he/she can inspire others to go public as well. And putting people who are "different" in the limelight is an important way to get others to fully understand them and to stop fearing the unknown.

The full article can be found here, on a Chinese news website. The lack of understanding in China can be seen solely in the title of the article, as it uses the term "transsexual," which isn't quite PC. But hopefully this is the first of many important steps to come.