This is my weekly roundup of the background radiation I am exposed to. It’s usually the bad and ugly of how the world treats LGBT folks, with a heavier emphasis on the T’s. I like to leave the full links exposed because then you can see where the article is.
I am a big news consumer, and here’s what got my drawers in a knot this week.
Headline: Philly commission finds racism in Gayborhood, recommends training for bars, Mazzoni
I don’t think this is isolated to Philly. I think there has always been a slant towards white, cis, and male in gay spaces. I also think it’s super easy for folks that range from implicit bias to outright racist to step up racist behavior in the current political climate.
Mostly this bothers me because we can do better than this. These are our people, and we can’t be accepting of this kind of behavior in our own circles.
Headline: A trailer for Michelle Rodriguez’s controversial gender reassignment action film is here
Here’s what plot there is. A male agent is kidnapped, forcefully transitioned to female, and then sent out to do his job, and probably wreak some revenge in the process. . .
Those more eloquent than I have railed on about how truly fucked up this movie is. It’s another implication that all transgender women are just men in drag. It’s a horror show of badly portrayed transgender issues.
What gets me is Rodriuez’s doubling down on the idea that the role she plays is fine, and not problematic because she’s like, bisexual, and that means she’s one of us, you know? To paraphrase her quote. She used to be one of my favorite action stars of all times, but now I know she’s a person that doesn’t care if she hurts other people, and I’m not into her at all now.
Headline: Controlling mother sues to block her estranged daughter getting transgender treatment
I’ve been following this for a while. The daughter is 17, and had been completely legally estranged from her mother for several years. Then the daughter started to transition at 17, and the mother, accused of abuse, swooped in to try and stop her.
Here is a link to where you can hear the daughters point of view: http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/minnesota-transgender-teen-sued-her-own-mom-speaks-out-n712616
The girl has had her own apartment, and a full time job since 16, and is graduating high school despite being on her own. Her mother has a substance abuse issue, was abusive when the girl came out as gay at 13, amongst the more typical neglect that comes with substance abuse.
I have to admit a bias here because I come from a very screwed up background and had my own job and apartment at 16. I wasn’t able to get it together enough to graduate high school, and chose to get a GED instead. So this girl is impressive in my opinion.
This lawsuit wouldn’t be happening if the ‘Minnesota Child Protection League’ wasn’t fronting the lawsuit. It’s actually not even about us transgender folks, as it’s a backdoor way to get some anti-abortion precedents on the books to stop minors from gaining access to abortion, or birth control without parental involvement. You can tell because this girl is 17 and will undoubtedly be a legal adult before it’s all said and done, and out of her mothers reach.
It is particularly horrifying how people try to reach in and completely destroy transgender people for no other reason than they can, though.
Let’s just do a roundup of the legislative fiasco’s because there are so very many:
Headline: The White House’s LGBT rights page has disappeared
https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/20/the-white-houses-lgbt-rights-page-has-disappeared/
That’s not a good sign. . .
Headline: Doctors say repealing the Affordable Care Act would devastate the trans community
I am one of those folks that is at risk. I get my insurance through a federal agency that only dropped it’s anti-transgender rider in 2016. I’m rushing into consultations and more surgery this year in case the rider is reinstated. I have no idea if I will have healthcare in 2017.
Headline: States Stand in Line to Enact Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bills
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/States-Bathroom-Legislation/2017/01/21/id/769745/
They listed the states trying to enact bathroom bills.
Headline: Transgender Rights Are Under Attack in These 11 States
Here is another list of states trying to legislate bigotry.
I know there is a lot this week, but I feel like every time I open my feed I am under siege. Trump’s inauguration marked an unprecedented chaotic fiasco in US politics, and he and his cabinet have leveled their sites at LGBT folks, amongst their targets. I’m going to drink a lot of hot chocolate, and call my reps as needed in the long months to come.
This site: 5 Calls https://5calls.org
This site will make it easy to call your reps, and let them know they better be fighting for you. We already know they listen to phone calls, so even if you hate phones, in fifteen minutes you can make a difference.
We have to fight. We can’t go back to the way things were.
Accidently Gay 