Guest Post: Post: Murder underscores anti-transgender violence in D.C.

by: Autumn Sandeen

Thu Sep 17, 2009 at 08:30:00 AM EDT

Murder underscores anti-transgender violence in D.C.

Michael K. Lavers
Wednesday Sep 16, 2009

As local police to investigate Tyli'a "Na Na Boo" Mack's murder, transgender activists and others in the District of Columbia continue to demand an end to anti-trans violence in the city.

An unknown assailant stabbed Mack to death and critically injured a friend on Q Street, NW, on Aug. 26. Mack's mother joined members of Transgender Health Empowerment, Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive, DC Councilmember David Catania [I-At Large,] Gays & Lesbians Opposing Violence co-chair Chris Farris, DC Center executive director David Mariner and more than 200 others at a vigil two days later at the spot where the two women were attacked.

The Metropolitan Police Department continues to offer a reward of up to $25,000, but Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told EDGE she feels Mack's death underscores the fact anti-trans violence remains a serious problem in the District.

"It is really, really clear to me, it's really bad here," Keisling said.

The MPD does not compile statistics of crimes based on a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity, but the Web site Remembering Our Dead indicates at least half a dozen trans Washingtonians have been murdered over the last decade. These include Stephanie Thomas and Ukea Davis, who were shot to death on Aug. 12, 2002, while they sat in their car in a Southeast intersection. Antoine Jacobs shot and killed popular entertainer Bella Evangelista on Aug. 16, 2003. And an unknown assailant bludgeoned Tyra Henderson to death in Northwest in April, 2000.

Acting Lt. Brett Parsons, the MPD's LGBT liaison, told EDGE the department has not seen an increase in anti-trans violence in the city, but he conceded transgender Washingtonians "tend to be a community at risk for victimization all the time-and that's a sad statement." There have been 96 murders in the District so far this year. This statistic represents a 26.7 percent decline in homicides compared to 2008, but Keisling maintains race and class remain a motivating factor behind the majority of anti-trans murders in Washington and elsewhere.

"The kind of trans people getting murdered are not white, middle-aged transsexual women like me," she said. "It's almost always lower income, trans-women of color. If you're any of those things in the United States, you're at the greatest risk of violence. It's horrible."

Ethan St. Pierre, a long-time trans activist who sits on the International Foundation for Gender Education's Board of Directors, agreed. He noted he feels violence is one of the many forms of discrimination trans people of color in particular continue to face.

"If you are a trans person of color, you're in deep shit," St. Pierre said. "It's not going to be easy to get a job. Racism is horrible. It still exists in society."

He further categorized Mack's death as horrific. St. Pierre added he feels educating trans people and others about the prevalence of anti-trans violence is one of what he described as many necessary steps to prevent it.

"Education is always so important, but there are just people out there who hate so much they don't care," he said. "If I knew the answer, believe me I would be shouting from the rooftops."

~~
Copyright © 2003-2009
EDGE Publications, Inc. / All Rights Reserved

Why Mara Keisling Really Did Just Say That

by: Autumn Sandeen

Sun Jun 21, 2009 at 14:45:00 PM EDT

We have seen that the media and public preoccupation with transition-related surgeries has had demonstrable negative impact on policies that affect transpeople. It should not be acceptable to us or to society that people's human rights or access to appropriate ID documents or ability to live safely be dependent on their ability to be able to afford surgery which most transpeople cannot. And the preoccupation with our surgeries and the assumption that we all have surgeries or want surgeries makes these bad realities acceptable to the public.

As our collective work to make medical care more available to transpeople succeeds, the numbers of surgeries are likely to rise, but we have an obligation to discuss the realities of transgender lives in ways that are true to who we are and also help advance humane and useful policies.

~~Mara Keisling, in the National Center for Transgender Equality's (NCTE's) T-Equality Blog

Last week, I complained that I believed Mara Keisling gave the wrong message about trans people's healthcare when she was quoted by CNN in their article entitled Sonny and Cher's child transitioning from female to male -- the one on Chaz Bono's female-to-male transition.

Now, I'm less sure.

Mara Keisling's article commenting on the correctness of her original statement is reprinted in entirety below the fold (by permission).

I'm ready to be persuaded I'm wrong. It seems to me though that the CNN reporter either took the message that NCTE was trying to send and boiled it down to something that NCTE wasn't trying to communicate, or I filtered what NCTE was trying to say about the healthcare of trans people through my own biases and saw something in the original CNN article that wasn't really in the NCTE statement.

Let us know in the comments what you think -- especially if you're not trans. Since the CNN article wasn't directed at a trans audience, your thoughts about what message you were and weren't sent by the original CNN piece is probably the more important viewpoint than Mara's or mine.

Oh No, Mara Keisling Didn't Really Just Say That, Did She?

by: Autumn Sandeen

Sat Jun 13, 2009 at 20:00:00 PM EDT

But oops, it looks like the National Center For Transgender Equality's (NCTE's) executive Director Mara Keisling bumbled an answer. So, let's take a look, eh?

From CNN's Sonny and Cher's child transitioning from female to male:

Someone's decision to transition does not necessarily mean they are undergoing gender reassignment surgery, and in many cases they do not, said Mara Keisling, executive director of the Washington-based National Center for Transgender Equality.

"The whole media fixation on surgery is kind of misplaced," she said. "Almost no transgender people ever have surgery. We don't have any idea how many do."

At a time when trans folk and our allies want to see health care benefits provided by the workplace increased for trans people -- including genital reconstruction surgery that has been determined to be good for the health and wellbeing of many transsexuals -- Mara's phrasing for CNN seems at best unfortunate, and at worst actually damaging for increasing health benefits for those of us trans folk who actually identify as transsexual.

In other words, for me it would be nice for me if the Veterans Administration would do genial reassignment surgeries, but her comment "Almost no transgender people ever have surgery" makes it sound like my peers and I don't want those surgeries for ourselves -- so in the personal sense it sounds like she's saying to the general public that I don't want or need the VA to cover it.

The reality is that insurance doesn't often cover genital reconstruction surgeries, so most transsexuals can't afford the $15,000 to $60,000 for male-to-female genital reconstruction surgery, or the $30,000 to $150,000 for female-to-male genital reconstruction surgery out of their own pockets. Economics are often the main reason why the transgender people who identify as transsexual don't have genital reconstruction surgery. Some transsexuals actually do identify as non-operative transsexuals, but my experiece is that those folk aren't how most transsexuals identify -- most who haven't had genital reconstruction surgery identify as pre-operative even if they anticipate never being able to afford surgery on their genitalia.

I believe that what Mara was trying to say was that for transsexuals, when we are born what's between our ears doesn't match the genitalia usually associated with that gender. However, having genitalia that doesn't match one's gender identity shouldn't be used by media or politicians to say that trans men aren't really men, or trans women aren't really women -- Genitals don't trump identity.

And too, not everyone who identifies as a transgender person is a transsexual person -- there are crossdressers, genderqueers, and such that may identify as transgender, but not as transsexuals.

But, this isn't what she actually said -- or worse, what she actually implied -- with how she worded her response to Chaz Bono's transition.

Engh, I know that trans activist leaders are going to be quoted when "big news" transitions take place, and gaffs will occur when talking to the press. I just wish Mara would have thought about how to answer that standard question about gender and genitalia a bit more than she appears to have for this occasion; I hope she thinks through a "standard blurb" for that standard question on gender and genitalia for future interviews regarding high profile transitions.

And too, I certainly hope no one takes what Mara Keisling said this time and attempts to use it as an argument against insurance companies paying for genital reconstruction surgeries, or even covering other services for trans people -- such as hormone therapy and psychological counseling. That would be tragic.

NCTE gets a monthly donation from me, and that certainly won't change. Gaff's happen; we all move forward. I do hope NCTE clarifies what Mara meant very early next week though, as this statement she made for CNN really is a gaff that could hurt trans people's quest for a future thst includes more inclusive medical care.  

California Transgender Leadership Summit: "Like, A Totally Inclusive ENDA," Dude.

by: Autumn Sandeen

Mon Mar 30, 2009 at 11:00:00 AM EDT

Autumn Sandeen, from Pam's House Blend, interviews Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality (nctequality.org).

The discussion between Mara and Autumn covers Transgender Lobby Day, how Mara is 28th from the top of the list of most "well paid"  members of the LGBT related Non-Profit community, the upcoming 3rd Annual Transgender Religious Leaders Summit, and the "new" crossdressed/transgender bathroom predator meme  --  a meme to used to stop and/or repeal civil rights and protections for the entire LGBT community.

The headline for this post is how we go all Southern California about the word totally for a "totally inclusive ENDA." So like, y'know, totally, dudes!

From the interview, here's an excerpt from Mara on the "ficticious" crossdressed/transgender bathroom predator meme:

Mara Keisling: I'm going to be focusing today on a really nasty trend we're seeing which is all these lies that are coming up about...

Autumn Sandeen: The Bathroom!

Mara Keisling: Bathrooms, yes...

Autumn Sandeen: Which is my little pet peeve...

Well, you can even speak [Mara] to what happened in New Hampshire this past week. What they actually retitled a transgender civil rights bill -- the "Bathroom Bill," and well, it didn't pass out of the legislature during the vote this week. And, in Gainesville we saw the bathroom bill defeated...

Mara Keisling:It's something that's going to be a real focus of a lot of the work that a lot of us do over the next few years...

She then talks about the religious right, and about what not just trans people, but the LGBT community is going to need to do ove the next years to battle this meme.

Frankly, I didn't edit down Mara answers, and she gave really good assessments of trans issues -- and the answers are most often framed within the context of broader community. So this video interview is a little bit long, but this is a has more "meat on the bones" then most other interviews I've done.

And, if you're interested in joining going to Washington DC as a part of NCTE's Lobby Day on Tuesday, April 28th. There's going to be a related summit where about 60 to 80 of trans-affiliated spiritual leaders will be meeting together In DC for the annual Transgender Religious Leaders Summit on April 26th and 27th. This, the 3rd annual Transgender Religious Leaders Summit, is realized because of the incredible percolation and support of the Pacific School of Religion.

See if you can spot all the places where Mara corrects me -- I'd like to point out that I'm not perfect, and that I'm not on the top of everything. I'm certainly not the single voice of trans people in America.

And, I believe that's a pretty important thing to know -- It's really important to note that not one single trans person holds the entire knowledge of the trans civil rights movement, nor is their anyone who holds the perfect and right viewpoint. In other words, not everyone thinks exactly the same about the exact same things.

There is a diversity of thought in our community, and that's something to celebrate and embrace -- certainly not to dismiss or ignore. As Mara says in this interview:

Not one of us has a view of the whole thing.

So, of course, you may believe I'm wrong on an issue, and you may be correct that my opinion on something is wrong. This is the wonder and beauty of having a broad community of individuals that embrace their diversity -- I strongly believe that the sum of our parts is greater when we become parts of broader movements.

4th Annual California Transgender Leadership Summit Coming To San Diego At End Of Month

by: Autumn Sandeen

Fri Mar 20, 2009 at 01:00:00 AM EDT

Presented by Equality California, the Transgender Law Center (TLC), and more than twenty community-based organizations, the Leadership Summit has become a major event for identifying and building transgender community leaders statewide. The Summit provides grassroots activists and their allies with an unprecedented opportunity to create a unified voice to advance the movement for transgender equality and to address the barriers transgender people face in their personal and professional lives. Attendees will participate in workshops to learn skills they need to be effective activists, including how to facilitate public policy change, encourage economic development, educate the media, conduct budget advocacy, and build local capacity. As part of its leadership development emphasis, the Summit is planned by a volunteer committee of community members and activists, with assistance from TLC. The Astraea Lesbian Fund for Justice generously provided fellowships to ensure that low-income transgender women activists have the resources to attend the Summit.

Hey, going to have good speakers too...

This year's Summit will feature keynote and plenary speeches by a diverse group of leading activists including Cecilia Chung (San Francisco Human Rights Commission), Masen Davis (TLC Executive Director), Sylvia Guerrero (mother of murdered teen Gwen Araujo), Mara Keisling (Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality), Miss Major (Organizing Director of the TGI Justice Project), Shannon Minter (Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights), and Susan Stryker (renowned historian, and author of Transgender Histories ).

...The Summit takes off at 7pm Friday night, March 27th in the PC West Theater at UC San Diego. Workshops and plenary sessions will take place all day Saturday and Sunday morning. There will be a special Saturday night reception at the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Center featuring performances by Peterson Toscano and Coyote Grace.

So kewl I finally get to meet Historian Susan Stryker and performer Peterson Toscano, and so kewl I may get short interviews with Shannon Minter and Mara Keisling for The Blend.

Registration for the Summit is still open at:

http://www.transgenderlawcenter.org/summit2009.html

If you're going to be anywhere near Southern California next weekend, you'll want to be at this summit. More than transgender people are welcome to this summit -- anyone who's interest has and interest in the T of LGBT is more than welcome.

Blend exclusive: Mara Keisling on HRC and transgender advocacy

by: Pam Spaulding

Sun Nov 16, 2008 at 11:00:00 AM EST

One of the breakouts was "Winning Transgender Inclusive Legislation," a discussion largely about ENDA, with Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality   It was a very informative session, and Mara gave a good overall history of trans-inclusive legislation and an update on the status of ENDA (I have several video segments of her talk here).

There was a Q&A toward the end of the session, and up until this point, the controversial role of HRC in the ENDA dustup last year really hadn't been discussed in any detail. But then a young woman stood up and asked Mara what the current status of the relationship between HRC and the NCTE. She sincerely wanted to know about whether she should continue donating to HRC, or have transfolk and HRC mended fences, etc. Well, when I heard that question, I pulled out my camcorder (that I had just put away in prep to leave) to record the answer.

"People believe that what happened last year was this. One of two things had to have happened. Either they really believe that transpeople are a core part of the fabric of the family -- or they don't. If they do, then the decision they made last year (to agree to have trans protections stripped from ENDA) is unthinkable. They couldn't have done it. If it's not, then they have no right to speak for us.

You can't speak for people and then say they don't get theirs now, and that's OK. Now that's a simplification of what happened and I'm very well aware that that's a simplification of what happened. And some of my particular personal feelings about this have to do with how it was handled. It was handled very, very badly and it still continues to be handled very, very badly by a lot of folks on a lot of sides. But you know just two weeks ago, they released their Congressional scorecard in which they penalized the seven members of Congress who all who all up to that point had 100% perfect civil rights records. All seven of them have been penalized by HRC for supporting a trans-inclusive bill by voting against the non-inclusive one.

So, we don't believe that you have a right to speak for transpeople...you know we kept saying  'We need to stay at the table.' You don't stay at the table by locking everybody else out. And I happen to believe that they are continually disrespectful to all other LGBT organizations and dismissive of our skills and our right to be there. And that's some of my personal stuff. That being said, we all are in the same activist space.

Most of the senior management and a lot of the lower-level people at HRC are my dear friends. This isn't personal in that sense. But it is very personal in the sense that we need ENDA so that people can stop dying.. It's a real survival thing - people don't have jobs, people don't have hope. It is very personal to me and a lot of us for that reason. That being said, I don't advocate one way or another that people do or don't work with HRC. I know what our  position is at NCTE. And until they change their position -- which they are still not willing to do -- that will be our position.

And frankly -- and I don't mean this again as a negative HRC thing -- their dominance is declining anyway. They used to be the only game in town in DC, and that's no longer true. There are, I believe, nine LGBT organizations with policy shops in DC. Now HRC is still the best connected in Congress; but again, I believe they are more interested in using those connections to have connections.

We as a marginalized LGBT community are so used to being marginalized that we think it is a victory if a senator talks to us or that a senator comes to our fundraiser. We think that's a victory? That's no longer a victory for us; we have real power now.  Now is when we have to take those connections and we have to say 'Here is what we need, and here's what you have to do and you have to do it now.' And I just don't believe they are strong enough to do that. Now, I think those people who work with HRC -- and many of you probably in the room do -- I think you can make them get there. If they know that their grassroots supporters want that, maybe they will get stronger and more 'backboney' -- and more aspirational.

None of the work we're doing we're doing just to do it. We're doing it to save people's lives, and to save people's dignity...but I do not want people to stop giving to HRC, I don't want them to stop going to HRC stuff. I want HRC to be strong, I want HRC to be a real leader. I want them to do their job. I just want them to do it in a way that is responsible. If you're going to be a spokesperson for transpeople, you cannot sell out transpeople. And that's my view of it, and it's not personal, I don't hate anybody, but it is very personal in the sense that this is really serious business. I have fun in my work, I really do, but people are dying."

Shannon Minter And Mara Keisling On Gender Identity Platform Language And Marriage Equality

by: Autumn Sandeen

Tue Aug 26, 2008 at 08:48:12 AM EDT

Shannon Minter, of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), responds to gender identity being included in the Democratic Party Platform, as well as talking about what it's like to be a female-to-male transgender man working on LGBT issues (he was the NCLR's key attorney who argued the freedom to marry case before the California Supreme Court, from which Californians won the freedom to marry):

Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), responding to the how gender identity is for the first time, included in the Democratic Party Platform:

These were conducted right after August 25th's LGBT Caucus meeting.