I've made it to the initial round for favorite progressive blogger in the Air America Cruise Contest. I have to stay in the Top 5 before the second voting round begins, so your vote is appreciated! First voting round:
The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
On January 18, the last day for filing, Del. Adam Ebbin introduced HR 1493 in the Virginia House of Delegates:
Nondiscrimination in state public employment. Prohibits discrimination in state government employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or status as a special disabled veteran or other veteran covered by the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974.
The first thing I noticed was the conspicuous absence of gender identity protection. But looking at the language of the bill, gender identity is specifically included under the definition of "sexual orientation."
The relevant part of the bill:
no state agency, institution, board, bureau, commission, council, or instrumentality of the Commonwealth shall discriminate in employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, or status as a special disabled veteran or other veteran covered by the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Act of 1974, as amended.
"Sexual orientation" means a person's actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality, or gender identity or expression. This definition does not protect any person whose attraction is towards persons with whom sexual conduct would be illegal due to the age of the parties.
It would be very good news for LGBT rights in Virginia if this bill passed, so please support Equality Virginia as we go to Richmond this week to lobby for HR 1493.
(NOTE FROM PAM: Peter LaBarbera was on Hannity and Colmes and showed his "research" into the fetish activities at the Folsom Street Fair. I am inserting the video into Happy Cat's diary. Also, you have to surf over to Joe Murray's pad to read his take on The Peter's Faux News appearance. Also: Rebecca Armendariz of the Washington Blade was at Petey's conference and has an eye-opening report, "'Exposing' the Folsom Street Fair," on the shenanigans.)
To: Peter LaBarbera, AFT
This is an open invitation to have you, me and my two daughters to be able to sit down, and let you see what and who we are. I am the parent, a Male to Female Transexual, and my daughters, ages 12 and 16.
During this invitation, I will allow you to ask any questions you would feel needed. I would like to ask you questions as well, but this time sitting face to face.
I have 7 questions for you, that is all. As I saw you on Hannity and Colmes, I have SEVEN QUESTIONS.
(Thank you, Dana, for a post that humanizes transfolk and their families. It's easy to cast the community aside regarding LGBT inclusion and ENDA as if they are abstractions, not actual human beings who simply want to be treated as equal citizens under the law. - promoted by pam)
Crossposted from Mombian. Given the recent discussions here and elsewhere about trans inclusion, I thought some of you might be interested in my interview with the son of a transgender father. It's part of my Family Voices series of interviews with members of LGBT families. The first batch of interviews were with LGBT parents who are part of Family Pride's OUTSpoken Families Program; now, I'm working with COLAGE to bring in more perspectives from adults with LGBT parents--and I'm proud to include T as well as LGB.
Below, Jonathan shares a bit of his "lovably bizarre" family, talks about his experience as the son of a transgender father, and reminds us of the importance of keeping a sense of humor.
Tell us a little about the family in which you grew up. Who was in it? Anything particular you'd like to share about yourselves?
My family is a witch’s brew of geeks, dorks, and delinquents. We built secret passages in the basement for fun, and my father fought an eternal battle against right angles. My oldest brother just got married: he walked down the aisle with his wife to ‘Where Is My Mind,’ by The Pixies, my sister-in-law chucked a bouquet of dead flowers to the tune of ‘The Doom Song’ from Invader Zim, and then the entire place (a museum) was rocked by Britpop and New Wave until midnight. Because that’s the way my people roll. And by the by, my father is a transgender woman.
I got whacked by the Patriot Act today, after investigating why my credit card application was declined, despite an excellent credit score. It's because of my recent legal name change clashing with said Patriot Act.
Here's the e-mail I sent to my lawyer (who did my name change pro bono) - identifying information redacted:
Hi, [redacted]...Because of my recent name change and the Patriot Act, I have found myself in the situation where I fear that I can never get credit, buy or sell a home, or rent an apartment ever again in my life; and probably I will not be able to switch banks or open new accounts, either. I don't know what help, if any, you can offer me. Had I known that this would happen, I would never have pursued a name change.
Here are the details.
I applied for a credit card at [redacted], under my new name. (I had no issue with changing my name on my existing accounts, BTW). It was rejected, b/c the credit agencies don't have a record of the name "Jan Rachel Friedman". When I called to tell them that I've had a name change, they told me that in order to process it, I need to send them:
* Copy of name change court order * Copy of driver's license * Copy of bills from two different utilities (can't be two bills from the same utility)
I can supply the first two, but I live in a condo where the condo fee includes electricity and heat, so I am not billed separately for that. In response, the bank told me that they would accept * Copy of an insurance bill * AND copy of the condo's title
They will not accept a bill for internet or cellular service. They told me that all this bullshit was mandated by the Patriot Act.
I can supply the insurance bill, but since my property is mortgaged, I don't have the property title, so I can't give them a copy of it. Hence, I cannot get credit under my new name.
Continuing to have credit under my old name presents a grave danger to me. I cannot travel, because my credit card is under my old name...male name / female presentation = guaranteed harrassment / police abuse / worse.
It seems that my only recourse is to go through another legal name change BACK to my old name (which I'm sure would look very suspicious to a court), detransition, and live as male.
Do you have any suggestions as to what to do, or who else to go to for help? Also, I wonder if I have a case that the ACLU would take up?
Some student users of the popular social networking website Facebook.com are lobbying the owners and operators of the site to make certain changes to the way user profiles are currently formatted.
Some 750 or so users, primarily college and university students, have joined a "Facebook Group" named "For a queer positive facebook" which was started by York University (Canada) student Dee Jacobs. The users want Facebook to add new features to the user profiles which would allow for a more inclusive representation of a wide-range of personal self-identities.
Their requests include changing the current two option choice for "sex" (male and female) to a fill-in-the-blank form for "gender" and adding an "other" option to the current "Interested in" options which include "men," "women" and "men and women." The "For a queer positive facebook" group claims that the current "Interested in" options are not inclusive enough because it "ignores the sexuality of persons who do not identify with a specific gender and their lovers."
Other requests include having the "In a relationship" options changed to allowing multiple partners; the current options only allow one partner to be added if two people both note they are in a relationship. "For a queer positive facebook" claims that this change would "create an inclusive space for our polyamorous and other non-monogamous allies and their lifestyles."
The group of users admit, however, their requests are unusual.
