In-Equality Maryland Censors & Bans Numerous Advocates For Asking "May Transsexual & Transgender Americans Have Some Human Rights Too, Pretty Please?"

"‎"EQUALITY" Maryland wants to create the illusion of a unified front. They are silencing TS/TG/I voices as well as LGBQ people who dont agree with their tactics." writes LGBTTIQ advocate Christopher Leonard as he sums up Equality Maryland's muzzling of the transsexual and transgender people who oppose their compromising actions.

Today I joined the long list of many transsexual and transgender advocates who have either had their comments deleted on Equality Maryland's Facebook page, or who have actually been BANNED from commenting, for simply asking the gays and lesbians who dominate the LGB”T” movement in Maryland via Equality Maryland, "Excuse me sir, may us poor, 'bottom of the LGBT food chain' tra**ys have some human rights too, pretty please?"

The controversy in Maryland right now is that the state’s LGB “t” equality group, Equality Maryland, is supporting a bill, HB235, which is inaccurately being called an “anti-discrimination” bill; however, it actually allows the discrimination against transsexual and transgender people in public accommodations, whereas gays and lesbians already ensured their own protections in public accommodation a decade ago.

In a comment posted on Equality Maryland’s Facebook page, Zoe Ellen Brian explains why this compromise is appalling:

"HB235 specifically excludes trans people from the same protections that gays have had since 2001. It gives them a limited subset, while legitimizing discrimination against them in many areas – such as lunch counters, or being allowed to ride a bus, enter a restaurant, or be given medical care at a hospital. In other words, “public accommodations”.

It legitimizes inequality, in an attempt to give them at least some minimal rights in credit applications, employment, and housing. A “pragmatic compromise” that strengthens the rights of all other minorities regarding public accommodations, while denying trans people any protection whatsoever. Deliberate, legally sanctioned Inequality.

Because Zoe Ellen’s comment exposed the ugly truth behind Equality Maryland’s compromising behavior that has and will continue to negatively affect the TS/TG communities, it was promptly deleted by the moderator.

Here are the two comments I posted that had me censored, and then banned:

Today Maryland's marriage bill is sent back 2 committee 4 discussion. No vote until 2012 probably. To all the Maryland gays & lesbians: The way you are feeling right now is how the transsexual & transgender community felt when you didn’t protect them in Marylands discrimination bill this week. See how that works? Its called karma. Sorry to be frank, yet u should be sorry 4 abandoning the TS/TG part of the coalition!

The 2nd comment I made today was in response to Equality Maryland’s page saying “transgendered”, problematically adding the “ed” after transgender, which media advocacy groups educate against.

Excuse me, why is there an "ed" after transgender? Transgender people are not "adverbs". Are you serious? Please educate yourself before you proceed to (mis)represent transgender and transsexual people. Thanks

Though I was upset my voice was censored, in a way, I am honored to make the list of so many transsexual and transgender advocates who have also been banned or censored on Equality Maryland's page for simply asking "What about the 'T'?" I couldn't’t ask for a more honest group of transsexual, transgender (and/or intersex) people to be associated with! Thanks Equality Maryland, this acknowledgement means a lot to me, it means I refuse to be a token trans tom [aka Autumn Sandeen] and compromise! I will wear your rejection with pride! ;)

Another thing, if I hear Equality Maryland quote Martin Luther King one more time, I may scream! King would NEVER condone how Equality Maryland is sacrificing transsexual and transgender Americans, and using them as a political bargaining chip. King would never say "Let’s get light skinned blacks and biracial blacks their rights first, and then come back for the rest". How dare they misappropriate his cause!

Something ironic happened yesterday. The same exact day that the Maryland ‘Gay & Lesbian caucus’ sacrificed transsexual & transgender people in a discrimination bill hearing, the House decides to do the same thing to gay marriage via defending DOMA! Perhaps the moral is that gays shouldn't mimic our oppressors and abandon TS/TG folk? Karma is timely like that, & she will make us learn our lesson one way or another...

Patrick Peace Tree, who has also been censored on their page, disclosed,

I've been censored so many times over there, I've just given up. It makes me furious to watch them use MLK quotes and talk about inequality while they preach segregation with HB 235

Kat Rose, a popular legal historian of transsexual and transgender issues (who is an attorney) and is the author of the blog ‘ENDAblog.wordpress.com', elaborates on how Equality Maryland has done this many times before, like when they threw us under the bus in 2001:

"Trans people in Maryland today are dying because of what Liz Seaton, Cathy Brennan and Shannon Avery got away with a decade ago. Their form of fake history creation was simply doing their evil and slithering away into highly-paid jobs that no trans people (or, in Seaton’s case, no trans women) are ever considered for and letting the amnesia of the damned do their historical work for them. Don’t let it happen again. Challenge ‘Equality’ Maryland’s lying-by-sanitizing online

Technically, the dirty deed happened in 1999 when certain gay-primacy activists began pushing an empty theory that trans people were already covered under Maryland law - which gave legislators cover to delete trans people from that year's bill. Liz Seaton, then head of what is now 'Equality' Maryland but then called Free State Justice (more accurately referred to as 'Free State Just Us') and soon to move up to a position with the Human Rights Campaign, sat silent before legislators when asked if there was any problem with removing trans people from the bill.

This series of events gave license to the legislature to forever after move forward with gay-only bills - which was done again in 2001. Again, gays who wanted their gay-only bill without concern for the long-term harm to trans people - the most vocally obnoxious of whom was Cathy Brennan - pushed the theory that trans people were already covered under Maryland law so trans people had nothing to complain about. Moreover, Brennan openly declared that the gay people in Maryland who supported trans inclusion and, as such, opposed the gay-only bill, were "anti-gay."

Through all of this, the implication was that once Maryland gays got their gay-only statute, they would go back and make the trans protections explicit. Instead, of course, they discovered gay marriage, so there has never been any legitimate effort - including the insulting HB 235 of this year - by Maryland's gays to make good on their 'incremental progress' promises to trans people."

And it gets worse; Equality Maryland is using the mother of a trans child to support a bill that will actually allow discrimination against her child. Kelly Busy of Planetransgender.com wrote an open letter to the mother, Cathy Hyde, to explain why the community is upset with Equality Maryland’s anti-TS/TG behavior: http://planetransgender.blogspot.com/2011/03/open-letter-to-catherine-hyde-pflag.html

Jenna Fischetti , a woman who lives in Maryland and TS/TG activist, wrote in a thread concerning this controversy,

“The difficult part of your proposition is the assertion that EQMD has the capacity to be good and thus through its sacrificing the TS/TG people, they were wrong. If its not in their nature to be for the full and immediate equality of TS/TG ...Marylanders, then they are NOT wrong in sacrificing them, they are only consistent.

To the deleting numerous comments please follow the link: [Wikipedia’s article on Stalinism] http://goo.gl/rGdCA

Now, I will say that last bit was intended as tongue in cheek. However, whoever has administrator rights or control of their Facebook page or directed the control of the message on the page needs to seriously consider how ridiculous it made them look. They could have turned off comments completely so they could have controlled their message like Brezhnev."

Donna S. Plamondon, a woman of transsexual medical history, who lives in Maryland, went to the Public Hearing on the Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination Bill on March 9th, and testified against the problematic bill. Today she reflected back to me,

"I NEVER thought I would ever testify AGAINST a bill to (supposedly) give us protection. It sucked being the ONLY transsexual sitting with the likes of Peter Spriggs speaking in opposition to HB235 at the house committee hearing. EqMd is NOT happy with me telling the legislature "Thanks But No Thanks for HB235 as written".

Here is a part of Donna’s testimony from the hearing:

"I and many other members of Maryland’s transsexual and intersex communities feel slighted and offended by the omission of public accommodations to HB235. Not to be disrespectful to the efforts of our allies, our legislators, Equality Maryland, the NGLTF, the NCTE and transgender community, but no one seems to acknowledge that there is a difference between being transsexual/intersex and being transgender and no one seems to want it addressed.

TRANSGENDER persons in general IDENTIFY with their birth sex, neither sex, or both sexes. They typically EXPRESS their gender opposite their birth sex in an inconsistent manner for various reasons. Some are crossdressers, some are transvestites, and some are drag queens and kings. Some choose an androgynous EXPRESSION.

...TRANSEXUALS and INTERSEX persons typically IDENTIFY with the sex opposite their sex assigned at birth and EXPRESS that IDENTITY in a consistent manner every day of their lives

…TRANSEXUALS people are recognized as being a medical condition by both the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association as evidenced by their individual resolutions supporting the legal recognition of their IDENTIFIED and EXPRESSED gender

…. persons should be protected by a public accommodation amendment and recognized as to have taken the responsible approach of seeking help from psychiatric and medical professionals to resolve a medical condition. We deserve all the dignity, respect and protections, both civil and legal, to which a citizen is entitled under the laws of the State of Maryland, Title 7 of the Civil Rights act of 1964 and the United States of America."

Marti Abernathey of Transadvocate.com, warns us about the danger of a domino effect if this bill passes without full protections in her article 'Gay Media: Maryland Trans Community, Love The Crumbs We Give You' :

"If HB235 passes without public accommodations in Maryland, this will reverberate across the country. You only get one chance at this. It’s hard enough to “go back” for gender identity protections (New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, etc.). But going back for public accommodations that cover gender identity will be next to impossible.

In light of HB285 ( a bill that gives legal teeth to public accommodations protections for those already covered), the genesis of this “half a loaf” becomes clear. Maryland’s “advocacy coalition” isn’t prepared to fight for full equality for the entire community. We’re supposed to be happy with their crumbs."

Marti also warns about the sneaky way the gay and lesbian media are (mis)reporting this, writing. "As much as trans people seem to want to believe it, gay (GayINC) media is not their friend/advocate/ally". She goes on to expose the unsatisfactory way Metro Weekly, Washington Blade and Pam's House Blend (via Autumn Sandeen) are reporting this story.

Perhaps I was provocative by saying it was “karma” in Maryland that postponed the marriage rights of the same gays and lesbians who are denying TS/TG people their full protections in the discrimination bill. But I am just one person who noticed an interesting parallel and commented on it. What I said is not anywhere as impactful or inappropriate as the gay and lesbian decision makers who work for, or who are on the board of, Equality Maryland, which has made the choice (repeatedly) to compromise the basic human rights of TS/TG people, the same rights that gays and lesbians in Maryland have already secured for themselves.

Equality Maryland has the right to ban people off their page, it’s their page, but is it the proper behavior for a “civil rights group”? The good news is that they can’t delete any of my comments off Blogspot.com. If Equality Maryland wants to continue to throw transsexual and transgender people under the bus, then their two options that make sense in my eyes are:

---1) Change their name to ‘Inequality’ Maryland

---2) Call themselves a LGB group instead of a LGB.”t” one

So which will it be Equality Maryland? Choice #1 or choice #2? Or, you could surprise us all and do choice number #3:

---3) Demand that public accommodation protections for TS/TG people be put pack into the bill.

Dana LaRocca resides in Maryland, and is a woman of transsexual experience. She has been very vocal and uncompromising in her opposition to the bill, and against Equality Maryland for supporting it. So, of course, she had to be silenced and Equality Maryland's Facebook page banned her as well. Dana's response to being on the ever growing "banned list" is:[It's a] "Badge of honor"

Dana, many others, including myself, agree with you :)

What Does The 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day Means to Women Born Transsexual and/or Intersex?

Yesterday was the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. The human race has come a long way since organized sexism demoted women to 2nd class citizens and created a culture that has sought to degrade the divine feminine, casting this world into a fear based land of war, violence, materialism and falsehoods.

However, though this world is in a better place for women then in was in centuries past, in the beginning, times were even better in most cultures for women, as the divine feminine was worshiped as the almighty, and in many societies women were revered as sacred life bearers and spiritual keepers of Mother Earth.

Before the pre-feudalism and pre-patriarchy times something else was different then it is in 2011. Women of transsexual and/or intersex experience were not persecuted, vilified, objectified and marginalized like they are today. In fact, it was the exact opposite. They were revered as shamans, priestesses, spiritual directors, medicine practitioners, consultants to royalty and leaders, healers, inspirers and beloved of the balanced circle of life.

Unfortunately, when men created organized religion to control the masses, the decision was made to assault the status of women because they possessed feminine qualities that threatened the brutal regime of classism, land and human ownership, greed, and egocentric and addictive external desires. People who defied gender stereotypes or who were born transsexual and/or intersex were also a threat because they did not fit into a box, so their fate was sealed as outcasts.

Time has passed and the true history of women born transsexual and/or intersex has come to light by many, but most are still living in the dark ages. Personally, what hurts me more than men assaulting the light of TS/IS women is when non-TS/IS women do this. We saw this is the 70’s and since when lesbian radical feminists denied TS/IS their truth and legacy, casting them back into a hole they had just started to climb out of (see Janice Raymond). We also saw white transvestite male fetishists in the 70’s, 80’s, and even today, use their male privilege and transsexual-phobia try to rewrite, objectify and degrade the true narrative of TS/IS women (see Virginia Prince, Anne Lawrence, etc).

Its 2011, the 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, and there is still so much more work to be done. But it’s not just an issue ‘between men and women’. Its also an issue between ‘women and women’. Some women are NOT created ‘more equal’ then other women, and yet many non-TS women would argue otherwise. The gay and lesbian community is doing a horrid job (mis)educating that transvestite males are pretty much the same things as women born TS/IS. This is an assault on women born TS/IS's reality, dignity and plight for understanding and social acceptance, and is responsible for much of the media and public's misgendering, confusion and fear of TS/IS issues.

What I would like to see as we move forward in this 100th year milestone is for all of us to give 100% of the women population the respect and protection they deserve, not just the ones who were lucky enough to have not been born with a birth challenge or medical condition such as women born transsexual and/or intersex.

I would like to see the transgender non-profits and Gay Inc stop censoring women born TS/IS from speaking their truth. I would like to see Transgender/Gender Queer/Cross Dresser Inc and Gay Inc stop co-opting, appropriating and glossing over the realities of human beings born transsexual and/or intersex. I would like education platforms to stop being lazy and actually discuss the diversity in the transsexual, transgender and intersex communities. They are all not one community; they are different communities who have been forced onto a reservation, or a ‘coalition’ at best. To reject and ignore the different needs of these sub-groups is dangerously problematic, unjust, sexist, transsexual-phobic and straight out fraud!

I wish I could rejoice in this 100th Anniversary. Sadly, I cannot. Not when I see my transsexual,transgender and intersex sisters being killed every month, or denied healthcare, or fired for being different, or ridiculed in the media or being segregated from society.

Women born different are still women, and if this day is to mean anything authentic, then all women need to be treated as equals to each other. Period.

Yesterday I asked some friends on Facebook who women are born transsexual and/or intersex to tell us what this anniversary means to them, here are some of their replies:

Cathryn Platine, author of “Riding The Second Wave”, and a leading transsexual feminist and resistance fighter against the co-opting of her community be transgender politics, writes:

“That the current war on women being waged in the US is MY fight. I had my feminist awakening when I was nine years old at the very beginnings of second wave feminism...we still do not have the ERA in this country despite it havingbeen re-introduced every single year since suffrage!”

Constance Macintosh-Mascherin, a Canadian woman who was not born transsexual, but is a committed ally and outspoken feminist, write:

“It SHOULD mean it's time for them to stand up and SCREAM "I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR" !!!!!!!”

Shelley Alexa, a woman born transsexual from California, writes,

“What it means is that the time to act is now...RIGHT NOW...the need has never been greater...it's high time, indeed way overdue, that TS/I women be acknowledged, accepted and appreciated as the WOMEN we truly are...in every possible sense of the word...and I for one wish to be counted...”

Teresa Ellen Reeves , a transsexual lesbian woman (and Seattle based activist)who has dealt with a lot of prejudice from the lesbian community in Seattle because she was born with a transsexual a medical condition, writes,

"Yesterday I went to a Seattle WHEEL (Women’s Housing Equality & Enhancement League) meeting and I found out that the Women of WHEEL were invited to a special International Women’s Day event tomorrow evening where an honor is going to be bestowed on one of our members, Anita Freeman, for her long service to the homeless community!...The invitation came from a lesbian event organizer, about 72 years old, who is a leader in two local Seattle lesbian groups, both whom have shunned and excluded me– telling me I was not regarded as a “real” woman or a “real” lesbian, and treating me like I was invisible or did not exist! They kept “losing” my phone number or Email address…I had been deliberately left off. No one in the Lesbian Separatist community ever wants to admit that a transsexual woman was included in an "all-woman" event., And if my name had been on the program... Lesbian Separatist Apartheid and for all transsexual women excluded….always hope for next year. Someday I will be included in the International Women's Day event. I will perform my songs of Sisterhood and belonging. And my name will be there in the program for all to see that I, Teresa, and all women are included!”

Alexandra Andrea Beninda writes,

“What it means to me is that I was born a woman, despite all of the ordeals that I have had to overcome, and therefore International Women's Day means the same to me as it does for all women."

Jenna Fischetti writes,

"That my struggle with body image was no different than any other woman's struggle with body image. That misogyny and transmisogyny are cultural and based on societally defined gender roles which have slowly been changing over the last two generations. That acceptance of self leads to acceptance from others.”

Danielle Megehee writes

“To be honest, it's a very sad day... That conditions for women are still poor today - after 100 years - tells us something. TS/IS women face the same discrimination, risk, etc. that other women - in addition to the ones brought on by their... medical condition. Perhaps one day, all people can celebrate a time when all people have equal chances to full and productive lives based on who they are and what they can do - not based on gender or skin color or religion or any other superficial factor.”

Lisa Salazar writes,

"We still hear of and see the incredible inequality that the majority of women experience around the world, where tribal, cultural, religious and patriarchal forces continue to suppress and demean women. It reminds me of a quote I read somewhere, from the head of a humanitarian NGO when he was asked if he celebrated their successes at reducing child mortality, to which he said, "As long as we are surrounded by dying children, it is impossible to really celebrate." It is a different context, but a very applicable sentiment to have on Women's day. As a TS woman, I am grateful and humbled to be among the few numbers of women in the world who have benefitted from the struggles and hard work of the feminists (which to me is not a negative term in the least).”

Monique Phillips writes,

“It means a lot , I feel that I am a Woman as seen as such so Woman’s Day is very important to all Women & the Strides they have faced are still facing”

Maggie Fiona Fox, a transsexual journalist (a lot of her work is featured on TS-Si.org) who resides in the UK, writes,

“It means I can applaud the Olympic definition of woman that requires having completed sex reassignment surgery, (vaginoplasty), being legally recognized as a member of the sex they wish to compete as, and having undergone two years of hormonal therapy (unless they transitioned before puberty).”

Thamra Leslie Crawford writes

“May the next 100 years be equal and full of pride.”

Does Gay Inc & Transgender/Cross Dresser Inc Refusing To Acknowledge the Transsexual & Intersex Communities Mean TS/IS People Don't Exist?

Question: Does Gay Inc and Transgender/Cross Dresser Male/Gender Queer Inc Refusing To Acknowledge the Transsexual and Intersex Communities Mean TS/IS People Don't Exist?

Answer: No, it does not. We are here, ain't going anywhere and are sick of being censored, co-opted and denied a seat at the LGBTTI coalition table.

Either be fair and accurate, or don't speak for us at all.

Would it kill you to stop misgendering, mocking, marginalizing and objectifying us?

Why do you devalue or deny people of transsexual history's medical legitimacy?

Our invisibility is hurting us.

Drag queens, gender queer activists and cross dressing males don't speak for us.

A gender identity is not the same thing as a medical condition or physical birth challenge

Equal, but DIFFERENT.

Pretending we are all the same because you prefer lazy education is fraud.

Grouping us with transvestites and fetishists is assault and sexual objectification.

Calling us gender variants and 3rd genders is misgendering and "othering" us, and transsexual-phobic.

We are fed up with being bullied and misrepresented.

Sick of this Animal Farm crap.

You can't stop the truth from getting out.

We are here

The Creating Change Conference Reinstilled My Hope & Faith In The LGBTTI Coalition; There's Still Work To Be Done

sometimes you have to have uncomfortable & complicated conversations to provoke real change

in Creating Change's "Transsexual/Transgender Hospitality Suite"

The Creating Change conference could not have come at a better time for me in my life. It was such an inspiring experience. I learned so much, made new friends and regained the hope that events in the month of January had brutally ripped from me.

Last month was quite a whirlwind for me personally. My faith was put to the test in such a way that made me question where I wanted to go in life, if my dreams were achievable, if I should take a different path and who my real friends were. Sinister forces used a public platform as a bully pulpit to engage in libelous and transsexual-phobic smear campaigns against many transsexual and intersex activists. I too was attacked by politicians who felt I was not submitting enough to the status quo and speaking out too much about inequality and transsexual-misogyny.

Since I refused to be a mute model for Equality Incorporated, and actually wanted a vote, I was punched out. As I layed there dazed and confused, I asked myself if the frustration and disappointments were worth it. I got back up and said “No, I will not lie down for your anti-transsexual agenda. I am WOMAN, hear me roar!”

As a woman who is very empathetic and maternal, it hurt me deeply that such dishonest and violent energies could be directed at women and men of transsexual and/or intersex experience who simply, and innocently, wanted accurate and compassionate representation. Some transgender, cross dresser and gender queer [gender variant] people in positions of power have censored the transsexual and intersex communities plight from having a proper seat at the table, and I feel many in the gay and lesbian elite were all too willing to allow the gay appropriation of our medical conditions to be reserved to a gender deconstructionist agenda against our will.

At the exact time that the TS/TG/IS communities should have been rallying together to demand ENDA be “alive”, when Gay Inc and its TG employees were saying “ENDA's dead”, a Gay Inc blog decided to pit us against each other. Therefore, instead of using those precious few weeks to mobilize, organize and speak out against the desired assassination of ENDA, a gay blog succeeded in casting the TS/TG/IS communities into a civil war. I found this to be the most treacherous of strategies, and proof that the colonization of TS/TG/IS issues by gay community can have disastrous results.

A part of me wanted to retreat from the bullying, lies and abuse and exit the online world. I had planned to delete my Facebook account and just focus on internal education with those who were not so resistant against the discussion of diversity in the TS/TG/IS communities. I love life too much to be the punching bag for those who are maliciously transsexual-phobic, and I know too much insider information and the real history of our communities to preach fake PC narratives. As a feminist and womanist, there was, and is no way I can allow my “masters” to dictate to me to pretend that certain misogynistic Virginia Prince ideologies (that still exist in some politics today) don’t objectify, sexualize and marginalize women of transsexual and/or intersex experience. And as a realist, I won’t co-sign certain pseudo gender theories and TG/cross dresser mandates that misgender, “other” and insensitively bulldoze over TS/IS people’s truth with such astounding hostility and selfishness. Finally, just because I am a femme woman I will not be type casted as an “opinion-less cheerleader” to only say “go team”. When many TS/IS women demonstrate free thinking and transsexual-feminism they get gang banged by the establishment.

Femme phobia is alive and crackin’!

TS/IS people’s unique needs are not being met, and there are some internal LGBTTI coalition conflicts that must be resolved if we are to truly gain harmony so we can move forward in authenticity.

Due to the love and comfort from my friends, and the understanding from many in the transsexual and intersex communities, and allies, I decided not to delete my Facebook account, yet opted for a Terms Of Service for my page and blog, which included rules against cyber bullying and transsexual-phobic rants from commenters.

I was invited to go to Creating Change from a longtime friend, Rea Carey. I met her years ago when I lived In LA, around the same time I started doing activism. She is the executive director of the Task Force, which organized the conference. In 2007, when Barney Frank and HRC removed protections for transsexual and transgender people in ENDA, the Task Force took a stand against this exclusion and helped create “United ENDA”, which many organizations signed onto, including MAGNET. For me, it was heart wrenching for only months after becoming involved in the LGBTTI community movement to see the harsh reality that TS/TG/IS issues get thrown under the bus by some in the Gay Elite. It was reassuring when the Task Force said “No, HRC and Barney Frank, we won’t move anywhere without our TS/TG brothers and sisters!”

I chose to go to Creating Change because my intuition told me that many answers awaited me. I trusted that not all people in the LGBTTI coalition were reluctant to hearing the valid concerns TS/IS people had about their medical legitimacy being dismissed, and the misgendering, objectifying and self-alienating ideologies that some transgender and cross dresser politicians miseducate about *all* of us. What is true for someone may not be true for someone else, which is why we must not wipe out individuality for the sake of “what’s easy”.

I did a lot of soul searching and praying last month when others publicly misunderstood my pure intentions. And though I could have had every reason to follow those in the transsexual community who are fed up with the LGB and TG communities and want to succeed completely, my intuition told me there had to be some compassionate, rational and understanding allies in the LGB and TG communities who cared about the legitimate plea of many TS/IS Americans.

So I went to the conference. There was so much love, positive energy and family there. I was sad that it had to end. I wish I had started going to this conference years ago. And all the hope that was taken from me last month was reinstalled in me times three by all the amazing people I spent time with!

I worked 14 hours days the entire conference! It was exhausting and energizing at the same time, an unusual combo! I barely got any sleep! From workshops, sessions, panels and lectures all day, to events, parties, meeting and networking in the evening. It was such a productive time. The one on one discussions I had were the most rewarding to me, and the truth is, most people in the LGBTTI coalition that I personally know are not a part of the angry mob that is hell bent on dismissing, misrepresenting and vilifying the honest concerns that many TS/IS Americans have about their narrative and medical realities being devalued and misunderstood in the newer transgender sociopolitical expression. Transsexual and intersex people have a birth challenge and/or medical condition; whereas transgender/gender queer and cross dressing people have a gender identity issue. We all deserve civil rights, but to erase the TS/IS narrative in the name of “politics” is tyranny and oppression. I know there is a way we can be all be allies of each other without disrespecting each other’s truths. We are equal, but different.

In the week ahead I will write a few blogs on my experience at Creating Change. I feel so blessed to have been able to attend. If there was ever a doubt that the transsexual and intersex communities have no place in the LGB and transgender coalition, this experience inspired me to believe that change is arising, and many people do get the frustration many transsexual and intersex people are rightfully feeling in the coalition, and are wanting and willing to take action with us to ensure we too have a proper seat at the LGBTTI coalition table.

Apart from the educational blossoms that the conference unfolded, and seeing and spending time with old friends and associates, it really was a treat to make new friends and co-activist buddies. The best part of activism to me is the personal friendships I make. I don’t really have a nurturing and attentive family; I had to give up many of them when I decided to allow my natural birth condition to manifest its destiny. I love nothing more than spending time with my activist family. I love my LGBTTI family so much; they are pretty much my soul family, apart from my other long time friends. My heart is really in my activism, which is why it hurts so much when I feel the transsexual and intersex portion of the coalition is disrespected. I was in California during the Prop 8 drama, and fought with the gay and lesbian community for their rights, even though Prop 8 did not affect me and my boyfriend from having the right to marry. Yet I fought not just because I have many loved ones who are gay or lesbian, but because it was the right thing to do. TS/IS people would like the same regard from the LGB community. In some respects we are all we have; we have to look out for each other. Believe it or not, I don’t enjoy calling out some people in the coalition on their irresponsible and hurtful treatment and decisions in regards to the TS/IS community. But since my heart is in this, I can’t pretend everything is picture perfect just because people say “Ashley, we don’t like the “new radical you”, we miss the happy go lucky Ashley that smiles”. Well, I’m not a model; I just don’t smile all day. And just because I am assertive and an TS/TG/IS activist, does not mean I am not the same person from before. Or perhaps I am more aware...

It’s just things are very time sensitive now, and we have to wake up, and fast. TS/IS Americans also want a piece of the equality pie, and I would hope the LGB and TG communities would help us with our goals…and in an equal level to which their goals are pursued.

I can’t wait until Creating Change next year, but until then, I look forward to creating change every day, and trying to be more forgiving of entities that have not been as understanding or responsible to the TS/IS communities as they should have been. I also have made a commitment to be more sensitive to communities other than my own. I am so happy I got my hope back, and I feel there will be more sunshine in my future writings, though of course a few topics will still have to be addressed first. But I really do see that this coalition/family does have a chance to have true harmony. Big hugs to everyone who went to Creating Change, my Facebook friends and the ‘Trans Forming Media’ readers. Love, Ashley

Happy Roe vs Wade Victory Day, & Happy TS/IS Liberation Year!

Americans w/ a transsexual or intersex birth challenge would like their keys back, thanks

Happy Roe vs Wade Anniversary! Men don’t have the right to tell women what to do w/ their bodies! Also, cross dressing males, gender queer activists and Gay Inc don’t have the right to tell women born w/ a transsexual and/or intersex birth condition to forgo their medical legitimacy and unique needs in order to be co-opted into some "gender deconstructionist agenda".

Recently, both the women born transsexual and LGB”TG” blogospheres have been blowing up due to the fact that many women and men born transsexual or intersex (TS/IS) are fed up with being misrepresented by the gay establishment, cross dressing males, those who seek to dismantle the gender binary and transgender politicians.

I have read a lot of hateful and ugly comments against some of these women by transgender individuals and males. They have told them “shut up, we own you, do as you’re told”. I don’t think the transgender sociopolitical troopers were prepared for the backlash when many noted women born transsexual activists and journalists, and allies, fought back against this colonization in full force!

Now there is no tuning back.

Some people in the TS/TG/IS communities have a gender issue (TG), others have an actual birth challenge or medical condition (TS/IS). It’s simple, so why so much confusion and blackballing of TS/IS people?

Just like fanatics used to bomb abortion clinics to take away women’s right to choose, certain gender nonconforming bloggers have been trying to “bomb” the uprising of women born TS or IS in their struggle for ACCURATE representation by publishing fear, libel and hate infested articles, just like Janice Raymond used to do when she raged war on women born with a transsexual condition.

TS/IS Americans are being denied their medical rights and legal recognition. Their narrative is not gender queers, cross dressing males or Gay Inc’s property to dictate to. Just like women’s bodies and right to choose is not 55 year old white Congressmen’s and priest’s property to control.

Personally, all I want is harmony in the many diverse communities such those who were born transsexual or intersex, transgender and gender non-conforming activists, cross dressing males and transvestites, drag queens/kings, gender queers and the LGB communities.

But in order to achieve that harmony, the patriarchy and Gay/TG establishment can’t bulldoze over people with a TS/IS condition and try to erase their truth.

We cannot build harmony on a Big Lie. The Big Lie is sweeping diversity and individuality under the rug and proclaiming everyone in the different sex and gender diverse communities as “transgender” against their will. Women and men who are born transsexual or intersex (along with the doctors and scientists who will attest to their legitimate medical condition) should be afforded a seat at the table. How can anyone be surprised at the frustration so many people are expressing at being silenced and bullied? Then when TS/IS people speak out, they get vilified and manhandled! This abuse of power by TG/Gay gatekeepers, phobic shrinks, hateful far right propaganda spreaders and politicians has to stop, because the transsexual and intersex communities are not going to stop speaking their truths, and will keep on calling out falsehoods.

Another tactic that some are using to suppress the TS/IS advocates request for acknowledged differentiation is to vilify them by calling them “elitists” and “bigots”. This is a sneaky way to suggest that TS/IS people are the same thing as drag queens, cross dressing males and gender deconstructionists, to censor their freedom of speech and to dismiss their medical legitimacy. Just because TS/IS people have urgent (sometimes lifesaving) reasons to educate about diversity and accuracy does not mean there is any “hierarchy creating” going on as alleged. That’s silly, and is a part of the Big Lie. Just like Black, Latino and API groups have specific avenues of addressing their race’s unique interests, there is nothing foul about TS/IS Americans expressing that their medical needs are different then the gender agenda of cross dressers, drag queens/kings and gender queer activists. What is foul is over generalizing groups of people to "make it easy", even at the cost of transsexual and intersex peoples medical legitimacy and pursuit of happiness being compromised. To lock women of transsexual history in a category with male transvestite and fetishists is unbelievable! And yet these women get crucified for protesting this inappropriate pairing!

Variety is the spice of life! So why do so many people like to hate on people who don’t want to wear the same uniform as everyone else. The vilifying and slandering of TS/IS Americans who are feeling slighted and marginalized in the transgender movement is cruel, dishonest and selfish.

The truth remains: Transsexualism & Intersex issues will not be erased by TG/Gender Queer Inc, Gay Inc, or the Religious Far Right

A woman with a TS condition does not want to check the “3rd box” like many gender queer activists are fighting to do. She just wants to check the “female” box. She does not want to be “othered or misgendered”, she does not want to rebel against the gender binary. She just wants to live her life in peace, and have the same rights any other woman in America has. Why do so many gender queer, cross dressing and transgender activists want to beat on TS/IS women for wanting this? Stop usurping the transsexual and intersex communities, and then ganging up on them when they resist certain self-marginalizing and misgendering ideologies in the gender queer and transgender movements.

Can’t we all nurture, respect and listen to each other? Why do TS/IS people have to scream at the top of their lungs in order for anyone to take their plight seriously? This conflict has been going on for decades, and is only getting louder. Some of the LGB/TG/GQ/CD activists resisting the TS/IS uprising are just bullies, and place their careers, personal agenda, access and profit before people, diversity and the truth. It really hurts that some decision makers try to force TS/IS people onto some reservation against their will.

We are now cutting the barbed wire. You can either be there for us, or we will make it on our own. We truly hope you choose to be here for us.

Happy Roe vs Wade Victory Day, & Happy TS/IS Liberation Year!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Did Not Believe in Segregation, Nor Do TS/IS Americans

Martin Luther King, Jr. Did Not Believe in Segregation, Nor Do TS/IS Americans

What I’m hearing from many Americans born with a transsexual and/or intersex condition is they too don’t believe in segregation.

Some transgender/3rd gender/gender queer theory troopers try to enforce TS/IS women to be segregated from non-TS/IS women, into some type of “gender variant/3rd gender” box.

This is segregation. This is Illegal in America.

Our doctors and scientists will attest to that.

TS/IS women are not by definition cross dressers, gender deconstructionists or drag queen stage acts

For our Transgender Ward Bosses and Gay Inc to enforce segregation onto unwilling people with a TS/IS condition is dangerous to their medical legitimacy, civil rights and understanding from society

If GQ/CD/TG/DQ/TV/GNC folks want to dismantle the gender binary for themselves, good for them.

But to demand TS/IS Americans sign over their own narrative to some gender theory agenda contract is a crime.

I agree with Martin Luther King, Jr.: Creating segregation onto unwilling participants is immoral, dehumanizing and against everything this great country stands for.

Women are women. Not “3rd/gender, sub-women, its or “tra**ys”

This is a great time in America, as the TS/IS communities are rising up against mis-education, mis-gendering, misinformation and misleading gender theories.

TS/IS Americans are fighting for their legal recognition, medical legitimacy and to be understood by society.

Segregation no more. Social exile no more. PC Bullying no more.

As Audre Lourde said “Your silence will not protect you”.

It’s so inspiring to see all these TS/IS people speaking out against marginalization and censorship.

Authenticity. Happiness. Honesty. Medical rights. Just living our lives. This is our dream.

Have a great Martin Luther King,Jr. Day today!

OK, I give up, you're right, I'm just a "tra**y", sorry for thinking I was a human being

An open letter to everyone who uses the anti-transsexual woman slur “tra**y”, to the jerk who called my friend a tra**y when she went on the bus to go to work and ruined her day, to the non-trans straight girl who called a girl she didn’t like a “tra**y” to imply she was ugly, to the hate crime assailant who called his trans victim a tra**y as he bashed her near to death, to the gay man who called his friend a “stupid tra**y” because he spilled his drink on him, to the transphobic gay man who called an effeminate gay man a tra**y because he thought masculine acting gay men were somehow “better” than feminine acting gay men, to the gay male director who sought to exploit trans women and put the pejorative in the title of his film, to the late night talk show hosts who make fun of trans women on TV and use the T word, but actually used to be in love with a trans woman behind the scenes, to the radical feminist lesbian who helps plan the Michigan Music Festival and was quoted as saying “no fucking tra**ys allowed”, to the gay male drag queens who perform “trans face” and say the T word 20 times a night to make their gay audience laugh at the thought of real trans women being taken seriously, to the trans woman who performs campy burlesque and uses the T word in her act because she get paid to be the butt of her own jokes, to the fetishist and cross dressers who say the T Word to objectify the medical condition transsexualism, to the Village Voice flamboyant gay male journalists who don’t know the difference between drag queens and transsexual woman and are clueless as to why the T word hurts, to pop culture that has morphed the T word into a punch line that dehumanizes trans people, to the people who call trans people the T word to mis-gender them, to all the gay men and their girlfriends who think it’s “cool” and hip to say the T word,to the mean people who use the tra**y as an insult, to the actresses who think it’s okay to say the T word because their gay agent said its acceptable and their publicist said it would give them free press, to the gay male editors of trashy blogs who exploit this issue and think they have the authority to tell trans women to “lighten up” for protesting hate speech, to the trans people who have such low self-esteem that they accept the T word has a fake form of endearment:

OK, you’re right, I give up, I’m just a “tra**y”: subhuman, joke, object. I should just accept that you find my medical condition so uncomprehendable that you fear it. Sorry that I had the audacity to think the trans community could integrate their humanity into mainstream society and bring awareness to the stigma and harm that the T word inspires. I now accept that my birth challenge is nothing more than a punch line for non-trans people to make hateful pejoratives out of and then bully me when I cry out for understanding and respect. I will now resign myself to my cave that your hate, misogyny and transphobia has banished me to. It was silly of me to think that tra**ys deserved anything but marginalization, depression and crumbs. I guess if the LGB portion of the LGBTI community says the T word is okay, then where do transsexual and intersex people get off on wanting to speak for themselves? I promise not to speak anymore until spoken to. Your brutality, selfishness and insensitivity has beaten me, there is no more energy in my spirit to fight. I am moving back to the forest where I don’t have to put up with your bullshit reasons of why trans people have to accept this abuse. If you need a tra**y to hop around on your stage like a clown working for peanuts, you can find me in the leper colony where the tra**ys have been quarantined to. Goodbye, and good riddens, tra**y out.