NSFW
- 24
- F*TM*
- Taken
- Genderqueer
- Pansexual
- Drag King
- Musician
- Writer
- Body Piercer
- HippieFuck
- Capricorn
Let’s spread this Transgender Couchsurfing Network!
TransCouchNetwork is “a couchsurfing network intended to connect trans people in need with safe and supportive places to crash. if you have or are in need of a couch, floor, or spare room, send an ask or submit with any relevant information you’re willing to share and we’ll try and connect you with other couch lenders or surfers near you.” This is great! Let’s spread the word!!! (http://transcouchnetwork.tumblr.com/)
(via disgustinghuman)
MSNBC Talks To And About Trans People For An Hour, Doesn’t F*ck It Up
We’re only about 30 seconds into MSNBC’s 20-minute “Transgender in America” segment when host Melissa Harris-Perry describes herself as “cis,” explaining that “cis” means that “the sex of the body I was born with, the gender I was assigned at birth, and my personal identity all match. She then pointed out that “being ‘cis’ does not make me “normal” or “natural,” it just makes me cis.” After last week’s shitshow with Barbara Walters and Jenna Talackova, the last thing anybody expected from a mainstream (if left-leaning) news organization was to hear the definition of “cisgender” on National television. It gets better from there.
The National Center for Transgender Equality, in its press release, said of the MSNBC program that:
“For the first time in recent memory, a major television network will dedicate an hour-long panel to discussing transgender social and political issues. NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling will be a featured guest on the show joining other recognized experts on trans issues. The panel will focus broadly on advancing transgender equality and other political issues.”
“When we see transgender people like Chaz Bono or others in the media, we’re often encouraged to see the spectacular, not the person,” Harris-Perry explained before introducing three guests: author and activist Kate Bornstein, the aforementioned Mara Keisling and Mel Wymore (a Democratic candidate for the New York City Council). She later brings out Allison Kilkenny of Citizen Radio who also chimes in on issues within the LGBT community that don’t really apply to the “T.” The importance of non-discrimination policies were addressed at length, including the Prison Rape Elimination Act, as well as the importance of inclusiveness within the LGBTQ community. They went into how issues like same-sex marriage and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell have very different impacts on different segments of the LGTBQ umbrella and how crucial it is that the LGBs understand that.
After going over some of the harrowing statistics about discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment, school and the criminal justice system, the story of African-American transgender Crishuan “CeCe” McDonald is introduced. CeCe was, as Kate Bornstein describes it, “beaten savagely by a group of folks and she fought back and ended up, in self-defense, killing one of her attackers. She was charged with second-degree murder, and put in the slammer, and that’s that.” Harris-Perry compares CeCe’s situation to that of Trayvon Martinand Kate mentions the online petition that you should all sign to get her out of jail.
“Transgender people are just normal people in most ways,” Keisling declared. “but nature loves diversity.”
The ensuing 15 minutes, which were devoted to discussing the Obama administration’s refusal to sign the executive order against discrimination by employers with federal contracts based on gender identity and sexual orientation, which Jillian T.Weiss writes about on the Bilerco Project today.
All-in-all, a pretty solid program and an excellent antidote to the Barbara Walters situation. (Although I was a little surprised by the section where Kate and Melissa seemed to imply that most trans people don’t use/like binary-identified pronouns — what did y’all think of that part?) In response to the Jenna Talackova 20/20 interview, many hoped that the sort of horrifying way in which that was covered would at least open up a door to discussing trans issues in a more serious and less sensationalistic way. This piece would suggest that the door is opening, and that people are walking through it. And that’s pretty fucking awesome.
(via loveyourchaos)
Police mistreatment of transgender man
BrooklynBridge Occupy Wall Street Protest Saturday
October 3, 2011 1:39pm
My name is justin adkins. I am a transgender man who was arrested at the Occupy Wall Street Protest October 1st on the Brooklyn Bridge. This was my first arrest. This was the second weekend I participated in the Occupy Wall Street protest. I have been coming down on the weekends because I work 2 full-time jobs to make ends meet. One of those jobs is as Assistant Director of the Multicultural Center at Williams College in Massachusetts.I was toward the front of the march and after being trapped by the police on the bridge and, watching as they arrested people one-by-one I went peacefully when it was clear that it was my turn. My arresting officer, Officer Creer, found out I was born female when I yelled that information to the legal observer on the bridge. My arresting officer asked what I meant when I told the legal observer that I was “transgender” I told him thatI was born female. He asked what “I had down there”. Since it is a rude and embarrassing question to ask someone about their genitals no matter what the situation, I simply told him again “I was born female”. He asked, appropriately, if I wanted a male or female officer to pat me down. I told him it was fine if he patted me down. He then turned and asked a female officer, I believe her name is Officer Verga, to pat me down explaining to her that I was transgender. She patted me down and then preceded to refer to me as “she” even though I kept correcting her that my preferred pronoun is “he”. Luckily she disappeared after about 40 minutes, as we sat cuffed at the apex of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Once we arrived at Precinct 90 in Brooklyn, the male officer taking everyone’s belongings asked if it was ok for him to search me, I said “yes” and he proceeded to respectfully empty my pockets. I was arrested with a group of 5 other guys and once they got us to the precinct they initially put me in a cell with the men I was arrested with. They asked if that was ok with me and I said yes. About 5 minutes after they took the cuffs off and shut the cell door an officer came back to the cell to move me. When he opened the door and looked my way I was aware of what was happening. I knew that my transgender status would potentially be an issue once at the jail, which is why I told the legal observer that I was transgender. The officer glanced at me motioning to come out of the cell and then told me to put my hands behind my back as my fellow protestors looked on in wonder.
As we walked out past the other protestors waiting to have their pockets emptied, one woman looked at me with a puzzled look, we had connected on the long drive around Brooklyn as they tried to figure out where to take us. I told her that it looked like transgender people got “special treatment”. Within the first 15 minutes of being at precinct 90 I was being segregated and treated differently from the rest of the protestors arrested.
They took me away from the cellblock where they had all of the protestors locked up and brought me to a room with 2 cells and a bathroom. One small cell was empty and the large cell had about 8 men who had been arrested on charges not related to the protest. Unlike me, these men had been arrested for a variety of crimes, some violent. When I entered the room they had me sit down in a chair on the same portion of the wall as the restroom, and then handcuffed my right wrist to a metal handrail. I thought that this was a temporary arrangement as they tried to find me a separate cell as part of some protocol regarding transgender people, which I later discovered does not exist in New York City. After about an hour I realized that they had no intention of moving me. I remained handcuffed to this bar next to the bathroom for the next 8 hours.
The cells, on the other side of the precinct where they had locked up the other 69 protestors, did not have working toilets so every person who had to use the toilet was brought to the one next to where they had me locked to the railing. This was not only disgusting but also embarrassing. The smell of urine was so strong that I, and the men locked up in the cell in the room that I was in, mentioned the odor on more than one occasion.
Once they started bringing women in to use the bathrooms, a short young female officer, who was in charge of people locked up in the room where I was handcuffed, harshly turned my chair around with my arm still locked to the railing but now pinned behind my back. She said that she knew it hurt but that they were bringing in women to use the restroom and she could not have me watching. I had no interest in watching anyone use the bathroom, and every-time a male had come into use the restroom I had respectfully turned away. This process of people coming in and out to use the restroom went on for the full 8 hours.
I was distinctly treated differently than the other protestors during my entire time at Precinct 90 in Brooklyn. At one point in the night all of the protestors were given a peanut butter sandwich and water. I asked for a sandwich three times but of all of the officers who came in and out of the room where I was handcuffed never acknowledged my request. I think this was because when I asked for a sandwich the men locked up in the room I was in asked for one too. I do not know when or how long those men were being held but I was there for eight hours and had sat on the bridge for about 2 hours and was never once offered water or a sandwich when my fellow protestors received both.
At one point the woman I had spoken with earlier was brought into use the toilet. When she entered the room she looked shocked and asked why I was attached to the railing. I told her again that it was the “transgender special”. She clearly understood that I was being discriminated against because of my transgender status. She asked the female officer in the room why I couldn’t be given my own cell and the officer said “you don’t know why he is locked up here” the woman said that she did know and that I should at least be given my own cell if they were not going to house me with the male protestors I was originally arrested with.
Throughout the night it became clear that they wanted my fellow protestors to think that I did something criminally wrong. That I had done something different from them. That I was not just a peaceful protestor exercising my rights on that bridge. That I deserved to be handcuffed to a railing in the side of the precinct with violent criminals. Everyone seemed to wonder why I had been separated. When other officers chatted amongst themselves about why I was separated, one officer suspected aloud that I was a “ringleader”. The woman officer stood a few times outside the glass wall with the door open as male officers asked about me. It appeared that she told them that I was transgender as they gawked, giggled and stared at me. This was embarrassing and humiliating. Only I have the right to out myself as a transgender person. She was using my identity to get a laugh with men who she thought would find me curious and freakish. It felt at these times that I was behind the glass of a freak show where people could come look at the funny transgender guy. I decided that when they looked at me giggling I would just catch them off guard and wave. It at least made the time go bye.
At one point in the night a young man who had participated in the earlier NYC Slut walk march to protest against explaining or excusing rape by referring to a women’s clothing, came into use the bathroom wearing a mini-skirt. He was one of the protestors arrested with me on the bridge in the Occupy Wall Street March. The officer escorting him started poking fun at his mini-skirt at which point I explained that he looked good and the skirt was fine. When he sat down to go to the bathroom the officers laughed even more saying that they had “seen everything tonight”. The attitude of the officers made me realize that as much as I needed to urinate it would not be a good idea to do so. The space did not feel safe. By the time I was released I had not gone to the bathroom for 11 hours.
I was more than comfortable and safe with the 3 men I was initially put in a cell with. They were nice and we had a lot in common. If the officers concern was about my safety, I perceived I was in much more danger in the accommodations they gave me away from my fellow protestors. Additionally, I was made fun of and treated differently throughout the entire process. At about 2 am I was released with a desk appearance ticket and charged with disorderly conduct. To my knowledge I was the only one out of 70 processed at Precinct 90 who only received only one ticket. The rest received 2 or 3 tickets mostly including refusing to disperse and blocking a roadway. Why was I treated differently than the other 69protestors? The only reason that I was treated differently was that I was transgender.
The NYC police department needs to have a protocol and train its officers on how to treat transgender people. No one should experience the blatant discrimination and embarrassment that I did.
-justin adkins
justinadkins@justinadkins.com
link to story
guys I need your help.
I’m making this t-shirt and I don’t know if the he/him/his should be on the front or back and if ask about my pronoun preference should be on the front or back.
help meeee.This is a great idea for those who are having issues with people messing up on their pronouns!
I like it with the ‘Ask About My Pronoun Preference’ on the front….
![thecuntmentality:
tummydearest:
combat—wombat:
[TW FOR ANTI-TRANS AND RACIST VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH]
SUPPORT CECE MCDONALD!
CeCe McDonald is a young African American transgender woman charged with “second degree murder” after an incident that began when she was violently attacked because of her gender and race.
DROP the charges and FREE CeCe!
CeCe is a creative and energetic person who, before her life was so unjustly interrupted, was studying fashion at MCTC. She had a stable home where she lived with and helped support four other African American youth, her family. CeCe’s family describes her as a leader, a role model, and a loyal friend. She is known as a wise, out-spoken, and welcoming person, with a cheerful disposition and a history of handling prejudice with amazing grace.
Around 12:30 am on June 5, CeCe and four of her friends (all of them black) were on their way to Cub Foods to get some food. As they walked past Schooner’s Bar in South Minneapolis, a man and two women (all of them white) began to yell epithets at them. They called CeCe and her friends ‘faggots,’ ‘niggers,’ and ‘chicks with dicks,’ amongst other things.
As they were shouting, one of the women smashed her drink into the side of CeCe’s face, slicing her cheek open, lacerating her salivary gland, and stinging her eyes with liquor. A fight ensued, with more people joining in. What happened during the fight is unclear, but within a few minutes Dean Schmitz–one of the attackers–had been stabbed.
CeCe was later arrested, and is now falsely accused of murder
For a month, CeCe was kept in solitary confinement “for her own protection”; she had no say in this matter. Finally, she was transferred to a psychiatric unit in the Public Safety Facility. It was nearly two months before she was taken back to a doctor to check up on the wound on her face, which by then had turned into a painful, golf ball-sized lump.
Later on, CeCe’s friends were harassed on the street by people they recognized from the scene of the fight. Individuals circled the block that CeCe’s friends were walking on and called them ‘niggers’ and ‘faggots’ and told them to ‘go back to Africa.’ When they attempted to wave down a passing squad car for assistance, the officer driving the car said he would not help them.
Help us fight for CeCe, and for an end to racist, transphobic violence in our communities! Visit our What You Can Do page and find out how to get involved.
REBLOG THIS NOW.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrzio8xb9Y1qeks63o1_250.jpg)
[TW FOR ANTI-TRANS AND RACIST VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH]
SUPPORT CECE MCDONALD!
CeCe McDonald is a young African American transgender woman charged with “second degree murder” after an incident that began when she was violently attacked because of her gender and race.
DROP the charges and FREE CeCe!
CeCe is a creative and energetic person who, before her life was so unjustly interrupted, was studying fashion at MCTC. She had a stable home where she lived with and helped support four other African American youth, her family. CeCe’s family describes her as a leader, a role model, and a loyal friend. She is known as a wise, out-spoken, and welcoming person, with a cheerful disposition and a history of handling prejudice with amazing grace.
Around 12:30 am on June 5, CeCe and four of her friends (all of them black) were on their way to Cub Foods to get some food. As they walked past Schooner’s Bar in South Minneapolis, a man and two women (all of them white) began to yell epithets at them. They called CeCe and her friends ‘faggots,’ ‘niggers,’ and ‘chicks with dicks,’ amongst other things.
As they were shouting, one of the women smashed her drink into the side of CeCe’s face, slicing her cheek open, lacerating her salivary gland, and stinging her eyes with liquor. A fight ensued, with more people joining in. What happened during the fight is unclear, but within a few minutes Dean Schmitz–one of the attackers–had been stabbed.
CeCe was later arrested, and is now falsely accused of murder
For a month, CeCe was kept in solitary confinement “for her own protection”; she had no say in this matter. Finally, she was transferred to a psychiatric unit in the Public Safety Facility. It was nearly two months before she was taken back to a doctor to check up on the wound on her face, which by then had turned into a painful, golf ball-sized lump.
Later on, CeCe’s friends were harassed on the street by people they recognized from the scene of the fight. Individuals circled the block that CeCe’s friends were walking on and called them ‘niggers’ and ‘faggots’ and told them to ‘go back to Africa.’ When they attempted to wave down a passing squad car for assistance, the officer driving the car said he would not help them.
Help us fight for CeCe, and for an end to racist, transphobic violence in our communities! Visit our What You Can Do page and find out how to get involved.
REBLOG THIS NOW.
New Comic! Starting T
Had to fix this- “Don’t Let Your Kids Watch Chaz Bono On ‘Dancing With the Stars’”
I’m so glad the ‘fixing’ was done. This is infuriating. Fuck you, Fox News.
10 months on HRT.
It makes me really happy to see that one of the tags is ‘cock shot’. that’s just great.
Labels Project, Vol. One
The Labels Project is a collaborative project between myself and Hedda Hammer, a bay area artist and writer, and came after we attended our first pride events in Los Angeles and Long Beach. Being newly out we noticed quite a few groups and sub groups that we felt were not properly represented in the media, even our own media. We felt that there was so much about the LGBTQ community that we did not know, and I’m sure others don’t know about.
Though the project has gone through some changes since it’s initial conception, we hope it hope it will continue to grow and evolve as does our community.
(via genderrific)
We all see/receive hate comments on YouTube videos. I get them, I see them all over the place - one particular video that has over 160,000 views received 25 hate messages from the same troll. Here’s some info on how to report them as hate speech, in addition to just voting…
(via mrballard)
Holy Shit, read this article…
(via artoftransliness)
On Being Asked The Question, “whats your favorite thing about identifying as transgendered?”
When i first “came out to myself” about my trans-identity, i would blatantly say things like, “i’m just a boy in the wrong body” or “i’m a guy stuck in some chick’s skin, having HER period.”
But in this past years (I began living as male in July 2009) I have made many positive realizations along my journey that have morphed into what I would have to settle on as one of my favorite things about being trans.
Instead of seeing my body as “the wrong body” or “someone else’s”, I’ve been learning to own it.
You see, I realized; I’m not in the wrong body at all.
I’m in the exact body I’m SUPPOSSED to be in. For some reason, whether it be fate, God, forces of nature, or something none of us even fathom existing yet, I was BLESSED with the UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY of getting to know answers to one of the most Taboo questions that pick at even the most average of cis-gendered citizens (especially during that dreaded era of puberty):
What is a gender other than mine like?
What goes on in their heads?
What makes up their most prominent body language?
Why (or why not) am I so attracted to them?
Yes, EVERYONES journey is VERY different and not all of the answers we find we like, or are alike at all, and not all of them even apply.
BUT, don’t you guys think it’s pretty damn cool to get to know what its like to be female, and then be male with that knowledge? Don’t you think it influences the way we treat women after that, the unspoken bond of respect that is present between a trans guy and his girl, when he knows, deep down inside, how she feels.
We ALL have this amazing ability simmering, inside of us. This energy that pushes at us from the inside and says I WILL NOT HIDE ANY LONGER, and when we finally give in to these urges of honesty spewing up from our souls, we finally find peace in ourselves.
It shows how connected we are to each other through our shared trans-identities, even down to one of the most personal parts of my journey that I cherish.
Even though identify as male, i started female, and lived 17 years before i knew transgendered people even existed. I knew something was off from the age of 7, but never truly was able to pinpoint my identity until 2009.
Because of this timing, I was given the blessing of knowing what its like to be a mom. To be called Mama and be cried for in the middle of the night. Though I wasn’t a usual case of mom-dom, I was a kickass mom, I can honestly say that. And, although the relationship with the child’s mother wasn’t the one i was supposed to be in, and it ran its course, I still am in contact with that child. And she knows i’m a boy, and she says “it’s good”.
And when I was with Maggie and her beautifully gifted daughter who knows and looks up to me as the man that I am, I had the realization that I have gotten to be a mother and a father.
How many “normal” people can say that?
In my mind, and especially because of the way i was raised, I hold parenting as one of the highest honors given on earth. To be in charge of molding a little mind to try to get the most real, loyal, honest, loving, and accepting as the final result can seem like an overwhelming task. I’ve had my ups and downs, as everyone has, but I’m at peace knowing that I’ve had the opportunity to affect the upbringing of two children, so someday when I have my own I’ll know how to make it work.
I personally see this as one of the best and most heartfelt things about identifying as trans; Sometimes, we really can have the best of both worlds, if only we view it that way.
Now, I am in the place I know I’m supposed to be, living my life one day at a time and accepting the challenges and blessings that come my way. I see living life not as a chore, but as an opportunity to leave this world as a better place than I found it.
——————————————
- Adrian [Dae]