9/7/14

Another Memphis Trans woman gunned down in the streets



Friends spontaneously switched from tears to joy in remembrance of Alejandra Leos.

Friday September 7th yet another Memphis transgender woman gunned down in the streets. In a highly commendable report, WREG noted that although earlier reports identified the victim as a man, her family members knew her a transgender woman.

A funeral is planned for Leos on Wednesday between 5:00-8:00p.m. at Hickory Hill Funeral Home.

Family members ask those who would like to help with funeral expenses to contact the funeral home directly.

If you know anything about her murder please Call Memphis crime stoppers at 528-cash


9/6/14

US Department of Labor reiterates, all transgender people will be protected by law

Published by Orrick, one of the world's top 20 law firms specializing in financial litigation.

On Tuesday, August 19, 2014, the U.S. Department of Labor issued a directive to "clarify that existing agency guidance on discrimination on the basis of sex . . . includes discrimination on the bases of gender identity and transgender status." This directive follows President Obama's Executive Order 13672, issued on July 21, 2014, amending existing orders to specifically prohibit federal contractors from discriminating based on gender identity.

Tuesday's directive specifically applies to federal contractors and subcontractors, but is also part of the Department's broader focus on cracking down on gender identity-based discrimination. On June 30, 2014, the DOL's Secretary announced that:

"DOL is updating its enforcement protocols and nondiscrimination guidance to clarify that DOL provides the full protection of the federal nondiscrimination laws that it enforces to individuals on the bases of gender identity and transgender status."

The directive also cites as support the EEOC's decision in Macy v. Holder, 2012 WL 1435995, in which the EEOC unanimously concluded that discrimination because a person is transgender is sex discrimination in violation of Title VII. In Macy, the EEOC determined that discrimination against a transgender employee can be a form of "sex stereotyping." Specifically, "disparate treatment of a transgender employee because he or she does not conform to the gender stereotypes associated with his or her biological sex is a form of sex discrimination" because it is "related to the sex of the victim." Moreover, the EEOC found that transgender discrimination constitutes sex discrimination "regardless of whether the discrimination was motivated by sex stereotyping or by some other reason related to the employee's gender identity, such as discomfort with the idea of a transition."

Tuesday's directive is part of a continuing trend by the Obama Administration to expand Title VII's protections to LGBT employees. These actions make clear that, moving forward, the DOL and the EEOC will construe discrimination based on "sex" under Title VII broadly enough to encompass discrimination based on gender identity and transgender status. Source mondaq.com


8/31/14

Istanbul Trans woman tells IMCTV Reporter about the ongoing violence

Reporter Michelle Demishevich Kurt (right) talks with Istanbul trans woman Almira
Transgender woman in Istanbul are being raped and robbed by gangs and the police refuse to do anything. IMCTV Reporter Michelle Demishevich Kurt talked with Almira who told her about what happened to her.
"Five guys came to the street and put me their car and took me some place out of istanbul. They then took my money and iPhone and then one guy put a weapon to my head while the others raped to me without condoms many times. Five guys raped me until morning and after they raped me they took my dress and left me naked."
Little has been done by the government to discourage the systemic violence and discrimination faced by Turkish Transgender people.


Trans kadınlara yönelik şiddet devam ediyor by imctv


8/30/14

Is Transparent Transface or is it tipping us further into the mainstream?

Two suprises for Transparent

They're two sides to this debate neither of which are wrong. One mindset defends the series noting that although the transgender character isn't trans the film has a lot of extras that are. As a kind of a exclamation point to that argument, the New York Times published asking Can Jill Soloway Do Justice to the Trans Movement? That headline from the Times is so emblematic of the progress, we as a community have made.

This isn't the scuzzy Ticked off Tra##ies with Knives were talking about.

Conversely the other camp feels that without a transgender person playing the role of the transgender part, it is nothing less than tranface, a commercialization of transsexualism if you will. Given that historically trans people have been made the brunt of jokes or made out as comical RuPaul like female impersonators its no wonder the show sans a trans lead would be discredited out of hand.

Watching the plot just now I didn't see any reason to be upset, or really entertained, to be blunt. There was a lot of rapid fire upppyish upscale banter that I, and probably most other trans people have little connection with. I don't think the show is really aiming specifically for our demographic.
It ain't OITNB either.

However, from what I've seen so far Transparaent is being done with style and sensitivity. Its worth giving a fair chance to. You can make up your own mind by watching the pilot for free on Amazon.




8/29/14

Parker Marie Molloy : A clear and present danger.

Sorry I told you to kill yourself parker said.
So Parker, where's my apology?

Recently, Parker Marie Molloy came under fire for inexcusably trying to get a sister trans woman to self-harm or worse, to commit suicide. Kelsie Brynn Jones debated long about making this public, and she finally did on queerty.

Jones wondered whether Parker had done this before. Parker has done something awful to me. While she didn't try to get me drink bleach are actions did result in my getting removed as an author for TransAdvocate.

Parker, who had never visited my face book profile before, was alerted by someone to a conversation I was having there with Mark Cummings about the Trans 100. Malloy then began rapid fire messaging me and commenting on my facebook page furious about that conversation. I didn't know this at the time, but parker had a axe to grind with Cummings and saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

Malloy's twitter feed is now private but Roberts posted this link to it on
her facebook thread threatening my intergrity as a advocate.

Molloy then baited me in PM's to say something regrettable about Monica Roberts who saw Molloys tweets mentioning her. Roberts waisted no time in responding. I withered the intense toxicity of her friends and apologised to her publicly on Roberts facebook page.

But that wasn't enough. It wasn't an apology Molloy or Roberts an editor at the Transadvocate, wanted.

I also debated writing this article dedicated to her actions but in light of her recent actions, I thought it's needed.

What makes Molloy a danger? With her envious writing skills, Parker is able to connect with issues and present them with a style that appeals to the trans community.

Even now I find it hard at times not to peek at something written by her.

Then she strikes out at us, intentionally hurting us demolishing our trust in one another. That is unacceptable. There are no apologies she can offer that will repair the damage she has caused. Will her actions some day cause someone to kill themselves? Can we look the other way now? Can we live with ourselves if she does?

This isn't a revenge piece, but as I said back then you will eventually be called out Molloy. Parker needs to park it.

Yesterday Kelsie Drako issued her demands.




8/23/14

Why are some Detroit News agencies still insulting transgender victims?

Updated 3:04 8/23/14 Deadline Detroit much to their credit have edited their article to be respectful of gender diversity.

MLive began its coverage of the shooting victims at Detroit Palmer Park as many other sources did, by quoting verbatim police reports resulting in misgendering the transgender victims.
One transgender Detroit advocate told planetransgender that Mlive unlike some other outlets, listened to her and edited their article, not once but twice.

But there remains some news organizations that seem to delight in insulting the injured and deceased by among other things, calling transgender woman, men.

Transgender people experienced this recently in Ohio and only through diligent work by local advocates, and Glaad, the reports were corrected.

These victims deserve the same respect. It appears Fox News has partially edited their article but it remains problematic. The Detroit Fox affiliates video, embedded below, remains on their website despite local advocates informing them of its toxicity.

Steve Neavling, founder of the Motorcity Muckracker, formally of the Detroit Free press, whom the Columbia Journalism Review says is 'possibly the most hated man in Detroit' had this to say:
These assaults have been happening for years, and the Detroit Police Department has been systematically preventing information from being released about it. I've been trying to gain information about attacks on transgender people since the gruesome murder of a transgender woman last winter and the police won't even release a name. Pretty sad.

Fox 2 News Headlines