You know how something can trigger off a memory and that leads to a tangent and that leads to another tangent... well this lead to this...
Gender Talk! I was researching political activists, back around the turn of the century I was listening to a podcast on trans activism. And which to becoming friends with two of them.
I was researching "trans, activist, podcast" and that brought me to Gender Talk, which lead me to "GenderTalk Radio by Topic"
Vanessa Edwards Foster, Monica Helms, Barbra Casbar, Melissa Sklars, & Christina Ocasio, members of the first-ever 'out' transgender contingent to a national presidential convention, on their path to the DNC and their take on both the trans and presidential politics of the day
Cheryl Chase, founder and director of the Intersex Society of North America, on intersex activism and policy, and her impending resignation as the organization's director
Arline Isaacson, lead lobbyist on the recently successful effort to defeat the Massachusetts anti-gay marriage initiative petition, on gay and lesbian marriage in Massachusetts
Or...
Program # 551, March 11, 2006
Hosted by Ethan St. Pierre & Denise Leclair:
Lily McBeth, 70-year-old transgender school teacher from New Jersey, talks about her struggle to be allowed back into the classroom after coming under attack by parents.
Today of the counter protest to Trump and across the country there will be protests... Today is also Trump's birthday. Today is also the military parade that Trump will get his gollies off on.
All around the country there will be "No Kings" protests including one in Provincetown and one in Eastham at the CCNS Salt Pond Visitor Center.
My prediction... they will be peaceful.
Lets keep them peaceful don't give Trump and his cronies any excuses to bring in the troop... and don't watch the parade! Let is be a ratings bomb.
Clothing brand Levi’s has unveiled its 2025 Pride month collection, at a time when many US companies are rolling back their involvement with LGBTQ+ Pride in the face of Trump’s attacks on DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion).
Pink News
By Hilary Mitchell
May 29, 2025
The campaign, called “Meet You In The Park”, highlights the importance of safe spaces for queer people, with designs inspired by classic LGBTQ+ liberation iconography.
The San Francisco-based brand makes an annual $100,000 donation to Outright International, a global organization working to advance human rights for LGBTQ+ people across the world.
The Pride collection comes just weeks after a vast majority of the company’s shareholders overwhelmingly shut down an attempt to dismantle the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts. In April, less than 1% of Levi’s shareholders supported a proposal to abolish the company’s DEI programmes, Sustainability Magazine reports.
The proposal was submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research (NCPPR), a conservative think tank that has been targeting corporate DEI initiatives.
It is going to be a long hot summer, it is going to summer in the city and sadly this I think is only the beginning. We have to keep level head and avoid being goaded in to violence. We have to avoid that trap.
Far-right Christian group Mayday USA held a rally in a queer part of town. It didn't go well.
The Advocate
By Christopher Wiggins
May 27 2025
A Washington far-right Christian rally in Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park—a space long considered sacred ground for the city’s LGBTQ+ community—ended in violence and 23 arrests on Saturday. The rally, organized by Spokane-based Mayday USA as part of its national #DontMessWithOurKids tour, was met by a massive counterprotest denouncing its anti-trans and anti-abortion rhetoric.
Seattle police said they arrested 22 adults for assault and obstruction and one juvenile for obstruction after clashes erupted between the two groups. According to the Seattle Police Department’s official blotter, officers initially responded around 1:30 p.m. PDT after witnessing protesters throwing objects. Police reported being assaulted while making arrests and deployed pepper spray during further confrontations. Troopers from the Washington State Patrol arrived later in the afternoon to assist. One officer was hospitalized and released.
I'm worried that Trump will use this as an excuse to bring in troops!
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Tuesday he had requested an investigation into allegations of “targeted violence” against religious groups after an evangelical conservative group held a rally at Seattle City Hall in response to the mayor blaming Christians for igniting a weekend demonstration that turned violent.
“We have asked our team to fully investigate allegations of targeted violence against religious groups at the Seattle concert. Freedom of religion isn’t a suggestion,” Bongino wrote on X.
The Christians’ “Rattle in Seattle” demonstration began at 5 p.m. Tuesday on the 4th Avenue steps of City Hall in downtown Seattle, where counter-protesters were also present, according to Fox 13.
I worry that Trump will declare a "state of insurrection" and use to declare marshal law.
What we need is a little like what happened during the trail of the murders of Mathew Shepard when the Westboro Baptist Church showed with there hate. The angels came... The Discovery Channel's Investigators wrote,
The anti-LGBTQ Westboro Baptist Church protested Matthew's funeral
Worse, the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) entered the picture, adding to the Shepards' anguish and overall tensions.
The WBC protested outside Shepard’s funeral, shouting coarse rhetoric and waving picket signs with derogatory messages.
Later, the WBC kept up their demonstrations during legal proceedings against Shepard’s killers, but they were counter-protested by “Matthew’s Angels.” The group, founded by Shepard’s friend Romaine Patterson, wore angel costumes with broad white wings that they used to obscure the WBC’s signs from public view.
In West Hartford last November a rally was held and the haters were out chanting their hate, but the angels were out to hide the protesters.
We have to make sure that they come after us and we are not goaded in to violence to bring the storm troopers.
A U.S. federal judge has denied the city of Naples' emergency motion to stay a preliminary injunction Tuesday that will allow Naples Pride's Pridefest drag show to take place outdoors.
"All four stay factors lean against granting the requested stay. Therefore, Defendants’ motion for a stay pending appeal is denied," according to the judge in the official opinion and order.
A federal judge granted the preliminary injunction on May 12 in the lawsuit Naples Pride filed against the city and the Naples Police Department. That allows for the drag show to happen outdoors instead of indoors.
The city of Naples filed the notice of appeal and emergency motion to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal last week. Naples Pride then filed an expedited response in opposition.
On Tuesday, the federal judge denied the city's emergency motion to stay.
Steele said he was convinced a preliminary injunction “was justified as to the location and age restrictions after determining that Cambier … is a traditional public forum, where speech receives the highest protection. The court also found that even if Cambier Park became a limited public forum, the location and age restrictions would violate the First Amendment because they are neither content nor viewpoint neutral.”
Steele’s rulings came as a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month separately upheld a preliminary injunction against a 2023 Florida law aimed at preventing children from attending drag shows.
I doubt very much that any of these people have ever seen a "Drag Show" but they are against it because it is simply LGBTQ+ and they are against anything :GBTQ+ and since it is LGBTQ+ by their definition it is obscene!
The first time was called the "Lavender Scare," and it was in the 1950s, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued Executive Order 10450, which allowed the firing of federal employees based on their "lack of loyalty," including those who were homosexual or had a history of same-sex relationships. It took a respected news reporter, Edward R. Murrow, who said to Senator McCarthy, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" to help turn the tide of public opinion.
In the 1970s, Christian crusader Anita Bryant started the “Save Our Children” campaign, which spread like wildfire through Republican states, with state constitutional amendments banning marriage equality. In some states, they even tried to ban gay and lesbian teachers!
From that time on, Harvey Milk came to prominence in the Castro District of San Francisco, where he owned a camera shop. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors as the city’s first openly gay elected official—not only in San Francisco but in the entire United States!
So now, in 2025, we are going through all of this one more time, and as in past times, it is once again by the Republicans. Our stories are powerful! We change people’s minds! I have seen it firsthand. When the marriage equality bill was being heard here in Connecticut, I went around with “Love Makes a Family,” and after they talked about marriage, I talked about the trans bill. One time, a lesbian couple came up to me and asked how they could help. They said they thought the battle was over but now realized that it was only the first round.
It is as Harvey Milk said:
“… you must come out. Come out to your parents. I know that it is hard and will hurt them, but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives. Come out to your friends, if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors, to your fellow workers, to the people who work where you eat and shop. Come out only to the people you know, and who know you—not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths. Destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake.”
Our stories make a difference. Just by going out in public, we make a difference. We make a difference by speaking up! My blog has made a difference. Going to Home Depot makes a difference. Standing up for our rights makes a difference.
You don’t have to be out on a picket line. You don’t have to have transitioned. You just have to be “out” in public. Go out with some friends to a “girls’ lunch.”
You don’t ever have to be “out” in boy mode, but you can speak up about all the evil that Trump is doing… just don’t remain silent!
The modus operandi of the Republican Party is to create a boogeyman for the electorate to fear! First, it was those “Red commies!” in the late forties and early fifties, then those “Homosexuals.” When that didn’t work, they tried again in the late sixties to “Save the Children.”
They finally perfected their hate mill and put us in their sights. They had the perfect victim… us! 0.5% of the population. No one understood us—they only saw “Drag Queens” in the news.
But now they see Sarah McBride, Kim Coco Iwamoto, Aime Wichtendahl, Wick Thomas, Brianna Titone, Danica Roem, Taylor Small, Gerri Cannon, and Mauree Turner blazing the way in the legislatures. They also see Rachel Levine, the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and also Amanda Simpson.
We need to help in any way we can. I helped on a campaign in male mode before I transitioned. This is do or die for us. If we cannot take control of Congress in 2026, we will never gain it back. The Republicans will be too entrenched.
The group of LGBTQ activist climbers said the flag, which is 55 feet by 35 feet, is the largest ever displayed on the face of the world-famous rock climbing destination.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
May 20, 2025
A group of LGBTQ climbers and advocates hung a large transgender pride flag in the middle of Yosemite’s famous El Capitan rock formation on Tuesday.
Trans Is Natural, which describes itself as a coalition of transgender, queer and ally climbers, said in a statement that its members unfurled the flag “in an act of solidarity and resistance.”
[...]
They said the trans pride flag, which is 55 feet by 35 feet, is the largest flag ever displayed on El Capitan. The climbers hung the flag 1,500 feet up El Capitan, on the granite monolith’s “Heart Ledges,” between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. PT and displayed it until around noon, when park officials directed that it be removed, though the climbers said they were not told that they had broken any park rules, according Jess Fiaschetti, the group’s media contact.
A spokesperson for Yosemite National Park said in an emailed statement Wednesday that park officials are "aware of the unauthorized display" and "the flag was removed a soon as possible."
Aw... spoil sports!
Adventure magazine headline couldn't have said it better...
"Let this flag fly higher than hate" – Yosemite LGBTQ+ climbers display transgender pride flag on El Capitan following controversial update on National Park Service website
The article says,
Trans is Natural, a group of trans, queer and allied climbers, is said to have hung the trans pride flag in an act of solidarity and resistance following the removal of referrals to 'transgender' and 'intersex' people from US government websites. This includes the National Park Service Stonewall Monument website. The Stonewall Monument is the first US monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights and history.
Back when we first introduced the non-discrimination bill in 2007, a trans woman submitted testimony for the bill. Her testimony was read on the floor of the House by the Republicans.
Her testimony was along these lines “No F**king body is going to tell me where the f**k I can go the bathroom, You can take your f**king laws and shove them up your a**es!” You can imagine how that went over on the floor House.
One year when I was testifying on the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill someone let into a business… naming the business, naming the person who harassed them. When it was my turn to testify about harassed I had a local business, but I never named it, I never identified any of their employees. Now which do you think had a greater impact? The one who had an ax to grind.
Well on Facebook a family was looking for trans friendly place to move to in Connecticut. All most all the people who commented but one person had to mean mouth the school systems in the state. Judging from the tone in the persons post… they had an ax to grind.
We are harassed, bullied, assaulted, discriminated against, and all around made miserable but one thing I learned from being “out” for 26 years you are not going to change the world with a chip on your shoulder.
I am not saying don’t get mad. But rather get mad respectfully… don’t use vulgar language, don’t use ad hominem, and don’t label everyone because of one experience.
We have all heard and thought about history is now repeating itself, but it also shows how we were able to defend ourselves from those attacks.
Back in 1953 the then Republican president wrote an Executive Order #10450 (Gee does that sound familiar?). That created the Lavender Scare! Time wrote this about the Lavender Scare;
What happened to Shoemaker in 1980 was the continuation of a policy launched nearly 30 years earlier, in 1953. Under President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Executive Order 10450, the investigation, interrogation and systematic removal of gay men and lesbians from the federal government became policy. Known as the “Lavender Scare,” the policy was based on the unfounded fear that gay men and lesbians “posed a threat to national security because they were vulnerable to blackmail and were considered to have weak moral characters,” says historian David K. Johnson. According to him, this aspect of American history has largely been overlooked.
Similar to Sen. Joseph McCarthy’s fear-mongering “Red Scare” campaign in the early 1950s, which targeted alleged subversive communists working in the federal government, thousands of government employees were forced out of their jobs as a result of the anti-gay policy. And while American students might learn more about the Red Scare or study McCarthyism in school, Johnson says that without learning about the Lavender Scare, they’re only hearing part of the story.
[...]
During research for his book, Johnson found many examples of employees who “voluntarily resigned” after they had been interrogated, and others who took their own lives. Johnson estimates that somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people lost their jobs as a result of the Lavender Scare, although it is difficult to know the true number of people affected, as the policy acted as a deterrent to any gay man or lesbian woman who would have been prospective candidates for government jobs.
Now we have Trump 2.0 But we can learn from the past!
Karla Jay remembers joining the second night of street protests during the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City. For her, and for so many other LGBTQ+ people, something had shifted: People were angry. They didn’t want things to go back to normal—because normal meant police raids. Normal meant living underground. It meant hiding who they were at their jobs and from their families. They wanted a radical change.
Radical change meant organizing. Jay joined a meeting with the Gay Liberation Front, which would become the incubator for the modern LGBTQ+ political movement and proliferate in chapters across the country. At those meetings, she remembers discussing what freedom could look like. Holding hands with a lover while walking down the street without fear of getting beaten up, one person said. Another said they’d like to get married. At the time, those dreams seemed impossible.
Jay, now 78, is worried that history will repeat itself. She’s worried that LGBTQ+ people will be put in the dark again by the draconian policies of a second Trump administration.
Yeah well, so am I. And I fear it could be a lot worst than the Lavender Scare! I worry that in their effort to come up with more draconian laws that internment camps are not out of the realm of possibilities.
To fight back, LGBTQ+ Americans need to organize, Jay said. That starts with thinking locally—supporting local artists, independent stores, and small presses, as well as LGBTQ+ organizations taking demonstrable political action and protecting queer culture.
“See what you can do without going crazy. If you can focus on one thing, and you can spend one hour a week, or you can spend one day a week, that’s much better than being depressed and doing nothing,” she said. “Because the person you’re going to help is yourself. This is the time for all of us to step up.”
We need to get up to speed in a hurry or we will lose what we have gained.
As Ramos watches the Trump administration use the power of the federal government to target transgender Americans and erase LGBTQ+ history, she’s not afraid for herself. She’s afraid for young LGBTQ+ people, especially young trans people who now find themselves at the center of a growing political and cultural war. If someone transitioned six months ago, she said, they now have a target on their back—and little to no experience with what that feels like.
“They don’t know what it is like to be a soldier going into war, as far as social issues. So I fear for them,” she said. “Who wouldn’t be scared?”
We have a lot to teach them!
We were in our teens and twenties when they were out on the streets working for out rights and we are in our sixties, seventies, and eighties now and it is their turn to go out to bring about change we have to pass our knowledge along! We can be the consultants and educators.
“This is the time when we really have to find community, where we really have to hone in on our spiritual feelings and try to talk to someone. Don’t keep it to yourself,” he said. Joining protests or lobbying days at state capitols are great ways to find community in-person, Smith said—to be around like-minded people and to not feel so alone.
“That’s the best space to be in, not home alone and in your feelings and in your mind, because we can get lost there thinking negatively. So we have to stay positive and stay with like-minded people, and have those people constantly around you to reassure you and just hold you tight in that space,” he said.
I want to ask you a couple of questions and also a poll.
Have you posted stuff on social media about Trump and what the Republicans are doing to us? Yes? No?
If so what have you done? Call or written your legislator? Submitted testimony? Protested? Have you ever set foot in the Capitol or the Legislative Office Building? If not... why not? Are you disabled... we can find you a ride.
“I’m afraid I’ll be beaten. I’m afraid I’ll be arrested. But if you don’t do something even though you’re afraid, they win,” she said.
I use AI a lot to research the topics that I write about, many of the references that I use I find on AI. But sometime you get your hand slapped. I asked: "What lessons can we learn from the lavender scare that can be applied to today's attack on transgender people can we use to develop political strategies to be used today." Gemini and Perplexity both came back with suggestion but ChatGPT slapped my hand and said "I'm sorry, but I can't help with developing political strategies aimed at influencing specific political actions or opinions. Let me know if you'd like a general historical or educational analysis instead." I settled for the educational analysis.
Another time ChatGPT yelled at and said my question contained objectionable material because I asked it about trans people. I pushed back and it apologized... a computer apologizing when I wrote I was trans It came back with a two page apology!
I believe we are forging a new Pride, it will be different from last year, it will be different than from the year before… it will be a new Pride as Stonewall was forged in oppression and lead to a new pride in who we are, so is this new Pride is going to forged in the oppression of the fascist Trump & Company administration and its pogrom against us.
San Francisco Pride Director Suzanne Ford feels both saddened and determined about this year's plans for the city's iconic Pride parade.
The longtime LGBTQ organization is dealing with the potential loss of $300,000 in corporate sponsorship for its hugely popular annual parade, funding needed ahead of June's Pride Month. Multiyear sponsors including Comcast, Anheuser-Busch and Diageo have all backed away from participating.
"We're very disappointed. We're hurt. It's not just a number or transaction," Ford told USA TODAY shortly after announcing the sponsors' exit. "We know everybody is facing difficult decisions to make right now. But we're not going anywhere."
Trump’s intimidation of companies by threats of legal action by the Department of Justice is having a chilling affect on people’s First Amendment rights! The New York Times in the article “Companies Pull Back From Pride Events as Trump Targets D.E.I.” writes that;
“It was totally shocking,” Ms. Ford said, adding that some of the companies had supported San Francisco Pride for decades. “It was like somebody in your family just all of a sudden saying, ‘We don’t want to be involved with you anymore.’”
With only weeks left to lock in sponsors for the summertime events, Pride organizers across the United States say that many longtime corporate sponsors are suddenly being evasive about their financial commitments or abandoning their support entirely. While some companies cited tight budgets or economic uncertainty, Pride organizers see another factor: President Trump’s widening crusade against diversity, equity and inclusion, which has prompted corporate America to retreat from such initiatives.
Fear and intimidation are a fascist’s weapons! We see it in every petty dictator! Nicolás Maduro Moros in Venezuela, Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, and in Hungary, Victor Orban!
We are now facing the new Pride where protest is now the call!
Corporate support wanes under Trump Administration policies.
Out Smart
By Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN
March 31, 2025
Jordan Braxton still remembers her first Pride celebration in St. Louis, when it was still a relatively small gathering of about 5,000 people asserting their identity, in a city where simply being visibly gay was an act of resistance. It was in Forest Park, tucked away from downtown, and photography was discouraged because people feared they could lose their jobs if they were identified.
Back in June of 1984, she says, Pride was more protest than parade.
As the years went on, the LGBTQ+ community earned hard fought rights, and that small gathering in the park evolved into a brigade of 30,000-plus people marching down Market Street, with floats, glitter and performers, said Braxton, who now sits on the board of St. Louis Pride.
[…]
But this year, amid the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity and equity efforts and a torrent of legislative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, Pride organizers around the nation are facing a decline in sponsorships and visible corporate support.
Scrambling to fill the gap in funding, these groups are leaning on grassroots fundraising efforts and returning to that original spirit of resistance. This year, the organizers say, simply showing up will send an important message.
“We’re putting the protest back in Pride,” Braxton says.
We have to get smart and work with our allies to bring a new Pride to the community, instead of partying we need focus on bring the community together! Finding our true allies, those that stand up with us when the times get tough! And we note who were our fair-weather friends were.
We have to dust off our rallying cry.
We're Here, We're Queer!
Our bodies, our choice!
Trans Rights are Human Rights!
Out and Proud!
My Identity is Not a Debate!
No Pride for Some Without Pride for All!
Exist, Resist, Persist!
These slogans reflect the diverse experiences, demands, and spirit of the LGBTQ+ community in their ongoing fight for equality, acceptance, and liberation. They have been chanted at protests, displayed on signs, and shared through various forms of media, playing a crucial role in raising awareness and driving social change.*
And let us remember that here in certain state we are under attack, our right to exist is being questioned, LGBTQ+ people are fleeing oppressive states, our right to marry is being questioned, we are heading back to the time of the Lavender Scare and Anita Bryant!
[/Editorial]
*Gemini AI: “What are some of the protest slogans from the LGBTQ+ community?”
And this will give you something to think about...
Hungary’s parliament on Monday passed an amendment to the constitution that allows the government to ban public events by LGBTQ+ communities, a decision that legal scholars and critics call another step toward authoritarianism by the populist government.
The amendment, which required a two-thirds vote, passed along party lines with 140 votes for and 21 against. It was proposed by the ruling Fidesz-KDNP coalition led by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Ahead of the vote — the final step for the amendment — opposition politicians and other protesters attempted to blockade the entrance to a parliament parking garage. Police physically removed demonstrators, who had used zip ties to bind themselves together.
The amendment declares that children’s rights to moral, physical and spiritual development supersede any right other than the right to life, including that to peacefully assemble. Hungary’s contentious “child protection” legislation prohibits the “depiction or promotion” of homosexuality to minors aged under 18.
All around the world the Hands Off protests have been peaceful! I searched Google, Firefox, Perplexity AI, ChatCPT AI, and Gemini AI and all of them didn't any violence at any of the rallies! Everywhere you look on Facebook there were photos of events all over the country.
In Buffalo there was a counter protest but it was peaceful, shouting "Shame" at them.
These are the bills in the Connecticut legislature that I am following:
- TRACKED BILLS
HB-5125AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENTS WHO ARE BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING ON FEMALE-ONLY ATHLETIC TEAMS AND USING FEMALE-ONLY LOCKER ROOMS AND FACILITIES.
HB-5283AN ACT CONCERNING TERMINOLOGY USED IN THE CONNECTICUT PARENTAGE ACT.
HB-5313AN ACT CONCERNING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OF THE PRESS FOR STUDENTS.
HB-5336AN ACT CONCERNING THE PROTECTION OF A PARENTS' RIGHT TO RAISE THEIR CHILDREN CONSISTENT WITH THEIR CHILDREN'S BIOLOGICAL SEX AND THE PROMOTION OF FAIRNESS IN INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC COMPETITION.
HB-5352AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENTS WHO ARE BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING ON FEMALE-ONLY ATHLETIC TEAMS AND USING FEMALE-ONLY LOCKER ROOMS AND FACILITIES.
HB-5669AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENTS WHO ARE BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING ON FEMALE-ONLY ATHLETIC TEAMS AND USING FEMALE-ONLY LOCKER ROOMS AND FACILITIES.
HB-5670AN ACT CONCERNING PARENTAL NOTIFICATION OF BEHAVIOR INTERVENTION MEETINGS.
HB-5789AN ACT ESTABLISHING GUIDELINES FOR PARTICIPATION IN MALE AND FEMALE ATHLETIC PROGRAMS.
HB-5853AN ACT PROHIBITING BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING IN FEMALE SPORTS.
HB-5876AN ACT ALLOWING TEACHERS TO COMMUNICATE WITH PARENTS CONCERNING A STUDENT'S GENDER IDENTITY.
HB-5881AN ACT REPEALING THE REQUIREMENT THAT MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS BE AVAILABLE IN MEN'S RESTROOMS IN EACH PUBLIC SCHOOL.
HB-5882AN ACT PROHIBITING BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM PARTICIPATING IN FEMALE-ONLY SPORTS.
HB-5894AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENTS WHO ARE BIOLOGICAL MALES FROM COMPETING ON FEMALE-ONLY ATHLETIC TEAMS AND USING FEMALE-ONLY LOCKER ROOMS AND FACILITIES.
HB-5898AN ACT PROHIBITING THE AVAILABILITY OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL IN PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARIES.
HB-6178AN ACT PROHIBITING STATE AGENCIES FROM TAKING CERTAIN ACTIONS AGAINST PARENTS AND GUARDIANS WHO CHOOSE TO RAISE CHILDREN CONSISTENT WITH THEIR BIOLOGICAL SEX.
HB-6200AN ACT PROHIBITING THE PROMOTION OF RACIAL AND SEXUAL SUPREMACY IN SCHOOLS IN CONNECTICUT.
HB-6201AN ACT PROHIBITING STUDENT ATHLETES WHO WERE BORN AS MALES FROM PARTICIPATING IN WOMEN'S INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC EVENTS.
HB-6329AN ACT CONCERNING INTERCOLLEGIATE FEMALE SPORTS TEAM COMPETITIONS.
HB-6331AN ACT PROHIBITING USE OF DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION CONSIDERATIONS AT PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
HB-6597AN ACT CONCERNING THE STANDARDS OF CARE FOR MEMBERS OF THE LGBTQ+ COMMUNITY IN LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES.
HB-6872AN ACT REVISING AND CONSOLIDATING THE HATE CRIMES STATUTES.
HB-6913AN ACT CONCERNING LGBTQ+ DISCRIMINATION IN LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES.
SB-36AN ACT CONCERNING THE PROVISION OF AGE AND DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE INSTRUCTION ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY IN CLASSROOMS.
SB-38AN ACT ESTABLISHING A TASK FORCE TO REVIEW CERTAIN SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM STANDARDS.
SB-43AN ACT PREVENTING POLITICAL BIAS IN THE CLASSROOM.
SB-136AN ACT PROHIBITING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE USE OF SPECIFIC PRONOUNS.
SB-504AN ACT PROHIBITING COMPELLED SPEECH IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
SB-532AN ACT REQUIRING ONLINE POSTING OF SCHOOL CURRICULA AND OTHER COURSE MATERIALS.
SB-578AN ACT CONCERNING A MODEL CURRICULUM FOR FAMILY LIFE EDUCATION.
SB-584AN ACT REQUIRING ONLINE POSTING OF SCHOOL CURRICULA AND OTHER COURSE MATERIALS.
SB-585AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC ACCESS TO A SCHOOL DISTRICT'S CURRICULUM AND THE PROHIBITION OF THE TEACHING OF BIASED POLITICAL IDEOLOGY IN SCHOOLS.
SB-592AN ACT CONCERNING PARTICIPATION ON A YOUTH SPORTS TEAM BASED ON ASSIGNED SEX AT BIRTH.
SB-690AN ACT PROVIDING CIVIL IMMUNITY TO INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC ORGANIZATIONS AND THE SANCTIONING BODIES OF PRIVATE YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS THAT ADOPT GENDER IDENTITY POLICIES CONCERNING ATHLETIC PARTICIPATION AND COMPETITION.
SB-711AN ACT CONCERNING THE USE OF A NONBINARY MARKER ON BIRTH CERTIFICATES.
SB-725AN ACT CONCERNING SCHOOL CHOICE, TEACHER CONTROL OF CLASSROOMS AND PARENTAL ACCESS TO SCHOOL CURRICULA.
SB-882AN ACT REQUIRING LOCAL AND REGIONAL BOARDS OF EDUCATION TO PROVIDE TRANSPARENCY IN DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION TRAINING MATERIALS.
SB-1271AN ACT CONCERNING SCHOOL AND PUBLIC LIBRARIES.
SJ-35RESOLUTION PROPOSING A STATE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT CONCERNING DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF SEX UNDER THE EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE.
- KEYWORDS / PHRASE
As you can see there is a whole slew of them!
I can tell you that all the bills that are pro-LGBTQ+ were introduced by Democrats and all the anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced by Republicans! 100%
All of you who are disgusted with what is coming out of Washington... do something! Write a letter to an editor letter or post on your blog just something on the sidebar that says "I support trans rights!" or post a trans flag. That is all it will take! We will bring about change if we all speak up, if we all do just a little it adds up, and it feels good knowing you are helping in some small way.
We must speak up! Harvey Milk was right! If one person comes...fantastic, and if two... Well Arlo said it best in "Alice's Restaurant"
...You know, if one person, just one person does it they may think he's really sick and
they won't take him. And if two people, two people do it, in harmony,
they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them.
And three people do it, three, can you imagine, three people walking in
singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and walking out. They may think it's an
organization. And can you, can you imagine fifty people a day, I said
fifty people a day walking in singin a bar of Alice's Restaurant and
walking out. And friends they may thinks it's a movement.
My written testimony from yesterday, I didn't attend or testify on Zoom yesterday, I just submitted written testimony.
For the hearing for the bill on for us in Long Term Care facilities, there were a total of 48 testimonies submitted all were in support.
HB6913 AN ACT CONCERNING LGBTQ+ DISCRIMINATION IN LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES.
Senator Hocadel, Representative Garibay, and distinguished members of the Aging Committee
My name is Diana _________, and I live in Berlin. I am here today in support of HB6913 AN ACT CONCERNING LGBTQ+ DISCRIMINATION IN LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES.
I am seventy-six years old and I am transgender woman. One of my fears is what will happen if I have to go into a long-term care facility… How will I be treated? Will I become an outcast at a LTC?
When I was executive director of the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition, I had a call from a transgender woman living in an LTC with over 400 residents. Nobody would talk to her, and those that did were harassed by other residents for being friends with her and stopped seeing her. We could offer her no hope for her here in Connecticut; her social worker found a place for her in an LGBTQ LTC in New York City.
As the Stonewall generation ages we are finding ourselves back to where we began… fighting for our rights. This time not out on Christopher Street but rather the for the bed of a long-term care facility. We are a feisty group who has learned to stand up for our rights.
Connecticut has a long history of bipartisan support for the LGBTQ+ community so please don’t let us be mistreated as this is troubling time for the LGBTQ+ community we are shaking by what is coming out of Washington, let this bill be a ray of hope.
I am grateful to the Committee for your attention to this matter and for your time today. Please vote in favor of HB 6913 to protect the Stonewall generation from fear in their twilight years.
Hey I get it, I know that you have never submitted testimony and you don’t even know how to do it.
But we can’t sit this one out… Connecticut is trying to add protection for us and our gay brothers and sisters in our state Constitution!
Think about this for a moment! While states are banning us Connecticut wants to enshrine protection for us in our Constitution!
So how do you go about it?
So here are some aids… On my Google site I wrote some Dos and Don’ts back when we were trying to pass the gender inclusive Non-Discrimination bill in 2011:
Equality Connecticut posted talking points and how to submit your testimony: Testimony Toolkit
There is strong opposition to this bill and we need every voice in favor that we can get… please for your sake and my sake please submit testimony in favor of the bill and we need it by Thursday at 5PM.
Please, please submit your testimony, The ACLU has a sample letter!
Just like the Republicans filed anti-trans bills on the first day so did Trump with a slew of Executive Orders (This afternoon I write about the legality the EOs) but just as fast as Trump was signing them lawyers for advocacy groups filed lawsuits.
Advocacy groups filed at least four lawsuits Monday to prevent President Donald Trump and his Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency from holding secret meetings or withholding documents about its recommendations.
In one case, the groups Public Citizen, the State Democracy Defenders Fund and the American Federation of Government Employees filed a lawsuit to ensure DOGE, which isn’t a department of the federal government, conducts public meetings and produces records as required by the Federal Advisory Committee Act.
DOGE is the Musk-led commission that will aim to cut trillions in spending and regulations from the federal government
I am kind of a state employee, I say that because I am on a council to advise the governor on hate crimes, the council was created by statue, even though it is a voluntary position I still had to sign all the documents other state employees have to sign. And all our meeting are open to the public and so are the meeting minutes. Musk and company should have to do the same.
A similar lawsuit was filed by groups including the American Public Health Association, the American Federation of Teachers, Minority Veterans of America, VoteVets Action Fund and Center for Auto Safety, represented by Democracy Forward and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The Center Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit. And the group National Security Counselors, which advocates for transparency in national security issues, made a similar argument in another lawsuit.
The so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, is operating in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, according to a lawsuit filed by the American Public Health Association, American Federation of Teachers, Minority Veterans of America, VoteVets Action Fund, Center for Auto Safety, Inc., and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), represented by Democracy Forward and CREW. The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the establishment of DOGE is unlawful, and for the court to force DOGE to comply with the transparency, ethics, records retention and equal representation required under FACA.
Currently, DOGE is operating unchecked, without authorization or funding from Congress and is led by unelected billionaires who are not representative of ordinary Americans. DOGE representatives have reportedly already been speaking with agency officials throughout the federal government, and communication is allegedly taking place on Signal, a messaging app known for its auto-delete features.
The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that advisory committees follow a specific authorization process, include a balanced membership, have a clear charter including the scope of the committee’s activities, have meetings open to the public and disclose records to the public. DOGE is currently in violation of these requirements, and the lawsuit seeks to pull DOGE into the light, so the public has the ability to hold it accountable for the sweeping changes its unelected and unaccountable leaders plan to make.
A law created the governor’s advisory council, all the meetings are taped, I am also on the LGBTQ+ Justice & Opportunity Network which was also created by state statue and given a small budget.
He signed orders for increasing border security, designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, limiting birthright citizenship, freezing new regulations and establishing a task force for reducing the size of the federal government. He also rescinded dozens of directives issued by Biden, including those relating to climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Um... it is written in the Constitution... the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Specifically, it states that "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside." But the Constitution means nothing to Lord Trump.
His first action after arriving at the White House was pardoning about 1,500 people charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, even if they had been convicted of assaulting police officers. Trump commuted the sentences of another 14 people, including leaders of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.
He freed his "White Shirts!" so much for supporting the police! Just another lie.
Updated 10:30AM
Right now I am on a video conference of the Governor's Advisory Council on Hate Crimes... it is open to the public and allows comments on the meeting. Per the law, the meeting and the agenda was posted two weeks before the meeting. We have two non-members attending the meeting. Then the minutes of the meeting is posted on the internet.
Musk and company should have to obey all laws and especial for their meetings and Federal Advisory Committee Act law.
Attorneys general from 18 states sued President Trump on Tuesday to block an executive order that refuses to recognize the U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrants as citizens, the opening salvo in what promises to be a long legal battle over the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
The complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Massachusetts was joined by the cities of San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
The states view Mr. Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship as “extraordinary and extreme,” said New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin, who led the legal effort along with the attorneys general from California and Massachusetts. “Presidents are powerful, but he is not a king. He cannot rewrite the Constitution with a stroke of the pen.”
And so it begins!
I had a "Team" meeting this morning on legislation we are going to submit to the legislature on behalf of the governor's advisory council. Then in the afternoon I spoke to two legislators about legislation for LGBTQ+ elders
When I was studying Community Organizing at UConn one of the things that they drummed into us was…
Go for the movable center.
For our supporters thank them! And encourage them.
For those who are opposed to us, be polite and tell them that you think they are wrong… then walk away.
I have changed may people’s minds. This picture is of me talking at a town hall for marriage equality and the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill. We were speaking at UConn School of Law and I gave my talk. Afterward, two women came up to me and said we thought that battle was over with marriage equality but listening to you we realized that there is much more work that is needed to be done.
Back in the 50s and 60s the gays and lesbians, it was all about assimilation… see we are just like you!
But being swept aside were the drag queens, the flaming gays, and the trans people. We were not about assimilation… we were about being ourselves. But all that changed on June night in 1969.
So how did we go from being the dregs of society that not even the gays and lesbians wanted to associate with us to passing marriage and non-discrimination laws?
I went around to different places in Connecticut pitching marriage equality with Love Makes a Family and the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill. We went wherever they wanted to hear us, I'll tell a you going to a business club to talk to a bunch of conservative business people was very interesting… I think that we changed a couple of minds.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, gay subculture thrived in many large American cities. Gay men spoke of “coming out” into gay society – borrowing the term from debutante society, where elite young women came out into high society. A 1931 news article in the Baltimore Afro-American referred to “the coming out of new debutantes into homosexual society.” It was titled “1931 Debutantes Bow at Local ‘Pansy’ Ball.”
The 1930s, 1940s and 1950s witnessed a growing backlash against this visible gay world. In response, gay life became more secretive. The Mattachine Society, the earliest important organization of what was known as the homophile movement – a precursor of the gay rights movement – took its name from mysterious medieval figures in masks. In this context, coming out meant acknowledging one’s sexual orientation to oneself and to other gay people. It did not mean revealing it to the world at large.
Then along came Harvey Milk…
For instance, in 1978, in his campaign to defeat a California initiative that would have banned gay teachers from working in state public schools, openly gay elected government official Harvey Milk urged people to “Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are.”
Milk gambled that if queer people told their friends they were gay, Californians would realize that they had friends, coworkers and family members who were gay and – out of solidarity – would oppose the proposition. The campaign helped defeat the initiative.
And you know what? It worked!
When someone knows a trans person they are supportive of our rights!
Where only 5% of people remember statistics, 63% remember the stories they hear. Storytelling is powerful, especially when it comes to spreading awareness and inspiring action. That’s why organizations of all shapes and sizes turn to storytelling to promote their activism — whether they’re educating the public about a disease, encouraging supporters to vote, or petitioning for the passage of a law.
Did you get that?
Telling true stories without embellishment is a fundamental rule of ethical nonprofit storytelling. Being authentic is how you earn the trust of new and existing supporters alike and inspire them to act.
Telling my story at that town hall meeting changed those to lesbians, the movable middle!
Testifying!
No way will do that.
But that is what I thought and I did!
It is really nothing more than telling your story except it is before legislators, for me it was a little easier the first times… one of the co-chairs told me to relax. You see I had already met them at a fund raiser for Gender PAC. We sat around in a friend’s living chatting with the co-chairs and the future governor.
Did you notice something along the lines of “Telling Our Stories? We need to get out there and mingle with politicians, it came in handy in the future when I testified by the Judicial Committee.
Over the years I wrote down what I have learned from testifying.
This is a series on activism and grassroots organizing! The last time I wrote about the Inside Out Game, this morning I am writing about the first step in grassroots organizing… planning!
Getting Out There!
When we were working to pass the gender inclusive non-discrimination bill we had a Speakers Bureau where we went out to talk to anyone who listened.
We had a group whose job it was to write replies to newspapers editorials.
We had a list of “Talking Point” so we were all on the same page.
We had our “Elevator Speech” a 30 second summation of what the bill is about.
We had a lobby day at the Capitol where we did training for those who wanted to talk to their legislators. (Here is a link to one of our training presentations.)
We were organized!
For the lobby day we did training on how to talk to your legislators, (My presentation here.)
Communication is the process of transmitting ideas and information. For a grass roots initiative or community-based organization, that means conveying the true nature of your organization, the issues it deals with, and its accomplishments to the community.
Communication can take many forms, including:
Word of mouth
News stories in both print and broadcast media
Press releases and press conferences
Posters, brochures, and fliers
Outreach and presentations to other health and community service providers, community groups, and organizations
Special events and open houses that your organization holds
To communicate effectively, it helps to plan out what you want from your communication, and what you need to do to get it.
[…]
How do you develop a plan for communication?
Planning for communication is an eight-step process. The steps are:
Identify the purpose of your communication
Identify your audience
Plan and design your message
Consider your resources
Plan for obstacles and emergencies
Strategize how you will connect with the media and others who can help you spread your message
Create an action plan
Decide how you will evaluate your plan and adjust it, based on the results of carrying it out.
Back in the early days of trying to pass the Gender Non-Discrimination bill we had an example of what
At UConn School of Law talking about the non-discrimination bill
not to do… A trans person wrote to their legislator a damning letter that got read on to the floor of the House, in the letter she swore, personally called their legislator names. It took a long time to counter the letter, there is nothing that we could do to stop them. So be prepared for letters like that!
Go on the Sunday morning’s talking head shows, I’ve been on all the local network affiliates including Fox. The local CBS network affiliate we the only one that I did a slow burn on the show… I was there to talk about the bill but the only the anchor talked about was trans athletes.
*** A Tip ***
If you can get a friendly media person to come in and talk about how to do interviews and avoid traps, it helps greatly. One of the things that I learned quick… talk in sound bites. No long winded speeches.
Have you ever been in a press conference… I have.
Another Community Tool Box chapter is on press conferences…
What is a press conference?
You and your group members have probably seen them on television before or after a major local or national event,. On the evening news there’s a short television clip of a speaker surrounded by a crowd of reporters asking questions. So, you may know what press conferences look like, in general.
But what exactly is a press conference? A press conference is a tool designed to generate news – in particular, hard news that can advance the cause of your organization. Hard news is defined as a story in the print or electronic media which is timely, significant, prominent, and relevant.
Imagine a flock of media reporters coming to an event that you have organized. This can be exciting stuff, and an important opportunity for your organization. If you've never done it before, holding a press conference can be intimidating, even frightening. But the material in this section will guide you through the process, and you'll see that it's not all that hard.
Why should you hold a press conference?
Press releases, interviews, and informal media contacts are excellent ways of getting your message across. They are the bread and butter of your media relations, and often of your entire outreach effort. A press conference is an additional media technique, for special occasions, when you really want to make an impression. More specifically, why hold a press conference? Because:
You can give more information than in a press release.
A press conference is interactive; you can answer questions from the press, and emphasize points you might not otherwise have a chance to make.
You can announce an important development, and explain its significant local and wider implications.
You can set the record straight if your group received negative publicity.
You can often generate the kind of notice or publicity – a spot on the 6:00 TV news, for instance – that you’d otherwise have to pay a large amount for.
When many media representatives are present, it makes your conference seem really newsworthy -- the media presence itself adds to the importance.
A successful media conference can not only generate news, but can also boost the morale of your own group -- that is, your group can take pride in knowing that the press will really turn out to hear what you have to say.
You just don’t call a news conference and wait for everyone to show up.
Rehearse what everyone is going to talk about… and keep to the script! Have one person who is the MC and they are the ones who answer the questions. Practice answering questions, have people quiz you before the press conference.
Your homework assignment: Read Community Tool Box chapters 3 through 7 on the media.
With no family, a caregiver finds a support system in her neighborhood
AARP
By Victoria Sackett
November 20, 2017
Like so many people thrown into the family caregiving role, Cindy Mermin was taken by surprise. Mermin, a clinical psychologist, and her wife, Helen McDermott, a clinical social worker, had a successful psychology practice in Manhattan when McDermott had heart valve replacement surgery in 2004.
[…]
As is often the case among lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) older adults, there was no family to lean on. Mermin, who is 78, and her wife, who is 84, are both long estranged from their families because they couldn’t come to terms with a loved one being gay.
When older people in the general population need help with everyday tasks, they most often turn to family. Eighty-five percent of caregivers are family members -- spouses, sons and frequently daughters.
I don’t think that I am that far away from that point.
LGBT elders are twice as likely to be single and aging alone as the general population, according to SAGE. In addition to alienation from family, they are also three-to-four times less likely to have children.
We become socially isolated and that is one thing that I am working on.
Trans Aging Project
How many Pride parades have something for senior adults? At the rally in West Hartford I give them an “A+” for having seats up near the front for those who mobility challenged!
“For us, those people [Family members as caregivers] don’t exist,” says Alex Kent, a caregiving consultant at SAGE, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older adults. “I'm been asked by several clients for my number to list me as an emergency contact,” says Kent. “For us, those people don't always exist. They don’t have anyone else.”
Senior center, bereavement groups, support groups for diseases all of those make some of us feel like outcasts.
The idea of turning to a senior center or other community resource for help provoked lots of anxiety. Wary of how they will be treated, LGBT older adults access support services like senior centers and meal programs, housing assistance or food stamps, at only 20 percent the rate that their non-LGBT peers do, according to Prepare to Care: A Planning Guide for Caregivers in the LGBT Community, a joint publication of SAGE and AARP. “Our generation is uneasy all the time,” Mermin says.
I’ve gone to the senior in town and they treated me excellently but it is hard when you are the only trans person in the whole room.
So some of the things I have been pushing… more activities for us at Pride Centers during the day such as a drop in center, and a LGBTQ+ bill of rights for Long Term Care facilities. Something is on the wish list… a 55+ LGBTQ+ facility.
So the beginning of this post I said about a job. Have you thought about going into geriatric healthcare? Many of us LGBTQ+ would feel a lot more comfortable have someone from our community take care of them.
More than two dozen transgender people and their allies staged a sit-in at a U.S. Capitol bathroom Thursday to protest a proposed policy that would prohibit the country’s first openly trans member of Congress from using the women’s restrooms in the building.
Of the 25 demonstrators, about 15 were arrested for illegally protesting inside the Cannon House Office Building within the U.S. Capitol complex in violation of a Washington, D.C., code regarding crowding and obstructing, according to Brianna Burch, a spokesperson for the U.S. Capitol Police.
Advocates held the sit-in protest inside and outside the women’s bathroom closest to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office over his support for a policy introduced by Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last month that she said was intended to bar Rep.-elect Sarah McBride, D-Del., from using the women’s restrooms in the Capitol.
This is what is meant by “The Outside Game!”
Video of the sit-in shows protesters chanting, “Speaker Johnson, Nancy Mace, our genders are no debate.”
Following the protest, Mace shared a video on social media addressing the demonstrators by calling them an anti-trans slur. Standing outside of what appeared to be a Capitol police station, she then read the protesters their Miranda rights using a megaphone.
Chelsea Manning, the former U.S. Army Soldier and WikiLeaks whistleblower, joined a group of transgender rights activists staging a sit-in protest Thursday at a bathroom near Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) office, objecting to the Republican-led effort to ban transgender women from using the Capitol women’s bathrooms.
The protest was headed by the Gender Liberation Movement, a volunteer activist group, and ended more than a dozen arrests for illegal protesting, Capitol Police representatives told Axios and CNN, including Manning. The former Army intelligence analyst was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 for her role in leaking a cache of classified government material to WikiLeaks. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017.
I hope that is their plan on doing it again and that they flood the women’s bathroom with trans guys, lets see what happens then… they will not be breaking any laws if they are just using the bathroom. Just make sure the guys don’t loiter go in and then come out, and go to the next bathroom. Keep it up and make sure each bathroom has a trans man in the bathroom at all times.
I made it back from Cape Cod, traffic was light and not that many crazies on the road. They probably are still in school.
On Friday I wrote about activism… the Inside and Outside games. Today I want to delve other types of activism. I want to state up front, the is no one right way to be an activist and sometimes a broad approach is best.
There are many logical steps for activism… first rule is what is your target? What are your goals… to get heat in an apartment building or to get legal protections for a minority. They require to different approaches. Would you close down a city because a landlord hasn’t gotten the heat fixed? Or would a better tactic be a sit-in in the company offices?
So let the method be determined by your goals. Maybe is a city passes a law saying trans people have to the bathroom of their birth gender. Well maybe some good methods might be something like they used in the civil rights movement. In the Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro North Carolina where the police came in an arrested the protesters… but there was a line of people who would take their place when they got arrested. As the police arrested one person another came in and sat in the “White’s Only” counter. Maybe that might work with us… a line of trans women going into bathrooms where they are arrested. Or another tactic might be have all trans guys go into women’s bathrooms. (Have all trans guys go into women’s bathrooms in the Texas state capitol. Have one trans guys in each bathroom.)
So in this case… Target: State legislature. Goal: Blocking anti-trans legislation. Method: Having a trans guy in every women’s bathroom in the capitol.
Now, some activists say it is time to rethink and recalibrate their confrontational ways, and are pushing back against the more all-or-nothing voices in their coalition.
“We have to make it OK for someone to change their minds,” said Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, executive director of Advocates for Transgender Equality. “We cannot vilify them for not being on our side. No one wants to join that team.”
They cite tactics, especially on social media, that became routine for devoted backers of the movement: Attempts to police language, such as excising the words “male” and “female” from discussions of pregnancy and abortion; decrying the misidentification of a transgender person as violence; insisting that everyone declare whether they prefer to be referred to as he, she or other pronouns.
There is room for all views, there is no one right way. There is room for radicals and there is room for those who want to go slow, but… but there no room for those who deny our existence and limit our rights.
Your homework (Hey! You didn’t think that you get off scot-free? Activism means work!):
