Matt Kailey named National Transgender Issues Examiner

My good friend Matt Kailey, editor of Out Front Colorado and Colorado's LGBT-themed anthology Focus on the Fabulous, has been named the National Transgender Issues Examiner for Examiner.com.

After only a few months as Denver's Transgender Issues Examiner, Matt was consistently ranked as one of the most popular and most viewed Examiners in Denver.

With this promotion, Matt takes his rightful place on the national stage of transgender issues and I look forward to seeing what he does with it.

Congrats, Matt!

The whys and hows of being transgender

Still not sure what it means to be transgender? CNN's got some 'hows' and 'whys' for ya.

And for more information check out the work of my good friend Matt Kailey at www.tranifesto.com or at Examiner.com where he's the newly minted Denver Transgender Issues Examiner.

KRXQ a-holes apologize

On Thursday, June 11, the “Rob, Arnie and Dawn in the Morning” show went back on the airwaves with hosts Rob and Arnie explicitly apologizing for their previous anti-transgender broadcast and failure to apologize on a follow-up show. GLAAD also booked two transgender advocates, Kim Pearson and Autumn Sandeen, who spent the entire show educating the hosts and their listeners about transgender issues.

On June 1, GLAAD issued a Call to Action against “The Rob, Arnie and Dawn in the Morning” show due to a highly problematic anti-transgender show that originally aired on May 28. GLAAD’s Call to Action prompted hundreds of letters from throughout the country and the world and led to significant local and national media coverage.

More than 14 companies pulled their advertising from the station or announced plans to halt future media buys as the result of LGBT advocates contacting companies and issuing their concerns. Chipotle, Snapple, Sonic, Bank of America, Verizon, Carl’s Jr., Wells Fargo, Nissan, AT&T, McDonald’s, Home Depot, Red Bull, Guitar Center and Sleep Train all pulled advertising from the station or announced plans to discontinue future ad buys.

Chastity Bono is now Chaz Bono

TMZ is reporting that Chastity Bono is transitioning and will now be known as Chaz Bono.

"Yes, it's true -- Chaz, after many years of consideration, has made the courageous decision to honor his true identity," confirmed Bono's publicist, Howard Bragman.

GLAAD issued the following statement regarding the news:

“Chaz Bono's decision to live his life authentically represents an important step forward, both for him personally and for all who are committed to advancing discussions about fairness and equality for transgender people," said Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). "Coming out as transgender is an extremely personal decision and one that is never made lightly. We look forward to hearing Chaz's story in his own words in the future."

I wonder if Cher is gonna be pissed? She didn't take the lesbian thing too well at the time, remember? She said in her autobiography:

"My response to Chastity being Gay was very un-Cher like. I didn't know what to do and who to turn to, I was devastated! The funny thing is I knew all along that she was gay, I just didn't want to admit it."

GLAAD scores big victory over anti-trans radio hosts

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy organization, today spoke with Vice President and General Manager of KRXQ-FM in Sacramento, John Geary, regarding the station’s planned actions to apologize for anti-transgender remarks. The conversation occurred after host Rob Williams posted a letter to the radio station’s Web site admitting "failure as a broadcaster."

"KRXQ appears to be taking this matter very seriously following widespread response from community members and advertisers," said Rashad Robinson, Senior Director of Media Programs at GLAAD. "Vice-President and General Manger John Geary assured us that the issue would be dealt with in a frank and positive manner this Thursday and that both Rob Williams and Arnie States will apologize."


More after the jump.

GLAAD first contacted KRXQ after a concerned listener submitted a GLAAD incident report regarding dehumanizing remarks that hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States made encouraging violence against transgender children.

When the station failed to apologize, GLAAD issued a Call to Action urging constituents to call on KRXQ and hold Williams and States accountable for their remarks. GLAAD also distributed the Call to Action to LGBT advocacy organizations, social networking sites and media outlets.

According to the KRXQ, hundreds of letters poured in, prompting the station manager to promise that Williams and States would respond to their offensive segment, however, Williams and States failed to apologize for their remarks. GLAAD re-issued the Call to Action as LGBT advocates began contacting KRXQ’s advertisers to notify them of the offensive remarks.

AT&T, Bank of America, CKE, Chipotle, Guitar Center, McDonald’s, Nissan, Snapple, SONIC, Verizon and Wells Fargo all pulled advertising from the station or announced plans to discontinue future ad buys. GLAAD coordinated with each company to release statements to the media and constituents. For statements from advertisers please visit http://glaadblog.org/tag/krxq/.

"What people see and hear in the media has a huge impact on what they do everyday and how they treat LGBT people in their families, and local communities,” said GLAAD President Neil Giuliano. “We appreciate the proactive actions of advertisers who realize that their association with these dehumanizing remarks sends a dangerous message that this kind of defamation against our community is okay."

In a letter posted to the station’s Web site, Williams said that “as a show, as people, as broadcasters, we have simply failed on almost every level.” He also announced that the show would refrain from broadcasting new episodes until June 11, 2009 when they plan to address the issue again on the air. To read the full letter please visit: http://glaadblog.org/2009/06/07/update-krxq-radio-host-rob-williams-declares-failure/.

GLAAD spoke with KRXQ today on the planned show and booked two transgender advocates, Kim Pearson and Autumn Sandeen, to appear on the program and further educate the hosts and their listeners about transgender issues. GLAAD’s Media Programs team will continue providing resources about transgender issues to KRXQ and co-host Dawn Rossi, who has defended the community, prior to Thursday’s broadcast.

"We will continue working to demand Williams and States use their radio platform responsibly on future broadcasts,” said Giuliano.




GLAAD Call to Action: Morning radio hosts advocate violence against trans children

In a lengthy May 28 tirade on the Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning radio show heard in Sacramento, California on KRXQ 98.5 FM and Reno, Nevada on KDOT 104.5 FM, hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States verbally attacked transgender children. While discussing a recent story about a transgender child in Omaha, Nebraska and her parents’ decision to support her transition, the two hosts spent more than 30 minutes explicitly promoting child abuse of and making cruel, dehumanizing and defamatory comments toward transgender children.

You can listen to the entire segment beginning at 4:48 by clicking this link.

Among the comments made by the hosts:

ARNIE STATES [13:27]: If my son, God forbid, if my son put on a pair of high heels, I would probably hit him with one of my shoes. I would throw a shoe at him. Because you know what? Boys don’t wear high heels. And in my house, they definitely don’t wear high heels.

ROB WILLIAMS [17:45]: Dawn, they are freaks. They are abnormal. Not because they’re girls trapped in boys bodies but because they have a mental disorder that needs to be somehow gotten out of them. That’s where therapy could help them.

ROB WILLIAMS [18:15]: Or because they were molested. You know a lot of times these transgenders were molested. And you need to work with them on that. The point is you don’t allow the behavior. You cure the cause!

ARNIE STATES [29:22]: You know, my favorite part about hearing these stories about the kids in high school, who the entire high school caters around, lets the boy wear the dress. I look forward to when they go out into society and society beats them down. And they end up in therapy.

To her credit, co-host Dawn Rossi stood up to Williams and States during the segment.

Despite her apparent lack of familiarity with transgender issues, Rossi repeatedly defended transgender people and made an on-air apology for her colleagues’ defamatory remarks.

Please contact KRXQ management in Sacramento, California, where the show is produced and demand that radio show hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States publicly apologize. Call on KRXQ to hold Williams and States accountable for their remarks and establish clear standards to ensure their media platform will not be used to condone or promote violence against any parts of the communities they serve.

John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com

Arnie States
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rad@robarnieanddawn.com

Rob Williams
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rwilliams@entercom.com

Graphic Novel: No Girls Allowed

I'm gonna order my copy today!

'No Girls Allowed' is an awesome new graphic novel about women in history who dressed as men for fortune, fame, and love. - via Boing Boing

Being transgendered is not a disease

Tonight at the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) annual meeting in San Francisco, GID Reform Now, a coalition of transgender and allied leaders, will lead a protest calling attention to grave concerns about the direction of the APA Work Group on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders, the group responsible for recommending changes to the DSM.

“In 1973 the APA wisely voted to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The result was a very real decrease in bias and prejudice faced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in our society. Today, America’s psychiatric professionals are considering changing the way diversity of gender identity and expression are classified in this important document. This work has far-reaching implications not only for the health and well-being of transgender people, but for the civil rights of the transgender community and of all people," said HRC President Joe Solmonese.

Angie Zapata verdict a sign of acceptance for Colorado's transgender community?

Some say the quick arrest and hate-crime conviction of the killer of transgender teenager Angie Zapata is a sign of progress for Colorado's transgender community.

"I think we're making significant progress regarding basic understanding and education on transgender issues," said Kate Bowman of the Gender Identity Center of Colorado. "We're about 10 or 15 years behind gays, lesbians or bisexuals. Not that that community is accepted wholly."

Two Spirits: The murder of Fred Martinez

The Murder of two-spirited Fred Martinez is the focus of a new documentary that was recently accepted in the International LGBT Film Festival to take place June 18-28 in San Francisco. Titled “Two Spirits: Sexuality, Gender, and the Murder of Fred Martinez,” the film interweaves the story of the short life and brutal death of a Navajo teenager with a penetrating examination of the two‐spirit tradition among American Indians.

The film reconstructs what happened on a night in June 2001 when one boy bludgeoned another with rocks, then bragged to friends that he had “bug-smashed a fag.”

Fred Martinez was one of the youngest hate‐crime victims in modern history when he was brutally murdered at the age of 16 in Cortez, Colorado.

Martinez was a male-bodied person with a spiritual essence that is feminine, a special gift according to his ancient Navajo culture. The film explores the life and death of a boy who was also a girl – two spirits – and the fluidity and spiritual nature of gender and sexuality. The film makes the case that people need to return to traditional American Indian values.

“We must raise $19,000 quickly in order to finish the film on time,” says Lydia Nibley, executive producer and director of the documentary. She explained the money is needed to “cover the cost of the audio mix, color correction, mastering and other technical details needed to finish the film and get it out widely on the film festival circuit.”

If you would like to make a financial donation, please contact Lydia@SYQproductions.net.

Transgender Day of Visibility

Today is Transgender Day of Visibility and John Corvino explains why it's important.

Transman joins Barney Frank's staff

Diego Sanchez is the newest edition to Barney Frank's (D-Mass.-gay) staff, and this guy has been around the block a few times and knows what he's doing. He's been named on of the 100 most powerful Latinos in corporate America by Hispanic Business Magazine, and was appointed by Howard Dean to the Democratic National Committee's Platform Committee. The thing that's so important about all this is that Sanchez is a transguy--born female, now male.

Hopefully, Sanchez will have a lot of influence with Frank, who, for a long time, was not sold on trans inclusion in the federal ENDA--and in almost any other gay and lesbian rights battle. But Frank's come a ways since then, and Sanchez will probably have an even greater impact on that. So, Deigo, we salute you. Keep up the good work.

More bathroom hysteria

This is exactly what Focus on the Family and other Colorado right-wing groups said when Gov. Ritter signed Colorado's public accommodations law. So far, I haven't heard a peep about predatory men following little girls into public restrooms, and I haven't heard of any child molestation that could be attributed to the public accommodations law.

But ya know what?

Men who want to follow little girls into public bathrooms will do it regardless of the law. They're pedophiles! Do you really think they care about a bathroom law when they're breaking a far more serious one by molesting a child?

Relax, Florida. It's gonna be okay.

Would you hook up with a trans guy?

Trans writer T Cooper has joined the hunt on Manhunt.net.

Would you ever date or hook up with a trans guy?

Why or why not?

And baby makes ... death threats

Other than to comment on the sad depravity of the kind of person who would make death threats on someone for being different than themselves, I don't have too much to say on Thomas Beatie getting pregnant again. I think my good friend Matt has pretty much said it all right here when the guy was pregnant the first time.

My other comment is that Beatie and his wife say that they had to weigh his getting pregnant again so they could have another child against the hassle of letting the world back into their lives for nine months. Actually, they do have some control over how much they let the world into their lives. A pregnant man might have been news the first time around. How much press they get this time will be their decision.

Arresting development

Police tell man in custody this his girlfriend is transsexual.

In other news, transsexual beaten after boyfriend finds out from police that she is transsexual.

Trinidad, CO - still the sex-change capital of the U.S.

It seems like this is old news but CBS news is running a story about how Trinidad, CO is the sex-change capital of the U.S. At the forefront of that designation is Dr. Marci Bowers (at left), who performs hundreds of gender reassignment surgeries a year.

Reactions to ENDA: Matt Kailey

Reaction to the passing of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, lacking protection for the transgendered community, has been mixed. Some consider it an historic success, others a disappointing failure. Here's what Matt Kailey, noted author, speaker and transman, had to say.

Drew: What does the passage of the non-trans inclusive ENDA mean to the trans community?
Matt: I can't speak for the trans community as a whole. However, I can speculate. What it means is that we are still considered second-class citizens by representatives that we, as voters, had a hand in electing to represent our interests. We are still considered second-class citizens in a country that we support with our tax dollars. And, because the Human Rights Campaign, the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful GLB"T" organization in the country, not only backed this bill but put pressure on representatives to vote for it and issued a statement celebrating its victory, we are considered less than human.

Drew: What does it mean to you personally?
It means all of the above, in addition to it being a personal affront. It is very painful to know that a country that I have lived in all my life, that I have supported for over three decades with my tax dollars, and that I have dedicated my service to in the past as a government worker for 18 years does not think me worthy of equal rights and equal treatment under the law.

Matt: Did the GLB community fight hard enough for a trans-inclusive ENDA?
Over 350 local and national GLBT organizations banded together to support an inclusive ENDA bill and to reject this noninclusive version. I applaud those organizations and all the work that they put into this. The GLB community fought long and hard against this bill, but the GLB community is a microcosm of the larger U.S. society, where rich and powerful white men, such as Rep. Barney Frank and HRC president Joe Solmonese, call the shots.

Drew: Why is it important for all of the letters of the GLBT alphabet to stand together politically?
Matt: Because we all have one thing in common, and that is discrimination based on gender. Gay men and lesbians suffer more discrimination because of their gender presentation than they do because of their sexual orientation. Unless they walk around announcing their sexual orientation, it is unknown. Gay men and lesbians are harassed, fired, attacked, and even killed because they are expressing their gender in ways that are unacceptable to mainstream American culture. In addition, we also share the stigma that our bodies are "wrong." Trans bodies are "wrong" because they do not fit the requirements for an acceptable, standard "male" or "female" body. The bodies of gay men and lesbians are "wrong," too, because they are not supposed to be together in sex and in love. Only one standard "male" body and one standard "female" body are supposed to be together in sex and in love. When two male bodies or two female bodies are together, one of those bodies is "wrong." These are the connections we share.

Drew: Is there anything else you'd like to say?
Matt: I commend those GLB people who understand the above and who fight every day for inclusion. I commend those who do not and will not leave their people behind. Until we all have rights, no one does. And if you think your rights cannot be taken away--guess again.