Today, November 20, is the
Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day to remember all the people who've been killed in the past year out of transphobia. As
before, the vast majority are poor trans women of color. Also as before, the
true numbers are almost certainly far higher than the reported numbers.
Ceremonies are being held around the world; see the website for details.
posted by jiawen
on Nov 20, 2011 -
82 comments
Yesterday was the
Transgender Day of Remembrance. In the past year, at least 29 people have been killed out of transphobia. The vast majority were poor trans women of color. One was a baby, killed because the father perceived the child to not be masculine enough. It's almost certain that
the real numbers of dead are much, much higher.
posted by jiawen
on Nov 21, 2010 -
38 comments
"In Loveland, Colorado -- population 61,000, 92 percent white and heavily evangelical Christian -- Michelle didn't know what to expect when she began to work with the school to facilitate her daughter's transition from a boy to a girl. At first, it was difficult. The school 'freaked out when I told them,' Michelle says. 'When we started with M.J.'s transition, I was envisioning riots.' And so Michelle became an advocate for transgender people -- those who identify as a gender different from the one assigned at birth. Michelle organized trainings for the faculty and staff and prepared 'cheat sheets' in case any of their students asked prying questions.
But on the first day of school, nothing happened." -
Trans in the Red States by Jeremy Bearer-Friend and Daniel Redman.
[via Obsidian Wings]
posted by Kattullus
on Nov 13, 2008 -
21 comments
People with a History is "an online guide to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans history." Ranging from
the first stirrings of civilization to the modern day, People with a History gathers together original sources and academic articles dealing with queerness throughout history. To give you a feel for the wealth of material on the site, here are a few pages that caught my interest:
The Vikings and Homosexuality,
Coptic Spell: Spell for a Man to Obtain a Male Lover,
an acount of a gay marriage ceremony described by Michel de Montaigne,
But Among Our Own Selves (an 18th Century gay ballad),
a chapter from The Life of St. Theodore of Sykeon, a 7th Century Byzantine monk and bishop, which mentions
adelphopoiesis, or the
rite of brothermaking,
Wu Tsao, 19th Century Chinese lesbian poet, and finally
Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men.
posted by Kattullus
on Feb 2, 2008 -
15 comments
Billy Tipton (1914-1989) was a moderately popular jazz musician who happened to have been born a girl and lived as a man. In retrospect, some see Billy as a woman pragmatically trying to make it in a male dominated field, others see Billy as clearly transexual. If you like jazz of the 30's and 40's, forget Billy's gender for a moment and take a
listen to Billy's playing! For more backstory,
biographer Diane Middlebrook has posted a
timeline of Tipton's life. More recently, Tipton has inspired jazz ensemble
The Tiptons launches sound, a
novel,
a few plays and butch/punk/queer director Silas Howard is
working on a film.
Oh, and here's
WP.
posted by serazin
on Mar 19, 2007 -
22 comments
