What You Need to Know About the Affordable Care Act's Trans Protections
Trans Latina health advocate Joanna Maria Cifredo dissects the work that must be done to combat transgender health disparities.
Cleis Abeni
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Transgender Women's Lives: A Family Matter
Transgender Women's Lives: A Family Matter
This year we’ve broken a record, and it’s not a good one. More transgender women have been killed in the U.S. than in any other year on record. I’m heartbroken and angered that women keep dying, most of them women of color, most of them Black. Most were between the ages of 17-25, just coming into adulthood, when their lives, dreams and futures were stolen. They were sisters, daughters, granddaughters, aunties and more. I cannot even imagine the devastation I would feel if this happened to my own child.
I am frustrated by the lack of public outcry in response to these murders and compelled to use my voice the best way I know how. I am crying out as a mother to other families. I am crying out because I want trans women of color to know that the deaths in their community do not go unnoticed. I am crying out because I want to be part of a world where their lives matter to all of us. I want people to celebrate the lives of trans girls and women of color and recognize that they make our world better. Families can play a pivotal role in making this happen.
Trans women’s lives concern all families.
We may or may not have a daughter, sister or other family member who is transgender. But, if we think of trans lives as “somebody else’s issue” we are missing the boat. Consider these questions:
Do you want children to grow up feeling that they can be themselves without being bullied or harassed?
Do you want children to grow up and realize their potential without being forced to change who they are?
Do you want children to grow up respecting the dignity of every human being?
Do you want your family to learn from examples of women who have faced adversity and risen to leadership roles working for social justice?
If your response to even one of these questions is affirmative, the lives of trans women of color matter to you and your family.
Family values are being hijacked to attack transgender women.
Many families are afraid that transgender rights will harm their children. Some are aligning themselves with right wing conservative and Christian fundamentalists to attack the rights of transgender children and adults. These groups claim to represent families and family values. Here are a few examples:
- Conservative think tank, the Family Research Council, opposes bills to protect the rights of transgender people on the grounds that they threaten religious liberty.
- The organization that calls itself One Million Moms, a project of the American Family Association, is mobilizing mothers against TV shows about transgender children, youth and parents. They say they’re against shows that “normalize the transgender lifestyle,” and want their children to live in a moral society.
- Parents and students in schools across the country have rallied vehemently against policies to protect transgender students. At stake are transgender students’ rights to use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identities, and teaching respect for gender diversity in the classroom.
These families may think they are protecting children, but they are actually harming them. They do not speak for my family or for any family that truly respects and values diversity. Families don’t all look the same. We include single parent families, chosen families, interracial families, families with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents and children and more. We need family voices and family values that represent and honor this diversity. More and more families of transgender children and parents are speaking out. As they do, our families need to support them, not attack their rights.
We, as families, can make a difference.
Ending the violence isn’t just about stopping violent individuals. It’s about changing the ideology of hate into one of love, checking the ways we participate in the marginalization of trans people, and creating supportive families, communities and institutions. Here are some things any family can do:
- Learn from transgender women of color and families with transgender children. Attend events, watch videos and TV shows, read books or get involved in the community.
- Learn about gender and the gender binary. Be willing to question your own beliefs about gender. Understand that the bodies we are born with don’t always determine how we identify. Read books to your children about transgender and gender non-conforming children and youth.
- Create a safe home environment where gender, racial and other forms of diversity are valued and talked about openly. Allow children to explore who they are without forcing them to dress, play and act according to gender roles and expectations. Be aware of negative stereotypes and messages about gender, race and other differences.
- Support efforts to build safe, inclusive schools. Advocate for inclusive curriculum that values people of all races and genders. Support school environments that are free from bullying and harassment, and safety to use the bathroom in peace.
- Learn and practice non-violent communication in the home. Help children learn skills to communicate well with others. Help them feel powerful without overpowering others or using violence. Avoid teaching boys to use violence to prove their masculinity.
- Interrupt disrespectful name-calling, jokes and commentaries in your home, school and community.
- Advocate for respect for transgender people in your church, temple or religious community.
I wrote this post to spark conversation and inspire families to action. What actions have you taken in your family? What ideas do you have?
Many thanks to Isa Noyola, Program Manager, Transgender Law Center, Anayvette Martinez, Radical Monarchs Co-Founder and my son Danny Moreno, for their collaboration on this piece.
Resources
Voices of trans women of color:
Ruby Corado, Laverne Cox, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Lourdes Ashley Hunter, Marsha P. Johnson, Andy Marra, Janet Mock, Isa Noyola, Silvia Rivera, Bamby Salcedo, Hina Wong-Kalu(Kumu Hina)
Transgender girls of color and their families:
Malisa, Mazy, Zoe
TV Shows:
Growing up Trans, I am Jazz, I am Cait
Safe homes, schools and churches:
4 Ways to Honor your Child’s Gender Autonomy
Beyond the Binary: Gender Identity Activism in Your School
How Gender Boxes Harm all Children and What We Can Do about it
Schools in Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools
Supporting and Caring for our Gender Expansive Youth
The Top 10 Ways to Welcome Transgender People to Church
And more:
Transgender Friendly Young Children’s Books
Transgender Basics, from the Gender Identity Project
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Mike Huckabee: Jailing of Kim Davis “removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity”
Mike Huckabee: Jailing of Kim Davis “removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity”
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee blasted the jailing on Thursday (3 September) of Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis for contempt of court.
Davis was ordered into custody by a federal judge who said she must do her job and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples despite her religious objections.
‘Having Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity in our country,’ Huckebee wrote in a post on Facebook.
‘We must defend religious liberty and never surrender to judicial tyranny. Five, un-elected Supreme Court lawyers did not and cannot make law. They can only make rulings. The Supreme Court is not the Supreme branch and it’s certainly not the Supreme Being.’
The US Supreme Court ruled on 26 June that same-sex marriage is now legal in all 50 states. It was then that Davis stopped issuing marriage licenses to all couples – straight or gay – which resulted in a federal lawsuit against her.
Davis lost the lawsuit and is appealing. Five of her deputy clerks told the judge they would issue licenses beginning Friday (4 September). Because Davis would not promise to not interfere with that process, the judge ordered her to stay in jail until she complies or resigns.
Huckabee, a candidate for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, also wrote: ‘I am proud of Kim for standing strong for her beliefs. Who will be next? Pastors? Photographers? Caterers? Florists? This is a reckless, appalling, out-of-control decision that undermines the Constitution of the United States and our fundamental right to religious liberty.’
The post Mike Huckabee: Jailing of Kim Davis “removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity” appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
Read The Oath Of Office That Kim Davis Refused To Uphold
Read The Oath Of Office That Kim Davis Refused To Uphold
A federal judge who sent the Notorious K.I.M., aka Kim Davis, to jail today noted that the Rowan County Clerk had sworn an oath to perform her job, just as many other public servants do. “Oaths mean things,” U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Davis on Thursday.
Here is the oath of office taken by court clerks and deputies in Kentucky:
Oath of clerk and deputies:
Every clerk and deputy, in addition to the oath prescribed by Section 228 of the Constitution, shall, before entering on the duties of his office, take the following oath in presence of the Circuit Court:
“I, _____, do swear that I will well and truly discharge the duties of the office of _____ County Circuit Court clerk, according to the best of my skill and judgment, making the due entries and records of all orders, judgments, decrees, opinions and proceedings of the court, and carefully filing and preserving in my office all books and papers which come to my possession by virtue of my office; and that I will not knowingly or willingly commit any malfeasance of office, and will faithfully execute the duties of my office without favor, affection or partiality, so help me God.”
H/t: LGBTQ Nation
Jeremy Kinser
WATCH: Pat Robertson Says Gays Want All Opponents in Jail
WATCH: Pat Robertson Says Gays Want All Opponents in Jail
Kim Davis is just the beginning, warns the antigay televangelist.
Trudy Ring
www.advocate.com/religion/2015/09/03/watch-pat-robertson-says-gays-want-all-opponents-jail
Pat Robertson Blames The Gays For The Stock Market Plunge
Pat Robertson Blames The Gays For The Stock Market Plunge
Now that she’s been taken into custody, Kim Davis can rest assured: she’s got a friend in Pat Robertson.
Robertson defended the Kentucky county clerk, who has refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the Supreme Court’s June 26 ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, in a Sept. 2 installment of “The 700 Club,” Right Wing Watch reports. The right-wing televangelist, who has been an outspoken opponent of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community for some time, yearned for the days that homosexuality was still illegal in America.
“There was a time that homosexuality was considered an aberration,” Robertson said. “It was illegal, as a matter of fact, and the thought of two homosexuals marrying one another was just undreamed of, we couldn’t even conceive of it.”
He then pointed to turmoil in the global stock market as being somehow tied to same-sex marriage.
“Our finances right now are hanging by a thread,” he said. “The rupture of the entire financial framework of our world is so tenuous right now. If there is was ever a time that we need the grace of God, it is now, and unless something is done to change the courts and to change the way this country is going, it is just a question of time before the fabric ruptures and we’ll all suffer because of it.”
Less than two weeks ago, Robertson made slightly different, though equally eyebrow-raising, claims by tying Planned Parenthood to “Black Monday,” August 24’s historic stock market plunge.
“Here in America, we have been complicit in terminating the lives of in excess of 50 million precious unborn children,” he said. “And don’t you think almighty God is going to hold us accountable for that? It’s coming, ladies and gentleman. We just have a little taste of it in terms of the financial system, but it’s going to get shaken to its core in the next few months, years or however long it takes, and it will hurt every one of us.”
You’re gonna need to be a little bit more convincing, Pat.
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Steve Grand ‘honored to accept’ US Marine Tanner White’s invite to military ball
Steve Grand ‘honored to accept’ US Marine Tanner White’s invite to military ball
US Marine Sgt. Tanner White figured her had nothing to lose when he made a YouTube video asking the singer Steve Grand to be his date to the Marine Corps Ball.
On Thursday (3 September), Grand gave his answer: Yes!
A smiling Grand replied, via YouTube video of course, that he would be ‘honored to accept’ the invitation to the event in November that will take place in Wlimington, North Carolina.
‘Thank you so much for your service to this country and I look forward to a really fun evening with you in November. See you soon buddy.’
White’s video asking Grand has now been viewed more than 54,000 times over the past two days.
The post Steve Grand ‘honored to accept’ US Marine Tanner White’s invite to military ball appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
CONTEMPT OF COURT: Rowan County Clerk Held Accountable For Defying the Law
Kim Davis 'In Custody' for Contempt of Court
Kim Davis 'In Custody' for Contempt of Court
The Rowan County, Ky., clerk will remain in jail until she allows her staff to issue marriage licenses to all eligible couples, regardless of gender.
Sunnivie Brydum
www.advocate.com/marriage-equality/2015/09/03/kim-davis-custody-contempt-court
Kentucky Clerk Who Won't Give Marriage Licenses To Same-Sex Couples Is Going To Jail
Kentucky Clerk Who Won't Give Marriage Licenses To Same-Sex Couples Is Going To Jail
WASHINGTON — The Kentucky county clerk who rose to prominence for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples is now headed to jail.
A federal judge on Thursday ordered Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis to be jailed for contempt of court. She has waged a personal war against the Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage.
Davis first defied an order by Kentucky Gov. Steven Beshear (D) for clerks to follow the law. After she was sued in federal court for her noncompliance and ordered to issue marriage licenses, Davis refused again. She sought a delay of that order and lost, so she brought her plea all the way to the Supreme Court, which this week effectively required her to comply.
She has since continued to defy the order, citing “God’s authority.”
The Guardian reported that U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Davis during a court hearing Thursday that she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue licenses. She was led from the courtroom by U.S. marshals.
The same-sex couple suing Davis asked Bunning to hold her in contempt, but recommended financial penalties, not jail time. Davis argued in a court filing on Wednesday that it was impossible for her to authorize same-sex marriage licenses because the action “irreparably and irreversibly violates her conscience.”
She also argued that there were “less restrictive alternatives” to a contempt ruling. She suggested she could deputize someone else to issue marriage licenses for her, or that the state could call a special legislative session on the issue.
Davis is an unlikely symbol of the conservative effort to claim religious freedom exemptions in response to the Obergefell ruling. She has garnered support from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). On the Hill, Republicans are backing legislation that bars the federal government from taking discriminatory action against a person or corporation acting in accordance with a religious belief against same-sex marriage. Some conservatives have gone so far as to endorse civil disobedience as a response to the ruling.
As the New York Times reported, Davis is not the only government official who has taken a personal stand. She is joined by a clerk in Irion County, Texas, and a probate judge in Washington County, Alabama. But these pockets of resistance remain small. The nation has overwhelmingly moved to allow all Americans to marry the people they love.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
