Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance blogs

drag

Mon, 07 May 2007 16:40:35 -0400

to renew the blog. seems things have gotten awfully quiet. i'd be interested in hearing from any and all mtf transsexuals about their personal feelings on female impersonation as entertainment. i'm not talking about drag queens or people who do drag. no moral judgement, just how you feel you are personally affected by the place of drag in our society. i specify mtf transsexuals because i am interested in their opinions. i believe there is a different dynamic involved in how crossdressers and transvestites experience drag so for this limited conversation i'd like to hear from ts's only.

NCTE Wins Grant for New "Privacy and Documentation Project"

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:12:50 -0500

NCTE has been awarded a significant two-year grant to start a much needed Privacy and Documentation Project. While NCTE will raise additional funds to fully resource the program, this grant will allow us to jump start the Project.

"Amazing Progress"

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 22:45:06 -0500

Its nice to hear good news sometimes:

Amazing Progress - Reading the Transgendernews yahoogroup this weekend, made me happy. There were stories about progress in three different states: two of which are in the advance stages of progress.

Gender Change Costs Dean A Job

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:37:59 -0500

This article brings up some interesting questions of whether GID is covered as a disability and how religions get involved.

Gender Change Costs Dean a Job

Religious institutions have long had leeway to hire and fire based on creed. But what happens when a man who professes the faith also starts to appear on campus as a woman?

At Spring Arbor University, a Michigan institution affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, the pending termination of a transgender faculty member (and ordained Baptist minister) has raised just that question...

Human rights committee 'concerned' over mental health bill

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:19:39 -0500

This is a short but pretty interesting article. It definately starts to present a case for the declassification of GID and GD as a psychiatric disorder:

Human rights committee 'concerned' over mental health bill

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 11:19:39 -0500

This is a short but rather interesting article. It definitely starts to present a case for the declassification of Gender Identity Disorder and gender dysphoria as psychiatric disorders:

More U.S. employers cover sex transition surgery...

Fri, 02 Feb 2007 09:30:04 -0500

This is pretty cool, you should check it out

More U.S. employers cover sex transition surgery
Large corporations follow city's lead in offering benefit
- Wyatt Buchanan, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 31, 2007

People who change their gender must undergo rigorous mental health evaluations and trial periods that last years, and they sometimes face stigma, but the biggest challenge for many is paying for the process.

In the past few years, however, following the model of San Francisco, some of the world's largest employers have begun covering surgical procedures, including gender-reassignment surgery, and a host of other related care...

quote of the day.

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 21:54:12 -0400

i just saw a good one here. "you must be the change you wish to see in the world." -ghandi now that's something we can use every day. i get so doggone frustrated with tg's sometimes. went to a support meeting down here in bloomington the other day. nothing but a bunch of whining and lamenting all the wrongs in the world. sure the world is tough, always has been and always will be, but where did we ever get the idea that we are entitled to justice, happiness and success? only true justice any of us will ever get is gonna come from God and that will be in another time and dimension. when i offer a positive approach to living all i hear is, "yeah, but you don't understand how rough things are for me!" everybody on earth can't possible have lived the most horrible life ever.

Trans in my town: And so we begin

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:33:44 -0400

The trans support / discussion group that I formed had it's first meeting tonight. There were a grand total of four people there, and I think it went rather well, despite the low numbers.

It's not my fault. I'm on testosterone.

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:49:05 -0400

Too much testosterone kills brain cells

This article has been circulating on trans mailing lists. Maybe it's worth being a little concerned about the effects of testosterone on FTMs brains, but generally speaking, haven't we been at least a little concerned since we started T about the other health risks posed by testosterone?

There's lots really interesting stuff going on here around the gendering of biology as well. Lots of feminist theorists would remind us that our understanding of sex is always already gendered. That is, the way we understand masculinity and femininity strongly influences our scientific approach to sex and biology. Emily Martin, feminist medical anthropologist has written an article called "The Egg and the Sperm" where she talks about how scientific and medical textbooks talking about eggs and sperm gender those cells. Sperm gets characterized as aggressive and active--swimming and the like--while the egg is passive and waiting like a damsel in a castle.

an affirmation of faith

Sun, 24 Sep 2006 20:22:18 -0400

today has been a very special day for me, one i'm sure will be kept very close to my heart for a long time to come. about two and a half years ago when my transition began i found myself without a church. the church i'd been attending for the past five years or so asked me to leave. the reasoning given to me was that i would be a distraction. these were people i'd worked and worshiped very closely with. attended bible studies and seminars, did missionary work with, socialized with away from church. it was a horrible shock then when i was kicked out of the fold. and since that day not one member of the old congregation has bothered to make any contact with me at all.

transition 101 revisited

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 14:51:01 -0400

ok, nick, here we go again. trans 101 talk. i've just spent a couple of days online talking with a girl who is thinking hard about transitioning. she has told me about how she just swoons over the idea of presenting female. during the course of this extended conversation hrt came up. i advised her as to the limitations of the feminizing effect of hrt, that it's no panasea. i told her that the pyhsical changes while substantial in ways often fall short of expectations in girls who want alot of change. she told me that the physical changes were were not the primary motivation for her desiring hrt, she really wanted to quash the masculine feelings she keeps having.

courage

Thu, 21 Sep 2006 20:39:35 -0400

i'm not brave, i'm just fearless.

A place I never expected to go

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 09:19:35 -0400

For the past four days, I have participated in The Breast Cancer 3-Day, which is a 60-mile walk over three days with benefits going to breast cancer research. This is my second year working the event as a crew member.

A Moment of Silence... September 11 Remembered

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 21:36:26 -0400

This is a very moving poem from Emmanual Ortiz, originally published in "The Roots of Terror," a publication of Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide, a US-based organization working to create popular education to build grassroots leaders. Project South provides opportunities for organizers to learn and develop movement building tools and strives to build a stronger movement for social & economic justice by connecting local organizing efforts to consciousness, vision, and strategy. It reminds me of how all oppression is interconnected and none of us are truly free until we all are. As we plan for this year's Trangsgender Day of Remembrance event, we can keep these lessons in mind...