Discrimination
Community Forum on the Proposed “Marriage Amendment”
Political, Biological, Sociological, Theological Perspectives
What are the ramifications and social justice implications of this amendment for all the people of Indiana?
The proposed amendment:
“(a) Marriage in Indiana consists only of the union of one man and one woman.
(b) This Constitution or any other Indiana law may not be construed to require that marital status, or the legal incidents of marriage be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.”
State House rally
Families United Against Hate was elated to hear that the “Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival” had ended their 31 year long policy of discrimination toward transgender women. This was not to last, however, as we learned that the “Michigan Womyn’s Music 
Festival” spokesperson, Lisa Vogel issued a long and protracted statement which essentially said nothing has changed: the Festival is intended for women-born women, and those who seek to purchase tickets are asked to respect that intention. Vogel emphasized, “If a transwoman purchased a ticket, it represents nothing more than that womon choosing to disrespect the stated intention of this Festival.”
Being stopped, detained or searched by the police is an intimidating experience, especially for transgender people. Police officers have been responsible for the harassment of transgender people, and relations between law enforcement and the trans communities can be tense at times. However, some communities have built important bridges with police departments and made changes that impact how transgender people are treated. It is critical that trans people, and all people, be safe when being arrested or held by law enforcement.
The National Center for Transgender Equality offers us some advice to help us work with police departments to create appropriate policies for transgender people. This is not something we can ignore--our very lives may depend on it someday.
"Since 1976, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival has been created by and for womyn-born womyn, that is, womyn who were born as and have lived their entire life experience as womyn. Despite claims to the contrary by Camp Trans organizers, the Festival remains a rare and precious space intended for womyn-born womyn."
The American Bar Association's (ABA) policy-making House of Delegates met on August 7th and 8th to debate an array of issues "critical to the profession and the nation." The ABA House voted to urge federal, state, local and territorial governments to enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression in employment, housing and public accommodations.
The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) receives calls regularly from transgender people across the country who have been “outed” to their employers by the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) unfair gender “no-match” employment letter policy. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently proposed new rules regarding no-match letters which, if approved in their current form, could cause transgender people increased problems and exacerbate the already serious invasion of medical privacy for many workers.
NCTE has submitted an official comment on the proposed rule to the Department of Homeland Security regarding flaws in the no-match letter system.
Today, I acted as an advocate during a meeting with a trans woman in my region and one of the local human rights commission chairpersons. My role was to ask the questions that she forgot to ask, to facilitate the discussion when there were problems, and to generally advocate on her behalf. I was mostly a fly on the wall at the meeting. It was a difficult role for me for three reasons.
Chasing Transphobias
Most of you probably do not know who I am. Yesterday, I was informed that I was no longer to use handcuffs as a tool to chase anti-transgender individuals since it scares many.
I have been trying to confront a few anti-transgender (or transphobic) individual. I even called one of the persons a transphobic.
I made headlines recently (in Febuary) by gaetting a homophobic neighbor evicted for lewdness, disorderly conduct, and property damage.
This will probably be the first issue that I will be talking about in January when I begin NO SIR GIFTS' Transgendered Women's Suppoort Group.
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