My Remarks from Baton Rouge Transgender Day of Remembrance

Sadly, this event is one of the over 200 Transgender Day of Remembrance events that take place this week in 19 countries and 39 states. I say sadly because events like these should not be necessary. A day dedicated to remembering the violent murders of our transgender brothers and sisters should not be necessary.

The lives we mourn tonight should not have been taken. This event is about remembering the past so we are not doomed to repeat it.

If you leave tonight and don't dedicate yourself to fighting the ignorance and hatred that leads to the violent slaying of transgender men and women this event was a waste for you. To many have been lost because of inaction and excuses. A commitment to change things and stand together could have saved some of these people.

I immediately remembered that Mayor Pro Tem Mike Walker and Councilwoman Alison Casio, two members of the Baton Rouge City Council were introducing the One Baton Rouge resolution for the second time.

When I managed to locate a copy of the paper and turned to page 13 I saw an ad signed by a group of Christian leaders and funded by Louisiana Family Forum Action calling on the city council [pdf] to not pass the resolution and chastising Mayor Kip Holden for signing a pride proclamation. I am not going to deconstruct the ad because ultimately it is the same tired and hate-filled arguments cloaked in Christianity that we all encounter way too often.

Another main reason is that being a part of the Bilerico family makes me feel connected to Bil Browning, one of my best friends and the only person who I believe understands some of the more peculiar parts of my experiences of my bipolar disorder. Finally, trying to finish my Ph.D. at Louisiana State University and some complications with me being bipolar has greatly limited my involvement in LGBTQ activism since I moved to Louisiana. Being a part of Bilerico Project allows me to continue to feel a part of the larger struggle for social justice of which Bilerico is a vital part.

So, while I am at this point an infrequent contributor, I remain flattered and proud of being invited to continue contributing to this community. I share the above thoughts about my ongoing involvement with the Bilerico Project because an important theme in this post is that context matters. My involvement and the decision to publish Ron Gold's post aren't events that occur in a vacuum. This is all prefacing my contribution to the ongoing discussion of Ron Goldgate, as I have taken to calling it. As exhausting as this process has been in the only four days that it has been going on I believe that there are some lessons we can learn from it.

While some contributors and readers have expressed the ways the events of the last few days has made them consider leaving the blog, for me it has only increased my commitment to this project of which we are all a part. This experience makes our efforts here together all the more important.

I become convinced that she would be an ardent support of Obama's administration during her passionate speech at the Democratic National Convention. It became clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that despite her personal disappointment she was happy to get to see the first black President of the United States be elected in her lifetime. I believe that she will work diligently to further American interests across the globe during the Obama administration.

I have grown increasingly convinced that Obama is sexist in potentially dangerous ways. He seemed genuinely unaware of the misogynist overtones of some of his statements during the primary such as referring to Hillary being overemotional or her "claws coming out." In a really peculiar way his selection of her as Secretary of State only confirmed my conviction that sexism played a substantial role in the campaign.

The class is evenly split between male and female students and the only notable difference in the responses as broken down by sex was that two of the men refused to offer a definition saying, "They had no idea."

After following Hillary so closely since she became first lady and watching the coverage of Sarah Palin so closely for the past week, I am left wondering what sorts of feminism each of them represent. Are they both feminists? Is one more in touch with current understandings of feminism than the other? Who speaks more directly to the experiences of American women?

My mom loved and continues to play old school 80's Whitney. There was no limit to how many times her and I could dance around our living room to "I want to dance." The first drag queen I dated captured my heart thanks to a moving rendition of "It's not right, but it's okay." He had me at "take care of my own babies." I played that song and that album for years as I was getting ready to go gay clubbing.

In anticipation of her first post-Bobby album, the single "Like I Never Left" has been leaked to the internet and is available after the jump. By the way, it features Akon.

• A collection of online essays called Beyond Masculinity: Essays by Queer Men on Gender and Politics is up and available online. It is a great collection and one of the contributors was my fellow Antioch College Student (Solis). Check out this collection and be sure to spread the word.
• A great online essay about abortion and anti-choice women's relationship with what they claim to detest and protest.
• A Virginia groom passes as a bride and could face charges for it. This one has it all -- some gender issues and same-sex marriage all wrapped into one.

Let me know what you think about the stories in the comments. I am particularly interested in hearing people's thoughts about the essay collection.

We choose to focus on a book group that read young adult literature. I may write more about the process, texts we used, and some of the things we found soon. Today, I wanted to take a moment to steer people toward a wonderful online resource called TRANScending Identities through the San Francisco Public Library.

Check out the resource and let me know what ya'll think in the comments.

1. Anna Begins - The Counting Crows
2. 9 Crimes - Damien Rice
3. The Scientist - Coldplay
4. Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell On You) - Aqualung
5. Sleeping In - The Postal Service
6. What Sarah Said - Death Cab For Cutie
7. Boy with a Coin - Iron and Wine
8. Grapevine Fires - Death Cab For Cutie
9. Love and Some Verses - Iron and Wine
10. Talking Bird - Death Cab For Cutie

These bands particularly Aqualung, The Postal Service, Death Cab For Cutie and Iron and Wine are new to me so I can't get enough of them right now.

Take a minute and share with Projectors some music that you like that is a bit out of character or doesn't reflect the majority of your music taste. What is the last few songs you have listened to and liked that no one would guess?

I am glad I was born in June, as being a Gemini seems to fit me very well. I have a little Gemini pride.

I usually take the day to reflect on the past year. I pick through the accomplishments and failures, good choices and bad in the hopes of visioning a clearer picture of what I want for my future. Two significant things have happened this year that are worth talking about a little with any readers who are interested.

I finished my first year of my Ph.D. program & I decided to go on mood stabilizing medication for bipolar disorder. If you are in the mood for some personal reflection and birthday introspection read on. If you came here today looking for current events, I am sure that Bil or Alex has something intelligent and engaging to say.

When I was twelve, I spent a lot of time telling anyone who would listen that you were ranked as one of the 100 most influential lawyers in America before even marrying Bill. You had a career before becoming Bill's wife, and if for any reason you ever decide not to still be his wife, you will continue to be successful.

Your work on the Nixon impeachment, children's rights, and public interest law continues to inspire me. Your early and continued commitment to civil rights and social change is inspiring. You reinforce to me that a commitment to a better world is sustainable and makes a difference. Thank you for that.

What did disappoint me was the ending for Samantha. Having never been super pious myself, I always identified with her. So at the end of the series when she ended up with happy with a hot piece of man-candy like Smith, I was thrilled. It seemed like the whore with the heart of gold got her happy ending.

I understand that in order to have a plot in the movie we needed new events in the lives of the girls. But I am not the least bit pleased with the turn that Samantha's love life took. Be warned my general musings on the movie and my grief stricken thoughts on Samantha are after the jump. It contains spoilers.

We talked a little bit about the coverage and I tried to explain to my mother how frustrating all of this was for me. The complexities of the campaign regarding race, social class, and gender have left me feeling discouraged lately. As desperately as I support Hillary Clinton, I don't want her to win based on racism and xenophobia alone. But, that isn't what this post is about. After we got off the phone I let the conversation go and went back to writing about Butlerian approaches to autobiographical theory within education.

Today, sitting at Highland Coffee (my favorite local coffee shop in Baton Rouge) taking a break from the same paper described above, I saw the Huffington Post's coverage of Barack Obama distancing himself aggressively from Reverend Wright and his comments. Ladies and gentlemen, clearly Barack Obama has put on his "big-girl panties" and is ready to be a politician.

Well, as the first year of my Ph.D. program comes to an end, my 2008 summer obsession is setting in. I am ashamed to admit that Mariah Carey is all I can think about both night and day. My affinity for crazy people draws me to her, and in my warped head I can connect her with two of my best friends (Rhonda and Bil) who are both what I would affectionately call "crazy" and have gone on to become successful.

Mariah Carey has more Billboard #1 songs than Elvis Presley and is quickly encroaching on The Beatles' position at the top. She is now tied with Madonna and Janet Jackson for second most number one albums for a female artist, right behind Barbra Streisand. Her eleventh studio album, E=MC2, may be the best recording of her career so far.

If you would like to be a published signatory of the following letter simply e-mail including your organizational name as you would like it to appear. The letter will be posted to our website and updated several times a day. On Friday morning, March 28th we will send the completed letter to the Advocate with a request that they take the time to feature the good works of our organizations rather than writing articles which imply that perhaps our GLBT youth are safer in the closet.

Respectfully,

TransYouth Family Allies Board of Directors
Kim Pearson, Shannon Garcia, Amy G., "Just Evelyn", Bruce Parker, Jamison Green, and Andrea James

Letter to the Advocate after the jump.