Well, they've done it. The City Commision voted 5-2 to officially fire Steve (Susan) Stanton. Good followup report at the Towle Road blog.
I never really thought they would reverse their decision. The council members who voted to fire him originally were sure not to change their minds in just a little bit of time. All the activism to educate people and the Commission was to fall on deaf ears because they were not in a place to listen constructively. They were angry, they felt betrayed, lied to, let down. This is a common reaction. Spouses and significant others transsexuals often have this same reaction. They need the time and space to get over this reaction. For some people, they never get over it. Transphobia runs deep and wide in America, especially the South.
Now it remains to be seen if Stanton will bring a suit against the commission for discrimination. Many are urging him to do so. I haven't heard anything from him saying he has changed his mind about that yet. Many people believe he has a case and he is represented by legal counsel that is pretty substantial in dealing with discrimination cases.
I really feel for Stanton, having this media circus surrounding what is a very personal, transformational and emotional process. I transitioned on the job, in public, but had very good support from my workplace. Thank the powers that be that I live in an area that is more progressive in its thinking and a company that values employees' contributions above their private lives.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
MTF TS Marries GG
MILWAUKEE -- A transsexual married a woman Friday morning at the Milwaukee County Courthouse.Barbara Lynn Terrry, 58, was born as a man, Ronald Terry.Terry considers herself a female, but Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge David Hansher said that according to a doctor he spoke to, Terry is still physically a man.
OK, this one baffles me. Is Terry a pre-op MTF TS? The doctor certified Terry is still a man. I would guess that's so. Does Terry have plans to become a female? I don't know.
However, if Terry is post-operative, this brings up very scary precident, i.e., that a person will not be allowed to change their sex in the realm of marriage. This is ridiculous, of course. And yet one more reason for passing same-sex marriage laws to remove the confusion factor.
An update on the law covering the Stanton dismissal case
Dr. Jillian Todd Weiss has posted an update on her blog about the law in Florida regarding discrimination against transgender workers, especially those employed by government agencies. Good read, but it's not clear-cut that Stanton would win a case against the City Commission. That would depend on whether the court held any bias against transsexuals.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Stop all the Bullshite
Kimberly posts on her blog to Stop all the Bullshite: asking the trans community to support each other.
Things rings true for me, in a lot of ways. I think a lot of us are on our own, we don't support each other, either financially or socially. I think a lot of us are go-it-aloners. I know I am. I find it difficult to keep hearing the same stories from people that bring up my own history of pain and misery. I find it hard to see people struggling and not taking advice from others who have been down the road because each of us must find our own way.
I am scared I may end up like Kimberly, poor, bitter, alone, without support. Employment means everything, it means survival. Yet employment is the number one barrier for transsexuals post-transition. Even with protective laws in place, it is hard to get by the interview. Bias is often hidden from the interviewer's own process.
I used to facilitate a support group at the local LGBT center for Trans Women. I think I did an excellent job of running the group, making it inclusive of all trans people, all perspectives were welcomed, all experiences were valid and shared, people were invited to ask questions, it was a safe space to be new in. But I eventually had to give it up, as it was so draining emotionally for me.
Yet I need to have a place where I can get support. As a facilitator, I am separate from the group to a large extent; I am watching the process of the group, they are embroiled in the content. Where do I share my content? How do I explain my fears about being outed or clocked by someone? Where do I share my desires for a relationship? Where do I find people who understand what it means to be trans? I need my own support group. Maybe I should go back and just be a regular member, though that will be hard.
Things rings true for me, in a lot of ways. I think a lot of us are on our own, we don't support each other, either financially or socially. I think a lot of us are go-it-aloners. I know I am. I find it difficult to keep hearing the same stories from people that bring up my own history of pain and misery. I find it hard to see people struggling and not taking advice from others who have been down the road because each of us must find our own way.
I am scared I may end up like Kimberly, poor, bitter, alone, without support. Employment means everything, it means survival. Yet employment is the number one barrier for transsexuals post-transition. Even with protective laws in place, it is hard to get by the interview. Bias is often hidden from the interviewer's own process.
I used to facilitate a support group at the local LGBT center for Trans Women. I think I did an excellent job of running the group, making it inclusive of all trans people, all perspectives were welcomed, all experiences were valid and shared, people were invited to ask questions, it was a safe space to be new in. But I eventually had to give it up, as it was so draining emotionally for me.
Yet I need to have a place where I can get support. As a facilitator, I am separate from the group to a large extent; I am watching the process of the group, they are embroiled in the content. Where do I share my content? How do I explain my fears about being outed or clocked by someone? Where do I share my desires for a relationship? Where do I find people who understand what it means to be trans? I need my own support group. Maybe I should go back and just be a regular member, though that will be hard.
God’s Grace And The Transsexual Next Door
In the Ex-Gay Watch blog, Autumn Sandeen writes a post describing the use of slurs against transgendered people, relating it to the slur used by Ann Coulter against John Edwards recently. The Ex-Gay leaders came down on Coulter for using that slur as demeaning and insulting to gay people. Autumn broaches the question of what about the slurs in the supposedly affirming Christian ex-gay movement about transsexuals?
Being called by the wrong pronouns, the wrong honourifics, the old name, all these really hurt the post-transition transgendered person. How can it be affirming when words like "tranny" are used to describe us? (I'm not at all clear about the reclaiming of that word, but it is rather demeaning.)
When someone calls me "sir" by mistake, it initially stings. I correct them, and when they look at me more carefully, they do say "OH! excuse me!" So there is a politeness around here that apparently is missing in other places.
Being called by the wrong pronouns, the wrong honourifics, the old name, all these really hurt the post-transition transgendered person. How can it be affirming when words like "tranny" are used to describe us? (I'm not at all clear about the reclaiming of that word, but it is rather demeaning.)
When someone calls me "sir" by mistake, it initially stings. I correct them, and when they look at me more carefully, they do say "OH! excuse me!" So there is a politeness around here that apparently is missing in other places.
Stanton requests a public hearing
Steve(Susan) Stanton, the beleaguered Largo, Florida, city manager who has been dismissed simply for revealing his desire to change his gender, has decided to appeal the dismissal and is calling for a public hearing into the matter. This is good. He has a lot of support, there are plenty of people who think the city commission acted rashly and with a horrid display of bigotry and discrimination. This represents the next step in the process. Let's hope the voices of inclusion, reason, and calm win out over the voices of hatred, fear, and misunderstanding.
Link to GaySouthFlorida blog
Link to GaySouthFlorida blog
UCSF to close TRANS programs
UCSF has had a program in place since 2001 to aid transgender people with basic health care, social and networking needs, employment services, and information about transgender care. This was funded by federal grants from places like the CDC and the National Institute for Drug Abuse. Now the grants are ending and the TRANS programs have nowhere to go. Luckily, some people are taking action to see about getting the city of SF to step up and keep funding the programs. This is an important set of programs for San Francisco, which probably houses the largest population of transgender people in need of such services. I hope they make it happen.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Largo lets Stanton go in blatant round of bigotry and discrimination
Well, the Largo city commission has voted. 5-2 in favor of getting rid of Steve(Susan) Stanton, the city manager who a week ago announced his [Stanton has asked that he be referred to by his male name and male pronouns until he transitions] intention to transition to become a woman. The Mayor stood by him, and did one other commission member, but the rest bolted and ran like fearful little rats, showing that they don't even put their votes where they say they should, as they passed a resolution earlier prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. I don't know where this puts them, but I think Stanton has to bring a suit against them, and he has said he isn't going to do that.
The St. Petersburg Times has been doing good reportage on this issue, very factual, very balanced, without any sensationalism:
There are places you can go to voice your opinion as well. The National Sexuality Resouce Center at San Francisco State is holding a petition that they will send to the Largo commission. There's also a website devoted to helping save Stanton's position: http://www.savestanton.com/.
I think this is by far the most blatant and horrible cases of discrimination ever carried out in public. There is no possible doubt he is being fired because he is a transsexual.
Unfortunately, there are so many other cases of firing of transsexuals that happens on a regular basis that never make it to the national news or at least the national blogosphere like this one has. It is a constant threat to transsexuals everywhere, even in places where they are supposedly protected. There are any number of reasons one can fire someone; it isn't that hard to trump up charges against someone if one finds them objectionable.
When I first approached the coming out process at work, the division manager's reaction was typical. He was dead-set against it and would not allow it. I didn't know what he was going to have me do, and luckily, I never had to find out. Several of his subordinates took him in hand and explained matters to him, and he also spent time researching on his own, and came to the conclusion that it was not a bad thing as he feared, and so I had no trouble with my transition on the job.
Yet, later I was to feel the discrimination, as I lost jobs that I would have gotten before, lost influence that I had before, and was cut off from client interactions that would have let me perform my job. Eventually, my ranking dropped, and as a result, I was laid off when the mandatory layoffs came about. They had a reason: my pay was high, but my performance was low: it said so on the paper. What it didn't say was the lost opportunities to perform my job. Admittedly, at this time, I was dealing with some tremendous emotional problems as well, which I think should have been taken into account, but were not.
Now, I am unemployed again, and I'm afraid that people may "read" something in me that is not quite right. Even if they don't recognize me as transgendered, they may see something they don't quite understand, and that is a big ding in the hiring process. I have to act through that fear to overcome it, and compensate for it; I have to be that much better because of it. And then, there is the problem of what happens when they do find out about my past when they run the background check? Not all companies have gender identity non-discrimination clauses. Even though the state I'm in (California) has a law on the books proclaiming gender identity and expression as protected, it doesn't necessarily translate into action at the practical level. And proving discrimination is so hard because you have to show direct cause or a trend.
So in addition to being depressed because I'm unemployed, I'm scared that I won't find a new job because of the transgender issue.
The St. Petersburg Times has been doing good reportage on this issue, very factual, very balanced, without any sensationalism:
There are places you can go to voice your opinion as well. The National Sexuality Resouce Center at San Francisco State is holding a petition that they will send to the Largo commission. There's also a website devoted to helping save Stanton's position: http://www.savestanton.com/.
I think this is by far the most blatant and horrible cases of discrimination ever carried out in public. There is no possible doubt he is being fired because he is a transsexual.
Unfortunately, there are so many other cases of firing of transsexuals that happens on a regular basis that never make it to the national news or at least the national blogosphere like this one has. It is a constant threat to transsexuals everywhere, even in places where they are supposedly protected. There are any number of reasons one can fire someone; it isn't that hard to trump up charges against someone if one finds them objectionable.
When I first approached the coming out process at work, the division manager's reaction was typical. He was dead-set against it and would not allow it. I didn't know what he was going to have me do, and luckily, I never had to find out. Several of his subordinates took him in hand and explained matters to him, and he also spent time researching on his own, and came to the conclusion that it was not a bad thing as he feared, and so I had no trouble with my transition on the job.
Yet, later I was to feel the discrimination, as I lost jobs that I would have gotten before, lost influence that I had before, and was cut off from client interactions that would have let me perform my job. Eventually, my ranking dropped, and as a result, I was laid off when the mandatory layoffs came about. They had a reason: my pay was high, but my performance was low: it said so on the paper. What it didn't say was the lost opportunities to perform my job. Admittedly, at this time, I was dealing with some tremendous emotional problems as well, which I think should have been taken into account, but were not.
Now, I am unemployed again, and I'm afraid that people may "read" something in me that is not quite right. Even if they don't recognize me as transgendered, they may see something they don't quite understand, and that is a big ding in the hiring process. I have to act through that fear to overcome it, and compensate for it; I have to be that much better because of it. And then, there is the problem of what happens when they do find out about my past when they run the background check? Not all companies have gender identity non-discrimination clauses. Even though the state I'm in (California) has a law on the books proclaiming gender identity and expression as protected, it doesn't necessarily translate into action at the practical level. And proving discrimination is so hard because you have to show direct cause or a trend.
So in addition to being depressed because I'm unemployed, I'm scared that I won't find a new job because of the transgender issue.
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