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Mostly Friends-Only. Comment to be added.
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jimmydean5
15 July 2008 @ 04:29 pm
"Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual."
~Angela Carter
~Angela Carter
16 May 2008 @ 05:04 pm
"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe,' a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."
Albert Einstein
23 March 2008 @ 08:30 pm
Letter from Obama to LGBT voters:
"I'm running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all – a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters. It's wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans.
Equality is a moral imperative. That's why throughout my career, I have fought to eliminate discrimination against LGBT Americans. In Illinois, I co-sponsored a fully inclusive bill that prohibited discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, extending protection to the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation. In the U.S. Senate, I have co-sponsored bills that would equalize tax treatment for same-sex couples and provide benefits to domestic partners of federal employees. And as president, I will place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I personally believe that civil unions represent the best way to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage. Unlike Senator Clinton, I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a position I have held since before arriving in the U.S. Senate. While some say we should repeal only part of the law, I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether. Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. I have also called for us to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and I have worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system.
The next president must also address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When it comes to prevention, we do not have to choose between values and science. While abstinence education should be part of any strategy, we also need to use common sense. We should have age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception. We should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection within our prison population. And we should lift the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. In addition, local governments can protect public health by distributing contraceptives.
We also need a president who's willing to confront the stigma – too often tied to homophobia – that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. I confronted this stigma directly in a speech to evangelicals at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, and will continue to speak out as president. That is where I stand on the major issues of the day. But having the right positions on the issues is only half the battle. The other half is to win broad support for those positions. And winning broad support will require stepping outside our comfort zone. If we want to repeal DOMA, repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and implement fully inclusive laws outlawing hate crimes and discrimination in the workplace, we need to bring the message of LGBT equality to skeptical audiences as well as friendly ones – and that's what I've done throughout my career. I brought this message of inclusiveness to all of America in my keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention. I talked about the need to fight homophobia when I announced my candidacy for President, and I have been talking about LGBT equality to a number of groups during this campaign – from local LGBT activists to rural farmers to parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr. Martin Luther King once preached.
Just as important, I have been listening to what all Americans have to say. I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced. That is the work we must do to move forward together. It is difficult. It is challenging. And it is necessary.
Americans are yearning for leadership that can empower us to reach for what we know is possible. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership. Together, we will achieve real equality for all Americans, gay and straight alike."
"I'm running for President to build an America that lives up to our founding promise of equality for all – a promise that extends to our gay brothers and sisters. It's wrong to have millions of Americans living as second-class citizens in this nation. And I ask for your support in this election so that together we can bring about real change for all LGBT Americans.
Equality is a moral imperative. That's why throughout my career, I have fought to eliminate discrimination against LGBT Americans. In Illinois, I co-sponsored a fully inclusive bill that prohibited discrimination on the basis of both sexual orientation and gender identity, extending protection to the workplace, housing, and places of public accommodation. In the U.S. Senate, I have co-sponsored bills that would equalize tax treatment for same-sex couples and provide benefits to domestic partners of federal employees. And as president, I will place the weight of my administration behind the enactment of the Matthew Shepard Act to outlaw hate crimes and a fully inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act to outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
As your President, I will use the bully pulpit to urge states to treat same-sex couples with full equality in their family and adoption laws. I personally believe that civil unions represent the best way to secure that equal treatment. But I also believe that the federal government should not stand in the way of states that want to decide on their own how best to pursue equality for gay and lesbian couples — whether that means a domestic partnership, a civil union, or a civil marriage. Unlike Senator Clinton, I support the complete repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) – a position I have held since before arriving in the U.S. Senate. While some say we should repeal only part of the law, I believe we should get rid of that statute altogether. Federal law should not discriminate in any way against gay and lesbian couples, which is precisely what DOMA does. I have also called for us to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and I have worked to improve the Uniting American Families Act so we can afford same-sex couples the same rights and obligations as married couples in our immigration system.
The next president must also address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. When it comes to prevention, we do not have to choose between values and science. While abstinence education should be part of any strategy, we also need to use common sense. We should have age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception. We should pass the JUSTICE Act to combat infection within our prison population. And we should lift the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. In addition, local governments can protect public health by distributing contraceptives.
We also need a president who's willing to confront the stigma – too often tied to homophobia – that continues to surround HIV/AIDS. I confronted this stigma directly in a speech to evangelicals at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, and will continue to speak out as president. That is where I stand on the major issues of the day. But having the right positions on the issues is only half the battle. The other half is to win broad support for those positions. And winning broad support will require stepping outside our comfort zone. If we want to repeal DOMA, repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and implement fully inclusive laws outlawing hate crimes and discrimination in the workplace, we need to bring the message of LGBT equality to skeptical audiences as well as friendly ones – and that's what I've done throughout my career. I brought this message of inclusiveness to all of America in my keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention. I talked about the need to fight homophobia when I announced my candidacy for President, and I have been talking about LGBT equality to a number of groups during this campaign – from local LGBT activists to rural farmers to parishioners at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where Dr. Martin Luther King once preached.
Just as important, I have been listening to what all Americans have to say. I will never compromise on my commitment to equal rights for all LGBT Americans. But neither will I close my ears to the voices of those who still need to be convinced. That is the work we must do to move forward together. It is difficult. It is challenging. And it is necessary.
Americans are yearning for leadership that can empower us to reach for what we know is possible. I believe that we can achieve the goal of full equality for the millions of LGBT people in this country. To do that, we need leadership that can appeal to the best parts of the human spirit. Join with me, and I will provide that leadership. Together, we will achieve real equality for all Americans, gay and straight alike."
Current Mood: 
very very pleased
very very pleased23 March 2008 @ 02:40 pm
A Boy Named Sue
"Well my daddy left home when I was three
And he didn't leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now I don't blame him, 'cause he ran and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me Sue."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M89c3hWx3
(He's singing this to San Quentin prisoners, some happen to be pretty swoon-worthy. ;)
28 January 2008 @ 11:45 am
I called a gender therapist and left a message. I will be following through.
22 January 2008 @ 12:05 am
Now that I've been talking about being trans, my mind has been flooded with memories:
Pre-school: Trying to be macho as hell. Making my mom cut get me short haircuts. Hating dresses.
Kindergarten: More macho man. Picture day was hell because my mom made me wear a dress. Kids said to me, "Why are you in a dress?" and gave me suspicious looks. I simply told them that my mom was insane.
First grade: Wearing pressed, collared, button-down boy shirts and black jeans. Strutting around like a little stud, haha. I sometimes wore a silver sparkling cowboy hat and brown leather cowboy boots. I wore this outfit to the mall, when I went with my mom, and I remember a distinct incident with a lady at the counter at Nordstroms. I used my boy-muscles to push myself up onto the counter to catch this lady's eye, because I felt spiffy as hell, and when she saw me in my nice shirt and silver sparkling cowboy hat, she exclaimed, "You look like Mr. New Year!" (It must have been in January.) Lady made my day! Unfortunately, my mother instantly corrected her with, "No, she's *Ms.* New Year." Mom ruined my day!
Second grade: Doing daily push-ups, going on the monkey bars at school to build up my arms. Showing off my muscles to my dad, with pride. Slicking back my short hair. I would wear boys' shirts, pants, and a tie all the time, playing outside with other kids, who didn't know what to make of me. Teasing...yeah...
*Every* Halloween as a child, I would find a way to be a guy: Darth Vador one year, another year I wore an old man mask (with a suit and tie, of course!), "Deanna Troy" from Star Trek (yeah right! it was the same outfit that Wil Reiker wore, and that's who I really was).
Third through fifth grade, I would play with my stuffed animals and cut their hair. I always wanted stuffed animals whose hair could be cut and styled, and I'd spend *hours* engaged in imaginary play, styling their hair, re-styling, applying Johnson & Johnson's "No Tangle" spray, hair spray, etc. This play would consist of me being a male hairstylist, and the animals were "kids." I would engage these kids' moms in conversation as I "worked," chatting with the moms about life, being a wise and worldly and friendly man. I imagined that when I grew up, I would be a man whose job was cutting hair and chatting with ladies. (God, could this get at *all* more stereotypically gay boy? And I didn't even *know* that gay men did this.)
Stole my dad's shaving cream a couple of times...Gillette Menthol! Spread it across my face, basked in its manliness, used a razor blade (upside down so that I wouldn't hurt myself) and "shaved" my face. I think I was 10 years old.
Cowboy boots. More and more brown leather cowboy boots...
Got a jean jacket for Christmas one year... great addition to the cowboy boots...
Men would say things to me like, "Atta boy!" when I'd use my muscles to lift things, showing off for the grown men. Women would call me "sir," because I was such a courtly little boy. It was these "atta boys" and "sirs" that made my life worth living, gave me rays of sunshine amidst the dark shame that I felt.
Anyone else relate?