Jan

6

Interview with Helen Boyd Kramer, Author of ‘My Husband Betty’

Filed Under Audio Update, Gender, Lesbian Podcast, Podcast | Leave a Comment

Helen Boyd Kramer is the author of My Husband Betty and She’s Not the Man I Married. Both books focus on being the partner of a transgender person. Kramer currently teaches Gender Studies at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.

http://sisterstalk.net/show_852266.mp3

In this interview, we discuss:

*Kramer’s professional background
*Her work teaching Gender Studies at Lawrence University
*How she learned her partner was transgender
*Her first thought after learning her partner was transgender
*Why she didn’t end the relationship when she learned her partner was transgender
*How/when they told her family that her partner was transgender
*People questioning her sexual orientation after learning her partner was transgender
*Support groups for people who have a transgender partner

Jan

4

Do Anti-Gay Conservatives Support Affirmative Action Based on Race?

Filed Under Bitch Slap, Gender, Religion | Leave a Comment

While scrolling through a digest of news items related to the LGBT community today, this article jumped out at me: President Appoints ‘Transgendered’ Individual to Federal Post.

Whenever members of the conservative christian reich want to claim a certain group of people don’t really exist, they place that group’s identifier in quotation marks. You’ll often see “gay” instead of gay and “transgendered” instead of transgender (the correct way to format the word).

It was no surprise to see this kind of ridiculous disrespect on a conservative christian web site, but this is what I did find extremely interesting (bold emphasis is mine):

“This isn’t like appointing an African-American in order to try to provide diversity and right some kind of discriminatory wrong,” he said. “This is about political correctness.

Stop.the.press.

Did one of the nation’s largest conservative web sites just suggest the following:

1. Hiring a Black person is a good thing
2. Hiring a Black person is a sign of true diversity
3. Hiring a Black person has nothing to do with political correctness

Has this group of hateful christians replaced their hatred for Blacks and Affirmative Action with their hatred for homosexuals and transgender people?

Nope.

Those people haven’t swapped one hatred for another; they’re simply pretending they give a shit about Blacks because they’ve used Black christians to fuck over homosexuals and transgender people for awhile now.

Sep

18

Juba Kalamka Discusses Music, Race, Gender, Class, Sex on SistersTalk Radio

Filed Under Bisexuals, Gender, LGBT, Lesbian Podcast, Music, Podcast, Politics, Race | Leave a Comment

Juba Kalamka is an African American bisexual artist and activist recognized for his work and founding member of homohop group Deep Dickollective (D/DC) and his development of the micro-label Sugartruck Recordings.

Kalamka has coordinated the release and promotion of five critically successful D/DC albums, the Outmusic Award winning solo debut of former Sister Spit member Rocco “Katastrophe” Kayiatos, and the distribution of the work of numerous other artists in the homohop community.

Kalamka’s personal work centers on dialogues on the convergences and conflicts of race, identity, gender, sexuality and class in pop culture. He has written and illustrated several articles for pop culture magazines and journals, Kitchen Sink, ColorLines, and the now-defunct bisexual issues magazine Anything That Moves.

Hear Juba discuss:

*What is homohop?
*Pick up the Mic documentary
*The politics in his music
*Discrimination in the gay community
*Being at UW-Madison in Madison, WI to discuss Hip Hop as a Movement
*His work doing edu-porn
*His experience with the Sex Workers Art Show

Download the podcast now.

Sep

11

Some Pro Caster Semenya Feminists Are Annoying the Hell Out of Me

Filed Under Gender, WTF? | 1 Comment

A quick thought regarding the Caster Semenya gender identity scandal . . .

I am completely outraged that Caster had to undergo embarrassing and degrading scrutiny because some people were bothered by her less than traditional feminine qualities.

But . . . (and there’s always a but)

I’m even more annoyed by the self-proclaimed pro-female feminists who are crying foul about Caster even though they continue to support the Michigan Women’s music festival – an event that is known for its longtime ban of transgender male-to-female women because they were not born a “womon” (that means they don’t have suitable genitalia).

Do these pro-Caster/anti-MTF feminists think they’re foolin’ anyone? What gives?

In my opinion (and this is JUST my opinion), anyone who is outraged by the Semenya gender scandal would be equally outraged my Michfest’s ban on MTFs. I don’t know. Call me crazy.

Related:

Event: MichFest Halfway Soiree

Caster Semenya Gets A Makeover

Caster Semenya: Questionable Gender

Sep

9

Challenging My Own Gender and Transgender Prejudices

Filed Under Gender, Lesbian Podcast, Lesbians | 2 Comments

Dictionary.com defines prejudice as:

1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.

A recent blog post here at SistersTalk had at least one reader (or, umm, former reader?) really ticked off. In that post, I asked if a straight guy at our local gay bar was considered transgender just because he wore a dress. A writer over at Transadvocate was fumin’ and spittin’ nails. She said (and I paraphrase), “you obviously don’t know a damn thing about transgender issues.”

Well, duh! I think I already said I knew very little about transgender issues. That blog post was meant to act as an educational experience – for myself and anyone else who’s willing to learn more about transgender issues. I asked a few blatantly honest questions and I didn’t feel the need to present a politically correct situation so I didn’t piss off a whole slew of transgender people and transgender activists. It’s just not in my nature. I will always be as true to what I’m thinking as possible.

Anyway, a recent episode of SistersTalk Radio’s She Said, She Said podcast series addresses gender prejudices. In that podcast, we revisit the blog post that annoyed Ms. Transadvocate, in addition to a few other events that led us to question how we really feel about gender and gender stereotypes.

You can listen to the podcast here (it might take a minute to load):

In this episode, we discuss:

*Lesbians who can’t figure out how to get laid AND manage their friendships at the same time
*More gay and lesbian short film reviews
*The cross-dressin’ straight guy who stalks straight girls at the gay bar
*Challenging gender stereotypes
*Janina Gavankar – Papi from The L Word
*Our first year anniversary episode (it’s all about lesbian sex!)

I am open to constructive dialogue regarding transgender issues, even if you completely disagree with everything you hear in the podcast. But, please, don’t start typin’ your bitchy comments without listening to the entire podcast first. Selective hearing is a pain in everyone’s ass.

Sep

5

Is a Straight Guy in a Dress Considered Transgender?

Filed Under Gender | 14 Comments

I wanted to come up with the most appropriate title for this blog post. I tried several before I finally opted for Is a Straight Guy in a Dress Considered Transgender?

- Schoolin’ Genia on Transgender Issues
- Are Cross-Dressing Straight Guys Considered Transgender?
- Just Because a Guy’s Wearing a Dress, It Doesn’t Mean He’s Transgender
- Is There Any Such Thing As a Cross-Dressin’ Straight Guy?
- Why Is This Straight Guy in the Girls Bathroom at the Gay Bar?

This post is influenced by something that happens often at our local gay bar. There’s a guy – let’s call him StraightGuyinaSuperShortMiniSkirt – who frequents the bar. He identifies as a straight man who likes to wear women’s clothes. He says he’s absolutely not sexually attracted to men and he says he’s absolutely not interested in changing his gender to female. One thing my friends and I have noticed about StraightGuyinaSuperShortMiniSkirt is that he stalks the ladies (usually the straight girls) every chance he gets. It’s a standing joke that the second an unknown straight girl gets to the bar, he will follow her into the women’s bathroom. You can bet your mother’s life on it. Without fail, when the new girl heads to the potty, StraightGuyinaSuperShortMiniSkirt heads in there after her.

I have so many questions and I don’t even know where to start.

1. Is this guy really creepy or what? Yes!
2. Is it possible that this guy is a closeted transgender person?
3. What’s the probability that this guy really IS a heterosexual male who just gets his rocks off dressing like a girl and stalking women in the ladies room?
4. Do transgender people have to deal with this type of behavior creating negative stereotypes of transgender people?

Some of the patrons at the bar believe I am annoyed because StraightGuyinaSuperShortMiniSkirt uses the women’s bathroom. No, that’s not the case. I often use the men’s bathroom when the Queens and straight girls are standing around in the ladies room yackin’ and takin’ up space. What I have a problem with is the reason this guy is using the women’s bathroom. No one should have to worry about being stalked in a public restroom.

Aug

11

National Gay Equality March Scheduled for October 11

Filed Under Gays, Gender, LGBT, Lesbians, Politics | Leave a Comment

This just in from NationalEqualityMarch.com:

Equality Across America, the new grassroots network calling for Federal action to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans, has moved forward with plans for a massive national day of action on Sunday, October 11, 2009. Major national LGBT organizations including the Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) have endorsed the march as have local and state grassroots organizations like Join the Impact Chicago, One Struggle One Fight and Freedom Democrats of Miami-Dade.

October 11 has been observed as “National Coming Out Day” since 1988. As well, this year, commemorates the 30th anniversary of the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. “We’re marching this October to demand action from the Federal government to protect our rights in all fifty states,” said Kip Williams, one of the organizers. “Real equality can only come from the President, the Congress and the Supreme Court.”

Equality Across America brings together veteran movement activists such as David Mixner, Torie Osborn, Cleve Jones, Anne Northrop and Nadine Smith, with new organizers like Williams and Robin McGehee, who lead the successful “Meet in the Middle” rally in Fresno, California following the California Supreme Court decision on Proposition 8. “We’ve got people from the Stonewall generation to the Facebook generation working together to win real equality,” said McGehee. “We’re tired of compromises and delays.”

The march in the nation’s capital is necessary to help supporters of equality focus their attention on the Federal government after decades of work at the state and local level according to Academy Award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black. “The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law, but LGBT Americans are still denied that protection, now is the time to push for real equality, in all matters governed by civil law.”

Lt. Dan Choi, also a member of the march steering committee, is working to ensure a strong presence by LGBT and straight veterans at the march. “The majority of Americans reject discrimination in the armed forces, it’s time for Congress and the Administration to move on this and all issues of equality for LGBT Americans.”

Equality Across America pledges more than a march and has begun recruiting volunteers in all 435 US Congressional Districts to pressure members of the House of Representatives. “We want to bring together all the different groups that support equality: young and old, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, people of all races, faiths and backgrounds from every corner of this country” said Corey Johnson of New York. “We want every member of Congress to know that there are LGBT people and our allies in every single district.”

Equality Across America has also reached out specifically to HIV/AIDS activists, interfaith leaders and Youth organizers to create independent events during the weekend in DC, as well as to state equality associations to build local actions throughout the US in conjunction with the march for those who cannot travel to DC on October 11.

“The LGBT struggle for equality is the civil rights movement of the 21st century,” says pioneer activist and City Commissioner Nicole-Murray Ramirez of San Diego. Ramirez who has been a part of every national march for LGBT rights, since 1979 says, “history has proven for us to achieve full equality we must be engaged in the suites of political power and the streets of activism.”

The National Equality March is scheduled to begin at 12 Noon on Sunday, October 11. The exact route of march is still being negotiated with the DC authorities. Organizers are building partnerships with other groups to create workshops, trainings, seminars and teach-ins throughout the weekend. Parties, concerts and other entertainment are being actively discouraged. “It’s not about another party, it’s about getting to work,” said Kip Williams.

The march and district lobbying campaign are directed by a national Steering Committee of over 60 members from throughout the nation, reflecting the diversity of the LGBT community. Operating under the auspices of the Tides Center, Equality Across America is a not-for-profit, tax exempt organization.

Jul

14

Mariah Carey Does Drag in New Music Video

Filed Under Gender, Music | 4 Comments

Mariah Carey’s new video for her single Obsessed premiered on Yahoo! music today. The guy who’s obsessing over her in the video is really Mariah herself – in drag!

Is Mariah a bit narcissistic? And is it just me, or did Mariah get her breasts enhanced?

Update: Is Mariah makin’ fun of Eminem? Take a look. And . . . does this dress look familiar?

Jun

3

ACTION ALERT: Demand Apology from Radio Show Hosts Advocating Violence Against Transgender Kids

Filed Under Bitch Slap, Gender, WTF? | 1 Comment

On May 28, 2009, radio show hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States of KRXQ Sacramento encouraged violence against transgender children (story here):

Williams and States took turns referring to gender dysphoric children as “idiots” and “freaks,” who were just out “for attention” and had “a mental disorder that just needs to somehow be gotten out of them,” either by verbal abuse on the part of the parents, or even shock therapy.

“Allowing transgenders to exist, pretty soon it becomes normal to fall in love with the animals,” they said.

For his part, States bragged that if his own son were to ever dare put on a pair of high heels, States would beat his son with one of his own shoes. He urged parents whose own little boys expressed a desire to wear a dress to verbally abuse and degrade them as a viable response. “Because you know what? Boys don’t wear high heel shoes. And in my house, they definitely don’t wear high heels.

In response to Williams and States’ comments, GLAAD has issued the following Action Alert:

Please contact KRXQ management in Sacramento, California, where the show is produced and demand that radio show hosts Rob Williams and Arnie States publicly apologize. Call on KRXQ to hold Williams and States accountable for their remarks and establish clear standards to ensure their media platform will not be used to condone or promote violence against any parts of the communities they serve.

John Geary
Vice President & General Manager
KRXQ-FM
(916) 339-4209
jgeary@entercom.com

Arnie States
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rad@robarnieanddawn.com

Rob Williams
On Air Personality
KRXQ-FM
(916) 334-7777
rwilliams@entercom.com

GLAAD asks that you refrain from abusive or violent language when you make your phone call.

Jun

2

Conservatives Warn Gays Will Get Quick Sex Change So They Can Marry

Filed Under Bitch Slap, Gender, WTF? | 2 Comments

From the Onion:

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