pansexualpride:

The past month or so has been incredible for transgender rights victories, and I want to acknowledge this moment. We’re seeing the kind of movement on trans issues that I’ve dreamed of – our community is finally winning the protections we need. I think this has a lot to do with the ways trans folks have shared our stories and organized for our rights, including at online spaces like Feministing.

On Sunday, Nok Yonlada, who is trans, won a provincial election in Thailand. This means a lot in terms of visibility, to have an out trans woman representing constituents as an elected official. Argentina made trans health care a human right and gave folks the right to legally change their genders without the approval of a judge or doctor. In the US, the The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced they will hear claims of gender identity-based employment discrimination, meaning trans and gender non-conforming folks have employment protections at the national level for the first time. The Department of Justice released national standards to prevent prison rape that include specific provisions to protect trans and gender non-conforming folks. These standards were developed with community input and are an important step in addressing the high rates of sexual violence experienced by incarcerated trans folks.

These victories in the political arena are huge. The trans community is at square one when it comes to winning the rights we need to be able to participate in society without facing massive amounts of discrimination. Winning protections from workplace discrimination means we can actually get jobs. We obviously need to address the high rates of incarceration faced by trans folks, but protections for those behind bars could make a big difference in people’s lived realities. These are the first steps towards being full human beings under the law, whose experience of discrimination is valid and who deserve just as much access as everybody else.

The US isn’t close to Argentina yet, where they’ve got this wild idea that health care should be a human right. We need to continue fighting for basic protections, including from discrimination in housing and public accomodations. But ideally this moves us towards the point where we win positive rights, like the right to determine our own genders without having to go through gatekeepers.

(read on)

A trans woman is insisting a Tennessee DMV can’t have it both ways: either they decide she’s a man and she should be legally allowed to go topless, or she is a woman & then they need to change her gender marker on her license to an F.

So she took her shirt off outside the DMV, and they promptly arrested her. I’m sure they still didn’t change her gender marker, however.

These ‘gender determined by genitals’ laws have got to go.

artoftransliness:

I think a lot of times, having “transgender” as a third gender option can be good and bad. This is being celebrated as a straight-up victory, which perhaps it is, but I think it’s a little more complex than that. 

(Source: wolfandshepherd)

cassket:

The 15 July last year was a historic day for equality in Latin America. Argentina was the first country in the region to legalise same-sex marriage. People took to the streets in celebration after a long vigil in front of congress. The law, sponsored by the government of the president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, was the result of a long and arduous campaign by LGBTQ organisations and allies against conservative sectors led by the Catholic church.

Although it has not drawn as many international headlines, 18 August 2011 was yet another historic day for equality. The Argentinian congress began the debates for a proposed gender identity law. If passed, this law would allow transgender people to correct their names and gender on all legal documents, including birth certificates, IDs and passports through a quick procedure.

According to first-hand accounts in local media, never before have there been so many trans activists in a congressional debate session. The debates have been set in motion by four different projects, each supported by a group of legislators and NGOs, each of them with a slightly different approach to providing a legal framework for identity issues that are currently addressed through court procedures that leave the final decision in the hands of judges and magistrates. The main differences between projects are based on healthcare services for those who wish to undertake hormone and/or surgeries as part of the transition processes.

If congress approves one of these four projects, the gender identity law would be another landmark in Argentina’s efforts for LGBTQ equality. This path was initiated in 2007, when, in a meeting sponsored by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, the Yogyakarta Principles were launched as a global charter for gay rights at the United Nations human rights council. Due to resistance of several member states where homosexuality and gender identity are penalised, the principles have not yet been adopted worldwide. However, those initial accomplishments paved the way for Argentina’s deep social changes, which resulted in same sex marriage and could possibly grant trans people the right to recognition of their identities.

Argentinian LGBT Federation (FALGBT), together with ATTA (Asociación de Travestis, Transexuales y Transgéneros de Argentina), launched a media campaign to raise awareness of the proposed law and garner public support. The campaign, which includes videos and brochures, emphasises the recognition of gender identity without the need of medicalisation and the subsequent involvement of psychiatric or surgical procedures. Instead, their aim is the depathologisation of trans identities and the elimination of gender-related matters from the realm of psychiatry and the legal system. This campaign has also benefited from the recent high-profile case of Florencia Trinidad, a popular comedian who not only successfully exercised her right to identity through a verypublicised court case but also married her long-term partner and became a mother of twins through surrogacy last week.

(read on)

(via pansexualpride)

fuckyeahasiandykes:

 Finding the cisgender angle in the latest news stories

This is AMAZING. Cis journalists tend to point out completely irrelevant details when writing about trans people; this blog gives the same treatment to cis people, showing how ridiculous it is.

Examples:

“Rebekah Brooks - as she started to call herself following a second marriage - courted power but avoided publicity.  She started receiving female hormones via her ovaries during her first puberty, and intends to continue with them.”

“Smith, who never transitioned and has non-surgically altered genitals similar to those of a pre-operative trans woman, is normally seen on screens but appeared in person on Friday.”