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The small town of Silverton Oregon has elected the first Transgender Mayor in the United States.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/07/ore-town-elects-nati...
http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_110608_news_transg...
It's a start, ladies, it's a start.
Huggles 'n stuff from,
Catherine Linda Michel
Comments
Bizarre news story
It's not clear from those news stories if Rasmussen is TS or TV. Both stories refer to "him" and only mention a male first name. But the picture clearly shows someone with cleavage.
I'm confused.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
TV
He said he saw himself as a heterosexual male who likes to wear women's clothes, and has a girl friend. He has breast implants. I like his hairdresser's sense of humour.
Angharad
Angharad
news story answer
"I identify mostly as a heterosexual male," Rasmussen said. "But I just like to look like a female."
So that's answered, and he has breast implants. Still congratulations to him and to Silverton. (Cevy Chase,MD missed the chance to elect a TG state delegate two years ago, but her loss seemed more to do with lack of time in neighborhood politics - those districts are very small, and the election set up unusual - than anything to do with her gender status. She would have replaced the first, but no longer only, openly gay delegate.)
Once again, I got distracted by a phone call and, before I could finish typing, Ang beat me to it. :(
No, Genderfuck
Going out in public presenting as one thing, claiming another is Genderfuck, and just does not do much to further the image of the community whatsoever, the general public does not need shock therapy.
Agreed
on the point that it is a genderfuck since the person never identifies with the gender he is presenting. He identifies solely as a man so there is no trans anything. It looks like he feels what he is doing is no different then say some person doing punk or goth drag.
Kim
Oh, Dear, Oh, Dear...
There's way too much tribalism in this transgender community of ours. Way too much self-validation and exclusivity. Way too much exclusionary instinct.
I much prefer the inclusionary model.
Let me quote you all from the handbook on the New York City Human Rights Law, what constitutes a person protected against illegal discrimination on the basis of Gender Identity:
Note the inclusive nature of the law. ANY discrimination based on gender, vanilla or otherwise is something that needs protecting if you're serious about human rights. Bear in mind, too, that if you're going to start hairsplitting as to whether a person is transgender enough to be worthy of legal protection, you weaken the very laws that could protect you. The more inclusive a law is, the stronger its protection. The fewer the loopholes.
In the case of the crossdressing married heterosexual mayor, the operative word is "appearance". In New York City, and in several states with statewide laws that define gender identity broadly, he'd be covered by their laws.
In less than two weeks, we will be observing the tenth annual Transgender Day of Remembrance. Many of those people killed, on that list of hundreds and hundreds of names, were "just" crossdressers that you don't think worthy enough of being considered transgender.
Who was it, Patrick Henry, who said "We must all hang together or surely we will all hang separately?"
Yah
Transgender says it all; anything that crosses gender lines is TG in my book. It's a BigCloset after all.
It's a big closet, after all.
It's a big closet, after all.
It's a big, big, closet! :)
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
The Quote
Ben Franklin, actually. Or at least that's who gets the credit. (The reference, of course, is to hanging for treason against Great Britain if the Revolution failed.)
Eric
Treason
Sorry 'bout muffing the quote. Should have paid more attention in school. Or, looked it up before I posted it. But, I wanted to capture the emotion of it and make my point before I fell asleep annoyed.
"Treason" is pretty much what we're accused of, you know. Treason to our birth sexes. It makes the literalistic bible-idolators go absolutely berserk. As well as others who harbor inflexible views of how things are "supposed to be." It justifies violence in their minds. Not just violence, but too often a brutal death sentence. The TG murder victims of this violence are often the victims of group assault, true hate-crimes, with their bodies mutilated and disfigured, sometimes even with "scripture" references carved into them.
That this should even be done in the name of a religion founded on charity, love, humility, and inclusivity is quite ironic. That it should be done in a civil society founded on a clear right to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" is even more ironic.
There's no solution for this problem, until society as a whole declares it unequivocally unacceptable, and ends "open season" on gender non-conformists. That's why it pains me terribly to see people in our own community express disapproval of variations of gender-nonconformism that differ from their own. If we can't even accept our brothers and sisters, why should anyone else accept any of us?
Exactlys!!!
We gotta accepts EVEERYONE ^^ Like just because someones doesn't fit the box does that mean they shouldn't be accepteds? Like us, me and Kitty ((I'm Bunny)) are two people inside the same bodies ^^ Umm.. Kitty says to just call it split personalities and stuff. So does that make us unvalids? I don't think so, I'm a girl, I'm turning six too and really happy about it ^^ I love fighting gameys, and killing monsters and stabbing them with swords and claws and stuffs ^^ Kitty likes umm... magick and healing and stuff, but I like PvP and she doesn't ^^ So we're all super duper differents ^^
I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D
Yes, Genderfuck
Let me out of this box!!
Pippa said it all and better.
Hugs & Joy;Jan
Liberty is more then the freedom to be like you.
Hmmmm
What general public have you been watching that doesn't need shock therapy?
From my catbird seat it appears labotomies all around would be a wonderful improvement.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Whether we like it or not
Whether -we- like it or not, its a binary world, like my father once told me, "Christine, pick one, then please do it with grace".
What some see as judgements I am offering as observations about realities. Someone once sent me a photograph of a young man covered in tatoos and piercings, the caption said something about "my tenth job interview this week, tell me where I went wrong?" you can cry all you want about a changing world and personal expression but it still is not going to change the fact that the gatekeeper does not have to hire you. If you want to be a pioneer I think that is really commendable and courageous, but before you do, just be prepared for the strong possibility of finding yourself alone in the middle of the prairie with an ass full of arrows :-)
The Point Of Human Rights...
...is that ALL of us should have the same basic rights. Whether we're gay, straight, male, female, some mix of the above, or none of the above.
It is not a binary world. Human DNA and the biology of fetal sexual development puts the lie to that. It's a natural world of infinite variation, and billions of separate and autonomous individuals. We either learn to respect human rights on an individual level, and the human right to individuality and eccentricity, or we surrender to the dark and oppressive forces of troglodyte orthodoxy.
Agreed
Pippa, you are correct and I agree with you -but- a goodly part of the rest of the world does not.
What is the point of putting it in their faces? Forcing change? Forcing acceptance? Won't that reinforce stereotypes with more bad images?
I know a local girl who completely and totally passed until she opened her mouth, not because of her voice but the words that came out of it. She got fired for being a disruption in the workplace. She just would not shut up about her transition, everybody in her workplace was fed up with it. I found out about it because her boss is a friend of mine, he knows nothing about my past and was just relating this odd story to me, he really regretted having to let her go because when she worked she was a valuable employee and wanted to know if I knew of anybody to replace her. People want their lives to be nice and simple and tidy, we and our issues can cause them to be challenged and uncomfortable. If you belive you are a girl, be a girl by all means.
Contrary to whatever liberties of freedom of expression you may wish to exercise, the rest of the population does not have to accept you as a furry or as Stu with cleavage.
Ah, but
This case actually disproves your whole argument. Think about it.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Nuh uh!!!!
If you want to be a pioneeers!!! You have mine and Kitty's supports!!!! Kitty says Everyones gender is valids! ^^
I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D
the point
I suppose of this is that here is a person that has stepped outside what might be termed 'normal' to be themselves and is at least in part accepted and even lauded. Is this courage or what? Personally I raise a glass to him and smile at the no doubt multitudinous mishaps with pronouns that will follow. You go girl...oops.
Kristina
I don't get this Mayor...
I don't understand Mayor Rasmussen, or the reasoning behind certain choices he has made, how he defines himself. His desiring to appear female and yet retain his male name and the accompanying pronouns is just about diametrically opposite to my own thinking & feelings about my gender, where being regarded & taken seriously as a female person by those I care about is so important, and the physical aspects, changes in wardrobe or physiology ...... well that stuff would be wonderful, correcting things that I have felt was very wrong for most of my life, but it ain't likely to happen, and it's not quite as much the crux of who I am. So the mayor's way of presenting seems weird to me, unlike either the transsexuals or transvestites I have met here. I mean, "Hi I'm George, do you like my tits?" seems weird...
But BECAUSE I don't understand what's going on, the emotional and cognitive rationale behind it, I am cautious not to make assumptions, to ascribe motives to the Mayor based on my own views, some political model in my head. It would be turning around and doing to someone else what seems so unfair & hurtful when it's done about those like me, my basically t.s. mentality. Maybe the mayor isn't just being some genderfuck smartass but REALLY NEEDS to present in this way, where anything else wouldn't be the truth about him. Like I say I don't get it, but maybe I don't have to, and should just live + let live. Yes it is a messy business, further confusing those who are already full of misconceptions about the transgendered, it sure would be nice if there were just one or 2 easily defined varieties of t.g.; But there's a sh*tload, a whole galaxy of variations, and I'm trying not to judge someone else's just because I don't understand it...
~~~hugs, Laika
"Government will only recognize 2 genders, male + female,
as assigned at birth-" (In his own words:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1lugbpMKDU
Kitty and me say
What's wrong with Gender that bad word you said ing ^^
I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D