Women Born Transsexual

From Right Wing Watch:  http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/paul-ryan-still-believes-forcing-rape-victims-give-birth-their-rapists-children

by Josh Glasstetter
Wed, 08/22/2012

In an interview yesterday with Pittsburgh’s KDKA, Paul Ryan took the opportunity to stand behind his record of trying to force rape victims who get pregnant to give birth to their rapists’ children. Ryan, speaking with KDKA political editor Jon Delano, said he would follow the lead of Romney, who supports an exception for rape. But he made it clear that he doesn’t personally support one.

Ryan’s record on reproductive rights is virtually identical to that of Todd “legitimate rape” Akin. Both oppose abortion in the case of rape, and the GOP platform committee yesterday reaffirmed this position on behalf of the entire party.

I do not believe in the male brain/female brain theories that have arisen over the last 30 years in agenda driven research aimed combating feminism and reinforcing patriarchal ideas of male supremacy.

We already have male supremacists using this concept in religious “schools” to channel women into “traditional roles” of baby production and motherhood rather than careers.

As a woman of transsexual history, I do not seek my own validity in concepts that are seriously harmful to all women.

Men are not from Mars, women are not from Venus and most gender differences are cultural social constructs.

The following article is an example of the results the male brain/female brain research is aimed at reinforcing.

From Mother Jones:  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/sex-segregation-schools-aclu

Hundreds of public schools are segregating kids by sex, citing discredited research on learning differences.

By Hannah Levintova
Tue Aug. 21, 2012

At the Van Devender middle school in Wood County, West Virginia, girls and boys learn in separate classrooms. The girls’ rooms are lit with dimmer light than those of the boys. They are also kept at warmer temperatures. Girls must sit still, at shared desks. Boys get individual desks and are allowed to move around, sit on beanbag chairs, even lie on the floor. If girls fidget, they’re sent to the boys’ classroom—where they can’t participate in the lessons, and must instead sit facing the wall. The school motto: “Van Devender Middle School: Where Gender Matters.”

The school claims that its sex-segregated classrooms are a scientifically proven way to boost academic performance. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, not only are they not scientific, they’re illegal. Last week, the organization filed a federalsuit (PDF) against the Van Devender school, alleging that its single-sex classrooms violate Title IX, as well as the 14thAmendment’s equal protection clause. (Not to mention that they diminish the quality of students’ education.)

The case is led by ACLU cooperating attorney Amy Katz, who’s got her own spin on the school’s motto. “[Kids] are getting the message that the single most important thing in this place is whether you’re a boy or a girl,” she says. “I like to say, ‘Van Devender: Where Gender Matters, more than anything else.'” At a court hearing yesterday, the ACLU’s request for a restraining order to prevent the school from splitting sexes when classes start this Thursday was denied—so Van Devender will enter the school year with its single-sex program intact. (The program can still get cut off down the line; the ACLU has another hearing on the case next week.)

The Van Devender suit is one of several that have cropped up against school districts mandating gender-differentiated education. Late last year, the ACLU shut down single-sex ed in the Vermilion Parish school district in Louisiana; it also unsuccessfully sued a sex-segregated school in Kentucky. More cases are likely. Since the Department of Education eased federal restrictions for single-sex programs in 2006, hundreds have materialized around the country. ACLU offices in Alabama, Florida, Maine, Mississippi, Virginia, and West Virginia have sent cease-and-desist letters to school districts, warning them that their single-sex programs may be illegal.

Continue reading at:  http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/sex-segregation-schools-aclu

While Marti Abernanthy and some other trans-activists  seem to think marriage should be put aside as an issue to focus solely on an inclusive ENDA TS and TG folks are still having our lives impacted by marriage inequality and what no appears to be a criminalization of our getting married.

Activism should never be a matter of one issue while ignoring an equally important one.  I learned that lesson years ago when when people failed to complete the work the Civil Rights Movement had started and rushed to focus all their energy on ending the war in Vietnam.

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will have noticed I tend to have article reflecting several issues I am following at any one time.

I’m a bit of a hippie tree hugger as well as an LGBT/T Activist for example.

From Daily Kos:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/21/1122714/-Levi-needs-some-help

by rserven
Aug. 21, 2012

Levi Gammons fell in love.  He had a comfortable life in Florida as a professional counselor with a surfing hobby, but he gave that up to move to Virginia to live with his new bride.  Unfortunately, things didn’t work out so well.  She turned on him.  She decided there was no way she could stay married to a transman.  So she abandoned him.

Not only that, but Levi was arrested in Lynchburg, home of Jerry Falwell and Liberty University, and charged with felony forgery for putting an M on his marriage certificate.  Bear in mind this was a transman who had been on testosterone for a dozen years.

Levi pled nolo contendere in exchange for having a five year sentence suspended to one year, to be spent entirely in solitary confinement in state prison.  He has had no access to the library or any programs that would prepare him for adjustment after his release.  Moreover he is not eligible to participate in any re-entry program because he is transgender.  All half-way houses are single-sex and they will not allow him to live in either s men’s or a women’s facility.  So Levi will be released at the end on September with no home, no money, no job, no local friends and no family (his parents are both deceased and he has no siblings).

He has had some contact with an attorney.  Dru Levasseur of Lambda Legal wrote about that at Chronicles of the Chronically Lost.

If you want to send a letter to Levi, you can do so at

Levi Gammons
LADC
PO Box 6018
Lynchburg, VA 24505

Complete article at:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/21/1122714/-Levi-needs-some-help

From The New York Times:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/opinion/krugman-an-unserious-man.html

By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 19, 2012

Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate led to a wave of pundit accolades. Now, declared writer after writer, we’re going to have a real debate about the nation’s fiscal future. This was predictable: never mind the Tea Party, Mr. Ryan’s true constituency is the commentariat, which years ago decided that he was the Honest, Serious Conservative, whose proposals deserve respect even if you don’t like him.

But he isn’t and they don’t. Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket.

Let’s talk about what’s actually in the Ryan plan, and let’s distinguish in particular between actual, specific policy proposals and unsupported assertions. To focus things a bit more, let’s talk — as most budget discussions do — about what’s supposed to happen over the next 10 years.

On the tax side, Mr. Ryan proposes big cuts in tax rates on top income brackets and corporations. He has tried to dodge the normal process in which tax proposals are “scored” by independent auditors, but the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has done the math, and the revenue loss from these cuts comes to $4.3 trillion over the next decade.

On the spending side, Mr. Ryan proposes huge cuts in Medicaid, turning it over to the states while sharply reducing funding relative to projections under current policy. That saves around $800 billion. He proposes similar harsh cuts in food stamps, saving a further $130 billion or so, plus a grab-bag of other cuts, such as reduced aid to college students. Let’s be generous and say that all these cuts would save $1 trillion.

Continue reading at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/20/opinion/krugman-an-unserious-man.html

From Truth Out:  http://truth-out.org/news/item/11014-monsanto-dupont-spend-millions-to-defeat-california-genetically-engineered-food-labeling-initiative

By Mike Ludwig,
Tuesday, 21 August 2012

With biotech giant Monsanto leading the way, big agribusiness firms and food manufacturers have vastly outspent organic food and alternative health firms in an effort to defeat California’s Proposition 37 ballot initiative that would require special labels on foods made with genetically engineered (GE) organisms.

Monsanto’s contribution of $4.2 million to the No on 37 campaign is more than double the $2 million that the supporters of Proposition 37 have raised in total so far. In all, big agriculture firms, food manufacturers and pro-biotech industry groups have raised $25 million to defeat Proposition 37, according to the nonpartisan group Voter’s Edge California.

Chemical giant Dupont, which ranks second to Monsanto in worldwide GE seed sales, has contributed $4 million to defeat the labeling proposition. Pepsico, Coca-Cola, Nestle and the chemical and GE seed manufacturers Bayer and BASF have all contributed $1 million or more.

“These are the same companies that told us that DDT and agent orange are safe,” said Stacy Malkan, spokesperson for the Yes on 37 For Your Right to Know if Your Food Has Been Genetically Engineered campaign committee.

The big food and agriculture companies are squaring off against organic food and health firms such as Nature’s Path ($250,000), Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps ($290,000) and Organic Valley ($50,000). Mercola.com, an alternative health resource web site, tops the list with $800,000 in contributions to the Yes on 37 campaign.

Continue reading at:  http://truth-out.org/news/item/11014-monsanto-dupont-spend-millions-to-defeat-california-genetically-engineered-food-labeling-initiative

From Raw Story:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/20/rep-speier-akins-rape-views-consistent-with-vast-majority-of-republicans/

By Kay Steiger
Monday, August 20, 2012

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) reacted to Rep. Todd Akin’s remarks that “legitimate rape” was unlikely to result in pregnancy, saying on Monday that she felt Akin’s point of view was “consistent” with that of other House Republicans, including vice presidential candidate Rep Paul Ryan (R-WI).

When reached by phone to see what she thought of some Republicans, including Republican Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, even calling for Akin to resign as Missouri Republican Senate candidate, Speier said, “I think that the Republican reaction is all about self-preservation.”

“I believe many of them are of the same mind as Mr. Akin. They believe there are virtually no circumstances under which an abortion is appropriate,” she said in an exclusive interview with Raw Story. “It’s only when we flog them with the reality of horrendous crimes committed against women that that deserves to be promoted as an ideal. No woman should have to endure a pregnancy when she’s a rape victim.”

“The fact that Mr. Akin said that there are doctors out there that have articulated their views that somehow a women’s body will react in such a way that it will ‘self abort’ I guess is consistent with the vast majority of Republicans,” Speier said. “If they were in charge of the executive and legislative branches, a woman’s right to choose would be the very first proposal that would be put before the Congress to overturn.”

Continue reading at:  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/20/rep-speier-akins-rape-views-consistent-with-vast-majority-of-republicans/

For collaborating evidence to back up what Democratic Rep. Speir says see:

Missouri Republican official: ‘God chose to bless’ women with pregnancies from rape

From Slate:  http://www.slate.com/blogs/spitzer/2012/08/20/_legitimate_rape_and_todd_akin_the_anti_science_know_nothingism_undermining_the_republican_party_.html

By Eliot Spitzer
Aug. 20, 2012

From RH Reality Check:  http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/08/21/as-romney-and-ryan-dissemble-rnc-prepares-deeply-anti-choice-platform-promoting-0

by Jodi Jacobson, Editor in Chief, RH Reality Check
August 21, 2012

As of today, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan may find themselves in a wee bit of a bind.

For the past two days, the pair have been running around trying to assure the press and ultimately women voters that they really do believe in “real rape,” not just “legitimate rape,” that they are not as misogynistic as Missouri Rep. Todd Akin, and that, of course, a Romney-Ryan Administration would never eliminate rape and incest exceptions for abortion.

And, now it appears that, all the while, the people really in charge of the GOP—fundamentalist anti-choicers among them—have been writing a party platform that not only makes all of that a lie, but is in effect a promise to make the personhood of fertilized eggs the law of the land.

The draft official platform strongly supports a “a human life amendment” to the Constitution:

“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed,” the draft platform declares. “We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.”

Let’s be very, very clear that such an amendment—which Mitt Romney has said unequivocally he would sign—would not only criminalize abortions of any kind for any reason, but also would outlaw many forms of contraception, in-vitro fertilization, and treatment of pregnant women with life-threatening conditions such as cancer. Moreover, it would also criminalize miscarriage.

Continue reading at:  http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/article/2012/08/21/as-romney-and-ryan-dissemble-rnc-prepares-deeply-anti-choice-platform-promoting-0

From Right Wing Watch:  http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/todd-akin-receives-support-phyllis-schlafly-who-denies-existence-marital-rape

by Brian Tashman
on Tue, 08/21/2012

Eagle Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly is joining her Religious Right allies at the Family Research Council and the American Family Association in defending Todd Akin over his “legitimate rape” claims:

Republican party leaders may be working to push Rep. Todd Akin out of the Missouri Senate race, but leading social conservatives continue to rally to his side. Fellow Missourian Phyllis Schlafly said late Monday that Akin should remain in the race and compared his treatment by party leaders to former Va. Sen. George Allen, who lost support in his 2006 race for reelection after calling a young aide to his opponent “macaca.”

“He’s not for rape. That’s ridiculous,” said Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum. “They’re making a big thing about an unfortunate remark.”

“You saw what they did to George Allen in Virginia, which I thought was a shame,” she said of party leaders urging Akin to leave his race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill. “I don’t think people like that should make the decision. The people of Missouri should make that decision.”

Schlafly backed Akin early on in the race and her endorsement is prominently displayed on Akin’s website, but he may consider finding other defenders since Schlafly herself refuses to recognize the existence of marital rape: “By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape,” Schlafly said back in 2007. In fact, she doubled down on those remarks in an interview the year later:

Continue reading at:  http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/todd-akin-receives-support-phyllis-schlafly-who-denies-existence-marital-rape

From Mother Jones:  http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/rep-todd-akin-wrong-not-alone

By Kate Sheppard
Sun Aug. 19, 2012

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) opened up a can of controversy on Sunday when he claimed that women who are the victims of “legitimate rape” are unlikely to become pregnant. (Akin was defending his belief that abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape and incest.) Then Akin, who is running against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill for Senate, issued the obligatory statement saying he simply misspoke and really feels very deeply for women who are raped.

But here’s the thing: Akin didn’t make this idea up. That women can’t get pregnant when they’re raped is a thing that some people actually believe. I stumbled across this several months ago while researching another story. It turns out to be an idea held and repeated by individuals who oppose abortion in any circumstance.

Read for yourself. John C. Willke, an anti-abortion doctor, writes on the website Christian Life Resources about how pregnancies resulting from rape are “extremely rare” because of hormones and stuff:

Finally, factor in what is certainly one of the most important reasons why a rape victim rarely gets pregnant, and that’s physical trauma. Every woman is aware that stress and emotional factors can alter her menstrual cycle. To get and stay pregnant a woman’s body must produce a very sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the brain that is easily influenced by emotions. There’s no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation and even nurturing of a pregnancy.

An abbreviated version of his column also appears on the Physicians for Life website. This website, purportedly created to help “troubled teens,” also makes similar claims:

Continue reading at:  http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/08/rep-todd-akin-wrong-not-alone

This Nazi mentality is what you endorse when you support any Republican Candidate or even vote for a Republican for dog catcher.

From Talking Points Memo:  http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/steve-king-statutory-rape.php

Evan McMorris-Santoro
August 21, 2012

Rep. Steve King, one of the most staunchly conservative members of the House, was one of the few Republicans who did not strongly condemn Rep. Todd Akin Monday for his remarks regarding pregnancy and rape. King also signaled why — he might agree with parts of Akin’s assertion.

King told an Iowa reporter he’s never heard of a child getting pregnant from statutory rape or incest.

“Well I just haven’t heard of that being a circumstance that’s been brought to me in any personal way,” King told KMEG-TV Monday, “and I’d be open to discussion about that subject matter.”

A Democratic source flagged King’s praise of Akin in the KMEG interview to TPM. But potentially more controversial for King is his suggestion that pregnancies from statutory rape or incest don’t exist or happen rarely. A 1996 review by the Guttmacher Institute found “at least half of all babies born to minor women are fathered by adult men.”

The tie between statutory rape and teen pregnancy has been the subject of ad campaigns from groups like United Way.

Continue reading at:  http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/steve-king-statutory-rape.php