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