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Being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Asexual and Christian An Affirming Talk and Question and Answer Session with Pastor Maggie Gillespie

bisexual-community:

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Are you Christian and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Asexual, Allied or Questioning? Do you have religious questions or concerns?

This Saturday, May 11th 2013 at 2 PM the Bloomsburg Danville Berwick PA LGBTA Community invites you to join them at Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church located on East Main and Iron Street in Bloomsburg PA for an Affirming Talk and Question and Answer Session with Pastor Maggie Gillespie.  Dr. Gillespie is currently the Protestant Campus Ministry at Bloomsburg University.  Refreshments will be served.

Can’t make it to this event? Please join our Facebook Page: Bloomsburg/Danville/Berwick PA LGBTA Community, a group for LGBTA people in the greater Bloomsburg PA Area to connect,network and support each other.

Our group is for ALL people in the area who otherwise do not have access to support and fellowship so all local residents can receive such as well as students and alumni of various universities. Together, community, students and alumni we can improve all our lives.

Heated debate follows Michigan Fest boycott petition

projectqueer:

The official stance of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival indicates that the Festival is open only to cisgender women and that transgender women are not officially allowed on the grounds as volunteers or attendees. This is in accordance with a long-standing policy of exclusion that founder and producer Lisa Vogel confirmed as recently as 2006.

Although in the past some of the staff has “looked the other way,” the policy against trans women that is in place has cultivated a climate of transphobia at the Festival. This situation is unwelcoming and unsafe for transgender women and has become a divisive influence on feminist communities, both at Fest and around the US. The reality is that Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival is not safe for any women until it is welcoming for all women.

Click the header link to read the full article and sign the petition.

and always remember MichFest is none to fond of bisexual women either

artoftransliness: truthisweirder: From the designer: My Facebook and G+ newsfeeds have been filled with pink and red lately, so it seemed important to point out to the queer and allied in my life that Human Rights Campaign actually has a track record of promoting some rights at the expense of others. Being a fairly rough-and-tumble sort of cisgender queer man, I waded in. It’s frankly unconscionable; transgender rights are integral to queer liberation, and moreover transfolks are our sisters and brothers, have shed the same blood, sweat, and tears in horrifying numbers for the same goals. The fact that names like Virginia Prince and Sylvia Rae Rivera aren’t as prominent in our histories as Harvey Milk says, I think, all it needs to about the need for some pink and purple soul-searching. Go forth and introspect. Visually, too, I think the HRC equality logo leaves a bit to be desired, but I made minimal changes. The colors are based on the transgender pride flag designed by Monica Helms in 1999, the most widely used of several designs and to my eye, the most pleasing. Considering that HRC seems to be continuing to give lip service to trans folks while throwing them under the bus, this is important and timely. People need to know that the most visible LGBT “equality” organization out there continues to only fight for gay and lesbian equality at the expense of everyone else.Trans allies, please repost. (And don’t give money to HRC.) We’re big supporters of same-sex marriage (as one issue among several other major ones facing queer people these days), but also really disappointed in the Human Rights Campaign for their multiple screw-ups when it comes to trans* issues. All of this is something to think about as, on Facebook anyway, support for same-sex marriage has become synonymous with support for the HRC. You can absolutely support same-sex marriage without supporting the HRC, and there are plenty of other organizations out there who are doing great work for the LGBTQ communities in regard to marriage equality as well as queer homelessness, job discrimination, and anti-bullying that are not throwing trans* people under the bus (GLAAD is an excellent example of one such organization!) 
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artoftransliness:

truthisweirder:

From the designer:

My Facebook and G+ newsfeeds have been filled with pink and red lately, so it seemed important to point out to the queer and allied in my life that Human Rights Campaign actually has a track record of promoting some rights at the expense of others. Being a fairly rough-and-tumble sort of cisgender queer man, I waded in.

It’s frankly unconscionable; transgender rights are integral to queer liberation, and moreover transfolks are our sisters and brothers, have shed the same blood, sweat, and tears in horrifying numbers for the same goals. The fact that names like Virginia Prince and Sylvia Rae Rivera aren’t as prominent in our histories as Harvey Milk says, I think, all it needs to about the need for some pink and purple soul-searching. Go forth and introspect.

Visually, too, I think the HRC equality logo leaves a bit to be desired, but I made minimal changes. The colors are based on the transgender pride flag designed by Monica Helms in 1999, the most widely used of several designs and to my eye, the most pleasing.

Considering that HRC seems to be continuing to give lip service to trans folks while throwing them under the bus, this is important and timely.

People need to know that the most visible LGBT “equality” organization out there continues to only fight for gay and lesbian equality at the expense of everyone else.

Trans allies, please repost. (And don’t give money to HRC.)

We’re big supporters of same-sex marriage (as one issue among several other major ones facing queer people these days), but also really disappointed in the Human Rights Campaign for their multiple screw-ups when it comes to trans* issues. All of this is something to think about as, on Facebook anyway, support for same-sex marriage has become synonymous with support for the HRC. You can absolutely support same-sex marriage without supporting the HRC, and there are plenty of other organizations out there who are doing great work for the LGBTQ communities in regard to marriage equality as well as queer homelessness, job discrimination, and anti-bullying that are not throwing trans* people under the bus (GLAAD is an excellent example of one such organization!) 

Three reasons I continue to be suspicious of queer theory...

the-nonbinary-bisexual:

angrybisexual:

the-nonbinary-bisexual:

1) Queer theorists frequently use far more words than they need to. Judith Butler is probably the most well-known example of this, but there are many, many others. It means that what good ideas exist require sifting through ludicrous amounts of waffle to extract them, and it leaves the text as a whole much more prone to misinterpretation. The way I see it, if you have solid ideas, you should be using fewer words (thus communicating them to a wider audience), not more.

2) Many queer theorists seem to think nothing of talking over queer minorities that they have privilege over and/or appropriating or co-opting queer experiences that don’t belong to them. A good example of the former would be [Ed Note: Trans-Bi Activist] Julia Serano, a binary trans woman who continually talks about how ‘subversive’ queer identities (primarily referring to non-binary identities) are privileged over ‘conservative’ queer identities, which is plainly false.

3) A lot of them can talk up a storm, but don’t really follow through with it. It’s all well and good saying that gender =/= genitalia, for instance, yet many don’t take the effort to deconstruct language further, and thus continue to (intentionally or otherwise) conflate maleness and femaleness with specific types of body.

I mean, there are some very solid ideas in quite a few texts on the subject, but a heck of a lot of the time there’s a ton of problematic BS to deal with too, and sometimes it just isn’t worth trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I can’t remember Serano ever talking about ‘subversive’ queer identities as a privilege, specifically. She talks about how they can police other, presumably more conventional, identities (some examples she recently talked about were about butches, femmes, binary trans* people, and bisexuals)—I always read “subversivism” as radical feminist criticisms of trans* people, MTFs in particular, and, more recently, gay and pansexual criticisms of bisexuals (using a “queerer than thou” lens). Here’s her website definition of the term:

[subversivism is] sexism that is rooted in the presumption that genders and sexualities that are deemed subversive, radical, or transgressive are inherently superior to those that are more conventional. While this form of sexism is not prevalent in mainstream culture, it does proliferate in queer, feminist and radical circles. 

http://www.juliaserano.com/whippinggirl.html

Judging by this definition, I doubt that Serano would call “subversive” identities privileged. One problem I do have with her writings is, for example, in how she rarely refers to nonbinary people (most blatantly in her recent blog posts on her defense of the word bisexual, since I believe that one legitimate criticism many have of that word is in the way that it is used by the general society to refer only to attraction to people who fall into the male/female binary). However, I really would like to know if she really does consider nonbinary trans* people to be more privileged than binary trans* people. 

According to the definition you provided she does seem to think nonbinary trans* people are privileged, that is, privileged in the specific context of queer, feminist and radical circles.

I read another excerpt from “Whipping Girl” where she explains her position further; she seems to be positing that subversivism inqueer spaces contributes to femmephobia and the privileging of cis women and FTMs over MTFs (since masculinity is viewed as transgressive while femininity is viewed as safe) in addition to privileging people who don’t transition from a “transgressive” queer identity into a conservative, “straight-passing” one. Namely, she views subversivism as a sexist ideology that privileges certain groups of people over others, but doesn’t argue that ‘subversive’ queers are privileged, period.  However, while I do think she is on point in her criticisms of queer “safe spaces” that alienate many trans* people, and MTFs in particular, I wish her writing was more nuanced and more recognizing of the struggles of people who don’t fit the gender binary. 

(Source: 9001twistedstrings)

bimagazine: Bisexual Activists Reflect on Transgender Day of Remembrance 2012 Transgender Day Of Remembrance (TDoR), observed every year on November 20th, is a time to memorialize all those trans and gender non-conforming people who have been killed or suffered violence as a result of transphobia. Bisexual Activists Randall Ellison of Champaign IL and  Marisa Thomas of Orange County CA share their thoughts and feelings on the day of 2012 TDoR; and Martin Rawlings-Fein of San Fransisco CA shares his thoughts and message of hope, and brings us a TDoR Prayer by Rabbi Reuben Zellman: “God full of mercy, bless the souls of all who are in our hearts on this Transgender Day of Remembrance. We call to mind today young and old, of every race, faith, and gender experience, who have died by violence. We remember those who have died because they would not hide, or did not pass, or did pass, or stood too proud. Today we name them: the reluctant activist; the fiery hurler of heels; the warrior for quiet truth; the one whom no one really knew. As many as we can name, there are thousands more whom we cannot, and for whom no Kaddish may have been said. We mourn their senseless deaths, and give thanks for their lives, for their teaching, and for the brief glow of each holy flame. We pray for the strength to carry on their legacy of vision, bravery, and love. And as we remember them, we remember with them the thousands more who have taken their own lives. We pray for resolve to root out the injustice, ignorance, and cruelty that grow despair. And we pray, God, that all those who perpetrate hate and violence will speedily come to understand that Your creation has many faces, many genders, many holy expressions. Blessed are they, who have allowed their divine image to shine in the world. Blessed is God, in Whom no light is extinguished.” (via Bi Magazine)
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bimagazine:

Bisexual Activists Reflect on Transgender Day of Remembrance 2012

Transgender Day Of Remembrance (TDoR), observed every year on November 20th, is a time to memorialize all those trans and gender non-conforming people who have been killed or suffered violence as a result of transphobia.

Bisexual Activists Randall Ellison of Champaign IL and  Marisa Thomas of Orange County CA share their thoughts and feelings on the day of 2012 TDoR; and Martin Rawlings-Fein of San Fransisco CA shares his thoughts and message of hope, and brings us a TDoR Prayer by Rabbi Reuben Zellman:

“God full of mercy, bless the souls of all who are in our hearts on this Transgender Day of Remembrance. We call to mind today young and old, of every race, faith, and gender experience, who have died by violence. We remember those who have died because they would not hide, or did not pass, or did pass, or stood too proud. Today we name them: the reluctant activist; the fiery hurler of heels; the warrior for quiet truth; the one whom no one really knew.

As many as we can name, there are thousands more whom we cannot, and for whom no Kaddish may have been said. We mourn their senseless deaths, and give thanks for their lives, for their teaching, and for the brief glow of each holy flame. We pray for the strength to carry on their legacy of vision, bravery, and love.

And as we remember them, we remember with them the thousands more who have taken their own lives. We pray for resolve to root out the injustice, ignorance, and cruelty that grow despair. And we pray, God, that all those who perpetrate hate and violence will speedily come to understand that Your creation has many faces, many genders, many holy expressions.

Blessed are they, who have allowed their divine image to shine in the world.
Blessed is God, in Whom no light is extinguished.”

(via Bi Magazine)

I sometimes feel that these alternative labels function like code words in queer women’s communities, as if to say, “I am sexual with everyone *except* cisgender men.” While people are certainly free to choose not to partner with cisgender men, I am disturbed by the binary that seems to be developing here, one in which panssexual/polysexual/etc.-identified women are supposedly subversive and queer because they refuse to sleep with cisgender men, whereas bisexual-identified women are supposedly conservative and straight-minded because they do sometimes partner with cisgender men. And it seems to me that the bisexual-reinforces-the-binary trope exacerbates this binary, which is probably why this accusation has become so prevalent in queer women’s communities.

Julia Serano in her latest blog entry

DEAR GOD THIS SO HARD. Pan as code for “I sleep with everyone but cis men! Look how queer I am! LOVE ME MOAR!! Those bi’s are traitors and not queer enough ewwwwwww”

(via nooffswitch)

[USA]: LGBTQ+ Vote Proved a Boon for Obama

… the backing Mr. Obama received from gay [Ed Note: and lesbian and bisexual and trans* and queer/questioning et. al.] voters also has a claim on having been decisive. Mitt Romney and Mr. Obama won roughly an equal number of votes among straight voters nationwide, exit polls showed. And, a new study argues, Mr. Romney appears to have won a narrow victory among straight voters in the swing states of Ohio and Florida.

Mr. Obama’s more than three-to-one edge in exit polls among the 5 percent of voters who identified as gay, lesbian or bisexual [Ed Note: and trans* and queer/questioning et. al.] was more than enough to give him the ultimate advantage, according to the study, by Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, in conjunction with Gallup …

“In the younger population, there is a much wider range in the geography and ethnicity of those who are identifying as LGBT,” Dr. Gates said, using a common term for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. That range now extends well beyond major cities and into multiple swing states …

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