Transgender student elected Homecoming King

Very cool story about a transgender student elected Homecoming King at Pasadena City College...

Fighting for the throne
Transgender student elected
By Caroline An, Staff Writer

Video: King for a day

PASADENA - For Andrew Gomez, the month of November was one of firsts. First, he broke the news to his mother that he was transitioning from a female to a male. Then the 24-year-old transgender student was elected Homecoming King at Pasadena City College.

Neither event came easily, but the second milestone nearly did not happen. PCC's homecoming committee initially ruled Gomez ineligible because of his pierced ear.

But after students complained, lodging charges of discrimination, the committee relented and reversed its decision. Gomez said his election earlier this month as Homecoming King surprised him, even though he initially ran hoping to become a source of inspiration for other gay, lesbian and transgender students.

"I wanted them to feel like they could do something like this, instead of having them feel, `I am not straight so I can't do this,"' Gomez said.

As child, Gomez was a tomboy, he said, always piling his long hair into a baseball cap. "My mom would get really mad when I did that," he said.

Two years ago, he cut his hair short.

But Gomez is still in a transitional period. He hopes to have surgery, but acknowledges it will not happen for some time. There are still specialists to see, male hormones to be prescribed and a myriad of other changes before Gomez's transformation can be complete.

For now, he has taken simpler steps. Gomez binds himself, although "it is unnecessary, since I am nearly flat-chested," he said.

"He is a low-key person," said Sue Talbot, advisor to the United Rainbow Alliance, a PCC support and advocacy group for gays, lesbians and transgender people.

Of the latter group, Brian Kraemer, who heads Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, a support group not affiliated with PCC, said he has seen more transgender individuals and their families attending the group's meetings.

Gomez, a creative-writing major, said getting his family to accept his decision has been difficult. Last summer, he posted a message on his Facebook page declaring his intention to become a man. Yet it was only earlier this month that he actually revealed it to his mother.

To his surprise, she had already suspected; she was mostly angry with him for not telling her earlier. She continues to struggle with Gomez's decision.

"I was prepared to pack my bags, because I wasn't going to stay there if she wasn't going to support me," Gomez said. "It is going to take a long time for her to use the male pronoun."

Although he originally enrolled at PCC under his birth name, this semester Gomez began asking professors and fellow students to call him by Andrew. The fact that most people now do so makes him grateful, Gomez said.

After he posted the message on his Facebook page, several friends messaged back within minutes with words of support.

"It was just amazing," said Gomez.

Frank Kameny writes Tom Brokaw

I had the opportunity to have a private dinner with Frank Kameny when he was in Michigan a couple of years ago for our film festival. He is an amazing and truly inspirational person and I always love to see what he has to say...

Check out this letter he wrote to Tom Brokaw regarding the "Voices of the Sixties" book recently published by Mr. Brokaw. Essentially...Tom Brokaw got told...

November 26, 2007
Mr. Tom Brokaw
c/o Random House Publishing Group

Ms. Gina Centrello
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group

Ms. Kate Medina
Executive Editorial Director
Random House Publishing Group
1745 Broadway
New York , New York , 10019


Dear Mr. Brokaw and Mmes. Centrello and Medina:

As a long-time gay activist, who initiated gay activism and militancy at the very start of "your" Sixties, in 1961; coined the slogan "Gay is Good" in 1968; and is viewed by many as one of the "Founding Fathers" of the Gay Movement, I write with no little indignation at the total absence of any slightest allusion to the gay movement for civil equality in your book “Boom! Voices of the Sixties". Your book simply deletes the momentous events of that decade which led to the vastly altered and improved status of gays in our culture today. This change would have been inconceivable at the start of the Sixties and would not have occurred at all without the events of that decade totally and utterly ignored by you. Mr. Brokaw, you have "de-gayed" the entire decade. "Voices of the Sixties"??? One does not hear even one single gay voice in your book. The silence is complete and deafening.

As a gay combat veteran of World War II, and therefore a member of the "Greatest Generation", I find myself and my fellow gays as absent from your narration as if we did not and do not exist. We find Boom! Boom!! Boom!!! in your book about all the multitudinous issues and the vast cultural changes of that era. But not a single "Boom", only dead silence, about gays, homosexuality, and the Gay Movement.

The development of every other possible, conceivable issue and cause which came to the forefront in that period is at least mentioned, and is usually catalogued: race; sex and gender; enthnicity; the environment; and others, on and on and on -- except only gays.

In 1965, we commenced bringing gays and our issues "out of the closet" with our then-daring picketing demonstrations at the White House and other government sites, and our annual 4th of July demonstrations at Independence Hall in Philadelphia . The Smithsonian Institution displayed these original pickets last month, in the same exhibition as the desk where Thomas Jefferson drafted The Declaration of Independence. The name of the Smithsonian's exhibition? “Treasures of American History”. In your book: No Boom; only silence.

About 1963, a decade-long effort commenced to reverse the psychiatric categorization of gays as mentally or emotionally ill, concluding in 1973 with a mass "cure" of all of us by the American Psychiatric Association. No boom in your book; only your silence.

The most momentous single Gay Movement event occurred at the end of June, 1969, when the "Stonewall Rebellion" in New York , almost overnight (actually it took three days) converted what had been a tiny, struggling gay movement into the vast grass-roots movement which it now is. We had five or six gay organizations in the entire country in 1961; fifty to sixty in 1969; by the time of the first Gay Pride march, in New York one year later in 1970, we had 1500, and 2500 by 1971 when counting stopped. If ever there was Boom, this was it. In your book, no Boom, only your silence.

About 1972, Elaine Noble was elected to the Massachusetts state House of Representatives as the first elected openly gay public official. I had run here in Washington , DC , the previous year for election to Congress as the first openly gay candidate for any federal office. Harvey Milk was elected to the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco . No boom in your book; only your silence.

Mr. Brokaw, you deal with the histories of countless individuals. Where are the gays of that era: Barbara Gittings; Jack Nichols; Harry Hay; Del Martin and Phyllis Lyons; Randolfe Wicker; Harvey Milk; numerous others? No booms in your book; only silence and heterosexuals.

Starting in 1961 a long line of court cases attacked the long-standing U.S. Civil Service Gay Ban (fully as absolute and as virulent as the current Military Gay ban, which actually goes back some 70 years and was also fought in the 60s) with final success in 1975 when the ban on employment of gays by the federal government was rescinded. In your book, no boom; only your silence.

The assault on the anti-sodomy laws, which made at least technical criminals of all gays (and most non-gays for that matter, although never used against them) and which was the excuse for an on-going terror campaign against the gay community through arrests the country over, began in 1961 and proceeded through the 60s and onward. In your book, no boom; only your silence.

In 1972, following up on Stonewall, the first anti-discrimination law protective of gays was enacted in East Lansing, Michigan, followed by the much more comprehensive one in D.C. in 1973, starting a trend which now encompasses some twenty states, countless counties and cities, and has now reached Congress in ENDA. In your book, no boom; only your silence.

The Sixties were a period of unprecedented rapid social and cultural upheaval and change. We gays were very much a part of all that. A reader of your book would never have the slightest notion of any of that. In your book, no boom; only your silence.

At the start of the Sixties gays were completely invisible. By the end, and especially after Stonewall, we were seen everywhere: in entertainment, education, religion, politics, business, elsewhere and everywhere. In BOOM our invisibility remains total.

The only allusions to us, in your entire book are the most shallow, superficial, brief references in connection with sundry heterosexuals. Where are the gay spokespeople? We are certainly there to speak for ourselves. But in your book, only silence.

Mr. Brokaw, I could go on, but this should be sufficient to make my point. The whole thing is deeply insulting. As I said, you have de-gayed an entire generation. For shame, for shame, for shame. You owe an abject public apology to the entire gay community. I demand it; we expect it.

Gay is Good. You are not.

Sincerely,
Franklin E. Kameny, Ph.D.

I ought to sue!

I was looking over my pay stub and realized that I'm putting more into my social security than I am into my actual retirement account. Thanks to our Director of Development's campaigning - I'm putting a nice amount into my retirement account (especially for my age)...but Uncle Sam seems to think I should be setting aside more. I happen to agree...but I'm a little annoyed with him all the same.

I'm going to assume that you're aware of the Social Security problems that exist in our country right now. If you're not...uhm....I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you this...you might want to sit down if you're not already...but our Social Security program is falling apart.

Bush attempted to fix (or in my opinion further break) the program after the 2004 election. However, enough people realized his idea was very bad and decided against it. This was a wise decision, the made decision is what they did next...nothing.

So here's how I see it... As it stands right now, there's a reasonable chance that I will not see all, or perhaps any, of the money I am investing in Social Security now...let alone see any interest that would otherwise be earned off this money. Hopefully that won't be the case...but if the current trend of "leave this problem for the next Congress to fix" continues...well...I might be investing a lot of money into my parents retirement but not mine.

Despite what you might be thinking right now - I'm actually a big supporter of Social Security. We don't save nearly enough for our retirement and at my age, I'm in a very small minority of people saving at all. My issue is with the management of the program - they're doing a horrible job. I don't care how you look at it - if I'm putting X into a retirement program and will likely get less than X back when I go to access it decades from now...there's a problem.

The government is essentially acting as a retirement investment agency. Now if the company that I have my retirement account with did to me what the government is doing to me - I'd not only have every right to sue...I very likely would sue. So by this logic...shouldn't I be able to sue the Federal Government for mismanagement of my Social Security investment? I think I have a pretty good case actually. I have yet to hear a good argument that convinces me what they're doing isn't the equivalent of investor fraud...but...in all fairness...I'm not a lawyer or an investment expert.

Now after saying all of that...I should confess that I have no real intention of suing....but I ought to.......

Social justice minded holiday shopping

Today is Black Friday - one of the busiest days of the holiday shopping season.

I'm sure at some point I'll share my own thoughts on holiday shopping...but until then I wanted make you aware of some social justice friendly gift giving options.

Many exist, and Google searching is a nice way to find them, but here are a few that people have shared with me that I found particularly interesting...

• TOMS Shoes - for every stylish pair of shoes you buy a similar pair of shoes is donated to a child in Africa - btw, I wear 11.5 and like this design in case you're looking for gift ideas... =-)
• (PRODUCT)RED - a percentage of the income from these items goes to The Global Fund which helps women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa - included in the items are stylish clothes, cell phones and even iPods (for those of you not yet won over by the Zune)
• Clothing of the American Mind - A portion of all funds collected from their clothing sales are donated directly to progressive causes and candidates fighting for issues of social and political justice
• Syracuse Cultural Workers - They create and publish visual materials, like calendars, posters, and cards, that are feminist, lesbian/gay allied, racially inclusive, and honor elders and children

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Tomorrow is Transgender Day of Remembrance - a day we set aside each year to remember the victims of anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. With the recent ENDA situation and passing of Ian Guarr - I can't help but feel like this year's events are particularly important.


I hope that you will join me in honoring and remembering those that we've lost and those that have been affected by the hostility brought against the transgender community. It is truly sad that there are still people out there who are unable to love people for who they really are and not for who they think they should be.


Check out these web sites for more information...

• http://www.gender.org/remember/day/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_Day_of_Remembrance
• http://www.transgenderdetroit.org/
• http://www.transgendermichigan.org/

Giving to Ruth Ellis Center this holiday season

Looking for an alternative to giving to organizations like the Salvation Army - who are not always seen as exactly being GLBT friendly? Look no further than right here in Michigan where the Ruth Ellis Center has created their holiday wish list to help GLBT youth they are working with in Detroit.

Here is this season's wish list:

• Any meats and side dishes
• All canned goods & drinks
• Plastic wear, paper plates, paper towel, cups, napkins
• Toiletry Items (toilet paper, toilet cleaner, facial tissue)
• Laundry soap, dryer sheets, bleach
• New t-shirts, socks, boxers, underwear
• Scarves, hats, mittens
• Twin sheet sets & comforters
• Toiletry items(razors, shampoo, soap, conditioner, body wash)
• Feminine hygiene supplies
• Household cleaners
• Board & card games
• Any art or school supplies
• Copy paper, black pens, manila & hanging folders, staples, tape
• Other office supplies
• Educational books including: Getting Unstuck
• Educational DVDs including: Cookie Project, Butch Mystique

Ruth Ellis Center
77 Victor St.
Highland Park, MI 48203
313.252.1950
Fax-313.865.3372
info@ruthelliscenter.com

A few thoughts on GLBT teen suicide

This past week our community experienced a terrible loss. On the morning of Monday, October 29th, 16 year old Ian Benson (also known as Ian Guarr and Meghan Guarr) took his own life.

Ian's Mom, Amy Guarr, was a co-founder of TransYouth Family Advocates (TYFA), an organization I have become increasingly familiar with over the past several months. In fact they recently signed on as a national supporter of Camping.OUT 2008.

From what I can tell Ian's family, and especially his Mom, did everything right. Their family are close friends of Colette Beighley, our West Michigan Field Organizer, and her family. Through Colette and my interactions with TYFA, I have gotten to know more about Ian and his family.

I've struggled a lot with this experience and haven't been totally sure what I wanted to say. I really wanted to try and be uplifting - if that's at all possible - but I don't think that I can when it comes to this. I see a lot of frightening statistics on GLBT suicides. For instance, GLBT youth are 3-4 times more likely to attempt suicide. I've been told that a GLBT teen dies once every hour in the US of suicide. When it comes to transgender youth, 50% seriously consider suicide at some point. I can't dance around or sugar coat the situation that is before us.

This is a topic that we often don't talk about for a variety of reasons. The loss of a child is a particularly hard thing to deal with. While we often talk about it abstractly with statistics and studies, we often feel uncomfortable talking about specific situations. In the past when I have heard people talk about it, they usually try to find some factor that led to the suicide. The reasons range from bad parents, harsh church leaders, side effects from drugs and bullying. While all of those things are true, we often skip over a reason that, I believe, is a much larger problem and cause of GLBT teen suicide - the climate our society has created.

It's hard to blame an entire society for the passing of a child. We can't pass the blame to people like parents, companies or extremist religious leaders. This is something that we all must share.

Now don't get me wrong, do I think you or I are directly responsible for these suicides? No. But we must accept that we are members of a society which is not embracing and accepting these young people for the amazing and beautiful people that they are.

I take comfort in knowing that I'm doing many things to try and make this society a safer place for these young people. But, I don't want to pat myself on the back too much or forget that it is people like Ian that I am doing this work for.

We all owe it to ourselves, to our children and to Ian and his family to contribute what we can, however large or small, towards making the society we are a part of better for those around us. I hope that instead of reading about Ian, mourning his loss and then moving on - you will take a moment and consider what you are doing, or might be able to do, to help. Maybe you'll decide that you're doing enough and this will serve as a reminder of why you're doing it. Or perhaps you'll realize that you could be doing more. Whatever conclusion you come to - I hope that you will recognize that ultimately there is no them - there is only us...and we have a long way to go.

On a personal note, to Ian's family and friends - I am so very sorry for your loss. You will remain in my thoughts and prayers. To Ian - I am sorry that we were not able to fix our society fast enough to help and I hope you know how much you are loved and will be missed. There are a lot of us who will never forget you.


If you are, or you know, a young person thinking of suicide, please know that you are not alone and help is available. Contact The Trevor Project immediately at 1-888-488-7386 or visit www.thetrevorproject.org for help and more information.

The Struggles of Homeless Trans Youth

Great article...

The Struggles of Homeless Trans Youth
by Charlsie Dewey
2007-10-31

Homeless LGBT youth face increased difficulties compared to their heterosexual counterparts both on the streets and within the shelter system, according to a study the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force report, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness,” which was released in January 2007.

According to the report, LGBT homeless youth are more vulnerable to mental health issues, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior and victimization. The report states, “A study of homeless youth in Canada found that those who identify as LGBT were three times as likely to participate in survival sex than their heterosexual peers,” and The National Runaway Switchboard reported, “LGBT homeless youth are seven times more likely than their heterosexual peers to be victims of crime.”

Shelter systems do not ease many of these risks for LGBT teens. “The majority of
existing shelters and other care systems are not providing safe and effective services to LGBT homeless youth,” the report states.

For trans youth the barriers increase. “Transgender youth are disproportionately
represented in the homeless population. More generally, some reports indicate that one in five transgender individuals need or are at risk of needing homeless shelter assistance. However, most shelters are segregated by birth sex, regardless of the individuals gender identity, and homeless transgender youth are even ostracized by some agencies that serve their LGB peers,” according to the document.

Trans youth experience and fear violence, harassment and discrimination within the shelters and, for many, staying in a shelter can be less safe than spending the night on the street.

Over the past few years, individuals working with homeless youth in Chicago note several positive changes for LGB teens, as more shelters work to understand the complex issues facing these youth; however, trans youth are still experiencing disturbing difficulties.

“I think all of the youth shelter programs are cognizant of the fact that LGBT youth are a huge proportion of this epidemic, and I think they’re trying harder than ever, especially in the last 5 to 7 years, to make sure their spaces are affirming and safe for LGBT individuals. I think the trans piece is still the complicated piece,” explained Joe Hollendoner, director of the Howard Brown Broadway Youth Center.

“I feel like they are very committed to making space that is safe to LGBT young people, however, I think again, that the shelter system reflects a larger societal issue, if we have a culture that perpetuates heterosexism, homophobia and transphobia then, clearly our shelter program is going to perpetuate that, compounded with issues of race and class,” he said.

Myrl Beam, also of Howard Brown, echoes Hollendoner’s statements, explaining how issues of employment discrimination, violence at school, homophobia, transphobia, and racism as well as police harassment create several more barriers towards healthy development for trans youth.

Employers do not understand transgender individuals and compounding that with homelessness also creates a nearly impossible situation in the work place. Barbara Bolsen, vice president of programs for The Night Ministry, explained what she has seen over her many years serving homeless youth, “I think when you are a young person and you are trying to understand yourself, your identity and who you are, it can be a hard thing to be doing that and also to be homeless and trying to figure out how to support yourself. I certainly saw for some of those young people, it was hard for them to get jobs and keep jobs. Particularly if they were at a period where they were just starting to figure out which identity to be and to live as.”

Another significant barrier is police harassment. Beam said that the LGBT community could help protect trans youth by holding police accountable. She also said, “As a queer community we need to really take on the work of transforming our minds and our lives in our communities and our businesses and actually make opportunities available for trans people. We need to take on the cause of dismantling transphobia.”

Funding for more beds and services is also a vital component to help homeless youth. “The need far outweighs the resources in the crisis moment, when young people need some place to go in the dead of winter, there is nowhere, so it forces young people to make unsafe decisions, which puts them in contact with the criminal justice system through no fault of their own, because there are no other choices. So, increasing the number of beds is critical and then making sure those beds are
accessible to trans youth,” Beam explained.

At this point, federal and local funding for homeless youth shelters and services does not come close to meeting the projected need, which means that while many individuals working with homeless youth here in Chicago agree that LGBT specific shelters and services would greatly increase the safety and healthy development of LGBT teens, and trans teens especially, funding just isn’t available. Presently in Chicago, there are no LGBT-specific shelters and none planned for the future.

Hollendoner said, “I think in the current landscape of things it’s important that we ensure that the beds that exist now are safe for LGBT individuals and specifically for trans individuals. I think the experiences of trans youth within shelter programs are particularly concerning to me and to my colleagues. I think it is critically important that our existing beds are safe for everyone. I also believe that if resources became available that having a shelter program specifically for LGBT youth would be a wonderful asset to the community … [ but ] , I think it’s really important not just to develop an LGBT homeless youth center and say okay well that’s where all the homeless LGBT youth go and not hold other shelter programming accountable to making sure LGBT youth are safe in their shelter.”

Another aspect of providing safe housing is transforming the way the shelter systems categorize youth. Hollendoner said, “I think that so often our shelter programs are based on a binary gender system and I think that throughout the youth community you see that binary gender systems aren’t the way in which youth describe their bodies and that there’s a fluidity around gender now and I think that the shelter programs are now just beginning to understand that.”

Sol Flores, executive director of La Casa Norte, explained how the Solid Ground Supportive Housing Program, a project-based housing unit specifically serving male youth aged 16-21 that is part of La Casa Norte, is approaching housing transitioning youth: “We created eligibility guidelines in the transgender area that say if you identify and are living currently as a male you can come into the program, because it is a male intentional program…we could have someone who is going through the transition as long as he is identifying as and living as a male.”

Solid Ground’s private room system also provides privacy for its residents, which Flores believes has a positive impact allowing for privacy that many sheltered youth don’t’ receive.

Training and education for staff was also cited as a way to decrease discrimination. “I certainly think that training is a very positive thing. … It creates a better environment for everybody,” Bolsen said.