Katy Perry?!

Is it not enough that I have to hear your song every morning on the radio?

Katy Perry, headlining Dinah Shore?! Say it isn't so!

What is the world coming to?

Every once and awhile...

 There's some good news for gays. Today is one of those days...for NEW JERSEY!

International Transgender Day of Remembrance

Well I was going to post specifically about the 30 transmen and transwomen who have been murdered this past year. Except my post was too large. I didn't even know that could happen.

It's kind of striking that there were too many transgender people murdered this year for me to be able to fit them all in one entry.

Instead, I urge you all to visit this website, which has a description of every person we are remembering today. Although Bryn Mawr/Philadelphia does not have any specific events planned (that I am aware of?), just take a moment to educate yourself about what's happening in the US and around the world.

Note that the majority of victims are transwomen of color. This is a....huge problem, to say the least. I feel like every few weeks I read that another transwoman of color has gone missing or has been found dead.  And of course their deaths are not widely publicized, which is another huge, huge problem.

These people deserve to be remembered today.

 

Tyra, Our New Ally?

This is for all my ANTM viewers out there. Don't lie. You know you watch it.

Okay. I knew that Tyra liked the gays. She's a model, and as we know, all models have tons of gay, male friends and whatnot. I assumed her GLBTQ friendliness did not go beyond hanging with Mr. and Ms. Jay after the show. While it was a big step for her to take to decide to have Isis, the first transwoman ever to be on ANTM, on the show this cycle, I thought that that would be the end of it. Isis was kicked off relatively early, and all the buzz about a transwoman on the show seemed to have died down.



Yesterday, Isis was on the Tyra Banks show. And so was Clark, another model from this cycle who is...narrowminded...shall we say. (I'll be nice.)

Here's what happened.
"Isis talked about her challenging experience on ANTM, including life with her fellow contestants. One of those contestants, Clark, then joined them on stage and was questioned by Tyra herself about the disparaging remarks (including calling Isis a "he-she") she had made about Isis throughout the competition.

Clark said she"loved" Isis but disagreed with her "choices," and then Tyra and Isis spent the remainder of the show explaining to Clark why her comments were ignorant and hurtful. Clark used the standard "I'm from the south" line of defense, which quickly morphed into the "I'm a Southern Baptist" line of defense, which then led her to say that Isis claiming to be transgender "was a slap in the face to me... because it's kind of like saying God made a mistake..."

Tyra closed the segment by advising Clark to open her mind.

As fun as it was to watch Clark get a long overdue spanking from Tyra for being a bigoted jerk, the high point of the show was when Tyra introduced Isis to Dr. Marcie Bowers, a leading sex reassignment surgeon best known for her show Sex Change Hospital (WEtv). Bowers offered to evaluate Isis and perform the operation, and, according to TVGuide.com, Banks and Bowers will split the cost of the surgery. Isis was ecstatic and grateful, and tearfully told them, "[I feel] like I'm about to wake up.""

(Taken from Afterellen.com)

Who knew? Seriously. You go, Tyra. You've moved up so many points on my list. Tomorrow's episode tackles gay marriage. I can't wait.

What it felt like to be equal...

Judith Warner has this great piece up on the New York Times website:


 In one room, Obama supporters were jubilant. In another, opponents of Proposition 4 — the parental notification initiative -– shouted their glee. In hers, the opponents of Proposition 8 saw their joy at Obama’s election turn quickly to “absolute disbelief and pain” as the results of the ballot initiative came in. “It was such a kick in the stomach. The whole hotel was just rocking with joy. We felt so disconnected from it,” Rizzo recalled when I talked to her on Wednesday.

It wasn’t that she begrudged Obama his victory. It was just that his historic triumph made the insult to her community all the more painful. An awful thought came to her that night: Now we’re the designated cultural outcasts.“It’s almost like we’re the last group you can be openly bigoted about,” she told me.

“You look around and you think more than half of the people in this state voted to take this away from us? At a time when we’re celebrating the election of an African American to the White House? I don’t know how you heal from it,” she said. “It’s hard to get it out of your bones.”

It’s easy, if you’re straight, to file away the gay marriage issue in a little folder in your mind, to render it, essentially, inessential. It can fall into the category of “bones you throw the religious right because things could be so much worse.” Or “things that would be great in a perfect world.” Or “what’s the big deal?” because you don’t actually get what a big deal it is to be able to get married when you’ve never had to consider the alternative.

There's a country-wide prop 8 protest going on tomorrow, Saturday the 15th at 1:30. I urge you all to check out the closest one to where you are and go and support us. Support yourselves. Support your fellow Americans and your country. Tell the United States that in this time of victory there is no room for hate.

I'll be in Philadelphia.

Find out more here. 

Keith Olberman's Special Comment on Gay Marriage

What a bittersweet night...

Right now I can hear all of the Obama supporters still cheering from my window (which pretty much means all of Bryn Mawr's campus). I was extremely excited that Barack Obama will be our next president. Yet, I can't sit here and pretend that I'm not disappointed.

While I listened tonight to Barack Obama's speech for change and for taking the first step, I cried. This is the change our country needs. To see a man who inspires so many people and who so genuinely believes in the hopeful future of our country is ... beyond words.

Yet the fact remains that for many of us, the first step was not taken. In fact, we took several steps back.

We lost in Arkansas, Arizona and Florida tonight. And we probably lost in California. And it worries me that people who overwhelmingly wanted “change” - i.e., voted for Obama - don’t think that this change should include full civil rights for gays and lesbians.

I am trying to remain hopeful. And I am hopeful in the future of the United States with Barack Obama as president. I am happy that the abortion ban failed in South Dakota. I do believe we are headed in the right direction.

But it's hard to remain optimistic when you were just blatantly told by your country that your rights don't matter.