Today is Intersex Solidarity Day. The date, November 8, was chosen to mark the anniversary of the birth of Herculine Adélaîde Barbin in 1838. Herculine was a French intersex person who was assigned a female gender at birth but a later legal decision determined that he became officially male.

Organisation Intersex International would like to invite others to join us each year by commemorating November 8 as Intersex Solidarity Day. All human rights organizations, feminist allies, academics and gender specialists, as well as other groups and individuals interested in intersex human rights, are invited to show their solidarity by organizing workshops, lectures, discussions and other activities which deal with any or all of the following topics:

• The life of Herculine Barbin
• Intersex genital mutilation
• The violence of the binary sex and gender system
• The sexism implicit within the binary construct of sex and gender
• Human rights. Intersex issues are feminist issues

She ain’t running, she’s walking a little slow
And she ain’t crying, she’s just singing a little low

(From Young Blood by Rickie Lee Jones)

Recently I’ve found myself on the wrong sides of cis women feminists, cis men football fans, HBS and other trans women. Were I in a more optimistic frame of mind I could probably convince myself that if I’m upsetting everybody, then I’m probably doing something right.

But I’m not in a good headspace at the moment and haven’t been for some time. My rage burns hotter by the day and I don’t have the resilience I used to. I’m hurting, I’m tired and I need a little time out.

So blogging may well be light for a couple of days.

Helen

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Rickie Lee Jones – Last Chance Texaco

A long stretch of headlights
Bends into I-9
Tiptoe into truck stops
And sleepy diesel eyes
Volcanoes rumble in the taxi
And glow in the dark
Camels in the driver’s seat
A slow, easy mark

But you ran out of gas
Down the road a piece
Then the battery went dead
And now the cable won’t reach…

It’s your last chance
To check under the hood
Last chance
She ain’t soundin’ too good,
Your last chance
To trust the man with the star
You’ve found the last chance Texaco

Well, he tried to be Standard
He tried to be Mobil
He tried living in a world
And in a shell
There was this block-busted blonde
He loved her – free parts and labor
But she broke down and died
And threw all the rods he gave her

But this one ain’t fuel-injected
Her plug’s disconnected
She gets scared and she stalls
She just needs a man, that’s all

It’s her last chance
Her timing’s all wrong
Her last chance
She can’t idle this long
Her last chance
Turn her over and go
Pullin’ out of the last chance Texaco
The last chance

“Money is the road to justice – and power walks it on crooked legs”

Via bianet: news of another attempt by the state to continue its oppression of trans people, this time at a protest against human rights abuses.

About 80 people gathered in Ankara upon the call of the Pink Life Transgender Association. Despite police resistance they managed to hand their petition for redress to the Human Rights Presidency of the Prime Ministry. The petition is concerned with police violence against transvestites and transsexuals and rights violations occurring in the Act on Misdemeanour.

Members of the Pink Life LGBTT Association handed a petition to the Human Rights Presidency of the Prime Ministry considering grievances in the “Act on Misdemeanour”. According to this law arbitrary police fines for transvestites and transsexuals have been abolished. The petition draws attention to the fact that nevertheless, the police goes to their houses with orders of confiscation and fines, arbitrarily arrests and detains transvestites and transsexuals and closes down their homes.

I recently wrote about this particularly nasty form of oppression which was initially instigated in Istanbul, and the practice of which is evidently spreading. (Links here and here)

Briefly, the police are harassing trans people every time they step outside their homes – leaving the bakery, while grocery shopping, even whilst at the hairdresser’s. The police then issue a fine of around 35€ (approximately £32 in Britain; or a little over $50 in the U.S.) – and this happens every time a trans person is stopped.

This has all come about since the introduction of a new system of incentives to the police department, whereby officers earn points for each fine they issue – which effectively translates into bonuses in their pay packets.

More recently, there have been eye witness accounts of trans people variously being held without charge, detained under unofficial house arrest and evicted and made homeless. It seems that these practices are now spreading to Ankara, and perhaps other places too.

Supporters of the Pink Life LGBTT Association gathered on Ankara’s popular Yüksel Avenue before they submitted their petition on 23 October. In the petition they asked, “How much longer will the injustice against us continue, which is acted out by the police force of the Ankara Public Security branch staff, the Esat Police Station, the Kavaklıdere Police Station, the Anafartalar Police Station and the Karşıyaka Police Station? How many more of our homes will be closed by the Ankara Governorship?”

[...]

After the group had read out their demands, they wanted to walk to the Prime Ministry to submit their petition. As reported to bianet by Kaos GL spokesman Barış Sulu, the police tried to prevent the group from entering the Prime Ministry by setting up barricades.

Later on Pink Life members Kılıçkaya, Fulden Aras and Sevgi Yıldırım entered the Prime Ministry as representatives of the association and went to Human Rights Chairman Mehmet Yılmaz Küçük’s office. In the meantime Küçük had agreed that the group could come one by one to hand in their demands. However, the police did not allow this for some more time.

It really is high time the rest of the world at the very least condemned these oppressive acts by the Turkish authorities; if it were possible to impose some form of sanctions without causing further suffering to ordinary people, then I believe that should be done, too. It’s clear that these hate crimes will continue unchecked for as long as the authorities are allowed to get away with it. I say they should be called to account for these human rights breaches as quickly as possible.

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Curtsey to Stefani for the link

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Previous related posts:

• Turkey: another LGBT rights organization faces closure (October 26, 2009)
• Turkey: Murderer of Melek K sentenced to life imprisonment? (October 18, 2009)
• Turkey: Second hearing in the trial for the murder of Melek K adjourned (October 16, 2009)
• Not-so-easy money (October 1, 2009)
• Easy money (September 29, 2009)
• Turkey: Trans novel banned (August 15, 2009)

Friday 30th October is Equal Pay Day, a day of action lead by the Fawcett Society to draw attention to the fact that, on average, women’s full time mean hourly pay is 17.1% less than men’s. 30th October symbolically marks the last pay cheque that women receive in a year because, compared with men, we work on average for about two months a year without pay.

For women in science, engineering and technology (SET) – which includes IT workers like me – the pay gaps both between men and women, and between different kinds of SET occupations, show no evidence of closing:

(Image via BCS)

SET occupations don’t show the same extremes in pay differentials between the highest and lowest paid compared with other occupations. And if you’re a woman working in a SET occupation, you are more likely to be receiving similar remuneration to that of you male colleagues than women working elsewhere. But at the lower levels of SET occupations especially in skilled trades, part-time women’s hourly earnings are much less than the full-time earnings of women or men in the same occupations.

But there’s no cause for complacency: there is a gender pay gap in SET occupations – as there is in virtually all occupations – and it shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon.

To find out more, you can visit the Equal Pay Day blog (link here), or go to the Fawcett Society website’s page (link here) to sign the online petition and download further resources and information.

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Cross-posted at The F-Word

Cis woman bigot and celebrity transphobic journalist, Julie Bindel, has finally managed to find a publication willing to post her most recent piece of hate speech.

In all honesty, I can’t be bothered even to pick up the famed pink sparklehammer of deconstruction; as far as I’m concerned, she’s one cis woman who truly isn’t worth it, even though (or maybe because) she is a particularly soft target. She holds to an outmoded and discredited ideology and the sooner she fades away, the better. I was in two minds about whether even to write this post because in its small own way it’s giving her the attention she craves.

However, I feel almost duty-bound to report that a cis woman blogger known as steerpikelet has announced her intention to write and publish a response in support of trans people, even though I don’t know any trans people who asked her to do this. Anyway, in her own words (and I have to say her use of cissexist/othering portmanteau terms like ‘transpeople’ fills me with foreboding):

For FUCK’S SAKE – Feminist transfail, again.

Okay, THIS calls for a fucking expose. A proper one this time, not a stream of invective. Stats, quotes, reasoned debate, no swearing, the whole works.

I’ve pitched to the Graun and am about to pitch elsewhere for a piece along the lines of ‘why feminists should support transpeople’ and ‘why surgery doesn’t ruin lives’. At the moment, the time I have to write and research this vital piece is very small. So I need all the help you wonderful people can give me to make this as good as possible.

So, please -message me, comment here if you’re comfortable, and tell me what needs to go in this article.

[...]

Please, give any help you can and direct people to this post. THANK YOU.

I have a couple of reservations: (1) listening to a cis woman speaking to other cis people on behalf of us is always an uncomfortable reminder of how marginalised and powerless we are, and (2) asking us to, in effect, write the piece for her makes me wonder if she’s really the right person for the job (assuming there’s even a job to be done in the first place).

But hey, if two cis women want to get into a slanging match about such a laughably poor quality piece of journalism, then who am I to spoil their fun? It won’t change a damned thing for the better, and may possibly even make matters worse for us, but as ever, we have no say in the matter.

Anyway. If anyone wants to find out more, the full story (including a link to the hate speech in question) is over at steerpikelet’s LJ which you can read by clicking here.

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ETA, Friday 30 October: Y’know, when a cis woman calls a trans woman “dear“, well, let me just say it doesn’t do much to ease my sense of foreboding:

Another facepalm moment brought to you by…

(Screengrab for the record, via)

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ETA, Saturday 31 October: My sense of foreboding was tipped over the edge into a state of full-on pessimism following the appearance of the following Tweet from Penny Red (the Twitter ID of steerpikelet):

The subsequent exchange between her, @genderbitch, @kasperobscene and I has left me feeling deeply pessimistic about steerpikelet’s proposed article; she seems happy to appease the oppressor and it’s hard to see how her post can be anything other than another platform for the transphobic bigot. Free publicity, another opportunity for a public outpouring of her relentlessly transphobic hate speech – and I don’t know how much more of this I can bear…

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Further ETA, Saturday 31 October: Selected quotes from the original article:

• “Think about a world inhabited just by transsexuals. It would look like the set of Grease.”
• “the Gender Recognition Act [...] will have a profoundly negative effect on the human rights of women and children.”
• “a girl who plays football is trans-sexual.”
• “I would describe preventing puberty as a modern form of child abuse.”
• “A trans-sexual ‘woman’ will always be a biological male.”
• “In a world where equality between men and women was reality, transsexualism would not exist.”
• “Sex-change surgery is unnecessary mutilation.”
• “Using human rights laws to normalise trans-sexualism has resulted in a backward step in the feminist campaign for gender equality.”

Well, if it makes any of my cis women haters feel any better, there are times when even I wish I hadn’t been born, too.

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, was passed by the U.S. Congress on October 22, 2009 and signed into law by President Barack Obama yesterday (October 28, 2009). It aims to expand the existing (1969) federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Via The Equal Rights Trust

The Act makes three key provisions:

Section 4707 amends United States Code Title 18, section 249, to include actual or perceived gender, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity in the list of hate crimes punishable under federal law.

Section 4704 (a) provides for the Attorney General – at the request of a state or local law enforcement agency – to provide ‘technical, forensic, prosecutorial or any other form of assistance’ in the investigation or prosecution of a hate crime. Section 4704 (b) provides for the Attorney General to make grants for extraordinary expenses associated with the investigation or prosecution of a hate crime.

Section 4706 provides for the appropriation of additional personnel to assist state authorities or local law enforcement agencies to prevent and respond to violations of section 249.

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Cross-posted at Questioning Transphobia

28 October 2009

European institutions make commitments to fight discrimination against trans people

Today the “Trans Rights Conference: Putting Trans Rights on the European Agenda” was held by ILGA-Europe and Transgender Europe as a pre-conference to ILGA-Europe’s 13th Annual Conference starting tomorrow.

This conference was intended to bring together European and national stake holders in a direct dialogue with trans and LGBT activists from across Europe. This was the first conference to exclusively driven towards good practices in policy and legal developments.

Strong commitments were made by Belinda Pyke from the European Commission, Israel Butler from the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency, Mandana Zarrehparvar from EQUINET and Dennis van der Veur from the Council of Europe to advance the rights of trans people through their work.

The European Commission will be looking at the way EU member state implemented the 2004 gender equality directive vis-à-vis trans people in its 2010 report. It will also be publishing its first trans specific legal and policy mapping study.

The Council of Europe will be mirroring the Fundamental Rights Agency’s report on homophobia and transphobia in the EU in its 20 member states which are not members of the European Union. Additionally, the Commission for Human Rights will keep raising the issues around transgender human dignity and human rights in his country visits.

The Fundamental Rights Agency will be updating its transgender fact sheet during 2010, while keeping up its awareness raising around the findings of its report on homophobia and transphobia.

Finally, the EQUINET, the European network of equality bodies, will issue an Opinion-Statement on the gap in anti-discrimination legislation with regards to trans people and will address the lack of mandate of the equality bodies in some EU member states in dealing with trans issues.

At the end of the conference a declaration on the rights of trans people was read, debated and approved. This declaration will now pass to the ILGA-Europe’s annual conference and Transgender Europe for their approval and once approved should inform the joint work of the two organisations in the coming years.

Ends

For more information please contact
Juris Lavrikovs at + 32 496 708 375

Notes for editors:

(1) ILGA-Europe is the European Region of ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association and works for equality and human rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans & intersex people in Europe: www.ilga-europe.org

(2) Transgender Europe is the European network of trans and other organisations that support or work for the rights of transgender/transsexual/gender variant people and like minded individuals: www.tgeu.org

(3) More information about the Annual Conference in Malta is available on our website: www.ilga-europe.org/conference

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Curtsey to Silvan Agius and the TGEU listserv

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Previous related posts:

• ILGA Trans Rights Conference, Malta, 28 October (August 4, 2009)

Via Lina, because I always do what I’m told. Except when I don’t…

1. Do you like blue cheese? Yes

2. Have you ever smoked heroin? Yes

3. Do you own a gun? No

4. What flavor do you add to your drink at Starbucks? I prefer hot chocolate from Cafe Nero, and there it would be cream and chocolate sprinkles

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? I don’t have a doctor

6. What do you think of hot dogs? They should have a drink of water and lie down somewhere shady to cool off a bit

7. Favorite Christmas movie? It’s not a Christmas movie in the Bing Crosby sense, but I often watch Contact around then. Mmm, Jodie Foster…

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Strong coffee. Milk, no sugar

9. Can you do push ups? No

10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? A silver ring I made in a past life. It’s the only piece I have left with my hallmark on

11. Favorite hobby? Sleeping

12. Do you have A.D.D? No

13. What’s one trait you hate about yourself? Negativity

14. Middle name? Maya

15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? Wonder if my Claim The Night idea is any good. Shall I make a drink now or later? I’m cold.

16. Name 3 things you bought yesterday? A skinny Americano coffee. Lunch. Flowers for my office.

17. Name 3 things you drink daily: Coffee, coffee, coffee

18. Current worry? Health, work

19. Current Dislike? My body. As usual

20. How did you bring in the New Year? I had a burst of creativity and stayed up writing until stupid o’clock.

21. Where would you like to go? Another planet

22. Name three people who will complete this: Probably nobody. But if anyone should, let me know in comments!

23. Do you own slippers? No

24. What shirt are you wearing? Black T-shirt

25. [Missing apparently]

26. Favorite color[s]? Black. Pink

27. Could you be a pirate? No

28. What songs do you sing in the shower? I don’t

29. Favorite food? Vegetarian

30. What’s in your pocket right now? My pockets are empty, my head is full and my heart is heavy

31. Last thing that made you laugh? Don’t remember

32. Favorite sheets? Clean white cotton

33. Worst injury you have ever had? Chipped/broke three nails in one morning

34. Do you love where you live? Sometimes

35. How many TVs do you have in your house? One, but it only picks up BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4 so it’s not a very good TV

36. Who is your loudest friend? Jacqui B

37. How many dogs do you have? None

38. Does someone have a crush on you? I doubt that very much

39. What are your favorite book(s): So many.

40. What is your favorite candy? Chocolate, duh…

41. Favorite Sports Water: What?

42. What songs do you want played at your funeral? Don’t want a funeral or any fuss

43. What were you doing 12 AM last night? Sleeping

44. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke this morning? What’s the time?

45. Favorite place to be? Anywhere but here

Travelling home this evening at a little after 6pm I was again subject to street harassment, this time from a boozed-up Chelsea football fan on his way with a group of friends to a game – “Look at that fuckin’ tranny cunt, it’s fuckin’ disgustin’”. Thankfully we were heading for different trains and I escaped with nothing more or less than the usual ungendering, public humiliation and pounding heart. Earlier, I’d been talking with some cis women feminist friends about the continuing refusal of the organisers of the forthcoming Reclaim The Night (For Cis Women Only) march to publicly state their position on trans inclusivity, and the two things combined to give me an idea.

I want to see if it’s possible to organise a separate march (probably on a different date) – a Claim The Night march – which explicitly includes and centres trans women. Cis women who want to walk in solidarity with us would be welcome to do so; indeed the march would be open to all self-identified women. In the words of the Reclaim The Night (For Cis Women Only) website:

In every sphere of life we negotiate the threat or reality of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment. We cannot claim equal citizenship while this threat restricts our lives as it does. We demand the right to use public space without fear. We demand this right as a civil liberty, we demand this as a human right.

See, as a transsexual woman, I want the exact same thing. I would be more than willing to join cis women on their march – but the London Cis Feminist Network, for whatever reasons, doesn’t want people like me there. And now I think it’s time for me and mine to make our own protest. To claim the night for ourselves.

So I’m putting this post up as a way of seeing if there’s enough support to help me make my idea a reality.

Comments are open, and I’m interested to hear what other self-identified women think. If there’s a positive response I’ll set up a group email where we can begin to hash out the details.

Over to you…