LGBTQ The Next

[Robin Of House Hill]

The last parade I attended was in NYC's West Village. The Halloween parade. I actually marched in it for several blocks, attired as a priest. There were two guys watching the parade. One of them called out, "Father, will you marry us?". So, I stopped and performed a pretty good marriage ceremony. There was a local TV station that had its camera running, but I never found out if they'd aired the footage. Don't know if I got my 15 minutes of fame, or not.

[Rubies & Jade]

The only parades I like are the Pride & Halloween parades. I've marched in both the SF and NYCs Pride parades. The NYC Pride parade on June 24th, 2011 was particularly spectacular for me since I marched in the parade (with The Trevor Project), it was the weekend that the same sex marriage law passed in NY state and it was my birthday. I'm not entirely sure why I am sharing this here but all this talk about parades reminded me and that day was definitely one of my most cherished memories. :love: I know we have such a long way to go with LGBT+ rights but that day reminded me we are making strides. My Trevor T-shirt from that day is still the shirt I am most likely to ride in every weekend.

so... our town definitely needs to have a parade. with lots of rainbows. Maybe we need a minister of rainbows & glitter (Elder Sister?) and we also need some kinda Bi Diplomat to Allied Questioners or something like that. and a Pole Dancer to go along with the Pole Slider? Just a thought.

[Sophelia]

Heartwarming story from the UK (also bringing up many of the issues mentioned in this thread regarding transgender people):

[Robin Of House Hill]

An interesting story, especially about the guy. I've only met one FTM, in my life...when I was in the hospital, recovering from my surgery.

[MinDonner]

I know we have at least one on the board, but he hasn't posted in a couple of years.

[Sci-2]

The episode that liberated—then destroyed—Ellen

Genevieve Koski: What I think is sometimes glossed over in discussions of “The Puppy Episode,” which is a groundbreaking moment for LGBT portrayals on television, is the “L” part of that initialism. Yes, Ellen, both the character and the person, is gay—but she’s specifically a lesbian, a distinction that has very different pop-cultural implications and associations than those of gay men. To channel Dan Savage for a minute, female sexuality is generally considered to be more fluid than male sexuality, which has given rise to the ideas of “lesbian dabbling” and “the converted lesbian,” which have both been the source of their fair share of jokes on TV, movies, and elsewhere. (And that’s not even taking into account the effect girl-on-girl porn has had on the idea that lesbianism is something that can be put on and taken off like a denim vest—something that comedian Cameron Esposito recently unpacked much more eloquently on her Tumblr.) Characters who are firmly, unequivocally lesbians are much more rare than characters who are gay men, and since The L Word went off the air, they’re all but extinct as main characters. (Orange Is The New Black being a major, important exception that’s nonetheless full of its own contradictions.) So yes, Ellen’s coming out was a major step forward for gay culture, but it was about seven major steps forward for lesbian culture.

Todd VanDerWerff: I’ve written a bit before about how Ellen DeGeneres coming out helped me come to terms with my own feelings on homosexuality, breaking with the fundamentalist Christian tradition I’d been raised in. Watching “The Puppy Episode” now is an exercise in watching 1997 have this conversation with itself....

David Sims: I remember watching this episode as an 11-year-old, and I definitely remember its impact, although I was living in England at the time, so the whole thing was a little muted. Still, the episode did well to simply and effectively lay out Ellen’s dilemma to a preteen with a limited understanding of what it all meant. I was raised in an understanding household and had an openly gay teacher in my school who was beloved by all, so I wasn’t in need of the kind of eye-opening that Todd is talking about. What “The Puppy Episode” did for me was explain what a complicated and wrenching thing coming out can be...

[Robin Of House Hill]

Is my reaction to how this was reported, wrong?

FONTANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Police tape surrounded a Fontana apartment Tuesday night as detectives canvassed a murder scene for clues. A victim was found dead inside and her car was stolen by her killer.

Friends say the victim was a 30-year-old transgender female who went by Dominique.

"Dominique was a good person. [she] just gave my son a car. Dominique was real nice," said Latonya Ward, the victim's friend.

If the victim was a SWM, would they have said, "the victim, who went by Walter"?

[Galactus]

SWM?

[MisterOJ]

Is my reaction to how this was reported, wrong?

If the victim was a SWM, would they have said, "the victim, who went by Walter"?

If his legal name was John David Smith and that was how it appeared on the police report, but after talking to the victim's friend, they found out that he preferred to be called "Walter" then, yes. I could see the reporting done that way.

[karaddin]

My reaction is the same as what I presume is yours robin, that phrasing like that suggests Dominique isn't the real name. About to head to bed and haven't read the full article, just your quote.

[MisterOJ]

My reaction is the same as what I presume is yours robin, that phrasing like that suggests Dominique isn't the real name. About to head to bed and haven't read the full article, just your quote.

Isn't that entirely possible though? If Dominique had not legally changed her name, then the police documents would not refer to her as Dominique as that was not her legal name. Shouldn't the story reflect that?

[naz]

I'd be more concerned about why they had to mention she was transgender in the first place. Why is that relevant?

[MinDonner]

SWM?

Straight White Male.

And yeah, that reporting was dubious as hell. Why on earth would the news reports have to use "went by the name of", regardless of what's on birth certificates or police reports? If a Bartholemew Simpson is murdered, no-one's going to say "the victim went by the name of Bart" just cos it doesn't match the official reports; it frames it as a pretense or a pseudonym.

Fuckers.

[Robin Of House Hill]

I admit I hadn't thought about that. I have seen reports about performers who use a name other than their legal name, that read,"Soandso, whose legal name was Joe Smith". I suppose that I'd be more upset, in this case, If they'd said, "Dominique, whose legal name was Joe Smith", I'd find that more upsetting.

I just thought it sounded strange.

I suppose my next question is was the victim being transgender relevant? Was it a motive for the crime, or just an attention-getter?

karaddin,

Time zones are unfair. There have been times I've debated whether to go to bed, or wait for the Aussies to come online. Last night, the need for sleep, won.

(Damn. I take my eyes off the computer for a couple of minutes and find people have already addressed some of these things.)

ETA: To close parenthesis.

ETA2:

FYI, my drivers license, social security card, several US Gov't. issued IDs, bank accounts, etc., do not reflect what is on my birth certificate (which hasn't been used since the '70s) In the US, at least, people have the right to use any name they choose, as long as it is not for purposes of fraud or evading. It does not require a court order.

[MinDonner]

My vote is on "attention-getter" for the mention of the victim's trans status, as there's no indication just yet that it's related. But that, at least, is just a generic media-sensationalism thing that happens to all sorts of folk. Is it relevant that the murdered 20-year-old girl was a blonde aspiring model? Or a teacher? Nope. But the headline is always going to be "MODEL MURDERED" (plus glamour photo) and get many more column inches than the old dude who was also murdered round the corner on the same day.

[Seli]

I'd be more concerned about why they had to mention she was transgender in the first place. Why is that relevant?

It could be because trans* people are at a high risk to become victims just because they are trans*, so it might be relevant.

Of course it could simply be sensationalism.

[Robin Of House Hill]

This.

"We figured something was going to happen when strange people start showing up and somebody's going to get hurt one day, and it happened today," said neighbor Gerald Hewlett.

[MisterOJ]

And yeah, that reporting was dubious as hell. Why on earth would the news reports have to use "went by the name of", regardless of what's on birth certificates or police reports? If a Bartholemew Simpson is murdered, no-one's going to say "the victim went by the name of Bart" just cos it doesn't match the official reports; it frames it as a pretense or a pseudonym.

Fuckers.

You're not using an apples to apples comparison though. Of course no one is going to go out of their way to say someone named Bartholemew went by the name of Bart. That's silly. But if the person's name was John David Smith, but everyone called him Walter - then it makes perfect sense to say he "went by the name of Walter."

[MinDonner]

Oh please. I have no idea why you're trying to defend this. Let's look at some more relevant examples, then.

Marilyn Manson is not his real name. When he's referenced in news reports, how many of them actually say "that guy who goes by the name of Marilyn Manson"? See also: Elton John. Ozzy Osbourne. John Wayne. Lady Gaga. Even when something is an obvious stage name, if it's a name that they go by all the time, then why bother mention it as a pseudonym? Only if you're being a dick about transgender issues and either not believing, or thinking that your readers do not believe, that a trans identity is a real one.

[Galactus]

In this case it might also be a matter of identification. Eg. Some people might be interested in knowing that John David Smith died, while others only know him as Walter.