DEAR CIS QUEERS,
I DONT CARE WHO THE FUCK YOU’RE DATING OR HOW MUCH OF A FEMINIST/ACADEMIC/QUEER/INFORMED SOURCE/ALLY YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE IT IS NOT OK TO CLAIM ANY AUTHORITY ON TRANS EDUCATION, IDENTITY, OR EXPERIENCE.
THAT IS CIS SEXIST
DONT TAKE ON MY BINARY BUCKING STRUGGLE BECAUSE YOU DONT HAVE ONE. NO COOKIES FOR ANY OF YOU. FUCK OFF.
” —(via crashntumble)for people who want to be used.
I also wonder how many people thought I was cold and unfriendly when I was still learning to shake hands. I never shook a hand until I was 17. It probably took me the next ten years to figure out the in and outs of doing so. I can do it now… Except for the whole timing thing. I can never, ever tell *when* a hand shake is needed. Ever. No fucking clue.
This latter standard of etiquette is especially important for things like job hunting and in your career. These seemingly small and insignificant aspects of life are so very, very important. Because if you live in a white dominated area and you don’t play by their rules? You will always suffer consequences. They may not be overt like the Filipino boy getting in trouble at school. You can loose opportunities. People will judge, and use these judgements to cement stereotypes they may have about your people.
” —On manners, etiquette, and the white man’s rules (via biyuti)
Please send a letter to CeCe while she is in jail. Let her know she has a huge amount of community support and that we are all here for her.
Public Safety Facility
Chrishaun Reed McDonald #2011014667
401 South 4th Avenue
Suite 100
Minneapolis, MN 55415Inmates are not allowed to receive packages, including photographs. Packages will not be accepted and will be returned to the sender. Photographs will be removed from the envelope and returned to the inmate at the time of release. Please note that all letters sent to the jail are opened, read, and inspected by jail staff. Use good sense about what you say in your letter, and don’t write about anything that is likely to get you or anyone else in trouble with the cops.
You can also organize a letter writing party! If you live in the area, you don’t even have to worry about paying for postage-bring your letters to the drop box for at The Exchange (3405 Chicago Ave S, Mpls) and we will mail them for you.
Mayor Vincent Gray has nominated transgender activists Earline Budd and Alexandra Beninda for seats on the D.C. Commission on Human Rights.
If the two are confirmed by the City Council, as expected, they would become the first transgender persons to serve on the 15-member commission, which rules on discrimination complaints brought under the comprehensive D.C. Human Rights Act.
The act bans discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations and other areas based on an individual’s sexual orientation and gender identity and expression as well as other categories such as race, religion, national origin, and ethnicity.
“To be getting one transgender person on the commission would be great, but to be getting two is fantastic,” said Beninda, a systems analyst for a software company and member and former treasurer of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group.
“I’m really excited and looking forward to serving,” said Budd while attending Saturday’s LGBT Youth Pride festival in Dupont Circle. “This is important for the entire community.”
Budd released to the Blade an email she received last week informing her of the appointment.
“I am pleased to inform you that Mayor Vincent C. Gray has transmitted your nomination to the Council of the District of Columbia, where it is pending Council consideration,” said Davida L. Crockett, an official with the city’s Office of Boards and Commissions, in the April 26 email to Budd.
“The Office of Boards and Commissions appreciated your willingness to serve the District, and is confident that you will bring a strong and dedicated commitment and leadership to this public service,” Crockett told Budd in the email.
Beninda said she received a similar email informing her of her nomination to serve on the commission.
Pedro Ribeiro, director of the Mayor’ Office of Communications, released to the Blade on Monday a letter from Gray to City Council Chair Kwame Brown (D-At-Large) dated April 26 that places Budd’s and Beninda’s names in nomination for the Human Rights Commission appointments. Gray’s letter also places in nomination eleven other people he has designated as appointees to the commission.
Budd currently serves as a treatment and healing specialist for Transgender Health Empowerment (THE), a D.C. based transgender advocacy and services organization that she helped found in 1996.
Budd has been credited with playing a key role in transgender advocacy efforts and HIV prevention efforts targeting the transgender and LGBT youth communities in D.C. for over 20 years. Among her duties at THE is to provide training for D.C. government and private sector employees, including employees at the city’s Department of Corrections, on transgender related issues.
In addition to her association with the Stein Club, Beninda is a member of the board of the D.C. LGBT Community Center and serves as treasurer of the D.C. based All Souls Unitarian Church. She says she’s also an active volunteer with D.C. Democracy, a group that advocates for D.C. voting representation in Congress and greater home rule autonomy for the city.
The Commission on Human Rights is an independent agency within the D.C. Office of Human Rights. The OHR investigates discrimination complaints and sends them to the commission for a ruling if the office finds probable cause that discrimination might have taken place. Commissioners are appointed to three-year terms and don’t receive compensation.
Budd’s and Beninda’s appointments come at a time when the Commission on Human Rights has been operating with just three members, with 12 of its 15 seats vacant since January, according to Garrett King, director of the City Council’s Committee on Aging and Community Affairs, which has jurisdiction over the commission.
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