Moving Picture Show

The TransMilitary Project is running a Kickstarter campaign for a documentary on trans troops who have come out despite the armed forces' ban.

From the Advocate:

"While the U.S. military moves slowly in reviewing the ban on service by transgender people, some filmmakers hope to put a spotlight on trans troops who are serving honorably and sometimes risking discharge by being open about their status.

Director Gabe Silverman and producers Fiona Dawson and Jamie Coughlin have initiated a Kickstarter campaign seeking to raise $89,500 to produce a documentary about those troops as part of the TransMilitary Project."

Go here for more!

Miss Trans Israel Named

Most don't know Tel Aviv, Israel is one of the most internationally LGBT friendly destinations in the world.

Recently it hosted the first Miss Israel Pageant. 

 The first ever “Miss Trans Israel Pageant” packed an auditorium at the Bima National Theater in Tel Aviv on Friday, to mark the beginning of the 2016 Pride Events in Tel Aviv. The winner of the event – 21-year-old Ta’alin Abu Hanna, a Christian Arab from Nazareth, will represent Israel at the Miss TransStar International pageant in Barcelona in September.

Post Memorial Day

After the dust has settled and the  BBQ Sandwich bitch has packed her stuff to save for the next event, I thought Connie's comment was worth remembering: 

"I suppose that the main focus for Memorial Day was intended to be on those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving. We should also be remembering the countless numbers of those who served, only to end up experiencing long, painful deaths, either physically or emotionally. It especially breaks my heart when I hear of a veteran having had taken his or her own life as a means to end their pain. I can't believe that anyone who has experienced war first-hand could ever come away from it unscathed. Even preparing oneself for potential battle has got to be traumatic, I expect. All veterans deserve thanks, and you all have mine (and an occasional prayer, as well)"

I can speak from experience on the one friend I had who paid the ultimate price in Vietnam and the others whose lives were changed forever. Plus now we are selling arms to North Vietnam "just in case" China gets rowdy. Does that sound remotely similar to anyone?

As far as we transgender veterans go, the term "double edged sword" comes to mind as I know care is better as we understand PTSD and other problems better. At least it doesn't involve a total denial by the government such as the "Agent Orange" debacle.

Shelle thanks for your service!

Over the Top!!!!

"Nah" Just four drag queens doing their thing during the Sao Paulo, Brazil gay parade/march...attended by hundreds of thousands.

It's Swimming Time!

Undoubtedly, the highlight to last week was going with Liz to take advantage of Target's swimming suit sale.
Needless to say I was nervous imagining myself in a bathing suit at all, or trying one on in a public fitting room. But I hitched up my big girl panties and moved forward.
As usually happens nothing is as bad as perceived and it turned out I couldn't try on some of the suits anyhow due to hygienic reasons.


So now I am the proud owner of my first women's bathing suit-for better or for worse.

The plan is, when Liz and I go on our next vacation and see a nearly empty pool...shazam!!!!

In the meantime, did you know Target's sales have seen a decrease after their all inclusive transgender bathroom policy? So, if you are looking to buy something which Target carries, please go out of your way to check them out!

Or, on your way too!!!!

A Day on the Town

A couple comments on "The Bitch" post from regulars Mandy (first) and Connie:

"I wonder if maybe she didn't want to serve you, and upped the "price" by a couple dollars to encourage you to go elsewhere. If that was her thought process, it worked. 

Or maybe it was her real price, and she glared, hoping you'd go elsewhere. If that was her thought process, it also worked.

We'll never know what would have happened if you had bought from her. "Extra ingredients" in the sandwich - like too much seasoning? Pork from yesterday's burned batch? Or worse?

Could well be she's from one of the states stirring the pot on trans issues...probably best you walked away!

Mandy"

Thanks Mandy, I guess I was spoiled and hadn't seen that kind of hateful reaction from another human being (I think) in a while. Plus, we can only guess where the "too much seasoning" could have come from. 

And of course Connie said it best "And I thought being a transgender person was no real picnic...Go figure (or go show it off). ;)

Most importantly though (I think) she made her point and I made mine.

Equal Time

Since I took the time to cheap shot North Carolina in my last post, I thought it was only fair to give equal time to two transgender activists from Charlotte (North Carolina) who  were featured in a British TV segment on HB2. who

The two were featured recently on a broadcast a news segment on North Carolina’s anti-LGBT legislation HB2, as well as the Obama administration’s directive to allow trans students to use the bathrooms consistent with their gender identity and the states suing the federal government as a result.

Charlotte transgender activists Lara Americo and Che Busiek spoke with a reporter who traveled to the city to cover life here in the post-HB2 world.

“Transgender people have been around since humans have been around, we’ve just been hiding,” Americo says. “And people still hide today, because it’s scary to be open like this when there’s so many people against you.”

She continues, “I don’t think it’s a culture war, I think it’s an emergence of people being free and being more open and authentic.”

For more, go here.

Transgender Bucket List (2012 Archive Post)

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Transgender and your Bucket

Is your bucket list half empty or half full? Certainly before we all know it and we are fortunate enough to make it- it's time to start looking ahead to the force calling your number. Poof! "You be Gone!"
I started my transgender Bucket List approximately five years ago. I began to see how much living I could do as a woman or maybe I should say- a trans woman.
I found I could live and more importantly wanted to live as my chosen gender. Ironically I got hammered from within the trans community for waiting so long. Even being called just "another old guy on hormones". The big bad outside world on occasion was more accepting.
To make a long story short, my bucket became very full.
Here's my point: I could have made the move to a full time feminine existence two very specific times in my life-basically at the age of 30 and 40 and didn't. If you are younger (I'm 62 now) and considering the move, I can say time will slip by before you know it.
I can't and won't tell anyone to transition but I do recommend checking the waters if you can. It just confuses me when someone writes me or I read somewhere a person is going to try to go through SRS without living the life! It's a problem created by places like Thailand who really don't care about much more than the cash.
Sure it takes quite a bit of courage and a whole lot of trial and error to experience the feminine socialization process.
Don't think you have to be old to have a bucket list. Do think you don't want to be living a regret later in your life when the bucket has a huge hole in it.
I've known fully changed transsexuals and cross dressers justifying life in the closet who have gotten really bitter over the experience.
Certainly, we all have only one life to live and we all have responsibilities to others.
Just as certainly we all have the responsibility to be true to ourselves.  You may consider starting a transgender bucket list to discover what your truth might be.

The Bitch

I have been telling you all about my mini visit to the Dayton VA today for the Patriot Days picnic.

I "butched" it up today, pulled back my hair into a pony tail and ran it through the back of a hat I had never worn before...the unit hat signifying where and how I served in Thailand during the first part of my three years in the Army.

When I got there I checked out all the food booths before deciding on a pulled pork sand-which. As far as I could see though, there were no prices so naturally I asked which gave the woman the chance to glare at me and say six dollars SIR! 

I did good. I simply glared back at her and bought a sandwich from the food stand next to her who was real nice to me. (and making sure she saw it.)

Who knows, maybe she is from North Carolina?

JJ's Sunday Edition

Ker Plunk! A JJ's Memorial Day Sunday edition is hitting your virtual front porch. Let's get's started with the weather.
As predicted around here, it was Spring one day and Summer the next with the hot sticky temps so much a part of Ohio weather. So this morning, it's time for a cup of iced "Joe" (coffee) before I take off to the VA for the Patriot Days picnic. Let's get started:

Page One: The Week that Was - or Wasn't: Much of my week was deciding if I was going to the Picnic today and taking on two doctors appointments. I also got the thrilling news on the scheduling of my colonoscopy. Actually the day before (clean out) has been worse for me than the procedure itself. My problem this time is my highly androgynous body. But any of it is better than a possible case of colon cancer. Now, off that shitty topic :) and on to Tia Goward.

Tia is a transgender athlete in Alaska. From the Alaska Dispatch News: 
In what is believed to be a first for Alaska, a transgender athlete competed in an individual event at a high school championship Friday at the state track and field meet at Dimond Alumni Field in Anchorage.

Page Two: Yesterdays Coffee - Opinion: On/during the Memorial Day Weekend, I think I made my opinion very clear in yesterday's post and many before. Number One: we should be honoring our veterans who served and/or gave up the ultimate sacrifice for our country and Number Two: We shouldn't forget our transgender active duty members who are serving in the closet. Supposedly change is coming soon-we will see.

Page Three: The Back Page: Scholarships! Applications are now being accepted for Fantasia Fair 2016 scholarships. Deadlines for application is are no later than July 15. For more information please visit here 
http://www.fantasiafair.org

In the meantime,thanks for taking your time and stopping by JJ's. Enjoy your weekend!

Stealth?

Recently I have wrote a couple "whiney" posts about the number of hits to JJ's and the resultant lack of "shekels" I make.

As a result I have went back in the archives and primarily found posts from 2013 which contained what I considered more "exciting" content.

I was starting HRT etc.  and going 24/7 was still a little edgy. Now (if this makes any sense) the world went stealth before I did. The same guy I see once a month with the booming voice always manages to call me "sir"but a real close friend just invited me to an "girl's only" cookout.

Plus, I do think the world is a kinder,gentler world for us in some places as the younger generation could care less. Which brings us to Connie's comment: If you'e getting fewer hits, maybe it's because there are fewer "Misses" (or Mrs.) who are interested in reading what we "Transaurus Rexes" have to say anymore. As I said earlier, we may be but "fossil fools" to the younger generation. There's still some need for it all, though, so keep up the good work!

Thanks!!! Right you are.

Memorial Day

Sure, it's a three day weekend for some and a picnic for others, but primarily Memorial Day is time to remember those who served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice. 

I am not going to spend more time mentioning the lag of rights for active duty military members.

Kristin Beck, Transgender Navy Seal

I am not going to do anything but deeply thank all of you active closeted transgender military members who read the blog and the transgender veterans who read it also.

Thanks for your service! Through good or bad times, people can't forget all of you who gave your time and sometimes your life to serve your country.

Thanks again!!!!!

JJ's Guest Quote of the Day

On turning 65:  Finally old enough to know better. Too Old to do anything about it! 

Connie Malone

Memorial Day Invite

If your memory is better than mine, perhaps you will remember the post I wrote about a woman coming up to me in the Hall at the VA and alerting/inviting me to a Memorial Day event, they call "Patriot Days." She also gave me her phone number to call for questions. (The Dayton, Ohio VA.)

About a week or so again, I called the number and got an answering machine. I left all my pertinent info and didn't expect much else.

Then, all of the sudden, yesterday she called me back and asked if I was coming. I thought sure, how could I back out now?

My only real problems are I can't find anyone to go with me since Liz has to work, because I need to be there. Even for the ones who have called me a "fu-king queer- in fact especially for them. 

Check out these numbers:

 15,500

Transgender individuals who are currently on active duty or in the Guard or Reserve forces

150,000
Transgender individuals who have served, or currently serve, in the U.S. armed forces

1.6
Times more likely that transgender women will serve than all adult men

3
Times more likely that transgender men will serve than all adult women

*Figures per a 2014 Williams Institute report on transgender military service in the U.S.

So Sunday it will be!!!

Transgender Israel Co-existence Contest

From Tel Aviv and the "Times of Israel" 12 finalists are aiming to become Israel’s first “Miss Trans Israel.” They have spent long hours this week practicing their routines, strutting in stiletto heels and modeling evening gowns and swim wear.

The competition is more than a show of beauty and pride.

It also is a display of coexistence and tolerance, bringing together contestants from Israel’s Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities. The contestants describe themselves as a family of sorts, saying they find strength in one another.

“I’m happy that the competition is bringing together all of the ethnic groups, and together they are a model of coexistence,” said Israela Stephanie Lev, the pageant’s organizer. “I hope this model can be an example for our society, for the Middle East and the world.

   

Takin' Care of Business and Workin' Overtime!

Well, not really. I am retired so sincerely, I work more than I did.

Recently, I wrote an informational post on the the blog about what's called monetization or Google running ads. For example from Connie:  "Hey, I keep putting in my two cents worth, and I get nothing in return!!!! :-)

I believe the ads are geared toward the individual user, are they not? Mine, today, are for "4 signs of heart trouble", "Senior Cruises", and one for REI. So, someone (or some thing) knows I'm old (still two years younger than you until tomorrow :)."

OLD Picture

The ads are indeed tailored and I get some crazy ones, recently plugging trips to Florida and on line degrees. (They must read the blog?) 


"Do you really get haters and trolls?"

Yes, I do get trolls and haters occasionally, just not much lately. My all time classic was when someone called me "just another old guy on hormones." :)

Since I don't get nearly the daily hits I used to on the blog, I think I'm less visible. When I started it years ago, there were fewer blogs. Now everyone and their "Mama" has one.

"Just Fab!"

I casually follow a fashion site/blog called Just Fab which "indirectly" carries my style of clothes. I love the "Bohemia" fringe colorful looks.

Frankly, I can't wear or afford most, but it's fun to "window shop."

Actually too, a long maxi skirt and tank top give me a nice slimming line I am always looking for.

So, I'm comfortable, and feeling attractive at the same time. I am approximately 5'11" too, so I am not terribly tall. 

Check it out! 

Takin Care of Business

I have had several friends I see on a regular basis tell me they can't make a comment on the blog and what's up with the advertisements?

It is my understanding,you have to become a member of the blog to make a comment.(no charge) The spot to do it is on the right hand side about 2/3's of the way down.(Almost clear to the bottom.) The only right I have is to censure any haters or trolls.

Now, the ad's...Google pretty much has total say on which ad's you will see. Sometimes they are worthwhile for you sometimes not. An example was the ad I had today from some obscure university I had never heard of. Perhaps they have read my writing?

Why have ad's at all? Bluntly, like Connie, I need the cash and while I know you can make some sort of respectful return on the time you put into a blog, I haven't seen it yet. Easily, I put an hour a day into JJ's for a very small return.

How is the return figured you ask? Good question. Say you like "Joe Blow's Burger Rama" and an ad shows up on the blog and you you check out the ad, I get an itty bitty kick back.

The ad for the book is a good deal, I get a nice kick back from that, while Frock Magazine is an exchange.

So, if you have paid attention, every once in a while, I position the ads in a different place to create more much needed revenue from a community which is notoriously broke.

Then there are those who fund their blogs through a Paypal account (donation). I have always felt bad about that. It seems to put more pressure on something I started doing for fun.

So there you you go, I hope some of this info helps!!!!! 

Transgender Working World

Connie wrote in via the cyrstih@yahoo.com email account about her experiences in Seattle where she works with an Hispanic crew and a boss who considers her an abomination. 

Her leg is swelling from blood clots again and she desperately needs the money so my thoughts go out to her. In her words :I'm working along this job and have an interesting story; not the nature of the work, but the nature of the people on the job. 

My job is to maintain large hanging flower baskets in some of the business districts around town - mostly watering - in the early morning hours. Last week, I was involved in the installation of the new summer baskets.

The foreman is a Latino, which means nothing to me except that he obviously is engrossed enough in his culture that I am an abomination to him. Still, he's at least "tolerant" of my existence there; tolerant to a point. It's his pronoun usage when talking about and to me that is the problem. It's always "he,his,or Amigo not Amiga."

I made one subtle remark about it to him, but he either refuses to give me the proper respect or he didn't get the message. So, after a week of this, I brought the subject up with the owner. He was not comprehending what I was telling him at all, and couldn't understand why his foreman would be using male pronouns when  he didn't do so with, or to, other women. Ha! I had to tell my boss that I was a transgender woman, because for all the time he's known me he has thought that I was a cis woman!!! (with a rather low voice, he said)

The whole thing is not worth a battle to me, as this is just a temporary seasonal job I've taken, while this guy has been working there for fifteen years. I believe that I would even have legal grounds for making a stink about this, but I'm more interested in searching out avenues of positive energy. I know that there are those who think I'm giving in here, but I prefer to see the positivity in the fact the owner is happy to have me be a face for his business, working and dealing with the people in the districts he serves. Besides, who wouldn't be pleased to be able to work independently without a foreman looking over her back all the time. Also, if he mis-genders me to someone, he's only going to be confusing them. I win all the way around!

Feel free to use any or all of this. I just think it's an amusing twist of sorts on the "transgenders in the workplace" issues that are usually reported."

First of all Connie, I wish you good health! And second of all what an inspiring story. I had a difficult time lifting it from yahoo over to here for some reason, hope everyone got the meaning!

From India

"In a highly unusual move, a designer in the southern Indian state of Kerala has launched her new collection of saris, featuring two transgender models, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi.

Sharmila Nair's collection is called Mazhavil - or, the rainbow - and it's "dedicated to transgender people because globally they are represented by rainbow flags".

In India, where transgender people are looked down upon by the larger society and are considered as the in-between people who are to be ridiculed and shunned, Ms Nair's choice of models is attracting a lot of attention."

The models - Maya Menon and Gowri Savitri - have no previous experience in modelling and Ms Nair says she found them through Queerala, an organisation that works with the LGBT (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender) people in Kerala.

"I was thinking about how I was going to showcase this collection of handloom saris and I saw a Facebook post about the state government's new policy to better the lives of transgender people.

"I thought since the government was doing so much for the LGBT people, I should also do something," Ms Nair told the BBC on phone from Cochin."

Follow the link for more.

Strut!

Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg will serve as executive producer on an upcoming show called Strut.

Strut will follow the day-to-day lives of a group of trans fashion models.

Focusing on Slay Model Management, the show will tell the story of the world’s first exclusively transgender modelling agency, People reports.

“This show is important right now, because for all of the positive advances the community has made and continues to make, transgender is still a hot-button word that gets people hysterical,” Goldberg in a statement.

“People tend to focus on the stereotype instead of the person,” she added.

“This series will give viewers a unique opportunity to spend time with real people who are struggling with the same challenges we all face as we make our way through the world.

“You may even be surprised to discover that you have been seeing and interacting with transgender men and women in ways you didn’t even realiSe!”

Strut will premiere later this year on the Oxygen network.

Muse-ings

Just a couple more Ideas I ran across recently.

Our CBS affiliate here in Cincinnati last Sunday, ran a segment on a gender-less society. The basic premise was, all the transgender bathroom ruckus will be a thing of the past as more and more millennials just don't see the problem, and it's true.

I call them dinosaurs. The radicals running through Target screaming with a bible all the way down to the "average Joe" on the street. Many have gray hair and are fighting the losing battle against much of corporate America who realizes the impact of LGBT spending. Plus consider this:
Companies are beginning to approve insurance coverage for genital reassignment surgery and I read the average cis woman today is equal in size to the average cis man in the 1960's.

I don't know how long it took for the dinosaurs to go extinct and I am sure ours today will never go away completely, but you can sure feel the winds of change.

Plus, I read we should be on the outlook for a Democratic party resurgence on the local and state levels soon. If you know what a "Log Cabin Republican" is, there is also middle point between both parties. Check them out on the link.


Finally, if you really want to help the cause this year, get registered to vote and check what the candidates stand for on the "social level".

You Are Not the Boss of Me

Yesterday was my once monthly trip to my therapist. Interestingly enough, we talk rarely concerning me being transgender and lean more into my bi-polar and other life issues.

Somehow, my Mom keeps being brought up in the conversations. She was guilty of pushing too hard. If I got three A's and a B-what was up with that B type person. By osmosis (or a broom) I carry that attitude too and have to ignore it. Examples:

If I have what I think is the sharpest new outfit I have ever owned, well...

Back in the day, if I bought a new wig and thought it looked great, well...it did for a month.

Don't get me wrong, Mom has been gone for a long time and I wish I could talk to her now about all that has happened to me, but I am afraid I would have to quote Tom Selleck  in his Jesse Stone role:

"You can fire me, but you can't tell me what to do."

I would put that on my tombstone if I was going to have one!

Also in many ways, the quote describes the emerging transgender community.

JJ's SUNDAY EDITION

KER PLUNK! Another Sunday Edition is hitting your virtual front porch! First the weather:
We are seeing sunshine and mild temps for the first time in a while today, a welcome change!
Excellent for a iced cup o Joe (coffee) or tea. Let's get started:

Page One: The Week that Was or Wasn't: As the battle rages on over the bigoted stupid transgender rest room laws, my email was jammed packed every morning with news of at least 25 or 30 different municipalities, school districts and of course states debating the issue with mixed results. The whole affair is at once so tragic and tedious because once we are out, we are out and it's refreshing to note the big corporations agree. Plus, as more and more people come to know a transgender person, they will find how they were swindled by the simplistic false idea of a "man in the woman's room" hate mongering.

Last week we also wrote about the Veterans Administration withholding coverage for any sort of plastic/surgery/genital realignment surgeries, which as you think about it, is not a huge surprise...for trans vets.



Page Two: Yesterday's Coffee: Opinion: Last night, Liz and I got together with a group of friends and one dear one asked me about my take on the transgender restroom situation and which restroom do I use. I said, the women's and have for years. She asked if I had any negative feedback and I said yes, but not for a while. "Back in the day" I had two or three run in's with police who were called on me to no avail and realistically, I face much more danger if I used a restroom which corresponded to my birth gender. She is an ally and agree with me totally the whole mess was an unneeded deal. We need more like her and others which mean so much to me from the same circle of friends!

Page Three: The Back Page: Hey kids, it's time to go and try out some of this new weather (sun) with Liz and the dogs. Thanks for being part of JJ's and remember, I love you!!!

JJ

What's Next?

Now that I have read again that Medicare will cover some or all aspects of genital reassignment surgery, I am sort of stuck between the rock and the bucket place. 

As I have always said, my genitals don't define me to the world and I am not interested in such a major, painful operation at my age. If most of my life was ahead of me, I am sure I would think different.


What I have written about here is my desire for a breast augmentation operation, and it's finally time to stop into a plastic surgeons office to find out if I can do it partially on Medicare's tab.

If you read Michelle Hart's (no relation) comment in my last Veterans Administration post, waiting for the VA at my age could be a death sentence. It seems our country has a penchant for getting into wars it doesn't want to pay for later. 

At any rate, all of this leads me to another point. If I was to put together a "girl" bucket list for myself, I would have to put swimming on it. I never was a huge fan of the water, even though I know how to swim plus in the old days, swimming in wigs was tough. So I never did.

So who knows, and if you do have any input into any of this, please let me know!

Still No Real Movement at the VA

From The Advocate and Autumn Sandeen:
It will likely take a lawsuit  to end the Veterans Affairs policy of denying coverage for gender-confirmation surgery — a procedure currently covered by Medicare. 
Here is an excerpt: "A lawsuit was filed recently that made little news, lost to the headlines of HB 2 and the Department of Education telling America's 13,000-plus school districts that they must accommodate transgender students in accordance with Title IX. This little-heard-of lawsuit was filed by the Transgender Law Center and Lambda Legal, with co-counsel WilmerHale, and in it they've petitioned the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to change the rule that categorically excludes transition-related surgery for transgender veterans.

For a bit of background, in June of 2011, many of us transgender veterans were pretty excited when the VA announced a standardized policy of respectful and affirming delivery of health care for transgender and intersex veterans. The policy required equal access to affirmative basic health care for transgender veterans across every VA facility — which surprisingly wasn't uniform across the country — and that all medically necessary health care for transgender veterans was and still is to be provided by the VA.

Well, almost all medically necessary health care. Under existing VA regulations, transition-related surgeries — also referred to as gender-affirmation surgeries — aren't performed by or paid for by the VA. In fact, VHA Directive 2013-003 (Providing Health Care For Transgender And Intersex Veterans) states under line item 2.b. "[The] VA does not provide sex reassignment surgery or plastic reconstructive surgery for strictly cosmetic purposes."

Being a transgender veteran myself, I'm not holding my breath waiting for change, but who knows?

Transgender Migration (Archive Post)

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Transsexual Migrations

"Kristina was born 33 years ago as a boy, but in her teens she realized she was at odds with her body. She has been thinking of sex change since 16, but not until four years ago, after moving to Germany, did she start doing something about it. In Lithuania, sex change operations are impossible because there are no laws governing them. “I was told I needed therapy, they suggested I had my head examined. There was so much mockery before... About locking me in a mental hospital, testing and curing like a lab rat. But it is not a disease, a person is simply born in a wrong body,” she explains."

For more on Kristina and Lithuanian transgender law, go here.

Just What The Hell Should They Know?

Liz and I went to the first planning session for the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Transgender Day of Remembrance.

I didn't attend last year's because of reasons I don't actually remember, but later I got the sense there were two separate competing events? Partially, I guess, the problem was a cis gender woman was running one and it was way too religious in scope.

It was about that time, I began to tally my own unofficial count in the room and came up with an almost even break down of cis versus trans people. The count included an even break between transgender men and trans women. The HUGE problem I immediately saw was there was only one transgender woman of color in the room and she said she had to be talked into coming after last years event.

I grew quickly bored as the meeting turned into what I call "circular" the same peeps bringing up the same subject endlessly. Plus it was religion. 

Which brings me back to my original question, When does an "ally's" help cease to be help no matter how well intention-ed it is?

Fuddy Duddy?

"A transgender woman is set to become the next president of a New Zealand Rotary club and says it's not the "fuddy duddy" organisation some think.

Monica Mulholland is the Queenstown club's nominee and is set to take on the role in June next year, pending an AGM vote.

Just three months after making her transition, she says most of those in the club have only known her as a guy.

"The support and the affection that I've had from my fellow Rotarians has really blown me away."

"I think that's a huge step forward and a real credit to the people who run Rotary in New Zealand."

Read more: http://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/queenstown-rotary-club-elects-first-transgender-president-2016051816#ixzz4918MvFyR

Right On! Target

Cartoon Time

I am sorry rest of world. Then again maybe you need all this stupid upheaval in America to forewarn and or entertain you of what could happen in your country.

Peeps boycotting Target is the latest.

You have to know they would be shopping Walmart anyhow. But hanging out with a bible outside of a Target? Really? The bible thumping churches and ministers must have the flocks stirred up and mobilized. I do however, have a long time trans woman friend who grew up in an Evangelical home and she warned me they (Evangelicals) would just dig in their heels and refuse to move the more they were pushed.

Before all of this started, I always found Target a pleasant place to shop and in fact Liz and I made our way into a Target Saturday night to shop for a few items. We will shop there more now of course.

Now, as far as the other two go? The pix say it all! 

"Sort of Settled?"

From the Washington Blade: Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has invoked the ire an LGBT think-tank for saying the implementation of openly transgender military service is “complicated.” The Pentagon chief made the remarks last week at the Air Force Academy in Colorado when questioned by a cadet on the best way to help people adjust to the idea of transgender people in the armed forces. “This is a complicated issue, and I think it has a lot of ramifications that are very practical ones,” Carter said. Months after a launching a review of the ban prohibiting trans people from serving in the armed forces, Carter said the principle of enabling trans military service is “sort of settled.”

“What matters is people’s ability to contribute to our military,” Carter said. “That’s what matters. The only barriers we should ever erect to the principle are ones in which there are practical issues that we can’t work through.”

Expressing confidence the issues would be resolved, Carter concluded, “It’s the quality and readiness of the force that matters. That’s the goal. We keep that in front of us.”

The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” enabled openly lesbian, gay and bisexual people to serve in the U.S. armed forces, but transgender people are still barred from open service as a result of medical regulation instituted in the 1980s.

- See more here.

As predicted, none of this was unexpected from the Pentagon. Washington after all is known for it's incompetent bureaucrats (Carter) who collect a paycheck and move on. 

I have screamed it before and I will again the greatest hypocrisy in this country is with  holding basic freedoms from the transgender military members who are on the front lines fighting for them. 

JJ's Quote of the Day

Comparisons should not be with made with who you were, it's who you are going to become.

Hamburger Mary's

Last night, one of CBS's "Undercover Boss" shows featured a place called

 "Hamburger Mary's".  In the show owners and executives go undercover to see

how their companies are really running and if they need

 to make improvements. During last night's show, one of the owners even went undercover 

as a drag queen at one of their LGBT friendly eateries/bar. From the companies web site:

Ashley Wright (Co Owner) on Left

Hamburger Mary’s offers a flamboyant dining experience,

 along with nightly entertainment from our "Dining with the Diva's" drag shows

 and charity “HamBingo Mary’s” to MaryOke-Karaoke and trivia nights.

As fun as all of that sounds, my whole reason for writing this post has to do with the

 way the two twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Wright who own the company are trying

to rebuild it.

In last nights show, the owners went undercover with a whole rainbow of employees.

They started with a fairly obvious straight server trainer, went to a gorgeous drag 

performer/trainer who was transgender, a lesbian bar manager and finally a gay server.

The gay server in particular was singing the praises of Hamburger Mary's as a safe

place to work...which is huge as we know.

Remember too, if you live close to one of Hamburger Mary's venues, Support them

Because the Wright Brothers are doing the Wright thing for the LGBT  community!!!!!

 (Couldn't resist it!)