Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Morning Edition"

Ker Plunk! Another Sunday edition has hit your virtual porch and it's time to get started.

Page One.- The Week in Review.  Last week we covered the fact the transgender community has an unemployment number twice the national average. Now though, it is possible the light at the end of the tunnel is not the train and certain groups are trying to help the situation. In fact there were actually TGLBQ job fairs recently in San Franscisco and Salt Lake City which sort of tied in with our mention of transphobia in rural America.  Shelle was kind of enough to detail her experiences concerning the lack of resources many TGLBQ women and men have in smaller less populated areas-including job fairs.

Slime Paul

Allyson Robinson

Of course my favorite slime ball Rude Paul was back in the news with his show's use of the She Male term. Supposedly  Glaad backed down the producers of the show and they made some sort of half apology. Similar to the vague tripe GM's top person is rolling out. Perhaps you all have heard,  the slime slick is heading UK's way. A version of Rude's show is coming.

Page Two.- Positives!  In much more pleasant news, an upcoming documentary which includes transgender military personnel from the US and the UK is in the works.  Just the fact transgender vet Allyson Robinson's name is attached, gives the project much more respect.

Also, transgender model Geena Rocera's "Gender Proud" video was a resounding success with over a half a million hits in the first couple of days.

Last but not least,  we mentioned "Auckland's" Amy Brosnahan who decided to enter a beauty contest down under because she wanted to spread the word for young transgender women.

Page Three.- Accepted!  I don't believe, during this week of chasing my tail, I have passed along the fact I have been accepted for the second year in a row to be a workshop presenter at this year's Trans Ohio Symposium.  I figure I must not have embarrassed myself too much if I got invited back!!!

Page Four.- We Got Mail.   In a post called "If it Walks like a Duck, Looks like a Duck and talks like a Duck...is it a duck? , we briefly jumped into the murky waters of what made a trans woman feel secure as a woman.  And we received this comment from Marian:



I've found that gender is as much of a social construct as it is a physical body construct. We, as a species, are cued into "gender" based on certain obvious and not so obvious signals. But when the signals are not presented strongly in one direction or another, confusion will result. For example, Julia Sweeney developed an androgynous character, Pat, whose gender id couldn't be determined - and the associated skits had fun with the miscues... Take that character and strengthen the cues slightly towards one gender or the other, and androgyny would be taken away - yet, the person could still be gender queer and presenting in a gender opposite from what she/he was born into....

Thanks Marian! and I agree. In fact I'm growing to the point where I am sure gender is a total social construct. Also, I like the reference to "Pat". Shown at the left.

Well kids, time to finish my Sunday morning "Cop O Joe" and get the dog out for her walk.

You are all my "fave's" for stopping by the Condo!!!! Thanks to all!!!

TransMilitary Documentary Coming

To mark International Transgender Day of Visibility on Monday, the producers of TransMilitary, a documentary centered around the lives of transgender service members in the U.S. and U.K., released a new trailer. TransMilitary is being led by former OutServe/SLDN executives Allyson Robinson and Zeke Stokes in an effort to shed light on the transgender military experience, and to apply pressure on the U.S. government to end the ban on transgender military personnel. Check out the trailer here on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen: It's strong!!!!!!!!!!

I Joined

Here in Cyrsti's Condo, I always try to keep a close eye on any and all transgender veteran news I can find because most of you know I am a trans vet.

I did choose to stay out of the seemingly crazy story
of the requested resignation of OutServe-SLDN's newly appointed executive director, transgender Army veteran Allyson Robinson. (right)  Many more high-profile resignations followed in protest of Robinson's treatment.

Following this mess,  a recent press release  announced the formation of Service Members, Partners, Allies for Respect and Tolerance for All, or SPΛRT*A, a "group of LGBT people and allies who are currently serving or have served in the military, and our families," that is "especially committed to our Trans members… and to gaining full equality for them in the U.S. Armed Forces.

SPART*A's Facebook page is currently active, while a website for the fledgling group is still under construction.

One can only hope this group can gain traction and effect change against a huge obstacle - the U.S. Military. Follow the link above for more info!

Transgender Military Service?

Recently Allyson Robinson (below) the director of OutServe took a look at former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's legacy. Of course her comments concerning transgender military personnel caught my attention as a trans vet. Here's are a couple of excerpts:

" History will remember Panetta's tenure at the Defense Department favorably for these decisions to change policies that no longer reflected the reality of our wars or, just as importantly, the values of our nation. As a woman veteran, I was elated with these changes. As the wife of a woman veteran (my wife Danyelle was a West Point classmate of mine and served as an Army officer with honor and distinction), I felt encouraged by them. But as a transgender veteran, and an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) service members, veterans and their families, the changes that Secretary Panetta brought about in his last days in office have left me emboldened. Here's why: As the combat exclusion for women comes to an end and open service for gay, lesbian and bisexual Americans edges closer to truly equal service, it becomes more and more obvious that there is no longer any rational basis on which to bar qualified transgender people from serving in our armed forces. Transgender people (people whose inherent sense of their gender is out of sync with the sex they were declared to be when they were born) have served in America's armed forces from the start."

"Today thousands wear our nation's uniform and fight our nation's wars, despite the fact that, like gay and lesbian service members under DADT, they must hide who they are to serve the country they love. However, what makes their situation different from that faced until recently by gays and lesbians is that no law bars their way. Instead, military medical regulations written decades before most of them were born, when being transgender was poorly understood and prejudice ran deep even among medical and mental health professionals, pronounce them unfit to serve. Over the last 50 years our understanding of the transgender experience has grown significantly. Today thousands of Americans every year receive treatment for gender dysphoria, as the condition is now known. They go on to live full, fulfilling lives and to contribute to their communities and society, often in exemplary ways. They are famous inventors, engineers and well-known authors, fire fighters and police officers, teachers and pastors, parents and spouses -- and soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen. In fact, studies show that transgender people are more likely than their fellow citizens to serve in the military -- perhaps twice as likely."

To read more go here to the Huffington Post.

Taking on the Military

As genetic women won the much deserved right to serve in combat functions in the United States military, transgender individuals are still on the outside looking in. More precisely really looking in since we are forbidden to serve at all.

Here in Cyrsti's Condo, I have mentioned Allyson Robinson. Who is a decorated veteran, a wife, a mother, an ordained Baptist minister, and the executive director of the recently combined advocacy organization for LGBT people in uniform, OutServe-Servicemembers Legal Defense Network. The Army veteran was tapped to lead the 6,000-member organization in October, and her appointment is noteworthy not only because she is one of the few women leading a military group but also because she is the first transgender person to lead a national LGBT organization.

A new feature in  theAdvocate  spotlighted Allyson's qualifications:

"Robinson’s appointment is anything but an affirmative-action hire, said retired Navy captain April Heinze, cochair of OutServe-SLDN’s Board of Directors in a statement announcing the hire. “Allyson Robinson is exactly the right person at the right time to be our leader and voice in Washington in the fight to achieve full LGBT equality in the military,” said Heinze. Indeed, Robinson is exceedingly qualified for her new position. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Robinson served as a commissioned Army officer commanding Patriot missiles in Europe and the Middle East, a senior trainer for NATO, and an adviser to the armed forces of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar."

Read more here.

Unfit To Serve?

As previously mentioned here in Cyrsti's Condo,  transgender Army veteran Allyson Robinson was named to head the  Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) and OutServe, the association of actively serving LGBT military personnel.

 Robinson assumes the post as the two organizations are slated to finalize their combination this weekend. A native of Scranton, Pa., Robinson is a 1994 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, where she majored in physics. After an internship at Los Alamos National Laboratory, she was commissioned as an officer in the Army and commanded PATRIOT missile units in Europe and the Middle East. She also served as a senior trainer/evaluator for NATO and as an advisor to the armed forces of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.

I know I'm speaking to the choir here but somehow I'm thinking transgender service people such as Allyson might just ruin all the stereotypes the U.S. Military has for refusing to let us serve.

Trans Woman Picked

From BuzzFeed Politics:


"The new head of the country’s leading LGBT military organization is Allyson Robinson, a former commissioned officer in the Army who most recently worked at the Human Rights Campaign on workplace issues. Robinson also is transgender — and her selection represents a huge breakthrough for a community that has received a level of respect in recent years but still faces overwhelming discrimination and high rates of violence, according to recent surveys by LGBT organizations. Following the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," however, she now faces the unusual challenge of persuading activist and donors that, in spite of that victory, the cause still needs their help. "We disentangled America from this legalized discrimination against gay and lesbian servicemembers," Robinson said, acknowledging that the key aim of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network since its founding in 1993 was reached with the September 2011 repeal of the law. The case she will make is the one that SLDN and OutServe, formed in 2010, have been making since the repeal: Troubling issues remain when it comes to LGBT military service. In addition to benefits issues for same-sex couples, open service for transgender people, whose own sense of their gender does not match the sex with which they were born, was not addressed in the repeal of the 1993 ban on open service and remains a reason to be discharged from the military today. "We have not achieved full equality for LGBT servicemembers, and I think that’s something that Americans care about. I think they care about the way that our troops and their families are treated," she said."