Diamond Stylz

Check out her website. In her own words: where race, gender and sexuality collide. Go here.

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.

Jimmy...No Jenny Olsen

From XX Factor's Alyssa Rosenberg:

"Over the past several days, a rumor, based on both still photos and IMDb credits for Zack Snyder's upcoming Superman movie Man of Steel, has spread throughout the nerdosphere: that Snyder's made an important change to the Superman canon, turning Superman's pal, cub reporter Jimmy Olsen, into a girl. Some observers have suggested that the switch, if it proves to be true, would have some basis in Superman comics, given Jimmy's habit of dressing up like a woman. But if Snyder really is gender-bending Olsen, I hope he's thinking about what a permanent sex change might mean for the character—and what it would mean for Superman to have a close female friend. Superman writer and comics commentator Grant Morrison has suggested that Jimmy Olsen turned to drag in response to his essential uselessness to Superman. "Jimmy Olsen could barely stand to be himself for more than five pages," Morrison wrote in his book Supergods. "Prefiguring David Bowie and Madonna, his life became a shifting parade of costume changes and reinventions of identity." Jimmy may have gotten power from dressing up like a woman, but those transformations underscored the extent to which Jimmy as himself wasn't much use to Superman, and in fact, often ended up in need of rescue."

Read more of the post here . She approaches the idea of "Jenny" being a true equal to Superman rather than any transgender angle. That's OK, she doesn't have to. That's our angle. Speaking of angle's, I remember how difficult it was for me to get those seams straight on the stockings!