Somewhere Over the Rainbow

It's tough enough if you don't fit neatly into the gender binary and even tougher if you have a family who doesn't support you.

This morning (Tuesday) NBC's The Today Show had a short feature on a family who does support their young son's desire to be gender non conforming. 

Perhaps you have heard of Lori Duron's blog called Raising my Rainbow.  Now she has written a book and here's a preview:



"Raising My Rainbow is Lori Duron’s poignant, heart-breaking, and at times hysterical memoir of her and her family’s adventures of raising a gender creative child. Whereas her older son Chase is a Lego-loving, sports-playing boy’s boy, her youngest son C.J. would much rather twirl around in a pink sparkly tutu, with a Disney Princess in each hand, singing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi.” C.J. is gender variant or gender nonconforming, whichever you prefer. Whatever the term, Lori has a boy who likes girl stuff; really likes girl stuff. He floats on the gender variation spectrum from super-macho-masculine on the left all the way to super-girly-feminine on the right. He’s not all pink and not all blue. He’s a muddled mess or a rainbow creation. Lori and her family choose to see the rainbow."

I just love the gender creative term!

I'm sure if you check your television listings, Lori will have the opportunity to tell her family's story on other shows you can look for plus the book is available everywhere.

Of importance this morning was the point made that a great majority of kids don't have a family system such as "C.J.'s".  We can always hope Lori Duron's efforts will open so many more!

Nearly One Year Ago!

Transgender model and entertainer Huong Giang from Vietnam made a bold statement for transgender women and men everywhere when she came out approximately a year ago:

She came out live during Vietnam Idol as a transgender woman on Thursday September 6, 2012.

That's a LOT of Beer!

From the LGBTQNation: and the Oregonian:

 A Portland bar owner has been ordered to pay about $400,000 to a group of transgender patrons he banned from his establishment last year. The Bureau of Labor and Industries civil rights division imposed the penalty against Chris Penner, owner of the Twilight Room Annex.

The Twilight Room Annex, formerly branded as the P Club. Eleven people will share in the penalty, with amounts ranging from $20,000 to $50,000. It’s the first penalty imposed under the 2007 Oregon Equality Act, which protects the rights of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender Oregonians in employment, housing and public places. Some other complaints ended in settlements.

 The bureau’s civil rights division began investigating the bar formerly known as The P Club last year after owner Chris Penner left a voice message for one of the T-Girls, a social group for transgender people that went to the bar on Friday nights. According to the complaint filed with the bureau, the message said: “People think that a.) We’re a tranny bar, or b.) We’re a gay bar. We are neither. People are not coming in because they just don’t want to be here on a Friday night now.”

Lesson learned?