Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

Doing the "Right" Thing

I caught this story from an Associated Press release. As an American and a transgender veteran it quickly caught my eye:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An independent commission led by a former U.S. surgeon general has concluded there "is no compelling medical reason" for the U.S. armed forces to prohibit transgender Americans from serving and that President Barack Obama could lift the decades-old ban without approval from Congress, according to a report being released Thursday. The report said Department of Defense regulations designed to keep transgender people from joining or remaining in the military on the grounds of psychological and physical unfitness are based on outdated beliefs that require thousands of current service members either to leave the service or to forego the medical procedures and other changes that could align their bodies and gender identities.


 "We determined not only that there is no compelling medical reason for the ban, but also that the ban itself is an expensive, damaging and unfair barrier to health care access for the approximately 15,450 transgender personnel who serve currently in the active, Guard and reserve components," said the commission led by Dr. Joycelyn Elders, who served as surgeon general during Bill Clinton's first term as president, and Rear Adm. Alan Steinman, a former chief health and safety director for the Coast Guard.

The ban itself of course is blatantly Un-American in that it discriminates precisely against transgender service members who are expressly working to protect many rights they have no access to. There is much more to this story. Go here to read it.

"Pop" Goes the Transgender Culture

Rhys (left) with Zackary

As in many social areas, the transgender presence is also growing quickly in today's pop culture and here's an example from The New York Times. The"Times"  recently featured two aspiring artists, Rhys Ernst, and his partner, Zackary Drucker. Rhys had recently graduated from Hampshire College and was working for MTV networks. Zackary had graduated from the School of Visual Arts and was appearing on a reality TV show called “Artstar,” hosted by Jeffrey Deitch.

Over the last five years, Zackary has transitioned from male to female, Rhys from female to male. And in “Relationship,” a photo exhibition currently on view at the Whitney Biennial, the two have chronicled that process and the evolution of their own love affair.

The post goes on to say that a show by two transgender artists should be so prominently featured at the 2014 Biennial should come as a surprise to no one. It is just more evidence of the increasing presence of trans people at the center of popular culture. Go here for an in depth look of familiar and not so familiar names you may not recognize.