O-H-I-O

There is transgender hope in the heartland of the United States in Ohio. (My home state.)

This post is from Salon:

"Columbus, Ohio struck down conversion therapy on Monday night when its City Council voted unanimously to pass an ordinance banning the discredited practice. Also known as “ex-gay therapy” or “reparative therapy,” Columbus is just one of a handful of municipalities across the United States to ban mental health professionals from seeking to change the sexual orientation or gender identity of LGBT youth.

The capital, however, is actually the third city in Ohio to outlaw conversion therapy in the past two years. Cincinnati became the first city in the U.S. to prohibit “pray the gay away” clinics back in 2015. Toledo followed suit in February.

The decision by the Columbus City Council is the latest in a surprising wave of legislation passed in support of the LGBT community in Ohio, a state with a Republican governor and a GOP-controlled legislature. The Buckeye State could become just the second Red State in the nation to pass nondiscrimination protections to prohibit bias in housing and employment against LGBT people. As Arkansas, Tennessee, and Texas move to the extreme right on LGBT issues, Ohio offers a tiny glimmer of hope from the heartland.

Rep. Nickie Antonio, the state’s first openly gay legislator, introduced the nondiscrimination bill last Thursday, and Gov. John Kasich signaled that he could be persuaded to back it.

“I don’t want anybody to be discriminated against because they happen to be gay,” Kasich said when approached by press last week. “I don’t favor discrimination in any way. I haven’t heard much about this but if it’s happening we have to deal with it.”

Ohio is currently one of 28 states in the nation where it is perfectly legal to be fired for being LGBT. But in recent years, cities across the state have moved to either pass affirming legislation or strengthen their existing statutes."

For more, go here.

More on Trans Feminism

Connie commented:

"I think that gender identity should have nothing to do with feminism, as a concept. If one is a humanist, s/he is a feminist by default. Problems evolve from the agendas people attach to the concept. For some, their approach to feminism may be centered on anti-misogyny, which is valid, but antagonistic nonetheless. Still, the concept of feminism remains available for anyone to follow - man, woman, or trans. The fact that it is women, cis or trans, who most often have a chip in the game may well lead to having a chip on their shoulders, as well. I look at feminism as inclusive rather than anti-anything, though, so a radical feminist would probably not view me so favorably. On a human level, we should all be considered to be equal, but our differences - as they correspond to our gender identities - should be celebrated at the same time. If there were not those differences, after all, there would be no trans people!

As far as a military draft goes, God forbid that we ever need to have one again. If we do, though, I wonder just how those radical feminists would react to the drafting of women (in equal numbers, of course), along with men. Thanks, again, for your service, btw, even if you might have been both at the same time.;-)"

Great points! Especially the one about the draft. I still carry some resentment towards the young women back in the day who said, they would go fight if they could. Knowing full well they couldn't back then. It was easy enough for them to hide behind their gender during a very unpopular war (conflict). I was (and am) a proponent of an universal draft where everyone has to do something. Male, female or transgender, there are enough major problems in our country to keep everyone busy.

Thanks for thanking me for my service :). At the least the three years gave me more time to run from the realization of who I really was. I knew somehow I was transgender and wanted to live as a woman, just had no idea of a good way to do it back in the early to mid 1970's.

Maybe a topic for another blog post: When I put my cross dressing toys aside!"

Jazz Returns

Jazz Jenning's show on the "TLC" is returning this June with Jazz facing the thoughts of gender realignment surgery. Check this video for more: