Jealous spoke at a national conference on rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, the 24th national conference on LGBT equality.
January 28, 2012
Gov signs transgender rights bill [wwlp.com]
by Christine Lee, 22News State House Correspondent
BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) – Governor Deval Patrick hosted a ceremonial signing Thursday of a civil rights bill that extends protection from discrimination to people based on their gender identity or gender expression.
“I signed this bill as a matter of conscience. No individual should face discrimination because of who they are,” said Patrick
“And we intend to enforce that bill the way it is intended to do,” said Attorney General Martha Coakley.
Patrick formally signed the transgender rights bill quietly in his office late November, but the start-of-the-year ceremonial signing drew an overflowing crowd from the transgender community.
Legislative leaders praised the progress Massachusetts is making toward recognizing transgender rights. “Allowing them to more easily find employment, housing, education, credit, and most importantly, a better quality of life,” said House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop)
The bill is big step for the Commonwealth, but activists note, their work isn’t over yet.
“These things are vital but we mostly need public accommodation,” said Danica Ali, an LGBT activist from Springfield. “[It] must be added to the bill.”
Public accommodation refers to the right to stay at a hotel, ride a bus, or even use a bathroom without being discriminated against. The bill signed by the governor falls short of extending those rights to transgendered people and activists feel their fight isn’t over until it does.
“Just because it’s such a basic right for people and the fact that it’s not protected is kind of atrocious,” said Kaylin MacNeil of Holyoke.
The governor acknowledged there’s work to be done but for today, he wants to relish in what they’ve accomplished so far. The House Speaker said nearly 33,000 Massachusetts residents will now no longer face discrimination.
http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/politics/state_politics/Gov-signs-transgender-rights-bill
January 28, 2012
NAACP president says group supports extending rights to transgender residents in Maryland [washingtonpost.com]
“This striving for inclusion is not new,” Jealous told a crowded convention room at the Baltimore Hilton.
Last year, legislation that would have protected transgender people from housing and employment discrimination passed the House of Delegates, but the bill failed to pass the Senate.
About a week after the legislative session adjourned in April, an attack on 22-year-old transgender woman at a McDonald’s restaurant in Rosedale highlighted the issue again.
First Lady Katie O’Malley, who also attended the conference, told a crowd outside the convention room where Jealous spoke that “cowards” prevented same-sex marriage legislation from passing in Maryland last year. The measure cleared the Senate but stalled in the House of Delegates.
“We didn’t expect the things that happened to the House of Delegates to occur, but sadly they did, and there were some cowards that prevented it from passing,” she said.
Still, she told the crowd she and her husband, Gov. Martin O’Malley, are hoping the votes will be there this year.
The governor has made same-sex marriage legislation a priority this session.
Katie O’Malley, who is a judge in Baltimore District Court, also told the crowd that religion should not play a role in determining state laws relating to civil rights.
“We’re all very diverse and that’s what makes us so strong, but religion should never play a part in what the laws of our state are, and that’s what we’re trying to convey to religious leaders who are opponents of the bill,” she said.
January 28, 2012
Transsexual in Miss England field [upi.com]
A transsexual says modeling agency officials had no idea she had been born male when they urged her to enter the Miss England pageant.
Jackie Green, 18, Leeds, is the first contestant in the pageant to have undergone a sex change and says she was flattered when talent scouts urged her to enter.
“I went to the Britain’s Next Top Model show in London and was really surprised when scouts came up to me,” Green told The Sun. “Miss England is a prestigious competition. I’d love to win and I have as good a chance as anyone.”
Green’s image was posted online with the other teenage contestants for the Miss Fresh Photographic round of the contest, in which members of the public cast their votes for their favorites.
The contest is a major step forward for Green, who underwent a sex-change operation at age 16 after years of bullying. The Sun said Green, who was born Stuart, adopted a female lifestyle at age 4 and wore long hair and a girl’s uniform to school.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2012/01/15/Transsexual-in-Miss-England-field/UPI-97001326644787/#ixzz1kjqC144t
January 28, 2012
It’s Still Not Okay for Ladies to Get Angry [jezebel.com]
by Erin Gloria Ryan / jezebel.com
Every lady who has ever cried in the middle of an argument or been told to “calm down” after raising her voice knows that the best way to get other people to dismiss you as irrational is to get visibly upset. I’d say that the pervasive universal brush-off of female anger is fucking bullshit, but I don’t want anyone to think I’m crazy.
The Washington Post‘s Anna Holmes tackles this frustrating phenomenon as it’s affected three women currently in the public eye— Michelle Obama, Marianne Gingrich, and Elizabeth Warren.
Holmes first points to the public’s reaction to the interview that ABC News conducted with Marianne Gingrich, Newt’s second wife. The segment aired on the night of the final South Carolina debate and failed to either garner her any sympathy or drum up any voter derision for her adulterous family values-touting ex husband. Instead, public opinion turned against Marianne, and the Gingrich campaign dismissed her as a “bitter” woman. No one called Newt a “bitter” man when he spent the first 5 minutes of the GOP debate shouting like a drunk uncle whose favorite team just lost the Super Bowl at the moderator who dared ask him a question about his marital history.
Michelle Obama has faced similar public scrutiny about her anger, or perception of her anger, when she told CBS’s Gayle King that she was tired of being portrayed as “some angry black woman” after a book came out that characterized her as such. And Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren even had to battle similar lady anger side-eye from Jon Stewart during her recent interview on The Daily Show.
Holmes argues that these three are just part of the next generation of women affected by a harmful stereotype that’s spanned much of human history. Lady anger is bad. An angry woman is a crazy woman. Negative feelings from women who are being treated unfairly is irrational. Ad nauseam. She writes,
Females learn to curb their hostilities from a young age, and when female aggression is deployed, it has to be tiptoed around, gussied up with a shiny coat of lip gloss, an updo and a wink or, as evidenced in many a junior high school hallway, communicated passively, along back channels and in whispers.
In fact, women’s anger is often mocked in an attempt to dismiss the legitimacy of their feelings.
Michelle Obama, Marianna Gingrich, and Elizabeth Warren are famous for very different reasons, but they’re in the same boat with the rest of us when it comes to attitudes toward female anger— no matter who is expressing it, and no matter why they’re expressing it, it’s wrong. But hey, take it easy, baby. You’re being silly.
Even today, an angry female arouses fear and is dismissed [WaPo]
http://jezebel.com/5880065/its-still-not-okay-for-ladies-to-get-angry
January 28, 2012
Caffeine Alters Estrogen Levels in Young Women [nytimes.com]
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR / nytimes.com
Your daily dose of caffeine may tinker with more than just your energy levels.
A new study of women ages 18 to 44 found that drinking coffee and other caffeinated beverages can alter levels of estrogen. But the impact varies by race. In white women, for example, coffee appears to lower estrogen, while in Asian women it has the reverse effect, raising levels of the hormone.
The study did not look at older women, but women of child-bearing age who enjoy a daily cuppa have little reason to fret, the researchers said. The effects of caffeine on estrogen are so minimal that in healthy women, it has no impact on ovulation or overall health, at least in the short term.
“This is important physiologically because it helps us understand how caffeine is metabolized by different genetic groups,” said Dr. Enrique Schisterman, an author of the study and senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health. “But for women of reproductive age, drinking coffee will not alter their hormonal function in a clinically significant way.”
The study, which was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed data on more than 250 women who were examined one to three times a week over two menstrual cycles. They provided blood samples along with details about behaviors like exercise, eating and smoking. On average, they consumed about 90 milligrams of caffeine a day, equivalent to roughly one cup of coffee.
After controlling for a number of variables, like age and diet, the researchers found that among Asian women, those who had 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day had higher estrogen levels compared to those who consumed less. A similar pattern was seen among black women, though it was not statistically significant. In white women, however, 200 milligrams or more of caffeine appeared to have a slight lowering effect on estrogen.
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