Alison Gardner

Coming Soon: Transgender Day(s) of Action 2015

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". . . We can no longer wait for anyone to save us." -- Lourdes Ashley Hunter, Executive Director of Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC) and, Casa Ruby Comptroller

After opining on the deadly scourge of transmisogyny for the last few days (here, here, and here), it's time for some practicalities. Each November, in hundreds of cities across the world, we gather for a Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) to mourn and celebrate the lives of trans people who have been victims of violence, especially those who have paid the ultimate price. We ...

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Weekend Convo: Intersex and Trans Children Counter Transmisogyny

Misogyny is the objectification, discrimination, and violence and murder against women. Transmisogyny is a particularly virulent type of misogyny that is directed solely at girls and women who currently identify or previously identified as trans. There are two realities that will, over time, undermine this behavior but that will not, sadly, be soon enough to stem the rising tide of violence and murder of trans women, especially among people of color. These two realities will eventually help dismantle transmisogyny even though it is entirely about the misogynist's emotional, irrational reaction to their own deep-seated fears and sexual insecurity. Because transmisogyny has no intellectual basis, it cannot be talked ...

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Weekend Convo: The Violent Threat of Transmisogyny

Elisha Walker RIP

"[The] data continues [to show] a three-year trend in which transgender women, LGBTQ and HIV-affected people of color, and transgender people of color experienced a greater risk of homicide than other LGBTQ and HIV-affected people. These statistics demonstrate that the most marginalized LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities experience higher rates of severe violence. These same communities experience higher rates of homelessness, poverty, and job discrimination which can increase their risk of violence." National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP)

Transmisogyny is in full flower, part backlash of increased media visibility and human rights protections for trans, lesbian, ...

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Weekend Convo: TransMisogyny

Model Geena Rocero Photo by Steer Jurvetson Flickr/creative commons

This weekend I will be exploring the topic of transmisogyny, which can never be understated since its urgency is literally a life and death matter, especially for black trans women. It is a part of the larger fabric of emergency re-education that must take place to curb this violent trend (and perhaps along the way quell the transphobic trolls that periodically show up on my newsfeed, and maybe yours).

Misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women and girls, as is transmisogyny. Its manifestations are horrible, and they are exaggerated 10-fold when it comes to trans women and ...

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Beyond Headlines and Hashtags

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White supremacy is so imbedded in our culture that police will not confront armed citizens inciting fear and hatred in an already agitated local populace. (AG 8/11/15)

Someone said she thought my headline on Tuesday, White Supremacy Reigns, may not appeal to Facebook users because it could suggest endorsement rather than my intended condemnation of the Oath Keepers in Ferguson. I did promise to update that post, though. The headline was an obvious declaration of what was transpiring in Ferguson, raising the alarm about the arrival of the mostly-entirely-white Oath Keepers, an armed, anti-government militia, carrying loaded guns and rifles, ...

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Religious Non-Profits Ignore the Law

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There is new reason to hope that the influence of religion in government has finally embarked on its long journey to extinction. More and more, the hypocrisy of every argument made that seeks to vacate our constitutional right to church-state separation is being more fully exposed and often struck down by the courts (here, here). There is nothing inherently wrong with religion or faith in a god's eventual salvation of man. There is even room in government to work alongside "faith-based" organizations in satisfying the population's need for social services. Whether a large behemoth like ...

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White Supremacy Reigns

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"Open carry is open carry," said a member of Oath Keepers defending his right to be armed among Ferguson protesters.

Radical, self-titled, armed Oath Keepers have descended on Ferguson, Missouri, following unrest there upon the one-year anniversary of the killing Michael Brown. This fringe "patriot" group abides by its vow to disobey "unconstitutional" orders from what they view as an increasingly tyrannical government. What makes this so extraordinary and difficult to grasp is the reaction of the police to this invasion by 2nd Amendment fanatics: nada, nothing. St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar described their presence as ...

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Largest U.S. Trans Survey to Launch on August 19

At last count, 40-60% of trans people have attempted suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population. Isn't it time you did something to help? Updating the ground-breaking 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey, Injustice At Every Turn, conducted jointly by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the new 2015 U.S. Trans Survey is about to launch this month on August 19 (under the aegis of the National Center for Transgender Equality). Using data from 6,400 participants, the meta-findings of the earlier survey, which has been cited by ...

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A Lightening Strike Heard Around The World

Photo by Steve Rhodes Flickr/creative commons

"Not everything that is faced can be chaged; but nothing can be changed until it is faced." — James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic

Meditation this weekend on Michael Brown and the birth of the BlackLivesMatter movement led me to re-examine my published thoughts from a year ago.

Follow The Money To Ferguson Institutionalized racism, money, greed, and special interests are what makes brown and black young men primary targets and victims, and it is being financed by your hard-earned tax-dollars. (More . . .)

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Combatting the Infection of the Religious Right

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"[Y]ou’re not able to see somebody else as a human being," 

Some may predict that the influence of the religious right is waning as the number of Americans identifying as evangelicals declines, but that misunderstands and underestimates the festering infection of their ideas, already in full flower. You can be an secularist but your world is still affected by the disease of fundamentalist thinking that has made and continues to make a deep impression on our laws and policies. The rubric of religious freedom has been fully distorted to protect racial bigotry and legalize discrimination. President Obama Read More›
in Campaigns / Grassroots / Key Issues / News of Note / Op-Ed / Public Information / Uncategorized  by Alison Gardner 0 comments