The International Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil was held at City Hall on November 20, 2011. The event remembers people who have been murdered due to anti-transgender prejudice. The event honors those who have been killed and raises public awareness of hate crimes. More information about the event can be found at transgenderdor.org and through the Transgender Education Network of Texas at transtexas.org.

Photo: The Theraphy Sisters perform "Color Esperanza/Color of Hope" by Lopez/Sorokin/Torres

As a culmination of the annual Trans and Womyn's Action Camp, activists occupied the regional Oregon Department of Forestry office. Three members of the camp have locked themselves together inside the office using modified pipes. Currently the trio is refusing to leave until the Oregon Department of Forestry revoke their support for the 2011 Elliott State Forest Management Plan.

Today is the last opportunity for citizens to comment on the plan. Activists involved in the action criticized the plan for opening up areas to logging which were previously off limits. They also criticized the plan for increasing clear cutting to boost local timber jobs while not making any decisive moves to regulate or even monitor the large timber export industry which ships logs and jobs overseas.

Related: Activist Blockade Elliott State Forest in Coos County | Jail Support Needed

Mark your calendars for Sunday, June 5th and plan to be at the Houston Institute for Culture from 6pm to 8pm for this multi-disciplinary art show.
Other Loves: Celebrating Queer Artists Voices Breaking Boundaries final show for the 2011 East End Live Art season will focus on the lives of queer artists and activists. Problems facing the queer community, both abroad and locally, sometimes include bullying and suicide. Over the past year we saw increased media attention around such tragedies. Houston Indymedia reported on Lance Reyna, a Houstson Community College student who was heckled and brutally attacked last year. In September 2010, 8th grader Asher Brown committed suicide; his family said he was, "bullied to death." In response to the injustice of homophobia and its fatal consequences, national campaigns like It Gets Better and It Gets Better Because We Make It Better sprung up across the nation.

The evening will be packed with soulful delights including: an excerpt of Bindya Will Shine (Bindiya Chamkay Gi), a documentary by Pakistani film maker, Ragni Marea Kidvai, about Pakistan's Khwaja Sira or Hijra community; a short film by Stephanie Saint Sanchez called Vilut; a Burlesque style performance called We Are Each Other's Lovers in Training by Mister Overdone a.k.a. Jennifer Tyburczy and D.R.E.D. a.k.a. Mildred Gerestant; performances by Jonatan Lopez, Stalina Villarreal, and Rose Arii; visual art by Rob Baker. The show will be MC-ed by UH postdoctoral fellow Sima Shakhsari. Finally, there will be jewelry and art on sale by crafts-maker, Rene Rodriguez.

Krissy Bates was found murdered in her apartment last week, in all likelihood by someone she knew and feared.  She’d appealed to her landlord to fix a broken window so that she’d be safer, but the landlord told her that she’d have to pay for the repair herself.

The media coverage, where it exists, has been sordid--from stories that mis-gender her to the City Pages’ ghoulish blotter coverage of her sex work and her last voicemail.   Once again, the death of a unique, valuable person can be turned into a media spectacle because that person is a trans woman. read more

Image from Outfront Minnesota

Dec 5 Update: Protesters display censored art ("A Fire in My Belly" by David Wojnarowicz) inside the National Portrait Gallery; then get banned from the museum for life.

Documentation and Interviews with demonstrators organized by the Transformer Art Space in Washington, DC against the Smithsonian Institution decision to remove the video by David Wojnarowicz. The video imaged ants crawling over a reclining Jesus paired with homo-erotic images to represent the devastation of the AIDS epidemic on the body and on the Gay community. After a story appeared in the conservative Cybercast News (a project of the L. Brent Bozell III and the Media Research Center), the Catholic League complained that images were offensive to Catholics and other conservatives took up the crusade against the Video. In no time the National Portrait gallery removed the video.

The Transformer Gallery on P Street NW responded to the censorship with screening of "A Fire in My Belly". Video | transformergallery.org | DC Marches against censorship of National Portrait Gallery exhibit | Culture Wars: Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) and CSN News on “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” exhibit | Montana Woman Destroys Controversial Art by Enrique Chagoya | Chagoya defends his work

"District 202 was originally intended to be a community organization “by and for youth”, providing physical space for queer youth to exercise their agency, build community, and grow as leaders. The elimination of the Youth Advisory Committee in 2009 and the absence of a youth presence on the Board demonstrate a disregard for input from youth. More specifically, the changes since your appointment have especially affected queer youth facing multiple oppressions. The Board is incomplete and ineffective without the voices of people of color, trans people, dis/abled people, poor people, and youth. The new structure of District 202 is inherently classist: by forcing queer youth to access District 202 via internet only, you have made the organization’s limited services utterly inaccessible to poor queer youth."

New Leaf, a 35-year-old San Francisco center that offered mental health and substance abuse services for low income, queer, and trans folks for the last 35 years, has closed.

Sunday 9/26 over 100 GLBT activists dressed in a rainbow of shirts and umbrellas marched across the pedestrian bridge in Delaware Park to show their support for MENY, Marriage Equality NY. Outspoken for Equality served as the local organizer for this event with well-known gay marriage activist Kitty Lambert acting as the MC.

Sam Hoyt, Maria Whyte, Antoine Thompson, Greg Rabb, and a representative for Andrew Cuomo participated in the rainbow march and spoke about their plans for marriage equality legislation when they are (re)elected in the upcoming elections. The march was synchronized with marches in Rochester, Albany, and NYC. This is the 7th annual march in NYC.

As frustrating as it can be for GLBT individuals who often feel like we are forced to lobby to elected officials for the right to marry, in an election year politicians can be placed in office that do not need to be convinced that the right to marry is a civil right.

On September 9th, a protest took place in San Francisco demanding the US government pass Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Several protesters were arrested for blocking traffic at the corner of Market and Castro Streets.

If passed, ENDA would protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace for civilian, non-religious companies with over 15 employees, as well as federal, state and local governments, unions and employment agencies.

Currently, it's legal in 29 states to fire someone solely because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual. And in 38 states, it's legal to fire someone solely for being transgender. Even in San Francisco, transgender workers face profound employment challenges and discrimination. A 2006 study by the San Francisco Bay Guardian and the Transgender Law Center found that 60 percent of transgender people in San Francisco earn less than $15,300 per year, only 25 percent have a full-time job, and nearly nine percent have no source of income.

Photos | Previous Coverage: LGBT Activists Push on Pelosi to Pass ENDA | LGBT Groups Rally for ENDA | Pass ENDA Protest | Protest Targets HRC's Stand on Gender Identity in ENDA | Activists Mobilizing To Keep Transgendered Protections in ENDA

Kushaba "Moses" Mworeko is an activist from Uganda who wants to help the people of his country avoid the scourge of HIV/AIDS. In a country and continent that have been ravaged by this disease, Mworeko's work is invaluable. Yet Mworeko cannot safely return home because in the eyes of his government he is a criminal. His "crime"? Being gay. And Mworeko may have committed a second "crime": he is outspoken. Mworeko first concealed his identity when speaking out, but now he is revealing his true identity.

On Tuesday August 3rd, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker struck down the discriminatory Proposition 8, a ballot measure which was passed by voters in California in November, 2008 and which banned same-sex marriages in the state. Walker declared the proposition patently unconstitutional. In Houston, 100 members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities, and their supporters, came out the next day in front of City Hall to celebrate the victory. Many speakers at the rally noted the the need to continue the struggle.

[On August 5], about 75 immigrant rights and LGBTQ advocates demonstrated in front of Target, over their connection to Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer. They condemned Target’s $150,000 contribution to MNForward, which used the money for a television ad urging the election of Emmer who is infamous for his anti-immigrant, anti-gay, and anti-minimum wage views.

The protesters carried 4 four-foot-tall dia de los muertos skeletons, signifying Emmer's offensive positions on immigrants, GLBTQ people, and low income workers, as well as Target's corporate political contributions.

Related: Brandon Lacy Campos: Why Not To Boycott Target | Wednesday: Tell the Owners--Move the Game!read more

Wednesday, August 4th - The California Federal Prop 8 case decision was announced today. Judge Vaughn Walker ruled for the plaintiffs in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court that challenged the constitutional validity of California's Proposition 8. The plaintiffs sought to have the federal court strike down the proposition, saying it is contrary to the 14th Amendment's guarantee to equal protection. Rallies were held in response throughout the the Bay Area and elsewhere in California. Read More | Related: Skeletons in Target's political closet: immigrant and LBGTQ advocates come out against corporate hypocrisy

9 days of events for Our Bodies, Ourselves... at the M11, 1212 S. 11th St. Suite 24 Tacoma

Factors of our society such as patriarchy -a family, community, or system that is governed and dominated by men- and the concept of human capital places each one of us in a submissive position in our daily lives. Whether woman, queer, person of color, or poor we are either victimized, criminalized, or pacified by the dominant culture. Most of the time this goes unnoticed, and is acknowledged as "just the way it is." There is no solution in perpetuating this sentiment, or merely replacing those who are dominant over others. There is no satisfaction in relying on politicians and the police. Within their existence and infrastructure, they will always be at the top and we will keep sinking lower into the their trenches.

In participating in this week of events, we want to build relationships with those around us that are ready to take an assertive position in taking control over our lives and how we are treated as human beings. There is no expectation of things changing over night, but this is a beginning... This is about communication, mutual respect, and having fun. We hope to see you there, and in the streets.

 http://www.beyondfeminismtacoma.wordpress.com

from the TG Center:The afternoon of June 22nd at 1:40 PM, well-known community member Lance Reyna was attacked at knifepoint and left with a concussion. Lance was in a Houston Community College Central Campus 1st floor restroom when a black male with a shaved head said in falsetto, “Hey queer!” and put a knife to his throat. The attacker then told Lance to give him his valuables and then began beating Lance to the ground. Once Lance was on the ground, the attacker began kicking Lance in the head.

Lance was rushed to the emergency room. As of today, Lance is out of the hospital and being cared for by friends and family. The TG Center is taking up a collection to help offset the medical expenses associated with this attack. If you would like to donate, please come by the TG Center or call our helpline at 713-520-8586. Additionally, you can make a donation via Paypal HERE. [Read Full Story]