Primarily among the Left that is centered on "activism" that only manifests itself on the internet, Deep Green Resistance, a group dedicated to resisting corporate greed's effects on the planet, an organization that is also equally dedicated to the liberation of women, is being accused of "transphobia". On the contrary, female members of Deep Green Resistance were assaulted by male transgender activists.
May 16, 2013
Three incidents occurred at the “Law and Disorder Conference” in Portland May 11 and 12 concerning DGR and transgender/queer activists. A lot of lies have been told about these incidents. We need to tell the facts of what physically happened.
Two women were tabling, handing out DGR literature and selling books. A group of five transgender/queer activists came up to the table.
May 15, 2013
A message from the Deep Green Resistance:
Three incidents occurred at the “Law and Disorder Conference” in Portland May 11 and 12 concerning DGR and transgender/queer activists. A lot of lies have been told about these incidents. We need to tell the facts of what physically happened.
Two women were tabling, handing out DGR literature and selling books. A group of five transgender/queer activists came up to the table.
May 3, 2013
The U.S. Department of Justice has charged 13 Women in Baltimore City with smuggling drugs into the Baltimore City Detention Center on behalf of gang members. According to this press release from the FBI, the 13 correctional officers stashed drugs and other contraband in their shoes or other containers and delivered it to Black Guerilla Family (“BGF”) members inside the jail.
Federal investigators also say the 13 Women had sex inside the prison with gang members. The lead defendant and the head of the BGF – Tavon White – allegedly impregnated four of the correctional officers; one of them twice.
Tavon White.
The story of the indictment – buried under the coverage of the Boston Marathon Bombing – is now gaining steam, with national implications, as our governor, Martin O’Malley, wants to be president.
Fingerpointing abounds, from mainstream and fringe media alike. And all of the news coverage is taking the same approach, it seems.
March 18, 2013
In another lifetime, when I was young, I was very active in the effort to amend Maryland’s anti-discrimination law to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. I believed then, as I believe now, that sexual orientation discrimination is, in fact, sex discrimination. However, my feelings on this are irrelevant, as Maryland law made quite clear that sexual orientation discrimination and sex discrimination were two different things. So, many hundreds of people, over the course of many years, worked doggedly to change the law.
Looking back on this effort now, this History that is also “my life,” myths abound about what happened in Maryland during the mid-1990s to early 2000s.
One of the Great Myths about Gender Identity legislation in Maryland is that there was a secret Gay plot to strip Gender Identity protections from a bill to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. The Secret Plot Myth gets repeated even today.
February 27, 2013
Del. Jolene Ivey is the lead sponsor of legislation to allow Marylanders to drive. Thank you Delegate Ivey!
Driving is a feminist issue.
Driving is necessary. It’s particularly necessary for Women. We need to move to get away from Men who abuse us, to relocate for Jobs or Education.
Driving is vital. Given the poor state of public transportation in many parts of the world (and Maryland in particular, with its emphasis on North-South routes, particularly in Baltimore), having a legal right to drive matters for Women.
Driving as a feminist issue has made international news in recent years, with brave Women in Saudi Arabia defying a ban on driving to take themselves for a drive.
Driving is no less a feminist issue in Maryland where, in 2009, in response to George W. Bush’s REAL ID law, Maryland announced that it would no longer renew driver’s licenses of Marylanders who have long held Maryland licenses if they could not prove their “legal” right to live in this country.
So, even though these folks had long held Maryland driver’s licenses without trouble or complaint, Maryland said “no more driving for you.”
Of course, this impacted all undocumented people, and the people who love them.
And it impacted Women.
Women like Karen. Karen is a mother who lives in Maryland’s 11th District in Baltimore County. She has a grandfathered drivers license that she will lose in 2015 under Maryland’s decision to follow Bush’s REAL ID. So even though she’s had a driver’s license for many, many years, because of the War on Undocumented Folks, she will lose it.
Women like Amalia. Amalia is a domestic worker in Montgomery County, working as a nanny. She will also lose her license in 2015. With it, she will lose her ability to travel for work. She will lose time and money. She will lose freedom.
Women like Andrea. Andrea is a U.S. citizen married to an undocumented man. Because he husband is undocumented, he cannot get a license, and must rely on Andrea to transport him.
Women like Jenniver. Jenniver is a single mom who lives in Essex, Maryland. She was in an abusive relationship with a man, and had to rely on strangers to drive her to doctors and lawyers appointments because she could not obtain a license.
Denying driver’s licenses to a person because of immigration status is a Feminist issue. Depriving Women of the ability to get from here to there is a Feminist issue.
House Bill 789 and Senate Bill 715 would fix this. The proposed legislation would allow the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration to issue or renew a driver’s license, identification card, or moped operator’s permit to an individual who does not have a Social Security number or lawful status by repealing a current limitation that the individual must have held one of those documents on April 18, 2009. The bill also repeals the termination date of July 1, 2015, for the authority for MVA to issue or renew one of these documents to an applicant without lawful status or a Social Security number.
That means, if you had a grandfathered license, like Karen and Amalia, you can still drive. It also means that Women like Jenniver can get a license, and Women like Amalia wouldn’t have to drive their partners around anymore, thus freeing their energies towards other tasks.
If the legislation passes, Maryland would join a handful of states that allow licenses for undocumented immigrants. The Senate heard testimony of the legislation last week. The House hearing is March 13.
Call your legislators and ask them to support House Bill 789 and Senate Bill 715.
February 22, 2013
The most important book I have read about use of media and public relations to manipulate public opinion is Toxic Sludge Is Good for You. If you are not familiar with this book, trust me, it is worth the read. Essentially, the book details how powerful interests manipulate the media to get you to smoke cigarettes even though they kill you, get unhealthy cosmetic surgery, and support fracking. It’s about how to Jedi Mind Trick a populace into thinking porn is awesome, women are objects, and Real Women have penises.
The Transgender Movement has done a remarkable job to convincing you that Toxic Sludge is Good for You. They’ve done an amazing job in 20 years, by coattailing on the movement for gay and lesbian rights and spinning a woman’s reticence to share private intimate space like a locker room with a man with a penis as bigoted and hateful. In Maryland, the latest Toxic Sludge we are being force-fed comes in the form of Senate Bill 449, the Fairness for All Marylanders (Except Women) Act.
“It’s my time to fuck over women so it won’t be Dana Beyer’s time to run against me,” Montgomery County Senator Rich Madaleno
January 24, 2013
Americans gave up the idea-or tried to, or pretended to-that there are certain characteristics and qualities that are essentially black and essentially white a long time ago. At the very least we can say that it would be considered wildly offensive and thoroughly idiotic to articulate ideas like that now. Yet somehow we don’t think twice about wanting to be ‘like a man’ or unlike a ‘girly-girl.’ As if those ideas even mean anything. Like which man? Iggy Pop? Nathan Lane? Jesse Jackson? Jesse Helms? It is a staggeringly unsophisticated way to think about being a human being, but smart people do it all the time.
Ariel Levy, Female Chauvinist Pigs, p. 108
I received an email from Equality Maryland today!
Can you find the typo?
It asked me to sign up for its Lobby Day in Annapolis in February.
Now, I like a good lobby day as well as the next person. I read on.
“While 2012 was an incredible year for Maryland’s LGBT communities and our allies our work is not done. Transgender Marylanders remain unprotected in state law from discrimination in employment, housing, places of public accomondation (sic) and credit.”
Um.
Well.
No, that’s not entirely true. [...]
December 30, 2012
Tonight in Baltimore, about 40 people gathered at the foot of the Washington Monument in Mt. Vernon, Baltimore’s Gayborhood. Activist Meredith Moise and the Baltimore Guardian Angels organized the gathering to condemn anti-gay violence in response to the beating of Kenni Shaw, a gay man, in East Baltimore on Christmas Day.
This is what the men who attacked Kenni did to him:
November 28, 2012
”Marriage sucked all the air out of the room.”
If I had to guess, I would think that making comments that challenge Gays and Lesbians for daring to attend to their own needs wouldn’t endear Sharon Brackett, a Trans Woman and board chair for Gender Rights Maryland, to the Gays and Lesbians who finally gained some measure of equality after a decades-long struggle.
Some free advice – maybe don’t piss off the people you are counting on to advance your flawed legislative agenda.
May 18, 2013
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