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New York City to Host WorldPride on 50th Anniversary of Stonewall Riots

 

New York City will host WorldPride in 2019, it has been confirmed – 50 years on from the Stonewall riots.

The city has been chosen as the latest host of the international LGBT Pride event, which celebrates equality in cities around the world.

However, the organisers revealed this week that WorldPride will be heading back to the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement in New York, to mark 50 years since the Stonewall Riots.

The Stonewall riots took place in 1969 to protest police brutality and crackdowns on LGBT people – with some of the first Pride marches beginning on the anniversary in 1970.

David Schneider of NYC Pride said: “The Stonewall Uprising is considered the most significant event that ignited the modern LGBT rights movement, so it makes perfect sense to bring WorldPride to the birthplace of Pride in 2019.

“We are so grateful that our fellow Pride organizers from across the globe have chosen New York City for this momentous occasion.”

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CDC Cites Rising HIV Infections Among Gay, Bi Latino Men

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reporting that new HIV diagnoses among gay and bisexual Latino men in the US increased from 2008 through 2013 while diagnoses among all Latinos in the US declined during that period.

“During 2008–2013, the rate of diagnoses of HIV infection among adult and adolescent Hispanics or Latinos decreased from 28.3 per 100,000 population in 2008 to 24.3 in 2013… however, the number of diagnoses among males with infection attributed to male-to-male sexual contact increased 16 percent, from 6,141 in 2008 to 7,098 in 2013,” read the study, which will be published in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Among all Latino men, new HIV diagnoses went from an estimated 8,106 in 2008 to 8,568 in 2013. New diagnoses among Latino women went from an estimated 1,686 in 2008 to 1,370 in 2013.

In terms of prevention and treatment, immigrants, who may not speak English or be eligible for Medicaid, represent important driver

With an estimated 1,277 new diagnoses among Latinos in 2013, New York was among the states that had the highest numbers of new HIV diagnoses among Latinos, the CDC reported. Only Texas, California, and Florida reported more new HIV diagnoses among Latinos in that year.

In New York, more than 90 percent of the new HIV diagnoses occur in New York City. In 2013, the city health department reported that Latinos accounted for 955, or 34 percent, of the 2,832 new HIV diagnoses.

The CDC and city data have implications for New York’s Plan to End AIDS, which aims to reduce new HIV infections in the state from the current roughly 3,000 annually to 750 a year by 2020. The city’s data show that new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men remain high and unchanged while every other risk group has seen declines. New HIV diagnoses among young African-American and Latino men who have sex with men are driving that higher rate.

“Young black men, young Latino men are not on the radar of many of us,” Guillermo Chacón, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS, told Gay City News. “We need to do a better job to revisit, redesign, and reset the button on our strategy to engage these communities.”

The city data on new HIV diagnoses among African-American and Latino men who have sex with men strongly suggest that if new HIV infections in those populations are not reduced substantially, the Plan to End AIDS will not reach its goal of only 750 new HIV infections a year by 2020.

The plan largely relies on identifying people who are HIV-positive and treating them with anti-HIV drugs so they are no longer infectious and giving anti-HIV drugs to HIV-negative people, under a PrEP or pre-exposure prophylaxis regimen, to keep them uninfected. These drug strategies are highly effective when used correctly.

Reaching the population identified in the CDC report with HIV-prevention strategies and paying for those services could be complicated by immigration status.

The CDC estimated that “43 percent of Hispanics or Latinos who received an HIV diagnosis were not born in the United States or Puerto Rico (a US territory), and among these Hispanic or Latino immigrants, 66 percent were men who have sex with men.”

HIV prevention messages in English for this group could be ineffective because they don’t speak or read English or they might reject a message that is in English. Then paying for interventions, such as PrEP, could be harder. For example, Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor and disabled, will not pay for services for undocumented immigrants.

“This is the missing link,” Chacón said. “We need to deliver a message in English to US-born Hispanics and in Spanish for foreign-born Hispanics who are here in the city… Our marketing among Hispanics that are Spanish mono-lingual is extremely weak and inconsistent.”

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HIV Vaccine Now Being Tested in Clinical Trials

 

After more than three decades and millions of deaths, researchers may be one step closer to creating an HIV vaccine.

This month, the Institute for Human Virology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore launched the first phase of clinical trials for a new treatment. The immunogen, known as the Full-Length Single Chain (FLSR), could potentially induce protective antibody responses to HIV-1 strains, going where previous trial vaccines have fallen short.

“Maryland is one of the top science, bio-health, and research regions in the country and is home to some of the most brilliant minds in the world,” Maryland Lt. Governor Rutherford said in a statement announcing the new trials. “I am especially proud to help announce this first phase of a potential HIV vaccine that is being developed by a talented team at UMD. The Hogan administration will continue to place a priority on supporting the Maryland universities, start-ups, and institutions that are making these groundbreaking discoveries.”

When HIV strikes, it attacks the immune system’s T-cells. No cure for HIV/AIDS currently exists and researchers have noted that, even with the ongoing trial, much more work needs to be done before the vaccine hits the market for widespread use. Though antiretroviral drugs can target active forms of the virus, it has yet to be confirmed how they fare against its inactive counterparts.

Scientists say the new FLSR immunogen could contain the HIV surface protein and stop it from joining another attachment that often makes infections undetectable. This new vaccine, if proven effective, would be taken once or twice a year, less often than what’s required of the traditional antiretroviral cocktail treatment. The human trial follows extensive studies conducted on monkeys and efforts to collect funding to develop the drug into a human-grade vaccine.

Previous trials involving monoclonal antibodies — made from immune cells — have shown that the body can defend itself against HIV, perhaps explaining why some people don’t show symptoms years after contracting the virus. Notable trials include one by the name of RV 144 that took place in the early 2000s. By the end of that decade, researchers announced positive results, concluding that the vaccine batch could reduce the risk of HIV infection among a largely heterosexual population. That discovery laid the foundation for additional research.

Even so, hurdles exist in pinning down the ideal HIV treatment. Shortly after the string of announcements about people cured of HIV in 2013, researchers found that dormant HIV lingered in the body after treatment. These viruses, named proviruses, proved more dangerous because they could get reactivated and act more potently against the immune system. Until that time, scientists didn’t know the size of the dormant pool. The discovery, reported in the journal Cell, showed that the virus could be treated, but not cured.

“The findings suggest that there are a lot more of these proviruses that we have to worry about than we thought,” study leader Dr. Robert Siliciano, from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland, told the Daily Mail. “It doesn’t mean that it’s hopeless, but it does mean we need to focus on getting an even clearer idea of the scope of the problem.”

These situations call into question the certainty that researchers will ever find an effective HIV treatment, an effort that costs nearly $845 million annually.

In these clinical trials, patients often received powerful anti-HIV regimens that most people don’t start until years after infection. This often stems from the high cost of HIV treatment. With the cocktail of medications and doctors’ visits required, the more than 1.2 million HIV-positive adults in the U.S. have to navigate a system, oftentimes without adequate health care coverage.

Partly because of these barriers to care, French investigators recently predicted that only 15 percent of patients who receive early treatment will likely see the dramatically positive results delivered in the cases of the patients who were thought to be “cured.” For instance, after a Mississippi baby was later found to have HIV again after initial reports of a “cure,” the news incited some commentary about the lack of quality health care for the HIV-positive mother.

Though it has yet to be seen what will come out of the current HIV vaccine trial, there seems to be some agreement that swift application of treatment after infection could significantly reduce the size of HIV’s presence. However, accounting for dormant HIV proviruses that can persist in the depths of body tissue can prove to be difficult. With more than 60 versions to account for, researchers will have to ensure that they can eliminate them with this vaccine.

“While we still have more important basic research to do to crack the antibody protection challenge, this first step is an important one for us to learn how people (rather than test animals) respond,” Robert Gallo, leader of the research team, said in a statement.

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Time Warped: How ‘Rocky Horror’ Got It Right 40 Years Ago

 

This year we are celebrating 40 years of The Rocky Horror Picture Show an incredible cult classic famous for its tongue in cheek humour and, well, Tim Curry in fish nets. The musical is a satirical acknowledgement of science fiction and horror movies, but not only that, Rocky Horror recognises and draws upon the issues of sexuality and gender that mocks society’s attitudes towards these matters. Sadly for some reason it has taken 40 year for parts of society to even truly consider taking a page out of Rocky Horror’s book, and begin to accept sexuality and gender fluidity.

In fact it appears that society was somewhat behind the “unconventional conventionalists” in the support for equal marriage rights. Only recently has the entitlement for non-straight marriages become truly acknowledged and accepted. Rocky Horror sought to disrupt the once heterosexual privilege of marriage decades ago by parodying the orthodox beliefs surrounding ‘tying the knot.’

Initially, the film hilariously ridicules the values of marriage through its constant association with death, which is apparent by having the wedding next to a graveyard, and having a funeral set up in the background of Brad proposing to Janet in the chapel. Combining a wedding with death makes fun of the standard values of marriage by suggesting that in fact these values are out-dated and we now live in a time where alternative possibilities do exist. The film further makes a mockery of marriage through the re-enactment (in the background of the wedding) of the famous painting ‘American Gothic’. The original painting symbolises puritan values and traditional roles of man and woman, therefore, by recreating this image in the background of a wedding it expresses the limitations and constraints of marriage, and that in fact, marriage represents the stereotypical societal roles of man and woman.

Also, let’s not forget the marriage between Dr Frank and Rocky which secures the bind of homosexuality. What is significant about the marriage between Rocky and Frank N.Furter is that it does not take place outside of a church. By having Rocky and Frank N.Furter’s wedding independent of the church, stresses that marriage and sex does not have to be for reproductive reasons only, and ultimately the church does not own the sanction of marriage.

This film draws upon many issues surrounding the acceptance of non-straight sexualities and gender diversity and it does so brilliantly. The sweet transvestite Frank N. Furter teaches us that sexuality and gender are merely concepts formulated by the society we live in, and that we should break away from these expectations and not be afraid to be who we want to be. In other words “don’t dream it, be it.”

As much as it is wonderful that these sorts of issues are being recognised and addressed, it’s a shame that it has taken so long for society to get up to speed with what The Rocky Horror Picture Show celebrated 40 years ago. It’s now time to keep following in the footsteps of Dr Frank N. Furter by rocking fish nets and accepting people for who they truly are and choose to be.

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Abstract Sculptures by Bruce Johnson and Riis Burwell Can be Enjoyed at Occidental Center for the Arts

An upcoming gallery exhibit at the Occidental Center for the Arts (OCA) will feature two nationally and internationally known sculptors Bruce Johnson. (www.formandenergy.com) and, Riis Burwell, (www.RiisBurwell.com) . The work of these two sculptors has a synergy derived from their similar response to the energy of the natural world. Johnson works primarily in wood and Burwell works in various metals. The juried paintings that accompany the sculpture exhibit are selected to enhance the abstract forms created by these two sculptors. The harmony between paintings and sculptures makes this show a viewer’s delight.

Bruce Johnson has installed his work in such far-away places as Italy, Spain, Taiwan, and Alaska. For a look at his local installations, Bruce Johnson’s large-scale redwood sculptures can be seen at the Wells Fargo Center in Santa Rosa, at the Santa Rosa Hyatt Hotel’s garden walk, and in front of the OCA. To read about his abundant experience and prolific work, go to: http://formandenergy.com/new/resume/ The OCA gallery exhibit will feature his smaller, but equally unique sculptures. His work with salvaged old growth redwood has made him acutely aware that he uses uniquely beautiful and rapidly vanishing material. While it may appear that he has made little intervention with the wood, such is not the case. Every surface is worked and every texture is intentional. He views each sculpture as a small act of preservation.

Riis Burwell has several large scale installations in Hong Kong and in distant places such as London and Boston. To view his monumental size works locally, visit the Santa Rosa Hyatt Hotel’s garden walk and the Sonoma County Airport, as well as the front of the PG&E building and at the Manly Honda dealership on Corby Avenue. His table-top-size work can be seen at Arthaus Gallery in San Francisco, and will be the principle size exhibited at the OCA. He also creates wall sculptures, and these can be viewed on his web site at http://www.riisburwell.com/gallery/#/wall/ Burwell does not cast any part of a sculpture, but rather hand-fabricates all shapes for each particular piece. He finds that metals—bronze, steel, stainless steel, and aluminum– are utilitarian yet graceful, strong yet yieldingly flexible to the well-trained artisan, and have the ability to evoke a variety of textures through surface treatment: from naturally rusted to smooth and gleaming; from a soft natural patina to deep brown or black.

 

The juror for this extraordinary show is Paul Mahder, owner of the expansive, new Paul Mahder Gallery in downtown Healdsburg. An artist photographer himself, Paul began his gallery directorship career in San Francisco. In 2001, he became the founding director of the Blue Room Gallery, a non-profit contemporary art gallery that soon became one of the largest and most respected galleries in San Francisco.
For over 13 years, Paul Mahder has represented established and mid-career artists from around the world. (www.PaulMahderGallery.com).

The OCA is a not-for-profit, public benefit corporation and all proceeds go toward the continuation and expansion of the Center’s public-service mission. The gallery is located at 3850 Doris Murphy Ct, Occidental, off of Bohemian Highway near the intersection with Graton Road. (707) 874-9392. Admission is free and donations are gratefully accepted.

An artists’ reception will be held on November 6, Friday, from 5-7 p.m. Wine and appetizers will be served. Donations appreciated. The exhibit will continue from November 6 through January 3. For this exhibit, the gallery will be open Fridays and Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sundays from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

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Manhunt Founder Joins Advisory Board of NCORB, a Coalition Fighting for Rentboy Rights

 

Jonathan Crutchley, founding partner and owner of the world’s largest gay brands that includes Manhunt and Jack’d, has joined the advisory board of The National Coalition of Rent Boys & Allies, an organization advocating for the legal rights of male escort workers.  The group formed in response to the Aug. 25 raid on Rentboy.com in New York City by the NYPD and Homeland Security.

Jonathan Crutchley with Manhunt models

“It is no business of the government at any level— be it federal, state, or local— to enter the bedrooms of consenting adults and tell them what they may or may not do within that private setting,” asserts Mr. Crutchley on his decision to join NCORB.  Last week, he made a financial contribution to the legal defense team representing Jeffrey Hurant, founder of Rentboy.com.  “Such matters are certainly not the business of the Department of Homeland Security, which was created after September 11, 2001 to protect citizens from foreign terrorists.”

Federal agents joined the NYPD in shutting down Rentboy on the assertion that Rentboy was using interstate commerce to violate local New York laws.
Mr. Crutchley is not alone in believing that federal agents violated the constitutional rights of U. S. citizens.  The editorial board of The New York Times even called the raid ‘peculiar’.
“I founded my company in the name of individual privacy and sexual freedom,” Mr. Crutchley continues.  “In the name of individual liberty, the Federal government needs to do the job it was given to do by the Constitution.”
The National Coalition of Rent Boys & Allies was created as a not for profit corporation by attorney Norm Kent, a well known First Amendment advocate.
“The Department of Homeland Security has initiated a questionable legal action which has terrorized thousands of men who were lawfully trading their time and companionship for legitimate compensation,” said Mr. Kent via a press release issued earlier this week.  “There is a need for these men to have a collective voice and open forum to speak out against the raid and for their rights.”
NCORB aims to fill the need.  Its website contains a media outpost of news articles, columns, reactions and information about the Rentboy raid.   The site will also soon provide unfettered access to legal advisories and ‘know your rights’ forums for rent boys remaining in the industry, as well as regular updates on the status of the federal case against the principals of the Rent boy prosecution.
“Public pressure may not stop the prosecution, but it will certainly let the US attorney know where the LGBT community stands on targeting our population and our partners,” says Mr. Kent.
Mr. Crutchley joins Mr. Howard Andrew of Fab Scout Entertainment, an agency that represents many of the world’s leading gay adult talent, on the advisory board of NCORB.

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Salt Lake City Could Get its First Lesbian Mayor

If Jackie Biskupski is successful in her bid to become the next mayor of Salt Lake City, an out lesbian will lead the city at the heart of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

Ahead of the non-partisan mayoral election of Nov. 3, Biskupski acknowledged in a phone interview with the Washington Blade the symbolic importance of her bid.

“We are in the capital city of the Mormon Church,” Biskupski said. “They were really behind Prop 8 in California. They were one of the bigger advocates for pushing Prop 8 and getting it passed in California. For our community, we’ve been really diligently working to overcome Prop 8 and our own ban on marriage [equality] here.”

A single mother, Biskupski has a child named Archie whom she’s been raising since she picked him up in the hospital when he was born in 2009. She formally adopted him in 2010.

Biskupski said she sought to challenge incumbent Mayor Ralph Becker because she felt key issues like the school-to-prison pipeline, drug trafficking and the high number of homeless people were “spiraling out of control” on his watch.

“The mayor was very focused on a federal appointment by the Obama administration that essentially turned the city over to his chief of staff,” she said. “That’s not who we voted for and certainly the mayor was not managing things well. That’s why I got in.”

As part of her vision for continuing to move Salt Lake City “in a very progressive direction,” Bikupski said she’ll focus on economic development. Additionally, she’s seeking improved administration of the city’s homeless shelter and streamlining processes for zoning and information sharing among law enforcement agencies.

The campaign isn’t Biskupski’s first foray into the political arena. From 1999 to 2011, she represented the 30th district in the Utah State House, which comprises parts of Sugar House, Central Salt Lake and South Salt Lake, as the first openly gay person in the Utah Legislature.

During her time in the state legislature, Biskupski said she took the lead in attempting to beat back anti-LGBT legislation. Among them were measures against same-sex marriage, although such efforts were ultimately successful.

At the time, Biskupski said she was able to incorporate language on the record to demonstrate the discriminatory intent of the laws, which she said enabled courts to overturn them.

“There were very strategic questions that I was asking, or gave to other people to get up and ask, to make sure we got specific things on record,” Biskupski said. “And then, those things were used later on in these court battles to help win marriage equality.”

Following the passage of LGBT non-discrimination legislation in the state for employment and housing, Biskupski said she’d like to see that measure expanded to include public accommodations and Salt Lake City should lead the way with an ordinance to that effect.

“For this community, now what it’s about is public accommodations and this kind of new uprising of religious freedom and being able to stand behind religious freedom to discriminate,” Biskupski said. “I want to make sure that our city doesn’t fall into a situation where we are kind of not being pro-active in making sure religious freedom is not used to discriminate in our city.”

Biskupski isn’t a Mormon, but said she has worked with the LDS Church and spoken with officials about “if they were going to try to run interference and my ability to be a candidate in this race.”

When she first ran for office as out lesbian in the 1990s, Biskupski said Mormons were speaking out in church about her candidacy, but said now the situation has changed.

“The relationship is evolving quite nicely, I think, and I’ve been very appreciative of their open door to me and they’ve been very appreciative of my very blatant question process,” she said.

An LDS spokesperson referred a question on Bikupski’s candidacy to the Mormon policy on political neutrality, which says the church is neutral on matters of politics in all nations where it is established.

Although she’s challenging an incumbent, Biskupski appears to be in a strong position. In the primary election on Aug. 11, she was the top vote-getter, snagging 46.2 percent of the vote compared to Mayor Ralph Becker, who won 30.7 percent.

Biskupski is challenging an incumbent with a pro-LGBT reputation. After the district court overturned Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage in 2013, Becker married couples in Salt Lake City and penned an op-ed for the Salt Lake Tribune embracing the ruling.

“Those four hours, before the office closed and marriages could be performed, were a highlight of my years of public service,” Becker wrote. “It was thrilling. And more than anything, I don’t think I stopped crying for four straight hours.”

But Biskupski dismissed Becker’s efforts in the marriage lawsuit as minimal, saying he took no direct role in the litigation. As for her role, Biskupski said she performed 15 marriages in an eight-hour window.

“The mayor didn’t play a role at all in our ability to obtain marriage equality, but it was a great gesture on his part to show up and marry people,” Biskupski said. “I was there, he was there, Jim Dabakis was there. There were a lot of us who showed up to make sure as many people as possible could get married.”

Aisha Moodie-Mills, president of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, touted Biskupski’s experience in explaining the organization’s endorsement of her bid to become the next Salt Lake City mayor.

“Jackie Biskupski is a qualified leader with a demonstrated track record for improving the lives of Salt Lake City’s citizens over the past 15 years,” Moodie-Mills said. “Victory is proud to endorse a candidate who has made waves as the first openly LGBT person elected to public office in Utah. Jackie will continue to dedicate herself as the mayor of Salt Lake City.”

– See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/10/14/lesbian-candidate-could-be-mayor-of-salt-lake-city/#sthash.W3d2i8Vu.dpuf

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Protections for transgender foster youth signed into law

Legislation authored by Sen. Mark Leno that provides new protections for transgender foster youth in California was signed into law Saturday by Gov. Jerry Brown. Senate Bill 731 ensures that all foster youth, including those who identify as transgender, are placed in appropriate homes where they feel safe and accepted. It requires caregivers tasked with placing foster youth in homes to take a young person’s gender identity into consideration when making this critical decision.

“Young people have a better opportunity to thrive in situations where they are fully accepted and supported for who they are,” said Sen. Leno, D-San Francisco. “Entering the foster care system is challenging for all youth, but it can actually be damaging for young people whose identities are not affirmed by their caregivers and peers.”

When a child enters California’s foster care system, welfare workers and caregivers consider a host of factors when choosing an appropriate placement. The Foster Care Bill of Rights gives all foster youth the right to fair and equal access to services and the right to be free from discrimination based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity. State law, however, does not provide specific guidance on placing youth who are transgender. SB 731 provides that needed direction.

The bill is co-sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Equality California and Transgender Law Center.

“We applaud Gov. Brown for signing SB 731 into law. This bill provides critical guidance to child welfare professionals by making it clear that all children in foster care have the right to placements that are consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the sex listed in their court or child welfare records,” said NCLR Youth Policy Director Shannan Wilber. “By extending equal treatment to transgender foster children, California once again demonstrates its commitment to achieving safety, permanence, and well-being for all children in the custody of its child welfare system.”

Studies show that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth are at higher risk for homelessness, abuse, depression and suicide. Transgender youth in particular are at high risk for poor health outcomes due to the rejection and harassment they face. These risks are magnified for young people in foster care, many of whom have already experienced significant trauma.

“By signing SB 731 into law, Gov. Brown has taken an important step towards making the foster care system safer and more supportive for transgender youth,” said Transgender Law Center Executive Director Kris Hayashi. “This is critical for a population of young people whose identities are too often rejected and attacked by the systems put in place to support them.”

“Children are placed in foster homes to remove them from dangerous situations and keep them safe,” said Rick Zbur, Executive Director of Equality California. “Too often, transgender kids are placed into home situations that are even more hostile than the ones they left. This law is simple common sense and will help ensure that vulnerable children are kept safe.”

SB 731 takes effect on January 1, 2016.

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TSA Urged to Reform Screening Procedures for Trans Passengers

Thirty-two members of Congress on Thursday urged the Transportation Security Administration to reform the way it screens transgender passengers.

U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) and others, including Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), in their letter to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger urge the agency to “complete a thorough review of its current procedures,” including the use of full-body scanners based on whether officers conclude a passenger is male or female.

The lawmakers also call upon TSA to publish “detailed guidelines” on its website about “security screening expectations” to ensure “transgender passengers are fully informed about” them.

They urge the agency to make its helpline and other resources more prominent on its website to ensure “those with additional questions have a clear and accessible way to gather information on remaining concerns.” The lawmakers also call upon TSA to ensure all personnel “are adequately trained to serve the transgender community.”

“We ask that such trainings should be required for all TSOs that work with the public, that they be held live and in-person (as opposed to the simple distribution of written materials) and that these trainings specifically cover the particular sensitivities and vulnerabilities of transgender travelers,” reads the letter.

The lawmakers wrote Neffenger in response to Shadi Petosky’s allegations that TSA officers detained her at Orlando International Airport in Florida on Sept. 21 due to a “misunderstanding about her gender identity as a trans woman.”

“Unfortunately, Ms. Petosky’s experience is just the latest of a string of reports from travelers across the country,” reads their letter. “In the days since Ms. Petosky’s story became public, we have heard from numerous members of the transgender community describing harassing and humiliating experiences while going through airport security. While we understand the importance of vigilant airport security, we cannot countenance a security protocol that subjects transgender travelers to this level of indignity.”

The TSA has launched an investigation into Petosky’s allegations.

“Ensuring that all travelers are treated with dignity and respect is a top priority for the Transportation Security Administration,” TSA spokesperson Mike England told the Washington Blade on Friday in a statement. “That some transgendered travelers feel that they’re receiving improper treatment by TSA personnel is of great concern to us. We will work with Congress to address the concerns raised in their letter and continue our dialogue with the transgender community about the screening process.”

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told the Blade that her organization shares “the deep concerns expressed in this letter.”

“Airport security today is invasive and questionably effective — and anyone who appears to be different is bound to bear the brunt of this problem,” she said.

Keisling added Petosky’s experience “appears to be a common one,” noting TSA officers have described the bodies of National Center for Transgender Equality staffers as “anomalies.”

“While changing officer procedures and training are important, it’s clear that TSA’s technology and screening methods themselves are the problem,” said Keisling. “Body scanners and pat downs should not be first line of screening. Where scanners are used, they should be able to tell the difference between a bomb and a body part.”

The National Center for Transgender Equality is among the organizations that filed a federal lawsuit against TSA in July over regulations governing the use of body-scanners and pat-downs.

– See more at: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2015/10/09/tsa-urged-to-reform-screening-procedures-for-trans-passengers/#sthash.VVM83ruO.dpuf

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With Teachers Coming Out as Transgender, Districts Struggle

Leo Soell came back to school with no hair, a new name and an announcement.

The Hall Elementary School fifth grade teacher left to undergo cancer treatment last fall as Brina. A double mastectomy and four rounds of chemotherapy clarified a few things.

For years, Soell had lived a double life. At home in Southeast Portland, friends knew Soell was transgender and used the gender-neutral pronoun “they.” At work in Gresham, coworkers called the 26-year-old “she.” But after treatment, Soell was ready to be known as “Leo” and “they” at school, too.

“Because I was dealing with cancer, you think about the fact that you need to be yourself and nothing less than that every single day,” Soell said. “I chose to stop lying.”

Soell returned from medical leave in May, and expected coworkers to celebrate. Instead, other teachers said, the principal told staffers they could not announce Soell’s gender transition or name change. Some coworkers stopped talking to Soell, teachers said. Others called Soell “lady” or simply “Soell.”

Oregon and Washington have long barred employers from firing workers because of their gender identity. Portland-area districts celebrate diversity in school mottos and warn against discrimination in board policies. Yet most schools remain unprepared for the coming wave of transgender teachers, staff and students.

In the worst cases, teachers and students say they have been harassed or bullied. Even in progressive Portland, where principals routinely remind educators to ask students their preferred pronouns, transgender teachers say they still worry about how administrators will respond to parents, who may not understand or care what the law requires.

And in Gresham, investigators are now reviewing what happened to Soell last spring.

“I honestly don’t think the district had any clue that all of this would happen,” Soell said. “The frustrating part is I knew without a clear policy this would happen. I don’t think it was malicious. I think it came from lack of understanding.”

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Soell grew up in Boulder, Colo., and came to Portland in 2008 to study at Lewis & Clark College. Soell started teaching at Hall Elementary in 2013. That same year, Soell began telling friends and family that they did not identify as a woman.

Soell’s loved ones weren’t surprised: Soell had been a high-energy, androgynous kid and grew into a lanky, 5’10 soccer and basketball standout who wore a tie to graduation and job interviews.

Still, identifying as “he” didn’t feel right either, Soell told friends. Soell identified as “transmasculine” but existed somewhere between male and female. They asked friends to use the gender-neutral “they” rather than “he” or “she.”

At work, Soell stopped separating students by gender and won a grant to buy classroom books with characters who didn’t hew to gender stereotypes. Soell even spoke on a 2014 panel at Lewis & Clark about being a transgender teacher, but waited to come out at work.

In Oregon, teachers work their first three years on single-year, probationary contracts. Soell planned to wait the three years before coming out to administrators.

“It was getting harder to work in Gresham,” Soell said. “Even just a staff member leaving the room and saying, ‘Bye, ladies,’ was hurtful because I felt like I was lying.”

Then, last November, doctors diagnosed Soell with breast cancer. Surgeons removed Soell’s breasts and performed transgender reconstructive “top surgery” to give Soell a masculine-appearing chest. Soell went in for chemotherapy with a hospital wristband that said “female,” and came out ready for a new name.

Other Portland-area teachers have come out as transgender. In 2009, a longtime West Linn High School math teacher Nick Kintz became Nicole. The school principal wrote parents to explain, “We believe we have a teachable moment for ourselves, our students, and this community. As educators, we speak to authenticity, tolerance, honoring diversity and developing character.”

Kintz taught another six years before retiring this summer.

Two years ago, Reynolds School District leaders supported Micah Freeman when he transitioned to male while teaching seventh grade language arts. Freeman, 39, had taught at H.B. Lee Middle School for eight years and knew of other transgender teachers who had left their jobs to transition in secret. But that didn’t feel right for him.

“I wanted to be honest with kids because I wanted them to have a positive role model,” Freeman said. “More than 40 percent of transgender people attempt suicide. If I came to work and one of my trans students had committed suicide, and I had been stealth, closeted, I would wonder for the rest of my life if it would have made a difference if I — a happy, functional adult — had been honest.”

Three parents removed their children from Freeman’s class, but otherwise, the process went “incredibly smoothly,” Freeman said. Class went back to normal: Freeman’s students refer to him as “he,” and his transition rarely comes up.

When a transgender student enrolled, H.B. Lee’s principal welcomed the student and offered Freeman as a resource.

It’s impossible to say exactly how many transgender teachers work in Oregon. Though spokespeople for seven districts said they don’t have openly transgender teachers, The Oregonian/OregonLive spoke with several who agreed to talk privately about their situation but didn’t want their names used for fear of retribution.

Some said principals encouraged them to be open about their gender identity and keep books with transgender characters in their classrooms. But one second-year Portland high school teacher said they feared their contract would not be renewed if parents found out.

In 2011, parents called TV news stations to complain about a Vancouver, Wash. substitute, mislabeling the transgender woman as a “crossdresser,” a man who wears women’s clothing but does not identify as female.

Evergreen School District officials stood by the contract employee, the substitute teacher said, but students repeatedly called her names over the following four years. The teacher asked not to be identified by name.

Soell, wanting a smooth transition, sent a district-approved coming out video to coworkers and compiled a list of questions students might ask and possible responses for various grade levels.

That document “disappeared into the abyss,” Soell said. Instead, two of Hall’s coworkers said, the principal called an immediate staff meeting and told teachers they could not announce Soell’s name change or preferred pronouns to their classes.

Gresham-Barlow spokesperson Athena Vadnais said district administrators asked the principal “to notify staff to not engage in extensive conversations because of our need to honor the employee’s rights and to ensure the age appropriateness of the conversations with students.”

Still, students noticed differences. Chemotherapy caused Soell’s hair to fall out. Soell’s own class started using “Leo,” now their teacher’s legal name. When children asked questions, teachers said they weren’t sure how to reply.

“I felt incredibly uncomfortable,” said Tara Kerwin, a fourth grade teacher. “We were told what not to do but not what to do.”

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A few local nonprofits that offer school-specific training on gender issues are seeing a jump in demand. Facilitators at Bridge 13, run by the Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center, say they have four to six trainings a week booked this fall, most at Multnomah County SUN schools.

“There’s becoming more of an awareness that they need to get ahead of this,” said Danni/y Rosen, chair of Oregon’s Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network and a transgender person who identifies as both a man and a woman. “Youth are coming out younger and younger, and schools are struggling with that.”

Rosen said most districts are saddled with a litany of state and federal requirements and make decisions by calculating cost and risk. If no one is openly transgender at a school, district leaders may not prioritize that kind of training.

In more conservative suburban districts, Rosen said, school leaders also worry parents will complain.

“There’s this fear that the community is not ready,” Rosen said. “‘Are we as a district the one that should be changing the culture of the community?'”

Even in rural areas, Rosen said kids are becoming emboldened: Sandy High School students last year successfully fought to have the district reclassify 11 staff bathrooms as gender-neutral for transgender students to use.

Eric Overby, a Troutdale resident whose stepdaughter is transgender, said officials at one Clackamas County district told him, “We don’t have that problem out here.”

“I told them, ‘First of all, it’s not a problem,'” Overby said, “‘And second, yes you do. I know several who go to your school.'”

Last year, Overby and his wife opened an East Multnomah County chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. As many as 30 families attend meetings; about 70 percent have a transgender child or sibling, Overby said.

TransActive Gender Center is working with more than 450 metro-area families with transgender children, said executive director Jenn Burleton. About 63 percent of those are younger than 12.

Students will eventually encounter transgender people, Rosen said, and a teacher’s reaction to a transgender coworker sets a model.

“If we want our youth to be successful in the world, we need to look at how they are going to work in diverse teams,” Rosen said. “You don’t want them in Fortune 500 companies, which have been very affirming for transgender workers’ rights, and they don’t know how to deal with diversity.”

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A few weeks ago, Gresham-Barlow leaders hired TransActive to host a one-hour training at Hall Elementary. Facilitators told Hall staff that district employees are legally required to use Soell’s legal name and preferred pronouns. Soell now goes by Leo and they in class.

“I understand that for a lot of people, trans visibility is scary because it’s new,” Soell said. “I completely understand what it’s like to have things change when you don’t want them to. However, change is never an excuse to treat someone poorly.”

Nearly all of Soell’s students use the new monikers, though occasionally they have a playground debate.

“Are you a boy or a girl?” younger students have asked.

Soell’s answer: “I’m just a person.”

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