Happy Independence Day!

It's also my birthday.  And, if you've been following this blog, you know that my other "birthday" is coming up.

Enjoy the day!

Disinformation In The Service Of Hate

One of the easiest ways to make an inaccurate case against--or simply to slander someone or something--is to use outmoded or discredited information that many people don't know (or don't want to know) is outmoded or discredited.

That is essentially what pyschiatrist Paul McHugh did last month in a Wall Street Journal editorial.  He characterized trangenderism as a "disorder", something the DSM no longer does.  He also cited the studies showing poor outcomes for people who underwent gender-reassignment surgery.  Those studies led to the closure of the Johns Hopkins program in 1979.  But surgeries as well as psychotherapy and other treatments for transgenders have improved greatly since then.  With those developments have come greater understanding among the general public about what transgender people are.  (Whenever I remember that, I am grateful I transitioned in my 40's and my early 50's rather than in my 20's!).   

Fortunately, Dan Karasic got wind of it and responded as only he could.  Dr. Karasic is conversant with the most recent studies of, and treatments for, transgenders.  That's no surprise, really:  He's on the Board of Directors for the World Professional Association of Transgender Health.   More to the point, he approaches transgenderism as a scientist and health professional and does not let ideology or warped religious ideas cloud his thinking.

He notes that since 1989, the mortality rate for trans people is not significantly different from that of the general population.  Moreover, the "regret rate" of those who had surgery between 2001 and 2010 (which includes yours truly) is only 0.3 percent.   Can you think of any other human endeavor with such a low percentage of people who regret doing it?  (Before I began this post, I talked to two women who told me that if they "could do it all over again," they wouldn't get married.)

Anyway, as we start to gain our rights and greater acceptance from society, there will be folks like McHugh who will try to use outmoded studies and stereotypes to cast us in a negative light.  Fortunately, if we keep ourselves informed, it won't be hard to debunk their hokum.

What The Hobby Lobby Decision Means For Us

This week, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow family-owned or other closely-held businesses to opt out of a Federal requirement to pay for contraceptives as part of an employee's health coverage.


In the media and public consciousness, it has come to be known as the Hobby Lobby case, after the chain of arts-and-crafts stores whose founder and CEO claimed that his religious rights were being violated when his company was required to pay for birth control.


Perhaps not surprisingly, the five judges who voted for this ruling were all appointed by Republican presidents, while the other four--including the three women on the bench--were appointed by Democrats.


I am not a Constitutional (or any other kind) of lawyer.  But, from what I understand, this ruling will affect far more than whether employers will include contraception in their employees' health insurance plans.


It almost goes without saying that the decision could open the door for employers to deny benefits to same-sex partners of employees if same-sex unions violate the religious beliefs of the employer.  And, of course, the ruling also means that such employers won't even have to think about whether or not to cover therapy, hormones, surgery or other treatments for transgenders.


Even if you don't care about LGBT equality, you should be concerned.  For example, if you should need a blood transfusion, your employer could refuse to cover it on the basis of his or her religion.  Or, I'm guessing, he or she could refuse to pay the cost of your office visits or treatments if, say, your gynecologist is male.


What do you do if your employer is a Christian Scientist or Scientologist?  The latter actually has the same tax-exempt religious status in the US that every mainstream church enjoys.

A Poster Girl For Equality In The Military

Here in New York, anyone with an IQ above room temperature realizes that one of our local newspapers, the Post, is nothing more than a print version of Faux, I mean Fox, News.

Wait a minute:  At least one Fox News anchor is coming to her senses.  Apres elle, la deluge.

Seriously, though:  Bad as FN and the Post are, there's a "news" source that makes them seem like Utne Reader and Mother Jones.

I'm talking about the Washington Times.  One of its reporters actually believes that a former Navy SEAL who transitioned is actually trying to fill the ranks of the Armed Forces with trans people.  The reporter in question is Bill Gertz, and the "mole" is Kristin Beck, who described her experiences in her book Warrior Princess.

OK, it's one thing to describe Ms. Beck as a "poster girl for a Pentagon effort to include transgenders". But it's still another to say that the effort to allow transgenders to serve in the military is another way Obama is pandering to "special interest groups".  

Special interest groups?  We just want to be who we are, and have the same rights as everyone else.  We want to live with the same confidence we won't be harassed, fired from our jobs, denied housing or slandered because of what we are that cisgenders, heterosexuals and white people enjoy.

As for the military:  Ms. Beck is simply asking this country's Armed Forces to do what nearly all of its counterparts in Western Europe, and Israel, already do: Allow all people an equal opportunity to serve as long as they have the wherewithal to do so. 

As for the Washington Times:  Its founders are in the wrong country, and its contributors and readers are in the wrong century:  The eighteenth ended more than three hundred years ago

Holding Pride

It looks like someone was smiling on the Pride celebration:





She stands in the courtyard of St. Luke in the Fields parish and school.  The Pride March ended only a block away.