LGBT Superheroes?

civil_war

Will Marvel Films Feature LGBT Superheroes? Civil War Directors Think So.

Captain America: Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo believe the Marvel universe is pushing “what people’s expectation of a superhero movie are.”

The duo recently talked about the possibility of a LGBT character in the upcoming Marvel films. “I think the chances are strong,” said Joe Russo. “It’s incumbent on us as storytellers who are making mass-appeal movies to make mass-appeal movies …. It’s sad in the way that Hollywood lags behind other industries so significantly.”

Joe’s got no idea. GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index recently found, among other data, that there was no significant increase in LGBT portrayal in major-studio films from 2014 to 2015—only 17.5 percent.

[…]

“I think this is a philosophy of Marvel—in success it becomes easier to take risks,” Anthony Russo said. “So I think that’s very hopeful for all of us moving forward that bolder and bolder choices can be made.”

So who will it be? Maybe we can sneak in a gay Iceman while Fox isn’t looking …

Out has the full story.

Transgender News Roundup

Oxford City Council President Steven Waits

Oxford City Council President Steven Waits

Alabama City May Repeal Harsh Anti-Trans Ordinance.

The Oxford, Ala., City Council is considering repealing a controversial ordinance it approved last week, imposing fines and jail terms on transgender people for using public restrooms that match their gender identity.

The council will hold a special meeting at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday “to discuss potentially recalling” the ordinance, reports AL.com, a website for several Alabama newspapers. […] The American Civil Liberties Union’s Alabama affiliate is considering a legal challenge to the Oxford ordinance, and a rally to protest the law is scheduled for Saturday, AL.com reports.

Full Story Here.

Texas City Council Wholly Rejects Mayor’s ‘Bathroom Bill’

Mayor Jim Pruitt

Mayor Jim Pruitt

Supporters and opponents showed up to watch the Texas city council deliberate on an ordinance proposed by Mayor Jim Pruitt, one that would force trans people to use the bathroom that matches with the sex they were assigned at birth, not their gender identity. “I just think that it’s insanity not to have those protections in place,” Pruitt told Dallas TV station WFAA last week.

Unfortunately for the mayor, he couldn’t find anyone on the town’s city council who agreed with him. The ordinance died in debate, after not a single one of the five council members stood up to support it. […]

But Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Lewis argued that if Pruitt doesn’t agree with the company’s statement, the solution is simple: Don’t go there. Others have the exact same option, he said. “If Target wants to have this policy, I have the choice of not shopping at Target,” Lewis told the Morning News.

The bill was vocally opposed by the local Hilton Hotel, which warned that passing an ordinance targeting trans bathroom use would be bad for the town’s local economy. Rockwall — with a population of just over 37,000 — is located outside of Dallas. “Our business will suffer,” Hilton general manager James Montgomery told KHOU. “This will negatively affect travel and tourism to our area.”

[…]

Montgomery warned that if Rockwall were to pass its own anti-trans legislation, Hilton might be forced to follow suit and leave the town. As KHOU reported, “the hotel employs 175 workers and pays $750,000 in property taxes.”

Full Story Here.

Boston Raises Transgender Pride Flag.

Boston's mayor raised the flag in a show of support for the trans community in Massachusetts.

Boston’s mayor raised the flag in a show of support for the trans community in Massachusetts.

Boston Monday became the first city in Massachusetts to fly the transgender pride flag.

Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh raised the flag along with activists and other elected officials. Lawmakers are currently “pushing a bill aimed at creating anti-discrimination protections for transgender people, allowing them to enter a bathroom based on their gender identity,”in the state, reports MassLive, a website for several Massachusetts newspapers.

“We’ve proven there’s nothing to fear from being inclusive,” Walsh told MassLive. “Quite the opposite. We are safer, we are stronger when everyone enjoys the same protections.”

Both the House and Senate versions of the measure — House Bill 1577 and Senate Bill 735 — have been advanced by the state legislature’s Judiciary Committee. The Senate version of the bill is up for debate May 12, reports MassLive. Massachusetts currently has antidiscrimination protections for trans people in employment, housing, and other areas, but not in public accomodations. Boston has had a trans-inclusive public accommodations law since 2002.

Full Story Here.

The Supreme Court Decided Against N.C.’s Law 20 Years Ago.

John Miller

John Miller

A federal lawsuit aimed at dismantling North Carolina’s sweeping anti-LGBT law is just getting under way, but the nation’s high court already struck down an eerily similar law. That ruling celebrates two decades of precedent this month.

Imagine, for a moment, that a proactive city council votes to extend nondiscrimination protections to LGBT people. The ordinance guarantees equal access to public accommodations and freedom from discrimination in housing, employment, and health and welfare services. You know, the basics.

Then, a fervent backlash arises — led by religious and political conservatives — and all LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinances in the state are struck down in the heat of partisan overreaction. Further, local and state governments are prohibited from enacting these particular protections in any capacity. The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal file a federal lawsuit to stop the anti-LGBT law from taking effect.

This sounds a lot like North Carolina, where the state’s Republican leaders are intensely defendingHouse Bill 2, the draconian anti-LGBT law passed in a single day-long special session March 23.

But in reality, it’s the background of a landmark case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court 20 years ago.

Full Story Here.

Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Hates You!

A South Carolina School Board Meeting Erupts Into “Jesus Loves Me” After an Attendee Speaks Up for Transgender Rights.

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“Jesus loves me…” and evidently spends a lot of time thinking about bathrooms. ChiccoDodiFC/Thinkstock

Some very strange shots were fired on Monday in a brewing transgender-bathroom war in Horry County, South Carolina, when a woman defending transgender rights at a school-board meeting was interrupted by a roughly 500-person chorus of “Jesus Loves Me.”

In January, a high-school senior who has used the boys’ restrooms since seventh grade was suspended for a day for refusing to switch to the girls’ (or the nurse’s) restroom in his last semester of high school. Until last fall, when a teacher discovered that he was born female and complained, the school had never taken issue with his use of the boys’ bathroom; according to CNN, his family had “reached a decision with school administrators to use the boys’ room to make everyone more comfortable” five years ago.

[…]

Which brings us to last night’s epic school-board meeting.

In the video, which is worth watching in its entirety, a lone woman tries to defend the rights of transgender students amid a sea of angry citizens (many of whom look far too old to have school-age students, incidentally).

[…]

Even before the thundering “Jesus Loves Me” coda (which gets underway at 6:19 in the 7-minute video), this chaotic school-board meeting offers an amazing inside look at the circular, nonsensical reasoning that the anti-trans contingent deploys to defend “the word of God” and the “order of Nature” against the rights of kids. Because, as Mark Joseph Stern wrote on Tuesday, anti-trans Americans are losing the moral and legal argument, big time, they’ve got nothing but cockeyed gender-binary absolutism to keep them afloat. As one audience member puts it, “A male dog has a male body part. If we see a dog with two body parts, we all know that there is something wrong with the order of nature and the order of God when it comes to that dog.” Uh… amen???

Slate has the full story.

Bible Beaters Hit Target

Oh, the upset, because people need to pee now and then.

Says the man:

“Target this is your wake up call. The Bible says that from the beginning God made them male and female. He didn’t make them transvestites. He made them male and female…Target, this is your warning. You will be judged according to God’s standards. Not man’s, but God’s…You need to repent…You will be judged. And if there are Christians in here, supporting this abomination, shame on you! … But you justify this place. You have to stand by the bathrooms because perverts can go in there. Because transvestites allowed.”

…

In Bradley, Illinois one of these “Christians” put a mall on lockdown and prompted a massive police response because store shoppers thought the man was an “active shooter”, NBC Chicago reports:

Michael MerichkoMichael Merichko was charged with disorderly conduct following a disturbance inside a Target store at 1615 N. State Route 50 in Bourbonnais, about 55 miles south of Chicago, according to the Bradley Police Department.

Merichko was allegedly protesting Target Corporation’s newly announced policy on letting transgender people use the bathroom that conforms to their identity. Police said his actions caused “panic among store employees and customers.”

Just after 1 p.m., multiple police agencies responded to the Target after receiving a 911 call about an active shooter inside the store, according to authorities.

…

And here’s another in Tennessee.

“Wicked. Wicked. It’s time to repent,” he yells. “Rip up your target cards. It’s time to get rid of the rainbow. The rainbow belongs to God, not to you. Target is the lowlife of places to work. You need to repent. Homosexuals shall not inherit the kingdom of God!”

Watch the video here.

…

And more, possibly in St. Louis:

Loretta Lynch: Fundamental Fairness

Ending Transgender Discrimination About ‘Fundamental Fairness’

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke out against transgender discrimination during an interview with BuzzFeed Friday.

In the interview, she showed concern for transphobic legislation making its way through states such as North Carolina and Mississippi, which have both passed laws this year that target the trans community. “Our transgender family members and friends are also incredibly vulnerable to discrimination, in terms of the laws that we see, but also to abuse,” she said.

“We decided over 200 years ago that we wanted to be an inclusive society, and we wanted to guarantee equal rights for all,” she told BuzzFeed‘s Chris Geidner. She went on to explain her position:

“For that to mean something, we have to be careful, we have to be vigilant, so that when people, for whatever reason, are either [made to] feel like they’re on the outside — a particular group — or are placed on the outside, that that doesn’t happen. And transgender issues are no different, to me, in that regard.”

Full Story Here.

Texas is joining the bigotry parade, following in the footsteps of Alabama:

Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt

Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt

Texas is poised to become the next battleground in the debate over transgender bathroom use.

Rockwall Mayor Jim Pruitt, a Republican, proposed legislation on Friday that would fine trans people up to $500 for using the bathroom that most closely corresponds to their gender identity. The ordinance restricts bathroom access strictly to members of the same “biological sex,” described as the “physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate.”

“Citizens have a right to quiet solicitude [sic] and to be secure from embarrassment and unwanted intrusion into their privacy,” the legislation reads, as the The Dallas Morning News reports.

Apparently, they literally copied Alabama, incorrect spelling and all.

“I just think that it’s insanity not to have those protections in place,” Pruitt told Dallas TV station, WFAA. “These folks aren’t transgender that this is targeting. This is targeting folks of the opposite sex that are going into those restrooms under the guise of being transgender and having access … This is not about sexual orientation or anything of that nature. It is about privacy and the protection of our children.”

As Mark Hicks, who serves as a city councilman in Lufkin, Texas, argues, the reason that towns like Rockwall are drafting such legislation is in response to Target’s recent decision to provide affirming restroom use for trans staff and customers in all its locations.

“I am among those who believe that the potential for abusive behavior by voyeurs, exhibitionists and sexual predators is increased exponentially with the implementation of this policy,” Hicks wrote in a letter to the editor published in The Lufkin Daily News on Sunday. “It creates an unsafe environment, and it should not be allowed or encouraged. I do not believe my wife or three young daughters should have to be concerned about using public facilities anywhere — and certainly not in a neighborhood staple like Target!”

There’s more here, if you can stomach it.

Transfixed: Asperger’s Syndrome & Trans Rights

A smart and engaging Canadian documentary profiles a couple at the nexus point of trans rights, politics, and Asperger's Syndrome.

A smart and engaging Canadian documentary profiles a couple at the nexus point of trans rights, politics, and Asperger’s Syndrome.

The wealth of identities and stories from within the trans community—kept silent for too long—continues to challenge, enrich, and surprise us. Such is the case with Transfixed, a fascinating new documentary from Alan Kol. The story follows Martine Stonehouse and her partner John Gelmon, two Canadians living with Asperger’s Syndrome, and Martine’s efforts to become eligible for gender reassignment surgery in spite of governmental bias and a weight problem.

The journey reveals Martine’s strong and principled character. She is someone who embodies the term activist in the purest sense when she becomes one not for political reasons, but simply to live her life the way she deserves.

Out Article.

I went to a gay wedding. OK? I mean, that’s what I’ve done.

The Republican presidential candidate was pressed into discussing LGBT rights at a San Francisco town hall.

The Republican presidential candidate was pressed into discussing LGBT rights at a San Francisco town hall.

Bryan had asked Kasich if people are “born gay.” The Republican presidential candidate attempted to avoid answering the question, stating “I’m not gonna get into all the analysis of this or that.” But Bryan pressed Kasich and asked again.

“Do I think that people are, you know, born gay? Probably,” Kasich conceded, according to CNN. “I’ve never studied the issue. But I don’t see any reason to hurt you or to discriminate you or make you feel bad or make you feel like a second-class citizen. I don’t think that’s right.”

Kasich also reminded the audience that he once attended a same-sex wedding.

“I don’t agree with gay marriage,” he said, according to CBS News. “[But] I went to a gay wedding. OK? I mean, that’s what I’ve done.”

When asked if LGBT people deserve “free, regular rights like everybody else,” Kasich responded, “Well, you have free regular rights. We’re not denying you any rights. … I’m not out to discriminate against you. I think you ought to have as good a life as anybody else.”

[…]

“In terms of me, I don’t believe in discrimination,” Kasich said. “I think there is a balance, however, between discrimination and people’s religious liberties. But I think we should just try to, like, take a chill pill, relax, and try to get along with one another a little bit better instead of trying to write some law to solve a problem that doesn’t frankly exist in big enough numbers to justify more lawmaking.”

Kasich does keep affirming that he’s an idiot, and a mealy-mouthed one at that. Full Story Here.

Being Persecuted By LBGTQ Mafia

In a previous campaign ad, GOP Congressional hopeful Kay Daly threatened to shoot her opponent.

In a previous campaign ad, GOP Congressional hopeful Kay Daly threatened to shoot her opponent.

North Carolina GOP Congressional candidate Kay Daly claimed that she’s being targeted by LGBT rights activists in a recent message posted to her Facebook account.

Referring to equality groups as the “P.C. GAYSTAPO” and the “LGBTQ Mafia,” Daly wrote, “The homosexual extremists and their lavender lobby are coming after me again.” The Republican hopeful, who is currently running in the state primary race for a seat in the Senate, further alleged that LGBT groups are “outraged that I proudly support the North Carolina law that says grown men can’t use the girls’ restrooms in government facilities.” Daly, however, offers no proof to substantiate her claims.

The post links to a fundraising email in which Daly further argues that transgender people are  “perverts and deviants.” She said, “It is God who selects your gender, not you.”

[…]

In a recent endorsement posted to Facebook, James Dobson, founder of the right-wing anti-LGBT group Focus on the Family, described Daly as a “faithful warrior in the fight for the traditional values and religious liberties.” “Kay is one of us,” he said. “She has proven it over and over in word and deed, often when others with less courage have sounded the retreat.”

Full Story Here.

Antigay Crusade Going to Congress

A House committee is using the defense bill to pass "religious exemptions" for federal contractors.

A House committee is using the defense bill to pass “religious exemptions” for federal contractors.

Republicans in Congress are using defense funding to help pass a “religious freedom” law through Congress.

The House Armed Services Committee on Thursday approved a “religious freedom” amendment to the defense authorization bill. It would undo an executive order from President Obama that prohibits government contractors from engaging in anti-LGBT discrimination against their employees.

The amendment, introduced by Rep. Steve Russell, could be compared to the “religious freedom” laws that caused outrage in Indiana, Arizona, Georgia and elsewhere. In this case, it would limit the federal government to protecting only those groups now named in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the American with Disabilities act, reports the Washington Blade. Neither of those laws protect LGBT people from discrimination, therefore Russell’s amendment would allow religious organizations doing business with the U.S. government to fire or punish any employee based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Advocate has the story.

Nashville D.A.: Bathroom Bills Are Wrong

Nashville, TN Assistant DA Chad Butler (screen capture)

Nashville, TN Assistant DA Chad Butler (screen capture)

Finally, someone talks sense.

The District Attorney of Nashville, Tennessee said Thursday that anti-trans “bathroom laws” like North Carolina’s are aimed at the wrong people. Sexual predators as a group, he said, are overwhelmingly “heterosexual men.”

WSMV Channel 4 reported on statements by assistant DA Chad Butler, who said that in his long career of prosecuting sex crimes, he has never prosecuted a single case against a transgender person.

“As long as I’ve been doing this job and the hundreds of cases I’ve reviewed, I’ve never once had a transgender person come across my desk as an offender,” he said.

Butler specializes in crimes against children, who are ostensibly the people the discriminatory laws are meant to protect. He told Channel 4 that the people parents need to be on guard against are the people they see every day.

“A majority of my cases are fathers, stepfathers, uncles, Boy Scout leaders, coaches, youth ministers, preachers,” Butler said. “People that are already close to the family that the family trusts.”

The idea that trans people are more likely to victimize children, he said, is “statistically unfounded and off base.”

Story and video here.

Truth and transgender at age 70

Kate and Linda Rohr sit down for breakfast on Valentine's Day at their home in Fort Bragg, Calif. Later that week, Kate would have her gender-affirmation surgery. (Amy Ellis Nutt / Washington Post)

Kate and Linda Rohr sit down for breakfast on Valentine’s Day at their home in Fort Bragg, Calif. Later that week, Kate would have her gender-affirmation surgery. (Amy Ellis Nutt / Washington Post)

For months, Bill Rohr kept three clocks running on his iPad. One counted down the days to his retirement as a surgeon: Dec. 31, 2015. Another counted up the days since he and his wife, Linda, married: June 15, 1968.

The third clock, the most recent addition and the one that most occupied Rohr’s thoughts, showed the days until his Feb. 17, 2016, surgery at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center south of San Francisco.

At age 70, Bill would become Kate.

It was an operation he’d long ago dismissed as unattainable – but one Linda said he deserved to have. She’d traveled the arc of his life, supportive even after his bombshell confession.

Wonderful Story (and video) Here.

The Pearl of Africa

the_pearl_of_africa.cover_

Hailing from Uganda, one of the most homophobic places on Earth, Cleo shares her story of love and triumph in the new documentary, The Pearl of Africa.

Cleopatra Kambugu refuses to be a victim. She refuses to be silenced, or made afraid. She simply wants to be free to live her life and love her man. It’s a universal feeling, this wanting, needing to be free, but in a place like Uganda, and for a woman like Cleo, freedom is hard fought.

As one of the few openly trans women in Uganda, and in all of Africa, Cleo faces any number of challenges to freedom, but she’s luckier than most. She was able to travel to Thailand for her gender confirmation surgery, though her native Uganda does not recognize her as female. That comes with its own set of problems, particularly when traveling, or trying to secure healthcare.

Hoping to shed light on a nearly invisible population within a country shrouded in homophobic myths and realities, Cleo began sharing her story in the popular webseriesThe Pearl of Africa. Now a documentary, Cleo’s story has the ability to reach an even wider audience.

Out has the story.

Youtube link.