Massachusetts Advances Transgender Accommodations Bill
The Senate passed the measure by a wide margin, sending it to the House, where it has much support. But will Gov. Charlie Baker sign it?
www.advocate.com/politics/2016/5/12/massachusetts-advances-transgender-accommodations-bill
Circuito de Saraus e Batalhas | Brasília-DF | 07-05-16
midianinja posted a photo:
Representatividade importa sim!
A Casa Frida, a Casa Viva e a Casa Dandara apresentaram ontem (7) o sarau coletivo feminista “Vem pra cá S.A!”
O rolê faz parte do projeto “Circuito de batalhas e saraus da Funarte – Brasília”, organizado pela Casa Frida, que abre a Sala Cássia Eller pra receber esse encontro de três experiências de produção cultural, popular e feminista das quebradas do DF.
São Sebastião, Paranoá e Ceilândia presente, com música, poesia, teatro, videoprojeção, livepaint, zine e tambor de crioula feminista.
Máximo respeito!
#RepresentatividadeImportaSim
Fotos Mídia NINJA
Obama to Direct Every U.S. School District to Allow Trans Students to Choose Their Own Bathroom
President Obama is about to issue a sweeping directive to U.S. public school districts, directing them to allow transgender students to use the restrooms they choose according to their identities.
A letter to school districts will go out Friday, fueling a highly charged debate over transgender rights in the middle of the administration’s legal fight with North Carolina over the issue. The declaration — signed by Justice and Education Department officials — will describe what schools should do to ensure that none of their students are discriminated against.
It does not have the force of law, but it contains an implicit threat: Schools that do not abide by the Obama administration’s interpretation of the law could face lawsuits or a loss of federal aid.
Th letter will contain “emerging practices” already in use across the country, the paper reports, and urges schools to follow suit:
In a blog post accompanying the letter, senior officials at the Justice and Education departments said they issued it in response to a growing chorus of inquiries from educators, parents and students across the country, including from the National Association of Secondary School Principals, to clarify their obligations and “best practices” for the treatment of transgender students.
“Schools want to do right by all of their students and have looked to us to provide clarity on steps they can take to ensure that every student is comfortable at their school, is in an environment free of discrimination, and has an opportunity to thrive,” wrote Catherine E. Lhamon, the assistant secretary of education for civil rights, and Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
The Justice Department on Monday sued the state of North Carolina over HB2, calling the anti-LGBT law unconstitutional.
Said Attorney General Loretta Lynch in her speech announcing the suit: “We see you. We stand with you…And please know that history is on your side.”
The post Obama to Direct Every U.S. School District to Allow Trans Students to Choose Their Own Bathroom appeared first on Towleroad.
Obama Administration Issues Guidelines to Ensure Trans Students Appropriate Treatment in School
Today, HRC praised the Obama administration and the U.S. Department of Education for issuing new guidance for school districts to ensure transgender students will be treated with dignity in public and federally funded schools, including having equal access to sex-segregated facilities, such as restrooms and locker rooms, that are consistent with their gender identity.
“These groundbreaking guidelines not only underscore the Obama administration’s position that discriminating against transgender students is flat-out against the law, but they provide public school districts with needed and specific guidance guaranteeing that transgender students should be using facilities consistent with their gender identity,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “This is a truly significant moment not only for transgender young people but for all young people, sending a message that every student deserves to be treated fairly and supported by their teachers and schools.”
North Carolina’s recently-passed anti-LGBT law, known as HB2, in part prohibits public school students from using restrooms and other school facilities consistent with their gender identity, and it points to the increasing urgency for the administration’s guidance on access to public facilities. The law also overturns municipal protections for LGBT people at the local level, bars transgender people from using restrooms consistent with their gender identity in all publicly-owned property, and guts the ability of people who have been discriminated against – including on the basis of race, religion, and sex – to sue in state court.
“Transgender youth are already at heightened risk of experiencing violence, bullying, and harassment, and North Carolina’s action exacerbates those risks by creating a hostile environment in one of the places they should feel the safest,” said HRC Legal Director Sarah Warbelow. “There is an immediate and overwhelming need to recognize the rights transgender students have under federal law.”
Under the Obama administration, the Departments of Education and Justice have already enforced Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sex stereotyping as unlawful sex discrimination. Today’s guidance will be instrumental for school districts to understand their legal obligations in light of the legal response to North Carolina’s harmful and regressive HB2.
A survey by the HRC Foundation found that three-quarters of transgender students feel unsafe in school settings. A report by the Williams Institute found that half of transgender adults who were bullied in school had attempted suicide. These startling numbers can only be expected to rise if the North Carolina law, and other similar bills proposed in other states, continue to target these young people.
North Carolina’s needless and mean-spirited law puts school districts directly at odds with with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice, which has unequivocally stated that, “Discrimination based on a person’s gender identity, a person’s transgender status, or a person’s nonconformity to sex stereotypes constitutes discrimination based on sex. As such, prohibiting a student from accessing the restrooms that match his [or her] gender identity is prohibited sex discrimination under Title IX.”
HRC Foundation’s Welcoming Schools program also works extensively with teachers and administrators to support transgender and gender-expansive students, create LGBTQ-inclusive schools, prevent bias-based bullying and gender stereotyping, and embrace family diversity. In 2015, the HRC Foundation, with the ACLU, Gender Spectrum, NCLR and the NEA, released Schools In Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12, which serves as the premiere best practices guide for schools nationwide.
Wisconsin Trans Student Sues for Equal Bathroom Access
Ashton Whitaker’s school is violating federal law by denying him access to the boys’ restroom, says the Transgender Law Center.
www.advocate.com/transgender/2016/5/12/wisconsin-trans-student-sues-equal-bathroom-access
North Carolina Mom: HB 2 Is 'Emotionally Killing' Trans Kids
The mother of a transgender son shared the impact anti-LGBT legislation has had on her family.
www.advocate.com/people/2016/5/12/north-carolina-mom-hb-2-emotionally-killing-trans-kids
Gus Kenworthy Defies Publicist, Proudly Shows Off His Fine Assets
Sometimes you have to throw caution to the wind.
And sometimes that same wind will gently tickle your bare buns.
That’s the day Olympic skier and all-around cutie Gus Kenworthy is having.
Back in November of last year, he had this to say about his much-circulated naked Instagram shots:
“I just think the worry is that I’ll type-cast myself or people will come to expect it. I’m not being controlled though, [my publicist] just thinks it’s important to remain a skier and not have all the emphasis on my body. And I agree. It feels good to have a bit of validation but it’s very vain! I know it’s vain, so I don’t wanna be that guy all the time. There’s a lot more to me.”
On the flip side, he wouldn’t want to take the emphasis completely off his body, would he?
Short answer? No.
Head here for the mildly NSFW shot Gus shared while on vacation in Australia.
Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s Butler, Rob Gronkowski, Caitlyn Jenner, North Carolina, Obamacare: NEWS
HIV/AIDS. Hillary Clinton has meeting with HIV/AIDS activists and activist groups as promised. From legendary activist Peter Staley’s Facebook: “We started about an hour late, but she stayed well beyond our budgeted 45 minutes — over an hour, in the end. A frank exchange. It was a first step in what we all agreed would be an ongoing process with her campaign. No surprise — she’s an HIV wonk.”
TRAILERS. First look at Ang Lee’s latest, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.
OBAMACARE. House Republicans score victory in never-ending fight against the Affordable Care Act: “At issue is the “cost sharing” provision in the law that requires insurance companies offering health plans through the law to reduce out-of-pocket costs for policy holders who qualify. The government offsets the added costs to insurance companies by reimbursing them. But lawyers for the House argued that Congress did not properly approve the money for those reimbursements.”
ROYALS. Prince Harry leads chant during the Invictus Games.
DONALD TRUMP’S BUTLER. Trump’s butler at Mar-a-Lago says “this prick” Obama “needs to be hung for treason!” Now, the Secret Service is investigating. Because that’s what happens when you threaten the life of the president. Trump disavows: “Thursday afternoon, after news broke that the Secret Service was investigating Senecal, the Trump campaign issued a statement distancing itself from the butler. ‘Tony Senecal has not worked at Mar-a-Lago for years, but nevertheless we totally and completely disavow the horrible statements made by him regarding the President,’ a Trump campaign spokesperson said in a statement.”
CANNES. Blake Lively was not amused by that Woody Allen Rape joke. (Woody Allen didn’t mind it).
SKIN. New England Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski shows his bum in GQ.
NORTH CAROLINA. White House announces it will not strip funding from North Carolina while lawsuits over HB 2 make their way through the courts: “‘What has been concluded as a result of that effort is that the administration will not take action to withhold funding while this enforcement action is playing out in the courts,’ [WH Press Secretary Josh] Earnest said.”
LATE NIGHT. Andy Cohen plays Famous Face-Off with Jada Pinkett Smith, Jimmy Fallon and Tariq Trotter from The Roots.
LET’S DO THE TIME WARP. First look at Laverne Cox as Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
SPACE. What are the limits to how far humanity can travel into space? “If the Universe were static, constant and forever unchanging, then all it would take was time to reach even the most distant object we could fathom. But our Universe isn’t any of those things; it’s expanding, cooling, and gravitating from an initially hot, dense state known as the Big Bang.”
CAITLYN JENNER. Despite rumors to the contrary, Caitlyn is not ‘de-transitioning’: “The rep’s rebuttal came after Ian Halperin, who is the author of Kardashian Dynasty: The Controversial Rise of America’s Royal Family, claimed in an interview with The Wrap that a family friend told him that Jenner found living her authentic life was ‘much harder than she anticipated.’ Halperin predicted that Jenner would ‘de-transition’ in the next few years, and then open up publicly about the difficulties in transitioning.”
THURSDAY THIRST (PART 2). Joshua Cummings.
The post Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump’s Butler, Rob Gronkowski, Caitlyn Jenner, North Carolina, Obamacare: NEWS appeared first on Towleroad.
White House: North Carolina Won't Lose Federal Funds — Yet
The federal government won’t withhold funding while the court battle over the state’s anti-LGBT law plays out.
www.advocate.com/politics/2016/5/12/white-house-north-carolina-wont-lose-federal-funds-yet
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