Emilia Lombardi, Pittsburgh trans-activist and good friend of the Correspondents, made history this year as one of the first trans women to openly participate in the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. As we've reported in the past, the Michigan festival has historically excluded those who are not woman born, inspiring trans women and their allies to establish Camp Trans outside the festival to promote awareness of trans inclusion issues in women only spaces.
Organizers of Camp Trans, the annual protest across the road from the festival, say that every year at least one trans woman at Camp Trans walks to the festival gate with a group of supporters, explains that she is trans, and tries to buy a ticket. In past years, the festival box office has produced a printed copy of the policy and refused.
"This time, the response was, 'cash or credit?'" said Jessica Snodgrass, a Camp Trans organizer and festival attendee who spent the week reaching out to supporters inside the fest. "They said the festival has no policy barring any woman from attending."
The woman purchased her ticket on Wednesday and joined supporters inside the festival. Another trans woman, Camp Trans organizer Emilia Lombardi, joined on Friday to facilitate a scheduled workshop discussion on the recently-retired policy.
"This kind of discussion has happened before inside the fest," said Lombardi. "But for the first time in years, trans women were part of the conversation. Over 50 women shared their thoughts about what the inclusion of trans women means for the Festival and how we can move forward."
"We didn't expect to change anyone's minds in the workshop - but in the end we didn't need to. The support we found was overwhelming."
Both trans women say they were moved by how friendly and supportive other festival attendees were.
Camp Trans will continue with the goal of continuing to promote awareness and provide supports for trans women attending the festival as well as working with camp participants to educate future attendees on transphobia.
I must say I am delighted! The Correspondents have differed over this issue with regard to attending the festival. And I think this is part of a larger shift in dynamics in the queer women's community. This past weekend, the New York Times featured an in depth look at the receptivity (or lack thereof) of the "lesbian" community to transgender women. Women have intensely personal reactions, especially to women born women transitioning to men. The complexity of gender and sexual orientation is a struggle, tapping into old insecurities about the reality of being a woman in our society.
I suspect, however, that its also a generational issue. Just as younger generations are more comfortable with the mere existance of multiple sexual orientations, I believe the younger queer generation is more comfortable with the fluidity of gender and less threatened by the paradigm shift.
But, as one Camp Trans organizer puts its, this isn't about winning a battle.
"This is not about winning," said Snodgrass. "It's about making our communities whole again. The policy divided people against each other who could be fighting on the same side. We want to be part of the healing process."
That's where the dialogue needs to go, most especially here in Pittsburgh where there is a huge generational divide in the queer women's community. As recent events in City Hall demonstrate, women cannot afford this divide. Obviously, Jim Ferlo and Bob O'Connor find much in common with a 31 year old so surely we can find ways to connect our 40 and 50 something lesbians with the 20 somethings queer women. More on this later.
Back to Emilia. She rocks and does a lot of good stuff here in Pittsburgh for the queer community as a whole. We are very lucky that the University of Pittsburgh snatched her up and brought her to us. And how very cool that she used her access to Michigan to get down to work on education and awareness.
Shakespeare's Sister has a great post up on recent violence against the LGBTQ community and the ensuing lack of coverage in the mainstream media (h/t Pam's House Blend)
It seems that the MSM is more intent on manufacturing "epidemics" that affect the average yinzer than covering actual violence being intentionally perpetuated on a specific class of persons.
How little it takes to whip up the media into an exploitative frenzy, all in the name of ?protecting? us. How little it takes to move our Congress to pay attention to an issue and pass legislation to ?protect? us. (Which is, of course, ever an excuse to limit our rights, but they nonetheless claim it?s about ?protection.?) One or two incidents, or, sometimes, just an imaginary scenario of what might happen. That?s all it takes.
But in the course of two months, there have been at least six vicious attacks on the LGBT community, and the media is silent. And Congress, well, they were pushing for an amendment to deny equal rights to same-sex couples. Their focus was ?protecting the sanctity of marriage.? They?re more concerned with protecting an institution, an abstract concept, than protecting people.
When churches throughout the South were being burned, it was national news. When a hate crime at Seattle?s Jewish Federation claimed the life of someone the other day, it was national news. And it should have been, in both cases. But an epidemic of hatred against the LGBT community in this country is not garnering the same attention?even as Congress pursues discriminatory legislation and courts are ruling against challengers to marriage inequality.
Think there?s a correlation?
The anti-gay hysteria that?s leading to an epidemic of hate crimes against the LGBT community is constantly being inflamed by the GOP?s use of gay rights as a wedge issue, their use of anti-gay rhetoric, their exploitation of anti-gay sentiment. And even with people being attacked and their homes being burned, the Dems can?t be arsed to take a bloody principled stand. And the media doesn?t care. They?ve finally got a real epidemic on their hands and it?s utter silence.
Does our local media care? The PG gives us a reasonable amount of gay positive stories on a range of social, political, religious, cultural issues etc. Talk show hosts John McIntire on KDKA and Lynn Cullen on WPTT give ample coverage to LGBTQ community issues.
But the PG rarely covers national issues or pulls these items from the AP (if they make it there). It does seem like we get caught up in the gay marriage or gay ordination issues and lose track of the very real violence we face on a day to day level. And no one locally has taken a critical look at the impact of the GOP fueled anti-gay hysteria. I wonder if the media sat down and talked with Betty Hill at Persad or Jim Fischerkeller with the GLBT phone line or the Pittsburgh Transgender Support Group or the Thomas Merton Center or GLSEN, if there is a hint of consequences from the ongoing anti-LGBTQ assault vis a vis the rethuglicans?
I just returned from a weekend in Chicago which required a long drive through Ohio and Indiana. How sad that I have to censor myself in an Ohio rest stop because the homophobia emanating from that state makes me wary of a confrontation if someone discerns that Ledcat and I are a couple. Do you know what that feels like, to have to make sure I don't accidentally say "honey" or don't touch her in a way that betrays our relationship? While I doubt we'll get jumped in the restrooms, who wants to be called a fucking dyke or worse on their vacation? It makes Pittsburgh look positively progressive in comparison (before the Irish mafia takeover).
Today my Dad and I enjoyed our usual Father's Day ritual of movie attendance. We caught a matinee showing of A Prairie Home Companion. We both laughed a lot which is a fine way to spend a Father' Day.
The movie is hysterical, especially if you are a Garrison Keiller fan.
From the movie -- What did the elephant say to the naked man? That's cute, but can you really breathe through that thing.
I love my Dad. He's always willing to fix things (or at least try), likes when we take him out to new restaurants and does his very best every day to love and care for the people around him.
This is heartening. Joseph Bute of Pine took the time to write in and question Bush's pandering to special interests while serious crises abound. This is my favorite quote:
Facing a need to overcome serious and significant differences of opinion on the fate of more than 12 million immigrants in the United States, he has time to talk about his personal faith in heterosexuality.
Actually, his personal faith in rich, white, male heterosexuality. But that's quibbling.
Joseph, thanks for picking up your pen and keeping the PG readers aware of how much anti-anti-gay marriage amendment sentiment there is in Pennsylvania.
Another interesting read is from Sarah H. Springer, M.D. medical director of International Adoption Health Services of Western Pennsylvania and chair of the section on adoption and foster care at the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Dr. Springer believes that marriage amendments will hurt children.
When legal recognition of committed couples and families is denied, children lose health insurance, inheritance rights and the rights to have their parents make medical and educational decisions for them. Children can lose the right to have a parent present for their comfort in medical settings, and can lose the protection of support in the case of parental separations, which happen sometimes in homosexual relationships, just as they do in heterosexual marriages.
Defining marriage as only between a man and a woman could deny thousands of children who wait for foster and adoptive homes the availability of willing, capable, loving parents.
She reiterates that all the scientific research shows that children of homosexual families are just as happy and well-adjusted as kids in heterosexual families.
As Dr. Springer notes, amendments aren't going to suddenly cure homosexuals. We won't disappear and neither will our kids. We will be forced to exist in a second-tier status within this society which of course means so will our children. Haven't we been there already in America? In fact, aren't we still there when it comes to racial divides within society?
It is important that people of good conscience stand up for what is right for all children and families.
Proponents of these amendments argue that allowing gay marriages will harm traditional families. This was the same argument used in days gone by to oppose interfaith marriages and inter-racial marriages. These claims were based on nothing but fear and prejudice, and we have learned, of course, that diversity makes all of our lives richer.
Fear and prejudice seem to be American specialities. With the homos attacking our marriages and the immigrants stealing our jobs and tax dollars, who has time to fear a government attacking our privacy, economy and environment? Duh!
Whereas our federal government seems insistent on bringing the anti-gay marriage amendment to the Senate floor, things are looking up in the federal court system. More accurately, we aren't losing ground in the federal courts
On Friday, the US District Court ruled that an Oklahoma law banning LGBT couples from adopting was so extreme that it threatened to invalidate adoptions from other states. If a gay couple traveled to Oklahoma, their parental rights would not be recognized while they are in the state.
What the hell kind of sense does that make? As one of the judges opined, the adoption was approved by a court in another state which indicates that it was deemed to be in the best interest of the child(ren).
Obviously, Oklahoma has some serious homo-hating folks in their legislature. Or back home among the voting faithful.
Is it progress that we can now visit Oklahoma without our children being deemed orphans? Hmmm.
Tune into KDKA Thursday evening when I'll join evening host John McIntire for an in depth look at Mary Cheney's book tour. Yes, Mary has a new book out "It's My Turn Now" which gives us an inside peek at the life of a traitorous Republican whore who happens to be a lesbian. John enjoys lesbian peeking, but prefers his traitorous whores to be apolitical so this might get interesting.
For someone who has been "out" for a decade, Mary still shows major signs of just-coming-out syndrome. It's what Jeff Gannon is going through, and what many if not most gays go through (especially conservative ones) when they first come to terms with being gay. They start being publicly gay, sometimes say good things, but more often than not their internalized homophobia comes slipping out.
A newbie's coming out experience is usually indicated by one or more of the following utterances:
I'm not one of those "activists." (I.e., I don't do anything to defend my rights, so I belittle people who do in order to make myself feel better.)
Sure I'm gay, but it's not all I am, I'm other things too. (I.e., I'm still a bit embarrassed about who I am and about the fact that I'm not an activist).
Why can't gay people be more "normal," like me? (Normal means hiding out in the suburbs.)
I'm not a single-issue voter. (I.e., I still vote Republican and the only issue I DON'T take account when voting is "me.")
Republicans don't really hate gay people, they just "have" to vote the way they do for politics. (I.e., I still vote Republican.)
Democrats, sure they vote FOR gay people, but they're not perfect either. (I.e., I know Republicans trash gays 90% of the time and the Dems help gays 90% of the time, but I still need to justify why I vote for a party that hates me.)
This is all over the blogosphere (the gaily decorated blogosphere I should add) and its amusing to no end reading the defensive crap popping up from the homos. Especially those who live in the suburbs and want to rationalize their privileged quasi-gay existance. Listen up -- watching LOGO and subscribing to The Advocate do not make you a gay advocate. It barely makes you gay. Get off your privileged ass and do something.
Tribune-Review columnist Mike Seate has recently made repeated forays into gay issues, commenting on Rene Portland as well as the straight-appeal of beloved gay bar True. His most recent column examines anti-gay activists outrage with that icon of the gay community ... Wal-Mart.
Yes, of course, its because Wal-Mart is selling DVD copies of Brokeback Mountain. Immoral, family values, blah, blah, blah.
Seate takes a few obvious shots, most notably questioning whether any self-respecting homo would set foot in Wal-Mart. He's clearly a man who is okay with homos as long as stay in our place and don't get all outrageous (paging Ivana Trailer).
But Seate does make an interesting point at the end of his column:
So lighten up American Family Association. "Brokeback Mountain" itself is enough to prove that the lives of gay people are no more interesting or weird than anyone else.
Surely it ain't so! My life is filled with all sorts of gay drama. Why just tonight I not only cooked dinner but, in a fit of lesbian petulance, I left the dirty dishes in the sink to sneak up to my computer. (Honey, I really will do them before bed.) Earlier today, I went to Shop'N Save and bought dental floss for my partner. And, before drifting off the sleep, I have a load of socks to sort.
Mike, next time you are on Pittsburgh's North Shore (aka North Side), your chocolate martini is on me.
Here's a sad fact: Russian Orthdox Catholics are working in unity with
skinheads to oppose gay rights.
On Sunday
police had to hold back a crowd of bottle-tossing skinheads and Bible-
clutching church folks who were protesting a gay event at a local club.
Not to be outdone by the Christian-Skinhead connection, Russian Muslims are
threatening to kill gays if they proceed with plans to celebrate Pride.
PrideFest is scheduled for May 26 and 27 in Moscow. If the city bans the
event, organizers plan to take the matter to the European Court of Human
Rights.
Sounds like a crowd where Fred Phelps would feel right at home.
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents is pleased to welcome our newest
correspondent Shelly. We've known Shelly for several years -- she is very
active in the local LGBT community. Her writing, you will find, is
articulate, insightful and from a slightly different perspective than Ledcat
and me.
Emilia Lombardi, Pittsburgh trans-activist and good friend of the Correspondents, made history this year as one of the first trans women to openly participate in the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival. As we've reported in the past, the Michigan festival has historically excluded those who are not woman born, inspiring trans women and their allies to establish Camp Trans outside the festival to promote awareness of trans inclusion issues in women only spaces.
This is heartening. Joseph Bute of Pine took the time to 
