Pope Francis Opts to Choose Ignorance With Respect to Sexuality

The Catholic Church has a centuries, if not millennium, long history of rejecting science and modern knowledge rather than admit that its antiquated dogma is flat out wrong. In the past, the Church's leadership refused to concede that the Earth revolved around the Sun instead of vice versa, it insisted that the Earth was flat, previous Popes supported slavery, and now, fast forwarding time-wise, Pope Francis is rejected modern medical and mental health science on sexual orientation and gender identity.  

Other than quacks funded by right wing groups or religiously affiliated institutions, the consensus among the medical and mental health professional community is that both sexual orientation and gender identity are set in utero BEFORE children are born as a result of hormonal influences that impact on both physical development as well as brain development that sets once sexual orientation and ones gender identity - the latter being the cause of individuals being transgender.  Like it or not, some people ARE born with mismatched physical attributes and gender identity.  Others are born gay.  Now, Pope Francis in true knuckle dragger form has dismissed the fact that a person’s gender can differ from the assigned sex at birth.  Anything rather than admit that the Church's ignorance based 12th century dogma on sex and sexuality is simply wrong.  No one "chooses" to be gay or to be transgender.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at Francis' decision to place the Church once again on the wrong side of science and, down the road history.  One can only hope that Francis' wrongheaded decision will only serve to accelerate the flight from the Church.  Here are article excerpts:

ROME — Warning of a society “without sexual differences,” the Vatican on Monday dismissed the idea that a person’s gender can differ from the assigned sex at birth and said a fluid idea of identity was not “based on the truths of existence.”

The right to “choose one’s gender,” the Vatican said in an official document, is in “direct contradiction of the model of marriage as being between one man and one woman.”

The document, released as a guide for Catholic educators, held firm to the religion’s traditional teaching on gender and sexuality. But ­LGBT members of the faith said it put an official and updated stamp on viewpoints they had hoped were changing.

“This casts everything back to the Dark Ages,” said Marianne Duddy-Burke, the executive director of ­DignityUSA, a group that advocates for ­LGBT equality and inclusion in the church. “I think it is incredibly insensitive, to be talking still about gender and sexuality as a choice and a momentary whim rather than a fundamental God-given identity.”

The document, released by the Vatican office that deals with education, coincided with a month of Pride festivities in many countries around the world. It was not signed by Francis, but rather by two high-level officials — Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi and Archbishop Angelo Vincenzo Zani — in the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s bureaucracy.

The church’s retrenchment hints at one of the challenges it faces at a time of growing secularization — when many of its teachings on sexuality are being ignored as out of date. Francis has expressed an interest in outreach to ­LGBT followers, but he has also taken a clear stance on gender identity, decrying that children are taught in schools that “everyone can choose his or her sex.”

The church made a case that children had the right to grow up in a family “with a father and a mother,” and the document quoted an earlier Francis speech about how children benefit from seeing masculinity represented by the father and femininity represented by the mother. Traditionalist groups lauded the 31-page Vatican document, titled “Male and Female He Created Them.”

The Rev. James Martin, a prominent Jesuit who has advocated for the church to more openly welcome ­LGBT members, said on Twitter that the document calls for dialogue and listening “but sets aside the real-life experiences of ­LGBT people.”

“Sadly,” Martin wrote, “it will be used as a cudgel against transgender people, and an excuse to argue that they shouldn’t even exist.”

The good news is that the Church is hemorrhaging members.  In my youth, all of my family was made up of church-going Catholics.  Now, none of us remain in the Church and the newest generation has not been baptized at all.  This experience is not unique to my family.  Francis seems hell bent to cling to ignorance and, if it continues, the Catholic Church will one day be a church centered in the most ignorant and uneducated parts of the world, namely Africa and limited parts of South America. Given the evils the Church has done in the past, the collapse of the Church in the developed world will be a positive development.

Pence Secretly Drafted Trump’s Latest Transgender Ban

Hate group leader Tony Perkins with Trump and Pence

As much as I despise Donald Trump and view him as a clear and present danger to America, in some way Mike Pence presents an even more insidious danger.   Pence - like Rick Santorum, Ken Cuccinelli and some other virulently anti-gay Republicans - is a religious fanatic and will go to any lengths to quell his inner demons.  One of his main demons concerns homosexuality due to, in my belief, the fact that he, like Santorum and Cuccinelli, is a self-loathing closeted gay who somehow thinks that make life a living hell for other LGBT individuals makes amends for his own secret lusts.  (Pence also spent his early years as a Catholic, which I know first hand screws one up unbelievably if you are LGBT).  The only positive thing Pence did is not have seven children like Santorum and Cuccinelli did as they tried to convince the world - and most importantly themselves - that they aren't really gay.  Thus, it is no surprise to learn that Pence along with a group of professional gay-haters  was behind Der Trumpenführer's latest anti-transgender military ban.  Among this cabal was hate group leader Tony Perkins, in my view one of the most dishonest individuals on the planet.  A piece in Think Progress looks at this latest attack which is based on the usual Christofascist lies.  Here are excerpts:

Then President Trump announced a new ban on transgender people serving in the military late Friday, it was somewhat of a surprise — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis had reportedly recommended in February that Trump allow transgender people to serve. It turns out that Vice President Pence and some of the country’s most prominent anti-LGBTQ activists had a role in reversing the outcome, which explains why the report explaining the decision is rife with anti-trans junk science.

Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern reported Friday night that, according to multiple sources, Pence played “a leading role” in creating the report, along with Ryan T. Anderson of the Heritage Foundation, which has been dubbed “Trump’s favorite think tank,” and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC), an anti-LGBTQ hate group.  Both Heritage and FRC praised the report Friday. According to Stern’s reporting, it was true that Mattis favored allowing transgender military service, but Pence “effectively overruled” him.

A separate source independently confirmed to ThinkProgress Saturday that Pence was involved, characterizing him as forming his own ad hoc “working group,” including Anderson and Perkins, separate from the panel of experts Mattis had assembled.

Mattis’ original document is not currently publicly available, but it was widely reported that Mattis favored an inclusive approach that resembled what had originally been proposed by Defense Secretary Ash Carter under President Obama in 2016. [T]he report features numerous anti-trans talking points that FRC and other anti-LGBTQ groups have used in various campaigns favoring discrimination against transgender people. It also attempts to distort the research on transgender health in ways that directly parallel Anderson’s recently released book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment. One of the most obvious biases in the new report is an emphasis on concerns about how transgender people in the military might somehow infringe on the privacy of other soldiers — particularly women. These are the same arguments Perkins, Anderson, and others have made in justifying overturning LGBTQ protections in Houston or defending North Carolina’s HB2, a law that mandated discrimination against transgender people.

According to the report, transgender people would violate other troops’ privacy simply by sharing a space with them . . . . Not so subtly, the report concludes that unit cohesion will deteriorate if the anti-transgender prejudices of other service members are not catered to.

“[U]nit cohesion” is the same hollow argument that was previously used to defend “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT), a law that prohibited lesbian, gay, and bisexual people from serving openly in the military. Such warnings even included near-identical concerns about shared shower use. Following DADT’s repeal, a study showed that LGB inclusion had no negative impact on military morale, despite similar warnings. Nowhere does the report even mention that every major medical organization in the U.S. has arrived at a consensus that transgender people should be affirmed in their gender identities and supported in their transitions. The American Medical Association has even explicitly expressed support for lifting the military’s ban on transgender service. The report likewise makes no mention of the widely-used standards of care developed by the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH), which recognize the benefits of affirmative care.

As has become inevitable in just about every attempt to justify anti-trans discrimination (including Anderson’s book), the study also wildly distorts studies about the suicidality of transgender people.

The report essentially manufactures doubt about the health outcomes of transgender people to justify the very kind of discrimination that is the most significant factor for trans people’s negative experiences.

But as the report largely reflects the views of Pence, a longtime opponent of LGBTQ equality, and some of the top anti-LGBTQ activists in the country, it’s easy to see how it arrived at such discriminatory conclusions.

It is very difficult to lie more than Tony Perkins who, like Trump, should be assumed to be lying if his lips are moving. 

Teen Inauguration Singer Bullied by Trump Supporters Over Transgender Sister

By some reports Donald Trump has been having difficulty signing on entertainment for his inaugural extravaganza - some Washington, D.C. marching bands have not even applied to participate in the parade - since many entertainers do not want their names in any manner attached to Trump.  Eventually, Trump secured the agreement of  opera singer Jackie Evancho, a finalist on season five of “America’s Got Talent,” to sing the national anthem at Donald Trump’s inauguration.  In retrospect, Evancho is likely wondering why the Hell she agreed now that Trump supporters are heaping abuse on her and her transgender sister.  To quote Nancy Reagan - not exactly one of my idols - Evancho should "Just Say No."   The Washington Blade looks at the misogyny that is the new reality in Trump's Amerika.  Here are excerpts:

Opera singer Jackie Evancho, who will be singing the national anthem at Donald Trump’s inauguration, is facing an onslaught of criticism because she has a transgender sister.

Jackie, 16, received her big break when she was a finalist on season five of “America’s Got Talent” at 10 years old. Her sister Juliet, 18, came out as transgender at Global Lyme Alliance’s inaugural gala last year.

Juliet penned an essay, published on Wednesday, for Teen Voguedescribing her struggles with gender identity. “Jackie’s newfound fame put our entire family under a microscope. This made things even more difficult for me,” Juliet writes. “Now, I not only worried about what my family thought of me, but I also worried about some trashy magazine trying to make a spectacle out of me if they found out, and it hurting my family.” According to the Huffington Post, Juliet is also one of three transgender students suing a Pennsylvania school district over restroom access for transgender students. The essay, along with Jackie’s inauguration announcement, has brought lots of negative online attention to the Evancho family. People reports Trump supporters have tweeted abuse at the young singer because of her sister.

“My family is kind of a big target. I have a transgender sister and so a lot of hate goes towards us,” Jackie  Jackie has also performed twice for President Barack Obama. First, in 2010 she performed at the National Christmas Tree Lightening and again in 2012 at the National Prayer Breakfast.

I'm sorry, but in my view, these Trump supporters are basically human excrement. I'm sure most of those hurling abuse view themselves as "godly Christians."  I've ceased to call myself a Christian and have resigned my ELCA membership.  I want NOTHING to do with Christianity which has become a poison to humanity and the good of mankind. 

Warren Beatty Is Still Seducing Hollywood

As a teen, I thought Warren Beatty was hot.  It's one of the weird aspects of being in denial about one's sexual orientation: you struggle to convince yourself that you are straight even as you have attraction to gorgeous males. The mental gymnastics are insane.  Now, Vanity Fair has a lengthy article on Richmond, Virginia born Beatty - who has a transgender son.  On a dreary Saturday morning, the article is an interesting read.  Here are brief highlights:

He is one of the most famous actors of the second half of the 20th century, was the most talked-about wooer of women in his day (his former paramours are legion, and all are beauties), and is one of Hollywood’s more successful filmmakers, known for equal amounts of shrewdness and seductive charm. He has been called “the Prince of Hollywood,” “the Pro,” and “Boss.” He was a famous movie star before any of them—before Clint, before Redford, before Dustin, before Pacino, even before his good friend Jack Nicholson. Throughout his nearly 60-year career as an actor, director, screenwriter, and producer, Warren Beatty has been nominated for 14 Academy Awards (including best actor, best picture, best director, best original screenplay, and best adapted screenplay), winning the best-director Oscar for Reds in 1981. He pops up in the diaries of Andy Warhol, the journals of J.F.K. historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr., a biography of James Baldwin, and countless celebrity memoirs. Although a decade can pass between the release of his movies, when they arrive on the scene they are cultural events. And he’s coming squarely back into the public gaze again this year, with Rules Don’t Apply, the rumored re-release of Bulworth, and the upcoming 50th anniversary of Bonnie and Clyde, in which he starred as Clyde Barrow.

Due to be released next month, Rules Don’t Apply has been described as a biographical film about eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, but it’s actually about two would-be lovers finding themselves in the labyrinth of Hollywood against a backdrop of 1950s sexual repression. Beatty plays Howard Hughes in a supporting role.

“There’s this misapprehension that it’s a biopic,” Beatty explains, “which it’s not, although Howard is an important character in it. I wanted to do a story about a girl who comes from being the Apple Blossom Queen of Winchester, Virginia [Marla Mabrey, played by Lily Collins], and a boy who is a Methodist from Fresno [Frank Forbes, played by Alden Ehrenreich], who is under the same religious influences that I was raised in. I wanted to do a story about that young man and that young woman that also deals with money and misogyny in late-1950s Hollywood.”

One doesn’t immediately associate Beatty with puritanical guilt and repression, but that is the world he grew up in, in conservative Virginia in the 1940s and 50s, and the one he has rebelled against his entire life. “I’m afraid it still remains a big subject in America,” he says, “which often makes us the laughingstock of France and other European countries. So I thought this would be fun to deal with—a young man and a young woman involved with an unpredictable billionaire, who had no rules he had to follow because of his inheritance and his way of life. So it’s also about the effect of Hollywood on those rules, and the effect of money.”

The story of a young man coming to Hollywood from a conservative background is one he knows all too well. He and his sister, the actress Shirley MacLaine, were raised by Southern Baptist parents. Still, the family was somewhat bohemian. Their mother was an acting teacher, their father a high-school principal who was also something of a raconteur and bon vivant. Beatty recalled the first time he came downstairs dressed in a suit for church, astonishing his parents. He also admitted being convinced that if he had sex with a girl, he would have to marry her, one of the many autobiographical touches he brings to Rules Don’t Apply. 

Just as Beatty was something of a sexual revolutionary in the years emerging from the strict mores of the 1950s, so his firstborn child is also a revolutionary. Stephen, who is challenging cultural norms of sexuality, is an activist for the transgender community. Identifying as transitioned at the age of 14, he changed his name from Kathlyn Elizabeth to Stephen Ira. A poet and writer, he posted an “Answer to Seven Questions” about his gender identity on the “WeHappyTrans” Web site. One is struck by Stephen’s insouciant intelligence—he manages to be playful, erudite, and eloquent all at once.

“He’s a revolutionary, a genius, and my hero, as are all my children,” Beatty says when asked about Stephen.
 

Beatty with sister, Shirley MacLaine

Planet Fitness Terminated Membership of Woman Who Complained About A Transgender Member

When the husband and I go to the gym - something we don't do often enough - we go to a local Planet Fitness because (i) it's conveniently located, (ii) the cost is reasonable, and (iii) it has a "no judgment zone" policy, unlike some local gyms filled with gym bunnies who do all but mock those of us less obsessed with working out.  Now, Planet Fitness has demonstrated that it truly stands behind its no judgment, no discrimination policy by terminating the membership of a woman who went off over a transgender woman at a company facility.  Huffington Post has details.  Here are highlights:

Planet Fitness says its staff stood by the company mantra of being a "Judgement Free Zone" when they canceled the membership of a woman who "inappropriately" responded to the presence of a transgender woman in the locker room. 

Member Yvette Cormier complained to a front desk employee after seeing a transgender woman in the women's locker room at the Planet Fitness in Midland, Michigan, according to ABC News. But after the employee told her it is company policy to allow members to use whichever locker room associates with their gender identity, Cormier said she decided to tell "everyone in the locker room what happened."

In turn, Planet Fitness canceled her membership because of the "inappropriate" way in which she went about dealing with the situation, CNN reported.

McCall Gosselin, director of public relations at Planet Fitness Corporate, released a statement to The Huffington Post on the decision: 

Planet Fitness is committed to creating a non-intimidating, welcoming environment for our members. Our gender identity non-discrimination policy states that members and guests may use all gym facilities based on their sincere self-reported gender identity. The membership of the member in question was not cancelled as a result of complaints about the policy, as we welcome all feedback from our members. Rather, the manner in which she expressed her concerns about the policy exhibited behavior that club management deemed inappropriate and disruptive to other members, which is a violation of the membership agreement and as a result her membership was cancelled.

As Huffington Post reports, the usual hate merchants were up in arms over Planet Fitness' policy of treating all people respectfully:

Some conservatives, however, are troubled by Planet Fitness' response. In a blog post, the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council said Planet Fitness is "no longer part of the rational universe" and urged members to go to gyms "where the atmosphere will be more conducive to moral sanity." 

UK Transgender RAF Pilot Talks of Prince William's Support

The British royal family isn't know for its progressive position on social views although Prince Harry and his brother, Prince William seem to be changing that staid, conservative image.  Perhaps it's part of their mother's legacy, but on issues involving gay rights, both princes seem to be light years ahead of the grand mother, Queen Elizabeth II who is becoming more gay friendly.  In a recent piece in The Daily Mail, Flight Lieutenant Ayla Holdom, Great Britain's first transgender military pilot (pictured above), talks about the support she received from prince William as she was transitioning.  Here are highlights:

Flt Lieut Holdom, 34, is a decorated RAF officer who is Britain’s first and only openly transgender military pilot. She has been, she says, ‘one of the boys as both a man and a woman’. 

Among the colleagues she told in a series of emotionally gruelling one-on-one meetings was Prince William, who was at the time a fellow co-pilot within the tight-knit team of 20 at RAF Valley.

He showed support and understanding. The Royal Wedding in 2011 was one of Flt Lieut Holdom’s first work-related outings after transition. She attended as a woman, accompanied by her wife Wren, a doctor with whom she now lives in a lesbian relationship.

‘All my RAF colleagues were brilliant,’ she says. ‘I think they were surprised because I was pretty adept at pretending to be a man. I walked macho, I sat macho, I worked out hard and I like a bit of banter.

‘But when I came back as a woman there was complete acceptance and empathy. Even old and bold warrant officers who had grown up in the days when people like me would have been taken behind the bike sheds for a kicking, came to congratulate me.

She joined RAF Valley in 2007 and was fully operational by the end of 2009, co-piloting a Sea King – the same role as Prince William – along with a pilot, a winchman and a radar operator. Today she works 24-hour shifts responding to calls from the coastguard, mountain rescue teams and the three emergency services.

 The process of transition is over now, although it took two years, three major operations and several other procedures to achieve.  ‘I did as little as possible because I wanted to stay operationally fit and healthy, to remain a fully functioning military pilot throughout, she says.

One has to wonder when the Christofascists will admit that they have lost their anti-gay jihad.  When the heir to the British throne displays support and acceptance and when former conservative bastions such as the Hampton Yacht Club and the James River Country Club accept same sex married couples as members, the culture wars are truly over but for (i) those who want to fleece the ignorant and gullible for a while longer and, of course, (ii) Republican politicians who happily prostitute themselves to the Christofascists in a manner that would embarrassed a tawdry whore. 

Prince William

Ryland Wittington - True Parental Acceptance

As Andrew Sullivan so rightly noted, one of the principal sicknesses of Catholicism and much of Christianity is its obsession with repressing individuals sexuality.  This obsession extends to forcing rigid gender roles on males and females and anyone who does not conform with the preconceptions of the bitter old men in dresses at the Vatican or the pompous, self satisfied bible thumpers in pulpits across America (and now Africa thanks to the efforts of American Christofascists) is targeted as deserving a life of living hell.  Gays, of course, are met with open animus.  For those who are transgender, the fate is often even worse, easily explaining why transgender individuals experience an attempted suicide rat nearly ten times higher than the general public.

The reality is that none of us has any role in choosing what nation we will be born in, what faith tradition our parents will follow, whether we are gay of straight, the color of our skin, or if we are transgender.  Yet too many, especially the "godly Christian" crowds in modern day Pharisee like behavior act as if they did make these decisions.  Worse yet, they seek to play God and dictate to others of who they must be and how they must live their lives.  It is part of what in my view makes the "godly Christian" crowd a social cancer on society.

I noted recently that I had established a scholarship for LGBT students in honor of my late parents in recognition of their unconditional acceptance of me when I came out in mid-life.  As The Raw Story reports, the parents of Ryland Wittington, a six year old transgender boy, have taken parental acceptance of their child to new heights,  I encourage readers to watch the video above.  Here are details from The Raw Story:

A family’s video detailing their 6-year-old trans son’s declaration of his male gender has gone viral and sparked fierce debate about the nature of gender and identity in our society and the changing beliefs around those topics.

Wisconsin’s WAOW Channel 9 reported that the video story of Ryland Wittington, whose family lives in San Diego, CA, received millions of views in its first days on YouTube.

Jeff and Hillary Wittington’s baby Ryland announced as soon as he could speak that he was not a girl, but a boy. He insisted on being referred to as his sister’s brother and, after conferring with psychiatric professionals, the Wittingtons allowed Ryland to express his gender as male at the age of 5.

“I’m a transgender kid,” said Ryland in the video. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life. Thank you to my parents.”

Some reactions to the video, however, have been hostile.  “I would NEVER do this to my CHILD,” wrote one People magazine reader after the publication ran a story about Ryland.

Experts like Tando, however, say that allowing trans kids to express their gender is the best thing for them.  “There’s huge benefits to doing this earlier in life,” Tando said. “It’s like they’ve been given this gift where everyone around them recognizes them for who they really are.”

The sooner religious based animus and discrimination is purged from the world, the better life will be for everyone.  Kudos to Ryland's parents.

Former Virginia Beach SEAL Chris tells story as Kristin

The Virginian Pilot is carrying a lengthy story on Christopher Todd Beck, a retired 46-year-old Navy SEAL who now lives openly as Kristin Beck.  Beck has authored a book "Warrior Princess,"in which she describes two decades as a member of the Naval Special Warfare command, including SEAL Team 6, with seven combat deployments, including service in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  As one might imagine, some of the local spittle flecked Christofascists and Neanderthals are going berserk.  To say that some of the comments are ugly is an understatement.  Thankfully, some commentators are giving the hate mongers as good as they have given.  Perhaps there is hope for Virginia yet.  Here are highlights from the Pilot article:

Her military file has her listed as Christopher Todd Beck, a retired 46-year-old Navy SEAL who spent five years in Virginia Beach, earned a Bronze Star with valor and a Purple Heart and served in three different SEAL commands - including the exclusive SEAL Team 6.

What it doesn't say is that Christopher now lives openly as Kristin Beck, a woman who never would have been allowed to serve had she been honest about her transgender identity.

In a memoir titled "Warrior Princess," released Saturday with little fanfare by a tiny publishing company, Beck describes two decades as a member of the Naval Special Warfare command, with seven combat deployments, including service in Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Beck describes the internal struggles - believing he was a female trapped in a male body - that began when he was just a boy.

The inner conflict didn't fade, even as he pursued his career as an elite commando in an exclusively male profession.

In one excerpt, Beck describes the irony of being dressed as an Afghan man to blend in with Taliban men who'd expressed a deep hatred of women.

It wasn't until after retiring in 2011 as a senior chief petty officer that Beck came out as a transgender woman, identifying as Kristin.

Beck now works as a military contractor in the Tampa, Fla. area. One of her previous bosses, retired SEAL and astronaut William Shepherd, wrote the book's foreword, praising Beck's courage.

Kudos for Beck's courage and past service.  I will not give a platform to some of the horrible comments left by the "godly folk" but did like a couple of supportive comments: 

This is the "sum of all fears" for conservatives!  You have a former Navy Seal who is transgender. The comments are going to get very interesting from members of the Patriot Party, you know, the one that believes in equal rights for all.  Hey conservatives, see if you can find it in your hearts too just say "thank you for your service" instead of bashing please.  Oh, it's too late I see!

Then there's this one:

But I guess when a person's mind is not open enough to take in new information and possibilities the world is a scary place.  My wife and I prefer to keep being the people our son's friend could come talk to when he was dealing with his sexuality issues and knew his mother would hate him because she had often stated that homosexuality was a perversion and evil. And having a son who said "You're still my friend,so what if you're gay!" was about one of the proudest moments.

Here's a photo of Beck in Afghanistan:

Gratuitious Cruelty: Catholic School Forcing Male Transgender Student to Wear Female Robe at Graduation

At times I find it shocking as to just how mean and petty the Catholic Church is towards LGBT individuals.  It's not about religious belief.  It's simple deliberate cruelty and nastiness.  And there seems to be no limit as to how far Catholic officials will go to mistreat LGBT individuals.  How else to explain an Albuquerque, New Mexico Catholic school which is demanding that Damian Garcia, a trans student, wear a girl's gown to graduation.  Everyone accepts Damian as a male, including his parents, but not the asshole school principal who seems to be finding delight in this gratuitous cruelty.  Here are highlights from KRQE News 13:

A Saint Pius senior was born a girl, but refuses to go graduate in a girl's gown.  The Catholic school says too bad.  

At the Saint Pius High School graduation ceremony, the girls wear white gowns and the boys wear black.  It is school policy and Saint Pius insists Damian is a girl..

“I just want to walk in my black robe, nice and proud and have that memory to look back on with my family and friends,” said Damian Garcia. “I would rather not walk than to embarrass myself by wearing a female robe.”

Damian Garcia was born Brandi Garcia, but identifies as a male even having a legal name-change last year.  Fellow students, teachers and faculty call Garcia "Damian" and so does Damian’s family.  “I look at him and I call him my son. That's how he wishes to be acknowledged is as a male,” said father Luis Garcia.

Damian's father calls the school's decision heartbreaking.  “All you want in life is to see your kids happy and healthy. You never want to see them suffer or being ridiculed or be made fun of,” Luis said.

To me, it's yet another example of the "godly folk" not really giving a damn about others.  Something this simple and yet it is too much to ask from a heartless and morally bankrupt institution.  Fortunately, the school is garnering negative publicity world wide and a petiton has been started to underscore the unpopularity of the school's cruelty:

Over 11,000 people have signed the petition on MoveOn.org’s petition website to St. Pius High School Principal Barbara Rothweiler, asking that the school administration allow Damian Garcia to walk in a boy’s black cap and gown for St. Pius’ graduation on Wednesday, May 22nd.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/let-damian-walk-for-graduati

The petition was started by Torrey Moorman’s two sons in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Torrey and her two sons, Phynneaus (8) and William (14), heard about Damien Garcia's story on the local news and refused to go to bed that night until they could get involved, citing their Quaker values.  They started the petition, and have subsequently gotten in touch with the Garcia family and now the entire family is involved in the effort.

 I hope readers will sign the petition.  I did.  If you want to find true Christian conduct, don't look for it in the Catholic Church.

Argentine President: Equality as Important as Liberty

On this 4th of July, America sadly still has a long way to go before it realizes the stated promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all citizens.  Religious based bigotry and racial bigotry are alive and well - especially within today's Republican party which pretends to love and support the U.S. Constitution - and both LGBT Americans and other minorities are faced with daily discrimination often as a matter of government policy, especially in reactionary states like Virginia.  As a nation, the USA could really stand to learn somethings from other nations and we need to dump the myth of American exceptionalism (more on that in a future post).  A case in point is Argentina where this week Argentina's president (pictured at right) personally delivered the nation's first identity cards to people who legally switched their genders under a law that sets a global precedent.  We hear so much about equality under the law in America, but it is too often a fiction.  My fellow blogger Andrés Duque looks at this inspiring event in Argentina in his blog Blabbeando.  Here are some highlights followed by a video clip (in Spanish):

Argentinean president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner celebrated passage of the world's most progressive gender identity law by inviting a number of transgender leaders and personally handing them their new identity cards. The law was adopted by the Argentinean congress in May by a vote of 55-0 and became law last month after getting the president's signature. It allows transgender individuals to change their name and gender on government documents without having to prove that they have undergone gender reassignment surgery or need for court approval as had been the case before. It also grants government health coverage for transgender individuals who want to undergo a gender reassignment surgery.

[T]he Argentinean president also signed a presidential decree yesterday which put an end to a legal loophole that kept same-sex parents who began raising children before the 2010 marriage equality law passed from registering as co-parents of those children. If I understand correctly, the decree gives same-sex parents that weren't covered by the marriage equality law a full year to legally register their children as their own.

"Today is a day of tremendous reparation," the president said at the start of her speech, "today we do not shout for liberation but instead we shout for equality, which is just as important as freedom." 

Noting that the average age at which transgender individuals die in Argentina is 32, the president argued that part of it was due to the stress of being repressed and ignored and not having any rights and said this would change that.

"I do not want to use a word that bothers me greatly: Tolerance. No. I do not believe in 'tolerance'. To tolerate is to say I'll allow you to be because I have no other choice", she said, "I want to talk about equality and I want to talk about all of you who will now have the same rights I have enjoyed from the moment I was born and the rights that so many millions of Argentinians have enjoyed from the moment they were born. This is the society we want."

Yes, Argentina has its problems.  But as a society its civil laws are become a standard on how ALL citizens ought to be treated.  It's also ironic that while many America consider themselves to be "good Christians"  Argentina is far out stripping the USA from a legal perspective when it comes to treating others as demanded by the Gospel message.  I for one am very much over the hubris and hypocrisy of the Christianists and their boot licking puppets in the Republican Party.  Here's the video:

Romney Exposed for Anti-LGBT Bigorty While in Massachusetts

New information out of Massachusetts indicates that Mitt Romney's anti-gay bigotry isn't something new and that, if anything, his claims to being gay friendly when he ran for the U.S. Senate were just more of his typical lies. It seems that in reality, Romney could not even stand to see the terms "transgender" and "bisexual" in print and went on to kill a state anti-bullying guide for Massachusetts public schools.  It's in keeping with the GOP's desire to keep LGBT citizens inferior under the law and ideally invisible.  The Boston Globe looks at Romney's action and the lie he used to cover up his real  anti-gay motivation.Andrew Sullivan rightly notes "And we all know what Mitt would have done to them in high school" referring to Romney's assault of a fellow high school student years ago who was perceived to be gay.  Here are highlights from the Boston Globe:

Former governor Mitt Romney’s administration in 2006 blocked publication of a state antibullying guide for Massachusetts public schools because officials objected to use of the terms “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ in passages about protecting certain students from harassment, according to state records and interviews with current and former state officials.

Romney aides said publicly at the time that publication of the guide had been delayed because it was a lengthy document that required further review. But an e-mail authored in May of that year by a high-ranking Department of Public Health official - and obtained last week by the Globe through a public records request - reflected a different reason.

“Because this is using the terms ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgendered,’ DPH’s name may not be used in this publication,’’ wrote the official, Alda Rego-Weathers, then the deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Rego-Weathers said in the e-mail that she had been consulting with Romney’s office on the issue.

Stifling the guide’s publication was among steps that Romney and his aides took during his last year in office to distance the Republican governor from state programs designed to specifically support gays, lesbians, and bisexual and transgender people. His critics said it was part of an effort to court social conservatives as he prepared for his first campaign for president in 2008.

“Romney put his own political interests ahead of the safety of vulnerable youth,’’ said Don Gorton, a gay-rights advocate and author of the 120-page antibullying report, which was not printed and distributed until after Romney left office.

About 10,000 copies of the 120-page “Guide to Bullying Prevention’’ were ultimately published in 2008, during Democrat Deval Patrick’s first term in office. It contains advice for school administrators and teachers on how to curb bullying, cyberbullying, and hazing. A two-page section describes how gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are frequent targets of bullying, and it offers contact information to find help.

The 2006 e-mail objecting to the “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ language offers some of the clearest evidence of how some of Romney’s actions in office aligned with the goals of socially conservative activists, a key constituency in Republican presidential primary elections.

Many of the nation’s largest conservative, evangelical, and profamily organizations-such as the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and Concerned Women for America - have opposed suicide prevention and anti-bullying programs intended to protect gay teens
In July 2006, Romney vetoed a $158,000 budget line item that was earmarked for counseling violence victims in the “LGBT community.’’ The appropriation was intended to prevent sexual violence and rape, and also for suicide prevention.The move to block the bullying report immediately followed Romney’s threat to shut down the Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission.

The question of Romney’s sensitivity to antigay bullying was raised anew recently after the Washington Post published an account of Romney’s days in prep school in 1965 when Romney allegedly held a fellow student down against his will and, along with classmates and to the cheers of others, forcibly cut off his long, bleached-blond hair. The student was gay, although not openly, and it was unclear to some whether Romney knew the boy’s sexual orientation at the time. Romney said he could not recall the incident . . . . 

Let's face reality: Romney is a bully, a liar, a bigot and a flaming asshole.  And, if elected, he'll be a puppet of the Christofascist hate merchants.  The nation does not need this type of "leadership."

Bigots at Suffolk, Virginia Schools Draw National Coverage

Earlier in the week I described the effort at the Suffolk City Public Schools - apparently spearheaded by a lone school board member (pictured at left) - to create a solution to a non-existent problem and in the process trample on the rights of transgender students in particular. Now, the story has been picked up by MSNBC and the Hampton Roads area is again getting coverage that makes all of us look like knuckle dragging Neanderthals. As noted before, while not the most reactionary of the local communities, Suffolk is certainly no pillar of modernity either and is best known for its peanut festival - at least until now. before it's over, I won't be surprised to see the school division getting sued and wasting funds on legal fees when the moneys could have been better used for education. The Bible beaters always claim to care about others but prove by their actions that it's really always about themselves and forcing their beliefs on others. Here are highlights from MSNBC:

A Virginia school district is considering a ban on cross-dressing by students to minimize what administrators say are “safety risks, disruptions and distractions.”

The Suffolk School Board studied the proposal at a meeting Thursday night, but members did not vote on it. The proposal explicitly bans “clothing worn by a student that is not in keeping with a student’s gender and causes a disruption and/or distracts others from the educational process or poses a health or safety concern.”

School district representative Bethanne Bradshaw told msnbc.com that Board Vice Chairwoman Thelma Hinton first raised concerns about students’ cross-dressing.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia said that, rather than banning the “nonconforming behavior,” schools should instead address the bullying or harassment. In a letter to the school board, Rebecca Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia, called the gender-related dress restriction “unlawful and unfair to students.”

The ACLU believes that, while schools may impose a requirement of proper attire, “to mandate dress based on notions that girls must wear one type of clothing and boys another is impermissible.”

In the letter, Glenberg also brings up a recent case in a Mississippi public school that refused to publish in its yearbook the senior portrait of a female student wearing a tuxedo. The ACLU sued the school in August 2010. As part of the settlement, Copiah County School District decided to ditch gender-specific outfits for senior portraits and instead require all students to wear a cap and gown.

Diane Ehrensaft, a Bay Area psychologist who studies gender and child development, told msnbc.com that the proposed ban is “a subtle form of harassment” and the school district should focus instead on monitoring bullying. . . . . “To blame the victim by saying you can’t dress that way anymore is inappropriate,” Ehrensaft said.

[N]o other school district in the southeastern region of South Hampton Roads includes a cross-dressing policy in its student dress code.

It would seem the real problem is Ms. Hinton and other closed minded bigots. I hope the attention she is receiving isn't helpful to her political career.

Suffolk, Virginia Public Schools Seek to Ban Cros Dressing

In a move that is being disingenuously described as motivated by" safety concerns" - even though zero problems have been reported - the City of Suffolk School Board appears headed toward imposing dress code regulations that would bar what they describe as "cross dressing." The move seems to be the pet project of one school board member - Thelma Hinton - who I suspect is perhaps motivated less by any real safety concerns and more by her own prejudice and/or religious beliefs. Hampton Roads overall is a backwards region and Suffolk is nowhere near the top of the list of more enlightened local cities and most likely has a higher percentage of Bible beaters amongst its citizenry. Quite frankly, the move seems guaranteed to provoke a well deserved lawsuit since transgender students will be ridden over rough shod. But then, this is Virginia, and if one is watching the actions of the Virginia General Assembly, the clear message from that GOP controlled body is that LGBT Virginians have no rights. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot coverage:

Last summer, when a School Board member shared concerns about teen boys wearing long wigs, dresses and makeup to class, the principals of the three city high schools insisted they hadn't seen it. Superintendent Deran Whitney said he had heard no complaints and had observed only one boy - in jeans and a shirt - dressed in "what is traditionally viewed as female clothing."

Now, Whitney has proposed modifications to the student dress code that include a change that addresses cross-gender clothing. The regulations, to be considered by the board tonight, ban clothing "that is not in keeping with a student's gender and causes a disruption and/or distracts others from the educational process or poses a health or safety concern."

No other South Hampton Roads school division includes that type of reference in its student dress code. Board Vice Chairwoman Thelma Hinton, who initiated the dress code discussion, said Wednesday that she's pleased with the superintendent's proposal.

The gender-related dress restriction Suffolk is considering is "deeply flawed," said Kent Willis, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia. It's too vague to be understood by students, entirely subjective and based on gender stereotyping, which is a violation of federal law, Willis wrote in an email. "If a boy were to wear a dress to school, he would almost certainly create a buzz that could be interpreted as a distraction," Willis said, "but it would be perfectly legal for him to do it."

In June, when Hinton first raised a concern, she said teachers and parents had contacted her about male students at one school wearing nail polish, lipstick, sundresses, strappy sandals and spandex. Teachers considered it a distraction, Hinton said, but were afraid to speak about it publicly. She would not identify the school.

John Whitehead, an attorney and president of The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, also described the proposal as vague and added that it doesn't use the proper legal language. Students can express themselves as long as they don't cause "a substantial disruption of the orderly operation of the school," he said. "Will that really detract from learning today - a boy wearing a dress?" Whitehead said. "That's ridiculous."

At the suggestion of board member Phyllis Byrum, Whitney also is proposing a detailed dress code for employees. Those regulations list denim, spaghetti straps, flip-flops and excessively tight clothing as attire considered inappropriate. Exceptions for some of the rules would be made for special events, including "school celebrations" and "thematic instructional days."

With all the problems in public schools today, one would think that both the Division Superintendent and the School Board would have more important issues to worry themselves about.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

In cities across the country on Sunday events will be held to remember the violence - all too often deadly violence - done against those who make up the "T" in LGBT. Would that everyone could look beyond our differences and grasp the fact that we are all human and that we are merely trying to live our lives as we feel our creator intend us to be. Sadly, charlatans and those who market hate while wrapping themselves in feigned religious piety fail to grasp this simple message.

Debbie Reynolds to Transphobes: Go Away

Chaz Bono has faced a boat load of hate and condemnation from falsely named "family values" organizations in connection with his upcoming role on Dancing With the Stars. Much of the condemnation has been ugly and it's obvious that these advocates of intolerance would prefer that LGBT individuals - especially transgender individuals - disappear or at least remain invisible. As if children won't eventually learn that we DO exist. One of Hollywood's former leading ladies has come to Chaz's defense and has a message for those attacking Chaz: if you don't like Chaz being on the show, CHANGE THE CHANNEL! The image and statement by Reynolds comes via Boy Culture. Kudos to Reynolds.

The Right Wing's Anti-Transgender Jihad

As a number of blogs have noted, including a piece by fellow contributor Austen Crowder on The Bilerico Project, the hate merchants of the far right are ratcheting up their anti-transgender noise machine in reaction the Chaz Bono's visibility and media coverage. In addition to the typical red herring that transgender equality legislation will allow sexual predators to dress as women and stalk women and young girls in restrooms, the more untethered are calling for sex reassignment surgery to be made illegal. The common threads in all of the rants are (1) that Christianist religious views must be imposed on all and (2) that non-heterosexuals - transgender individuals in particular - be utterly dehumanized into some subhuman category. As I've stated before, the folks continue to use the blueprint laid down by the Nazis of 70+ years ago to dehumanize Jews. Here 's a sampling from Austen's post:

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The bad news? Back at the ranch of sexual repression, the collecitve social conservative blogosphere is waking up to discover that transgender people exist - and having a coronary in the process. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the "make it illegal" offense:
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After decades of liberals peddling the idea that gender doesn't matter and is just a "social construct" suddenly we are told by these same liberals like Mr. Bono that gender does matter to the point that the gender we are born in may not be satisfactory. Yet, if gender is just a social construct, as has been maintained for decades by feminists, why not change the "paradigm," stay in the body one is born with and be happy?[...]

And we must say no. As a society, it is time to draw a line in the sand. The human body must be protected from those who seek to do it harm. . . . Transgender surgeries and transformations ought to be illegal altogether -- much as suicide is illegal in some states. If we do not render transgender operations illegal, how will we address those who insist they are uncomfortable with two arms or two legs and want amputation?
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Then there's AFA's douche bag in chief, Bryan Fischer, who is alleging that it is gay activists - not Christofascists like himself and those spurred to violence by screeds from pulpits - who are the "number one perpetrators of hate crimes in America." Right Wing Watch has a report of Fischer's latest hate filled batshitery. Here are highlights:
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So far this week, Bryan Fischer has called gay activists Nazis, likened them to Spanish Inquisition and Torquemada, and said they will forcibly brainwash anyone who does not "support sexual deviancy."
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So how could he possibly top that? By seizing on the fact that Peter Vidmar stepped down from his position with the 2012 U.S. Olympic team over his support for Proposition 8 to announce that it is now his goal in life to prove that "the number one class of people who are committing hate crimes today are homosexual activists":
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Robyn Deane - McDonnell's Transgender Former Brother-in-Law -Speaks Out for Gay Rights

I've met Robyn Deane - we had a nice talk at the Commonwealth Dinner back on May 1, 2010, and she reads this blog - and candidly I thinks she's terrific. She also has a unique perspective on Virginia's current Governor, Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell as his former brother-in-law before divorcing Maureen McDonnell's younger sister and transitioning. I welcome her decision to become more involved in advocacy for LGBT equality in Virginia and nationally.

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Personally, what I find so odd about McDonnell is that he has know a number of gays - former Congressman Ed Schrock and myself are but two others gays McDonnell has known for far more than a decade - and, hence, ought to realize that we're fully human and should be less homophobic. Bob, remember helping me on my political campaign in 1994? The time when we were alone and talked one on one at John Langlois' office? Remember my children who you always treated nicely? Sadly, instead of showing tolerance, McDonnell seems more and more a puppet for the nastiest elements of the Christian Right in Virginia (e.g., The Family Foundation and Pat Robertson) who, if given their way, would turn the state into a theocracy akin to Massachusetts under the Puritans. Frankly, I don't understand it. Bob, what are you so afraid of? Meanwhile, the Washington Post has a great story on Robyn. Here are some highlights:
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"I am father to three of the present governor's nephews and nieces," she announced to the more than 100 people trying to shield themselves from the rain. "Whoa," someone muttered. "I'm also uncle to five of his children, so that puts me kind of close," Deane continued. "He is my former brother-in-law. . . . He witnessed the impact that all of this coming out can have on one's life. He had a front-row-center seat."
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Deane's declaration was the first step in her second coming out, this time as an activist attempting to leverage her past association to McDonnell to promote a cause that has become dear to her: the advancement of gay and transgender rights. In particular, Deane wants Virginia and national lawmakers to pass legislation that prevents discrimination in the workplace on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. She also wants to persuade McDonnell to speak publicly about how people should accept those who are gay or transgender.
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Deane said she decided to announce her relationship to McDonnell on April 21 because she feels that her situation hardened some of his views on sexual orientation. The governor opposes same-sex marriage and has not backed measures that protect gay state workers from discrimination. "Maybe I sealed an anger in him toward people like us," she said at the rally.
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Though Deane has not spoken to McDonnell in more than a decade, her activities threaten to become a nuisance and embarrassment to the governor and could cause trouble with social conservatives if he were to engage Deane.
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McDonnell, who has turned down invitations from Deane to meet and has not spoken publicly about her, declined to comment for this article. "This is a personal matter," said his spokesman, Tucker Martin. "The governor wishes Robyn the very best."
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Deane and McDonnell, who met when they were 22 and began dating sisters from a large Northern Virginia family, became close despite religious and philosophical differences as they raised their families, Deane said.
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Deane has emerged after a pair of high-profile controversies over gay rights that have caused trouble for McDonnell. The governor alienated gay rights activists shortly after taking office when he excluded sexual orientation from an executive order that barred discrimination in the state workforce, a break in tradition from his Democratic predecessors.
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Deane scoffs at the notion that she will hurt the cause. She insists she can only help, particularly now that gay rights have taken much more of a role in the state policy debate than in recent years.
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"I raised my kids to question everything -- always challenge status-quo thinking and make a difference,'' she said. "I wouldn't be true to those values if I felt this way but stayed over here, worried about what this, this, this person thinks. Nothing would ever change. "I think the voice needs to be heard," she said. "I can't sit back and wait."
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I hope Robyn remains engaged. I also find it ironic that some of the self-appointed "leaders" of the LGBT rights movement are critical. Seriously, they sure as Hell have not accomplished a whole lot for us. In fact, things have become worse on their watch. As for McDonnell, he needs to come clean as to why he treats those gays that he knows and has known so badly. Is it only to curry favor with the Christianists or something else?

A "Thank You" From/To Robyn Deane

The way in which the Internet allows one to connect with people is amazing. I just received a comment from Robyn Deane, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's transgender former sister-in-law, concerning the effort made to disseminate her message. Her message is posted on The Bilerico Project version of the post I did on this blog. Robyn is not the first to connect based on blog posts that I have done. Recently, after posting about Australian former Olympic swimmer Daniel Kowalski, I was surprised to find an e-mail from Kowalski himself saying "Thank You." Here's the message from Robyn Dean:
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Hello!!
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I signed on to say "Thank you!!" to everyone that went before me, paving an easier road to travel than was available long ago when I first realized who I was. Now, it's becoming difficult to imagine a world where such uplifting support wouldn't be available!! Sometimes, I think, we overlook just how far we've come...doesn't mean the job is done; just that we've made quite a bit of progress!!
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Again, Thank you all very much and I remain committed (Oh my, the sense of humor just jumped into hyper-drive!!) ...to our cause, that is, until the questions change from "Who do they think they are?" to "What were we all thinking?" If it takes being "in it" for the long-haul to get to that point, then I'm in it for the long-haul!!
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Warmest regards,
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Robyn Deane

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My message to Robyn is," Thank You for your courage and willingness to speak out for fairness and equality." If we all work together we can continue to change hearts and minds.

Bob McDonnell's Transgender Former Brother-in-Law Speaks Out Against Him

UPDATE: Also helping to get this story out across Virginia is Kevin Clay at GayRVA.com who has some added details. I greatly appreciate the efforts of everyone who is helping keep McDonnell's feet to the fire on LGBT issues.
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I had heard rumors during last year's campaign that Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell had a transgender relative, but was never able to confirm it and, therefore, never wrote about it. Well, yesterday at an Equality Virginia organized protest, McDonnell's former brother-in-law, who is transgendered, was one of several speakers at a rally outside the Capitol pushing for a state law to provide protections for workers based on sexual orientation. According to a source at EV McDonnell and his staff were caught blind sided by Robyn Deane's decision to go public. Obviously, given McDonnell's close hand observation and experience of what LGBT citizens go through - Deane was married to Maureen McDonnell's sister for 17 years - makes his extreme callousness towards gay Virginians all the more reprehensible. Both the Richmond Times Dispatch and the Washington Post are reporting on this development. Here are highlights from the Post story:
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Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's former brother-in-law, who is transgendered, was one of several speakers at a rally outside the Capitol today pushing for a state law to provide protections for workers based on sexual orientation.
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Robyn Deane said she decided to go public today to offer her former brother-in-law help in coming around on his views on gay rights issues. "I believe Bob is in a unique position,'' she said in an interview. "I want to help him." Deane, 55, of Richmond, was married to First Lady Maureen McDonnell's younger sister, Ellen, for 17 years. The couple divorced 1999 and has three children, ages 26, 22 and 19.
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They urged legislators to "Don't Hate/Legislate," asking that lawmakers change write legal protections for gay residents into state code. Some held signs that read "Equality is Good."
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As the Times Dispatch notes, yesterday was apparently the first time Deane publicly mentioned her tie to the state’s first family in a political forum. One has to wonder what McDonnell did to keep Deane out of public view during the campaign last year. Obviously, the wingnuts might not have been too happy about the story.