Illinois lawmakers passed a bill through committee amending hate crimes legislation this week, setting it up for consideration in the Assembly.

The law, HB 4725, would protect transgender people by adding gender identity to existing hate crimes legislation as a protected class. Sexual orientation is already protected. From the Windy City Times:

“HB 4725 does not create a new law, or confer special rights to a certain group of people, but rather, amends the current hate crime law to include people that are victimized at higher rates based on the perpetrator’s bias,” said Anthony Martinez, executive director of TCRA, in a statement.”

Other LGBT bills are up for passage in the General Assembly.

In addition to the hate crimes amendment, 14th Dist. Rep. Kelly Cassidy has introduced a Family Medical Leave Act to allow same-sex spouses in Illinois to take time off work to care for a partner. That bill passed out committee Feb. 29. Cassidy is also pushing a bill that would bolster the state’s current anti-bullying policy.

Let’s get this done. 

Starting yesterday, 140 London subway stations are displaying posters for a new campaign encouraging male rape victims to speak out about the crimes against them.

Launched by the group SurvivorsUK, the ads will run during the Six Nations rugby tournament as a way to convey that anyone can be a victim of rape. According to the organization, one man is the victim of a sexual crime every hour in London, but another site says that only 11 percent of men report these crimes. 

“We’ve chosen to use an alpha male sport in our advertising to challenge assumptions about the type of men who get raped,” spokesman Michael May said. “It’s just as likely to be a rugby player as a librarian, a suited city banker as a hooded gang member. And we hope that by challenging our innate assumptions about the identity of male victims, we can make it even fractionally easier for a male rape victim to ask for help.”

This campaign could do a lot of good and a lot of bad. The good: it’s important to acknowledge that rape happens to men, too, and removing the stigma of talking about it is a necessary step in stopping it. The bad: the ads insinuate that there is such a thing as a “real man,” a connotation that’s problematic in and of itself. Who is a “real man”? Do “not real men” get raped too? Why is it necessary to use the word “real” at all?

This is a really interesting case. What do you all think?

Thought so. 

New York City’s transgender community is becoming more and more vocal as the city continues to resist much-needed changes in how paperwork and other formalities are executed for trans people. NYC upholds a law whereby a person’s birth certificate can be altered to show a sex change only if the person has had corrective surgery to reflect their new gender.

For trans people who don’t have the money for surgery, it’s an extremely limiting measure that gives them no choice but to live legally as a different gender than the one with which they identify. Birth certificates are often required for processes like registering for school, health care or food stamps, and the discrepancy can be embarrassing. 

A number of states in the U.S. and other countries have taken on measures whereby sex reassignment surgery is not mandatory for a change of gender on a birth certificate, but New York is, for some reason, lagging behind. 

The BBC story linked above goes into much greater detail about the history of this problem and what’s happening next. Check it out - this is a really important issue that affects a lot of people. 

Things to remember. 

The Advocate reported yesterday that a Maryland county and a Missouri city took steps to protect transgender citizens from discrimination in a variety of fields.

Howard County, MD added “gender identity and expression” to its list of protected classes for employment, housing, public accommodations, financing, and health and social services. Officials are hoping this will help a statewide nondiscrimination bill pass next year. 

Columbia, MO also passed a bill protecting trans people from “discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation.”

Baby steps make big differences. We’re getting there. 

It’s unfortunate that we’re still having this debate.

But for some reason, we are. There are still parents (and angry people without children) who believe that transgender people in the public eye, like Chaz Bono, are a danger to kids because they’ll cause our dear children to start questioning who they are, to “get confused” about what it means to be a boy or a girl.

This awesome Psychology Today column points out that it really doesn’t matter if our kids question or if they decide non-traditional gender roles are more their style. The writer not only proves that trans or nonconforming people pose virtually no threat to kids, but that it’s healthy and necessary for us to break out of the socially constructed gender roles that have long been constraining our natural selves. 

Read the article for some great, great information about how ridiculous it is to argue that gender is the same thing as one’s sex at birth. Figuring yourself out is beautiful, especially if you’re redefining norms and challenging age-old stereotypes in the process. A personal favorite passage: 

Maybe instead of condemning Chaz we should be thanking him. He serves as a great example that gender need not be fixed, that our dualistic thought regarding sex and gender is restrictive and largely illusory. Androgynous individuals, meaning those who do not strongly internalize the confines of their own gender but borrow generously from each, oftentimes exhibit greater social adjustment than those who very narrowly internalize their respective gender identity. For instance, as I researched for my textbook on the psychology of aggression, males who internalize a very narrow construction of masculinity are often more prone to both aggression and violence.

It’s dangerous to tell kids that all boys should like trucks and all girls should like dolls, and it’s just as dangerous to tell them it’s wrong to explore the other side and see what they like better.

We need trans role models like Chaz to prove to our kids - nay, prove to their parents - that gender doesn’t only come in two kinds. After all, our gender identities are as unique as we are. 

Anonymous asked: If I am a woman that is bisexual and then I got married to another woman, am I already considered as a lesbian?

Depends on what you mean by “considered.” Some people who see the hypothetical two of you together might assume that you’re both lesbians, just as when you see a man and a woman together, you often assume they’re both straight. This is frustrating, but it’s the way it is. However, your identity won’t change. The only person who can tell anyone your sexual identity or orientation is you, and what you consider yourself is more important than what anyone else considers you. Thanks for reading! 

Anonymous asked: I don't know what my sexuality is.. People call me a whore, slut.. ect.. I like both girls and guys, but I don't know if I want to be Bisexual.

Whore and slut are not sexualities. They’re derogatory terms, and anyone who uses them to describe you has no say in helping you figure out your identity. If you like girls and guys, the first thing that comes to mind is obviously bisexuality, but there are other terms that work too - polysexual, pansexual, queer, and many others. It’s okay to be questioning, too. In the long run, you are who you are, even if you’re not sure that’s who you want to be. If you’d prefer to find a label that fits you, that’s all well and good, and take your time to find one that feels right. If you want to live without labels, that’s a-ok too. Do what makes you happy and forget anyone who tries to stop you. Hope that helps! 

A couple in Canada has decided not to tell the world the gender of their 4-month-old baby, Storm (pictured on the right). Only the baby’s brothers, a family friend and the midwives who helped deliver the child know the baby’s sex.

The parents say it’s unfair to children to consider gender a crucial part of their identity, pointing out that if you want to get to know someone, you don’t first ask “what’s between their legs.”

Obviously they’ve gotten mixed feedback. Some people think it’s a good thing to let Storm decide his or her gender identity when he or she is ready. Others say the parents are exploiting their child in a sociopolitical experiment. Check the article linked above for a detailed profile on the family, and an additional article for interesting and controversial reader comments. 

What do you think? Is it appropriate to raise a child “genderless”?