Smith College Teach In Tonight

For those of you in Western Massachusetts, you may wish to roll over to Northampton and check out a teach in that's happening on the Smith College campus tonight from 6:30-7:30 PM EDT  outside the Smith Campus Center.

It's being hosted by Smith Q & A (Queers & Alliez)  in response to the issue of exclusion of trans women from being able to enroll and matriculate at one of the premiere women's colleges in the country.

A petition calling for the end of transphobic discrimination in Smith admissions policies has garnered over 4000 signatures.

One of the people who will be speaking is longtime activist and historian Bet Power, and I hope the video cameras are rolling for this one.

Hope you'll come and show your support for this event.

May 1 Teach-In At Smith College

If you oppose discrimination and would like Smith College to admit trans women as undergraduate students, please come to this event. Bet Power will be speaking, and trans community members and allies are very much needed in this effort to press Smith College for change.

And if you haven't done so yet, here's the petition asking Smith to change its policies and admit qualified transwomen who wish to attend the school.

Smith Q & A (Queers & Alliez) is hosting a Teach-In next Wednesday, May 1 at 6:30-7:30 PM. EDT, outside the Smith Campus Center, in response to the issue of trans women's exclusion from Smith. It is an opportunity for coalition work between the larger queer community and Smith, as well as an opportunity for us to do education work around transmisogyny. It is not a protest, or a violent space -- but rather, a space to continue educating our communities.

Come learn about how and why excluding trans women from Smith is inexcusable, works against the mission of Smith as a women's college, and is not a Title IX issue. Hear students, faculty, and Northampton community members speak about historic exclusion of trans women, and the odds that trans women face trying to gain access to higher education.

The Smith College Campus Center is located at 100 Elm Street, Northampton, MA.

I'll repeat and expand on what I said in the Smith trans hypocrisy post.   This issue isn't going away because trans people now transition as early as ages 5 and 6.  More are transitioning in their teens.  Those 5 and 6 year old trans kids will grow up to become trans teens who one day will be looking to earn a degree on someone's college campus. 

Some of those trans teens will be trans feminine students who could be prospective students wishing to attend your campus.   You already allow transmasculine students on your campus after they transition, so why the problem with having transfeminine students on campus?  

Transfeminine students would not only benefit from matriculating at an all women's college with Smith's academic reputation, but we would bring something to the table in terms of educating you on our issues and having your students get to know the trans women who get to attend the school.

Hope you can attend, because Bet is an amazing speaker and you don't want to miss it.

Two Pronged Teahadist Attacks On Texas Collegiate TBLG Centers Terminated

The Texas Teahadists have had their water on for the LGBT centers on the Texas A&M, University of Houston and University of Texas campuses for some time and launched efforts to kill them in this 2013 legislative session. .  

It was a two pronged effort on the Texas A&M campus.  The homobigots on campus there have been trying for years to kill the GLBT center.   They launched another effort to take away its funding by authoring the 'GLBT Funding Opt Out Bill'  that would have given Aggie students the option to opt out of funding for the center if they have 'religious objections' to it.

Less than 24 hours before the April 3 vote they attempted to put lipstick on this pig of this unjust bill by renaming it the 'Religious Funding Exemption Bill' and removing all references to the GLBT center in a feeble attempt to mask the blatant anti-GLBT bigotry and deflect attention from the fact it was an attack upon the center. 

After 3 hours of contentious debate it passed on a 35-28 vote and the unjust bill was sent to Texas A&M student body president John L. Claybrook for his signature.   

Claybrook vetoed the unjust measure on April 5

News this week that some student senators had targeted the center thrust the traditionally conservative university into the national spotlight, and Claybrook said it was time to “stop the bleeding.”

“The damage must stop today,” Claybrook wrote in a letter announcing his intention to veto. “Texas A&M students represent our core value of respect exceptionally and I’m very proud of the family at this university. Now, more than ever, is the time to show great resolve and come together, treating each other like the family that we are.”

The future Teahadist student senators pushing this unjust measure can try to override Claybrook's veto, but it will take a 2/3 vote to do so.  It didn't have a 2/3 majority when it passed so it's likely the veto will stand.  Even if they were successful and it became A&M policy, it would almost certainly be struck down in court and expose the deafeningly silent senior Texas A&M administration officials to legal liability.  

Ken Upton, senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal’s Dallas office, said even if the bill were signed and adopted as university policy, it wouldn’t last long.

“The most likely result is that a court would step in and stop it before it even happened,” Upton said.   He said there was clear legal precedent on the issue as laid out in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System v. Southworth, where students sued their university because they opposed multicultural, environmental and GLBT groups.

“This issue is pretty well settled,” Upton said.

If somehow the measure did work its way through the courts, he said, top university officials could be held liable.

“… The people with decision making authority who allowed it to happen could be held liable full money damages,” Upton said. “But it would probably be struck down so quickly that money damages wouldn’t be an issue.”

Meanwhile, on the University of Houston campus their Student Government Association unanimously approved a resolution opposing the second prong of this attack on Texas collegiate LGBT centers  

Proud of my alma mater and their SGA!    


There was also victory on the Austin front as well.  State Rep Bill Zedler (R Teabagger-Arlington) proposed an unjust amendment to the state budget bill designed to eliminate LGBT resource centers on state university and college campuses. The amendment would also eliminate state funding for women's centers and all gender and sexuality centers at Texas universities.    Under pressure, he withdrew that amendment   

Hasta la vista, unjust bills.

So this two pronged attack on GLBT centers is terminated for now, but you know we Lone Star State progressives must be forever vigilant as long as the GOP has control of our state legislature and the governor's mansion because the homobigots will not stop until their mission is completed.

SMU Adds Trans Policy Protections

The list of Lone Star State colleges and universities adding trans protections just grew by one.

Thanks to the hard work of the folks at Resource Center Dallas and other allies in the Dallas area. Southern Methodist University's Board of Trustees voted at their December 2012 meeting to make the necessary additions to the policy to protect the trans students matriculating on their campus. 

The revised policy took effect on January 1.

SMU will not discriminate in any employment practice, education program, or educational activity on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, or veteran status. SMU’s commitment to equal opportunity includes nondiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

Over the past several years, RCD officials provided SMU with several examples of fully-inclusive nondiscrimination policies in both higher education and other settings, and met with SMU officials to explain the importance of adding the trans protections for their students.  .

SMU becomes the first four-year college in North Central Texas to have fully inclusive nondiscrimination protections and hope others in that region step up to the plate and join them..

Have A Great 2012-13 School Year Houston TBLG Students!

While I was enroute back to Houston on Monday the 2012-13 school year kicked off in the various school districts in the area, at Houston Community College, Texas Southern University, Prairie View A&M University and at the University of Houston.  Rice started classes on August 20.

I hope you rainbow students matriculating in HISD schools and those college campuses I mentioned got your school year off to a wonderful start

Wanted to point out for you TBLG students in the area that in HISD the anti-bullying and employment non-discrimination policies have gender identity and sexual orientation language in them, so for you rainbow community kids matriculating in HISD schools, know you are covered if people start jacking with you.

Unfortunately the other school districts in the area have yet to follow HISD, the largest school district in Texas and seventh largest in the country's lead, but a statewide anti-bullying law takes effect September 1..

On the local college front, HCC has gender identity and expression language in its non-discrimination policy along with Rice University, which has had it since 2006.  The San Jacinto College system along with UH-Clear Lake also has gender identity and expression language in their non-discrimination policies. 

On February 15 Texas A&M's President R. Bowen Lofton added sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the yearly TAMU-College Station employment memo. 

"...It is our policy to not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Furthermore, we will maintain a work environment free from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression."


Although my alma mater as of yet has not yet incorporated gender identity and expression language into their nondiscrimination statement, in January 2010 the UH Vice Chancellor of Legal Affairs, Dona H. Cornell issued a memo stating that transgender individuals are protected from discrimination at the University of Houston based on the analysis of the court case Lopez v. River Oaks Imaging & Diagnostic Group.

Unfortunately neither area HBCU has sexual orientation or gender identity language in their non discrimination policies, but interestingly TSU's Thurgood Marshall School Of Law does.

Hopefully TSU and Prairie View A&M will see fit to join other local colleges and universities in the Houston metro area and the TSU Thurgood Marshall Law School to expeditiously add sexual orientation and gender identity language in their non-discrimination statements.

It would be nice for these HBCU's to set a sterling example in the SWAC and other HBCU campuses in this region and around the country of being leaders on this issue just as they have for decades produced outstanding leaders in their classrooms.  The SGL and trans students who matriculate on your historic campuses deserve it.

Houston area rainbow community students, keep working to get that education and hope you will have a fantastic 2012-13 school year.

HBCU's Better Recognize Black TBLG Students Exist

One of the issues we discussed during the just concluded Texas Transgender Non-Discrimination Summit was the lack of LGBT centers on Texas colleges and university campuses.   There's one at Texas A&M, UT-Austin, and a part time one at the University of Houston and they narrowly survived an attempt by our conservafool legislators to cut their funding.

However sad that data point is of three TBLG collegiate centers in the Lone Star State, the reality is there are more on campus LGBT centers in red state Texas than in all of the 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) put together.  That's disgusting considering it's not a 21st century phenomenon that Black GLBT students exist. 

There are two major HBCU's here in Prairie View A&M, just northwest of Houston which is part of the Texas A&M University system and Texas Southern University here in H-town.  PVAMU doesn't have one and neither does TSU, which is mere blocks from the University of Houston main campus despite increasing numbers of LGBT students on their campuses.  .       . 

Out of the 105 HBCU's across the nation, only one has opened an LGBT center on its campus and that just happened this year.  

The university that made this interesting piece of Black history happen is Bowie State University in Bowie, MD.   After working on it since 2007 BSU opened its Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Allies (LGBTQI and Allies) Resource Center.on April 2.

It's not like HBCU's have existed in the 20th and early 21st centuries without chocolate rainbow people matriculating on their campuses.  All of them at one time or another, including elite HBCU campuses such as Morehouse, Spelman and Howard are aware they have or had SGL students in their midst and TBLG alums they solicit for donations.  

Ignoring the issues that impact current SGL and trans students on those HBCU campuses won't make them go away, get those GLBT alums and their supportive allies to write those donation checks or help them draw future Black GLBT students to their campuses.    

Morehouse College sadly has been a poster child for the head in the sand approach on TBLG issues.  Throughout  the 80's and 90's it was on the Princeton Review's Top 20 Most Homophobic campuses list, had an ugly 2002 on campus gay bashing incident ,had two employees fired after homophobic e-mail rants surfaced  in reaction to a gay wedding photo and passed a controversial phobic dress code

The Robert Champion hazing death case that blew up on the Florida A&M campus in November 2011 has caused the resignation of its president, resulted in third degree felony indictments of 13 students and caused its world famous Marching 100 Band to be placed on indefinite suspension.

As National Black Justice Coalition Executive Director/CEO Sharon Lettman-Hicks noted in a press release discussing the Champion case and HBCU's, "These institutions develop many of our future leaders but fail to create safe and nurturing environments for all of our young people to thrive. Combined with legal protections, cultural shifts on these campuses are needed to literally save lives. Our work doesn’t end here.”

Be interesting to see what NBJC has planned in order to help HBCU's get up to speed protecting our TBLG young people who proudly attend these institutions. 

The Champion case is also a warning to HBCU's that they need to get busy proactively tackling the issues of homophobia and transphobia on their campuses.  If they don't, they will discover that ignoring those issues will cost them serious money down the line either in lawsuits or lost revenue because SGL and trans students aren't going away or in the closet.

As bad as HBCU's have been on gay and lesbian issues, gender identity and trans issues on HBCU campuses have probably moved at a glacial pace since Sharon Franklin Brown's well publicized 1995 case.   In light of the fact their white collegiate counterparts are making consistent strides on transgender issues, it's past time for HBCU's to get in the game and get up to speed on trans issues as quickly as possible.  

HBCU's can begin that recognition process by not only opening LGBT centers on their campuses, they can add sexual orientation, gender identity and expression language to institutional non-discrimination statements and employment policies.   Most importantly once they do so, they need to be enforced. 

HBCU's need to send the unmistakable message to their faculty, current and future students, alumni, and the communities they serve that discrimination against LGBT students on HBCU campuses will not be tolerated, they have inclusive and welcoming campuses, and they are willing to include LGBT students in their ongoing missions to uplift the race through educational achievement.

Sam Houston State Adds Gender ID To Policy

The positive momentum in this so-called red state of Texas continues.

Sam Houston State University in Huntsville recently revised its Equal Employment Opportunity policy and nondiscrimination statement and added sexual orientation and gender identity to it.. 

Led by Vice President for Student Services Frank Parker, the SHSU President’s Cabinet voted to add the two as protected classes into three areas of SHSU policy, including Chapter V for “Component Personnel,” which outlines employment qualifications; Chapter VI for “Student Services Activities,” which outlines admissions criteria; and Chapter VII’s non-discrimination policy involving campus life and activities.

“I believe that our policies should reflect and encourage the full spectrum of diversity on our campuses and adopting this policy is just the right thing to do,” Parker said. “This policy fulfills the concept that ‘Sam Houston is a great name in education’ for all.”

It joins fellow Texas State University System member Texas State as one of two schools in the eight member TSUS system to adopt the wording.   The TSTS Board Of Regents looking at making similar changes to the system-wide policy.

Congrats Sam Houston State for making the moves that ensure that all Bearkats are welcomed on campus and protected from discrimination.  Let's hope the TSUS board f Regents continues the polsitive momentum and follows the principles lead of Texas sate and SHSU

DCCCD Passes Trans Inclusive Policy!

There's good news to report out of Dallas this evening concerning the proposed expansion of DCCCD nondiscrimination policy.  

The Dallas County Community College District Board of Trustees at this afternoon's board meeting passed on a 4-1 vote the expansion of DCCCD policy for students and employees with the inclusion of gender identity and expression language.

The new language that modifies one employee and two student nondiscrimination policies will take effect March 1 and they join the Houston area's San Jacinto Community College System and the Houston Community College System in doing so.  

The Dallas County Community College District is one of the largest community college districts in the state of Texas with over 85,000 students and 25,000 enrolled in continuing education courses.

There were two trustees absent from this meeting and the lone NO vote came from District 4 trustee Bill Metzger.  In case you peeps in the Metroplex are wondering when you'll get your chance to show your displeasure with his vote on this issue at the ballot box, unfortunately you'll have to wait until 2016 to do so. 

Trustee Diana Flores told the Dallas Voice that the calls and letters to the Board of Trustees received in favor of this policy expansion are what made the difference in terms of the successful vote in enacting this positive human rights advance.

So for those of you who called, wrote, spoke in front of the Board of Trustees or showed up at DCCCD headquarters wearing pink clothing in solidarity of this policy change, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedules to do so and give yourself a well deserved pat on the back. 

You can bet the eyes of the DFW Metroplex and the rest of the Lone Star State will be on the Dallas County Community College District to ensure the policy the Board of Trustees voted affirmatively on is implemented as expeditiously as possible at all of its campuses.

A human rights expansion sure is a nice way to get 2012 started.

Hate At NC State Turns To Hope

When you start pimping hate legislation as the Republicans in North Carolina are trying to do with this proposed constitutional ban on same gender marriage, it sends a dog whistle message to the unhinged haters in the state that it's okay to let it flow against that marginalized group.

Some wastes of DNA last Monday vandalized the Harrelson Hall offices of North Carolina State's GLBT Center in the state capital of Raleigh between 8:30 and 10 PM EDT by spraying purple paint on the doors of the center and its glass display case.   The graffiti was down by Tuesday, and no arrests have been made as of yet.

"What we understand it to be is a crime motivated by hate bias," GLBT Center Director Justine Hollingshead said.   Police are investigating it because defacing state property is a crime in North Carolina but have declined to state as to whether they are investigating the incident as a bias crime.

The center opened in 2008 to serve the 3.15% of the student body that identified as members of the rainbow community on campus and what touched the GLBT Center folks and the TBLG students on campus was the outpouring of support they received from their fellow NC State students in the wake of the attack. 

At a SGA meeting Tuesday night, members of Student Government voted in favor of two bills promoting diversity on campus. In one of the bills Senators passed, they voted to send a letter to the legislature in Raleigh on behalf of the entire student body. The letter will tell the state lawmakers that the N.C. State students are fully against the constitutional ban of gay marriage.

A 'State Not Hate' rally was planned in two days and executed October 28 which drew over 500 students faculty and staff members with NC State Provost Warwick Arden, Vice Chancellor Thomas Stafford, and other university figures speaking out about the center's importance and the value of diversity on campus.

Arden called the vandalism “a reprehensible act of hatred and intimidation.”as a petition condemning the attack began to circulate that has received over 1000 signatures. 

If those wastes of DNA who committed the crime has the intention of terrorizing the LGBT community at NC State with their reprehensible actions, what they revealed instead was how much support they have instead..

Brown Proposes Continuing ROTC Campus Ban Unless Trans People Can Serve

One of the things the trans community is painfully aware of is that the ballyhooed repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell last month still left the trans community behind and vulnerable to the same discharges that GLB soldiers used to endure but no longer have to worry about.  

Staff Sergeant Rebecca Grant was discharged under the DADT policy two weeks before it ended.

Besides TAVA who is leading this fight to allow trans people tom openly serve, we just picked up an ally in pleading our case to allow trans people to openly serve in our country's military in Ivy League institution Brown University.

Brown President Dr. Ruth J. Simmons called on the university to "commit to helping to arouse greater national attention to the discrimination of the military and others against transgender individuals."

She wrote in a letter to the university community,"We must do all in our power as an institution to carry the message to Congress, the executive branch, and the military establishment that the policy barring transgender individuals from military service must be changed,"  

Brown ended its ROTC programs during the contentious Vietnam War era in 1969 and kept the bans in place due to anti-GLBT discrimination in the military.   In the wake of the passage of the repeal legislation and September 20 implementation of the end of the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, the Providence, RI based school was in the process of reconsidering lifting the ban and allowing the ROTC programs to resume on campus. 

Dr. Simmons favors continuing the on campus ROTC program ban while favoring expanded options for Brown students to participate in ROTC programs on other campuses

The proposal by President Simmons to continue the ROTC ban must go to the university's Corporation for the final say.

"Many speak about the importance of service to the nation through the military and they are correct," Dr. Simmons wrote in the letter. "However, to root out the manifestation and vestiges of discrimination from our national life is an equally important dimension of serving the nation."

Thank you Dr. Simmons and Brown University community for being willing to add your voices to others who speak loudly and clearly against anti-transgender discrimination and are standing up for our right to serve in our nation's military.