Draconian Anti-Prostitution Law Proposed In The ATL

'The City Too Busy to Hate' as the ATL likes to call itself sometimes forgets that motto when it comes to trans women.

I never forgot it when in 1991 trans pioneer Caroline Cossey, who lives in the ATL area, had a key to the city rescinded by then mayor Maynard Jackson after her trans status was revealed.

Jackson said in a statement at the time he would not have granted the honor had he known her "claim to fame" was being transsexual. 

That incident came back to haunt him a decade later when Jackson tried to become the chair of the Democratic National Committee in 2001.  Now another ATL mayor in Kasim Reed has to grapple with a contentious issue that has a trans flavor to it.

Cheryl Courtney-Evans in this guest post talks about a draconian proposed anti-prostitution ordinance spearheaded by trans bigot Peggy Denby, the 'Queen of Mean' president of the Midtown-Ponce Security Alliance (MPSA) that calls for banishment from the city of Atlanta for a second prostitution arrest. 

The group of prostitutes that this ordinance is aimed at just happens to be predominately made up of girls like us. 

In addition to the straight up problematic constitutional questions about this proposed ordinance, a better way to address the prostitution issue would be to spend some of the money you'd be wasting trying to enforce this and target it into a jobs program so these women wouldn't have to walk a Midtown Atlanta street in the first place to get paid.   

Here's a sample of the post.

Ms. Denby, on two occasions, made it a point to tell the gathering that her main "issue" was with "male prostitutes in the Midtown area" and that "there are no longer any female prostitutes in Midtown; they're all males"...this despite the fact that we all know that the majority of the street trade in this area is conducted by transgender women [and we know from previous experience that Ms. Denby has referred to ALL transgenders as "men in dresses" and "transvestitutes"]...so after her second reference to us in this manner (saying all of  Midtown's prostitutes are men), I had to speak up before she could finish putting on her jacket to leave the meeting (and give the rest something to think about for the next meeting) and urge everyone to "evolve past a state of mind that fuel such statements that 'all of Midtown's prostitutes are male', when we know that population is a transgender woman majority...this state of mind is the same one that's results in their presence there in the first place, as it pushes the discrimination that keeps them out of the workplace" (of course, every time I mentioned this "state of mind", I looked pointedly at Ms. Denby, who definitely did not meet my eye).

You can read the rest of Cheryl's post at her abitchforjustice blog.

Joanne Cassar Wins! Maltese Government Drops Objections To Her Right To Marry

TransGriot Note: E-mail this one to HRC and Karin Quimby for me will you?

After a protracted legal battle that went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France and even became an issue in the recent Maltese election, Joanne Cassar's long fight to have her marriage rights recognized is victorious.

The April 2 news that the Maltese government will amend the Marriage Act so that trans people can marry the partners of their choice according to their acquired gender was greeted with jubilation and relief.

But none were happier than Joanne Cassar, who has been battling the Maltese government in court for seven years to be able to marry her male partner.   Cassar won and lost cases in the Maltese court system and eventually took her marriage rights legal wrangle to the ECHR.

She gleefully expressed her satisfaction on social media upon hearing the news that her long battle is finally over. 

Cassar even became an issue in the March 9 Maltese election.   In a public rally March 2 before Maltese voters went to the polls then Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced in response to an audience question that his ruling Nationalist Party would if re-elected introduce gender recognition legislation in the next parliament.   Gonzi also claimed that the reason why the Maltese parliament never discussed the transgender recognition private member's bill tabled by then Opposition MP Evarist Bartolo was lack of time.

Never mind the fact that the Gonzi government had been fighting Cassar tooth and nail in the courts and she called him on it.     

Cassar accused the Gonzi administration of exploiting her case for political advantage.  She pointed out the hypocrisy of the same government now promising to enact these trans marriage rights fighting to keep the legal obstacles that stood in the way of her ability to get married.

She noted the Gonzi government had even filed written submissions against her right to marry in her ECHR case in Strasbourg.

Former Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Michael Briguglio then called upon the Gonzi government to stop officially opposing Joanne Cassar in her bid to marry her partner.

"Not only did the government fail to progress the legislation that was tabled through a private member's bill; but it actually fought Joanne Cassar tooth and nail all the way to the Constitutional Court to deny her the fundamental right to marry her male partner," Briguglio said. "This in spite of clear European Court of Human Rights case-law dating back to 2002 which Malta is obliged to respect."

You know how voters in any country hate hypocritical politicians who also get caught misspeaking lying, and Gonzi's party paid dearly at the polls.  The oppostion Labour Party rolled to a 39-26 landslide victory on Election Night making their leader Joseph Muscat the new Prime Minister.   The Nationalists picked up four at large seats later, but the net loss of five seats ended their 15 years in power.

The Malta Gay Rights Movement's coordinator Gabi Calleja was also happy to hear that the Maltese government finally joined the 21st century and conformed to European law. 

"I think it's about time that Joanne Cassar's ordeal was brought to an end, and that we finally conform to European law at least in so far as marriage is concerned."

The right of transgender persons to marry in Europe was firmly established in the 2002 precedent setting case Christine Goodwin vs the United Kingdom in which the ECHR held that it found no justification for barring transsexuals from enjoying the right to marry under any circumstances.
 
Details on the legal amendment will reflect the principle that, by officially recognizing a person's reassigned gender identity through documentation (ID card or driver's license), the State also de facto commits itself to acknowledging and protecting all the rights and privileges associated with that particular gender identity including the right to marry a person of the opposite gender.

Once the legal amendments are in place, the ECHR case filed against Malta by Cassar will be withdrawn, and her legal expenses will be refunded by the State.

Congrats Joanne on winning your long marriage fight that you never should have had to go through in the first place and striking a blow for girls like us around the world.   

Instigator Of CeCe McDonald Case Sentenced

'Flaherty deserves jail time and a fine for causing bodily injury to CeCe, and the trans community should not rest or let this crap slide until CeCe gets some justice out of this fracked up situation, too instead of the heaping helpings of injustice she's had to deal with.'   TransGriot  December 10, 2012 

This is the closing paragraph of the December 2012 post I wrote concerning CeCe McDonald's attacker Molly Shannon Flaherty in which I asked why were the authorities dragging their feet on the case and why was CeCe the only person doing serious jail time for standing her ground against a racist and transphobic attack aimed at her and her friend and involved a known white supremacist?.

Katrina Rose in her ENBAblog 2.0 post she wrote on December 10, 2012 as well gave us her theory into why the wheels of justice were possibly grinding so slowly in this Land of 10,000 Lakes case.

Anyone interested in wagering any money that the fine upstanding white, non-trans Molly McTransphobe (McRadphlegm, too?) Flaherty is probably a full-time lowlife who has some sort of informant/immunity deal with one or more prosecutorial authorities in the area?  Anyone interested in wagering any money on the possibility of it involving heavy-duty shit of great social and political import (read: victimless crime – probably taking notes on who sells a joint to whom in bars where people like the fine upstanding white, non-trans Molly McTransphobe (McRadphlegm, too?) Flaherty hang out?

Flaherty already had a criminal history and charges pending  from a previous March 2011 arrest before that fateful June 5, 2011 night at the Schooner Tavern.  She and her buddies decided to put the Black gay and transpeople in their place and it resulted in white supremacist Dean Schmitz's death.

The 41 year old Flaherty wasn't even arrested and charged until May 11 of last year, right about the time that loud cries were coming from around the country about the glaring fact the Black trans woman was the only one being charged and railroaded into jail for this incident.   

Flaherty pleaded guilty on January 24 to third-degree assault in Washington County Court and was sentenced Thursday.  That's a felony that carries a maximum five year prison sentence. 

Care to guess how much time she got for assaulting CeCe McDonald?    180 days in jail.  (Damn Kat, you called it.) 

Nope, that's not a typo. The justice Just-us system at work again.  Flaherty got 180 days in jail for a third degree assault she instigated and for smashing a glass in CeCe face that created a cut taking 11 stitches to close  while CeCe is spending 41 months in jail for being BTWW (Black Trans While Walking) and having the audacity to stand her ground and defend herself.

 

TLC's Masen Davis Discusses Unjust Arizona Transphobic Bill

Transpeople have been using gender appropriate public restrooms for six decades.  But because the trans human rights movement has been successful over the last few years passing laws and the Forces of Intolerance have no justifiable reason to oppose them, the right wingers and their radical feminist allies have gone to a tactic straight from the segregationist playbook in terms of 'fear and smear' over the bathroom.

Arizona Republifool legislator John Kavanagh has taken it to the extreme by proposing a draconian unjust 'Your Papers Before You Potty' bill.    Transgender Law Center Executive Director Masen Davis discusses it on MSNBC.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

South Korean Court Rules Trans People Can Change Gender Markers Without SRS

Some positive news on the international trans human rights front coming out of South Korea.  

On March 15 the Seoul Western District Court ruled in a case brought by five trans masculine individuals that trans individuals could change their legal gender status without undergoing genital surgery

The Seoul Western District Court ruled in favor of accepting the requests from the five trans men to have their family register listing altered to be classified as male. None of the five has undergone operations to surgically alter their genitalia.

The five trans men filed their request in December, arguing that the demand for surgery to conform to the changed gender status constituted the main barrier to approvals and violated the spirit of the legal gender modification system, which is to guarantee the Constitutional rights of transgender people.

Of course the five transmen were thrilled about the landmark ruling.

Despite the South Korean Supreme Court ruling in June 2006 that transpeople in that nation have the right to alter their legal gender status, in the guidelines they subsequently drafted one of the requirements was that individuals have to possess 'external genitalia of the opposite sex from their biological one' in order to do so.

Last January, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health sent an opinion to Seoul Western District Court arguing that genital surgery should not be a requirement because it is not medically necessary and is a difficult procedure with a strong risk of side effects and other negative consequences.

It's another good day for the advancement of trans human rights not only in South Korea, but internationally as well. 

Domaine Javier Files Discrimination Suit Against Cal Baptist

25 year old trans woman Domaine Javier, who was expelled from California Baptist University in August 2011 after appearing on an episode of MTV's “True Life”and revealing she was trans, has now filed a lawsuit against the Riverside, CA based school.

Javier was enrolled in CBU's nursing program, had been awarded a $3,500 academic scholarship and a $2,000 music scholarship until the show aired and they expelled her, claiming fraud and concealing her identity.  

CBU claims they discovered it in a routine background check, but neither they or their attorney would issue statements commenting on this case..   

Discrimination based on gender identity is barred in California under the state's Unruh Civil Rights Act.  While private institutions like CBU aren't covered under the act, because CBU is open to students of all faiths and offers degrees in secular fields, Javier's attorney Paul Southwick argued that because California Baptist is open to people of all faiths, functions as a business establishment offering services to the general public and primarily offers degrees in secular fields, it is covered under the Unruh Civil Rights Act.

“We’re not talking about a private seminary or Bible college,” he said. “Just because Cal Baptist is a religiously affiliated institution doesn’t give it a right to discriminate.”
 
Javier's suit that was filed in Riverside County Superior Court on February 25 accuses Cal Baptist of violations of California anti-discrimination laws, breach of contract and asks for $500,000 in damages.



She is now enrolled in the Riverside Community College nursing program

Stay tuned, this case is going to get interesting.  I've always argued that all institutions need to be covered under civil rights laws whether they are secular or religious.   Religious liberty does not give you the right to ignore local, state and federal state and human rights laws or hide behind Scripture to discriminate against people you don't like.

Arrest In Hampton Murder Case

Needed to give your TransGriot readers an update in the Kendall Hampton case, the 26 year old transwoman who was shot and killed in the Cincinnati metro area suburb of Walnut Hills, OH last August. and subsequently misgendered and disrespected by the local media.

There is news on the justice front for Ms. Hampton.  19 year old Eugene Carlos Dukes was arrested in September and has been indicted on murder charges by a Hamilton County, Ohio Grand Jury.

As I get the details concerning trail dates, the status of the case and the eventual verdict I will pass them along to you

It's Trayvon Martin's 18th Birthday

If it weren't for a February 26 encounter with an armed bigot named George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin would be spending today enveloped in the love of his family, girlfriend, and closest friends celebrating his 18th birthday.

But instead he's six feet underground and the idiot responsible for it is trying to hide behind Florida's ALEC and NRA sponsored Kill A Black Kid With Impunity Stand Your Ground law.

I didn't appreciate seeing this racist tweet from South Carolina Republican (who else?) Todd Kincannon conflating Trayvon and his opinion of Sunday's Super Bowl.   Thanks Wonkette for your commentary on it and thanks TransGriot reader Jason Byrd for bringing it to my attention.

A Southern conservative saying he needed to be put down like a rabid dog?  And you wonder why your party and conservatism in general has only 6% support amongst African-American voters if that much.   .

Racism has spread and metastasized inside the GOP body politic and the festering infected boils on the body surface of it need to be lanced in the 2014 election cycle.

Political rant over.  Time to get back to talking about Trayvon.

Yeah, you conservafools can continue to try to deny it until the end of time, but this Martin case has been about race ever since Trayvon had the misfortune of running into Zmmerman as he returned from his fatal late night run to the store to get Skittles and iced tea.

People may wish to say a few words of prayer for Trayvon's parents Sybrina and Tracy, his family, his girlfriend and everyone else who loved him.  Their family will definitely be feeling his loss and need every ounce of strength they can muster to get through this day.

Juror Non-Discrimination Act Introduced

I've had the honor and pleasure to serve on juries three times in my life   I did so once at the county court level and twice at the municipal level in Houston.  

Two of those times it has happened for me post-transition, and as much as I was looking forward to seeing how Kentucky went about conducting jury duty and comparing and contrasting it with how it's done in Texas, I was never called in the eight years I lived there. 

Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA) has introduced a bill in Congress to make sure all TBLG citizens can do what I had the pleasure of doing.   Before you start griping, I'm going to give you a little food for thought in this post as to why you should be supporting this bill.   

The Juror Non Discrimination Act Rep Davis introduced with 14 cosponsors prohibits a person from being removed from a jury because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Serving on a jury is one of America’s most cherished civic duties,” Rep. Davis said. “It is unjust to exclude a particular group of people from participating in civil society because of whom they love or what they look like. The federal government already prohibits juror discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, and economic status and as we pursue greater equality for all Americans, I believe LGBT Americans should be also be free from juror discrimination.”

It's also a major problem that denies GLBT citizens a jury of their peers should they find themselves in courtroom seeking justice, as a defendant in a case or simply exercising their opportunity to engage in public service like I've had the opportunity to do post-transition.

And let's be real for a moment.   If you were seeking justice in a courtroom, wouldn't you want as many people from the rainbow community as possible sitting in that jury box?  You would also want SGL and trans community members fighting on your behalf in the deliberation room dispelling myths and misconceptions about our community that could potentially adversely affect the verdict you get.

I've seen far too many murderers of trans women get what amounts to a legal slap on the wrist for their crimes and I believe the lack of TBLG people on these juries plays into that.

A bipartisan Senate companion bill sponsored by Sen Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)  Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) was also filed called the Jury Access for Capable Citizens and Equality in Service Selection Act..  The ACCESS Act  prohibits attorneys from seeking to strike potential federal jurors based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.  

Senator Shaheen noted when she introduced this bill, “Our country is founded on the principles of inclusion, acceptance, and equality.  The jury selection process in federal courts should reflect those principles.”

If we LGBT people are going to demand human rights coverage in our nation's laws, one of the taxes we pay for that is jury service.  

If we deserve a jury of our peers when we access the justice system, we need to have some of our LGBT peers sitting on those juries.

Puerto Rico Considering TBLG Inclusive Anti-Discrimination Bill

It's past time it happened, but it took the November 6 election for this welcome news to become a reality. 

The Puerto Rican legislature is proposing a trans inclusive anti discrimination bill.    It would make it a crime to discriminate against someone based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Until the Popular Democratic Party gained control of the Puerto Rican House of Representatives and the Puerto Rican Senate, this bill would be proposed, pass the House of Representatives, but die in the conservative leaning Senate controlled by the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.

The proposed bill was submitted by Senator Ramon Luis Nieves and seeks to protect people in Puerto Rico from being discriminated at work, in public places, and during transactions including renting or selling property.

“A human being’s dignity cannot be violated,” said Sen. Nieves, who was flanked by supporters including Pedro Peters Maldonado, a San Juan legislator who is Puerto Rico’s first openly gay elected official.

The bill has long been sought by human rights activists and organizations in the territory who have long complained about the transphobic and homophobic attitudes that deleteriously affect TBLG Puerto Ricans. 

Despite most government departments having their own anti-discriminatory policies, local human rights advocates say they are far too often not enforced.  The spike in anti-BTLG violence on the island also has activists demanding that the human rights of the Puerto Rican LBGT community be protected. 

The bill will be debated in the upcoming weeks and is expected to pass.   We'll see once it starts going through the legislative process.  

 The spike in anti-LGBTRead more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/01/15/4012500/puerto-rico-to-consider-anti-discrimination.html#storylink=cpy

Shoot At A Black Transwoman, Get Out Of Jail Free

Been keeping up with the ongoing story of Kenneth Furr, the inebriated Washington DC cop who while off duty shot at a group of Black transwomen and their friends.after one refused his unwanted advances in a NW Washington CVS drugstore back in August 2011. 

He was convicted back on October 27 of assault with a deadly weapon and soliciting prostitution. Furr had been suspended without pay from Washington Metro PD pending resolution of this ugly incident in which two of the transwomen were wounded and one of the wounded men was hospitalized. .

Furr was facing up to 10 years in jail and another 90 days for the solicitation charge, but I'll bet you can guess what happened during the sentencing phase yesterday.   .

Furr was sentenced to 60 months in jail with 46 months of it suspended.  That left 14 months of his jail time to be served, and isn't it convenient that is the exact amount of time Furr has already served in the Iron Bar Motel.    Long story short, Furr got to walk out a free man.

The DC Trans Coalition was understandably outraged about the jacked up sentence. 

“This result is the product of a legal system that constantly devalues trans people’s lives,” said DC Trans Coalition member Jason Terry. “Officer Furr’s defense team actively sought to portray the victims as somehow deserving of this violence, and apparently they succeeded. If roles had been reversed and a trans woman had gotten drunk and flashed a gun at a police officer, the results would be drastically different.” It is important to note that Furr was convicted only of flashing a weapon at two gay men involved in the incident, not for shooting at the trans women and others involved.

“Officer Furr exemplifies why this fear exists,” said Terry. “DC’s trans communities face blatant discrimination, harassment, and violence from police officers every day, yet when an officer drunkenly shoots at trans people, accountability seems to disappear.”

Yep, the justice just-us system just sent another unspoken message to the Black trans community in the District and all those who hate us inside I-495.   Shoot at a Black transwoman, and get out of jail free for doing so if you go to jail at all.  

TransGriot Update: Furr got three years of supervised probation, a $150 fine, and 100 hours of community service...whoopee (sarcasm meter on maximum)

Justice For January Rally Tonight

I posted about January Marie Lapuz, one of the girls like us in the Vancouver area who was loved and respected in the community being murdered in her New Westminster, BC home on September 29th of last year.  
Charles Neel, the person who is alleged to have committed the crime was arrested on December 5 and charged with her murder. 

Later today the Vancouver trans community and their allies will have a rally starting at 4 PM PST in support of January.  They will gather at the New Westminster City Hall and march to the New Westminster Provincial Courthouse in a call for justice for January Lapuz and in opposition to the release of Charles Neel.   

Activists at this rally will call on the Canadian federal and British Columbia provincial governments to immediately enshrine human rights protections at the federal and the provincial level in BC for all gender variant, transgender, transsexual, two spirit, intersexual, and other individuals.  

They will also call for general reform and improvement of BC's Trans Health Program, and ending the mistreatment of Canada's transgender and gender variant citizens.

Good luck and hope you have a sizable turnout for this event.

Tom DeLay Sentenced To 3 Years In Jail

You've probably read posts of mine about Texas politics in which I have mentioned the Delaymandering, the (illegal) midyear redistricting of Texas that happened after the Pest Control Man and two associates solicited $190,000 in corporate contributions in the 2002 election cycle to get control of the Texas House.


His Texans For A Republican Majority political pac then sent the corporate cash to an inside I-495 arm of the Republican National Committee. The RNC then sent the same amount to seven Republican Texas House candidates. Under Texas law it is illegal for corporate money to go directly to political campaigns.

Once the GOP got control of the Texas Legislature for the first time in modern Texas history, they pushed through in 2003 what I call the Delaymandering, the Tom DeLay engineered midyear redistricting plan that not only radically altered Texas congressional districts to send more Republicans to Congress, it also redrew the state legislative and state senate lines to produce Republican supermajorities.

And of course, the GW Bush controlled DOJ looked the other way at the obvious Section V violation of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

DeLay was found guilty in a Travis County courtroom in 2010 and was facing two to 20 years in prison on the felony conspiracy charge and five to 99 years or life on the money laundering charge

The sentence got handed down, and Dick DeGuerin is worth every dime he paid him.   DeLay got sentenced to three years in the slammer for the felony conspiracy charge and five years for the money laundering.

The folks in heavily blue Travis County are still dealing with the fallout of his political handiwork and would probably disagree with this sentence.  The city of Austin has 750,000 people and deserves its own congressional district.  In DeLay and the Texas Republican Party's zeal to draw Rep Lloyd Doggett (D) out of Congress, the city is split between five separate congressional districts, four of which are held by Republicans that don't live there.

The other people glad to see justice prevailing in this case are the legions of liberal-progressive and moderate Texans.  We're still politically paying for the 2002 DeLay engineered political shenanigans that unleashed fools like Rep. Louie Gohmert on the nation. 

Karmic Wheel Going In Both Directions For Two Miss USA Contestants

Remember back in June when the buzz and drama surrounding Jenna Talackova's participation in the Miss Canada Universe pageant was still on the minds of folks inside and outside the pageant world?

People were divided into two camps over the Miss Universe organization's decision to allow trans women to compete starting in 2013. 

That drama over trans women being allowed to compete showed up during the 2012 Miss USA pageant as Miss Rhode Island Olivia Culpo, one of the five finalists this year was asked a question on the trans pageant competition issue..

Would it be fair for a person born a man to be named Miss Universe after becoming a woman?


Her answer::  

"I do think it would be fair..." because "there are so many people who have a need to change for a happier life. I do accept that because I believe it's a free country."

Well, she went on to be named Miss USA and on December 19 became the first American in 15 years to be chosen Miss Universe since Hawaii's Brook Mahelani Lee won the title in 1997.

Meanwhile one of the transphobes on the other side of it, former Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin, made these sour grapes tinged comments when she gave up her crown on June 5 after failing to make it into the Top 15.

"I refuse to be part of a pageant system that has so far and so completely removed itself from its foundational principles as to allow and support natural born males to compete in it. This goes against ever moral fiber of my being. I believe in integrity, high moral character, and fair play, none of which are part of this system any longer."


Miss Moral Fiber 2012 went on to put her pumps in her mouth and claim the Miss USA pageant was rigged.  Miss Universe organization officials asserted Monnin's allegations on Facebook and NBC's "Today" show cost them a $5 million fee from a potential 2013 sponsor.  The Donald sued after giving Monnin 24 hours to retract the statements.
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 The case went to arbitration and Sheena Monnin now owes the Miss Universe organization $5 million dollars after she lost her defamation suit.   A judge found she did defame the organization and awarded damages. 

Hmm.   Let's compare and contrast shall we?   The transwoman you hated on (and by extension the worldwide trans community) made it to the Top 16 of her national pageant, tied for the Miss Congeniality award with three other women, and did so with dignity and class while having the world's media focused on her. 

Meanwhile you didn't even make it out of the preliminary rounds of the Miss USA pageant and showed no class while doing so.

Jenna Talackova and Olivia Culpo have more class in their pinky fingers than Sheena Monnin has in her entire nekulturny body, and the karmic wheel has smiled upon both of them. 

Meanwhile, we are observing in real time what the karmic wheel is doing unto Sheena.
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Arrest Made In January Lapuz Killing

I wrote back in October about the killing of our Canadian trans sister January Marie Lapuz who was found stabbed at her New Westminster, BC home on September 30 and later died at a local hospital. 

It's now being reported the New Westminster, BC police on December 5 arrested Charles Jameson “Jamie” Neel with the killing of our trans sister 

He has since been charged with second-degree murder and was scheduled to appear at New Westminster court on December 6.

Police investigators are still trying to ascertain the motive for Lapuz's killing, and since the case in now before the court system and the investigation is still active they have not released any further information to news outlets in the area.

Here's hoping that Neel is the person who did it, the justice system handles their business and puts him away for a long time.

Will keep y'all posted on this case.

What Happened To McDonald Case Instigator Molly Shannon Flaherty?

Laverne Cox has a post up on HuffPo focused on CeCe McDonald, our Minnesota transsister who stood her ground against a hate attack instigated by a white supremacist and transphobic bigots.  Due to a massive miscarriage of justice she is unfortunately doing three years in jail behind it. 

Laverne's post led me to ponder what's been happening in the legal case with Molly Shannon Flaherty, the woman who triggered that fateful June 5, 2011 altercation outside Minneapolis' Schooner Tavern that night and shoved a glass in CeCe's face that opened up a cut that took 11 stitches to close.

There was a lot of justified griping from the African-Americans trans community and our allies about the glaring reality that none of the white people involved who started this crap were facing charges or jail time like CeCe was.   The 41 year old Flaherty was arrested May 11 and charged with two felonies: second-degree assault with a deadly weapon and third-degree assault causing substantial bodily harm

Interestingly enough, Hennepin County Prosecutor Michael Freeman (D) is still trying to cover his rump and cited a unspecified conflict of interest in not prosecuting Flaherty's case in Hennepin County where it happened, but instead in Washington County

Note that ever since then and the announcement that Flaherty had been charged, it seems as though there has been a cone of silence cloaking what has happened ever since.  What's up with that?  

If the Washington County prosecutors are trying to keep this quiet in the hopes that dropping this case off the news radar will allow people to forget it and give them the opportunity to let Flaherty walk for instigating this BS instead if putting her butt in jail like y'all did CeCe, umm no, that ain't happening.   

It's time for the media and everybody else to ask questions in terms of what is happening in this case.  If no answers are forthcoming, then the Washington County prosecutors need to asked in front of unblinking camera eyes why.   It may also be time to light a fire under Michael Freeman's behind if necessary.

Flaherty deserves jail time and a fine for causing bodily injury to CeCe, and the trans community should not rest or let this crap slide until CeCe gets some justice out of this fracked up situation, too.instead of the heaping helpings of injustice she's had to deal with.

Deoni Jones Update-Alleged Killer To Be Tried In June

Here's the latest news in the Deoni Jones murder and the effort to bring the person who is alleged to have committed the heinous crime to justice.

55 year old Gary Niles Montgomery is the Washington man arrested for and accused of killing Deoni Jones as she waited at a Washington METRO bus in Northeast DC back in February.

According to the charging documents reported in the METRO Weekly story, two witnesses passing by a bus stop at the intersection of Sycamore Road and East Capitol Street NE, in Washington's Benning Heights neighborhood, at 8 PM EST on February 2 saw a man matching Montgomery's description strike Jones in the head and then Jones fall to the ground. 

Jones was transported to Prince George's County Hospital Center in Cheverly, MD., where she died of her injuries about six hours later.

Montgomery appeared in DC Superior Court for a Friday morning status hearing and was scheduled for a June 10, 2013 trial date.   He was indicted November 9 on a charge of first-degree murder while armed and pleaded not guilty to the fatal stabbing of Ms. Jones.

Montgomery will continue to held without bond as he awaits his trial date that we now know will take place in June.

Let's hope justice is served in this murder and I'll keep you posted about any developments in this case..

Marsha P. Johnson Case Being Reopened

Marsha P. Johnson was one of our trailblazing trans women as a Stonewall veteran, activist and a co-founder of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Sylvia Rivera.   Her body was found floating in the Hudson River near the Chelsea Piers after the 1992 Pride March. 

The NYPD controversially ruled her death as a suicide over the objections of friends and supporters who emphatically stated she was not suicidal.

It was also anecdotally reported that Marsha was harassed near the spot where her body as later found.

Anyone in the trans community could have told them there is more to the story of any transperson's death, especially in light of the fact we face horrific levels of anti-trans violence aimed at us.  When you are dealing with the death of any transwoman found under mysterious circumstances as Marsha was then, those foul play angles need to be looked at until they can definitively be ruled out   

According to the Village Voice, thanks to the efforts of trans activist Mariah Lopez, the trans daughter of the late Sylvia Rivera,  the Manhattan DA's office has assigned a person to look into the case of Marsha P. Johnson and find out what really happened to her.  

Lopez believes as Sylvia Rivera did at the time that Marsha was murdered.  Lopez is also working to gather support for getting a permanent memorial statue of Marsha placed near the Chelsea Pier.

Granted it's 20 years later, the evidence and trail has grown cold, but it's worth it to definitively know what really happened to Marsha and the sequence of events that led to her untimely death.
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Former DC Cop Kenneth Furr Convicted In Trans Shooting Case

After a week long trial,  48 year old former Washington Metro police officer Kenneth D. Furr was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon yesterday after an ugly August 26, 2011 incident in which he jumped on the hood of a car and fired five shots at its occupants. 

He was also convicted of solicitation but acquitted of the most serious charge he faced, assault with intent to kill.  

Furr was also acquitted of the six other offenses relating to that fateful August 2011 night that began with a rejected proposition to a transwoman at a NW Washington CVS store...  

Furr has been suspended without pay from Washington Metro PD and faces up to 10 years in jail and another 90 days for the solicitation charge.  Had he been convicted of all the charges he was facing he was looking at a potential 30 years in jail..

Furr has been in jail since the incident, and Judge Russell F. Caran ordered his release to the objections of prosecutors.  The Prince Georges County resident has also been ordered to undergo drug and alcohol testing and stay out of the District unless it is to consult with attorneys.

Sentencing for Furr will take place in January 2013.

Nova Scotia's NSRAP Pushing For Trans Human Rights

With Ontario passing Toby's Act  and becoming the first Canadian province to protect the human rights of its trans citizens, Manitoba swiftly following suit and the Trans Right Bills C-276 and C-279 making their way through the Canadian Parliament at the federal level, a group of activists in Nova Scotia thinks the time is right to push for similar legislation in their province.


The Nova Scotia Rainbow Action Project (NSRAP) with the support of Halifax NDP MP Megan Leslie are pushing their lawmakers to amend the province’s Human Rights Act to include the terms "gender identity" and "gender expression.”  


The NSRAP has modeled their petition on Ontario's Toby's Act, and Kevin Kindred, the chair of NSRAP said “There is political support for taking transphobia seriously and evolving human rights laws in the right way.”


MP Megan Leslie, who is a big supporter of C-279, the Randall Garrison sponsored bill that is and winding its way toward third reading, worked with the NSRAP on trans rights issues before being elected to Parliament.

"In Nova Scotia there is an incredible openness to trans rights that I don't see in other provinces," she says in an Xtra.com interview. "When we talked to the commissioners with the human rights commission, we talked about the fact that transgender people are not covered by the Human Rights Act. They fit in the margins under gender, sexuality, et cetera.  

“They were open on the fact that they would find ways to fit trans people under the prohibited grounds when they can," she recalls. “But there was a recognition that it deserved its own listing."

Yes, trans people in Nova Scotia do.  In light of what happened to Elle Noir in June 2011, and the drama over a proposed name change bill for trans people in the province that included a fingerprinting provision, it's past time that happened and trans Nova Scotians get added to the province's Human Rights Code. . 

Here's hoping that Nova Scotia becomes the third province to enact a law protecting their trans citizens and becomes the first in Atlantic Canada to do so.