America 's High Tech 'Invisible Man'

TransGriot Note: Another instance of an African-American inventor not getting major credit for an invention that changed our lives.


By Tyrone D. Taborn

You may not have heard of Dr. Mark Dean. And you aren't alone. But almost everything in your life has been affected by his work.

See, Dr. Mark Dean is a PhD from Stanford University. He is in the National Hall of Inventors. He has more than 30 patents pending. He is a vice president with IBM. Oh, yeah. And he is also the architect of the modern-day personal computer. Dr. Dean holds three of the original nine patents on the computer that all PCs are based upon. And, Dr. Mark Dean is an African American.

So how is it that we can celebrate the 20th anniversary of the IBM personal computer without reading or hearing a single word about him? Given all of the pressure mass media are under about negative portrayals of African Americans on television and in print, you would think it would be a slam dunk to highlight someone like Dr. Dean.

Somehow, though, we have managed to miss the shot. History is cruel when it comes to telling the stories of African Americans. Dr. Dean isn't the first Black inventor to be overlooked. Consider John Stanard, inventor of the refrigerator, George Sampson, creator of the clothes dryer, Alexander Miles and his elevator, Lewis Latimer and the electric lamp. All of these inventors share two things: One, they changed the landscape of our society; and, two, society relegated them to the footnotes of history.

Hopefully, Dr. Mark Dean won't go away as quietly as they did. He certainly shouldn't. Dr. Dean helped start a Digital Revolution that created people like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Dell Computer's Michael Dell. Millions of jobs in information technology can be traced back directly to Dr. Dean.

More important, stories like Dr. Mark Dean's should serve as inspiration for African-American children. Already victims of the "Digital Divide" and failing school systems, young, Black kids might embrace technology with more enthusiasm if they knew someone like Dr. Dean already was leading the way.

Although technically Dr. Dean can't be credited with creating the computer -- that is left to Alan Turing, a pioneering 20th-century English mathematician widely considered to be the father of modern computer science -- Dr. Dean rightly deserves to take a bow for the machine we use today. The computer really wasn't practical for home or small business use until he came along, leading a team that developed the interior architecture (IS A systems bus) that enables multiple devices, such as modems and printers, to be connected to personal computers.

In other words, because of Dr. Dean, the PC became a part of our daily lives. For most of us, changing the face of society would have been enough, but not for Dr. Dean. Still in his early forties, he has a lot of inventing left in him.

He recently made history again by leading the design team responsible for creating the first 1-gigahertz processor chip. It's just another huge step in making computers faster and smaller. As the world congratulates itself for the new Digital Age brought on by the personal computer, we need to guarantee that the African-American story is part of the hoopla surrounding the most stunning technological advance the world has ever seen.

We cannot afford to let Dr. Mark Dean become a footnote in history. He is well worth his own history book.

WPATH Response To DSM V Revisions

Transpeople around the world have rightfully been concerned about the ongoing DSM V revisions.

The concern has been heightened about what shape those revisions would take thanks to two enemies of the trans community with specious theories about us being placed on that panel.

WPATH, The World Professional Association for Transgender Health, formerly known as HBIGDA, put together a committee to review some of the stuff the DSM V working group came up with.

You can check it out by following this link.


WPATH Press Statement issued May 26.

The WPATH Board of Directors strongly urges the de-psychopathologization of gender variance worldwide. The expression of gender characteristics, including identities, that are not stereotypically associated with one’s assigned sex at birth is a common and culturally-diverse human phenomenon which should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative.

The psychopathologlization of gender characteristics and identities reinforces or can prompt stigma, making prejudice and discrimination more likely, rendering transgender and transsexual people more vulnerable to social and legal marginalization and exclusion, and increasing risks to mental and physical well-being. WPATH urges governmental and medical professional organizations to review their policies and practices to eliminate stigma toward gender-variant people.”

Girl Power Aboard The International Space Station

TransGriot Note: My latest piece for Global Comment

Though many of us did not notice, April 9, 2010 was a historic day for humankind.

When the shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station, three women, Naoko Yamazaki, Stephanie Wilson, and Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, were part of that seven person crew. Waiting onboard the ISS was Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who had launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on April 2. Out of the 13 people currently aboard the ISS, the four history-making women are a former schoolteacher, a chemist who once worked as an electrician, and two aerospace engineers. Three are from the United States and one from Japan. Collectively, they represent the largest number of women in orbit at one time in human spaceflight history.

All of this points out the undeniable fact that there are women who indeed excel in math and science, regardless of stereotypes. If they are encouraged to do so, one day they might make even more history.

Since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s June 1963 flight aboard Vostok 6 gave her the distinction of becoming the first woman in space, there have been 54 women from the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and Great Britain that have followed in her footsteps.

Others followed to make history in their own right, like cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya did. She was not only the second woman launched into space in 1982, she was the first woman launched into space twice. On July 17, 1984 she became the first woman to perform a space walk.

In June 1983, Dr. Sally Ride became the first American woman launched into space. Dr. Mae Jemison became the first African-American woman in space in September 1992. She was quickly followed by Dr. Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina astronaut in space on April 1993.

Eileen Collins holds the distinction of not only being the first woman to pilot a space shuttle in February 1995 – in July 1999, she became the first woman to command a space shuttle mission.

Read the rest at Global Comment

One Giant Leap For Women Astronauts

I've been a big fan of space missions and space exploration ever since I watched the 1968 Apollo 8 mission and the Apollo 11 moon landing. I followed the drama of Apollo 13, the last Apollo mission, the three Skylab missions and the beginning of the Space Shuttle program.

No matter what country launches it, whether it's mine, Russia or now China, I've always been one of these people that feels that humankind needs to begin exploring space ASAP in order for humankind to survive and continue evolving.

Unfortunately I missed this morning's 6:21 AM EDT launch of Discovery and its seven person crew. Madame Space Junkie needs to be paying closer attention to the remaining launch schedule since there are only four more shuttle launches that will happen before the fleet is retired in September.



But back to STS-131 news. This is a 14 day resupply mission to the International Space Station that will have three planned spacewalks.

This mission is also notable for the women's history it is making. This is the third time NASA has launched a shuttle with three women in the crew and the women taking part in STS-131 are Japan's Naoko Yamazaki, Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, and Stephanie Wilson.

Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson has already etched her name in the history books as the second African-American woman to be launched into space. She achieved that feat during the 2006 STS-121 mission. This is her third shuttle flight, having also flown on STS-120 in 2007.

Dr. Mae Jemison was the first, Dr. Joan Higginbotham was the third. US Air Force Colonel Dr. Yvonne Cagle is part of the astronaut corps as well but has yet to be assigned to a shuttle flight crew.

There is a fourth woman currently in space on the ISS, Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson. When she and the other three women on board Discovery meet up after the shuttle docks on Wednesday, it will result in the largest gathering of women in space in history.

In all there have been 54 women out of the 517 people that have reached space, with hopefully more to come.

Will definitely be keeping with what's happening with STS-131 until the mission is completed.

STS-129 Mission Includes Two African-American Astronauts

The TransGriot will be tuned in later today to watch the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis at 2:28 PM EST assuming there are no delays or problems.

STS-129's all male crew for this 11 day mission includes two African-American astronauts, Mission Specialists Leland Melvin and Robert Satcher, Jr. It is also Melvin and Satcher's first trips into space.

STS-129 also has experiments on board created by the minds at Texas Southern University, the HBCU in my hometown.

STS-129 is slated to be the 31st and final space shuttle crew rotation flight to or from the space station. In addition to transporting parts and a spare gyroscope to the International Space Station, it will include three spacewalks.

Atlantis will be returning station crew member Nicole Stott to Earth.

You space junkies like me will only have five more opportunities after today to watch a shuttle launch before they retire the shuttle fleet in 2010.

NASA Finds Water On The Moon!

There's water on the moon!

More precisely, there's frozen water in the permanently shadowed Cabeus Crater at the lunar South pole.

Project lead investigative scientist Anthony Colaprete announced at a midday NASA news conference at the Ames Research Center about the LCROSS Centaur project, I'm here today to tell you that indeed, yes, we found water. And we didn't find just a little bit; we found a significant amount" -- about a dozen, two-gallon bucketfuls, he said, holding up several white plastic containers.

The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, back on October 9 intentionally crashed into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole.

So what's the significance of this discovery that has the scientific world buzzing?

Finding significant frozen water amounts means that a permanent manned lunar base just made a giant leap forward toward becoming a reality by 2020.

That's assuming NASA's effort to establish a US base gets properly funded by the federal government

The Chinese space program has set a goal of placing taikonauts on the moon by 2020 as well.

Water on the moon means we humans don't have to transport it up there from Earth. It is also one of the ingredients for making rocket fuel.

Previous spacecraft have detected the presence of hydrogen in lunar craters near the poles, which could be evidence of ice. In September, scientists reported finding tiny amounts of water mixed into the lunar soil all over the lunar surface.

"We've had hints that there is water. This was almost like tasting it," said Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission.

Mission scientists said it would take more time to tease out what else was kicked up in the mile high moon dust plume the impact temporarily stirred up.

"The discovery opens a new chapter in our understanding of the moon," the space agency said in a written statement shortly after the briefing began.

Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington, said the latest discovery also could unlock the mysteries of the solar system.

Yeah, if we can get the funding to do so past the GOP Know-Nothings and Neo-Luddites in Congress.

Will 'Be Fruitful And Multiply' Become a Reality For Trans People?

The one thing about medical technology is that it is constantly advancing, evolving and making things a reality that were impossible only a few short years before.

I stumbled across two articles that reminded me of an old joke that transwomen and transmen other used to say to each other.

We used to remark to each other it would be nice if we could just swap the gender specific body parts.

While the medical technology as of yet hasn't perfected a realistic looking and functional penis for transguys, the news is a little different for transwomen.

We've always had since the 60's SRS surgeons skilled in creating realistic looking feminine genitalia. Now if the news coming from research scientists pans out, a result of gynecological research being done to help infertile cismothers bear children, may also give transwomen the ability to give birth.

Lili Elbe, one of our pioneering transwomen, died 78 years ago from complications stemming from the rejection of her uterine transplant. She did so because she wanted to bear children

Lili's dream may soon become a reality for 21st century transwomen.

A New York surgical team is now interviewing candidates who will attempt to do the first human womb transplant in the United States. The technique was tried by a Saudi Arabian surgical team in 2000, but the womb was rejected after three months.

The procedure would potentially allow women who have had their wombs damaged or removed to develop a pregnancy and give birth. It may also give transwomen who desire to do so the ability to give birth to children as well.

Transman Thomas Beattie caught a lot of flack inside and outside the trans community in 2008 for stopping his testosterone shots so that he could bear children.

Never mind the fact he did so because he and his wife wished to become parents and his wife was infertile. In addition to their now one year old daughter, Thomas recently gave birth to a son on June 9, 2009.

But that Beattie drama got me thinking about our reproductive rights as transpeople and how they've taken a back seat to just living our lives.

Many of us back in the day didn't consider banking our sperm before we had our orchiectomies or SRS. Thanks to the restrictive HBIGDA/WPATH transition rules in place at the time, we never considered the possibility that one day you'd might wish to have children with some of your family DNA in them.

And who would have even contemplated the thought that transwomen would not only stay married to their cis spouses, but keep their neoclits and get busy being fruitful and multiplying? What are the odds of a transwoman meeting a ciswoman who loved you enough to marry you, simply wanted to bear your child or a transman doing so?

Somehow I doubt much has changed in the 2k's. I don't believe it's high on the priority lists of many 21st century transpeople either, much less is a discussion topic in our gender meeting groups.

Some will argue life's hard enough for us now. Why bring a child into this situation? Ask any parent raising them and they can give you infinite reasons why you should.

As these interesting medical developments unfold, maybe it's time for us to be proactive in this debate instead of reactive. You can bet your last hormone shot that the fundies and their haters are already looking for a way to demonize a process that will help millions of people.

It's time to get our arguments ready to counter whatever lies and out of context Scripture they come up with.

It's time to do some hard solid thinking about where we are in terms of reproductive rights issues as they relate to us personally and as a community.

It's time for us to ask the question, will 'being fruitful and multiply' not only become a reality for those of u who wish to do so, but what are the ramifications for the child we bring into the world as well?

How Close Are We To Building Cylons?

TransGriot Note: My latest piece for Global Comment


I am an unabashed sci-fi fan.

I loved Star Trek and even tried to get into Enterprise. I have watched all six Star Wars movies and Blade Runner in the theaters during their first weekend of release. I loved Battlestar Galactica, old and reimagined series.

As a science fiction aficionado I am well aware of the axiom that today's science fiction is tomorrow's science fact.

We have seen that happen numerous times in terms of Jules Verne's classic vision of a moon landing becoming our reality 40 years ago on July 20. Scientists are even reporting that warp drive is theoretically possible as well.

One of the interesting backstories that emerged from the reimagined Battlestar Galactica series is that the Cylons, the cybernetic tormentors of humans in the series, were originally created by humans.

They fought humanity wars, and did humanity's work in the Twelve Colonies before they rebelled and nearly wiped their creators out. Unfortunately Dr. Daniel Greystone, the creator of the Cylons, hadn't heard of Isaac Asimov's Three Laws Of Robotics.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Now I've recently begun to wonder how close are we to actually producing our own Cylons?

If we eventually create Cylon-like robots, they'll probably speak Japanese and have a 'made in Japan' label. While robotic technology development is ongoing in several nations, Japan has really pushed the robot development envelope.

One-fifth of the Japanese population is 65 or older, so the country is investing heavily in research and development efforts designed to produce robots that will replenish the work force and care for the elderly.

Over the last ten years they have been creating advanced humanoid looking robots that can talk, mimic a limited range of human emotions, move effortlessly and interact with humans as well.

Robots have long been part of Japanese factories and culture. They can serve as receptionists, vacuum office corridors, spoon feed the elderly and plant rice.

It's also interesting to note that thanks to the 2003 completion of the Human Genome Project, discoveries are being made almost every day in terms of what section of the DNA strand controls what aspect of human development.

We are also learning that deficiencies in certain parts of the DNA strand trigger certain diseases and are creating gene based medicines to target those diseases. This knowledge should also aid us in creating robots that more closely resemble us.

Read the rest of the post at Global Comment.

Gene Linked To Transsexualism?

TransGriot Note: The Human Genome Project is the gift that keeps on giving. I always suspected as a reality based real-science person that there was a biological cause to transsexuality. Now an Australian study may have found the first evidence of a genetic link to the biological nature of transsexuality.

Deal with that right-wing Know Nothings.


by Melanie Macfarlane
Cosmos Online

SYDNEY: The first genetic link to male-to-female transsexualism provides new evidence of its biological nature, say Australian researchers.

"There is a social stigma that transsexualism is simply a lifestyle choice, however our findings support a biological basis of how gender identity develops," said Vincent Harley a geneticist from Prince Henry's Institute in Melbourne and co-author of a new study detailing the find.

Gender identity

Gender identity, an inner feeling of being male or female, is usually identified at an early age. Transsexuals, however, identify with the sex that is opposite to their biological sex.

Early theories as to the cause of transsexuality suggested that it could stem from childhood trauma, but more recent research has pointed to family history and a possible genetic aspect. A study released earlier this year by researchers at the University of Vienna, Austria, hinted at a gene that may be involved in female-to-male transsexualism.

The new study, published today in the journal Biological Psychiatry, builds on previous research that highlighted some similarities in the brain structures of women and male-to-female transsexuals.

For the study, Harley and his team took DNA from 112 male-to-female transsexuals and 258 non-transsexual men. They looked at the sequence of three genes known to be involved in the action of sex hormones, and found that some male-to-female transsexuals carry a different form of a gene, called an androgen receptor, which modifies the body’s response to testosterone.

Androgen receptor

The researchers found that, on average, the form of the gene found in the transsexual group had a larger number of repeats of a short, repetitive sequence of DNA - making the gene significantly longer than the form found in the control group of non-transsexual men.

Though the researchers admit that the average difference in the length of the gene between the two groups was small, they said that the size of the study population was limited by the rarity of transsexualism. Nevertheless, "we think that these genetic differences might reduce testosterone action and under-masculinise the brain during foetal development," said co-author Lauren Hare, a geneticist from Monash University in Melbourne.

“This research suggests that extra-long copies of the androgen receptor (AR) gene potentially affect testosterone function in the brains of male-to-female transsexuals," said Andrew Sinclair, a geneticist at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne who was not involved with the study.

Sinclair, who agreed with the authors as to the possible mode of action of the gene variant, said that, "these defective copies of the AR gene could severely reduce normal testosterone levels, resulting in a more female-like brain."

"This [study] supports the notion that transsexualism has a biological basis rather than being due to psychosocial factors in early childhood,” he added.

Limitations of study

Other experts, however, argued that the small study population limited the conclusions that could be drawn from the results.

"The investigators themselves point out that numbers in association studies are important and while the numbers in their study are modest, they are still potentially quite low," said Ron Trent, a geneticist at University of Sydney. "While statistically significant, [the results are] only just so and this is a weakness."

“This is still a small sample and the effects of the difference in androgen receptor are not black and white, so obviously there is much more to be done," agreed Jennifer Graves, head of the Comparative Genomics Research Group at the Australian National University in Canberra.

"However, I am perfectly sure it will turn out that there are important genes involved in sexuality," she said.

Call to replicate findings

Juliet Richters, a professor in sexual health at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, said that while the study does not identify the gene as a cause of transsexualism it might provide some comfort for those with the condition.

“It may be a matter of relief for transsexuals to have their condition identified as genetic, rather being blamed for making an awkward lifestyle choice,” she commented.

Despite the debate, the findings provide a good clue to go hunting for the many factors likely to be involved in transsexualism, said Harley, who now invites other research teams to attempt to replicate his findings.

Happy Birthday NASA!

Today is NASA's 50th birthday. A Cold War baby spurred by the October 4, 1957 launch of the Russian Sputnik satellites and their progressively heavier siblings, it spurred congressional hearings and the rapid consolidation of a coalition of scientific, military, and political leaders for the establishment of an agency to coordinate space activities in the United States.

On October 1, 1958 the agency opened for business after the passage of the National Aeronautics and Space Act by Congress and it being signed into law by President Eisenhower on July 29, 1958.

Section 102 of the Space Act laid out the goals for the nascent organization:

1. The expansion of human knowledge of phenomena in the atmosphere and space;

2. The improvement of the usefulness, performance, speed, safety, and efficiency of aeronautical and space vehicles;

3. The development and operation of vehicles capable of carrying instruments, equipment, supplies, and living organisms through space;

4. The establishment of long-range studies of the potential benefits to be gained from, the opportunities for, and the problems involved in the utilization of aeronautical and space activities for peaceful and scientific purposes;

5. The preservation of the role of the United States as a leader in aeronautical and space science and technology and in the application thereof to the conduct of peaceful activities within and outside the atmosphere;

6. The making available to agencies directly concerned with national defense of discoveries that have military value or significance, and the furnishing by such agencies, to the civilian agency established to direct and control nonmilitary aeronautical and space activities, of information as to discoveries which have value or significance to that agency;

7. Cooperation by the United States with other nations and groups of nations in work done pursuant to this Act and in the peaceful application of the results thereof;

8. The most effective utilization of the scientific and engineering resources of the United States, with close cooperation among all interested agencies of the United States in order to avoid

NASA has not only fulfilled those objectives, it has done so in sometimes spectacular fashion. Only 11 years after NASA's birth Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were walking on the Moon.

If there's one consistent thread in my life, it's NASA. Being born in Houston, I'm a rabid space junkie because the space program has always been a presence in my life on one level or another.

Alan Shepard's May 5, 1961 suborbital flight happened 364 days before I was born. The Mercury and Gemini missions happened during my infant and toddler years. Thanks to the Apollo program I was an excited soon to be third grader watching on July 20, 1969 with the rest of the planet Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the Moon and had a few Saturday morning cartoon watching sessions interrupted by subsequent moon missions. I can't count how many field trips I took or times we took out of town relatives with regularity to the Johnson Space Center down in Clear Lake.

Skylab was the thrust of the program during my teen years and after writing and being one of my junior high school's winners of a NASA sponsored essay contest, I had the pleasure of meeting the first group of African-American shuttle astronauts.

I've watched the ups and downs of the shuttle program during my college and young adult years from the tragedy of two shuttles being lost in 1986 and 2003 to the launch of various space probes, the Hubble Space Telescope and the building and expansion of the International Space Station.

It's interesting that as NASA turns 50, we have another Communist nation aggressively pushing to establish itself in space. The Chinese launched their first manned mission in 2003 and have a goal of building a space station by 2012 and putting a man on the moon by 2020. They just recently completed a three man mission that featured a taikonaut emerging from their space capsule to do their first spacewalk.

In the meantime, the Space Shuttle will be retired in 2010 and its successor won't even be flight tested until 2015. NASA is considering building a moon base, but the question is will the anti-science Luddites in the GOP even allow funding for it?

Maybe competition from the Chinese will be just the tonic NASA and elements of the American public need to remind us that we didn't become the preeminent scientific power by being timid about space exploration, and that much of the technology, improved satellites, scientific knowledge and medical advances that we enjoy now came out of NASA research and the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs.

Competition is always healthy, and if it gets NASA off the sidelines and back in the game of manned spaceflight pushing for manned mission to Mars and beyond, then that's all good too.

For the human race to survive and thrive, we will have to start exploring and establishing habitats on other worlds, and the sooner we do it, the better.

'Creation Science' Gets Another Legal Smackdown

As the child of an educator I abhor and despise ignorance no matter where it comes from.

I have a special distaste for the Religious Reich not only because of their faith-based hatred of GLBT people or the twisting of Biblical scripture for their nefarious political purposes, but because of their decades long Talibanesque push to destroy public schools. They wish to force their interpretations of science on the rest of us who don't turn off our brains when we enter a church sanctuary or have no problem reconciling scientific reason and logic with our Christian beliefs. In fact, Dr. Martin Luther King is my role model to be just that type of Christian.

I'm bringing this issue up because the University of California recently won a federal lawsuit brought by a Christian school in Southern California, an association of Christian schools, and several students in 2005. They were arguing that the University of California's refusal to honor courses that reject evolution or declare the Bible infallible violated their rights to freedom of speech and religion.

S. James Otero of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles ruled that when considering applicants from Christian high schools, the University of California system does not have to recognize or give credit to those courses.

Judge Otero said the UC's review committees had a valid reason for rejecting the courses. It wasn't because they contained religious viewpoints; it was because they failed to meet the university's legitimate academic standards.

In a written statement UC provost and executive vice president for academic and health affairs Wyatt R. Hume praised the judge’s ruling. “As we have said all along,” he said, “the question the university addresses in reviewing courses is not whether they have religious content, but whether they provide adequate instruction in the subject matter.”

As you probably guessed, the Reichers are already appealing the case, which is winding it's way through the Ninth Circuit.

Hallelujah!

I'm sick of right-wingers pimping creation science, intelligent design or whatever name du jour they call creationism as legitimate science.

If they despise having their kids sit next to African-American, Latino/a, Asian and GLBT kids in a classroom so much that they willingly pay thousands of dollars to send their kids to private 'christian' schools and stuff their heads full of Flintstones cartoons, so be it.

It's on y'all if you want to pay for the privilege of dumbing down your kids. We have in northern Kentucky a $27 million dollar monument to that ignorance in Petersburg called the Creation Museum.

Just don't expect the rest of the science, logic and reason based world to play along with your faith-based fantasy that you are the majority or use our tax dollars to pay for that BS.

Neither should you expect a competitive academic institution such as the University of California or any other public university that require fact-based science classes as a prerequisite for entrance to factor non-science based courses into that entrance decision. If y'all won't allow diversity as a reason to admit historically denied people who qualify to enter Cal, then y'all don't get any sympathy or slack from me.

Merit arguments cut both ways. Thanks to your decision to isolate them from a diverse world, your kids failed to meet the fact-based science credits requirement standard necessary to enter an elite institution. Besides, this country is already lagging far enough behind in math and science thanks to your hate on public education hijinks.

On the University of California logo it has the words 'Let there be light' on it. There needed to be light shone on the Religious Reich's ongoing attempts to force creationism down people's throats as they just did in Louisiana. Thank you University of California and Judge Otero for calling them on it

The Reichers would do well to remember the words of a man far smarter than many of us, Albert Einstein.

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”

And the fundies have been blind for a long time when it comes to science education.

APA Resolves To Play Leading Role In Improving Treatment For Gender-Variant People

TransGriot Note: The transgender community will be closely monitoring the APA to ensure they follow through on what has been written in this press release.

BOSTON – The American Psychological Association urged psychologists today to take a leading role in ending discrimination based on gender identity, calling upon the profession to provide "appropriate, nondiscriminatory treatment to all transgender and gender-variant individuals" and encouraging more research into all aspects of gender identity and expression.

The action came at APA's Annual Convention when the association's governing Council of Representatives adopted a resolution supporting full equality for transgender and gender-variant people. The resolution also calls on APA to:

* support legal and social recognition of transgender individuals consistent with their gender identity and expression;
* support the provision of adequate and medically necessary treatment for transgender and gender-variant people;
* recognize the benefit and necessity of gender transition treatments for appropriately evaluated individuals;
* call on public and private insurers to cover these treatments.

In addition to adopting the wide-ranging resolution, the Council of Representatives received a report by APA's Task Force on Gender Identity and Gender Variance. The six-member task force spent more than two years reviewing the scientific literature, as well as APA policies regarding transgender issues. It was also charged with developing recommendations for education, professional training and further research into transgenderism, and proposing how APA can best meet the needs of psychologists and students who identify as transgender or gender-variant.

Noting that transgender people, their families, friends and employers are increasingly turning to psychologists for help, "this trend underscores the need for psychologists to acquire greater knowledge and competence in addressing transgender issues," the report states.

Among the report's recommendations:

* APA should encourage training programs and graduate internships to welcome and support transgender and gender-variant people;
* APA should develop separate practice guidelines for transgender clients;
* APA should encourage more research into gender identity and expression, including the reliability and validity of diagnostic criteria for gender identity disorders;
* APA should advocate for antidiscrimination protection for transgender people in jurisdictions that lack such laws.

With regard to research, the task force listed a series of recommended areas of focus, including social stigma and public attitudes toward gender identity; identity development, including prospective studies of children and adolescents; the process and outcome of transgender-specific health care; and the variables associated with the efficacy of sex reassignment.

As a direct result of the task force's work, APA added gender identity to its nondiscrimination policy earlier this year. This builds upon prior adoption of gender identity nondiscrimination language in APA's bylaws, Code of Ethics and its Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation of Professional Programs in Psychology.

In addition, the task force developed a brochure, Answers to Your Questions about Transgender Individuals and Gender Identity (http://www.apa.org/topics/transgender.html), which APA published in 2006 and has made available on its Web site.

The task force recommended that APA take no position with respect to the diagnosis of gender identity disorder, which is sometimes required for transgender clients to obtain needed care. "Psychologists who work with clients with gender identity issues are not of one mind on this issue," task force members wrote. They noted that the psychiatric profession publishes the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, which contains GID, "and thus revision is their responsibility."

The report noted that APA has previously adopted resolutions discouraging psychologists from using diagnoses that are potentially harmful or discriminatory. "Accordingly, if there were evidence showing the GID diagnosis to be similarly harmful and discriminatory against gender-variant, transgender or transsexual people, there would be a precedent for a resolution discouraging psychologists from using this diagnosis," the task force wrote. "However … there is a great deal of disagreement about the GID diagnosis and whether it is helpful or harmful; therefore, the Task Force does not recommend that APA take a position on GID at this time."

'Transsexuality Gene' Makes Women Feel Like Men

16:13 29 July 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Linda Geddes

A gene variant has been identified that appears to be associated with female-to-male transsexuality – the feeling some women have that they belong to the opposite sex.

While such complex behaviour is likely the result of multiple genes, environmental and cultural factors, the researchers say the discovery suggests that transsexuality does have a genetic component.

The variation is in the gene for an enzyme called cytochrome P17, which is involved in the metabolism of sex hormones. Its presence leads to higher than average tissue concentrations of male and female sex hormones, which may in turn influence early brain development.

Clemens Tempfer and his colleagues at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria discovered the variant after analysing DNA samples from 49 female-to-male (FtM) and 102 male-to-female (MtF) transsexuals, as well as 1669 non-transsexual controls.

The variant was more common in men than women, although it doesn’t seem to be implicated in MtF transsexuality as the proportion of MtF transsexuals with it was similar to that in non-transsexual men. In women, however, there were some differences: 44% of FtM transsexuals carried it, compared with 31% of non-transsexual women.

Testosterone boost

While there are many women with the variant who are not transsexual and many FtM transsexuals who lack it, the finding raises the possibility that the variant makes women more likely to feel that their bodies are of the wrong sex, and that this is a result of their brains having been exposed to higher than average levels of sex hormones during development.

"It may increase the likelihood that people will become transsexual," says Tempfer. But he stresses that their cultural environment is also important.

"The present study found that a mutant gene that ultimately results in higher testosterone levels is overrepresented in female-to male transsexualism, says Mikael Landén of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

"This is in line with what we previously know about masculinisation of the brain and is therefore less likely to be a chance finding", he says. "Hence, the study is important and adds to the notion that gender identity is influenced by sex hormones early in life, and that certain gene combinations make individuals more vulnerable to aberrant effects."

Motive fears

However, Janett Scott, former president of the Beaumont Society, a UK support group for transgender people, is concerned that positing a biological basis for transsexuality may encourage people to try and cure it.

"Nature may have made us the way that we are, but nurture is what gives us a problem," she says.

Tempfer strongly denies any such motive for his research: "That is completely out of the question," he says.

Nonetheless, he says, if other gene variants with a stronger association to transsexuality are identified, establishing a diagnosis might become easier. This might allow gender reassignment surgery or hormone therapy to start earlier in life.

Journal reference: Fertility and Sterility (DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2007.05.056)

How Boys Become Boys (and Sometimes Girls)

New research explains how three proteins conspire to determine an embryo's sex
By Nikhil Swaminathan
From Scientific American

In research that could give doctors a way to reassign sex in cases of unclear gender, scientists report this week that they have figured out why some children with genes that should make them boys are instead born as girls.

The study, published in Nature, explains why some embryos with X and Y chromosomes—which should be born as male—develop ovaries and eventually become girls.

The key is whether a gene called Sox9, involved in formation of the testes, is active. "There are a surprisingly large number of cases where this process goes wrong," says Robin Lovell-Badge, a biologist at London's MRC National Institute for Medical Research, who estimates that this phenomenon could effect up to 1 in every 20,000 genetic males. "Maybe one could treat some of these sex reversal or intersex cases after birth by manipulating whether Sox9 is active or not. This is all speculation but it's possible."

If Sox9 is somehow switched on in a genetic female—an embryo with two X chromosomes—it causes male gonads to form; if it fails to turn on in males, the cells it controls will become follicle cells, which mature into ovaries.

To work out this process, Lovell-Badge and his colleagues manipulated the Sox9 gene in genetically engineered mice. They found that what switches on Sox9 is the product of two other genes. When either of those genes—one of which is found on the Y chromosome, only carried by males—is defective, Sox9 remains off and the embryo develops ovaries.

Richard R. Behringer, a geneticist at the University of Texas's M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, called the study "an important step." Behringer, who was not involved in the research, says scientists must now determine how Sox9's activity actually leads to the creation of testes.

Lovell-Badge and his colleagues believe that the findings in mice will apply to humans as well, particularly in diagnosing "male" embryos that are likely to develop into girls. That's important, he says, because those people are at higher risk for ovarian tumors.

He adds that he's very hopeful that with further analysis, scientists may determine ways to reassign gender later in life, "perhaps for cases of sex reversal or perhaps even for individuals who want to undergo sex changes," although he acknowledged that "this is getting very contentious."

New Transgender Veterans Survey

Transgender American Veterans Association
Contact: Monica F. Helms, President
president@tavausa.org
www.tavausa.org

A new survey has been created to achieve a more accurate picture of the state of the transgender American veteran population. Many of the issues facing transgender veterans are no different than those facing the rest of the transgender community. However negotiating healthcare thru the Veterans Administration and dealing with the Department of Defense poses its own unique set of challenges. This survey is also for those transgender people who are still serving in the military and those veterans who identify and are diagnosed as intersex.

The detailed survey of 117 short questions only takes between ten and twenty minutes of your time and it is the first of its kind to be undertaken. Many of the questions have several choices to them, but just a few will take multiple answers. A large percentage of the questions are a simple “Yes/No.” Some require a written response. While transgender veterans who do not, or have not ever used the VA for their medical needs, can skip that entire section.

The survey can be accessed at:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SpQUvMM5ZvidQ8hNGCcIQA_3d_3d

TAVA would appreciate as many transgender/intersex veterans and active duty service members to take this survey as possible. If anyone knows of a transgender veteran who does not have access to a computer, then please help them log on at a local library or community center so TAVA can obtain their responses as well. The answers to this survey will not only help veterans’ organizations in providing assistance to their transgender members, but it will benefit other organizations from the answers not having to do with the military. Since there are no questions about personal contact information, this survey is completely confidential. For additional inquiries about this survey, please contact the Transgender American Veterans Association at: info@tavausa.org, or go to our web site at www.tavausa.org.

***


Founded in 2003, the Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) is a 501 (c) 3 organization that acts proactively with other concerned civil rights and human rights organizations to ensure that transgender veterans will receive appropriate care for their medical conditions in accordance with the Veterans Health Administration’s Customer Service Standards promise to “treat you with courtesy and dignity . . . as the first class citizen that you are.” Further, TAVA will help in educating the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) on issues regarding fair and equal treatment of transgender individuals. Also, TAVA will help the general transgender community when deemed appropriate and within the IRS guidelines.

Call For Transsexual Narratives

From Julia Serrano

I am currently working on a paper (which I plan to submit to a peer-reviewed psychology journal) that challenges psychologist Ray Blanchard’s causal theory of “autogynephilia” (which has recently gained attention via J. Michael Bailey’s book The Man Who Would be Queen). This theory posits that all transsexual women who are not exclusively attracted to men transition to female because we are sexually aroused by the idea of being or becoming women. Many trans women (including myself) find this theory to be flawed because it mistakenly confuses/conflates sexual orientation, gender expression, subconscious sex and sex embodiment, and it unnecessarily sexualizes the motives of countless trans women who transition to female for reasons other than sexual arousal.

To refute the assumption that lesbian/bisexual/“asexual” trans women are the *only* transsexuals who experience pre-transition fantasies about being/becoming their identified sex, I am hoping to collect applicable narratives from the following groups:

1) FTM transsexuals: narratives that discuss/describe any pre-transition sexual fantasies you may have experienced that primarily centered on you physically being or becoming male rather than on the physique of another person.

2) MTF transsexuals who are exclusively attracted to men: narratives that discuss/describe any pre-transition sexual fantasies you may have experienced that primarily centered on you physically being or becoming female rather than on the physique of another person.

To refute the assumption that “autogynephilic” fantasies *cause* transsexuality, I am hoping to collect applicable narratives from MTF transsexuals who are lesbian, bisexual or “asexual” in orientation and who:

1) were stereotypically feminine and girl-identified as young children and transitioned during late teens/early adulthood

2) never experienced pre-transition sexual fantasies that primarily centered on physically being or becoming female

3) did experience such fantasies, but only after consciously recognizing/realizing that you wanted to be female

4) regularly engaged in such fantasies pre-transition, but then experienced a sharp decline or a complete absence in those fantasies over time. (Note: if you fall into category #4, please include any reasons/explanations as to why such fantasies no longer arouse or appeal to you).

Narratives should briefly describe the pertinent details in 1 to 4 short paragraphs. There is no need to be overly graphic or detailed - just the basic facts will suffice. Please be sure to include the age at which you first became aware of your cross-gender identity/desire to be the other sex, and the age at which you first experienced such fantasies (if applicable). Narratives that are germane to the points I wish to make will be compiled onto a single webpage that will be used as supplemental data for my article. I can assure you that YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFO WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED OR SHARED WITH ANYONE. Obviously, other people will be reading these narratives, so be sure to omit any unimportant info that you feel might place your anonymity in jeopardy (e.g., where you live or work, names of partners, etc.)

For those interested, please send your narrative to me at hi@juliaserano.com - be sure to paste the narrative into the body of the email (no attachments please). Along with the narrative, please include the following information:

1) whether you are an MTF or FTM transsexual
2) whether you are sexually oriented toward men, women, both or neither
3) a statement along the following lines: “I certify that all of the provided information is true to the best of my knowledge, and I give Julia Serano permission to permanently post this narrative on her website and to include and/or excerpt it in her forthcoming article.”

The purpose of my article is not to discount or discredit trans women who self-identify as autogynephilic, but rather to finally take into account the experiences of the many trans women for whom sexual arousal was not a primary motivation for transitioning. In other words, this study aims to clarify the psychological literature on this matter, not to distort it further. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that you be completely honest and open in the information you provide. If I have reason to suspect that any narrative I receive is fabricated, I will not include it.

Feel free to cross-post this call for narratives on any trans-focused websites/email lists at your discretion. It is also available on the web at this link: http://www.juliaserano.com/artifactualAG.html

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at hi@juliaserano.com

Thanks in advance!
-julia

The GOP Hates Science

Sung to the tune of 'She Blinded Me With Science’ by Thomas Dolby’




It's ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
But the GOP hates science
"The GOP hates science!"
Because they failed biology

Stem cell research won’t occur
‘Cause the GOP hates science-science!"

"Science!"

Kissing up to the fundies
"The GOP hates science-science!"

"Science!"
"Science!"

Mmm - but it's ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
The GOP hates science
"The GOP hates science!"
Because they also failed geometry

Global warming’s a myth you see
"The GOP hates science - science!"
"Science!"
Mmm Mmm, Mmm Mmm- Rig voting booth machinery
"The GOP hates science - science!"
"Science!"

It's ignorance in motion
Fox News constantly lies to me
They’re causing a commotion
Messed with our nation’s harmony
The GOP hates science
"The GOP hates science!"
Hate SRS technology

"Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're a transsexual!"

Hey -I don't believe it!
They’re on CNN!
Talking that 'intelligent design' BS again!
All the anti-gay research
And junk science books
Based on Biblical contortions

But- It's ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
Oh - but the GOP hates science
"The GOP hates Science!"
The GOP hates -