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.

Happy 75th Birthday Dr. Renee Richards

While watching MSNBC's Countdown Keith Olbermann made me aware of a milestone birthday occurring for a woman that happened to be his ophthalmologist.

Dr. Renee Richards turned 75 today.

This woman happened to be one of the transgender newsmakers during the 70's. She was one of the transpeople I was following news wise nationally, internationally and locally as I struggled to make sense of and deal with my own gender issues.

She fought for her right to play professional tennis when the USTA established a woman-born-woman policy back in the day that the New York Supreme Court overturned.

She ended up ranked as high as number 20 in the world before retiring as a player in 1981, and was Martina Navratilova's coach when Martina was dominating the women's tennis scene during the 80's.

She's still practicing medicine, and she has become less than popular in some transpeople's eyes with her increasingly conservative views and public regrets about transition.

She openly criticized the 2004 IOC decision to allow transpeople to compete in the Olympic games, calling it 'stupid'.

I disagree, but just like I speak my mind and some people don't like what I have to say, I respect her right to articulate her opinions on that subject and many others.

I need to point out to the peeps criticizing her that just as I reflect the attitudes of someone who grew up in the 60's and 70's, she is a product of her generation. She grew up in a time that was far more rigid and repressive about gender and she reflects those attitudes.

Happy birthday Dr. Richards. I hope that your remaining days on the planet are filled with whatever happiness and peace you can find.

Fear Of A Black America

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that considering numbers, nature and natural means only, a revolution of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among possible events: that it may become probable by supernatural interference! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in such a contest."

Thomas Jefferson called it didn't he?

In Notes on Virginia he was expressing a colonial era fear which has consequences in our time.

White Americans believed that one day, Black resentment of them because of the inhumane treatment our ancestors received from them during slavery would become so great that we would rise up en masse and slaughter them.

That fear was especially acute in South Carolina, in which the slave population outnumbered the white population of the state at the time.

That fear has persisted through several centuries, a civil war and is an undercurrent feeding current attitudes of White Americans today, especially those on the conservative side.

Any wonder why Whites have an almost fetishistic attachment to guns and are always relentlessly bleating on about the Second Amendment right to bear arms?

Did you note the rhetoric coming from vanilla flavored fundamentalist churches exhorting women to stay at home and have babies?

Did you note the insistent calls from the GOP sheeple opposing the health care plan that we need to take 'my America' back?

Did you note the fear and panic in rural white people's eyes when Sen. Barack Obama overtook Sen. John McCain down the stretch and was elected our president by an electoral vote landslide on November 4?

Have you noted the racist, almost pathological hatred of President Obama, combined with the rise of the birthers and other conspiracy nuts who are in severe denial about the facts that our president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA?

All of this has an underlying narrative. Fear of a Black America.

So why are y'all so 'scurred'? If you and your ancestors had done the right thing over the last two hundred years you'd have nothing to be scared of.

But no, y'all had to deny slavery reparations, put Jim Crow segregation laws in place, lynch us, deny us political representation, use the police as your segregation stormtroopers, and start riots in our neighborhoods to destroy them any time we started pulling ourselves up by our own bootstrps and started overtaking you economically a la Tulsa 1921.

And you wonder why we get pissed?

It's six months later into President Obama's term, and the national anthem is still The Star Spangled Banner, not Lift Evry Voice and Sing.

The flag is still red, white and blue with red and white stripes and 50 white stars on a blue field. The Republican Party hasn't been abolished, although you're doing a damned good job on your own of making yourselves irrelevant.

The country has begun to climb out of the hole that your Resident in Thief and his reverse Robin Hoods put it in.

Within 24 hours of President Obama's election on November 4, it erased 8 years of negativity and enmity the world had built up for us thanks to Bush misadministration misguided foreign policies.

So chill out. You haters lost fair and square. We didn't need the Supreme Court, Diebold electronic voting machine chicanery, massive voter suppression tactics or faked riots to beat you either.

So relax and enjoy it as our cum laude Ivy league 'ejumacated' president, a Dem congressional majority and progressive peeps clean up your mess.

Watch as we provide the leadership, reality based programs and problem solving initiatives that have not materialized under greed-is-good failed conservative leadership. And watch the country improve before the 2012 election cycle.

MP Hedy Fry Says Canadian Transpeople Aren't Getting Medical Needs Served

Seems as though my Canadian transbrothers and transisters may have another friend in Parliament besides NDP MP Bill Siksay.

Dr. Hedy Fry, a physician and the Liberal MP for the Vancouver-Centre riding said Monday in Saskatoon that transgender people are not being fully served under the Canada Health Act.

"I feel like it's the last piece of discrimination under medicare,"

Fry hosted the nationally televised CBC series Doctor Doctor and served as president of the British Columbia and Vancouver medical associations before becoming an MP in 1993.

She is attending the annual Canadian Medical Association meeting being held there from August 16-19 to hear concerns from a number of groups in the city including seniors' groups, the GLBT community and city officials.

MP Fry, the Official Opposition Critic for Canadian Heritage, is also taking the time to participate in a multiculturalism round table.

Fry also met on Monday with University of Saskatchewan Students' Union president Warren Kirkland to discuss concerns of the GLBT community as well as the dearth of young people in politics.

The lack of access and equality for transgender people is a huge issue across the country, said Fry, whose medical practice served a high number of GLBT patients at the time she was first elected to Parliament.

"I found out that the suicide rates were high. I was seeing patients who didn't want anybody to know that they were teachers or public servants."

Dr. Fry is now serving her sixth term in Parliament after succeeding Kim Campbell, who became the first Canadian female prime minister. Fry herself was in the running for the Liberal party leadership before bowing out of the race eventually won by Michael Ignatieff.

Though much has changed since she was elected, Dr. Fry feels transgender people are still being discriminated against.

"There have to be legislative changes to make sure that the Canada Health Act is being observed," she said.

While being transgender is defined as a medical condition, Fry said it is still difficult for people to receive proper care. Care across the country is "spotty" at best.

"Transgender patients do not have access under medicare to the things that they need," she said. "It discriminates against an identifiable group who are not just wanting to do something, but are clearly a medical diagnosis. It's a clear diagnosis."

You're Welcome, Leona!

TransGriot Note: Received an e-mail recently from my sis in Singapore that she asked me to post to the blog. It has a commentary concerning her wildly successful Ah Kua Show that sold out its three night run there.

And without further ado, here's Leona.

The show was a great success with lots of support from the local media. In a way, it was like the dawn of a new era. The show and the media coverage would not have been possible five years ago.

Could you give me your address please? I would like to send the programme booklet to you.

Thank you for your fabulous support!

Cheers!
Leona

***

Done sis.

It was an honor for me to write the commentary for it. I'm looking forward to perusing the program once I receive it. I'll let you (and my TransGriot readers) know when the program finally reaches my mailbox.

I'm also looking forward to the day when we finally get the opportunity to meet in person.

TLDEF and Green Family Statement on Sentencing in Lateisha Green Trial

The Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) today welcomed Judge William Walsh's sentencing of convicted killer Dwight R. DeLee to the maximum term of 25 years in prison in connection with the shooting death of Lateisha Green. Green, a 22-year-old African American transgender woman was shot and killed by DeLee on Nov. 14, 2008 in Syracuse, NY.

On July 17, a 12-member jury found 20-year-old DeLee guilty of manslaughter in the first degree as a hate crime and criminal possession of a weapon. DeLee's conviction for committing a hate crime is the first involving the death of a transgender person in New York State. It is only the second such conviction in United States history. In addition to the sentence for manslaughter, DeLee was sentenced to a concurrent term of 3 1/2 to 7 years in prison on the weapon possession conviction.

"Today, a measure of justice has been delivered for Lateisha Green and her family with the imposition of the maximum sentence for this crime," said TLDEF Executive Director and attorney Michael Silverman. "While nothing can make up for the loss Lateisha's family has suffered, this sentence helps to bring some closure to Lateisha's family. The sentence sends a clear message that violence targeted at transgender people will be heavily penalized."

Silverman has been working with the family since Lateisha's death in November. He was on the ground in Syracuse throughout the trial working closely with Lateisha's family. TLDEF collaborated with its sister organizations, including the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Empire State Pride Agenda and the Rainbow Alliance of Central New York.

"Transgender Americans continue to face a serious risk of violence and discrimination. African American transgender women are at particularly high risk," added Silverman. "Neither New York State law nor federal law includes gender identity or expression as hate crime categories and that sends a dangerous message that it is acceptable to leave part of our community vulnerable to hateful acts of violence simply because of who they are. We call upon our state and federal lawmakers to ensure adoption of transgender-inclusive legislation that will protect everyone regardless of their gender identity and gender expression."

Following the sentencing, Lateisha Green's family released this statement:

Today’s sentencing sends a clear message that violence motivated by anti-transgender bias is unacceptable and wrong. It affects everyone in a community and it has left many hurt and distraught. We can only hope that Teish’s story will prevent any more loss of life simply because someone is different.

It has been a little over nine months since Teish was taken away from us. On November 14, 2008, Dwight DeLee aimed a rifle and shot Teish. All it took was one bullet to pierce her heart. That one bullet ended Teish’s life and all of the possibilities that could have been a part of her future.

That one bullet took away our brave and beloved family member and friend. But it also pierced our hearts and left us all feeling fearful, sad and angry. All of our hopes and dreams that we had for Teish were taken away from us simply because Teish was transgender. One bullet shattered all of our lives.

Every possibility for Teish slipped away when Dwight DeLee shot and killed her. But today’s sentencing by the judge has left us to believe that new possibilities have replaced old ones. A possibility to begin a conversation for reconciliation and understanding in Syracuse. A possibility to pass state and federal laws that would protect everyone from this kind of violence. A possibility to share Teish’s story so that nobody will ever have to know the feeling of losing a child because of that child's gender identity.

We want to thank everyone who supported our family during this difficult process and helped us to share Teish’s story. No legal proceeding can provide full closure for us. But we know that closure will come into our hearts as we continue to share this story with the world. We can only hope that more conversations about Teish and her life will prevent another bullet from taking another life. Though Teish left us 9 months ago, she has given us all the possibility to work towards a better tomorrow.

Thank you.

Live Your Life Well

Saturday Dawn, Polar and I spent a few hours at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Louisville attending the funeral of Robert Botts, one of our fellow CFAIR board members who died unexpectedly.

On the ride from the house to downtown I contemplated the fact that less than two weeks ago I was laughing and joking with him at a fundraiser being held at the Hyatt Regency hotel's revolving restaurant and talking to him at our last board meeting. Polar and Dawn last saw him at work.

Robert was an outgoing, friendly person always eager to help, and it was hard not to miss him. Now he's gone.

I did get an opportunity to say a few words at the service packed full of his friends, family and co-workers.

One of his relatives earlier had tried to make a comparison to his life in terms of space and the universe. I built upon his comments in my remarks and compared Robert's life to a supernova.

A supernova is a star that bursts with a brilliant flash of light that briefly outshines its entire galaxy before fading over weeks and months of time.

Robert definitely was a star and a stellar human being whose light shined brightly amongst us for years, and now unfortunately will fade away.

After being thanked by family members for my remarks before departing with Polar and Dawn for the day, I pondered the messages I took away from that service.

*Spending time in the service of others is the greatest gift you can give other people.

*Give it your best effort in terms of what you can personally do to live a quality life.

*Do not take your time on this planet for granted. Live every day as if it is going to be your last one.

While some of those messages are part of the values I try to pattern my own life on, every now and then you need a reminder.

So the next time I do some hard, solid thinking, I'll be contemplating what I can do to ensure I'm living my life well and getting the maximum output out of whatever time I have left on this planet.

DeLee Sentenced

Dwight DeLee, the convicted killer of Lateisha Green was sentenced today to spend the next 25 years of his life in prison.

DeLee was convicted of manslaughter July 17 and unfortunately escaped the more serious charge of murder. He is only the second person in the Unites States to be found guilty of a hate crime that involved the death of a transgender victim.

TLDEF is covering the sentencing, and as more info becomes available I'll post it.

More Flight Anxiety For Transpeople As New TSA Rules Implemented

I worked for Continental Airlines for over a decade and spent a lot of time on my off days flying the friendly skies before 9-11. Thanks to some of my speaking engagements I have had the opportunity to experience post 9-11 air travel.

Whether it was before or after 9-11, it's an irritating challenge at times to travel as a transperson. I do have some stories I'll talk about in later posts about my own personal drama with flying while transgender.

What's driving this post is the news that TSA regulations will soon take effect that require all passengers to declare their full name, age, and gender to book travel.

This is related to the Transportation Security Administration effort to streamline their Secure Flight database and reduce the number of times a passenger is misidentified as a possible terrorist.

But since policies have unintended consequences, many of us in the transgender community are nervously apprehensive about how things will shake out once these procedures are implemented.

The first implementation phase of the initiative required that airlines collect the names of all passengers as shown verbatim on government-issued identification.

The next phase began August 15 on several air carriers. It requires passengers to declare their gender at the time of booking their flights.

By the end of March 2010 all companies will be required to obtain gender information from persons booking travel.

TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird told Advocate.com in a recent interview that transgender travelers who are purchasing tickets should declare "the gender that they were at the time that they booked their flight."

However, Baird said he was unsure whether those who don't identify with a specific gender or are in transition would be held to the same rules.

Kristina Wertz, the Transgender Law Center's legal director, said the new regulations will likely exacerbate airport hassles that some transgender people already face while traveling.

No kidding. One of the potential consequences of having your trans business disclosed is a situation in which the traveling transperson could be subjected to harassment, disrespect and discrimination by airline personnel, security, customs officials if they're travelling internationally and other passengers.

One major reason it happens as Kristina Wertz points out and I can tell you from my time as an airline employee is government issued ID's, passports and other documents that don't match the current gender presentation of the person possessing it.

"A lot of transgender people don't have documents that match up with how they currently identify. There are always troubles that arise when dealing with documents. People are sometimes forced to disclose their transgender status in a situation where they may not want to."

Wertz said she hopes that the TSA is open to receiving training on transgender issues to prevent uncomfortable situations at the airport.

In the interim, the transgender community will be anxiously watching how these new rules impact our flying experiences at our local airports.

ESSENCE.com Article Features Roxanne Green

The sentencing of Dwight DeLee will occur on Tuesday for Lateisha Green's convicted murderer. But while DeLee is about to find out how much time he gets for taking Teish's life, it still doesn't bring her back.

Lateisha's mother Roxanne Green talked to ESSENCE.com about it and other subjects in a Wendy Wilson story entitled Gone Too Soon: The Lateisha Green Story.

While we're on that subject, the fight continues for those of you in New York State to pass GENDA and add transgender people to the existing Hate Crimes statute.

You may want to call your state legislators and urge them to pass this bill.

Getting My Coke Bottle Back

When I first began my transition, one of the things I was concerned about was whether or not I would develop shapely curves.

One of the things that sisters are noted for is having curves. Our 'fine brown frames' have been sung about by legions of male singers over the years.

I had no doubts about whether or not I could pull off living on the other side of the gender fence as a Phenomenal Black woman. I was fortunate enough to have a few key pieces of my future feminine presentation in place with my legs, my long eyelashes, smooth skin, thin androgynous body build, and my butt.

Hormones were very good to me in the early stages of my transition. They enhanced what I had and the weight I gained went toward giving me some needed curves. I was quite pleased when I checked myself out the mirror and saw a beautiful sistah staring back at me to match the one inside.

But over time my size 14 shape morphed into a size 22 thanks to the inevitable weight gain from being an estrogen based lifeform, age, me living in H-town with its super sized restaurant portions, the slowing down of my metabolism and my subsequent move to Da Ville in which pizza and great restaurant food is plentiful and an art form. Being depressed and unhappy about leaving home and other myriad issues also played a role in it as well.

At the tail end of June I finally decided that I was going to shed my excess poundage and cut back on some of my bad habits feeding into me ballooning at one point to 275 pounds.

Since diabetes runs in my family and so far I've been able to avoid it, the weight needed to come off. My room in this house is upstairs. We have hills nearby in this neighborhood I have to negotiate when I do my long walks around it and to the nearby reservoir walking trail.

I noted the heavy breathing I was doing when I walked uphill or up the stairs. I was also annoyed by the fact that when I started playing tennis again a year ago after a long layoff, my endurance wasn't as great as it used to be.

Vanity also played a role into my decision to drop the excess poundage. I was not happy about some pics Ness sent me from the recent lobby day. My unhappiness with those photos, my having the status of a role model for this community and having nice size 14 clothes sitting in my closet I wanted to start wearing again was a powerful incentive to drop the excess pounds.

I was pleased when I checked out my reflection in the full length bedroom mirror last week and noted that the shapely sistah has made a comeback.

I cut way back on the fast food, my food size portions, bread, the soda and late night snacking in order to shed that weight. I even fasted for a week and drank lots of water in order to let nature eliminate some of the belly fat.

It was a struggle, but never underestimate the willpower of a Taurus. The joy in me being able to put on a pair of my size 14 jeans, a dress or a skirt and zip it up with no problem was a victory that has done wonders for my self esteem and divatude.

There's also a few nice pant suits I have my eyes on in the Metrostyle catalog as well.

It also didn't hurt that while I was out and about earlier in the week I overheard two brothers saying "Damn, she's fine" while casting admiring glances at me.

I'm still working on getting rid of the remaining belly fat so I can continue wearing those size 14 clothes. I have upcoming speaking engagements I want to be in diva mode for.

9.58!

When we watched Jamaica's Usain Bolt destroy the old 100 meter world record and showboat his way over the last ten meters to a 9.68 time enroute to the gold medal, many of us wondered how fast could the 23 year old run if he ran flat out for 100 meters?

In the 2009 World Track and Field Championships being held in Berlin, we may have gotten an answer to that question.

In the same stadium in which Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Games, and exactly one year from the date he set the record in Beijing last summer, Usain Bolt obliterated it.

He ran an out of this world 9.58 in the 100m final. If you had any doubts that this man is the real deal and the best sprinter in the world bar none, I think he answered them.

Tyson Gay finished second in 9.71 and became as a consolation prize, the American record holder in the event and the second fastest man of all time.

If he stays healthy over the next two years, it's probably safe to say that Bolt will be a prohibitive favorite to repeat his gold medal winning performance in London. There's no one on this planet who can run with him.

Believe it or not, Bolt thinks he can run even faster and lower the record to a mind bending 9.4 seconds.

I don't have any doubts that he can't.

Woodstock 40th Anniversary

1969 was quite the year for historical events. This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of one that has taken on legendary proportions.

I was just a kid in elementary school when an estimated 300,000 people gathered on a muddy Bethel, New York dairy farm from August 15-17 to witness a concert called Woodstock.

Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Jefferson Airplane, Santana and the Who were some of the rock and roll greats were all assembled there for the three days of music. Sadly, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix would be gone a year later.

But it was a signature and touchstone event for a generation, and for those who were there it's hard to believe that 40 years have passed.

Dr. Story Gets Public Apology

It's a better late than never story, but yesterday U of L professor Dr. Kaila Story finally received her apology for racist and sexist remarks hurled at her and several U of L students by the owner of a local bar called Woody's.

I have much love for Dr. Story. She's the Assistant Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, with a joint appointment in the Department of Pan-African Studies. She also holds the Audre Lorde Chair in Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

But to bring y'all up to speed on what transpired here in Da Ville, last year Dr. Story along with a group of four Black GLBT friends was visiting the bar which is near the U of L campus.

She and the group were playing pool when two unleashed dogs charged into the room barking. Dr. Story was startled by the unexpected entrance of the dogs and jumped on the pool table.

The owner of the dogs was Woody's owner David Norton. He began berating her, remarking that he didn’t like “big girls” on his pool table.

That triggered an argument that spilled out into the street. Norton followed the group outside while hurling epithets, calling them “cunts,” “bitches,” “niggers” and other racist and sexist slurs.

The incident happened about the same time that a local McDonald's on Market Street hurled anti gay slurs at two white gay patrons.

Predictably the reaction of the local GLBT community was a night and day one. A protest was quickly initiated and the ACLU was called in. It resulted in a $2000 settlement paid to both of the offended persons and sensitivity training for 30 local McDonald's restaurants.

Dr. Story's situation struggled just to get the same level of action and attention since it uncomfortably highlighted the internal racism many Black GLBT people face from other GLBT people.

Norton tried to deny the incident happened, but with the May resolution of the McDonald's incident, new Fairness Campaign director Chris Hartman along with the University of Louisville's Director of LGBT Services Brian Burford revisited what happened at Woody's.

Burford wrote a letter that was posted to the Fairness Campaign website calling for Norton to apologize. He also noted the lack of GLBT community response vis-a-vis the McDonald's case

“I would’ve liked to have seen some greater response to what happened at Woody’s,” “I wished people would have boycotted. Individuals did, but in terms of an organized effort, there wasn’t one.”

Chris Hartman lamented the lost opportunity as well in the Woody's situation.

“Discrimination is discrimination. Any sort against any people is absolutely unacceptable and we will not allow it to go silently by,” says Hartman, who is now urging Norton to apologize. “It’s deplorable to continue to not offer an apology.”

Hartman also stated in the Fairness press release, “We hope this apology will begin a process of healing and reconciliation,” shared Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman. “This incident, however, must continue to shed light on the fact that racism pervades every community in America, including our own LGBTQ community, that any form of discrimination hurts everyone, and that no act of discrimination may go unchallenged.”

Hopefully the apology that finally occurred with the news cameras rolling yesterday will begin to jump start that process of reconciliation.

Black CDU Politician In Germany Getting Death Threats

No matter where we reside in the world as part of the African Diaspora, sooner or later, despite our best efforts, racism will rear its ugly head and we'll have to deal with it.

That message was driven home once again after I read on CNN.com and watched the news story about 45 year old Zeca Schall. He's a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling Christian Democratic Union party, was born in Angola, moved to Germany to live in 1988 and became a German citizen in 2004.

Schall has been named as a CDU expert for the integration of minorities.

I have much love for Germany. I took German in high school and I'm fascinated by its history, scientific and technological prowess, its politics, its people and its culture.

It's also where some world transgender history was made. Much of the research that made it possible for us to deal with our gender issues was done by people such as Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld.

But there is that twelve year period from 1933-1945 in which Germany lost their damned minds and succumbed to right wing madness. They elected that failed Austrian painter and author of Mein Kampf as chancellor to the detriment of Germany and the world.

I'm also concerned about what's happening to Schall because I have family members who live in Germany. Schall resides in Thuringia, a state bordering the Czech Republic that used to be part of the former East Germany.

While its not as problematic in the western states that made up the former West Germany where my cousins reside, in those five eastern states they still have problems with fascist and racist behavior.

There was an October 1993 incident in Oberhof in which African-American luger Robert Pipkins was verbally and physically attacked by 15 neo-Nazi skinheads while visiting a disco during an international luge competition. Duncan Kennedy received facial and chest injuries while coming to the aid of his teammate.

The denizens of Oberhof were so disgusted by the incident the then mayor of Oberhof sent a letter of apology to then President Bill Clinton. The owner of the disco offered to treat both American lugers to free drinks and admission during their next visit to the town.

Schall has attracted the ire of a far-right anti-immigration German party. The National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) is channelling their inner Nazis and called on him to leave the country.

The NPD has been under surveillance by Germany's Office for the Protection of the Constitution for alleged contacts with illegal neo-Nazi groups. However, past efforts to ban the party have failed on technicalities.

But judging by their rhetoric, they ain't exactly rolling out the welcome mat for him either. A statement posted on their website said, "The CDU seems to be realizing that even after years of re-education, negroes cannot be accepted as permanent guests in our state."

Schall has the support of the CDU and the denizens of his adopted hometown of Hildburghausen, where he is a volunteer firefighter. But even the residents admit they still have some rockheads who want to turn the clock back to 1933.

The situation escalated to a worrisome level Wednesday when the NPD held a rally in Hildburghausen. They attempted to get to Schall's home but police dispacted to protect him thwarted the attempt.

NPD Party Chairman Udo Voigt claims in a press rel;ease all they wanted to do was speak to Schall "and persuade Mr. Schall that he is needed more in Angola than in Germany."

Yeah, right.

Because of the numerous death threats he has received in the runup to this state election in Thuringia, Schall has been pulled from campaign events because the CDP feels it's too risky for him to do them.

Schall told CNN he had never before been subjected to such a level of racial hatred.

"I am shocked," he said Thursday at a campaign event in Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. "I simply cannot believe that people would do this to fellow humans."

"I have police patrolling at my house day and night, and some officers stay in my house overnight," he said.

Schall, who appears on a CDU election poster, said he is scared but won't be intimidated by far right thugs.

Nevertheless, I'll still be saying a little prayer on your behalf for your safety.