European Parliament Extends EU Asylum Standards To Transpeople

Noting the increased levels of persecution being aimed at transpeople around the world, the European Parliament voted today to formally adopt a new set of asylum rules that takes gender identity into account as a ground of prosecution that EU member states must take into account.

The resolution adopted by the European Parliament today now specifies that “gender related aspects, including gender identity, shall be given due consideration”. The text now refers to gender identity specifically, and obliges Member States to consider gender-related aspects.

Before today EU countries could still choose not to consider aspects linked to the applicant’s gender in asylum claims.

This new resolution text applies to all EU Member States except the United Kingdom, which opted out of EU asylum policies.  Ironically the resolution was drafted by British MEP Jean Lambert. 

MEP Dennis de Jone, who is the Vice President of the European Parliament's Intergroup on LGBT Rights said, “Around the world, transgender people can be persecuted for who they are. This reviewed Directive will recognize the danger they face, and it will commit EU Member States to taking gender identity into account in asylum claims. I hope in a future revision it will also become mandatory to consider the sexual orientation of applicants.”

The new binding rules will become applicable to asylum cases after they are transposed into the national laws of the various EU members with the exception of Great Britain, Ireland, and Denmark, who opted out of the process.  Croatia is scheduled to become an EU member on July 1, 2013 and will adapt their national asylum laws to mesh with the just passed EU rules.

But this is wonderful news to transpeople who are facing persecution in their home countries just for being transgender and wish to make an EU nation their new home. 

Ciswomen, Y'all Need To Chill With Your Hatred Of Transwomen

One of the things I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of is sectors of ciswomen who have their hate on for transwomen to the point that they will denigrate us or actively work to deny us human rights coverage. 

Radical lesbian separatists have disco danced down that road since the 70's that was paved by Janice Raymond, Germaine Greer and the late Mary Daly,    Sue Hyde of the Task Force proudly signed her name  to a 1977 letter calling for the termination of transwoman Sandy Stone from Olivia Records 

So can we get along?   It's going to be a while between us and the radical lesbian separatists because they've been at war with us since the 70's.   Now they've got their panties in a bunch because we're pushing back hard against their three decades of unhinged lies,obfuscations about us and their outright oppression of us. 

The transhate in radfem world is pimped by a new generation of radfem transphobes headlined by Julie Bindel, Lynn 'Dirt' Baker, Cathy Brennan, other radfem Borg drones and WWBT colluders.

They are drunk on their vanillacentric pearl clutching privilege while gleefully participating in the denigration and oppression of transwomen.   When you call them out on their transphobic crap, they start crying white women's tears and trying to deflect attention from the fact they've been worse oppressors of transwomen than the religious right . 

And naw straight cis women, you've done your share of damage, too.  Every time you out a transwoman in your neighborhood, your sistahcircle of friends or in a club out of jealousy because she happens to be doing femininity better than you are,  you put her life in jeopardy.   You flapping your lips about her trans status to the wrong people sets that transwoman up to be physically assaulted or worse and makes you an accessory to that hate crime..   

And that's the salient point of this post.   Your hatred of transwomen is killing us and deleteriously affecting our human rights, and it needs to stop. .

Rep. Yarmuth Salutes 20th Anniversary Of Fairness Campaign

Y'all know I have have much love for Rep. John Yarmuth from my time in Da Ville.   When he wrote a column for the LEO, the alternative paper there he called out Republican Rep Anne Northup every chance he got during her ten years occupying that seat in a predominately Democratic district.

Yarmuth ran and beat her in 2006, then beat her in the rematch by a larger margin in 2008.

He salutes the Fairness Campaign for 20 years of work fighting for TBLG rights in the city of Louisville and the state of Kentucky from the floor of the House.

2011 UH Cougar Watch-High Stakes Bayou Bucket Battle

For only the third time in the football playing history of the University of Houston we've gotten off to a 7-0 start after last weekend's C-USA blowout of the Marshall Thundering Herd 63-28.

But now we play a C-USA West Division game against our crosstown rivals the Rice Owls for bragging rights and the Bayou Bucket trophy. .

Despite the fact the football series only started in 1971 when UH joined the Southwest Conference, it has some history.  Cougar fans haven't forgotten that Rice beat us 14-13 in Bill Yeoman's last game as UH's head coach in 1986.  Andre Ware's 1989 team lit up Rice 64-0 before he picked up the Heisman Trophy the next week . The last SWC football game was played between Rice and UH in 1995 which we won 18-17.   

Despite the fact that UH has a 25-10 record against the Owls in this Bayou Bucket series, Rice has a maddening habit of ruining our best laid football plans.  In addition to them beating us last year 34-31 at Rice Stadium to reclaim the Bucket after the Cougars barbecued them 73-14 enroute to the 2009 C-USA championship game, there was a more upsetting 52-45 loss in 2008 that cost us the C-USA West Division title and a chance to go to the C-USA title game that year.

The Bayou Bucket game is moving to a neutral site at Reliant Stadium for the next two years, so my fave college football team is going to go into this game knowing that the Owls will fight, scrap, claw and try to do everything it can over that 60 minutes to walk out of Robertson Stadium with the Bayou Bucket still in their possession.

If they can knock us out of the unbeaten ranks and ruin a potentially special season for us, so much the better for their ability to rub our noses in it. 

The Coogs will do everything possible to protect the Rob, their rankings in the BCS, AP and coaches polls, bring that trophy back to Cullen Blvd where it belongs and get to 8-0 and 4-0 in the C-USA West Division.

Should be fun to watch.