transchat

Transchatters! We wanted to let you all know that there is going to be a change in #transchat, back to the less formal original format that we used when Avory started #transchat back in fall of 2011.

Jen, Avory, and other awesome volunteers tried to make things more formal when we switched from twice a month to a monthly format, but we learned that this wasn’t really sustainable based on our schedules and the commitment required.  It also unfortunately doesn’t eliminate problems around keeping the safe space, as Twitter is an open forum.

Avory will be coordinating #transchat again starting in January, and zie will be taking topic suggestions via hir Twitter, @queeractivist, and via e-mail at avoryfaucette [at] avoryfaucette [dot] com.

#transchat will continue to focus on topics of interest to trans folks of all backgrounds, and will be more of a social/identity/fun chat than a policy/legal one.  We fully recognize that Twitter is not a safe space for everyone, and while we try to discourage hate speech, derailing, and other hurtful practices, we can’t stop people from speaking on the hashtag.  We understand that folks need to disengage from time to time, and honor and respect that need.

If you have any constructive feedback or ideas for how to make chat safer, please let Avory know.  We’ll see you the first Sunday of each month at 2pm EST!

Transchat will take place on Twitter this Sunday, November 18th, 2-4pm EST (7-9pm UK). Tune in and participate by following the hashtag #transchat.

The topic is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual event to commemorate those members of our community lost to violence.

“The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.”  TDOR Website

This will be a critical and hopefully uncomfortable discussion. Nearly all those commemorated on TDOR are trans women of color.  IF the wider community sincerely wishes to address the systemic issues leading to such a situation, we have to honestly engage a host of intersecting and complicated issues, including race, class, gender, health, criminalization, sex work, gatekeeping, internal policing, housing, access to resources, and RACE.

Please read these posts by  Monica Maldonado, erica, ascendant, Monica Roberts, Dyssonance, Natalie Reed, Jack Radish, and Alyssa Caparas.  Have more? Send them @SmartAssJen via Twitter or to jen@wehappytrans.com. Thanks. 

Transchat: Sunday, Oct 7, 2-4 pm EST (7-9 pm UK) Topic: Sports!

Resources

Sports Illustrated: The Transgender Athlete

Playing fields have long been segregated on the basis of sex. But what happens to the athletes whose physiology doesn’t match their gender identity? Against whom do they compete? What obstacles do they face? And how are they being treated by sports’ governing bodies?

Women’s Flat Track Derby Association transgender policy

Moderator Kayley Whalen’s article on the WFTDA policy

Even after being drafted to a home team, I still lived in constant fear of being “outed” as transgender, and my need to remain closeted made it extremely difficult to build the kind of trust with my teammates that a sport as intense as roller derby often demands – both on and off the track.

GLSEN

Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project is an education and advocacy initiative focused on addressing LGBT issues in K-12 school-based athletic and physical education programs. The Sport Project’s mission is to assist K-12 schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all students, teachers and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression and integrating these efforts into overall school plans to ensure a safe, respectful school climate and culture.

On the Team: Including Transgender Students

On the Team: Equal Opportunities for Transgender Student-Athletes is a report from a 2009 national think tank co-sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Women’s Sports Foundation.  The purpose of this report is to provide guidance to high school and collegiate athletic programs about how to provide transgender students fair, respectful and legal access to school sports teams.  This report includes best practice and policy recommendations and provides guidance for implementing these policies.  The report also provides definitions of relevant terms, a discussion of competitive equity issues and an extensive list of resources.  The report is intended for school administrators, athletic directors, coaches, students and their parents

Inside Higher Ed: The Transgender Athlete

For the most part, athletic teams at high schools and colleges are segregated by sex and divided into men’s and women’s teams. For transgender students, determining on which gender’s team, if any, they will be allowed to play can be a difficult process fraught with misconceptions, ignorance and discrimination.

NCLR Report: It Takes a Team

A groundbreaking report sponsored by the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and It Takes A Team!, an Initiative of the Women’s Sports Foundation, is urging high school and college athletic associations across the country to adopt standard policies to provide transgender student athletes fair and equal opportunity to participate on athletic teams.

Have more?  Let us know!

@SmartAssJen, @LenoreGore, @LifeInNeon, @transadvocate, @ericainchoate

Transchat will take place this Sunday, October 7th, 2-4pm EST (7-9pm UK).

The topic is Sports!

I was at first confounded, but then thoroughly delighted by how enthusiastic people have been to discuss this.  Several well known transgender athletes have indicated interest in participating.

Kayley Whalen will be the lead moderator, and she is looking for one or two more people to join her.  Please tweet to her, @LenoreGore, or any of the transchat leaders, @SmartAssJen, @LifeInNeon, @transadvocate, @ericainchoate, if you’d like to co-moderate, which entails asking good questions, keeping the conversation on topic, and recommending resources when applicable.

We will post recommended readings in advance of the discussion.

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Jen

The next #transchat will be Sunday, October 7th, 2-4pm EST (7-9pm UK).

Now accepting topic suggestions, for this and future discussions.

Look for #transchat on Twitter, or Tweet to @SmartAssJen, @LifeInNeon, @transadvocate or @LenoreGore.

#Transchat: Sunday, Sep 2, 2-4 pm EST (7-9 pm UK) Topic: Trans & Mental Disability Intersections

Our slated topic is trans & non-neurotypical intersections.

Our moderators are Erica (@ericainchoate) and Autumn (@lifeinneon).

If you have resources you’d like to share, please send Jen Richards (@smartassjen) links.

Thanks, and we look forward to the discussion!

Transchat returns this Sunday, Sep 2, 2-4 pm EST (7-9 pm UK) 

Our slated topic is trans & non-neurotypical intersections.

We are looking for 2-3 guest moderators to gather resources beforehand and lead the discussion.  We’d very much like at least 1-2 of the moderators to identify as non-NT.

IF we cannot identify appropriate moderators by the end of week, we will propose a different topic.

To volunteer as a moderator, please contact either Jen Richards or Avory Faucette via Twitter (@smartassjen or @queeractivist respectively).

Thanks, and we look forward to the discussion!

Sunday, July 1, 2-4 pm EST (7-9 pm UK)

Topic: Feminism & Transfeminism (including RadFem issues)

This week we discuss issues around Feminism, Transfeminism and the RadFem movement.

Claire Cramer, a cis woman involved in anti-transmisogyny work (see her Facebook Group Transmisogyny is a Women’s Issue), will be a guest co-moderator.

A Few Resources

Julia Serano: Trans Feminism: There’s No Conundrum About It; A Trans-misogyny primer

Avital Norman Nathman: The Femisphere: Trans Feminist Bloggers (Part 1); Part 2, Part 3.

Penny Red: No Feminism Without Trans Feminism: for The F Word

Natalie Reed: Caught Up in Cotton

Patience Newbury: An open letter to Atlanta’s Feminist Women’s Health Center on its refusal to treat certain women and its willingness to treat certain men

Ruth Pearce: My message to those who would attend Radfem 2012

Note: I think it’s important to hear and understand other perspectives on these issues.  This next link is by a RadFem in defense of RadFem2012.  (Unfortunately, it does make some sweeping generalizations about trans people, and refers to the Cotton Ceiling workshops as “rape culture”, so be prepared.)

Radfem Groundhog Day: Radfem2012 and Conway Hall’s ‘ethics’ 

#transchat is Sunday June 3, 2-4 pm EST (11-1 PST, 7-9 pm UK).

The topic is structural violence.

Violence against trans people is nothing new, but a spate of recent reports are disturbing in light of the gains we have made in law and policy.  Why aren’t things changing when it comes to violence?  The answer may lie in the fact that the last twenty murders reported involved a victim that was a trans woman of color.  Law and policy changes, as well as rising awareness, help some of us, but not all of us.  Furthermore, anti-trans violence intersects with structural racism, classism, capitalism, the prison-industrial complex, and other issues that make activism difficult.

Join us for a #transchat on these issues, facilitated by @tracygarza and @ericainchoate.  Talk about how structural violence has affected your life, whether in encounters with law enforcement or discriminatory “authorities,” through interpersonal conflict, or other means.  Let other trans people know about your concerns, and brainstorm ways we can fight back against this systemic problem.

Some recommended reading:

CeCe McDonald Was Punished for Surviving

Discussing the Causes of Violence Against Trans Women

70 Percent of Anti-LGBT Murder Victims Are People of Color