In this presentation, I answered the following questions:Her powerpoint presentations make fascinating reading, and parallel closely - though in even more depth - the lecture by the Professor of Psychology at the ANU who invited me to guest lecture at the end.
- What can science tell us about sexuality?
- How many sexes are there?
- What exactly is a female? A male?
- Is intersexuality normal?
- What is known about the biology of sexual identity?
- What is known about the biology of sexual orientation?
At the urging and with the help of the Arizona ACLU, Central Arizona Shelter Services, Inc., the largest shelter service provider in Arizona, recently changed its long-standing policy of refusing to allow transgender people to be housed according to their gender identity. In addition, the Prescott Area Women’s Shelter, on whose board I serve, is in the process of adopting a similar policy. I am saddened by Jennifer’s death, and the deaths of all the other homeless people in Austin and elsewhere, who die every year due to our society’s refusal to provide them with the basic necessities of life.Not just talking the talk, but walking the walk. It rather puts my own poor efforts to shame.
For those interested in urging their local shelters to treat trans people with dignity, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition have created an excellent resource titled Transitioning Our Shelters: A Guide to Making Homeless Shelters Safe for Transgender People.
Sexual identity, as expressed overtly, is entirely self-defined. So it is with most of the "transgendered" whose mutilations, amputations and massive hormonal drug usage does not erase the male/female chromosomes they carry that identifies them, a priori.And a comment over at the Grauniad on the Pope's recent statements on Ecology:
Oh well, it took the Church 400 years to rehabilitate Galileo. They usually get it right in the end. I just wish the pope had some better scientific and medical advice, because his pronunciamento is going to kill some of us. It doesn't just lack knowledge, it lacks charity....and much more besides. I fear his words will be (mis?)understood. Or understood all too well, nudge nudge wink wink.
Poiché la fede nel Creatore è una parte essenziale del Credo cristiano, la Chiesa non può e non deve limitarsi a trasmettere ai suoi fedeli soltanto il messaggio della salvezza. Essa ha una responsabilità per il creato e deve far valere questa responsabilità anche in pubblico. E facendolo deve difendere non solo la terra, l’acqua e l’aria come doni della creazione appartenenti a tutti. Deve proteggere anche l’uomo contro la distruzione di se stesso. È necessario che ci sia qualcosa come una ecologia dell’uomo, intesa nel senso giusto. Non è una metafisica superata, se la Chiesa parla della natura dell’essere umano come uomo e donna e chiede che quest’ordine della creazione venga rispettato. Qui si tratta di fatto della fede nel Creatore e dell’ascolto del linguaggio della creazione, il cui disprezzo sarebbe un’autodistruzione dell’uomo e quindi una distruzione dell’opera stessa di Dio. Ciò che spesso viene espresso ed inteso con il termine "gender", si risolve in definitiva nella autoemancipazione dell’uomo dal creato e dal Creatore. L’uomo vuole farsi da solo e disporre sempre ed esclusivamente da solo ciò che lo riguarda. Ma in questo modo vive contro la verità, vive contro lo Spirito creatore.I include it because many of the translations and interpretations appear unsatisfactory to me. Google's translation is very clunky compared to a human one, though surprisingly good overall.
Poiché la fede nel Creatore è una parte essenziale del Credo cristiano, la Chiesa non può e non deve limitarsi a trasmettere ai suoi fedeli soltanto il messaggio della salvezza.One of the best translations is the Official Vatican Press Release, but it's more than a little clunky.
As the faith in the Creator is an essential part of the Christian Creed, the Church can not and should not be confined to convey to his people only the message of salvation.
Essa ha una responsabilità per il creato e deve far valere questa responsabilità anche in pubblico.
It has a responsibility for creation and must rely on this responsibility even in public.
E facendolo deve difendere non solo la terra, l’acqua el’aria come doni della creazione appartenenti a tutti.
And he must defend not only the land, water and air as gifts of creation belong to everyone.
Deve proteggere anche l’uomo contro la distruzione di se stesso.
It must also protect humans against the destruction of himself.
È necessario che ci sia qualcosa come una ecologia dell’uomo, intesa nel senso giusto.
It is necessary that there is something like an ecology of man, understood in the right direction.
Non è una metafisica superata, se la Chiesa parla della natura dell’essere umano come uomo e donna e chiede che quest’ordine della creazione venga rispettato.
It is not a metaphysical exceeded, if the Church speaks of the nature of man as man and woman, and calls for the creation of this order is respected.
Qui si tratta di fatto della fede nel Creatore e dell’ascolto del linguaggio della creazione, il cui disprezzo sarebbe un’autodistruzione dell’uomo e quindi una distruzione dell’opera stessa di Dio. Ciò che spesso viene espresso ed inteso con il termine " gender ", si risolve in definitiva nella autoemancipazione dell’uomo dal creato e dal Creatore.
This is in fact of faith in the Creator, given the language of creation, which would be self-contempt and then destruction of the work of God This is often expressed and understood by the term " gender ", is resolved finally in the creation of self-empowerment and the Creator.
L’uomo vuole farsi da solo e disporre sempre ed esclusivamente da solo ciò che lo riguarda.
The man wants to be alone and have always and exclusively alone what he is concerned.
Ma in questo modo vive contro la verità, vive contro lo Spirito creatore.
But living in this way against the truth, lives against the Creator Spirit.
While highlighting that the Church "cannot and should not limit herself to transmitting just the message of salvation to her faithful", the Holy Father said that it must also "protect the human being against self-destruction. It is necessary to have something like an ecology of the human being, understood in the proper manner. It is not a surpassed metaphysics when Church speaks of the nature of the human being as man and woman, and demands that this order of creation be respected. ... That which is often expressed and understood by the term 'gender', is definitively resolved in the self-emancipation of the human being from creation and the Creator".A slightly better translation is at the National Catholic Reporter cafe, and it's that one I'll use.
“[The church] must defend not only the earth, water and air as gifts of creation that belong to all,” he said. “It must also defend the human person against its own destruction. What’s needed is something like a ‘human ecology,’ understood in the right sense. It’s not simply an outdated metaphysics if the church speaks of the nature of the human person as man and woman, and asks that this order of creation be respected.”Now here's the BBC's slant on it - a reasonable interpretation (though not the only one) that I fear will be all too common.
“Here it’s a question of faith in creation, in listening to the language of creation, disregard of which would mean self-destruction of the human person and hence destruction of the very work of God,” the pope said. “That which is often expressed and understood by the term ‘gender’ in the end amounts to the self-emancipation of the human person from creation and from the Creator. Human beings want to do everything by themselves, and to control exclusively everything that regards them. But in this way, the human person lives against the truth, against the Creator Spirit.”
Pope Benedict XVI has said that saving humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforest from destruction.So "transsexuals" are a threat to the very survival of humanity, and their existence goes against God's Holy Law. And any discussion of the subject of Gender, of anything other than a strict and concrete divide separating humans into men and women, is equally destructive.
He explained that defending God's creation is not limited to saving the environment, but also protecting man from self-destruction.
...
His words, later released to the media, emphasised his total rejection of gender theory.
Pope Benedict XVI warned that gender theory blurs the distinction between male and female and could thus lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race.
(Explanatory note on Gender theory)
Gender theory explores sexual orientation, the roles assigned by society to individuals according to their gender, and how people perceive their biological identity.
Gay and transsexual groups, particularly in the United States, promote it as a key to understanding and tolerance, but the pope disagreed.
When the Roman Catholic Church defends God's Creation, "it does not only defend the earth, water and the air... but (it) also protects man from his own destruction," the pope said.
"If tropical forests deserve our protection, humankind... deserves it no less," the 81-year-old pontiff said, calling for "an ecology of the human being."
It is not "outmoded metaphysics" to urge respect for the "nature of the human being as man and woman," he told scores of prelates gathered in the Vatican's sumptuous Clementine Hall.
The Vatican is considering publishing the full record of the 17th century trial of Galileo Galilei for heresy as part of its rehabilitation of the great astronomer.My own impression was that Galileo wasn't condemned for heresy so much as rude obnoxiousness and unreasonability. But that's another matter.
Monsignor Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, said at the start of the council's annual meeting that only parts of the 1633 trial proceedings had been published, and this had given a false impression. He said it was not widely known for example that the then pontiff, Pope Urban VIII, had never signed the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo.
Monsignor Ravasi said publishing the full trial proceedings would help to "purify" the past through a "rigorous" examination of the historical record. However there was no point in using the past to continue "polemics". The aim was rather to "look to the future" and achieve greater harmony between science and faith.
...
Earlier this year Nicola Cabibbo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and a nuclear physicist, said: "The Church wants to close the Galileo affair and reach a definitive understanding not only of his great legacy but also of the relationship between science and faith."
...
The Catholic Church long ago abandoned its opposition to Galileo's theories, and in 1979 John Paul II apologised for the Inquisition's treatment of him. However in January Pope Benedict XVI called off a visit to Rome University after staff and students accused him of defending the Inquisition's condemnation of Galileo. They cited a speech the Pope made in 1990, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in which he quoted a description of the trial of Galileo as "fair".
Finally, the senior Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius said of the moons of Jupiter "One would first have to built a spyglass that creates them and only then would it show them." However, the fault was with the Jesuits' first effort to built a telescope. Once they had built themselves a better one, Clavius confirmed that he could see the moons.May the Vatican acquire a better gender telescope than the rather shonky one provided by one Professor McHugh.
No-one with an ounce of rationality would disagree with most items on the list. Except, perhaps, to say that even more egregious examples can be found, such as the infamous banning of funding for Cystic Fibrosis because it was a “White Male” disease.Onto GetReligion, where I do something few people discussing Christianity do - actually read what the Bible says, instead of believing what "everyone knows", including many preachers who are no theologians. I quote the usual - Matthew 19:12, Isaiah:56:3-5, but also John 9:1-12, which I think is particularly relevant to some Intersex conditions - my own included.
One item though detracts from the article’s credibility. It’s usually Moonbat liberals who are - if not ignorant, then not well versed in scientific issues, and who allow emotion and irrational belief to cloud reason.
I refer to the item about West Point. No facts are adduced as to why this is so awful. It rather reminds me of the articles that were published prior to 1950, and the de-segregation of the armed forces, denigrating black veterans. As conservatives, we should not deny the errors of the past - we leave that to Moonbats. And the facts are that about 60% of transgendered people, mostly women, have served in some capacity in or with the armed forces. I can think of no other minority group that has such a high level of service to the country, or to whom the words “Duty, Honor, Country” mean so much.
So what is “transsexuality”? Is it some peculiar sexual perversion? An “alternate lifestyle’? Yet another Liberal attack on our cherished institutions - and goodness knows, there’s enough of them?
I better explain from the basics. “Men are Men, Women are Women”, everyone knows that. It’s as obvious as the world being flat, and the Sun orbiting the Earth. And for most purposes, all three statements are true. When we navigate using a map, we can treat the Earth as being locally flat. We talk about “sunrise” and “sunset”. They’re both good enough approximations for most purposes. Similarly, 98.3% of the population is either wholly and unambiguously male, or wholly and unambiguously female. Of the 1.7% who aren’t, it usually takes a laboratory or extensive medical tests to find that out, and most are effectively asymptomatic, though they may be infertile or even sterile.
Such people are “Intersexed”, and there’s hundreds of Intersex conditions, ranging from the negligible (does it really matter if 10% of your body has female chromosomes when 90% has male ones?) to the spectacular. The most spectacular are the conditions such as 5alpha-reductase-2 deficiency (5alpha-RD-2) and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-3 deficiency (17beta-HSD-3) which cause all infants to look (somewhat, mostly, or completely) female at birth, but the genetic males change to look (somewhat, mostly or completely) male by the time they’re 25. Male to female natural changes happen too, but they’re less than 1% of such changes in humans, and are not well understood as yet. In fact, about 30% of Intersex conditions are “Idiopathic”, meaning “we have no idea what the cause is”, just that they happen.
So what has this to do with Transsexuality? Autopsies and MRI scans have confirmed that transsexuals have cross-gendered neuro-anatomy. They quite literally have male minds and brains and female bodies, or the reverse. Often they have other Intersex conditions too, but this isn’t universal.
This isn’t exactly common knowledge. Such indelicate and embarrassing matters are hardly the topic of breakfast conversation, and few people include “Psychoendoneurology” or “The journal of endocrinal obstetrics’ in their bedtime reading. But the data is there, on the Net, through PubMed and other sources.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, so here’s a small selection of the articles on the subject to show that I’m not trying to sell the usual Leftist snake-oil. Please research the matter yourself.
Gender change in 46,XY persons with 5alpha-reductase-2 deficiency and 17beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase-3 deficiency. by Cohen-Ketternis
A Sex Difference in the Human Brain and its Relation to Transsexuality by Zhou et al.
Male-to-Female Transsexuals Have Female Neuron Numbers in a Limbic Nucleus by Kruijver et al:
fMRT zur Diagnose bei Transsexualität geprüft (An Examination of the use of fMRT for diagnosing Transsexuality) (ArzteZeitung, 2006)
A sex difference in the hypothalamic uncinate nucleus: relationship to gender identity by
A. Garcia-Falgueras A and D.F. Swaab.
Male-to-female transsexuals show sex-atypical hypothalamus activation when smelling odorous steroids. by Berglund H, Lindström P, Dhejne-Helmy C, and Savic I.
And so on and so on. Most of the hard proof has come in in the last 10 years, though a biological cause has long been conjectured. Before 1996, it was assumed (in the absence of evidence to the contrary) to be a purely psychological issue.
Transsexuality causes *intense* distress. The issue is not so much about sexuality as other instinctive behaviour - maternal instinct. natural gait, communications skills, instinctive ballistic calculations and so on, all areas where sexually differentiated thinking patterns are obvious, and which are not culturally conditioned. There’s no biological reason why “blue is for boys, pink is for girls”, that’s cultural. But despite what Moonbat Gender Studies departments hold as articles of faith, men and women do differ in their neurology, and no neurologist disputes this. The trouble is, some women are born looking like men, and some men are born looking like women. This feels terribly perverse to someone so afflicted, and the only cure is to align body and brain/mind through hormonal and surgical intervention.
Having such a person, who has overcome such challenges, has a long and distinguished military career, and wishes to “give back” to her alma mata speak about the issue isn’t “political correctness” in any way, shape or form.
regards,
Zoe E Brain
(Naval Combat System Architect, former tutor at the Australian Defence Force Academy, and one of the handful of well documented cases of natural male-to-female transitions on record)
The distress caused by having a brain (actually the lymbic nucleus) cross-gendered (in some ways) compared to (most or all of) the rest of the body is a very real and serious psychological condition, comparable to the distress caused by some hideous congenital anomalies, coupled with biologically-based sexual dysfunction. But the neural mismatch itself is not, it is a natural variation caused by any of a number of genetic predispositions, coupled with an anomalous hormonal environment in the womb. Both the genetic, and the hormonal anomalies are necessary, either on their own has no effect. We think. We’re not absolutely sure, it’s just that we have lots of good evidence for this, and only a paucity of extremely poor evidence against.That did lead to a follow-up question, on the nature if gender, which I think deserved answering at length.
Until the distinction is made between the congenital biological variation that is acute transsexuality, and the syndrome of distress it causes, then the social stigma and moral opprobrium will remain. Worse, effective treatment may be withheld, either because of unfounded doubts as to its effectiveness, or concerns that anyone who is "mentally ill" cannot possibly give informed consent for radical surgery. Such problems exist today, simply because GID in its totality is erroneously seen, and described in the DSM’s later incarnations, as purely a psychiatric concern.
Transsexual people are strongly gendered, but a significant number of Intersexed and non-Intersexed people are not. So although Transsexuals fit a binary model of gender extraordinarily well (for if they didn't, they wouldn't suffer the distress they do), we must be aware that the binary model is an approximation that fits most, but not all. It doesn't fit everyone. Most Intersexed people in particular fit a binary model, but some don't. We must be careful to respect Intersexed men as being men, Intersexed women as being women, but also that minority of Intersexed people who identify as neither.NeoCon, Religious, Gay... all need information, then they can make up their own minds. From the Sacred to the Profane.
Many transsexual people, being strongly gendered, and having had their masculinity or femininity questioned in the most disrespectful terms by others, object to any "in-between' category, a category they have often been forced into by others; "men, women, transsexuals". Which is exactly wrong, the opposite of what the situation truly is. It's because they fit the binary model so well, so much so that even having a cross-gendered body is insufficient to coerce them into an inappropriate gender "box", that they have the issues they do.
We must not force people into arbitrary boxes against the principles of medical facts, objective biology and even common humanity, strictly on ideological grounds.
Marti Bier, policy aide for Austin City Council Member Randi Shade, said, "Something Jennifer would never talk about, but was a reality for her, is that she is a transwoman living in a transphobic society.The motto of the US Marine Corps - and once a Marine, always a Marine - is Semper Fidelis - Always Faithful. Jennifer Gale was always faithful, to her self, to her religion, and to her country and the Great State of Texas.
Homelessness in the trans-community is a really big problem, and one that goes ignored. There are no laws in Texas protecting transgender people, whether from job discrimination, housing discrimination or hate crimes.
"There was really nowhere for Jennifer Gale to go to protect herself from the cold last night," said Bier. "The Salvation Army (the only shelter in town that takes in women) would not let her in there unless she was grouped with the men (which includes sleeping with, and showering with, other homeless men). They would make her use her male birth name and completely disregard, and disrespect, her identity as a trans-woman. There is so much to be learned from Jennifer Gale, and so much to be worked on in our community."
Equality Texas, the Transgender Education Network of Texas, and City of Austin officials are now working together to address changes in policy, or enforcement of existing policy, that might prevent another tragic loss of life. The City of Austin's non-discrimination ordinance is inclusive of sexual orientation and gender identity with regard to employment and public accommodations. The ordinance includes certain religious and private club exemptions, which will be reviewed for applicability to the delivery of shelter services for the homeless.
Last month, a suspiciously large package from Subsim arrived at the post office. Was it a torpedo? No, it was the 2006 edition of The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems. A $250, seven pound hardcover monster of a book - the most expensive book published by the Naval Institute. What had I gotten myself into?Um... to me the systems are "described in brief", but I guess that's a view only a professional in the area would hold. To anyone else, possibly a bit much to handle. Friedman is not just good, he's the best, without peer or equal.
Despite its title, and the cover showing missiles and bombs flying around, WNWS '06 is an encyclopedic textbook of naval weapons and technology. Virtually every weapon and electronic system used aboard warships and naval aircraft today is covered in detail; often more detail than anyone would ever need. Everything from electro-optical systems, minehunting equipment, combat direction systems, radar, sonar, ECM and ESM systems, mines, countermeasures, guns, fire control systems, missiles, ASW rockets, torpedoes, to sonobuoys, is covered. Despite being about 200 pages shorter than Combat Fleets, this book massive. I was shocked by its tremendous scope when I first browsed through it. I'm still a bit bewildered.
The first talk in this morning's opening Plenary Session was "Electronic and Ionic Devices: Semiconductor Chips with Brain Tissue." Yes, you read that correctly: brain tissue. For half an hour, Peter Fromherz of Munich's Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry held a tough crowd's close attention as he described his work on silicon-to-neuron interfaces.Pity... sorry. I guess there's more of the Mad Scientist in me than I thought... Moving right along.
...
The brain is an interconnected morass of neurons. Any comprehensive electronic interface with it would need not only to have physical contact with, as Fromherz said, "hundreds of thousands or millions of contact sites." But those sites would have to be stable both in placement and biochemical interaction. You don't want them firing up the wrong neurons, poking them destructively, or chemically interacting with them in nasty ways, do you?
Fromherz cited three main directions for hybrid-neuroelectronics research: neurosensorics, neuroprosthetics, and neurocomputing. The first investigates devices that could study the brain, the second focuses on creating devices that could replace or supplement organic functions such as sight and hearing, and the third explores using brain tissue to inform computing design and function.
As you might imagine, that third area - neurocomputing - is the furthest away, seeing as how tissue/chip interface development is still in its infancy. You can forget about organic computers floating in Mason jars for the time being.
Importantly, Fromherz's chip/cell communication could be conducted with no corrosive nor electrochemical damage to either the chip or the cell. However, that slug-neuron success was the only giant step in the development of a chip/cell interface for 17 years. It was only earlier this year that the team managed to pull off essentially the same feat with much smaller and far more delicate mammalian neurons, in this case taken and cultured from those great sacrificers for humanity: lab rats.That's a Big Deal, more so than would appear at first glance. In fact, it's a huge leap in the technology, and gets us 90-something percent of the way to being able to interface human minds directly with digital devices.
Back in 1991, the idea of electronics being able to cause brain-cell activity was unsettling to some observers. Fromherz, in fact, read to the assemble engineers a worried comment from one observer from that time: Now that "a functioning neuro-net can be physically attached to a silicon chip," the observer said, we should explore the "philosophical and spiritual consequences." Fromherz brushed aside such concerns, and the audience chuckled in agreement.And so they should be! Now I'm very firmly on the side of developing such technology as fast as possible. The great good that could come from it, that would come from it, outweighs any risks. But those risks are real, and not confined to some metaphysical issue of Things Man Was Not Meant To Know. Neurosensorics, if they go wrong, could be terribly destructive. They could also be used, or misused, to make "aversion therapy" particularly effective. To remove paedophillic sadism... or to induce it. As the brain is somewhat plastic, it's likely that neuroprosthetics that go beyond replacing limbs, or working around broken spinal chords, but help Alzheimers and Parkinsons patients, could actually "change their minds" in ways unknowable. The risks are real, and just because they are outweighed doesn't mean they should be ignored. Experimentation must be carefully monitored - though not shackled - by ethics committees. Hopefully not including those whose religious beliefs cause them to condemn Science as inherently evil. That's a risk too, and from past history, a greater one.
Don't be surprised, though, that when this type of brain/electronic interface becomes more controllable, interconnectable, and manageable - and it most surely will - such concerns will be debated.
But there are great benefits to be obtained from chip/cell interactions as well. At tomorrow's IEDM, for example, two papers will be presented that will detail recent neuroprosthetic research.It was in January, 2007 that I predicted Cyborgs within a Decade. Looks like we're on track.
The first, "Systems Design of a High-Resolution Retinal Prosthesis" by J. Weitland and his crew from the University of Southern California, will explain how they have managed to fit 1000 light-sensing electrodes to be installed in a tiny in-eye device, coupled with an advanced image-processing technology, and powered remotely. Their goal: greatly improved artificial sight for the vision-impaired.
The second, "Microelectronics Meets the Brain: Towards Implantable Neural Communications Interfaces" by Y.-K. Song and his cohorts at Brown University, will discuss "thought-to-action telemetry." At the core of their work is an active sensor that's surgically implantable with one element below the skull and that interfaces with the brain, and another above the skull but below the skin that's able to communicate with telemetric devices. The entire system, according to the paper's authors, will be safe and highly reliable.
This is one of the weirdest things I’ve seen this year. A German 12 year-old named Tim Petras underwent a sex change four years ago, making him now the foxy 16 year-old girl Kim Petras. This is shim below.Tongue may have been in cheek, but if he think's he's a wit, he's half right. Twit.
...
Look, I’ve seen a lot of f*cked up things in my life including but not limited to a man having sex with a dead moose (Dad was always a great hunter) but WHAT THE F*CK. What kind of parent allows their prepubescent child to make that sort of decision? How come this kid can look like this but usual transexuals look like Dennis Rodman with Nerf balls shoved in his chest?...
Honestly, it’s scary to have sex with “women” knowing that this sort of deceptive little thing is out there....
The infinite wisdom of God makes no mistakes. Men are men, women are women.Er... well any reader of this blog will realise that it's not quite that simple. So I did a bit of exposing of facts. The writer of this interesting conjecture no doubt has their heart in the right place, and perhaps if they knew a bit more about the situation, their views would change. Or perhaps not. You have to try though.
Transexual woman ran out of town
12:00a.m. 11th December 2008 | By Amy Remeikis
A transexual has fled the Sunshine Coast after an alleged vicious attack on a Caloundra street left her afraid to venture outside.
Alice (not her real name), was born male but has identified as a female since she was five.
On Tuesday evening, Alice, 40, said she and her daughter, 13, set out along Landsborough Parade in Golden Beach to buy groceries to prepare for dinner.
Sometime before 5.30pm, Alice said she passed a small group of women pushing a pram accompanied by a gentleman who she alleged was abusive to her as she walked by.
Alice said she heard what the man said and questioned the man about it.
"He just started screaming abuse at me, swearing and calling me a 'trannie fag'," Alice said.
Alice said she had been previously advised to record such attacks.
"I held up my phone to record what he was saying and he turned physically abusive," she said.
She said the man chased her into a nearby playground where he allegedly threatened anyone who came to her aid.
She alleged the man smashed a bottle and hit a man who had tried to protect her.
Another car arrived at the scene and a man holding a base ball bat stepped out of the car and allegedly chased Alice down the street.
Alice said she called for help from those driving by and a family eventually stopped and took Alice to the police station.
She said she had lived full time as a woman since she was 14 and has medical approval for a sex change operation but can not afford the surgery.
Alice, her best friend and her daughter have spent the past 18 months travelling around Australia.
She says once knowledge of her transsexual nature is made public, she is chased from the towns.
The Sunshine Coast, she said, had been no different.
"We are leaving the Sunshine Coast though because I am afraid to walk down the street," she said.
"I don't want to leave my room.
"I can't understand why normal people act like this.
I harm no one but I am always subjected to people's abuse because they don't like me for who I am."
Police have charged a man with one count of public nuisance and two counts of common assault.
He will appear in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on January 6.
Re : Your recent story about "Alice" atATSN and ATSA(Qld) have been informed.
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/dec/11/transexual-woman -ran-out-town-caloundra/
Could you please inform her about some resources that may be of help:
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Australian Transgender Support Association of Queensland Inc.
http://atsaq.com/
ATSAQ can be contacted on -
Phone: +61 7 3843 5024 (8am - 6pm)
Email: trans.atsa@bigpond.com
PO Box 212
NEW FARM QLD 4005
Australia
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(Qld) LGBT Police Liaison Officers
Police Liaison Officers to the GLBT community are available to discuss your issues in confidence. For details about the officers located at the closest police station.
Mobile: +61 419 768 732
http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/community/lgbti/lias_off.htm
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Australian Transsexual Support Network
http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/atsn/
Feel free to give "Alice" my e-mail address, or at least refer her to my website:
http://aebrain.blogspot.com
My thanks for writing this story, and I hope you can tell her that she's not alone, and that she doesn't have to go through all this.
Regards, Zoe E Brain
We are OneIn this context, it's not the many failings that are important. It's the Dream. One we, here, now, in Australia, live. Imperfectly - goodness only knows I know all about that. But more so than not. A happy place.
But we are many
And from all the lands on Earth we come
We share a dream
And sing in one voice
I am
You are
We are Australian
What was it I said...
Message about the Commission's project on the legal recognition of sex in documents and government records
I have received some enquiries about the sex and gender diversity project, in response to a media report that suggests the Commission is secretly circulating a proposal to make intersex a third category for documents and government records.
This is incorrect.
As you will be aware, the Commission's sex and gender diversity project has been examining the legal recognition of sex in documents and government records. As part of this project, the project created an online blog - called Sex Files - in order to discuss some of the issues to do with legal recognition and to involve the sex and gender diverse community in the development of recommendations. This included posting publically some initial proposals for reform on the Sex Files blog. We did this because we wanted those involved in the project to provide valuable feedback. The responses we received help to inform the development of a report on legal recognition in documents and government records. The final report is due to be completed and launched early next year.
As indicated by some of the enquiries, the initial proposals for reform put up on the blog included a suggestion for a category of intersex for legal documents. However, as raised with us on the blog, this is not an acceptable proposal for a variety of reasons. As a result the report will not propose a category of intersex for documents but instead proposes to recommend that people be able to choose between male, female or unspecified.
I hope that this explains how we have tried to respond to people's concerns. I have discussed one of our draft recommendations here, in advance of the report, only because I recognise that the misrepresentation in the media may have caused some distress. The full report, including other recommendations, will not be available until the report is published early next year. If you are on the sex and gender diversity mailing list already, you will receive notice of the report when it is finalised.
Thank you for your participation to date.
Graeme Innes AM
Human Rights Commissioner
And while we're at it, rather than "Male, Female or Intersex" on the birth certificates, how about "Male, Female or Unspecified".Sounds good to me.
The Federal Government's human rights arm plans to invent a new official status called "intersex" adding it to male and female as a legally recognised gender.The draft Proposal hasn't just been circulated to a number of "special interests", but is available online in Word format on the Human Rights Commission website.
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission wants people to be able to change their gender on their passports and driving licences even if they do not undergo surgery.
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The extraordinary proposals are contained in a discussion paper quietly issued to transgender and transexual advocates by the commission, a statutory body that advises the Government on such matters.
The paper, entitled Sex Files - The legal recognition of sex: Proposed reform, says the introduction of the new "intersex" gender is a "key feature of the reform proposal being developed by the commission".
"Recognition of intersex: Persons who cannot or do not identify as either male or female would be able to choose to be identified on their birth certificate and passport as intersex," it says.
"A person who cannot or chooses not to undergo surgery would not be automatically ineligible to request a change in their legal sex."
Excellent recommendations, striking a balance between ideals and what can be practically achieved in the medium term.One of the issues in regularising the existing situation is the fact that those neither male nor female are in a legal limbo when it comes to a lot of legislation. The current Marriage Act states that marriage is between a man and a woman - so one can assume that those who are biologically, actually, and legally neither are denied this human right. Their position as regards Equal opportunities legislation is also as clear as mud.
I Am Not A Lawyer, and I hope Ms Wallbeck and other legal professional may comment, but...
Trying to get the states and territories to co-ordinate on such a controversial issue will be like herding cats. Various large and influential religious groups will have severe bovinosity - they'll have large and influential religious cows. Also conniptions. That would happen anyway, but some state governments would feel the pressure more than others.
It is not clear that the Federal Government has the constitutional power to make such rules though. Now it is just barely possible they may have, via the Universal Declaration of Human Rights via the Yogyakarta principles.(Section 51.xix) or alternatively, with the agreement of the states (ignoring territories) 51.xxxviii.
See http://www.aph.gov.au/SEnate/general//constitution/par5cha1.htm
Note that in Australia, the declaration is *not* self-executing. Australia had the following reservation at signature to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:"Declaration:
"Australia has a federal constitutional system in which legislative, executive and judicial powers are shared or distributed between the Commonwealth and the constituent States. The implementation of the treaty throughout Australia will be effected by the Commonwealth, State and Territory authorities having regard to their respective constitutional powers and arrangements concerning their exercise." "
So by the reservation, it's arguable that the Commonwealth has already delegated its power over compliance to the states, and they will implement the legislation in their own sweet time at some unspecified future date.
But again, IANAL.
Having an official "3rd sex" merely regularises the situation for the tiny, miniscule minority - most notably Alex MacFarlane et al - who have X on their BCs out of their own choice. Or at least, that is the intent.For an example of one such, a very brave and admirable young human being, see the eFeminate blog, where she chronicles her journey of self-discovery.
I think this should be an option for Intersexed people who identify as neither male nor female. It most certainly and emphatically should NOT be a "default' for Intersexed people, most of whom identify as either Male or Female. There is a strong danger here, and we must tread most carefully. It also has some interesting legal ramifications, vis a vis marriage etc. Again, I cannot stress too highly that this must be an exceptional and entirely voluntary SELF-categorisation, not something others put us into. This categorisation is entirely consistent with existing international law, and the ICAO standards for passports. We must be extremely vigilant that the APO and others do not use it as a tool of oppression.
Basically, an intersexed woman is a woman, an intersexed man is a man. Only those intersexed people who are androgenous or neutrius, neither M nor F, would find this categorisation useful to them. They are few, but they exist.
Kathy,Er No. X stands for "Indeterminate, Unspecified or "non-specified" (emphasis added). Instead of allowing reasonable latitude for exceptional cases, they in their infinite wisdom have decided unilaterally to lock it down to matters of state birth registration, and not medical reality. The ICAO's wording was carefully chosen to allow human judgement and basic humanity to play a role. The APO carefully and deliberately removed those from consideration. We're not asking them to "move away" from the standards, but to follow them. From ICAO Document 9303
X is for indeterminate sex. Following is the text from our manual which explains the term indeterminate sex. Unfortunately, it cannot be used for persons who identity as both male and female but is limited to those people whose sex cannot be physically determined at birth and their birth certificate records that fact. Australia closely follows ICAO standards and would not at this time contemplate moving away from those standards.
Indeterminate Sex
The term ”indeterminate” sex refers to persons whose sex cannot be determined as either male or female. This status is determined by the relevant Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages. In accordance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standard for unspecified sex, the symbol X in the sex field is to be used in such cases. This sex identifier will be used in cases where a person presents a birth certificate with the sex recorded as “Indeterminate” or the equivalent.
Within the new few weeks (depending on our IT people) the APO website should contain some FAQ for sex and gender diverse passport applicants*. We hope it will be of assistance.
Kathy Anne Noble
Sex of the passport holder, M for males, F for females, and < for non-specified.And while we're at it, rather than "Male, Female or Intersex" on the birth certificates, how about "Male, Female or Unspecified". That way allowing gender to be re-determined later in life, and to allow some "slop" in the system to cater for Hard Cases. Or we will have Bad Law.
One could make the argument that I am part of a minority because I enjoy rugby. However, I don't need to promote a "rugby day of remembrance"....
L.H.Crum completely misunderstands the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Perhaps the name should have clued him in. It is not a Day of Celebration, nor a Day of Pride. It is not a day for espousing any particular cause. It is not even a day for demanding basic Human Rights.
It is the Day where we remember our dead.
It is the one day of the year, the only day of the year, where we gather in all solemnity to remember those of us who have been tortured and slain, butchered, crucified, burnt, or gunned down, not because of anything we've done, nor of our beliefs, but because of who we are.
It is the one day where we read out their names, and ages, some as young as ten this year, in voices that shake with emotion and shared grief.
Those who would deny us this day want us to to die in silence. They do not feel comfortable being made aware of the fact that every month two transgendered Americans are butchered without mercy. They wish that if we are to be butchered, that we just die quietly and not stain the carpets with our blood.
We do not ask others to remember our dead, for they are ours, not theirs. We do not even make this a day for taking action to stop the carnage. But although there are many who would deny us the right to live, to exist, we will not die quietly, nor without reminding others that we are dying, every few weeks another of our number slain by bigotry and hatred. Even if we are denied the right to exist, we demand the right to have our deaths noted and not forgotten by our own. Even if the rest of the world does not, We remember Our dead.
What others do about that remembrance is up to their own consciences.
India will be able to send a manned mission to moon by the year 2020 if everything goes as planned, Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman G Madhavan Nair has said.That's one heck of a big IF.
"If everything goes as per the plan we will be ready to send a man to moon by 2020", he added. "On one side we have the capacity and technology, on the other side we need to provide training to a human being to survive the condition on moon and the zero gravitation," he added.That's a bit more like it. I'm not at all sure they have the capacity though - no heavy lift boosters (Ariane V or bigger) that would be needed for a Von Braun "assemble stack in NEO" plan, and certainly nothing to rival the "all in one go" approach of the Saturn V. To be talking about lunar missions when there's not even been a manned orbital one yet seems a little... ambitious?
"This demands for more amount of training on the ground, and we would be spending one third of the budget on training and development of technology," he further said.1/3 is a bit low, considering the lack of experience so far. But it's at least in the right ballpark. We'll see.
"US and China are two main contenders who want to send man on moon by 2020. Though they have not yet announced anything but they have the capacity and adequate funds to send man to moon by 2020," he added.I'm not sure he's correct there either: China is looking more towards 2025, and the US Manned Space Program is liable to come to a grinding halt in the near future. From the Houston Chronicle :
The Texas congressional delegation is launching a campaign to combat potentially deep budget cuts for NASA as President-elect Barack Obama focuses on rescuing the nation's economy.$3 billion - or even $8.8 billion - isn't much compared to the cost of the economic bailouts, or Obama's new educational, health and welfare programme. But every little bit helps - "a billion here, a billion there, and soon you're talking about real money" as was so notoriously said in the US Congress.
The drive comes amid expectations that billions of dollars will be shifted from various federal agencies into new programs to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial system.
With tough trade-offs ahead, NASA's supporters are bracing for a hard look by the new administration and Democratic-controlled Congress at the space agency's $20.2 billion budget for the current year, which includes $5.8 billion for the shuttle and $3 billion to develop the Orion moonship.
The open-ended rescue is expected to leave Obama little leeway to fulfill an expensive campaign promise he made in Florida to close a five-year gap between the shuttle's retirement and the moonship's inaugural as a way to keep 6,400 high-paying jobs at the state's Kennedy Space Center.
Now, said Scott Pace, the director of George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, "money for space is going to be extremely tight."
"That leaves you a difficult choice," Pace added. "Change the schedule or change the program."
The state's congressional delegation of 20 Republicans and 12 Democrats is counting on building alliances with other House members, making good on promises of bipartisan cooperation with the White House and lobbying efforts by NASA contractors to help combat the looming challenges.It's not real - they're Buzz Words, mere ploys to get a slice of the pie.
"The trick will be to show what manned space flight can do for the nation, rather than what the nation can do for manned space flight," said Pace, a former NASA associate administrator.
Appealing to national concerns also can pay dividends, said Susan McManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida who has watched federal support for NASA ebb and flow. " 'Economy,' 'competition,' 'national security' — those are buzz words that win allies," she said.
"As Congress looks at ways to stimulate the economy, it cannot ignore the fact that the JSC is a mainstay of the Houston community that directly and indirectly impacts tens of thousands of jobs," Cornyn said in a recent speech.Not Team America. That's the problem. Everyone wants their share of the pie, jobs in their electorate. Whether the program succeeds or collapses under he weight of inefficient dilution of resources is immaterial. Whether Americans ever go into space again after 2010 matters least of all.
NASA's spending accounts for more than 39,000 Houston jobs in areas such as retail, health care and construction, according to studies by the University of Houston-Clear Lake.
Some Texans are looking to Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a veteran of a 1986 shuttle flight who chairs a NASA oversight panel.
The thinking? Obama might support spending for the manned space program because it would benefit Florida's Kennedy Space Center — an economic jewel in the electorally important state. That, in turn, would spill over to benefit Houston's JSC.
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"We're used to working together as Team Texas," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.
WASHINGTON — U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's NASA transition team is asking U.S. space agency officials to quantify how much money could be saved by canceling the Ares 1 rocket and scaling back the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle next year.Of course you are.
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The questionnaire, "NASA Presidential Transition Team Requests for Information," asks agency officials to provide the latest information on Ares 1, Orion and the planned Ares 5 heavy-lift cargo launcher, and to calculate the near-term close-out costs and longer-term savings associated with canceling those programs. The questionnaire also contemplates a scenario where Ares 1 would be canceled but development of the Ares 5 would continue.
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Logsdon also said he did not see any significance to the omission of cancellation questions about COTS, space shuttle, space station or other programs.
Executives at Alliant Techsystems (ATK), the Edina, Minn.-based prime contractor for the Ares 1 main stage, told Space News Nov. 25 they were not alarmed by the questions the transition team is asking about Ares and the Constellation program, which encompasses not only the shuttle replacement but also hardware NASA would need to land astronauts on the Moon.
"They are doing due diligence," said Charlie Precourt, ATK's vice president of NASA space launch systems. "If you are the incoming steward of all federal agencies you are going to ask a spectrum of questions like this."
AdventureQuest Worlds (AQW or AQWorlds) is a fully Flash-animated RPG (role playing game) that your child can play that we believe is quite a bit different from most other large scale online games. Players battle against hordes of monsters and enemies so that they can grow stronger and obtain ancient weapons of unimaginable power. They follow long quest chains to unlock key story elements. Players need nothing more than their web browser and the latest version of the Flash plugin to play.That's their story and they're sticking to it.
Always changing!
We are always creating and adding new content to the game and updating the main game engine to improve the experience for everyone. New quests, areas, items or events show up every week in AQWorlds!
Multi-player Functionality
We do have a bad word filter in place to prevent players from saying bad things. We also have 'canned chat' servers that only allow for players to communicate with our pre-written messages . To be on the 'chat safe' servers, the players need to play on the Moglin servers, such as Twilly or Zorbak.
AQWorlds is like our other games in the sense that we do want players to work together cooperatively to achieve story-oriented goals. However, AQWorlds is the first game that we have allowed chat functionality between players. We do not allow foul language, nudity, extreme realistic violence or drug/alcohol use in our games.
AQWorlds was created to appeal to all ages. It is easy to learn to play. If your child is under the age of 13, you (as the parent or legal guardian) must be the one to set up the account for her or him to play.
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AdventureQuest Worlds (AQWorlds) is full of interesting stories to read, adventures to experience, and goal driven quests to complete. New events, quests, monsters, NPCs (Non-Player Characters) and items are continually being added to the game. The quests and events help to test the player's mental abilities. AQWorlds is also a great place for kids to practice and improve their reading skills, because all of the NPCs talk to you, and every quest you go on involves reading text to make decisions about how the player continues the quest. The written material in AQWorlds contains no foul language and is suitable for all ages, and is written to be generally understood by players of all ages.
AQWorlds provides an environment that may improve personal skills, including analytical thinking, multitasking and problem-solving. It also includes elements that require players to calculate percentages and use other mathematical skills to better play the game.
No one should feel safe without submitting to Islam, and those who refuse to submit must pay a high price. The Islam ist movement must aim to turn the world into a series of "wildernesses" where only those under jihadi rule enjoy security.Ok, so how do we counter this kind of thing? How have we countered it historically?
These are some of the ideas developed by al Qaeda's chief theoretician, Sheik Abu-Bakar Naji, in his new book "Governance in the Wilderness" (Edarat al-Wahsh).
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Since 9/11, Islamist terror movements have been debating grand strategy. Osama bin Laden had theorized that the "infidel," led by the United States, would crumble after a series of spectacular attacks, just as the Meccan "infidel" government did when the Prophet Muhammad launched deadly raids against its trade routes. Yet the 9/11 attacks didn't lead to an "infidel" retreat. On the contrary, the "Great Satan" hit back hard.
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The jihadis are to begin by giving areas where Muslims live a distinctly Islamic appearance, by imposing special styles of dress for women and beards for men. Then they start imposing the shariah. In the final phase, they create a parallel system of taxation and law enforcement, effectively taking the areas out of government control.
The "wilderness" will provide the cover for bases for jihad operations. Jihad would be everywhere, rather than in just one or two countries that the "infidel" could hit with superior firepower.
In a notable departure from past al Qaeda strategy, Naji recommends "countless small operations" that render daily life unbearable, rather than a few spectacular attacks such as 9/11: The "infidel," leaving his home every morning, should be unsure whether he'll return in the evening.
Naji recommends kidnappings, the holding of hostages, the use of women and children as human shields, exhibition killings to terrorize the enemy, suicide bombings and countless gestures that make normal life impossible for the "infidel" and Muslim collaborators.
Once parallel societies are established throughout the world, they would exert pressure on non-Muslims to submit. Naji believes that, subjected to constant intimidation and fear of death, most non-Muslims (especially in the West) would submit: "The West has no stomach for a long fight."
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Naji asks jihadis to target oilfields, sea and airports, tourist facilities and especially banking and financial services. He envisages "a very long war," at the end of which the whole world is brought under the banner of Islam.
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Naji's message is stark: Western civilization is doomed. Its last bastion, America, lacks the will for a long war. The "infidel" loves life and treats it as an endless feast. Jihadis have to ruin that feast and persuade the "infidel" to abandon this world in exchange for greater rewards in the next.
Before we're through with 'em, the Japanese language will only be spoken in hell.And what is more, and what is often forgotten in these more politically correct and civilised times, he meant them, and a lot of Americans agreed with him.
ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.Which for the Latin-challenged, is "where they make a desert, they call it peace.".
