I’m putting on my op-ed hat for this. The following draws from my own history, but I think it helps provide some insight into the left-wing divide over sex work. I’m skipping over this very quickly, and I’m sure I’ll probably forget some important distinctions and nuances, so bear with
Continue readingTag: Sex and Gender Minorities
Dented Blue Mercedes: Across the left divide over sex work.
I’m putting on my op-ed hat for this. The following draws from my own history, but I think it helps provide some insight into the left-wing divide over sex work. I’m skipping over this very quickly, and I’m sure I’ll probably forget some important distinctions and nuances, so bear with
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Reblog: A Statement of Trans-Inclusive Feminism and Womanism
This is how you decolonize activism. A wide swath of people have demonstrated how to decolonize activism: not with negativity, but with constructivity. The following is being reblogged from Feminists Fighting Transphobia, and you will need to follow the link to see the ever-increasing number of signatories who have signed
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: What LifeSiteNews’ attack on Pat Robertson says about religious freedom.
Last week, there was some curious notice given to American televangelist Pat Robertson, after he expressed support for transitioning trans people, and their access to sex reassignment surgery. Less noticed was the backlash from other far-right groups over the same comments. But it’s worth revisiting, because of what that backlash
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Porn opt-ins, soft censorship and buttbuttinating personal responsibility
On Monday, British Prime Minster David Cameron announced that internet service providers in the U.K. would be required to filter out online porn as part of several new rules to come into effect by the end of the year. Adults will still have the ability to opt in to view porn, but filtering
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: “Sex by deception” and the shades of yes
A series of recent rulings (and the media circuses that have accompanied them) in the UK has raised questions about what is being termed “sex by deception” — that is, instances where people who are possibly trans are said to lie about their gender, in order to seduce another person. In
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Intersex Conditions within the Transsexual Brain / Why “Born This Way” Is Not the Point
A bit of point and counterpoint here, to provoke some thought. I thought this portion of a lecture given by Robert Sapolsky at Stanford University, given in 2010, would be worth posting for folks who found this blog recently, and/or aren’t familiar with some of the medical discoveriess since the
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: On Persecution Complexes and Rage
The interplay of rage and persecution complexes works to shape trans, LGB — and in fact all — struggles against oppression. It can become an eternal feedback loop that can stymie any attempt to move progressive causes forward, if it succeeds in establishing its circuitous pattern. This translates to many
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: C-279: When a victory for one can be a victory for… one.
The second hour of Second Reading debate for Bill C-279: An Act to Amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression) occurred on Friday June 1st, and the Second Reading vote is to take place on Wednesday June 6th. I missed any indication that the
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: CBC: Should we use gender-neutral pronouns instead of ‘he’ and ‘she’?
CBC is asking the question, “Should we use gender-neutral pronouns instead of ‘he’ and ‘she’?“ Citing Sweden’s addition of a gender-neutral pronoun to the National Encyclopedia and a news story last year about a Toronto couple who wished to raise their child genderless until the child decides, and asks: Do
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Trans human rights Bill C-279 Second Reading debate begins tomorrow
Second Reading for Bill C-279 comes up on Thursday April 5th, There will be an hour of debate at around 1:30 EST (11:30 MST). This is only the first part of Second Reading process, and there will likely be another hour of debate in May or possibly June. Three things
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: On Trans* Beauty Contestants
I have to admit, as far as trans issues go, beauty pageants are way down my list of priorities. At a time when it’s difficult to access doctors willing to treat trans people for the flu let alone assist in transition, when even something as simple as basic human rights
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Can a Trans Human Rights Bill pass with a Harper majority?
“It’ll never pass,” I often heard. “Not with a Harper government. They’d never support human rights inclusion for transsexual and transgender people.” And then it passed. Oh, Bill C-389 — championed by the now-retired NDP MP Bill Siksay — had its challenges. It narrowly passed Second Reading in June of
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Canada rules on polygamy, polyamory and religious freedom.
B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman ruled Wednesday that Canadian laws which limit religious freedom can be upheld if it is felt by the court that the harms in question outweigh that freedom. In fact, the ruling broadens the ways in which the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Continue readingDented Blue Mercedes: Hate Speech on Trial in Canada
If you lived in certain parts of Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, Toronto over the past decade, there’s a chance you’ve encountered or at least heard about flyers distributed by Bill Whatcott. These fliers are typically peppered with photos of naked or half-naked gay men kissing (or in at least one instance, engaging in oral sex), with 
Dented Blue Mercedes: Learn about gay and trans kids? No. Have them protest abortion? Okay.
A group of parents in B.C. are adamantly opposed to the Burnaby school district enacting an LGBT-inclusive anti-bullying policy. Catholic school districts in Ontario want to ban rainbows and Gay-Straight Alliances. Charles Adler is worried that a calendar that is a teachers’ reference (and notes the Transgender Day of Remembrance) might cause kids to become 
Dented Blue Mercedes: Trans Rights Bills Intrduced in New Canadian Parliament
In the first week of the 41st session of Parliament, two Private Member’s Bills were introduced, both proposing explicit inclusion of transsexual and transgender people in the Canada Human Rights Act and the hate crimes clauses of the Criminal Code of Canada. Both were inspired by Bill C-389, which had passed in the last session 
Dented Blue Mercedes: Guest Post: Beth Elliott’s Rebuttal of the Brennan-Hungerford Submission
Beth Elliott is a San Francisco Bay Area writer, musician and lesbian activist. The first transsexual woman to transition to be an out lesbian, she served a year’s term as Vice President of the San Francisco Chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (1971-72), but was purged from the organization three months later. She was one 
Dented Blue Mercedes: Less Than Woman, Less Than Human
Cathy Brennan and Elizabeth Hungerford have tendered a paper to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, in response to a query regarding the current international status of women. From this exercise, the Commission will be working to “identify emerging trends and patterns of injustice and discriminatory practices against women 
Dented Blue Mercedes: The Facts About India’s Infant “Sex Changes”
Canadian and international press outlets reported last month that in India, the preference to have male children is so strong that parents are having their female infants surgically assigned (a.k.a. “sex changes”) to male. There were all sorts of problems with this story, but some of the verdicts have come in. Here are the facts 