boobs-birds-botany:

mocosyamores:

Hi everyone,

I’m getting over my shame and internalized ableism and asking for help. I’m a chronically ill unemployed trans gurl who just left sex work (as in, yesterday) because I finally lost my shit. I’m also moving out of my abusive household in June, around the 15th or so. I don’t have a place to stay yet so the more money I have saved up, the more likely someone is going to trust me to move in with them.

Thanks to sex work and friends donating, I’ve saved up $2,000 for deposits, first/last month’s rent, housing applications, etc. I’m trying to raise another $2,000 to get me through the summer. Starting September/October, I should be receiving financial aid from my university, so that will help.

To give you an idea of where the money is going:
- Rent for a shared room is $500-$550/month
- Utilities are anywhere between $20-$60/month
- I’m limiting myself to $100-$125/month for food
- Gas is $40 a full tank, so about a $80/month if I do this right

I’ll also be looking for a job at this time. I have an open interview tomorrow so hopefully I’ll get called for a second interview!

Important to note! My memoir, Trauma Queen, is aiming to be published on May 31st, 2013. It’s going to cost $20, so if you want to hold off donating to buy the book, that’s totally understandable. I have a collection of writing and art here (x) that you can read/watch, and a zine here (x). I’ll also be selling various articles of clothing, shoes, collector’s items, etc. in the next week or so.

Signal boosting would be appreciated, and any donations would be very helpful. <3

¡Gracias! / Thank you!,
Lovemme/Sirena

- 

P.S. (if the link doesn’t work, there’s a donate button on my page.)

reblogging because i’m about to get a little graduation gift cash and can definitely support a sister <3

thespiritwas:

(click here to donate)

Dear Friends & Community, 

We are writing to let you know of a community member who needs support after going through a major health crisis. Many of you know Egyptt, a long time activist and advocate for low income, trans communities of color. 


Egyptt was formerly co-coordinator of Trans Justice at the Audre Lorde Project. Prior to her work at ALP she was a crucial member of the Queers for Economic Justice Welfare Warriors group where she lead the way fighting transphobia within New York City’s welfare agency: the Human Resources Administration. Because of Egyptt’s work NYC’s Human Resources Administration has adopted its first ever transgender non discrimination policy, which Egyptt helped implement through many trainings of New York City employees.

Additionally Egyptt has been a long time advocate at Housing Works advocating to have New York State pass the Gender Employment Non Discrimination Act (GENDA). She is also a brilliant performer, frequently showcasing her talent at the Housing Works fashion shows and many Trans Day of Remembrance events. Egyptt is now unemployed and has lost her apartment in Harlem. She’s currently living with her partner in a family homeless shelter in NYC. 


We are turning to you, our community, to support Egyptt as she navigates this challenging moment. We want to raise 10,000 for Egyptt to get back some of what she has lost in the last few months. She needs resources to get back into housing, to replace lost possessions, and to cover outstanding healthcare costs. 


With deep appreciation, 
Reina Gossett, Pooja Gehi, & Dean Spade

(click here to donate)

[photo: in green spray painted cursive, graffiti on a brick wall in brooklyn, ny reads, “free cece.” there is a heart beneath the text.]

originalplumbing:

prominenze:

FREE CECE #freecece

SEEN IN BROOKLYN NEW YORK

please check out http://supportcece.wordpress.com/ and http://freececemcdonald.tumblr.com/ for ways we can provide support to Cece in this final stretch.

also check out http://www.tgijp.org/ - Transgender Gender Variant & Intersex Justice Project (TGIJP) focused on providing support to trans people inside and outside of prison.

girljanitor:

this is some seriously powerful stuff from Janet Mock!!!

tranqualizer:

queersex:

unapproachableblackchicks:

Unless you’ve been following the work of Monica Roberts, The Opposing Views and David Lohr over atThe Huffington Post, you probably don’t know that a trans teenage girl from Charlottesville, Va., has been missing for nearly 20 days.

Since Sage Smith was first reported missing on Nov. 22, there has been virtually no mainstream media coverage of her abduction. There has only been one local story produced, and in it reporters consistently use the wrong pronouns to identify her, and the story only mentions the name she lives by once, as though it were a nickname. Even worse, the local authorities who are spearheading the search for her have reportedly lost their suspect without much hope of finding her.

….

The failure to show LGBTQ people of color as active and vital members of our communities and families perpetuates the dangerous stereotype that LGBTQ people of color are either nonexistent or that our identities are invalid. The media has failed to shine light on the targeted violence that trans women of color continue to endure. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, 40 percent of anti-LGBT murder victims in 2011 were transgender women; there have been 11 reported murders of trans women in the U.S. this year alone. The media have also failed to contextualize that violence alongside the discrimination that trans women of color face as a result of racism, misogyny and transphobia, and most Americans are unaware of these severe disparities in access and opportunity. Were any of these things factors in Sage’s disappearance? We don’t know. But by ignoring her story, the media are further alienating an already marginalized community and identity. We’ve seen this story before. Remember Mitrice Richardson? She was a 24-year-old African-American lesbian woman who was missing for nearly a year before police uncovered her dead body.

Praying for her safe return.

xX KCB xX

Breaks my heart

Sage has been missing since Nov. 22nd - it’s been over two months now.

you can find more information on how to support the efforts to bring Sage home safely here

tranqualizer:

hissyfitdenton:

Letters and Art for CeCe Mcdonald

Last Thursday night a group of FMLAers got together and shared homemade guacamole, baked chips and drinks while we got our creative juices goin’ to write letters and create artwork and fun collages for CeCe Mcdonald. 

On Monday, June 4th, CeCe McDonald, a trans woman of color, was sentenced to a 41-month prison term by Judge Daniel Moreno. CeCe and her friends were verbally harassed with racial and transphobic slurs, and physically attacked, and in the process of defending herself one of the attackers was killed. Although she initially faced two charges of second degree murder, on May 4th she accepted a plea agreement to a reduced charge of second degree manslaughter due to negligence.

You can read more about CeCe’s case here: http://supportcece.wordpress.com/

We encourage you to write your own letters and send them to CeCe to show her that she is loved and supported all over the world, and especially to continue to keep her in your thoughts even after the media stops paying attention to her case. You can learn more about writing CeCe at the Support CeCe letter writing campaign page: http://supportcece.wordpress.com/get-involved/write-cece/

We love you CeCe - stay strong!

<3

crunkfeministcollective:

Guest post by Verónica Bayetti Flores

Those of us who have been doing immigrants’ rights work have been hearing whispers of it coming along for a few months, and it finally seems to be here: Immigration reform is gearing up to come into full swing, and if we want this to benefit queer and trans folks, we’re going to have to stay on our toes and keep our eyes on the prize. Are you ready for this jelly?

So far, what we’ve got in our hands are some very basic blueprints – one from the Senate, and one from the White House. They don’t say much in terms of details quite yet, but what they do say…let’s just we’ve got a lot to work with.

The good news is that both the Senate and the White House seem to agree that a path to legalization for the 11 million undocumented people in the country right now is necessary (the House seems less convinced, though they have yet to put out anything solid). But as it stands, the path to citizenship seems as though it will be rife with socioeconomic barriers. Both blueprints emphasize the need for undocumented people to “take responsibility for their actions” and pay taxes and a penalty (I’m guessing the U.S. won’t be taking any responsibility for a foreign policy that devastates economies in the global south and makes it so that folks have to come here for work in the first place). How steep will this penalty be? Who will be able to afford it, and who won’t? Moreover, the blueprints lay out a pathway to citizenship that includes a criminal background check. While on its surface this may not seem unreasonable, we need to be watching out for the details on what kinds of crimes will block this path. What will make a “serious” criminal? Will it include the kinds of crimes – sex work, petty drug convictions, theft – that low-income and undocumented queer and trans folks often turn to as strategies for survival? We know that convictions largely play out along lines of class, race, and gender identity, and if we’re not diligent about calling out the details of completing this path it’s likely that citizenship will remain inaccessible to many undocumented people.

After the application fees, fines, and background checks, immigrants who have cleared these hurdles will be given a provisional legal status, and will have to wait for existing immigration backlogs to be cleared before they are eligible for lawful permanent residency. Both blueprints have made it clear that during the time that immigrants have this provisional status, they will not be eligible for public benefits. While we don’t know exactly how long the wait between the provisional status and permanent residency will be, it seems likely that the wait will be at least a few years. Add to that the five-year bar – which forbids immigrants with legal permanent residency from accessing most public benefits for the first five years they have that status – and it becomes clear that for low-income undocumented people who are able to get through the initial hurdles, relief in terms of very basic needs such as health care and housing will not be coming any time soon. This is particularly disturbing when thinking of undocumented children and young people, who may literally go a lifetime without access to health care or food assistance.

We are also seeing much emphasis placed on “securing the borders” in both of the blueprints offered. And while I’m sure we will be hearing a lot about how much it will cost to bring immigrants out of the shadows and possibly cover them with of public benefits many years down the line, I’m guessing no one’s gonna bat an eyelash at how much beefing up border security with drones is going to cost. You read that right – unmanned aerial vehicles make appearances on both the Senate and the White House proposals. It seems that drones are one thing everyone can agree on. We will have wait to see how this “securing the border” business is going to play out, but it’s not hard to guess that queer people of color – and particularly gender non-conforming and trans people – will be hugely affected by any increased policing. As it stands now, queer and trans people of color are disproportionately ending up in deportation proceedings, and without larger systemic changes that address issues of economic injustice, this does not seem poised to change with this immigration reform.

Both blueprints emphasize that employers who deliberately hire undocumented workers must be held accountable. To do this, employers must be able to verify that their workers have the appropriate documentation to work, and herein lies the problem: in the past, verification systems (such as E-verify) have been rife with errors. As it happens, these errors disproportionately affect people who tend to change their names – that is, women and trans folks (possible extra bonus: being outed as trans at work!). Though the White House’s blueprint mentions a pilot program for people to check their own records and make sure that everything is accurate before applying to a job, it is unclear what recourse a transgender person, for example, might have for changing their information in this system.

We’re also going to have to really be on our toes when it comes to the detention lobby. Right now there are many people making huge sums of money off of the detention of immigrants, and you better believe that they are going to be looking out for themselves in this mess. We know that they have a quite the formidable lobbying arm, spending millions, and this legislation presents the perfect opportunity for them to solidify and expand their business. Though the White House’s blueprint claims it will prioritize humane detention (I’m just gonna go ahead and call that an oxymoron), we have every reason to believe that the CCA & friends are completely willing to put profits far above human rights. We’ve seen it before, and we’re going to have to be very diligent if we are going to avoid seeing it again.

Of course, it’s not all bad, and in fact the reason it is truly important to critique such an initiative is due to the potential it has to radically alter the circumstances of millions of immigrants in the United States today, including queer and trans folks. The fact that there appears to be a general consensus that the 11 million undocumented in the U.S. deserve a path to citizenship is a huge improvement from the political climate of even a few months ago. Moreover, the White House proposal even included bi-national same-sex couples in their blueprint, proposing giving U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents the ability to seek a visa based on a long-term relationship with a same-sex partner.

But it is important to remember who and what kind of political action got us to a point where immigration reform finally seems inevitable after many, many years of need and just as many of political inaction. And here I have to give mad props to DREAMer youth, many of whom are queer, who have spent the last few years on an unapologetic campaign to get the country to face the fact that non-action on immigration is unsustainable by engaging in direct actions and refusing to give up and go away – even when the odds seemed so far out of their favor. If we are going to make immigration reform meaningful for queer and trans immigrants, we must stay steady on our hustle. We have to remain diligent in watching out for all the ways the most marginalized immigrants could be excluded from this process, and demand better for our communities. This is a huge opportunity, family. Y’all better werk!

Verónica is a queer immigrant writer, activist, and artist who just moved to Holyoke, MA. She has worked to increase access to contraception and abortion, fought for paid sick leave, demanded access to safe public space for queer youth of color, and helped to lead social justice efforts in Wisconsin, New York City, and Texas.

[photo: artwork against a yellow background features a white and green striped bowl of cereal. the cereal is mostly cheerios with one red fruit loop in the middle. a quote of CeCe’s reads, “be a fruit loop in a world full of cheerios.”]

freececemcdonald:

CeCe’s latest blog entry to her community of supporters! Please share far and wide!
“Learn to be accepting and learn to love, not just others but YOURSELF! And if you think there is not one person who loves you, know that I do…”

http://supportcece.wordpress.com/category/ceces-blog

freececemcdonald:

VIA Leslie Feinberg
“Leslie Feinberg trial information

Leslie is ordered to appear in court
Feb. 4 at 9 am
Hennepin County “Public Safety” Facility
401 Fourth Ave. South Minneapolis, MN
Look on the blue monitors for assigned courtroom.

Bruce Nestor & the National Lawyers Guild
are defending Leslie in the court of the 1%.

Please bring “Free CeCe” signs
for a big group solidarity photo
in support of CeCe McDonald on Feb. 4
Please wear buttons/t-shirts,
& purple in solidarity with CeCe.

[for more information about
CeCe McDonald’s struggle:
supportcece.wordpress.com/]

Children of all ages welcome,
including infants and toddlers.
Leslie will bring crayons & paper!

###

Help signal boost the peoples’ verdict — “Free CeCe!”

Deliver that message to Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the city prosecutor — a mayoral political appointee:

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak — twitter: @MayorRTRybak; email: rt@minneapolis.org; fax: (612) 673-2305; phone: (612) 673-2100.

Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal — email: Minneapolis311@ci.minneapolis.mn.us; fax: (612) 673-2189; phone: (612) 673-2010.”

seanminteh:

Marsha P. Johnson, Queen of Stonewall & Transgender Revolutionary

Marsha P. Johnson remembered/evoked at the NYC Drag March 2012.

(want to see more?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/randywicker/sets/72157625873936233/)

tranqualizer:

queersex:

unapproachableblackchicks:

Unless you’ve been following the work of Monica Roberts, The Opposing Views and David Lohr over atThe Huffington Post, you probably don’t know that a trans teenage girl from Charlottesville, Va., has been missing for nearly 20 days.

Since Sage Smith was first reported missing on Nov. 22, there has been virtually no mainstream media coverage of her abduction. There has only been one local story produced, and in it reporters consistently use the wrong pronouns to identify her, and the story only mentions the name she lives by once, as though it were a nickname. Even worse, the local authorities who are spearheading the search for her have reportedly lost their suspect without much hope of finding her.

….

The failure to show LGBTQ people of color as active and vital members of our communities and families perpetuates the dangerous stereotype that LGBTQ people of color are either nonexistent or that our identities are invalid. The media has failed to shine light on the targeted violence that trans women of color continue to endure. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, 40 percent of anti-LGBT murder victims in 2011 were transgender women; there have been 11 reported murders of trans women in the U.S. this year alone. The media have also failed to contextualize that violence alongside the discrimination that trans women of color face as a result of racism, misogyny and transphobia, and most Americans are unaware of these severe disparities in access and opportunity. Were any of these things factors in Sage’s disappearance? We don’t know. But by ignoring her story, the media are further alienating an already marginalized community and identity. We’ve seen this story before. Remember Mitrice Richardson? She was a 24-year-old African-American lesbian woman who was missing for nearly a year before police uncovered her dead body.

Praying for her safe return.

xX KCB xX

Breaks my heart

Sage has been missing since Nov. 22nd - it’s been over two months now.

you can find more information on how to support the efforts to bring Sage home safely here

mocosyamores:

For your glitter sex parties. For your ability to self-identity. For you to be femme trans men. For you to have GAY RIGHTS!!!! and to even have national conversations about ~marriage equality~ as shitty as they both are. We died to give you life, a voice, a fucking megaphone and stand so you could shout every fucking crime committed against your body/psyche/soul/family. We died to live as freely and proudly and as unapologetically as we could. We were murdered and tortured and imprisoned and ridiculed and dehumanized and marginalized and pushed out of the VERY ORGANIZATIONS WE CREATED SO YOU COULD HAVE YOUR ~PRIDE~. YOUR VISIBILITY. YOUR QUEER SPACES. YOUR FUCKING LIBERATION.

Pay us some damn fucking respect and realize that the least you can do is give up some of your space so we don’t have to fucking fight our way to see the stage where our trans sisters aren’t even performing.

cunthulhu:

biyuti:

Hey. So this is really, really fucking important.

I’m not sure how (if anything) we can help Ophelia De’lonta but she surely needs support. Especially now that she has earned the right to have her case heard.

But. She is a Black trans woman in prison. She deserves not only the support but to have the medical care that she needs.

this is happening in my city! How did I not know about this? 

Active-Rva, reblog this please!

darkjez:

janetmock:

“Yes I said tricks. I wasn’t arrested for selling lollipops, honey,” Ceyenne Doroshow, author of Cooking in Heels, a memoir cookbook published by the Red Umbrella Diaries, said in front of an audience that I was blessed to be a part of last night in New York.

“By kicking a child out, they figure out how to sell lollipops to survive. It’s par for the course,” said Ceyenne, who worked in the sex trade and was arrested for doing so. While in jail, she came up with the idea to write a memoir-cookbook that would empower other trans women.

With the financial backing of Kickstarter and the support of her co-author Audacia Ray, the director of the Red Umbrella Project which amplifies the voices of people in the sex trade, Ceyenne’s book was celebrated at a Red Umbrella-sponsored event, where friends and family toasted the author.

It was inspiring to hear Ceyenne, a trans woman who lives so fiercely, tell her story in her own words and share it with the world. It’s even more inspiring when you take into account the fact that we rarely hear the voices of trans women of color who engage in the sex trade. Most are killed and others are devalued and told to stay in the darkness of the night. We, as a community, cannot continue to pick and choose who is worthy of being heard. 

I am one who believes wholeheartedly in the revolutionary power of storytelling and for Ceyenne to share her soul, her food and her life with us through this book is empowering. 

Learn more about Cooking in Heels here and be sure to get a copy!

Oh I’m SO buying this boooook!

fyqueerlatinxs:

thespiritwas:

“We (Lesbian Feminist Liberation) found out there were plans to have a transvestite as part of the entertainment for the 1973 Gay Pride rally in Washington Square following the march and we decided to make a statement critical of transvestites…we decided we were going to stand up on that stage and tell everybody what we thought.  We stayed up the whole night before the rally and typed up this little statement.  We thought it was very important.  You see, we were creating theory at the time.” Jean O’Leary, founder of Lesbian Feminist Liberation, later the first president of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF)

“The transgender community was silenced because of a radical lesbian named Jean O’Leary, who felt that the transgender community was offensive to women because we liked to wear makeup and we liked to wear miniskirts.  Excuse me! It goes with the business that we’re in at the time! Because people fail to realize that -not trying to get off the story -everybody thinks that we want to be out on them street corners.  No we do not.  We don’t want to be out there sucking dick and getting fucked in the ass.  But that’s the only alternative that we have to survive because the laws do not give us the right to go and get a job the way we feel comfortable.  I do not want to go to work looking like a man when I know I am not a man” Sylvia Rivera

“A case could be made that we should have included transvestites rights but I don’t think that gay people wanted to be identified with that.  We were trying to get away from that image.  And we were trying to get the bill passed.  So the transvestites were excluded from the bill and they never got reinstated.” Jean O’Leary

“I thought free loving was the thing, I found it doesn’t pay the rent…During the daytime they all call us fags and freaks.  At night I get even.  I freak on them.  I make them pay for all the insults they gave me.  I can have a nice conversation with them, give them words of wisdom.  But I’m getting back at them. My way.” Marsha P Johnson

Many of you guap@s may be heading out to Atlanta this week to partake in the Creating Change conference.

We can’t ask you not to go. However, remember the oppressive history of our community.

When you are in Atlanta, look around and ask yourself (and everyone in charge) where Sylvia and Marsha are? Where are their daughters, sons, and children? Because change isn’t possible if we do not center it on the most marginalized.