Trans Day of Remembrance

Today marks the 11th year for the Trans Day of Remembrance, started after Rita Hester—a transgender woman of color—was murdered in Allston, MA in November 1998. Nothing seems to be planned in Montreal, as in previous years. The upcoming world AIDS day, day of violence against sex workers as well as the annual commemoration of the Polytechnique murders are all events coming up so… I suppose the energy is going towards the planning of those activities this year. Check out the Coalition for trans people of Quebec here. Services for English queers (listening line, etc), contact the CAEO, here.
So, silver lining moment—Montreal is where the very successful social media and marketing expert Michelle Blanc makes her home. She also happens to be a trans woman. I love that she is known more for her marketing work than her trans identity.


Blanc,above, is known for being
a marketing guru and is very
sought after as a speaker for
new media-related conferences.

Other gender-related news items floating around the innernets

A young trans sex worker, Jorge López Mercado, was brutally murdered in Puerto Rico this week.

Caster Semeya, the South African superstar (female) athlete who was “suspected” of being a man at the world track & field finals, will be allowed to keep her title and prize money after all.

Chaz Bono went on Good Morning America to speak about his top surgery. Mentionned that gender happens more between your ears than between your legs.
GLAAD has some great trans guest bloggers.


Keep Reading

Trans issues didn’t doom the Democrats

OPINION: The Republicans won ending on a giant anti-trans note, but Democrats ultimately failed to communicate on class

Xtra Explains: Trans girls and sports

Debunking some of the biggest myths around trans girls and fairness in sports

How ‘mature minor’ laws let trans kids make their own decisions

Canadian law lets some youth make medical or legal decisions for themselves, but how does it work?

To combat transphobia, we need to engage with the people who spread it

OPINION: opening up a dialogue with those we disagree with is key if we want to achieve widespread social change