Restroom … FSU News – Gender-neutral bathrooms promote transgender acceptance (Jun. 5, 2013) …item 4.. Transgender 101: Getting to know the basics (Oct. 30, 2013) …
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Is it okay to ask which pronouns someone would like to be called by? Yes. Henry says he'd much rather be asked which pronouns he'd like to be called by than to be mis-gendered. If there's any ambiguity, don't be afraid to ask respectfully.
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… message header for item 1. Gender-neutral bathrooms promote transgender acceptance
While Bread and Roses and Sweat Pea Café are just a few places around Tallahassee that provide gender neutral bathrooms, the FSU PRIDE Executive Director Victoria Gentry said she is trying to implement some on FSU's campus by the end of this school year.
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… marsmet525 photo … The Velvet Embrace (1965) … BERGER’ S CAFE Vol. 1 (64:29 minutes) …item 2.. Tallahassee: One of America’s Most Romantic Cities, According to Amazon.com (Feb 06, 2013) …
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…..item 1)…. Gender-neutral bathrooms promote transgender acceptance …
… FSU News … www.fsunews.com/ … Restrooms conducive to inclusivity for all gender identities …
Jun. 5, 2013 |
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img code photo … Bread and Roses is a local Tallahassee co-op
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Bread and Roses is a local Tallahassee co-op that provides gender-neutral restrooms in order to create a safe and welcoming environment for transgender individuals. / Blair Stokes / FSView
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Written by
Setareh Baig
Arts & Life Editor @heysetareh_
FILED UNDER
FSU News
FSU News Life
www.fsunews.com/article/20130605/FSVIEW0101/130605017/Gen…
Frequenting public restrooms is about as mundane a task as any. All people go through the motions: finding a stall, counting the scum-ridden floor tiles as they do their business and washing their hands with watery soap as they stare absent-mindedly into a vaguely opaque mirror before they carry on with their lives.
Add verbal assaults, possibilities of physical harassment and an overwhelming identity dissonance to that bathroom visit, and you've got the familiarly dreadful routine of a transgender individual.
"Speaking from personal experience, just going to the bathroom in public is incredibly stressful," FSU student Riley Navarrete said. "I'm female-bodied so whenever I need to use the bathroom, I feel like I have to use the women's one. It just makes me feel so uncomfortable. People look at me twice for going into a women's bathroom, and it makes me feel really terrible. For me, I can't even enter a bathroom without being looked at strangely."
Navarrete is gender neutral, meaning they do not identify with any concrete gender binary. Under a trans umbrella, there is an entire population of individuals who do not identify with the gender that was assigned to them at birth. Navarrete is one of them.
"I don't relate strongly with either gender binary of male or female, and it really does suck sometimes. It's hard to get people to call me by my preferred pronouns, which are gender neutral," Navarrete said. "It sucks. I like wearing dresses sometimes, but just because I wear them it doesn't mean you can assume I'm a female, but people still do."
Navarrete prefers when people refer to them using the gender-neutral pronouns "they" or "them" instead of "he" or "she." While Navarrete maintains no specific gender, other transgender individuals also may identify with a gender different than what they were assigned at birth.
For Navarrete and all others who don't identify with their assigned gender, gender-neutral bathrooms are bathrooms available to people of all gender identities, not just specific to the gender identity one was assigned at birth based on their genitalia. The purpose is to create a sense of security for gender-queer, transgender, or gender-neutral individuals, who may feel out of place, harassed or unwelcome in exclusively male or female restrooms.
"It's a horrible whirlwind of guilt and angst," Navarrete said. "Going to the bathroom is a human need. It shouldn't be something that you're dreading to do."
Bread and Roses, a volunteer-operated co-op, provides this sense of safety to these individuals by having gender-neutral bathrooms in their store.
"We strive to create a welcoming environment where people, regardless of their gender identity, won't feel intimidated, discouraged or unsafe here," Bread and Roses volunteer Kirsten Harvey said. "We have an environment here free of hateful language, transphobia, homophobia, racism, sexism, ableism, and everything else. In order to achieve that, we create an atmosphere of inclusivity that reflects gender diversity and encourages acceptance."
While Bread and Roses and Sweat Pea Café are just a few places around Tallahassee that provide gender neutral bathrooms, the FSU PRIDE Executive Director Victoria Gentry said she is trying to implement some on FSU's campus by the end of this school year.
"A lot of transgender people come to Florida State from their hometowns where they've been put down their entire lives. They were never accepted, and might have even been beat up just for trying to be who they are," Gentry said. "If we can just get these bathrooms and keep going in the direction of inclusivity, we can make FSU a home away from the hostile home they've come from. We can allow them to simply be themselves, because a lot of people just have never been able to do that."
Gentry plans to start by implementing gender neutral restrooms in the Union, and she hopes to eventually make them available campus-wide. The plan will cost virtually no money since they are not looking to build new restrooms, but merely repurpose existing ones with new, gender-neutral signs.
"All the marriage equality debates going on has put us right in the spotlight," Gentry said. "People are aware of our issues, but our issues aren't only marriage equality, and people are starting to recognize that. Now is the time to strike for things to change."
Other campuses across the nation have progressed to include gender-neutral bathrooms as well, including New York University, Ohio University, and University of Colorado. The website safe2pee.org is also used to inform trans people of specific locations with gender-neutral bathrooms in their area.
"It's important to create a safe environment for transgender individuals because we live in this culture that can be so hateful. Our culture is so vehemently violent towards transgender people, not just physically, but in our attitudes," Jessica Schwartz said.
Schwartz identifies as cis-gendered, meaning she identifies with the gender identity assigned to her at birth; however, Schwartz said she does not agree with many of the stereotypes or norms she is expected to conform to as a woman.
"Even in mainstream culture, it seems like transphobia is a popular theme," Schwartz said. "Comedic films often make fun of transgender people, especially those who are sex workers. People just try to laugh it off as they're just men who dress like women, or vise versa, but there's so much more to it than that. They are used as a joke, a punching bag, something to laugh at. It's a one-dimensional portrayal rarely told through the eyes of actual transgender individuals."
The feeling of vulnerability in a public restroom and fear of harassment is not unfounded. The National Transgender Discrimination Survey, which researched gender non-conforming people of minority races, revealed that 65 percent of gender non-conforming individuals of a minority race experienced harassment, while 39 percent experienced physical assault. 56 percent of them have attempted suicide as a contributing result of harassment.
"It's providing a space for people to just freaking go to the bathroom," Navarrete said. "It's being able to pee without having to stress out about people staring at you weird, or feeling like you're betraying your own gender identity by going into a bathroom you can't identify with. "
To increase gender inclusivity, Navarrete encourages asking transgender individuals what pronouns they prefer to be referred to as, while Schwartz suggests that deconstructing gender norms and questioning these attitudes is conducive to acceptance.
"It's comfort. It's acceptance. It's feeling like you belong," Gentry said.
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…..item 2)…. youtube video … Traffic – The Low Spark of High-heeeled Boys [Full Album] 1971 …
… 40:18 minutes …
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YY-_Y_7p55M
Nedaj01
Published on Nov 21, 2012
1971
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Music
License
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… "Hidden Treasure"
… "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys"
… "Light Up or Leave Me Alone" (Jim Capaldi)
… "Rock ‘n’ Roll Stew" (Ric Grech, Jim Gordon)
… "Many a Mile to Freedom" (Steve Winwood, Anna Capaldi)
… "Rainmaker"
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…..item 3)…. Holopaw’s John Orth Talks Queer Identity, Working as a Visual Artist …
… Miami New Times … blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/ …
Q&A
By Jose D. Duran Fri., Aug. 30 2013 at 2:30 PM
Categories: Concert Review, Q&A
blogs.miaminewtimes.com/crossfade/2013/08/holopaw_john_or…
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For 10 years, Gainesville indie-rock outfit Holopaw has been putting out music. First through the perennial indie label Sub Pop, and more recently via Misra Records.
The band dropped Academy Songs, Volume I earlier this year, which is an oddity in the era of the single track. It follows a loose story line that comes together as the albums plays on. Though, frontman John Orth admits to us that characters are often interchangeable and the ideas can be somewhat vague.
Orth and his bandmates will be performing Saturday at Gramps, their first trip to Miami in a few years. (The last time they were in the Magic City, the band was touring with then-labelmate Iron & Wine.)
We talked to Orth over the phone about Gainesville’s music scene, how being gay influences his music, and the ideas behind Holopaw’s new album.
New Times: How is Gainesville’s music scene these days?
John Orth: It’s good. Unfortunately, we don’t have a weekly or monthly paper. We’ve also never had college radio. Those are two coalescing forces I think our music scene is missing out on. That being said, there are always new things happening, and the scene that we do have is very supportive and vibrant. But, again, there isn’t a place that brings together the scene. There is a new group of kids, the Church of Holy Colors, that’s sort of the new generation of artists and musicians that are doing really exciting things in Gainesville right now.
As a gay man, how much does your sexual orientation influence your work?
It’s who I am and what I write about. It used to be that used to write a lot more metaphorically, because, it wasn’t so much that I wasn’t comfortable being gay…
Did you want to appeal to to a broader group of people?
It wasn’t so much that. My lyrics have always been pretty obtuse. I just became more and more comfortable within my personal life and what I was interested in artistically. It is the stories that I tell, much the way straight people do, it’s about relationships, love and sex. Anything R. Kelly would sing about, it just happens to be my point of view, which is a gay point of view.
Do you think gay artists’ visibility these days is important, especially with what’s happening in places like Russia?
Of course. To see your voice represented in the media or music, for people to be openly and proudly tell their stories, I do think it’s important.
You released a new album this year, Academy Songs, Volume I. What’s the idea behind it?
In the past, the way I’ve written songs, I’ve had notebooks with scraps and sketches of ideas. Some of those ideas were drawn directly my life, some of them were other stories I wanted to tell. More than anything, by framing all of these songs in one location with these characters was more of a songwriting device for me. I decide very vaguely what the story I wanted to tell, what the location would be, I decide what the characters would be like. Each of those stories I had a different notebook for, and I tried to flesh them out as best I could. In the end, I ended up with enough of those potential songs for at least two records. That’s what the Volume I implies.
You directed a video for the band recently. Is that something you enjoyed doing?
My ex-boyfriend is a video artist, and for years I collaborated with him on videos. This is the first video that I directed myself. It something I’m very interested in as a visual person. I’m working on a video right now with my friend Adam Baran, who is a filmmaker in New York, and a few weeks from from now we’ll shoot a music video for our song "Dirty Boots (He Don’t)." He’s going to direct it and I’m going to do some of the art direction and styling for it. It’s something I’d like to do more of.
Holopaw. With visuals by Roger Beebe. Saturday, August 31, at Gramps (176 NW 24th Street, Miami). Free, 21+ and over. grampsbar.com.
Follow Crossfade on Facebook and Twitter @Crossfade_SFL.
Location Info
Gramps
176 NW 24th St., Miami, FL
Category: Music
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…..item 4)…. Transgender 101: Getting to know the basics …
… FSU News … www.fsunews.com/ …
Respect is essential for gender identity
Oct. 30, 2013 |
Written by
Alicia Deer
Contributing Writer
FILED UNDER
FSU News
FSU News Views
www.fsunews.com/article/20131030/FSVIEW03/131030025/Trans…
I'd like to preface this, and all other subsequent articles on the issue, by stating my perspective. I was born a little Hispanic girl in Tampa. It didn't take me long after becoming a cognitively aware person to realize that I was a lesbian.
While I can relate to the trouble associated with deviating from heteronormativity, I will never be able to personally attest to the challenges faced by transgendered individuals. That being said, my best friend is a female-to-male transgendered individual–whom I'll refer to as Henry. It's with his blessing and concern that I would like to discuss what all of this actually means.
Unless you're a member, or an active ally, of the LGBT community, it's not uncommon to be confused about what it means to be transgendered. Transgendered individuals find their voices stifled by decades of misinformation, mislabeling of the community and a lack of legitimate representation in television and media. This results in relying on stereotypes to answer any questions that we may be afraid to ask. I'll start with the easiest one: What does it mean to be "transgendered?"
Transgender means an individual whose gender does not align with the one assigned to them at birth. A "transman" is a man who was assigned a female gender at birth, and a "transwoman" is a woman who was assigned a male gender at birth. You'll also see acronyms, such as FTM or MTF, to describe the individual.
Pronouns are important. If you can think back to grade school and recall the weeks spent on nouns, proper nouns and pronouns, you understand why it's so important to use them properly. So, which pronouns do you use, and when? Recently, there's been a case presented for using the "ze" pronoun, which is inclusive of all genders.
Even my most radically progressive friends don't have this implemented in their daily speech, so that's up to you. As for the average person, on an average day, here is my best advice: Call people by the pronouns they ask you to call them by. All the time. Always. End of discussion. Meaning, if someone you know has come out to you as a transman, call them by male pronouns. The same holds true for transwomen and female pronouns. It may be difficult to retrain your thoughts, especially if the individual is one that you've known for a while, but it's crucial. Imagine how difficult it is for the person in question and the respect for them should follow quickly after.
The lines may seem blurred when dealing with a "masculine," cis-gendered woman, or a "feminine" cis-gendered man. You may find yourself confused about which pronoun to use. How can you, the average person, go about your interaction as respectfully as possible? It's simple: Ask for their name. Transgendered individuals rarely keep their birth-given names, and adopt a name more suited for their identity.
Unless the name is gender-neutral—like Taylor, Alex, Casey etc.– their name should point you in the right direction. When all else fails, do the least amount of harm possible and use gender neutral pronouns.
Is it okay to ask which pronouns someone would like to be called by? Yes. Henry says he'd much rather be asked which pronouns he'd like to be called by than to be mis-gendered. If there's any ambiguity, don't be afraid to ask respectfully.
The most important thing is to have an awareness that we aren't all the same. If you haven't already, adopt a respect for anyone who deviates from classically perceived male or female traits and characteristics. We're just recently ready to discuss these things as a society, but that doesn't mean that they haven't been lying dormant since human beings became self-aware. As difficult as it is for a person who isn't a member of the transgender community to do, try to understand the courage that it takes to be true to one's self—especially when the self doesn't match the anatomy assigned at birth.
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