trans community | THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT by Lexie Cannes

April 28, 2012 • 12:39 AM 2

U.S. Justice Department honors trans activist Victoria Cruz

Victoria Cruz (Photo – NY Daily News)

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — Last week Attorney General Eric Holder honored trans activist Victoria Cruz and 11 others at National Crime Victims’ Service Awards ceremony in Washington D.C.

Cruz began as an activist in 1997 when she reported the nursing home coworkers harassing her. This ultimately ended in two successful convictions. Shortly thereafter, she started working as a counselor with New York City’s Anti-Violence Project helping other victims in the LGBT community, making it her life’s work.

Cruz: “For me it’s very humbling and I’m honored, but to me all of this is also very healing. . . . This award is very positive. It makes the invisible, very visible. It allows our community to know the services that are there for them, to show our community that when they are in darkness they can always come to light.”

More about Cruz’s background from The Huffington Post: Victoria Cruz, Latina Transgender, Given Award From Justice Department For Her Work With Abuse Victims.

Victoria Cruz (Photo – NY Daily News)

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Filed under: Discrimination, Equality, Civil Rights, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, Anti-Violence Project, Attorney General Eric Holder, National Crime Victims’ Service Awards, New York City, trans activist, trans community, Victoria Cruz

March 12, 2012 • 12:26 AM 6

[UPDATE: City settles with trans woman] Accused of being a prostitute because she is transgender, woman sues police

Larry Dominick is the Town President of Cicero, Il. He is a retired Cicero police officer.

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — [UPDATED - Aug. 7, 2012: The city of Cicero settles settles with trans woman who sued the city. See below.] Being harassed by cops who have an assumption that being transgender also means one is a prostitute is a nightmare fear by many in the trans community.

Bianca Feliciano, then a minor, experienced it first hand and has since filed a federal lawsuit against the town of Cicero, Illinois and two police officers for violating her civil rights. The officers also accused her of fraud for having a state-issued ID card in the “wrong” gender.

According to the lawsuit: “One of the defendant officers threatened to punch Ms. Feliciano, take her to jail and lock her up for fraud because her ID said she is female. . . . The officers “repeatedly ridiculed and denied Ms. Feliciano’s gender identity by stating that she was a man, referring to her with male pronouns and calling her by her former name.”

According to news reports, Feliciano and a transgender friend were on their way to a Chinese restaurant when they were stopped by an unmarked police car. Cicero town officials are not commenting on the case.

This unprovoked incident by law enforcement officers is exactly the kind of thing that should not be happening in our communities. A win here would help make law enforcement agencies elsewhere improve their interaction policies with trans citizens.

Phone number for the town of Cicero: (708) 656-3600

UPDATE – Aug. 7, 2012: “The Town of Cicero settled a civil rights lawsuit brought by Bianca Feliciano, a young Latina transgender woman, who alleged she was illegally stopped, searched and harassed by Cicero Police Officers. In settling Ms. Feliciano’s litigation, Cicero agreed to enact a new policy regarding the treatment of transgender people by Cicero Police Officers, becoming one of the first metropolitan police departments in the country to do so.Cicero also agreed to pay Feliciano $10,000.” — from The People’s Law Office

More: Transgender woman sues Cicero, police – chicagotribune.com.

Larry Dominick is the Town President of Cicero, Il. He is a retired Cicero police officer.

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Filed under: Discrimination, Equality, Civil Rights, Everything else, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, Bianca Feliciano, Cicero, civil rights, federal lawsuit, fraud, gender identity, harrased by cops, illinois, Larry Dominick, police officers, prostitute, Town President, trans community, transsexual

January 16, 2012 • 4:26 PM 40

RuPaul doesn’t live as a trans person, so quit asking him to comment on TG issues.

RuPaul is a gay man, not transgender - and not a spokesperson for trans people.

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — RuPaul, of course, is a gay man who entertains people in drag. He does not live the life of a trans person. Indeed, performing in drag has much in common with trans people as does drag racing an AA/Funny Car down a NHRA dragstrip. In other words, RuPaul doesn’t know what its like to be transgender.

Yes, he does get national attention because of his pretend woman performances, of which he likely makes a lot of money. But neither of these things make him a more qualified spokesperson than an actual trans woman or trans man struggling through the steps towards transition and beyond, both financially and emotionally — these are the people to ask. The more of them you ask, the better the picture.

While its true that people within the trans community are not all on the same page — heck not everybody is agreeing on trans definitions, but if one is confused, asking someone living outside the community to explain it all is akin to throwing a pail of gasoline on a fire.

Yes, RuPaul is allowed his opinion, but let’s not ask him for it anymore because he isn’t a true representative of the trans community.

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Some people have pointed out to me that Drag Queens and Kings are considered under the trans umbrella. This, of course, if widely accepted, opens the door slightly for them to speak on trans matters.

Yanked Libra Tampon commercial actor talks about the controversy

Sandee Crack, actor in the Libra Tampon commercial (Photo: sandee crack.com)

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — The trans woman in the Libra commercial is actor Sandee Crack who is a gay man who also dresses in drag as a performer. He does not consider himself transgender.

Excerpts:

“I saw it as a great opportunity to participate in a positive step toward acceptance for drag queens and gay men among the wider community. . . .

I never felt for one moment that I would be depicted as a trans woman, nor do I believe that I have been. . . .

Unfortunately, a small portion of the trans community has chosen to view the ad as a personal attack on their fight to be viewed as equal women within society. . . .

. . . I feel hurt that representing myself as a drag queen on television and playing out a commonplace scenario in my life has lead to a clear “dragphobia” among some transgender individuals who wish to pull the plug on something that reflects true honesty about the life of a drag queen. A drag queen is a man in women’s clothing, and if that offends a trans woman, I am afraid I cannot apologise, as by doing so, I would be apologising for being me.”

My previous post on the Libra Tampon ad: http://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/photos-transgender-character-in-libra-tampons-commerical-funny-offensive-transphobic-you-tell-me/

Read the entire article in The Huffington Post: Sandee Crack: Libra Tampon Commercial Reflects Honesty About the Life of a Drag Queen.

Sandee Crack’s website: http://sandeecrack.com/about-sandee/

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Filed under: Transgender, Transsexual, Trans, avertisement, drag queen, libra tampon, libra tampons, Sandee Crack, trans community, trans woman, transgender individuals

January 5, 2012 • 12:58 AM 1

“Nature loves variety. Unfortunately, society hates it.” — Trans woman Chris Tina Bruce

Trans bodybuilder Chris Tina Bruce (Photo: Advocate.com)

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — Indeed. This was said in an article by Chris Tina Bruce, the renown trans bodybuilder. While some in the trans community are likely to get riled up over some of the definitions, the article does, as Bruce says, provides a chart for those just now entering unexplored territory. In addition to explaining some common terms used to describe trans people, she gives readers an overview of who we are, including the clearing up of stereotypes in popular culture.

More from Bruce’s article “Characteristics of a Transgender Person”:

“The more exposure real-life transgender people experience, the less inequality and discrimination society will subject us to out of fear.”

Bruce keeps things simple and clear — in my opinion critical, because we simply cannot afford to lose the new-to-trans reader in hair splitting over definitions.

Worth the read and sharing with those new to all things trans. I’ve also got a new respect for bodybuilders — perhaps I’m a bit guilty of a bit stereotyping of my own!

From The Huffington Post: Chris Tina Bruce: Characteristics of a Transgender Person.

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