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Atlanta Transgender Woman Fired by State Official

Atlantan Vandy Beth Glenn was paid by the State of Georgia to check and change the language in state law. But when she examined her own life and determined that she had Gender Identity Disorder, her changes were not approved by her bosses. Now the transgender woman is suing the state in federal court for firing her, with the help of Lamda Legal.

Vandy Beth Glen

Glenn worked for two years in the Georgia General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Counsel, editing and proofreading the language of bills brought before state lawmakers. After years of private struggle, Glenn was diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and prepared to undergo gender transition. Glenn informed her immediate supervisor, Beth Yinger, that she planned to proceed with her transition from male to female last year. Yinger then told the General Assembly’s Legislative Counsel, Sewell Brumby, who runs the office where Glenn worked. Brumby confirmed that Glenn intended to transition from male to female, then fired her on the spot, according to information released by Lambda Legal.

Lambda Legal’s announced its intent to sue on behalf of Glen yesterday. The federal lawsuit asserts that Glenn was fired in violation of the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee, because it treated her differently due to her female gender identity and her nonconformity with gender stereotypes. In addition, Lambda Legal says that General Assembly officials disregarded Glenn’s GID and her needed treatment — also an equal protection violation.

“The leaders of the state of Georgia should be an example of fair–mindedness and ethical decision-making,” said Cole Thaler, Transgender Rights Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office based in Atlanta. “Our client was a successful and professional employee who was fired because her boss didn’t like who she is.”

Glen’s case will be handled by Cole Thaler, Transgender Rights Attorney and Greg Nevins, Supervising Senior Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Southern Regional Office in Atlanta.

“We should expect more from the leaders of our state than to fire me simply for being who I am,” Glenn said.

Yes, we should. But we would only be disappointed. It’s not surprising that the Georgia General Assembly’s treatment of its employees is just as intolerant as its treatment of LGBT Georgians in general.

See resources for the transgender community on our Transgender Info and Resources page.

Does My Blog Look Fat in This Template?

As repeat visitors will quickly notice, Life on Q has a new look! I thought it was time for a new, more flexible blog layout, with more room for content, photos and links. There have been several updates to Wordpress, the blogging platform used here at Life on Q, and the old template was a bit behind the times. The new look, based on the “Statement” theme by Blog Oh! Blog, is a newer, more flexible design that takes advantage of some of the latest Wordpress enhancements. It’s still under development, so please don’t be too alarmed if you spot a poorly functioning page or broken link. But please do let us know if you do, so we can get it fixed. Just post a comment or send an e-mail to editor@lifeonq.com. And stay tuned as we continue to fine-tune the design and add more content.

Googling for Georgia Voters

Today is the day. Vote, Georgia, vote! I’ve continued my research on races that affect us, and thought I’d share some links to articles, voter guides and other resources I’ve found. Just think of me as your own personal election Googler. Check out these links and be an informed voter.

A great resource for General Voting info covering multiple races:

• The AJC and League of Women Voter’s 2008 Voting Guide
• Project Vote Smart’s Guide to Congressional races across Georgia
• A look at Congressional races across the state from Southern Voice
• Candidates for State Senate from Project Vote Smart
• Candidates for State House from Project Vote Smart

On the race for Fulton County Sheriff:

• Creative Loafing’s Voter Guide for the Fulton County Sheriff race
• The AJC Editorial Board’s assessment of candidates for Fulton County Sheriff
• 11Alive News’ story on the Fulton County Sheriff candidate debate

On the Democratic race to challenge U.S. Senater Saxby Chambliss:

• Creative Loafing’s Voter Guide for the Senate race
• Southern Voice on the Five Democratic Candidates for U.S. Senate
• My look at the Democratic Candidates’ stand on GLBT issues
• My blog post on the Senate candidate’s positions on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

On the races for seats on the Public Service Commission:

This is an important race, people. Wake up–your utilities bills are skyrocketing. The winners in these races will be your advocate with the utility companies and will help drive policy on alternative energy in Georgia. Will this state focus on nuclear power or clean alternatives like wind and solar? The Public Service Commission will impact the energy options you will have for the future. Check out:

• Creative Loafing’s guide to the Public Service Commission candidates
• An AJC article on the PSC candidates

On the race for DeKalb County CEO:

• Creative Loafing’s Guide to the race for DeKalb County CEO
• The AJC’s endorsement of Burrell Ellis for DeKalb CEO
• GoDeKalb.com’s overview of the CEO candidates

So there you have it, dear voters. Incomplete to be sure, but I hope it is of some help to you. If you didn’t find what you needed, hey, do your own Googling!

Remember the Recent Unpleasantness and Vote

I was a very young girl, about the same height as the lever that closed the curtains to the voting booth, when my father took me by the hand and led me into the phone-booth-sized metal contraption to experience democracy in action. At the risk of dating myself, I’ll tell you that he pointed to the names in the governor’s race section of the poster-sized ballot, and let me push down the little lever next to the name “Jimmy Carter” for him. A decade later, I entered a voting booth in that same small north Georgia town and again pushed down a lever next to the name “Jimmy Carter,” this time casting my own vote–my first “official” one–to register my support for the re-election of then President Carter.

That first vote was for the losing candidate, a disappointment I have since experienced more often than not. You see, I was raised a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Democratic state. My father was named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One of his best friends named his son Joseph Kennedy. Where I came from, Southerners didn’t vote Republican. Georgia had been a Democratic-leaning state since the “Recent Unpleasantness of 1860 to 1864.” At the risk of sounding like a Cracker, I have to say that it was quite true, in my experience as a native of this state, that there was no tolerance for the party of Lincoln in the North Georgia mountains. For me, and for my family, it had nothing to do with slavery. There was no racial language or attitude in the community where I grew up. Being anti-Republican was a reaction to the destruction our area endured during the Civil War. There was a sense that we Southerners knew who we were. We were Democrats. Everyone was. In rural Georgia, there were a lot of yellow dogs. By the time I turned 18 and cast that first vote, things were starting to change. In little more than a decade, more than a century of Georgia loyalty to the Democratic Party was fading fast. I have never missed an election, and I have never voted for a single Republican. As a Georgian, that means I have supported the losing side in a lot of political races.

In the last several general elections, Georgia has been written off by the Democratic Party as too red to win. The Republican Party, and the media, also assume our color. Until now. Suddenly, with the audacity of Barack Obama’s candidacy, Georgia may be a battleground state. It’s just too bad the Georgia Democratic Party didn’t hold out much hope. Democrats have refused to fight in many critical Georgia races of the last several election cycles, fielding mostly unknown, inexperienced and drastically out-financed candidates. The party didn’t put up much of a fight in the 2004 election that sent Johnny Isaakson to the Senate. The state’s two strongest and best known Democrats, Kathy Cox and Mark Taylor, chose to fight instead for the Governor’s mansion in 2006. When the Democrats’ leading contenders fight each other rather than coming together to defeat Republicans, we all lose. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton replayed a similar scenario on the national stage this year. The wounds are still healing.

Now we find ourselves just four months away from the general election, and Georgia Democrats are barely paying attention. Even though there’s only a razor-thin Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, few seem to have noticed that Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss is up for re-election. Few seem aware of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee’s goal to maintain a “firewall” of about 45 Republican Senators, for the purposes of filibustering any legislation, rendering as ineffective a slim Democratic majority in the Senate and cloture-blocking a possible President Obama. Few Georgia Democrats seem motivated by what the Republicans consider their most difficult election cycle since Richard Nixon resigned. Secretary of State Karen Handel told the Atlanta Journal-Consitution that turnout will be mostly motivated by local elections, not the statewide contest that will decide the Democratic challenger to Sen. Chambliss. She projected turnout statewide to be only 30 percent. Where is the momentum for change?

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Georgia U.S. Senate Candidates Tell Positions on Gays in the Military

There are five Democratic candidates vying to challenge Sen. Saxby Chambliss in the general election this fall. In a debate aired earlier today on WSB-TV, LGBT issues came up only in a reference to the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. In a year that saw Senate debate on Hate Crimes legislation and the Employment Nondescrimination Act (ENDA), not to mention gay marriage in California, I would have expected gay and lesbian issues to be a more prominent topic for debate. But what with two wars, a tanking economy, the mortgage mess, and the expense of tanking up with $4.00-plus gasoline, there was plenty else to discuss.

In the debate, three of the five candidates took a strong stand against the ban on gays serving openly in the military. Former State Rep. Jim Martin, a Vietnam veteran, made one of the most direct statements on the ban, saying that the policy was misguided to begin with. Candidate Rand Knight Ph.D., an Atlanta businessman, also said the ban should be lifted. Also in agreement: Josh Lanier, who pointed out that Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has hurt our national security. He used the discharge of several gay Arabic linguists during wars in Arabic nations as a prime example. Mr. Lanier, a retired businessman from Statesboro, is a Vietnam veteran.

Less supportive were former investigative TV reporter Dale Cardwell, who gave a confusing answer that being gay in the military was not the issue, but rather sexual impropriety. He could be given the benefit of the doubt that he meant sexual impropriety by soldiers whether gay or straight. Or he could have been implying that gays are sexually promiscuous. Either way, his answer made me a little uncomfortable, especially when he added that the impact of GLBT servicemen and women on the other soldiers in the field needed to be studied. Mr. Cardwell, it already has.

Least supportive of all was controversial DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones. After a generic statement on non-descrimination, he ended his answer by saying he supports Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Mr. Jones also indicated that he voted for George W. Bush twice, which for me calls into question his candidacy as a Democrat as well as his overall judgement.

Feeling less than informed about the candidates’ positions on GLBT issues, I researched for any endorsements by GLBT political groups and coverage of the campaigns by the media. There has been virtual radio silence on this Democratic primary, leaving me feeling frustrated and uninformed. I then took a look at each candidate’s Website and contacted each campaign to get more clarification on their stands. More on what I learned will be blogged in my next post.

Disability, Transgender and Intersex Worlds Intersect at Charis

Charis Circle will direct a discussion on transgender and intersex life in an event at Charis Books & More on July 16 in a forum called Intersection: Disability, Transgender and Intersex Experiences. Three well-known activists - Caitlin Childs, Scott Turner Schofield and Anne Del Bene - will discuss how how their everyday lives, interactions and experiences intersect. Caitlin, Scott, and Anne will talk to each other, fishbowl style, about commonalities among lives touched by disability, intersex, and transgender experiences, then converse with the audience in what Charis describes as an open, frank, in-depth and sure-to-be-humorous discussion.

What: Intersection: Disability, Transgender, & Intersex Experiences
Where: Charis Books & More, 1189 Euclid Ave NE, in Little Five Points

When: Wednesday, July 16, 7:00-8:30pm

All of the programs are Charis Circle programs and are free of charge. Charis Circle exists to foster sustainable feminist communities, to work for social justice and to encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices. For more information, visit the Website at www.chariscircle.org

Women’s Guide to Atlanta Pride

So much to do. So many places to see and be seen. What’s a dyke to do at Atlanta Pride? Well, I’m going to try to help. This is Life on Q’s officially unofficial guide to Atlanta Gay Pride. In this post, you’ll get the 411 on where the women will be.

What’s different about this Atlanta Pride Guide is my attempt to describe some of the events and venues as I have experienced them as a “pride veteran.” I have lived in Atlanta since… well, since a long time ago… and I have attended Pride events and have patronized gay and lesbian nightclubs in Atlanta for what feels like forever. For out-of-towners trying to figure out what’s what and who’s where, consider me your dyke welcome wagon. I’m going to list all the events, meetings and such I’ve researched with a combination of the promoter’s description and, where I have one, my own opinion and experiences. Please take my opinions for what they are. If you’re old enough to get into a bar, you’re old enough to think for yourself and make your own choices. If you’re planning to visit Atlanta Pride from out of town, or you’re an Atlantan looking for a change of scenery from your usual haunts, read on.

Three Themes, One Pride

There are three different women’s events happening simultaneously during Atlanta Pride weekend. The “official” women’s events (i.e., promoted by the Atlanta Pride Committee) are sponsored by Curve Magazine and are branded as “Peach.” The Peach events culminate with a massive dance party Saturday night. Girls in the Night and Girlology 101, who regularly bring Atlanta women great events, are calling their weekend party package “Fever.” And why not–it will be hot, on many levels. And Traxx Girls is adapting some of their regular events for a pride audience under the theme “Honey.” Both Peach and Fever events have individual night cover charges or VIP passes for all events. Check the specific event details below for info on cover charges, where available.

Getting Out and Around

For any out-of-towners or Atlantans who have been living under a rock, you should know that Atlanta Pride has moved from Piedmont Park to the Atlanta Civic Center. Almost all of the women’s events are just a few blocks north and south of this new Pride Central. Many are in Little 5 Points, just a few blocks south and east of the Civic Center. Others are in Midtown, a few blocks north of Pride itself. Remember that 14th Street has been closed for construction and that the Peachtree Road Race will be creating congestion early in the morning on July 4th. But if you’re planning to kick-off Pride with Thursday night’s events, you’ll probably still be sleeping as thousands run down Peachtree Street. If you’re a morning person, you’ll want to plan your breakfast location accordingly.

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Gay on the Brain

Scientists have proven that gay men are like straight women, and lesbians are like hetero men. It’s not that my preference for pants gave it away, or my friend David’s girlish screams upon encountering a spider. No, apparently researchers in Sweden got inside our heads and saw similarities between the brains of homo sapiens who are oriented toward their same sex and their opposite sexes in the hetero world. A study by researchers at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm subjected 90 healthy people to the noisy confines of an MRI machine and PET scans, and discovered that lesbians and straight men had larger right hemispheres than gay men and straight women. The study was published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Further tests found additional evidence in the nerve connections of the amygdala, that part of the brain responsible for our “fight or flight” reactions and “orientation.” In an article by BBC News, Dr. Qazi Rahman, a lecturer in cognitive biology at the University of London, explained that the similarities in nerve connections among the oppositely-oriented sexes were significant because of the amygdala’s role in “orientating” (that’s British for “orienting”) the rest of the brain in response to an emotional stimulus, whether directing the brain during a “fight or flight” response, or when a potential mate comes to our brain’s attention. I find this interesting, because my response to a potential mate often seems to come from a completely different anatomical area.

Dr. Rahman further asserted that these differences could not be attributed to nurture, but more likely occurred naturally in the womb. “As far as I’m concerned there is no argument anymore - if you are gay, you are born gay,” he told the BBC.

Well then, that settles it. Swedish and British scientists agree: it’s all in our heads.

Californians Plan Their June Wedding Parties

It is near 5 p.m. here in Atlanta, meanwhile LGBT Californians have three more hours to wait before they can have the state’s permission to marry. According to a story by Reuters, some of the more gay-friendly cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco and West Hollywood) plan to begin issuing licenses and conducting state-condoned gay wedding ceremonies after the close of California business, when the Supreme Court ruling officially goes into effect.

One visible change to California marriage that I find somehow humurous, or at least subtly ironic, is a change to the state marriage license. Rather than referring to a bride and groom, the form now lists Party A and Party B. In my dark, dry humor, I find that change to be a benefit to everyone. Shouldn’t all weddings result in at least two parties?

I don’t mean to make light of such a significant step forward for gay rights. Most significant is California’s willingness to issue marriage licenses to citizens of any state, unlike Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage only for queers who have a legal address in the commonwealth. For the first time, our rights as citizens is not limited by our sexual orientation or where we get our mail. It’s more of a giant leap for our kind, rather than Massachusetts’ somewhat smaller step. But I have to admit that I see both the forest and the trees in what the California Supreme Court has given the LGBT community.

I can’t help but notice the timing of the ruling. Why do court decisions on LGBT issues seem to always come in an election year? Is it coincidence or carefully crafted timing cooked up by the vast right wing conspiracy? Nothing lights a fire under a fundamentalist Christian’s self-righteousness like the chance to vote in judgment of others. Call me paranoid, but it makes me wonder if they’re disguising their intent to get us with a Trojan Horse for a wedding present. Is California just another gift that will ultimately have to be returned? Will there even be time to write the thank-you notes? There is, after all, a marriage amendment on the ballot for this November, where a simple majority of simple-minded Californians could revoke the marriage licenses that will be issued in the six months until then.

Maybe I’m just one conspiracy theory away from A Beautiful Mind. Maybe I should just soften my jaded defenses and find beauty in the moment. So I’ll stop and smell the roses as Parties A and Parties B pass by on their way down the isle. Congratulations, everyone!

MEGA Answers the Question: “Maybe Baby?”

If the sound of your ticking biological clock is driving you crazy, you may want to spend some time with the MEGA Family Project this Saturday, June 14 from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. at UUCA. The LGBT family-focused organization is holding a workshop called Creating a Family: Choices for Prospective LGBT Parents. The day will include advice on your baby birthin’ options from professionals as well as personal stories about the issues faced, told by lesbian moms and gay dads who have already brought home their little bundles of joy and dirty diapers.

MEGA says the workshop will cover issues like open adoption, donor insemination, the current state of international adoptions, foster parenting, adopting from the foster care system and surrogacy, guided by professionals who work on these issues. Apparently The Stork was not available. An adoption attorney will advise you on the very important legal issues you need to consider in deciding to become a parent, and take questions from workshop attendees. Queer parents will share their personal journeys through the different methods available. Parental discretion is advised.

The workshop is $15, which even includes a pizza lunch, snacks and drinks. (If you cannot eat pizza, you can e-mail Kathy@megafamilyproject.org to discuss alternative menu choices.) There was no indication as to whether the drinks provided would include the liquid-courage adult beverages that some may require. You can register online anytime before the deadline, which is 11 p.m. tomorrow, Friday June 13.

Blogger’s Note: My feeble attempts at humor in this posting simply serve to express my personal fear of babies. This lesbian has never had even one fraction of a second of maternal instinct. I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ no babies, and I prefer to keep it that way. Besides, it’s probably best for this DNA to stop here. For those of you with the intestinal fortutitude, desire and boundless love to take on the task of child rearin’, more power to you. And don’t miss MEGA’s workshop, where you’re sure to get the strength you will need. Kathy Kelly and her crew have done amazing work for queer families, and I’m sure this workshop will be no exception. The MEGA Family Project provides support, education and advocacy for Georgia’s LGBT families and our children. All programs are open to everyone, regardless of whether or not you have children.