1/22/14

Two Transgender woman arrested at the 2004 NYC RNC turn down share of 18M for a shot at real justice

Arrested protesting at the 2004 RNC in NYC two trans woman are standing up for what they believe even if doing that costs them a share of the largest protest settlement on record.

Two transgender women, Kaitlyn Tikkun and Kate Freitag, say that police groped them to determine whether place them in men or women's lockups, under a systemic policy that took the NYPD eight more years to reform.
A Jane Doe corrections officer told Tikkun that she would be searched to determine if she was "a boy or a girl," according to the complaint. 
"As Ms. Tikkun begged the officers not to forcibly search her because she had experienced rape in the past, she was shoved up against a wall and her arms were restrained" by three female corrections officers, the complaint states.
Ignoring Tikkun's protests, the officers allegedly said that they were "just following orders," and touched her breasts and her genitals.
After Tikkun had been placed in a cell, a male officer who was not in the room at the time of the search old her, "oh, you're the one," according to the complaint.
Another male officer later chimed in, "oh, you're the one trying to find out if you're a boy or a girl." 
Weber, who also represents Frietag, said in a phone interview that this client's experiences were similar to those of Tikkun, with a few important distinctions. Frietag had been searched at the pier rather than Central Booking, and male officers conducted the search, Weber said.
The male officers' confusion about what to do was like a Marx Brother's routine, except that it "wasn't funny," Weber added. 
Tikkun's lawyer Andrea Ritchie said that she was involved in the negotiations that the led the NYPD to reform their policies toward transgender prisoners in an October 2012 memo titled "Department Policy Regarding Gender Identity."
It instructed corrections officers to address transgender prisoners by their preferred names and sexual identities.
Speaking of these changes, Ritchie said: "In our case, the policy objective has now been achieved and now it's really a question about compensating our client for her injuries, which were not insignificant." ~ Court House News


Source Court House News On Nov. 22, 2004, 24 protesters sued New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and dozens of other NYPD cops and officials for false arrest, punitive detention, abuse of process and other constitutional violations. They said the city had an indiscriminate mass arrest policy that called for the use of mesh netting and lines of police officers to barricade and corral large groups of protesters, reporters, legal observers, and bystanders, without giving audible dispersal orders.

In their original complaint, the plaintiffs said they received "cruel and inhumane" treatment in cold, loud, chemical-strewn, makeshift cells in Pier 57, along the Hudson River.
"Guantanamo-on-the-Hudson" was a nickname given to the pier by more than one attorney speaking Wednesday at a press conference outside New York City Hall.

"On information and belief, the floors of the cages in Pier 57 were covered with numerous highly toxic chemicals and substances, including, on information and belief, those known to be carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, hepatogenic, and immunotoxic ... The floors of the cages in Pier 57 were also covered in other dirt and grime," the original complaint stated.

The protesters said in their complaint that city police taunted them and said they would be held "until George Bush left town.

The following video was discovered by the NYCLU during the trial. The video recorded by police shows what was described as "the most quite protest ever" by a witness.



The 2004 RNC protest as documented by one of the journalists who spent time in NYC's gitmo.




1/21/14

On Grantland editor Bill Simmons faux Mea culpa for outing and subsequent suicide of a transgender woman


Grantland editor in chief Bill Simmons wrote an article describing the events that led to the publishing of Caleb Hannan's Dr. V’s Magical Putter in which he outed a transgender woman during the course of writing.

Lengthy and reading more like an excuse at times, most have taken it as an apology, but somehow Simmons denies any curability with causing Mrs. V's suicide.


Simmons wrote: Caleb’s biggest mistake? Outing Dr. V to one of her investors while she was still alive.

That's the crux of our outrage Mr. Simmons

From Caleb Hannan's article "Dr. V’s Magical Putter"

Caleb wrote:.....I asked if she could help me confirm a few facts about her past life. When I heard back, the patient woman I had spoken to on the phone had been replaced by an angry, mocking scientist. She wrote:

"As I clearly stated at the onset of your unsolicited probing, your focus must be on the benefits of the Science for the Golfer not the scientist, however, at this juncture you are in reversal of your word,"

Then Caleb contacted an investor about what he learned about her being trans and wrote"

"Maybe the most surprising thing about my conversation with Kinney was how calmly he took the news that the woman he thought was an aerospace engineer had once been a man, and a mechanic."

Evidently Kinney contacted Mrs. V. with the information Caleb had given him.

Caleb then wrote:

"The last time I heard from Dr. V she warned me that I was about to commit a hate crime."

So please, do not tell me Caleb wasn't responsible in some way for her committing suicide.

As far as the revelation that editors being responsible for that article being published, it wouldn't have been, in its present form, unless the author had supplied Grantland with information that broke all rules of confidentiality, which he did.

Any journalist worth a grain of salt does not break a promise of confidentiality, regardless if the the persons cis or trans unless it has to do with a major crime, which her being transgender isn't.

Grantland is leaving the offensive post up as some sort of monument to their transphobic ignorance. They surely aren't doing that as a favor to us. Mr. Simmons, our lives are surrounded by ignorance based hatred everyday. We really don't need another monument. Please take that post down if you really care about transgender people.

Theirs an excellent piece on this at the Washington post Grantland offers two sides on divisive article about transgender inventor who killed herself.



Gender swap machine, Experience another gender.


How would it 'feel' if your eyes told you the body you were caressing was of the opposite gender? Ok, how would that feel if your fingers told you that was what you were feeling was of the opposite gender?

What if one day there was a machine that could do all that and make you hear yourself as the opposite gender? Besides the obvious sexual implications what impact could this have on society?



Gender Swap - Experiment with The Machine to Be Another from BeAnotherLab on Vimeo.


1/19/14

Cece McDonald tells MHP "Jail wanted me to hate myself as a trans woman"


In her first interview after being released from prison for defending herself in a transphobic and racial attack Cece talks about what it was like to be incarcerated in a male prison.






Sports page "Grantland" outing of a trans woman results in her killing herself

GRANTLAND lurker Caleb Hannan's article about a revolutionary putter seemed at first,a good job of investigative reporting. Hannan a self described golfing enthusiast received one of DR. V's Oracle putters as a gift. Despite realizing statistically his putting didn't improve he was still enthusiastic about the Oracle.

I then went to a public course to try the Oracle on some actual greens. I didn’t make every putt — far from it. But I did seem to sink more than usual. And like McCord, the more I used the putter the more I became its unofficial pitchman. I began to look forward to the “oohs” and “ahhs” from strangers when they would first see me use the club to pick the ball out of the hole. I enjoyed telling the wild story behind the putter’s invention. It turned a normal round of golf into an act of seduction. And it was all because Dr. V’s club had me putting with a lot more confidence.

I was ready to proclaim her an unknown genius with an idea that could revolutionize golf. All that was left to do was make sure the stories about engineering accolades and top-secret defense projects were legit. It was, I thought, just a formality.

Perhaps in hopes of cashing in on a new golfing craze Hannan became a advocate for its new design until...he discovered DR. V was transgender and not a MIT scientist who worked on stealth fighters as she had claimed..

\tau = I \alpha.

Caleb, apparently in a fit of transphobic rage forgot his promises of confidentiality, the cornerstone of investigative reporting, and outed Ms.V a transgender woman which resulted in her committing suicide. The story would have barely made a ripple without outing her, a fact Grantland was well aware of.

Hannan reveling in the attention tweeted



How about if you said you are sorry for purposely inflicting such unnecessary pain on a fellow human? It would be appropriate if Grantland editors fired you, then you could say, got a job for a lurker? But no, Grantland posted this horrific picture of the Oracle putter in a trash can the same as Hannan did with Mrs. V's life.



Grantland posted this picture to facebook making sure all who read it know how they feel about trans people. In the trash.

The top two comments on the Grantland facebook page sum it up pretty well.

  • James Saliba Words fail the callousness and lack of ethics that Hannan displays in the writing and pursuit of this story. A disgusting dismissal of a trans person's personal struggle that the author exploited for cheap hits. And to treat her suicide as a result of his bullying as an oddity? A "weird story?" Positively disgusting.
  • Reuben Poling A journalist's fidelity to the truth should not come before a human's responsibility to respect another human. An article on Dr. V could have been written that discussed her dodgy business practices and falsified credentials WITHOUT ONCE mentioning her sexuality and trans* background. It was irrelevant to the story. Instead, Hannan broke his promise to " focus on the science and not the scientist," engaged in bigoted rubbernecking and hounded a mentally-ill woman from an at-risk population to suicide.

    But hey, HELLA PAGE VIEWS. You got mine this time, just like every day for a while. You won't be getting them anymore.

You can still go to DR. V's YAR website  and customize a putter with a inscription if you wish..

 R.I.P. Dr. V.




Indigent Ukranian protests against Russian style anti LGBT laws erupts into violence

Breaking: Ukrainian protesters demanding a end to new Russian oppresion and LGBT propaganda laws. #euromaidan #ukraine #Kyiv Transgender and the rest of the LGB community in Ukraine lives rest on the outcome of these protests after the goverment sold out to Gazprom, Russia's tool for oppression and imprisonment of bordering countries.

UkraineNews UkraineKommersant

potatogedoRT @zaytsev_eng More photo by #kommersant from the center of #Kiev after 30000 people opposition rally (#Ukraine) http://t.co/A5yjuhkAwm


lyalyaHorskyRT @MaximEristavi The crowd at the standoff looks bigger than the protest inside the barricaded #EuroMaidan pic via @euromaidanhttp://t.c…


lterrenesRT @RKacinskas News: #Ukraines police use tear gas against #euromaidan protesters who demand to revoke harsh anti-protest laws. http://t.…


tora3xRT @BuzzFeedNews Protesters, police clash in Ukraines capitalhttp://t.co/fELFdHG8ey http://t.co/x00sLKGROp


FroodyWiscoRT @BSpringnote Foto of #euromaidan. All those ppl are in contempt of Yaniks new assembly and protest law. Jail? Lets c Yanik try http:/…


JozeBiscakRT @ChristopherJM Remnants of smoke canister thrown by police at protesters. #kyiv #ukraine #euromaidan http://t.co/FGRVqV7VkE


enrsamaRT @electionista Opposition leader @Klitschko sprayed with a powder fire extinguisher during #Kiev rally http://t.co/sE7mcfz8EM http://t.c…


d_poRT @gkates A better shot of the police bus on fire from @radiosvobodafeed http://t.co/Lk0XDCgPZ4 #euromaidan http://t.co/n29rImIqyS


CrispyPuppetRT @RT_com PHOTO: Riot police bus engulfed in flames in #Kiev via @lb_ua http://t.co/nf9yBH0gN0 LATEST UPDATES:http://t.co/dtNPO4j5os


newsgonPHOTO / Fires in central #Kiev break out as buses are set alight and protesters clash with riot police. #Ukraine http://t.co/EACElVP40J


dhdfisherRT @MaximEristavi A police bus on fire, in 600 meters from #Ukraines parliament pic by @aronets http://t.co/OKTJQDLtwJ #Euromaidan


Neferure1RT @RFERL A police bus set on fire in standoff near gov. quarterhttp://t.co/ByiXBLEly7 #euromaidan http://t.co/9uc6P5sxfX


mclayfieldRT @markmackinnon Photo of Ukraine opposition leader Vitali @Klitschko after he was reportedly sprayed with a fire extinguisher: http://t.…


PzFeed: Ukraine opposition leader Vitali @Klitschko after he was reportedly sprayed with a fire extinguisher. Via @nycjim http://t.co/8R8c1dDvqs


Asher_WolfRT @ChristopherJM Protesters, police clashing on Hrushevskoho. 20+ smoke bombs thrown by police. Protesters throwing objects. #ukraine htt…


grace8mingRT @ChristopherJM Protesters have taken over at least 3 police buses, one is burning. Clashes continue. #euromaidan #ukraine http://t.co/G…


EastOfBrusselsRT @VitaliiSediuk gas, stones and bus on fire #Euromaidanhttps://t.co/UeiDiGoFRp


2021RT @maxseddon Protesters in Kiev set a police bus on fire, reportedly with Molotov cocktails. Pic via @lb_ua http://t.co/H0kSWnPkzM


IndyradmamaRT @Yaro_RT Firecrackers thrown at the police in Kievhttp://t.co/DNdQceyMLL via @lb_ua


joshuafoustRT @RFERL From livestream of Kyiv standoff between police and protesters now #euromaidan http://t.co/ZnqX2QoVF1http://t.co/vdmPtL4Da3


Andriy_KhomaRT @MaximEristavi Flairs, gas everywhere. Some are chanting Revolution! #Euromaidan #Kyiv http://t.co/3JobAW2ul0


kaatje36RT @nycjim Dramatic live stream of #Ukraine protesters clashing with riot police in #Kievhttp://t.co/x7CvyJo1P6 http://t.co/QFS99VdmdB


katalin_potaRT @RT_com PHOTO: Protesters clash with police in Kiev after 10k took to streets for anti-govt rally http://t.co/dtNPO4j5os http://t.co/3D…