November 20th is the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). This year marks the 20th Anniversary of the original TDOR, established in the memory of Rita Hester, who was killed in 1998. The week before TDOR is Transgender Awareness Week. And while awareness of transgender issues has improved dramatically since 1999, several recent events demonstrate that…
Author: Clio
like an old pair of jeans
i slip depression on like an old pair of jeans softened and pliable with the familiarity of time this tear on the knee is where i scraped it when i fell down on the concrete that was harder than it looked that patch covers the place where the fabric was worn through by time and…
Leviathan
leviathan is a tapeworm inside my skull devouring the me that it finds it rises, roils, recoils, and leaves me hollow and alone as i stand against it, it warns me: boy, don’t make me destroy you and i ask: what if i’ve never been a boy? what would you have to destroy? — ptkh…
Reflecting on School Lockdown Drills
I am a public school teacher. As a result, I have experienced what is becoming a frequent event in public schools: The Active Shooter Lockdown Drill. I will begin by pointing out that there is not a single drill; it is a spectrum event, from the relatively boring to the downright terrifying. On the boring…
Misrepresentation Also Matters
I was a child in the 1970s and a teen in the 1980s. These days, LGBTQIA characters have a solid, increasingly even-handed presence in mainstream entertainment. In my childhood, they didn’t. I can remember three TV shows in particular that shaped my perspective on gay and transgender men: All were sitcoms, and only one featured…
Proper Pronouns Are Important, But Still We Struggle
International Pronouns Day is the third Wednesday of October, which was October 16th this year. My pronouns are they/them. But more on that later. ◊♦◊ I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why, of all the LGBTQ+ issues, the matter of using declared pronouns seems to upset so many people. As I wrote recently, I…
Why Ellen Is Wrong
Last week, the LGBTQ+ community had three significant stories. ◊♦◊ One was Friday being National Coming Out Day, a day for LGBTQ+ persons to tell whomever they please about their sexual orientation and gender identities. A lot has happened since the first NCOD in 1988. The Supreme Court has ruled that both same-sex marriage (Obergefell…
“Joker”: A(nother) Violent White Male Narrative
Full disclosure: I have not seen “Joker.” I have no immediate plans to. As Grandpa says in “The Lost Boys,” “Read the TV Guide, you don’t need a TV.” Honestly, part of me doesn’t even want to write this, because it will give the movie more attention. But ultimately, this movie itself doesn’t really matter….
The Bargain
This has always been the deal. What I get: All the benefits and privileges that come with looking like a heterosexual, cisgender man. What I give up: The right to fully be myself. This has always been the deal. What I get: The right to fully be myself. What I give up: The Devil drives…
It’s Not Just a Pronoun
A few weeks ago, the lexicographers at Merriam-Webster continued doing their job by adding a non-binary meaning to “they”: “4. used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.” Because this was a controversial act, a blogger at the site explained the decision: “All new words and meanings that we enter in…