For the most part, I believe I could accept Christians in my life as friends or family as long as they are socially conscious on how they worship. I don’t necessarily agree with their practices but at the very least, they shouldn’t support churches which support a homophobic slant on politics and homophobic organizations such as Focus on the Family. And if they support churches that do support homophobia and heterosexism, then they are encouraging the priesthood to continue to oppose equal rights. This shows that the idea of separate but equal is still alive and well in our society today, even though it is starting to fall away more and more. The priesthood is starting to lose ground on this front, but it does make me wonder, why is it that more and more Christians don’t stand up against their leadership and exclaim that what the leadership is doing is wrong. If they are supposedly good people of the Lard, I would have to wonder why it is that they allow such bigotry and hate in their church. Not only that, but the egregious “misinterpretation” of scripture to make the Xian bible sound homophobic (some people think that it isn’t despite all of the evidence inside of the book that it truly is). But one thing I would have to ask is whether or not I would be able to accept and respect people who have a world belief that stems from faery tales and stories from the dark ages. Continue reading ‘Can I Accept Christians in my Life?’
Author Archive for Jessica
Well, I didn’t think I would post again so soon, but alas, it looks like I have been drawn in by America’s crappiest airline, US Airways. I am in Florida right now typing this post out on my boyfriend’s computer but it took forever to get here, an ominous start to the new year. I was awake and ready to go by midnight (Mountain Standard Time) and making sure everything is packed, I am properly showered and I have breakfast before I set out for Denver International Airport. I catch the RTD SkyRide to the airport (hey, it’s free on New Years’ Day until 6am and I have a flight departing on New Years’ Day at 8am, supposedly). It is a long ride, but I finally make it from Cold Springs park-n-Ride to DIA and I rush up to the ticket counter. I try to figure out where the hell I am supposed to board since there are several different queues at the US Airways ticket section. There are kiosks that are for people without any baggage (I had carry-on baggage, and I wasn’t the one that purchased the airfare - so a kiosk that queries me for a credit card isn’t going to get much from me) and a fairly formidible queue for those with baggage. I enter the queue for people with baggage and I was asked by a member of US Airways staff whether or not these bags would be checked. They would, so I was directed that I could use the kiosks for people without baggage. I leave the queue and I go back to the kiosks and they ask for a credit card (yeah, I didn’t notice this prior to passing by). I find that I have to re-enter the queue for people with baggage, since I didn’t have Dominic’s credit card with me. I learn that there is a small button that I could have touched so I could check in, which I eventually did. Continue reading ‘I will NEVER fly US Airways again’
… must come to an end. I grow tired of blogging and I guess that it’s no longer fun for me anymore, and it feels as though I am just pounding out unoriginal content, no matter what I do. Running a blog has become more of a nuisance than anything else and I think it’s time that I put this project to a proper and well-deserved rest. I am not completely killing the blog, per se, all the original posts and information that I have posted in the last few months will still be available on the website in some form or fashion. Furthermore, I will still need a space to post original content, when I eventually have the time and desire to come up with some and a blog seems like a suitable place to do so. However, I cannot continue trying to post every day or regularly when, in all honesty, my heart is not in this anymore. Therefore, I have no choice, but to let this old blog die - but not through any sort of actual action (such as deleting the archives or immediately moving everything around all helter skelter). Continue reading ‘All Good Things…’
One thing that the movement uses to try to keep out transwomen and make them into the ‘other’ category, if not try to make them men, is the idea of Womyn-born womyn. Womyn-born womyn is a form of discrimination that exerts cisgendered privilege of having born into a sex that accurately and correctly corresponds to a person’s gender and having been fortunate to be raised and nurtured in their gender identity. Not all people are that lucky and some of us have to deal with sexism and classism in order to rise above our own internalized homophobia, transphobia and prejudices to come to an understanding of who we are and how to get to where we want. Only after that can we persevere in transitioning and after we have successfully transitioned, we have two options. We can fall into the cisgendered world and woodwork and never reveal our transsexual status to anyone other than those that must absolutely know. Or we can stay in the gender community and mentor to other transwomon and fight for our equal rights so that we can remove the stigma of being a transwomon. I have chosen to be a lifetime member of the gender community, as a mentor, a fighter and an activist. However, one of my biggest challenges is to fight womyn-born womyn only spaces and to try to help feminism become inclusive of all womyn. Continue reading ‘Womyn-born Womyn, Discrimination in Sheep’s Clothing’
For the first time since I came out, I was friends with someone who just had a baby. The mother and I lived in the same building and I really got to know her when she was pregnant with her child. In fact, we were planning on having me officiate their civil marriage (until we learned the fact that couples can technically officiate their own marriages here in Colorado). But the thing that struck me as odd was the fact that she was so certain of her child’s gender even though the child was just born. How could anyone be so certain about a child’s gender at such a young age when the child is not able to express it, let alone speak? I tried bringing this up to her and I was taken aback when she gave me the following response. My child is a boy because he has a penis and he’s straight too. My question to the mother is, well, how do you know this? Continue reading ‘How do the Parents Know?’
I want you to know something if you don’t like my site nor my content, you are more than welcome to comment about this site, either on it or on the blog. I accept trackbacks and comments from almost all people, and I only reject trackbacks and comments based on violations of privacy or bad behaviour. And when I say bad behaviour, I have defined what I consider bad behaviour in a previous post which I labelled as the de facto rules for commenting on this website. Does that mean I immediately and unfairly censor comments which disagree with me and allow absolutely no disagreement about the content on this website? Absolutely not, and I have tried to use the commenting features on this site to help facilitate debate and criticism. If you are willing to debate in the spirit of coming out wrong, then feel free to comment - this does include myself. If I am wrong, I am not scared to admit it - hell, I am human, being wrong many times is a given! Plus, contrary to public belief, I am not like my father, who was scared to death of being wrong and chastised those who made even the most tiny mistake. Continue reading ‘You Don’t Like My Site?’
Many times, when I read or re-read the works of transphobic people under the banner of feminism such as Lisa Vogel or Janice Raymond, one has to wonder why these people are so obsessed with deriding transsexuals. Why they want to limit spaces for women to those fortunate enough to have been born cisgendered is beyond me. I don’t see why it is that they feel that transsexuality threatens the feminism movement, or what evidence they have that we are agents of the patriarchy. I know for a fact that I am not an agent of the patriarchy, but we will most certainly get back to that part in a moment. The fact of the matter is that the idea of womon-born-womon is discrimination, how could it not be, given that it tries to define who is and who isn’t a womon? It tries to exclude us from a movement that is supposed to work for us by it’s very simple and basic definition. Womyn helping womyn, so long as everyone who helps or is helped is a womon-born womon. So far, their claims do not include discrimination on colour or income level, but if we don’t challenge these attempts to define the imagined lines of gender - we could very well end up with a feminism that is acting much like the religious reich. Continue reading ‘Defining Gender is Like Defining Marriage’
It has always been said that women have a distinct shopping gene but I have never believed it until I started to transition and settle into my life. But it is absolutely true, there is such a thing as retail therapy and I am an avid practitioner. Given the fact that I live on a limited income, of course, most of what that entails is trying on clothes, most of which I will never buy nor see ever again. I did, however, get some neat stuff such as a cute little red dress and a few skirts from thrift shops throughout Denver. I also have a few things that I am going to have to lose weight to wear and I absolutely plan to lose the big stomach that I have in order to do so. But it never hurts to look around and see just what is out there and how I look in it. ;-P Continue reading ‘A Distinct Shopping Gene’
I was browsing around on the Internet and I saw a post on the American Atheists blog about an advertisement campaign that the American Humanist Association has started in the Washington DC area. There are now advertisements on the sides of buses that read to the effect of “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake” and include a website for DC non-believers to connect, as well as to help plant a seed of doubt in the minds of the believers. After all, all believers need a seed of doubt, or at least something in their minds to help them out of their insanity. And I don’t think just me sending out cards that read “Heathen’s Greetings” is going to do it, unless we are all ready to say it on the streets. I believe that atheists need to be more willing to embrace holidays that have no real religious meaning (and Christmas really doesn’t have any real religious meaning since it has been so commercialized). I say either “Happy Solistice”, “Happy Saturnalia”, “Merry XXXmas” just to rile people up. Continue reading ‘A Godless Christmas, Just Like the Other 364 Days of the Year’
What I Would Do at a Funeral
I have read a lot of comments asking why atheists would cry at a funeral since we are (supposedly) such evil and immoral people. And besides wondering what the hell these people are smoking when they made this statement, there is one question that begs to be asked. Why would you think that we wouldn’t be crying at a funeral, any funeral - especially those of people that I truly love and care about? These people were obviously important in my life, so I must make an effort of honouring their life through a celebration of their life. I would most definitely cry at the funeral of a person that I cared for, simply because of the fact that someone I loved, cared for and deeply respected is no longer among us in this world. It only makes sense that I would want people in my life that would do the same at my own funeral, although when I die, I doubt I would be hurt much that people wouldn’t come to my funeral. But that’s neither the point because I go to funerals to remember the person and the amount of their life that they were so gracious to share with me. To mourn the loss of a great friend, because it wouldn’t be a familial loss simply because I don’t have any family to lose. Continue reading ‘What I Would Do at a Funeral’