Cook County Jail to Separate Inmates By Gender Identity [Chicagoist]

Last month, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart implemented a comprehensive policy to separate inmates at Cook County Jail by gender identity, rather than birth sex. It's believed the policy is the first of its kind in the country. 

Prior to this policy, transgendered inmates at 26th and California were at risk for physical assault and harrassment because of the their gender identity. Dart's office worked with LGBT advocates, the Department of Corrections and Cermak Health Services to draft the policy, in which transgendered inmates are referred to a "Gender Identity Panel" of therapists and physicians before being placed into male or female wings of the jail. The policy also allows for transgendered inmates to carry toiletries and wear clothes consistent with their gender identity.

FULL ARTICLE

Agreed

What It Feels Like To Be Eaten Out « Thought Catalog

What It Feels Like To Be Eaten Out « Thought Catalog

Spelman College is hosting a summit on LGBT student/faculty/staff experiences

Facilitating Campus Climates of Pluralism, Inclusivity, and Progressive Change at HBCUs

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College is hosting an historic summit as part of an Arcus Foundation funded project that has examined issues of institutional climate, gender and sexual politics at HBCUs.  

The Summit is the culminating activity of a three-year advocacy project that engaged nine HBCUs on the particular experiences of LGBT students, faculty and staff in an attempt to facilitate institutional change that acknowledges, values and respects difference.

Target Audience  

Our target audience includes HBCU administrators, faculty, staff, and students---including our nine partner institutions---organizations and interested parties whose social justice work relates to LGBT issues. 

The Summit will present the results of the project, including issues that pertain to academic and student life; discuss research that places gender and sexuality in the Black community within a larger historical framework; and examine strategies and best practices that promote and support inclusive campus cultures. 

Get More Information

Black Civil Rights and Gay Marriage: New Film Explores Link [The Root]

“Marriage Equality: Byron Rushing and the Fight for Fairness” 

A new documentary explores the often touchy issue through a focus on Byron Rushing, a straight African-American politician from Massachusetts who made marriage equality a priority before it became a national movement.

FULL ARTICLE

Beneath My Hands

by Leonard Cohen

Beneath my hands
your small breasts
are the upturned bellies
of breathing fallen sparrows.
Wherever you move
I hear the sounds of closing wings
of falling wings.
I am speechless
because you have fallen beside me
because your eyelashes
are the spines of tiny fragile animals.
I dread the time
when your mouth
begins to call me hunter.
When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want to summon
the eyes and hidden mouths
of stone and light and water
to testify against you.
I want them
to surrender before you
the trembling rhyme of your face
from their deep caskets.
When you call me close
to tell me
your body is not beautiful
I want my body and my hands
to be pools
for your looking and laughing.

"Asi es la Cosa" [Mafalda]

 

 #324, Asi es la Cosa, Mafalda (1967)

Teacher: "My mom pampers me. My mom loves me."

Mafalda: "I'm happy for you, Ms. I see you have a wonderful mother."

Mafalda: "Now, please, can you teach us something important?"

To All My Cycling Sisters:

There's also the Chrome bag.