Renaissance LSV News - June 2005
Edited by Ellen Davidson
Ellens Corners
There will be a membership meeting of Renaissance LSV on Saturday on Saturday June 4 at the MCC Church on Jefferson St in Harrisburg. The doors open at 8 PM and the meeting is slated to begin at 8:30 PM. Please bring something to share for refreshments. See you at the meeting.
Last month our speaker was Lorraine Bock from Nightingale Health Centers in Harrisburg. She outlined the purpose and goals of the center and explained how it is a benefit to the LGBT community. An interesting discussion developed regarding the use of hormone replacement therapy.
Our program for the Month of June was supposed to have been on the Capital Chiropractic Center: unfortunately Dr Schneier had to cancel at the last minute. Kristen will be able to answer questions regarding this facility.:
Capital Chiropractic Center, Dr. Mark Schneier reaches out to the LGBT Community.
By Kristen Richards
What is good health?
Good health is a result of your mind and body parts working together in peace, harmony and balance. When the body is unbalanced, sickness, weakness, irritability and fatigue usually occur. What most individuals do not know is that it's your nervous system that ties it all together.
During the course of dieting, exercise, recuperating from surgery, staving off infections, your nervous system is required to work in synch so your body will respond as programmed by nature.
Over 110 years ago, the founders of chiropractic understood that good health and healing directly correlate to chiropractic and the nervous system.
What causes the nervous system to malfunction? Nerve interference at the spinal level is typically the cause. Major stresses such as a broken back, as witnessed with Christopher Reeves, are the most damaging. Less severe stresses, also damaging, can result from sports, car accidents, job, poor posture and home injuries. The effect is an altering of the normal nerve impulse that connects the brain to the body and often leads to ailments and prevents full and proper healing and expression of life.
Chiropractic care involves non-surgical and non-drug treatments. Targeted spinal adjustments, exercise, posture analysis and other forms of therapy are typical treatments. Chiropractic care has a low rate of malpractice, is safe and effective with no side effects.
Doctors of Chiropractic are required by all 50 states to undergo eight years of undergraduate and doctorate education and proper licensing. Each year, millions of people utilize chiropractic services to maintain healthy and happier lives.
For further information on Chiropractic care, call the Capital Chiropractic Center (717) 558-9292 peruse www.capchiro.com.
BOOK REVIEW
I just finished reading a fabulous book. The Riddle of Gender, by Deborah
Rudacille. She is a science writer at Johns Hopkins University. This book is a must read for anyone who thinks they are transgendered. The subject is attacked from various angles, historical, sociological, psychological, and medical. Harry Benjamin’s studies and standards are fully explained as well as HRT. Rudacille includes the most recent scientific research with personal narrative and interviews. Although there have always been transgendered individuals, there has not always been a transgender movement or community. In 1919, Magnus Hirschfield, a German physician, first provided treatment, counseling, and legal assistance for gays and transgendered at the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin. The first SRS was in Nazi Germany, the first American, Christine Jorgensen in 1952. Many of us may be transgendered due to the effects of DES during our mother’s pregnancy and other endocrine interrupting chemicals that have been released into the environment in the past. Transgendered individuals are definitely on the increase worldwide. Something may be causing this and I don’t think that it is simply due to coming out of the closet and going public. This book helps to answer the universal mystery of how we become ourselves and how to cope with the reality of being transgendered.---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MD Governor Ehrlich Signs the Hate Crimes Penalties Act
Maryland Becomes the Ninth State to Enact Trans-Inclusive Hate Crimes Legislation
The National Center for Transgender Equality is pleased to report that Maryland has just become the third state in 2005 to enact a major trans-inclusive law. Today, May 26, 2005, Maryland Governor Ehrlich signed the Hate Crimes Penalty Act. This act passed the State House by a vote of 93-41 in March and the State Senate by a vote of 31-13 in April and ensures that crimes against the transgender community, in addition to the gay, lesbian and bisexual community, will be fully investigated and prosecuted as hate crimes.
Maryland is the ninth state to pass hate crimes legislation that is inclusive of trans people. The other states are California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Maryland also joins Illinois and Maine in making 2005 a record year for the transgender community in terms of inclusion in state legislation. Illinois and Maine have both recently amended their Human Rights Ordinances to protect against discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
"Hate crimes send a message not only to the victims, but to entire communities of people, that their lives, identities, bodies are not acceptable and will be subject to violence. Transgender people, and other marginalized people, live in fear of this violence," said NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling. "Enacting the transgender-inclusive Hate Crimes Penalties Act sends a strong message that violence against trans people is not acceptable and will not be tolerated in the state of Maryland.
In March 2004, Keisling testified in favor of the Hate Crimes Penalty Act before the Maryland State Senate. Her testimony is available at http://www.nctequality.org/mdhatetestimony.pdf.
Governor Ehrlich also signed into law HB 407, the Safe Schools Reporting Act of 2005. This act requires incidents of harassment or intimidation against students in public schools, including harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity, to be reported to the Department of Education. It also requires the State Department of Education create a standard victim of harassment or intimidation report form.
NCTE congratulates the Maryland advocates, especially Equality Maryland and their transgender advocacy committee, for their hard work on this legislation and their unfailing commitment to maintaining trans-inclusion in the bills. NCTE also applauds the efforts of the transgender activists and allies who have made 2005 such an exceptional one for the trans community.
__________________________________________________
Caeden Dempsey
Field Director, National Center for Transgender Equality
1325 Massachusetts Ave, NW Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
202.639.6332 (v)
202.393.2241 (f)
cdempsey@nctequality.org
Hate crimes bill filed; ACLU endorses it
Eric Johnston, PlanetOut Network
published Thursday, May 26, 2005
As planned, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2005 on Thursday. The legislation that would add protection based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender and disability to existing federal hate crimes legislation.
The current law, passed in 1968, provides federal help to states and localities in prosecuting violent crimes based only on the victim's race, religion or national origin.
Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich, introduced the bill, along with co-sponsors Barney Frank, D-Mass; Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.; Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.
The bill includes language that satisfies groups that had raised concerns about previous versions.
For the first time, the proposal specifically mentions transgender people -- a move cheered by transgender advocates after years of lobbying.
"We realized that we needed to make a small change to last year's bill by explicitly including transgendered persons for protection under this bill. It is important to carefully identify those people who are most likely to be singled out for pernicious acts," said Rep. Frank.
The bill also satisfies free speech concerns raised previously by religious groups and the American Civil Liberties Union. For instance, under previous versions of the bill, there were concerns that Christians who speak out against homosexuality from the pulpit could be prosecuted.
The legislation removes the danger that out-of-context speech-related evidence would be used as a basis for convicting a person of a hate crime. It also eliminates the risk of prosecutors focusing on "guilt by association," for groups whose views might be considered bigoted but which have no specific role in committing violent acts.
"This carefully crafted measure shows that you can prosecute hate crimes without attacking freedom of expression," said Christopher E. Anders, an ACLU legislative counsel.
The ACLU also noted that the need for protections against hate crimes is growing. Under the Hate Crime Statistics Act, the FBI annually collects and reports statistics on the number of bias-related crimes reported by local and state law enforcement officials. In 2003, the FBI reported 7,489 incidents covered by the act. Of those, 3,844 were related to race, and 1,239 (more than 16 percent) were related to sexual orientation. Gender identity is not a category monitored by the act.
It is widely believed that hate crimes are seriously under-reported.
Under federal hate crimes legislation, the primary responsibility in prosecuting these crimes lies with the state, with the federal government providing assistance. Extending the federal law to include LGBT people would allow state and local authorities to take advantage of federal investigative resources and personnel to help prosecute such cases.
Calendar…..June 2005
Thurs June 2 – Smokin’ Words (poetry) – Club Dragonfly, Harrisburg 8 PM
Bingo – Pink Lizard 8:30 PM
Fri June 3 – Miss Central PA Pageant – Pink Lizard 9 PM
Sat June 4 – Renaissance LSV meeting – MCC church, Harrisburg 8 PM
Thurs June 9 – Bingo – Pink Lizard 8:30 PM
Fri June 10 – Disco Contest – Altlands Ranch
Open House at Nightingale Health Center
DJ and Dancing – no cover – Velvet Rope
Sat June 11 – White Party – Stallions
Thurs June 16 – Bingo – Pink Lizard 8:30 PM
Fri June 17 – Drag Show – Pink Lizard 10:30 PM
Sat June 18 – Miss Gay Eastern PA America Pageant – Velvet Rope 9 PM
Sun June 19 – Video Karaoke – Velvet Rope 9 PM
Thurs June 23 – Bingo – Pink Lizard 8:30 PM
Fri June 24 – White Party – hostess Stella (Stan) & Tami (Jeremy) – Velvet Rope 9 PM
Sat June 25 – Grand Reopening of Groove video lounge – Stallions
Drag show at 11:30 PM
Alexxus Kane Show – Red Star, Reading 10:30 PM
Meet the contestants for Miss Berks County Illusion – with Shania Shaine
Thurs June 30 – Bingo – Pink Lizard
