Impending "Realness:" Transgender Communities Dealt a Blow By REAL ID

[LostInTime]

TG Crossroads
Cole Krawitz

After the passage of the REAL ID Act -- a dangerous add-on to an $82 billion military spending bill in 2005 -- the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform recommended using REAL ID for voter identification at the polls. Election reformers and civil rights advocates responded with a swift outcry. They did so again a few weeks ago, when Senator Mitch McConnell tried to attach a REAL ID requirement for voters to the immigration bill. The challenge continues as photo ID bills sweep state legislatures, and as states move to implement REAL ID legislation by 2008. Hurricane survivors, African Americans, Latinos, grandmas and grandpas, young people -- you might have to kiss even more of your rights goodbye. That should scare you.

[Thundra]

Real I.D. has nothing to do with national security, and everything to do with constructing a national database of all people that fall outside of "the norm." In Germany, it was creating the master race. In amerika in the 21st century, it is about rooting out anyone that does not comply with their religious directives. Then, later they can use the list to easily identify and round up all of the "deviants" into containment camps. The end of life as we knew it is over, and the era of the fascist is here. Comply or die.

[Renae.Lupini]

or move to Canada

[Hazumu]

So, can we prepare a list of countries where we can seek asylum, and what their entry requirements are?

Really, I've a feeling we're at a cusp -- things are either about to get much better, or much worse.

I want to have an exit strategy handy, just in case the latter...

Karen

[LynnER]

Yeah, Im with Karen...  sence I allready live on the border I wonder if I can maby get asylum from mexico...  I mean really, with so many people trying to get out, it shouldnt be too hard to get in... right?

[Renae.Lupini]

I am voting for Canada or New Zealand. If I could afford to get to NZ as easy as it would be to get to Canada then I would definitely go there.

[Keira]

I'd like to move to Canada, except I'm already there  .

The weather really sucks for 4 months. But, besides that its great.
Very soon, the canadian dollar will go over the US dollar value.
Our economy is going gangbuster too.

New-Zealand is nice, went there for 18 days in 1997, but its kind of remote, isolated (I felt more isolated there than in Australia which is at least close to SE Asia. I don't quite like the Auckland region, but the south Island is very beautyful.

[Hazumu]

Trannies who transition do not generally lack for smarts, talent, drive and ambition.  We may also have a few negative points, but the positive often does outweigh that.

I remember hearing something Eric & Stan video on the 10couples.org website.  Eric and Stan - a gay couple, had emigrated from San Francisco to Canada, to escape gay persecution and to be able to legally partner.  Somewhere it was said that America's loss was Canada's gain.

What America doesn't realize in the Fred Phelps - James Dobson evangelical Dominionist-led persecution is mentioned in this Time Magazine article on The Lavender Heart of Texas;

Ensorcelled by strivers and status, Dallas has always tried hard to be sophisticated. And the city knows a mathematical equation about American city life: urban sophistication requires gay civilization. Gays have gentrified once crumbling neighborhoods like Oak Lawn in Dallas; many gays have relocated to the city to work at companies like American Airlines that have a significant gay customer base.

Trans may be different from Gay/Lesbian in many ways, but I believe we ALL share the qualities that make that 'urban sophistication' happen, as well as talents that do us and enlightened employers well in creative industries.

Folks, America needs us more than we need America.

What would happen if everybody in the LGBT community left for places that accept and respect us as human beings?  The U S and A would accelerate its decline towards a provincial third-world has-been republic 'governed' by corrupt politicians.

So, where's that list?

Karen

[Seshatneferw]

Trans may be different from Gay/Lesbian in many ways, but I believe we ALL share the qualities that make that 'urban sophistication' happen, as well as talents that do us and enlightened employers well in creative industries.

Indeed. It's not really gays as such, but rather the cultural diversity, and the resulting atmosphere that one can (and should occasionally) do something that does not conform to social norms. If a society wants to survive in the modern post-industrial world, it needs freaks -- and it needs to accept those freaks, not just tolerate them.

What would happen if everybody in the LGBT community left for places that accept and respect us as human beings?  The U S and A would accelerate its decline towards a provincial third-world has-been republic 'governed' by corrupt politicians.

Sadly enough, that's one thing where Heinlein's future history, written in the 1950's, seems to be right on track. Five years until Nehemiah Scudder. 
I'm pretty confident it won't go quite that far, of course, but it's funny in a scary sort of way.

  Nfr

[Renae.Lupini]

I'd like to move to Canada, except I'm already there  .

The weather really sucks for 4 months. But, besides that its great.
Very soon, the canadian dollar will go over the US dollar value.
Our economy is going gangbuster too.

New-Zealand is nice, went there for 18 days in 1997, but its kind of remote, isolated (I felt more isolated there than in Australia which is at least close to SE Asia. I don't quite like the Auckland region, but the south Island is very beautyful.

What are some of the more progressive and modernized areas of Canada? What four months are the bad ones?

[LostInTime]

I believe in standing and fighting. Eventually one runs out of areas to run to and by then, it is most definitely a lost cause.

[LynnER]

Im all for standing and fighting... but the IRA accomplished allot by fighting from someone elses doorstep rather than there own...  Sometimes its safer to retreat and replan after you know whats to happen than to blindly fight uncertanty in the face of uncertanty...  what good would it be to end up a martyer if there is noone to remember?

[Renae.Lupini]

This country has become an autonomous empire with no regard for anyone other than those in control. The real ID would not be my main motivation for leaving the US. It would be the other litany of reasons that would make me leave. I agree with Lynn as well, what is the point of fighting when there is no one left to fight for? We can protest and we can make a stand but we can't make the decisions or choices to that influence positive change in our society.

I am going to step off my soapbox before I get to entrenched in this.

[LostInTime]

Why stand and fight? Has the ideal of standing up for what is right taken leave of those within this country? Have we sunk so far below our ancestors who shed blood on this land in order to start a new nation?

I do not stand and fight for just for those who are transgender nor the other who fall in the LGBTIQ listings. Nor is it just for those who are black, asian, latino, or whatever. I do so for those who are individuals. Those who are willing to recognise that while society has it's functions that without those of us who think on our own, it is surely lost.

I do not stand just for the people but for the ideal and while I may indeed be killed, die in some camp, or fade into obscurity.... the idea of freedom for everyone will always remain.

[Lisbeth]

What would happen if everybody in the LGBT community left for places that accept and respect us as human beings?  The U S and A would accelerate its decline towards a provincial third-world has-been republic 'governed' by corrupt politicians.

We have an excellent historical example of what that process looks like.

During the Islamic Golden Age (fl. 622 AD - 1258 AD in Gregorian calendar; or 1 AH - 656 AH in Islamic calendar), scholars and engineers of the Islamic world contributed enormously to philosophy, science, and technology, both by preserving and building upon earlier traditions and by adding their own inventions and innovations. Scientific and intellectual achievements blossomed in the Golden Age, and passed on to Europe to be expanded upon in the European Renaissance.[1] The Golden Age of Islamic history roughly corresponds to the Middle Ages or Dark Ages in Christian Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age

And then the religious conservatives took over, and see where they are today.  That's the future of our society.

[LostInTime]

You posted about Islam! Expect the feds to show up at any time. 

[Lisbeth]

You posted about Islam! Expect the feds to show up at any time. 

Oh, they've been watching me for years.  Must be really boring.

[Laura Eva B]

I'd like to move to Canada, except I'm already there  .

The weather really sucks for 4 months. But, besides that its great.
Very soon, the canadian dollar will go over the US dollar value.
Our economy is going gangbuster too.

What are some of the more progressive and modernized areas of Canada? What four months are the bad ones?

I loved my brief experience of Montreal ... soo cosmopolitan, civil and cultured !  Absolutely friendly people. I guess a wonderful city to live in  .

But hey, Quebec is French speaking, and fiercely fights for its independence, culture and seperate identity, distinct from the all-peursuasive, invasive, world dominating, "English" speaking, American (non-) culture ! 

And even the rest of Canada seems so much more "adjusted" socially and politically than the USA !

Laura x

[Chaunte]

I believe in standing and fighting. Eventually one runs out of areas to run to and by then, it is most definitely a lost cause.

While I hate to use the phraase, you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

It's time to stand and fight.

Chaunte

[Keira]

Worse months for weather  January-March. Outside those 3 months, there are 1 month in autumn or spring (usually not both) that completely sucks: November and April are good candidates the other ends up being a tossup (could be good or bad).

Late february and March are the worse from a psychological point of view, its dreary and winter is starting to wear you down.

The "good months" are usually May to October.
December is slightly cold, but it doesn't rain, there's a little snow and the pre-holliday atmosphere is great. So, I'll add it to the good months.
(So, its 7 months that are good).

The city of Montreal itself is very progressive, its like a gay and TS heaven, the rest of the province, not so much. You can pass or not pass in the central neighborhoods, people won't blink.