Waltham House is a group home for “designed to provide a safe and supportive living environment for up to 12 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) youth ages 14-18. The program also serves youth who may be questioning (Q) their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.”   You can learn more about Waltham House by visiting their web site here.

That’s a great thing since Mona Rae Mason from the Transgender Project has noted that the percentage of homeless kids who are transgender is very high (see her post, “The Coming Out Party is Over“).  Places like Waltham House are safe places that help protect and nurture some of the kids.

But they often need money to do their job so Waltham House is sponsoring a Casino Night Fund Raiser on April 27th starting at 6PM at Club Cafe in Boston.  Sounds like a good cause doesn’t it?    You can learn more about this fund raiser so you can attend and have fun at this link, “Waltham House Casino Night“

This just in to our Beck’s Cafe mailbox, (and no I didn’t spill coffee on it this time):

Want to be part of a resource guide for transgender and other gender-variant people?

Trans Bodies, Trans Selves features a line-up of wonderful transgender and genderqueer authors, and they’re looking for your help to make the book amazing.

Take the survey and your thoughts could appear in the book!

Go to http://www.transbodies.com/Survey.html for surveys designed for:
-Transgender/genderqueer people
-Parents of gender-variant children
-Partners of transgender/genderqueer people

Please forward widely.

YOUR VOICE is greatly appreciated!

Laura Erickson-Schroth, MD, MA
Editor, Trans Bodies, Trans Selves
transbodies@gmail.com
www.transbodies.com

Jenny Boylan and Jamison Greene are on the project so it should be worth all our time to give them a little piece of our mind.

Discrimination still lives in America and right here in the Northeast no less. Not that such should come as a surprise. The Brazilians who come to our shores are sometimes harassed for just being here, women are discriminated against by being pigeon holed in entry level jobs, and transgender persons are too for just being who they are. You can see a whole list of what’s current in discrimination in Massachusetts by checking this quick Google search link in fact.

The most current hot and public issue in the transgender community though on discrimination is the Capone’s of Peabody MA vs. SISTERS discrimination affair. To bring our readers up to speed, SISTERS, a Boston area Social and Support Group visited Capone’s on several occasions until one day, they attempted to visit to have a few drinks and dance and then there were told they could not come in and that they were not welcome. If it had been a private club that would have been that. But it was an open to the public venue and so, such behavior by Capone’s, really sounded like discrimination. SISTERS pushed the issue to the Peabody licensing board, in a professional and non-confrontational manner, and now the issue is in mediation. This whole thing might seem like a small issue but it’s not. It’s discrimination. Do all persons have to like all other persons regardless of race, gender, sex, or nationality. No, this isn’t about thought police. But people do have to treat each other with respect. And that’s what this issue is about.

Kudos to Ashley Bottoms and the SISTERS FAMILY for pushing this issue the right way and the professional way to bring about positive change.

You can catch up on all the back story at:

1. The Salem News
2. Boston.com
3. Peabody Lynnfield Weekly News
4. Urban Alternatives
5. Matt Kailey at Examiner.com

Update
2-26-2010: MTPC has issued a statement regarding the incident.  The last paragraph of their statement is imporant to note,

“MTPC calls upon the transgender community to rally behind the pending H1728/S1687 Transgender Civil Rights act that would finally establish clear legal guidelines and remedies for situations such as the one at Capone’s. There is no good reason why any good citizens of our Commonwealth should be treated in a demeaning fashion, and the law should reflect our state’s broad consensus in this.”

Amen to that!

I have a good friend who, after 15 months of lazing about vacationing finally decided to find a job!  She found a whopper of one at of all places, the U.S. Census Bureu.  In a post on a Yahoo Group my gal pal told the readers that

They [The U.S. Census] currently have many job opportunities.  Some are full-time, some are part-time.  Enumerators, who follow-up on households that have not sent in their Census make $15-$22 per hour, depending on location for up to a couple of months.  Other positions are available as well… apply for one of these positions either on-line or by contacting the local Census office in your area.  You can work right in your own neighborhood and have no commute.  You have to be a U.S. citizen, take a 30 minute test (there is a practice test) and pass a background check….The federal government does not discriminate or either sexual orientation or gender identity.  They have LGBT outreach programs in place as well as a trans coordinator.

Sounds like a workin’ girls dream to me!   Here’s you link to job heaven: The U.S. Census Jobs Board

As many of our readers know, we’ve been doing some follow up on the Christine Daniel’s suicide story.  You can read our past coverage at “Christine Daniels, LA Times Sports Writer, dead, suicide suspected” and “Christine Daniels, LA Times Sports Writer Suicide: Follow Up Story“

The reason we’ve been following this is because her death was so unnecessary.  Well we’ve got more follow up.   Christine’s Church, MMC L.A., held a memorial service for her in January 2010.  The interview done by Autumn Sandeen of MMC L.A.’s Reverend Dr. Neal Thomas sheds a little more light on Christine and how she felt about herself after she transitioned.   You can check the story out at Pam’s House Blend; MMC L.A. Memorial Service For Christine Daniels