Thursday, 31 December 2015

A Look Back At 2015


2015 has been a big year for me, there have been more personal ups and downs this year than most other years, but it's also been a great year for both my writing and the site.  Not only has my work become featured in new places, including Gay News Network, Australia's biggest LGBT+ website, but my website itself has gone from strength to strength, leading to a rebrand and rename, to Trans-Scribe.

To cap off the year I'm going to be looking back at some of my top articles of the year, plus one extra that resulted in something extremely weird.


Cosplay Is Not Consent - An Interview With Kerry Holland


Being a geek has never been more popular than it is today, and cosplay is quickly becoming a popular past time amongst convention attendees.  Unfortunately with the rise of coplay there has also been a rise in sexual abuse women have been suffering at these events.  In this article I speak to cosplayer Kerry Holland about her experiences and some of the issues faced by the cosplay community.



Daily Mail Brands Trans Students & Allies 
As Fascists On TDOR


When well known anti-trans feminist Germaine Greer was told that a number of students at Cardiff University were protesting her appearance there she quickly turned the event into a media storm of hate and transphobic sentiment.  A storm that The Daily Mail felt the need to jump into, deciding that the Transgender Day of Remembrance was a good day to insult the transgender community.



Oklahoma City Cop Guilty of Multiple 
Rape Charges


Some of you may have heard of the story of Daniel Holtzclaw, a Oklahoma City police officer who used his position of power to target vulnerable women of colour in order to sexually assault them.  The court case was given little to no attention in the press, but thankfully justice was served as Holtzclaw was told that he'd spend the rest of his life in prison, on his 29th birthday.



I Self Harm, And It's Helped Me To Survive 
Being Transgender


 A personal article where I talk about some of the struggles I have faced, and how discovering self harm when close to taking my own life saved me.  Self harm is something that can help some people, and should not be a taboo subject.



Miley Cyrus Comes Out As 
Pansexual - People's Shit Reactions


Earlier this year singer Miley Cyrus made headlines as she came out as pansexual.  What came next was a torrent of Internet abuse, not just because she is a sexually confident young woman in the public eye, but because some people hate the idea of pansexuality, even people within the LGBT+ community.



Yes, My Breasts Are Real, No, I Will Not Prove 
It - Being Hounded By The Wrong Questions


It doesn't matter if you're a celebrity or just a regular person, as soon as someone finds out that you're transgender all they ever seem to want to know about is the state of your genitals.



Why Are Trans Women Treated Like Outcasts 
In The Feminist Community?


It's a sad fact that certain members of the feminist community hate trans women, with a passion.  These women will often go out of their way in order to try and push trans women out of the feminist community, and in some extreme cases even push them towards suicide.  This article did not go down well with these trans exclusionary radical feminists, and even got me my first death threat.



Patch Reynolds - Remembering An Amazing Person


This was the second most read articles of mine this year, and I'm glad that so many people read it.  It's a memorial piece to a friend of mine, Patch Reynolds, who died aged only 21.  A beautiful, passionate and amazing young woman who I miss dearly.  A loss to the whole world.



Stonewall Movie Erases Black Trans Women And 
Drag Queens From History


My most read article of the year, the highest read and shared article on Planet Transgender, and the piece that got me published on Gay News Network and featured on Buzzfeed.  I'm immensely proud at how well accepted this article was, and want to thank everyone who helped make it a success.



Men's Rights Activist Peter Nolan Publicly Calls For The 
Murder Of Women As 'The Only Path Of Justice For Men'


Now, this is an interesting one, I'm including this article based purely on the response it received.  Not the torrent of Twitter messages, or the threats, but the response article that Peter Nolan himself wrote.

Click below to read my article, and beneath that to see Nolan's insane response.




Thank you to everyone who has made 2015 a great year for both me and Trans-Scribe, you're all amazing.  Let's hope that 2016 will be even bigger and better!


Amy.
xx
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Wednesday, 30 December 2015

Nicky Morgan Says Schools Should Teach Britain Is A Christian Country


The Secretary of State For Education and Women and Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan has come under fire once again, this time for saying that schools should teach children that Britain is a Christian country.

Nicky Morgan, who has sidestepped a high court ruling which found that she has unlawfully excluded atheism from the school curriculum, has also said that whilst schools should teach that Britain is a Christian country they do not have to teach non-religious world views.

The government has released new guidance that reads, 'There is no obligation for any school or ASC to give equal airtime to the teachings of religious and non-religious views.  There is no obligation on any school to cover the teaching of non-religious world views (or any other particular aspect of the RE curriculum) in Key Stage 4 specifically.  Rather it is for the schools to determine how they meet their wider obligations across the key stages.'

The new document also states that religious education should 'reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are, in main, Christian'.  What the document fails to note or reference though is that after a two year commission it was decided that Britain is no longer a majority Christian country.

These findings have been backed up by a separate inquiry, chaired by Baroness Butler-Sloss, involving leaders of all faiths and beliefs that concluded that Britain is not, in fact, a Christian country any more.

According to the Daily Telegraph a spokesperson for Nicky Morgan stated that she feels the new measures are to prevent a 'creeping ratchet effect' wherein atheists are trying to force schools to teach a humanist view of the world.

Interestingly Nicky Morgan seems to have something of a history of a prejudice against atheist and humanist views as in November she was found by the High Court to have made an 'error in the law' by leaving humanism from her changes to religious studies content.

Once again it would seem that Nicky Morgan is allowing her own personal beliefs to dictate government policy and her professional choices.  In the past Nicky Morgan has let her own personal religious views dictate how she does her job, claiming that these personal views were in part responsible for her voting against marriage equality.

Nicky Morgan believes that her faith trumps actual equality for marginalised groups.  She feels that her faith trumps other people's religious beliefs, or lack of.  She feels that because she is a Christian woman in a position of power that she can dictate that schools need to educate others in her beliefs, despite repeated evidence that Britain is no longer a Christian country.

That kind of closed minded and defiant attitude is not something that should have a place in a minister in charge of both equality and education.

Amy.
xx
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Twitter Hires LGBT+ Advocate To Oversee Diversity


The social media networking giant Twitter has faced a great deal of criticism over the last few months over their workplace diversity as their own figures painted a less than desirable picture.  According to it's own reports it was revealed that within their US workforce only 3% of staff were African American, and only 30% were female.

In August this year Janet Van Huysse, Head of Diversity and Inclusion, announced several targets that the company has set for itself going forward into 2016.  These include increasing the number of women working for Twitter to 35%, and increasing 'underrepresented minorities' to 11%.

Jeffrey Siminoff, the former director of worldwide inclusion and diversity at Apple, has now replaced Van Huysse as Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, and aims to meet these 2016 targets.

Siminoff helped to launch the inaugural 'Out on the Street' event in 2022, which looks at the ways of advancing LGBT+ equality in the business and financial sectors.  CEO of Out Leadership Todd Sears, was amongst the first to congratulate Siminoff on his appointment, tweeting 'Amazing news!  Congrats @TwitterOpen on landing amazing #OutLeader @jmsSanFran to drive #lgbtprogress & #diversity'.

Despite his track record of promoting diversity and inclusion in the past some people have taken to twitter to question the decision of hiring a white man to head diversity and inclusion.

Amy.
xx
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Anti-Gay Bakery Agrees To Pay $135,000 Fine


Sweet Cakes Bakery, which has become known as the Anti-Gay Bakery around the world by the media, has finally agreed to pay the $135,000 fine placed on them after saying that they would not pay for months.

The bakery gained attention last year, 2014, when they refused to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple.  Melissa and Aaron Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes Bakery, stated that they refused the produce the wedding cake as it would violate their religious beliefs to provide a cake for a gay wedding as they felt that same sex marriage was 'wrong' and they 'didn't want to be a part of it'.

The couple were found guilty of discrimination in 2014 under Oregon state laws that ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.  They were ordered to pay $135,000 compensation and damages to the women they discriminated against.

Since being found guilty and having been ordered to pay the fine the Kleins have refused on several occasions, stating that they were unable to afford the fine, claiming 'financial hardships'.  This was despite the anti-gay American Family Association rallying support and raising $400,000 to help the Kleins.

The attorney for the Kleins said that the decision was being appealed, saying that the Kleins 'continue to stand on their well-established constitutional rights to live and work based on their values and beliefs.'

This week, however, the Kleins sent out a cheque to cover the costs of their fine, a small amount for them now that their supporters have given them close to half a million dollars.  The Bureau of Labour and Industries have confirmed that the Kleins have fully paid their fine.

Amy.
xx
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Monday, 28 December 2015

Mermaids Charity Reports Some Schools Reluctant To Help Trans Children


It is being reported by the transgender children's charity Mermaids that up to 80 primary school aged children are now actively seeking help to transition to their true genders.  Some cases have children as young as four years old having already started the transition process, according to Susie Green, Chair of Mermaids.

Her comments have emerged following the reports of a primary school in the north west of England who are in the midst of a 'stand-off' over the issue of refusing to allow an eight year old transgender student the right to transition to his true identity.

'We are working with them, we are trying to resolve that but the school are very reluctant,' Mrs Green said.  She went on to say that these kinds of stand-offs are becoming more and more common and even went on to say that a legal challenge to these issues could not be ruled out in the near future.

Mrs Green says that eight is no longer considered to be particularly young to begin the process of transitioning, as awareness of transgender issues is increasing and becoming more accepted than it once was.

'We've got four year olds, five year olds, six year olds who are transitioning as parents know more about it and are more aware if they have a child who is suffering.  You wouldn't necessarily do anything unless it's causing distress, but these children are so much happier now that they have been supported to live in the gender they identify with, it's a no brainer.'

'We've had parents reporting back saying 'my kid is so much happier now, they are attending school now, they are making friends now'.'

She went on to suggest that the charity is now dealing with around 80 cases involving primary school children each year.

'In terms of families joining our parents group, this year alone we've had over 200 families.  The majority of those - around 60 per cent - are teens, but the rest are families with young children.  It's a lot more than people realise.'

'But one thing is that there is more information getting out there now and we are finding now that about half the schools are dealing with actually accommodating and want to learn because there is more in the media and more out there.'

Despite this statement indicating that there are still a great deal many schools who are not dealing with transgender students in a positive or accepting way, there is evidence that those schools who are embracing their trans students and allowing them to transition at school are having a positive impact, even allowing other students the chance to deal with their gender identity issues by seeing their peers come out.

'I have seen that with a school I did some training with before Christmas, they had one trans boy come out and then had two other young people come forward asking for help.  If they see other young people dealing with it, it could be a light-bulb moment, or it could be that they feel confident that they will be helped.'

Obviously some detractors will turn around and say that by allowing children to transition at such an early stage in life and in school it is trying to encourage a certain agenda or promote a trans 'lifestyle', but the fact is that any student who comes forward with gender identity issues following the coming out of another student will be given help.  They will have guidance and support to figure out if they themselves are trans, or if any gender issues they might have are coming from another place.

This system is designed to help all children who are facing gender identity struggles, trans or not.  Hopefully more schools will realise that accommodating their trans students is the right thing to do,


Amy.
xx
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Thursday, 24 December 2015

Seven Sisters Festival Reverses Decision, Welcomes Trans Women


As reported in a previous article of mine, Australian women's Seven Sisters Festival last week released a statement that said that only transgender women who had been 'undertaken all operative measures to become women' would be allowed to attend, despite all women being welcome in previous years.

This exclusion of any trans women deemed not to have been through enough surgical procedures was met with criticism from the transgender community and its allies.  The Seven Sisters Festival blocked all conversation of the decision from their Facebook page and said that they would consult with those that had already booked their ticket to the event to get a sense of how their attendees felt about the new policy before making a final decision.

Earlier this week the festival have announced that following these discussions they have chosen to allow all women to attend, including transgender women and intersex women.  The decision to reverse the exclusionary policy has been well received.


In an interview with ABC, Kaylee, who has chosen not to give her surname, revealed how she was told by the organisers that her partner Belle, who is in the early stages of transitioning, would not be welcome to attend the festival.

'We've been trying to become more involved in women's circles so that she can feel more comfortable, but at the moment she's retreated a bit from life, so I thought a really beautiful camping festival with all women would be a really safe space for her to feel accepted,' Kaylee told ABC.

'Their basic response was 'we only welcome trans women who are post-op, who have undergone all the procedures to become female because having people onsite who are physically male  would break the trust of attendees'.'

'I got quite ragey over it, and I read it out to my partner and she just kind of sighed and went 'yep, that sounds about right'.'

Kaylee's partner Belle said that whilst she was not surprised by the response, it was disappointing to her.

'The email was talking about surgery, so only rich well to do trans women who can afford full gender re-assignment surgery which is upwards of $20,000.'  She said when describing the festivals stance on only allowing post-op trans women.

Luckily for Kaylee, Belle and countless other women the festival has reversed it's decision and has returned to the principals of inclusion and celebration of diversity that it has prided itself on in the past.

Amy.
xx
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Thursday, 17 December 2015

Trans Prisoner Attempted Self Surgery


Following an increase in focus on British transgender women being held in male facilities Labour MP and Shadow Minister For Women Cat Smith has made changing the treatment of transgender prisoners a mission.

She spoke in parliament this week, saying that since taking up the issue of the Ministry of Justice treatment of transgender prisoners she has personally received several letters from transgender prisoners, and the content in them has been deeply troubling.

Ms Smith said that she was 'alarmed' to read about one prisoner, who has been denied access to her hormone replacement therapy treatment, as well as gender realignment surgeries.  The prisoner, who has not been named, also claimed to have been raped twice and sexually assaulted whilst serving her sentence in an all male prison facility.

The prisoner in question began transitioning in 2008, and has been undergoing treatment since then.  Despite this, and having made the statutory declaration to live the rest of her life as female in 2012, she has been denied access to medical treatment by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS).  This is despite her being in the final stages of transition before she was sentenced.

Ms Smith read from the prisoners letter, telling parliament 'The governor has blocked all my letters to my surgeons, the prison have no right to strip me of my care or hormone treatment.  There is no knowledge of how suicidal I am because they don't care what impact their choices have on me physically and psychologically.'

'I'm totally destroyed, not the woman I was.  I feel I will kill myself soon.  I cannot do this now.  Will you please help me?  I cannot take no more - I'm a woman in a male prison.  This is not right.'

Ms Smith went on to outline some of the actions the prisoner had already taken in order to her herself and put her life at risk, due to the treatment that she has been receiving.  The prisoner has 'injected bleach into her testicles' and even 'attempting self surgery to remove her scrotum'.

The National Offender Management Service told Ms Smith that have agreed that once the prisoner is released from custody that her supervision in the community will take place in female services, however, they do not plan to support her during her sentence.

Ms Smith criticised this response, as it offers no consistency.  To treat a prisoner as male whilst they are serving their sentence, but then as female after is incredibly contradictory, but unfortunately seems to be common amongst the testimonies she has received in the letters sent to her.

Amy.
xx
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Facebook To Change 'Real Name' Policy


Facebook is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world, with an estimated 1.01 billion daily active users.  Amongst these billion users, however, are some people who have had their accounts suspended, or in some cases even deleted completely, simply for the name they have used when setting up their account.

Facebook has historically held a 'Real Name' policy, where they require users to 'provide the name they use in real life'.  To many that might seem easy to do, they simply use their real name and build an account.  From their they connect with friends, make new connections, share their life with people on line.  But in some cases this experience comes to a sudden halt, as Facebook chooses to suspend their account for not meeting this 'Real Name' policy.

I even experienced this myself, my current account being my second one, as my first was deleted by Facebook for apparently breaking these rules.  I, like many others, was told that the name I had been using on my account had been reported as not being my true name, and that I would be required to provide photographic identification as proof that I was actually me and get my account back.

To try and understand why certain accounts might have been deleted I took a look at the Facebook website, and found these guidelines;

'Facebook is a community where people use their authentic identities.  We require people to provide the name they use in real life; that way you always know who you're connecting with.  This helps keep our community safe.'

'The name you use should be your authentic identity; as your friends call you in real life and as our acceptable identification forms would show.'

'Nicknames can be used as a first or middle name if they're a variation of your authentic name (like Bob instead of Robert).'

'You can also list an additional name on your account (ex: maiden name, nickname, professional name).'

'Pretending to be anything or anyone isn't allowed.'

So, from what Facebook state in their rules is that you have to use the name you go by in everyday life, but not necessarily your legal name.  After all, if everyone knows you by a name that isn't your legal name, then that's surely what's most important to them according to their rules right?

Well, it is, but it isn't.  You see, if someone wants to report your account as using a false name, then the burden of proving that the name you use is suddenly yours to prove, rather than the accuser having to prove that it isn't your name.  The sudden flaw in Facebooks statement that the name you use in real life is fine to use starts to fall apart when they ask for legal identification.  

I know people in both real life whose names aren't their legal names.  I know a Luigi who goes by Gino, a James who goes by Seamus.  These aren't their legal names, but everyone calls them by these other names, even their partners and parents.  They sign up to things using these names, they live by these names, it's who they are.  And it's the same for some people on Facebook who have suddenly been caught out by this policy.

The whole system of the name you live by needing to be confirmed by some legal documentation is a flawed one, and that flaw has led to many people having their Facebook experience ruined.  

When my account was deleted I was told that to reactivate it I would need to provide photographic identification to get it back.  This was almost fifteen months ago, I was further behind in my transition then.  I wasn't living every moment of my life as me yet.  Unfortunately, I had to go to work presenting as male, using my birth name, but despite this everyone else in my life knew the real me.  I presented as me, I was called Amy by damn near everyone I knew, even some of the people I worked with, where I presented male, called me Amy.  That's who I was, but because I didn't have any ID stating that at that time my account was denied to me.

I emailed Facebook, explained the situation to them, told them that I was still undergoing transition and as such couldn't provide them with the ID.  I hoped that they would understand my situation, that they might allow me to have my account back.  Instead I was told that without ID my account would be deleted, and told that I must use my 'real' name on Facebook, that 'impersonating' other people was against their community standards and would not be tolerated.

Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident, thousands of other people were experiencing the exact same situation.  These people ranged from transgender, like myself, to members of the Native American population, to people trying to escape domestic abuse and beyond.

The Facebook 'Real Name' policy effected so many people, from so many different backgrounds.  It made people have to give up their on line lives.  It hurt people's professional careers.  It put some people's lives in physical danger.  Something that might seem so trivial to some had a profound affect on so many people.  And people weren't happy about it.

Protests were held, talks were had and people spread the message about Facebook's double standards, where people can use nicknames or past names okay, but people using their real names, the names they live their lives under was suddenly unacceptable.  

Facebook argued that this policy was a good thing, I guessing feeling that if in every group of people blocked from the site wrongly if they caught one troll then it would all be worth it.  They said, 'The stories of mass impersonation, trolling, domestic abuse, and higher rates of bullying are oftentimes the result of people hiding behind fake names, and it's both terrifying and sad.  Our ability to successfully protect against them with this policy has borne out of the reality that this policy, on balance, when applied carefully, is a very powerful force for good.'

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg added fuel onto the fire in the early days of the debate by commenting that 'You have one identity...Having two identities for yourself is an example of lack of integrity.'

Further comment was given following this, where Zuckerberg attempted to defend the policy, claiming that people did not fully understand the exact details of the site's requirements, and that the policy is in place to protect vulnerable users.  Despite this assurance, he did agree that the policy wasn't perfect, and said 'We are working on better and more ways for people to show us what their real name is so we can both keep this policy which protects so many people in our community whilst also serving the transgender community.'

Thankfully, this comment was not just empty platitudes and Facebook have this week announced that it plans to change the policy.  On Tuesday Facebook said that it will test new tools that will allow users to share any special circumstance they feel means they cannot use their real name on the site.

'We require people to use the name their friends and family know them by,' the company said.  'When people use the names they are known by, their actions and words carry more weight because they are more accountable for what they say.  We are firmly committed to this policy and it is not changing.'

'However, after hearing feedback from our community, we recognise that it's also important that this policy works for everyone, especially for communities who are marginalised and face discrimination.'

Facebook has also said that it will be adding a new tool for reporting accounts that might have fake names, needing the person who is reporting the account to provide more context in their complaint than was previously required.  

'In the past, people were simply able to report a 'fake name' but now they will be required to go through several new steps that provide us with more specifics about the report,' Facebook said.  'This additional context will help our review teams better understand why someone is reporting the name, giving them more information about a specific situation.'

Time will tell just how effective these new tools will be, and whether some people will continue to find themselves blocked and deleted for doing nothing more than simply being themselves, but hopefully this marks the beginnings of a practical solution.

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Tuesday, 15 December 2015

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Maveth' Review


The first half of Shield's third season comes to a dramatic close in a mid season finale that both concludes a number of stories, and sets up for some exciting new things.

The action is split between a castle in Scotland, where acting director Mack is leading the agents of Shield and the newly formed Secret Warriors in an assault against Hydra, and a distant alien world where Coulson is out for revenge against Ward, who is searching for the mysterious InHuman that desperately want to bring back to earth.

The earth bound elements are definitely the most fun of the episode, with the usual mix of action and humour.  Hunter was as fun as ever, waving his arm around on the thermal scan to make sure that they knew where they were in the castle, but for me it was May who stole the show for her deadpan delivery.  The Secret Warriors are mostly untested, never been in combat before, and they share a moment where they all realise that they are frightened and scared of what's to come, except May of course, because at this point I'm pretty sure nothing scares Melinda May.

Not even the release of Andrew/Lash seemed to phase May, as she went straight off to confront the killer her husband has become.  Sadly for her, but as a bonus to the audience, Andrew/Lash seems to have escaped, which will probably result in some more Lash encounters for the team further down the line.


The Secret Warriors are given a chance to shine this episode too, or more precisely, Joey is.  After having seen the obvious ways in which both Daisy and Lincoln can use their powers and how they would be effective in the field this is the first real time that Joey can really show of the versatility of melting metal.  He uses his powers to melt metal over a barricaded door, which goes on to give our heroes enough time to survive, and jumps in front of gunfire to save Daisy, not knowing that his powers would melt the bullets before they hit him.  Suddenly Joey goes from something of a questionmark to a very useful person to have around.  Hopefully we'll get to see more from his character when the show returns.

Elsewhere, on another planet, Ward uses Fitzz to try and track down the InHuman Hydra was founded around, whilst Coulson is following close behind.  Where the events on earth were fun and action packed, those on the alien planet are slow building and tense.  A great contrast to the rest of the episode.

Despite volunteering to apparently save Simmons from having to be tortured it would appear that Fitzz had his own plan the whole time, to find Will, escape from Ward and return home.  It all seems to be going well, he finds Will, convinces Ward not to kill him and even begins to bond with him.  The scenes with Will and Fitzz are great, we get to see how these two men, who both love Simmons, would actually react when they met, and they're both such good honourable people that you can actually see them becoming good friends.

Unfortunately, all of that changes when they reach the point where the portal back to Earth will open, where they can see the ruined ancient civilisation that once existed on the alien world.  Will gives Fitzz a little too much information, and reveals that Will is in fact dead, that he died way back at the start of the season when Simmons escaped, and that his body is now playing host to the creature that Hydra wants.


The realisation that Will is gone is a sad one.  I personally wanted him to come back to Earth, to get to see Simmons one last time before she and Fittz go on to be the couple we all know they are going to be.  It would have been touching, instead we're given this shocking moment, and no time to process it.  We're immediately thrown into a situation where Fitzz is trying to stop the possessed Will from getting to Earth, whilst Coulson and Ward are fighting to death in the background.

It's all very quick and action heavy that we're not given the time to process the loss of Will.  Yes, he was a very small character in the grand scheme of the Marvel universe, but I think a lot of people became very attached to him and his relationship with Simmons, and wanted a happier resolution than the one we are given.

Speaking of resolutions though, Ward finally gets his, as Coulson gets the revenge for Rosalind by crushing Wards chest with his robotic hand.  I guess a broken heart for a broken heart.  After such a long time with the character feeling at something of a loss it's good that his story has come to an end, and his death was really the only end he could have at this point really.

Unfortunately for the agents of Shield, Ward might be dead, but he's far from gone.  After destroying Wills boy to a point where the creature couldn't inhabit it anymore it would appear that Ward is it's new host, as he appears back on earth, very dead looking, with Coulson's robot hand and something moving around under his face.


Ward as we knew him is gone, but he's suddenly become the big bad of the season, a creature thousands of years old that has already destroyed all life on one planet.  Now that I'm thinking about it, the guys over at Shield might have to call on the Avengers to help with this one.  This isn't a terrorist organisation, or even a small group of super powered beings, this is a creature that can literally destroy all life on Earth, the stakes have definitely been upped for the second half of the season.

I'm looking at this change in Ward as his Illyria moment, the character he was is gone, and in his place is something new and more bad arse, but something of who he was might remain.  Will was clearly still like the person we knew before the creature took him over, he had some of Will's memories and personality.  With that in mind, does that mean we're going to have a world ending entity with Wards hatred and obsession for Shield?  If so, things are going to get very dangerous for out heroes when they come back next year.

Amy.
xx
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Caitlyn Jenner Apologises To Trans Community


Following statements made in an interview with Time Magazine, where she urged transgender women not to look like a 'man in a dress' as it makes people uncomfortable, Caitlyn Jenner has written an article for The Huffington Post in which she apologises for any offense she may have caused.

'I think I caused a lot of hurt with this comment, and I'm truly sorry.'

'What I was trying to say is that the world really is still a binary one, and that people who look 'visibly transgender' sometimes can struggle for acceptance and may be treated poorly by others.  And while this may be true, it's also something that needs to change.'

'Some people look gender non-conforming because they want to look that way - they don't want to conform to society's expectations.  Those people have every right to look and present how they choose.  And then there are people who don't have the resources to access the medical procedures that would help them look the way they would like to look.  Procedures, incidentally, that most health insurance plans refuse to cover.  All of these people are my brothers and sisters, and I am fighting alongside them too.'

'My comments probably made it seem like all I care about is fashion, or makeup or appearance.  I can tell you I really enjoy all of that - it's who I am.  It's the world I come from, and as a person in the media I have certain expectations for myself.  But I am only one person.  There are lots of way of being trans.  And I want to help create a world in which people are able to express their gender in any way that is true and authentic to them.  And most importantly - a world in which how a trans person is treated isn't dependant on how they look.'

'I am guessing that this is probably not the last time I will say the wrong thing, or say something the wrong way.  I promise to keep learning, and to try to be more articulate in the future.  We have a lot of hard work to do.  I am looking forward to doing it together.'

Caitlyn has acknowledged what she said was wrong, and has given a public statement of apology.  She has tried to explain what she says she meant in that one statement.

 One thing that confuses me though, is if when she said 'If you are out there and, to be honest with you, you look like a man in a dress, it makes people uncomfortable' was supposed to mean that whole long statement about the world being binary, and wanting to get rid of a world like that, I fail to see how those two are the same.

Yes, she has apologised, but I personally feel that the follow up statement is perhaps more an attempt to explain away saying something stupid, rather than clearing up some kind of misunderstanding about what she 'was trying to say'.

Whether you believe what she is saying or not, whether you like her or respect her or not, please, please don't engage in transphobic messages when talking about her.  One of the things I've seen in abundance over the last day is a lot of people, including trans people, saying that she looks like a man, that she sounds like a man.

It might feel good to strike back at her like that, to respond to her comments with an attack, and you have every right to express yourself that way, but please do it without making those kind of comments.  By turning around and countering her 'man in a dress' statement by saying that's what she is, is only doing you a disservice.  Engage in criticising her by all means, but do it as the bigger person.  Do it without using transphobic language.

Amy.
xx
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