We must fight back.This is where we should be sending the money we’ve been witholding from the politicians that have not been supporting LGBT causes.  The DNC and others have shown us that we cannot count on them, so we must do it ourselves.  We must help our own.  This is a chance to affect change based on what is right and just, not the judgement of the majority.  We can no longer count on fancy parties in D.C. that bring us nothing.
Can or will the LCLR help out in this one the way they assisted Clay Greene in Sonoma County? Can or will you?  This is an attack on all of our children.  It is an attack on all gay, lesbian, bi and trans kids.  And their parents, gay or straight.
We need to put pressure on the school district.  We need fund this fight.  And we need to spread this story far and wide as yet another case where a non gender conforming child and his parents are being treated as less than.  Remember Juin Baize?  He is the Itawamba Agricultural trans kid that was suspended repeatedly for not presenting as his expected gender.  In other words, for being LGBT.  Out of fear for their safety his mom decided to move the family to Florida rather than subject him to a long and public fight.  It was in no small part for him, specifically, that Constance McMillen was fighting to attend her prom.  
This is the fight that is forced upon our youth, the fight to simply exist.  This is the fight against bigotry and hatred.
We can stop this.  We can stop schools’ treatment of LGBT youth that is dehumanizing and demeaning.  We must stop it, because every time they get away with it an entire school body is taught that it is acceptable to treat us as less than.  And that is a lesson that will last a lifetime.

(sorry, at least one typo)LCLR = ‘NCLR’, of course and the trans legal advocacy group they co-sponsor, SF-based & centered Transgender Law Project.

Out the door… but posted to fb. … and will tweet asap.

& more” And we need to spread this story far and wide as yet another case where a non gender conforming child and his are being treated as less than.  Remember Juin Baize?”
should have read, “another case where a non gender conforming child and his or her parents are being treated as less than”
I was getting ready for work, the cutting and pasting was sending letters flying all over the kitchen…Juin was using male pronouns when his story was reported.

Are you kidding me?Seriously? You consider THIS worthy?
I can drive two hours to LA and find 100 girls 1000x more worthy of donations for assistance. I can keep my front door closed and find ONE right here in my own house.
Oh waaa. Cry more tears. They are  ”hurting” our children. Oh woe is me!
Please. Drag more children into your arguments why don’t you?
Yes, I’m upset by this. Get over yourself.

ARE YOU SEROUISI can’t believe someone in our community would be so destructive to the community as you are. Sure there maybe other people hurting out there, but to be so flippant about what Kim is doing saddens me more than the christian zealots out there. I’m support this effort and I’m proud to do so.
BTW, The the hell makes 100 girls any more worthy than this child, I’m curious.  

who among us is not worthyI don’t pretend to understand all the emotional, social, and political aspects of Teh T, but I recognize rank bigotry when I see it. I was proud to donate to TYFA.

One tiny pebble, waves of changeWhat’s with the “I had to suffer, so you should too” attitude? I, for one, am incredibly grateful that this child has parents who are willing to let her live the life the way she wants/needs to and will fight for her right to do so.
More importantly, this is not about one child. Do you really think that a lawsuit won’t change the landscape for other trans students out there? Every story like this inspires others. It may be another trans child who will hear about this and think, “If they can do it, maybe I can, too.” It may be a school administrator who makes the decision to be proactive in their school policies regarding transgender students. The possibilities are endless. This is one way that rights are won- by supporting individuals and pushing for change.
I should also point out that many of us were that child at some point- wanting to live life as our true selves and hitting roadblocks at every turn. Some of us remember and connect to that pain in a way that allows us to reach out and say, “You don’t have to go through what I went through. It can be different this time.” Some of us stew in the hurt and rage we experienced and choose to say, “What about me?”
Which do you think is going to create those waves of change?

Wow.Let a 10-year-old child in our community suffer? Wow.
What a statement you made there. It seems to me to indicate serious heartlessness.
I’m rarely shocked anymore, but your statement actually shocked me. Wow.

Good.I’m glad that I finally got your attention. I’m glad that I “shocked” you.
My “lack of compassion” and “heartlessness” involves a great many factors. I’m taking, what apparently none of you are, a bigger picture stance. In the big picture, one child having to  conform to standards set by the school district they live in is no big deal. Sure, they can do what many other parents have done and file a lawsuit that will take years to settle in court after all the appeals are done. Or perhaps, you’re purposely ignoring that fact?
Or maybe you just don’t think highly enough of the entire Trans* community to continue to let hundreds and thousands of us languish either as unemployed or under-employed peons? Maybe you don’t think it’s important enough that there is a significant lack of trans-advocacy groups in every city of the nation? Better yet, I guess it’s okay for all of us to be viewed as sexual deviants, only trying to gratify ourselves through sex?
You might be able to connect with the pain this child is going through, but I can assure you I did not have any pain. I had no idea about myself for a very long time. As I was growing up, I knew there was something OFF about me, but I was ignorant to the terms and definitions. In my small town, we didn’t even have gay kids with us in high school, let alone Trans* anything.
As far as what makes those 100 girls more worthy: They have lives to live. They have medical expenses. They would like to continue to transition. They’re standing on the street corner, or trolling T-bars looking for johns hoping to make a buck to buy their next meal. They don’t have parents to fall back on and show them love and affection and support for the person that they are. They aren’t listed on their parents health insurance. They are the ones dying, and being added to the list of names for TDOR.
Where’s the legal defense fund for them? For me? I’d love to be able to speak to a lawyer about the discrimination and harassment I’m facing right now where I live. Discrimination attorneys say it’s a real estate matter and real estate attorneys say it’s a discrimination matter.
I’d even go for a fund that is designed to help members of the community start their own businesses.
Where’s the call for that?

Listen here, darling!We must all pick our battles, my dear!!
If I had the proverbial three wishes, we’d all have decent-paying jobs, and no transwoman would ever have to walk the streets again to earn a living!
Be that as it may, my dear… we need to focus on the youth, which is Kim’s calling! This child is being oppressed surely as the working girls, but is worse because some so-called “professionals” are denying this girl an education!
There happens to be two supportive law agencies, sweetie: The Sylvia Rivera law Project in NYC, and SF’s Transgender Law Center.
Stop wallowing in self-pity and DO something about it! Run for political office, help a candidate, show up at city council meetings, the town halls run by your state and federal legislators, attend the state lobby day or send letters/emails to your reps!

Dear LisentiaFirst off, I should point out that I am pleased to be allowed to call myself a friend of Kim Pearson, a friend and supporter of trans kids, and a strong booster to TYFA.
Secondly, I live on 400 bucks a month.  Those gals you talk about standing on a street corner or hitting the bars typically make ten times that a month.  I know, because I work with them.
I am the Executive Director of This Is H.O.W., an organization that deals in those people.  Kim Pearson donated 10 bucks to the cause the day before yesterday because right now I’m running a fundraiser to raise a mere 500 dollars for the organization in 31 Days, and we are 15 dollars short of that goal after 6 days.
I’m also expanding the program, and have been working to develop contacts and programs out over the last two months, including one that involves closely working with the local SCORE group and providing core seminars and assistance with Trans people starting their own businesses.
As well as two dozen other programs from substance abuse counseling (with which we have a 60% success rate), homelessness intervention (we’ve served over two hundred trans folks in the last 4 years), and all those fun basic things.
And we’ve done all of that and more on a budget of less than 2500 a month over the last four years from strictly donations by individuals.
And we are in a tight spot, Lisentia. We are a hurting org.  I’m not gonna lie to you. We could use your help, even though we’re located in Phoenix.
But I’m not going to say that the people we help are any more important than the kids, or any less important than the kids.  I know those kids, too.  I know that a third of the homeless kids in Los Angeles alone are Trans kids.
I also know what TYFA does. And Kim knows damn well that I will help her, and I know damn well that she will help me.
We are all in this together, each of us doing the part that we can do best, that we have the gifts to do and to help in.
You wanted to know where the call for those things was?  It’s right here.  Me.  I’m sitting here, in a post in response to you, making that call, and making it to you, personally.
Now, much to my personal discomfort, that leaves me in the situation of looking to you and wondering, simply….
Are you going to answer it?

I not only rememberI know hir.
And I always marvel at the quirk that led to a gal that saw them get suspended, that opposed the way they were treated, that stood up for Juin when no one else did, and ended up with internships and college scholarships, while Juin had to move to another state.
Yeah, I remember.
And I don’t forget.

Really?

I can assure you I did not have any pain

Yeah, that lack of pain, and the resulting bitterness, comes through clearly. No pain there. Huh uh.

They have lives to live. They have medical expenses. They would like to continue to transition. They’re standing on the street corner, or trolling T-bars looking for johns hoping to make a buck to buy their next meal. They don’t have parents to fall back on and show them love and affection and support for the person that they are. They aren’t listed on their parents health insurance. They are the ones dying, and being added to the list of names for TDOR.
Where’s the legal defense fund for them? For me?

Nope, no evidence at all of pain and bitterness. Nothing to see here, folks.
I want the next generation to have it better than I did. I want them to not know discrimination or, if they do know it, to know that there are people and organizations to stand up for them and their rights. Yeah, I had it tough in spots, and in some ways it still is. But I don’t wish that on children growing up now. Sure, sometimes I see some brainless little twink without a clue or a care in the world, and I want to shake some sense into him and scream “don’t you realize how many people suffered and fought so you can afford to be apathetic?!?” But then I realize that it’s exactly what I’ve worked toward for the last 30 years. For that brainless twink to have a space to be safe, to be brainless if that’s what he wants to be, and to be apathetic if that’s what he wants to be, because no one is swinging a lead pipe at his head.
And if the only reason you fight is so you have it better, and you don’t give a damn about those who come after you, well, maybe that’s why there’s no line forming to set up a legal fund for you.

Dyssonance:You are exactly the type of person I look for. Your answers show me that you are doing true advocacy work.
You are not the target of my criticism. And it is just that: criticism.
As far as answering it, contact me and we’ll talk. =)

I have chosen my battles.I made a comment based on a personal opinion, directing criticism towards Autumn for the choice of posting this story. I disagree with your opinion that we need to focus on youth.
As far as your assessment regarding whether or not I’m wallowing in self-pity: You have no basis to form that opinion. You have directed and made a personal ad hominem attack on my comments.
You have no idea whether or not I sit in on city and county council meetings. You have no idea whether or not I volunteer locally. You have no idea whether or not I happen to sit on an Activities Council for a local GLBT senior center.
I have shown no disrespect to anyone directly by voicing my opinion.

Excuse me.I didn’t realize that personal attacks were standard in these comment threads.
To answer your question: I’m working to make not only my life better but also those who come after me and who have come before me.
I’m wary of my dealings with predominantly GL organizations for a reason, and if it wasn’t plainly obvious allow me to make it obvious. I believe that it takes the formation of Trans* organizations to get true movement on Trans* issues.
We’re consistently the step-children of the alphabet soup, and we’re consistently pushed to the side in the name of convenience.

A challengeWhereas my info is in my profile here (and under my posts, lol), yours is not, which makes contacting you a bit of a challenge.  I think I found your twitter, though, ’cause I’m a stubborn sort…
Make no mistake, though: what TYFA is doing gets to those people before they end up in that situation.  She can’t solve all of it, and what she’s doing doesn’t save us now — but it makes it possible for those of us doing the work with adults to have hope that one day we’ll not be needed.
Big problem, lot’s of ways to attack it, and the more approaches the more effective the result.

You’re missing the pointWhat Kim is doing in TYFA has enormous leverage.  Truly spectacular leverage.  A dollar donated to her organization is equal several dollars at least donated to any other trans-specific organization going right now.  I wish there were some way to accurately quantify it, but rest assured, her success enhances the success and eases the load of every other effort to advance trans people.
Why?  Because she is exposing the world to the truth of transgender children, and in the process of doing so, as a part of her mission, raising public knowledge and acceptability of trans children.  When people accept trans-kids, when people believe that these often very young, pre-pubescent people, experience strong transgender feelings, they out of necessity divorce the idea of gender identity and sexuality in their minds.  They don’t see these kids as being motivated by sex drive, because they’re not.  They come to understand that the gender you express is not a perverse pursuit of pleasure in the public square, which it is not.  It breaks down all the public stereotypes used against transgender people to justify maintaining policies of discrimination against them.
Then people realize that these trans kids are the same as us trans adults, just earlier in their lives.  If they can accept trans kids, they can accept trans adults.  We trans adults can argue with them until we’re blue in the face, and they will never see us as anything other than a bunch of deviants.  But when they look at the kids, they see kids.  When they accept the genuineness and sincerity of trans kids, they begin to see and accept the legitimacy of transgenderness in adults.  The walls of prejudice begin to break down.
If all we ever do is try to maintain survival for people held down by discrimination, we keep them trapped in lives of poverty.  At some point we need to attack the discrimination.  I see no one doing anything more effective at doing that right now than Kim and TYFA.
I’ve invested more of my money in Kim’s organization than I’ve invested in my own organization or any other LGBT organization I’ve been involved with.  It’s one of the best damn investments I’ve ever made.

Sorry about thatI thought I had some contact information in my profile. Allow me to add what I feel is relevant =)