Decidedly Obscure Human Complaints.

Figuring out how to get my name changed legally was a bit challenging, but do-able. But finding out how to also change my gender? Now that was confusing. I couldn't find instructions or forms for it on the Utah State Courts site. Fortunate for me, a friend of mine who has been through it before forwarded me the following forms to file prior to a hearing:  "Certified Order of Change Gender And to Amend Birth Certificate" "Petition for Name Change and Gender Classification" and then to file after the hearing: "Motion to Seal Case" "Order Sealing Case" Along with all of the various other paperwork involved in a name change and fee waiver for those of us who have no money. The Utah statute involved is 26-2-11 of the Utah Vital Statistics Act . Name or sex change -- Registration of court order and amendment of birth certificate. (1) When a person born in this state has a name change or sex change approved by an order of a Utah dist...

At long last I have hopped on to the name change band-wagon. And there are a few things that I need to do to accomplish this task. Step 1: "Obtain certification that your name is not listed on Utah's Sex Offender Registry." -  check!, and then on to: Step 2: "Complete the appropriate forms." - as in, the Petition for Name Change, the Cover Sheet , Application and Affidavit for Waiver of Court Filing Fees . Then I take a huge pile of forms down to the court and file my case. And then attend a hearing. I'm basically using these two resources to navigate this confusing and foreign process: First, a local trans woman wrote this in 2007 about her experience with having her name changed. Back then it wasn't $350, though. It was even more expensive.  Also, the Utah State Courts have a pretty easy-to-follow step-by-step guide on their site. After a lot of back-and-forth, I'm strongly considering also having my gender legally changed. I'...

About four years ago I traveled to New York City for a conference where I knew that I had to do the following things: Go on an edible wild foods tour through Central Park with Wild Man Steve Brill (who was arrested for foraging back in the day) See the Museum of Sex Eat lots of vegan food See Cazwell - a "homo-hop" artist who frequently collaborates with trans performer  Amanda Lepore I accomplished all of the above minus a Cazwell fix. Why? His show was all booked. A little about my beloved homo hop artist - from Wikipedia , During the summer of 2007, Cazwell was a part of the multi-artist True Colors Tour, which traveled through 15 cities in North America. The tour, sponsored by LOGO, was hosted by comedian Margaret Cho and headlined by Cyndi Lauper and included Rufus Wainwright, The Dresden Dolls, Rosie O'Donnell, Indigo Girls, Stephen Reed and other special guests. Profits from the tour helped to benefit LGBT organizations Human Rights Campaign, PFLAG and...

Who knew that Ewoks and gender identity were synonymous? O'Reilly did! But seriously, his consistent stream of ignorance and prejudice broadcast to millions of viewers around the great U.S. of A. pains me. Interesting, how the U.S. continues to fall behind other developed nations when it comes to education. On the other hand, the Ewok analogy is a actually a compliment. They are adorable, after all.

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Transtastic shirt that my friend, Nick James , made for my birthday. Thank you, Nick!

I have always celebrated my birthday by dragging my loved ones to something that they wouldn't otherwise do. For example, acouple of years ago I deemed that we all go to see a special screening of Rambo that had Sylvester Stallone rambling on for about 45 minutes before the movie even started. And, during this time, I noticed that one friend had fallen asleep before the movie had even started . See, I really like Rambo. And the fact that friends and family would sit through the horror of it just because they love me is a birthday gift in and of itself. Like they'd go to hell and back for me - which, sitting through Sylvester Stallone talking for 45 minutes is pretty much just that. Unless you're me. Then it's highly, highly entertaining. So this year? We went to the Renaissance Festival. Yesterday my immediate family and I went to breakfast, then returned to my home to throw on kilts before traveling onwards to "the village of Marriott-Slaterville" (abo...

Today is my b i r t h d a y ! As a gift, I would be greatly appreciative to anyone who is willing to donate to my top surgery. Take notice that the " Amount Raised " surpassed " Amount Needed " as of yesterday. Every little bit IS helping and the seemingly insurmountable has become mountable! Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. I have no words. Donate button yonder --> and then ^ In other news, thought I should mention that earlier this month TransFM radio host Ethan St. Pierre received a call-in about the language being considered by ENDA regarding transgender workers and bathroom usage (not yet carved in stone). From the Trans Group Blog : Among the key points: * Employers will not be permitted to force a transgender employee to use a bathroom that is opposite of their gender identity, but they also will not be obligated to allow that employee to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity, as long as (currently undef...

The weekend before last was No More Homeless Pet' s semi-annual Super Pet Adoption. This is an event where homeless animals from a number of rescue groups and local shelters receive much-needed exposure, increasing their odds to find homes. 106 cats and 246 dogs were adopted, for a total of 352. Which was pretty good, given the IT'S SPRING freezing wet weather. Ken Passarella made a wonderful video of it: I love No More Homeless Pets in Utah (NMHP). Before they began in 2000, over 46,000 animals were euthanized in shelters throughout the state (1999 baseline). By 2008, that number had decreased by 30% and continues to decrease, bit by bit. I'm particularly relieved for all of the shelter animals who get to come, looking for homes; like those from a local animal shelter that's only open 10am-6pm Monday through Friday and closed weekends - when most people are stuck at work and unable to go meet all of the little animals in need of homes. I had no idea what ...