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Catherine Read

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by Catherine Read

In the Darkroom by Susan Faludi – Exploring Gender Identity

In the Darkroom Susan Faludi(Feb. 2017) This book is so many things. At its most basic, In the Darkroom is an exploration of identity. It’s also an intimate account of a daughter’s reconnection to her parent after decades of estrangement. That reconnection came in the form of an email from her father Steven Faludi that was signed, “Love from your parent, Stefánie.” The email announced that at the age of 76, her father had undergone sex reassignment surgery in Thailand and was now a woman.

I have more than a passing understanding of the multifaceted aspects of gender identity. And yet . . . Susan Faludi takes the question of identity to a whole new level and shows the many layers and overlapping aspects of how we see ourselves. Gender is only one of those facets that creates our sense of self. And she explores how gender can also be conflated with other aspects of identity, like Jewishness.

Faludi is a researcher, writer and journalist and a well known feminist too. Yet, I was not familiar with any of her other books or articles before reading this one. She gives a thoroughly researched account of the science and psychology around the work of early “sexologists.” In 1919 in Berlin, [Magnus] Hirschfeld established the world’s first institute to study sexuality, which issued one of the earliest scientific reports on transsexual surgery.

Yet Hirschfeld espoused an ethic directly at odds with the dualism that would come to prevail in the United States later in the century. “The number of actual and imaginable sexual varieties is almost unending,” Hirschfeld wrote in 1910. “In each person there is a different mixture of manly and womanly substances, and as we cannot find two leaves alike on a tree, then it is highly unlikely that we will find two humans whose manly and womanly characteristics equally match in kind and number.”

And there we have it in 1910 – the concept that gender is on a spectrum and is not just a binary.

There is also a fascinating chapter on how feminism and feminists have dealt with the question of transgender women. That has been quite an evolution and she pulls from many published works to show just how varied and passionate the views are among transwomen themselves.

This book also provides a fascinating history of Hungary. While that was most unexpected, I enjoyed learning the history of this country through the story of her father’s life and his family’s history there. It is the most personal of journeys through a country’s long and fraught existence and it comes to life through the impact it had on individuals whose stories emerge through Susan’s relentless pursuit of surviving family members.Read More

Filed Under: Blogging, Good Books, Women Tagged With: Feminism, Holocaust, Hungary, Identity, Sex Reassignment Surgery, Susan Faludi, transgender

by Catherine Read

Supporting LGBTQ Students – Back to School 2016

(Aug. 22, 2016) Catherine Read examines the challenges facing LGBTQ students as they prepare to return to school in September. Recent cases regarding transgender bathroom policies in Fairfax County, Gloucester County, Stafford County and Grayson County have left Virginia students and families with a great deal of anxiety.

In the first segment, Pat Hynes of the Fairfax County School Board outlines the policies put into place in FCPS school policy recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity as categories that join others as being protected from discriminatory treatment. She discusses the goals of the school board to protect the rights, privacy and safety of some of the most vulnerable students in our schools – transgender children.

Robert Rigby joins Catherine in the second segment to discuss the organization he founded to meet the needs of LGBT teachers, “FCPS Pride.” As an out gay teacher, he has sought to provide information and support for other teachers and school staff, and that effort has now grown to include many more people in the community. Robert has become a key organizer in galvanizing support among many interested constituencies in the fight for stronger protections for the LGBTQ student population in Fairfax County and beyond.

In the third segment, Marianne Vakiener, an LGBT Ally and parent of two FCPS graduates, talks about her support for better education on human sexuality that goes back to the 1970s. As a tutor and educator, Marianne has spent decades in front of students teaching them many things in addition to academics. As a Unitarian Universalist, she teaches a program called “Our Whole Lives: Lifespan Sexuality Eduction” (OWL) that includes accurate information about the LGBTQ community. She has great stories to tell that illustrate the challenges faced by students on a daily basis.

Bianca Rey, a trans advocate, joins Catherine in the final segment of the show. Originally from the Philippines and educated there, Bianca talks about her transition as a child and how she was supported by her school and her family. She lives in Northern Virginia, has a job, recently became an American citizen and is in a supportive relationship. She is party of the Equality Virginia Transgender Advocacy Speakers Bureau and is available to speak to groups who are interested in knowing more about issues related to the transgender community.

Filed Under: Blogging, Equality for Virginia, Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Bianca Rey, Fairfax County Schools, FCPS Pride, LGBTQ, Marianne Vakiener, Pat Hynes, Robert Rigby, transgender, Virginia

by Catherine Read

Transgender Non-Discrimination Policy – Inside Scoop

Catherine Read discusses the issues affecting the transgender community here in Virginia with guests James Parrish, Executive Director of Equality Virginia; Rev. Emma Chattin of Metropolitan Community Church; Roxanne Edwards, Co-Founder of Second Fridays and Fourth Fridays; Sara Simone of Fairfax; and Laura Curtis and her transgender teen Nathan. Topics range from business leadership on trans issues to school policies, legislative goals, the upcoming TIES Conference in October, and ongoing support for Virginia’s Trans Community. The path forward means codifying policies at the state and federal level that protect the transgender and gender non-conforming communities from discrimination in employment, housing, education and medical care.

Filed Under: Blogging, Equality for Virginia, Inside Scoop, Political, TV Shows, Virginia, Women Tagged With: Equality Virginia, James Parrish, LGBT, Trans Community, transgender

by Catherine Read

Raising My Rainbow: Adventures in Raising a Fabulous, Gender Creative Son

Raising My Rainbow(July 1, 2014) “Children are desperate to know that they are loved and accepted by their parents. You need to make the decision that your child’s happiness and safety is totally unrelated to his sexual orientation. The one place that kids cannot be afraid is in their homes.” – Judy Shepard, co-founder of the Matthew Shepard Foundation.

A wonderful book that should be read by every educator and anyone else who works with children. And parents. Definitely parents. I listened to the audiobook which was read by its author, Lori Duron. The book is based on her blog of the same name, “Raising My Rainbow.” It chronicles her journey with her gender non-conforming son CJ, his older brother Chase, her husband Matt, and their extended family and friends. She started the blog when she discovered in her extensive Google search that there was no information out there about pre-school boys who preferred all things girly. 

It’s heartbreaking at points as she helps her son Chase navigate relentless bullying at school because of his younger brother’s perceived sexual orientation. She describes how he handled a situation on the playground at the age of 7 when another child observed that his 4 year old brother liked to play with “girl toys.” His response was, “Yeah. He’s gender non-conforming.” And he went on with his play. Lori observes, “The bullies, predators, haters and gossips in life move in circles. They sniff out the smallest scent of fear and strike. When there is no fear, those people lose their power. Their power goes back to the rightful owner.” 
Read More

Filed Under: Equality for Virginia, Good Books, New Ideas Tagged With: gender non-conforming, LGBT, Lori Duron, pink boys, Raising My Rainbow, transgender

by Catherine Read

A Straight Ally: Traveling the Road toward Equality

Pride Flag The Highline NYC(Sept. 22, 2012) On Monday evening at Oakton High School, I’m sitting on a panel: Being a Straight Ally for Equality to talk about what it means to advocate for LGBT issues as an openly heterosexual person. The event moderator, Christopher Schaffer, asked me to send him a bio that he could read to introduce me to the audience.  This made me stop and think: What could I say about my journey from birth to “straight ally?”  Surely none of us are born playing that role.  At what point did I become a staunch outspoken activist for LGBT rights?

When I was in 8th grade, my parents split and my sister and I ended up Vinton, VA, with our mom (that’s in Roanoke County.)  My first day of school at William Byrd Middle School, in my first period Algebra I class, a boy named Gareth asked me if I was new, where I lived and where I came from. He was part of a close knit group of boys also in that same class who would become my life long friends. I met Gareth, Wayne, Jay, Stu, Monty, Keith and Jeff in August of 1975 and I consider them the family of my heart.  Three of them are gay.

Wm Byrd HS Brain Boys 1978Back in high school, gay people did not roam the halls in all their awesome gayness assured of acceptance by understanding teachers, administrators and students. We did not have GLEE, Modern Family or Ellen to model what it meant to be gay in America in the 1970s. Gay students were afraid. They lived in fear of others finding out.  My best friend Jeff – to this day I still consider him my best friend – shared that with me when he finally came out to me in our 30s. I couldn’t understand why Jeff didn’t tell me sooner – why he thought it would make a difference in our relationship.  But this is something I can never fully understand – I can never truly stand in his shoes and see the world the way he lived it in a hostile, unaccepting, homophobic world of Roanoke in the 1970s.Read More

Filed Under: Blogging, Equality for Virginia, Political Tagged With: equality, gay, LGBT, straight ally, transgender

Catherine S. Read
I believe in the power of community and the ability of one person to make a difference.

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