Nico

Western PA.

I went through ASERT for assessments to update my Dx a couple years ago, and continue to try to go through them for referrals in the area to services. (They connected me with the social skills group therapy that I’ve liked/found not cure-oriented for example.) 

I found something today that removes the qualms I had about sharing them widely. 

On their FB page (linked) They like ASAN, AWN, and other similarly oriented orgs. They don’t have a single Aut $peaks page liked by their page. 

*bounces, shares*

A Philadelphia-based collective released a report called “This is Prison, No Glitter Allowed” on the experiences of transgender and gender variant people in Pennsylvania’s prison system. The research, in which 68 percent of respondents identified as black, adds to a growing body of work that looks at how transgender inmates fare when incarcerated. 

Drawing inspiration from similar research carried out in New York and Washington DC, the group Hearts on a Wire surveyed 59 transgender and gender variant recently or currently incarcerated individuals in Pennsylvania, most of which were placed in men’s correctional facilities.

(Source: fadesandspins)

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) sells weekly and monthly transit passes. You walk up to the ticket window, drop your pants, wait for the salesperson to figure out what’s between your legs, and accept the pass emblazoned with the “Male” or “Female” sticker they assign you. Then, every time you ride the bus, train, subway, or trolley, you have to drop trou again and wait for the driver to match your pass to your genitalia.

Well, ok, so they don’t actually require the nudity part. Which is where things get complicated… Every person buying a weekly or monthly transit pass has to ask for either a “Male” or “Female” pass, and every time they ride, they have to show the pass and have their gender verified by a SEPTA employee. And because SEPTA employees don’t check between your legs (and because what’s between your legs and your gender can be a lot more complicated than that pink/blue game we play with newborn babies), SEPTA doesn’t always get its guessing game right. Then, you might have to pay an extra fare, have your pass confiscated (no refunds!), and/or be subject to harassment by SEPTA employees and riders.

This is about:

• everyone’s right to ride public transportation, without being interrogated about their gender.

• how if you paid for an expensive monthly or weekly transit pass, it shouldn’t be taken away from you because someone doesn’t think you look like a man or a woman.

• everyone who’s ever been embarrassed to go to the ticket window and announce, “I need a monthly female pass, please.”

• the woman who was sold a pass with a “M” sticker on it because she had short hair. She didn’t know the “M” meant “male”… until the next day, when a SEPTA employee tried to confiscate her pass (with no refund) because she was committing fraud.

• the woman using a pass with an “F” whom a transit officer mistook for a man, who then physically harassed her and destroyed her $83 pass. The passenger never got a refund.

• the transgender woman who was denied the right to use her pass marked with an “F” because the driver realized she was transgender and didn’t think she counted as female.

• the woman who used a pass with an “F”, was questioned loudly by a transit worker about whether it was really her pass, and found herself surrounded by hostile riders who pushed her and called her names when she got off the train.

This is about a campaign to demand South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) immediately discontinue the use of gender-marking stickers on their monthly and weekly transit passes. For all of the reasons above, and because transit authorities have no business checking what’s in our pants!

Had reason to refer someone to them (Trans woman with a disability pass was having trouble with drivers because her pass reads “M” still) today and figured I’d share the resource.

catesnarks:

ALERT



Sent at the request of the Behavioral Health, Intellectual Disability and Autism Coalition

(Formally known as the MH/MR Coalition)



Governor Corbett will present his proposed budget in on March 8. As you may have heard, there almost certainly will be funding cuts to many…

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK FELLOW PA RESIDENTS GET ON THIS SHIT NOW

As an active advocate (In addition to the activism stuff I do on my own time) in PA, there’s stuff going on all the time. Now, there’s not a for sure that Corbett will abandon us. But I feel that his background makes me leery of any of the promises he has made, so I think it is mega important that we write in. 

His political background is one that shares with those who think that cutting all DPW PA budgets would be a good budget balancer. Has historically called those with MH issues and DD folk who don’t fit what fills for their Pity boxes burdens, characterized as criminal, and seen as unworthy. Now, he’s said in his promises that he isn’t planning on following this history. But I still think it prudent to be skeptical, and to remind him what we want. 

The link is to the new Non-discrimination policy. (You can get a little more background in my last post.) Basically, it explicitly adds Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Intersex status, and/or Sexual orientation- actual, perceived, or potential- to the non-discrimination policies of The BHMCOs (behavioral Health Managed care organizations) and State Hospitals in PA, and affirms that as such, discrimination complaint procedures can be followed with this population as well. 

What these bulletins could mean beyond PA 

You’ll notice that the scope is the BHMCOs. Thing is, most BHMCOs aren’t contained within a single state. There’s a number of them, and some of them- such as Health Choices- have contracts with multiple states. But for a number of them, it would mean that major policy changes- like adding GLBTQI to ALL the nondiscrimination policies for MH in PA- would be effected more broadly. A BHMCO will more likely just add that stipulation to it’s general non-discrimination policy, and for the other populations they work with. While it is guaranteed, there’s a chance that the DD services consumers interact with will have the non-discrimination policy added as well, and that it might even end up in their interactions with other states. (They would exceed the requirements of some states and their contracts with the MHBCO, not violate them.) 

Additionally, we have had some support from the feds to bring information on the work of KPRI to other states. This doesn’t mean it *will* happen, just that there’s potential that the work we are doing here in PA could help those of you who aren’t.

How this reflects “GLBTQI” rather than just “GLB” work.

I want to take this moment to point out that a lot of the queer centric work we see going on Erases the experiences of Trans and gender non-conforming individuals while still asking for their help.

While we Laud DADT being repealed, we forget or erase from our perception that even though Trans folk fought for the repeal, they aren’t covered by the repeal. (There are a number of trans blogs out there for you to get details on this, though genderbitch is one source, especially if you are looking for a battle maiden who recognizes that the US military isn’t all that great regardless.) Even though we use the term “LGBT” when we talk about what a victory it was, it wasn’t- it was a “LGB” victory, perhaps, and one that our Trans and Gender non-conforming brethern were allies for, but it was not a victory for the Trans community. 

Same goes for ENDA, or Marriage rights, or for most of the non-discrimination work we see touted by the queer community in the mainstream. We dropped trans from ENDA work. We Erase how Marriage equality could effect trans people, and effectively remove them and silence them in the equation. 

So I’m so, so glad/blessed feeling to be able to say that this wasn’t so for this work I/We’ve been doing in PA. And I hope that we can maintain this view/approach as we continue our work, and as we spread our work to others.

So, I’ve been working with other people in our Mental Health system on an initiative called Keystone Pride Recovery Initiative (KPRI), to address needs of the GLBTQI (“pride”) population in the mental health system (“recovery”) in PA (“Keystone” state.) (FYI, I have issues with the “recovery” terminology, but I leave that battle to my co-advos and activists who get to be our battlers.)

We just got two things we’ve been working on through the process, and so I’m *finally* authorized to share this with y’all. This link is the “Affirmative environments” bulletin. This is designed to make the environments in which people pursue Mental Health services less discriminatory. An excerpt:

 Affirmative Environments:  Provide an environment that is affirmative for consumers, staff, and visitors who identify or are perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender variant, or intersex.  Efforts to ensure such an environment shall include, but not be limited to: 

a. Implementing  policy and practice that prohibits  hate speech or acts of intolerance on the part of other consumers, staff, or visitors;  

b. providing a physical environment that supports diversity and inclusion of individuals regardless of race, sex, age, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity; 

c. allowing consumers to identify whom to consider family with respect to participation in family programs;  

d. providing housing in residential facilities, for gender variant individuals, that is consistent with the gender with which the individual identifies.   

BH-MCOs and providers should use the following opportunities to make their environments more affirming of LGBTQI people: 

 e. As forms, paperwork and data collection instruments are updated, revise them toinclude questions that account for differences in sexual orientation and gender identity.   

f. When facilities are renovated, make provisions for some restroom facilities to be designated as non-gender-specific.

Other portions include refraining from conversion therapy, training cultural competence (you can see some of the details on that, but it would include things like using the proper pronouns, not shaming people on basis of gender or sexual identity, etc.), following the other bulletin on non-discrimination and ensuring a certain number of people who specialize or are certified to work with GLBTQI specific issues. 

The Downside of this: it’s limited to the Behavioral Health Managed Care organizations and their contracted providers. This means it doesn’t apply to County Mental Health or State run facilities. You can thank a combination of politics and… well, mostly politics, considering who PA elected as governor. 

I’m posting the other bulletin next, along with some implications.