Sharrin

Warning: transgender people are pathologized rant.  No one will blame you if you don't read it.

For those of you either interested or masochistic enough to read on...

The American Medical Association has made a resolution to "support public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder as recommended by the patient’s physician."  Now how could such an innocuous statement evoke a rant?  I invite you to read it and comment on whether you feel this is an affirming statement of trans lives or one that pathologizes.

 
What would be a parallel in healthcare for cisgender people?  I suggest fertility treatment (I invite your suggestions in comments).  A person does not have to receive a diagnosis from a psychologist or psychiatrist in order to receive this treatment.  My lay-person understanding is someone attempting to get pregnant encounters difficulty, asks their physician for assistance, a discussion and a few tests are run, and assistance is provided and usually covered by health insurance.  No big deal.  You don't have to be a freak.  Something is just not working the way you need it to.  

Now, if everyone ignores 90% of the resolution and reads just the first and last sentence, we have a good thing:

"Whereas, Our American Medical Association opposes discrimination on the basis of gender identity; ... [we] support public and private health insurance coverage for treatment of gender identity disorder as recommended by the patient’s physician."
 

Have a good one U.S. folks...

I'm celebrating in NJ, that fine former colony.

Me, circa 1981.

This image started life as a polaroid taken by my friend Jamie Livingston in '81. It was then scanned and placed on a website by my friend Hugh Crawford last year. It was then downloaded by my friend Jeff Priess, who showed it to me on his iPhone last night. I took a picture of the screen with my digital camera and uploaded it to here.

Things were all going so well until I left work and decided what I wanted for dinner - my weekly falafel and shawarma from Mamoun's on MacDougal. Once I got there, it took me far too long to actually accept what my eyes were seeing. But there it was.

So I had to go to that high concept Peanut Butter place one block over and order The Elvis (hold the honey). Then, after leaving, I found out that Pluck U, which I thought had gone out of business, actually had a shop one additional block over from there. So there are still possibilities, but none of them are the perfection of Mamoun's. I don't care if it's deadly: I'm an edge player!

 thanks to popfiend and his fiendish friending frenzy I have a slew of new ppl on my LJ f list. 

Hi howdy! The girlscout in me says to make new friends! ;)

If you have read my profile and perhaps even peeked at my icons, you'll see that my interests are diverse. I would consider myself the "non standard stay at home mom." I have a great marriage of 13 years, 3 children that keep me jumping, running and sometimes even screaming.  I also have fur babies in this household one Wundermutt border collie and a cat I should have named Shutup instead of Max. 

I do typically blog about the day to day life stuff. I am also working on a spiritual journey. I don't have a particular direction in mind, so this could be interesting. I also partake in some "Adult Activities" that are with in the rules of my marriage, but are also non standard for the general population.  If you want to be on my Adult filter please speak up. Right now the folks I have added are not on that filter at all. I figured I'd let ya'll ask to be corrupted ;) 

I'm blunt, I curse, I spell horribly.  Many of the ppl on my F list I know real life and brace yourself I have a clan of Six Sisters that are family by choice. They will amaze and astound. 

this is a friends only journal, but for the time being I'll leave this post public :)

Walking onto my block this morning, I saw the trees, the vaulting sky, the faces of my neighbors, and I loved living here.