This morning, advocates of discrimination in Maine called the victory, "An act of God."

Please insert a loud *thud noise* and get me a burka, STAT!

Thanks Mackenzie. I'm not sure why it broke as it was working - but I've since embedded it into a player.

You make me want to be an optimist - so in that spirit, I leave you with an optimistic thought: we will outlive the bigots...

Flamer, photos or not - the fact remains that the administration did not step in and attempt to help Jayron. You'll note this article never refers to the crime as a "hate crime" or "bias crime" and only refers to Jayron's sexual orientation in the title. In fact, there isn't even a claim that the administration ignored him because of his sexual orientation. The purpose was merely a look at the failure of the administration (and the bus driver) to help when a student was pleading for that help.

Thank you for the information. I'm so sad to see this portion of your comment, "Jayron was not the homosexual we see on the news that keeps his views to himself and doesn't try to call attention to his sexual orientation."

If you (or anyone else) think for a moment that people don't have a right to display their sexual orientation, I suggest you start demanding heterosexuals remove their wedding rings and stop holding hands in public.

I'm unaware of a follow-up article; however, the Arizona Lawyer's Creed remains unamended since May, 2005 - which means they have not succeeded in making this change. I hope that helps.

Here's a link to the full Creed:

http://www.myazbar.org/Members/creed.cfm

Thank you for your thoughts Damien. I can see where this post could easily be interpreted as blaming God, but that is not the intention. As an atheist, it would be improper for me to blame [or thank] God for anything that happens in my life. It is a direct reflection on what I was taught by people who worship God that were in my realm of knowledge at that time. Unfortunately, at that point in my life, I did not separate the worshipers of God from "God." To my child-self, religion was all or nothing. That's the perspective of this post.

It's a very long process to let go of God. There's a wonderful story from Julia Sweeny titled, "Letting Go of God." It's on audio or DVD, but here's a link for the audio (which is how I heard it). I adore it.

You are right on DGL. Far too many of us share that similar story.

I owe it all to my favorite tutor ;)

Thank you Lonnie. You're right, I did not list the events. I have been linking to them tirelessly for over a week - while I did link to a listing of the events in the post, I did not list them individually here - many are over. The point though is not blame, I'll save that for another day. It is an observation on what the fuss about "exclusion" is in our community.

You are right, we must build a movement - but must the architect also design the building, lay the foundation, set up the walls, put on the doors, paint the rooms and cut the ribbon at the ceremony? At some point our community needs to take responsibility and do a quick Google search for "Transgender Day of Remembrance 2009 events" (you can even include your city name for more accurate results, or perhaps click on the link in the post to transgenderdor.org and find listings of events around the world.

I'm very sorry that Seattle made such an agreement. I would hope WE people would WANT to go to these events, not negotiate to go to them - but I'm glad you are all working together, whatever the reason.