Next Meeting - January 15, 2012Discussion Topic Transgender issues.
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Last month I gave a status report of the PFLAG Board membership. We have been operating with an open position for President-Elect, and as May approaches, we need to address this vacancy. Karen Baker's term as President will expire and she will move to Past President. Anyone with ideas of how to cover this vacancy (it is ok to volunteer yourself!!), please notify Karen Baker at ptandkj@gmail.com or 438-1906. If you are willing to serve, but do not feel ready to become President, perhaps some creative repositioning can be explored. Let us know of your interest.
Along with this month's program topic on transgender issues, added to our library is the book titled The Transgender Child by Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper. Transgender is something most people know little about since it is a newer topic in the LGBT area.
The authors have written with primarily parents of transgender children in mind, but reading it will have value for all who want to learn more. Covered are such topics as identification as transgender, developmental stages, family acceptance, effective parenting, decisions regarding transitioning and disclosure to others.
The parents of transgender children must also be prepared to face educational, medical and legal issues in support of their children. Professionals in these areas usually have little knowledge and experience with the topic of transgender. Parents will need to help them learn. The authors suggest giving this book to such professionals to begin a discussion. Many resources for further study are listed.
This book will be available during sharing time as well as last month's book, Queer Questions Straight Talk which I forgot to give you. Sorry!
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Click here to see where states stand on gay marriage.
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On January 1st, Hawaii joined a growing list of states that give legal recognition to gay couples. Whether they are called same-sex marriages, domestic partnerships or – as in Hawaii, civil unions – they all extend some of the benefits of marriage to persons of the same gender.
The major drawback to this type of legislation is that the marriages, civil unions, and domestic partnerships in these states provide fewer rights and responsibilities than traditional opposite-sex marriages because they are not recognized by the US government at the federal level.
According to a working paper issued in February 2011 by Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii (UHERO), “Partners in these relationships are denied rights granted to spouses of veterans, federal employees, and military personnel; they are not eligible for federal housing, food stamps, or social security benefits provided to spouses; and they are not treated by the federal government as spouses for tax purposes, bankruptcy, inheritance, student loans, and agricultural loans.”========================
Straight for Equality in Health Care: June 17, 2011
--Kay Heggested
Through pure serendipity, our local chapter will get to play a part in an
upcoming seminar to help agencies that deal with elders learn how to be more
sensitive to our LGBT seniors. A retired social worker, Carol Werner, has
had an interest in this topic for years and has done workshops on this issue
in the past. She was at Outreach, who is sponsoring the seminars, and found,
by accident, one of our Straight for Equality in Health Care booklets. She
then found me through our email hot line and asked for 100 of them. National
was able
to come through with them and I volunteered a few of us (Sharon, Karen and
me) to be unpaid consultants at the workshop scheduled for June 17. She was
happy to have us. If that goes well, then she will have 2 more workshops outside
of Madison later in the summer. (One will be done on 4/8 as well.)
Anyone may attend, and I encourage our members to attend the one in June as ordinary participants. The fee is $15 and includes lunch. Drop me a note and I will send you the flyer and the registration materials. Kay Heggestad kahegges@yahoo.com
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I believe that anyone can conquer fear
by doing the things he fears to do,
provided he keeps doing them
until he gets a record
of successful experiences behind him.
Eleanor Roosevelt, from the Ripples Project
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