The Tiffany Club of New England, the leading support group for transfolk in this region, has gone through some changes in leadership lately. Perhaps a good indication of the positive nature of the changes is their announcement of "Tiffany on Saturday." The club will now be open the first and third Saturdays of the month from 7PM to 11PM. Tiffany Club members are welcome at no charge,non-Tiffany Club members are equally welcome but there is a $10.00 cover charge. Soft drinks, snacks, music and fun will be the atmosphere for Tiffany on Saturday!

Yesterday, thanks to the tireless efforts of Sen. Jennifer Veiga, Colorado’s only openly LGBT lawmaker, legislation which would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity was sent to the governor of Colorado's desk for his signature. This is the third year in a row the legislature has sent a GLBT Civil Rights measure to the Governor for signature, but Gov. Bill Owens vetoed the measure in 2005 and 2006 (the same thing also happened in Vermont in '06). But thanks to last year's elections, Colorado has a new, more fair Governor, Bill Ritter, who has already said the he will sign the bill. I hate to think of how it must have felt to work long and hard to get a bill passed, only to have it vetoed and have to go through the process all over again. Congratulations to all those who worked long and hard to pass this legislation again, and thanks also to all who voted to replace the homophobic former governor!

Read the full story here at 365gay.com

NGLTF's listing of Colorado GLBT advocacy organizations

From HRC: “The U.S. House of Representatives today voted to pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, H.R. 1592, in a vote of 237 to 180. The proposed legislation, which has the endorsement of 230 law enforcement, civil rights, civic and religious organizations and the support of 73 percent of the American people, was introduced in March by Reps. John Conyers, D-Mich., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., along with more than 100 other members of Congress. The Senate will soon consider an identical companion bill called the Mathew Shepard Act.�

You can read the full text of the bill here.

It's a crying shame – literally – that it takes a series of murderous rampages by young people to convince the less progressive minds in our nation that maybe bullying in our schools is neither a laughing matter nor part of the healthy growing-up process. GLBT students, prime targets for brutish behavior, know this all too well.

Fortunately, there's been progress in the effort to oppose such mean – not to mention uncivilized – behavior. More and more schools are adopting anti-bullying policies, if only to protect children and teachers alike from the spasms of violence that too often result. We GLBT folks would do well to pay attention to the changes being made to protect our schools from violence, and make sure they're also protecting ALL children, not just straight kids.

Best of all, educators are turning not just their attention – and money – towards the problem, but some are employing new teaching methods which have been proven effective at reducing bullying in schools. Perhaps the most widely-respected method, the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, is taught to teachers in Boston Public Schools, and is being promoted by the US Human Resources and Services Administration on their Stop Bullying Now website aimed at kids. Check it out here and here. If your schools aren't practicing this method, maybe they should be.

A panel of copyright judges has thrown out requests brought by a broad group of webcasters including radio stations, startups, and small groups, as well as NPR, Yahoo, and others, to throw out an FCC ruling mandating a sharp increase in the royalty rate that internet radio companies pay to play music. Among the webcasters that would likely be put out of business is Live365.com, the service utilized by TransFM and other trans talk and music programs.

Any honest observer would have to agree that the FCC's ruling primarily benefits monied interests among both businesses and artists. The ruling would eliminate many non-profit, marginal and less-profitable programming, effectively narrowing listener choices and impeding democratic use of the internet.

Savenetradio.org has an action alert that will sent an email in your name to your elected representatives. Take 60 seconds and add your voice to pro-democratic use of the internet right now.

About 7 years ago, Gordene and I produced a musical video tribute to the vigil for Rita Hester, which had inspired the Transgender Day of Remembrance. Earlier today, Vickie Davis, suggested posting "In Memory of Rita" on YouTube. So here it is:

DVDs are also available here.