QBits

(via Transgender Pioneer Leslie Feinberg of Stone Butch Blues Has Died | Advocate.com) RIP

No, not a 'giant leap'. I'm still of a mind that sexuality is 100% nature and 100% nurture. Certainly it will not be traced to a single gene but a multiplicity of factors are undoubtedly involved. When we understand what causes hetersexuality, we'll have a better understanding of what causes other sexualities but, in the end, it really doesn't matter what the 'cause' is unless you are looking for a way to 'cure' it. Q.

TW transphobia, cisexism "Three Vancouver parents are taking the Vancouver School Board to court in a bid to quash a controversial policy that provided more support for transgender students. Xiaofeng Huang, Yuen Ching Li and Shaohui Liu have filed a petition in B.C. Supreme Court claiming the school board policy, adopted June 16 in front of a deeply divided audience, violates the School Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It said the policy, which allows transgender students to use washrooms and locker-rooms that correspond to their gender identities, violates students' rights to privacy and encroaches on parental rights over their children. "Some students are uncomfortable with sharing very personal information or private spaces with members of the opposite sex and deeply care about their privacy when using the washroom or change room," said the petition, filed Oct. 31. "The board never proposed how to accommodate the wishes of students who are uncomfortable with sharing the same washroom and change room with members of the opposite sex."

Cuteness overlaod!

[I'm still only able to post via tumblr applet and still can't reblog or like. Seems tumblr's latest upgrade has passed me by. Q.] A rumour that local schools are injecting students with a serum that turns children gay is the latest controversy on the Burnaby campaign trail. BCA school trustee Harman Pandher said he first heard about the rumour while door-knocking a week or two ago. “I had an encounter with one family, and I heard that others had some information come their way as well,” said Pandher, who noted residents were told about the serum through flyers and at the Bonsor Recreation Centre. “It was pretty unbelievable that a rumour like that would be out there. “It’s pretty outrageous, in this day and age, these types of things are being believed.” The rumour was purportedly spread by a volunteer with the opposition, Burnaby First, but the coalition’s mayoral candidate, Daren Hancott, said he was unaware of it until he was reached by media for comment. “I just sent out a note to everybody saying, ‘What is this?’ And I got no responses,” he told the NOW. “I don’t know where it’s coming from.” According to Pandher, the rumour is confined to the Mandarin-speaking community, and Burnaby’s new immigrants are being targeted. “We’re not hearing this in the mainstream media, we’re not hearing this at all candidates events or on party websites – it’s being done sneakily and it’s unfortunate,” he said. “It’s a type of fearmongering is what it is, and playing on people’s insecurities, but it really has no place in my Burnaby.” Pandher said he’s not sure who’s spreading the rumour, but added it seemed like it was an orchestrated campaign. “I don’t know how effective this type of smear campaign is. I think our voters are smarter than that, but there are people who are new to Canada and might not be that familiar with issues and the type of diversity we have in our community.” Hancott, on the other hand, said he has no idea who started the rumour, and hasn’t ruled out that it could be an act of political sabotage. “With two and a half weeks to go, this is the first I’ve heard of something like this and I hope this is not sabotage,” he said. “I find it just so unbelievable that people would spend time on this. “It surprises me, and yet nothing surprises me.” The rumour echoes back to the controversy that surrounded Policy 5.45, an anti-homophobia policy developed by the school district prior to the 2011 municipal election. Parents’ Voice, a political group formed to oppose the policy, feared the policy would infringe on their rights to educate their children about sexual identification. The group included current BFC candidates Charter Lau, Heather Leung and Helen Ward. When asked if he thinks the rumour is related to the Parents’ Voice group or Policy 5.45, Pandher said he didn’t want to point fingers, but noted it would be hard not to link it to them. “We thought this issue was dead three years ago and it’s rearing its ugly head again,” he said. But Hancott said the policy never came up during the coalition’s vetting process with candidates. “We told everybody who came to our group and who were vetted that you can’t bring a single issue, whether it’s jobs or pollution – any single issue doesn’t belong in a party. People have to leave their issue at the door.” Hancott said sexual preference is not an election issue and that every child “deserves respect and equal treatment in the school system so they can reach their full potential.” Similarly, Pandher prided the school district and the city for its inclusiveness, and hoped that sexual preference would not become a point of contention again. “There’s no such thing as some sort of magic potion that’ll turn someone gay or change someone’s identity,” said Pander. “You are who you are and we need to just accept people for that.”

"Three quarters of BC’s lawyers have voted against approving Trinity Western University’s (TWU) proposed law school. The vote, which is binding on the Law Society of BC, the governing body for the legal profession in the province, took place over the past month and saw 5,951 law society members, mail in ballots against the Christian law school; 2,088 were in favour of allowing TWU’s future graduates to practise in BC. “It is a proud day to be a lawyer,” lawyer barbara findlay says in a press release."

"The student council of Korea University in Seoul has revised its rules to ban discrimination against LGBTI people after several homophobic incidents on campus. It is the first student body of a South Korean university to do so."

Anyone else having trouble with tumblr? I am not able to like, reblog, or post (except using the applet, as I am now). I can't scroll beyond the first screen and the 'top of page' button is missing. When I do hit reblog, a new tab opens but the page never fully loads, it just stays blued-out. I can't contact tumblr support as whenever I click on the support hyperlink it merely reloads the help page. Anyone have any advise? Thanks! Q.

"Transgender hate crime saw the biggest percentage increase out of the five strands of classified hate crime, while disability and homophobic crime increased by similar proportions to race hate crime."

(via Gay flamingos adopt chick after it was abandoned by its parents · PinkNews.co.uk) "A pair of gay flamingos at Edinburgh zoo have adopted a baby chick, after it was rejected by its straight parents. The rare Chilean Flamingo was born to a straight couple as part of the zoo’s breeding programme, but was left helpless after it fell out of its nest before even hatching. According to the Mirror, zookeeper Nick Dowling said: “We weren’t short of drama in the flamingo flock this year. “When the first egg arrived the parenting couple got really excited and accidentally knocked it off the nest – their natural instinct was then to abandon the egg. “We don’t usually intervene with our flamingo flock but as this was our first egg since 2010, we carefully picked it up and placed it back on the nest. “Luckily, one of our same-sex male couples went straight onto the nest, fostered the egg and raised it as their own.”"