Gender-Neutral Restrooms Become the Law

When Mayor Michael Nutter signed legislation Thursday to afford equal rights to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, he said he hoped Philadelphia would become “the most LGBT-friendly” city in the world. One piece of that comprehnsive legislation will forever alter the restroom options in city-owned buildings. The legislation requires that new or renovated city-owned buildings include gender-neutral bathrooms in addition to traditional men’s and women’s restrooms.

Continue reading at NBC.

VIDEO: Hair Touching…Again

It has been revealed that the controversial exhibit in New York City’s Union Square earlier this year that prompted passersby to touch black women’s hair was actually part of a larger exploration into responses to black physicality, including a brief documentary (see Pt. 1 above) and a panel discussion. The documentary explores, among other things, comparisons of the exhibit, “You Can Touch My Hair,” to the exhibition of Sarah Baartman centuries ago, and includes the voices of women opposed to strangers touching and posing with black women on display.

Via Racialicious. (View Part 2 on Colorlines.)

Interview: Janet Mock, A Transgender Advocate

Author and trans advocate Janet Mock chats with Saint Heron, Solange’s new site for artists and cultural enthusiasts, about storytelling and authenticity:

SH: What advice do you give to trans women about coming out given that it’s not always safe for trans women to live openly and unapologetically?
JM: I try not to offer advice because I am limited by my own experiences with privilege and oppression. All I can do is lend my story and my experience as one possible example. I choose to live openly as a trans woman of color because I find nothing shameful about who I am. My hope is that by living visibly, I empower other young woman, whether they are trans or not, of color or not, poor or not, to own who they are and hopefully find a comfortable enough space in their lives to share themselves – wholly – with those they love.

Read the full interview here.

Does the Stonewall Commemorative Plaque Erase Trans People’s Role in Riots?

New York City is currently considering installing a plaque at the site of the historic Stonewall Inn, the Greenwich Village bar where in 1969, bar patrons — including trans women, lesbians, drag queens, and gay men — fought back against continued police harassment, leading to a riot that lasted three days and, by most estimations, started the modern LGBT rights movement.

Commemorating the riots and the location is undoubtedly a laudable goal, but the actual words that will be included on the plaque have stirred up controversy within New York’s LGBT community. The Stonewall Inn itself has already been recognized on the National and New York State Registers of Historic Places, and as a National Historic Landmark.

More over at Advocate.

VIDEO: Archbishop in South Africa Calls for Bold Love, An End to Anti-LGBT Violence

The Most Reverend Dr. Thabo Makgoba is the Archbishop of Cape Town and Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, as well as a supporter of Africa’s LGBT movement. In the video above, which was put together by Human Rights Watch, Archbishop Makgoba explains the social, religious, and moral importance of loving, not harming, people who are LGBT.

Via GLAAD.

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