The homophobic thread :>

[Vrede too]

[O Really]

So TV news tonight featured a non-profit center that provides a variety of services to LGBT people in need. News chick managed to keep a straight face discussing the availability of donated clothing from the center's "community closet." Yeppers, the LGBT service center really needs a community closet.

It's a good organization, though, and deserves praise even with their closet.

Established in 1972 as a community-based nonprofit organization, The San Diego LGBT Community Center is one of the most vibrant and largest LGBTQ community centers in the nation. Functioning as the San Diego LGBTQ community’s anchor organization, The Center provides targeted programs and services to the full diversity of the San Diego LGBT community, including men, women, youth, seniors, transgender and non-binary individuals, families, LGBTQ Latino/a/x community members, and their families, and those living with HIV. From the start, The Center has created and provided innovative services, many first in the nation. Below find just a few examples:

The first court-ordered same-sex domestic violence program in the nation
The first program in the nation dedicated to the Latina/o/x community
The first Youth drop-in Center in San Diego devoted to LGBTQ youth
The only agency who offers free and anonymous HIV testing in San Diego
The first Emergency Overnight Housing program devoted to LGBTQ youth in San Diego
The first Host Home program devoted to LGBTQ youth in San Diego
Provides case management and support services at San Diego’s first LGBTQ-affirming housing program for seniors
The Center’s Food Bank won the 2016 Top Neighborhood Distribution Site Award
At The Center, our overarching philosophy and approach to providing support and services is trauma-informed care. Our support and services are designed to be both preventive and rehabilitative in working with people who have been impacted by traumatic events, including bullying, violence and systemic trauma. Our team focuses on 6 key principles with our trauma-informed approach – safety; trustworthiness & transparency; peer support; collaboration & mutuality; empowerment, voice & choice; and cultural, historical, sexuality & gender issues.

[Vrede too]

So TV news tonight featured a non-profit center that provides a variety of services to LGBT people in need. News chick managed to keep a straight face discussing the availability of donated clothing from the center's "community closet." Yeppers, the LGBT service center really needs a community closet.

It's a good organization, though, and deserves praise even with their closet.

Are you focused on the ironic word 'closet', or on the fact that the org does clothes sharing?

If the latter, there are plenty of impoverished gays. Plus, being a drag queen is probably pretty pricey unless the thrift shops and community closets are bountiful Then, sudden transitioning requiring an entirely new wardrobe must be costly

[Vrede too]

...

An issue you've posted on, close to your home:

Battle in Huntington Beach after transgender surfer barred from longboard competition

Sasha Jane Lowerson just wanted to surf.

But when the Australian longboard surfer attempted to enter an upcoming competition in Huntington Beach, the athlete, who was born intersex, learned that the organizer wasn't going to allow transgender athletes.

Instead, surfers would be required to enter the category of the gender they were assigned at birth, the organizer said in a video posted to Instagram last month....

Intersex people are individuals born with any of several sex characteristics including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies"....

Verifiable physical ambiguity, not just psychological transgender. Back to the article:

"As I walk my journey through the turmoil and the implications of people that want to spread misinformation, I've found myself wondering why?" Lowerson wrote in a post on Instagram in response to the situation. "Just why [do] people hate me for existing?"

... Former President Trump has said he plans to ban transgender athletes from participating in women's sports if he again wins the White House in November. Though the city of Huntington Beach is not part of the fight, some LGBTQ+ activists have expressed concern after the actions of a new, conservative City Council — which, among other things, banned Pride flags from being flown at city properties.

Huntington Beach is red.

Advocates such as surf equity activist Sabrina Brennan say a ban has nothing to do with athleticism or competition.

"It's a Republican and religious agenda that's playing out and, frankly, harming people," Brennan said. "The entire LGBTQ community is being negatively impacted. There's a lot of damage happening."

... International Surfing Assn. policy, which was updated last year, states that a transgender woman may participate in a women's event if she provides a written declaration saying she identifies as a woman and tells the organization's medical commission that her testosterone level has been below a certain concentration in the last 12 months. Lowerson wrote online that she meets all requirements for her to compete in the women's category.

Seems reasonable to me, Idk if the transgender community agrees with the requirements. Surgery won't affect performance.

"I think discrimination on public property, on public lands, is completely unacceptable," Brennan said. "To do this in a surf competition is absolutely not right. The ocean belongs to all of us."

Brennan, who runs Surf Equity, which aims to improve access, equity and justice in pro surfing, said forcing a transgender athlete to "compete in a gender category that they don't identify with is just really wrong."

It's also not in compliance with current policy, she said.

California Coastal Commission staff wrote in a letter Tuesday to Messick that if he wants to host the event, he will have to allow transgender athletes to participate. Banning those individuals violates the Coastal Act, a landmark law that declared the beach as a public treasure to be shared by everyone, according to the letter.

"Prohibiting or unfairly limiting transgender athletes from competing in this or any surf competition that takes place in the coastal waters of California does not meet the requirements of the public access policies of the Coastal Act and impedes access by discriminating against transgender surfers," Coastal Commission Executive Director Kate Huckelbridge wrote.

Is being male even an advantage in a sport that's judged as subjectively as surfing is?

... Lowerson said in an interview with the Inertia that she entered the Huntington Beach contest to have fun. But now she's decided not to participate.

Understandable, but a shame.

... In 2016, the commission required the Titans of Mavericks, a famous big-wave contest near Half Moon Bay, to have a heat for women if it wanted a permit. For decades, the contest had invited only men.

In 2018, the State Lands Commission indicated it would lease the public beach for Mavericks only if women and men were awarded the same prize money. Historically, women have been paid less than male surfers participating in the same contests. Commission staff wrote in a report at the time that "the waves do not discriminate."...

[O Really]

Knowledgeable commentary on the "Open" surfing tournaments here:
"Are Open Divisions in Surf Contests “Equal?”

https://www.seamavenmagazine.com/blog/e ... in-surfing

Some would argue that, similar to gymnastics, overall skills may be equal, but styles are different and might be judged differently, and in surfing would result in women being disadvantaged because there are a lot fewer of them and their riding may not hit the high-scoring actions that most top men could do. I'd see it similar to ice skaters back when the stronger men were first able to do quads and essentially no women could. So men would have an upfront advantage even if all else were equal.

[Vrede too]

Is being male even an advantage in a sport that's judged as subjectively as surfing is?

Knowledgeable commentary on the "Open" surfing tournaments here:
"Are Open Divisions in Surf Contests “Equal?”

https://www.seamavenmagazine.com/blog/e ... in-surfing

Some would argue that, similar to gymnastics, overall skills may be equal, but styles are different and might be judged differently, and in surfing would result in women being disadvantaged because there are a lot fewer of them and their riding may not hit the high-scoring actions that most top men could do. I'd see it similar to ice skaters back when the stronger men were first able to do quads and essentially no women could. So men would have an upfront advantage even if all else were equal.

Thanks, I've never surfed. Idk what this tells us about a skinny, testosterone-depleted intersex person.