Riverside, California Area Transgender Resoures & Information

State of California and National Transgender Resource Guide

Inland Empire Transgender Info & Resources:

I II III IV

Jeffrey Owens Community Center: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Inquiring, Intersexed, Queer, and Questioning

UCR's Trans Guide

UCR LGBT Resource Center

UCR LGBT Resource Center Calendar

46th Anniversary of Compton Cafeteria Riot March & Rally - San Francisco

46th Anniversaryof Compton Cafeteria Riot March & Rally

5:oopm - August 20, 2012 - San Francisco, California

Meet at City Hall at 5:00pm on the Polk St. side to march, 

or join us at 5:30pm at the corner ofTurk & Taylor.

via the Facebook Event Page:

Join in celebrating the legacy of LGBTQ homeless youth in San Francisco's Tenderloin district. 

March from City Hall to Gene Comptons' Cafeteria (former site) on the corner of Turk and Taylor, where we will have speakers (more to be revealed as we get closer to the event), refreshments and use sidewalk chalk to leave remembrances on the sidewalk.

The Compton's Cafeteria Riot was spurred by a group of transgender women and the Vangaurd youth (queer street hustlers). The contemporary group of LGBTQ homeless youth known as Otro Vanguard will participate in this event with some of the heroes of the movement including Felicia Flames who was featured in the Screaming Queens documentary.

Clergy are invited to wear collars or a sign of their faith.

Confirmed speakers include: Felicia Flames, Pastor Megan Rohrer, Supervisor Scott Wiener and Trans Law Center Executive Director Masen Davis.

While most GLBTQ historians cite the Stonewall riots in 1969 as the start of the gay liberation struggle, in 1995 a new slice of LGBTQ history was brought to light by transgender historian Susan Stryker while she was researching her now best-selling book, “Gay by the Bay.” Stryker discovered an article in the 1972 Gay Pride program about a riot that took place in San Francisco at Gene Compton's Cafeteria in August of 1966.

Tired of the constant harassment by the SFPD, the drag queens refused to leave the cafeteria and rioted against the police. This event marks the first time in history where LGBTQ people fought back against the police and took a stand for themselves.

Susan Stryker, a transgender historian, author, professor, and filmmaker co-directed the 2005 documentary "Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria" which profiles these courageous women.

You can watch the first 24 minutes of the film here:

There are also several clips from the film available on YouTube:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Top Ten Transgender Friendly Colleges

Campus Pride has published this list of top ten colleges in the United States on their Campus Climate Index that are particularly trans friendly and have pro-trans policies and programs.

The Top Ten:

Ithaca College – Ithaca, New York
New York University – New York, New York
Princeton University – Princeton, New Jersey
University of California, Los Angeles – Los Angeles, California
University of California, Riverside – Riverside, California
University of Massachusetts, Amherst – Amherst, Massachusetts
University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, Michigan
University of Oregon – Eugene, Oregon
University of Pennsylvania – Philadephia, Pennsylvania
University of Vermont – Burlington, Vermont

While I am not at all surprised at the selection or the fact they all are located on the West Coast or in the Northeast, I am surprised that Portland State University and UC Santa Cruz and Berkeley did not make the list.

This list is a good starting point, but by no means a complete list of schools that are trans-friendly. Many schools across the country are making strides in the way of LGBTQ folk and are great places for trans* people to go to school, even if they didn't make the list. Even schools in the south (like my alma mater, University of North Florida) are making strides in terms of creating a safe space for trans* students to go to school and are always open to ideas as to what they can do to accommodate transgender students and make their college experience as pleasant as possible.

In locations like the South and Midwest where one doesn't find the same mind-set of the progressive Northeast and West Coast, institutions of higher education are taking to the transgender movement more quickly than their non-university counterparts.

FTM Dating Sites

As the moderator of the FL Transguys Yahoo group, I get a lot of requests from gay or bi non trans males who want to join the list because they are interested in dating someone on the transmasculine spectrum.

While I am all for people being into dating transguys, the list is exclusively for medical, legal, familial, and other sensitive issues that arise surrounding transition, and therefore, is for transguys only. I did a simple google search for FTM dating sites to send the guys who had applied to the group the check out, and I thought I'd share that list here in case it may be of any use to someone.

FTM Lover

FTM Dating Site

More dating sites:

 
Trans Passions
Butch Femme Matchmaker
Yahoo Group: FTM Personals (by membership only)
Hudson's Guide FTM Dating Resources

If you want to skip the dating and go straight to the sex, a new FTM porn site was recently launched called FTM Fucker. Definitely NSFW, so don't say I didn't warn you!


Note: I am not a member of nor do I personally endorse any of the aforementioned sites.

Counseling for FTMs, Gender Variant, & Queer Folk [resources]

Therapy is one of the steps we must take in order to transition, but even after medical transition is over transgender people still deal with plenty of other issues, some trans-related, some not. It can be nice to talk to someone and get an outside perspective and some guidance - especially someone of trans experience.

Trey Polesky is a licensed therapist and a man of trans experience himself. He is located in Bloomington, Illinois but also offers online therapy sessions via Skype. Over half of his clients identify as LGBTQI, and he can not only assist in helping you start medical transition by providing hormone and surgery letters, he also specializes in the following:

LGBTQI issues

Trans issues (letters for HRT, surgery, etc)

Depression

Anxiety

Grief and loss

Substance abuse/dependence

Relationship or family difficulties

Anger management

Increasing self esteem and confidence

Abuse or trauma

Compulsive behaviors

Work/school challenges

Significant life changes

Trey can be reached via his personal website, by e-mail: treypolesky(at)gmail(dot)com, or you can give him a call at 773-819-5428.

You can view Trey's profile on Psychology Today here.

Trans/Queer Visibility

Here is a great video from Danny (aka dannyrideshorses) dealing with visibility as a queer person. She is the partner of a heterosexually-identified transman and struggles with wanting to be seen as bisexual or queer while honoring her boyfriend's straight identity.

Being visibly queer is something I struggle with as well as I am in a relationship with a cisgender heterosexual woman, and socially, we are obviously read 100% of the time as a heterosexual couple.

Most of the time this is just fine with me, but sometimes I want it to be known that I am trans, or that I am not your typical mainstream dude, and I want my struggle to be honored and recognized.

The "New" Queer Identity: Bois.

Video: A Boi's Life

From the video info:

An intimate look at a slice of the new generation of queer identity: bois. Boi is a term used in the queer community to refer to a person's sexual and gender identity, and it may include: a person who looks and acts like a young, heterosexual male and partakes in casual sex, a transman, an FTM or female to male, a submissive butch, or a bisexual gay with effeminate traits.

To All of the Kick Ass, Beautiful Fierce Femmes Out There [awesome poetry]

This is just so amazing in so many ways, you just have to watch it for yourself.