caucus99percent

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Liv Hnilicka is a Minneapolis waitress. She shared a story on Facebook on Sunday that has gone viral.

This afternoon I was at my waitressing job on a beautiful early fall afternoon. Two parents and their young daughter came in; the tall burly dad adorably scratching his back on the door as they walked in. As I was filling the water station, he came up to me and said, "My daughter just asked if you were a boy or a girl. I didn't want to speak for you so would you like to talk to her?" I nervously said yes and walked to their table. "Hi, I like your hair ribbon," I said. "I heard you asked if I was a boy or girl. I think the important thing to remember is that everyone can be anything they want to be in this world. And it's also important to try to be the best selves we can be for our family and friends. And even to strangers. So to answer your question, I was told that I was a boy when I was little and now I live my adult life as a girl. It sounds complicated but it's actually pretty simple. Do you have any questions for me?" She looked at me smiling and simply said, "Nope!"

I walked away from the table feeling really good about parents intentionally engaging their children about possibly difficult topics. And showing that giving people the power to voice their truths in this complicated world is beautiful and healing.

Way to go, mom and dads out there making space for transfolks/gnc people like me. ❤

(Also I made this post public in case you want to share it with parents you may know.)

--Liv Hnilicka

General Austin's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week about the condition of our War against ISIS was so bad that at least one Senator wondered if he was pulling her leg.

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features "The Philosopher of Soul," Johnnie Taylor. Enjoy!

Now that Pope Francis is on American soil (question: Is the Popemobile considered baggage?), we can turn our attention to the exploding heads on the right (both Vatican and American, from all indications, over the guest list for tomorrow's White House visit.

To put everything in proper context, we should note that there are about 15,000 names on that guest list, so it's not like any one of them is going to spend significant time alone with Francis...or even get close to him, let alone speak to him.

But that's not stopping folks like Mike Huckabee from tweeting:

Classless decision by @POTUS to transform @Pontifex visit into a politicized cattle call is an insult to millions of Catholics.

The man who has asserted that he would have been a pervert if transgender people around when he was young, is especially concerned about the invitations to Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, transgender activist Mateo Williamson, and former Nun on the Bus, Sister Simone Campbell.

My attention, of course, is on Mateo Williamson, a former leader of the transgender caucus within Dignity USA.

The Vatican’s disapproval of my presence at the ceremony speaks to the necessity for continued dialogue between transgender Catholics and the church hierarchy.

This is really not so much of a political statement as it is the reality that there are so many LGBT Catholics and family members of LGBT people who would really benefit from this message coming from the White House.

--Williamson

Am I the only one who has never seen such a headline? (Excluding religious wars and religious warfare, of course.) I'm pretty sure that shit just doesn't happen, at least in the US. Yet, just the other day, yet again some religionist snuffed some kid for being possessed by demons.
'Baby Doe' dad: Mom's boyfriend thought girl was possessed - SFGate

Good Morning! Let's focus on food this morning (recipés are welcome). Any other topics are also very welcome.

Jill Soloway and Jeffrey Tambor of Amazon's Transparent earned Emmy awards last night...Solloway for Best Director for a Comedy and Tambor for Lead Actor in a Comedy.

Soloway's male parent, who she apparently calls Moppa (or Mapa...spelling uncertain) is a transgender woman.

Thank you Mapa for coming out and coming to L.A. And coming here tonight. And something interesting about my Mapa, Carrie: She could, tomorrow, go and try to find an apartment, and in 32 states it would be legal for the landlord to look her in the eye and say, 'We don't rent to trans people.

We don't have a trans tipping point yet. We have a trans civil rights problem, so go to transequality.org and vote to pass the trans equality bill.

--Soloway

That caused the website for the National Center for Transgender Equality to crash.

Hey! Good Evening!

This evening's music features Piedmont blues singer and guitarist Blind Willie Mctell. Enjoy!

Duke University Health System of Durham, NC has created a new clinic to treat children and teems with gender identity and development issues.

The clinic will address young people who are transgender or intersex as well as those who may have genital development or puberty issues.

The link above provides some background through the story of Hunter Schafer, one of Duke's patients.

Judge Carl Barbier of the Eastern District Court of Louisiana has allowed the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to intervene in Tristan Broussard's federal lawsuit against First Tower Loan, LLC.