Transgender Day of Remembrance 2013 (20th November 2013)

Another year passes and yet more people are brutally murdered for simply trying to be true to themselves.  Around the world, the Trans Respect Monitoring site reports that 238 known murders have been reported since TDoR 2012.  Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg as many countries do not report trans murders or they are shrouded in secrecy.  Neither does it include those people who were driven to suicide by bigotry and hatred and who could not carry their burden any more.  Many of those people died without ever realising their true selves.
When will people realise that we are not a threat to their own lives and allow us to live in safety and in peace.
I would like people to remember Lucy Meadows, the young teacher from Accrington in Lancashire who committed suicide as a result of horrendous media coverage of her transition at the start of 2013.  Please remember also Chrisie Edkins,  a young inspirational trans woman who sadly took her own life in the summer.

Thank you to Artdamage for the moving video below and to Sarah McLachlan for the song 'Angels' featured in the video

Male violence against women

Last Saturday evening (2nd November) some people were out celebrating Halloween when an altercation took place in a restaurant in the small rural town of Totnes.  This resulted in a guy who stands about 6'6" tall, muscular and probably weighing around 18-19 stone punching a young girl in the face.  Her friends tried to argue with the man and a bystander in the food grill started to video the scene, which you can see below:-



The blonde girl, in frustration attempts to kick the thug who punched her friend, and ends up getting thumped by the man, after recovering she then attempts to punch him (misses) and the guy then punches her in the face so strongly that she is knocked back and through some security glass.
Yes, she was wrong in trying to kick him, but does that give leeway for the guy who stands over a foot taller than her and probably twice her weight and strength to punch her in the face in the way that he did.
The comments below the video I found to be appalling and implied that if we want equality, this is what we are in for.  This is not about equality, this is about human decency.  Discounting the fact that (on average) women do not have the same muscle strength as men, this fight would have been wrong even if it had been "man" on "man". 
The comments were practically gloating over the incident and shows the utter contempt and misogyny that some men hold towards women.  No wonder domestic abuse and violence towards women is on the increase when some men think  it is perfectly acceptable to behave in this way.  They see it as a means of fighting back against feminism - which just goes to explain that they have absolutely no idea of what feminism is about.  Feminism is about equality. Perhaps they realise that their white, cis-gendered male privilege is under real threat and this is their only way of standing up to it.
Subsequent to the above video - another one was released which glorified this thug's physical abuse of his victim - and yes, the comments below the video again try to justify the abuse in the name of "equality".



According to a news report in the Daily Telegraph, a 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage, and subsequently bailed, following an incident at Totnes Grill last weekend.