• A study of 47 "sending" and 47 "non-sending" Mexican wives found that those whose husbands immigrate to the U.S. for work (the "sending" group) have poorer mental health than the woman with spouses who work nearby. •  An agreement signed by the Humane Society of the United States and the Agriculture Department will require animal research facilities to disclose annual reports, which must include "pain and distress information" about the furry test subjects. • Before Lori Drew's acquittal today, Democratic Representative Linda Sanchez had issued a statement in support of the prosecutors in the case. "What Lori Drew did was egregious, and it is time that she be brought to justice," she said. In April, Sanchez introduced the nation's first federal cyberbullying bill. •  In a similar but unrelated case, a Los Angeles appeals court has ruled that internet servers like MySpace and FaceBook cannot be held responsible for minors that are sexually assaulted by people they meet on the website. • The Justice Department has let the deadline to appeal a case that awarded a transgender woman $500,000 for discrimination pass this Tuesday. In 2005, Diane Schroer lost a job at the Library of Congress because she disclosed her plans to transition into a woman. Under the Bush Administration, the Justice Department and the Library of Congress unsuccessfully fought the lawsuit, but Obama has decided to let the original ruling stand. •  The New Scientist has revealed the most inspirational female scientist, as according to their readers. Madame Curie leads the list, with Rosalind Franklin, Ada Lovelace, and Rachel Carson coming in at numbers two, five, and nine. • A federal appeals court ruled today that a man falsely accused of rape cannot turn around and sue his accuser. "We certainly see this as a victory both for her and for all rape victims similarly situated," said attorney Sarah Prout. •  What say you: Is this commercial for Evian featuring babies dancing on rollerskates cute or a little creepy? • 

I am not sure that what limited social acceptance the homosexual community has gotten from positive media portrayals — assuming that those portrayals were not a result of a growing acceptance homosexuality in the first place — can be translated into transgender acceptance because I don't think that the philosophy that guides even a basic level of tolerance among conservatives can itself be translated. Partly, I think this is because a significant level of conservative "acceptance" of homosexuals is rooted in the "love the sinner, hate the sin" philosophy. Transgender people, to many, are the actual embodiment of that "sin."

Also, I think that the root of a great deal of homophobia that the gay community has had to fight lies in a complete inability on the part of homophobes to not think about the sex that other people are having. But, for the transgender community, it seems that intolerant people don't just obsess over what they're doing with their private parts, they obsess over what they look like. Just ask porn star Buck Angel, who takes shit from both breeders and gays for his genitals. Or Michelle Bruce, who was the mayor of Riverdale, Georgia and faced a lawsuit to disclose her "true" sex. (She won that lawsuit, but not before she lost her bid for reelection). Transgender intolerance comes from some of the same intolerant places as homophobia, but it also draws from people's understanding/ignorance of gender and identity, which makes it much tougher to fight.

In addition, while people in America are slowly coming around to the belief that gay men and women deserve the same rights as their hetero sisters and brothers, the same cannot be said for transgender people — even within the gay rights community. When the House was looking at passing a bill last year to eliminate workplace discrimination against homosexuals — a bill, notably, that stood almost no chance of passing the Senate and less of avoiding a veto — Democratic Congressional leaders opted to remove provisions related to discrimination against transgender people. Worse yet, groups like the Human Rights Campaign signed off on it, saying that they'd totally help transgender people get their rights... but later.

So, maybe a beautiful young transgender woman like Isis will be able to push the acceptance-ball slightly forward for others — I certainly hope she can. But would I stake anyone's rights on that? No. People shouldn't have to wait for the larger society to accept their sexual identities to achieve the equal rights guaranteed by our Constitution and the freedom from discrimination promised by our (supposed) political philosophy. I think we could try providing all Americans with the rights they ought to be entitled to and simply enjoy Isis' time on ANTM for the great reality TV turn that it is.

The New Transgender Reality [Newsweek]
Isis [ANTM]
Gay Talent on Nonscripted TV Continues to Rise [Media Week]
For Some, Fox Apology Not Enough [glaadBLOG]
Being a Woman in Politics Is an Unfair… Advantage? [Wonkette]
Good News, Crap News [Wonkette]
Pelosi/ HRC ENDA 'Bargain' - The Inside Story [Gay City News]

So, Congressman Barney Frank, the only openly gay Congressman, introduced a bill to provide protection for our gay, lesbian and bisexual friends against discrimination in the workplace. Yay! However, according to Roll Call, he had to take out provisions that would have provided equal protections to our transgendered friends to try to get enough votes to pass the rest of the bill. Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (the only openly lesbian Congresswoman) has announced that she plans on introducing an amendment to restore the transgender provisions, and so Speaker Pelosi has put off passing anything until Baldwin and the transgender community can prove they have enough votes to pass their amendment, which they don't and probably won't, so gay rights in the workplace will have to wait a bit longer so that some Democrats can prove to other ones that America isn't ready to be fair to transgendered people, too.

Meanwhile, the bill exempts religious organizations and the Armed Forced (naturally), there's no indication it could pass the Senate, President Bush has vowed to veto it because he says it messes with states rights to discriminate against teh gays (and because the veto pen is his new favorite toy), and your boss remains able to fire you because he thinks it's gross/creepy/against God's will if you love a person of the same gender or engage in certain kinds of sex acts on your own time. Oh, and if you're an MIT- and Harvard- educated neurobiologist at Stanford doing groundbreaking research, well, according to one GOP leadership aide, you'd best be thankful that you live in the Bay Area because the rest of "us" don't think you should have "special" rights.

Gay Rights Bill Stalls in House [Roll Call]
Transgender prof defends women scientists [MSNBC]