This next installment in the works in progress series deals with the second chakra, Svashistana (sweetness), which affects sexuality and reproduction. The external genitalia represented here are ambiguous in nature. I wanted to create a representation of the genitals that transcends the gender binary while utilizing its aesthetic, anatomical tropes. My choice of yarn color is relatively close to that of my own skin, referencing my personal identity and corporeality.

Dec. 2 marks the fifth anniversary of Ohio’s Defense of Marriage Act. In 2004, Ohio passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

In honor of the banniversary, Equality Ohio has created a video to be delivered to members of the Ohio legislature. It is a part of the organization’s Our Stories project, which seeks to share the real stories of LGBT Ohioans to lawmakers and other citizens. Warning: It’s a tearjerker.

Cleveland City Council unanimously voted on Nov. 30, to approve a proposal protecting discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, housing and public accommodations.

According to Equality Ohio, other municipalities also voted on similar measures that day. Akron, Ohio, now includes sexual orientation and gender identity for employment, housing and public accommodations, in a vote of 1o-2. Summit County, Ohio, passed an almost identical ordinance, voting 11-1.

Dec. 1 marks the 21st celebration of World AIDS Day, an international day to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.

Worldwide 33.4 million people live with HIV/AIDS, according to international AIDS charity, AVERT. Of those 33.4 million people, 1 million live in the United States. Every year the United States adds 56,000 people to that number.

To bring the number closer to home, 15,412 Ohioians live with HIV/AIDS, according to the Ohio Department of Health. In Hamilton County, 1,949 people live with HIV/AIDS. Other urban areas across the state also have staggering statistics: Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, has 3,298 people living with HIV/AIDS, while Franklin County, home to Columbus, has 3,023 people.

The AIDS epidemic took the world by surprise. There still is no cure for HIV/AIDS. The treatment is very expensive, and most people have limited or no access to the life-prolonging drug cocktails. It is no surprise more than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981, when the first HIV/AIDS cases were brought to light.

After many years of research, researchers have discovered HIV is spread through contact with an infected person’s blood, semen, vaginal secretions or breast milk, usually during unprotected genital contact, sharing syringes or needles and, less frequently, blood transfusions.

Currently, prevention and early detection are becoming the route to battle AIDS. Local organizations like Stop AIDS provide free, confidential testing at their offices and in mobile testing centers. The University of Cincinnati Wellness Center even partners with Stop AIDS quarterly to bring the free testing directly to students in University Health Services.

Knowing your status is integral to stopping the spread of HIV, well, knowledge and having protected sex.

The UC Wellness Center also provides three free condoms a day to students, as well as other goodies such as lube, dental dams, adhesive bandages and pain reliever. A student simply has to pop into the office in 675 Steger Student Life Center to pick up the swag and help stop the spread of HIV. Other organizations such as Planned Parenthood also distribute condoms or safe sex packs.

McMicken Commons at the University of Cincinnati is decorated with red ribbons for World AIDS Day.

Stop AIDS also provides other services in addition to free testing, including educating community members on how to access treatment and other services while having HIV/AIDS. Services like financial counseling, transportation, housing assistance and chemical and alcohol dependency are among the array offered by Stop AIDS. For more information call 513-421-2437.

Other programs like syringe exchange programs swap used syringes for sterile ones with intravenous drug users. The reasoning behind these programs is people are using intravenous drugs and spreading HIV/AIDS in the process. By offering a needle exchange, these groups are not promoting drug use, but decreasing the risk of contracting blood borne pathogens like HIV. Currently, Cincinnati has no such program, and 7 percent of Ohio’s HIV/AIDS cases can be credited to intravenous drug use.

In honor of World AIDS Day, people across the globe hold vigils or services in honor of World AIDS Day. Red ribbons are everywhere, even University of Cincinnati’s McMicken Commons had them. Facebook statuses, Tweets and blogs are devoted to the topic or go red for the day.

While all of this awareness raising is good, where is the action?

Wearing a red ribbon will not eradicate HIV/AIDS, but getting tested, having protected sex and using sterile syringes will curb the spread of HIV. There is no cure. Our only option is to prevent it.

Girottolando di sito in sito sono approdata in una pagina che affronta la questione dei generi dal punto di vista Intersex.

Cosa significa Intersex?

Alla nascita i medici, in base a considerazioni principalmente estetiche, stabiliscono il sesso di appartenenza: o maschio o femmina. Questa scelta viene fatta valutando le caratteristiche e le dimensioni degli organi genitali del neonato.

Se queste non soddisfano quei requisiti minimi per cui possiamo essere catalogati in uno o l’altro sesso, i medici non hanno la coscienza a posto e intervengono chirurgicamente. Dopo la normalizzazione e la restituzione di degni attributi al neo-individuo in questione, segue un lungo percorso di cure ormonali, percorsi psicologici e somministrazione di psicofarmaci per ammutolire ogni perplessità sulla inevitabilità e la legittimità della correzione attuata. Il tutto ovviamente sulla pelle di una persona totalmente ignara che equipe di medici e psichiatri si sono così impegnati per pianificare il suo idilliaco futuro… futuro dove ovviamente potrà essere un perfetto padre o una perfetta madre pronto a riprodursi per la gloria della binarietà.

In questo sito tedesco nella sezione Gendermath è spiegato molto semplicemente un possibile calcolo per l’attribuzione del sesso. Dovrebbe essere una teoria che avvalora la tesi secondo cui esistono come minimo 256 differenti sessi. Avevo già trovato alcuni riferimenti a questo numero ma non sapevo da dove saltasse fuori.

Partendo dalla concezione binaria dell’attribuzione dei sessi abbiamo:

pene=uomo= 1

no pene=donna= 0

(va bene anche il contrario, perchè sinceramente l’idea di donna come mancanza di pene mi disturba un po)

per essere sicuri della giusta attribuzione dobbiamo comprovare alcune caratteristiche fondamentali, che possono risultare “1″ o “0″

nello specifico sono 8 categorie (e qui scatta il copia&incolla):

a. - hormonal sex (androgens, estrogen, testosterone)

b. – gonadal sex (testicular, ovarian, [ovotestian])

c. – interior sex organs (uterus, prostate, vagina, fallopian tubes)

d. – exterior sex organs “(penis, clitoris, labia, scrotum)

e. – secondary sex attributes (pattern of hairgrowth, breasts, voice, etc.)

f. – chromosomal status (XX, XY, [XXY, X0, XX/XY mosaic, etc.])

g. -genetic sex (SRY gene)

h. – sex of rearing (assigned gender)

Se il risultato è tutti 1 o tutti 0 allora siamo “perfettamente” uomo o donna, altrimenti…

… altrimenti esistono altre 254 possibilità.

Uomo o donna sono solo 2 dei potenziali 256 tipi di sesso secondo questa classificazione.

Lascio a voi i commenti… è indubbiamente uno stimolante spunto di riflessione.

I matematici non me ne abbiano per la mia imprecisione

Für sternTV war Caster Semenya der Anlass, Erik Schinegger neben der Medizinethikerin Claudia Wiesemann bei Günther Jauch zum Thema Intersexualität im Sport einzuladen. Den Anfang habe ich nicht mitbekommen, da ich zufällig reingezappt bin. In den Minuten, die ich sehen konnte, plauderte Erik Schinegger über seine Medaille der Ski-Weltmeisterschaft, die er als Erika gewann, dann der Zweiten gab, 10 Jahre später von ihr zurückgeschenkt bekam, und dann ganz zufällig dabei hatte und vor die Kamera halten konnte.

Günther Jauch versuchte dann, sich in eine von Caster Semenya geschlagene 800-Meter-Läuferin hineinzuversetzen. “Wenn ich dann von einem Mann besiegt wurde …” Autsch. Selbst wenn man Semenya die Weiblichkeit in Frage gestellt, ist sie noch längst kein Mann! Und Erik Schinegger ist kein guter Vergleich, finde ich, seine Form von Intersexualität ist eine sehr besondere. Am Ende wurde noch erwähnt, dass sich aktuell gerade Hollywood mit Erik(a) Schinegger beschäftigt.

Online finde ich leider kein Sendungsarchiv, am Samstag, den 27.11.2009 um 4:05 Uhr wird sternTV aber wiederholt. Und ansonsten kann ich nur immer wieder OnlineTVRecorder.com empfehlen — dort lade ich mir gerade die Sendung herunter.

Update: Weitere Informationen auf zwischengeschlecht.info.

Adam Lambert’s performance on last night’s American Music Awards may have been a lot of things, but inappropriate isn’t one of them.

The performance of Lambert’s latest single featured about three seconds of Lambert shoving someone’s face into his crotch, as well as a passionate kiss with a band member. And this was the closing number of the night – viewers could see worse on other shows that typically take that time slot. Much ado about nothing.

No one cared when Lady GaGa wore a flesh-toned body suit – one that made it look like she was wearing a strap-on at that – and broke liquor bottles on stage when she performed. No one said a word about Rihanna’s rings of clothing that left little to the imagination or when she entered the stage bound up BDSM-style. But when a fully clothed gay man mimics a few seconds of fellatio all hell breaks loose. Lambert’s number wasn’t inappropriate, it was right in line with the other outrageous performances of the night.

Lady GaGa at the AMAs. Photo from Google Images (TheSuperficial.com).

Rhianna at the AMAs. Photo from Google Images (TheSuperficial.com).

After all the press about it, I expected to see Lambert on stage with his pants open and a partner gleefully pleasing the pop star for a vast majority of the song, so when I watched the clip for the first time, I completely missed the controversial act entirely.

And trust me if GaGa – or even Britney – had done it, no one would even bat a false eyelash.

But Lambert’s new album drops tomorrow. I’m sure his camp isn’t all that upset about the hype.

Adam Lambert performs “For Your Entertainment at the AMAs

Lady GaGa performs “Bad Romance” and “Speechless” at the AMAs

Rihanna performs at the AMAs

“I imagine if our lord and saviour Jesus Christ had a cell phone, he would have sent Mary Magdalene a little something-something to show her.”

Today members of GenderBloc, a radical queer organization on the University of Cincinnati’s campus, observed Transgender Day of Remembrance by placing white flags on McMicken Commons, one for each person who dies yearly because of hate crime perpetrated against a transgender person. The students also chalked messages explaining the flags and denouncing hate.

The AP in Johannesburg reports that the South African sports ministry says 800 world champion Caster Semenya will keep her gold medal.

Caster Semenya has been under humiliating public scrutiny for several months now, when it was made public that the gold medal winning world champion female runner was suspected of having been born with male sex organs and had an unusual amount of testosterone for an actual woman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex

Caster was forced to take a gender test, and the alledged test results were leaked, and falsely reported internationally.The leaked results stated that Caster was rumored to have been proven to be a male, and a female at the same time.The report of the results were confusing at best.

The actual results of the gender test will remain closed and confidential, saving Caster from any more intimate public scrutiny,it is truly the right thing to do in this case.

The South African sports ministry pushed the IAAF to keep the recent gender test results strictly between patient and doctor. Once the IAAF agreed, the ministry announced today the confidentiality and urged South Africans and media to please respect Semenya’s privacy.

She will also be allowed to keep the prize money winnings she earned in August at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin in where she won the gold medal by blowing out the competition. That is where suspicion grew about her actual gender, based on her deep voice, and muscular build.

A quote reported in the Huffington Post explains the Caster Semenya’s gender qualifications test situation as follows….

She was tested for not being female enough even though the kind of conditions required to disqualify a self-identified girl from competing in boys sports are quite extreme. In fact, according to the IAAF’s own policy document on gender verification (2006), women can compete even if they are genetically male:

Conditions that should be allowed: (a) Those conditions that accord no advantage over other females:
- Androgen insensitivity syndrome (Complete or almost complete – previously called testicular feminization);
- Gonadal dysgenesis (gonads should be removed surgically to avoid
malignancy);
- Turner’s syndrome.

As well, athletes who choose to have sex changes are permitted to continue to compete in sport as long as they have completed a mandatory number of months in hormone therapy…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emma-rubysachs/semenyas-struggle-teaches_b_363668.html

I did not know that there were rules that governed intersex athletes in international sports, but, given that they do exist, and some may excel in sports, I think that the International Sports authorities have shown some proactive leadership in specifying the qualifications for the intersex athlete around the world.

The official ruling clears Caster Semenya and the South African Sports association of any wrongdoing, or malicious intent, like the violations of doping and steroid abuse that seems to be so prevalent among international athletes covering a wide range of sports.

I personally look forward to Caster continuing in her chosen field of sport, and I am sure that she will continue to set new world records, and represent her country well in the coming Olympics, should she choose to compete.

For more information on the life and times of world champion runner Caster Semenya, please follow this link…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caster_Semenya

Apparently, the results of the Caster Semenya “gender test” are in.  According to the IAAF, she was “innocent of any wrong” so she gets to keep her gold medal.

But what exactly does that mean?  What kind of a charge was it that she was being acquitted of?  Given that the public discourse from the Daily Telegraph onwards circled not around any suspected steroid use, but around Semenya’s body, there seems two possibilities:

1.  that she was supposed to have been taking testosterone

2. that she was supposed to have been intersexed

But the thing is, I don’t think I actually heard the first charge once.  What I did hear, over and over, from the Daily Telegraph onwards, is speculation about her sexed body, about her genitalia and her being a “hermaphrodite.”

Call me an overzealous English major, but I think the phrasing is here is very telling.  Being intersexed was framed over and over in public discourse as a crime, somehow analogous to the doping which the phrasing slides between–a crime for which she was now been found not guilty.  Cos how can you be “innocent” unless there’s a charge?

For Semenya, the worst may be over for now, but given the global scrutiny and outright hate directed her since she first came under the public spotlight, I’m not sure how much of that mud will stick.

What the episode points to is how easily sex/gender variance is deployed as a slur, as a charge to answer, but one which in the sheer act of asking establishes a kind of apriori guilt. Because sex is supposed to be visible, right?  We’re supposed to be easily and immediately identifiable as one or the other, not to mention gendered within two general ranges, and heaven forbid you not be.  Sex/gender policing is such a fraught field of anxieties–about sex and gender and the sexual orientations they make possible (again, premised on easy recognisability, the heterosexual contract in particular is fraught with anxiety about misidentification)..  The sheer necessity of having to look, of needing scientists to test her “gender,” positions Semenya outside of the realm of the easily identifiable–and hence, the always-already innocent.

The moral of the story is, even though she’s been found not to be intersexed, in the court of public opinion, Caster Semenya has still been found guilty.

From Google Images.

The Miami Herald is reporting that a technicality in the wording of the Texas Defense of Marriage Act may actually ban all marriages, not just those pesky homo ones.

In the state constitutional amendment it states, “Marriage in this state shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman.”

But the huge issue is in following statement meant to block civil unions and domestic partnerships: “This state or a political subdivision of this state may not create or recognize any legal status identical or similar to marriage.”

“You do not have to have a fancy law degree to read this and understand what it plainly says,” said Barbara Ann Radnofsky, a Houston lawyer and Democratic candidate for attorney general. She also said the language effectively “eliminates marriage in Texas.”

Of course this language will not result in an overnight cancellation of all marriages in Texas, it is still quite hilarious. It seems that whomever wrote the Texas DOMA amendment was so worried about gays finding some sort of equality in civil unions or domestic partnerships that they accidentally eliminated marriage for everyone. Talk about irony.

Cue the cynical laughter.

Liberation

Hello,

Let me start by saying if you haven’t read my blog on intersex I’d recommend reading it before this one.  This one kind of builds on what I’ve already discussed.

With that being said,  Intersex as I think it relates to homosexuality….

I’ll start from a religious standpoint and say Homosexuality is wrong.  Men are to be with Women and vice versa.  Personally, until yesterday I have been a strong advocate that homosexuality was definitely a choice.   Technically I could still say I’m right, but who is the person making the choice?  Remember how I said many intersex people have their gender chosen for them at birth.  Well whose to say that the parents chose correctly?  Am I saying that these parents are choosing homosexuality for their children.  Yes! That’s exactly what I’m saying.  You can’t tell a person that is not fully male or female to conform to one or the other.  That’s just not realistic.  If an intersex male was chosen to be female by zir parents then guess what,  Z is going to be a lesbian because z is genetically supposed to.  Is that wrong?  Not at all.  The choice by zir parents was wrong, not z’s choice in a partner.

So now you have an Intersex Male who has been chosen to be female that decides to date women.  Now we are going to slap another label on zir.  Lesbian, plus some of us are going to tell zir how wrong they are from a religious standpoint.

Ok wait, let’s go back…. God says that this is wrong.  Why would he purposely create a human that would contradict his rule.     Well that’s like saying, Why does cancer exist? or Hiv?  Why do people get sick at all?   Thou shall not steal, – ppl steal everyday…   Let’s remember ever since Eve bit the apple and tricked Adam to do the same,  Sin entered the world.  Man was intended to be a perfect image of Him.  However, disobidience on our part as caused us to become less and less perfect.   But I digress,

As I stated, many intersex people do not know that they are intersex.  Those who do find out may not until there 20’s or even later.  Remember the South African track star Caster Semenya?  Z is a prime example of this.  Z had no idea z was intersex.  Did you know that if this would have gotten out at the time z was born that they would have put zir to death?  Very sad, but true.  All countries have different standpoints on this issue.  (I’m not sure how true the put to death part is, but from what I’ve heard… I’ll have to research that further.  don’t quote me on it)

So think about how life must be for an Intersex person, especially if they don’t know.  They don’t fit in and they don’t know why.  Then on top of that we force them to choose a side, which in most cases is chosen for them, and then shun them if the chosen side is wrong.

Well I don’t see the confusion.  Seems pretty simple to me.  Gender is not just black and white.  There is a lot of gray area in between.  When we begin to recognize and accept this gray area is when we can start to make sense of everything.  Then maybe we can finally live together with everyone being satisfied and noone being left out.

…. Lol yea right,

Just do you,

Ok, 

I’ve written blogs in the past about gender and sexuality which mainly focused on the issue of homosexuality.  Well earlier I was watching the Tyra show (don’t judge me, lol) and she discussed something I’ve never heard about before.  Intersex

Apparently the fact that you’re either male or female isn’t totally true.  In fact, 1 in 2000 people are born somewhere in between.  Confused yet? 

Ok, let me break this down.   First we need to understand the birth process.  In a nutshell, every human that was ever born started off as a female.  At some point in the birth process the babies that are going to be male are converted due to testosterone levels being increased.  So basically we’re the same in a way.  It’s just the hormones that makes us different. 

Here’s the kicker,   Now lets take a scale (as they did on the show) of 0-10.  0 being totally female, and 10 being totally male.    There are many people that the process begins for them to be male, but it doesn’t finish.  So they start to head toward ten, but they might only make it to 3 or 4.    This is where the problem lies.  These people are not fully female or male.  Technically they’re a little of both.    Now let’s talk about where the confusion kicks in,

At birth the doctor notices that the baby is intersex.  He tells the parents that they should choose a gender for the child and have the baby surgically altered to fit that gender; never to tell the child of this happening.  The parents have no clue as to what this means and follows the doctors “official” advise.  So let’s say this particular baby was really a 6 or 7, but the parents already have 3 boys and have been trying for that girl so they choose female.  Now you have an unnecessary surgery being performed to an infant who genetically is more male than female, but has been deemed a female.  13 years later puberty begins to set in and now you have a “female” wondering why her voice is deepening or why she has to constanly wax her face or why she’s so tom boyish.   She infact is not a she at all.  Sure z (i’ll explain z in a sec) probably has some female characteristics, but remember z on that scale is about a 6 0r 7 steps towards male. 

Ok, you’re prob like what is Z.  Well according to one of the intersex people from the show, Z would be the correct pronoun to refer to an intersexed individual.  So in addition to he, she, it, there should be Z.    For possession, like his and her, it’s zir.  Got that,  Z and Zir.

To be clear,  Intersex people are NOT the same as transgendered people.  People that are transgender are actually people that were totally female (0) or male (10)  that chose to become the opposite sex.  This could also stem from an hormonal imbalance, but these people had no issues as far as actual gender at birth.

You may have been thinking, Isn’t this called a Hermaphrodite?   Well yes and no.  The term Hermaphrodite is really old and from the greek age where people actually have both sex organs.  Not all Intersex people have both organs.  Intersex is the newer term. 

Why am I talking about this?   Well that’s for my next blog.  I know this one is getting pretty long and if I continue it’ll turn into a book rather than a blog.  So I’ll end here and continue in my next blog.    One of the bigger issues that may be related to intersex is the debate on Homosexuality being a choice or not.  Intersexuality would make it more evident that its not a choice. 

So on that note I’ll just say that I found that episode of Tyra very interesting and I really applaud her on the success she is having.  You would think that her show would just be about modeling or fashion, but she really does touch on some hard hitting topics, many that are very helpful to the lives of young teenage girls.  Why not guys?  It wouldn’t help, We don’t watch that stuff, lol 

To all those people out there who are Intersex and don’t really have a gender to identify with, remember….

Just do you,

Photo from Google Images.

Nov. 16 – 20 marks Transgender Awareness Week, culminating in Transgender Day of Remembrance on Friday. Cincinnati and Columbus have planned candle light vigils for the victims of transgender hate crimes and GenderBloc, a radical queer organization on the University of Cincinnati campus, will be placing flags on the commons to represent the amount of transgender people killed annually.

Photo from Google Images.

On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Ohioans elected 10 public officials from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, bringing in a record number of progressive LGBT voices, with positions ranging from school board to municipal court judge.

“The Ohio Democratic Party is proud to have recruited and groomed candidates across Ohio who reflect the great diversity of our party and our state,” Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern said.

Amanda Armstrong, a third-year student at the College of Wooster, was elected to the Medina Educational Service Center Governing Board. Voters chose Kevin Johnson for Portsmouth City Council Ward 1. Nickie Antonio was picked for Lakewood City Council. Dayton City School Board will receive a new LGBT member Joe Lacey. Mark Tumeo was voted into Cleveland Heights City Council. Eric Resnick was elected to Canton City School Board. Bexley City School Board will welcome Carol Fey. Akron received a double dose of LGBT public officials in Sandra Kurt forAkron City Council Ward 8 and Jerry Larson for Akron Municipal Court. Jim Sands will join the Athens City Council.

“Democrats helped elect candidates young and old, male and female, gay and straight, from all geographical areas and of diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds,” Redfern said. “Ohio Democrats fielded an unprecedented number of openly gay and lesbian candidates this year and achieved historic success by electing 10 of these candidates to office. We celebrate that success.”

The Victory Fund, which supports any out LGBT candidate running in an election for a position that he or she is qualified to hold, called the recent elections the most successful year for LGBT candidates outside of a national election.

Are the conservative tides changing for Ohio? It did go blue for Obama this same time last year. Cincinnati’s recently re-elected mayor is a dem. The representative for most of Hamilton County is Steve Driehaus, another democrat. Sen. Sherrod Brown, yet another democrat, was a co-sponsor of the Matthew Shephard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Protection Act, which toughened hate crime legislation already in place and brought LGBT people in as a protected class. Five Ohio representatives are co-sponsors of the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Cincinnati’s representative in the Ohio House, Tyrone Yates, introduced a resolution to repeal the state’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Even Ohio’s governor plays for the blue team.

Again, why are Cincinnati and Ohio notorious for being conservative?

Ohioians even legalized gambling this year. Around this time every year,an issue is on the ballot about legalizing gambling in Ohio, and every year it gets voted down: We wouldn’t want the Cin City to become the next Sin City, now would we? Why the change of heart?

Is it the economy? Were republicans responsible for dwindling pocketbooks? Why has this historically red state, a state that twice voted for George W. Bush as president, has had such a radical change recently?

Ohio has been all Reaganomics and family values. Now it has an equal housing and employment act in the works to protect LGBT people; the bill was already passed by the Ohio House.

Maybe the Buckeye State is seeing an upturn in liberal candidates and legislation. Let’s just sit back and see how the backlash pans out.

The federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act is entering its final stages before it sees a House vote. Call the capital switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your representative’s office.

A sample of what to say would be: “I am calling in support of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (H. R. 3017/S. 1584), which will protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from job discrimination. No one deserves to be fired from their job because of who they are. Please vote yes for ENDA.”

You can call 24/7 and leave a message – they count just as much as actually speaking to someone.

You may also sign the National Center for Transgender Equality’s ENDA petition here.

The Advocate: Ohio flash mob for gay marriage

The Cincinnati Enquirer: Flash mob for marriage equality video

The News Record: Flash mob protests Maine legislation

Out Gay Life: Flash Mob Protests Maine Gay Marriage Repeal

And some other videos onlookers made:

UC Marriage Equality Flash Mob