Pam Spaulding's Blog, page 44

Guest column by Irene Monroe: All about Chaz

All about Chaz



by Rev. Irene Monroe

The long-awaited film "Becoming Chaz," a documentary about Chaz Bon's female-to-male (FTM) gender reassignment aired this week on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. And it captures not only the arduous trek of coming out as transgender, but it also captures the universal experience we all face of coming out as our true selves.

As the only child of the world renowned pop duo Cher and Sonny Bono, many of us remember Chaz as their cherub-faced daughter Chastity, blowing kisses to the audience of her parents top-rated variety television show "Sonny & Cher."

In 1995 Chaz was outed as a lesbian. But this time Chaz is in control, and on his own volition announcing he's now legally a man.

But our trans men and women who have the courage to come out sadly and too often receive more criticism, sarcasm, and ridicule than praise.

For example, in "New York Times" reporter Cintra Wilson's article "The Reluctant Transgender Role Model," she attempts to comprehend the enormity of Chaz's courage, and perhaps applaud his perseverance to undergo surgery. As a cisgendered person (one whose gender matches his or her biological sex) Wilson's remark is, at best, insensitive and, at worst, insulting.

"You come away with a palpable understanding of how unendurably he must be suffering in his body to want to have his own sex characteristics amputated," Wilson wrote.

And with the heterosexist assumption that the reason any child who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) might have something to do with inept parenting, Wilson ask these naggingly insulting questions in her article:

"Could it be possible that the fact that Chaz is now a man is somehow Cher's fault? Did the toxic culture of celebrity damage Chastity/Chaz's gender identity? Did Cher's almost drag queen-like hyper-female persona somehow devour Chastity's emerging femininity? Could Chaz's transition have been motivated by gender-bent Oedipal revenge? Is he reclaiming the childhood attention his superstar mother always diverted? It is remotely possible that he needed to make the transition because his mom is Cher?"

More below the fold.

"I don't think the way I grew up had any effect on this issue," Chaz told Wilson. "There's a gender in your brain and a gender in your body. For 99 percent of people, those things are in alignment. For transgender people, they're mismatched. That's all it is. It's not complicated, it's not a neurosis. It's a mix-up. It's a birth defect, like a cleft palate."

To no one's surprise, social critic and self-described dissident feminist Camille Paglia, in a 54-second video by "Xtraonline" that went viral, had to volunteer her scurrilous viewpoint on Chaz's choice to undergo gender reassignment as a form of bodily mutilation. Pagilia opines that Chaz's unhappy and confusing childhood had nothing to do with him wanting a sex change, but she never states what Chaz's unhappy and confusing childhood was about. Instead, Pagilia voices her worries. Pagilia's biggest worry is that such an outrageous act of changing one's gender would gravely influence children who feel born in the wrong body -- an adolescent phase she disdainfully states she once experienced but overcame.

And when we see in the documentary Cher -- gay icon nonpareil -- not celebratory about Chaz's transition as her close friends and girlfriend Jenny are, it's unnerving. But Cher, in my opinion, comes across more as a frightened parent than as an insensitive transphobic. Worried about the toil it will take -- physically and mentally -- on Chaz to endure ongoing male hormone shots for the rest of his life, Cher, still using the female pronoun, states "I'm afraid she's not going to be healthy, I'm afraid it's too much for her."

During the documentary, Cher is heard pining about what she perceives as the lost of her daughter forever when she stated she should have saved the familiar sound of Chaz's voice on an answering machine before he began male hormone therapy.

But Cher understands Chaz's courageous act to transition. "If I woke up tomorrow in the body of a man, I couldn't get to the surgeon fast enough," she stated in the documentary.

Chaz doesn't walk away from the documentary without disturbingly turning a few heads in what many would agree are both sexists and misogynist remarks.

"Jenny and I had to relearn how to be together," Chaz states in the film. "I never really understood women before, to be honest, but I had a tolerance for women that I don't have now. ...There is something in testosterone that makes talking and gossiping really grating. I've stopped talking as much. I've noticed that Jen can talk endlessly. ...I just kind of zone out. I just don't care!" Chaz laughs.

Unthinkingly, Chaz's buys into the fallacious notion of "biology is destiny," meaning we are slaves to our genes, and in his case hormones; he, also, is buying into the gender binary of male and female, which would categorically be dismissive of trans males and females.

"I've learned that the differences between men and women are so biological. I think if people realized that, it would be easier. I would be a great relationship counselor. I know the difference that hormones really make."

Chaz isn't realizing that espousing biological essentialist rhetoric, he's categorizing people by a few fixed characteristics and not allowing for change or variation within God's human tapestry. And I am by these remarks.

However, I have to realize as a cisgendered lesbian, this is not my experience, and this is not my story. But rather I am reminded that the documentary "Becoming Chaz" is all about Chaz.

Mom defends decision to have her 8-year-old daughter Botoxed

Eight years old. NO ONE needs Botox at 8, and certainly no mother who cares about her daughter's health and well-being would let a needle near her face -- except Lara Spencer, mother of Britney Campbell. They appeared on Good Morning America to discuss this. No regrets at all from mom. Warning: don't watch the video if you're squeamish about needles.

Spencer asked Britney questions worthy of a horrifying "Law & Order: SVU" episode: can you show me where you do it? Can you point on your face? Of the Botox, Britney remarked, "It hurt sometimes, but I get used to it," and of the waxing, "It was super, super hard to deal with that...I just don't think it's ladylike to have hair on your legs," however adding that she won't do it again. At least not for a while.

Kerry confessed that Britney didn't actually request either treatment, noting, "We talked about it. She didn't exactly ask me about it but I know that she was complaining about her face having wrinkles and things like that," to which Spencer said, "My son will come home and tell me he wants every Xbox game that existed...that doesn't mean you get it for them." Snap!

 

It's National Fibromyalgia Awareness Day (and boy, don't I know it).

If you have fibromyalgia (or are close to someone who has it), almost every day you're aware of its impact, lol, but seriously, May 12 is the official awareness day to educate people about this syndrome, which has played a large role in my life for the last four years or so.

I won't spend a lot of blog space to this other than to say that the chronic pain that I live with is at times debilitating, other times it's liveable.(NFMCPA):

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome rather than a disease. Unlike a disease, which is a medical condition with a specific cause or causes and recognizable signs and symptoms, a syndrome is a collection of signs, symptoms, and medical problems that tend to occur together but are not related to a specific, identifiable cause.

Fibromyalgia, which has also been referred to as fibromyalgia syndrome, fibromyositis and fibrositis, is characterized by chronic widespread pain, multiple tender points, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbances, fatigue and often psychological distress. For those with severe symptoms, fibromyalgia can be extremely debilitating and interfere with basic daily activities.

The one thing that chronic pain sufferers talk about is that in most cases, it's invisible. It's not like a broken leg in a cast; unless you're writhing in pain, most of us just bear it and move on...until you hit the wall and can do little more than try to find ways to kill the pain -- capsaicin (hot pepper cream on tender points), sometimes narcotics, sometimes nothing helps -- and simply get sleep, which can help.

Some find relief with massage (that only helps me a day or so), accupuncture, and other holistic medicine to try to dull the pain. Diet sometimes affects it for sufferers, others it doesn't matter. Changes in barometric pressure seem to be a common trigger for fibro flare-ups. That's why I crash and burn after traveling to conferences. It's almost guaranteed that I'll be in a fetal position the next day.

The weirdest aspect of the syndrome is the "fibro fog." Your brain is completely toast, almost as if you have mild Alzheimers. Short-term memory is poor, and word recall is embarrassingly prominent. This can go on for a few days, and then all of a sudden you're fine. It's hard to explain, but the phenomenon is quite common. A lot of times the fog translates into strangely composed emails and posts on my part - I repeat phrases or leave out words and it looks fine to me until I review it some time later.

More below the fold.
Medicines have worked to varying degrees on me; taking combinations and playing with dosages is about all one can do in this area. There are some anti-depressants that at low doses have been known to help:

A number of pharmacological treatments for fibromyalgia are available for prescription. The first to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat fibromyalgia was pregabalin (Lyrica?); the second was duloxetine (Cymbalta?); and the third was milnacipran (Savella?). Other FM medications are currently in development, and may soon receive FDA approval to treat fibromyalgia. Additionally, healthcare providers may treat patients' FM symptoms with non-narcotic pain relievers (e.g. tramadol) or low doses of antidepressants (e.g. tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin reuptake inhibitors) or benzodiazepines. Patients must remember that antidepressants are "serotonin builders" and can be prescribed at low levels to help improve sleep and relieve pain.

...Complementary therapies can be very beneficial. These include: physical therapy, therapeutic massage, myofascial release therapy, water therapy, light aerobics, acupressure, application of heat or cold, acupuncture, yoga, relaxation exercises, breathing techniques, aromatherapy, cognitive therapy, biofeedback, herbs, nutritional supplements, and osteopathic or chiropractic manipulation.

Avoiding stress is a big help as well; good luck with that for me .

At least my colleagues on my day job are understanding. I have a nice chair in my office and hassock that I can put my feet up on when it's a really bad day to help. Of course getting up and going up and down stairs is excruciating some of the time. And yet other days it's no problem to walk for good distances. It would be nice if fibro flares were more predictable, but I guess I have plenty of years to try to figure out a pattern.

Newt Gingrich Will Save America From The Gay Secular Fascist Agenda In 2012

Via Media Matters, newly-minted Presidential contender Newt Gingrich appearing on Bill O'Reilly hinted at what could well be a promising theme in his 2012 campaign for the Presidency, saving America, and all good Christians, from those gay, secular, fascists:

"I think there is a gay and secular fascism in this country that wants to impose its will on the rest of us, is prepared to use violence, to use harassment. I think it is prepared to use the government if it can get control of it. I think that it is a very dangerous threat to anybody who believes in traditional religion."

Really some jokes just write themselves. Can't wait to see Sarah Palin try to trump this.

Queer Rising Brings Sen Diaz to NY AIDS Walk--In Drag

LGBT activists attempt to address notorious homophobe New York State Senator and Pentecostal minister Ruben Diaz's scheduled hate rally. From Steven Thrasher at Village Voice:

The kids over at Queer Rising, whose actions for marriage equality have been some of the more entertaining protests we've covered lately, were incensed when they heard of Diaz's plans to hold an anti-gay rally during the annual AIDS Walk. Faced with a conundrum about whether to counter-protest Diaz in the Bronx, or to support the largest fundraiser to fight HIV/AIDS of the year, they've come up with a pretty fun solution.

From their press release:

Queer Rising will have a large cut-out Ruben Diaz figure replete with "fabulous costume changes" that people will have the opportunity to take photos with at the AIDS Walk for $1.00. All proceeds of will be donated directly to GMHC, with suggested directing of funding to HIV/AIDS work specifically in the Bronx.

Queer Rising member Jake Goodman is quoted as saying, "We are deeply offended by his sullying this inspiring day of charity to promote an agenda of hate."

You can find Queer Rising and the ersatz Diaz on the AIDS Walk route at Riverside Drive and W. 95th beginning at 10:30am, this Sunday, May 15.

Full press release after the fold.

Queer Rising invites you to join "Ruben's Drag Race" At AIDS Walk To Benefit The Bronx

New York, NY -- Sunday, May 15 marks one of the most beautiful and inspiring traditions of New York, the 26th annual AIDS Walk.

AIDS Walk started in 1986 at a time when people with HIV were abandoned by our local and Federal governments, unable to find doctors to care for them, or even undertakers to bury them. Thirty years later AIDS Walk stands as a beautiful, shining monument to the generous spirit of all New Yorkers pulling together to overcome an enormous tragedy.

That is why it is particularly tragic and offensive Reverend and Senator Rueben Diaz has chosen May 15th-of all days-to organize a hateful and divisive anti-gay march in the Bronx.  "We are deeply offended by his sullying this inspiring day of charity to promote an agenda of hate," said Jake Goodman, a member of Queer Rising.

Despite the sad reality that the Bronx struggles with one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the country-and the fact that Diaz is himself an ex-intravenous drug user-Diaz devoted his day to entertaining non-constituents, fomenting homophobia and hatred over the imaginary problem of marriage equality, and aiming that hatred towards the LGBT community.

Queer Rising is inviting AIDS Walkers and passerbyers to stop by "Ruben's Drag Race" at Riverside Drive and West 95th Street to send Senator Diaz a message: HIV must end; the hatred must end; the violence must end; the bullying must end; the teen suicides must end.  "There is no place in New York City for the kind of display he has organized and New Yorkers repudiate his divisive agenda of hate."

Queer Rising will have a large cut-out Ruben Diaz figure replete with "fabulous costume changes" that people will have the opportunity to take photos with at the AIDS Walk for $1.00. All proceeds of will be donated directly to GMHC, with suggested directing of funding to HIV/AIDS work specifically in the Bronx.

"If Senator Diaz cannot be bothered to advocate on his constituents' behalf, we will have to work to make up the difference and let them know that they are not abandoned," said Goodman.

Photos will be available on Queer Rising's Tumblr page.

Date:  Sunday, May 15th

Time:  Meeting at 10:30am

Location:  Riverside Drive and West 95th Street (along the AIDS Walk route)

In Community, Genitalia & Socialization Essentialism Has Been Around For Awhile

If there is a antitrans devil identified by many trans people, that devil would be Janice Raymond. She wrote the book The Transsexual Empire: The Making Of The She/Male . The book is a second wave feminism take on transsexual people -- mostly transsexual women. And the book, to put it mildly, not exactly a warm and compassionate take on transsexual women.

From the 1993 introduction of the reprinted version of the book:

[C]hromozones are only one defining factor, in the context of the total history of what it means to be a woman or a man, in a society that treats women and men differently on the basis of biological sex. This means that the integrity of the body must also be placed in the context of the integrity of the total person, which includes the realization of such values as choice, awareness, and autonomy. Finally, if the transsexual answer reinforces the foundation of sex-role stereotyping, by encouraging the transsexual to conform to these stereotypes, then it also is violating the integrity of the society.

Transsexualism is a half-truth that highlights the desperate situation of those individuals in our society who have been uniquely body-bound by gender constrictions, but it is not a whole truth. While transsexualism poses the question of so-called gender agony, it fails to give an answer. I hope to show that it amounts to a solution that only reinforces the society and social norms that produced transsexualism to begin with.

Gloria Steinem heavily quoted Raymond her in her essay entitled Transsexualism, and that essay can be read in Steinem's 1983 book Outrageous Acts And Everyday Rebellions. In other words, Janice Raymond's unflattering take on transsexuals and transsexualism made it into the mainstream of feminist thought.

Well, the thoughts Janice Raymond put forward are still here, although they're not acknowledged as at least somewhat orginating with her (and her mentor Mary Daly).

When I read the antitrans musings by some radical lesbian-feminist blogs on transsexuals, these often are very similar in text and tone to Janice Raymond's (and her mentor Mary Daly's) thoughts on transsexualism. For example, you can read the blog twanzphobic since forever's Jendah: The emperor's new clothes and see the similarities in play. ("Jendah" is referring to gender.) From the text of the entry:

[More below the fold.]

We are lead to believe, from the medical profession, from transjacktivists, from the government even, that all this jendah stuff is innate, a natural and totally invisible 'essence' that can't really be described?

And tell me, if all this jendah stuff is really so innate, why do M2Ts need hypnosis to 'become the woman they rilly rilly are'? If they really 'are' the woman they say they are, that it is innate to them, then why the need for this training eh? Because it is mimicry, based on stereotyped jendah roles and behaviours. Most actual biological women don't perform that crap to that extent. But again, tranz are promoting stereotypical jendah roles. I tell ya, transjacktivists are just the laydees auxiliary of the MRAs, both groups heavily promote supposedly innate and stereotypical behaviours (that they just can't help).

...That's right. Radfems are increasing their numbers because many libfems are waking up to the jendah delusion.

The jendah delusion is based on bullshit, and we have the medical profession upholding (and celebrating it), thegovernment rapidly legislating for it, and transjacktivists still claiming that they are the mostest discriminated-against little snowflakes. No wonder the new diagnostic criteria looks a (bad) joke.

Compare it to what Janice Raymond wrote in the Sappho By Surgery chapter of her 1979 book (no emphasis added):

Self Definition

One of the most constraining questions that transsexuals, and, in particular, transsexually constructed lesbian-feminists, pose is the question of self-definition -- who is a woman, and who is a lesbian-feminist? But, of course, they post the question on their terms, and we are faced with answering it. Men have always mad such questions of major concern, and this question, in true phallic fashion, is thrust upon us. How many women students writing on such a feeble feminist topic as "Should Women Be Truck Drivers, Engineers, Steam Shovel Operators" and the like, have had their male professor scribble in the margins: "But What are the real differences between men and women?" Men, of course, have defined the supposed differences that have kept women out of such jobs and professions, and feminists have spent much energy demonstration how these differences, if indeed they do exist, are primarily the result of socialization. Yet there are differences, and some feminists have come to realize that those differences are important whether they spring from socialization, from biology, or from the total history of existing as a woman in a patriarchal society. The point is, however, that the origin of these differences is probably not the important question, and we shall perhaps never know the total answer to it. Yet we are forced back into trying to answer it again and again.

Transsexuals and transsexually constructed lesbian-feminists, drag us back to answering such old questions by asking them in a new way. And thus feminists debate and divide because we keep focusing on patriarchal questions of who is a woman and who is a lesbian-feminist. It is important for us to realize that these may well be non-questions an that the only answer we can give to them is that we know who we are. We know that we are women who are born with female chromosomes and anatomy, and that whether or not we were socialized to be so-called normal women, patriarchy has treated and will treat us like women. Transsexuals have not had this same history. No man can have the history of being born and located in this culture as a woman. He can have the history of wishing to be a woman and of acting like a woman, but this gender experience is that of a transsexual, not of a woman. Surgery may confer the artifacts of outward and inward female organs but it cannot confer the history of being born a woman in this society.

Women in trans community, are confronted with genitalia essentialists of all stripes in LGBT and feminist communities. Sometimes it's from some radfem (radical feminists) who believe trans people are invading women's spaces with false bodies and false histories, and sometimes it's from those transsexual surgery essentialists who argue that trans women must have genital reconstruction surgery genitalia to match societal sex norms or they aren't really transsexual and/or female to begin with.

To quote Eric Vilain, chief of medical genetics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, from a Los Angeles Times Op-Ed entitled Gender Blender: Intersexual? Transsexual? Male, female aren't so easy to define on biological realities, marriage equality, and a then proposed constitutional ban of same sex marriages (emphasis added):

Sex should be easily definable, but it's not. Our gender identity -- our profound sense of being male or female -- is independent from our anatomy. A constitutional amendment authorizing marriages only between men and women would not only discriminate against millions of Americans who do not fit easily in the mold of each category, but would simply be flawed and contrary to basic biological realities.

As human beings, we often want crisp dichotomies we can put our faith into, and a sex and gender dichotomy seems to be one of those. But often what we think are dichotomies have shades of gray between the black and the white -- we might like to think there is a firm sex and gender dichotomy that divide us adults all in to neat little boxes marked man and woman. I'd argue instead that there is continuum of gray shades between the hard lines of male and female -- between the hard lines drawn by both some radfems and some transsexuals -- and the shades of gray are just simply ignored.

Genitalia and socialization essentialism has been around for awhile in LGBT, feminist, and transsexual space. To me, the arguments defending rigid sex and gender dichotomies seems to be a too-long running distraction.

I know I don't want to expend more time and energy in a loop having the same sorts of conversations on sex and gender year after year after year...the same sorts of conversations in the same loop I've been hearing for years and years already. The discussion-that-never-ends just gets in the way of moving forward on issues related to the freedom, justice, and ordinary equality for a subpopulation of human beings who belong to the human community.

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All anti-gay amendments adopted by the House Armed Services Committee

Yes, children, there is no escape from the desire to affirm bigotry. The anti-gay Republicans want a do-over on DADT repeal so badly that they taste it. This time it comes in the form of paranoid, anti-gay amendments to the mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) during the marathon House Armed Services Committee hearing tonight.

David Hall's Tweet pretty much sums it up.

My takeaway #hasc #NDAA markup: gays biggest threat to US military, not the conflicts the troops r waging, not lack of equip. Just gays.

First Congressman Duncan Hunter's (R-CA) amendment to the NDAA. According to SLDN's Tweet, it passed.

Roll call for Hunter's #DADT amendment to expand certification to service chiefs: ayes 33, noes 27. Amendment is agreed to.

And this bullsh*te passes as well...related to the Navy now-retracted same-sex marriage instruction that the nuptials could be performed in base chapels in states where it is legal.

Roll call on Akin's amendment to restrict use of military facilities for same-sex marriages: ayes 38, noes 23. Amendment is agreed to.

Let's go for the hat trick, courtesy of Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) reaffirming DOMA is the law of the land:

Roll call for Hartzler's amendment to restate #DOMA for the #military: ayes are 39, noes are 22. Amendment is agreed to.

What does this mean? The next step is a full House vote - a GOP-controlled body.

Reaction from Servicemembers United on the Hunter amendment:

"Despite the passage of this amendment within the ever-hostile House Armed Services Committee, it is highly unlikely that such an amendment would ever pass the Senate and be signed by the President," said Alexander Nicholson, Executive Director of Servicemembers United and a former Army Interrogator who was discharged under DADT. "The offering of this amendment was a shameful and embarrassing waste of time. The service chiefs have unequivocally said that they do not want this extra burden forced upon them, so if Congress really values their advice on this issue they should take it and forget this unnecessary and unwanted amendment."

HRC:

Today the House Armed Services Committee marked up the National Defense Authorization Act and included amendments that attempt to slow down repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and insert distracting issues into the debate.  Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, issued the following statement:

"Make no mistake, these amendments are meant to slow down open service and perpetuate scare tactics about the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' Republicans should stop playing politics by standing in the way of all Americans being able to serve their country equally."

"As the process moves forward, we call on all lawmakers to stop these side shows and get back to the real work on which Americans so desperately want them to focus."

SLDN:

Army veteran and Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis tonight issued the following statement in response to the adoption of harmful amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that threaten to delay and derail "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) repeal implementation:

"The amendments adopted tonight during mark-up of the National Defense Authorization Act in the U.S. House related to the repeal of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' represent nothing less than an assault on our nation's senior military leaders and rank-and-file service members, who are marching toward open military service successfully.  These adopted amendments to delay and derail repeal are a partisan political attempt to interject the same-sex marriage debate and other unrelated social issues into the NDAA where they have no place. Make no mistake - these votes should be a wake-up call to supporters of open service that our work is not done.  Our commitment to timely certification and repeal must be redoubled as we move to the House floor to defend the progress we have made to ensure that LGB patriots can defend and serve the country they love with honesty and integrity."

Hate Group schedules Anti-Gay Marriage rally in Raleigh, NC May 17th

SPLC certified hate group, Family Research Council has scheduled an anti-gay marriage rally on Sat, May 17th right behind the Legislative building in Raleigh.

 

From their post at: http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=WM11E05

Consequently, we are asking all pastors and church leaders from across the state to bring as many people as possible to Raleigh, NC on May 17, 2011 at 10:30 AM. The Marriage Rally will be held at Halifax Mall located directly behind the Legislative Building. In addition to hearing from me, you will also hear from challenging speakers such as:

Dr. Ron Baity, Pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem and President of

Minnesota Senate debates, passes discriminatory marriage amendment

With it next going to a House vote, for all intents and purposes it's onto the ballot on 2012. Like North Carolina, the governor in Minnesota has no veto power. (Adam Bink, Prop 8 Trial Tracker):

The measure passed 38-27, after lengthy debate over several hours. I noticed the number of speakers against the measure took up most of the time, while those voting for discrimination were far less to be found. There most certainly were not 38 speakers, or anywhere close to it, in favor of the measure.

Stay tuned on this as we move towards a ballot campaign. This is going to be a battleground.

Former Michigan Asst AG (and stalker) Shirvell: 'I'm a victim of the 'Homosexual Activist Agenda'

Man, is there a top-level amount of #FAIL that can be applied to this creepy guy? You'll recall that Andrew Shirvell, while serving as Michigans Assistant Attorney General, went on a series of bizarre anti-gay baiting/bashing online rants against the openly gay student body president of the University of Michigan, Chris Armstrong. At some point during his obsessive online binge, Shirvell decided to take his campaign into offline stalker territory.

He eventually got the boot, but now he's presenting himself as a victim of the Homosexual Agenda. (TPM):

Armstrong filed a lawsuit in April asking for more than $25,000 in damages for "defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process, invasion of privacy, and stalking," after Shirvell wrote a series of blog posts that attacked Armstrong for being gay. Among other things, Shirvell repeatedly described him as "a radical homosexual activist," and photoshopped a picture of Armstrong next to a rainbow flag with a swastika in the middle. Shirvell would also show up at school events and parties to picket, based on information gleaned from Armstrong's Facebook activities.

On Friday, Shirvell, who is representing himself, filed a motion for the judge to dismiss the case. He argued that he "never engaged in any direct communication with" Armstrong, and he simply "opposed [Armstrong]'s political agenda" and "began protesting [Armstrong] and his agenda both online via the internet and in-person, pursuant to his First Amendment rights."

How badly has Shirvell been damaged by this? None of it is his fault, of course, in the complaint he blames all of these issues on the Armstrong's Homo Agenda (as in, I suppose, existing) :

[H]e "has suffered significant loss of income, future earnings, and the right to enjoyment of his livelihood as well as emotional distress, humiliation, mortification, embarrassment, sleeplessness, anxiety, and depression as the result of Plaintiff's tortious conduct."