2012 Rainbow awards ~Sevan

Every year Spokane holds the Rainbow awards. They're given out to an LGBT individual, an ally, a group, and the "over the rainbow award". (which I believe is akin to a life time achievement)

First there was a spaghetti dinner and we had so many people from the group show up that we had to steal seats and place settings from other tables. :) It was so wonderful to eat such a yummy dinner with my trans* family.
We moved from the dinner tables to the seating area to see the presentation of the awards. It came as a total surprise that those who were nominated also got certificates saying so! I was nominated for the individual award and especially after seeing who else was nominated I was so honored to be in such company. Here's me walking up to receive my certificate. I decided to go with a mens dress shirt and nice tie, paired with a long flowing skirt. One of my favorite :)

One of my friends was also nominated and got her certificate. Then it was the ally award. After that was the group award presentation. Once again, those who were nominated were really great groups and organizations that do AMAZING work locally. Hearing who was nominated it just stunned me that our little group won.


I went up and gave a speech telling the audience about our group, our achievements this year and how thankful I was (on behalf of the group) to receive such an honor. When I told the audience about how we'd grown from 3 people to 50 people in a matter of a year they all cheered and applauded! It was wonderful. :)


The "Over the Rainbow" award was handed out, and then they also recognized a wonderful volunteer who's really gone above and beyond the call.
After the awards were handed out, we stood around as a group and talked about how amazing it was to be recognized. I asked everyone what we wanted to do with the award. A few of my friends insisted that the award was for Cyndi and I. They recognized the work we do and that the award was for us. I was so touched!!
One of the women from the audience came up and congratulated us on the award. She also told me that she'd recommended *this* blog to her friend! I'm often amazed who reads this, or visits!!
A little while later I got a chance to chat with one of the LGBT therapists who used to lead a trans* support group. Cyndi and I had visited the group once but didn't really connect with the style. Nice people, just not a setting that suited me. Well as we caught up she told me that she didn't do her group anymore, and had been sending people our way. She also said that in all the time she's been coming to the Rainbow Awards...no trans* person or group had ever been honored. That we were the first. That she was so proud of what we're doing, and she trusts we're doing great. Wow. That was amazing to hear.
We left the awards smiling ear to ear. We took a few of our friends home so they didn't have to ride the bus. Conversation was good and more affirming about the work Cyndi and I do.

I literally fell asleep smiling.

Here's my certificate of recognition.


Here's our certificate of award for the Group. :) They even made sure to include the asterisk! :)


The award itself. So pretty! It's hanging at our house. I'm beyond happy and honored. Yea. Honored. That's the perfect word to describe how I'm feeling.

Cyndi and Sevan on the radio!

An hour video ended up fitting into five videos. Please excuse the crude edit job...I've never made videos before and we all talked so fast in the radio show there was nearly no breaks or pauses that would fit into editing nicely! Anyway. Here's the first video:

The second video:

Third:

Fourth:

And the final video:

Spokane Trans* People documents ~Sevan

Hey all!
So I'm the facilitator of my local trans* support/social group. I think I've mentioned that a time or four. ;) So in prep for Pride we've been creating many documents for us to share, as well as our own version of the Trans* flag! I'd love to see our hard work shared and used to educate and bring people together.

Here is a PDF brochure that's aimed at educating allies.
Here is a PDF brochure that's a 101 introduction to MtF identity.
Here is a PDF brochure that's a 101 introduction to FtM identity.
Here is a PDF brochure that's a 101 introduction to Genderqueer/Non-binary identities.
Here is a PDF hand out that's a glossary of terms for transgender concepts.

Last but most certainly not least...here's our version of the trans* flag.

From top to bottom the colors represent MtF (Blue, to pink) Non binary identities represented by the purple and white stripe, and FtM (pink to blue)

Finally a new transition update! ~Sevan

:) Enjoy! Sorry it took so long for me to get back to videos...eesh!

The double standard of trans dating.

There is a double standard in the trans community when it comes to our lovers.

If a woman is turned on by a trans gender persons body and is happy to be in a relationship with a trans person she is hailed as progressive, a paragon of virtue with an open mind.

If a man is turned on by a trans gender persons body and is happy to be in a relationship with a trans person he is labeled a deviant, a predator and the ultimate 'insult' a chaser.

Just pointing it out.
It looks like an ugly thing to me.
Whats your opinion?

Let's be clear. ~Sevan

HIV is a managable *chronic illness*. It is NOT (for most people, hopefully me included) a *terminal illness* any longer. YES...it used to be. And we grieve those people who lost their lives in horrible ways thanks to this disease. However...thanks to the many wonderful strides we've made in health care and medicine; and our understanding of the disease; it is no longer considered terminal by most medical practitioners who deal with this disease.

It is chronic, and managable.

Does it suck? Yes. All chronic illnesses suck. This is no different.

Do I think about it every second of every day? No.

Do I even think about it most days? No.

Do I think about it when I must consider other secondary infections/disorders that I have? Yes.

Do I have to consider my HIV meds when thinking about adding new medicines into my regiment? Yes.

Is it going to kill me? I really don't believe it will.

Did you know that a cure is being worked on and is functioning very very well in mice? Read more here

I can't be all down trodden about this diease. I can be an advocate. I can educate people about how different it is now from the disease it was in 1985. It's not the same.

Then again, lepersy isn't the same...but people still assume it is. (Did you know lepersy is curable? if you actually get it, there are simple cures for it!)

In which I talk about paps. ~Sevan