Chelsea Manning – STORY BY JAMIE LEE

THIS IS JUST COMMING OUT, IN THE NEWS…….I DON’T KNOW WHAT SHE DID, TO GO TO PRISON, BUT SHE NOW IN AN ICON, IN THE TRANSSEXUAL COMMUNITY.    WE ARE MOVING FORWARD FOR OUR ACCEPTANCE, AND FREEDOM AS TRUE TRANSSEXUAL WOMEN……AND PLEASE NOTE, WE ARE PROUD OF WHO WE ARE, AND NOT Masquerading AROUND, AND DECEIVING PEOPLE TO BELIEVE WE ARE NATEL WOMEN , FOR OUR BLOGS OR FOR MONATERY REASONS.  WE ARE PROUD OF WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE STAND FOR………………………….JAMIE LEE – A TRANSSEXUAL WOMAN AND PROUD.                       DECEPTION I DECEPTION – IF THE SHOE FITS WEAR IT………..

 

NEW YORK — Chelsea Manning’s lack of access to hormone therapy in military prison could spark a lawsuit and potentially set a military-wide precedent for transgender servicemembers.

On Thursday, one day after she was sentenced to 35 years in prison for sending classified documents to WikiLeaks, Manning confirmed what had been suspected for years: that she identified as a woman and no longer wanted to be called Bradley. But as Manning arrived at military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., officials there said that they do not offer the hormone therapy that Manning has said she wants, and which accepted medical practice says could be used to treat her diagnosed gender dysphoria.

Manning’s defense attorney David Coombs vowed Thursday to do “everything in my power to make sure they are forced” to provide her hormone therapy at Fort Leavenworth. But because the prison is citing an Army regulation banning transgender people serving in the military as its basis for denying Manning treatment, it will only provide her hormone therapy if it is forced to.

“Chelsea Manning’s refusal of treatment by the military could turn into a very, very interesting game-changer,” said Brynn Tannehill of the LGBT servicemember group SPART*A. “This is a lawsuit waiting to happen.”

The ACLU said in a statement following Manning’s announcement that denying her treatment might violate her constitutional rights.

Manning will not be eligible for parole for at least eight years, potentially leaving her without access to appropriate care for the gender dysphoria, intense stress caused by discomfort with one’s assigned gender, that a military psychologist diagnosed her with just before her arrest.

Although the military ended its Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy barring openly gay servicemembers in September 2011, the Army still bars transgender servicemembers as “administratively unfit.” The official Army regulation uses medically outdated terminology referring to “transvestism, voyeurism, other paraphilias, or factitious disorders, psychosexual conditions, transsexual, (or) gender identity disorder.”

Transgender servicemembers are supposed to be administratively separated from the Army, and cannot receive treatments for gender dysphoria like hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery. But administrative separation is not an option for soldiers sentenced to prison like Manning, whose rank will soon be reduced to Army private.

A Fort Leavenworth spokeswoman confirmed to HuffPost on Thursday that the military’s refusal to provide hormone therapy to its prisoners is derived from that official Army regulation, not simply a matter of prison policy or practice.

Army regulation stands in sharp contrast to the policies of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the Endocrine Society, all of which acknowledge hormone therapy as an effective treatment for people who need to transition because of gender dysphoria.

“To deprive someone of this treatment is simply inhumane, and it’s no different than denying someone of their blood pressure medication or antibiotics,” said Lauren McNamara, an activist who exchanged Internet chats with Manning in 2009, before she sent files to WikiLeaks and before they both came out as transgender.

“Not allowing people people to have access to this is basically holding them hostage to their own bodies and denying them their autonomy,” said McNamara. “It is really no different than taking a woman and involuntarily exposing them to testosterone.”

There are a wide range of views within the LGBT community about how Manning’s decision to send files to WikiLeaks should be viewed. Some fear that her actions could be used to paint other LGBT servicemembers as traitors, and groups that are generally referred to as mainstream, like the Human Rights Campaign, kept their distance throughout his trial. To other activists, however, she is a hero.

Nevertheless, the military’s post-sentencing treatment of Manning seems to be uniting LGBT groups. The Human Rights Campaign issued a statement calling for her to receive appropriate care.

Tannehill was careful to state that Manning’s identity does not mitigate the charges on which Manning was convicted. But, she said, “I want for any prisoner to be treated with accepted medical standards of ethics, and that’s regardless of what she did.”

The Palm Center, a think tank at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was awarded a $1.35 million grant to study transgender military service in July. The Palm Center’s research also laid the groundwork for the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

But that’s about as much progress has been made on official acceptance of open transgender servicemembers, Tannehill said.

Talks with military officials are “informal, below the water lines, one-on-one,” and she said that even under the best of circumstances, she can only imagining the Army repealing its outdated regulation in five years.

Tannehill and some others in the transgender community are concerned that the intense publicity around Manning’s decision to come out as a woman could set back the cause of allowing transgender servicemembers to serve openly.

“I don’t know if this is going to be the best test case for that both in terms of publicity and focus,” said Nathaniel Frank, who wrote a widely-cited book about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in 2009. He doubts that a lawsuit aimed at Manning’s prison conditions would have an impact on the wider Army regulation.

Still, he said, “I do think because of the publicity around Manning, this could be a test case for how transgender people are treated when incarcerated.”

Access to hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery are contested issues far beyond the military. Many state prisons do not provide one or both, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons only reached a settlement in 2011 to allow prisoners to start hormone therapy while incarcerated. Transgender inmates everywhere, meanwhile, face disproportionate exposure to the rape endemic to America’s prisons.

“I do think the publicity focused around this, even though some of it is negative, both reflects the pace of change and could help focus attention on the experience and needs of transgender people,” Frank said.

DECEPTION – JAMIE LEE

MY OPINION – FACT OR CRAP

We in the Transgendered Community, have come a long way, recently, in Education, Laws, Acceptance,

and freedom, by leaps and bounds!

EVEN WITH THE LABELS AND TERMS USED

A few years ago, naturally born women were called “Genetic Females” and we were referred as Cross-dressers, in the Transgendered Community,   I and some others are called “Transsexuals”

Then an intense study was done by the Medical and Scientific Community, and they found that,

Trans-sexuality is caused by “Genetics” !

Hmmmmm.  Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy !  Now I have the reason I was born this way, an answer if been seeking all my life!

AND IT POINTS OUT,  THAT I AM A FEMALE BORN IN THE WRONG BODY!!!!!!

(INDIVIDUALS IN THIS COMMUNITY CAN PLAY WITH VERBAGE ALL THEY WANT}

BUT THE FACT ARE WE ARE NOT, NATAL WOMEN !!!!!

When the above Study was completed, it then allowed us transsexuals to refer to ourselves as Genetic Woman, Justifiably so!

So this changes the terminology in the following manner:

1. A naturally born woman is now referred to as a “NATAL WOMAN”

2. Transsexual woman are and can be referred to as “GENETIC WOMAN”

BUT, WE ARE NOT NATAL WOMEN, AND TO DECEIVE ANY ONE, IN PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY IN THE TRANSGENDERED COMMUNITY IS WRONG !!!!!!!!!   And especially to rely on the ignorance of the public, where they don’t understand the terms, into thinking we are “NATAL FEMALES”

I EVEN TOOK MY OPINION TO THE NEXT STEP, AND CALLED A FEW OF MY LONG TERM FRIENDS IN OUR COMMUNITY AND ASKED THEIR OPINION!

HERE IS WHAT THEY SAID:

1. They agreed with what I said above.

2.  They said it was ok to identify ourselves in public, as being born female and on the internet, etc, which I agree with.

3.  We all agreed. that we can refer to us as females, but the moment it becomes a friendship with anyone, we need to be honest and truthful, and not deceive them into thinking we are “NATALLY BORN WOMAN”

AND I SAY, EXPECIALLY WHEN A PERSON IS TRANSGENDERED, AND PLAYS WITH WORDS, TO DECEIVE US, AS SISTERS IN THE COMMUNITY, ABOUT THEIR TRANSITION!

IT IS IGNORANT AND DISRESPECTFULL TO US AND TO NATAL WOMAN!

Jamie Lee – Genetic Transsexual Woman

GLBT ADOVOCATE

NOTICE:

I AND MY CRYSTAL CONNECTION IS ABOUT EDUCATION AND SUPPORT!  I AM GOING TO BE BOLD ENOUGH TO SAY , I KNOW EVERYTHING THERE IS ABOUT THE TRANSGENDERED COMMUNITY.

I APPOLOGIZE FOR MY BRASHNESS SOMETIMES, BUT I THINK THAT COMES FROM,  BEING EX-LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR 30 YEARS.  IF ANYONE DISAGREES WITH ANY STORY, STATEMENT, OR OPINION SEEN ON THE “CRYSTAL CONNECTION”   I INVITE YOU TO CORRECT ME, OR SAY WHERE I AM WRONG

Thank you – Jamie Lee

OH, by the way, I want to warn you!

Don’t ever get into a pissing contest with a skunk!  You will always lose!

and

Never try to “BULLSHIT a “BULLSHITTER”

THE CRYSTAL CONNECTION WELCOMES – 4,000 – FOUR THOUSAND VISITORS – FROM 59 – DIFFERENT COUNTRIES !

I am proud to announce that the Crystal Connection, has reached 4,000 visitors, from 51 Countries around the World.

I have published 177, posts, pertaining to GLBT Education and Acceptance.  My Crystal Connection stands for Freedom,  Acceptance of all people, races and religions.  I have worked in Law Enforcement to always protect the rights of others, the rights of others that were not afforded to me in my own transition.

I an my Crystal Connection, does not accept or promote the statement that ” Our Sexuality has to be without fault ! And that must function in strict conformity with all customs & laws !  No matter how illogical they are. and how much hypocrisy they may give rise”!

I PROMOTE ACCEPTANCE AND FREEDOM FOR ALL PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD!

I PROMOTE ENDING DISCRIMINATION, BULLYING, INTOLLERANCE. SEXISM, RACISM !

I BELIEVE IN RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS.

I PROMOTE EGALITARIAN PEOPLE, WHO HAVE EGALTARIAN, IDEAS ABOUT GENDER !

I WILL CONTINUE TO EDUCATE AND ADVOCATE, FOR THE GLBT COMMUNITY AND OUR FREEDOMS.  I WILL CONTINUE TO EDUCATE ABOUT THE INTERSEXED COMMUNITY.

CRYSTAL CONNECTION NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICY – 2-26-2013

I AM MY CRYSTAL CONNECTION – PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST, AND HARRASSMENT,

OF ANYONE BECAUSE OF RACE, COLOR, NATIONAL OR ETHNIC ORIGIN,

AGE, RELIGION, SEX, SEXUAL ORIENTATION,

GENDER IDENTITY & EXPRESSION !

There will be zero tolerance for sites that show or promote, hidden agendas, moralistic behavior, BDSM, pornography, lewd or lascivious behaviur, she-male, sissyfication,  clown porn or any disrespectful photos. 

ADVOCATCY  & EDUCATION

I have be an Advocate in the Transgendered Community for approximately 15 years, during my transition.  I attended Renaissance Transgendered support groups and even taught at them.  I have attended numerous Transgendered Conferences in the Eastern Region of Pa.  I have previously ran a Transgendered support group in the Past.  I have experience in psychology, criminal justice, Domestic Violence, Child abuse, Rape, Stalking,  and much, much more.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A TEACHER AND ADVOCATE IN THE GLBT-INTERSEX COMMUNITY

AS AN ADVOCATE YOU MUST BE AWARE OF WHO YOU ARE TALKING TOO.  IS IT A WIFE, SIGNIFICANT OTHER, SON, DAUGHTER, OR FRIEND OF THE TRANSGENDERED INDIVIDUAL.  YOU MUST BE SENSITIVE OF THE AGE, AND GENDER.  SUICIDE IS HIGH IN OUR COMMUNITY, SO YOU MUST INSURE THAT YOU PROVIDE ACCURATE FACTS, AVIOD OPINIONS.  WE MUST REALIZE AT ALL TIMES, WE DON’T KNOW WHO IS READING OUR STORIES.

WE MUST INSURE THAT WE PROVIDE NOTHING BUT FACTS AND REALISTIC STORIES ALONG WITH EDUCATION.

MY QUALIFICATIONS

COLLEGE VILLANOVA AND PENN STATE, CRIMINAL JUSTICE, PSYCHOLOGY, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, OCCULT, RAPE, CHILD MOLESTATION, MEGAN’S LAW, OUT LAW MOTORCYCLE CLUBS, INVESTIGTIONS, SEARCH AND SEIZURE, CURTURAL AWARENESS, RACEST GROUPS, FEMALE OFFENDERS IN TREATMENT, MH/MR ISSUES, GLBT SUPPORT AND ADVOCACY, CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT, PRESSURE POINT CONTROL, AND MUCH,  MUCH MORE.   I TAUGHT COLLEGE CLASSES, I AM A CERTIFIED TRAINER IN ANTI TERRIORISM.  I WAS A PRIVATE DETECTIVE, ALONG WITH 30 YRS LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

THE FIRST CHAPTER OF MY UPCOMMING BOOK WAS COMPLETED BY: WRITER, PLAYWRITE, AND AUTHOR. LISA BUFFINGTON !

SHE AND I ARE TEAMING UP FOR A PROJECT IN PUBLIC SPEAKING, WHICH WILL COVER MANY TOPICS, INCLUDING GLBT, INTOLLERANCE, DISCRIMINATION AND ALOT MORE !

I HAVE BEEN RECENTLY RECRUTED BY A MODELING AGENCY, AS A MODEL, ACTOR,  AND VOICE OVER.  I HAVE ATTENDED THE PA. MODEL & TALENT EXPO, ON CAMERA WORKSHOPS, ETC.

FINALLY I MAKE THIS OFFER.  IF ANYONE THAT VISITS MY CRYSTAL CONNECTION,  HAS ANYONE, HUSBAND, WIFE, CHILD, SIGNIFICANT OTHER, WHO NEEDS HELP, REFERENCES, SUPPORT, OR ADVICE.

PLEASE CONTACT ME

Jamie Lee – Crystal Connection

FIFTY NINE COUNTRIES

Country	Views
United States	3,258
United Kingdom	157
Canada	77
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Germany	41
Spain	33
Italy	23
France	21
Israel	17
India	14
Netherlands	14
Sweden	13
Brazil	12
Philippines	12
Republic of Korea	11
Russian Federation	11
New Zealand	10
Ireland	10
Hong Kong	10
Austria	7
South Africa	7
Thailand	7
Malaysia	7
Singapore	6
Venezuela	5
Belgium	5
Switzerland	5
Peru	4
Mauritius	4
Colombia	4
Hungary	3
Japan	3
Mexico	3
Turkey	3
Greece	3
Poland	3
Argentina	3
Slovakia	3
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Indonesia	2
Saudi Arabia	2
Afghanistan	2
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Luxembourg	1
Egypt	1
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Tunisia	1
Finland	1
Guatemala	1
Denmark	1
Ghana	1
United Republic of Tanzania	1
Panama	1
Norway	1
Czech Republic	1
Taiwan	1
Serbia

WOW – THIS SPEAKES FOR IT SELF — JAMIE LEE – THANK YOU SUSAN !

 Just sent to me from a Dear Friend, Susan.  Who is a minister.    She is into public speaking.  And sent this!  

This past week I gave a “temple talk” (short informational homily) at both of our services about becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation and will be speaking at our annual meeting on the 3rd.  Sponsering a forum on Suicide on the 14th because we have had a few over the last 3 or 4 years.  The presenter will be talking about the reasons for suicide and LGBT issues are right up there.  On the 24th we will have a panel discussion between a couple of members of our congregation (both raised children that were gay) and several students from “Outlook” an LGBT group on campus.

Her presentation:

…And God, just whom is it that you love?

The headline in a west suburban paper of 1954 could have read, “Tragedy strikes a new family.”  The eleven year old boy who was found by his family in the bathroom was a victim of apparent suicide.  Although new to the area, the boy was a straight A student and a faithful follower of the Lord at Saint Peters Lutheran Church where he was preparing for his confirmation.

But that isn’t what the paper said.  The paper never said anything because the suicide failed.  The boy who had already saved his mother from a beating and protected his little sister had to survive.  Maybe it was that combined with all the guilt that overcame the frustration and confusion that pervaded and agonized his soul.  As the blood trickled down on the cream-colored blouse and brown tweed skirt he was wearing, could it be that he knew he couldn’t be found dressed this way?  Or maybe inserting the knife for that instant hurt more than all he was already enduring.

Jesus asks Peter, “Whom do you love?” not once but three times.  Is this because Peter denied him three times?  Of course, Peter’s response is,  “You, Lord.”  Is turn about fair play?  Since Jesus asks, “Whom do you love? Are we allowed the same question?  God who is it that you love?

Religious belief can be a good thing.  It is the theology that becomes warped.  It is very easy to become faithful followers out of fear and guilt.  After all, look what happens to God’s chosen people. Freed from the bondage of slavery, they got to wander in the wilderness long enough so that not one of that generation enters the promised land.

God has made “man” as part of his creation but destroys whole cities and even floods the world to rid it of all the evil, saving two of each  creature and one human family so that there can be a new beginning.

Was what God created so terribly bad that just about all of it had to be destroyed?  Is that the only solution that an all-knowing, ever present, loving God can find?

Remember that boy studying his Luther’s Small Catechism?  Look at what Luther has to say about the fifth commandment:  what does this mean?  We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor do harm to our neighbor in his body, but rather help and befriend him in every bodily need.  What does God forbid in the fifth commandment?  Answer:  God forbids us to take the life of a fellow human (murder) or our own life (suicide).  What happens if one knowingly disobeys God’s command?  Surely there are sufficient examples, lest you look back and be turned to stone.  Is it any wonder then that those who hear of fire and brimstone and little of salvation should wonder who it is that God loves, and if this is God’s love, who wants it!

There must be another answer, an answer that can only come through a maturity of belief and an understanding of “The Word” as a guide for the kind of life God wants for us.  Some of those who have been born again and saved look to “The Word” as all that is true, no interpretation required.  Pick any verse, any passage, and it will tell you what you must do to live a godly life.  You are called to live the Law and not sin.  Yes, you are saved, but once saved go and sin no more.

Jumping forward in time, the boy who escaped suicide compensated for his sinful nature by being a man in uniform protecting his country.  At 19 he was entrusted with analysis of Soviet missile launches to determine if a counter strike was called for.  He married, became a father three times over and tried to set an example for his children by providing for them the best he could, working two or three jobs while going to school, bringing them to church and Sunday school each week.  He became a Sunday school teacher, then superintendent, and even a scoutmaster.  Trying to build things and not being good at it.  Teaching survival skills and going camping, although he hated it.  And every once in a while, because he was still slender, he would sneak away, try on his wife’s clothes, and feel at peace until the guilt returned in a flash.

As God created the heavens, earth and all that was on it, God would stop and be pleased, for what God created was good.  The creation story continues as God creates humans in God’s own image.  God is neither male nor female.  God is all, so when God created humans, we look to Genesis 1:27:  “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them.”  And at 1:31, “God saw all that He made, and it was very good.”  It is in chapter two of Genesis that God creates woman, beginning at verse 22.  “Then God made woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man.  The man said, ‘This is now the bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;  she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man.’”  There had been no male and female independent of one another.  Woman was taken out of man, implying that originally man in God’s image was indeed both male and female.

The struggle today is for unity, oneness to be whole again and to be in the image of God.  Early Native American cultures recognize three genders, male, female, and a third that embodies both male and female.  That third gender is revered and treated as a holy one given to teach the ways of life.

Latest scientific findings have shown that gender is determined early in the first trimester.  All fetuses interestingly start as female, and it is only through certain antigens that imprint the DNA that we develop males.  Not every fetus experiences the same events, so there is a wide variety of development from the fully physical male with full male sex qualities to the fully physical female who embodies all female sex qualities.  This leaves room for millions of variations all along the continuum from one end to the other.  Surely one could be physically male and posses a female brain where gender lies, or the opposite.   As we observe the world that God has made and the vastness of the heavens, all the possible combinations and the greatness of diversity, can we not understand why God would be pleased to say it was very good?

If I were a born again Christian, I might look to Deuteronomy 22:5 where it says that a woman must not wear men’s clothing nor a man wear women’s clothing, and use this verse to prove that those who express any variation in gender are detested by God.  What one forgets is that the early Old Testament is an oral history of generations, codified for later progeny, and that it is the story of the coming of Israel.  The warning is in part that God does not want the Israelites to take on the religious practices of the countries that they conquered and occupied.  Priests and priestesses of the Canaanites and followers of Molech indeed changed clothes as part of their religious ceremonies.  That is all part of the early laws such as not wearing garments of wool and linen woven together, nor could they have tassels at the corners of their cloaks.  It was okay, however, for parents to bring a rebellious son before the elders so that all the men of the town could stone him to death (Deut. 21:18-22).

Luckily, God has saved us all.  As Jesus teaches Nicodemus (John 3:16) , “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  Surely, when Jesus refers to the world, He is being inconclusive, for it is whoever believes.  In first John 2:2 we read, “He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”  We see through this that it is God who acts.  God grants us salvation which is nothing that we can do, win, or earn.  It is grace.  So what does that mean for the seemingly lost boy at the beginning?

When saved, we are told of our salvation and also given a command to go and sin no more.  We understand that we can not, even having been forgiven, that we can go about now and live a perfect life.  Even Paul says that he continues to do that which he does not want to do and does not do that which he ought.  Having faith we are brought to God, absolved of sin, knowing we will continue to sin but will in all earnestness attempt to live a life according to God’s will.  Surely, this reconciliation is proof of God’s love for us.

Whom do you love, God?  Everyone for all time.  God loves each of us no matter what our skin color may be, God loves those of wealth and the poor, God loves those of sound mind and body along with those mentally challenged or weak and infirm.  God loves heterosexuals, homosexuals, trans-gendered or transsexual people.  God loves those who try to live by God’s teaching as well as thieves, murderers and terrorists.  God is like a parent, not liking what we may do at times, but always offering forgiveness and love.

And now how does one respond to God’s love?  First, we must consider that that young man caught up in anguish and frustration is not a sinner because he wears women’s clothing.  He is in fact living as God has meant him to, continually seeking the oneness that he can only feel when freely able to recognize both his maleness and femaleness.  If God gave someone male body, and female gender, then how could this person deny the feminine part that God has made, and whose creation pleased God?  Similarly, the same person must live and enjoy his maleness.  His entire being is brought together in one body, being like the Lord, by living in God’s image, both male and female.

We are called to love God and to love one another as we love ourselves and as God has loved us.  If we return to the Old Testament, Leviticus 19:18 tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Jesus opens the parable of the Good Samaritan when a teacher asks him what he must do to inherit eternal life, and Jesus in return asks what is written in the Law.  The teacher responds, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”  It is not possible for this person who is trans-gendered to love only part of his or her self and to hate the other part and then do as God commands.  There must be a oneness, a wholeness, to be able to love self and so to love a neighbor likewise, and to love God.

How are we to love?  We are to love as God has loved us.  We must be open to God’s voice.  We are all given gifts by God.  Some are gifts of healing, some teaching, some prophesying.  God equips us all to be witnesses.  Michael W. Foss, senior pastor at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Atlanta has stated, “You are the missionaries of the twenty-first century.  You will be invited into places and conversations that I as a pastor will never go.  If you are willing to take your faith with you and simply be open, God will present possibilities for witness that you cannot imagine.”  We have to learn to listen.  Listen to what God says and allow the Holy Spirit to enter our lives and guide us.

Two years ago I would never have thought of standing in a college classroom, dressed in a conservative suit with appropriate makeup, jewelry, hosiery and heels telling students of my life journey and sharing with them the depth of my feelings and my faith in God’s plan for me.  And now this year, open to God’s call, I’ve been led to explain all of this to the evangelical fundamentalists who thought they might save me from my sinful self.  Many times Paul wrote about being aware of false prophets.  These people who were about saving souls by cherry picking verses from the Old Testament forgot the overriding message:  God loves me as I am so that I can love myself, love you, and love God.  I am called to be a disciple–to tell of God’s love and grace.  Salvation is not for Jews alone;  Paul preached salvation to the Gentiles.  In Galatians 2:15, he says, “We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners know that a man is not justified by observing the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. . . .  By observing the Law no one will be justified.”  By God’s grace we all are saved, so as a forgiven sinner, by birth in the likeness of God male and female, I am called to share the Good News.

The Good News that I, no longer that suicidal boy, am now prepared to share with you is that  Jesus Christ, God’s true and only son, died for me a cross dressing trans-gendered person, was raised and lives forever.  It is by grace because God loves me that I am saved.  The greatest thing about the Good News is that the same has been done for you and all the world.  Indeed, God loves us one and ALL.  Rejoice!

I just received this, after learning that a very close relative to me died.  I find it interesting that things come to you at moments of despair………………THIS IS THE ANSWER TO WHAT WE IN THE COMMUNITY, HAVE BEEN SEEEKING, AN IT IS TO HER THAT I SAY! CUDOS, AND I AM PROUD TO BE HER FRIEND!!

JAMIE LEE

 

…..THE CRYSTAL CONNECTION IS DEDICATED TO HONORING FALLEN OFFICERS……JAMIE LEE….

Last night I had a premonition or a inspiration to write this post in Honor of my friends who are fallen, or killed in the line of duty.  I pray it isn’t an omen for me……I and my Crystal Connection, take a moment to dedicate this post to all the Military and Law Enforcement, through out the world, who dedicated their lives, to make it a better place.  

I especially dedicate this post to all the Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgendered and Inter-sexed, individuals who serve in Law Enforcement or the Military, and hide who they are to protect the “Rights of  others” DEATH KNOWS NO GENDER”

In the course of my Law Enforcement Career, I have attended approximately 5 funerals of my friends, who were killed in the line of duty!    This post is a Stoic reminder that they are gone but not forgotten!

I am entitled to have “Bag Pipes” played at my funeral !   But that will be the only time I will not hear them, OR WILL I?

In dedication, I will not post anything else today, on the Crystal Connection, in remembrance of my Brother’s and Sister’s!

I AM JAMIE LEE………………………………………………………………………………..

please listen to Bag Pipes, if you have the courage………

YOU WERE A HERO! Jamie Lee

The History
of the Bagpipes in the Law Enforcement Service
The tradition of bagpipes played at fire department and police department funerals in the United States goes back over one hundred fifty years. When the Irish and Scottish immigrated to this country, they brought many of their traditions with them. One of these was the bagpipe, often played at Celtic weddings, funerals and ceilis (dances).

It wasn’t until the great potato famine and massive Irish immigration to the East Coast of the United States that the tradition of the bagpipes really took hold in the fire department. In the 1800’s, Irish immigrants faced massive discrimination. Factories and shops had signs reading “NINA” – No Irish Need Apply. The only jobs they could get were the ones no one else wanted – jobs that were dirty, dangerous, or both – firefighters and police officers. It was not an uncommon event to have several firefighters killed at a working fire. The Irish firefighters’ funerals were typical of all Irish funerals – the pipes were played. It was somehow okay for a hardened firefighter to cry at the sound of bagpipes when his dignity would not let him weep for a fallen comrade.

Those who have attended a funeral where bagpipes were played know how haunting and mournful the sound of the pipes can be. The most famous song played at fire and police funerals is Amazing Grace. It wasn’t too long before families and friends of non-Irish firefighters began asking for the bagpipes to be played for fallen heroes. The bagpipes add a special air and dignity to this solemn occasion.

Bagpipe bands represent both fire and police often have more than 60 uniformed playing members. They are also traditionally known as Emerald Societies after Ireland – the Emerald Isle. Many bands wear traditional Scottish dress while others wear the simpler Irish uniform. All members wear the kilt and tunic, whether it is a Scottish clan tartan or Irish single color kilt.

Today, the tradition is universal and not just for the Irish or Scottish. The bagpipes have become a distinguishing feature of a fallen hero’s funeral.

UN-CONDITIONAL LOVE UN-CONDITIONAL LOVE

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE    UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE         UNCONDITIONAL LOVE ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????!

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

Unconditional love unconditional love
Unconditional love unconditional love

Unconditional love unconditional love
Unconditional love unconditional love

Unconditional love unconditional love
Unconditional love unconditional love

 

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE-Where the hell is it?

Is it in the palm of my hands?

Is it something that I can grasp?

Is it possible?

Can we truly love one another?

Do you give me unconditional love so that I can give it to you in return?

What is so wrong with it?

AND HOW CAN WE ACHIEVE IT?

I am Jamie Lee & the Crystal Connection – UNCONDITIONALLY LOVE YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

THE COURAGE TO ACCEPT ACCEPTANCE – HALF ASSED ACCEPTANCE !! By Jamie Lee

DON’T TELL ME YOU ACCEPT ME WHEN YOU DON’T!

BECAUSE YOU CAN’T BE PROUD OF ME AND TELL THE WORLD WHO I AM!

BECAUSE YOUR FRIENDS OR CO-WORKERS MIGHT DISRESPECT YOU!

AND BECAUSE MY LIFE EMBARRASSES YOU!

AND MAINLY BECAUSE YOU ARE AFRAID TO STAND PROUD AND ADMIT THAT I EXIST!!

A QUOTE FROM JAMIE LEE

DAMN YOU!      DON’T LET ME DIE!   BEFORE YOU LET ME LIVE!

YOU HOLD MY LIFE AND MY EXISTENCE IN YOUR HANDS!

READ THE FOLLOWING FACTS, AND THEN LOOK ME IN THE FACE AND TELL ME YOU ACCEPT ME

ENOUGH IS TRULY ENOUGH

JAMIE LEE

There is a basic principle in theology which states that faith or Scripture contains the answer to the deepest questions of the human heart. Faith is about life, my life. Faith is like x-raying my human existence. It helps me to live better, to be more human, to be more integrated.  Faith is to discover that there is only a oneness:

The Question

One of the deepest needs of the human heart is the need to be appreciated.  Every human being wants to be valued.  This is not to say that everybody wants to be told by others how wonderful he is.  No doubt there is that desire, too, but that is not fundamental.  We could say that every human being wants to be loved.  But even this admits of ambiguity.  There are as many varieties of love as there are species of flowers.  For some people, love is something passionate; for others, it is something romantic; for others, love is something merely sexual.  There is, however, a deeper love, a love of acceptance.  Every human being craves to be accepted, accepted for what he is.  Nothing in human life has such a lasting and fatal effect as the experience of not being completely accepted.  When I am not accepted, then something in me is broken.  A baby who is not welcome is ruined at the roots of his existence.  A student who does not feel accepted by his teacher will not learn.  A man who does not feel accepted by his colleagues on the job will suffer from ulcers, and be a nuisance at home.  Many of the life histories of prisoners reveal that somewhere along the way they went astray because there was no one who really accepted them.  Likewise, when a religious does not feel accepted by her community, she cannot be happy.  A life without acceptance is a life in which a most basic human need goes unfulfilled.

Acceptance means that the people with whom I live give me a feeling of self-respect, a feeling that I am worthwhile.  They are happy that I am who I am.  Acceptance means that I am welcome to be myself.  Acceptance means that though there is need for growth, I am not forced.  I do not have to be the person I am not!  Neither am I locked in by my past or present.  Rather I am given room to unfold, to outgrow the mistakes of the past.  In a way we can say that acceptance is an unveiling.  Every one of us is born with many potentialities.  But unless they are drawn out by the warm touch of anothers acceptance they will remain dormant.  Acceptance liberates everything that is in me.  Only when I am loved in that deep sense of complete acceptance can I become myself.  The love, the acceptance of other persons, makes me the unique person that I am meant to be.  When a person is appreciated for what he does, he is not unique; someone else can do the same work perhaps even better than he.  But when a person is loved for what he is, then he becomes a unique and irreplaceable personality.  So indeed, I need that acceptance in order to be myself.  When I am not accepted, I am a nobody.  I cannot come to fulfillment.  An accepted person is a happy person because he is opened up, because he can grow.

To accept a person does not mean that I deny his defects, that I gloss over them or try to explain them away.  Neither does acceptance mean to say that everything the person does is beautiful and fine.  Just the opposite is true.  When I deny the defects of the person, then I certainly do not accept him.  I have not

touched the depth of that person.  Only when I accept a person can I truly face his defects.

To express it in a negative way:  acceptance means that I never give a person the feeling that he doesn’t count.  Not to expect anything from a person is tantamount to killing him, making him sterile.  He cannot do anything.  It is said that children with rickets scratch lime from the walls.  People who are not accepted scratch acceptance from the walls.  And what are the symptoms?

• boasting:  in a subtle or obvious way they provide themselves with the praise they want so badly.
• rigidity:  a lack of acceptance causes a lack of security on the path of life and, a fortiori, lack of courage to risk one step to either side of the path.
• inferiority complex:  this simply defines the above conditions.
• masturbation or any other superficial joy:  deep down there is so much lacking that they endeavor to get whatever they can out of life in an easy way.
• the desire to assert themselves, the frightful power to impose themselves, the excessive need for attention, the tendency to feel threatened, to exaggerate, to gossip, to suspect others:  these are other symptoms of lack of acceptance.

The really balanced person does not have to indulge in these measures.  Erik Erikson in his book, Young Man Luther, writes:
In (his) first relationship man learns something which most individuals who survive and remain sane can take for granted most of the time.  Only psychiatrists, priests and born philosophers know how sorely that something can be missed.  I have called his early treasure “basic trust;” it is the first psychosocial trait and the fundamental of all others.  Basic trust in mutuality is that original ‘optimism’ that assumption that ‘somebody is there,’ without which we cannot live.  In situations in which such basic trust cannot develop in early infancy because of a defect in the child or in the maternal environment, children die mentally.  They do not respond or learn; they do not assimilate their food and fail to defend themselves against infection, and often they die physically as well as mentally

THE END

INCARCERATED FEMININITY – THE BURQA – AND ME – WOMEN’S SUFFERAGE

As a Transsexual woman, it seems that I can relate to these struggling women. Is my body, my burqa? I don’t intend in any way to take away from the intensity of these women who are incarcerated and their struggle. However their words are powerful and I can relate to them especially the following: My face hidden, I smile unseen; I try to be brave, show my presence, I am invisible, See me; don’t see me, but I am here, take my picture I am a novelty to you. I am a woman who has been incarcerated in the wrong body! I AM JAMIE LEE

As you read these words, I hope it strikes your heart. Could you imagine that if at any given moment, all the burqa’s were removed from these women, how much more divine femininity and beauty would be in the world!

The Afghan Women’s Writing Project http://awwproject.org/discover-awwp/history-mission/

Voices are getting louder and louder,

Those voices that have always been meaningful

Even when no one heard or cared about them
those voices that tear the moon, sun, stars—

The sky screams for the sorrowful voices
the sun spreads their sound everywhere.

The moon smiles for the chattering hearts of women, who always wanted the world to hear. Stars get energy from those voices and shine.

Yes, these are the voices of those desperate and hopeful Afghan women

Who were tomboys in childhood, but when they grew up instead of a pen they got a baby in their hands.

Who were always thirsty to see the world beyond the house.

Who always wanted to take a deep breath in fresh air, but the prison of the burqa became like a part of the body.

Who always tried to have a voice, but were silenced.

Whose dreams remained dreams! For whom tears, grief, and worry were friends.

Who sacrificed their lives for others and never wanted to break hearts.
Who gave everything for the world.

Now from those voices come magic words:

I am proud I am a woman
I am not going to dream anymore; I will make my dreams come true
I am powerful
I challenge the people who hate women.

Woman means life.

Woman means humanity.

Woman means guider.

Woman means ability.

I will show you that one day woman means power!

Life begins with woman!

And, ends with woman!

Is complete with woman!

By Farahnaz

My face hidden, I smile unseen. It is I
Afghan woman, under burqa.

I try to be brave, show my presence.
See me; don’t see me, but I am here.

I don’t care how hot it is under burqa.

I am invisible.

I am part of my community.

I am here, Afghan woman
under Taliban burqa.

I cannot use chader namaz—
for I will be recognized.

My life threatened if they know
what I do under burqa.

They will make me stop working,
take my job, my life.

But I am an Afghan woman who wants
to stay safe, continue my fight.

Yes, I am brave under burqa,
enslaved in my generation of war.

Banned from education, my illiterate
sisters cannot work.

Some hide, learn in home-based classes,
work today, still at risk.

Foreign women come to see us,
under burqa, take our picture—
we are interesting, novel for them.

They don’t understand
our burqas are jail and safety made of fabric.
We are hidden beneath blue cloth,
confined, yet secure.

I am Afghan woman, working under burqa. We are many
and if there is one, we are all.
Afghan women.

Insha’Allah, we will one day
remove the burqa.

Yes, it is I, Afghan woman, under burqa—
Remember me.

By Seeta

Note: chader namaz is a large prayer scarf that covers the entire body.
Insha’Allah is the Arabic term for ” God willing”