Last September, the school board offered Buterman $78,000 cash — approximately a teacher’s salary — along with a one-year teaching job in exchange for dropping the complaint. The settlement came with a confidentiality agreement which stipulated he could no longer talk about the complaint or refer to the incident.

Buterman didn’t want to give up talking about the case, since it involves documented proof of anecdotal experiences of many transgender people.

I think that’s pretty awesome, and more power to Butterman. Unfortunately, for financial reasons, it does look like this will be the end of his case against the school: “Buterman’s lawyers have advised him refusing the offer would result in the school board moving to dismiss the complaint because a “fair and reasonable” settlement has been put on the table.”

I want to applaud Butterman for not only standing up to the school, but refusing to accept a settlement which would silence him. I’m always frustrated when I hear stories of injustice silenced after a we-didn’t-do-anything-wrong-even-though-we’re-paying-you-off ‘settlement.’ (I’m not faulting folks who take those settlements, I just wish they weren’t so common.) There’s a good expansion of the issues over at Dented Blue Mercedes.

PS – Check out Show Me Your Feminism, a Tumblr project by a Than Blog reader. (Feel free to take credit in the comments – wasn’t sure how public you wanted your involvement.)

The frustrating part? The principal claimed this was the first he’d ever heard of the issue, and it must have been the Boys and Girls Club saying these things. (Despite the fact they’re hiring Piven – and by extension me – for a workshop starting next week.) Now, in all fairness, it’s possible he either doesn’t remember, or another administrator was the one who actually said something on the principal’s behalf without his knowledge. But still…

All in all, though, I’m cautiously optimistic. I’ll keep you posted in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, my coverage recently changed. Everything’s still covered, I just have higher deductables and copays. Not the end of the world, but obnoxious.

It made me decide to reapply for an individual plan, which has just been a bag of fun…

I applied to New York Life, where I know an agent and figured she might be able to help, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, where I’m currently covered under COBRA.

Both rejected me, citing “medical history.”

This is what always pissed me off about McCain’s claim that allowing the free market to take care of insurance would solve everything. The free market is great for lowering prices and equalizing opportunities, if people are willing to sell you a product. Lower prices and free market forces don’t help a whole lot if everyone says, “Nope. We actually aren’t going to sell you this product for any price. Oh, not because you’re trans, of course. Because of ‘medical history.’ Don’t worry, we’re not descriminating against you, just against an objective set of criteria set up in our system.”

Well, that’s fucking great when COBRA runs out and I’m uninsured.

I contacted Lambda Legal, who basically said, “Yeah, insurance companies usually do that,” which wasn’t horribly helpful. They also pointed me at some lawyers who expressed interest in potential LGBT-related cases, so I may give them a call on Monday. I also contacted the ACLU’s Illinois branch, and so we’ll see. It’s one of those ridiculous things that no one at any of the insurance companies will ever say they’re rejecting me because I’m trans (because Illinois does have some protection for trans people) but they’re also never going to actually offer me insurance.

Grrr. Hopefuly one of these lawyers and/or the ACLU will  be interested in helping ‘lil old me. Cuz otherwise, when COBRA runs out, I’m screwed.

But today we got the brochure proof and low-and-behold: “[we don't discrminiate] on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or veteran status.” (Emphasis added.)

It’s pretty neat to feel like you’ve made a difference, even a little one.

-R