Huffington Post reports that Facebook has added two new relationship-status options users can choose for their online profiles: "in a civil union" and "in a domestic partnership."

The changes were made in consultation with Facebook's Network of Support, a group that includes LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] organizations such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, and the Human Rights Campaign.

The report quotes spokespeople for the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Matters, who herald the change as a "milestone" for the LGBT community. 

Well, maybe for the LGB communities.

What the report and the spokespeople fail to mention is that Facebook continues to offer only two gender options: "male" or "female." 

 

Before we start congratulating Facebook for this relatively insignificant change, let's compare the social networking site's gender options with those of a few other popular social media sites:

FLICKR:

TWITTER:

N/A

(Twitter doesn't ask gender)

YOUTUBE:

"No gender" is an option on YouTube.

Facebook, with its locked-in gender binary, is far behind many other social media sites.

In fact, just a few months ago Diaspora, a new open-source social networking site touted as a "Facebook killer," made the decision to code its gender option as a text field. Diaspora users can insert anything they choose as a gender.

Sarah Mei, a developer in California who made the decision, explains:

I made this change to Diaspora so that I won’t alienate anyone I love before they finish signing up.

I made this change because gender is a beautiful and multifaceted thing that can’t be contained by a list.

I know a lot of people aren’t there with me yet. So I also made this change to give them one momentary chance to consider other possibilities.

I made it to start a conversation.

I made it because I can.

Here are some examples of how people are using Diaspora's gender text field: 

 

So there is little excuse for Facebook's limited options... aside from preventing confusing demographic reports for the advertisers who pay the company for access to our "male" or "female" eyeballs.

Much worse than Facebook, though, are the spokespeople who applaud a change to the "relationship status" without a mention of how the limited gender options continue to alienate the trans members of our community.

 

 

As we near the end of the year, it's a good time to look back at what caught our readers' attention over the last 12(ish) months. So here are — according to Google Analytics — the 20 most read stories on xtra.ca in 2010 (we made it a top 20 list so we could squeeze in another John Baird story — hope he appreciates the effort).

 

 

20. Criminalization of herpes signals a turn for the worse

18. Gay couple burned from PEI home

17. Pride Toronto plans to censor the term Israeli apartheid

16. So much for John Baird’s reputation as a gutsy brawler

15. Pride Toronto in hiding after spirited denunciation from queer leaders

14. Zellers pulls ‘egg these transvestites’ shirt from stores

13. Lesbians kicked out of Waterloo café for kissing

12. Grindr tightens restrictions: no underwear, no cock size

11. He has a chauffeur! Rick Mercer’s epic John Baird smackdown

10. Exploring Amman’s gay spaces

9. Facebook reevaluates decision to censor trans man’s post-op chest pics

8. Another bloodbath as Toronto’s Proud FM fires four hosts

7. How the second world war changed gay life

6. Pride Toronto reverses ban on 'Israeli apartheid'

5. Trans guy banned from Facebook after uploading post-op chest pic

4. Fred Phelps’s son gets job promoting atheism, battling homophobia

3. Two lesbian youth found dead in Orangeville

2. Sex TV axed after decade-long shuffle between broadcasters

1. Open secret: John Baird outed

^{Source: Google Analytics, Jan 1-Nov 30, 2010}

As tonight is the first night of the remounting of Nina Arsenault's The Silicone Diaries at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto, it's a good opportunity to revisit Arsenault's gripping talk at IdeaCity this year.

At one point, Arsenault speaks to the significance of social networking to her work:

"As someone who has been discriminated against sexually, the democratization of social networking sites has been invaluable for me to disseminate my ideas and art."

 Watch the whole presentation below:

 

 

 

Zellers has removed a T-shirt from its stores across Canada after receiving complaints that it is "obscene" and hateful towards trans people.

The children's shirt features two paragraphs of small text, which appear to tell a "story" about trouble-making young friends. An excerpt:

"Oh man, I don't know. They got their equal parts of being ridiculous. Terry is pretty high jinks. I'd say Terry is pretty up there... remember one time when he and I were like fifteen or sixteen, we were driving around.... getting hyped, listening to Mafia; just youngsters having some fun. Me and Terry would see the transvestites on Santa Monica and this one time... [we were] like 'Yo, let's get 'em. Let's drive-by egg these transvestites.'" 

The rest of the text is obscured by a design, but there's something else about egging "trannys" and someone throwing a brick at a car. The paragraph ends: "That was fun shit."

One parent who complained to Zellers told the Winnipeg Free Press that the shirt was "hate-mongering."

Read for yourself, screencaps via CBC's The National: (click to enlarge).

The shirt was created by X Games Clothing, which is produced by ESPN Consumer Products. The Winnipeg Free Press reports that ESPN has apologized and is launching an investigation.

Zellers has also issued a statement: "We immediately looked into the matter and have removed the product from our stores. We take all customer concerns seriously and we are working with the vendor on this issue."

On Wednesday night's The National, CBC spoke to The 519's trans program coordinator, Kyle Scanlon. "It sends a message that says 'It's okay to hurt trans people because they're not really human. They're not real; they don't deserve our compassion and empathy,'" Scanlon told the CBC.  

Canadian TV show Degrassi is set to introduce a trans character this season, premiering Monday, July 19 on MuchMusic. 

Producer Stefan Brogren spoke to CP:

Brogren says great effort was made to handle the transgender storyline with care, with writers going so far as to consult with various advocacy groups to make sure the issue was presented accurately.

"It really sort of threw us for a loop because the writers did some amazing research, both networks have been in touch with gay, lesbian, transgender organizations to make sure they like the script. We want to make sure that we're not hurting the subject matter," he says. (read more at ctv.ca)

Adam's storyline is expected to come to a head in the episodes airing August 11 and 12, reports CP. 

Also, this season: will we see more of gay jock Riley and his cute crush Zane?

Degrassi has plenty of time to flesh out these queer characters, as the show shifts to a new format. You can catch four new episodes each week, from Monday to Thursday.  

Xtra's Michael Pihach was on the set of Degrassi last year. Watch his video report, featuring Fritz Helder & the Phantoms and gay Degrassi alum Adamo Ruggiero: