Sunday, September 30, 2007
Gay Iranians have hidden lives
TEHRAN, 29 (UPI) -- Gay Iranians simply hope to be left alone in a country where homosexuality can be punished by death, The New York Times reported Saturday.
“You can have a secret gay life as long you don’t become an activist and start demanding rights,” a Tehran resident named Reza, who did not want his full name used, told the newspaper.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at Columbia University in New York this week, provoked laughter in the audience when he asserted there are no homosexuals in Iran. Gays willing to talk to the Times said they were relieved by his denial since it might mean they will be left alone.
The law making homosexuality punishable by death or a lashing is no dead letter. Two teenagers were executed in 2005 in Mashad.
While Iran may be tough on homosexuality, the country is comparatively gentle toward transgender people, regarding them as sick. The government encourages sex-change operations.
“You can have a secret gay life as long you don’t become an activist and start demanding rights,” a Tehran resident named Reza, who did not want his full name used, told the newspaper.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking at Columbia University in New York this week, provoked laughter in the audience when he asserted there are no homosexuals in Iran. Gays willing to talk to the Times said they were relieved by his denial since it might mean they will be left alone.
The law making homosexuality punishable by death or a lashing is no dead letter. Two teenagers were executed in 2005 in Mashad.
While Iran may be tough on homosexuality, the country is comparatively gentle toward transgender people, regarding them as sick. The government encourages sex-change operations.
Thailand: Are you man enough to be a woman?
A group of politicians is drafting a bill that will legally recognise male-to-female transsexuals as women.
Twice Pakjira sailed through interviews and was told she had got the job. Twice they called her back to tell her she hadn't. Their reason was similar _ head office does not want to hire katoey, or transsexuals. Like Pakjira, Yolada has undergone gender reassignment surgery so she can live as a woman. However, even with beauty queen looks and a feminine voice, she still could not find a job.
Tired of being turned down, Yolada applied for a bank loan so she could start her own business. The answer from the bank was a big ''No!''
''Not only because my legal documents do not match my gender, but also because they believe katoey in general are unreliable,'' she recalled bitterly.
Ask male-to-female transsexuals about the discrimination they face, and stories of pain and anguish flow freely.
When facing the draft, for example, the military has until very recently branded transsexuals as ''permanently damaged by mental sickness'', and thus unfit for military service. This labelling affects their jobs prospects for life.
Thanks to campaigns by human rights activists, the military is amending ministerial regulations and exempting trans-sexuals from the draft. In the interim, the military has promised not to label transsexuals as mentally ill, but it admits that it is difficult to alter past draft documents.
When attempting to travel abroad, transsexuals are often refused entry to foreign countries, and can be treated badly by immigration officers. When sick, hospital staff often simply place them on men's wards. If arrested, they are commonly sent to men's prisons, which is tantamount to being sentenced to molestation and rape.
In everyday life, transsexuals find themselves targets of ridicule and harassment. The lack of job opportunities also forces many of them to earn a living in the sex industry, even if well-educated.
''Society is still very much indifferent to our problems,'' said Suttirat Simsiriwong, a transsexual who made headlines a few months ago when the Novotel Hotel refused her entry to its club on the grounds of her being a katoey.
Although after a boycott and a campaign by gay rights groups the hotel finally issued an apology, Suttirat said living a normal life will remain difficult for transsexuals as long as the law refuses to allow them to change their titles and names to match their chosen gender.
That is why so many jumped for joy when the National Legislative Assembly's Committee on Women announced it would sponsor a bill to help make their dreams come true. . . .
Twice Pakjira sailed through interviews and was told she had got the job. Twice they called her back to tell her she hadn't. Their reason was similar _ head office does not want to hire katoey, or transsexuals. Like Pakjira, Yolada has undergone gender reassignment surgery so she can live as a woman. However, even with beauty queen looks and a feminine voice, she still could not find a job.
Tired of being turned down, Yolada applied for a bank loan so she could start her own business. The answer from the bank was a big ''No!''
''Not only because my legal documents do not match my gender, but also because they believe katoey in general are unreliable,'' she recalled bitterly.
Ask male-to-female transsexuals about the discrimination they face, and stories of pain and anguish flow freely.
When facing the draft, for example, the military has until very recently branded transsexuals as ''permanently damaged by mental sickness'', and thus unfit for military service. This labelling affects their jobs prospects for life.
Thanks to campaigns by human rights activists, the military is amending ministerial regulations and exempting trans-sexuals from the draft. In the interim, the military has promised not to label transsexuals as mentally ill, but it admits that it is difficult to alter past draft documents.
When attempting to travel abroad, transsexuals are often refused entry to foreign countries, and can be treated badly by immigration officers. When sick, hospital staff often simply place them on men's wards. If arrested, they are commonly sent to men's prisons, which is tantamount to being sentenced to molestation and rape.
In everyday life, transsexuals find themselves targets of ridicule and harassment. The lack of job opportunities also forces many of them to earn a living in the sex industry, even if well-educated.
''Society is still very much indifferent to our problems,'' said Suttirat Simsiriwong, a transsexual who made headlines a few months ago when the Novotel Hotel refused her entry to its club on the grounds of her being a katoey.
Although after a boycott and a campaign by gay rights groups the hotel finally issued an apology, Suttirat said living a normal life will remain difficult for transsexuals as long as the law refuses to allow them to change their titles and names to match their chosen gender.
That is why so many jumped for joy when the National Legislative Assembly's Committee on Women announced it would sponsor a bill to help make their dreams come true. . . .
Transsexual MP offered granny role in film of life
5:00 AM Sunday September 30, 2007
By Cliff Taylor
Former prostitute, drag queen, mayor, MP and man, Georgina Beyer has been a person of many parts - but the prospect of playing her own grandmother in a film of her life proved one role too far.
Beyer, famous as the world's first transsexual member of Parliament, says she was offered a cameo in the forthcoming biopic, provisionally titled Girl, but turned it down.
"I overlooked the age issue," said Beyer. "But I said 'no thank you'. I loved her very much, but she died when I was 9. And I've got to divorce myself from the creative process."
The film, due to go into production next year, is being made by Australian company Lone Hand, produced by New Zealander Roger Simpson. The script was written by Simpson's partner Sally Irwin.
"It starts with my experience of being pack-raped in Sydney in the 1970s," Beyer said. "It's a pretty sensational beginning."
The former MP, who left Parliament earlier this year, said the film had been planned for three or four years and she had offered her input on an earlier draft of the script. . . .
By Cliff Taylor
Former prostitute, drag queen, mayor, MP and man, Georgina Beyer has been a person of many parts - but the prospect of playing her own grandmother in a film of her life proved one role too far.
Beyer, famous as the world's first transsexual member of Parliament, says she was offered a cameo in the forthcoming biopic, provisionally titled Girl, but turned it down.
"I overlooked the age issue," said Beyer. "But I said 'no thank you'. I loved her very much, but she died when I was 9. And I've got to divorce myself from the creative process."
The film, due to go into production next year, is being made by Australian company Lone Hand, produced by New Zealander Roger Simpson. The script was written by Simpson's partner Sally Irwin.
"It starts with my experience of being pack-raped in Sydney in the 1970s," Beyer said. "It's a pretty sensational beginning."
The former MP, who left Parliament earlier this year, said the film had been planned for three or four years and she had offered her input on an earlier draft of the script. . . .
Darkness, love and laughter mark show
KAREN RIVERS
Tribune Correspondent
"Before I Disappear" is a one-woman autobiographical play starring transgender actress Alexandra Billings -- a comic, dramatic and honest piece told through story and song. Following her life from age 3 to 30, it touches on her drug addiction, her time working the streets of Chicago, her career as a female impersonator and, finally, her arrival in Hollywood.
Transgender actress stages her unique life in musical
At Friday and Saturday's performances of "Before I Disappear" at the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks, however, don't expect to see Billings just talking about Billings. When she set out to write the show, that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Why?
She was afraid it "wouldn't be interesting."
"Well, I can tell you this is a different kind of one-person show," Billings says by telephone from her home in Los Angeles. "There's not a lot of me up there going, 'And when I was 10, this happened.' It's people in my life narrating my life."
It seems that she had no interest in getting up there and talking about herself when she could talk about, say, her mother instead.
"She is the most fascinating person to me. By sheer circumstance, she got sucked up into this other life," Billings says. "She's this average, upper middle class woman who had a son that becomes a daughter."
The audience sees an awful lot of Mom in the show, but Billings plays other characters as well, including her abusive ex-boyfriend, former co-workers and, for at least a bit, herself.
"When I first started doing (the show), it was really hard, because I was so close to (the material)," she says, "but now it's 10 years later, and it almost feels like I'm telling someone else's life story."
What a story it is. . . .
Tribune Correspondent
"Before I Disappear" is a one-woman autobiographical play starring transgender actress Alexandra Billings -- a comic, dramatic and honest piece told through story and song. Following her life from age 3 to 30, it touches on her drug addiction, her time working the streets of Chicago, her career as a female impersonator and, finally, her arrival in Hollywood.
Transgender actress stages her unique life in musical
At Friday and Saturday's performances of "Before I Disappear" at the Acorn Theater in Three Oaks, however, don't expect to see Billings just talking about Billings. When she set out to write the show, that was the last thing she wanted to do.
Why?
She was afraid it "wouldn't be interesting."
"Well, I can tell you this is a different kind of one-person show," Billings says by telephone from her home in Los Angeles. "There's not a lot of me up there going, 'And when I was 10, this happened.' It's people in my life narrating my life."
It seems that she had no interest in getting up there and talking about herself when she could talk about, say, her mother instead.
"She is the most fascinating person to me. By sheer circumstance, she got sucked up into this other life," Billings says. "She's this average, upper middle class woman who had a son that becomes a daughter."
The audience sees an awful lot of Mom in the show, but Billings plays other characters as well, including her abusive ex-boyfriend, former co-workers and, for at least a bit, herself.
"When I first started doing (the show), it was really hard, because I was so close to (the material)," she says, "but now it's 10 years later, and it almost feels like I'm telling someone else's life story."
What a story it is. . . .
Saturday, September 29, 2007
POV, Critique, Opinion: Wait Your Turn?
Frankly, I have never yet engaged in a direct action movement that was 'well-timed' according to the timetable of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation.
For years now I have heard the words "Wait!" It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This "Wait" has almost always meant "Never."
Rev Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr
'Letter From Birmingham City Jail', April 16, 1963.
Ever since I begun fighting in 1998 in conjunction with other transgender people around the country to expand the work of Dr. King, I have heard a late 20th-early 21st century variation of that paragraph uttered from the lips of numerous gay and lesbian people when it comes to transgender civil rights.
Wait your turn.
Wait my turn? Wait my turn for what?
Did you gay and lesbian people 'wait you turn' when you pushed for inclusion in civil rights legislation in the 70's?
Did you gay and lesbian people 'wait your turn' when you demanded that funding for HIV/AIDS research and finding a cure for it get higher priority in the 80's?
Did you 'wait your turn' when you demanded that your rights be acknowledged and respected in the 90's?
Did you gay and lesbian people 'wait your turn' in 2003 when you disastrously pushed for marriage equality one year before a critical presidential election?
How dare you part your lips to even say that to us. We transgender people are the ones who had the cojones to stand up to police harassment in San Francisco in 1967 and during the Stonewall Rebellion in 1969 while you gay and lesbian peeps were cowering in your closets. It is transgender blood that is being shed and transgender peeps who are discriminated against, denigrated, and disrespected by our foes and even by you, our so-called allies.
You have repeatedly cut us out of civil rights legislation on every level of government with the soothing words of 'we'll come back for you'. That has been proven over the years to be an odious lie as we wait for you in many jurisdictions across the United States to fulfill your broken promises. . . .
Pas de Deux
Why are there only two sexes?
By Amanda Schaffer
Updated Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, at 7:29 AM ET
Why is the mating game almost always a dance of two, whether the scene is a swank Manhattan watering hole or the shallows of an average pond? Why not three or four possibilities, or even more?
Binary mating began to evolve way back when, and over time became entrenched, especially in more complex creatures. Biologists inevitably disagree about what, exactly, constitutes a sex, and therefore how "sexes" are to be counted. (They also wonder why sexual reproduction came to exist at all.) But if the working definition focuses on the type of sex cell being produced, we can say that sperm-producers are males and egg-producers are females. And it becomes clear that no third sex cell—and so no third sex—has appeared in multicellular animals. There are oddball critters, like clam shrimp and some harvester ants, in which three- or even four-sex scenarios might be said to exist. But only if we're willing to expand (or finagle) the definition of a sex.
Why do most sexual creatures do binary mating? It's actually a counterintuitive system. Consider the plight of single-celled green algae trying to hook up in a pond. At first glance, the lack of more than one mating choice among these algae seems strange. After all, if there were 10 equally prevalent types of mates, and a cell could fuse with any type other than its own, it would have nine shots in 10 of bumping into a potential partner just floating around blindly. If there were three mating types, its chances would drop to two in three. And with only two, they fall to one in two. In other words, assuming that it takes some effort to find a mate, the two-type system is "the least efficient solution" for this population, says Laurence Hurst, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Bath.
By Amanda Schaffer
Updated Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, at 7:29 AM ET
Why is the mating game almost always a dance of two, whether the scene is a swank Manhattan watering hole or the shallows of an average pond? Why not three or four possibilities, or even more?
Binary mating began to evolve way back when, and over time became entrenched, especially in more complex creatures. Biologists inevitably disagree about what, exactly, constitutes a sex, and therefore how "sexes" are to be counted. (They also wonder why sexual reproduction came to exist at all.) But if the working definition focuses on the type of sex cell being produced, we can say that sperm-producers are males and egg-producers are females. And it becomes clear that no third sex cell—and so no third sex—has appeared in multicellular animals. There are oddball critters, like clam shrimp and some harvester ants, in which three- or even four-sex scenarios might be said to exist. But only if we're willing to expand (or finagle) the definition of a sex.
Why do most sexual creatures do binary mating? It's actually a counterintuitive system. Consider the plight of single-celled green algae trying to hook up in a pond. At first glance, the lack of more than one mating choice among these algae seems strange. After all, if there were 10 equally prevalent types of mates, and a cell could fuse with any type other than its own, it would have nine shots in 10 of bumping into a potential partner just floating around blindly. If there were three mating types, its chances would drop to two in three. And with only two, they fall to one in two. In other words, assuming that it takes some effort to find a mate, the two-type system is "the least efficient solution" for this population, says Laurence Hurst, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Bath.
Cut Transgender People Out of ENDA? No Way!
By Pride at Work
Just as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act neared action in Congress, disturbing reports have surfaced that House Democratic leaders are planning to remove the bill’s protections for transgender workers in committee next week. That’s completely unacceptable!
In the labor movement, we’re proud of our history of solidarity across lines of race, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. We’ve learned to resist the divisive and dishonest tactics of enemies who would try to divide us along these lines. We cannot and will not leave the least numerous and most vulnerable among us to fend for themselves. We stand together, one for all and all for one!
The passage of the federal hate crimes bill, with full protections for LGBT Americans, by both House and Senate this year shows that politically, it is entirely possible to pass federal legislation that protects transgender people as well as gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. The House hate crimes bill passed by more than 50 votes this spring, and the Senate voted today to invoke cloture, cutting off debate and bringing its hate crimes bill to a voice vote, by 60 to 39.
Please take a moment to call these members of Congress and let them know you want transgender workers protected in ENDA –
Representative Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, 202-225-4965
Representative Barney Frank, chief House sponsor of ENDA, 202-225-5931
Representative George Miller, Chairman, House Education and Labor Committee, 202-225-2095.
If you can take the time to send an e-mail to your Representative, please do that too. But remember, every hour counts and personal phone calls are the most effective way of letting the Congressional leadership know your views.
Remember – An Injury to One Is an Injury to All! . . .
Just as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act neared action in Congress, disturbing reports have surfaced that House Democratic leaders are planning to remove the bill’s protections for transgender workers in committee next week. That’s completely unacceptable!
In the labor movement, we’re proud of our history of solidarity across lines of race, religion, ethnicity, gender and sexuality. We’ve learned to resist the divisive and dishonest tactics of enemies who would try to divide us along these lines. We cannot and will not leave the least numerous and most vulnerable among us to fend for themselves. We stand together, one for all and all for one!
The passage of the federal hate crimes bill, with full protections for LGBT Americans, by both House and Senate this year shows that politically, it is entirely possible to pass federal legislation that protects transgender people as well as gay men, lesbians and bisexuals. The House hate crimes bill passed by more than 50 votes this spring, and the Senate voted today to invoke cloture, cutting off debate and bringing its hate crimes bill to a voice vote, by 60 to 39.
Please take a moment to call these members of Congress and let them know you want transgender workers protected in ENDA –
Representative Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, 202-225-4965
Representative Barney Frank, chief House sponsor of ENDA, 202-225-5931
Representative George Miller, Chairman, House Education and Labor Committee, 202-225-2095.
If you can take the time to send an e-mail to your Representative, please do that too. But remember, every hour counts and personal phone calls are the most effective way of letting the Congressional leadership know your views.
Remember – An Injury to One Is an Injury to All! . . .
Friday, September 28, 2007
Sex-change kid becomes model
CUTE blonde Kim – who as a German BOY in 2004 became the world’s youngest person to start hormone treatment for a sex-change – makes her debut as a model.
Now 14, Kim has been signed up to do a photo shoot for Unisex, a German chain of hair salons.
Eventually Kim will have a full op to turn her permanently into a female.
Unisex boss Giuseppe Pino Galanti said: “She’s a natural.”
Readers comments:
Sex-change kid becomes model
WTF? What kind of person would give a treatment like that to a 14 year old? i mean they are still young and may just regret it when there 18. the world has gone completly crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted_by: magik
Sex-change kid becomes model
She's a very pretty girl, I wish I looked that good and I was born female!!! I wish her all the luck!
Posted_by: traceyj64
Sex-change kid becomes model
Magik, what gives you the right to say that. How do we know the agony that poor kid went through and many many other people that suffer the same torment, the sooner people accept people as human be ...
Posted_by: MercGirl
Sex-change kid becomes model
no ones disputing the fact that some people feel they are born into the wrong body,they were right in the fact that this person is still a child and there may be a possibility that he may change his m ...
Posted_by: vivienne
Sex-change kid becomes model
A marvellous oppurtunity for this girl, but i think she is still to young to be given hormones. She as others have said may change her mind, anyway i wish well for her future,
Posted_by: gungirl
Sex-change kid becomes model
Totally fooled me. I'd never see her and think she used to be a boy.
Posted_by: bear1
Sex-change kid becomes model
Traceyj64 dont put yourself down, beauty is only skin deep, i bet your lovely inside [where it matters]..ok shes pretty, but i hope shes happy now, THATS wat matters to HER, WE CANT JUDGE [but we d ...
Posted_by: littlesod
Sex-change kid becomes model
I'm Transsexual and I can tell you for a fact she is way better off at that age starting with hormones then in later in life ... BTW we know at a Very Young age that we are transsexual ... I knew ...
Posted_by: NikkiLaVey
Now 14, Kim has been signed up to do a photo shoot for Unisex, a German chain of hair salons.
Eventually Kim will have a full op to turn her permanently into a female.
Unisex boss Giuseppe Pino Galanti said: “She’s a natural.”
Readers comments:
Sex-change kid becomes model
WTF? What kind of person would give a treatment like that to a 14 year old? i mean they are still young and may just regret it when there 18. the world has gone completly crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted_by: magik
Sex-change kid becomes model
She's a very pretty girl, I wish I looked that good and I was born female!!! I wish her all the luck!
Posted_by: traceyj64
Sex-change kid becomes model
Magik, what gives you the right to say that. How do we know the agony that poor kid went through and many many other people that suffer the same torment, the sooner people accept people as human be ...
Posted_by: MercGirl
Sex-change kid becomes model
no ones disputing the fact that some people feel they are born into the wrong body,they were right in the fact that this person is still a child and there may be a possibility that he may change his m ...
Posted_by: vivienne
Sex-change kid becomes model
A marvellous oppurtunity for this girl, but i think she is still to young to be given hormones. She as others have said may change her mind, anyway i wish well for her future,
Posted_by: gungirl
Sex-change kid becomes model
Totally fooled me. I'd never see her and think she used to be a boy.
Posted_by: bear1
Sex-change kid becomes model
Traceyj64 dont put yourself down, beauty is only skin deep, i bet your lovely inside [where it matters]..ok shes pretty, but i hope shes happy now, THATS wat matters to HER, WE CANT JUDGE [but we d ...
Posted_by: littlesod
Sex-change kid becomes model
I'm Transsexual and I can tell you for a fact she is way better off at that age starting with hormones then in later in life ... BTW we know at a Very Young age that we are transsexual ... I knew ...
Posted_by: NikkiLaVey
Three mix it up in FX transsexual pilot
By Kimberly Nordyke and Nellie Andreeva
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Joseph Fiennes, Blythe Danner and Robert Wagner have been cast in U.S. cable channel FX's transsexual drama pilot.
The untitled project, formerly known as "4 oz.", centres on a family man named Bob (Fiennes) who decides to get a sex change. Danner and Wagner will play Bob's parents, Bunny and Scotch. The roles of Bob's wife and kids have yet to be cast.
Photo
The pilot comes from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, respectively the creator and a writer/producer on FX's "Nip/Tuck". Production will begin at the end of October, with Murphy directing.
Fiennes recently appeared on the big screen in "Running With Scissors". Danner won two Emmys for her role on Showtime's "Huff". Wagner recently guest-starred on CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and AMC's "Hustle".
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Joseph Fiennes, Blythe Danner and Robert Wagner have been cast in U.S. cable channel FX's transsexual drama pilot.
The untitled project, formerly known as "4 oz.", centres on a family man named Bob (Fiennes) who decides to get a sex change. Danner and Wagner will play Bob's parents, Bunny and Scotch. The roles of Bob's wife and kids have yet to be cast.
Photo
The pilot comes from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, respectively the creator and a writer/producer on FX's "Nip/Tuck". Production will begin at the end of October, with Murphy directing.
Fiennes recently appeared on the big screen in "Running With Scissors". Danner won two Emmys for her role on Showtime's "Huff". Wagner recently guest-starred on CBS' "Two and a Half Men" and AMC's "Hustle".
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
She's a Boy I Knew
VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FEST
Denise Sheppard
Gwen Haworth says there were no stories of successful transitions when she was coming out as trans. She hopes her new film will help fill that void.
At the age when most small children are thinking about their first day of school and how to ride a bike, Gwen Haworth (who at the time was a young boy named Steven) knew that her gender identity was awry.
It was a secret she kept to herself for more than two decades.
"I've been aware of this since I was four," says Haworth. "That meant 23 years of keeping this secret hidden, 23 years of self-hate and internalized transphobia."
The frustration in her words is palpable, but the softness in her spirit resonates peace above and beyond all other emotions.
Know this: this is no queer tragedy. In fact, Haworth's story is inspiring and worth celebrating, and even comes complete with a happy ending.
The 'ending' however is really just another beginning —Haworth's anticipated film debut called She's a Boy I Knew: Gwen's DIY feature transgender documentary.
Haworth's first- and second-person account of her evolutionary journey pre- and post-transition is something that should be required viewing in every school, at every PFLAG meeting, heck, at every prenatal class out there.
Haworth, now an East Van-based dyke filmmaker, takes on a host of brave topics in front of the camera, asking difficult questions not just of herself, but also of her parents, her siblings, her ex-wife (whom she married while still identifying as a man) and her dearest friends. The candor and bravery of her family members results in both touching and deeply honest vignettes that will resonate with all who watch it. . .
Denise Sheppard
Gwen Haworth says there were no stories of successful transitions when she was coming out as trans. She hopes her new film will help fill that void.
At the age when most small children are thinking about their first day of school and how to ride a bike, Gwen Haworth (who at the time was a young boy named Steven) knew that her gender identity was awry.
It was a secret she kept to herself for more than two decades.
"I've been aware of this since I was four," says Haworth. "That meant 23 years of keeping this secret hidden, 23 years of self-hate and internalized transphobia."
The frustration in her words is palpable, but the softness in her spirit resonates peace above and beyond all other emotions.
Know this: this is no queer tragedy. In fact, Haworth's story is inspiring and worth celebrating, and even comes complete with a happy ending.
The 'ending' however is really just another beginning —Haworth's anticipated film debut called She's a Boy I Knew: Gwen's DIY feature transgender documentary.
Haworth's first- and second-person account of her evolutionary journey pre- and post-transition is something that should be required viewing in every school, at every PFLAG meeting, heck, at every prenatal class out there.
Haworth, now an East Van-based dyke filmmaker, takes on a host of brave topics in front of the camera, asking difficult questions not just of herself, but also of her parents, her siblings, her ex-wife (whom she married while still identifying as a man) and her dearest friends. The candor and bravery of her family members results in both touching and deeply honest vignettes that will resonate with all who watch it. . .
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The Oprah Winfrey Show
And, don't miss this Friday, 28 September 2007!
What would you do if your 7-year-old daughter said, "Mom, I should be a boy." Facing the world transgendered.
What would you do if your 7-year-old daughter said, "Mom, I should be a boy." Facing the world transgendered.
POV, Critique, Opinion: Is Your MMOG Buddy a…Transsexual??
Published by Dan O'Connor September 26th, 2007
Today in our brand new feature “Seriously, that’s an issue for you? Ummm, OK, well, I’ll be over here being, y’know, normal” Timothy Burke over at Terranova has a thoughtful discussion of reports that a Chinese MMOG has suspended the accounts of players whose avatars (and those readers of a genteel disposition may wish to turn away now) were not the same sex as the player!
Like Burke, I suspected this was an “only in China” moment, but, reading through the comments section I stumbled upon (or StumbledUpon, if you must) this:
I think all action games should feature men characters. As a guy, i never create or play female character. It just doesn’t feel right.”
Seriously, you’re spending your spare time pretending to fight dragons whilst wearing imaginary chain mail and it’s the being a woman bit that doesn’t feel right? Which was why it was so nice to then read:
I’m steadfastly opposed to this sort of, frankly, idiocy, because I know it’s going to harm a lot of people who already seriously marginalized by society, and because frankly, here in the West at least, we’ve already “gotten over it”. No-one playing WoW, for example, can genuinely be surprised that many of the female avatars are played by men.
Hurrah for sensible people online (even gamers). There was some concern in the comments on Burke’s story that people could feel “fooled” by transsexual avatars. Interestingly, this was something that Tad Williams explored in his (frankly precognitive) Sci-Fi series, Otherland, wherein a terminally ill boy, Orlando, became best friends with someone named Fredericks in an online FRPG - only for Frederics to turn out to be - da dad daaaaah - a girl, much to his anger. Orlando’s point is that Frederics has lied to him, to which she points that, he - a boy who cannot leave his own bed - has been playing a muscle bound super strong barbarian warrior for years. It’s not deceit, it’s fantasy.
It was interesting to read some of the comments which suggested that female avatars were often treated more kindly than male ones, especially in male-dominated MMOGs - and equally interesting to read comments from female gamers who had frequently felt that they had to “cross” and become male characters in order to be taken seriously. (Such was certainly Frederic’s argument in Otherland) It reminds me of my first tentative steps into the world on online interaction… I am, as my many (ahem) admirers will know - a total geek for US politics. About 5 years ago I got heavily involved in an American political discussion forum. At first, I properly identified myself (male, white, European) and got into some enjoyable debates. I started to realise, however, that I wasn’t being taken seriously on some of the issues because, well, I just wasn’t American. So - in a fit of pique - a registered the totally fictional username “Kate Fansler”, identifying myself as a female American from San Francisco. I carried on writing the precise same opinions, but found myself getting alot more kudos for what I was saying. Partly it was that there were precious few other “women” on the forum (a problem with most political blogs, message boards etc.), so there was novelty value - but it was also about being “legitimate” as an American. Now this, I would say, was deceit: we were talking about real world issues, and grounding our opinions in our own experiences. In my - or rather Kate Fansler’s case - these were entirely fictional, which was unfair on the other board members. Even the idiot Republicans. I’ll put my hands up to a clear-cut case of unethical digital transsexuality; but the guys and gals doing it in WoW? Not so much. . .
Today in our brand new feature “Seriously, that’s an issue for you? Ummm, OK, well, I’ll be over here being, y’know, normal” Timothy Burke over at Terranova has a thoughtful discussion of reports that a Chinese MMOG has suspended the accounts of players whose avatars (and those readers of a genteel disposition may wish to turn away now) were not the same sex as the player!
Like Burke, I suspected this was an “only in China” moment, but, reading through the comments section I stumbled upon (or StumbledUpon, if you must) this:
I think all action games should feature men characters. As a guy, i never create or play female character. It just doesn’t feel right.”
Seriously, you’re spending your spare time pretending to fight dragons whilst wearing imaginary chain mail and it’s the being a woman bit that doesn’t feel right? Which was why it was so nice to then read:
I’m steadfastly opposed to this sort of, frankly, idiocy, because I know it’s going to harm a lot of people who already seriously marginalized by society, and because frankly, here in the West at least, we’ve already “gotten over it”. No-one playing WoW, for example, can genuinely be surprised that many of the female avatars are played by men.
Hurrah for sensible people online (even gamers). There was some concern in the comments on Burke’s story that people could feel “fooled” by transsexual avatars. Interestingly, this was something that Tad Williams explored in his (frankly precognitive) Sci-Fi series, Otherland, wherein a terminally ill boy, Orlando, became best friends with someone named Fredericks in an online FRPG - only for Frederics to turn out to be - da dad daaaaah - a girl, much to his anger. Orlando’s point is that Frederics has lied to him, to which she points that, he - a boy who cannot leave his own bed - has been playing a muscle bound super strong barbarian warrior for years. It’s not deceit, it’s fantasy.
It was interesting to read some of the comments which suggested that female avatars were often treated more kindly than male ones, especially in male-dominated MMOGs - and equally interesting to read comments from female gamers who had frequently felt that they had to “cross” and become male characters in order to be taken seriously. (Such was certainly Frederic’s argument in Otherland) It reminds me of my first tentative steps into the world on online interaction… I am, as my many (ahem) admirers will know - a total geek for US politics. About 5 years ago I got heavily involved in an American political discussion forum. At first, I properly identified myself (male, white, European) and got into some enjoyable debates. I started to realise, however, that I wasn’t being taken seriously on some of the issues because, well, I just wasn’t American. So - in a fit of pique - a registered the totally fictional username “Kate Fansler”, identifying myself as a female American from San Francisco. I carried on writing the precise same opinions, but found myself getting alot more kudos for what I was saying. Partly it was that there were precious few other “women” on the forum (a problem with most political blogs, message boards etc.), so there was novelty value - but it was also about being “legitimate” as an American. Now this, I would say, was deceit: we were talking about real world issues, and grounding our opinions in our own experiences. In my - or rather Kate Fansler’s case - these were entirely fictional, which was unfair on the other board members. Even the idiot Republicans. I’ll put my hands up to a clear-cut case of unethical digital transsexuality; but the guys and gals doing it in WoW? Not so much. . .
Functional MagnetoResonanceTomography...and Transsexuality
. . .from A.E.Brain
In German, yet, from ArzteZeitung (Doctor's Journal)
Ok, here's a partial free translation:
"An Examination of the use of fMRT for diagnosing Transsexuality
The brains of anatomically male transsexuals, who identify as female, did not react as typical males do to visual erotic stimuli. In a study using functional MagnetoResonanceTomography(MRT) the reaction was instead typically female.
This work was performed by the University of Essen. 36 subjects were shown visually erotic films, while fMRT was used to study the reactions inside the brain. The study was performed co-operatively with the Klinik für Psychosomatik, and attempted to answer the question of whether fMRT could be used to diagnose Transsexuality, and especially to help in the decision to permit Sex Reassignment Surgery.
Twelve heterosexual men and twelve heterosexual women were examined, along with twelve anatomical males who identify as women. As Dr. Elke Gizewski stressed at the Röntgenkongreß in Berlin, it was already well-known from preliminary investigations of other groups that differences between men and women appear in fMRT when they are presented with erotic stimuli.
In men, the limbic system and upper regions of the hypothalamus, the amygdalae and the insular cortex were activated substantially more strongly. “We confirmed this finding in the comparison between the heterosexual men and women of our Cohort”, said Gizewski.
This specifically male activation of the limbic system was not found in the transsexual sample. Under fMRT, the pictures corresponded rather accurately to those of the female sample.
Radiologists can now confirm what transsexuals report - that they feel “trapped in the wrong body” - on the basis of the activation of the brain when presented with erotic stimuli. There is obviously a biological correlation with the subjective feelings."
I'm not sure that's wholly proven. I'd need comparison tests between Gay men, Lesbian women, and Gay, Straight and Lesbian Transsexuals (both FtoM and MtoF) too. It may be that the sample of transsexual women were all Hetero, none Lesbian. If so, it may only prove a biological basis for sexual preference, rather than gender as such.
But that in itself would be even more unacceptable to those who persecute us, and call us "mentally ill".
In German, yet, from ArzteZeitung (Doctor's Journal)
Ok, here's a partial free translation:
"An Examination of the use of fMRT for diagnosing Transsexuality
The brains of anatomically male transsexuals, who identify as female, did not react as typical males do to visual erotic stimuli. In a study using functional MagnetoResonanceTomography(MRT) the reaction was instead typically female.
This work was performed by the University of Essen. 36 subjects were shown visually erotic films, while fMRT was used to study the reactions inside the brain. The study was performed co-operatively with the Klinik für Psychosomatik, and attempted to answer the question of whether fMRT could be used to diagnose Transsexuality, and especially to help in the decision to permit Sex Reassignment Surgery.
Twelve heterosexual men and twelve heterosexual women were examined, along with twelve anatomical males who identify as women. As Dr. Elke Gizewski stressed at the Röntgenkongreß in Berlin, it was already well-known from preliminary investigations of other groups that differences between men and women appear in fMRT when they are presented with erotic stimuli.
In men, the limbic system and upper regions of the hypothalamus, the amygdalae and the insular cortex were activated substantially more strongly. “We confirmed this finding in the comparison between the heterosexual men and women of our Cohort”, said Gizewski.
This specifically male activation of the limbic system was not found in the transsexual sample. Under fMRT, the pictures corresponded rather accurately to those of the female sample.
Radiologists can now confirm what transsexuals report - that they feel “trapped in the wrong body” - on the basis of the activation of the brain when presented with erotic stimuli. There is obviously a biological correlation with the subjective feelings."
I'm not sure that's wholly proven. I'd need comparison tests between Gay men, Lesbian women, and Gay, Straight and Lesbian Transsexuals (both FtoM and MtoF) too. It may be that the sample of transsexual women were all Hetero, none Lesbian. If so, it may only prove a biological basis for sexual preference, rather than gender as such.
But that in itself would be even more unacceptable to those who persecute us, and call us "mentally ill".
Sex change funding undermines no gays claim
· Ahmadinejad account rejected in Iran
· Homosexuality illegal but transsexuals tolerated
Robert Tait in Tehran
Wednesday September 26, 2007
Guardian
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's combative president, provoked his latest controversy in New York this week by asserting that there were no homosexuals in his country, he may have been indulging in sophistry or just plain wishful thinking.
While Mr Ahmadinejad may want to believe that his Islamic society is exclusively non-gay, it is a belief undermined by the paradox that transsexuality and sex changes are tolerated and encouraged under Iran's theocratic system.
Iran has between 15,000 and 20,000 transsexuals, according to official statistics, although unofficial estimates put the figure at up to 150,000. Iran carries out more gender change operations than any country in the world besides Thailand.
Sex changes have been legal since the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa authorising them nearly 25 years ago. Whereas homosexuality is considered a sin, transsexuality is categorised as an illness subject to cure.
While the government seeks to keep its approval quiet, state support has increased since Mr Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. His government has begun providing grants of £2,250 for operations and further funding for hormone therapy. It is also proposing loans of up to £2,750 to allow those undergoing surgery to start their own businesses.
Maryam Khatoon Molkara, leader of the country's main transsexual organisation, said some of those undergoing operations were gay rather than out-and-out transsexuals. "In Iran, transsexuals are part of the homosexual family. Is it possible that a phenomenon exists in the world but not in Iran? Transsexuality is a real disaster. It's a one-way street. But if somebody wants to study, have a future and live like others they should go through this surgery."
At Columbia University on Monday, Mr Ahmadinejad said homosexuality did not exist in Iran. "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he told a questioner who accused his government of executing gay people. "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it."
But Ms Molkara - who persuaded Khomeini to issue the fatwa on transsexuality - said his stance was inconsistent with the state's sex-change policy. "They are saying homosexuality doesn't exist, but they have never given me a chance to use my influence among transsexuals to prevent transsexuality from happening," she said. "You could change the culture but the press and state TV are not allowed to write or say anything about transsexuality.". . .
· Homosexuality illegal but transsexuals tolerated
Robert Tait in Tehran
Wednesday September 26, 2007
Guardian
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's combative president, provoked his latest controversy in New York this week by asserting that there were no homosexuals in his country, he may have been indulging in sophistry or just plain wishful thinking.
While Mr Ahmadinejad may want to believe that his Islamic society is exclusively non-gay, it is a belief undermined by the paradox that transsexuality and sex changes are tolerated and encouraged under Iran's theocratic system.
Iran has between 15,000 and 20,000 transsexuals, according to official statistics, although unofficial estimates put the figure at up to 150,000. Iran carries out more gender change operations than any country in the world besides Thailand.
Sex changes have been legal since the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual leader of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa authorising them nearly 25 years ago. Whereas homosexuality is considered a sin, transsexuality is categorised as an illness subject to cure.
While the government seeks to keep its approval quiet, state support has increased since Mr Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. His government has begun providing grants of £2,250 for operations and further funding for hormone therapy. It is also proposing loans of up to £2,750 to allow those undergoing surgery to start their own businesses.
Maryam Khatoon Molkara, leader of the country's main transsexual organisation, said some of those undergoing operations were gay rather than out-and-out transsexuals. "In Iran, transsexuals are part of the homosexual family. Is it possible that a phenomenon exists in the world but not in Iran? Transsexuality is a real disaster. It's a one-way street. But if somebody wants to study, have a future and live like others they should go through this surgery."
At Columbia University on Monday, Mr Ahmadinejad said homosexuality did not exist in Iran. "In Iran we don't have homosexuals like in your country," he told a questioner who accused his government of executing gay people. "In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who has told you that we have it."
But Ms Molkara - who persuaded Khomeini to issue the fatwa on transsexuality - said his stance was inconsistent with the state's sex-change policy. "They are saying homosexuality doesn't exist, but they have never given me a chance to use my influence among transsexuals to prevent transsexuality from happening," she said. "You could change the culture but the press and state TV are not allowed to write or say anything about transsexuality.". . .
'Oh, the things I did!'
Lou Reed sang about her and Andy Warhol made her a superstar. As Holly Woodlawn heads for Britain, John Patterson meets a drag queen legend
John Patterson
Wednesday September 26, 2007
Guardian
"Holly came from Miami F-L-A,
Hitchhiked her way across the USA,
Plucked her eyebrows on the way,
Shaved her legs and then he was a she ..."
That's how Lou Reed made Holly Woodlawn, the Warhol Factory superstar and legendary drag queen, famous in his 1972 song Walk on the Wild Side. Here's Woodlawn's expanded version: "I was 15 years old and failing at high school in Miami Beach because I was too busy partying. I was supposed to go to summer school to catch up and really didn't want to, so I joined some of these Cuban queens to go to New York. I hocked some jewellery and we made it all the way to Georgia, where the money ran out and we had to hitchhike the rest of the way.
"Atlanta, Georgia, of all places - you could expect to be tarred and feathered and murdered in those days! But we survived and I remember the first time I saw New York: the Emerald City. I thought the sidewalks were made of diamonds because of the specks of mica in the asphalt. It was 1962. Marilyn had just died. I lived on the streets like everyone does when they run away. I met some girlfriends who took me in and we found a place in Queens. I was really lucky. I met this guy who fell in love with me and asked me to be his girlfriend. I started taking hormones for a sex-change and lived as his wife, working in the days as a clothing model at Saks Fifth Avenue. Oh, the things I did! And for six or seven years they never knew I was a boy. Not a clue!"
I meet Woodlawn at her apartment in West Hollywood, Los Angeles' gay village or ghetto, on a sweltering hot day. In a few weeks she'll be in the UK to promote an exhibition of paintings of herself by the British artist Sadie Lee, showing her in a less glamorous guise than usual. "I said, 'Why don't you paint me as everyday me for a change, instead of all peaches and cream?'" she says.
As we sit on her balcony talking, we're favoured with an ambient soundtrack that, appropriately, seems more redolent of Manhattan than of sleepy California: a fire nearby means that we're constantly interrupted by screaming sirens. "All right, already," howls Woodlawn. "Find the fucking fire and shut up. I swear, West Hollywood is breeding pyromaniacs today."
The Holly Woodlawn of 2007 is a far cry from the sweet-voiced cross-dresser who made her first splash in the film Trash in 1970, fake-masturbating with a Miller beer bottle to considerable acclaim. Back then - during what we must inevitably call her 15 minutes of fame - she was one of the many drag queens and hustlers at the lower end of the Warhol social scene, congregating around his Factory studio and at hangouts like the bar Max's Kansas City. "The mole people," Factory manager Billy Name called them. "The amphetamine people." At the other end were the rich, famous and powerful: Jim Morrison, Yoko Ono, Janis Joplin, author George Plimpton.
The 61-year-old man who answers the door today is out of drag, bent and frail, though indefatigably cheerful, using a Zimmer frame because of various slowly fusing discs in his spine that, he says, are unimaginably painful and incurable. "Oh no, this is IT, honey, downhill all the way from here on!". . .
John Patterson
Wednesday September 26, 2007
Guardian
"Holly came from Miami F-L-A,
Hitchhiked her way across the USA,
Plucked her eyebrows on the way,
Shaved her legs and then he was a she ..."
That's how Lou Reed made Holly Woodlawn, the Warhol Factory superstar and legendary drag queen, famous in his 1972 song Walk on the Wild Side. Here's Woodlawn's expanded version: "I was 15 years old and failing at high school in Miami Beach because I was too busy partying. I was supposed to go to summer school to catch up and really didn't want to, so I joined some of these Cuban queens to go to New York. I hocked some jewellery and we made it all the way to Georgia, where the money ran out and we had to hitchhike the rest of the way.
"Atlanta, Georgia, of all places - you could expect to be tarred and feathered and murdered in those days! But we survived and I remember the first time I saw New York: the Emerald City. I thought the sidewalks were made of diamonds because of the specks of mica in the asphalt. It was 1962. Marilyn had just died. I lived on the streets like everyone does when they run away. I met some girlfriends who took me in and we found a place in Queens. I was really lucky. I met this guy who fell in love with me and asked me to be his girlfriend. I started taking hormones for a sex-change and lived as his wife, working in the days as a clothing model at Saks Fifth Avenue. Oh, the things I did! And for six or seven years they never knew I was a boy. Not a clue!"
I meet Woodlawn at her apartment in West Hollywood, Los Angeles' gay village or ghetto, on a sweltering hot day. In a few weeks she'll be in the UK to promote an exhibition of paintings of herself by the British artist Sadie Lee, showing her in a less glamorous guise than usual. "I said, 'Why don't you paint me as everyday me for a change, instead of all peaches and cream?'" she says.
As we sit on her balcony talking, we're favoured with an ambient soundtrack that, appropriately, seems more redolent of Manhattan than of sleepy California: a fire nearby means that we're constantly interrupted by screaming sirens. "All right, already," howls Woodlawn. "Find the fucking fire and shut up. I swear, West Hollywood is breeding pyromaniacs today."
The Holly Woodlawn of 2007 is a far cry from the sweet-voiced cross-dresser who made her first splash in the film Trash in 1970, fake-masturbating with a Miller beer bottle to considerable acclaim. Back then - during what we must inevitably call her 15 minutes of fame - she was one of the many drag queens and hustlers at the lower end of the Warhol social scene, congregating around his Factory studio and at hangouts like the bar Max's Kansas City. "The mole people," Factory manager Billy Name called them. "The amphetamine people." At the other end were the rich, famous and powerful: Jim Morrison, Yoko Ono, Janis Joplin, author George Plimpton.
The 61-year-old man who answers the door today is out of drag, bent and frail, though indefatigably cheerful, using a Zimmer frame because of various slowly fusing discs in his spine that, he says, are unimaginably painful and incurable. "Oh no, this is IT, honey, downhill all the way from here on!". . .
Book excels in gender issues
Encourages student in identifying, coping during changes
By: Ruth Lane
Posted: 9/27/07
A rare event has occurred in the area of gender studies - the publication of "The Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman On Sexism and The Scapegoating of Femininity" by Julia Serano. Not often do readers have the luxury of reading a thorough, fairly objective yet personal appraisal of misogyny from a transsexual woman. In this segment, I will simultaneously present a review of "The Whipping Girl" while tying what Serano writes into some of my personal experiences with gender.
Serano's book courageously presents situations in which femininity is treated with sincere disdain. The book's main focus is to show how transgender phobia is not based on dislike of persons who are transgender solely for those persons being transgender. Rather, transphobia is described as being based on the hatred of femininity. What is most striking in the book is how Serano sheds light on the ways in which femininity in particular is frowned upon within the queer community and explores how masculinity is often most applauded. When femininity is accepted in the queer community, it is within the drag show setting where femininity becomes a show, an act to please an audience. Serano repeatedly illustrates how society as a whole carries the perception that femininity is a farce created to please those who witness it.
To make this more personal, in my late teens I transitioned from female to male, and I identified somewhere between being a gay male and a bisexual male. To fully embody living as a male, I underwent a series of physical alterations such as two years of testosterone hormone therapy and several surgeries that ultimately gave me a masculine appearance. But after the two years of transition, I began to have an experience similar to what Serano describes in her book. The experience was that my subconscious sex was misaligned with my physical body. In my early 20s, I decided to de-transition and live as a woman again because I came to realization that my subconscious sex is female. . . .
By: Ruth Lane
Posted: 9/27/07
A rare event has occurred in the area of gender studies - the publication of "The Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman On Sexism and The Scapegoating of Femininity" by Julia Serano. Not often do readers have the luxury of reading a thorough, fairly objective yet personal appraisal of misogyny from a transsexual woman. In this segment, I will simultaneously present a review of "The Whipping Girl" while tying what Serano writes into some of my personal experiences with gender.
Serano's book courageously presents situations in which femininity is treated with sincere disdain. The book's main focus is to show how transgender phobia is not based on dislike of persons who are transgender solely for those persons being transgender. Rather, transphobia is described as being based on the hatred of femininity. What is most striking in the book is how Serano sheds light on the ways in which femininity in particular is frowned upon within the queer community and explores how masculinity is often most applauded. When femininity is accepted in the queer community, it is within the drag show setting where femininity becomes a show, an act to please an audience. Serano repeatedly illustrates how society as a whole carries the perception that femininity is a farce created to please those who witness it.
To make this more personal, in my late teens I transitioned from female to male, and I identified somewhere between being a gay male and a bisexual male. To fully embody living as a male, I underwent a series of physical alterations such as two years of testosterone hormone therapy and several surgeries that ultimately gave me a masculine appearance. But after the two years of transition, I began to have an experience similar to what Serano describes in her book. The experience was that my subconscious sex was misaligned with my physical body. In my early 20s, I decided to de-transition and live as a woman again because I came to realization that my subconscious sex is female. . . .
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Leonard to Leona, Singapore transsexual bares all
Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:20am EDT
By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - At the age of 10, Leonard Lo was determined to become a woman.
Now 22 years later, Singaporean transsexual Leona Lo details the shame and anger she felt on her journey in a cathartic book that is raising eyebrows in this regulated city-state with old-fashioned attitudes toward sex.
Lo, 32, runs her own public relations company. She has an Australian boyfriend, polished nails and an engaging, slightly nervous, laugh. She has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and attempted suicide. Her middle-class, conformist Singaporean-Chinese parents took several years to accept her.
Lo is not Singapore's only transsexual, but one of its most outspoken. She has her own Web site (www.leonalo.com), speaks extensively to the media, lectured at universities and corporate functions, driven, she says, by desire to spare other transsexuals from a "difficult" society.
"From Leonard to Leona: A Singapore Transsexual's Journey to Womanhood" is Lo's first book but she is working on another -- a woman's guide to relationships.
Q: You're very frank in your autobiography. Was this hard?
A: "I like to think of my book as inspirational, to show that no matter what life throws your way, you can choose to be happy. I've reached the end of the road, I've attempted suicide, but now I am excited about life. A lot of sweat and tears went into this book, but I feel I have to share my story because I don't want another male child to go through the pain."
Q: Was it difficult to grow up as a transsexual in a conservative place like Singapore?
A: "I am conservative! I do not sleep around, I do not lead a deviant life. The problem with Singapore is the culture of silence which is the most terrible thing in the world, of sweeping things under the carpet. There is discrimination against transsexuals, there is stigma, there is shame. What did we ever do to deserve this? It took a lot of anger for me to overcome my shame and to realize that in Singapore, we need someone to help other transsexuals come out, which is what I am trying to do."
Q: Are you trying to be a role model?
A: "There is a lot of negative portrayal in most of Asia of transsexuals: they are all prostitutes or entertainers, people on the fringe. This is not the case in Europe or the United States, where transsexuals are respected professionals. I would like to be a voice for transsexuals in Asia. In some places like China and Japan, transsexuals are playing a public role, but in Southeast Asia, they're "ladyboys" who entertain. Why can't I become a member of parliament or contribute to my country?"
Q: You've been both a man and a woman. What's the best part of being female?
A: "Vanity! A woman is such a colorful person, able to express herself in so many ways, to dress up, to dance like crazy, to let herself be. You get away with a lot being a woman."
By Miral Fahmy
SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) - At the age of 10, Leonard Lo was determined to become a woman.
Now 22 years later, Singaporean transsexual Leona Lo details the shame and anger she felt on her journey in a cathartic book that is raising eyebrows in this regulated city-state with old-fashioned attitudes toward sex.
Lo, 32, runs her own public relations company. She has an Australian boyfriend, polished nails and an engaging, slightly nervous, laugh. She has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and attempted suicide. Her middle-class, conformist Singaporean-Chinese parents took several years to accept her.
Lo is not Singapore's only transsexual, but one of its most outspoken. She has her own Web site (www.leonalo.com), speaks extensively to the media, lectured at universities and corporate functions, driven, she says, by desire to spare other transsexuals from a "difficult" society.
"From Leonard to Leona: A Singapore Transsexual's Journey to Womanhood" is Lo's first book but she is working on another -- a woman's guide to relationships.
Q: You're very frank in your autobiography. Was this hard?
A: "I like to think of my book as inspirational, to show that no matter what life throws your way, you can choose to be happy. I've reached the end of the road, I've attempted suicide, but now I am excited about life. A lot of sweat and tears went into this book, but I feel I have to share my story because I don't want another male child to go through the pain."
Q: Was it difficult to grow up as a transsexual in a conservative place like Singapore?
A: "I am conservative! I do not sleep around, I do not lead a deviant life. The problem with Singapore is the culture of silence which is the most terrible thing in the world, of sweeping things under the carpet. There is discrimination against transsexuals, there is stigma, there is shame. What did we ever do to deserve this? It took a lot of anger for me to overcome my shame and to realize that in Singapore, we need someone to help other transsexuals come out, which is what I am trying to do."
Q: Are you trying to be a role model?
A: "There is a lot of negative portrayal in most of Asia of transsexuals: they are all prostitutes or entertainers, people on the fringe. This is not the case in Europe or the United States, where transsexuals are respected professionals. I would like to be a voice for transsexuals in Asia. In some places like China and Japan, transsexuals are playing a public role, but in Southeast Asia, they're "ladyboys" who entertain. Why can't I become a member of parliament or contribute to my country?"
Q: You've been both a man and a woman. What's the best part of being female?
A: "Vanity! A woman is such a colorful person, able to express herself in so many ways, to dress up, to dance like crazy, to let herself be. You get away with a lot being a woman."
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Teenage and Transgendered
Liz and Amber were just friends until Liz became Jay
By Megan Feldman
Published: September 20, 2007
Jacoby James' palms were sweating. It was almost his turn. As a camera flash illuminated the curtains in front of him, he waited to have his senior picture taken at the Academy of Irving. The photographer's assistant beckoned. Wishing he weren't so nervous, James stepped forward.
The woman directed him to a clothes rack with two kinds of outfits made to slip over the head—for the girls, v-necked bodices modeled after dresses, and for the boys, half-shirts made to look like suits. James reached for one of the suit and tie sets.
"What's your name?" the woman asked.
He hesitated. "Missouri Flowers," he said, looking at the ground. He purposely left out Elizabeth, his middle name.
The woman stared at him for a moment, confused, then glanced down at her list.
"I'd like to wear the suit and tie," James told her.
"Um...I'm not sure we can do that," she finally said.
James steeled himself. He was no longer a frightened eighth-grader whose screaming classmates told teachers there was a boy in the girls' bathroom. As far as he was concerned, Elizabeth Flowers was gone. Gone with her longish brown hair and those blouses he'd always hated; gone with her quiet, almost painful inhibitions and the stomach-wrenching anxiety that came as people looked back and forth, confused, between the feminine name and more masculine features. His friends, family and teachers had been calling him Jay James for almost a year now—he had a straight girlfriend, for God's sake. There was no way in hell he would appear in his senior picture wearing that ridiculous, frilly piece of fabric. . . .
By Megan Feldman
Published: September 20, 2007
Jacoby James' palms were sweating. It was almost his turn. As a camera flash illuminated the curtains in front of him, he waited to have his senior picture taken at the Academy of Irving. The photographer's assistant beckoned. Wishing he weren't so nervous, James stepped forward.
The woman directed him to a clothes rack with two kinds of outfits made to slip over the head—for the girls, v-necked bodices modeled after dresses, and for the boys, half-shirts made to look like suits. James reached for one of the suit and tie sets.
"What's your name?" the woman asked.
He hesitated. "Missouri Flowers," he said, looking at the ground. He purposely left out Elizabeth, his middle name.
The woman stared at him for a moment, confused, then glanced down at her list.
"I'd like to wear the suit and tie," James told her.
"Um...I'm not sure we can do that," she finally said.
James steeled himself. He was no longer a frightened eighth-grader whose screaming classmates told teachers there was a boy in the girls' bathroom. As far as he was concerned, Elizabeth Flowers was gone. Gone with her longish brown hair and those blouses he'd always hated; gone with her quiet, almost painful inhibitions and the stomach-wrenching anxiety that came as people looked back and forth, confused, between the feminine name and more masculine features. His friends, family and teachers had been calling him Jay James for almost a year now—he had a straight girlfriend, for God's sake. There was no way in hell he would appear in his senior picture wearing that ridiculous, frilly piece of fabric. . . .
Argentine boy sex change approved
By Daniel Schweimler
BBC News, Buenos Aires
A court in the central Argentine province of Cordoba has for the first time agreed that a sex change operation can be carried out on a minor.
The case concerns a 17-year-old male called Nati who wants to be a woman.
The decision ends a long-running legal process for Nati, who suffers from the transsexual disorder known as Harry Benjamin Syndrome.
The judge insisted that Nati receive counselling after the operation, which will take place in the next few days.
Nati knew from an early age that she had been born with the wrong body.
The decision by the court in Cordoba, the first of its kind in Argentina, means that that can now be put right.
Legal fight
After the operation Nati will also be able to officially change her name and apply for new documentation.
I'm very happy, she said, that my real identity has been recognised.
This has become an emblematic case for people who have a gender identity different to their biological one
Cesar Cigliutti
Her parents and friends have supported the 17-year-old during a long and often tortuous legal process that saw some decisions go against her.
The president of the Argentine homosexual community, Cesar Cigliutti, was one of those supporters.
"Not only the operation has been authorised but also the necessary changes to her birth certificate," he said.
"What's important and unusual about this case is that Natalie is a minor - she is not yet 18 years old - and this has become an emblematic case for people who have a gender identity different to their biological one."
BBC News, Buenos Aires
A court in the central Argentine province of Cordoba has for the first time agreed that a sex change operation can be carried out on a minor.
The case concerns a 17-year-old male called Nati who wants to be a woman.
The decision ends a long-running legal process for Nati, who suffers from the transsexual disorder known as Harry Benjamin Syndrome.
The judge insisted that Nati receive counselling after the operation, which will take place in the next few days.
Nati knew from an early age that she had been born with the wrong body.
The decision by the court in Cordoba, the first of its kind in Argentina, means that that can now be put right.
Legal fight
After the operation Nati will also be able to officially change her name and apply for new documentation.
I'm very happy, she said, that my real identity has been recognised.
This has become an emblematic case for people who have a gender identity different to their biological one
Cesar Cigliutti
Her parents and friends have supported the 17-year-old during a long and often tortuous legal process that saw some decisions go against her.
The president of the Argentine homosexual community, Cesar Cigliutti, was one of those supporters.
"Not only the operation has been authorised but also the necessary changes to her birth certificate," he said.
"What's important and unusual about this case is that Natalie is a minor - she is not yet 18 years old - and this has become an emblematic case for people who have a gender identity different to their biological one."
Androgynous boy with female genitals refuses to become woman
25.09.2007 Source: Pravda.Ru
A Moscow-based hospital performed an operation on an androgynous boy who had a genetic set of chromosomes typical of female organisms. At his very young age the boy was diagnosed as having cryptorchidism. His parents, natives of the Middle East, wanted the son to grow older to have a special operation to solve the problem. The boy faced first problems in connection with the diagnosis at the age of twelve when he discovered that his genitals were bleeding. He told the mother about the problem. After special medical examinations doctors were shocked to discover that the male patient had an uterus and adnexa. The discovery in its turn clarified why the boy had his genitals bleeding. The boy had regular menstruation, head of the Urinology and Andrology Department at the Moscow Pediatrics and Infant Surgery Research Institute, Asaad Matar, told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
The patient had a genetic test as a result of which it turned out that there were female chromosomes in his organism. Besides, the teenager felt that his breast was growing. Taking the transformations into their consideration, doctors suggested that the parents should have their son converted into a girl with the help of sex-change surgery. The medics explained that such a transformation would include the plastic surgery of the teenager’s vagina and the removal of the organ resembling a male penis. As a result of such changes the patient may have a chance to have children, like any healthy woman, specialists said.
But the young man insisted that he wanted to remain a boy. His parents said they were used to having an elder son, but not daughter.
Afterwards, the boy underwent a different surgery to have his female genitals removed. The boy endured the operation well. Two silicone testicles are going to be implanted into his scrotum soon.
Even though the operation was a success, doctors warn that the patient will never become a natural father. What is more, he will have to take a course of hormone therapy to maintain his male phenotype till the end of his life.
Experts say that hermaphroditism can be diagnosed at the age of puberty only when a child turns ten or twelve years old. As for the above instance, ovule fertilization first gave birth to a girl. But then some abnormalities occurred during the cell fission, and the embryo acquired features of the male sex. It is not ruled out that androgynism could arise from an incestuous union in the family.
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Translated by Maria Gousseva
Pravda.ru
A Moscow-based hospital performed an operation on an androgynous boy who had a genetic set of chromosomes typical of female organisms. At his very young age the boy was diagnosed as having cryptorchidism. His parents, natives of the Middle East, wanted the son to grow older to have a special operation to solve the problem. The boy faced first problems in connection with the diagnosis at the age of twelve when he discovered that his genitals were bleeding. He told the mother about the problem. After special medical examinations doctors were shocked to discover that the male patient had an uterus and adnexa. The discovery in its turn clarified why the boy had his genitals bleeding. The boy had regular menstruation, head of the Urinology and Andrology Department at the Moscow Pediatrics and Infant Surgery Research Institute, Asaad Matar, told the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.
The patient had a genetic test as a result of which it turned out that there were female chromosomes in his organism. Besides, the teenager felt that his breast was growing. Taking the transformations into their consideration, doctors suggested that the parents should have their son converted into a girl with the help of sex-change surgery. The medics explained that such a transformation would include the plastic surgery of the teenager’s vagina and the removal of the organ resembling a male penis. As a result of such changes the patient may have a chance to have children, like any healthy woman, specialists said.
But the young man insisted that he wanted to remain a boy. His parents said they were used to having an elder son, but not daughter.
Afterwards, the boy underwent a different surgery to have his female genitals removed. The boy endured the operation well. Two silicone testicles are going to be implanted into his scrotum soon.
Even though the operation was a success, doctors warn that the patient will never become a natural father. What is more, he will have to take a course of hormone therapy to maintain his male phenotype till the end of his life.
Experts say that hermaphroditism can be diagnosed at the age of puberty only when a child turns ten or twelve years old. As for the above instance, ovule fertilization first gave birth to a girl. But then some abnormalities occurred during the cell fission, and the embryo acquired features of the male sex. It is not ruled out that androgynism could arise from an incestuous union in the family.
Moskovsky Komsomolets
Translated by Maria Gousseva
Pravda.ru
My Secret Self
My Secret Self
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Physically, it's obvious what gender we are from the moment we're born. But some children insist they were born with the wrong bodies. Little boys, absolutely convinced they should be girls.
Reporter: Barbara Walters
Producers: Alan B. Goldberg, Joneil Adriano
Physically, it's obvious what we are from the moment we're born.
We're either a boy or a girl. And for the vast majority of us, that's the way it stays.
But for some children, toddlers even, it's not so simple. They insist they were born with the wrong bodies. Little boys, absolutely convinced they should be girls.
Little girls, who wouldn't wear a frilly party frock if you paid them.
They've been diagnosed with GID — Gender Identity Disorder — and on Sunday night some of them and their parents tell their touching stories to Barbara Walters.
But you have to ask, how can children so young really know who they are?
Transcript
BARBARA WALTERS: On the surface, Scott and Renee Jennings and their four children are a typical family. They could be your neighbours. Their youngest, Jazz, is a six-year-old who has been living with a secret until now. Your child was born a boy and now you call him a girl? Yes?
RENEE JENNINGS: Yes.
< BARBARA WALTERS: Jazz is transgender and one of the youngest documented cases of an early transmission from male to female. What was the first time that you had any inkling that this little boy, Jazz, was different?
RENEE JENNINGS: The day she came up to me — and I'll never forget it, Barbara — she said, "Mummy, when is the good fairy going to come with her magic wand and change my genitalia?"
BARBARA WALTERS: How old was Jazz then?
RENEE JENNINGS: Two.
BARBARA WALTERS: What did you feel?
RENEE JENNINGS: Just numb, frozen. . . .
Transgender community works to gain protections in South Florida
Policies would seek to protect civil rights
By Patty Pensa
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
September 24, 2007
Transgender is quietly becoming a protected class in South Florida as cities vote to prohibit discrimination against a group that faces tremendous challenges fitting in.
Palm Beach and Broward counties may extend the protection next, which could leave the broadest imprint by affording civil rights to people for their gender identity or expression. The movement accelerated with the March firing of Largo City Manager Susan Stanton, who transitioned from male to female this year.
"It shined a light on what this discrimination is," said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Stanton's attorney. "It really underscored how important it is to have these ordinances."
Lake Worth, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Tequesta and Oakland Park have approved nondiscrimination clauses this year either covering city employees or all residents. Oakland Park was the latest last week and Wilton Manors may consider adding transgender as well.
County ordinances would go further by outlawing discrimination in the workplace and housing in all cities and unincorporated areas. Thirteen states and more than 90 cities and counties already have such laws, with the first passed more than 30 years ago. Advocates hope local ordinances will lead to a statewide law, health insurance coverage for sexual reassignment surgery and greater acceptance.
"I've been dealing with this since I was born," said Heather Wright, who transitioned from male to female almost 10 years ago. "I finally took the steps to take care of it and feel comfortable."
Wright, who runs a gender support group in West Palm Beach for transgender individuals and their family, supports nondiscrimination ordinances so "people have a chance to prove they can do their job."
Too often, transgender individuals are fired once employers learn of their plans to undergo sexual reassignment surgery. Wright said she was lucky to work for a Fortune 500 company with a progressive outlook. . . .
Monday, September 24, 2007
The Waria of Indonesia
Islam, and to a lesser extent Catholicism, are two religions that may be influential in the lives of these transgendered people.
Defining waria
Indonesia’s transgendered community is raising its profile.
Irfan Kortschak
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Popular stereotype: the waria hair salon worker |
Before she even opens her mouth, the petite, jilbab-wearing and refined looking Shuniyya Ruhama Habiiballah has already gone a long way towards achieving one of her driving missions in life: to challenge the dominant stereotype of Indonesia’s large transgendered community, who describe themselves as waria, a term for transgendered people derived from the words wanita (woman) and pria (man).
As Shuniyya says in her softly spoken, decidedly feminine voice: ‘People see the waria as sex workers on the side of the streets at night, dressed in mini-skirts, with silicone-inflated breasts as large as watermelons. They see the show business drag queens who perform on stage and on television. They see these waria and think that they know what a waria is. They don’t. The waria they see are just the most obvious and easy to identify, and the ones the straight community are most likely to meet.’
Shuniyya is uncomfortable with many of the current definitions of the term ‘waria’, simply because these definitions are not sufficiently inclusive. For example, she disputes well-known gay activist Dede Oetomo’s definition of waria as men who imitate women in their clothing styles or mannerisms ‘while retaining a masculine identity’. She says that while this may be true for some, a significant proportion would strongly disagree that they consider themselves to be men.
‘The waria community is very diverse,’ Shuniyya declares. ‘It includes individuals who continue to identify as male but who imitate certain feminine mannerisms, and perhaps occasionally wear makeup and women’s clothing. Others identify so closely as female that they are able to pass as female in their daily interactions in society. As waria, these individuals become almost invisible.’
Shuniyya is strident in her dismissal of the stereotyped image of the waria as a flamboyant cross-dressing sex-worker living on the fringes of society. ‘Many waria come from middle class backgrounds and have a high level of educational attainment. Many hold respectable positions in established companies. There are waria who work as designers, psychologists and sociologists. The image that all waria are sex workers or employees of hair salons is simply a myth,’ she says. ‘In the end, only a waria knows what it means to be a waria. We have to define ourselves.’
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Finalists ‘under quarantine’ in JakartaIrfan Kortschak |
However, Shuniyya does acknowledge that social prejudice and discrimination mean that waria often find themselves with limited work options. Very many work in the beauty and cosmetics, entertainment and fashion industries, or in the NGO sector, particularly in NGOs dealing with gender issues. Describing her own employment at a foundation dealing with transgender issues, she says: ‘Looking at me, no-one would guess that I’m not a woman.’ However that does not mean that she has a woman’s freedom to choose her field of employment.
This is because while her identity card (KTP) shows her to be female, other official documents like her birth certificate and academic transcript identify her as male. Legally, there is no precedent for a transgendered individual, including post-operative transsexuals, to alter the gender that that they are identified with at birth. Thus, when applying for almost any form of formal employment or going through any other formal process at which a full range of personal documentation is required, a waria cannot pass as female.
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HIV/AIDS educationIrfan Kortschak |
Given social attitudes, this bureaucratic hitch is often a critical impediment to obtaining a job. It explains why Shuniyya’s examples of waria who hold respected professional positions seem to be the exceptions, rather than the rule. She seems reluctant to admit that in the face of this strong social prejudice, employment options are limited, and a significant proportion of waria do, in fact, at least occasionally engage in sex work.
The Miss Waria Indonesia pageant
Shuniyya herself is employed at the Yayasan Putri Waria Indonesia, an institute founded by former waria beauty queen Megie Megawatie to keep the Miss Waria Indonesia pageant running as an annual event. From these roots, it is now also involved in a range of other activities, including those related to sexual health education, employment creation, anti-discrimination, and advocacy.
In fact, according to the distinctly glamorous Megie Megawatie, the Miss Waria Indonesia pageant is itself a powerful means of achieving all of these aims. ‘First and foremost, the idea of the pageant is to challenge the stereotype of the waria, not only amongst the broader community, but amongst the waria community itself. We want to demonstrate to the public that we are capable of staging a spectacular, high-profile event in which waria can show the world that they have a diverse range of talents, skills and assets.’
‘We want to demonstrate that waria are an important, integral part of the Indonesian community,’ she says. ‘But perhaps even more importantly, we want to provide members of our own community who may not be secure in their identity with role models. We want them to know that they, too, can be accepted, valued members of society.’
A number of events staged at the pageant are clearly intended to demonstrate that the acceptance of waria into Indonesian society is part of established tradition. In 2006, performances by guest stars included a traditional performance by a troupe of bissu, the group of ritual specialists formerly attached to the royal houses of South Sulawesi, who are often described glibly as ‘transvestite priests’.
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Co-opted waria?: bissu from South SulawesiIrfan Kortschak |
The main event of the pageant, the selection of the year’s reigning Miss Waria, follows the pattern established by standard beauty pageants almost entirely, with the usual parades and talent quests. One finalist is chosen to represent each of Indonesia’s 30 provinces, by committees or representative organisations established in each of those provinces. These committees operate with a considerable degree of autonomy, although they conform loosely to standards established by the central organising committee. . . .
Transgendered in Malang
The waria community in this East Javanese city are out in the open, but misunderstanding and prejudice are still widespread.
Kim Heriot-Darragh
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Ibu Siama at the volleyball matchKim Heriot-Darragh |
Jumping off a motorcycle in a kampung not far from Malang’s Gajayana train station, I asked some men where I could find Ibu Siama. She had insisted that anyone in this part of town could direct me. My question, however, was met with bemused expressions as the cluster of men tried to deduce just who Ibu Siama might be. Eventually, a look of realisation dawned on one man’s face. He broke into a smile and laughed. His friends were laughing too. ‘Oh, you mean Pak Saleh. He’s over here…’
The confusion arose because I was looking for an 82 year old male to female transgendered person – reputedly, the oldest waria in East Java. The men’s reaction was a good illustration of the position of the transgendered community in Malang: Ibu Siama was not treated maliciously, but she was not taken altogether seriously either.
Conflicting perceptions
While living in Malang in 2006, I encountered a number of waria who varied greatly in their perceptions of themselves, the transgendered community, and the extent to which they felt they were accepted in society. Some looked like men in drag; a couple of others betrayed no indication that they were anything other than women. Some saw themselves as ‘real women’ in a man’s body. Others understood themselves to be a third gender, neither male nor female. I also knew one waria who perceived himself to be fundamentally male: he liked to dress and act as a woman, but ultimately he would die and be buried a man. Though I knew some who sported impressive breasts, I never knowingly met any waria who had undergone a sex-change operation.
In the wider community, perceptions were similarly mixed. Many people are unaccustomed to using the word ‘waria’ to describe transgendered people. More often they use offensive terms like ‘banci’ and ‘bencong’. A neighbour of mine was quick to use the English word ‘faggot’ when he learned of my interest in the local waria community. A number of people were unaware of differences between homosexuals and waria: several times during research work I was introduced to baffled homosexual men.
Waria in society
Despite this confusion about who they really are, waria are certainly an identifiable presence in Malang. No one seems to have heard of any incidences of violence directed at them, even though expressions of hostility against waria are sometimes reported from other cities. Local political parties are aware of the issue of waria (as well as gay) rights. One occasionally hears stories of waria entering mosques dressed as women, and there are a small number of Christian waria who say they have never felt estranged from their religious communities. The majority of waria I knew claimed to have solid relations with their family.
Every few years the Malang city government has offered employment training programs in which waria participants are trained and financially assisted to establish beauty salons (part of an effort to dissuade them from engaging in prostitution). When I enquired in 2006, the Malang city government’s Social Affairs Division told me the last program was held in 2005 and had enrolled 25 participants.
Famous waria enjoy an extensive public profile as entertainers and talk-show hosts. Similarly, Miss Waria Indonesia 2006 Merlyn Sopjan captured considerable public attention, particularly in her hometown of Malang. All copies of her second book, Perempuan Tanpa V (Woman without a Vagina), had apparently sold out by the time of its launch in Malang. Arriving for the launch (broadcast live on a talk-show from the Malang town library), I was surprised by the size and diversity of the audience. The room was packed with university students, waria, and young women wearing jilbab. . . .
POV, Critique, Opinion: Where is our culture?
22 September 2007
Yesterday, I had an experience that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. I was outside for a few minutes, and a kid, probably about eleven or twelve, pedaled by on his bicycle. He kept looking over his shoulder at me, and then quickly rode away. Just as I was going back inside, the kid came back around the block. As I was closing the door behind me, I heard a young voice say excitedly “I saw the homo! I saw the homo!”.
Yeah, fun times. Not that I actually care what a twelve-year-old and his friend think of me, but it is interesting nonetheless. I’ve apparently become something of a neighborhood attraction. I suppose this really shouldn’t surprise me. I go outside in all manner of gendered presentation, full makeup, no makeup, boobs, no boobs. Of course, I don’t actually go anywhere unless I’m properly put together, but I’m not going to bother just to walk to the mailbox or get something from my car. This particular time I was in full makeup, hair done, but I’d changed out of what I was wearing…all of it, including most of my bust…and was wearing sweat pants and a Josie and the Pussycats t-shirt. Oh and of course, my nails are done. In other words, I was looking about as totally genderqueer as I get. It’s a look I’m perfectly comfortable in at home or around certain close friends and family, but it’s not really something I do intentionally, by actually going for that look (anymore).
What’s most interesting to me about this is not that these kids think I’m a sideshow attraction, but that they think it’s because I’m homosexual. I resist the temptation to label this kid a bigot because I doubt he’s old enough to have any real understanding of what a “homo” actually is. Hell, he might turn out to be one himself in just a few short years. And yet, even though the ignorance of a child is surely not a reliable guide in such things, I find myself wondering if that’s part of the problem, that for the most part, despite all the political progress we’ve made recently, we’re still essentially socially and culturally invisible as transpeople in mainstream society.
I’m not talking politics here, not really. What I’m starting to wonder is if transpeople are perceived as joined at the hip with gays and lesbians because we want to be. That begs the question, of course, DO we want to be? Of course, it makes sense politically, but where is the culture that belongs to transpeople alone? Can we even say we really have one?
There are many aspects of gay and lesbian culture, especially those involving sex and romance, where transpeople often find themselves welcome to be present but not participate, or are simply excluded from. Where are the corresponding trans-exclusive spaces? They are out there, but you’ll have to search them out, and of course, that’s assuming you have a trans community in your area which cares enough to create one.
A few years ago, I co-founded a weekly trans group rap at my local Pride Center. We got a few people the first few meetings, and then…nothing. No one. After a few more, we gave up. As far as I know, the one and only trans group that still meets at the Center is the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey (GRAANJ), the political advocacy group.
There’s more to life than politics, despite how it probably feels to a lot of us sometimes. It’s wonderful that we share so many cultural spaces with gay and lesbian people. In many ways, it’s an excellent model of how other differences, such as race and ethnicity, can be all but ignored within the greater context of a community, even as many in that community will tend to divide up along gender lines socially. The problem comes in when you try to fit unconventionally-gendered people into gender-specific spaces. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it works for some but not for others.
Those of us who create media can help in that, but our impact goes only so far. We can give people a place to come together and to speak to each other through the media we create, but there’s always a buffer there, the media we use in which to get our message out. Some media, like talk radio, is personal, community-oriented, and very interactive. Other media, like the Internet or print media, is less or non-interactive but still helps tour community connect to each other. We can speak to and speak with our community on the grand, worldwide scale far more efficiently than we’re able to face-to-face, person-to-person.
Gays and lesbians generally don’t have this problem, or at least, not to the extent we transfolks do. Think fast: How many local gay bars or clubs can you name? Now, how many lesbian bars? And how many tranny bars?
I used to know of two tranny bars in Manhattan, but one got shut down during the Giuliani Administration. The other, Edelweiss, I believe is still around…and that’s it, as far I know, for the entire City of New York. Nothing in Jersey, except for a club I knew of in Atlantic City twenty-five years ago, nothing in Philly. Even the Pride Centers of these cities don’t offer a whole lot for us.
Where is transgender culture?
For transpeople, it seems that home is where the Internet is. The largest physical gatherings of transpeople almost always involve an event to which transpeople often must travel a long distance in order to attend, such as a organizational convention, and many of these events are wrapped up in political advocacy. Aside from those kinds of events, the vast majority of our intra-community socialization takes place online.
It’s not surprising, therefore , that most of our community-relevant media is Internet-based as well. Attempts have been made to bridge the cultural gap between the transgender community and the mainstream, but none have proven truly successful yet. We have no LOGO, nothing on Bravo, nothing that really serves that kind of gate-opening role for transpeople that Ellen Degeneres and “Will and Grace” did for gays and lesbians.
As someone who has made her own attempts at trying to span that divide, even after all this time I still wonder how long it will be before the mainstream media begins to get us as well and starts to incorporate us and our perspectives into the mainstream. When you’re still fighting for representation in even the mainstream media which is directly intended and marketed to your own community, hoping for real mainstream inclusion may be just a pipe dream..for now.
Where is transgender culture?
Chances are, you’re not going to find it by turning on your television or even your radio. If you’re not actually travelling somewhere where it happens to surface periodically on a regular basis, you’re probably going to find it online and in print. You can read a hundred writers and get a hundred different takes on what it means to be a transgender person. You can listen to and participate in shows like mine or Ethan’s for social and political talk and debate. You can listen to any of the many great podcasts being created by transpeople. There’s relevant trans community media out there for those who want it and seek it out, but precious little for those who can’t or won’t dig deep enough to find it.
It’s not unreasonable to believe that the reason why everyone seems to think we’re all just another variety of “homo” is because that’s what most of our popular media tells people we are, intentionally or not. We can create our own versions of virtual transgender community centers and rap groups, but it won’t be until our faces, voices, and perspectives become an integral part of popular media that we’ll begin to see that perception begin to change socially and politically in the mainstream in any real way.
Where is transgender culture?
When you really get right down to it, it’s in our hearts, in our minds, in our voices, and in our fingertips. It’s in our collective desire to reach out to each other and be a part of something far greater than ourselves. It’s in the lives we live, the media we create, and the relationships we develop with others like ourselves and those who care about us. It’s in the way we present ourselves, both to the outside world and to each other. It’s in the way we work together, play together, love together, mourn together, and fight together. It’s in how we speak up and say “We are here!”.
It’s not what others have, and maybe it never will be, but, for now, transgender culture is whatever those of us who reach out to touch each other make of it. Until we have the tools to take it to the next step, though, it’ll have to be enough. I just hope we won’t have all that much longer to wait.
Yesterday, I had an experience that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. I was outside for a few minutes, and a kid, probably about eleven or twelve, pedaled by on his bicycle. He kept looking over his shoulder at me, and then quickly rode away. Just as I was going back inside, the kid came back around the block. As I was closing the door behind me, I heard a young voice say excitedly “I saw the homo! I saw the homo!”.
Yeah, fun times. Not that I actually care what a twelve-year-old and his friend think of me, but it is interesting nonetheless. I’ve apparently become something of a neighborhood attraction. I suppose this really shouldn’t surprise me. I go outside in all manner of gendered presentation, full makeup, no makeup, boobs, no boobs. Of course, I don’t actually go anywhere unless I’m properly put together, but I’m not going to bother just to walk to the mailbox or get something from my car. This particular time I was in full makeup, hair done, but I’d changed out of what I was wearing…all of it, including most of my bust…and was wearing sweat pants and a Josie and the Pussycats t-shirt. Oh and of course, my nails are done. In other words, I was looking about as totally genderqueer as I get. It’s a look I’m perfectly comfortable in at home or around certain close friends and family, but it’s not really something I do intentionally, by actually going for that look (anymore).
What’s most interesting to me about this is not that these kids think I’m a sideshow attraction, but that they think it’s because I’m homosexual. I resist the temptation to label this kid a bigot because I doubt he’s old enough to have any real understanding of what a “homo” actually is. Hell, he might turn out to be one himself in just a few short years. And yet, even though the ignorance of a child is surely not a reliable guide in such things, I find myself wondering if that’s part of the problem, that for the most part, despite all the political progress we’ve made recently, we’re still essentially socially and culturally invisible as transpeople in mainstream society.
I’m not talking politics here, not really. What I’m starting to wonder is if transpeople are perceived as joined at the hip with gays and lesbians because we want to be. That begs the question, of course, DO we want to be? Of course, it makes sense politically, but where is the culture that belongs to transpeople alone? Can we even say we really have one?
There are many aspects of gay and lesbian culture, especially those involving sex and romance, where transpeople often find themselves welcome to be present but not participate, or are simply excluded from. Where are the corresponding trans-exclusive spaces? They are out there, but you’ll have to search them out, and of course, that’s assuming you have a trans community in your area which cares enough to create one.
A few years ago, I co-founded a weekly trans group rap at my local Pride Center. We got a few people the first few meetings, and then…nothing. No one. After a few more, we gave up. As far as I know, the one and only trans group that still meets at the Center is the Gender Rights Advocacy Association of New Jersey (GRAANJ), the political advocacy group.
There’s more to life than politics, despite how it probably feels to a lot of us sometimes. It’s wonderful that we share so many cultural spaces with gay and lesbian people. In many ways, it’s an excellent model of how other differences, such as race and ethnicity, can be all but ignored within the greater context of a community, even as many in that community will tend to divide up along gender lines socially. The problem comes in when you try to fit unconventionally-gendered people into gender-specific spaces. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes it works for some but not for others.
Those of us who create media can help in that, but our impact goes only so far. We can give people a place to come together and to speak to each other through the media we create, but there’s always a buffer there, the media we use in which to get our message out. Some media, like talk radio, is personal, community-oriented, and very interactive. Other media, like the Internet or print media, is less or non-interactive but still helps tour community connect to each other. We can speak to and speak with our community on the grand, worldwide scale far more efficiently than we’re able to face-to-face, person-to-person.
Gays and lesbians generally don’t have this problem, or at least, not to the extent we transfolks do. Think fast: How many local gay bars or clubs can you name? Now, how many lesbian bars? And how many tranny bars?
I used to know of two tranny bars in Manhattan, but one got shut down during the Giuliani Administration. The other, Edelweiss, I believe is still around…and that’s it, as far I know, for the entire City of New York. Nothing in Jersey, except for a club I knew of in Atlantic City twenty-five years ago, nothing in Philly. Even the Pride Centers of these cities don’t offer a whole lot for us.
Where is transgender culture?
For transpeople, it seems that home is where the Internet is. The largest physical gatherings of transpeople almost always involve an event to which transpeople often must travel a long distance in order to attend, such as a organizational convention, and many of these events are wrapped up in political advocacy. Aside from those kinds of events, the vast majority of our intra-community socialization takes place online.
It’s not surprising, therefore , that most of our community-relevant media is Internet-based as well. Attempts have been made to bridge the cultural gap between the transgender community and the mainstream, but none have proven truly successful yet. We have no LOGO, nothing on Bravo, nothing that really serves that kind of gate-opening role for transpeople that Ellen Degeneres and “Will and Grace” did for gays and lesbians.
As someone who has made her own attempts at trying to span that divide, even after all this time I still wonder how long it will be before the mainstream media begins to get us as well and starts to incorporate us and our perspectives into the mainstream. When you’re still fighting for representation in even the mainstream media which is directly intended and marketed to your own community, hoping for real mainstream inclusion may be just a pipe dream..for now.
Where is transgender culture?
Chances are, you’re not going to find it by turning on your television or even your radio. If you’re not actually travelling somewhere where it happens to surface periodically on a regular basis, you’re probably going to find it online and in print. You can read a hundred writers and get a hundred different takes on what it means to be a transgender person. You can listen to and participate in shows like mine or Ethan’s for social and political talk and debate. You can listen to any of the many great podcasts being created by transpeople. There’s relevant trans community media out there for those who want it and seek it out, but precious little for those who can’t or won’t dig deep enough to find it.
It’s not unreasonable to believe that the reason why everyone seems to think we’re all just another variety of “homo” is because that’s what most of our popular media tells people we are, intentionally or not. We can create our own versions of virtual transgender community centers and rap groups, but it won’t be until our faces, voices, and perspectives become an integral part of popular media that we’ll begin to see that perception begin to change socially and politically in the mainstream in any real way.
Where is transgender culture?
When you really get right down to it, it’s in our hearts, in our minds, in our voices, and in our fingertips. It’s in our collective desire to reach out to each other and be a part of something far greater than ourselves. It’s in the lives we live, the media we create, and the relationships we develop with others like ourselves and those who care about us. It’s in the way we present ourselves, both to the outside world and to each other. It’s in the way we work together, play together, love together, mourn together, and fight together. It’s in how we speak up and say “We are here!”.
It’s not what others have, and maybe it never will be, but, for now, transgender culture is whatever those of us who reach out to touch each other make of it. Until we have the tools to take it to the next step, though, it’ll have to be enough. I just hope we won’t have all that much longer to wait.
Brown University: Deserving a debate
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Editorial
Excited rhetoric on both sides may obscure the issue, but the debate over gender-neutral facilities at Brown has a fairly straightforward problem at its core: Transgender students, who are among those in our community most vulnerable to abuse and discrimination, are not well-served by gender-segregated housing and other facilities. Greater flexibility for first-year housing and gender-neutral housing for upperclassmen deserve serious campus debate and consideration.
Taking the issue of gender-neutral housing and bathrooms seriously is difficult because, quite simply, we do not live in a gender-neutral society. Our language isn't equipped to deal with people who do not fit into the so-called "gender binary." Our society recognizes important and real differences between men and women. Allowing male and female students to live together is not the purpose of these changes. But the implications of that - and the potential that male and female students would be uncomfortable sharing a bathroom - are legitimate concerns.
Yet ultimately, as Interim Vice President for Campus Life and Student Services Russell Carey '91 MA'06 points out, the purpose of gender-neutral facilities is "to provide choice and options so all students feel comfortable and safe in their living environment." The Human Rights Campaign notes that one expert estimates that transgender individuals in the United States have a one-in-12 chance of being murdered, compared with a one-in-18,000 chance for the general population. Brown is and should be a space of tolerance and respect. But between 2003 and 2005, there were 52 hate crimes on campus ranging from assault (reportable) to vandalism (non-reportable), according to Department of Public Safety data. We shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that discrimination is a problem for other people.
UK: ‘It took 46 years to stop me living a lie’
Sep 24 2007 | |
by Peter Collins, South Wales Echo | |
FOR most of his life, 46-year-old Andrew Cross has been tortured by the feeling that inside his man’s body and mind a woman has been aching to get out.
Suppressing the almost overwhelming feelings he had of being a woman led the former chef in the Royal Naval Reserve to sink into the depths of depression.
From his early 40s he suffered Bipolar Affective Disorder, often known as manic depression, which saw his moods swing like a pendulum from abject despair to sublime elation.
Various treatments and medication for the disorder helped for short periods, but the underlying cause – his need to be a woman – remained.
That was until December 12 last year when Andrew John Cross, of Barry, decided to become Anne-Marie Cross, of Barry.
The life-changing decision was celebrated at the Golden Cross pub, in Cardiff, and also at the city’s Barfly nightspot.
In her first press interview on her life-changing experience, Anne-Marie told the Echo how, despite losing friends and family because of her decision, she was optimistic about the future and was preparing to launch a book about her life. The book will tell how Cardiff-born Andrew was engaged to be married on two occasions, first when he was 28 and again when he was 32.
Both relationships failed because of his need to be a woman.
He had “15 great years” travelling around the world with the Royal Naval Reserve, ending when he was 40 years old, when he suffered his first major attack of manic depression.
“The depression was always there,” said Anne-Marie. “But it surfaced when my father died and because I was suppressing my need to be a woman.” . . .
Sunday, September 23, 2007
David Tennant's British TV Debut as a Transsexual Barmaid
Here's David Tennant (The current "Doctor Who") in his first ever role on television, playing a pre-op transsexual bar maid called "Davina."
Trans Youth Advocates for His Peers
By Jacob Anderson-MinshallPublished: September 20, 2007
Shawn-Dedric Pearson
With a growing number of trans children vocalizing their gender identities, there’s a growing need for outreach to and services for trans youth and their families. Fortunately, efforts are afoot to do just that. GenderPAC hosted a youth summit this summer; earlier this month, Seattle’s Gender Odyssey premiered the first family-centered conference for people raising gender variant and trans youth; and Oct. 19-21, the Midwest Trans Youth Conference will descend on Ferndale, Michigan.
Increasingly, it’s the parents themselves who are making changes, as is the case with a new national education and activist organization, Trans Youth Family Advocates (TYFA), founded last year by several mothers to provide support for all transgender and gender variant youth.
One of those mothers is Kim Pearson, the group’s executive director, whose 15-year-old trans son Shawn-Dedric Pearson, also works with TYFA (imatyfa.org), as a youth advocate. Together the Pearsons have appeared on CNN and traveled the country speaking on behalf of transgender and gender variant youth.
“I answer questions about my personal experience and give information about how to be respectful of transgender [or] gender variant youth,” the teen says. “Usually people understand the topic better when I… describe my first-hand experiences with being trans. They seem to like meeting a transgender youth… it gives them something tangible.”
Pearson says he’s driven to do this advocacy because, “I know how supportive my family is, and I’m thankful for it everyday. I want all trans kids to be able to have a more positive experience… and the only way that’s ever going to change is if more transgender youth start speaking up and being public.”
TYFA believes that children have a right to be heard, especially when they address “something as core to their sense of self as gender identity.” The organization offers advice to parents and caregivers that includes, “respect your child’s feelings about their gender identity above all else.”
“The best advice I can give parents,” Pearson adds, “is to just let [their kids] be themselves, at their own pace and in their own comfort level. Don’t put your own expectations or dreams on their shoulders because it makes things all the more difficult. Specifically for parents of transgender or gender variant kids, I’d say let them set the pace and listen to what they are telling you.”
Recognizing that many adults, even within the LGBT community (especially those who experienced their own gender variance as youth), have serious concerns about children transitioning, Pearson explains that before puberty a trans child would only undergo a “social transition, which is completely reversible if the child later on decides to take a different path.”
Furthermore, he contends, “There’s a large difference between a trans child and a child that’s a little more feminine or masculine than society normally accepts. Chances are, the trans kid would feel things much more strongly and express their difference more prominently for a much longer time. What counts as a phase exactly? Trans kids tend to continue to speak out or act ‘differently’ for long periods of time unless someone pressures them to hide themselves. If the kid continually presses the issue for many years, then someone needs to consider the possibility that they are trans. It hasn’t gone away.”
Pearson identifies as a pansexual transman. “Gender, sex, body image, genitalia, whatever, don’t matter to me. It’s all about what’s in a person’s head and heart.” He says he feels like “just an average teenager,” and he plans to graduate from high school and college before going on to be a police officer, “and hopefully, I’ll eventually be a detective.”
“I also plan to continue to always be active in the LGBTQ community and keep doing this work. The path to acceptance can only be set when we stand up for ourselves and create a better environment through our own hard work.”
While the Pearsons hail from Arizona, there are also TYFA advocates in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Indiana and Michigan.
Trans writer, Jacob Anderson-Minshall, co-authored Blind Leap, the second book in the Blind Eye Mystery series, available in October. Contact jake@trans-nation.org or visit Anderson-minshall.com for more information.
Berners-Lee challenges 'stupid' male geek culture
Tom Espiner ZDNet.co.uk
Published: 21 Sep 2007 15:47 BST
The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has called for an end to the "stupid" male geek culture that disregards the work of capable female engineers, and puts others off entering the profession.
Berners-Lee said that a culture that avoided alienating women would attract more female programmers, which could lead to greater harmony of systems design. "If there were more women involved we could move towards interoperability. We have to change at every level," he said.
According to Berners-Lee, a culture exists where women can be put off a career in technology both by "stupid" behaviour by some male "geeks", and by the reactions of other women.
"It's a complex problem — we find bias against women by women. There are bits of male geek culture and engineer culture that are stupid. They should realise that they could be alienating people who are smarter and better engineers," said Berners-Lee. . . .
Published: 21 Sep 2007 15:47 BST
The inventor of the world wide web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, has called for an end to the "stupid" male geek culture that disregards the work of capable female engineers, and puts others off entering the profession.
Berners-Lee said that a culture that avoided alienating women would attract more female programmers, which could lead to greater harmony of systems design. "If there were more women involved we could move towards interoperability. We have to change at every level," he said.
According to Berners-Lee, a culture exists where women can be put off a career in technology both by "stupid" behaviour by some male "geeks", and by the reactions of other women.
"It's a complex problem — we find bias against women by women. There are bits of male geek culture and engineer culture that are stupid. They should realise that they could be alienating people who are smarter and better engineers," said Berners-Lee. . . .
POV, Critique, Opinion: GIULIANI IS EVERYONE'S WORST NIGHTMARE
By Pastor Chuck Baldwin
September 21, 2007
NewsWithViews.com
Former New York City Mayor and Republican Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani said this week that he was "liberals' worst nightmare." However, the truth is, Rudy Giuliani is everyone's worst nightmare.
That Rudy Giuliani is currently trying to cast himself as a conservative is beyond laughable--it is hilarious. This is a man who is unabashedly pro-abortion. He has been seen walking down Fifth Avenue with thousands of homosexuals demanding "gay rights." He himself is a cross-dresser. He has had numerous marriages and only God knows how many sexual affairs. He has been one of the country's most radical proponents of gun control. He made New York a sanctuary city for illegal aliens and is a strong proponent of amnesty for illegal aliens. As a prosecutor, his abuse of power and disregard for law are legendary. [Read]
In addition, Rudy Giuliani is a senior partner in the law firm that "represents CITGO, the oil company controlled by Venezuela's anti-American and terrorist-supporting ruler Hugo Chavez." Giuliani's law firm also acts "as the exclusive legal counsel for Cintra, the Spanish firm that has been granted the right to operate a toll road in the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project."
(Please read Cliff Kincaid's entire column for more on Giuliani's shady and untoward activities)
Yes, my friends, the umbilical cord connecting the SPP, NAFTA Superhighway and burgeoning North American Union is also connected to Rudy Giuliani.
Yet, Rudy Giuliani wants people to believe that he is "liberals' worst nightmare"? Who is he kidding? Giuliani is a liberal. Actually, Rudy Giuliani is worse than a liberal. He is a liberal that likes to hurt people. I tell you the truth, Rudy Giuliani scares me far more than Hillary Clinton does. Far more. I'll say it right here: if the 2008 Presidential election comes down to Hillary vs. Giuliani, Hillary is the "lesser of two evils." That's how bad Giuliani is. . . .
September 21, 2007
NewsWithViews.com
Former New York City Mayor and Republican Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani said this week that he was "liberals' worst nightmare." However, the truth is, Rudy Giuliani is everyone's worst nightmare.
That Rudy Giuliani is currently trying to cast himself as a conservative is beyond laughable--it is hilarious. This is a man who is unabashedly pro-abortion. He has been seen walking down Fifth Avenue with thousands of homosexuals demanding "gay rights." He himself is a cross-dresser. He has had numerous marriages and only God knows how many sexual affairs. He has been one of the country's most radical proponents of gun control. He made New York a sanctuary city for illegal aliens and is a strong proponent of amnesty for illegal aliens. As a prosecutor, his abuse of power and disregard for law are legendary. [Read]
In addition, Rudy Giuliani is a senior partner in the law firm that "represents CITGO, the oil company controlled by Venezuela's anti-American and terrorist-supporting ruler Hugo Chavez." Giuliani's law firm also acts "as the exclusive legal counsel for Cintra, the Spanish firm that has been granted the right to operate a toll road in the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) project."
(Please read Cliff Kincaid's entire column for more on Giuliani's shady and untoward activities)
Yes, my friends, the umbilical cord connecting the SPP, NAFTA Superhighway and burgeoning North American Union is also connected to Rudy Giuliani.
Yet, Rudy Giuliani wants people to believe that he is "liberals' worst nightmare"? Who is he kidding? Giuliani is a liberal. Actually, Rudy Giuliani is worse than a liberal. He is a liberal that likes to hurt people. I tell you the truth, Rudy Giuliani scares me far more than Hillary Clinton does. Far more. I'll say it right here: if the 2008 Presidential election comes down to Hillary vs. Giuliani, Hillary is the "lesser of two evils." That's how bad Giuliani is. . . .
Euro court rules for Lithuanian transsexuals
The European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling Sept. 11 strengthening the rights of transsexuals in Lithuania.
Such individuals already had the right to officially change their gender but the nation has failed to pass enabling legislation necessary for them to gain access to full sex-reassignment surgery through the country's health care system.
In a 6-1 ruling in a case brought by a female-to-male transsexual, "Mr. L.," the court said the lack of access to full surgery violates the European Convention on Human Rights' guarantee of respect for one's private and family life.
"This is a very positive judgment [that] highlights a problem with some European countries which formally permit gender reassignment and amendment of identity documents but lack legal clarity and consistency, and available medical facilities," said the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.
The court gave Lithuania three months to fix the problems or face a 40,000 euro (US$55,612) payout to Mr. L., who was granted 5,000 euros in damages immediately.
Mr. L. was prescribed hormone therapy in 1998 but denied further therapy in 1999 because it was not clear he would have access to a sex-change operation. He continued the therapy on his own and, in 2000, had his female breasts removed.
In 2003, a new law granted transsexuals the right to gender-reassignment surgery when medically possible, but additional measures that were necessary to implement the law were never adopted, and medical facilities to carry out a full female-to-male sex-change operation apparently do not exist in Lithuania.
In court, the government suggested that individuals such as Mr. L. might be eligible to undergo surgery abroad at state expense.
But, for now, the court said, Mr. L. faces unacceptable and distressing uncertainty regarding his private life and recognition of his true identity.
Such individuals already had the right to officially change their gender but the nation has failed to pass enabling legislation necessary for them to gain access to full sex-reassignment surgery through the country's health care system.
In a 6-1 ruling in a case brought by a female-to-male transsexual, "Mr. L.," the court said the lack of access to full surgery violates the European Convention on Human Rights' guarantee of respect for one's private and family life.
"This is a very positive judgment [that] highlights a problem with some European countries which formally permit gender reassignment and amendment of identity documents but lack legal clarity and consistency, and available medical facilities," said the European branch of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.
The court gave Lithuania three months to fix the problems or face a 40,000 euro (US$55,612) payout to Mr. L., who was granted 5,000 euros in damages immediately.
Mr. L. was prescribed hormone therapy in 1998 but denied further therapy in 1999 because it was not clear he would have access to a sex-change operation. He continued the therapy on his own and, in 2000, had his female breasts removed.
In 2003, a new law granted transsexuals the right to gender-reassignment surgery when medically possible, but additional measures that were necessary to implement the law were never adopted, and medical facilities to carry out a full female-to-male sex-change operation apparently do not exist in Lithuania.
In court, the government suggested that individuals such as Mr. L. might be eligible to undergo surgery abroad at state expense.
But, for now, the court said, Mr. L. faces unacceptable and distressing uncertainty regarding his private life and recognition of his true identity.
Baldwin's Not Hiding This Candy
William Baldwin, Candis Cayne
Could Candis Cayne become the first transsexual Emmy winner?
Come Sept. 26, she’ll definitely have a shot at it. Cayne pops up in the new ABC prime-time drama Dirty Sexy Money playing Carmelita, the secret transsexual lover of a U.S. senator, played by William Baldwin.
“It’s kind of funny that I was here [in Los Angeles] last weekend for the Emmys, because I remember last year sitting and watching the Emmy Awards and I was almost a little depressed,” Cayne told me during a break from shooting the series yesterday. “Like, Wow, I’ve always wanted that since I was little, and I’ve always want to experience that. And so, maybe now that could happen one day.”
The series centers around the Darlings, a superwealthy New York family. In addition to Baldwin, it stars Peter Krause, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh and Samaire Armstrong.
Patricia Field, the iconic wardrobe stylist from Sex and the City, was working on Dirty’s pilot when she suggested producers consider Cayne for the part. After an audition and just one callback, Cayne was on board.
“I got to the first table reading, and it’s, like, Donald Sutherland, Jill Clayburgh, Peter Krause and Billy Baldwin sitting there,” Cayne says. “I walk in, and they all look up, and Craig [Wright, the show’s creator] is like, ‘Sit down, Candis!’ And I was like, ‘Oh, my holy God!’”
Cayne, who was born Brendan McDaniel, grew up in Hawaii. Even before she decided to transition from a man to a woman about 10 years ago, she was a local celeb in New York’s gay community for her drag act. (Back when I lived in NYC, I’d often catch her Saturday-night show at a restaurant on lower Sixth Avenue. Dressed in a Wonder Woman-inspired outfit, she would stop traffic—literally—by dancing into the middle of the busy street. At least once, Cayne even jumped into a cab and took off, leaving the audience wondering if she’d return. She did a few minutes later, stepping out of the cab—and without missing a beat—dancing right back into the restaurant.)
She says Baldwin couldn’t be nicer. “He is so amazing,” she says. “So sweet and generous and open to this whole new world. He’s just really giving and made me feel really comfortable.”
Well, they better be comfortable with each other, because Cayne and Baldwin do have some steamy moments together. “There are a lot of love scenes,” Cayne says with a laugh.
So, how does Baldwin rate as a kisser? “Well, it’s an acting kiss,” she says with another laugh. “For acting kisses, he’s great.”
How long will she be on the series? “I have no idea,” Cayne says. “I’m not on contract. I’m doing weekly. So, basically, I just wait and read the script and hope for the best and hope that there are no J.R. Ewing moments in there.” . . .
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Transgendered Woman Says She Was Asked to Leave Church Positions
Updated at: 09/20/2007 10:50:40 PM
By: Kim Johnson
kjohnson@wdio.com
This spring, Eyewitness News told you about a Duluthian who was born a man and the struggle with becoming a transgendered a woman. Since our story aired, Marla Evans received support form some people while she says she was let go from two roles at her church, St. Mary's Star of the Sea in Duluth.
"I was really stunned, stunned speechless," said Marla.
She says she was told she could no longer volunteer there as a Sunday school teacher. She also played guitar in the church band--a paid position, but she says she was let go from that as well.
Marla says that when the original story aired, people at church were surprised to learn about her transgenderism. Whenever she attended services she always dressed as a man, Mark.
"I would never present at church on Sunday," she said.
Marla says a couple weeks after the story aired, she was called into Deacon Roger Birkland's office.
"To make a long story short I was told that I would not be asked back as a school teacher," said Marla. "I was told I was no longer needed as a musician because of the interview."
She says the Deacon said he had spoken to Bishop Dennis Schnurr and that the Bishop approved the action.
"What I was told was the perception in our society of this type of behavior is unacceptable in the church, that was almost verbatim," said Marla. "I was like whoa! But I didn't want to let on that that hurt as much as it did."
Deacon Birkland declined an interview for this story. Over the phone, he said "Personell matters are personal." He said there was more to the situation than Marla's transgenderism. When asked to elaborate he declined. Marla says she was given no other reason. Eyewitness News also tried contacting Bishop Schnurr to comment on this story. He did not return our phone calls.
Even in Marla was fired because of her transgenderism like she says, legally nothing can be done about it. Although the Minnesota Human RIghts Act prohibits discrimination against the transgendered community, churches are in some cases exempt from that law.
Marla sought legal advice from a Minnesota organization focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. A lawyer there with Outfront Minnesota says there are no legal options.
"For the same reason you could never sue the catholic church on behalf of a woman who is denied a job as a priest. It just wouldn't happen," said Phil Duran, an attorney with Outfront Minnesota. "Is it sex discrimination? You bet. Is there any law that would ever touch that? No."
Marla says she had no choice but to move on, but it won't be with the church.
"I'm kind of on a hiatus from organized religion right now," she said. . . .
By: Kim Johnson
kjohnson@wdio.com
This spring, Eyewitness News told you about a Duluthian who was born a man and the struggle with becoming a transgendered a woman. Since our story aired, Marla Evans received support form some people while she says she was let go from two roles at her church, St. Mary's Star of the Sea in Duluth.
"I was really stunned, stunned speechless," said Marla.
She says she was told she could no longer volunteer there as a Sunday school teacher. She also played guitar in the church band--a paid position, but she says she was let go from that as well.
Marla says that when the original story aired, people at church were surprised to learn about her transgenderism. Whenever she attended services she always dressed as a man, Mark.
"I would never present at church on Sunday," she said.
Marla says a couple weeks after the story aired, she was called into Deacon Roger Birkland's office.
"To make a long story short I was told that I would not be asked back as a school teacher," said Marla. "I was told I was no longer needed as a musician because of the interview."
She says the Deacon said he had spoken to Bishop Dennis Schnurr and that the Bishop approved the action.
"What I was told was the perception in our society of this type of behavior is unacceptable in the church, that was almost verbatim," said Marla. "I was like whoa! But I didn't want to let on that that hurt as much as it did."
Deacon Birkland declined an interview for this story. Over the phone, he said "Personell matters are personal." He said there was more to the situation than Marla's transgenderism. When asked to elaborate he declined. Marla says she was given no other reason. Eyewitness News also tried contacting Bishop Schnurr to comment on this story. He did not return our phone calls.
Even in Marla was fired because of her transgenderism like she says, legally nothing can be done about it. Although the Minnesota Human RIghts Act prohibits discrimination against the transgendered community, churches are in some cases exempt from that law.
Marla sought legal advice from a Minnesota organization focusing on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. A lawyer there with Outfront Minnesota says there are no legal options.
"For the same reason you could never sue the catholic church on behalf of a woman who is denied a job as a priest. It just wouldn't happen," said Phil Duran, an attorney with Outfront Minnesota. "Is it sex discrimination? You bet. Is there any law that would ever touch that? No."
Marla says she had no choice but to move on, but it won't be with the church.
"I'm kind of on a hiatus from organized religion right now," she said. . . .
Most patients who have male to female sex-change surgery are happy, despite complications
20.09.2007
The majority of patients who undergo male to female sex-change surgery are happy with the results, despite the fact that complications are common, according to a study of over 200 patients in the September issue of the urology journal BJU International.
A research team from the Departments of Urology and Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, UK, explored the initial experiences of 222 patients who had undergone surgery and 70 who took part in detailed follow-ups.
They found that 88 per cent of patients were happy with their surgery at their first post-operative clinic visit, seven per cent were unhappy and five per cent made no comment.
All the patients studied had had their penis surgically removed, their urethra repositioned and female labia constructed. 93 per cent had a clitoris constructed using a section of the glans of their penis and 91 per cent had a skin-lined vagina.
“The outcome of this complex surgery depends on a number of factors” says lead author, urology registrar Jonathan C Goddard.
“These include the technical experience of the surgeon, the amount and quality of tissue that each patient has available for reconstruction and, most importantly, the realistic expectations of the patients themselves.
“One of the biggest problems with research of this nature is that many patients are difficult to contact. Having gone through a two-year real-life test before extensive surgery, which can include breast as well as genital construction, many want to start a new life and compartmentalise their past. This can include moving to a new area.”
Despite this, the research team managed to contact 70 of the patients who had undergone surgery at the hospital between 1994 and 2004.
They ranged from 19 to 76 years of age, with an average age of 43. Most had had surgery about three years before. 91 per cent had had a clitoris created and 89 per cent had had a vagina created.
The researchers found that:
• 23 per cent of the patients had, or were having, regular intercourse and 61 per cent were happy with the depth of their vagina.
• 98 per cent had a sensitive clitoris and 48 per cent were able to achieve orgasm. 14 per cent were hypersensitive but none had elected to have their clitoris removed.
• 29 per cent were troubled by vaginal hair growth, six per cent had had a vaginal prolapse and three per cent had vaginal necrosis (tissue death).
• 27 per cent reported urinary problems and the majority of these needed revision surgery.
“Despite these problems, which were mainly minor and easily corrected by secondary surgery, 76 per cent of the patients who provided detailed feedback were happy with the cosmetic result of their surgery and 80 per cent said the surgery had met their expectations” concludes Jonathan C Goddard.
The majority of patients who undergo male to female sex-change surgery are happy with the results, despite the fact that complications are common, according to a study of over 200 patients in the September issue of the urology journal BJU International.
A research team from the Departments of Urology and Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, UK, explored the initial experiences of 222 patients who had undergone surgery and 70 who took part in detailed follow-ups.
They found that 88 per cent of patients were happy with their surgery at their first post-operative clinic visit, seven per cent were unhappy and five per cent made no comment.
All the patients studied had had their penis surgically removed, their urethra repositioned and female labia constructed. 93 per cent had a clitoris constructed using a section of the glans of their penis and 91 per cent had a skin-lined vagina.
“The outcome of this complex surgery depends on a number of factors” says lead author, urology registrar Jonathan C Goddard.
“These include the technical experience of the surgeon, the amount and quality of tissue that each patient has available for reconstruction and, most importantly, the realistic expectations of the patients themselves.
“One of the biggest problems with research of this nature is that many patients are difficult to contact. Having gone through a two-year real-life test before extensive surgery, which can include breast as well as genital construction, many want to start a new life and compartmentalise their past. This can include moving to a new area.”
Despite this, the research team managed to contact 70 of the patients who had undergone surgery at the hospital between 1994 and 2004.
They ranged from 19 to 76 years of age, with an average age of 43. Most had had surgery about three years before. 91 per cent had had a clitoris created and 89 per cent had had a vagina created.
The researchers found that:
• 23 per cent of the patients had, or were having, regular intercourse and 61 per cent were happy with the depth of their vagina.
• 98 per cent had a sensitive clitoris and 48 per cent were able to achieve orgasm. 14 per cent were hypersensitive but none had elected to have their clitoris removed.
• 29 per cent were troubled by vaginal hair growth, six per cent had had a vaginal prolapse and three per cent had vaginal necrosis (tissue death).
• 27 per cent reported urinary problems and the majority of these needed revision surgery.
“Despite these problems, which were mainly minor and easily corrected by secondary surgery, 76 per cent of the patients who provided detailed feedback were happy with the cosmetic result of their surgery and 80 per cent said the surgery had met their expectations” concludes Jonathan C Goddard.
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