The courage to make a life-altering change

By Paul Brooks

Times Herald-Record
December 02, 2007

Ellenville — "Always expect the unexpected" read the saying beside Steve Stanton's photo in the Ellenville High School yearbook, Class of 1977.

The Wawarsing native wanted fortune — a million dollars' worth, by the time he was 29. He got fame instead, at 49 — though not for making money.

Steve Stanton pulled down $140,000 managing the government of Largo, Fla. He rappeled with firefighters and broke his nose with the SWAT team, the papers said. He was reputedly a tough, aggressive manager and got good job reviews.

Then, in February, the married man with a teenage son told his City Council he intended to have a sex change. He would become a she, a "transgender" person.

Local pastors called down the wrath of God. The council fired him, though in press reports, members said it was because of Stanton's management, not his lifestyle.

Steve Stanton disappeared; Susan Ashley Stanton took his place, and she became big news. She went on CNN and "The Daily Show" and "Larry King Live." She made speeches and lobbied Congress in support of transgender legislation.

She had her hair styled, bought tailored women's suits, learned to put on makeup and coordinate accessories. She took hormones and started growing breasts. She had her body hair removed while a CNN crew recorded the event.

"I was surprised," said Roger Buchwalter, who manages the Stewart's Shop in the village and was in the Class of 1977 with Stanton.

"He was a nice guy, a quiet guy. He never displayed anything (in high school) that would make me think he would go through the transformation," Buchwalter said.

The story made the rounds at the class's 30th reunion in June, he said. "Everybody was very supportive. ... People were disappointed he had lost his job because of that."

Joe Stoeckeler graduated from Ellenville High in 1977, as well. He became a town supervisor, county legislator and executive of Veritas Villa, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility outside the village.

"He was a nice person, but it seemed like things were a little awkward for him," Stoeckeler said.

Stanton said she has fond memories of growing up in Ellenville and Wawarsing. She was more blunt about high school.

"I was a throw-away kid," she said in a recent telephone conversation. "I was always the kid they were trying to put in the special ed track, and I was always fighting to get out."

Q & A with Susan Stanton

Susan Ashley Stanton's voice is a little on the deep side, though it fits easily with pictures of her with an airy, shortish haircut and demure makeup. She is in the middle of her transformation from Steve Stanton, the man she felt she could no longer be, to a new body and identity. She started in February.

The first cell-phone conversation caught her in the middle of shopping for jewelry; a second interrupted her as she was heading out the door of her Sarasota, Fla., home for a run. She is 49.

Q: Did you like growing up in Ellenville?

A: I have only happy memories. It was a great place to live.

Q: What is the sex-change process like?

A: CNN is doing a yearlong documentary with me. They have intimate access to everything I am doing. The other day they filmed my first mammogram (and) the removal of (some) body hair "¦ The (genital) reassignment surgery is in May. They will be there.

Q: You have been very public about all this. Why?

A: I hope when all this is done, people will understand that this is not a lifestyle choice. This is not a matter of dressing up as a girl and parading around the neighborhood. You have to be determined to do it. It is extremely painful.

Q: As Steve, you had a wife and son. Are you divorcing?

A: Not yet. We are going to be doing that. We will still be partners in life. We have a child we love and he knows we will always be a family. My wife wants a real man and, in some ways, I do, too.

Q: What about your father? (His mother died some years back. His sister in Accord declined comment. His brother could not be reached, but has stopped talking to the media about her, Stanton said.)

A: "When the press descended on (Largo) City Hall, he and I talked about it. We haven't talked about it since."

Q: Any regrets from all this?

A: The problem is not doing it earlier "¦ before you get married and get settled into a career because you create a lot of victims. A lot of friends were devastated and wanted nothing to do with me. I regret losing so many friends instantaneously over something like this."

Q: How has your perception changed?

A: Some guy came up to me for the first time and asked me to dance. I freaked out.

Gay vs. Trans in America

Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. In the aftermath of ENDA, can’t we all just get along? An Advocate round table on the state of the community now.

By Tim Murphy

Excerpted from The Advocate December 18, 2007

The LGBT “community” has never seemed less communal than in the last few months. When Barney Frank decided in September to move forward with a federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act that covered sexual orientation and not gender identity, it was as if an earthquake had gone off in the queer world, laying bare the differences between us. Within days, 300-plus LGBT organizations around the country had united in opposition to that version of ENDA, saying it wasn’t fair for some members of the community to gain rights when others would not, while Frank, the Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives, and political insiders savvy to the legislative process argued that passing an imperfect measure was better than no measure at all. Caught in between was the Human Rights Campaign, which initially declined to support or oppose ENDA in an effort both to preserve its valuable Capitol Hill relationships and placate its allies in the movement.

But as the debate churned on until the bill finally made it to the House floor for a vote, what was missing amid all the news reports, press conferences, e-mails, and assorted, frequently heated commentary was what the average LGBT person on the street thought. If there were enough votes for a sexual orientation–only bill but not for one that included gender identity, should we go ahead with the former? Or should we wait for enough political support to develop for the latter, even if that took months -- or years? Do we all belong together anyway, or has the acronym LGBT outlived its usefulness, both in name and in practice? How do we all feel -- really feel -- about each other?

The Advocate decided to find out. On Wednesday, November 7, 10 very different New Yorkers -- three transgender women, two transgender men, three gay men, a gender-ambiguous lesbian, and her bisexual girlfriend -- joined moderator Tim Murphy at the West Village restaurant Barbuto for a mini town-hall meeting about this thing we call community. Coincidentally, it was the same night that ENDA passed the House in a tight 235–184 vote. The following are excerpts from the two-hour-long conversation, by turns funny, serious, combative, and poignant, along with portraits of the participants. Consider it the start of a longer discussion among you and yours and -- yes -- the community at large. . . .

"Fox News"

Why do many LGBT individuals find "Fox News" to be mostly a bad joke at best?

See the video titled, "Why is Georgia. . .?" here.

Emily Skinner and Max von Essen Join Jerry Springer Concerts

by Broadway.com Staff

Emily Skinner

Emily Skinner and Max von Essen will join the previously announced Harvey Keitel in the forthcoming concerts of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall. Directed by Jason Moore, the concerts will be held on January 29 and 30, 2008.

Von Essen, who is currently playing Enjolras in the Broadway revival of Les Misérables, will play Tremont, a transsexual involved in a love quadrangle. Skinner, a Tony nominee for Side Show, has been cast as Andrea, whose diaper-loving husband is having an affair with Baby Jane. Also joining the cast are Linda Balgord (The Pirate Queen) as Zandra, Irene and Mary; Lawrence Clayton (Bells Are Ringing) as Montel and Jesus; Luke Grooms as Dwight and God; Sean Jenness as Chucky; Sam Kitchin (Frozen) as Steve; Patricia Phillips (The Phantom of the Opera); as Peaches; and Laura Shoop (Bernarda Alba, Fiddler on the Roof) as Baby Jane. Full casting will be announced shortly.

. . .Inspired by the talk show host who brought worldwide television audiences episodes including "Pregnant by a Transsexual," "Here Come the Hookers" and "I Refuse to Wear Clothes," Jerry Springer: The Opera features music by Richard Thomas and book and lyrics by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas. The London production, which opened at the National Theatre on April 29, 2003, and later transferred to the Cambridge Theatre in the West End, won an unprecedented four Best Musical prizes (Olivier Award, Critic's Circle Award, Evening Standard Award and What's On Stage Award).

The Carnegie Hall concerts are being produced by David J. Foster, Jared Geller and Avalon Promotions. Musical direction is by Stephen Oremus.

Big Brother contestant appeals after libel action thrown out

4 December 2007

By PA Mediapoint

Former Big Brother housemate Lisa Jeynes has been given permission to appeal against a judge's decision to dismiss her claim that she was defamed by a newspaper which she says portrayed her as a man pretending to be a woman.

Jeynes, 38, who featured in the 2003 series of Big Brother, wants to sue over publications which appeared on the cover of Love it! magazine and in the News of the World in May last year.

Her complaint focuses on the words: "BB's Lisa 'the geezer'. My fake boobs fell out on date with James Hewitt!"

She claims that the innuendo - against a background of rumours in 2003 that there was to be a transsexual contestant in Big Brother - was that she was really a man posing as a woman, a transgender or transsexual.

The defendants, News Magazines Ltd and News Group Newspapers, which deny libel, had argued that the words complained of taken in their proper context could not bear Jeynes's "far-fetched" meaning

Mr Justice Eady dismissed her claim at a hearing in the High Court on 25 April this year, saying that no reasonable reader could conclude that the words complained of bore the meaning alleged and adding: "That would be to read far too much into those words."

He refused Jeynes permission to appeal on the basis that her case had no prospect of success.

But at a hearing on 14 November Lord Justice Sedley allowed Jeynes' application for permission to appeal.

He said Lord Justice Pill had refused permission to appeal after considering the papers, because he agreed with Mr Justice Eady's reasoning and conclusion that there was no prospect of a successful appeal.

But, said Lord Justice Sedley, he did not share that view, which he thought was largely a matter of impression.

The application to strike the action out, he said, was made not on the basis that there could be nothing defamatory in suggesting that a woman was actually a transsexual or a man, but on the footing that the words could not reasonably be read as making any such imputation.

Adrian Davies, for Ms Jeynes, argued that was not just the use of the word "geezer" that carried the sting, but the use of it in association with the words "fake boobs". . . .