Thursday, July 19, 2007
Women's troubles
. . . .Back in Shakespeare's time, men and boys played all the roles, including the female parts. These days, men mostly dress up as women for comic effect. In Hairspray, the audience are in on the joke that an actor is playing Edna but the fact that it's a man isn't alluded to at all.
Unsurprisingly, Travolta took time to accept his sex change. "It was hard for me to grasp the concept of being a leading man for 30 years, and now I'm being sought out to play a fat woman from Baltimore," he explains.
Sometimes, as the country song goes, it's hard to be a woman. Just ask Travolta, who spent four to five hours in the make-up chair at the start of his working days. He was encased from forehead-to-toe in a full 30lb body fat suit and given separate gel-filled silicone prosthetic applicances (chin and lower lip, upper lip, two cheek pieces and one wrap-around neck and cleavage piece).
People were taken in by his transformation. One audience member asked after an early screening, "who was the lovely woman who played Edna?". The producers, too, report that cinemagoers didn't know it was Travolta until they saw his name in the credits at the end.
Even the actor didn't recognise himself on viewing the screen test. "I didn't see me in it, and I tested it on other people. I said 'take a look at that. There's this broad we're looking at to see if she's going to be good for the movie'," he recalls.
"I let them watch for five minutes, and I said 'what do you think of her?'.
They said, 'she's fun, she's bubbly, she's kind of cute'. And I said, 'good, that's me'.". . .
The lesbian couple who both had babies by a gay drag queen
Last updated at 11:04am on 18th July 2007
With their baby son and daughter in their arms, Stephanie Burns and Joanne Bartle are the picture of proud motherhood.
Comments (33)
And it's all thanks to a gay drag queen.
Miss Burns, 23, a trainee truck driver, was desperate to have a child with her lesbian partner. They had been looking for a sperm donor when they started chatting to 21-year- old transvestite singer Ryan Egeley in a nightclub.
He revealed that he, too, wanted children and agreed to be a donor.
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Happy families: Stephanie, Ryan and Joanne, with children Martha Rae and Elijah Jo
A nurse gave Miss Burns a handful of sterilised medical syringes and she carried out a DIY insemination at their home in Bawtry, Doncaster. She became pregnant at the first attempt.
Then, while decorating the nursery, 40-year-old Miss Bartle announced she wanted to have a baby as well. So the pair approached Mr Egeley again and he donated sperm on three further occasions before she, too, became pregnant.
The couple now have a 13-month-old son, Elijah Jo, and a ten-month-old daughter, Martha Rae.
To complicate matters even further Miss Bartle also has a three-year-old son, Jonah, from a previous heterosexual relationship.
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Sperm donor: Ryan in drag
"I wanted Jonah to have a younger brother or sister to play with," she said. "Now, thanks to Stephanie and Ryan, he's got two.
"They're our little angels. We're incredibly lucky to have both conceived. Especially with such a haphazard method. I didn't know what I was doing."
Miss Burns said: "I didn't really believe it would work at all. I was gobsmacked. We both literally jumped for joy. It was the best feeling in the world. . . .
Bar vs. transgendered: AG looks into complaint
Peter Corbett
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 18, 2007 05:19 PM
But one of the banned patrons, Michele deLaFreniere, has filed a discrimination complaint against Anderson's Fifth Estate.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office is investigating and a hearing is set for Aug. 7.
"It looked like a man trying to get the ladies drink special," Anderson said of the cross-dressing patrons. . .
It did not work to have the cross-dressing patrons use the men's room, either, since some of the men chastised them and they were at risk of getting beat up, Anderson said. . . .
Who's your daddy?
jvogels@hour.ca
 |  Clever '70s marketing isn't so far from today's reality for some FTM transsexuals |
This isn't the only awkward type of scenario to arise when a female-to-male (FTM) transsexual decides to have a baby.
Imagine walking around looking like a man nine months pregnant - and it's not a beer belly. Or how the staff at the hospital is going to react when you show up at the delivery room - and you're not the one handing out the cigars.
FTM transsexuals face unique challenges when it comes to parenting, explains R, who was speaking on the topic at the Guelph Sexuality Conference this year and asked me not to identify him publicly because of his job situation.
Unlike lesbians, gay men and even male-to-female (MTF) transsexuals, who have their own boatload of troubles when it comes to becoming parents, many FTM transsexuals forgo genital reconstruction surgery (it's harder to turn an innie into an outie) and thus are left with their female reproductive anatomy intact. Which means, if they're off hormone therapy, they can get preggers and have a biological child. . . .
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
gender variance or sexual orientation—any more than you or they are responsible for the
child’s being right- or left-handed. Remember that eventual sexual orientation is uncertain and
will remain so until your child becomes fully conscious of his or her sexual attractions, is able to
label that sexual orientation appropriately, and is willing to disclose it to others."
From Contemporary Pediatrics, February 2005:
GUIDE FOR PARENTS
Raising a gender-variant child
Stealth Is For Airplanes…
A little less than a year ago I wrote my ”coming out” post in several online forums that reached literally hundreds of people I’ve known over my life, after living essentially what we in the “gender biz” call a “stealth” existence. I thought I’d share it here. Comments welcome…disagreements encouraged!
*****
Well…it’s been an interesting couple of days since my last post. Several people have sent me emails and asked, “Are you OK?”
The answer is…yes, I’m just fine. Though this is one of those times in life that come along every now and then where you look at that empty bag you’re holding and wonder, in retrospect, where that damn cat went? Still….I know that’s the fear talking.
Sometimes, when you’ve lived with fear so long, it becomes comfortable…I mean people can adapt to anything. I think that is what the current regime in Washington is hoping. That we all will simply adjust to living in a constant state of fear so they can manipulate us to misdirect our energy, resources and national identity towards the fascist and authoritarian goals they want to enact.
Yesterday, there was an announcement from the Taliban spokesman (an American!) that we must all come to Islam now….it is our last chance. Otherwise, all those who don’t will be destroyed very soon.
How is that ANY different than the message being given out in this country to US, the American people, by the neo-conservatives and authoritarian fundamentalist religious right that controls that party?
BELIEVE WHAT WE BELIEVE! HATE WHAT WE HATE! BECOME WHAT WE WANT YOU TO BECOME! REJECT SCIENCE! REJECT MEDICAL ADVANCEMENT AND KNOWLEDGE! REJECT EQUALITY! NO ROOM FOR DISAGREEMENT! FEAR WHAT WE TELL YOU TO FEAR!
We can’t live this way. Take it from someone who has lived in fear all her life…you’ve got to let go of it at some point and just get on with things. We’ve all got to face the fear we keep inside, because at some level, that fear keeps us from becoming who we not only really are, but who we are capable of being.
For those of you who aren’t cryptologists and trained to figure out complex, interweaving conundrums, perhaps I can clarify it this way:
“I’ll take Obscure Medical Euphemisms for $1,000, Alex”
DING! DING! DING!
And the DOUBLE JEOPARDY answer is: ‘If someone tells you, ‘I’m not from “Greenville, or Louisville, or Brownsville…I’m from Toronto’, what segment of the sexual and gender minority community might they be referring to?”
“Alex, What is transgender?”
DING DING DING DING!!!! You win DOUBLE JEOPARDY!!
Yes, there it is. I hope it’s an anti-climactic revelation because contrary to what it may seem like at this moment, I’m NOT into any more drama than necessary. I’m just trying to deal with this humorously, because, well..it’s a pretty momentous public revelation for me to make. . . .
He Shoots, She Scores
When Mike became Christine, she gave Los Angeles sports fans a courtside view of gender politics
By John Ireland
Michael Daniel Penner returned to work on May 23 as Christine Michelle Daniels.
Sidebar
For all of its trappings of money, fame, and corruption, professional sports has a lot to do with character. Avid sports fans seem to respect those who face up to overwhelming challenge and overcome adversity. So it should not come as a surprise that readers rose in solidarity when a 23-year veteran sports writer announced in the Los Angeles Times that he would return from a short hiatus…as a woman.
On April 26, Mike Penner wrote what he thought would be the toughest article of his career. “I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words.” The piece ran in the Sports section, next to his regular column.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Penner’s story was “by mid-evening, one of the most heavily viewed stories on latimes.com in the last year, with about half a million page views.” Nancy Sullivan, executive director of communications for the newspaper, says “There was a massive response to this story, not only on our website, but across the media spectrum.” The online message board accompanying the article was closed to comments in less than 8 hours, with 800 comments logged in. Hundreds more messages were sent via e-mail. Responses to the revelation came in three distinct flavors: kudos from sports fans, effusive thanks from other transsexuals and rants from bible-thumpers. Readers’ initial shock, however, subsided almost immediately.
Michael Daniel Penner returned to work on May 23 as Christine Michelle Daniels. So far, it appears to be smooth sailing. But Daniels’ very public transition has put a spotlight on a culture that is slow to acknowledge, let alone attempt to rehabilitate its ingrained intolerance and bigotry. . . .
A Culture in Trans-ition
07.17.07
When HBO's "Entourage" made a transgender character the punchline on last week's episode, I cringed.
Now, to be fair, "Entourage" could be described as a equal-opportunity mocker, as it leaves few characters unscathed. Even the privileged lifestyle of the white heterosexual male protagonists in the story comes across at best, as silly and frivolous, and at worst, as woefully out of touch with reality. Christine has discussed its refreshing self-awareness as well as its shortcomings before.
But when the show is clearly not going to present us with a fully developed transgendered character -- let alone a diversity of representations -- there's really little excuse for giving this character such a dismissive role.
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| The Cliks |
And both Rebecca Louie of AP and Shauna Swartz of AfterEllen have excellent profiles of Lucas Silveira, the frontman for the rock band The Cliks.
Silveira's transition to a male identity forced the band to abandon their all-girl identity. But, in the spirit of their rollicking rock and roll sound, it hasn't lessened the band's power: "When you give off that kind of energy, and you're open to the world in that way, the world also opens itself up to you," guitarist Nina Martinez. "And fans become more open to being attracted to everything that queer is about."
While performance art and music have long been spaces of openness, the sports world has not.
John Ireland of In These Times, though, has a fascinating portrayal of Christine Michelle Daniels, a sportswriter formerly known as Michael Daniel Penner, who came out as a woman after 23 years of work for the Los Angeles Times. . . .
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Interview with an Iranian transgender
26 July 2007
by Arsham Parsi
translated by Morteza
How would you like to introduce yourself?
My name on my ID is of no importance, but I’m known as Sayeh. I’m 26 years old and I’m a transsexual. I left Iran a year ago and I now live in Turkey. Could you please give me a tranquilizer please? I can’t think clearly. I am angry,I’m confused.
Why are you angry?
I’m in a country which does not support me. It has attached the term ‘refugee’on me. I neither know its language nor can understand its people and they can’t understand me either. Being a trans here is similar to being a trans in Iran. Although its government might be free (democratic) but its people are the same sort of people (as in Iran). They do not care at all.
What is your problem at the moment?
I have a lot of problems. The day I got here, the Turkish police told me that I should not leave this place frequently because if people realize my problem they will beat me. Initially, I listened to their advice and did not go out. I did not have a job. I did not have a home. I suffered so much. Now they are asking me for a residency fee. Everything about Turkey is difficult. You are a refugee. Nobody supports you financially and you frequently need to go to the police and give signatures. You are not a citizen and you can’t even make (official) complaints about anyone. I was beaten severely by some drunk Iranian men. I went to the police to file a complaint about them. I was told that we (the men and I) are all Iranians and if I file a complaint there will be headaches (complications) for all of us. I was threatened to death and was beaten but I couldn’t complain about the incident. They told me that they will cut my throat.
The Iranian refugees did?
Yes. The police can not do anything to them because they are refugees here.They told me that they will cut my throat and kill me. I can’t leave the house. I have financial problems. I don’t have money to buy hormones. My body needs hormones. I don’t have male hormones. When I get sick I can’t go to the hospital. I don’t have money to go to Ankara. I had problems finding a place to live and I didn’t know where to sleep. Everyone says that it is not their problem. Then for what reason am I here? The Iranian government is very similar to you (the Turkish government). They restrict the places you can go. Even when you have your identification card on you, they still don’t let you go to certain places. It is true that I’m a refugee but I need people/the society to understand me. Is it possible for one to not leave his/her living place just because she has been informed by the police that she might get beaten? A person needs to feel that there are people who might be willing to help her/him. There were certain constraints in Iran and there are some different constraints here. I believe that a fundamentalist or a Muslim country will never be able to deal with issues like this (transsexuality). . . .
Genre Fluid Performer Marches To Own Toone
Published: July 12, 2007
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| “Punks from my time weren’t supposed to want to be famous, or care about recognition or even having enough money to support themselves. “ |
It’s difficult to sum up the accomplishments of trans performer Anderson (nee Annie) Toone in a few paragraphs. Ever since the late ‘70s, when a teenaged, harmonica playing Toone backed legendary San Francisco blues musicians and beat poets, he’s been a “genre fluid” musician, drag king and performer who changes personas as often as some guys switch partners.
“It’s always been my nature to mix, mutate, experiment with and collage together [musical] styles, instruments and cultures.”
A founding member of the New York no-wave girl group The Bloods—who he calls “a butch amalgam” of rap, jazz and punk—Toone toured Northeastern U.S. and Western Europe for two years, opening for bands like The Clash, REM and The Go-Gos, while their single, “Button Up” became a dance hall favorite.
“Part of what we were doing was just being an alternative—whether to apartheid, Reagan, Thatcher or the [lesbian-feminists] who told us we couldn’t wear leather, watch porn or do consensual kink because they said so.”
When The Bloods broke up, Toone stayed in Europe for a decade, founding first the jazz ensemble Idiotsavant and then country/punk band The Well Oiled Sisters (which headlined the 1990 country music women doc, Stand On Your Man). By 1992, Toone was back in San Francisco creating new “dykeabilly” sounds with the Bucktooth Varmints.
When Toone (andersontoone.com) switched genders on stage back in 1980, at New York City’s first W.O.W. Festival, he became one of drag kinging’s founding fathers. He’s thrilled with how things have changed since those early days. “In 1980 there were literally three kings…and now we’re in virtually every major city. The explosion is fantastic.”
He’s disappointed that drag kings haven’t gained the respect or mainstream exposure garnered by drag queens, but he’s still holding out hope for validation. “John Waters’ famously said kings would be the flavor of this new century—we’ll see if our 15 minutes is actually imminent.”
As a king, Toone has held a dozen drag names, putting his “transgender twist” on a range of masculine archetypes and exploring “what it means to ‘be a man’. It’s the activist strategy of…writing us erased trans-masculine folks back into the picture.”
The multi-talented artist has also taken his drag personas into full-scale reviews, like 2004’s Bucky & Bebe’s Holiday Hooteneanny, and the 1996, one-of-a-kind, drag king musical, Hillbillies On the Moon. . . .
Football player becoming a woman
Gina Duncan, formerly known as Greg Pingston, began living as a transgendered woman last November.
David Whitley
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 15, 2007
Greg Pingston was a star linebacker for Merritt Island High School's unbeaten state championship team in 1972.
Greg Pingston (2nd from left) was one of only 4 sophomores who made the Merritt Island varsity squad in 1970. The others were Dave Taylor (left), Jimmy Black and Waldo Williams (right). Pingston went on to play at East Carolina while Black and Williams played at Florida State.
Former Merritt Island football star Greg Pingston is completing a transgender change to Gina Duncan.
They still talk about the tackle around Merritt Island. Greg Pingston, the baddest player on the baddest team in the state, zeroed in on his victim.
The kid was returning a kick up the sideline in front of the Mustangs' bench. Pingston locked on to him with his tackling radar.
He angled in at full speed, plunged his helmet into the runner's chest and drove upward. The runner's entire body jolted into reverse.
"His chin just exploded with blood," receiver Mike Garo recalls. "It was the perfect tackle they'd always taught us, but it went beyond that.
"All the guys went nuts. It was totally tribal."
Pingston hopped up and walked away. After the game he showered, went home and hoped nobody would be around.
He went into his parents' room and walked to the closet. Then he put on one of his mother's dresses.
"I felt like I could breathe," Pingston says. . . .
Monday, July 16, 2007
Captain Jan, the transsexual Para, sues the Army for unfair dismissal
The first transsexual officer in the Armed Forces is set to sue the Ministry of Defence for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination.
Jan Hamilton, a former male captain in the Parachute Regiment who is now living as a woman, will lodge court papers claiming she was sexually discriminatedagainst and unfairly dismissed in April from a £45,000-a-year post.
Captain Hamilton, 42, had been due to become head of media relations for the British Army in Gibraltar in May.
But after she refused to turn up at a medical examination dressed in a male uniform – which her lawyers argue would have been 'humiliating and demeaning' – the job offer was withdrawn.
Her lawyers have, to no avail, repeatedly sought an informal meeting with her Army bosses to settle the issue out of court. Captain Hamilton has now been without a salary for four months and has racked up several thousand pounds in legal bills.
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Captain Jan: The transexual Para
'I would have been happy if someone had just asked me to come in for coffee to discuss what I was going through,' she says. 'All I want is to carry on working for the Army in an equal-opportunities capacity.' . . .
Whole Foods broadens reach
By Mary Ellen Podmolik
Special to the Tribune
Published July 16, 2007
But what the natural and organic food chain is really touting, and what sets it apart in Chicago and nationally, is its location as the anchor tenant in the Center on Halsted, a recently opened gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community center.
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Store manager Tom Marciniak expects the 40,000-square-foot store, which along with two other Chicago-area openings this summer will bring the chain's local count to 13, to be one of the area's best stores in terms of sales volume.
Whole Foods' move comes at a time when mainstream corporate America is increasing its efforts to woo gay and lesbian consumers.
Ad spending in gay and lesbian print media totaled $223.3 million last year, up 5.2 percent from 2005 and an increase of 205 percent compared with a decade ago, according to The Gay Press Report, an annual study by Prime Access Inc. and Rivendell Media Co. In 2006, more than 180 Fortune 500 brands actively advertised in gay media, compared with 150 brands in 2004 and 19 brands in 1994.
Meta-Genesis
What is Meta-Genesis?
Meta - at a later state in development
Genesis - the origin or coming into existence
Truth and honor of Transexuals through Photography and personal literary espression.
Echo's of one's heart is shared in spoken and written words, photographs are taken, bonding and respect I offer. I return home to create a visual moment of truth.
Art and Transition
A Columbia photographer illuminates the lives of the Transgender community
ALISON HODGSON Missourian
Jane Lavender, a local photographer, created “Meta-Genesis” to show people who transgenders are. She has been working on the project for two years and believes “every person has a story.”
July 16, 2007 | 12:00 a.m. CST
About a year ago, photographer Jane Lavender sat at her dining room table, carefully pairing the words of her subjects with their black-and-white images. As the hours passed, Lavender laid scraps of sentences across the film, giving voice to a group of people who have spent much of their lives in the shadows.
“I live in survival mode — one day at a time.” . . .
