Friday, November 02, 2007
TransGender Michigan celebrates 10 years
Agency's anniversary corresponds with founder Rachel Crandall's discovery of self
By Jason A. Michael
"I do this work so people don't have to be lonely; so they don't have to be devastated. When I came out as trans, I was devastated. Within in a few months, I lost my marriage, my job, my career. But out of that came TransGender Michigan. And if my crisis hadn't happened, there probably still wouldn't be a statewide organization." - Rachel Crandell
Rachel Crandall seems to never leave home without a smile. She wears it as an almost-permanent accessory, like a brooch or bracelet she never takes off. It is her trademark.
But life hasn't always been smiles and sunshine for Crandall, the founder and executive director of TransGender Michigan. And Rachel hasn't always been Rachel. This week, she celebrates 10 years of living honestly - and the anniversary of introducing the woman she always knew she was meant to be to the world.
It began at 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 5, 1997.
"I was fired from my job as a psychotherapist at a small-town hospital," Crandall said. That's because Richard, the married man the hospital had hired, had begun growing his hair out and dabbing on a bit of rouge and shadow.
"They figured out what was going on," Crandall said. "I was beginning to transition. Then, at 3:30 p.m. the same day, I put all my male clothes in the back of the closet and became Rachel full time."
It was a metamorphosis long in the making.
"I'd always known," Crandall admitted. "But I'd go through moments of denial."
Exposed, though, the strong-willed social worker saw her options as few.
"I was so pissed off," she said. "I wanted to do something to make a difference ... to make sure that what happened to me didn't happen to a lot of other people. I remember feeling very lonely. So, I thought of an idea for a statewide organization to bring together all the transgender people feeling the same thing, so we didn't have to be so lonely."
The first thing the agency did was to launch a Web site and list a calendar of events happening throughout the state.
"We found that some people were doing good work, but no one three miles away knew about it," Crandall said. "So we started with that."
Next, they established a helpline, which exists today in the form of Crandall's cell phone.
"I talk right to the people who need help," she said. "There's no bureaucracy involved. There are no reams of paper involved. There's just people in crisis and they say, 'What do I do?' And I say, 'You know, I was in that situation and I didn't think I'd be able to make it through, either.'"
To date, Crandall has taken calls from people as far away as Australia and Hong Kong. And it's become more than just a tool for people in crisis. . . .
No Transgender Males Allowed in Girls' Bathrooms, Group Says
November 02, 2007
(CNSNews.com) - Council lawmakers in Maryland's Montgomery County are considering a proposal to give transgendered people protected status under law, and a local citizen's group is pledging to try to stop it, contending that, among other things, it would allow transgender men to use showers, lockers, and restrooms used by women and girls.
Bill 23-07 would add "gender identity" to the county's existing non-discrimination laws, if passed by the Montgomery County Council at its upcoming Nov. 13 meeting.
Michelle Turner, director of Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum (CRC), a parent's group in Rockville, Md., said the bill would basically allow males to have open access to women's restrooms.
"I am dumbfounded," Turner told Cybercast News Service. "They are saying, 'If you are a man but you feel like a woman, then even if you still have male genitalia, you would have access to restrooms and locker rooms and showers used by women and girls."
Dan Furmansky, executive director of the homosexual activist group Equality Maryland, said, in fact, the measure would protect a variety of what he called "gender-nonconforming individuals."
"Men who might appear effeminate or women who appear 'butch' - whether those are gay individuals or straight individuals - would have protection under this proposed legislation," he said.
Specifically, the law would apply to individuals who are living full-time as "a gender other than their birth gender."
He added: "Those could be individuals who are transsexual - meaning they have had sex reassignment surgery - or they could be people who are transitioning, or they could be people who cannot or are not going to have that reassignment surgery."
Regina Griggs, executive director of PFOX, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays, said she is shocked that Montgomery County is considering protected status for a very tiny portion of the population - one which suffers from a psychiatric disorder.
"Transgenderism is legally considered a mental disorder," Griggs said. "It is not biological; people do not have a female brain in their body that is somehow different than their biological sex.
Transgenderism is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) - the book of guidelines that mental health professionals refer to in making diagnoses of psychiatric and psychological conditions.
The legal measure was quietly advancing through the county council until someone leaked its existence, Turner said. Members of CRC went to the Oct. 2 council meeting to speak out. Now a countywide effort is underway to alert parents and others about the bill.
"We have over 900,000 citizens here in Montgomery County, and we need to reach as many as we can to let them know what is going on behind closed doors by our county council - our elected officials," she said.
The bill is sponsored by Montgomery County council members Duchy Trachtenberg, Valerie Ervin, and Marc Elrich. None of the council members were available for comment prior to press time.
Fabulous: Transtasia
November 1, 2007
 |
Trantasia is a fabulous, fascinating documentary now available on DVD about a transsexual beauty pageant that was held in Las Vegas where over two dozen entrants competed for the title “World’s Most Beautiful Transsexual” and the opportunity to perform in a showgirl revue. Bay Times caught up with three of the contestants profiled in the film - local entrant Cassandra, Erica and Maria - and asked them about their lives, clothes, and mission.
(Bay Times) Can you each please tell me about your background - where are you from, where you live now, and what you do.
(Cassandra) I was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa. I was like a country girl. I left at 18. I now reside in San Francisco, where I work in shows, and perform. I do high end cabaret.
(Erica) I was originally raised in Mexico but came to school in the United States when I was still a young child. We lived in Laredo, TX and I moved to San Antonio when I was 18.
(Maria) I am originally from Puerto Rico and currently living in LA. For the last 8-10 years I’ve been an activist in the transgender community.
How long have you been transgendered?
(Cassandra) I started hormones at 17. I’m now 28.
(Maria) I’ve been transgendered since I was 19, and I’m 37 now.
(Erica) I got on hormones when I was 19 or 20, so about 15 years.
Why did you enter this beauty pageant?
(Cassandra) I entered because I was all about getting my name out there, and I heard they were going to have a showgirls show, and who wouldn’t want to be a showgirl?
(Erica) I entered because the top 8 were going to be part of a new showgirl review, and I was interested in doing something like that.
(Maria) I was at this club and Jahna Steele approached me about the pageant in Vegas and wanted me to enter. It was two weeks before. I had my gown done, put a number together. I knew they were doing a documentary. I wanted to show how the community really was - so we are not seen as freaks.
What was your evening gown/swimsuit/talent?
(Cassandra) For swimsuit, I went for San Tropez - big black and white hat, European circa 1980s, high end fashionable. Talent, I did a barbarian-Zena costume/Christina Aguilera fighter thing about being tough. My evening gown was very Funny Girl meets Striperella.
(Maria) Orange evening gown - vibrant colors! - fabulous, sexy and glamorous. Swimsuit - the one that I could find that would cover my ass the most. Talent: Very Spanish. I played Gloria Estefan and shook my ass. It was something I’d never done before. I truly loved performing and the glamour of being on stage.
(Erica) Evening gown was two parts - cover up Tiffany’s powder blue coat with fur that came around it. It came off and I have a see-thru beaded and stone gown underneath, very risqué, but it covered all the right places. It was open but criss-crossed in the back. Risqué, but glamourous. Swimsuit - animal print orange tiger. Exotic taboo. Also risqué. Talent - a mix of Shirley Bassey and Mommie Dearest monologue. Very dramatic.
What would your mission be if you won?
(Cassandra) To show not all transgendered women are ignorant, prostitutes, I am a talented, beautiful woman in my own right!
(Erica) I was hoping that by winning we would be able to express ourselves to a larger audience - a straight audience - and market ourselves not so much as only entertaining a gay audience. Drag queen entertainers are campy and get straight gigs, but when it’s transsexual, it’s not as accepted. It may be too real for them to handle.
(Maria) I’ve continued to do more advocacy and speak on issues of hate crimes. I had the most beautiful experience after the pageant. It changed my life.
Define what beautiful means to you.
(Cassandra) I took a farm boy in the Midwest, and turned it into my idea of a beautiful woman. I love glamour and glitz, but I can still put on a baseball cap and be a good old country girl. Beautiful to me is just being hardworking, ambitious and kind.
(Erica) For me, it’s someone who is honest and real to themselves. My family, my friends are beautiful. Certain clothes are beautiful, and creating Erica is beautiful to me. And helping the community.
(Maria) I think who I am - not the outer shell - but my integrity and my love for my community. I think that’s what makes a person beautiful. . . .
My husband became my best girlfriend
Nine years ago Martin Packer told his wife that he was a transsexual — and became Emma. Today, their relationship is stronger than ever. Louette Harding reveals why
Linda Packer married in December 1977 – white dress, white veil – to a man who proved in many ways to be an ideal husband.
He had roared into her life on a blind date in his MG roadster.
He earned a good salary in IT, was intelligent (160 on the Mensa IQ tests), understanding and faithful.
Scroll down for more...
Martin (now Emma) and Linda Packer are now happily living together as two women after Martin changed sex
"We did everything together," Linda says.
"We still do." It hasn't all been plain sailing though. Far from it.
Their marriage has survived a challenge which most of us are barely able to imagine.
In 1998, Martin Packer told his wife that he believed he was transsexual.
In the following years, Linda watched Martin transform into Emma.
This gradual but gruelling process culminated in the corrective surgery that gave Emma the body in which she felt comfortable.
Meanwhile, Linda crashed through the anger barrier or wept lonely tears, while always offering her support.
At the end of their mutual ordeal, both women concluded that their bond went beyond gender or sex, and that they wished to continue their partnership.
"We talked about splitting up," Emma says.
"It came down to Linda thinking it would be better for me if we split and my thinking it would be better for her.
"I always wanted us to stay together but there were times when I felt, “This is totally unfair on her.
"She's still attractive, she should be with somebody in a more normal relationship.”"
That they have now been forced to annul their marriage due to governmental pressure is one of the ironies of their remarkable story.
The two women interrupt each other, correct each other's anecdotes, finish each other's sentences.
Both around 60, they live in a Fenland village outside Ely, sharing their semi with their two rescued greyhounds.
I had first met Emma on a writers' retreat some months before this interview.
I was left with an impression of a confident, chatty woman with a pleasant contralto voice.
On subsequent days she began to tell us the plot of The Box of Stolen Lives, the novel she is working on, concerning a lost tribe from the fen marshes, whose lack of concrete gender identities leads to their persecution and destruction. . . .
