Marci Bowers, M.D., surgeon: "Sex Change Hospital"

India: Cry inclusive

Neha Babar works with the Humsafar Trust, a support group for transgenders, in Mumbai.

With very little support coming their way, transgenders have decided to speak up for their rights.

"We have a lot of talent and entrepreneurship which is unrecognised. When some of our people apply for jobs, they get rejected without being given any reason."


Divya Trivedi

At the age of nine, I liked wearing bindis and saris but my classmates teased me and made fun of me. At home, they scolded me and told me to change my ways. I did not understand what the fuss was about.

“When I became 10 years old, people in my area, Kurla, taunted me and called me a hijra. Because of this, my parents faced a lot of abuse from society. To save them from further shame, I left home and went to nani (a person heading a group of transgenders) in Kalyan. I grew my hair, stayed with her for two years during which she sent me to shops for collecting money.

“At the age of 13, on June 27, I got a Sex Reassignment Surgery done and today I pass off as a girl. For this reason, my family has accepted me and I live with them, just as before.”

Neha Babar was lucky in ways most transgenders are not.

Priya Babu left home at the age of 17 under similar circumstances and stayed with a nayak (group leader). But she found him to be overbearing and soon fled to Chennai, where she stayed independently. Today, she works with non-governmental organisations and women’s groups to create awareness in society and amongst fellow transgenders on health, employment and other issues. She is married to Ramesh Babu, a salesman.

Commonly known as Alis in Tamil, transgenders are arguably the most displaced group in Indian society, discriminated against in terms of both class and gender. Like outcasts, they are excluded from all discussions on social welfare. Society is steadfast in denying acceptance to the group whose sexual behaviour is different from the certified norm, and being a minority has made them susceptible to harassment in all spheres of life. From education to employment to even something as basic as walking on the roads without attracting disgusted or fearful stares is denied to them.
Speaking up

On the rare occasion when their plight has been publicly discussed, it has been limited to their sexual problems. By and large, even activists have ignored the livelihood issues of transgenders. With the complete lack of government empathy and with few private groups participating in such discussions, some transgenders are beginning to speak up for themselves.

Shabnam Mausi from Madhya Pradesh became the first eunuch to enter a State Assembly; she was followed by several other transgenders who entered the political arena, including Asha Devi, Mayor of Gorakhpur, Heera Bai, city council member in Jabalpur and Kamala Jaan, mayor of Katni. In February 2003, the MP High Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that eunuchs are male and cannot seek election to offices reserved for women. Kamala Jaan, against whom this ruling cropped up, has appealed to the Supreme Court.

Even for a ration card, authorities are undecided about the gender status for transgenders. Priya Babu has ‘eunuch’ on her passport, ‘female’ on her ration card and ‘TG’ or transgender on her patta (land) document. In 2004, she filed a writ petition in her battle seeking the third gender status for transgenders. Elsewhere in Mumbai, Neha has been doing the rounds of the local municipality office for more than a year to get her name changed from Dinesh to Neha in her ration card.

“Without a Government Order, we cannot move forward in our attempt to procure ration cards for every transgender. Our existence is as good as denied without the GO,” Priya complains.
Livelihood issues

Some NGOs and community-based organisations are helping transgenders find suitable jobs. Nartaki Nataraj is one such transgender who has fought society’s norms and earned a name in Bharatanatyam. Olga works for KMC as a coordinator while Kalki works as a computer operator at Auroville Ashram in Pondicherry. But these are exceptions and most transgenders have to depend on sex work for money.

The main reason for their exclusion, according to Padma Venkatraman (Mangai), professor of Literature, Stella Maris College Chennai, is their lack of educational qualifications. “This again stems from the fact that due to various social stigmas, educating them is a highly alien concept to most educational providers,” she says. Mangai, who is also actively involved in theatre, has been instrumental in organising plays for and by transgenders.

Priya Babu heads the TN-based Sudar Foundation, which provides vocational training to transgenders in reiki, yoga, beautician courses, tailoring, embroidery, aromatherapy and ayurveda among others. “We are shunned by society, but have a lot of talent and entrepreneurship which is unrecognised. When some of our people apply for jobs, they get rejected without being given any reason. This is downright violation of basic human rights,” she says. She has worked as a journalist with Youth India magazine and obtained a SARAI fellowship. Over the past four years, she has been working on a book called Transgender Sociography, which traces the history of the community with descriptions of the varied customs followed in different parts of India. Written by a transgender from within the community, it is a first-of-its-kind attempt in India. Apart from religion, myth and folklore, the narrative would cover facets such as community structures, panchayat, livelihood problems, medical and legal problems, marriage and so on. In addition, it would provide detailed information on Sex Reassignment Surgery and detail the experiences of those who have undergone it. “I am thankful to MS Swaminathan, his wife Meena and Mangai for guiding and helping me with the book,” says Priya, who is currently seeking funding for its publication.

“My ultimate dream is to get a documentary made by Nat Geo or BBC about our community so we can reach out to the maximum number of people,” she says. She has gained some experience in film direction and editing while working with film students. She has now applied to NFDC for funding and is open to help from individuals willing to produce such a venture.
Medical isolation

The Humsafar Trust in Mumbai works with gays and transgenders by distributing condoms, medicines and organising workshops and meetings. Every Friday, a programme is held at its office for transgenders. It organises sensitisation programmes for doctors on issues related to treatment of STD and other medical problems faced by transgenders. “These are baby steps compared to foreign countries, where a certificate indicating change in gender is provided within 24 hours of SRS, along with psychiatric and legal help,” says Anil Kadam of Humsafar Trust. “Being a complicated procedure, there are high chances of side effects and infections in SRS. But government hospitals refuse to admit transgenders for treatment, due to the stigma attached to them,” says Priya.

The doctor sensitisation programmes have received a positive response from centres such as the Jamshedji Jeejibhoy Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital, STI Clinic, Siddharth Nagar Hospital and Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital in Mumbai. Dr Jayarajani organises VCCTCs – Voluntary Confidence Counselling Testing Centre. However, there are also numerous instances of transgenders being turned away from hospitals. “In Pondicherry, an HIV(+) transgender was denied medical aid. A memorandum was sent to the Chief Minister, who ordered an enquiry into the matter,” says Priya.

Struggling at every step of her life for things big and small, Priya has experienced a wide gamut of exhilarations and losses. At a moment of deep thought, she says, “Our life, feelings, love, affection, faith are all similar to those of other people… I want people to understand this…”

Transgender drop-in center is reborn

Volunteer Toni Moore, right, talks with client Tara McKlay at the new Trans: Thrive Drop-in Center. Photo: Jane Philomen Cleland


by Heather Cassell
November 15, 2007


The Trans Project was reborn last week as the Trans: Thrive Drop-in Center after the San Francisco Department of Public Health took over the project at the end of June from the University of California, San Francisco.

The health department has contracted with the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center to run the program.

The new center re-opened November 7 in its original location at 815 Hyde Street on the second floor. The drop-in center is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, according to the program's Web site. It has a shower facility and soon will have a clothing closet, groceries, and more.

The Trans: Thrive Drop-in Center – which stands for Transgender Health and Resource Neighborhood Space and Transgender Health and Resource Initiative for Vital Empowerment – will provide many of the same services it previously offered to the transgender community. Programs include support groups, case management, harm reduction training, and life skills education, as well as referrals and linkages to substance use treatment programs, according to a November 5 press release. The drop-in center has already trained volunteers who are assisting with outreach efforts and other administrative duties.

The center plans to celebrate with a grand opening ceremony Friday, November 16, with a traditional Hawaiian ceremonial blessing by hula master Kawika Alfiche, director of Aloha Pumehana 'O Polynesian Hawaiian Culture Center. The event is from 2 to 5 p.m. and open to the public.

"I am really excited that they are bringing a whole new spirit and energy to the process," said Luke Woodward, program director of Trans: Thrive. "For me, the bottom line was that it was so critical that the services of Trans continued and that these programs did not disappear from the community."

The Bay Area Reporter reported earlier this year that UCSF planned to close the program, then attempted to drop $1 million in federal grants. The transgender community mobilized and San Francisco Controller Ed Harrington's office investigated the transgender services in the city. The city controller's office found the Trans Project's financial problems stemmed from exceeding its $2,000 per month budget for office space, paying $10,542 a month, after two other programs dropped out of sharing the space.

UCSF ceded the project to the SFDPH at the end of June. The city supported the transfer of the project with $150,000 from the general fund.

The drop-in center is re-opening in half of the space for half of the rent in the same Tenderloin location it operated in before, Toma said. He estimated the rent was $5,000 to $5,500 a month.

Toma said that the space is still more than what the program needs. He hopes to be able to sublet some of the office space to other organizations or projects in order to direct as much of the funding as possible toward services.

"We can call this a happy, new beginning," said Supervisor Bevan Dufty, in a phone interview on Monday. Dufty was instrumental in the transition of the project from UCSF to the city's health department. "[This] is an example of the transgender community and the city partnering to make something really important happen rather than losing a service. I think that we are going to improve it."

"The API program was selected because of their experience and expertise with transgender communities as well as their financial and program status with the department," Garcia wrote in a November 12 e-mail. "We are pleased that the Trans: Thrive program will be again providing drop-in and referral services to transgender communities in San Francisco."

Woodward is excited about leading the project into its future.

"We will be offering new services," said Woodward. "We are going to start small and build on that and get more creative as we go [along]."

For more information, visit www.transthrive.org.

LGBTQ Advocate Addresses Homophobia

Argues Many Struggle to Sympathize With Minority Issues

By Caty Schmitter
November 16, 2007


Homophobia is a common problem because many struggle to sympathize with minority issues, Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said during a speech in McShain Lounge yesterday afternoon.

Keisling, a transsexual herself, focused largely on transgender issues, defining the word as �an umbrella term for people who face discrimination because of their gender identity or gender expression.� She said that she has �faced a lot of fear� since openly identifying herself as a transsexual in 2000.

Keisling said that many people say that they are open-minded toward those in the LGBTQ community, but that most are afraid of what others may think if they associate with LGBTQ individuals. She summarized this point by saying that some may feel: ��I don�t get it and I don�t want to be associated with it, because I think people will think it�s me and I know people hate it.��

Keisling noted that homophobia may be partially due to the fact that it is difficult for many to understand the common minority issues.

�[As a member of the majority] you are the default identity, you are the best thing there is to be, [so] you don�t have to think about identity� she said.

Keisling said that most people learn certain gender roles at a young age, and that homophobia results from an inability to accept that these traditional roles may not apply to everyone. She cited �boys do certain things and look certain ways,� �boys like girls and girls like boys� and �boys should stay boys and girls should stay girls� as examples of such stereotypical teachings.

Keisling also discussed violence against members of the LGBTQ community, noting that one transgendered person is murdered in the United States each month.

Keisling discussed a number of possible steps toward diminishing homophobia and �transphobia.� The first suggestion she had to offer was to �listen and learn.� She encouraged heterosexuals to �listen to what the LGTBQ people you know are worried about.�

She also recommended a focus on inclusion.

�The problem is exclusivity and the answer is inclusion,� she said. �Be inclusive, think of everything in terms of inclusion.�

She also encouraged people to thoroughly analyze their prejudices and biases � rather than to practice denial � in order to understand their causes and work to eradicate them.

�Embrace your homophobia and transphobia and think about why you think certain things about me and why you dismiss me.�

The speech was sponsored by the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Affirmative Action.

Transgender Day of Unemployment Remembrance

Please consider, this Transgender Day of Unemployment Remembrance, making space not only to honor the dead, but also to pause and remember the names and sacred concerns of so much of the Transgender community that is cut off from good, decent jobs.

So much of the Transgender community is unemployed, has experienced job discrimination, has been exploited by working without job security, or has lost hope and turned to high-risk methods for finding survival income.

As we regroup after the divisive debates around the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and whether or not the United States is ready for Transgender and Gender Variant people to receive protection under the law, let us pause remember the lives that are at stake.

Let us pause to remember that the inability to find a safe employment situation is a life and death problem. It is a contributing (if not causal) factor in our community's suicide rate, struggle with addictions, and risk for sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV/AIDS.

It's not just violent hate crimes that lead Transgender death. In turning our backs on employment discrimination, we are contributing to the already dismal Transgender mortality rates. . . .

I Am Transgender

by Robbi Cohn


I am the person who is unemployable merely because of my gender identity.

I am the person who lives within a heartbeat of homelessness.

I am the person who might be reduced to prostitution to survive.

I am the person most likely to commit suicide because I have no way to survive.

I am the person living with the despair of hopelessness.

I am the person my family has abandoned and forgotten.

I am the person my church tells me is damned.

I am the person the military has asked me to “don’t ask, don’t tell”.

I am the person right-wingers think will molest women and children in bathrooms.

I am the person who has the same values as other human beings.

I am the person Barney Frank has asked to wait my turn.

I am the person my political party wishes would just go away.

I am the person who has spent countless hours educating in vain.

I am the person who my political party has claimed still needs to educate.

I am the person my community has asked to not make waves.

I am the person who advocates for equal opportunity.

I am the person who believes in diversity.

I am the person who believes people should be judged by what they do, not how they look.

I am the person who wants to love and be loved.

I am the person my one-time friends and acquaintances often shun.

I am the person who works for equality for all marginalized human beings.

I am the person who abides by the principles of Martin Luther King, Jr.

I am the person who trusts in the wisdom of Mahatma Gandhi.

I am the person who finds solace in the love of the Great Spirit.

I am the person who was created to be free.

I am the person who was endowed by my creator to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I am the person whose potential should remain unlimited, yet has been marginalized.

I am the person society has disenfranchised.

I am the person who must work in stealth, lest I be fired.

I am the person who has erected a wall around myself so as to keep my reality secret.

I am the person other minorities have disinherited.

I am the person elites within my community tend to disparage.

I am the person who lives in your neighborhood.

I am the person who attends your church.

I am the person who works side by side with you wherever I am employed, if I am employed.

I am your brother, sister, father or mother.

I am transgender.

Students observe National Transgender Day of Remembrance

By Michelle Wu
Princetonian Contributor


Students and local residents remembered victims of murders motivated by anti-transgender hatred during a service in the University Chapel yesterday evening.

The event was part of the National Transgender Day of Remembrance, a tradition started nine years ago to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman from Boston murdered on Nov. 28, 1998, in a crime that remains unsolved. Since then, the event has grown to encompass the remembrance of all victims of anti-transgender hate and prejudice.

"We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred-based violence," Debbie Bazarsky, director of the University's LGBT Center, said in her opening remarks at the service. "Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no signs of abating."

Dean of Religious Life Rev. Alison Boden led a prayer for victims of anti-transgender crimes, in which she lamented that people were murdered for "being who they were" but admired the "integrity with which they lived their lives."

Following a performance of the song "True Colors" by the FireHazards a cappella group, Ellen Adams '10 recited "How Old," a poem about the pain of living as a transgender individual.

The service also included a candlelight vigil for the 14 people killed worldwide in anti-transgender crimes since last November, as well as the seven people murdered in New Jersey within the last 15 years for the same reason.

Office honors transgender victims with ceremony

by Sandra Plasse

11/16/2007

Lauren Adamski has been dating a transgender individual for three years.

Her partner appears masculine but has a feminine name. When her partner's name is called in public - when picking up a prescription, for example - people assume that it belongs to Adamski. Of course, the assumption is wrong and causes confusion and strange looks.

People in society get frustrated when they are faced with gender ambiguity, said

Adamski, LGBT Resource Center program coordinator at Syracuse University.

"Stereotypes can foster ignorance, and in some extreme cases, violence," said LGBT director Adrea Jaehnig.

At noon, a remembrance ceremony will be at Hendricks Chapel for those who have been killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event, in its fourth year at SU, coincides with the National Transgender Day of Remembrance. While the actual day of remembrance is Nov. 20, it is celebrated earlier in Syracuse because of Thanksgiving break.

"The event is important to remember the people that were discriminated against," said junior Renee Orenstein, a magazine and international relations major. "It's a way to make people aware that these terrible things are happening. It's a way to remember the people and get the message out to the public that these things are actually occurring."

The remembrance tradition began in 1999 with a candlelight vigil in San Francisco. The idea for the memorial came from the murder of Rita Hester a year earlier.

SU's event this year will include poetry readings, a candlelight vigil and a moment of silence. During the candlelight vigil, two students will read a list of the names of those who died due to transgender violence.

The list is 17 pages long.

The event is a way for the cause to get the attention it deserves, Adamski said.

"When a death or a murder like this occurs, there isn't a lot of media attention to it. If there is, it is not explicitly stated that it was a hate crime or that this happened because of hatred or violence against transgender people specifically," Adamski said. . . .

Transgender activist shares struggle

by Mary Duke
November 15, 2007

A transgender activist said Wednesday there is an enormous misunderstanding about what the term “transgender” actually means.

Jessica Janiuk spoke to University of Wisconsin students Wednesday about her difficult journey to find her identity as a woman.

Janiuk, born male, spoke as part of the UW Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Campus Center’s Transgender Awareness Week, which will continue through Saturday.

In 2005, Janiuk lobbied the UW System Board of Regents to add transgender persons to their list of those protected by the UW System’s nondiscrimination policy.

LGBT Director Eric Trekell said UW lacks acceptance and understanding of transgender people, though there are other places where the situation is worse.

“Something like in 28 states people can be fired from their jobs because they are transgender,” Trekell said.

UW senior Joe Erbentraut, event coordinator for the LGBT Campus Center, said the group is “going all out to educate the campus on transgender.”

“This is the first time in a few years that we have done a full week of awareness events,” Erbentraut said. “We want to create a community for transgender students on the community.”

Janiuk said transgender is an umbrella term where anyone not identifying with societal gender norms would fit.

From a young age, Janiuk said she began to identify outside those norms when she noticed she acted differently from other children.

“I was stealing my mother’s clothes when she wasn’t looking,” Janiuk said. “I didn’t know anything was socially wrong with this.”

As Janiuk grew older, her urge to become a woman only became stronger, but with this urge arose feelings of fear.

“I remember going to bed and wishing that God would turn me into a woman so I could live a happy life,” Janiuk said.

The confusion she felt about her gender led to severe depression when she started her freshman year at UW.

“I entered into severe sadness — I had no motivation to do anything,” Janiuk said. “I couldn’t get myself out of bed. I felt that numb sensation.”

According to Janiuk, dressing up as a female character from the animated show “Sailor Moon” for Halloween one year was an awakening moment in her life.

“I felt something I had never felt before,” Janiuk said. “I felt my gender identity and my physical presentation were coming closer together. It was a happiness I had never felt before.”

By 2003, Janiuk decided she had enough of hiding her true identity and underwent surgery to become a physical woman.

Janiuk said she hopes people realize individuals can express themselves as they please.

“Each person has the ability to give themselves their own label,” Janiuk said. “I think it’s unfortunate that people in society put labels on other people for them.”

UW senior Angela Birrittella, mentor and support group coordinator for the LGBT Campus Center, said hearing about transgender issues like this is important because she said in the LGBT community, transgender individuals are often left out.