Thursday, November 22, 2007
German vaulter makes a leap for mankind
November 23, 2007
New challenge … German pole-vaulter Yvonne Buschbaum during competition in 2002. "For many years, I have had the feeling I am in the wrong body," she said on her website.
Photo: AP
BERLIN: Former European pole-vault medallist Yvonne Buschbaum has announced her retirement from athletics to undergo hormone therapy, and has hinted she will have a sex-change operation.
The 27-year-old, who won a bronze at the 2002 European Championships, says a persistent Achilles tendon injury is part of the reason for her retirement, but she will soon start hormone treatment, which rules her out of competitive sport.
"My continuous injury misery has played a part in the decision, but my decision is essentially due to my mental imbalance," Buschbaum said on her website.
"For many years, I have had the feeling I am in the wrong body. Those who know me have seen a clear fault.
"I feel like a man and yet must live my life in the body of a woman.
"The years of discrepancy has left its tensions and has expressed itself in my injured Achilles tendons.
"I would not like to be misjudged any longer. I am conscious of the fact that transsexuality is a difficult topic, but I don't want to be involved in a game of hide-and-seek with the truth.
"I appeal to the public's understanding to respect my decision and not draw any wrong conclusions."
The German's personal best of 4.70 metres was achieved in 2003, a year after she won bronze at the European Championships in Munich and a silver at the indoor tournament in Vienna.
She is ranked the second-best German pole vaulter behind retired 2002 World Cup gold medallist Annika Becker.
Buschbaum also won a bronze at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest and was sixth at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
She won three German titles before picking up the Achilles tendon injury ahead of the 2004 Athens Olympics and struggled to recapture her pre-injury form.
As she is set to undergo hormone treatment, she said she wanted to come clean to avoid any doping allegations.
"I do not dope and with my forthcoming hormone treatment, my decision means that I have to be honest about what I am doing," she said.
"The world of sport is too small for it to be a secret. And I wanted to be public about this so nobody is deceived or betrayed.
"From a biological point of view, the success I achieved so far has all been done naturally. I am just daring to show what is the real me. But I am glad I have started this journey and that one day I can be my true self."
Transsexuality is not a common theme in sport. One of the most famous cases was Austria's 1966 world downhill ski champion Erika Schinegger, who underwent a sex-change operation and later competed in the men's event as Erik. . . .
Glamour queens
DIAMONDS NIGHTS The ladies from Kit Kat Lounge sparkle.
Anniversaries can be such a drag—and at Kit Kat Lounge, that’s not a bad thing.
By Rachel Devitt
Forget ogling strippers or getting sweaty with hot strangers at a dance club. The new bachelorette party activity of choice is hanging out at a transsexual female–celebrity-impersonator supper club. At least that’s what Kit Kat Lounge’s Madame X (pictured, second from right) believes, considering such parties make up about 70 percent of her business. Founded in 2000 by business and life partners Ramesh Ariyanayakam and Edward Gisiger, the sleek Boystown lounge serves gourmet martinis (try the Sake-it-to-me), kicky menu items like “Just for the Halibut,” and drag from artists like Madame X, Delores Van Cartier and Sandy Solis, who perform in the aisles between tables every 20 minutes or so while pop music by Madonna, Tina Turner and Shakira plays through the swank space.
On Wednesday 28, the club will mark its seven-year anniversary with an appropriately campy and chic celebration. From 6 to 8pm, the Seven Year Itch–themed fete will feature free martinis and appetizers. And naturally, Madame X, who’s been with the Kit Kat since it opened, will sing and dance between tables, showing off her signature impersonation: Marilyn Monroe.
What the Kit Kat has managed to do since openening is introduce a niche art form to the mainstream without alienating the LGBT community. The drag performances are decidedly queer, and yet the crowd the Kit Kat performers draw simultaneously overlaps with and broadens the demographic you’d find at, say, a drag show down the street at gay hangout Hydrate. “I’m actually kind of surprised we’re still around,” says Madame X with a warm, booming laugh. . . .
A lady describes the Beach's, um, trans-formation.
A lady describes the Beach's, um, trans-formation.
By Elyse Wanshel
November 22, 2007My mother was Italian — a Catholic — and my father was a German-Jew," explains Henrietta, her blue eyes wide under two pencil-thin brows. "Back in those days, when I was a kid, people didn't believe in mixed marriage. So when I came along and I was a gay boy, my grandmother said, 'See what happens when you mix blood.'" Henrietta is a mix, all right — 60-plus years old, full of sass and class, and topped by a five-inch quaffed bleach-blond wig, which is not quite a beehive but can easily be mistaken for one, complete with bangs and an elaborate Flock of Seagulls-esque flip that frames the right side of her blushed cheek.
She offers a man-handful of stories à la South Beach, aged for about 50 years and served straight up. "I haven't been out of drag since 1958. In '58 I changed and that was it."
Henrietta sits comfortably in a black fur-lined blouse and matching slacks at the tiki-theme Bungalow Bar at Twist (1057 Washington Ave., Miami Beach). She's unfazed by the herd of Gaiety Men, the bar's resident erotic dancers, who flutter (or waddle, depending largely on their muscle mass) about the small window-lined bar in nothing but orange plum-smuggling briefs and, more often than not, nipple rings.
One of the dancers, unabashed and well versed in the art of bumping 'n' grinding, go-gos on a small silver tinsel-backed stage. Under the glow of an amber light, which makes his tan skin glisten, the dancing queen slides his hands along his chiseled abs and slightly pulls down the top of his skivvies, revealing a thin line of black corkscrew pubes. He then sticks his hands in his pants and molests himself.
"Most of those guys have girlfriends waiting for them at home," says the handsome (and well-moisturized) Chuck Fancy, who I'm shocked to discover is knocking at 40. "They're basically in the same position as porn stars. Straight men go gay for the money. They do all this kind of stuff for tips." . . .
The challenges faced by the transgendered
National Transgender Remembrance Day, on Nov. 20, marks the deaths of those slain due to anti-transgender prejudices
November 20, 2007
About a year and a half ago, I arranged to meet a woman I will call Leslie (not her real name) at a Tim Hortons coffee shop on Yonge Street in Toronto. What distinguished Leslie from the other women sipping coffee there was that up until the previous year she'd been a man.
In fact, she'd lived a pretty normal suburban life. Married for 30 years to the love of her life, she had a couple of kids, a good job, and enjoyed a night out with the boys. But inside, Leslie had always felt she was a woman and I wanted to hear her story.
Before we met, my big concern was how I would relate to her. In my head, did I consider her a man or a woman? I figured if I communicated with her as a woman, which she was now, I'd feel pretty comfortable. I know how women think because I am one. I have no idea what's going on in men's heads though. At the same time, despite the fact that Leslie felt like a woman, she'd been in a man's body for nearly 50 years so she'd had the male experience, right? I put all that aside and decided she was a woman now and that's how I would relate to her.
When I met Leslie, she was attractive, soft-spoken and warm. "My gender identity was fixed from birth," she told me. "I struggled with it until I was in my late 40s, early 50s until I finally had to do something about it."
The physical aspect of the change had gone well and she felt comfortable as a woman. I asked her if she thought people treated her differently now that she was physically female, but she said no. The glitch was in her personal life.
Her wife, who she loved dearly and had stuck with her through her change, now just found it too difficult. As a heterosexual woman, she didn't feel comfortable with the physical aspect of loving another woman. When Leslie had changed sexes, she'd simply changed her body. Her mind had always been female. She didn't change her sexual preferences either. She'd always liked women. And her wife still liked men. . . .
Views: Remembering Two-Spirits This Weekend
by Rev. Irene Monroe
2007-11-21
As I prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am reminded of the autumnal harvest time’s spiritual significance. As a time of connectedness, I pause to acknowledge what I have to be thankful for. But I also reflect on the holiday as a time of remembrance—historical and familial.
Historically, I am reminded that for many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is not a cause of celebration, but rather a National Day of Mourning, remembering the real significance of the first Thanksgiving in 1621 as a symbol of persecution and genocide of Native Americans and the long history of bloodshed with European settlers.
I am also reminded of my Two-Spirit Native American brothers and sisters who struggle with their families and tribes not approving of their sexual identities and gender expressions as many of us do with our families and faith communities.
“Yes, there’s internalized homophobia in every gay community, but as Native Americans we are taught not to like ourselves because we’re not white. In our communities, people don’t like us because we’re gay,” Gabriel Duncan, member of Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits ( BAAITS ) , told the Pacific News Service.
And consequently, many Two-Spirit Native Americans leave their reservations and isolated communities hoping to connect with the larger LGBTQ community in urban cites. However, due to racism and cultural insensitivity, many Two-Spirits feel less understood and more isolated than they did back home.
But homophobia is not indigenous to Native American culture. Rather, it is one of the many devastating effects of colonization and Christian missionaries that today Two-Spirits may be respected within one tribe yet ostracized in another. . . .
Sex change cyclist
Santhi Soundarajan was born in poverty in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Today she is one of
But the Asian Games organizers have stripped her off her medal claiming she is more man than woman after Santhi failed a gender verification test. Now Canadian Olympic hopeful Kristen Worley a transsexual cyclist, has decided to fight for Santhi, who has been left to fend for herself by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Worley has taken up Santhi’s case, a victim of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, with International Olympic Council president Jacques Rogge.
Normally, women have two X chromosomes (XX) and men have an X or Y chromosome (XY) in their cells. The presence of XX chromosomes confirms the person’s female gender.
However, some people born with a Y chromosome develop all the physical characteristics of a woman except internal female sex organs, a result of a genetic defect that does not produce testosterone.
A person with this condition - called androgen insensitivity syndrome or AIS - might be XY but she is not a man because her body never responds to the testosterone she’s producing. Since testosterone helps in building muscle and strength, an AIS case would not give an XY female athlete any kind of competitive advantage.
Seven of the eight women who tested positive for Y chromosomes during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics had AIS. They were allowed to compete. Given the confusion and uncertainty over determining a person’s sex, the International Olympic Committee stopped gender testing in 1999. But the Olympic Council of Asia continues the practice.
Worley, a part of the Canadian Olympics team, herself underwent a sex change operation from male to female and believes that it was wrong on the part of the Olympic Council of Asia to take the medal back.
Worley has urged the Council to return the medal to the Indian runner. Worley said, ”the Santhi case should never have been handled in such a gross manner, amounting to public humiliation for the Indian runner because of their ignorance.”
While the Indian speed runner thanked the Canadian for taking up her cause and extending support to her and said, ”I was dejected when the Asian Games committee took back my medal.
I was worried whether I’d get my medal back. But now an international cyclist is supporting me, I feel very happy. I want to thank her.”
But Worley, according to a report in Gaywired, a netzine supporting the cause of gays, is fighting for the cause of Santhi and other victims of Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome (AIS), which results in the external physical characteristics typically associated with women despite having XY chromosomes, and wants the Indian athlete to get her Asian Games silver medal back.
Worley hopes to participate in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has been accepted, despite a sex change from male to female, as a member of the Canadian women’s cycling team. . . .
Transgender pair say they were barred from the Cheshire Inn; seeks explanation
Sharon DeWitt
by COLIN MURPHY
8-23-2005
A St. Louis area transgender woman says she and a friend were denied entry to an area restaurant and bar last month because the doorman said that their IDs did not look like them.
On the evening of July 3, Sharon DeWitt and her friend Lisa — both transgender — along with another friend, attempted to enter the Cheshire Inn restaurant and bar in Clayton around 1 a.m. According to DeWitt, she walked through the door past the doorman and security guard only to realize that her friends weren’t behind her, as they had been asked for identification by the doorman. DeWitt alleges that the doorman denied Lisa entry because her ID showed her as a man.
"They said, this doesn’t look like you and we’re not going to let you in," explained DeWitt. "And she would have probably just left, but I like to stand up for my rights. So I went back and I started a conversation with the guy and the guy wouldn’t let me in either."
DeWitt, a non-op transsexual, stated that she tried to explain the situation and asked to speak to a manager but was told by the doorman that he was the only one in charge. The trio then left and DeWitt states that she tried to contact the management of the Cheshire Inn by telephone several times but received no reply.
"We were properly dressed and over twice the legal drinking age," she said. "After two weeks of unreturned phone calls, I returned to the Cheshire in the hopes of talking in person to [the management] to see if in fact the policies are discriminatory, and if not, what action if any will be taken with their doorman."
On July 15, DeWitt states that she arrived promptly for a 7 p.m. reservation at the same establishment, was greeted by a different doorman, showed her ID and was allowed entry. After ordering a glass of wine, DeWitt said she then asked to speak to the manager on duty but was told that one was not there and that the other was busy in the kitchen. DeWitt reports that she then gave the bartender her card to give to the manager and has yet to hear back from the Cheshire Inn.
"It sounds to me like the Cheshire Inn has badly trained their staff if some staff are doing things one way and some staff are doing things another way," said Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. "That’s sort of bad hospitality. It’s clear that they have some holes in their training."
"The doorman who turned them away was badly trained, badly supervised or bigoted," Keisling continued. "That’s inappropriate, it’s un-American and it’s sad that a place like St. Louis, a place like Missouri where people are really good people and they want everybody to have a chance, they want everybody to be treated equally."
Still, this is not the first time that a Cheshire Inn establishment has made the news for their door policies. In 2003, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that the Cheshire’s Fox and Hounds pub denied entry to two African American men because the bar had a "no dreadlocks policy."
Several phone calls from the Vital VOICE to Cheshire Inn management regarding their door policy were not returned by deadline.
"You should be able to look at me and see that that’s me," said DeWitt. "I’m not made up that much. I’m not a drag queen … I think the door man was acting on his own. But like I said, I think it was a lack of training on their part of instructing employees of what to do."
According to Keisling, the questioning of IDs has always been a problem with transgender individuals, on occasion, but has gotten increasingly worse in the post 9/11 world.
"It’s one of the things that some folks in the United States are doing out of fear that really has absolutely zero positive impact on fighting terrorism," said Keisling. "And that’s allegedly what it’s aimed at but most of the 9/11 attackers had appropriate ID. That wasn’t the problem. It wasn’t whether or not they had ID, it was about their motivation, it was about their capabilities, and there’s no reason to think that anybody’s gender had anything to do with that."
DeWitt, who goes out regularly to several straight establishments in St. Louis County said that she has encountered few, if any problems, and that this was a rare and isolated incident but wanted to bring it to the attention of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) community. Her personal situation illustrates that there are many ways in which transgender persons mesh their lives with their true identities.
"I’m not on hormones and not planning on going through the change because of circumstances in my life. I am married and love my wife and don’t want to get a divorce — and she didn’t want to live as a lesbian — so I’m with her as a male and then I get out three times a week; once in a while during the day, but not too often; and when I’m out, I am Sharon."
Finding acceptance in the world, as well as at home, has been an unexpected bonus. "Normally I go out to a lot of the little bars out here in the county and I’ve rarely had a problem," she said. "I’m surprised at how open people are.". . .
