Donna Rose: My Trans-America - Part 2

Over Nov. 1-4, 2007 I traveled across country from Rochester NY to Washington DC to Phoenix AZ. This is Day 2, a 1000 mile drive starting in Wash. DC and stopping in Little Rock AR around midnight. The scenery across Virginia and Tennessee was beautiful - rolling hills, autumn colors, sunny skies.

This is a copy of my Trans-America video saved as a Divx file before uploading. I'm testing the various upload options to figure out which converts best.

Evolution Tips the Balance in Mom's Favor

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

12.12.2007


WEDNESDAY, Dec. 12 (HealthDay News) -- Given that a woman's abdominal mass increases by a third during pregnancy, it's a miracle that such a significant shift in gravity doesn't have her tipping over during her final trimester.

Now, a new study describes a surprising set of anatomical reasons why the delicate balancing act works.

According to researchers, the female spine has evolved differently, most likely to accommodate the tremendous demands of pregnancy. Without these evolutionary adaptations, women would probably experience even more back problems than they already do during the gestational period.

"The maternal center of mass shifts forward about three to five centimeters during pregnancy, so that it's no longer beautifully aligned with the hips and feet," said study author Katherine Whitcome, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University's department of anthropology who began the research as a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin.

Whitcome explained that the female body compensates for this shift in several ways. One is to recruit more back muscles. Solely using these muscles, Whitcome said, would quickly cause muscle fatigue and make women more prone to injury. Instead, the female back has evolved to allow three lower vertebrae to form a larger curve to support the growing fetus. In men, only two vertebrae form this curve, called lordosis, she explained.

Females also have a key hip joint that is larger and can flare out further, according to the study, published in the Dec. 13 issue of Nature.

"It's a nifty little package of adaptations. We see it in modern humans, but it's also apparent from the little bit of vertebral anatomy we see in earlier hominids," said Whitcome. "It seems part and parcel of the challenges of bipedalism [walking on two feet rather than four]." These changes would have allowed women in prehistoric times to continue to forage for food, as well as quickly avoid predators, she said. . . .

Katoey: An explanation

By Petteri Stenberg

1.5.2008


"Amazing Thailand" has become more like a slogan these days. And there is more than one valid reason for such an adjective being attached to Thailand in context of travel and tourism. As you travel to this great country, there are so many things to see, do, and participate in. Chances are high that you will also come across at least one ladyboy or katoey. As a matter fact, the presence of this katoey, which is like a nickname given to the Thai ladyboy, makes an increasing number of tourists consider Thailand to be a place so amazing.

There are several misconceptions about the presence of the ladyboy in Thailand. Many people think that this phenomenon is a result of the Western influence in the culture of Thailand. With the recent boom in tourism in the country, they feel, the concept of the katoey has been imported in the cities like Phuket or Pattaya. It is a totally wrong thinking. As a matter of fact, the real reason behind the presence of the katoey in Thailand in such a high proportion is the tolerant nature of the Thai society. They are allowed to express themselves and not repressed as is so common with so many nations.

Apart from the various aspects of sightseeing and the multitude of activities that you can get involved in once you are in Thailand, the idea of dating somebody too may creep in to your mind. And there is nothing wrong in it? Isn't it? After all, you are here to enjoy life. So you need to take it all the elements of vigor that it has on offering. You may also cherish the idea of experiencing a dating that will be unique and totally on of its kind. Well, in this connection let me tell you something that is very specific and unique to Thailand only. . . .

OPINION: EDITORIAL: Beware of the ‘Gender Identity’ Bullies

By Deacon Keith A Fournier
1/8/2008

Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Rather than seeing our gender as a gift and a given, this movement tries to place some perceived power over sexual identity in the hands of individuals so that they can make their own decision as to whether they are men or women; or even change their minds regularly on the subject.

LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - In December of 2007 the City of San Francisco, California was featured in USA Today for its plans to issue municipal identification cards to all of its residents.

In an age concerned with security, one might have thought that move was an attempt to ascertain whether the residents were illegal immigrants or intended to uncover some kind of potential security risk due to past undetected criminal behavior.

However, that was not the case.

The newsworthy aspect of the story was the fact that this City, known for its “avant-garde” approach to so many things, had decided to eliminate the denotation of whether the carrier of the card is male or female. In other words, gender is no longer a factor in San Francisco.

Rather than seeing our gender as a gift and a given, this movement is a part of a growing effort to place some perceived power over sexual identity in the hands of individuals so that they can make their own decision as to whether they are men or women; or to change their mind regularly.

These new municipal identification cards will contain birthdates and photos. However, they will not indicate whether the holder is male or female. Why? Because the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco have determined that to do so is somehow "discriminatory'.

So called “transgender” activists added this provision to the ordinance.

Let’s begin with a simple definition.

Transgender" is a term in vogue with some proponents of a new Cultural Revolution who want a new “right” to determine whether they are male or female, or a little bit of both. The term includes cross-dressers, transvestites and transsexuals. Anyone who does not agree with what transgender activists like to call their “birth sex” are to now have a right to determine differently. And, to disagree with their determination will subject you to the police power of the government.

As with many of the issues in this new Cultural Revolution, there was a public interest legal group associated with the effort. The “Transgender Law Center in San Francisco.” Kristina Wertz is the legal director of the group. She was quoted by the paper as saying "The card really makes gender a non-issue." . . .

Notes from the Trans Leadership meeteing with HRC Joe Solmonese

1/5/08 San Francisco

lobolance's journal


(I wrote this yesterday, as a letter to my ftm group)

I am just returned from the meeting the HRC called with San Francisco
trans community leaders. I am very grateful to Cecelia Chung of the
Transgender Law Center for bringing me in. Yea for south bay
representation. :-) (I feel like I say that a lot in all of my
communities ;-) )

There were about 50 San Francisco area transgender leaders present, in addition to a few people from HRC.

This will probably be long. Fair warning. And I don't claim to not have any opinions. to say the least.

I'll start by saying, I am not feeling any better about the HRC than when I
went up there. I had a pretty open mind, meaning ready to listen. Not
'joyful' as some folks said they were, but ready to listen. I listened
a lot. I think it's time for me to (finally) investigate what it takes
to join the TLC.

Note: FTMI is now officially the Lou Sullivan Society.

Initially, Joe spoke. Joe started off with a two pronged apology, one part being
about poor communication at the height of the ENDA strategy conversion,
and the other part about acknowledging they caused a lot of pain by the
course they chose. He then spent some time explaining the legislative
process in DC.

He also said that he did not expect to change any minds
by the discussion today, though discussion was important; he knew that
actions had gotten the community into the state it is in, and it will
be actions that will get it out.

I'm just gonna list a lot of points next.

I don't have the numbers and stories to back up all the points; I was just taking general notes. If you're interested, check with the many tg services in San Francisco. This is just my experience and take on things. . . .

OPINION: Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut, Sometimes You Don’t

By Mike S. Adams

January 8, 2008


Sometimes I have a hard time sifting through my email and determining what is real and what is not. I’ve received lots of rebates from the IRS, lots of offers to hold on to the fortunes of rich African widows I’ve never met, and lots of offers from lonely housewives. I just assume all of those are fraudulent. But, for some reason, I decided to investigate a strange claim made by a group of angry citizens from Montgomery County, Maryland.

The concerned citizens who contacted me made the odd claim that their county had introduced and passed a new “gender identity” bill. The bill had disturbed many women because it would allow “men” to have open access to women's and girl’s public restrooms, locker rooms and showers by simply stating that they self-identify as (read: feel like) a woman.

The bill, proposed by the Montgomery County Council, alters the state’s existing non-discrimination laws by adding the phrase “gender identity” in order to protect transgendered “persons” and transvestites. One would expect such a proposal from a committee of professors in the so-called social sciences or humanities at a public university. But it is particularly shocking coming from a body of elected officials serving outside the state of Massachusetts.

Opponents of the bill rightly criticize it for this vague definition of gender identity: “An individual’s actual or perceived gender, including a person’s gender-related appearance, expression, image, identity, or behavior, whether or not those gender-related characteristics differ from the characteristics customarily associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth.” . . .

Georgie's story set for silver screen

NZPA | Tuesday, 08 January 2008

Hollywood might be calling, but Georgina Beyer's tale is no longer for sale.

The world's first transexual MP got a call in 2005 from Australian-based producers Sally and Roger Simpson, wanting to put Beyer's story on to the big screen, to which she agreed.

"I've had offers even since these people have been doing it - from American cable networks wanting to make the telly-movie and all of that sort of thing - but, thank god, this lot got me before I could be seduced by money."

However, Beyer said, as it was her life, the real appeal was in the quality of the movie. . . .

Overcoming gender

George Dvorsky

Sentient Developments

Jan 6, 2008

Your gender is a constraint. This is an inalienable truism, regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman.

We can no longer deny that males and females are profoundly different. The hallucination is over. Scientists and behaviorists are discovering that men and women differ not just physically, but cognitively and emotionally as well. These differences are not merely the result of gender-specific socialization; they are innate—the result of thousands of years of sexual competition and selection.

Your gender assignment and sense of sexual identity is an imposition. Like many of your other characteristics, you are largely the result of a genetic lottery that happened beyond your control. Consequently, you are in no small way predetermined. Your physical and psychological capabilities are very much constrained and dictated by your genetic constitution.

Sure, the environments that we find ourselves in and the ways in which we are socialized play a contributing factor to our health, personalities and broader perspectives. But let’s not fool ourselves, each and every one of us has characteristics that are forever limited by our genetic code. . . .

Transgender Army veteran Diane Schroer

CNN News reports on transgender Army veteran Diane Schroer and her discrimination case against the Library of Congress (Jan. 5, 2008)

Signatures due to block gender bill

Senate bill 777 still creating buzz

RYAN ORR

January 5, 2008

SACRAMENTO — A group trying to block the Student Civil Rights Act — recently signed into law — has until Monday to gather 433,971 signatures.

Proposed by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, Senate Bill 777 bans school texts and activities that would exhibit any bias against homosexuality, bisexuality, transsexuality and cross-dressing.

Gender, for instance, would mean sex, and includes a person’s gender identity and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth.

It would also define sexual orientation as meaning heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality. . . .

Concerning "Susan Stanton's Lonely Transformation"

by Susan Ashley Stanton

Like many people in the transgender community, I was shocked and disappointed when I read the recent article in the St. Petersburg Times entitled “Susan Stanton’s Lonely Transformation”. The St. Petersburg Times is an excellent newspaper and I consider Ms. Lane DeGregory to be a gifted writer and a personal friend so I am not sure how my words could have been so terribly misunderstood. Since the publication of this story, I have received hundreds of email messages from people all over the nation expressing their disappointment and anger for the hurtful and insensitive statements that have been attributed to me. Simply stated, this article is not an accurate representation of my beliefs concerning the transgender community or my experiences as a transgender person.

Due to the very public nature of my job as a government official and the national attention my termination received by the national media, I have tried to represent the transgender community with honor, grace and dignity. Instead of engaging in litigation with my former employer or becoming angry and bitter over the circumstance that caused my very public termination, I have attempted to use my experiences to educate the public of the transgender journey.

Many people have expressed their strong belief that I am not qualified to be a spokesperson for the transgender community. Admittedly, prior to my own experience becoming public, I had very limited interaction with members from the transgender community due to the public nature of my job and the need to keep my private struggles from becoming disruptive to my city and community. Unfortunately, for better or for worse, today I am often perceived to be the face of the transgender community. This is not a role I ever sought or have particularly enjoyed. However, it is appropriate that I clearly address the concerns expressed by so many people concerning my position regarding ENDA and being a member of the transgender community. . . .

Long-Term Treatment of Transsexuals with Cross-Sex Hormones: Extensive Personal Experience

Louis J. Gooren, Erik J. Giltay and Mathijs C. Bunck

Department of Endocrinology (L.J.G., M.C.B.), Vrije Universiteit University Medical Center, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Leiden University Medical Center (E.J.G.), Department of Psychiatry, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. L. J. Gooren, Department of Endocrinology, VU University Medical Center, De Boelelaan 1118, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: ljgooren@truemail.co.th.

Context: Transsexuals receive cross-sex hormone treatment. Its short-term use appears reasonably safe. Little is known about its long-term use. This report offers some perspectives.

Setting: The setting was a university hospital serving as the national referral center for The Netherlands (16 million people).

Patients: From the start of the gender clinic in 1975 up to 2006, 2236 male-to-female and 876 female-to-male transsexuals have received cross-sex hormone treatment. In principle, subjects are followed up lifelong.

Interventions: Male-to-female transsexuals receive treatment with the antiandrogen cyproterone acetate 100 mg/d plus estrogens (previously 100 µg ethinyl estradiol, now 2–4 mg oral estradiol valerate/d or 100 µg transdermal estradiol/d). Female-to-male transsexuals receive parenteral testosterone esters 250 mg/2 wk. After 18–36 months, surgical sex reassignment including gonadectomy follows, inducing a profound hypogonadal state.

Main Outcome Measures: Outcome measures included morbidity and mortality data and data assessing risks of osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. . . .

Gays, transgenders fight for legal protections in Utah

7 January 2008

Brock Vergakis - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SALT LAKE CITY -- Ariana Losco says she's just another suburban wife.

The Tooele woman drives a minivan, loves spending time with her family and shops at the local Wal-Mart. Her lifestyle, she says, is the epitome of ordinary.

But not everyone sees it that way. That's because Losco was a man until 1994.

When she took a job at a nursing home six months ago, she said she never imagined how hostile her work environment would become when co-workers learned she used to be male.

"It's been pure hell," Losco said, noting that her shifts have been cut as a result. "I've gone home many times crying, but I have to do it. I have to have a paycheck."

Under Utah law, discriminating against gay and transgender people is legal. Rep. Christine Johnson, D-Salt Lake City, wants that to change in one of the nation's most conservative states.

"If I'm not shaking things up, I'm not doing my job," said Johnson, one of three openly gay lawmakers.

Johnson said it's time Utah's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community fights back against years of hostility, highlighted by a ban on gay marriages and attempts to eliminate gay-straight alliances in public schools.

"It's very clear that if the LGBT community does not begin to act in an offensive manner that we will continually end up playing defense," she said. "I think the statewide community is frustrated with this unapologetic discrimination."

Johnson is sponsoring House Bill 89, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to a list of protected classes in the Utah Antidiscrimination Act.

There are 20 states that include sexual orientation in their antidiscrimination laws, and 11 of those include gender identity.

Johnson acknowledged that her bill will be a tough sell in Utah. Most lawmakers are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which considers acting on homosexual feelings a sin. . . .

Is it a boy or a girl?

5 August 2006

Stockholm - A hen in southern Sweden that has grown a rooster comb, tail and wattle and begun to crow is wreaking havoc in its henhouse, where the rooster, Henry VIII, is hopping mad, Swedish media reported on Friday.

"Henry VIII is bloody angry. The other hens are mostly just surprised but they seem to increasingly accept him or her," the owner of the henhouse, Christel Hammar-Malmgren, told the online edition of regional daily Blekinge Laens Tidning. . . .

Boston's First Transgender Legal Clinic To Open

......With liberty and justice for all

TRANSGENDER PEOPLE .

We invite you to join our stride towards justice

Beginning with our January 16^th kick-off celebration of

Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates,

a new legal clinic serving transgender people in Massachusetts.

WHAT: Kick-off celebration for Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates with guest speaker Mara Kiesling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality

WHEN: Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 6-8pm.

WHERE: JRI Health, 25 West Street, Boston. Take the Orange or Red line to Downtown Crossing stop or the Green Line Park Street stop.

Massachusetts Transgender Legal Advocates is a joint project between Cambridge Cares about AIDS, AIDS Action Committee, and the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.

For more information about the kick-off event or the legal clinic, please contact: 617.450.1353 or
TransgenderLegalAdvocates@gmail.com

Transgender student, SUU face dilemma

Appropriate housing debated; application remains incomplete

Samantha Arnold

1/7/08

Kourt Osborn, a sophomore sociology major from Kanab who has been living as a male, does not qualify to live in male on-campus housing because of failure to provide medical information defining him as a transgender person as well as his neglect to turn in the required application fee.

Born a female, Osborn previously attended SUU from fall 2004 to spring 2005 and lived in female on-campus housing.

Osborn then left SUU to start his transition in Philadelphia at a health center that specializes in transgender care, he said.

Upon his return to SUU, Osborn wanted to live in the male dorms, but said that after being open about his transgender situation, his housing application was denied by housing authorities because he was not able to fulfill certain medical criteria.

Dean O'Driscoll, SUU director of Marketing & Public Relations, said Osborn was not denied the right to live in male housing. His application was not considered because he failed to pay the required application fee.

However, Osborn said he did not turn in the money with his application because he did not want to be "promptly denied."

"I was afraid this would happen, and it did," he said. . . .

Storm Florez

"Originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, Storm Florez is an FTM, genderqueer singer/songwriter, poet, duct tape and performance artist, and live tranny porn producer who now lives in the Bay Area.

Storm has performed his music and spoken word across the US and co-produced and performed in the pornarific cabaret Trans as Fuck in San Francisco in 2004 and in West Hollywood in 2006.

Storm has featured at the National Queer Arts Festival: Intercourse (2001), Viva La Joteria (2004), Home Queer Home and Transforming Community (2007)."

A man in lipstick, high heels?

New county law says its OK

January 4th, 2008

By John Johnston

County Commissioners have unanimously approved new rules that prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on gender identity or expression.

The amendments to county ordinances add gender identity to a list of protected classes that include race, sex, color, religion, national origin, handicap, familial status, sexual orientation and marital status – in sum, so-called “transgendered” or “transsexual” persons are now protected.

Which would, according to Commissioner Mary McCarty, permit a man to come to work in high heels and lipstick, and not be subject to any official reprisals.

What will upset opponents is that the rules apply to both the public and private sectors. The new laws cover most real estate transactions, together with both public and private employers with 15 or more employees. And it went into effect New Year’s Day. . . .

Bolivia to protect gays in constitution

January 2008

by Rex Wockner

Bolivia is set to become the sixth nation to ban anti-gay discrimination in its constitution.

Article 14 of the finalized text of the planned new constitution states: "The State prohibits and punishes any form of discrimination based on sex, color, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, origin, culture, nationality, citizenship, language, religious creed, ideology, political affiliation or philosophical beliefs, marital status, economic or social status, type of occupation, level of education, disability, pregnancy, or other factors that have the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of the rights of everyone."

Once ratified, the constitution will become the first in the world to protect transgender people. . . .

A Tale of Two Susans

January 4, 2008

(cross-posted at Pam’s House Blend)

I’m spending part of my winter break getting rid of piles of paper. Those in the trans community who have had the pleasure/misfortune of entering any place I’ve lived know how, umm……, out of hand my piles of research can get (ask Gwen Smith; she saw the original Casa de la Kat a decade ago - and none of the succeeding Kat Boxes have been less paper-laden.)

Well, I’m trying to get them out of the physical space of my office and into my computer - via scanner.

I am getting there….

Trust me.

Now - on with our regularly scheduled rant:

One of the scraps o’ paper I just ran across is an article about a transsexual named Susan - who had a rather public, political life prior to transition and who has had occasion to say some things trans since her transition that have rubbed some trans folks the wrong way.

Unlike Susan Stanton, however, Susan Kimberly earned the right to mouth off.

No, she doesn’t need my approval on that point - and I imagine I’ll get an e-mail to that effect at some point. However, I’ve earned - in my own way - the right to mouth off. . . .