The
Queens Throne by Marisa Richmond
Tennessee Vals Newsletter
November 1999
Upcoming Group Meetings & Events Future Board
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In This Issue:
The
Queens Throne by Marisa Richmond
marisaval@aol.com This is my first column back as Board Chair in over four years. When I stepped aside in April 1995, I felt it was important for the continued growth of the Vals to have others get involved and not have things revolve around me. I feel that has been borne out by events. I actually ran for Vice Chair this spring because it was the one board position that had no responsibilities and I figured I was quite capable of doing absolutely nothing this year. I was aware that Jennileigh was looking for a new job in Atlanta and could move before the year was out thrusting me back into the Chair's position. I was hoping that would not happen, but unfortunately for me, it did. Still, I will try and make the best of it between now and April. I can also state unequivocally that I will not be a candidate for Board Chair at that time. This gives all of you plenty of time to think about your own contributions to the rest of the group and consider getting more involved and learning about what we do and how we do it.
One thing I am looking forward to this month is the resumption of the basketball season. The recent victory by the U.S. in the Women's World Cup has certainly helped smash a lot of gender stereotypes, and the continued growth of women's basketball at both the amateur and professional level (alas, without the Nashville Noise and the three drunken lesbians who sat next to me last season...) is a major part of this. We in these parts are especially fortunate that the state of Tennessee can truly be called the center of the women's basketball universe. In case you have not noticed, the last four Division I champions had head coaches with strong Tennessee ties: Pat Summitt (Cheatham County; UT-Martin) and Carolyn Peck (Jefferson County; Vanderbilt Univ.). And while Chamique Holdsclaw is no longer showcasing her talents in Knoxville, we here in Nashville and throughout the state have plenty of good athletes we can watch, support and, yes, even emulate.
This month also marks another important anniversary. Believe it or not, it has now been ten years since the opening of the Berlin Wall. I remember sitting in a cousin's house in Kansas (the state whose government decided that its students do not need to learn science) watching a scene I never imagined would occur in my lifetime. Over the centuries, many cities have had walls built around them for defensive purposes. In other words, they were designed to keep invaders out. The Berlin Wall was unique in that it was built to keep people in. The Berlin Wall was a very tangible symbol of the Cold War even though it was only made of plaster and steel. Unfortunately, many of us continue to build our own walls around ourselves that are every bit as sturdy even though they have no physical substance. I am, of course, talking about the limitations we place on ourselves as transgendered individuals. Our walls, called "closets", are just as powerful in preventing freedom of expression as the Berlin Wall was. Fortunately, the Berlin Wall is just a memory and broken up into pieces for museums and private collectors. I hope each and every person does the same to their walls and exposes themselves to the fresh air of personal freedom.
It is quite encouraging to see more and more people tear down their walls and come out and find themselves. While many local support groups have reportedly become stagnant, the growth of gender websites and chat rooms on the Internet is helping us reach more. For those who actually wish to come out, however, events like the recent Southern Comfort Convention have become increasingly important.
Obviously, I have returned from Hotlanta, although the car problems I experienced along I-75 in northern Georgia made me wonder if I would ever do so. Anyway, this year's event was simply incredible. Our second year in the new hotel encountered fewer apparent problems. But what makes that statement even more amazing is the fact that on the Saturday finale, we had nearly 600 people, making it the largest gathering of transgendered people and their supporters ever. The previous record was set at SCC '98. The energy levels began on a high note when there were approximately 200 congregated in the bar on Wednesday night! We all knew then and there that something special was about to happen, and it did. The programming was diverse and excellent and each of the keynote speakers, Gwen Smith, Sam Allen, Chris Wells, Dallas Denny and Riki Ann Wilchins were all fabulous in their own individual ways. And I do mean ALL.
Along the way, I met a number of interesting people. One was Caren Daniels of Tampa, who had badge #1, meaning she was the very first person to register for the convention. Another was Diane Arnold, who was recently elected to office in her hometown of Fort Lauderdale as an open transgendered person. There was also Alex (whose last name I failed to get), who is a Drag King from New York. He got me out on the dance floor at The Chamber and did not have to resort to flogging to get me to say yes...this time. I also enjoyed meeting the young man from Pakistan (whose name I am not going to try and spell) who is now a student in Arkansas who wore his father's old Pakistani Army uniform to the banquet. He looked quite elegant and it is probably safe to say nobody in the Pakistani government could have ever pictured their military uniforms being worn to a celebration of transgendered identity. There were countless others who either remembered me from previous years, or who read my columns and wanted to meet. Interestingly, of the ones who say they read me, few ever say I made them laugh, I made them cry, or they want to rewrite their will and make me their sole beneficiary. Oh well.
Of course, with an event of that size, it was impossible to talk with everyone. At times, I did feel like I may have run by people too quickly who may have wanted to chat. If you were one of those people, believe me, it was nothing personal and I sincerely apologize if I did not slow myself down. Nothing I did there was so important that it could not wait for me to talk to someone who wanted to say "Hi." Every year, I pledge that I will do better, but I always sense that I may have blown by some people a little too fast. Sometimes, you just have to grab me and force me to slow down. Don't be shy about approaching me and asking me if I have a few minutes. You might discover that I may be shyer than you are. Those who know me best know that the best way to catch me is to find me at the bar. If I have a cocktail in my hand, I ain't going nowhere.
Among those I did not get to meet were the reporter and photographer from Marie Claire. They are doing a story on the transgender community and Southern Comfort in particular. We will keep you informed about their story when it appears.
There were two negatives that deserve mention although one is quite minor compared to the other. The environ-mental system in the hotel seemed to have a mind of its own and really needs to be fixed. Sadly, however, Southern Comfort had its first ever death. Barbara Richards of North Carolina passed away on Saturday morning. Her spouse, Peggy, actually stayed long enough to hear a brief eulogy read at the start of the banquet that evening. It was also sad that we did not have Robert Eads with us, but I felt his spirit was still there with all of us who had ever been touched by him, and if you knew Robert, you were touched.
There was one funny moment that occurred just before the banquet. Julie and I were roommates and she had purchased a date with a member of the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus for the banquet. Tommy knocked on our door at 6:30 for what Julie thought was a 7:30 date. It would be an understatement to say there was panic in the room. I also noticed something else as I was leaving on Sunday. There quite a number of men carrying bags in the hotel halls, asking each other "When Will I See You Again?", and virtually all of them were wearing baseball caps. With apologies to Jami Ward: You might be a crossdresser if you spend hours styling wigs, but will not take two minutes to comb your natural hair.
When you do have a community that is growing like ours, and is filled with so many alpha personalities--you have to be strong to stand up and tell the world that you are not ashamed to be different--it is not surprising that divisions emerge. We do not all get along. Some are based on personalities, while others are fundamental differences in focus or style. I was aware of a number of issues being discussed by various parties in Atlanta, but since I was not directly involved in any of them, I purposely kept out of all of them. I just hope we who are identified as leaders remind ourselves that we have bigger battles to fight outside the gender community and can learn to work out differences. Otherwise, we weaken our ability to achieve our common concerns and risk throwing away the advantages created by such gatherings.
Anyway, I had a blast in Atlanta and I am very much looking forward to next year's 10th edition which is already set for September 26 to October 1. But you better hurry and register now if you hope to beat Caren Daniels....
The week we returned was Nashville's Pride Week. Although The Vals did not plan any specific event due to the short turnaround time after Southern Comfort, several of our members did make it downtown for the Pride Rally, March and Picnic. This year's March went noisily down Broadway right in front of the tourists and the area's honky-tonks which have recently been ordered to tone it down. How ironic! Anyway, I marched directly behind the Lion Queen float with Bianca Paige and Dakota St. James. It was fascinating watching many tourists, and perhaps even a few locals, photograph a scene they never expected to see in Nashville. It just goes to show you should never stereotype anybody or any city. The only negative came the next day when our sorry excuse for a daily newspaper (a.k.a. The Tennessean) had just one small photograph and three brief sentences. Maybe we would have gotten better coverage if we had not scheduled against college football. Of course, Vanderbilt fans are notoriously apathetic--assuming there really are any Vanderbilt fans....
Finally, look for the opening on November 24th of a new film called Flawless. I found this rather succinct description in The Tennessean: "Robert DeNiro is a former cop who takes singing lessons from a drag queen." Verrry interesting.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving..
Wigged Out by Jennileigh Love Midnight Train to Georgia
Ha! You just thought you had read the last of me.
Well, let me tell you something, readers... if we can have a columnist living
in Louisville, Kentucky we can certainly have one in Atlanta, Georgia. I
can't promise a regular column from now on, but I've certainly had a lot
to write about this month.
Most of you know I've been in the process of relocating from Nashville to Atlanta. Yes, I'm trading in my Old Hickory Boulevards for Peachtree Streets. The move has not been an easy process. The word "move" comes from the Latin word "movus" which means "pain in my anus."
Casualties of the move so far:
-- 2 comic book collector's box lids. Blown out of the truck somewhere near Smyrna, Tennessee.
-- 1 chest drawer. Slid out of the chest and hit Ironwood Drive in Nashville. Repairs imminent.
-- 1 backpack. Apparently it was the most appealing place for one of my cats to pee in the cab of my truck. Washable (thank God). My checkbook isn't. Checks that smell like cat pee make paying bills lots more fun. :) -- 1 RCA 27" TV. Dropped and hit the ground, but seems to be okay. Still shows ESPN. -- 1 cat. Tried to escape the truck at a Georgia rest stop. Quickly recovered and scolded. -- 1 tired crossdresser. Enough said.
So you can see it's been a long process. As a result of the move and a lot of time spent on Interstate 24, I am convinced that "Chattanooga" is a Cherokee word meaning "Left Lane Closed Ahead."
I did manage to move my stuff quickly enough to Atlanta in time to enjoy the 9th Annual Southern Comfort Convention (http://www.sccatl.org). As the co-chair of last year's con, I was extremely busy, but this year I was able to enjoy the conference more. My good time was hindered on the final day of the con by a bit the flu. Apparently, I can manage a con of 500 transgendered people, but my body can't manage the bacteria they all bring in. I want to especially thank Sabrina Marcus for chairing this year's con and putting up with a lot of flak over the past year with her usual grace. Besides all the usual SCC folks, I really want to recognize Chris Wells, Amy "Princess" Alley, Celia Bennett, Sherri Parker, Shannon Poole, Kathy Taylor and Beverly Ann Blount for really stepping up and contributing this year. Thanks ladies, you are all class acts and your work does not go unappreciated.
Unbeknownst to many, lurking in the midst of this year's conference were reporters from Marie Claire magazine. They had contacted us about doing a story on Southern Comfort and I look forward to seeing the article they publish.
While the number of attendees this year was slightly larger than last year, we did not get the growth we had anticipated. This is not inherently a bad thing because as the con gets larger, it's harder to manage. I was especially warmed by the many positive comments that have been circulated about SCC after the con though the web page guestbook and by email. It really makes me see how important it is to continue Southern Comfort's proud tradition into future years.
In October, Cindy and I went to the Atlanta Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, held at the posh Phipps Plaza. Films are shown over an entire weekend, Friday through Sunday, and we picked a few really good ones. The Trio, a German film, featured a love triangle between a father, his daughter and a bisexual man. The festival also showed serialized episodes of the British television show Queer as Folk, a drama which chronicled the lives of gay men with brutal realism. The storylines covered controversial issues in the gay community such as man-boy love relationships, drug usage, promiscuity and donating sperm to lesbian couples. The absolute must-see of the festival was Beefcake, a hilarious semi-factual documentary about homoeroticism in muscle magazines of the 1950s.
Until next month, folks, have a great Thanksgiving.
Left of Center by Pamela DeGroff Part Two of Two
Dana Russo, a post-op transsexual drummer from Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada, has had her share of press coverage this year. In an
Edmonton Sun article, written by Mike Ross, Dana is described as
being "brave enough to put herself on the line and tell her story in a
newspaper." Telling her story in the paper is just the tip of the proverbial
iceberg, however, when it comes to what she has had to put up with simply
to follow her chosen career--that of a professional musician.
Q. An article in The Edmonton Sun stated you briefly played in a Christian band. Could you tell us a little about this? Do you have any personal religious convictions?
A. I had a bad experience with a country Christian band. They were total hypocrites. Practice what you preach, that's my conviction. If you're going to judge people, you're not a very good Christian. That's the bottom line on that. They were very unfair to me. They fired me with no notice. They were a very good band, but bad people to work for. I'm Roman Catholic myself, but they didn't stand up to their Christian beliefs. So I think they're hypocrites.
Q What would your advice be to a young transgendered person who is just starting to realize they're a little different?
A. Think really wisely. Look in the mirror long and hard. There's some harsh realities out there, like physical stature. I'm not a petite woman myself. You gotta be prepared for all facets of it. Can you make a living? Are you gonna equal an emotional life that you had? Is your life so bad the way it is that maybe you can't get by else-wise, being a transvestite. The difference between a transvestite and a transsexual is that the transvestite can't wait to get home. The transsexual can't wait to be themselves. A true transsexual, to me, goes and does it because they got to. It's a battle, but weigh it out, and if you really, really have to, then take your chances. Check thing out for a couple of years before you undergo any surgeries.
If you make a decision, it better be the right one, because you're dealing with your life. There's a lot of fantasies in the community. They leave out a lot of reality. You better really, really think about the future. I cant stress that enough. It's not an easy path.
Q. What would your advice be to an older person who already has a career gong, and knows they're transsexual, but hasn't done anything about it yet?
A. For an older person with a career, you better be prepared to lose it. You better have a pretty good bank roll. I'm lucky: I'm self employed, I play drums, I get by. People hire me, so I am lucky. But I lost what I had. People are scared of the transsexual; it's hardcore reality in their face. They don't want to look at it and they don't want to look at themselves. If you have any indecision's about this, don't do it. Live with a comfortable balance if you can. If not, well, seek some help.
Q. What is the overall attitude towards transsexuals, in particular, and transpeople in general, like in Canada? How does it differ, if it does, from the attitudes in the states?
A. I think attitudes are a one on one decision that every person in the world makes. Yeah I like that; yeah I don't. Conditions in the middle mean they don't. I think that conditional acceptance is bullshit. If you say. "This person is cool, I like that, I like them, it don't matter." That's no conditions. That's a one on one decision people are gonna make. Most people in the world aren't educated enough to know you are a person and not a freak, or a flamin' homo, or a faggot, or whatever.
Anything that's different is feared by people. We have to expect that, too. We're gonna provoke some fear in people. Some will shy away. But the one's who make a decision and say yeah, it's good, those are the ones who will be with you for life. The ones that don't, don't want to live with you. Chances are, eighty percent don't want to live with themselves.
I think in Canada, we're quite lucky. It's a less violent part of the world.
After traveling around in the States, things are a lot more flamboyant, with the queens and all that. But when it's a friend or a next door neighbor, then it's a one on one decision.
Q. What's your attitude towards hate crimes?
A I think it's awful. I come from a sort of redneck part of the world. Sort of like your North and South Dakota, you know: let's go beat up the faggots. That's bullshit. I think all crime is bad. If you have to hate people or demonize people because they're different, then there's no room for that.
Q. Care to talk about the band, the Smokin' Aliens, that you're with now?
A. It's real tough to land a tour up here because we're a little on the heavy side. It's been touch to make a living with the album banned. We're just gonna record the next album, take it around and see what happens. I've been traveling and doing some freelance stuff. The Smokin' Aliens is a great bunch, though. No prejudice in this band at all. I think rock and roll is where I need to be. I did all right in country music for a while, but became "marked" in it after a while. Rock seems to be the most accepting part of the music business.
Q. Are you in a personal relationship with anyone presently? How's it working out?
A. I was in a relationship for close to five years. It blew up a couple years ago. Lot of variables, just didn't work out. Looking for a boyfriend right now. I find I'm a psycho magnet. It's hard to find a normal guy out there who just wants to be with a transsexual drummer.
Q. What are Dana's personal goals? By that, I mean where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
A. I made up my mind when I was 16 years old that I could play drums for a living. That goal hasn't changed, I just need to make a little more money, and have a little less sporadic type gigs. I'm a high risk drummer. That's where I'd like to be in five or ten years, sittin' on top of a good rock band, playing a lot of golf, sock some money away. After that, I'd like to be a cobbler and design some shoes. It's crazy, but I like the shoe maker aspect of life. That's definitely what I think I'd do if I wasn't playing drums. I'd find an old guy to teach me how to be a cobbler before the art dies out.
Q. Are you mentally prepared to face life as an old woman?
A. Never thought about this, but, oh yes, very, very much. Thinking about the future, I plan to be there, so that's the first step. And yeah, I'm in it for the longevity, and hopefully have a happy, long life, but yeah, it scares me very much. Maybe I won't have someone to look after me when I'm older. You know, what will I look like? I think everyone should try to keep as youthful and positive as possible. Try to keep yourself healthy before the old age sets in. If you're not happy at that time, well, it's too late anyway.
Q. Any famous last words?
A. Those that really, really gotta do this on the inside, will find a way, no matter what, and be strong and live a happy life. And those that want to do it, but have some questions, they should get those questions answered. Basically, just let everyone live. I don't think that we should bother anyone and that anyone should bother us.
Throughout the course of this interview, and the one I read in the Edmonton Sun, Dana's positive attitude always comes through. At the end of the cassette tape she sent me, she asks, "Why would you want to ask me all this? I'm just a redneck chick from Alberta."
Redneck chick status aside, it's important for all of us in the transgendered community to realize that we need each other, that we can learn from each other, and that we are never, never alone.
"I just want to be part of society," Dana said in the "sun" interview. "I'm not trying to fool anyone. As long as I'm not fooling myself, I'm OK. If I'm fooling other people, that means I'm trying to fool myself, first of all, and that means pretty much nothing but death. A lot of transsexuals end up dead. I just lost a music career."
I don't think Dana is fooling herself. Her honesty may have cost here some gigs from time to time, but she's still working in her chosen profession. That, in and of itself, is a major accomplishment or any transsexual, in any field. And I hope that doing this interview makes her realize that our community is a large, very diverse, family.
Do a drum solo for me, girlfriend.
Editor's Note: Pamela was
one of the two hundred who attened the meeting Rev. Mel White set up between
members of the GLBT community and Rev. Jerry Falwell's followers.
"We were ambushed!"
These were the words of Rev. Mel White, founder of Soulforce, on Saturday night after the dinner with Rev. Jerry Falwell and his supporters. Other phrases people were muttering included "con job", "cheated", "made fools of", plus a few things we can't print in this publication.
The weekend started on Friday night at First Christian Church of Lynchburg. Pastor Roger Zimmerman and his congregation provided their church to be used as a central meeting place, where meals were also served, and training sessions were held.
Rev. White brought Soulforce to Lynchburg, Virginia, to confront the Rev. Jerry Falwell's hate speech rhetoric.
The organization, Soulforce, was started by Rev. Mel White in 1993, along with his partner Gary Nixon. Soulforce is named for Gandhi's teaching of "satyagraha", a term meaning "truth force", or "Soulforce". Gandhi himself defined this as a plan of action that developed inner lives, while working to transform society. Soulforce principles were instrumental in guiding many nonviolent justice movements, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s fight for racial equality.
The Soulforce mission is determined to end the suffering of God's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered children. It aims to change the minds and hearts of religious leaders whose hate campaigns have lead to incredible suffering in our community. Soulforce is determined to be guided in every action undertaken by the principle of relentless nonviolent resistance as lived and taught by Gandhi and King. In this process of bringing hope and healing to our society, we can find the redirection and renewal of our hearts, minds, and spirits.
When Rev. White addressed the assembled delegates on Friday night, he was faced with a group of people whose emotions ran the spectrum form optimism to apprehension. "You know you went through hell to get here," he told us. "If you ever looked at a map of Lynchburg, you know what I'm saying. You have worked hard. You have spent money you don't have. You have wondered, why in the world am I doing this. But you're here, and I want to tell you right now, Christ is here now."
Friday night's service concluded with a candlelight ceremony to honor the victims of hate crimes. Something really unique happened during this. There were one hundred photos of hate crime victims, each on a large poster board, with the name and story of each victim on the back. Rachell Wilhite, one of the Vals founding members, and myself, were sitting together. As each of these large poster size photos were placed in a pew, we noticed that the one of Tyra Hunter, the TG victim from Washington, DC, was placed right in front of us. Even stranger, the photo of Pvt.
Barry Winchell was beside us
across the aisle. I sort of felt it was God's way of telling us Transgendered
people are part of the family.
Besides Rachell and myself, there were only three other Transgendered persons there. Dr. Robert Gray, a transman from Dayon, Virginia, Sara Ann Sherrard from Charlottesville, Virginia, and Judy Osborne, from Seattle, Washington. I'm very proud to say we were made mention of all the time during the weekend. Every time Rev. White and others spoke, both to us and the media, it wasn't just "gays and lesbians" coming to Lynchburg, but "gays, lesbians, bisexuals AND transgendered persons."
So, what happened on Saturday to make Mel White feel ambushed? The event on Saturday was touted to the media as being a "dinner" between Rev. White's Soulforce supporters, and Rev. Falwell's people. However, no dinner was provided. Citing Biblical instructions, taken from more than one verse, not to "break bread with sinners", no dinner was provided. Instead, each table was provided bottles of water. I guess they thought it was okay to "water" the queers.
Falwell himself said the old cliche of "love the sinner, hate the sin", is just that, a tired, old cliche. His remarks were meant to be positive and even conciliatory. However, his blatant hypocrisy could have been cut with a knife. Falwell spoke of his church running a half way house for drug addicts and alcoholics, and a ministry for unwed mothers. These ministries provide food, clothing and shelter for these individuals. Aren't these people regarded as "sinners", too? Is not the providing of food for them the equivalent of breaking bread with sinners? Those of us in the GLBT community must be a special kind of sinner, then. My Bible says that "We ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Rom. 15:12) and "Judge not, that ye be not judged." (Matt. 7:1). In the book of Matthew, chapter 23, there is a long discussion of what hypocrisy is, especially by saying that "woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men." (Matt. 23:13) In other words, who are they to say we can't be Christians, or people of any faith, for that matter? It's not their choice to make.
Falwell sugar coated his remarks whenever he could. "Mel and I are buddies. He knows me best," he told us. "He has a hard time convincing his audiences I shouldn't be shot at dawn. But he tries, and I'm gonna try harder. He and I, together, to make a difference."
"You know all I've had to say," Rev. Falwell continued at one point. "What you see is what you get. Forty years from now, I'll still be preaching what I preach, and believing what I believe, but I hope showing love more that I have in the past. And I hope you're willing to accept that, and we're here for the glory of God."
The real blow, however, was yet to come. Rev. Falwell and his people, and Rev. White, and two Soulforce delegates, left the "dinner" for a press conference held with selected members of the media in Falwell's TV studio.
This is where the ambush happened. Mark Johnston, one of Falwell's staff members, and a self proclaimed "ex-gay" with AIDS, was one of the panel members. He originally was not scheduled to be a part of the press conference. He was included at the last minute, without prior knowledge of the Soulforce delegates.
"I did walk away from homosexuality in 1988 after 11 years," Johnston said. "In spite of what were admittedly deep and powerful desires, I had to conclude homosexuality was incompatible with the walk of Jesus Christ."
He went on to say. "When I came back to the church, I committed I was going to reach out with the same message that was given to me." He came out as an "ex-gay" in a series of national magazine and radio ads. He claims to have been flooded with hundreds of vile, hateful phone calls and an equal amount of hate mail. Perhaps the worst thing that has happened to him since announcing his "ex-gay" status, was being slammed beside the head with a blueberry pie in San Francisco. Makes me wonder if Barry Winchell would rather have been hit with a pie instead of a baseball bat. (Perhaps I shouldn't say that. Poor Mr. Johnston; after all, what good is pie unless you got milk.)
It was the deceptiveness of these two incidents, in spite of all the "warm fuzzy" talk from Rev. Falwell, that riled us all. As I've already stated, the hypocrisy was unbelievable. Then again, though, each one of us who participated in this weekend had to ask ourselves, "What do we really think will happen?" No one is naive enough to believe one weekend meeting will put a stop to hate speech and hate crimes. However, we have to start somewhere. Jerry Falwell has already taken some blows from his contemporaries on the Religious Right. He's being condemned by some of his own for doing this. At one point, he said, "I'm not going to answer my mail until this is over. And I have a bunch of mail. It's all from the people who pay my bills." He knows how to manipulate his audience. He needs to say the kind of things that the people who "pay his bills" want to here. More than once, he stated that his entire ministry budget is in excess of $100 million. That's more than some small countries. ("...and we couldn't even get a damned cracker!" Rachell Wilhite)
If he even starts to tone down the rhetoric, then well and good, the weekend was worth it. But we're going to be watching him closely.
On a personal level, I wish there would have been more than five Transgendered persons there. However, we were included. The media sought us out, and our concerns were heard. I'm proud to have been a part of this. And it's not over-there will be other Soulforce actions in the future. And they will have Transgendered representation. Count on it.
A Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead by Julie Phillips
Last month, I shared with you some emotional and heartfelt
observations regarding my Southern Comfort experience. Now that I'm back
home and settled into my normal routine, I find I've returned to my normal
sarcastic self. Ahh, it's nice to have me back! With that in mind, here are
a few of the less inspirational thoughts and recollections I have from Southern
Comfort '99:
-- In an earlier column, I discussed how I'd underpacked for the previous year's convention; I didn't want to bring too much for fear of looking like a clotheshound. (Of course I am, but that's besides the point.) When my roommate Marisa showed up with shoebox after shoebox after shoebox, I vowed then and there that I would not be so shy
about packing the next year. I'm proud to report that for Southern Comfort 99, it took five trips to get all my stuff from my car to my room. I felt like the lost Gabor sister!
-- The happening spot at Southern Comfort was the hotel bar. Any hour of the day or night, you could count on a crowd of ladies being down there. Here's the litmus test for determining if, perhaps, you have been spending too much time in a bar: just making eye contact with the bartender will automatically result in him pouring you another drink. Ray knew that "the look" meant "screwdriver time".
-- For my money, (and I mean that literally) if you don't participate in the Saturday afternoon "escort auction", you're missing out on the highlight of the conference. Prior to that evening's banquet, members of the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus make themselves available as dates for that evening's festivities. All you have to do is outbid the other girls for the man you want. (Don't worry, the gentlemen are really quite affordable. Just know how much you can afford to spend because, unlike The Price Is Right, Bob Barker is not there to stop you from overbidding.) When all the pricing games had ended and the big wheel had been spun, I had the pleasure of being escorted by a handsome man named Tommy.
Each of the last two years I've strolled into the banquet hall with a handsome young man on my arm. To paraphrase Leonardo DiCaprio, I felt like the Queen of the World!
The only snafu in the evening was when Tommy arrived at my room to pick me up an hour earlier than I expected. Being deadline driven, I wasn't nearly close to being ready. Panic-stricken, I cracked the door, wearing only my foundation garments and having only the lower part of my lip lined and rattled off something to the effect of "Oh hell! Come back in an hour!" He was very understanding and we went on to have a delightful evening. Who knew he was a good dancer; the man danced me sore! Plus, I've decided that slow dancing is very, very nice.
--I'd packed the swimsuit in hopes of making my annual pilgramage to the mighty shores of the chlorinated waters (aka, the hotel swimming pool). For the record, my swimsuit is a one piece. My unhealthy aversion to exercise in general, and sit-ups in particular, prevents me from donning a two-piece. Some of the girls did and I was equal parts impressed and envious. Armed with duct tape and determination, I was ready to join them for a little sunning by the pool, but the best laid plans of mice and crossdressers don't always pan out. How can I delicately say this....positioning is critical in a garment as revealing and form-fitting as a swimsuit. "Close enough" is not good enough, if you follow what I'm trying NOT to say. Perfection, alas, was not in the cards for me this year. I was taped and bandged tighter than Boris Karloff in a mummy movie, but it still didn't do the trick. After a half hour of fooling with this demon Nazi tape, I was irritated and frustrated and gave up on the idea. I had no choice but to put on a pair of shorts and head down to the hotel bar to soothe my frayed nerves. And yes, Ray remembered; he promptly poured me another screwdriver.
Before I Go
Vanderbilt Lambda, the campus's GLBT organization, held it's third annual drag show, in celebration of National Coming Out Day, on October 15th. While fraternities and sororities are having fun with Rush, the queers on campus are parading the city's most famous drag queens on the lawn outside of Wilson Hall. Life is good, ain't it?
It was great to see such a large and enthusiastic crowd--I'm guessing several hundred--as practically the entire casts of both The Chute and The Connection performed. The outdoor stage was huge, with the colors of the pride rainbow flowing in the background. DJ Ron, probably Nashville's best-known club DJ, was doing the music, and the show was emceed by Anthony Rapp--yes, THE Tony Award for Rent on Broadway Anthony Rapp. (www.anthonyrapp.com)
My all-time favorite Bianca Paige had to say a few words, naturally and, unlike last year, avoided the "F" word entirely. She asked how many in the crowd were queer: there was a big hand. She asked how many were straight: an even bigger hand. "We're outnumbered," she said. "We love straight people. You make more of us." She then encouraged them to get to work at that since she needed another date in eighteen years.
I ended up hanging with some friends I knew from the Wednesday night show at The Connection. I couldn't figure out why I was being ignored until I realized they had never seen me in boy mode. I keep forgetting that I'm incognito with half the people in any room, regardless of what I'm wearing.
I wish there had been a Lambda, or Lambda-type group around when I was in college.(Yes, we had electricity back then! It wasn't that long ago... just no GLBT groups.) Had I had contact with people and events like this, I might not have been the closet-case I was for so many years...but I'll save this rant for the therapist.
Finally
First it was Halloween, the crossdresser's favorite holiday, on both a Saturday
and a Sunday. Now, here comes another reason to take a day off: November
14th is RuPaul's birthday! Long live Miss Thang!
click to return to
top
NEWS TRANS-
MISSIONS news items, media mentions,etc...
President Cinton Cracks Down on Military in Wake of Winchell Murder
U.S. President Bill Clinton announced October 7 that he had signed an executive order amending the military's Manual for Courts-Martial to provide for harsher sentences for bias-motivated crimes, including anti-gay violence. He said in a statement that "the new rules provide that evidence that a violent crime was a hate crime may be presented to the sentencing authority as an aggravating factor in the determination of the appropriate sentence. As in the case of laws that apply in civilian courts, this rule sends a strong message that violence based on hatred will not be tolerated. In particular, the rules provide that the sentencing authority may consider whether the offense was motivated by the victim's race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, gender, disability or sexual orientation."
This and other amendments were made at the recommendation of an all-service panel of military experts and have been in the works for more than two years. The hate crimes sentencing enhancement was originally proposed by the Washington, DC-based Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which was founded in response to the implementation of the so-called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to assist gays and lesbians in uniform. There is no question that, like the "clarification" of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" guidelines issued earlier this year, the timing of the hate crimes order was spurred by the death of Private First Class Barry Winchell. Believed by his colleagues to be gay and harassed for it on a near-daily basis, Winchell was fatally bashed in the head with a baseball bat on July 5 in his barracks at Fort Campbell on the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Private Calvin Glover will face a general court-martial December 6 on a charge of premeditated murder in the case; the disposition of accomplice charges against Winchell's roommate Specialist Justin Fisher has yet to be announced... (Winchell had been dating Calpernia Adams, a performer in the drag show "Le Boy Le Femme" at The Connection in Nashville.)
-source PlanetOut 10/7/99 website:
www.planetout.com AOL KEYWORD: planetout
UPDATE: Topless Fire-Breathing Traffic-Stopping Trannie Sentenced
Last month, Ara Tripp made headlines as she climbed a Seattle power tower, took off her top, danced, breathed fire and generally made a spectacle of herself. Oh, and morning rush-hour traffic along the interstate came to a halt. Tripp agreed to plead guilty and will serve ten days in jail, plus serve 100 hours of community service. She said she was protesting laws that allow men to take their shirts off in public, but now women. No mention of how fire-breathing plays into this. -jp
source: various wire reports
Kevin...Miss Spacey If You're Nasty!
According to the N.Y. Post, accomplished thespian Kevin Spacey stormed out of a Miami radio station, refusing to do an on-air interview which he was scheduled for. The reason for the cancellation? He discovered the interviewer was RuPaul. Ru was special-guest DJ-ing on Miami's WPOW's morning show. Co-host Bo Griffin raced after the star and his entourage to find out what sort of hideousness had run amuck. One of Spacey's handlers reportedly shouted, "He has nothing to say to you!" It's merely conjecture, but Spacey apparently was cheesed off that Ru had spent the morning referring to him as "Miss Spacey". -jp
-source: N.Y.Post 10/11/99
Toilet Trouble: GG Women in Office
Have a Problem
A technician in a city office, who was once a man but now identifies herself as a female, has caused a stir among some other women employees.
Eight women in the Kansas City Public Works Engineering Field Office recently filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in Kansas City, Kan., over whether the technician may use the women's restroom.
The issue is whether the technician may use the women's bathroom in the field office. According to the complaint, the technician has started hormonal sex therapy, but has not yet had a sex-change operation.
The women said the city's handling of the situation is creating an "intimidating, hostile or offensive work environment." They declined to comment further Friday.
The complaint alleges that the technician worked for the engineering division as a contract employee for five or more years before being hired full time this summer.
"At some point in late 1998 or early 1999, he made it known to several people that he was going to have a sex change operation," the complaint stated. "By his own admission, he has not done so yet and it may be quite awhile before he does."...
Larry Frevert, deputy director of Kansas City's Public Works Department, said officials had met with all the employees involved in the dispute. He said the city had tried to accommodate both sides and was spending $30,000 to remodel the restroom.
Frevert said the stalls were to have been made completely private, with doors from ceiling to floor. But when he visited the facility recently he said the doors did not reach the floor. Frevert ordered new doors that will provide ventilation but still make the stalls private.
"Our staff will meet with the employees as early as Tuesday morning and let them know the doors will be replaced at full height to provide more privacy," he said.
Documents show the employee's name and gender were legally changed on the birth certificate in May 1998, saying the employee was transsexual and had begun living and working as a woman since March 1998.
The EEOC complaint stated that the technician began using the women's restroom in the building, to the consternation of the other women employees. They reported their concerns, and those of their husbands, to their supervisors.
After meetings with the city's law and human resources departments, the city began the restroom remodeling. The technician has temporarily stopped using it, but the women say that isn't sufficient.
"All of the females employed at that time reported that we did indeed have a problem sharing the female facilities with an anatomically correct male regardless of what name they went by... If we were forced to share the restroom we would leave the building and seek a restroom somewhere else," the complaint stated. "We requested a separate or unisex restroom be constructed."
Experts in the field say that a transsexual's transition to becoming a woman occurs before surgery. Many doctors require that the patient first undergo two years of dressing the part and taking hormones...
.-source: via GAIN, Witchita Eagle, 9/5/99
Rave Reviews for Boys Don't Cry, A Drama About Brandon Teena. Here's a Sample:
Kimberly Peirce, the director of the heartbreaking Boys Don't Cry, has been obsessed with the story of Brandon Teena ever since she read about his death in 1993. Brandon, born as Teena Brandon, was a 21-year-old Nebraska girl who passed as a boy dating women who found him an alluring lover. When his deception was uncovered in Falls City, where he had fallen in love with a girl named Lana, he was raped and beaten by Lana's old beau and his ex-con friend--both of who had been Teena's friends. Before the police got around to arresting them, they murdered him.
When I read about Brandon," the fiercely focused 32-year-old Peirce recalls, "I felt an immediate kinship. I was overwhelmed by the power of his desire to change himself into his fantasy of a boy. The absolute daring and courage to go and pull it off. So I thought it was my job to bring Brandon back to life and make sense of it for everybody."...
She knew that her film could be only as good as the actress who played Brandon. The audience had to believe that this girl could pass. On top of that, Peirce wanted us to fall in love with this brave, confused, uneducated birl/boy--much as she had.
Mission spectacularly accomplished. This taut, sure-footed first film...sidesteps sensationalism without sacrificing any of the story's wonder and horror. And in Hilary Swank, whose biggest claim to fame had been her role in Beverly Hills 90210, Peirce's three-year search for the perfect Brandon paid off big time. Swank is touching, beguiling and androgynously beautiful. Her chiseled face breaking out in a boyish grin, she conveys the raw delight of someone who is acting out one's dream version of oneself. Pierce doesn't shy away from Brandon's sociopathic side--he stole cars, used stolen credit cards, all in the service of his fantasy life--but it's easy to see why the women he dated fell for him.
As Lana, the gender-bending Romeo's Juliet, Chloe Sevigny has a pathos of her own. Sevigny, with her slow, lazy sexuality, makes this blowsy small-town girl oddly valiant....
-source: David Ansen, Newsweek 10/11/99
After landing the role, Swank embarked on a more dramatic physical transformation: She chopped off her hair and dyed it dark brown, then trained two hours a day building muscle and dropping what little body fat she had in order to accentuate her jawline......
For research purposes, Swank also invented her own male alter ego and lived as a man for 30 days in Las Angeles. "We would run into people that we knew as a couple," recalls Lowe. (Actor Chad Lowe is her husband.) "They would look at me, like, Aren't you going to introduce your friend?"
"I said to her, 'Go pass as a boy for four weeks," recalls Peirce, who served as a kind of drill sergeant during Swanks preparation. "And if you f--- up and people discover you, you better go back home and feel embarrassed. Feel terrified about what it means to be an impostor. Go home and look in the mirror and figure out what went wrong. Did you not bind your tits tight enough? Was your haircut wrong?"
"I don't think I was really prepared for what I went through," Swank says of her gender-bending research. "There were people who couldn't figure out what I was. They didn't look me in the eye. I was treated poorly by people in stores, people that I had known as Hilary. I cried for two days straight."...
Once production ended and Swank returned home to Los Angeles, it took a month "to totally detox Brandon out of my system," she says. "I had been stifling my own mannerisms for so long. I was scared I was never going to be all the way Hilary again."...
-source: by Dave Karger, Entertainment Weekly 10/29/99 website:
www.ew.com
Read Roger Ebert's insightful and rave review on his website:
www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert.html
When Boys Don't Cry comes to Nashville, you better catch it quick.
These small films usually stay just one week.
Seattle: Home to TG Protection
By a unanimous vote of the City Council on August 30, Seattle, WA joined a handful of U.S. cities prohibiting job and housing discrimination based on "gender identity." The move had been unanimously recommended to the Council by its Housing, Human Services and Civil Rights Committee, at the behest of the Seattle Commission for Sexual Minorities.
Transsexual and transgendered people had previously been included under sexual orientation in the city's human rights ordinance, but will now be covered under the broader term gender identity, which the Council felt served to clarify the existing law. Marsha Botzer, the founder of Seattle's
Ingersoll Gender Center who led the Commission's work on the bill, felt that the legislation would improve individuals' bargaining position in employment disputes. She empha-sized that gender identity is about identity and not about sex, and that others' fears dissipate as they learn this.
There are some restrictions on the transgender pro-tections: they do not force employers to accept cross- dressing on the job, nor do they force unisex use of bath-rooms and showers; employers can require documentation from a physician or other health care professional that the individual is transgendered.
Although the Council had anecdotal evidence of discri-mination against transgendered people, it did not have statistical information, but believed that fear caused the harassment and discrimination to rarely be reported.
-source: PlanetOut 9/7/99 website:
www.planetout.com AOL KEYWORD:
planetout
High School Confidential: Boys Demanding Right To Crossdress
A group of boys at Holdingford High School (St.Cloud, MN) is in an uproar over the principal's decision not to let them dress as girls. Principal Patrik Vandrovec said he banned cross-dressing because some people told him the act was offensive, especially when boys came sporting enormous breasts. The student council had approved the cross-dressing day as a homecoming week activity. "They did this every year," said senior Zack Weberg, lamenting that he couldn't dress as a woman. "Even the teachers were looking forward to it." Infuriating some boys even more was that girls could come dressed as men on Wednesday, although Vandrovec denied that the ban was just for boys. "The girls here dress in jeans anyway, so that's a moot point," Vandrovec said. Weberg said he was looking forward to the day and even spent $50 for his female attire.
-source: via Toronto Star 10/1/99
More High School CD-ing: Gay Student Wants to be Homecoming Queen
JaVonn Hicks, a 17-year-old senior, wants to run for homecoming queen. Accessories stand ready: lipsticks, curling iron and fingernail polish are strewn about his room. And at least one slinky dress -- a black one for the prom -- hangs in the closet.
But officials at Tampa Bay Vo-Tech say JaVonn, who prefers the term ``gender identity disorder'' to transsexual, can run if he wants -- but for king.
``It's something I really want to do,'' says JaVonn. ``I'm not ashamed of who I am. I want to set a precedent and show people no matter who you are or how you dress or look, you shouldn't be discriminated against. No student should be discriminated against.''
School administrators have allowed him to dress in drag since his sophomore year at Tech. There have never been problems, they say, and he abides by the same dress code as girls.
But Mark Hart, spokesman for Hillsborough County public schools, says the homecoming queen issue is different.
"It's not a sexual orientation issue," says Hart. "It's about equity. If there wasn't a category for him to participate, then he would have the right to be homecoming queen. He has the opportunity to run, because he's a boy, for king."
JaVonn, who says he gay, doesn't desire a sex-change operation. He adds that the student body, which votes for homecoming king and queen, should decide if he can compete for queen Oct. 23.
"The student body has been very supportive of him," says Principal Sylvia Albritton.
JaVonn began dressing like a girl since ``coming out'' to his family at age 15. "I really struggled with who I was," says JaVonn.
Over the years, he cut his wrists, tried to drown himself and swallowed all the pills in a bottle of Aleve. After JaVonn told his family about his homosexuality, his grades improved.
His mother, Angela, says he should have the right to run for queen. "I have to accept it; that's my son."
-source: Miami Herald 10/7/99 website:
www.herald.com:80/content/fri/news/florida
Brad
Pitt: Actor, Sundress Model
And you thought those W photos of Brad Pitt were pushing the envelope. In the latest Rolling Stone, Pitt, who bared his bottom in the much-talked-about W photo spread, shows off his physique in a different way, by wearing a series of clingy dresses. Yep, dresses.
After all that male-on-male pummeling in Fight Club, Pitt apparently wanted to get in touch with his feminine side. It was his decision to wear the dress for photographer Mark Seliger. "What am I going to do -- keep doing the same thing?" Pitt asks. "I couldn't just sit there and be a pretty guy again. We just wanted to create some other world -- some alternative to modern living."
Just sounds like more fodder for late-night talk shows, or Billy Crystal's Oscar-night parodies.
-source: Mr.Showbiz 10/7/99 website:
www.mrshowbiz.com
If His Medical Diploma is Printed in Crayon, Cancel The Appointment!!
With patients lured by dreams of a perfect body, plastic surgery is growing more popular in Peru. But some 2,000 unlicenced plastic surgeons have quickly turned those dreams into ugly nightmares, specialists say.
For many women and men, the operations result in disillusion and disappointment: noses remain curved, one breast is bigger than the other, backsides go flat or weight lost through liposuction is quickly regained.
The fake surgeons, who charge between $200 and $300, leave patients deformed, scarred, traumatized and in some cases, dead, warns Jorge Moreno, president of the Peruvian Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.
Nevertheless, many television and film stars admit to regular sessions under the plastic surgeon's knife.
Fulvia Celica, a transsexual television star, has confessed to not only undergoing a sex change operation, but admits to having had 35 operations on her legs, nose, face, eyelids, lips and chin. She also had her skin smoothed, breasts implanted and hair removed.
Moreno cautioned that of the almost 2000 plastic surgeons in Peru, 90 percent are not qualified to perform any kind of cosmetic or reconstructive surgery.
He said there are only 150 qualified plastic surgeons in Peru, of whom 120 belong to the society.
Moreno has asked the health ministry, police and medical licensing authorities for help in eliminating the fraud.
The fake surgeons have offices throughout Lima, Moreno noted, adding they advertise in newspapers offering impossible surgical remedies, such as removing 90 percent of body fat or 80 percent of wrinkles.
Moreno said a few weeks ago a patient came to his office for plastic surgery on her nose. After examining her, Moreno found the young woman had already been to a fake surgeon at least five times. "The young woman's nose looked like a scar, the tissue was destroyed, she didn't need a nose job, she needed a complete nasal reconstruction," he said...
Moreno called on people thinking of having surgery to investigate a doctor's qualifications to avoid being permanently deformed.
-source: Nando Media Agence France-Press 9/10/99 website:
www2.nando.net
AND HERE IN THE USA...
A doctor with a revoked medical license was found guilty of second-degree murder Tuesday (10/5) for amputating a man's healthy leg. John Ronald Brown, 77, was paid $10,000 to cut off the leg to satisfy Philip Bondy's sexual fetish. Bondy, 79, was frail from pneumonia and heart disease when he had the operation performed in May 1998 in Tijuana, Mexico. The surgery was so badly performed that the patient died of gangrene poisoning at a motel outside of San Diego two days later.
During his trial several transsexuals testified that they had suffered enormous pain from botched procedures Brown performed on them. Brown lost his medical license in 1977 after three patients nearly died from sex-change operations he performed in places such as a garage and a hotel. He served three years in prison after a 1989 conviction for performing surgery to shift a man's hairline during a sex-change operation. Brown could face the rest of his life in prison. -jp
-sources: wire services, The Advocate online 10/7/99 website:
www.advocate.com
Sick of Reading about the 1999 Southern Comfort Conference? Well, take an Immodium and Read On....
Transgendered people from all over the country heard a call at last weekend's Southern Comfort conference to "do away with the misery" that has been the hallmark of medical definitions of transsexualism and "set about redefining ourselves."
"Transsexualism is rather like a country that has been colonized... and the flag is the caduceus, the medical staff," longtime Atlanta activist Dallas Denny said Friday in a keynote address at Southern Comfort, the ninth annual transgender conference held September 21-26 at the Sheraton Buckhead Hotel.
"Physicians claimed the land of transsexualism about 40 years ago, and have owned it ever since... Transsexual is a slave name, and we conspired in it," said Denny, founder of the American Educational Gender Information Service.
"What I object to is not so much the name as what it means... To be transsexual I must be miserable, hate my genitals, and be a knotted ball of rage," she explained, noting that doctors at Vanderbilt University initially turned her down when she wanted to transition from male to female, "becuase I wasn't screwed up enough."
"I didn't hate my genitals-- they were there, and what a strange thing for a woman to have on her body, but they were inappropriate, not hated," she said.
Now, 10 years after her transition, Denny called on transgendered people to stop allowing themselves to be defined only by pain. "I feel gifted that I am transsexual... We don't talk about what a magical journey it is and how we are social engineers," she said.
Denny's remarks, which earned a standing ovation, echoed a common theme for Southern Comfort attendees, who encompassed a broad spectrum of transgender-- from occasional crossdressers to male-to-female and female-to-male transsexuals.
The conference offered many workshops on important practical issues facing transgendered people-- everything from advice on hair and makeup to presentations from physicians about hormone treatments and surgery, to ways to deal with the legal and employment issues raised by gender transition.
But a growing number of seminars and speakers also urged participants to work toward, as Denny put it, "building a community where people are judged not by what lies between their legs, but by what lies between their ears."
New Records Set
Overall, this year's Southern Comfort was an "incredible success," setting new records for both total attendance and attendance at a single, seated event, according to Stefanie Schumcher, a member of the conference's board of directors. This year's conference drew 600, a 20 percent increase over last year, Schumacher said. Saturday night's gala dinner, which included a performance by the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus, seated 450 and "was the largest single gathering of transgendered people we know of in modern history," she said.
While last year's conference drew a group of about five Bible-carrying protesters who shouted Bible verses at attendees outside of the hotel one night, this year's Southern Comfort sparked "no protests at all," Schumacher said.
Project Launched for FTMs
Although Southern Comfort offered a full schedule of workshops, seminars, outings into Atlanta, and evening entertainment, what Schumacher described as "one of the most important things Southern Comfort 1999 did" wasn't an event at all.
For the first time, Southern Comfort launched a Men's Health Project designed to help female-to-male transgendered people get the gynecological health care many find extremely uncomfortable with mainstream physicians.
Organizer Lola Cola said she decided to start the project after her lover, Robert Eads, died of cancer in January.
"The fact is female-to-male transies are really abused by the medical profession, and they are refused treatment quite often," Cola said.
"What really instigated all of this is my lover Robert was an FTM and he contracted uterine cancer and was turned away by 29 doctors and clinics before he found someone to treat him and then it was too late.
Cola said Men's Health Project organizers worked with Alanta's Feminist Women's Health Center to set up a special evening for clinic visits during the conference where trans-gendered men could access health care without facing the awkward situation of a person who looks and sounds like a man asking for what are considered female procedures.
FWHC Community Service Director Janelle Yamarick said the center will now continue to offer routine gynecological services for female-to-male transgendered people.
-source: Laura Brown, Southern Voice, 9/30/99 website: www.sovo.com
Jefferson County, Kentucky Passes Fairness Ordinance
By a vote of 3-1, commissioners on Jefferson County Fiscal Court today approved a comprehensive civil rights measure called the Fairness ordinance that extends civil rights protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations.
Jefferson County is the most populous county in Kentucky, containing nearly 700,000 residents, or about one in five in the state. Its largest city is Louisville.
The vote came after months of public debate and a final hearing this morning at which 21 individuals spoke both for and against the measure. But the outcome had been assured since late July when Democratic commissioner Joe Corradino, who had previously not taken a stand on the
proposal, decided to support it. He joined commissioners Russ Maple and Darryl Owens, also Democrats, who came out in favor of it as soon as the idea was brought up last winter. Jefferson County Judge/Executive Rebecca Jackson, the lone Republican, voted against it.
One legal question is whether the ordinance covers residents of the city of Louisville, who are currently protected against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the area of employment only. County attorneys believe they are, but the city attorney says he won't make a determination until after he sees the final law.
Christian conservatives promise to file a lawsuit against the new law in federal district court. Their arguments focus mainly on the contention that it violates the free expression of their religious beliefs and their freedom of association. A similar suit has already been filed against Louisville's ordinance, which was passed in January. A new civil rights
law in Henderson, KY is also expected to be challenged.
A fourth jurisdiction--Lexington/Fayette County in the state's central Bluegrass region--passed an ordinance similar to Jefferson County's in July. No suit has yet been filed against it.
Ten months ago, no Kentucky residents were covered by Fairness laws. Now, about 25% are, but that may change in 2000. A measure to extend similar protections statewide has been pre-filed before the Kentucky General Assembly and is expected to be debated during the next biennial session, due to get underway in January.
-source: The Letter, Louisville's GLBT newspaper 10/12/99
Iowa Gov Signs Exec Order Banning Discrimination in State Employment
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has signed an Executive Order banning discrimination in state employment based on "race, creed, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or physical or mental disability."
The move is thought to be the first executive order of its type because it is inclusive of transgendered people.
"This is a great first step toward equality for all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered Iowans," said Peg Sandeen, spokeswoman for the Iowa Coalition for Human Rights. The Iowa Coalition for Human Rights and the Gay and Lesbian Caucus of the Iowa Democratic Party worked with Gov. Vilsack in making the executive order a reality.
Kerry Lobel, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, joined Sandeen in praising the governor's actions. "The true test of democracy is how it embraces those who look, act and think differently, not just those who are the same," Lobel said. "Governor Vilsack's visionary move demonstrates what political leadership is all about. Political leadership is about moving all of us forward and making communities safer, better places for us to live and work."
-source NGLTF press release 10/7/99
CA TG Teacher's Job in Jeopardy David Warfield
served in the Navy, worked as a political consultant and was a white water
rafting instructor before becoming a high school journalism teacher. Through
it all, Warfield struggled with a secret. He felt like a woman.
In April, after beginning hormone therapy, he approached (Antelope, CA) Center High Principal Steve Wehr to announce that by fall he intended to return to school under a new name-- Dana Lee Rivers. That decision, Rivers now says, has put her job in jeopardy.
Over the weekend, Rivers learned she will be fired due to her "evident unfitness for service," as a teacher, her lawyer, Margaret Geddes, said Monday.
Rivers has filed a complaint with the state labor commissioner. School district spokesman Jan Adams said she could not comment on the case because it is a personnel matter.
"I think Ms. Rivers should do whatever she wants," said junior Mary Muehe, one of Rivers' former students. "If anything, she'll only be a better teacher now because she won't have to hide this."
Rivers-- she has officially changed her name-- is taking hormones to prepare for a sex-change operation that would complete the transformation into a woman. She said she has gender identity disorder, which causes people extreme discomfort with their biological gender.
In May, knowing that she would return to school this fall as Dana Rivers, she sent a letter to co-workers in this community 25 miles northeast of Sacramento.
"I want to be a whole person," she wrote. "It is not a lifestyle choice. It is not a fetish. I am not hoping to make any kind of social or political statement. It is the single most significant aspect of who I am."
According to the Pacific Justice Institute, a conservative group pushing for the teacher's dismissal, Rivers then spoke with students about sexual abuse she experienced as a child, gender identity issues, and her decision to become a woman.
Geddes said that account was inaccurate but declined further comment.
The institute's founder, Brad Dacus, said his group became involved after several parents complained there was no notice given about the discussion.
Dacus said the teacher's talk with students-- not the sex change-- was the issue behind the district's response. "The actions of this teacher were not only inappropriate, but outrageous," he said.
Dacus said Rivers should have quietly transferred to another school as a woman. "He could have kept it to himself," he said. "That would have been the easiest for the students with less stress and trauma."...
-source: AP report in Atlanta's GLBT weekly Southern Voice, 9/30/99
website: www.sovo.com
Nashville Musician/Occasional Female Impersonator Profiled in
Local Paper
Editor's Note: In her weekly column in Nashville's In Review,
Heather Nelson profiles local performer Billie Joe Sawyer. Much of the article
focuses on his music, but we've excerpted parts concerning his female
impersonation.-jp
How does one man become inspired to be a female impersonator, a Civil War
re-enactor and a one-man band all at once? One of the more truly eclectic
characters I've ever met, Billie Joe Sawyer celebrates and fulfills each
of these roles...
This one-man hootenanny plays harmonica, concertina (or squeeze-box), mandolin, tambourine and drums--all at once, no less--while he sings. With more than 160 songs in his repertoire, you never know which number Sawyer will play next. His newly released CD, titled Antebellum Radio, displays Sawyer's love of history and includes the songs he performs around the campfire at Civil War reenactments...
In seeming contradiction, Sawyer sometimes performs his music dressed as a female impersonator, a role of his that is not always met with complete understanding or acceptance.
"It's performance art," he explains. "Female imperson-ation is cool as long as it is a big joke, like Milton Berle, for instance, but any seriously detailed disguise meets with derision. It just hits too close to something too old. It is very easy to assume that when we see jets fly overhead, we are just the most modern thinkers that ever (existed), but people think on a medieval level."
To those that would frown on his crossdressing, Sawyer replies, "The differences between men and women are, I believe, very few, but humankind has been creating arbitrary and artificial differences for hundreds of years. Nothing is different now than it was 20 years ago. Then, the boldest thing I did was let my hair grow out long, but I saw the same hatred just for that alone. I can only hope that I have made it easier for those like me who come after me. There are plenty of effeminate boys in our country today who are not weak and spineless, and society should cherish them."
-source: by Heather Nelson In Review 10/5/99 website:
www.inreviewonline.com
QUICK HITS: Media Mentions
Out magazine /Barometer October 1999 In their monthly listing of what's hot (Elect) and what's not (Eject), making the Eject list... "Makeup For Men: Unless you go all the way and pull a Carmen Miranda."
-source: Out magazine 10/99
The Mirror /October 4
An International online survey by the British newspaper yields some interesting
results...
"..... (British boy-group) Boyzone singer Ronan Keating and American chat show host Oprah Winfrey were voted top faces of the new millennium in a worldwide poll... The United Arab Emirates voted for Eurovision winner Dana International, the controversial Israeli transsexual singer..."
-source: Online Mirror 10/4/99 website:
www.ic24.net:80/mgn/THE_MIRROR/NEWS/P22S4.html
USA Today /October 15 The campaign of extremely conservative Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer (former head of the anti-everything Family Research Council) is profiled...
"...As Bauer was speaking at the University of New Hampshire, signs in the student union advertised a week long celebration of "National Coming Out Day". When I asked him about the university-sponsored event, Bauer bristled with anger. "Do you want 'Transvestite Coming Out Week'? 'Sado-masochist Coming Out Week'?" he asked. "People can do all sorts of things in the privacy of their bedrooms, and they will bear the consequences of what the do. But I don't understand this insistence in putting it in our face."..."
(Editor's Note: To answer Bauer's questions....Hell, YES!)
-source: Hype and Glory by Walter Shapiro, USA Today 10/15/99 website: www.usatoday.com
USA
Today /October 6
After much renovation, Radio City Music Hall was re-opened at a gala affair. Billy Crystal emceed the event, which airs on NBC Dec 1st. Jeannie Williams describes Billy's entrance...
"...There he was in his tux on the big screen, getting a huge laugh when he said this gorgeous building "has been stripped, scraped, scrubbed, trimmed, reinforced and repainted, apparently by the same guys who do Cher."
Finally, he rose on the elevator, saying, "Dignity, dignity, without that you have nothing," and was revealed also wearing black net stockings and high heels, a la Rockettes..."
-source: USA Today 10/6/99 -website:
www.usatoday.com
The Tennessean /October 17 In the headline story of the Sunday Issues section, writer Knight Stivender profile's Nashville's GLBT community and various fighting factions in a story titled "Out, Proud and Arguing". The Vals got plenty of ink, including this sorta-kinda-odd description of our group under "Educational/Support Groups":
"T-Vals--T-Vals serves as a support group for trans-gendered people, who can be both gay or straight, but who desire to be a member of the opposite sex. It also supports cross-dressers, men and women who don't want to switch gender but who enjoy dressing up as the opposite sex."
-source: The Tennessean 10/17/99 website: www.tennessean.com
I'm Armed!!! ...AND Snappily Dressed
A Pennsylvania credit union was held up October 19th by a crossdressed robber. The stick-up occurred at the Member's First Federal Credit Union in Hampden Township and the perpetrator made off with an undisclosed sum of money. Police described the robber as male, dressed in a black skirt, stockings, blonde wig and bright red lipstick. While The Vals newsletter in NO way endorses robbery or stealing, we must applaud her for what sounds like a tasteful and elegant outfit--one that goes easily from work (bank robbing) to evening activities (running from cops). -jp
-source: various wire reports.