The
Queens Throne by Marisa Richmond
marisaval@aol.com
Tennessee Vals Newsletter
February 2000
Upcoming Group Meetings
In This Issue:
The
Queens Throne by Marisa Richmond
marisaval@aol.com
It was a dark and stormy night. I sat anxiously awaiting the Great Pumpkin. Instead of receiving a long awaited wrist radio and magic decoder ring, all I got was a rock. Then came the awful news: Peanuts was ending. Good grief. Like with many comic strips, it has had it good moments (the World War I Flying Ace, who could never seem to catch the Red Baron) and its bad (any strip with Spike....). Over the past few weeks, much has been said about the imminent demise of this classic strip with most attention focused on Charlie Brown and the fighting Van Pelt siblings, Lucy and Linus. Wouldn't you just love to have Lucy as your therapist? Anyway, I was always more partial to the less visible characters like Frieda's Boneless Cat and the Kite Eating Tree. There was actually a Kite Eating Tree in back of my school, but I was fortunate that it never ate any of my kites. Of course, I could never get any of them off the ground....There is one character, however, who seems relevant here and that is the tomboyish Peppermint Patty. Called "Sir" by sidekick Marcie (with shades of a D&S relationship), she was arguably the first F2M transgendered character in the history of the comics. And for all of you who think you had it rough in life, just remember how many losses Charlie Brown's baseball team suffered, the ignominy of having his favorite player, Joe Shlabotnik, relegated to the minors, and, of course, his persistent attempts to kick that football because, each fall, this would be the year! Well, at least he never had a disco ball fall on him. Farewell. Have a root beer on me.
Due to the deadlines and time constraints of producing a newsletter, I am actually writing some of this on New Year's Eve. I figured I should get as much written as possible before the end of the world. It is inevitable that one day, somebody will look back at the 1990s and wish to return to those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, but I prefer to be forward looking, so I will just say: Hi-yo Silver, Away!
Overall, I found the latter stages of the decade to be rather bizarre and its final days just put an exclamation point upon that. On one day, there were two strange incidents on opposite sides of the world, possibly related to apocalyptic fervor. In Tampa, a deranged person shot and killed five people, and wounded three others, at a hotel where fans were staying just prior to the Outback Bowl. That same day, another mentally ill person attacked guitarist George Harrison and his wife Olivia at their home, Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames, England. It came just 21 days after the anniversary of the shooting of John Lennon. I suppose that Paul McCartney can take solace from the fact that the crazies think he is already dead. He blew his mind out in a car in November 1966. Get well soon George.
The year did end for me with a couple of amusing, personal incidents. First, I received a letter from the publishers of Who's Who. They informed me that I was being considered for an entry in their publications. What makes this so funny is that I am already listed in various versions under my evil, secret identity. This letter was actually addressed to "Ms. Marisa Richmond," which is not my legal name. Personally, I have no objections to being listed twice, so I am filling out the forms and returning them to the address given. I think it is cool that a person can be listed because of their activities on behalf of the TG community. I will definitely let everyone know if I am included. Again.
The second item was an e-mail I received from a woman who wanted help in obtaining information about a former high school classmate of hers from Wisconsin who was murdered by her boyfriend here in Nashville. I responded by asking a few background questions, like "Was she transgendered? If so, was she living full-time?" She wrote back asking what transgendered meant and saying that her friend was living full time in Nashville. I explained what transgendered was and discussed the Vals and the fact that the TG community is researching hate crimes and since she had contacted me, I had to assume her friend was the victim of a hate crime due to gender identity. Why else would someone contact me about a murder? I have not heard back from her since. I can only imagine how many circuits must have been blown in her mind by my note. Still, I wonder how she ever got my name in the first place. Unfortunately, she never said.
Shortly after the Apocalypse, I took a business trip to Chicago (the Ojibwa word for ‘Smells Like Skunk'). On my first day in town, I took a quick, personal lunch at the legendary Billy Goat Tavern (430 North Michigan). The sign on the door said "Enter at your own risk." I had a Cheezborger, cheeps (no fries) and root beer (no Coke, no Pepsi). When I checked into the Hyatt Regency in the Loop, I was surprised to discover there was another major convention there: the American Baseball Coaches Association. Since I had left my Yankees cap at home, I suppose I should have just sashayed down to the bar and claimed I was John Rocker's jilted lover. Even though I was there on official business, I always try to find some personal time. One thing I like about Chicago is that it is one of only two cities (Memphis being the other) with a live blues scene better than Nashville's. Unfortunately, I did not make it to a blues club on this trip. However, I was able to do the one thing that you absolutely cannot do in Nashville: buy bootleg albums. I made a quick run to the North side (intersection of Clark & Wrightwood) to shop around. The record I bought (Complete Berlin, Led Zeppelin–their final concert together), had an interesting statement on the back: "Unauthorized reproduction of this recording is prohibited." The producers put a copyright warning on a bootleg. I guess I can understand that though. After all, they stole the tapes fair and square.
I also had a lunch meeting with Kathy of Lady Sophia/ Christian Home. This is an organization that uses Biblical writing to support crossdressing and female dominance and seems to be geared primarily towards fetishists interested in forced crossdressing. She had written to me after seeing my picture in Ladylike a few months ago. Personally, I have never worried too much about what the Bible says. It has been interpreted by lots of people over the years (Charles Manson to name just one....) to promote all sorts of agendas. Besides, with the majority of the world's people coming from backgrounds that are not based on Judeo-Christian writings, and with transgendered people having existed in virtually all cultures throughout history, what one person--whom I never met, who lived centuries ago in a culture to which I have no connection--has to say about behavior does not have any real application to me. Still, I realize lots of others do take biblical dictates seriously, so any interpretation that helps overcome anxiety about their differences is okay with me.
On my final night in town, I made it back to the Baton Lounge (436 North Clark Street, $10 cover). The last time I was there in ‘96, I ran into Dennis Rodman. I didn't see him this time. I guess Carmen's keeping him too busy these days. Anyway, one of the performers there is Nashville native Monica Munro. She seemed rather busy between shows so I did not talk to her, but I did give her a tip during one of her sets.
Finally, with idiots like John Rocker making headlines spewing ignorance, it is a good time to recognize African American History Month. I have discovered numerous people who are defined as non-white (even though many do have varying percentages of European blood...) all around the country doing significant work within the gender community, most notably Yosenio Lewis who became the head of FTM International last year, and yet, ethnic prejudice continues to exist within the Transgender Family. Some do not wish to welcome or recognize the abilities or accomplishments of those who look a little bit different as if superficial characteristics make a person inferior. Well, ability and intellect has nothing to do with the presence or absence of melanin. We should all encourage each and everyone to do their part on behalf of others. These Brothers and Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves and for each and every one of you because they care and have something to offer.
I also hope everyone has a good Valentine's Day. May you all receive a Valentine from the Little Red Haired Girl--or Guy--in your life.
Left of Center by Pamela DeGroff
I was privileged to meet Michael Gray during my first Soulforce experience in Lynchburg, Virginia back in October. We kept in touch via e-mail and were able to renew our friendship during the time at Grand Island, Nebraska. He is a scholar and Ph.D. candidate who travels extensively researching and teaching Transgender Studies. He is also the co-founder of a gender discussion, support, and community action group in Charlottsville, Virginia.
Born female in 1955 in Washington DC, he went on to do all the "right, normal" things such as getting married and having three children. After coming to terms with bisexual leanings in 1987, a divorce followed, and a committed relationship with a same gender partner was begun in 1988. During this time, Michael began to flourish in college, beginning the work he is continuing today.
In 1995, things changed radically, though. "I was diagnosed with Lupus and medically prescribed the masculinizing hormone, testosterone," Michael explains. "The side affects of the medication masculinized me. I accept this, and now live relatively free of Lupus symptoms, but, as a woman whose gendered appearance has been medically changed. I am Transgender in that I no longer look like a woman." Personally, Michael does not refer to himself as a "transman", but rather as a "masculinized female." His experiences and his desire for knowledge will carry him far within the gender community, and the world at large. The following interview was conducted electronically, involving a lot of time in front of a computer screen.
(Editor's Note: Michael Gray is accustomed to using non- specific gender pronouns in his writing. These, as well as other terms, are taken from the work of Leslie Fienberg. Since we do not know how many of our readers would be familiar with such terms, we have chosen not to use them. This is the decision of the author and editor.)
Part 1 of 2
PAMELA: During the last SCC convention in Atlanta, I attended a seminar on the Health Issues of Transmen. It was conducted by Tony Barretto-Neto and James Green. Any thoughts on health issues?
MICHAEL: I can speak for myself as a
"masculine-bodied woman" who routinely engages clueless health care systems
to gain access to medicine for my own holistic health maintenance. I am a
Medicaid recipient and Transgender. A woman who looks like a man. My breasts
have been mastectomied due to toxic silicone poisoning from breast implants,
and I take testosterone, rather than prednazone and cortisone for the subsequent
Lupus.
Engaging a local physician was at first quite challenging. The country family doctor is young and has a good background in treating Lupus. She was not hesitant to prescribe testosterone to me since I supplied her with all her with all of my medical records which show that I am self- administering testosterone for Lupus.
The initial tricky part was with her staff. The nursing assistant drawing my blood was tongue tied and then loudly obnoxious about "what to call" me. I feel quite certain that the rest of the staff and the waiting room could hear her poking more than my vein for blood. "We can't call you a man, now can we...you have a uterus, don't you, and mastectomies, you're a mother, what do your children do about you?"
Locally, there is a fine gynecologist, Dr. Swallow. She prepared her staff for my office visit and routine check up. Her manner was perhaps the best I have ever received from a gynecologist.. While living in Seattle, the health care services that I received from Country Doctor Medical Clinic were outstanding and thorough. While doing my Masters degree, the health care that I received from both the university medical and psychological student centers were outstanding as well.
I recommend to transpeople that they seek out private physicians and therapists who have proven reputations since the systems, HMOs, university gender clinics, and even some hospitals leave much to be desired as far as being humane. I also recommend that transpeople go in with some research into transmedicine, and with an attitude that transpeople are "employing" their health care providers and can "fire" them if they are not completely satisfied. The few times I have been vulnerable I have been taken advantage of. There's no excuse for discrimination by medical providers. Hold them accountable.
What, in you opinion, are some of the other major issues facing transmen?
Language Exclusion. Self-inflicted violence. Self- Factionalism. Power Status posturing.
Since I am neither a transman nor a FTM, I am not qualified to speak for them I notice as I research those communities, however, an inordinate amount of violence in the forms of sadomasochist actings out of anarchic roles which exaggerate and mimic the very roles they appear hostile towards-dominance and subordination.
I notice a fundamental loss for words in the English language to describe realities and a strong willingness to leap frog from label to label, group to group, seeking some sort of externalized validations for self.
I notice among ftms and transmen many power abuses that they do unto others and unto themselves as well. Seems to me that the primary issue to date is the transmena and ftms by and large wanting to wield power as it has been wielded over them abusively.
Does the acceptance level of the larger Gender community towards transmen vary from region to region, city to city, community to community.?
My sense of being accepted as a masculine-bodied woman among peers has varied considerably depending upon the style of leadership ethics. Leaders who are MTF have made more of an empowering impression upon me. Leaders who are FTM have made more of an exclusionary and competitive, if not, rivalrous impression upon me. I much prefer the society of transwomen to transmen. There is no comparison in the senses of respect, community building, integrity, caring, and adult responsibility that I encounter.
I have not experienced anything close to transcommunity agreement in any location where I have lived and interacted socially. The best experiences I have enjoyed are among MTF's. The best experiences I have enjoyed with FTM's was at this year's True Spirit conference. Gary Bowen of Amboyz is one of the very few and all too rare social leaders of FTM's and transmen who seems to be ethical.
I know you have children of your own. How is their acceptance?
I find that question twisted backwards. It's my parental role to accept them. I'm the parent! It's really none of their affair to accept me or not. I don't require their approval of my life choices for my sense of self-worth. They require my approval for their childhood development, which I give them when it is clear to me that they are being responsible for and to themselves.
I have watched how society batters my kids for my transness and done my best to prevent that when it was necessary.
I'm rather a no nonsense parent who will only interact with anyone, them included, based upon mutual regard and respect. My struggle as their parent has been to not allow their bullshit to bring me down. And to maintain my role as parent.
What about your ex-spouse? Do you have any kind of relationship with him?
How dare you presume my ex-spouses are hims!!! (laughing curtly) I have been completely nonsexist in my lover relationships of the past. Sexes and genders mean so very little to me. I see a person's soul. I love a person's ways of being. No, I have no desires to be in contact with my former lovers.
Today, I'm not the least bit interested in becoming entwined with another. I'm enjoying my freedom from entwined living. I have much more time and energy to devote to transgender studies and to being a spiritual and social nonviolent activist.
Have you gone to a high school reunion yet as Michael? If you did, how did it go?
No, dammit. I so desired to in June of 1978 which was the 5th reunion. On the 20th reunion, I sent them a letter about my lesbian family, and that was the talk of the reunion. Now, on this reunion, I sent the letter of my transgender masculinization! My cousin, who is in the same graduating class, is on the reunion committee and she told me all about my being the discussion of the quarter century. You see, I was the girl to go out with. I was a dancer, long blonde hair, all the right parts in all the right places, and very social. Of all the things I have done in my life, this one, this transing gender, is the most unbelievable to my lifelong school mates.
The one gay peer we had that we know of tragically died of AIDS. None of my classmates has come out to the reunion committee as GLB or T! I'm their token out one. By hook or crook, I will be there for our 30th reunion, God willing, of course. I'm sure it will be a hoot.
How have your other relationships gone, those outside of your family, the more professional ones?
My professional relationships are the cornerstone of what I also consider to be genuine friendships. Being a scholar doing doctoral work is rather isolating in and of itself since I am working outside of mainstream academia. I spend most of my time doing transgender studies, research, and dissertation related writing in preparation for an academic teaching career in the field. It's my life's work, and I love it.
My name and transgenderedness has been in the front pages of the newspaper here as I do nonviolent social activism with the Soulforce delegation. Everyone who knows me or about me is well aware of what I'm doing here.
I have had transmen scholars in similar fields actually lie to me about their work. They do not want to share or be in academic research discourse with me. I have had one former lover and intersex researcher actually out my genitals! So I stay with the folks who have strong ethics and who are capable of being truthful and respectable professionals.
It is a supreme myth that only transpeople can do excellent transgender studies. Paranoid transgender scholars have devised that myth to attempt to discredit some fine scholarship, because it doesn't agree with their own.
What degrees do you have, and would you explain what you are working towards in your doctorate program?
My BA is from the U of SC, 1993, in Psychology, Sociology, with a specialty in sexuality and gender studies. I have a graduate Capstone degree in Gender Studies from the main branch of Women's Studies at U of SC, 1994. This was perhaps the most important degree that I achieved in relationship to transgender studies.
I achieved a Master in Women's Studies at the U of Ala., in 1995. My speciality there was lesbian feminist literary criticism and discourse analysis. I enjoy beyond compare deconstructing theory, all kinds of theories, about transpeople. It's like doing crossword puzzles for me.
I am now 3.5 years into my doctorate in Transgender Studies. I will finish by July 2001 or sooner. Whenever I can do justice to the entire series of projects. I am in no particular rush and am enjoying the process. The process is all, not the degree.
I have developed an academic prototype of Transgender Studies: Medical and Interpretive Anthropology and Transgender Cultural Discourse, Gender Studies and Women's Studies, Feminist Sexology, all with a special concentration in cultural violence studies.
What do you hope to accomplish with a Ph.D.?
A coup! The final blow to the androcentric gender system. Why bother otherwise??? The death blow.
The integrity of this work is the thing. We have all kinds of studies on TG folks. But what about the medicalizers, eh? Who is scrutinizing them? Where are all those big bad dykes and leather folks when it comes to going after the creeps who write the toxic stuff that limits our rights?
I have the distinct advantage over mainstream academics in that my doctoral
university is a nontraditional style of learning. The world value and social
meaning and action is the most important aspect of my degree process. This
is not Ph.D. stuff done in a laboratory with mice and statistics, or under
such oppressive stress to meet rigid deadlines and do useless exams to make
points and grades. This is done in the real world under real
circumstances.
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A Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead by Julie Phillips FabulBabe@aol.com
John Rocker: Off His
Atlanta, a great southern city known for its tolerance and inclusiveness, is now also known as the home of America's Bigot of the Month, Braves player John Rocker.
Although I'm sure you've read the lunkheaded remarks he made to Sports Illustrated, please allow me to recap them in an effort to prolong his public humiliation.
Feel free to pull off your pumps and count along with me as we review those who "creep out" John Rocker when he's traveling through New York City: 1) young mothers with children, 2 )gay people, 3) AIDS patients, 4) young guys who dye their hair, 5) immigrants, particularly 6) Asians, 7) Koreans, 8 ) Vietnamese, 9) Indians, 10) Russians, and --this is where you'll use your painted toes-- 11) Hispanics.
Rocker was quickly booked on ESPN to explain his way out of this little misunder- standing. Watching him, I pictured the Captain of the Titanic trying to turn the boat after it had already hit the iceberg. To quote Leo, "Not this night, Rose. Not this night."
He did, however, offer up proof that he wasn't bigoted: African- Americans had actually stayed in his house! Lionel Jefferson spent a lot of time at the Bunkers', so I guess that means Archie was just a little opinionated.
It really wasn't an apology; basically, Rocker just lamented being stupid enough to say those things to a reporter.
While he may have nailed me personally with his "queer" remark, it's what he DIDN'T say that I find most offensive. Here's what cheesed me off: Not once in his all-encompassing smear did he mention crossdressers! How dare that glove-wearing windbag leave us out of his tirade!! We have worked long and hard, especially in the Big Apple, to make insecure, confused narrowminds nervous, and this is the thanks we get?!? We started the Stonewall riot for the express purpose of frightening Major League Baseball Players, but did we get a mention?
His panties are in a wad over a kid with purple hair on the bus, but not about a crossdresser with purple hair on Broadway! Dame Edna Everage is so deeply offended she may hop the first cruise ship back to Australia (first class, of course). By omitting crossdressers, he has created an international diplomatic quagmire of epic proportions. And don't you think quagmire is a cool word that doesn't get used often enough?
I can't believe a young mother ignites his paranoia
more than me in a leather jacket and formfitting leather skirt, 6- inch platform
pumps and over-teased big southern hair. Hell, I even scare myself some
nights in that getup! Apparently, I need a shorter skirt and he has a leather
fetish. Come to think of it, you seldom see him without a leather glove.
Hmmmmmm....
Don't despair, ladies; we still have another chance to be noticed and included in his next bigoted rant. (It's scheduled for March, following an all-new Who Want's To Be a Millionaire. Check local listings.) Since he plays in Atlanta, he could join us at this year's Southern Comfort Conference; just run over to the hotel after batting practice. He can even go dancing with me at The Chamber (Please, John, wear black.) So girls, be on your worst behavior when he shows up; make sure you do or say something that will bring out the bonehead in him. Don't let me down.
In the meantime, if you are reading this Mr. Rocker--you do read, right?--you owe us an apology. However, you can make it right by going back on ESPN and reading this little statement I've prepared for you:
"Oops. I forgot. Crossdressers scare me, too. Daddy! Daddy! There's a monster in my closet with six inch heels and big over-teased brunette hair! Leave the light on for me, Daddy!"
Just read that little paragraph, John, and all will be forgiven.
UPDATE: Major League Baseball has decided to fine Rocker a chunk o'change and suspend him for quite a while. Perhaps he will be available for the ENTIRE Southern Comfort Conference.
Update on Boy George
Perhaps I was in an overly excitable state last month when I sounded the alarm about an imminent invasion by killer disco balls from outer space. You can understand how I perhaps over-reacted, what with Y2K hysteria that was gripping America. In hindsight, I feel more than a little foolish. My dire mouth-foaming warning of an alien attack was a tad bit exaggerated. Please accept my apology.
The truth is, the evil, mirror-covered orb creatures were after only Boy George, and not crossdressers-at-large. Whew! Let's all breathe a collective sigh of relief, shall we?
Just to be safe, I'd avoid a Culture Club concert for a few months.
NEWS TRANS-missions news, media mentions, etc...
UPDATE: Winchell Murder Trial at Ft. Campbell, KY
The beating death of a gay soldier here last summer proves that the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for homosexual personnel doesn't work and should be repealed, the victim's mother said yesterday. Pat Kuttles said that the 12 1/2-year sentence imposed yesterday on Spc. Justin Fisher, the man she blames for provoking the murder of her son, Pfc. Barry Winchell, "is a travesty."
Fisher has sexual identity problems of his own, including a history of wearing women's underwear and a fascination with transvestites, according to testimony during his sentencing hearing yesterday. His mother testified that Fisher was often abused during his childhood by his demanding and alcoholic father.
Fisher, 26, admitted yesterday that he often "teased" Winchell, 21, about being gay.
But, he said, "I'm no better. Who do you think brought him to the gay bar (The Connection)? It was me."
Kutteles said after the sentencing hearing that she and her husband "don't understand why Fort Campbell's leaders granted such a lenient plea bargain to Spc. Fisher...While ultimately we hold Pvt. (Calvin) Glover and Spc. Fisher responsible for the death of our son, the Army and Pentagon must also bear some responsibility."
Kutteles, of Kansas City, Mo., blamed military leaders for "the four months of anti-gay harassment our son faced" at Fort Campbell before his death, and for the "excessive drinking" in the barracks that contributed to the attack on her sleeping son early last July 5.
She said her 21-year-old son, who "loved the Army," had nowhere to turn to stop the harassment or get help" because of the policy requiring homosexuals in the military to keep quiet about their sexual orientation...
Other soldiers testified last summer that Fisher started rumors about Winchell being gay, and that Winchell's immediate supervisors asked him about his sexual orientation, but did noting to stop other solders' harassment of him.
But, the Army post's commanding officer, Maj. Gen. Robert Clark, decided to drop the most serious charges against Fisher and allowed him to plead guilty yesterday only to charges of obstructing justice, giving false statements and providing alcohol to a minor.
Prosecutors asked yesterday for a 20-year sentence for Fisher--the maximum possible on those charges--but a military judge, Col. Kenneth Pangurn, decided to sentence him to 14 years, and Fisher will wind up being sentenced to no more than 12 ½ years, since that is the maximum recommended by Clark...
Fisher spoke in a matter-of-fact tone as he answered a series of questions from Pangurn yesterday morning about the night of July 4th and the early morning hours of July 5th...
Fisher said he played the soundtrack from the movie Psycho and "started teasing (Glover) about how does it feel to get your a.. kicked by a faggot," referring to Winchell, who was sleeping on a cot in a hallway.
He said Glover, who was making chopping motions with his baseball bat, said, "I ought to go out and f..k him up."
"I was like, go for it," Fisher told the judge.
He said Glover left the room, returned with the bat covered in blood and said, "Help me clean it up; it's your bat."
"I panicked and I got scared and I washed it off," Fisher said.
But Fisher wept when he took the witness stand yesterday afternoon to read a prepared statement and to apologize to Winchell's parents for the death of their son and to his former colleagues for "bringing discredit on the Army by my actions"...
Leaders of the Servicemembers Legal Defense network, a private agency that monitors problems with the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, expressed disappointment in the resolution of the charges against Fisher...
source: The Tennessean 1/9/00
A SIDE NOTE: Great Britain lifted it's ban on gays serving in the mililary January 12. The military accepted a European Court of Human Rights ruling that four gay soldiers had been wrongfully dismissed last year for revealing their sexuality to investigators. It was reported last year that British military no longer bars transgendered individuals. --jp
Men Afraid of Buying Lingerie? You MUST Be Kidding!
Lingerie is very much in the mainstream these days, so you might think it would be easy for a man to walk up to the counter and buy a wonderful gift for the woman in his life. But it's not. Many men are still embarrassed to approach the lingerie department. And when they do manage to work up the nerve, they have no idea what they're doing.
Marnie McLaughlin, public relations manager for the Victoria's Secret chain, says lingerie-related anxiety is so common among males that her company has even considered setting up a call-in help line, sort of a Butterball Turkey Talk-Line for men who need help buying gifts of underwear for women.
"We pride ourselves on training our staff to be very helpful," McLaughlin said. "No man should ever be embarrassed to be in our store."
Nevertheless, many men are reluctant to walk though the door. "I've observed that it's not age-related," McLaughlin said. "It's older men, younger men, all ages. It has to do with the intimate nature of lingerie. And they're embarrassed because they don't understand women's sizes."
Who does, for that matter? Women's sizes are often bewildering to women, too. One manufacturer's size 8 is another's size 12. It's too much to ask a man to try to fathom these mysteries.
Robin Reibel, spokesperson for Filene's, says many men who shop for lingerie don't have a clue what size they're looking for. "The salesperson will ask, 'Is she small, medium, or large?' " says Reibel, "and the man will say, 'She's about your size,' no matter how big the salesperson is."
McLaughlin advises the male lingerie buyer to shop armed with a size. Ask her. Ask one of her friends.
Look in her closet. Most clothes have size tags.
source: The Star-Telegram 12/22/99
Stop Me If You've Heard this One...3 Taiwan Sisters Walk into a Doctor's Office....
Doctors in the southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung reported on Wednesday that three sisters undergoing treatment for a rare chromosomal anomaly have broken off contact with the hospital.
The three siblings were raised as girls until puberty, when the anomalies became apparent, said Dr. Juan Cheng-chao of the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital.
The oldest sister first came to the hospital at the age of 17, when her condition, which included no sign of menstruation, continuing growth, and a prominent Adam's apple, became increasingly serious, Juan noted.
Juan conducted tests on the young woman and discovered that in fact she had male chromosomes, together with cryptorchism, a developmental defect marked by the failure of the testes to descend into the scrotum.
Her two younger sisters, who checked into the same hospital at the ages of 14 and 12, respectively, were found to have the same condition, which Juan described as a first in Taiwan, and probably an extreme rarity anywhere in the world.
Juan was then appointed by the Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital to head up a research team to exclusively study the case of the three "sister men." After receiving some medical treatment and psychological counseling, all three decided to undergo sex change operations to allow them to continue to live as women.
However, they stopped attending the hospital for follow-up treatment soon after the sex change procedure, and now, over three years later, they are 20, 17 and 15 years old, respectively, and the hospital has been unable to contact them, said Juan.
source: China Times Inter@ctive 12/23/99
Where in the US Are We Protected? Glad You Asked!
From the tiny town of Sorrento, Maine (population: 355) to New York City (population: 7.3 million), more than 37 million Americans now live in towns, cities or counties with laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Add in the number of Americans who live in states with similar laws, and the number grows to 60 million Americans, according to a new, comprehensive report released today by the Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. This is a sharp increase from 1990, when less than 15 million Americans lived in states with such nondiscrimination laws, and about 18 million lived in cities banning sexual orientation discrimination.
The NGLTF Policy Institute report, "Legislating Equality: A Review of Laws Affecting Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered People in the United States," provides the most extensive description to date of local, county
and state laws addressing GLBT equality. This report is an invaluable tool for activists, journalists and policymakers who require reliable facts on laws affecting GLBT people but lack the time, resources or desire to conduct primary research. The Policy Institute is a think tank dedicated to research, policy analysis, strategy development and coalition building to advance the equality and understanding of GLBT people.
"At the dawn of the 21st Century, the strength of the GLBT movement is at the state and local level," said Urvashi Vaid, director of the Policy Institute of NGLTF. "This demonstrates the power and success of local organizing, and it underscores a sharp contrast between what is happening in towns and cities where people live and what is happening in Congress, where conservative leaders repeatedly have turned their backs on GLBT equality."...
"Legislating Equality" examines the status of anti-discrimination laws in all 50 states and 236 towns, cities and counties. Among its findings:
---Three counties, 20 cities and one state (Minnesota) prohibit discrimination based on gender identity in private employment. Yet 95 percent of Americans do not live in jurisdictions that ban gender identity-based discrimination.
---More than 100 cities and 18 counties prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in private employment. The average size of a city with a nondiscrimination ordinance dropped from 362,696 in the 1970s to 225,541 today, reflecting the reality that more small and mid-sized cities are adopting nondiscrimination ordinances...
Vaid said "Legislating Equality" dismantles the myth that GLBT equality is a concept known only to cities such as San Francisco or New York. "In fact, it is the residents and activists in the cities, towns and counties of middle America who are leading the way," Vaid said. "Transgender people are protected from job discrimination in Louisville, Kentucky, and Iowa City, but not yet in New York City. Vermont has recognized that same-sex couples are entitled to the same benefits as married couples, but Massachusetts and
California have not. The truth is that the notion of GLBT equality has widespread support in the American heartland."
Vaid said that local activists are to be credited for the fact that hundreds of cities, counties and some states are more cognizant of the discrimination and violence that GLBT people face than most presidential candidates and members of Congress. "The U.S. public overwhelmingly supports equal rights and anti-discrimination protections for lesbians and gay men, and this support has increased markedly during the decade of the 1990s," Vaid said. "For example, 70 percent of Americans in 1999 supported the right of gays and lesbians to serve in the military, up from 55 percent in 1992. And 49 percent of Republicans support anti- discrimination laws for gay men and lesbians, compared with 42 percent who are opposed."
"Support for GLBT equality is solid in middle America," Vaid added. "Presidential candidates who oppose anti- discrimination protections are out of touch with the views of a solid majority of the U.S. public."...
source: NGLTF press release 1/3/00 Note: "Legislating Equality" is avilable for free download
Signourney Weaver Says Lower Your IQ by Wearing a Blonde Wig. Will It Help With Blood Pressure?
Jim Carrey had an attitude-altering mask in The Mask.
Now Sigourney Weaver has a mood-changing wig in the comedy Galaxy Quest.
For her role as Gwen DeMarco, a floozy-ish actress who co-starred in a Star Trek-esque 1980s show called Galaxy Quest, Weaver wore a long blond hairpiece. While it didn't make Weaver do strange things in front of the camera a la Carrey, the wig did change her whole outlook during the shoot: "Once I put that wig on, I didn't say an intelligent thing for four months...My voice went up. I walked differently. I'd as incredibly stupid questions."
The wig even made an appearance off the set. At a screening honoring the 20th anniversary of Alien, in which Weaver played her signature role of Ripley, the actress wore the wig...
source: USA Today 1/00
The Baltimore Sun ‘Gets It' Now
In November, The Baltimore Sun covered a crime spree carried on by five people. The group shot and killed Tacy Ranta, a transgender woman; robbed another 12 people; and carjacked two vehicles. Although aware Ranta was
transgender, throughout its initial reporting on Nov. 24, the Sun used male pronouns and made mention that Ranta was "wearing woman's clothing." The newspaper also, by the use of bracketing, inserted "he" twice into a quote from one of Ranta's friends who actually used the word "she." In a Nov. 25 follow-up article, once again the newspaper continued to refer to Ranta with male pronouns and again mentions the wearing of woman's clothes. The newspaper's lack of sensitivity about transgender people was noted by several organizations. This diverse group, which included Baltimore's Gay and Lesbian Community Center, transgender rights lobby group It's Time America and GLAAD, contacted the newspaper to express concerns and to educate the staff.
In response, the Sun ran a third article. While the newspaper could have done nothing at all, or could have ran a blurb about pronoun usage or clarified that Ranta was a transgender woman, not a transvestite, the newspaper featured a lengthy, well-written profile about Ranta in its Dec.15 issue. Reporter Michael Ollove touches briefly on the murder, but then goes into detail on Ranta's life, interviewing her friends and co-workers.
He covers Ranta's early life as a male, her activism for the transgender community and the issues faced by transgender people, including family reactions, problems of obtaining legal identification documents such a driver's license and the political apathy found both in and out of the transgender community.
Also included in the article is a quote from Ranta's friend Jessica Xavier, a transgendered woman, who explains what the desire to start the transition process is like: "It becomes this force that builds in you and you can't live without it anymore. Most of us look at it as life and death. After all, if it were a choice, who would choose to face universal disapproval and discrimination?"
source: GLAADAlert, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation 01/06/00
My "To Do" List:
Kill Wife, Go To Prison, Sue for Sex Reassignment Surgery
Claiming he is a woman trapped in a man's body, a prison inmate has filed a federal lawsuit to force the state to pay for a sex change.
Robert Kosilek, who is serving a life sentence for killing his wife in 1990, claims it is cruel and unusual punishment to prevent him from becoming a woman.
Since his conviction in 1993, the 50-year-old Kosilek has been denied the hormones and surgery that would allow him to "assume some level of psycho-sexual congruity," as he put it in court papers.
Correction officials have attempted, so far unsuccessfully, to have the case dismissed. But they agreed on Friday to hire an expert to evaluate Kosilek. A sex change typically runs around $10,000 to $15,000, according to the International Foundation for Gender Education in Waltham. Additional operations for breast enhancement, Adam's apple reduction and voice-box alteration can cost several thousand dollars each.
Kosilek began fighting to get the sex change surgery even before he was convicted of strangling his 36-year-old wife, Cheryl. He killed her in 1990 and left her body in the back of a car parked at a mall.
During his trial, Kosilek described himself as a "transsexual in transition." He wore women's clothes to court and grew his hair and fingernails long. An expert testified at trial that Kosilek was a legitimate transsexual.
In November, a death row inmate in Ohio filed a federal lawsuit to force officials to refer to him as a woman. Frank Spisak, who wants to be known as Francis Anne, tried unsuccessfully for years to get a sex-change operation while behind bars.
source: The Anchorage Daily News 01/07/00
Reunited Kids in the Hall on
Tour
Reunited, The Kids in the Hall Canada's greatest comedy export since SCTV, The Kids in the Hall, have reunited for a tour of live comedy peformances. They can be seen in cities across America and Canada through the end of February.
The five guys, noted for having not a second's hesitation about throwing on a dress and pumps, play all the characters, both male and female, in their sketches.
Their series originated on the CBC in Canada and later aired in the U.S. on CBS, with a racier version on HBO . Reruns can currently be seen on Comedy Central.-jp
Mexican CD Seeks Asylum in U.S.
Geovanni Hernandez-Montiel is a man who dresses like a woman. Because of that, the 21-year-old native of Xalapa, Mexico, says he was raped at gunpoint by police officers when he was 14, beaten by a mob in his homeland, kicked out of a state-run school and shunned by his family. His sister even sent him to a counseling center to be "converted" straight.
Hernandez has known he's gay since he was 8 years old and began dressing as a girl a few years later, his lawyers said.
Hernandez illegally entered the United States in the mid-1990s, was arrested in San Diego and then initiated a plea of political asylum that has garnered national attention from gay rights and civil rights groups.
Some activists say the unusual asylum case could yield a precedent-setting court decision. In a worst-case scenario, they say, if a court decides against Hernandez, it could create new obstacles for foreigners seeking asylum.
San Diego-based U.S. Immigration Judge Kenneth Bagley rejected Hernandez's asylum bid in 1996 and the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed that decision. Although Bagley acknowledged Hernandez was abused in Mexico, the judge ruled that Hernandez failed to show the abuse stemmed from Hernandez's status as a homosexual. Instead, the judge ruled that Hernandez's cross-dressing nature was something he could change; in essence, Hernandez could stop the abuse by dressing like a man.
Hernandez's lawyers took that decision to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
Gay rights groups and some immigration lawyers have argued that his wearing of women's clothes and his identity as an effeminate gay man are deep-seated and fundamental - a legal standard called "an immutable characteristic." Yet "the judges were so blinded by homophobia that they ignored the law," said one immigration lawyer who didn't want to be quoted for fear of offending immigration judges.
"What is absolutely clear is he was perceived as gay, and that is why he was attacked and assaulted," said Shannon Minter, a lawyer for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who has filed legal papers in the Hernandez case. "The characteristics that reveal him to be gay go far beyond what he is wearing. He is most comfortable wearing female clothing. . . . His personal characteristics are very deep-seated. It's a travesty to fixate on whether he can change his attire."
The U.S. Department of Justice lawyer arguing the government's case refused to comment.
In court documents, the government contends that Hernandez admitted he hasn't lived continuously as a woman in the past few years, and that he sometimes dresses as a man. He couldn't even recall whether he was dressed as man or a woman when he crossed the border.
"If he wears typical female clothing sometimes, and typical male clothing other times, he cannot characterize his assumed female persona as immutable or fundamental to his identity," government lawyers quoted a judge as saying.
And although Hernandez said he fears persecution will start again if he goes back to Mexico, court records show he voluntarily returned to Mexico several times. He first entered the United States in 1993, but didn't initiate asylum proceedings until 1995 when he faced deportation.
Despite the rallying by many groups to his cause, court papers hardly portray Hernandez as a saint. He was been arrested in San Diego in 1994 for suspicion of prostitution. He pleaded guilty then to a lesser charge.
During his asylum hearing, he asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked whether he had ever been arrested for engaging in prostitution or on drug charges. Bagley ruled that, even if he did conclude Hernandez faced persecution back home, he'd deny him asylum because of Hernandez' failure to answer all questions.
Legal experts say Hernandez's refusal to answer those questions could make it easy for the federal appellate court to affirm Bagley's decision without even addressing the issue of his attire or homosexuality.
The experts also say the case and its ultimate ruling could affect the policy adopted 1994 by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, which allows political asylum applications for foreigners being persecuted because of their homosexuality. That standard is the same used for those seeking asylum for religious or other reasons. In those cases, applicants must establish they were persecuted or feared being persecuted because of being a member of particular group.
Asylum cases are never easy, and only a small percentage of people who apply for asylum receive it.
Exact figures are hard to come by, but gay rights activists say about 150 asylum bids based on homosexuality have been granted by the United States during the past five years. Of those, it's believed a small percentage involved cross-dressing men.
However, those cases involved applicants who were in the country legally and weren't seeking asylum in the face of deportation.
Hernandez's case is different because he's seeking asylum as a way of avoiding deportation. Moreover, lawyers fear that if Hernandez loses his bid it could create legal precedent that will harm all asylum bids.
"If the court goes down that road of trying to separate out the behavior and conduct of someone seeking protection, that would just gut the entire concept of protecting people against persecution," Minter said.
Hernandez's San Diego lawyer Robert Gerber compared the rejection of his client's case to denying asylum to a person of Jewish faith, who was raped, beaten and deprived of an education because he wore a yarmulke as an outward expression of his Orthodox religious beliefs.
If the appellate court lets the decision stand, Hernandez's supporters believe, the judges also may be sending a message to lower courts that asylum bids for men who dress like women should be rejected outright.
Thomas M. Davies, the director of the Center for Latin-American Studies at San Diego State University, said there is a great deal of misunderstanding about how effeminate gay men are treated in Latin American countries.
Effeminate homosexuals "are viewed as the most despicable things in society" in Latin American countries, said Davies, who testified at Hernandez's hearing. Homosexuals with masculine characteristics are more accepted in Mexican society, he said.
Attorney Gerber refused to reveal his client's whereabouts and said he wouldn't make Hernandez available for an interview. In earlier court testimony, Hernandez said he feared for his well being if he was returned to Mexico. "I don't want to go back . . . to be treated the way I used to be treated," Hernandez testified.
However, in court papers, government lawyers suggest there is another agenda at work. Hernandez, they stated, "is merely attempting to convert what is his mutable, voluntary behavior into immutable law."
source: Matt Krasnowski, San Diego Union-Tribune 01/10/00
TG and Gay Life Down South... and We Don't Mean Alabama
Editor's Note: This is a facinating overview of how sexual orientation and perceptions of masculinity and feminity mix together to form something very different from our "rules" here in North America. -jp
Latin America has imported the notion of "gay pride" from the United States, just as it has imported fashions and fast-food chains. But it is still a region where men are macho, women are long-suffering, Catholicism dominates, and the family reigns supreme. Our reporter embarked on a personal odyssey to discover what this complex cultural mix means for Latin American gays.
To someone arriving in Mexico in May 1998, the first impression of what Latin Americans thought of homosexuality came out of loudspeakers. Every radio station and nightclub in the country was playing a song by Molotov, a rock band determined to shock with lyrics full of swear-words and an album cover showing a girl with her knickers pulled down. Society was shocked all right, and Molotov was roundly condemned for its brazenness; but nobody seemed to object to the words of "Puto", a thumping disco anthem that climaxed with "Puto, puto, matarile al maricon" roughly translatable as "Faggot, faggot, let's play kill the queer". The sight of dozens of young men jabbing their arms in the air and yelling "puto! puto!" is not a calming one, especially if you happen to be a puto.
Take no notice, Mexican friends said soothingly; they don't mean it. Eventually, people got bored of "Puto". Molotov went back to making songs about drugs. But the question remained how do Latin American societies really treat people whom they know are homosexual?
An interview with a man running for governor of Zacatecas, a state in north-central Mexico, confirmed that gay rights are not high on the agenda. Jose Narro represents the Workers' Party, a small left-wing group, and he talked in earnest and heart-warming terms about his belief in equality. So did he believe in allowing gays to marry? He fell silent, pondering. "We believe in equality," he said at long last, "but I've never really thought about that sort of equality..." All equalities are equal, but some, it seems, are a little too equal to bear thinking about. "You know, it's very simple," he concluded. "We would have to put it to a vote, and let the people of Mexico decide." He claimed not to be able to guess what the people of Mexico would say.
Put homosexuality in front of them, and the people of Mexico don't say anything much. At this year's gay pride parade, thousands of homosexuals, bisexuals, drag queens, and transvestites marched down Mexico city's principal avenue, and on to its central square just as they might march in San Francisco or Berlin. Drivers chugging past wore the same looks of bemusement, amusement and occasional disgust as would drivers along London's Oxford Street. Two old men watched the spectacle shaking their heads in disbelief. But when asked their opinions, they replied "Each to his own."
This, though, is an attitude for special places and special occasions. In the metropolis, with an income that provides some independence from family, you may be able to live nearly as gay and proud as in New York or Paris. Elsewhere, homosexuals face the same attitudes as those in the North did four or five decades ago. But the number of ways Latin American gays have devised to live within those constraints is astonishing.
Pablo (this article uses pseudonyms for those who appear only by first names) is a lawyer in his mid-20s who spent most of the pride march flouncing back and forth shouting "Z-a-a-a-a-a-a-s!" a sort of camp version of "My goodness!" at anything that displeased him. Pablo and his friends go to gay bars, gay restaurants and on gay holidays. His family knows he is gay. But he has to keep his loca ("crazy girl") side under a tight rein at work, and does so with consummate skill watching him switch from a hilarious one-man cabaret to a buttoned-up professional in a fraction of a second is an unnerving experience. Nevertheless, he is young and middle class, and relatively free to be what he chooses.
Take the metro and then the bus north from the city's central square, and you eventually reach Azcapotzalco. This unprosperous part of the city is the last place you would expect to find Father Jorge, Father Rodolfo and their flock holding mass in one of the few gay churches in Latin America, an ecumenical chapel converted from the garage of the house where the two priests, partners for over 20 years, live.
The 120-odd worshippers at their three Sunday services range from teenagers as carefree as Pablo to older men and women who have been shackled by traditional values for most of their lives. Arturo and Miguel, partners for just over five years, are both about 50 years old. Neither is especially well-to-do. And each still lives with his family, so that mass at the church is one of their few chances to see each other. Before he accepted his own homosexuality, at the tender age of 43, Arturo was not even an acting heterosexual; he lived to middle age without ever having a relationship.
Now, he and Miguel are planning to ask Father Jorge to bless their union. "But not yet," says Arturo cheerfully, "because I'm a traditionalist. In my family courtships always last at least five years."
Latin America, like most places, has a long, disputed history of ambivalence and hypocrisy when it comes to homosexuality. "The Maya of the Yucatan peninsula," writes Clark Taylor, an anthropologist, "held large private sexual parties, which included homosexuality. However...they were aghast at the public sexual rites of their Toltec conquerors." Some anthropologists hold that the Aztecs, who vanquished the Toltecs in their turn, held such rituals too, although the experts at Mexico's national anthropology museum hotly deny this.
The Spanish invaders claimed to find shocking behaviour among the natives. But, once again, the conquerors were no purer than the conquered. A 1658 court report on the trial and execution of 14 members of a homosexual ring in Mexico city noted that the facilitator of the group was an elderly but irrepressible Spaniard known to his friends as "Seora la Grande" (a reference, presumably, to both his age and the size of his member), who "had sex on all occasions, and at all times and places." Even in a hospital, where he was sent after suffering 200 lashes for false testimony, he managed to have it away with other patients, and quickly lost any chance of mercy that his age might have won him.
Today ambivalence continues. Despite the culture of machismo, the ideal of total masculinity, Latin America is legendary for its male bisexuality. When Annick Prieur, a Norwegian anthropologist, asked her gay Mexican contact, Mema, how many men he knew who had had sex with another man, Mema started counting. First, he counted the 12 households closest to his own house. Then...he counted the 27 households in the street where his mother lived. In this way he arrived at 130 men in 39 households... Out of these he affirmed that at least 82...had at least one homosexual experience. And this he knew because either he had seduced them himself or he knew someone else who had.
How could so many supposedly straight and macho men allow themselves to go to bed with a fellow who, according to Ms. Prieur's description, wears bottom-hugging trousers, bleaches his hair, and does not walk, but sashays?
Machismo is, in fact, the key to this puzzle. The stereotype of homosexual men as effeminate and passive is so powerful that a man who takes the "active" or "masculine" role, even with another man, is not necessarily seen as homosexual. Quite the reverse, sometimes. "Soy tan macho que me cojo otro hombre" I'm so macho that I fuck another man is a Colombian saying. Ms Prieur writes "Contempt for the effeminate homosexual is exactly what makes bisexuality acceptance [sic] for masculine men, and this is why homophobia, machismo and widespread male bisexuality make a perfect fit." [author's italics]
Even the Aztecs shared this contempt, judging by how they sometimes punished men caught in flagrante. The "active" partner, according to a Victorian anthropologist quoted by Mr Taylor, was merely tied to a stake, covered in ashes and left to die. However, "the entrails of the passive agent were drawn out through his anus, he was then covered with ashes, and wood being added, the pile was ignited."
In this mindset, your sexual orientation isn't determined by whom you do it with, but what you do with them. It is an old distinction, going all the way back to the ancient Greeks. And it is long-lasting, for even in North America until earlier this century, before the notion of "gay" took hold, manly men could have sex with "fairies" and still think of themselves as heterosexual. In today's Latin America the "modern" view in which homosexuals are no different from heterosexuals except for the trifling detail of who their partners are jostles for space with a different and quite baffling lexicon of sexual identities.
Of course, many homosexual men marry and have children while continuing secret affairs with other men. As a result, when AIDS started to take hold, faithful married women caught HIV at an alarming rate one study of HIV-positive housewives in Bogota in the early 1990s estimated that 80% of them got the virus because of their husbands' bisexual affairs. What's more, because the affairs were secret, wives were catching HIV even faster than female prostitutes, who were aware of the risks and used condoms.
AIDS prevention has depended on destroying its image as a "gay" disease because "heterosexual" men who had sex with other men thought they could not catch it.
Machismo also means that gay women, who are less visible than gay men the world over, practically vanish in Latin America... women have less freedom than men, find it harder to get jobs, and so are even more likely to have no choice but to live with their families until a husband comes to carry them off...
Despite prejudice, some gays don't bother to hide. Take Mema, and his coterie of gay men and transvestites in one of Mexico city's poorest suburbs. They sometimes suffer violence, especially the transvestites who sell sex on dangerous night-time streets. But their colourful, noisy progress through the toughest parts of town is usually met with nothing worse than amusement. Even in tiny backwater towns in the countryside, obvious transvestites often work in shops or restaurants, apparently unmolested. Many of Ms. Prieur's Mexican contacts even consider themselves
happier than gays in her native Norway, who enjoy many more legal rights but live in a buttoned-up society that has little truck with egregious camping about. Paradoxically, obvious homosexuals seem more common in the working class.
The explanation is simple pragmatism. "Coming out", that solemn rite of passage for gays in rich countries, isn't even an option when you share a small house with ten siblings and everyone can see that you are a bit more girly or manly than you should be. Moreover, at least one of your siblings will turn out to be something worse a criminal, for instance. And a transvestite who works selling sex or as a successful hairdresser (the two commonest professions) may support her entire family. Because children usually live with their families until they marry, the family must get used to them, or else kick them out. "In my 25 years of research in Mexico," writes Joseph Carrier, an American anthropologist, "I have found this to be much more an implied threat than a reality."
However, not all families are quite so accommodating. In Honduras, surely one of the worst places to be gay in the entire world, Nina Cobos, the president of the country's only gay-activist group, says she knows just 20 gay couples who live together. And even that can require contortions. The invitation to dinner came from Luis and Enrique, two young men who live together in a middle-class part of Tegucigalpa, the capital. With them live Enrique's parents, his brother and sister-in-law, and their three kids. The two men have for four years shared the same room and the same bed. Before arriving, Rodrigo, a Guatemalan friend of theirs, issued instructions "Enrique's family doesn't know they're a couple, so don't say anything."
It seems preposterous. Yet as they sit with their guests in the living room, surrounded by family photos, Luis and Enrique keep up the pretence. After a few minutes it becomes second nature to flip the conversation from whether a particular movie star is gay to who will win the football game whenever someone else walks through the room. Most likely, says Rodrigo, everyone tacitly agrees to feign ignorance as a way to accept the unacceptable; he himself has lived with his American boyfriend for seven years and has no doubt that his family knows, but he would still never tell them outright.
Delve in, and there are many peculiar stories to be told. Like that of Rodrigo's cousin Carlos, who is also gay. Carlos's sister married a man who didn't like putos, and made sure everyone knew it. One day she came home to discover him in bed with her brother. They survived her wrath, and so did the marriage; but as with Rodrigo, the family still never mentions the fact that Carlos is gay.
Or of Fidel, a young gay waiter in Nicaragua, who just shrugs when he hears about Luis and Enrique. "I had a boyfriend who came to live with me, in my room. I told my mother he had to leave home and didn't have a place to stay. He stayed for six months before she figured it out."
Or of Leo, a male prostitute in Rio de Janeiro. He is 19 and has been selling sex in a seedy downtown sauna (in between appearing in gay porn films) for a year. Does he consider himself gay? No, nor do any of his colleagues. "I'd say I'm bisexual. I have a girlfriend." Ah. And does she know what he does for a living? "Oh, yes. She does the same thing. She earns a lot more than me, too."
But perhaps the most unusual gay scene of all is in Cuba. There is no gay politics, since there is no legal political activism of any sort; and there are few gay households, since it is difficult for anyone but married couples to get a state housing allocation. But every night outside the Lara cinema, in full view of Havana's tourist district, an odd crowd gathers.
Handsome young men, some not yet even men, meet, kiss and exclaim over each other's shiny new clothes. Magazine-model women six feet high teeter back and forth on pin-sharp heels or sway glamorously in the breeze. On closer inspection they still look like women which is impressive, since they are men, too. Sometimes the crowd heads for one of the semi-legal gay bars. Tonight the whole flock decamps to an illicit party held in someone's house, where rum, salsa music, physical beauty and the tropical heat together create an atmosphere that any nightclub on the planet, if it could reproduce it, would charge a fortune for.
At about 3am, after a fight between two transvestites breaks up the party, the crowd shifts once more, to a cafe by the Malecon, Havana's seaside ring road. More than 200 brilliant creatures hang around blocking what little traffic there is, and nobody comes to move them on or bash them up. It seems like paradise. And then Laura, one of the few real women present, punctures it. "Almost all these guys are jineteros," she explains men who sell their bodies or just their company, for money, drinks or shiny new clothes. For anyone else, the few dollars needed to go out can be a month's wages.
Back in Mexico city the pride march has ended. Pablo and his friends are walking off, past the police who have failed to set up a roadblock in the right place and are now half-heartedly waving traffic away from the mass of gay men and women. Time to act straight again. A cab stops; they climb in soberly. The driver glances in the rearview mirror and smiles. "Is the march over, then?" he asks. Pablo pretends to look outraged. "I'm not a faggot," he insists. "What makes you think that? Z-a-a-a-a-a-s..."
source: The Economist 12/24/99
MOVIES: Awards Watch
At the Golden Globe Awards, presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press on January 23, films with TG subjects or characters did incredible. Winning Best Actress Award, Hilary Swank for her portrayal of Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry. The winner of Best Foreign Film was Pedro Aldomovar's All About My Mother. The TVALS newsletter has featured stories on both films in past issues. Go to our Archives page to read them.
MOVIES: Boys Don't Cry Coming to Nashville
The critically acclaimed Boys Don't Cry is
actually coming to Nashville, showing at Vanderbilt's Sarratt Cinema, in
the Sarratt Student Center, along with the documentary on the actual people
involved. Below are listed times and dates. For complete details go to the
Vandy website, click on Sarratt and get the complete semester's line-up and
directions. Website: www.vanderbilt.edu
Boys Don't Cry Thursday - Saturday March 16-18, @ 7 and 9:15 p.m.; Sunday matinee March 19 @ 3 p.m.
(1999) Dir. Kimberly Peirce. Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard. The disturbing, true story of Teena Brendan, a transgendered person whose search for life in rural Nebraska explodes into a torrent of violence when she befriends two intolerant town residents. 114 min.
The Brandon Teena Story Friday, Saturday March 17, 18 @ Midnight
(1998) Dirs. Susan Muska, Greta Olafsdottir, an engrossing documentary about Brandon Teena (aka Teena Brandon) who was murdered along with two others in 1993 in rural Nebraska. The story is told through interviews, recorded interrogation, trail transcripts and file film footage. 89 min.
ADMISSION $4 GENERAL ADMISSION $3 VANDERBILT STUDENTS
Ticket sales begin 30 minutes prior to screening time. Titles, dates and times are subject to change. For more information, call (615) 322-2425 or the Sarratt Cinema Hotline, 343-6666.
11th Annual GLAAD Media Awards Nominees
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) today announced the nominees of its 11th Annual
GLAAD Media Awards presented by Absolut Vodka, which will take place in four ceremonies to be held in New York City on April 2, in Los Angeles on April 15, in Washington, D.C. on May 13, and in San Francisco on June 3...
The GLAAD Media Awards were created to honor individuals and projects in the media and entertainment industries for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives. This year, GLAAD expects more than 5,000 to attend the four ceremonies, raising more than $2.3 million for the organization's work...
GLAAD has offices in Atlanta, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C....
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of individuals and events in all media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation...
(Editor's NOTE: here are the two major catagories with a TG presence.)
FILM - WIDE RELEASE:
Being John Malkovich, Big Daddy, Election, Flawless, Happy, Texas
FILM - LIMITED RELEASE:
All About My Mother, Better Than Chocolate, Boys Don't Cry, Edge of Seventeen, Show Me Love
source: GLAAD press release 1/18/00
Tammy Faye and RuPaul at Sundance Film Fest
Tammy Faye and RuPaul at Sundance Film Fest Keep
your eyes on the slopes; that beautiful blur you see fly past may be RuPaul.
The MAC diva does Sundance to promote a movie she's involved in.
The mascara- loving Tammy Faye Bakker gives the inside scoop on the rise and fall of her (and ex-husband Jim Bakker's) religious empire in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Fellow makeup lover RuPaul narrates the film which is competing in the documentary catagory at the Sundance Film Festival.
The documentary is the work of award- winning filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato. Previous credits include The Real Ellen Story, and The RuPaul Show on VH1.
You must check out the film's ultra-cool website at www.eyesoftammyfaye.com. Among the features, Tammypalooza, with photos, gifts and quotes from Tammy Faye like this one:
"I like eyelashes. I'm probably a little bit more dramatic than most people would like me to be. But I enjoy that...that's just who I am." -jp
sources: PlanetOut 1/21/00 AOL Keyword: PlanetOut and The Eyes of Tammy Faye official website
Changing One's Sex in the Police Department
A sex change operation planned by an employee of the Calgary Police Service is causing a stir within the rank and file in the traditionally testosterone-driven cop culture.
The employee, 25, who is not a member of the front-line force, started coming to work dressed as a woman about six months ago and has at least another six months to go before the gender reassignment operation to remove the male genitals and create female ones can go ahead.
The transsexual, who spoke to the Herald on the condition of anonymity, was hired as a man a year ago but told police brass about six months later that he wanted to become a woman -- something the employee has known from an early age.
Coming out in a male dominated organization that's steeped in tradition and macho sensibilities posed no concerns for the civilian employee. "It's been a fairly easy transition," said the willowy brunette, whose feminine and conservative appearance does not outwardly reveal her current gender.
"I thought, why would that be an issue -- it seems to be the safest place to be."
The individual, who has also changed her name to reflect her new identity, had minor surgery last November in the complicated quest to complete the sex change, which is only done after a rigorous series of psychiatric tests and approvals by doctors. When those have been completed, the sex change costs are covered under Alberta health care at an average cost of about $8,000.
Deputy Chief Jack Beaton, who oversees human resources issues, said the department immediately took steps to educate other people in the work area (the location was not disclosed) to ensure everyone was at ease with the transition. "We're quite proud she stayed here and wanted to go through the transition here -- that tells us the police service is on the right path," said Beaton of the service's progressive approach to the unique situation. "We have a positive workplace policy and this is an issue of diversity. We would handle it the same way if it was a sworn officer."
Other employees have responded well to their co-worker's change in wardrobe and identity, said the person, though a unisex bathroom was designated for only her use.
Beaton said there have been no complaints or concerns raised by anyone inside the service or on the street.
Though only a few people were told about the sex change, rumours have trickled down to the rank-and-file, who have mixed reactions. "There are jokes, but nobody really cares because it's a civilian," said one officer, who refused to be named. "Mostly, people are wondering why our benefits would pay for it -- why taxpayers dollars would pay for the operation."
The employee used holiday time for the week of recovery after the first minor operation instead of short-term disability benefits that were offered by the department.
Alberta isn't the only province or government to pay for gender reassignment operations. The federal government has also paid for a prisoner's sex change as well as a Canadian Armed Forces soldier. In Vancouver, B.C., a 28-year veteran police detective is scheduled to undergo a sex change operation this May at a cost of about $13,000 US.
But when the detective, whose first name is Roz, revealed that she was a woman trapped in a man's body two years ago, fellow officers reacted with anger and had her thrown out of the Combined Law Enforcement Unit (CLUE), which focused on high-profile cases involving bikers and other organized
crime elements. She still works in the department but as a financial crime investigator. "They said they refused to work with 'the freak,' " said the 48-year-old Roz in an interview from Vancouver.
Instead of lashing back, the strapping five-foot-11 tall gregarious transsexual, who has been dressing as a woman now for two years, shared her story in training sessions with other officers, which helped reduced the anxiety. "I would take any question from National Geographic to National Enquirer, whatever it was they wanted to know. Providing information to people is the best route to go and to inform everybody about what's going to happen and demystify the whole thing."
She admits the machismo attitude that often goes along with being a cop probably made the transition more difficult for others to accept. "The only two groups that didn't show up for their training day were the emergency response team (otherwise known as the SWAT team) and the motorcycle guys. En masse, they just weren't there," she says with a laugh.
Justice expert Thomas Whetstone, a professor at the Southern Police Institute in Louisville, Ky., has launched a study about acceptance and inclusion of transgendered officers in law enforcement and so far he's found about 10 cases across the U.S. "This is a story in the sense that it's a very traditional masculinized profession that is allowing these people to do something that is very different, and still allowing them to be part of that police family. But it's an intensely private thing for these people, to the point that their families and therapists don't often have a full picture of how it's affecting them."
Whetstone said police forces have dealt in a variety of ways with transsexuals, in some cases throwing them out the door and running them out of town. "There is still some resistance, but it's changing," said the former police officer.
Whetstone became interested in the subject when a friend, a decorated soldier, had a sex change and was turned down for every law-enforcement job for which he applied.
source: Suzanne Wilton, Calgary Herald 1/9/2000
QUICK HITS: Media Mentions
Entertainment Weekly/ December 24-31, 1999
E.W.‘s year end Best of 99 issue features an article on the very public year breasts have had. Besides Diana Ross touching Lil' Kim's on the MTV Awards broadcast, it ended with this paragraph...
"... there were unlikely chest beaters: Canadian Brian Zembic's 38C's scored an appearance on Comedy Central's The Man Show after he followed through on a $100,000 bet that he wouldn't get implants. The ample chest sprouted by Meat Loaf Aday's Fight Club support-group member came from cancer treatment, but bodybuilder Alex Baez got the sympathy vote for discussing his unplanned acquisitions on the Today show. Baez had chosen an allegedly unlicenced surgeon to help perfect his pectorals and emerged with something completely different. What a bust."
The Tennessean / December 29, 1999
From the Brad Schmitt's Brad About You showbiz gossip column:
"...Alison Krauss is expected to appear as a special guest when Dolly Parton performs at Opryland's Delta Ballroom on New Year's Day. But she's hardly the first musical partner in Parton's career. Dolly has, of course, recorded with Kenny Rogers...and even -- get this! -- Boy George.
Seems she and the Culture Club icon hooked up for a duet, Your Kisses are Charity, that was released as a dance single in England, and may be on a forthcoming album here in the States.
"He's a nice boy -- or girl, whatever he is," Dolly said...
Dolly Parton has for years said that her appearance -- including her use of cosmetics -- was inspired by the hookers she saw while growing up in East Tennessee. The fact that Boy George wears makeup has always been one of his calling cards.
So who's more nimble with their eye shadow? Dolly says she got jealous of the Boy after doing the duet with him on an English TV show:
"He didn't look so good during rehearsals. He was gettin' his hair colored, and gettin' his eyebrows done and different things, and I thought, 'Oh, good, I'm gonna look better than him.' But then, when showtime came, well, he outdone me by a mile. I was just right jealous of his jewelry and his makeup. When it's time, he can put it on."
Rex Wockner's Quote Unquote / November 30, 1999
Openly gay U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Mass, writing on querpolitics e-mail list says...
"Gore and Bradley are competing for the votes of gay, lesbian and bisexual and transgendered voters. This is the first time in American history that two major Presidential candidates have in fact so competed."
USA Today / December 13, 1999
Spotlighting gifts for the holidays available on line, USA Today's e-world column discussed this website and it's suggested recipient:
"...For Myrtle, your graying mother-in-law. She always has wanted to be a redhead, so make her dream come true. Wigs in straight, wavy or curly; short, medium or long. Lots of colors, including nine reds. Most cost $40 to $2000. www.bestwig.com ..."
USA Today / December 13, 1999
An obituary from the Lifeline column of the Life section:
"Bobby Marchan, a flamboyant blues singer and one rock's earliest female impersonators, died Dec. 5 at age 69 after a long illness. Marchand had a No. 1 R&B hit in 1960 with a remake of There Is Something on Your Mind.
Entertainment Weekly / January 14, 2000
From Cybertalk, quotable quotes from on-line celebrity chats, comes this comment from Man on the Moon actress Courtney Love on Reel.com:
"I had two marriages. The transvestite--does everyone know about the transvestite? He's around. He calls himself ‘the Eddie Fisher of Rock'. I was drunk in Las Vegas. I married a transvestite, got an annulment."
Out Magazine / December 1999
In Michael Musto's Barometer column of current fads and trends that should be kept (Elect) or discarded (Eject) comes this...
"...Proper Gender-Bender Terminology. Call a trannie a ‘drag queen' and you'll have one very cross cross-dresser."