Upcoming
Group Meetings
Tennessee Vals
Newsletter AUGUST 2001
Upcoming
Group Meetings
In This Issue:
Vals Special Events:
August 24– Vals’ Pride
Mixer, Gaslight Lounge
August 25- Nashville Pride Rally,
Bicentennial Mall
September 20– Reception at Southern
Comfort Conference in Atlanta
September 29- Artrageous XIV, Gaylord
Entertainment Center, Nashville
October 5-Vanderbilt Lambda's annual
Natl Coming out Day Drag Show on campus' Wilson Lawn
7:30pm
The Queens Throne by Marisa
Richmond
marisaval@aol.com
There have a series of recent events that illustrate changes within the transgender community. More and more, I am becoming aware of the benefits and pitfalls of the Internet to us. Without question, it has allowed groups all around the country to reach out to more people and help many feel less isolated. Through the numerous websites and chat lines, nobody can claim to be the “only one” any longer. For years, I have felt that too many use Internet resources as a crutch to avoid being out. People would rather sit at home and chat on-line than be out interacting with one another on a regular basis. Here in Tennessee, two other groups have also suspended their operations, SWANS in Knoxville and the Nashville T-Men, a FTM group. In both cases, they cited competition with the Internet as reasons for abandoning monthly meetings. This is illustrative of a growing phenomenon. Elsewhere, groups as far apart as southern California and New Jersey have also suspended operations.
Personally, I have never understood the attraction for all this new high tech stuff. Sure, I was addicted for awhile to my first bulletin board years ago, but once the novelty wore off, I got over it since I enjoy being out a lot more than sitting at home in front of a LCD.
Now the Internet is a very useful tool, as long as you keep it in that perspective. It does keep people in touch around the country and allows us to organize in ways that would have been a lot more difficult without it. Furthermore, people struggling to find information or resources in their community can do so much easier today than when I entered adulthood. But when people believe that their community consists entirely of friends they have met online, but have never met face to face, then they are doing a disservice both to themselves and to everyone else. Personal interaction is much more rewarding. Besides, if your local support group shuts down because you refused to support them, then you must bear some of the blame. It is easy to make excuses or snipe from afar, but the real challenge is to get out and become involved. This does not require doing any work. Just your physical presence (and financial support–whatever you can afford) keeps the group operating. There is strength in numbers, and every face a newcomer sees makes them feel that more comfortable. When you are not present, that empty chair speaks volumes.
As I was sitting down preparing
to put pen to chip (in a manner of speaking...), I was hit with a series
of losses of numerous cultural icons who were especially important in my
life. The first came when a Chicago television station pulled the plug on
the last Bozo. Although in recent years, he was surpassed in social
relevance by progeny like Homey and Krusty, it was
on the local Bozo Show that I made my television debut when
I was about eight years old. Then came the deaths--on the exact same day--of
two giants of Americana: Carroll O’Connor (a.k.a. Archie Bunker) and
John Lee Hooker. Like most Americans, I used to laugh at All in the
Family every week as Archie exposed the darker side of American life
making bigotry the subject of ridicule. Unfortunately, many forms of bigotry
and ignorance still persist. But it was Hooker’s death in San Francisco
that saddened me even more. I have several of his albums--which I have been
playing while working on this and other projects–and I also had the
pleasure of seeing him perform live at a club in Berkeley when I was a graduate
student. He was truly one of the greats of American music. It seems to me
the best way to remember his legacy is not to sit in front of a computer
chatting about him, but to Chill Out, let some Crawlin’ King Snake buy
you One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer, and Boogie Chillun. Being out with
Whiskey and Wimmen is a lot
more fun than sitting at home chatting
online all by your lonesome. I know I’m In The Mood to go dancing this
month.
Finally, there was the news that none other than Jack Lemmon had passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 76. His performance as the bass playing Daphne in the 1959 classic Some Like It Hot, was one of those special moments that touched me deeply from the time I first saw the film. Interestingly, it was not Lemmon’s first drag role. He had done so previously with Harvard’s Hasty Pudding Theatricals in 1946 with Proof of the Pudding. He was obviously a man with great fashion sense and the ability to accessorize. Personally, I have always regretted not auditioning for the Pudding Club when I had the chance, but hey, Nobody’s Perfect.
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A
Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead
byJulie
Phillips FabulBabe@aol.com
Officer Julie of the Grammar Police is on Patrol
At your own home, it would never cross your mind to grab a pen and begin writing rude comments and risqué limericks on your bathroom wall. But give a person a little alcohol, send them into a public restroom and voila—they turn into Steven King.
One of my favorite watering holes has quite a bit of graffiti written on the walls of both of their restrooms. In the restroom on the far right, the management got smart and mounted a chalkboard on the wall to give the writers an acceptable forum for their artistic outbursts. In the restroom on the far left— the one I use because the door locks—the graffiti is done the old fashioned way: ink on painted wall.
With a few minutes to kill, I always read the writing on the wall. Most of it’s a mindless blur of requests for certain sexual procedures to be performed on, or by, the various anonymous scribes. A few even include phone numbers. (Yeah, right. Like someone’s going to call a number scribbled on a toilet stall. It’s probably the number for the county morgue or a near-by old folks home.)
Basically, if you’ve read one bathroom, you’ve read them all. Yet, in the midst of all this same old same-old, there’s one little comment that stands out in my mind and has irked me since the first time I adjusted my pantyhose and read it. This quotable quote reads: “A Real Man Know What To Do and Not Much Around Here Does.”
This is, no doubt, the single most poorly written sentence I’ve read in my entire life!!!! Toddlers couldn’t mangle a sentence more if they worked at it.
At the risk of sounding like Tony Randall, drunk and illiterate should not be operating writing instruments. Please, if you’re gonna drink, designate a writer!
Every time I’ve stepped my pumps into this bathroom, that grammatical train-wreck of a statement has jumped off the wall and driven me to distraction. Finally, after a year, I’d had enough. I had no choice. “A Real Man Know What To Do and Not Much Around Here Does” had to be corrected!
I whipped out my weapon—an eyeliner pencil—and began drawing lines through the errors. (I wonder if English teachers do this when they‘re off-duty?) Over the marked-through words, I wrote the corrections.
The sentence now reads, “A Real Man Knows What To Do and Not Many Around Here Do.” It’s still not Shakespeare, but at least now its grammar is correct.
Join me now on Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure as we jump ahead to the next week. I’m back in the bar and decide to do a little primping in the restroom. Plus, it was a good excuse to admire the work of Officer Julie of the Grammar Police.
My gloating was short-lived; apparently others did not take kindly to my corrections. Who knew the illiterate were such a testy bunch?
By the corrected prose were a couple of scribbled comments. One person wrote that I should go and—–er, do something physically impossible to myself. Not very creative, I’d say.
The words of the second writer, however, were more memorable and original; I shall carry them with me for the rest of my days on this planet. Here are the words he wrote to me: “Smart ass binch.”
Not “bitch“, not “bench”, not “butch”, but “binch”!
I’ve never been called a binch before. I’m not sure, but judging from the “smart ass” part, I don’t think it’s a compliment.
A binch? Sigh. Police work can be so unfulfilling.
My Closet by Leslie Louise DuPaix lldupaix@hotmail.com
As a "T" person I am always looking at things from different directions. From at least two perspectives trying to find at least two theories as to why something is, or isn't.
I am always alert for things that will reinforce my not very good grasp on reality; things that will validate something I have experienced or thought. I am also looking for answers to things I am trying to think out.
One of the things I am still working on and that I have already spent some column time with is the "why" of what we do. In this case the "why" of dressing. Why indeed!! Millions of reasons why not to dress and they are all good ones. The list of reasons in support of dressing is short and usually includes "Because!," "I don't know," and "I just wanna." Unless one is into this sort of thing, those usually don't carry much weight outside our community.
If you are a child of the ‘60s (I don't mean you were conceived at a love-in, but were a functioning young adult by then, possibly conceiving at love-ins, or at least a teeny-bopper hoping to watch some conception going on) or if you are into alternate religions, you may be aware of Carlos Castaneda and his series of don Juan books. If not, you should be. Simply do a search on him and you can quickly get some small idea of what he was about. It is doubtful you will ever be up to his speed. He spent his whole adult life exploring alternate realities and wrote a large number of books explaining what he thought he had learned and seen. I will attempt to cover all of this in less than a paragraph knowing that I am doing the man a gross injustice by doing so.
The story goes as follows: young Carlos, working on his master's thesis in anthropology, hooks up with don Juan, a Yaqui Amerind "brujo" [literally "witch" but best thought of as a shaman or sorcerer] and unwittingly becomes a sorcerer's apprentice. The goal is to become a "warrior" and a "man of knowledge." This in turn requires being able to "see" and the many books coming out of this experience deal with several realities far different than the one Carlos accepted as "real" in Los Angeles. One lesson repeated over and over is "get out of your world." Fasting, spending time alone moves one out of one's normal world and changes how one sees "reality." One changes the "assemblage point" [AP] where all the stimuli filter through to the observer. Changing the AP and one's perception of reality changes if not one's reality.
In 1995 a well received book came out The Teachings of don Carlos: Practical Applications of the Works of Carlos Castaneda by Victor Sanchez (Bear and Company, Santa Fe, NM). In the section on “stalking" (where one essentially is stalking/observing one's own reality as an outsider) there are a series of exercises to be done to get one out and beyond one's self. There on page 91 is "16. Disguised as a Member of the Opposite Sex." "This exercise," Sanchez says, "is one that almost invariably will cause the assemblage point to move."
So even though we may not be intending to change our world view and the AP by dressing and however else we attempt to explore the alternate female reality--we are. I don't think there is much argument that twin-spirited people have a different reality than the mono-gendered muggles.
Whether or not we see this as divinely inspired and of a spiritual nature I think it definitely is. If we do not see it as such, we can if we move our assemblage point to project a reality that sees it as such. As "T" folks our perception of reality is fluid and our AP more easily moved. That is why many cultures see a connection between the twin-spirited and the other realities and the "T" folks of the tribe often find status as shamans.
Even if you are not ready to admit your AP and concept of reality is truly different from your culture's there is another reason why dressing makes sense. Quite by accident I came across as the "physiological synchrony" model. I subscribe to a daily emailed health tip service, RealAge.com which sends a quick tip or advice as to how to maintain or improve one's health. According to the September 29, 2000 mailing, "Strike a Pose," if "...you wish that you could better understand what a friend or loved one is saying . . . try mirroring his or her body language." Adopting a similar stance or using similar gestures as the person you are communicating with is likely to make you more attuned to his or her emotions. For what ever reason, we M2Fs are trying to understand what we are told we are not. We are trying to communicate and feel like what we feel we are internally and what we observe externally in the femme world. When we do we usually do feel a change and assume that we know what it feels like to be female. This of course is open to attack by the gender muggles out there. But the physiological synchrony model tells me we are closer to the truth than the muggles think and equally exciting, it gives some weight to the whole concept of imitative magic.
I have always thought that there was more to dressing than meets the eye and the libido. So I have added two more things to my list of why to dress. 1.) It helps me to better understand the other half of humanity feels and what they might be communicating and 2.) It helps me move my assemblage point so that my reality is more inclusive and larger than consensus reality.
I suppose one might say that M2F cross dressing is "broadening" in a sense far beyond what the horrible pun would imply.
Left
of Center by Pamela DeGroff
Author's note: Back in March of this year, the Vals were privileged to have Dr. Eugene Schrang, noted SRS surgeon, as our guest speaker. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for an interview, so I contacted him beforehand and submitted questions. He used my questions as a starting point for his presentation. The article/interview that came out of this was scheduled for release in another publication, but due to a backlog of articles-some of them my own-the Schrang article got bumped. We have decided to run it now in the newsletter because information concerning SRS from a reputable source is always valuable. For those who might have missed the March meeting, perhaps this will help.)
“Of all the afflictions humankind must endure, Gender Dysphoria must certainly be one of the most unusual and distressing, and not because it produces great morbidity or mortality, but because the accompanying emotional conflicts can engender much unhappiness for the patient and her family with possible later problems involving her social activities and associations with colleagues at work.”
So begins a personal message from Dr. Eugene Schrang of Neenah, Wisconsin, found on his web site (www.drschrang.com). This noted SRS surgeon was the guest speaker for the Tennessee Vals March, 2001 general meeting.
Dr. Schrang’s web site also contains much needed information for prospective patients such as information concerning the Theda Clark Medical Center, the hospital where the surgery is performed; requirements that must be met before surgery; fee schedules; and practical information on what a patient should bring for the stay; what to expect after SRS; as well as links for helpful products and frequently asked questions. The site also contains some marvelous photos of his work.
It was these photos as well as slides of an actual SRS being performed that made up the bulk of his presentation. Perhaps the best part of the evening, however, was the answers he gave to the many and varied questions asked of him by the 60 plus people in attendance.
When asked how he got interested in SRS in the first place, he said, “What happened was, back in the middle ‘80s, I was a plastic surgeon. I was sitting in my office and in came this patient. I looked at her...maybe it’s in my genetic code, I don’t know...but I knew right away what the problem was. I became immediately interested.
“Well, she asked me if I would do this operation. I told her I’d never seen it done, I don’t know anything about it. I know it’s done, but I don’t know how to do it. So I said, ‘Tell you what. I’ll research it and see what I come up with’.”
His research yielded little information, but through exhaustive study of his anatomy texts and utilizing his years as a surgeon, Dr. Schrang figured out his own procedure. When he proposed it to his patient, she agreed to become his first SRS operation. “It turned out to be a howling success,” Dr. Schrang said. “She looked great; she functioned. She had orgasms-she had explosive orgasms.
“I thought to myself, If I can do this not knowing what I’m doing, can you imagine if I did know what I was doing? As time went on, I took my operation and perfected it, and kept on perfecting it. The more I perfected it, the more patients I saw. The more fun I was having.”
To date, Dr. Schrang has done just over 800 SRS procedures. His patients have ranged in age from 15 ½ to over 70 years old. His patients have also come from as far away as Thailand, Australia, India, Bangladesh, Japan, the Philippines and the Middle East and Europe.
Another serious question asked during his presentation was what would make him turn a patient away? “I’ve turned two away,” he answered. “Total lack of femininity. Somebody comes in and shows me no sign whatsoever of femininity...I’ll turn them away.
“I usually don’t turn people away. I reason I don’t is because the psychologists have done such a good job. They work these people up and they recommend them to me, and once they’re under recommendation, I take their word for it. They work with them for a long time. I have no reason to doubt their word.”
Along this line, he was also asked what his opinion is of the Harry Benjamin Standard. “I leave it up to the psychologists to follow Harry Benjamin.” he said. “I kind of stay away from it. I believe in Harry Benjamin, but in a left handed way. The psychologists follow the rules, and if they recommend it, then I go ahead.”
When asked if he works with female to male transsexuals, Dr. Schrang said, “I really enjoy the chest work. That’s all I do. If the Lord gave me another twenty years, I’d sit down and work on it.”
Perhaps the most graphic part of Dr. Schrang’s presentation was the section dealing with botched SRS procedures done by other doctors. Over the years, he’s amassed quite a collection of photos with accompanying patient horror stories. This of course brought up the question as to whether or not there were any surgical results he couldn’t work with.
“I’ve always been able to do something,” he said, “They’re begging me, they’re crying. I feel so bad. The reason I feel so badly is because I know that many of these individuals didn’t have a lot of money. So what they did was they started to save, and they sacrificed and they saved. They put this money away for sometimes years. Finally, the great day comes when they have enough money and they go to this doctor, and they give him all this hard earned, saved money, and they come out looking like hell. I feel sorry for them, that’s what bothers me.”
Because of these bad results, throughout his presentation, Dr. Schrang repeatedly emphasized the importance of finding the surgeon who is right for you. “Check out as many doctors as you can,” he said. “Go introduce yourself and ask them the hard questions. Remember...you got one shot at it. The first guy to do your SRS has got the best chance for a great result. After that, it’s tough.
“Any surgeon in the world can get a good result. The best surgeons of the world have their problems, and the worst surgeons of the world once in a while get a good result; so what you as a consumer must look for is consistency-is there consistency to this surgeons work?. Does this guy put out consistently? What does it look like? That’s what you have to look for. You’re the consumer, you have to pick. I’m only here to show you what I do, and what I’ve seen other do-the truth.”
Dr. Schrang was also eager to discuss the future of SRS. In that regard, he was asked the question of whether or not he ever thought a post operative male to female could ever give birth. “I’ve discussed this with my colleagues,” he said, “They’re convinced that we could take a uterus and could implant it, and could get it to live; could impregnate it, and could bring the fetus to term. It would have to be delivered by Caesarian Section, obviously. The problem is rejection...that’s the problem. It could be done. Someday, it will.”
When asked if there was any effort underway to standardize the SRS procedure, he said that wasn’t happening yet. Even though the surgery has been available for quite some time, Dr. Schrang pointed out that it’s still a relatively new operation. When the universities start to pick it up, he noted, that would probably begin to change.
This train of thought is continued in the message found on his web site. “The future for SRS is exciting. I see on the horizon a great deal of evolution and development-improvements in technique and the way the operations are done; for example, a great step forward will be a method to line the neo-vagina without the necessity for a skin graft. Clever and talented surgeons will come upon the scene and they will make sensational things happen.”
(Author’s Note: If Sexual Reassignment Surgery is your goal, you owe it to yourself to follow the advice given by Dr. Schrang in this article. Check out as many surgeons as you can and don’t be afraid to ask questions. While the Tennessee Vals cannot endorse one surgeon over another, we do invite you to contact Dr. Schrang at the address listed, and to attend any lecture and/or presentation about SRS given by Dr. Schrang or any other reputable surgeon. The Tennessee Vals would also like to thank Nashville, TN local Pride organization, OPEN, and Nashville’s Center for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Life for their assistance in helping make Dr. Schrang our guest speaker.)
Oh how I hate that word; it’s just awful. Passing? What do they mean? It’s not how I look; it’s how I feel!
Passing really is a state of mind. To be honest, upon very close inspection, there are very few of us who pass 100% as a girl. But we do try and that’s what is important. In today’s society, there are many absolutely straight women who recognize our effort on an equal basis. They admire and respect our result to the extent that there is no question whatsoever as to their acceptance. It’s really quite nice.
How do you reach this point of acceptance? It’s how you feel about yourself in your own mind. Forget what others might think, or your perception of what they think; be proud of yourself. Hold your head up high, learn to smile, learn to carry an aura of self confidence a pride in your step, a conviction of absolute self-confidence. No one said it would be easy, it can in fact be difficult, but if you try. If you are conscious of this need, you can do it, I promise you can.
If you are confident, happy and self-assured as a girl on the inside, it will show on the outside, It’s true, I promise! Sure it helps to have girl traits and gestures, sure it helps to have a wiggle in your walk, but if you can learn to project an aura of self, you will overshadow these surface things and be an unstoppable woman. And, I guarantee you that other woman, and some men, will notice you and smile. It will become a natural habit, in fact it will become you, and you will learn to revel in your femininity.
So girls, it really is in the details and remember a good sincere friendly smile really is worth 1,000 words. Go for it, you can do it!
news, media mentions, etc...
Wigstock
2001: Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
According to Michael Musto of the Village Voice, this year’s celebration of excessive hair and excessive fabulousness will be the festival’s finale. He reports sources saying that the all-day hair-a-rama is just getting to big to mount. If that is the case, don’t miss the Wigstock 2001, to be held Sunday, September 2 from 2:30 - 10:30 PM at Pier 54 (14th Street and West Side Highway) in New York City. Tickets are $20 in advance and available at l-800-494-TIXS. Lots more info is on the official website: www.wigstock.nu.-jp
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RI Beconds 2nd State with TG Protections
The Human Rights Campaign today praised the Rhode Island legislature for passing a bill that prohibits discrimination against transgender Americans. The passage of the bill is a significant step forward and serves as a model for ending discrimination, asserts HRC.
The bill became law at midnight on Tuesday...
"The Rhode Island Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights has done a tremendous job in seeing this bill through to enactment in the first year it was introduced in the legislature."
"The passage of this law is a huge victory for the simple concept that human rights and human dignity are measured by who you are inside not by what someone else imagines you to be. We're proud that the state legislature has continued its commitment to fairness and inclusion," said Kate Monteiro, president of the Rhode Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, the statewide political organization which was a driving force behind the law's passage.
The new law forbids schools, banks, employers and other non-religious institutions from discrimination on the basis of "gender identity and expression," a category that will join current protections for race, religion, sex, nationality, age, disability and sexual orientation.
Rhode Island joins Minnesota - as well as more than 30 cities including Atlanta, Portland, Seattle and New Orleans that have enacted such measures. Connecticut's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities decided in 2000 that transsexual people may bring a claim under that state's non-discrimination law. Also, a New Jersey appeals court ruled on July 3 that transsexuals and others with gender issues are covered by the state law against gender and disability discrimination. In New York state, courts have held that transsexual people are protected under the state's sex discrimination law. Recently, a Massachusetts appellate court also affirmed a trial court held that transgender students are protected under the Massachusetts state law banning sex discrimination in education. The District of Columbia protects transgender people under the "personal appearance" sections of its civil rights law.
The state's civil rights enforcer, the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights backed the bill saying that transgender people are subject to discrimination. They said that they had received "a number" of complaints,but current law inhibited their ability to provide a legal and just remedies…
Source: HRC News Release 07/18/01
My To Do List: Perform Castration, Get Arrested, Clean up the House
A Pennsylvania transsexual woman charged in the castration death of her husband in February has reached an agreement with Marion Township to clean up her property. Under the deal, Tammy Felbaum, 42, will clean up her property, located about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh. The home has been the subject of numerous residents’ complaints. Police believe that Felbaum is an amateur taxidermist, finding both taxidermy equipment and a crude surgery room in her mobile home. Animals that had been preserved in formaldehyde were also taken from the home. Felbaum is in jail awaiting trial on charges of homicide, practicing medicine without a license, and related charges in the death of her husband, James Felbaum, during a botched at-home castration on February 25.
source: The Advocate 07/19/01
Wanna
See Some Really OLD Underwear??
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Nashville’s historic Belle Meade Plantation is currently featuring an exhibit called “Strait-Laced and Loose Women” which explores the history and changing styles of undergarments. Learn all about how women's underwear created the shape of fashion from the 1770s through 1900. Catch it through September 16th. The Belle Meade Plantation is at 5025 Harding Road in Nashville. For info, call: (615) 356-0501 or 1-800-270-3991.-jp
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Source: by The Advocate 07/19/01
Thai Kickboxer's
Hard Fight
As a boy, Parinya Kiatbussaba dreamed
of becoming a famous kickboxer, and went on to fight regular bouts in Bangkok's
big stadiums until the authorities imposed a ban -- with a rule to exclude
women from the ring.
Parinya is what Thais call a "katoey" -- a term that loosely covers camp men, transvestites and transsexuals.
She is also a good kickboxer, who regularly drew big crowds until a sex change two years ago stopped her fighting men in Thailand's main boxing halls.
But becoming a woman, rather than putting an end to her career, brought Parinya new, lucrative opportunities abroad.
At 20, Parinya is a star in Japan, where the rules are more flexible. She has also fought in the United States.
"In Japan, like here, people recognize me in the street and ask for my autograph," she told Reuters after a sparring session.
"Thousands of people come to watch the fights and they're also televised," Parinya said. "It's better money than in Thailand, so it's worth it -- even if it hurts."
Katoeys are so much a part of Thai life that some young boxers at Parinya's training camp don't think twice about getting in the ring with her.
But Parinya, her hair in a long ponytail and wearing mascara, lipstick, boxing vest and shorts, gestured at the teenage boys hitting punch bags and said some feared being embarrassed.
"When I was young, other boxers teased me a bit but when they saw I was a good boxer they respected me," she said.
"Now they're scared of getting beaten by a woman."
Parinya took up boxing after being taunted for being too effeminate when a 12-year-old boy.
"I wanted to box because people used to tease me for being a katoey and I wanted to get back at them," she said.
"I was like a normal Thai boy -- very quiet and shy -- but my dad trained me and taught me to be strong."
Moving to Bangkok changed her life.
"Really, she was quite a good boxer and the public liked her because she was colourful," said Kittiphong Kuiyapong, a columnist at Muay Siam (Thai Boxing) magazine.
"After five or six fights in Bangkok she got a lot of money, and had silicone breast implants and then the operation."
Then her problems began, Kittiphong said.
"Aside from the rules against women fighting, it would have been dangerous for her to fight with silicone breasts," he said. "There was also the problem, even before her operation, that she refused to take her clothes off for the weigh-in."
Thai katoeys are famously almost indistinguishable from women, and Parinya is no exception.
"After the operation some boxers came to chat me up. But you can't trust men. I'm always a bit suspicious," Parinya said.
She said her pre-bout ritual included putting on make-up as well as the usual psyching-up.
"It's normal for women. Even as a boxer I still want to be beautiful."
But Kittiphong said Thai audiences would probably not see Parinya's talent again.
"She's got a problem now because women don't want to fight her -- she's too strong -- and since the operation she's become too weak to fight men," he said. "But I guess in Japan the level's not so good."
Parinya said her job options would be limited.
Although katoeys are largely accepted in Thai society -- and have traditionally played a major role in the entertainment industry -- they are still not taken seriously.
"I'd say that women are at a disadvantage in Thai society, and katoeys are even further down the scale," Parinya said.
"It's difficult for us to become civil servants and most companies won't take us on. You don't get policemen or nurses who are katoeys," she said.
Parinya said she wanted to pass on her skills to a new generation of boxers.
"I want to teach Thai boxing to kids, and get them playing sport so they don't get into drugs," she said.
Source: Reuters 07/03/01
A Review of Books About Queens--No, Not not Rupaul or Lady Bunny
Queens lead double lives, as women and as figments of our collective imagination. In her long old age, Queen Victoria often corrected idealized portraits of herself by her biographers, who tended to overvalue her needlework, and her juvenile poetry: “Really what will people not say and invent!” In Becoming Victoria (Yale), which is being published on the centenary of the queen’s death, Lynne Vallone reassesses the importance of Victoria’s early writing. In her teen-age journals, the princess longs for adventure: “The road is as flat as a table; we might go on very fast, but I am sorry to say, we do not.”
Vallone describes Victoria’s youth and gender as “the essence of her sovereign power,” in contrast to Elizabeth I, who liked to refer to herself as a price. In Robin Maxwell’s historical novel Virgin (Arcade), which imagines Elizabeth’s girlhood relationship with Thomas Seymour, the princess even cross-dresses. After a quite literally bodice-ripping scene in an overheated garden, Elizabeth, “just fifteen years old, dressed as a boy, “rides off “into the night alone for an assignation with her love.”...
source:Nell FreudenbergerThe New Yorker 07/02/01
The best girlfriend in the world loved to stand before the mirror for hours, checking to make sure his makeup and hair looked absolutely perfect. Fred C. Martinez Jr. was just one of the girls to his close friends and their mothers, who had grown accustomed to the 16-year-old spending hours with their daughters talking about music and boys and clothes.
"He had a woman's mind, soul and heart in a man's body," said educator Ann Miller. "If he had been a woman, he would have been the most popular girl in town."
Instead, Martinez regularly endured taunts of "faggot" that he was determined to ignore. His friends marveled at how comfortable he seemed at times with his sexuality.
Some credit his Navajo culture, which historically has revered rather than reviled so-called two-spirited individuals, those who share male and female traits.
Others saw a positive change in him after a suicide attempt led to counseling.
But Martinez's friends and teachers often worried how the rest of the world viewed him, and their fears were realized June 21. Two boys playing just yards from the city limits found Martinez's bludgeoned body in a rocky outcrop where the locals like to party.
Authorities have arrested an 18-year-old Farmington, N.M., man who used to go to school in Cortez in connection with Martinez's death. But they won't talk about a motive, or whether the two knew each other in school.
An endless, agonizing array of scenarios haunts Martinez's friends and loved ones when they think about his final hours. Did the attacker target Martinez because of his sexuality or his ethnicity? Did the person strike after discovering his stunning date was actually a man? Or was it a random act?
The investigation by the Montezuma County Sheriff's Department is being closely monitored by national and state gay groups, which have made a conscious effort to stay in the background.
They don't want a repeat of the Matthew Shepard spectacle. Activists descended on Laramie and denounced the college town after the gay student was beaten to death in 1998 because of his sexual orientation.
Local gay representatives are doing the talking and they for the most part defend Cortez, a rugged southwestern Colorado town that relies on tourism and Indian reservation business for much of its tax base.
Members laud the police department for holding a diversity workshop and point out it was a Cortez lawmaker who sponsored a hate-crimes bill in the 2001 Colorado legislature.
"This is not at all a bad place to be gay and to be out," said John Peters-Campbell, a board member of the Four Corners Gay and Lesbian Alliance for Diversity.
But Ann Miller, who runs an adult-education program Martinez was attending, said she now wishes more had been done to warn the teen-ager about potential danger.
"This is a small western town," she said, "and it's just not cool to be effeminate."
Cortez bills itself as several gateways, to the southwest, to the Anasazi, to the Mesa Verde National Park. The Fourth of July celebration in the municipal park is evidence of the city's multi- culturalism. Three toddlers -- a Navajo, a Zuni and an Anglo -- participated in the baby crawl.
Martinez, who was born on the Navajo Reservation in 1985, moved to Cortez when he was 6 years old. It was here that he was buried this week under a hot, blue sky.
"F.C.," as the family called him, was the envy of the neighborhood when he moved in with his Hot Wheels and stuffed animals collections. As he grew older, he eventually handed them down to his beloved nephews and nieces.
Fred C. Martinez Jr.'s friends and family want people to know this about him: He was artistic and funny and blessed with an unforgettable smile.
Why does anyone need to know, they angrily ask, that he curled his hair or wore a bra he stuffed with rags? Why does his sexual orientation even need to be mentioned in the hometown newspaper?
"What's important is that Fred was the victim of a vicious crime but the Cortez Journal has to use the word 'homosexual' five times in one story," teacher Kathy Ragland said. "That's why people are mad."
Martinez's mother, Pauline Mitchell, said she isn't ready to talk about her youngest son, but Martinez's friends, their parents and his teachers have tried to paint a picture of the person they grew to love and accept.
Martinez showed up as a freshman at Montezuma-Cortez High School in the fall of 2000 wearing makeup and nail polish. Many students said they weren't that surprised because in middle school everybody talked about him being gay.
Experts say Martinez might have been transgendered, a term that refers to gender identity, but doesn't necessarily mean gay. Martinez's friends said he didn't consider himself a male attracted to other males, but a female attracted to males.
"Who knows what he was? He was only 16," said Denise de Percin, executive director of the Colorado Anti-Violence Project. "He was emerging and coming to his own conclusion about what he wanted to be in the world."
At one point, Martinez overdosed on pills and ended up in intensive care. He told his friends he didn't know why he did it. The Four Corners gay and lesbian group arranged for counseling.
"From what I understand there was a significant shift in his outlook after that," Peters-Campbell said.
Robin Flores, 16, one of Martinez's close friends, said he often told her he wished he were a girl but in recent months he seemed very happy. He liked to be called "Beyonce," after a singer in the female group Destiny's Child.
"He would stand in front of the mirror for hours, checking his makeup and his hair," Flores said. "He was so much fun. He was the best girlfriend in the world."
If Martinez wasn't staying overnight at the Flores' home, he was calling, nearly 50 times one day, according to the caller ID box. Flores' mother, Beatrice "B" Flores, didn't mind.
"I loved having him here. It's hard to describe how much joy he brought into a room," she said.
Another parent, Pricilla Scott, felt the same even after her daughter, Marlene, and Martinez were arrested in February on the Ute reservation for stealing an idling car in Cortez. It was a joy ride both teen-agers laughed about, she said.
Scott said she never questioned Martinez's sexuality or found it unusual, probably because of her Navajo upbringing.
"That's part of our tradition," she said. "We were taught there are certain individuals and they have the gift of being able to have both sides, the masculine and the feminine."
But Scott said it pained her to see how some people ridiculed Martinez, saying, "There goes that faggot." She was always amazed at how he seemed not to mind, although she thinks he hurt on the inside.
"He used to say, 'I don't care what people think about me.' There's not many people who can be so degraded and just have a smile on their face and blow it off," Scott said. "There was a lot of love in that kid."
Martinez had always struggled in school, and high school was no different for the special-education student. His habit of skipping school didn't help, either. He quit last February and enrolled in an adult-education class to try to get his GED.
Montezuma-Cortez, like all high schools, has its share of problems and its cliques. The skaters don't like the jocks who don't like the cowboys and so on.
Robin Flores said Martinez was upset when Principal Mark Rappe panned his makeup and such, saying he couldn't guarantee the student's safety if he dressed that way. Rappe wouldn't talk about Martinez specifically but said plenty of the school's 811 students get talked to about their appearance, from the boys who are baggin' and saggin' to the girls with their Shania Twain midriffs.
Michelle Kardokus, 15, who will be a sophomore this fall, said she gets along at high school because she blends into several groups. She considered Martinez a friend and laughed as she recalled borrowing lipstick from him.
"I think it's great that that was who Fred was and that he could openly express that," she said. "But I'd hear him be called names. This is a small town. It's Cortez."
School officials are stung by criticism that Martinez left because students picked on him for his sexual identity. They say other factors are at play but they can't divulge them.
"One teacher called his home almost on a daily basis to say, 'Why aren't you in school?' She talked to Fred or his mom," said Terry Helm, who oversees the school's at-risk program.
"It's not like we hung him out to dry. He had a lot of support here. But he decided to try another program and I can't blame him for that. He was frustrated. His grades were low. And he wasn't learning."
The adult-education program serves mostly 16- to 21-year-olds, many who can't adjust to high school or Cortez's alternative high school, said director Ann Miller.
She admitted she was initially shocked when she realized Martinez was a boy dressed as a girl, but quickly got over it.
"You couldn't help but like Fred," she said. "I think we all thought of him as a girl, this incredibly striking tall girl who never seemed down."
Teacher Kathy Ragland said Martinez told her when he enrolled that he had been picked on at high school, but she soon had problems with her own students. The boys were upset that Martinez would be joining them.
"They were afraid of him hitting on them and they said he had better just stay away," Ragland said. "But there wasn't a problem. Fred wasn't like that. He didn't push himself on anyone. He was the most respectful person you can imagine."
Martinez's family and friends worried about him and his partying, sometimes with strangers.
"He was such an innocent," Miller said. "I don't think he really thought about the dangers."
One of Cortez's biggest social events is the annual three-day Ute Mountain Rodeo and Carnival in the heart of town.
The last night, on June 16, B Flores thought Martinez seemed sad when she dropped him off with her daughter, Robin. He had a row of hickeys on his neck, which he said he'd gotten the night before at the carnival. He had been drinking, he said, and couldn't remember who gave them to him.
Martinez later asked B Flores for a ride home and she dropped him off at the trailer park where he lived with his mother and his brothers across from the high school. He said he might return later that night.
Martinez's friends said police told them he later was seen at the carnival and possibly at a party afterward. Sheriff's investigators are releasing few details.
Over the next few days, the Flores family thought it odd they didn't hear from Martinez. They wondered if he was mad at them.
Then the sheriff reported on June 21 finding the body of a man just south of a trailer park four blocks from Martinez's home. B Flores got a funny feeling, but dismissed it. The report said a man. She thought of Martinez as a girl.
But it was Martinez, whose body was difficult to identify because of exposure during the 90-degree days. He didn't match any missing person's report because his mother, who was used to him staying overnight with friends, hadn't filed one.
Cortez residents, even those who didn't know Martinez, were outraged. And they were worried. They didn't want one of their own turning up to be the killer.
The suspect was from out of state, but had Cortez ties. Authorities late Wednesday arrested Shaun Murphy, who had gone to school in Cortez. Murphy was repeatedly expelled for violent behavior and other problems, school officials said. Murphy then moved to Farmington.
Source: by Lynn Bartles Rocky Mountain News 07/06/01
The Hispanic AIDS Forum, the largest Latino HIV/AIDS agency in New York, was effectively forced out of a Jackson Heights, Queens, building because of prejudice against the agency's transgendered clients, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The forum was evicted from the building after its landlord acted on complaints from another tenant that the agency's transgendered clients were using the “wrong” rest rooms. According to the lawsuit, the landlord refused to discuss ways to accommodate the forum’s transgendered clients, failed to renew the agency's lease, and began eviction proceedings. The forum had been housed in the building for more than 10 years.
“This is unlawful discrimination and prejudice, with the highest of prices,” said ACLU AIDS Project attorney Tamara Lange. “This landlord has made it much harder for the Hispanic AIDS Forum to reach the people who need HIV/AIDS services most, and this organization has been forced to pay higher rent and moving costs…”
Jackson Heights, which is one of New York’s largest gay communities, is home to 30% of the entire nation's HIV-positive Latino population. The forum was forced to relocate to Woodside, Queens, which it claims is less accessible to the population it serves. Filed in New York State supreme court in Manhattan, the lawsuit claims the building’s owners and landlord violated local and state laws prohibiting discrimination based on sex, gender, and disability. The suit seeks unspecified damages, citing the financial and practical impact the move had on the forum's ability to reach people in need of HIV/AIDS services.
source: The Advocate 06/27/01
England’s court of appeal Tuesday refused to give its blessing to the marriage of a transsexual. Male-to-female transsexual Elizabeth Bellinger, 54, asked the court to legally recognize her 20-year relationship with Michael Bellinger as a marriage. Elizabeth Bellinger had a sex-change operation in 1981 and got married that year. But three court of appeal judges upheld a ruling by the high court in November that the marriage is void because she cannot be legally recognized as a woman. Judge Elizabeth Butler-Sloss said Elizabeth Bellinger is not entitled to recognition as a woman, adding that current U.K. law is unsatisfactory when it comes to this issue. “The problems will not go away and may well come again before the European court sooner rather than later,” she said. Bellinger said she may take her case to the House of Lords, the United Kingdom’s highest court. “I am disappointed that an opportunity today to actually correct a great injustice for a lot of people has not been taken,” Bellinger said. There are 1,300–2,000 male-to-female transsexuals in the United Kingdom, and 250–400 female-to-male transsexuals.
Source: The Advocate 07/19/01
US Surgeon General Says Eat More Fat and Exercise Less! OK, Maybe Not. But Made You Look!
In a report urging parents to talk more with their children about sex, the U.S. surgeon general says there is no evidence that sexual orientation can be changed and details the consequences of harassment on the mental health of gays and lesbians.
“We have a responsibility to be more supportive and proactive than judgmental,” said David Satcher. “We’re certainly not trying to get anyone in any religious group to change their views. We’re just saying these are people, these are human beings.”
The report calls on Americans to respect “the diversity of sexual values within any community.” Satcher called on parents, schools, and community leaders to get past their nervousness about sex so they can do a better job of preventing unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
“Parents sometimes need help. There are so many parents who are unprepared or uncomfortable discussing it,” Satcher said. In the far-reaching report, Satcher called for a “mature and thoughtful discussion about sexuality.” Satcher’s “call to action” was two years in the making. It begins by detailing the problems: 12 million Americans infected with sexually transmitted diseases, with some 40,000 new HIV infections; 800,000 to 900,0000 people living with HIV; nearly 1.4 million abortions each year, with nearly half of all pregnancies unwanted; more than 100,000 children victimized by sexual abuse annually...
source: The Advocate 07/29/01
Sunday, August 19th THE PRIDE PAGEANT will crown a new Mr. and Ms. Pride for 2001! at Illusions on Wilhagen Rd.
MS. PRIDE entry fee: $75
PRIZES: $400 in cash, plus a 10"
tiara, and gift certificate for a free night in the Atlanta AmeriSuites hotel
(for female impersonators)
MR. PRIDE entry fee: $50
PRIZES: $200 in cash, plus a rhinestone
sceptre, and gift certificate for a free night in the Atlanta AmeriSuites
hotel (for male impersonators "drag kings")
For more info, contact the Pride Pageant Organizer MAC at 402-1479
Additional info at: Nashville OPEN Website
Tootsie and Judge Judy: Seperated at Birth?
There's no saving face for Dustin Hoffman--even if that's all that was left of him in the pages of Los Angeles magazine.
A federal appeals court has overturned a $3 million judgment in favor of the Oscar-winning actor, ruling that a digitally altered photo of Hoffman's cross-dressing Tootsie character is protected by the First Amendment.
The photo, which
featured Hoffman appearing to wear a "butter-colored" Richard Tyler gown
and heels by Ralph Lauren, originally appeared in Los Angeles' March 1997
issue as part of a faux fashion spread called "Grand Illusions." In it, the
magazine took scenes from 16 different classic films--including Gone
with the Wind, North by Northwest, Saturday Night Fever and The
Seven Year Itch, among them--and, through digital wizardry, updated
the famous characters' fashion choices.
In 1999, a federal judge initially sided with Hoffman, calling the actor "one of our country's living treasures" and ordering Los Angeles to pay up. But on Friday, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled otherwise, saying the magazine's photo spread was not an advertisement and, therefore, protected under the First Amendment.
"Viewed in context, the article as a whole is a combination of fashion photography, humor and visual and verbal editorial comment on classic films and famous actors," Judge Robert Boochever wrote in his ruling, available in full on the 9th Circuit's Website. "We have concluded that [Los Angeles magazine] is entitled to the full First Amendment protection accorded noncommercial speech."
Hoffman, 63, who earned an Oscar for his role as the gender-bending soap star, sued Los Angeles magazine (and then-owner Capital Cities/ABC) in 1997, claiming the publication turned him into an unpaid mannequin shill.
"If I were asked to be a model selling clothes, it would be worth millions of dollars," the actor testified during the four-day trial... "But if I were to do a commercial, I hardly think it would be selling clothes, male or female."
Hoffman won the first round, with U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian ruling the star had been "violated by technology..
Source: E! Entertainment 07/01/01
Yet Another Story of TG Bathroom Troubles
When is the law not the law? When transphobia rears its ugly head at a food establishment not comfortable with all of its customers.
A transgender woman is suing a San Francisco Carl’s Jr. in San Francisco Superior Court for refusing to allow her to use the women’s restroom in a series of incidents that allegedly occurred last summer.
According to the lawsuit, plaintiff Michelle Jinich, who is legally female, attempted to use the ladies room as a customer at the restaurant at 10 United Nations Plaza on June 2, 2000. She was reportedly told by an employee that she had to use the men’s room, and, when she refused, the employee allegedly threatened and harassed her in front of other customers, calling her a “faggot” and other derogatory names.
Upon reporting the same incident a few days later, the same employee allegedly stated, “You are a man in a dress, so you can use the men’s room.”
When Jinich produced identification showing she was legally female, the same employee reportedly asked, “How is that possible? He’s a faggot. An impostor.”
What is most telling about the lawsuit is that attorneys for Carl’s Jr. do not deny these incidents, but instead respond with their own definition – the law aside – of what makes a real woman.
“Plaintiff alleged to have obtained some form of identification to prove a female gender identity and alleges status as a ‘transgender individual,’” states a document filed by lawyers for Gordon and Rees, LLP. “However, plaintiff was born a biological male and there is no allegation that plaintiff has undergone a sex change operation. It is reasonable inference then that the plaintiff remains a biological male and as such has male genitalia and there is no factual allegation to the contrary.”
To Waukeen McCoy, Jinich’s attorney, this statement just proves ignorance of the law.
“Give me a break,” McCoy told the Bay Area Reporter. “It’s amazing that they took that position. It just shows that they are not really thinking.”
Ronald Berestka, an attorney with Gordon and Rees, said he could not comment on that position until after a hearing scheduled for July.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages for transgender identity discrimination, a protected class in San Francisco and the state of California; and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
source: Katie Szymanski Bay Area Reporter 06/24/01
QUICK HITS: Media Mentions
E! Entertainment / 07/01
Actor Jude Law discussing his 'pretty-boy' image ... ..."I’ve always though Price Charming in Cinderella was the most boring role; I’d rather be the Wicked Witch."...
Town and Country/
07/01
In the article Austin A to Z,
Janet Wilson has this to say under the letter
E…"...E is for Eclectic. Businesspeople and
state legislators think nothing of walking downtown on Congress Avenue and
nodding hello to a bikini-clad transvestite named Leslie, a familiar figure
whom many consider the un-official symbol of the city’s zany side….It
may not always be a pretty sight, but you get the sense that everyone’s
equal in Austin…."