Upcoming
Group Meetings
Tennessee Vals
Newsletter March 2001
Upcoming
Group Meetings
In This Issue:
Vals Special Events:
Saturday April 7
2001 Pride
Ball, The Parthenon 7-11pm
Tickets $30 in advance ONLY!
Available @ OUTLOUD on Church Street
(OutLoud accepts cash, check, and credit cards)
or contact OPEN at.... 615-890-5165
pride@opennashville.org PO Box 330931 Nashville, TN 37203-7506
Suggested attire: "evening chic." Food
and alcoholic beverages included. Must be 21 or older to attend.
Saturday April 28
Night in White 2001, Loews Vanderbilt
Plaza
The Queens Throne by Marisa
Richmond
marisaval@aol.com
By now, there has been much said within the TG community about the recent decision of IFGE to withdraw all support from Gender PAC. As a new board member, I was one of those who voted on this issue. Many of us were seriously disturbed by the direction taken by Gender PAC. This was actually nothing new for me. I declared Gender PAC "dead" back in 1997, less than six months after its founding. I will admit, I was technically wrong on that point. I now realize it was beginning to morph into something completely different than what the transgender community envisioned when we established it as an organization to lobby for TG rights. It has continued to function, but it certainly does not serve the interests of the TG community. I was very bothered with the hubris I saw being exhibited by Riki Anne Wilchins at the time in announcing that she did not need to communicate with the board, and she has been consistent in ignoring the rest of the TG community except when it benefits her personal agenda. When IFGE Board Chair Julie Johnson resigned her seat on the Gender PAC board, she claimed that she had been "schnookered" into providing financial support for Gender PAC over the years. Although I have refused to give them any money over the past few years, I do not feel that there was any intent to fool or mislead. Lots of us are optimists, especially Julie. You cannot be a leader without that general personality trait. And despite the warnings from Phyllis Frye and JoAnn Roberts about Riki, many of us tried to maintain our optimism as long as possible. Some of us simply gave up on Gender PAC earlier than others. The TG community is bigger than any one person or group. Riki is neither our leader nor our spokesperson. If we want NTAC, or some other group, to fulfill the mission we first established for Gender PAC, then we can make it happen. The next step is up to all of us.
Our own internal divisions make the fact that the TG community is receiving increased acknowledgment of our external problems even more frustrating. In response to the criticism that they helped the career of the homophobic, misogynistic rapper Eminem, MTV recently ran a "Hate Crimes Scroll" that included a few examples of transgendered people who were victims of hate crimes. As I have stated repeatedly, we cannot end the hatred overnight, but this sort of publicity helps expose the hatred. This open discussion serves eventually to change attitudes and leads to increased public tolerance. Also helpful is the success of the film, Southern Comfort. It tells the story of Robert Eads, who suffered from uterine cancer and could not find a medical professional willing to treat him until the cancer had spread too far. This film of Robert's last days, debuted at last year's Southern Comfort Conference and won Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah this January. Education of the public to increase awareness of transgender concerns is a mission we should all pursue.
On a more personal level, I am moving this month into a much bigger place. Anyone who knows me can verify that I collect books. Lots of books. I also have lots of music and my fair share of videos, but one of my great passions is reading. When you live in one place for 8 ½ years, you tend to accumulate a lot of stuff, and books take up a lot of room. It seems all I have done is pack books. I have no regrets for my collection-I am quite proud of it-I just wish I could beam it all over to the new place. It would be a lot easier than packing and unpacking has been.
At least this month, I get to recover a bit by going out of town again. I will be at the IFGE Convention near Sweet Home Chicago later this month. I will have a report on that trip in an upcoming issue.
Have a safe St. Patty's Day.
...Not Too
Blonde
by
Holly D. Storm
Dear John Ashcrof
(Whoops!)Jonna,
Hey Girl, I almost “outed”
you! Close, but I don’t think anyone will figure out who you are. I
lost your E-mail address and I know you just moved to D.C. I thought placing
this letter in the Vals newsletter would be the best way to reach you.
Don’t worry, nobody else knows who you are and I’ll be careful
not to “out” you. I just wanted to congratulate you on your new
job!
Anyway, things are great here in Nashville. Wish you were here! Yeah, I hate that Titans lost in the first round of the playoffs, but the Rams didn’t fair any better. The weather has been pretty good. It was in 70’s for a little this week, great convertible weather! Hey, that reminds me of the time we drove from Springfield to St. Louis. Where did you ever get that convertible Pink Cadillac? That was fabulous! We were two Divas on a mission, just like that in that Too Wong Foo movie. The chiffon scarves were a great idea they really kept the wind from messing up ours hairdos. And your teal scarf, oh girl, that is so your color girl. You need to wear that color more often; it makes you a lot younger. Remember that great little dress shop just outside St. Louis. That shop was just to die for. Oh, and remember when that trucker tried to pick you up. Ha-Ha-Ha! And how ‘bout those bikers! Actually I was getting a little jealous because they were giving you all the attention. That’s OK though, I know you don’t get that much, so I let you enjoy yourself.
I’m sorry things didn’t work out in Missouri, maybe in four years you can give it another go. I hope you don’t get too stressed out, that’ll wreck your complexion. I heard the interview for your new job was a pain in the butt. I couldn’t imagine being interviewed by all those grumpy old men. And having your interview on TV, I bet that just blew. I would have lost it girl. But you got the votes girl! You must have been doing something right in some of those back rooms, giggle.
I guess you won’t be getting out as much, you know, with your new job and all. Sorry. I hope you like your job. Oh, that reminds me, I met this great guy. He’s an attorney too, just like you. We’ve been out a few times. It was funny, he came up to me and bought me a drink, we got to talking and he mentioned what he did for a living. I replied, “So are you one of those lawyers who say, ‘You can’t handle the truth!’” He-he-he. It was a good icebreaker.
I heard there are great places to go in D.C. I’ve had friends tell me they had a blast while visiting the Capital City. Just be wary of those big limos that pull up in front of the bars. You may wind up in some sort of scandal! I could see it now, you caught in drag with Strom Thurmand, Augh! I know he would make you feel like an eighteen-year-old, but come on girl! He’s way too old, even for you!
Oh! Hey, how about when your boss’s brother got in drag. Geez talk about guts—and to be on TV. That’s a hoot. He looked OK. I guess that Florida sun does wonders for the skin and I loved his femme name, Kathleen; that’s a pretty name. But next time you see Kathleen, tell him to layoff the mascara. He wasn’t all that passable!
I know you’re a little on the conservative side, but don’t let that get in the way of having fun. Remember your roots, and not your blonde roots, Ha-Ha. Time for me to split. Make sure you write back. Maybe we can go to Vegas and hit the blackjack tables.
Stay Fabulous,
Holly
Note from the Board Chair of
the Tennessee Vals
Speaking of elections, our elections
are just around the corner. You don’t have to be an official Board Member
of the Tennessee Vals to get involved. But, if you have the urge to work
on your leadership skills and work directly with some of the other great
GLBT groups here in Nashville, give it a go! Being the Board Chair over the
past year has really helped me blossom. I strongly recommend it. I would
have never grown over the past year as I did if I hadn’t gotten involved.
There are a great bunch of girls on the Board and they made my duties as
Board Chair all that much easier. But lately work has gotten to be too much
to handle, therefore I will not be running for a second term as Board Chair.
So help the Vals continue the great relationships we have with other Transgender
Groups around the country and with the local LGBT groups who have really
embraced us over the past year! C-ya around town!
A
Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead
byJulie
Phillips FabulBabe@aol.com
Tour the Transgendered Museum
Ladies and gentlemen. Could I have your attention, please. I’m Julie Phillips, your tour guide, and I’d like to welcome you to the American Museum of Crossdressing. In these hallowed halls, you will be seeing some of the great treasures of the transgendered experience, as well as exhibits memorializing great moments in pump-wearing history.
Keep in mind, no flash photography.
Please follow the clickity-click of my heels as we approach our first exhibit.
Here, we honor the museum‘s home city of Nashville, Tennessee. We have displayed a number of outfits worn by country music stars. While not technically crossdressers, the sheer volume of rhinestones in these performers’ outfits demands special recognition. Just look at this suit! Originally worn by Hank Williams, Sr. in 1952, it contains more rhinestones than the 1992 and 1993 Southern Comfort conventions combined! It weighs 374 pounds, starting the great tradition of country singers who just stand there and sweat like a water-main break.
During the Korean War, the accompanying rhinestone covered cape and hat were melted down to make temporary fillings for our boys on the front.
Ladies and gentlemen, feast your eyes upon our next exhibit: the infamous High Heels of Hell!
Sure they look like your standard 10-inch stilettos, but they are, in fact, the most painful pumps ever made.
Legend has it that the Marquis de Sade himself designed them for his weekend trips to the mall. The heels are a mere millimeter thick, and the inner-sole contains built-in devices to grow corns and bunions.
Film fans might remember that these shoes were actually worn in the 1919 silent film musical, Warner Brothers’ Tap Dancing Flappers from Flatbush. (For some odd reason, silent musicals never really caught on.) It starred Vaudeville’s leading female impersonator, Titanic Tessie. Following the shooting of the big production number, the actress’s feet actually fell off!
While deadly, they look fabulous! You can purchase exact copies in our giftshop on the way out.
Next up on our tour, the oldest item in the museum’s possession: the mummy of Egyptian Queen Rameses VIII, ruler of Condommania. It turns out that Queen Rameses was truly a queen—a drag queen! If you examine her bandages carefully, you’ll see she’s wrapped in the traditional gauze used on all royalty. However, please note that her lower torso and groin areas are wrapped in duct tape.
Further evidence of her historical drag queen past are found in the hieroglyphics carved into the walls of her tomb. They say “Ommnih behnah exmon homina homina knuck.” Translated into modern-day English, it says, “I will survive. As long as I know how to love, I know I‘ll never die. I will survive. I will survive.”
Follow me down the corridor and into the hallowed Hall of Hair. Walk this way, please. No, really. Walk this way. Work it girl, work it! That’s better.
Look in amazement—feel free
to be astonished—at the height of this wig. It’s the tallest hairpiece
in captivity and dates back to the Civil War. It stands 6 feet tall and was
worn by Abraham Lincoln when his stovepipe
hat was being blocked. By the way, he often referred
to that mole on his chin as his “Madonna mark”.
I hear gasps of horror, so I assume you’ve already spied our next wig. This one is so gruesome we’ve actually had sightseers become woosy and develop “the vapors.” Yes ladies, it has earned it’s infamous status as “The Ugliest Wig of All Time.”
It was
snatched off of the head of a crossdresser two weeks ago at a gay bar in
Pascagoula, Mississippi. Oh, there’s so much wrong with this one! Our
tests revealed that the fibers used in this wig are also found in some
Sherwin-Williams brand paintbrushes. In fact, it has such an unnatural quality
that it even looks like a cheap wig in CIA spy-satellite photos.
We keep it chained—like the pens at the bank—to make sure no girl tries to wear it ever again. It’s former owner is undergoing a rigorous four-month fashion re-education program under the tutorage of Miss Lady Bunny before being allowed to dress again.
While still in experimental stages, our scientists have developed a morphing wig that will change into a different style and color, triggered solely by your thoughts. Yes, there are still some bugs to be worked out: the thirty-seven pound backpack is unsightly—but is it really that much bigger than some of our purses?
On behalf of the American Museum of Crossdressing, I’d like to thank you for taking our tour. We hope you’ll return next month when we premiere our newest exhibit, “Corsets—Breathing is Overrated.”
Exit through the gift shop. Buh-bye. Buh-bye. Buh-bye.
My Closet by Leslie Louise DuPaix lldupaix@hotmail.com
Good Grief!!
One of the most overused pop psyche constructs or models is the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross five-step grieving process. It is over used for a very good reason.
It is a very good model. Even though EKR intended it to describe the steps a dying person would pass through as s/he dealt with their imminent mortality, the general public has found it be helpful in all sorts of grieving situations. Often "grieving" is used in the broadest sense of the word. One "grieves" whenever one suffers a loss - even a very minor one - such as a parking lot dent in the door of your new car, for example. Even then the five steps appear to fit and may be useful in getting a handle on the situation and its effect on you. A "T" person has a lot to grieve over: the loss of a childhood world view that seemed so right; the loss of a whole life path; the loss of a desired identity and probably self-esteem and a lot of other things.
On the off chance your Psych 101 notes are not real handy the five steps are:
Denial (this really didn't happen; or "It really isn't so bad, the door still opens and I don't mind the new noise it makes when it almost opens.") --> Anger (this REALLY did happen and boy am I "T'd" off!) --> Bargaining (maybe if I do/say such and such this will all go away. [Can you say "purging"boys and girls?"]) --> Depression ( Wow!! All of this did happen! To me!! And it is really bad!!! Horrible!!! No - worse than that. I feel so bad, bad, bad . . .) -->Acceptance (Ok! What is, is. There is nothing to do but muddle on. I don't like it, I didn't want it, but I got it. Deal with it Babe!).
There is no time limit on how fast one works through the steps. No guarantee that everyone always gets through all five, and no guarantee that once through any given step - or the whole series of steps - that you don't retrace any or all of the steps again. There is no rule that says you can't be in different steps at the same time or at least cycling back and forth between them.
Last month I mentioned what I saw as a strong relationship between grieving and the mature "T" experience. That said, I think it doesn't require too much effort to see that the EKR 5 steps are a good fit. In rough figures a "T" person could easily spend 10 or 20 years in the denial phase which is when s/he would do all of the overcompensation things. Anger and bargaining also are stuffed in this time period also and I am sure most of us could fill a page with examples of all of the behavior we did/are doing that fit with the first 4 steps. I might even go so far as to mention that Depression is not unknown amongst "T" folks. I would at least entertain the thought that many of us could spend our whole lives in the first 4 steps. Reading posts and letters from "T" folks in different places one could easily classify most of the letters by which step the writer was in when s/he wrote the letter.
Ahhhh, then . . . what of the fifth step "Acceptance"? If you are reading this, you may be spending some time in acceptance. At least you are beyond total denial and probably have touched the other 4 as well. I just know depression is at least an acquaintance. Looking back I can see that acceptance started when I started keeping my "T" journal. Going into therapy and joining a support group was part of my movement into acceptance, although it was depression from a variety of causes including the "T" ones that pushed me into the therapist's waiting room. (Had I gone into therapy 40 years ago I would have classified that as part of "Bargaining" or even "Denial.")
Acceptance allows one to move on and heal. "Move on to what?" I wonder, "and how will I know I am healed? Or at least healing?"
I think "we" (me and Bubba) are the closest we have ever been to healing and moving through acceptance. Emotionally, spiritually, psychologically and physically we are probably the best we have ever been. (It is extremely doubtful that Bubba and Lesa are on anybody's list - short or long - for potential mental health poster children. All I am saying is that I feel progress from where we were. I am not claiming any sort of "standard of mental health" status.)
I think what has happened is this: Since about 6 years of age, Lesa has been a closet child, hidden away from the adult world and protected by Bubba, the sibling that was allowed to live. But Lesa was a survivor and thanks to Bubba she did survive. She sometimes would demand Bubba's attention and eventually get it. Eventually Bubba stopped trying to control her and repress her and embraced her. Lesa is no longer concerned with survival.
Bubba accepts her. She has a circle of friends that know only her and do not know Bubba at all. She writes this column and has (in theory at least) world wide recognition. She is a contributing member to society. Her birth mother accepts her. But most of all she is a welcomed, functioning part of the Bubba/Lesa human entity where her input is valued and her views considered and Bubba and Lesa are the better for it. I think it bears mentioning that we are not really talking separate personalities but sub-personalities that together make up a complete being. Bubba is but the most public sub-personality of the being I called "Bubba and Lesa," but could easily be called something else just as well.
"It is said that the spiritual journey is like a razor's edge. We balance on that very fine line between the pairs of opposites that make up the phenomenal, relative world in which we live. The need to stay aware of our growing edges so that we can use them as fuel for the journey, while maintaining a gentle attitude of forgiveness toward our shortcoming, is one such example of the razor's edge." (p. 400, Pocketful of Miracles, Joan Borrysenko, Warner Books, 1994) That is where I think acceptance leads us to in the "T" journey. Balance. Each of us, of course, has a different center of gravity and our balancing act will find our personal behavioral edges at different distances from the center, and what at first glance may seem "extreme" may in fact simply be movement to where balance occurs. And "forgiveness" requires "acceptance" and balance requires both.
(I doubt that "balance" is a permanent condition. Like other things in life, it probably is not. But once experienced it becomes a known quantity. Life is a journey on a mountain bike over sometimes very dangerous ground. The center of gravity is constantly changing. Moving forward is a constant balancing act. But because we have experienced balance once, we now know what it feels like and we recognize it when we come upon and can attain it again and again.
Left
of Center by Pamela DeGroff
All the Pretty Horses Part One of Two
One of the interesting things about writing is that people send you ideas, and sometimes they even send you...well, stuff. A while back, I received in the mail a copy of a CD entitled “Ruin”, by the band All The Pretty Horses. It came as part of their press kit, and the photo on the back of the CD looked intriguing. So did the rest of the material, for that matter.
All The Pretty Horses is the brainchild of transgendered performance artist Venus, who formed the band in 1996, in Minneapolis. Venus, on guitar and vocals, is also a painter, filmmaker, poet, and the recipient of a McKnight Artist’s Fellowship for 2000-01. They are described in their press materials as an “all-Amazon glam rock band with a dark side...their image blends glam, fetish, and goth...”. Of course, there are the comparisons to David Bowie and Black Sabbath.
They have
three CD’s: “Ruin” (Skindog 2000), “Queens and Angles”
(TRG 1998), and “All The Pretty Horses” (self 1997). They have
played venues in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, and San Diego, as well as
Minneapolis. During 2000, All The Pretty Horses hosted the La Belle
Epoque fetish costume balls in Minneapolis and St. Paul to celebrate and
embrace fetish imagery and fashions.
With the help of a generous portion of cassette and video tape, the members of All The Pretty Horses (Venus, guitar/vocals; Jendeen, drums; Pandora, bass; and newest member Emily on harmony vocals) sat down to talk about their music, themselves, and many, many other issues...
PAMELA DeGROFF: The band was formed in 1996. Was if formed to be simply an extension of Venus’s other artistic activities, or does it exist as an entity all its own?
VENUS: I think it’s become an entity of its own. My attitude when it started was that it was going to be an extension of my performance art. Two of the original band members wanted to do it as an entity of its own. When they left, I took over and it became that vision for me, but it’s become more...
PANDORA: We exist...as an entity...as a band. We exist.
PAMELA: Is this full time? If not, how often do you gig, and what kind of venues?
VENUS: For me, it’s full time. I try to dedicate everything I can to it. It’s my main focus. How often do we gig? Well, here in Minneapolis, we have two theme nights. We have our Kitty Cat Shack Transgender night, which is new for the area. We do that every other month. And between those, we do our fetish festival called, “La Belle Punk”, which is a beautiful thing...we perform once a month in town...we occasionally get little in between shows. We do New York primarily. Every three months, we try to get out there. We have done California, but that’s not as often. Right now, our focus is between New York and Minneapolis. What kind of venues...? Kind of goth, dark, alternative.
JENDEEN: It’s hard to catagorize this band. We’ve started playing places that are more mainstream, places that have the energy of rock and roll.
PAMELA: If you don’t mind, how about a bit more background information on the individual members? Are you all transgendered? Any of you TS? Also, tell us about the stage names.
VENUS: Only two transgendred people are in the core band, me and Jendeen. We work with two transgendered dancers, one in New York, and one here in Minneapolis. I guess we look ambiguous enough so that people are confused. Transsexual...that term is...I like the idea of this gray area. I live in between. I’m not planning on doing anything as far as plastic, transsexual things. I live in between and I don’t consider myself male or female. Jendeen: You can be transsexual without doing the stereotypical, most often times assumed, “going all the way”, surgery. People always say, “You going all the way?” And you say, “What? Going all the way home...? All the way downtown...? What exactly do you mean...?” You can definitely be transgendered, you can be transsexual, without doing every thing you want. You can definitely be in the middle. Like Venus, I like being in the middle. This is predominately how I live my life. P
PANDORA: I’m perfectly comfortable with that.
EMILY: As long as they like the music. Jendeen: I think no one here is offended if someone thinks they’re a woman or a man.
PANDORA: There’s nothing negative connected to neither assumption as far as gender or sexuality goes.
VENUS: The stage names...? I use this name all the time. I consider it a name closer to who I am. I picked the name because it was in the line “you’re my Venus/I’m your desire.” All I remember is the song when I was a little kid. It was my first rock and roll record. I really like the name. It’s the only Greek female name with a male end, like “Augustus”, everybody else has the “IE”. It’s not planned, but co-incidentally, it’s a nice name for an in-between sex.
PANDORA: I just really enjoy the name. I have to be flip about it, but I’m gonna say I enjoy the myth in a direct way as well as a very sarcastic way. I’m transfixed by that.
JENDEEN: Jendeen is an ancestor of my family. She was as very famous singer in Norway in the late 1800s, and was the mistress, also, of a composer from Norway. When I was looking for my feminine name that I wanted to do, I wanted more of a name I could use on a daily basis. When I found out my ancestor was actually a musician as well, and while she was alive, she was the oldest living person in Europe at the time of her death. That was an evocative element. I said that’s perfect. It just seemed really right.
PAMELA: Your press release describes your music as a mix of “glam, fetish, and rock.” Does that mean the band is into the fetish/BandD scene?
VENUS: I think we’re visual, but that’s a personal question as to what our sexuality is. I guess that would be an individual answer as far as I’m concerned. I'd just assume to keep it a mystery. I have my own interests. As far as the band and what we do, there is a dark edge to it. I like the fetish as fashion...I enjoy the club atmosphere of the fetish scene, there’s more energy and edge to it.
JENDEEN: What’s really core is the whole energy of the presentation, and the amount of area we have to experiment and play with, as opposed to being able to lock into one type of uniform. The band… visually that we do is pretty edgy. For me, playing drums and finding clothes that I like to wear...here, there’s a little bit more room to work with. Some of the other groups, I don’t have as much latitude. If I’m playing in some of these biker bars, I dress down a bit, because I don’t necessarily want them to kill me.
EMILY: I like the passion that’s involved with being extreme. I find people pretty interesting who are into that. Very intelligent, and they have a lot of passion for living. It’s fun.
PAMELA: It’s also mentions that you are heavily influenced by the glam rock era. When most people think of glam rock, acts such as David Bowie, KISS, Gary Glitter, come to mind. Perhaps even performers such as Lou Reed, Marc Bolan of T.Rex could be included. What exactly do you feel glam rock is? Who are your main influences? Venus: That’s a
VENUS: That’s a good question. Actually, we’ve been thinking about what glam rock is. I think we’re not from that era, so we’re not going to sound like it, and we really didn’t set out to write music to make it glam rock. We just wrote music and we’re a live band. We don’t have pre-recorded drums or synthesizers, or anything like that. It’s just bass, guitar, and drums. We just kind of defaulted to the classic rock and roll sounds. We also pay attention to our look on stage, so we have that costume and appearance...trying to make something a little bit interesting for people to come see us perform live. Because we’re a live band, we default to the glam style of music.
PANDORA: I think it’s rather an intuitive or natural thing for us to do. It’s natural to kind of call it glam because we enjoy that music, although as musicians, we’re not from that era, obviously.
JENDEEN: You can play powerful music without being angry. I think the Horses have a lot to offer in that sense, as far as kick ass rock and roll, but not having to be pissed off all the time.
PANDORA: There’s a lot of energy and angst that’s involved.
EMILY: There’s a good balance in the songs.
JENDEEN: Over time, the band has changed a little bit, because the players are different. Each player brings their own touch. When the glam scene was going on, in those days, I was a jazz Nazi. I didn’t listen to rock and roll at all. This is sort of new to me. My rock and roll thing is from a Zeppelin point of view.
VENUS: Vocally, I love David Bowie. His vocal ability, the melody. Yeah, he’s a big influence. Like Velvet Underground a lot. Lou Reed...I like the intensity. I like Iggy Pop. I like a lot of people from that era. That kind of defaults the style of singing that I do. But I also like new music. I like a lot of the industrial stuff. I like that energy.
JENDEEN: I was a Beatles child. That was the first band that got me totally excited about music, and then playing instruments. Then Zeppelin, then The Who. Then I basically went to Yes, Mahavishnu, also Count Bassie, Duke Ellington, early jazz. I still like that. There’s so many other things...
PANDORA: It not even a rock and roll music thing, it’s a MUSIC thing. To me, influences in my life and music have always been not necessarily the genre, but if they have enough soul to raise the hair on the back of your neck, that’s always been my test.
EMILY: I sort of agree with Pandora. I grew up listening to my brother’s albums. He’s about six years older. He’s a huge fan of Joni Mitchell, Elton John, David Bowie. Joni Mitchell’s lyrics and voice, pretty much like Pandora said, raise the hair on the back of your neck. There’s so many bands...it could go on forever.
Part Two in Next Month's Newsletter
news, media mentions, etc...
SF May Become First US City to offer TS Benefits
San Francisco is about to embark on another first in the nation: providing health care benefits for city workers undergoing sex-change procedures.
Starting July 1, if the plan gets the expected approval from the Board of Supervisors and Mayor Willie Brown, the city's health plan will cover sex- change operations, hormone treatment and related medical needs for city employees changing from male to female or female to male.
San Francisco's Health Service System board quietly approved the new benefit earlier this month, nearly five years after activists began pushing for the coverage. An OK from the mayor and supervisors is the final step.
"This is very much a civil rights issue," said Supervisor Mark Leno. "This is about equal benefits for equal work."
The move comes as there is more public recognition of rights for transgender people. And the city workers health insurance fund, once financially shaky, is now flush enough to take a chance with an untested benefits program.
City officials say they know of about a dozen self-identified transgender people on the city's payroll. Some have undergone surgery, some have decided to eschew surgery for hormone treatment only, and others have yet to decide to what extent they'll change their sex through medical procedures. Any surgery or treatment to this point has been paid by the individual...
Changing sex doesn't come cheap. For males changing to females, surgery costs about $37,000. The surgical costs for females becoming males runs considerably more, about $77,000.
The proposed city health benefit for sex-change procedures caps at $50,000 per person for life. The benefit also won't cover the entire cost of surgery, requiring the patient to pay 15 percent of the expense if a doctor affiliated with the city's health plan can be found to perform the operation. The co-payment jumps to 50 percent for a surgeon not on the health plan.
In most cases for all other surgeries for city workers, the full cost is covered under the health insurance plan. The discrepancy isn't lost to transgender activists and their supporters. They're also concerned that a city worker will have to be on the payroll for at least a year before the sex- change benefits can be used, whereas all other medical procedures are available immediately.
The restrictions were added to limit the potential financial burden on the the Health Service System fund, which provides medical insurance for 37,000 workers employed by the city, the San Francisco Unified School District, the community college district and 17,000 retirees.
"Even though we're not happy with the limitations, we think the fact that the benefits are being offered is wonderful," said Larry Brinkin, senior contract compliance officer for the San Francisco Human Rights Commission, an agency that has pushed for the expanded coverage.
"This action will help lead to the elimination of discrimination against transgender people and hopefully will be a model for employers across the United States," Brinkin said.
Backers of the new transgender benefits say the move is a natural extension of San Francisco's 4-year-old landmark Equal Benefits Ordinance, which requires those doing business with the city to provide their employees with domestic partners the same benefits as their married counterparts.
The city also passed a 1995 law that prohibits discrimination in San Francisco and in city contracting that is based on gender identity.
"We are the city that has taught and insisted to the rest of the world that there should be equal benefits for equal work -- we require that of private businesses that work with us -- but we, the city, have not been living up to our own standard," Leno said. "Now, we're going to correct that."
City officials and activists know of no other city, county or state in the United States that offers such a health care benefit to employees. But a handful of foreign governments with socialized medicine do. Among them are the Netherlands, Denmark and a few Canadian provinces.
Figuring out the cost of the new program was no easy task.
"The variable that sort of dwarfs all other variables is the unknown demand, " said Michael Kramer, an actuary with the firm Towers Perrin, who helped calculate the cost estimate.
He said transgender benefits might cost $1.75 million for the first year based on estimates that 35 people would take advantage of the full $50,000 benefit.
Others, including Brinkin and community activists, doubt that so many people would use the benefit. But Kramer said it was his fiduciary duty to have numbers on the high side, so the health care system isn't caught off guard. It's possible, he said, that people wanting sex-change services could be drawn to San Francisco and seek a city job to pay for them...
It is unknown how many transgender people live in San Francisco, but Brinkin and others estimate the number at 15,000.
The term transgender is a broad umbrella for a wide range of gender- identity categories, including cross-dressers, transvestites, transsexuals and those born with characteristics of both sexes.
Transsexuals, who would benefit from the expanded coverage, change their gender identity with hormones and, in some cases, surgery. treatment. wrong sex.
Source: by Rachel Gordon San Francisco Chronicle 02/16/01
SHOWBIZ: I Love Ru-cy?
Pilot season
buzzed along Thursday, with CBS taking a chance on Destiny, Fox
green-lighting a project from ex-Late Night With Conan O'Brien sidekick
Andy Richter -- and UPN buying into the idea of cross-dressing diva RuPaul
as a transsexual nanny...
Meanwhile, RuPaul would play a wannabe entertainer who works as a nanny to three kids to support his career dreams. His character is expected to be the most down-to-earth member of a dysfunctional family.
The proposed title? The Tranny.
source: Variety 02/09/01
Transitioning Prisoner Goes to Court to Continue
The civil-rights suit filed by a preoperative transsexual inmate who contends he became ill after Pennsylvania prison officials arbitrarily halted his female-hormone therapy will go to trial, a federal judge has ruled.
U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody on Monday denied state motions to dismiss the suit filed in 1997 by Jessica E. Wolfe.
While throwing out several of Wolfe's legal claims, Brody said a jury should decide whether state prison officials committed medical malpractice and were "deliberately indifferent" to Wolfe's medical needs.
"Abrupt termination of prescribed hormonal treatments by a prison official with no understanding of Wolfe's condition, and failure to treat her severe withdrawal symptoms or aftereffects, could constitute 'deliberate indifference,' " Brody wrote.
Michael Lukens, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, declined comment.
In court filings, Pennsylvania officials have maintained that preoperative transsexuals in state prisons get only "limited medically necessary treatment continued to prevent complications." State prison officials contend that Wolfe suffered no injuries and that they were not indifferent to his medical needs.
Wolfe's attorney, Stephanie G. Colman, said she told Wolfe of the judge's ruling just yesterday afternoon. She said Wolfe was "very pleased."
"It's pretty bad at this point," Colman added. Wolfe, she said, "hasn't received any individual psychiatric care since last July. The only thing she has had are general group sessions about dealing with stress and prison life."
Wolfe, 37, a Pittsburgh native, is a preoperative transsexual who legally changed his name from James Elliot Wolfe to Jessica Elaine Wolfe in 1996. Later that year, he was arrested for having sexual contact with an 8-year-old girl. He later pleaded guilty to rape, a plea he said was made under duress.
Wolfe is now serving a five- to 15-year sentence in the state prison at Mahanoy in Schuylkill County.
When he was arrested, Wolfe had already begun taking two female hormones to prepare his body for sex-change surgery. Initially, Wolfe continued to receive the hormones while imprisoned in the Allegheny County Prison and at the state prison in Pittsburgh.
But after Wolfe was transferred first to the state prison at Camp Hill and then Mahanoy later in 1996, his lawsuit said, prison officials said he would no longer be given the two prescription hormones.
Wolfe's suit contends that his male body features reappeared, he became severely depressed and suicidal, and he suffered severe hormone-withdrawal symptoms - headaches, nausea, cramps, hot flashes and baldness…
source: Philadelphia Enquirer 02/01/01
Malaysian TSs Want to be Women. Well, Duhhhhhh!
Transsexuals in welcoming the formation of the Women's Affairs Ministry called on the Government to look into a possibility of declaring them as women and not the "third sex.''
A group has got together to make a representation to its Minister Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and highlight the problems affecting them.
Top on their agenda is the long standing issue among transsexuals—a recognition that they are women and thus be accorded the same rights as other women.
According to Dara Othman, 37, a spokesman of a popular "paper doll'' entertainment group, the setting up of the ministry had given some hope for the community.
"Many have been chased around by the authorities for far too long just because no one wants to take the responsibility of declaring us as women,'' she added.
A recent privately sponsored survey had estimated there are more than 50,000 transsexuals in the country.
The first real move the Government took to addressing transsexual issues was in 1986 when Datuk Abu Hassan Omar was the Welfare Minister.
A transsexuals association, called the Federal Territory Maknyah Association was registered at the same time and it conducted dialogues with Ministry officials but ended up with little success.
Dara said only by classifying transsexuals as "women'' the authorities would be rid of social problems which came about as a result of discrimination against the group.
She said most transsexuals were qualified to hold other jobs but were turned away because of their identification cards and appearances.
"As a result many went underground as sex workers while the fortunate few like me ended up in the entertainment world,'' she said.
Ann Lee, the chairman of Pink Triangle, an NGO dedicated to HIV prevention, said the ministry could look into issues affecting transsexuals.
"The ministry should take into account issues of sexuality which have an influence on the way women carry out their work and life,'' she added.
source: The Malaysian Star 01/21/01
A Japanese policeman who dressed up as a schoolgirl in a bid to snare a sex pest has had his fake breasts fondled.
Detectives chased the alleged molester when he fled on a motorbike after groping the officer.
Police in Aki launched the undercover sting after reports of high school girls being targeted by a molester.
Male officers dressed up as women and patrolled the affected areas in a bid to lure the offenders, the Mainichi Shimbun reports.
A police spokesman said: "Our tactics paid off in the end."
Source: Ananova 01/26/01
A Friend Meets an Old Friend After Transitioning Starts
I was nervous to see him. It had been at least six months since I saw him last, and in that time, he had begun his transition. I was afraid he would be a different person. The moment he opened the door, though, all my fears melted instantly away. It was so good to see him again -- the hair on his face and the new bulk on his upper body made no difference to me.
I first met him when he was still she. She was the polar opposite of a woman the way our culture expects a woman to be. She was a bisexual with 10 tattoos and a shaved head. People called her "butch" and "dyke," and sometimes mistook her for a man.
About a year ago, she told me she was going to make her body into a man's body. I was pissed off. I thought she was copping out and buying into the gender rules that made her so angry. I thought she was giving in and becoming a man because people viewed her more as a man than a woman. It's not that simple, though, as I quickly began to realize.
Immediately after she made the decision, she began to live as a man. She changed her name and presented herself as a man. "She" became "he" in everyday conversation. Shortly thereafter, he moved to San Francisco and started taking injections of testosterone. He started growing facial hair. His voice got deeper.
Having him 3,000 miles away made it much easier for me. I learned to accept it. I learned the science and sociology of the female-to-male transition and explained it to our mutual friends in New York and New Jersey. Then last week, I visited him in California and learned so much more.
Transgendered people are commonly understood as people who do not identify with the biological sexual identity they were born with. My friend was born a biological female, but has never felt comfortable in that skin. Therefore, he is taking hormones and preparing for a series of surgeries to change his physical makeup to be that of a man. But transgender is not as simple as physical alterations.
You see, although my friend is a bio-female on his way to being a man, he does not identify completely with either. He is not a woman, but he does not agree with the socially constructed male ideal. In other words, even though his sex is now male, his gender is not. He is transgendered not only because he is changing his physical sex, but also because his identity transcends culturally imposed gender ideals.
Not every transgender experience is like his. Some transgendered people do not identify with either gender, like my friend. Some identify with both, and some identify completely with one or the other. Some do not change their name or appearance at all. Some live as the opposite sex, but will never transition.
I met another man in San Francisco who was also born a biological female. He, like my friend, identifies as male and lives as a man. Yet, he takes no hormones and has no immediate or definitive plans to get any kind of surgery. Still, he introduced himself by a man's name and used the men's room when he had to pee. Further, when I asked about his sexual orientation, he replied that he was straight. He said sometimes people ask him, "Straight how?" They believe that his biological sex should determine his sexuality. It doesn't. His answer to these people is simply that he is a straight man; therefore, he dates women.
For my friend, the answer was easier. He was bisexual before the transition began, and he is still bisexual now. It is his partners that have a difficult time answering the question of their sexual orientations. Just before he began to transition, he was dating a woman who identified as a lesbian. She loved him, but broke off the relationship because she did not want to be with a man. His current partner identified herself as a lesbian before she met him. Now she refuses to identify herself as a lesbian, as straight or even as bisexual. She now identifies herself simply as queer.
Last week in San Francisco, I learned that as far as gender and sexual orientation go, there is only one rule: Let go of the rules. American social conditioning teaches us what men and women look like and what gay and straight look like. It teaches us that gender and sex and sexual orientation are all directly related. In our culture, if someone breaks one of these very specific rules, that person is considered confused, disturbed or perverted by the rest of us. If enough people break the same rule, though, we might make up a term for it and stage a debate on its validity and its morality.
It shouldn't be so complicated.
In San Francisco, sex and gender are fluid. People's eyes seem capable of looking at a human being and seeing beyond gender. It's difficult to understand, but it is a simple and peaceful way to live. Why can't the whole world be that way?
source: by Bernadette Mchenry Daily Targum at Rutgers University via UWIRE 01/18/01
Roni Lang routinely strides into a classroom of Portland police officers, wearing a wig, form-fitting skirt, hose and bright pumps.
"I'm Roni, and I'm a cross-dresser," Lang says, telling the officers how eye shadow, long nails and high-heeled shoes are comfortable and enjoyable to wear.
But beneath the glitzy jewelry and garb is a 69-year-old man with three children from a past marriage that lasted 14 years.
Roni's presentation to police is part of a new communications class on transgender issues. It comes at a time when Portland has expanded its civil rights ordinance by extending protections to transsexuals, cross-dressers and other transgendered people.
like to talk about. But the more informed they are about the transgender population, the less fear they will have."
The hourlong class for police began in November and will continue through September as part of annual in-service training for all sworn officers in the Portland Police Bureau.
"The object here is to make people aware of special needs communities," said Capt. Robert Kauffman, head of the bureau's training division.
Kauffman said the class is timely because of the city ordinance change, which provides civil protections to everyone from those have had sex change operations to those who consider themselves members of the opposite gender. The other goal is to ensure the bureau reacts appropriately to officers who might be undergoing sex changes.
"It's a fact we have transgender, transsexual employees," Kauffman said. "This is an attempt to let our folks know that these folks need to be treated with respect and dignity like everybody else."
Roni, who is co-chairman of the bureau's sexual minorities roundtable, wants to provide police with a general understanding of transgendered people and how they might react to police in various situations.
"A lot of cross-dressing people are in the closet. But they may get dressed up late at night and just drive around," Roni said. That was what he did when he was still married and feared his cross-dressing might jeopardize his job and family.
"Police should know that the people will be a little more upset, scared and paranoid when police pull them over on a routine traffic stop."
Roni has found that officers are reluctant to ask questions in class. One officer questioned the need to attend the class and argued that it was against his religious convictions in a column in the police union's monthly paper, The Rap Sheet. But Chief Mark Kroeker informed the officer he must attend the training.
"It doesn't matter what your religion," Roni said. "The police need to be exposed and educated on all aspects of life. If they don't like it, that's fair. But they have to deal with it in an acceptable, professional way."
Source: by Maxine Bernstein, The (Portland) Oregonian 02/08/01
Actress
Drew Barrymore received the Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year award Februay
8th, with Anthony Hopkins being named Man of the Year.
The award is handed out annually by the Hasty Pudding
Theatricals, the nation’s oldest undergradute dramatic organization.
Part of the ritual includes members dressing in very camp drag while trotting
the winners around campus in parades and to other festivities. -jp
.
Boy George has always loved applying shocking ’80s lip gloss and equally ostentatious eye shadow to his famous face—but now he wants to get paid for it. Reuters reports that the gay pop star’s one unfulfilled wish is to front a cosmetics campaign. “I’ve been wearing makeup for nearly 25 years, so I think I deserve a campaign,” he told the Radio Times weekly magazine in an interview. “I’d like to do a makeup campaign like Max Factor.” As for long-term plans, the Culture Club star said that in 10 years he’d like to be “working less, having more sex, and, hopefully, in a stable relationship with someone I really like.”
source: The Advocate 02/01/00
The Suit Over the Skirt--New Spring Fashion
It's a fight over a skirt that's now become a suit.
Grace Zalewska is suing Sullivan County in federal court for her right to wear a skirt while driving a county bus.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains, maintains Zalewska's constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection were violated when she was suspended from her county job after she refused to wear pants.
Zalewska had worked for the county's transportation department for almost five years when the department set a uniform policy and ordered pants-only uniforms for its drivers.
But Zalewska, a 42-year-old native of Poland and single mother of two young daughters, owns only skirts.
She was brought up by a grandmother and mother in Szczecin by the Baltic Sea. They wore skirts and brought Grace up to do the same.
Zalewska was suspended from her part-time job in April after she showed up in the uniform minus the pants but with a skirt made to go with it.
"I'm a woman. I don't have to wear pants," Zalewska said yesterday. She filed the suit, she said, "to fight for my right."
The lawsuit comes after a drawn out negotiation in which the county and Zalewska tried to strike a compromise, but failed. Zalewska still works for the county, but in a different job.
The suit is filed against Sullivan County, its Health and Family Services commissioner, Judith Maier, and against Terence O'Neill, who had headed Sullivan County Transportation Services but no longer works for the county.
Lawyers Henri Shawn of Monticello and Robert Isseks of Middletown represent Zalewska.
"There doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to require pants," said Isseks. Plus, he said, "There's a right to express cultural values."
Sullivan County Attorney Ira Cohen said the county has done nothing wrong. "We feel this policy made sense for public safety reasons," he said. Uniform policies have been upheld in the courts, he said. And, in her van driving job, Zalewska was required to operate handicapped lifts and handle wheelchairs, among other things.
Zalewska, who left Poland as martial law was to begin in the early 1980s, said she feels very strongly about this. She became a U. S. citizen in August.
"I didn't want to be in this position," she said. "...(But) now I'm going to exercise my constitutional rights."
source: Times Herald Record (Middletown, NY) 02/01/01
If the bingo call is for B-7, everyone must stamp their feet; no exceptions; until the rafters in this packed Jewish community center tremble. If the call is for O- (well, let's just say O-XX, since the number has sexual insinuations) everyone must stand, raise their arms revival-style and shout "O-XX" as if their libido depended on it. The young and elderly; and both are here tonight; don't get a free pass.
Beware the drag queens on Rollerblades don't catch you napping. They'll make you stand up and shout "O-XX" all by your lonesome.
In fact, just beware of the drag queens.
They call them BVDs (Bingo Verifying Divas). They're big on those blades, fast and bawdy. The aisles at this zany sellout affair are narrow enough. You'll want to keep your personal items, like legs and feet, safely stowed under the bingo table in front of you.
In a slinky black dress, tiara and heavy makeup is BVD Anna Rexia (get it?), aka Roy Fuller, 30, of Philadelphia, a hospital facilities director. The 225-pound former college football player is Miss Petting Zoo tonight, kind of a lioness thing; this evening's theme is Zoo Bingo; and a towering 6-foot-6 on wheels.
"I used to date the homecoming queen," he says from on high. "Now I am the homecoming queen."
As they're fond of saying here in the City of Brotherly (Among Other Things) Love, this ain't your grandmother's bingo, though she may in fact be here somewhere among the hundreds, probably with one of those gigantic daubers poised in midair over a bingo card, waiting on the next call... And like 77-year-old Philly resident Jennie Stein, she has told the grandkids where she's at tonight.
"They say, 'Gram, when are you going back to Gay Bingo?' I have to tell them every time I go," Stein says with a big grin. "I think that's it's the best thing that ever happened."
Traditional charity bingo, as we know it, is fading in many places... But like some wacky mutation, a few strains of the game have taken on startling permutations; morphing from the church-ladies-in-sensible-shoes crowd to a menagerie of feather boas, Spandex and fistfuls of this stuff called Dermablend. That's a thick, perspiration-proof foundation designed for burn victims, but wildly popular with the cross-dressing set. Obliterates the telltale stubble, you see.
"That's a fun little hall," says Carmen Gregory, who runs Aruba Publishing in New York, which puts out an annual guide, Yellow Pages of Bingo Halls. "Anything they can do to draw people in, good for them."
Drag or gay bingo is pure camp, irreverent, a little profane and just plain silly. That, proponents will tell you, is its charm. It has sprouted here and there as a lounge act in gay bars.
The game was introduced as a monthly charity event in Seattle about nine years ago, and this alcohol- and smoke-free version has spread to places like San Diego, Pittsburgh and here in Philly. This one is produced by the AIDS Fund, a non-profit community fundraiser for AIDS services, education and awareness-raising.
Suddenly, cross-dressing took a crossover turn. And even sensibly heeled church ladies are showing up.
"It's now respectable to be here," says Elliott Einhorn, 60, who is a theater producer and an avid Gay Bingo supporter and sponsor.
When Michael Byrne asks for a sexual-orientation show of hands, as is customary when evening festivities begin here at the Gershman Y in the city's theater district, half of the 576 audience members indicate they are straight.
Byrne,
39, is the center of attention tonight in a short, clingy number with a snakeskin
motif, three pairs of dark pantyhose (to cover hirsute legs) and a bobbed
Dutch-girl wig the color of Lucille Ball's locks. A professional actor, he's
the evening's hostess, Carlota Ttendant. "Yeah, she wants you to park it
all night," he vamps before the curtain rises.
This gay bingo is one of the most popular in the country, with the $18 tickets gone in minutes. Last year, the event generated nearly $1 million for AIDS services in and around the city. What seems to set it apart, beyond those madcap BVDs, is the stage shtick and chemistry between Carlota and master of ceremonies Mark "Chumley" Singer...
Bingo remains the core of the evening. In a singsong voice, Carlota makes everyone stand up and take a repeat-after-me oath at the outset: "Bingo is just a stupid game, which I will continue to play until this (AIDS) crisis is over." There are 14 games with prizes ranging from $100 to $1,000. Special games can be purchased for $1 each. Local TV and radio personalities show up to read out the letter-number combinations on the pingpong balls. You shout "Bingo!" and a BVD sweeps in to take a peek at your card, make a fuss and hand you an envelope full of cash.
Near the front of the room, Kevin Fox, 9, and Mark Diffenderfer, 6, busy with daubers and cards, are concentrating mightily on the next combination.
"They had a choice tonight," says their mother, Diane Diffenderfer, 42, of Philadelphia, a legal assistant. "They could have gone to the Wings game (Philly's professional lacrosse team) or Gay Bingo. They chose Gay Bingo because they love it….They love the drag queens."
The subtext for the night is a kind of gentle skirmishing between lifestyles. Or, actually, given the sexual leanings of those controlling the stage, a benign hostage-taking of the straight folk.
"I was feeling a little homosexual panic there," Carlota breathlessly announces to the crowd, after a large number of straight people show their presence with raised hands. "It's OK. Somebody has to do it (be straight). As we say, somebody has to buy the plaid couches."
"Straight people, if you're still confused and don't know what to do, just ask a homosexual at your table and they will help you."
Chumley continues the cross-orientation pillory with a little between-games quiz, bringing straight and gay audience members on stage to illustrate who is inherently brighter. Questions relate to tonight's zoo theme.
Donald Gephart, 44, a gay man from Philadelphia, is queried: How do you spell zoo? He answers without hesitation.
"This is completely different from anything else you could ever go to," says first-timer Jennifer Richards, 20, who lives near Denver and is a student at the University of Pennsylvania. "Everybody's kind of opened up, ready to be silly. ... The teasing of the straight people and the gay people is a way to kind of break down those (barriers) in a comfortable, funny way."
Michelle Kaufman, 23, of Hatboro, Pa., is a little embarrassed because she didn't pay attention when they called out "O-XX." A drag queen in a leopard outfit rolls up and makes her stand and yell out the call, with feeling this time. Here with a batch of co-workers from a Genuardi's supermarket, Kaufman wasn't so sure about showing up tonight.
"I was a little hesitant at first. I've never been to anything like this," she says. "I like it. I would come back."
At intermission, Carlota slips into a stage doorway leading outside. Smoking a Camel Light Wide, he discusses the art of the shock, how he carefully coifs the Carlota look but then leaves a little visual confusion.
"Part of the camp," he declares. "They see, like, this great set of legs. And the head kind of looks attractive in a way. But then there is this hairy chest. It really messes with people's minds."...
Source: by Greg Zoroya USA Today 02/14/01
Drag Queen Runs Down Under
Tamara Tonite, a drag queen, announced she will run against Queensland premier Peter Beattie in the city of Brisbane, Australia, according to The Australian. Running as an independent, Tonite says she’ll advocate for transgender rights, voluntary euthanasia, and the right of lesbians and single women to use fertility clinics. “Every person on this earth deserves to be treated no better, and certainly no less, than any other person, for any reason at any time,” said Tonite, also known as Rob Paterson. Tonite hosts a risque variety program on community channel Briz 31, the station she is trying to seize control of from its Christian management. Motivated by her success in last year’s Brisbane city council elections—she came in third in the race for mayor—Tonite says she wants to run as legitimate a campaign as possible. “Tamara Tonite is a freethinker and does not want to involve herself with party politics,” she said. Beattie also hopes for an honorable competition. “I hope we have a nice, clean, open contest,” he said. “Brisbane Central always has a large number of nominations. It reflects the diverse nature of the electorate.”
Source: The Advocate 01/30/01
Gorgeous Guy Want to Be Gorgeous Babe--with Mixed Results
Editor’s Note: This is a very intersting story from www.salon.com about one guy's CD-ing desire, and disappointment. —jp
What do men who dress like women want? Some heterosexual cross-dressers say that slipping into breast forms and heels allows them access to a gentler side of themselves, permission to touch each other and -- murkiest of all -- a chance to be the object of desire. Even if they end up looking more like Mrs. Doubtfire than RuPaul, never go out in public and aren't gay, there's still something thrilling about the possibility of inciting male lust -- the kind of lust that shapes the world. Though gay drag queens dress mockingly, they're also making themselves sex objects for a population they don't have sex with -- straight men.
Neither furtive family man nor flamboyant queen, Aaron arrived at his New Year's Eve drag debut by a uniquely convoluted path. It started in art school in Washington, where I first met him. At the time, he was photographing and videotaping himself naked over and over, with bananas duct-taped to his nipples, with bacon stretched across his mouth, with his torso corseted in black paint. He was painting nudes, too, but his female professor pushed him toward the naked performance art. "She told me it was better than my painting," he shrugged as we leafed through his portfolio in his Brooklyn, N.Y., loft.
Many of his self-portraits tuck his penis away; in some, he has painted breasts on. In one striking series, he has turned his thighs and stomach white with gesso, then redrawn his genitalia with orange paint. His scrotum is spread out into fat labia, his penis nestled in the middle with a slit painted on its front. A pubic triangle of brush bristles crowns the lewd simulacrum, which resembles the giant vaginas in Chinese erotic prints.
Aaron grew up in Nebraska, and he talks like a taciturn cowboy. A lanky 6-foot-4, he tried basketball for a year in high school but was never much good at it. Though he's shy and soft-spoken, when I asked why his work is mostly of himself, he drawled, "I'm a narcissistic, egocentric motherf**ker." He then added some art-crit justification: "I was interested in that feminist thing about how a male body can be made grotesque and the guy's still admired, but the female body is always objectified. So I'm playing with that as a young man whose body can be both grotesque and, uh, sexually attractive." He pauses, embarrassed. "Well, I don't know how attractive it is, but I get turned on showing it."
I assume he's being disingenuous. Aaron may be the prettiest redneck in New York, a gen-u-wine head turner. He's 24 years old, tall, slim but broad-shouldered, with huge blue eyes, curvy lips and elegant bone structure. When he told me he wanted to do drag, I pictured a young Candice Bergen -- they have the same long, classy nose.
Aaron moved to New York last year to be an artist and maybe do some modeling. He was signed with the Wilhelmina agency for a while, "but my agent was getting 14- and 15-year-old boys fucked up on drugs and having sex with them, so he got fired." This fall, Aaron had his first homosexual experience with Tom (not his real name), who moonlights as one of the most famous drag queens in the city. I ran into Aaron a few months ago in an East Village bar and he told me he was seeing Tom, whose drag act I'd seen and admired. I asked Aaron if he was identifying as gay or bi these days. He said, "Hell no, I'm straight. I'm dating a couple of girls, too. I'm just seeing Tom casually."
At first Tom was enthusiastic about helping Aaron dress up, and both agreed to let me watch the initial transformation. But then Tom stopped returning Aaron's phone calls. I wondered if he suspected the younger Aaron would pull an (All About) Eve Harrington, clawing his way past his mentor. This seems unlikely, for, beautiful as he is, Aaron's a little short on snap and sass.
The relationship cooled, according to Aaron, when he figured out that his sexual attraction to Tom was really a desire to do drag himself.
Tired of waiting around, Aaron decided to just dress himself up -- for a one-night show of his paintings at rock club CBGB on New Year's Eve.
Though I'd hoped to observe the master teach the student, I invited myself along for his debut and offered to help however I could.
Aaron did his shopping at transvestite store Patricia Field, spending "way too much money." (Interestingly, tiny singer Björk spent an hour and a half in the store that day, but Aaron couldn't see what she bought, damn it.) The blizzard that hit the Northeast that weekend looked as if it might keep Aaron in Nebraska, but his plane arrived just in time for him to race home to get ready. His sister, also a former model, helped him dress quickly.
I turned up at their place around 11 p.m. The creature who opened the door was stunning but much sluttier-looking than Bergen: long platinum blond wig, heavily made up eyes and lips, black bustier with little pink breast forms escaping out the top, long shaved belly and red leather miniskirt with a wide white stripe down the front. Three big blue stars marched down the stripe, and the middle star bulged sporadically all night. Aaron's sister, understandably, wasn't much help with tucking, and the spandex underpants with the butt pads sewn in didn't do the job either.
When I arrived, Aaron was teetering on 4-inch stilettos. I knew from experience he'd be miserable if he couldn't walk, so I bossed him, "There's a foot of snow out there; for God's sake, lose the stilettos." I told him to put his cowboy boots back on, which Tom had expressly forbidden -- but Tom hadn't seen him wobbling like Bambi on the spike heels. I chipped in with some finishing touches, borrowed his mascara and then we all headed to CBGB.
In the cab, I coached Aaron to take smaller steps and speak more quietly, echoing my mother's nagging from my own gangly youth. He would try for a second but then immediately revert to his low voice and legs-spread sitting style. I walked a little behind him into CBGB to watch the reaction, which was hilariously jaded. All his friends said, "Hey, Aaron, how's it going, man?" shaking hands or hugging him without blinking. In the club, Aaron's outfit wasn't transgressive; it was just fashion.
Midnight struck and people yelled and kissed, but no magical transformation took place. Aaron kept muttering, "I need a drink, man. I need to be drunk for this to work." "What would change if you were drunk?" I asked. "I don't know, I could just get naked or something." Clearly we were straying from the most basic principles of gender illusion.
One former girlfriend did gasp when she saw him, and Aaron said with false bravado, "You like it? You wanna f**k me, baby?" Seconds later, his hand flew to his mouth and he mumbled, "Oh, my God, that just slipped out. I'm sorry." It was fascinating to watch him grab at pieces of identities like floating wreckage. He started muttering, "I gotta get out of here and into someplace where people don't know me."
He introduced me to a woman who used to live with his father when Aaron was an adolescent. The stepmom was visiting from Nebraska and confided to me that she'd been wanting to try sleeping with a woman, maybe on this trip. I suggested the three of us go to a lesbian bar a few blocks away, which I thought would be a good place for Aaron to be desired as a woman. He suggested we first stop by the drag restaurant where Tom worked, and I enthused, "Something for everybody!" It was nice to be social director and not have any sexual agenda of my own.
I herded the Nebraskans through the East Village snowdrifts and the whooping drunks in their plastic hats. The lesbian bar, the drag bar and all the dance clubs had outrageous cover charges. Aaron made a disconsolate cellphone call to Tom and got his answering machine. It was cold and late. We parked ourselves at the first free bar stools we could find, and Aaron leaned onto the bar and said in a loud, low voice, "Gimme a Bud."
Then he slumped into his seat and exhaled Marlboro smoke. "Well, this night is a bummer." It was a perfect distillation of New Year's Eve, holiday of disappointment: Aaron, flanked by me with my notebook and his former stepmother, our alcohol buzz curdled, our eye makeup smeared. I'd gotten no epiphany about drag; the stepmom hadn't muff dived; Aaron hadn't gotten to be a beautiful woman, or even a drag queen.
I gently asked how his night could have gone better, and Aaron cast about for answers. "Seeing myself as feminine in my performance art turns me on. I thought the social interaction would be more like sexual interaction, but it sure wasn't tonight." I asked if he was hoping to have sex with someone tonight. "Oh no, it's not about that, it's about flaunting."
But Aaron wasn't after the standard object-of-desire thrills. Any man who looks like he did in 21st century New York knows plenty about being desired. I wondered if he'd been a homely kid, one of those people whose self-image hasn't caught up with their blossoming. He said, "It's less that I used to be ugly than that I was shy. Dressing up as different people gives me a say in my own life."
A little later, he blurted, "I just want to do this with Tom and feel all superconfident." It struck me then that women really have come a long way. Men used to cross-dress to become more submissive, but Aaron wanted women's clothes to make him more articulate and powerful.
Virginia Vitzthum's column appears in Salon Sex every other Tuesday. For more columns by Vitzthum, visit her column archive: http://www.salon.com/directory/topics/virginia_vitzthum/index.html
source:by Virginia Vitzthum Salon on-line magaziner 01/09/01
Grammy Wrap-Up
Eminem, the controversial artist who famously raps that he doesn't "give a damn about a Grammy," won three of the four awards he was nominated for on Wednesday night, much to the dismay of the gay rights groups that characterize his lyrics as homophobic. He was beaten out for the marquee prize of album of the year by the Steely Dan, a rock-jazz duo which had not won a single Grammy in its 30-year history...
The
controversy over Eminem, the 28-year-old rapper whose real name is Marshall
Mathers, dominated the awards show, with host Jon Stewart and the presenters
making multiple references to the flap. Stewart opened the broadcast joking,
"I don't know what this controversy is all about, quite frankly. I met Eminem
backstage, and he's really gay. He's the gayest guy you'd ever meet."
...
John had been roundly criticized in the past week for agreeing to duet with Eminem, whose lyrics include many references to violence against gays, lesbians, and women. John said he considered Eminem's interest in doing the duet an "olive branch" to the gay and lesbian community and described himself as a "big fan" of Eminem's blend of rap, RandB, and metal. ..
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD) collaborated with women's and religious groups to hold a "Rally Against
Hate" outside the Los Angeles Staples Center where the Grammys were being
handed out. Between 100 and 200 protesters showed up, holding banners that
accused the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), which
hands out the Grammys, of promoting hate. Responding to claims by Eminem
defenders that his lyrics should be interpreted ironically, Patricial Ireland,
president of the National Organization of Women, said, "I don't expect that
the middle school boys listening to his lyrics are going to say, 'I note
a degree of irony." She accused the NARAS of "doing anything to be hip."
Even Mary Cheney, the vice president's wife who has been unwilling to publicly
acknowledge her daughter Mary's homosexuality, said she was "amazed and dismayed"
at John's decision.
But many artists jumped to Eminem's defense, including Madonna, Stevie Wonder, and open lesbian Melissa Etheridge. They praised him for doing what all great artists do -- push the envelope and rile up audiences... Said Dan Hasseltine of the Christian rock group Jars of Clay. "As we've traveled we've noticed that kids are apathetic, and if you can stir things up, it is important."
The Grammy audience evidently agreed, heartily applauding Eminem's performance and handing him awards for best rap album, best rap solo, and best rap performance by a duo or group for his work with his musical mentor Dr. Dre. Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP has sold more than 8 million copies in the United States alone...
Eminem himself acknowledged the flap over his record when he accepted his award for best rap album for the Marshall Mathers LP, which has sold over 8 million copies in the United States. "I wanna thank everybody who could look past the controversy and see the album for what it was and also for what it isn't," he said. After their joint performance of "Stan," which chronicles the descent into madness of a deranged male fan who grows obsessed with the rapper, Eminem and a polka dot-clad John embraced and held hands during the applause. He then flipped the audience the bird...
For Reference, some of Eminem's lyrics:
"My words are like a dagger with a jagged edge that'll stab you in the head. Whether you're a fag or lez, or the homosex, hermaph, or a trans-a-ves, pants or dress. Hate fags? The answer's yes."
"You faggots keep egging me on 'til I have you at knifepoint, then you beg me to stop."
Source: PlanetOut.com AOL Keyword: PlanetOut 02/22/01
QUICK HITS: Media Mentions
Roger Ebert / 02/02/00
Roger isn’t convinced of the sexuality of the lead character in Before Night Falls. But he does give a thumbs up to Johnny Depp‘s performance... "The film contains two more convincing homosexual characters, both played by Johnny Depp: Lt. Victor, a sleek, tight-trousered military officer, and "Bon Bon," a flamboyant transvestite who struts through Castro's prisons and proves incredibly useful by smuggling out one of Arenas' manuscripts, concealing it in that place where most of us would be most inconvenienced by a novel, however brilliant..."
Abercrombie and Fitch Spring Catalog / Spring 01
In their tongue-in-cheek advice column, A and F responds to this question from a reader... ...”My profession at college told me that all cartoons have a sexual subtext. Now that I think of it, I always enjoyed seeing Bugs Bunny dressed up like Carmen Miranda. Does that make me gay? (signed) Bob, New York
Dear Bob, No. Now if you got turned on by Ernest Borgnine in drag, then we’d have to reconsider…”
TV Guide / 02/ 24/01
Actress Judy Davis, who gave an excellent performance as Judy Garland in the TV mini-series Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows is asked if she studied any of the Garland impersonators to gain tips on impersonating her……"'Never!' she practically hisses. 'My job was to invest Garland with as much depth, truth and profound life as I could. What would a drag queen tell me about Garland? The answer is no!'"