Upcoming
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Tennessee Vals
Newsletter MAY 2001
Upcoming
Group Meetings
In This Issue:
Vals Special Events:
The Queens Throne by Marisa Richmond marisaval@aol.com
I am back
home after a whirlwind visit to the IFGE Convention in Arlington Heights,
Illinois. It was an event overshadowed by another controversy, but I do believe
that a lot of positives emerged from it.
It opened with a pool party and swimsuit contest. Unfortunately, I arrived just after festivities had concluded, so a bunch of us made our way down to the bar for socializing. The next morning, the convention opened officially with a plenary session featuring Miranda Miller-Stevens of It's Time Illinois and Mariette Pathy Allen who presented a slide show of numerous group activities (are you one who used to think you were the only one?). We were treated to a fashion show featuring members of the Chicago Gender Society (CGS), some of whom were incredibly erotic! My one and only session on Transgender History followed. I thought it was very lively although with only an hour, it ended almost too soon.
Thursday
evening saw our only official trip into Chicago. We were hosted by the new
Rikki Swin Institute. The founder, Rikki Swin, is a Chicago businessperson
who has chosen to give back to the community through educational resources
including a library and archives. She even sponsored ten presenters (although
a handful were unable to make it for various reasons). We were all impressed
with Rikki's willingness to support the convention, but as a professional
historian, I would have enjoyed getting a look at the actual resources which
were boxed up to provide Room to Move for the crowds during the opening
reception.
The next morning--after successfully
dodging falling pieces of Mir--I attended the IFGE Board meeting. The focus
was largely on the group's finances, and election of new officers for 2001-2002.
One announcement
that warmed my heart was the awarding
of the first six scholarships to transgendered students through the new
Transgender Scholarship and Education Legacy Fund (TSELF). Six awards totaling
$10,000 were given, and one recipient, Rosalyn Blumenstein of New York, was
actually present at the convention to accept on behalf of all later that
day. This is the sort of program I feel we should all support since it allows
us to assist others in our own community who intend to work to benefit to
the transgender community as a whole. At lunch, besides the announcement
of the TSELF awards, we also had the annual Trinity Awards given for service
to the transgender community. Unfortunately, none of this year's winners,
Joan Goodnight, Penni Ashe Matz, and Holly Ryan were able to be present.
Two were absent due to flooding or jury duty at home. Right after I returned
home, I received the sad news that Penni had actually passed away on March
12, 11 days before the ceremony. Many of the news releases which are used
by virtually every transgender support group in the nation have come from
GAIN which Penni has managed well for the past few years.
Thursday night, after a barbecue buffet dinner, CGS hosted a "Name That Tune" show featuring 50s music. They had originally claimed it would include 60s music too, but only about two songs were from the latter decade, so I am quite relieved I did not have to get up there after all since I had volunteered. I definitely would have embarrassed myself. Of course, later that night, I was the only one in the bar rooting for Kansas over Illinois....
Saturday morning, a special meeting
was held among many "leaders" of the community. Called The Summit, it was
an attempt to get back on track after the distractions of the past few months.
Although no major
decisions were reached, it was generally agreed that we do
need to work together and that the mission to educate the public and ensure
passage of a fully inclusive ENDA was of prime importance. Additional discussions
will take place at both Southern Comfort and Creating Change later this year.
This year's winner of the Virginia Prince Award was Jane Fee of Minnesota. Much has been made of Minnesota being the only state with equal rights protection for trans people, and Jane is the reason for that. Her accomplishments are too numerous to mention, but suffice it to say that she embodies what all of us should aspire to be.
The convention concluded Saturday evening with a show featuring several Chicago drag queens and the ritual "passing of the ball" from Chicago to Nashville.
Overall, there are a few things
which stand out in my mind as positives which emerged from this convention.
First, the financial support offered by individuals like Rikki Swin and Dr.
Douglas Ousterhout, and through new programs like TSELF, means that we can
accomplish a lot. Every individual, if they give of themselves, can help
us build a bigger and more powerful community. Sure, we lack money to do
many of the things we
wish, but there was an overall tone of optimism and a true
intent to cooperate, so this bodes well for the future. Second, I was greatly
impressed by the increased number of young people. This includes Larissa
Glasser of IFGE and Kim Carver of GAIN. Even if my generation does not get
its act together, the future is in damn good hands. The dialogue that took
place over the weekend, and the number of attendees (236-including IFGE founder
Merissa Sherill Lynn) suggests that whatever self-inflicted wounds we may
have suffered, there is a genuine desire to rebuild and move forward.
A
Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead
byJulie
Phillips FabulBabe@aol.com
Where I work, you can’t enter a room without having your eyes immediately drawn to a television set. Although the sounds is generally down, you can keep an eye on the weather on the Weather Channel, or follow some late-breaking news report on CNN or MSNBC.
Naturally, since I’m involved in this story, the television often finds itself tuned to something more visually entertaining than a cold pressure system over Kansas. When no one’s around, I’ll switch it over to MTV. Doing this, during the middle of the day, I’ve discovered something quite bizarre. MTV actually does play music videos!! It’s true! I’ve seen them with my own eyes! Though Bigfoot sightings occur with greater frequency, you will catch a glimpse of one or two during the day when the kids are supposed to be in school.
In my never-ending effort to remain contemporary and in touch with contemporary culture, I find catching music videos on MTV to be invaluable.
Please allow me to share some of my observations with you. Perhaps they will help you stay “phat” and “sweet” with what’s going on when you’re chatting with your “peeps”. (Don’t ask me what in the hell I just said. I just know its cool sounding.)
If its good enough for Christina Aguilera, it's good enough for me. I'll be ready to go out soon; I'll be done with my face and hair in just 5 hours.
My Closet by Leslie Louise DuPaix lldupaix@hotmail.com
Mothers' Day
Bubba was clearly not at ease. I was partially to blame. No! entirely to blame. We had essentially been in agreement and things had gone as we had hoped and now that we were returning home, we both were having second thoughts. Bubba was having second, third and fourth thoughts. I thought to him, "Bubba, think about it. We have several weeks to think about it. At worst we are out $3. At best, everything will be just fine. We will have expressed ourselves to an understanding person, and we will all have a big laugh." He thought back, "And how about the in between? We'll may have sowed confusion and upset someone we didn't want to upset at all. I'm not sure. I'll think about it."
The drive home was less than an hour and we both did a lot of thinking. Thinking about how silly the whole thing was. How we could throw the silly mother's day card away and get another; or not send one at all. Our mother is cool. A card is appreciated on Mother's Day, but not demanded. A phone call is equally cool. And both, well, that is even better yet. I had seen the card several years ago and wanted to buy it then, but we could not. Every Mother's Day we had searched for it, or one like it, and until tonight had not found it. It was a card with a small child dressed up in mother's things--a hat, high heels, a dress and a pearl necklace looking into a vanity mirror. Very similar to the picture on the back of this newsletter. Inside, the card read, "When I grow up, I want to be just like you."
We both thought it cute and silly. I hoped Mom would see the humor in it. But then we thought it might be going to far, like calling to much attention to something that, although not a secret, might better be left unmentioned. What if she became concerned? What if she thought I was demanding a little too much attention? ... that maybe I was starting to get out of hand? Bubba had a point. Maybe the card wasn't such a great idea. Cards, like jokes are better if they do not require explanation nor defending nor trigger too much thought. "But then," I said, "the honesty and openness of communication we enjoy with our mother is worth quite a bit also, so holding back doesn't seem all that appropriate either."
I suppose this is what one gets from reading too much Borrysenko (Pocketful of Miracles, Joan Borysenko, 1994, Time Warner), being in therapy and trying to be funny. Was it in good taste? At one level it was funny and it poked fun at a shared experience. At another, at the other end of the spectrum, it had an egotistical edge to it. Myss's "woundology" model came to mind. Maybe it wasn't really funny at all. Clearly this would require more thought, and there was plenty of time to not mail it and to get another card.
When we have a nagging problem, Bubba and I will stick it into our subconscious and let it stew for a while. A night or two later we went to bed and tried to catch up on our Borysenko readings. For May 2, we read: "Cosmic beloved, Queen of Earth and Heaven, your abundance is truly awesome. You awaken us cyclically from our sleep and bring forth every fruit in it s season, the fruits of the earth and the fruits of our souls. I give thanks to you and pray to realize the Divine Feminine within myself, the life force that gives and nourishes life."
For May 3 her comments on the verses of the Song of Solomon jumped from the page: "They celebrate the sacred union between the male and female within ourselves, between ourselves and God, and between the male and female aspects of the creator."
On May 4, she talks of the Shekinah - the Divine Feminine - and ends with "Great Spirit, Divine Mystery beyond the duality of male and female, mother and father, parent and child, help me to know you by understanding each of Your aspects. In the month of May, help me understand You as God the Mother, She who gives and nourishes life."
Caught up on our reading, we turned off the light and went to bed. The dream journal was next to the bed with a pen, ready to record the night's dreams. Before going to sleep we asked that we might get a handle on the card thing.
We slept soundly and a bit longer
than usually before Bubba's early morning call to void. Usually the call
to void is accompanied by a dream and it is then that Bubba forces himself
to make an entry in the dream journal. It is always a trade off, as the more
awake he becomes, the harder it is to get to sleep before the alarm rings.
It dawned on us that there was no dream to record; and then it also came
that there was an insightful thought that needed recording. A sleepy Bubba
argued with himself that "No, only dreams go in the Dream Journal, not mere
thoughts," but then I intervened and told him "If one was blessed with a
thought that didn't need interpretation it was a pre-interpreted dream and
therefor it would be OK to record it in the Dream Journal." So, voiding
completed, he turned on the light, put on his glasses and wrote:
"Thus 5/04 AM: ‘Great Thought'
@0430h
If you are not ‘confused'
religiously then you are not thinking straight. God is so wonderfully complex
that we can only be awed and confused if we are really trying to understand.
The best we can hope for is to think we understand individual snatches or
very large groups of snatches in a simplistic way."
That done, the light was turned
off and we went back to bed. In no time at all we knew that there was another
thought left to record, so Bubba turned on the light, took pen in hand and
wrote:
"All Mothers' Day cards are filled
with the child's ego - ‘Look at MY card!! Look at how much I love you!!!
(or how hard I am pretending to do so!).'
"A normal, or better yet ‘sane'
society would acknowledge the feminine side of God - the Shekinah. An unbalanced
patriarchal one does not. It suppresses the feminine, and by extension the
females.'
"But the feminine force will not
be suppressed and so it expresses itself in all the silly ways the feminine
is allowed to express itself in our society; and our children confuse the
superficial aspects of our mothers and other females with the mystical feminine
if in fact they are aware of the mystical feminine at all."
Then we did go to sleep.
Reflecting on all of that, the card did make sense and was appropriate. One starts one's search with the pursuit of the obvious, mistaking in all probability the markers for the road and the journey with the destination (if there is even any thought at all to there being a destination). So at one level the card truly expresses our feelings. But not just at that one level. We have been blessed with parents that I would want to be like on the internal, less visible levels. Where things dealing with boundaries, dignity, self esteem, kindness, restraint and fun and silliness are found. So the card is true in ways I am really comfortable with as well as the silly way I still wonder about. We added a note to that effect and mailed the card. A Mother's Day phone call confirmed that she understood and thought the card cool.
Happy Mothers' Day.
Left
of Center by Pamela DeGroff
BUDDY COMES OUT as told to Pamela DeGroff
Hey, folks, former first dog Buddy here. There are some other dogs who have written their memoirs, so I figured it was my turn now.
You thought you knew all the scandals that went on during the Slick Willy Administration? Well, guess again. Master B. (that's what I call him) didn't even have a clue about what was really going on in the White House. Oh sure, he got in trouble over a stain on a ladies dress, but so what? I've made a stain or two in my day, and I'm tellin' ya, they're no big deal. You get yelled at, someone uses some yucky smelling pine stuff to clean it out, and life goes on. No big woof.
The real behind the scenes skinny is about that hair ball hackin' little twit, Socks The Cat. You see, the First Kitty is a cross dresser. He claims to be a dog trapped in a cat's body. I think they call it transgendered, or transbreed, or something. Anyway, I caught him sneakin' out one night. I didn't recognize him at first because he was wearing a wig and make up. Kind of looked like a Yorkshire Terrier. What gave him away was his walk. Hard to disguise that.
He said if I didn't tell Master B. about it, then he wouldn't tell about my accident in the Lincoln Bedroom. Fair enough, I thought. But I worried about him. I mean, night after night, he'd sneak out, all dressed up. Sometimes he'd slick his fur back, wear a big ole spiked collar, and go as a bull dog. Sometimes a Jack Russell. My favorite was his poodle drag. I mean, dang, if I hadn't known...he looked so good, it made me all twitchy and feisty. Kind of like that time I first met Janet Reno. But, we won't talk about that incident, even though it didn't leave a stain.
(Excuse me, gotta scratch something real quick.......aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!-man, what I wouldn't give for an opposable thumb....)
Okay, I'm back. Where were we? Oh yeah...well, one night, I decided to follow him. Once he got off the White House grounds, he made his way to this dimly lit bar in a bad part of town. He met up with a whole bunch of other cats, all done up like dogs. There were even, and I'm shocked to say this, dogs dressed as cats. I saw a Great Dane dressed up as a Persian, but he was having a hard time pulling it off. The cats were all acting like dogs-chasing their tails, burying stuff in the yard. They were all doing catnip, too. And these guys inhaled.
Anyway, Socks got so whacked that when he tried to drink out of the toilet, he fell in. He was dressed as a Pekinese's, and all that hair weighed him down. Luckily, we'd been followed by a Secret Service guy who saw what happened and pulled him out. He was unconscious, but came around once we got him back to the White House. The Secret Service and me decided to keep this quiet. I mean, Master B. had enough trouble with wet....uh, kitties....in the White House, he didn't need any more.
Now that we're out of office, though, I felt I could talk about it. Socks still dresses, but he's been in catnip rehab for his problem so he's better now. I have a confession, too. That club looked like fun, and Socks and me have become regulars. I found out I like to dress up. In spite of my size, I'm told I look good in calico. Well, gotta go. Master B. just showed up with my leash. Must be time for another Mickey D's run. Bye for now. Remember, a stain a day keeps the press corps away.
Editor’s note: This “encore presentation” edition of Pam’s column originally appeared in last month’s Transgender Community News.
A Midsummer's Daydream by Chrysis Monaco
As a young
boy, the woods near my home was a special place where I could be alone with
my thoughts. As a man, the solitude of the trees was the source of my
inspiration. On a cool summer morning stroll in the woods, I was reflecting
on the lifestyle of androgyny that I had pursued. There was still something
missing in my life.
Along the path I had followed so many times, I came upon a honeysuckle bush that I had not noticed before. It was shaped in the form of an arch over a little path that led away from the main trail. The sweet aroma of honey in the blossoms was inviting. How mysterious! I looked behind me to be sure I was alone. I did not want anyone to see me enter this secret place.
As I ventured down this new path, the forest seemed to come alive! The songs of birds filled the air and brilliant colorful butterflies seemed to dance on the leaves. It was amazing to think that they had transformed from little caterpillars. The fragrance of delicate flowers ignited feminine senses and desire. Warmth welled within my body.
A stream of cool clear water lured me to pause. When I knelt to drink, I saw a reflection in the water of a beautiful woman in a white gown. Could this be me? I put my fingers to my lips and saw the reflection of my hand. I touched my chest and felt the fullness of a woman's breasts. My cheeks were flush! Oh my! I giggled to myself and ran further down the path. My heart was racing. I was not sure where this new path would take me, but I knew it was where I wanted to go.
The forest opened into a small meadow of lush grass. I lifted my head to enjoy the warmth of the afternoon sunshine and closed my eyes as a gentle breeze brushed my hair on bare shoulders. Then I heard voices! To my astonishment, there were two lovely maidens sitting in the meadow making necklaces of flowering clover. They invited me to join them. I was hesitant at first. Could they be like me? Did they come down the same path as I? Kneeling together on a bed of soft clover, we shared our most precious and intimate thoughts. Only someone like me could be in this secret place and understand my feelings.
As darkness fell, we drew closer together. Fireflies glowed in the woods around the meadow. The stars in the sky sparkled like diamonds on black velvet. I wished upon a star that I could stay on this path forever. Together, we drifted to sleep in anticipation of sweet dreams.
NEWS TRANS-missions
news, media mentions, etc...
At Last, HRC Includes TG in Mission Statement
Last week the Human Rights Campaign Board of Directors and Governors voted to expand the organization's mission statement to include gender expression and identity. This action was taken to memorialize and build upon the organization's growing and substantial work in this area. HRC recognizes there are organizations and leaders that have been focused on issues related to gender identity as their core mission, and that these leaders and institutions will necessarily be the primary voice on issues that affect the lives of transgender Americans. Adopted in 1998 as part of HRC's five-year strategic plan the previous mission statement read as follows: "As America's largest gay and lesbian organization, the Human Rights Campaign provides a national voice on gay and lesbian issues. The Human Rights Campaign effectively lobbies Congress; mobilizes grassroots action in diverse communities; invests strategically to elect a fair-minded Congress; and increases public understanding through innovative education and communication strategies. HRC is a bipartisan organization that works to advance equality for lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans to ensure they can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community."
In the newly amended mission statement the second paragraph has been replaced with:
"HRC is a bipartisan organization that works to advance equality based on sexual orientation and gender expression and identity, to ensure that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community."
We at HRC believe that changing our mission is an honest reflection of HRC's work at this moment in the institution's history. Although HRC's primary focus is on issues related to sexual orientation, it also has an important institutional commitment to issues related to gender expression and identity. HRC views this step as honest and proportional. Through the years HRC has worked to build alliances with transgender organizations and leaders and recognizes that the issues that affect lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans and transgender Americans are often related one to the other. Whether viewed as being on an integrated or parallel journey, HRC believes transgender Americans are an important part of our collective quest for equality.
HRC is committed to educating the public on issues that affect transgender Americans. HRC will continue to work at the local, state and federal level in coalition with transgender organizations and transgender leadership, and while, at times, we might not always agree, the change to the mission statement is intended to reflect an important and affirming demonstration of good faith.
Many will ask: what does this mean for HRC's legislative priorities, including the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. HRC will maintain its current legislative priorities. Two of those priorities, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and ENDA will not change substantially in form or substance. HRC will continue to work to ensure that transgender Americans are covered under the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and is committed to working to help educate Congress and the public at large on issues that affect transgender Americans, including employment discrimination. HRC will continue its work to advance supportive policies in America's workplaces, and is committed to working with transgender leaders to assist in the creation of other federal legislative vehicles to protect people based on gender expression and identity.
While HRC recognizes that there are those who will only be satisfied when ENDA is altered to include gender identity, it is our assessment that many congressional members are invested in the bill in its current form and that any changes would not be well-received on Capitol Hill. It is evident to many that substantial education is necessary to garner a far deeper understanding regarding gender expression and identity before a bill addressing this issue would be deemed viable. Nevertheless, we at HRC, believe that while we face enormous challenges as a community and as an organization, we must arm each other with the conviction that - with focus, strength and investment - we can win passage so that every gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender American can open, honest and safe at home at work and the community.
Source: from HRC Exec. Dir. Elizabeth Birch via HRC Press Release HRC Website 03/23/01
N*Synch Has Hit with Dr. Laura's New Theme Song: Bye, Bye, Bye
Dr. Laura Schlessinger taped the final episode of her controversial television show yesterday, Paramount officials say.
Seven months after its premier, the plug has been pulled on the talk show that spawned protests, advertiser boycotts and even a web site dedicated to its demise because of the host's habit of speaking harshly about gays and lesbians, according to a Reuters report.
Dr. Laura frequently referred to homosexuality as "deviant" and a "biological error."
The report quoted a statement from Schlessinger saying, "I believe it could have earned a substantial audience in time, but the television advertiser boycott precluded that."
In a statement released Friday, Joan Garry, of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said, "This is a culmination of GLAAD's three years of strategic education and advocacy work. "In coalition with thousands of local activists from across the country, we have held Laura Schlessinger accountable for her defamation of our community," Garry added. "And we've sent a strong message that we are no longer an easy target for prejudice. GLAAD hopes the cancellation of 'Dr. Laura' will make media corporations think twice about giving a platform to someone who promotes derision and exclusion. Such decisions will never go unchallenged."
Source: Barbara Dozetos, PlanetOut.com network 03/30/01
Clubbing in Hot 'Lanta May Never Be the Same
Taking an ongoing battle from the public arena into court, attorneys for a popular 24-hour gay nightclub said they will file a lawsuit by Friday against the City of Atlanta.
Jackson Cook, an attorney for Backstreet Atlanta, said plans are to file the suit by the end of the week on behalf of the club, as well as Club 112, Crystal Palace and the Riveria, also private clubs affected by recent City Council action.
The attorneys will seek an injunction against the city to allow the clubs to continue pouring liquor 24 hours a day as they currently do until the litigation is resolved.
"We're hopeful we can get it," Cook said.
Decisions are still being made about the impending lawsuit, such as in which courts the matter will be pursued-Fulton County Superior Court or federal courts, he said.
On March 19, the Atlanta City Council approved, effective April 30, an ordinance that redefines private clubs and curbs the hours in which alcoholic beverages may be served at those clubs. The measure was sponsored by City Council member Derrick Boazman and received a unanimous 11-0 thumbs-up from City Council members.
Mayor Bill Campbell signed the ordinance into law on March 27.
The legislation requires all private clubs to be non-profit, does not allow dues to be paid on a daily basis and states that the sale of alcohol shall not be the facility's primary reason for operation.
Private clubs which fit the new definition may serve alcohol from 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. on weekdays, 9 a.m. Saturdays until 2:55 a.m. Sunday, and 24 hours on Sundays.
That means that even if Backstreet qualified as a non-profit private club, its tradition of "always open and pouring" would end.
For businesses that cannot meet the new private club definition-including Backstreet as it currently operates-pouring hours will be trimmed back to match those of any other establishment holding a city liquor license: 9 a.m. to 4 a.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. Saturdays to 2:55 a.m. Sundays.
Only businesses classified as restaurants may serve alcohol on Sundays, and then only from 12:30 p.m. until midnight.
source: by Penny Weaver Southern Voice 04/05/01
No, Susie! Your Barbie Can't Date Eminem
Britain's biggest toy retailer said Monday it would refuse to sell a doll of the American rapper Eminem because it did not fit with its family image.
Retail
chain Woolworths said the doll, which features the singer's trademark chainsaw,
tattoos and the words ``cut here'' scrawled on the neck, were due to arrive
in Britain from the United States this summer.
``We were offered the Eminem doll but decided not to stock it,'' Woolworths' spokeswoman Nicole Lander said.
``The visual impact didn't fit with our family environment and having it around a Barbie doll, for example, didn't feel right,'' she said.
Britain's venerable and most famous toy retailer, Hamleys, also said it would not stock the doll, which was expected to sell for about $14.
Eminem, criticized for his homophobic and mysogynistic lyrics but championed for producing a definitive rap style, performed a sell-out tour of Britain last month despite protests from gay rights activists.
Woolworths said it would continue selling Eminem's Grammy Award-winning albums because they were aimed at older shoppers and were not visually controversial.
source: Reuters 03/27/01
Source: by The Advocate 03/23/01
Epidemic?? Dirty
Needles and HIV Rates in TG Community
Fourteen years ago, when Barbara
Cassis was a 24-year-old man, she asked a family physician to give her hormones
so she could become a woman. He prescribed a visit to a psychiatrist instead.
Undeterred, Cassis, now a towering blond with swimming-pool-blue eyes and a C-cup chest, entered an underground economy of fake doctors and self-appointed medical gurus who were willing to help her make the transformation she desired. She didn't know at the time that she was putting herself at risk for AIDS.
At transgender clubs in Hell's Kitchen, she asked the convincing-looking girls where to start. One gave her a business card for a hormone home delivery service. Another, she recalls, told her about a doctor who administered treatments in the bathroom of Sally's, a popular Hell's Kitchen bar catering primarily to transgender patrons.
According to Cassis and outreach workers who are familiar with the transgender scene in New York, this so-called doctor would set up shop in a bathroom stall for hours, injecting possibly hundreds with a single needle, without sterilizing it between shots.
"You could just walk in there, pay him $30 and he injected you in your butt," says Cassis, with an anguished expression on her face, because she now knows the risks associated with such activity. "They had the needles packaged, so it looked like they were new, but the tops of the packets were always open. I don't have any doubt that they were being reused."
Hormone needle sharing has not been identified as a major risk factor for HIV transmission among transsexuals, but a growing number of physicians and AIDS outreach workers believe it may be the cause of hundreds of cases in the United States and abroad. Very little is known about healthcare issues facing transgender people...because research focused on transgenders is scarce. Recently, however, public health officials across the United States have begun to explore transgender health needs, and they are particularly concerned about high rates of HIV infection in this population.
"Due to the lack of tracking, there might be an epidemic out of control and we don't know about it, nor do we have the resources to address it if we need to," warns Jason Farrell, executive director of the Positive Health Project, an AIDS outreach program in New York. "Some advocates think that the rates of infection may be going up in the transgender community, but there's no way to know because there's no tracking whatsoever of transgenders now."
In the last 10 years, HIV prevalence rates amongst intravenous drug users have dropped dramatically, according to David A. Hansell, associate commissioner for HIV services for the New York Department of Health, and many researchers believe outreach to drug users and widespread use of needle exchange programs have been partially responsible for the decline. But rates of transmission in the transgender population have remained staggeringly high, and may be continuing to rise, according to recent health studies...
"Clearly, sharing of hormone needles is a possible route of transmission because with any injection there's a possible risk," Hansell says. "It's one of the risks that people need to be educated about so they avoid it."
Health departments in New York, Los Angeles, Boston and San Francisco are exploring the issue. Finding that the rates of infection in the group were phenomenally high in Los Angeles County, the city's Community HIV Prevention Planning Committee recently designated the transgender population as one of its highest priorities for HIV prevention efforts. Dr. Paul Simon, a medical epidemiologist with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, is one of several researchers who conducted a survey of 244 male-to-female transsexuals in 1998 and 1999. The results of the study were published in a December 2000 issue of the journal "AIDS."
The findings stunned Simon and his researchers. Twenty-two percent of those in the study group were HIV-positive (while only a fraction of 1 percent of the general population in the United States is thought to be HIV-positive today). They conducted a follow-up study and determined that in a group of 100 transsexuals, the chance of getting infected was 3.4 percent.
"That's as high as what we were seeing among gay and bisexual men in the 1980s at the peak of the epidemic," says Simon. "It's a very high rate of HIV infection."
As a group, transsexuals face several risk factors. Although most transgender people do not think of themselves as gay, most engage in anatomically homosexual sex. And among male-to-female transsexuals, the group reported a high rate of unprotected anal sex (47 percent reported having unprotected receptive anal sex in the last six months). Recent public health studies also reveal that sexual partners of transsexuals tend to identify as straight, providing anecdotal evidence that safe-sex education that is widely available in the gay community may not be reaching them.
When asked about needles, 69 percent reported that they had injected hormones at some point in their lives; 44 percent in the previous six months alone. Of those who had recently injected hormones, 72 percent said they got their needles off the streets. But Simon says it is unclear what role black market needles played, since unsafe sex and drug use are also dangers (8 percent reported using intravenous drugs in the last six months). Sharing hormone needles may be less risky than sharing drug needles, he added, because transsexuals do not typically draw blood directly back into the needle, as drug users do.
Female and male hormones come in various forms -- pills, patches and liquid -- but many transsexuals prefer injections to the other methods because liquid hormones supposedly take effect faster. Hormone needles are about twice the length and width of the needles used to shoot heroin, which is usually diluted with water before it is injected. But just like drug syringes, hormone needles are not readily available in pharmacies without a prescription, and are sometimes even harder to come by than clean drug needles on the streets.
The San Francisco and New York health departments have both studied HIV risk factors in the transgender population. Of 94 transgender people surveyed for the 1999 "Transgender Needs Assessment" for the New York City HIV Prevention Planning Group, 90 percent of respondents said they had a history of using hormones. Of those, 40 percent said they had gotten them off the black market.
"A small number reported sharing, but when people are accessing hormones from the black market there's no way of knowing if they're using syringes that have been used before," says Kelly McGowan, author of the report. "It was definitely discussed as a perceived risk factor, particularly amongst female-to-males."
In San Francisco, however, researchers found little needle sharing. Out of 500 transsexuals surveyed, only three men who were taking hormones to become women, and one woman trying to become a man, reported sharing needles in the last six months. Of the transgenders who inject hormones, 84 percent reported that they had obtained their needles from safe sources in the last six months.
Kristen Clements, an epidemiologist with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the chief investigator for that city's report, says the divergence might reflect the two cities' different approaches to needle exchange and transgender lifestyles. In San Francisco, several health clinics provide free hormone syringes and free and low-cost hormone therapy in a safe, medical setting, with hours set aside exclusively for transsexuals...
Cassis didn't think much about the potential of getting infected by sharing hormone needles. But she is HIV-positive, and says that other AIDS risk factors don't apply to her. She has never injected illicit drugs, she says, or worked as a prostitute. She assumes she got HIV from unsafe sex or sharing hormones.
Though Cassis has no way of determining the origin of her HIV, it's hard to imagine that she, or her friends, weren't putting themselves at risk. In the '80s and early '90s, she recalls, one so-called doctor parked a gray van in front of popular transgender clubs in New York, from about 10 p.m. till 2 a.m., and later near the Chelsea Piers where transgender prostitutes waited for johns. People lined up for $30-to-$40 shots, administered assembly-line style, climbing in through the van's back door and exiting through the side door, says Cassis.
When hormones were delivered to her house, she remembers, the situation was no more sanitary. "You might get one or two needles with a vial of hormones," she says. "But they were always open. I didn't think about it much at the time, because I was so excited to get the hormones. I remember taking my needle and shooting my girlfriend up, and just rinsing it out with water. I never thought about it."
But now she thinks about it a lot. "Probably hundreds of girls were infected that way, from about 1979 to about 1991 or 1992. Now, the transgender community in New York is small, but there used to be hundreds of girls who would come to the city, get their hormones that way and leave. A lot of them are dead now," she says.
Unsafe sex was another major risk activity for HIV transmission. In the beginning of the epidemic, many transsexuals didn't think they had to worry about safe sex, as gay men did. "Everyone thought of AIDS as a gay man's disease," she explains. "And we weren't gay."
Cassis stopped buying hormones on the street, and found an above-board physician who is now helping her manage her transition. She's also active in the transgender community, and works as an administrative assistant at the Positive Health Project, one of only a few AIDS programs in New York that gives out hormone needles in its needle exchange program. She and several other transsexuals on the group's staff educate others about needle sharing. They also helped to design an unusual pamphlet, "Safety Guidelines for Injecting Hormones," as well as a small brochure, "Calling All Girls: Transgenders and HIV," which warns about the risks of hormone-needle sharing...
The complete article is availble online at Salon.com.
Source: by Nina Siegal Salon magazine 03/28/01
Dr. Arrested after Silicone Injection Death
South Carolina man who treated transsexuals charged with manslaughter Mark Hawkins, 36, of Greenville, S.C., was arrested Wednesday on charges of manslaughter, third-degree felony murder, and unlicensed practice of health care after police in Florida say he injected silicone into the left hip and buttock of Vera Lawrence on March 30. Lawrence, 53, died a few hours later in her Miramar, Fla., apartment. Although Lawrence was not transgendered, police believe Hawkins operated an underground network of delivering silicone injections mostly to a transgendered clientele in South Florida. In Lawrence’s case, police believe the silicone, which is illegal to inject, found its way into her bloodstream and then into her lungs, killing her.
source: The Advocate online 04/14/01
Ask Nia-Renique Henderson how she negotiated high school as a transgendered teen, and her answer is simple: She didn’t. The 22-year-old attended three high schools in Philadelphia before dropping out. Physical run-ins with peers were few, but the verbal abuse she endured as a feminine teenage boy was unbearable.
“I always wanted to be a girl, and I got along with the females,” she says. “But the men called me, flat-out, ‘faggot.’ It was painful to my spirit.”
She grew increasingly withdrawn—until she took control. Since earning her general equivalency diploma and becoming a transgender outreach coordinator,
Henderson has seen countless teens struggle to muster the courage just for the fight to live on their own gender terms. That’s why gender activists say a groundbreaking preliminary court ruling in favor of a 15-year-old transgendered female student from Brockton, Mass., is so critical to their cause. Late last year, a state appellate court upheld Pat Doe’s right to express her gender, ruling that she could attend school wearing girls’ clothing. The school’s principal had deemed that the biologically male student’s feminine clothing was a ‘disruption’ and as a result barred her from class. Doe is now back in school.
“It, unfortunately, took the hammer of the court to get the school to do what it should’ve done in the first place,” says Jennifer Levi, a staff attorney at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders in Boston. “But now they know you can easily and happily incorporate a transgendered student.”
Perhaps more important, Levi says, other schools now have a blueprint to follow.Officials at the Brockton school and many others like it argue that students who change their gender—through dress, their names, and the pronouns they ask others to describe them with—can wreak havoc in classrooms, bathrooms, and locker rooms, not to mention the effect on the students’ own safety.
It’s an argument some liken to one made by whites who opposed racial integration of public schools some 47 years ago. In Pat Doe’s case, Levi says, other students were never a problem: “She has close friends in school, and she missed them when she wasn’t in school.”
Whatever their fears, schools will likely find themselves adapting more to the concerns of trans youths. During nearly a decade of work for the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco, senior staff attorney Shannon Minter says he’s seen more and more young people come forward as transgendered each year. High-profile trans teens, such as Brandon Teena, have helped others envision life on the other side of the gender fence. Even before trans culture reached the mainstream, young people benefited from a revolution fueled in large part by technology.
“The Internet is going to be the midwife to the trans community,” says Stacey Montgomery-Scott, a male-to-female transsexual and a senior member of the Boston Lesbian Avengers. “It has given kids a vocabulary to explain how they feel—and a community.”
In the meantime, an army of activists is working to make schools, among other institutions, safe and free of discrimination. GenderPAC, a Washington, D.C.–based gender rights advocacy group, estimates that gender-based hate crimes claim the lives of roughly one person per month. And the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute reports that 60% of transgendered people have experienced hate-related violence. Still, the youngest gender activists remain optimistic that their schools, families, and friends will soon understand where they stand.
“More and more folks around my age and younger don’t just identify as either male or female,” says 24-year-old Becca Hover, GenderPAC cochair. “It’s that they don’t fit neatly into either box. And they’re saying, ‘Just take me as I am.’"
Source: by Victoria Scanlan-Stefanakos The Advocate 04/10/01
It's been over a year since truck driver Peter Oiler was fired by the Winn-Dixie Corporation because, according to the company, his cross-dressing outside of work just didn't conform to the proper company image.
Winn-Dixie, however, has said virtually nothing publicly concerning the case. "They're silent," said Eric Ferrero of the ACLU, who is representing Mr. Oiler, "because it's hard to explain the unlawful and un-American bigotry of firing Peter Oiler because away from work he didn't look or act the way they thought a man should."
However, the transgender community will remain anything but silent about the treatment of Mr. Oiler. There are planned protests against Winn-Dixie in Atlanta during the month of April, and further planned actions to take place against Winn-Dixie regional headquarters in Clayton, NC. The date for the North Carolina action has yet to be confirmed.
Contacted at home, Peter and his wife Shirley expressedtheir happiness at the continuing concern shown by the Trans community.
"I think it's great," said Shirley. "We think that is wonderful that people are still interested in our cause and are willing to show it. We want to thank them for their support and their willingness to take some form of action - write letters, make phone calls, let the local management know...."
"It's management that's the problem," said Peter. "Unfortunately, because of their attitude, all this is necessary. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. They choose to ignore their own options, so it's coming back on them."
Due to the coverage the cause has generated, Peter and Shirley have become members of Renaissance for a year. They have also been guest speakers at an NTAC reception in Washington DC and have been invited to other events as well.
NTAC (The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition) supports all upcoming actions on the behalf of Peter and Shirley Oiler. Please join NTAC in boycotting Winn-Dixie, and tell your friends why you refuse to shop at their stores. Protesting acts of discrimination against transgendered people, and making others aware such discrimination happens, will be our foundation for change.
(The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition is the nation’s premier transgender civil rights organization. NTAC works for the advancement of understanding and the attainment of full civil rights for all transgendered and intersexed people in every aspect of society. For more information, visit the website at http://www.ntac.org)
source: NTAC Press Release 04/01
A New Jersey
transgendered woman was sentenced again to death March 30 for killing a law
enforcement officer in a 1995 shootout at her home. Leslie Ann Nelson's 1998
conviction and death sentence for killing patrolman John Norcross was overturned
when it was discovered that police had withheld information from Nelson's
lawyers. Nelson, who was born Glenn Nelson, underwent gender reassignment
surgery in 1992. Police were coming to her home with a search warrant in
1995 to seize illegal weapons. Moments after they arrived, Nelson, who was
described during the trial as a social outcast with a long history of mental
illness, opened fire with an AK-47 rifle. She remained barricaded in her
home for 14 hours before surrendering. The jury of 12 women could have sentenced
Nelson either to death or to life in prison without parole. Nelson now becomes
the only woman on New Jersey's death row.
source: Southern Voice 04/05/01
Sports Turkey Stoned
Turkish police said on Monday they drove stone-throwing transvestites away from a minister's home after the gang tried to rob his son late on Saturday.
The Hurriyet newspaper said a group of transvestites accosted the son of sports minister Fikret Unlu as he parked his car near the family's Ankara residence.
They demanded he give them 50 million lira ($42) or face being shamed in front of his neighbors.
The group of cross-dressers threw beer bottles and stones at the Unlu home as the minister's bodyguards intervened, an Ankara police spokesman told Reuters.
The paper said the group used their mobile telephones to call in other transvestites to join the fray before police drove them away.
Two people, one of them transsexual, have been detained in connection with the incident, the police spokesman said.
Turkey's larger cities have active transvestite scenes, in which men visit bars filled with young cross-dressers -- many of them in various stages of sex-change therapy -- and hire them for sex.
Confrontations between police and transvestites in Istanbul and Ankara are not uncommon, particularly as summer nears and nightlife spills over onto the streets.
source: Reuters 04/16/01
Matthew Shepard’s mother, Judy Shepard, told college students in Minneapolis on Wednesday night that gay people need to show that they are as boring as everyone else. “If the community hadn’t been a mystery, my son would still be here,” Shepard told an audience at the University of St. Thomas. Matthew Shepard, who had been a student at the University of Wyoming, died at a hospital in Fort Collins, Colo., several days after he was attacked in a gay bashing near Laramie, Wyo., in 1998. He was 21. The two men who killed him are now serving life sentences. Judy Shepard now travels the country giving lectures and lobbying for a federal hate-crimes law. She and her husband, Dennis, have created the Matthew Shepard Foundation to help fight hate crimes. Judy Shepard drew laughter from the 300 people on hand when she said gay people should show “that you are nothing to be afraid of, that you are just like everybody else—boring.” The media too often focus on the “extravagant” people at the front of gay pride parades and ignore the more ordinary people at the rear, she said. Since her son’s death, Shepard said, she has learned a lot about the gay community and even enjoys going to a drag queen bingo parlor in Denver. She praised the men there for being “so wonderfully honest about who they are.” Gays who keep a low profile need to come out of the closet to serve as role models for young people who are struggling with their sexual identity but don’t identify with drag queens, Shepard said.
Source: The Advocate 03/30/01
Soulforce Update for Remainder of 2001
Soulforce, the interfaith GLBT organization started by Rev. Mel White and his partner Gay Nixon, has recently announced plans for four separate actions scheduled for the remainder of 2001.
In October of 2000, during an event in Lynchburg, VA., Rev. White announced Phase Two of Soulforces plan to change the hearts and minds of mainstream denominatins that discriminate against GLBT people. Essentially, it is not a call for people to leave their respective congregations, but rather to exert pressure upon them by withholding financial support. "Why shoudl our people fund their own persecution?" Rev. White asked.
On June 12-13, Soulforce plans a direct action against the Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans, LA. In August, from the 7th through the 14th, there will be a Soulforce action in Indianapolis, IN against the Evangelical Lutheran Church. There will be similar actions directed at the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City, UT, Oct. 6-7; and in Washington, DC, Nov. 12-15 during the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Each direct action involves a period of training in nonviolent protest techniques as developed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatmas Gandhi. Soulforce then moves from the classroom to the public forum, by holding silent, prayerful, nonviolent protest vigils. Prior arrangements are always made with the local authorities concerning the intentions of Soulforce while in their city.
Nonetheless, these vigils are usually regarded as trespassing and participants are often arrested, charged with a misdemeanor, fined, and in some cases, even jailed briefly. Anyone who supports Soulforce and believes in the principles may attend the event, but it is not required to be a part of the vigil if you don't wish to. In most cases, Soulforce has managed to raise the needed "bail money" well in advance of the event through contributions.
The current focus of Soulforce will continue to use these types of nonviolent direct actions, coupled with each individual of the GLBT community refusing to financially support non-affirming congregations in which they might be members. "Stage Two begins when one by one, "Rev. White said, "each of us takes a stand (any stand, large or small) to quit support the oppression."
If you are part of the GLBT community and also a member of any of the above mentioned denominations, Soulforce would like to invite you to participate. All Soulforce events are open to people of all faiths, however, and each individuals' level of participation is at their discretion.
To find out more, check out their web site at www.soulforce.org, and for a media kit, contact www.soulforce.org/mediakit.html. Also, feel free to write at: Soulforce, Inc. P.O. Box 4467 Laguna Beach, CA 92652
Source: Soulforce press release 03/01
UPDATE: NE Supreme Court Says Sheriff's Treatment of Brandon Teena "Atrocious"
The Nebraska Supreme Court unanimously ruled Friday in favor of Brandon Teena's mother in her suit against the sheriff who failed to protect her child -- a transgendered 21-year-old who was raped and murdered in 1993.
Teena, the subject of the 1999 film Boys Don't Cry, was born and raised as a girl. But he was living as a man when two acquaintances, John Lotter and Thomas Nissen, raped and beat him after discovering his biological gender.
Brandon Teena reported the crimes to Richardson County Sheriff Charles Laux. Without offering Teena protection, Laux told Lotter and Nissen of Teena's report and stopped deputies from arresting them. On December 31, 1993, the men murdered Teena and his two friends -- crimes for which Lotter was sentenced to death and Nissen to life in prison.
A lower court found the county negligent and awarded Teena's mother, Joann Brandon, $86,233 in damages. But the same judge also determined that the county bore only 14 percent of the responsibility for Teena's death (85 percent was placed on Nissen and Lotter, and 1 percent was attributed Brandon Teena's own negligence), so the court reduced the award to $17,360.
In addition, Joann Brandon had been awarded nothing for the loss of her child. The judge ruled that Laux's behavior toward Teena was neither extreme nor outrageous, and hence there was no intentional infliction of emotional distress by the county or Laux.
The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling in favor of Joann Brandon on all claims. The justices said the lower court was wrong in reducing the damages and ordered them reinstated in full. They also ordered the lower court to determine the compensation due her for the loss of her child and for any suffering caused by Laux's behavior.
"Based upon the undisputed facts in this case, ... Laux's conduct was extreme and outrageous, beyond all possible bounds of decency, and is to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community," Friday's decision read.
The justices reversed the lower court's ruling that Joann Brandon was due no compensation for the loss of her child. "We conclude that an award of $0 for the loss of Brandon's society, comfort and companionship sustained by Joann as a result of Brandon's death bears no reasonable relationship to the evidence and shocks the conscience," they said.
"Nothing will bring Teena back," said Joann Brandon after the decision was released, "but I will sleep better knowing that we have found some justice for my child, and that because of this case, fewer parents will find their children abused and exposed to danger by law enforcement officials."
source: PlanetOut 04/07/01 AOL KEYWORD: PlanetOut
Please, for Everyone's Convenience, Remove your Penis Before Using the Sauna. Thank you.
Residents of a Helsinki apartment block have asked the country's top equality officials to rule on whether their transsexual neighbour, formerly a man, can be banned from a women's sauna.
The appeal came after all the women living in the block of flats quit using the sauna in protest at the transsexual's attempts to bathe at times designated for women, the Finnish tabloid newspaper Ilta-Sanomat reported on Friday.
The case has perplexed officials and will test the bounds of Finnish sex discrimination legislation.
For the time being the transsexual -- who is officially registered as a woman but in addition to silicon breasts still has a penis -- has been assigned private sauna hours and given permission to attend men's bathing sessions, the newspaper said.
"After all, men never mind a few women coming into the sauna," the building superintendent told the paper. "As soon as the penis goes she is free to go to the women's sauna."
Source: Reuters 04/20/01
QUICK HITS: Media Mentions
Fox TV's King of the Hill via
E.Weekly/ 04/01
Good ole boy Hank Hill is asked
to replace his bloodhound on King of the Hill...
"A poodle! Why don't you just
go all the way and get me a sex change and a cat?..."
Time Magazine /
03/18/01
In it's "Winners and Losers" column,
this item appeared under "Winners"...
..."Judy Garland. Over the Rainbow
named No.1 song of century. Drag queens everywhere rejoice..."
..