Newsletter
OCTOBER 2001
Upcoming
Group Meetings
Newsletter
OCTOBER 2001
Upcoming
Group Meetings
In This Issue:
The Queens Throne by Marisa
Richmond
marisaval@aol.com
Trust. It is an issue with which every support group must address. Over the past six months, the Tennessee Vals faced this issue in a very difficult way. Back in March, the board voted to remove the Treasurer due to dereliction of duties (failure to attend board meetings, failure to provide monthly financial reports, and failure to manage finances). When she was asked to turn over the checkbook and all records, she refused for several days in an angry and defiant way, before finally giving up the materials. When she did so, she admitted to stealing from the treasury, which, by then, we had already discovered when we checked with the bank and discovered we had only $11. After several meetings to discuss options, which included our discovery of another allegation of embezzlement by another local GLBT organization, and her attempts to become the treasurer of at least three other GLBT groups, we felt we had no option but to pursue legal remedy. On Monday, September 10, she stood in the docket of Davidson County General Sessions Court and pled guilty to the charge of theft. Although we won this case, there was no celebrating by the five of us who were there. The rest of us felt that leadership in this community must be based on trust, and one person felt that she could abuse that trust while also abrogating her responsibilities. We took legal action, in part, to reassert our belief that trust is paramount. We, who have been involved in this case, have been scarred, but we emerge with the belief that we will all be more responsible in meeting our respective commitments to you. Furthermore, by mentioning this case now, we also hope others can learn from the experience here. If we can prevent this from happening to others, then someone else's trust may not be abused.
Are we really in October? Where has the year gone? This month, as always, begins and ends with two of my favorite days: my annual 29th Birthday (and no, I was not Born Under a Bad Sign....) and Halloween.
For those who may read this publication in order to live vicariously through others, it is time for you to stop making excuses. There are plenty of groups all around this country that are there for you to join and need your support just as much as you need them.
Halloween, itself, has often been called–appropriately–the Drag New Year. It is the best time of the year to begin getting out and expressing yourself. This month also features Fantasia Fair, the oldest transgender event in the nation, dating from 1975. Although I still have not attended this one, I hope to do so next year. So get out and be a part of something–and we have a list elsewhere in the newsletter. Now, I am not going to pretend that there are no risks. The occurrence of hate crimes, targeting real or perceived gender diversity, continues. Here in Nashville, a man was recently murdered after a riverboat cruise because he was holding his fiancée’s purse while she was in the restroom and was holding the arm of a blind male friend when another man accosted him and started screaming the “f-word.” As long as people are filled with hate, then it really doesn’t matter how out or closeted you are. Some will always lash out at that they do not like. But by being more visible as a community, we can educate the public better and reduce such incidents.
Of course, we have seen far too many instances recently of hatred. Besides the many hate crimes in our country targeted gay or transgendered people, there was the incredible abuse towards Catholic schoolchildren in Belfast, which was reminiscent of the hatred directed towards African American schoolchildren here in the American South, and then the horrific images we all witnessed of the carnage from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Many have all sorts of reasons for hating others--Jerry Falwell suggests that pagans, gays, lesbians, and ACLU members are responsible for creating a culture of sin --although religiously based intolerance for diversity seems to be the most common denominator in creating a culture of hate, but living in fear is no way to live. Stand up for yourself.
The recent Nashville Pride Festival was held barely three weeks before the recent national tragedy hit us, but the principle of accepting diversity, and of people standing up for themselves, was the reason many of us endured the heat and humidity. Jerry Falwell, like those who perpetrated the attacks, may still have hate in his heart towards those different from himself, but this tragedy is forcing many to recognize that we come in all sorts of packages. That includes diverse groups of ethnic backgrounds, religious faiths, sexual orientations, and gender expressions.
On a lighter
note, one thing I did recently was visit Belle Meade Mansion where they had
a special display called Strait-Laced and Loose Women: The Foundations
of Fashion. It was a collection of women’s underwear dating from
1770 to 1900. Although the objects displayed were fascinating, I was disappointed
that, in order to see them, you had to take the official mansion tour. I
felt I could not take the time to read the panels and reflect on the display
since the tour guide/chaperone was trying to deliver her official spiel and
push the entire group through the house. They were also not shown in any
context that was relevant to the tour. I would have preferred that it be
shown in a separate place, giving the visitor time to study the objects and
read the labels. They also did not have any exhibit book on sale in the gift
shop. The exhibit closed September 15.
A few days earlier, I had received my $300 “advance on next year’s taxes” (if you understand that, you must be an accountant....) which I am expected to spend in order to boost the economy out of the current recession. I went out and bought me a new outfit for Southern Comfort’s Saturday night banquet–which was probably be made by child labor in a sweatshop in a foreign country and transported by “friends” of the Gambino Family.
Finally, for those who are planning to attend our Halloween party on October 13, just remember that both TSU and Vanderbilt are having their homecoming weekends the same time. Not only may hotel rooms be scarce, but the TSU game at Adelphia Coliseum may make the traffic coming from the north worse than usual.
Have a happy–and safe–Halloween!
A
Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead
byJulie
Phillips FabulBabe@aol.com
Happy Birthday, Lucy!
I call her "Mommie's Little Girl", or "Kitten", or "My Baby", even though, in cat years, she could be my grandmother. Sometimes, I surprise her and actually call her by her name. It doesn't matter; she knows who I'm talking to. She's my cat Lucy and she's celebrating her 15th birthday. Being a cat, she's not actually doing any celebrating, preferring instead to act disinterested when I crow about how youthful she looks for her age. (Not surprisingly, she learned that trick from her mother.)
She's been my companion and friend for almost a decade and a half now, growing from a tiny ball of fur that fit easily into both hands into a slightly larger ball of fur that fits nicely in one's lap. I credit her long and healthy life to her ability to remain thin through all these years; she did not get her mother's genes. The large fur coat she insists on wearing year 'round (The cat's got style) disguises her natural waifish build, since popularized by so many of today’s top fashion models.
I've often said that if Lucy could write a book about all the things she's seen in our years together, I'd never be able to find work in this country again. In fifteen years, she has witnessed quite a lot of changes within her little universe. She was there when I first came out of the closet and made those initial scary steps into a new and more honest life. Wisely, she's avoided commenting on my taste in men, though I could easily tell what she tough; a smirk said it all. She quietly endured my first boyfriend, ignored assorted "gentlemen callers", and, most tellingly, became fast friends with Mr. Wonderful when he entered into my life. I've always known that animals are better judges of character than we are— and she proved me right.
We've all been hurt by friends or family
who opted to be judgmental rather than be open to the changes in our lives.
Lucy, though, has remained constant in her devotion. While some of my hairstyles
and wardrobe selections may have been frightening mistakes, she's never once
howled and hidden under the bed. When I've come home whining about my sore
feet, never once has she given me the "I told you not to wear heels that
high" look. It's not that she's compassionate; in a nutshell, she could have
cared less. If it doesn't affect her, then she doesn't give a damn about
it. I wish I could take credit with teaching her this drag queen attitude,
but she was born with that chip already implanted in her brain.
Her so-what "cat attitude" has made many wonderful new experiences possible for both of us: While her Mommie has been stretching her wings enjoying her femininity, Lucy has been stretching and purring when I give her a backscratching with my long nails. While Mommie has been out showing off her legs in a little black dress, Lucy has experimenting to see how well white cat hair shows up on a black outfit--especially after she's napped on it.
Mommie's Little Girl is still bright-eyed, sharp of hearing and, thanks to a recent teeth cleaning, packing a full set of pearly whites. She enjoys leisurely walks around the yard so she can flick her tail around for everyone to see, an occasional dessert and primping her hair. Like mother, like daughter.
My Closet by Leslie Louise DuPaix lldupaix@hotmail.com
October already!! Just where has the year gone??!! It is wonderful, tho, to listen to the sound of air conditioners not running. Wonderful to be able sleep in a long nightgown again and to pull the hem down around your legs in the early morning when it is still dark (and getting up is still hours away) and feel the contentment that comes from being warm and safe and as you wish to be.
October means Halloween. The harvest festivals that are as old as humankind's ability to be proactive and gather food for the time not far off when the earth goes into a deathlike sleep and life and the sources of life seen at risk. Autumn is when we sense that the earth is turning in on itself, discarding the things that are no longer meaningful. The leaves on the trees, once the source of life, now are discarded. A time when one is forced to ponder what happens next? What will the winter be like? What will next Spring be like? How many more Springs will I experience?
Halloween encourages this mental jump from the death of the crops, to the harvesting of the crops; From the reapers of crops to the Grim Reaper and our own mortality and what lies beyond. The trees throw off their outer being to be reborn in the spring. Easily enough we can wonder about when we will throw off our mortal husk--will we too be reborn?
As a T child I grew up observant, ever watchful of how I should act and pretend to think lest I betray what I felt inside. I also questioned why things were as they were. Why did all the things I saw as injustices "make sense" to the grown ups that governed my world? As I grew and saw myself as something of an outsider, I felt free to question all of society's assumptions and explore alternatives. I did not do this in such a way as to call undue attention to my activities, but I did it. I read a lot. I kept my ears pricked up for inconsistencies and alternate explanations counter to the "official ones." And when opportunities presented themselves for exploration or first hand knowledge, I went for it. Around 1950, as a 10 or 11 year old, I recall the stir in our culture when a book "The Search for Bridey Murphy," a non-fiction work dealing with past life regression and reincarnation, was published. It was soon available to the public as a condensed book or as a serial in a variety of magazines. Grown ups discussed it and the reaction of the general public, at least as reported in the media, was negative. No one in my world (to their credit) seemed much upset by the possibility of reincarnation. They seemed willing to consider it as a reasonable possibility. This was America's first culture-wide encounter with a seemingly well documented and presented case for reincarnation drawn from within its self.
Years later, when I was starting to accept my repressed femme self and was looking for plausible "why's" I reconnected with an old college roommate and he mentioned that he had explored past lives through hypnotic regression in Chicago. I decided if an opportunity presented itself I should explore that. Perhaps I had been female in the past life and was making a transition to male in this one. Or perhaps this one was a transition life before becoming female in the next. I did not know.
In spite of living in a rural Southern town in a well known mountain range not known for progressive thought, almost by magic, a person I had known through work opened up a New Age bookstore. Since I had last seen her, she had also become a licensed hypnotherapist. In addition to selling books, she was trying to develop a hypnotherapy practice. I asked her if she was comfortable attempting past life readings and she assured me she was.
It is beyond the scope of this column to go into all of the details and all of the lives, but we both learned a lot from my sessions. I revisited about twelve lives from the Ice Age to the WW II. In none of them was I a famous person. In most I was very common and of little consequence beyond my village or tribe. There was about a 50/50 split, male/female. A variety of locations and ethnicities made their appearance. Some were very short. Some had violent ends. Some had details that did not make sense, but when checked out in the library DID make sense. In general my experiences with past life hypnotic regression were consistent with much of what is written about this subject in regards to how it is done, the feelings and perceptions and the minimal role the hypnotist actually plays.
One life that came up several times was that of an indentured servant girl who worked her way through the kitchen and into the bed of a minor nobleman in pre-revolutionary France. A very powerful life with some lessons that have served me well in this one. One does not remain Queen Bee in what amounts to a private harem with out some political acumen, and what ever political acumen I feel I have in this life, I see as being learned the hard way some 200 years ago in northern France. When I first discovered Louise DuPaix, I felt a great relief. In this life I was not crazy at all. There was a logical source for what was going on within me and my current culture labels "transgendered." If something in this life is powerful, yet makes no sense, it may be a carry over from a previous life, when such behavior DID make sense. Often, in this life, when I have felt under pressure or threatened I would want to dress up. Looking beautiful for some reason seemed important. A silly reaction for a male in the 21st century, but entirely reasonable for a kept woman in a private harem 200 years ago.
If you are interested in seeing what your past holds for you, search out a hypnotist that is comfortable with past life regressions. How do you know? You call them up and ask. Do not tell him/her that you are transgendered or what you are after. It is enough to say that you are open to past lives that may aid your understanding of this one. Be skeptical, but be open. I had expectations for an epic romance novel. I had chosen the periods and the places. What I found involved none of the periods and places in my novel. What I found was much better written and had a much better plot and cast than anything I could have dreamed up. More important, I gained a new perspective on a lot of different things going on in this life that did not make sense when viewed only from my present existence.
October might be a good time to be introspective and visit your friendly neighborhood hypnotist. Or maybe wait until November, and avoid the holiday rush. A good time to get in touch with your past selves.
Left
of Center by Pamela DeGroff
Pamela Talks with The Kinsey Sicks
(Author's Note: With the recent, growing popularity of the The Kinsey Sicks, I thought I'd do another encore column. This was published on TGForum.com earlier in the year, but these guys are seemingly everywhere lately. There was a brief article about them in this newsletter last month. That article, taken largely from a New York Times piece by Evan Richman, featured Ben Schatz, a.k.a. "Rachel" of the Kinseys. What's really noteworthy is that Mr. Schatz was once wrote briefing papers for President Clinton. The Kinsey's have recently appeared on ABC's show 20/20 and The Early Show on CBS. In October, they will be appearing in a new cabaret space that is part of Studio 54 in New York City. And now, for your dining and dancing pleasure....)
Anyone who has been a long time music consumer knows how rare it is anymore to hear something truly "unique". It doesn't matter what style of music you listen to, originality is a scare commodity. That's what makes the Kinsey Sicks, from San Francisco, so charming. They are...get ready for this...a drag barbershop quartet. They prefer calling themselves America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, however.
One of the first things you find on their web site (www.kinseysicks.com) is this introduction from the group: "We are a radical new concept-drag queens who actually sing, not lip synch! Add a lavish dollop of tart satire, frightening garish glamour, and deliciously tasteless shtick, and go get the Kinsey Sicks."
The Kinsey Sicks was formed in late 1993 when several friends attended a Bette Midler show together and were inspired enough to form their own group. Originally, the lineup consisted of Ben "Rachel" Schatz, Maurice "Trixie" Kelly, Irwin "Winnie" Keller, Jerry "Vaseline" Friedman, and Abatto "Begonia" Avilez. "Vaselina" was eventually replaced by Christ "Trampolina" Dilley. Abatto Avilez passed away in 1996.
The group
describes the name Kinsey Sicks as a "joke on the Kinsey Scale of Human
Sexuality, 6 being a 'perfect score (e.g. totally homosexual...)"
The ability to harmonize vocally came naturally for the group, since each has some formal musical training. (Not to mention that each is an alumni of some of the best universities in the nation. Rachel-a.k.a. Ben, and Trixie-a.k.a. Maurice, both came to The Kinsey Sicks by way of Harvard, no less.) Each member has also performed in other musical settings.
It's as the Kinsey Sicks, though, that these slightly crazed individuals have found their niche. Early performances in the San Francisco Bay area earned them local praise for their "stylish vocals and wicked satire" (S.F. Chronicle), and for their "...note perfect..." vocals, (S.F. Bay Guardian). In 1999, they received four awards at the West Coast "Harmony Sweepstakes" Accapella Competition, including best original song and audience favorite.
Their first recorded release, a self-produced live CD entitled "Everything But The Kitch-N-Synch" was followed by the studio CDs "Dragapella" (1997) and "Boyz 2 Girlz" (2000). Eventually, even Billboard Magazine signed on with recognition for The Kinsey Sicks: "Well, kids, we have now officially seen it all. If you think RuPaul and Kevin Aviance are bold or wild, then you need to brace yourself for Kinsey Sicks," said Larry Flick in his September 1997 article. He goes on to praise the group as being "...endlessly amusing."
Their popularity with audiences grows with every new venue where they perform. And, they've sung at some very unusual, diverse, places. According to a listing available on their web site, the Kinsey Sicks has presented their "Dragapella" style at Wigstock West, the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the University of Oregon, and the Andy Warhol Museum, to name just a few. They also perform at corporate functions for companies such as Levi Strauss, Dupont Pharmaceuticals, and Genentech, Inc. Plus, according to their own press materials, they somehow manage to find time to "sing at weddings, bar mitzvahs, parole hearings, and liposuctions."
(In contacting the group as part of my research for this column, I mentioned this list of different venues and asked them what had been their strangest gig.
"They've all been equally strange," was the reply.
"Ever play a prison?" I asked.
"No, got any ideas?" they wanted to know.
Uh....not at the moment. Let's discuss this after the next tax season.)
The Kinsey Sicks could just as easily be considered a comedy act, as well as a drag barbershop...er, sorry ladies...that's Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet. The harmonies are impeccably tight, and musically very intricate. Once you stop laughing at the insanely funny lyrics, listen to exactly HOW they're sung.
On their second CD, "Boyz 2 Girlz", the tracks are pretty evenly distributed between original music and lyrics, and their famously whacked parody lyrics. Irwin "Winnie" Keller is responsible for most of the arrangements on this disc, but each group member contributes to the arranging chores.
The best examples of parodies on the disc are "I Will Swallow Him" (parody of "I Will Follow Him", originally sung by Little Peggy March, 1963), and "Baby Dyke" (of course a parody of The Supremes’ "Baby Love", 1968). There's also a wicked send up of the theme song from Titanic.
The future for Kinsey Sicks sees them adding to their already long, diverse list of strange gigs. They will be performing in the eastern part of the US more, as well as possible trips overseas. A third CD is also in the works in the very near future.
The Kinsey Sicks manage to combine incredible vocal harmonies, with insane humor and lyrics, all the while doing it in drag. Their talent at total originality assures they'll be around for quite a while.
(Note: I found the Kinsey Sicks music on Amazon.com, and they are also available at Tower Records. But, for an "exciting impulse shopping opportunity", you really have to visit their web site at www.kinseysicks.com Of course the music is available, but so are T-shirts and posters. This is one of the funniest group web sites you'll ever see. And the humor never stops with these guys. The fine print on the back of the "Boyz 2 Girlz" CD has this warning: "All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws and significantly cuts into our alleged profits.")
.
NEWS TRANS-missions
news, media mentions, etc...
UPDATE: Suspect in Nashville Murder Captured
A Nashville man accused of gunning down MTA bus driver Willie Houston last summer in the Opry Mills parking lot has been apprehended in Ohio, police said yesterday.
Metro police
had been searching for Lewis Maynard Davidson III, 26, since the end of July,
sending teams of detectives across the city in search of him.
In the end, he was captured after a routine traffic stop in Ohio. Early Saturday, police in Lakeland, Ohio, outside Cincinnati, stopped a speeding car carrying Davidson as a passenger.
Police there said Davidson had no identification with him and didn't give his real name, but a fingerprint check later revealed his identity and the fact that he is wanted for homicide in Nashville, Metro investigators said.
Lakeland officers initially arrested him after they said they discovered marijuana in the car that was stopped.
When they took Houston in to be booked, officers said, they found 3.9 grams of crack in the police car where he had been sitting, Metro police said.
Davidson
was charged with drug trafficking and distribution and was booked into the
Hamilton County Jail in Cincinnati under the name John Doe.
Metro police said he is charged with fatally shooting Houston July 29 in the mall parking lot after a midnight cruise on the General Jackson showboat.
Detectives said the suspect had taunted Houston when Davidson saw Houston walking into a dockside rest room with a purse draped over one arm and using the other arm to lead a blind friend into the rest room.
Houston was carrying his fiancée's purse because she asked him to hold it while she and the blind man's wife went to the women's rest room.
Houston's fiancée, Nedra Jones, has said the suspect followed the men out of the rest room and continued to harass the two couples before shooting the bus driver in the chest as he held up his hands and tried to reason with the gunman.
Davidson is scheduled for a court date Oct. 19 in Ohio, when a date may be set to return him to Nashville.
Source: The Tennessean 10/02/01 .
.
Falwell and Robertson: The Gruesome Twosome
Falwell blames GLBT and liberal groups for attacks
The Rev. Jerry Falwell said gays, feminists, "pagans," and a host of liberal advocacy groups have made "God mad" and must share the blame for the terrorist attacks this week that took the lives of thousands of Americans at the World Trade Center in New York and at the Pentagon outside Washington.
Falwell made his remarks Thursday, Sept. 13, while appearing on the religious television program The 700 Club, hosted by the Rev. Pat Robertson. Falwell and Robertson are among the nation's strongest opponents of gay civil rights.
"I really believe that the pagans,
and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and lesbians who are
actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for
the American Way - all of them who
have tried to secularize American - I point the
finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen,'" Falwell said on
the program, which was broadcast nationally.
"Well, I totally concur," Robertson told Falwell, "and the problem is we have adopted their agenda at the highest levels of our government."
The comments by Falwell and Robertson came at a time when gay activists have joined leading Republicans and Democrats in calling for national unity and full, bipartisan support for President Bush's planned response to the terrorist attacks.
"The terrible tragedy that has befallen our nation, and indeed the entire global community, is the sad byproduct of fanaticism," said Lorri L. Jean, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
"It has its roots in the same fanaticism that enables people like Jerry Falwell to preach hate against those who do not think, live, or love in the exact same way he does," Jean said...
In separate statements released this week, the national gay groups Log Cabin Republicans and National Stonewall Democrats condemned the terrorist attacks and declared their support for President Bush's efforts to respond to the incidents…
"This week's tragedy truly asks all of us to come together as a people to bury our dead, to comfort and heal all families and to rebuild this strong nation," the National Stonewall Democrats said in a statement... The group added, "Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Americans also have paid with their lives and their honor, and we join in saluting their sacrifices and those of every American who suffered these terrible, senseless events."
"Now is the time to join together behind our president and our government in defense of our nation," said Tafel of the Log Cabin group.
Source: The Washington Blade 09/13/01
Editor’s Note: After much outcry (and a rebuke from President Bush) Falwell offered a tepid retraction saying his comments had been “taken out of context.” When that failed to convine anyone, he appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America, interviewed by Diane Sawyer. Ms. Sawyer did not let him off the hook, as the transcript for that interview shows:
DIANE SAWYER: Well, as we said, last week, two days after World Trade Center attacks, on Pat Robertson's television show The 700 Club, there was an exchange that has since made a lot of people in this country gasp, including many of those who suffered losses at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Reverend Jerry Falwell was talking, and he said that he saw the terrorist strike as - this is in essence what he was saying, as God lifting the curtain and allowing the enemies of America to, quote, "give us probably what we deserve." And why, in his view, would God do that? Well, take a listen to what he said.
Videotape clip of Falwell and Robertson from The 700 Club.
SAWYER:
That
was Pat Robertson speaking after the Reverend Jerry Falwell, who joins us
this morning from Lynchburg, Virginia. Reverend Falwell, if I can just leap
right in here.
Rev.
FALWELL:
Yes.
SAWYER:
Your words, "I point the finger in their
face and say you helped this happen." Since then, you have said, "I sincerely
regret that my comments were taken out of their context." Tell me any conceivable
context that could redeem those words.
Rev.
FALWELL: Diane, I've also
since made it very clear after rewatching the clip - the clip you've just
shown me, I - I misstated my own deeply-held conviction that the hijackers,
the terrorists, along with those who harbored and funded them, are solely
and totally responsible for thosebarbaric deeds. But in that interview that
you just aired, by the way, in between 14 other interviews, I was trying
- I'm not going to make any excuses. I've been at this 45 years almost every
day on television. No excuses. I was trying to say what President Lincoln
said 160 years ago at his prayer proclamation regarding the cause of the
Civil War and what King Solomon said 2700 years ago in the Proverbs, 14:34.
I missed the mark. No human being - and I want to say this clearly - including
myself, knows, has any idea when God is executing judgment, when he's not.
I certainly don't believe that those innocent thousands in New York, Washington,
Pennsylvania, were the targets of God's wrath. But, unfortunately, my total
failure to accurately state what I was trying to say left an impression that
is of a vengeful - vengeful God who's done a terrible thing to the people.
And I - I sincerely apologize.
SAWYER: Well, forgive me, Reverend Falwell, if your use of the
word misstatement defies credulity here - and I want to make sure that this
is not about religion.
Rev.
FALWELL: I was wrong.
SAWYER:
Well, this is not about religion because
a lot of people who take their faith seriously, as do I, want to ask you
some questions about what you do believe.
Rev.
FALWELL:
Please.
SAWYER:
Because you've said things like this before.
Pagans, abortionists, secularists, the ACLU, gays, all these lists of people.
I want to know, do you believe that they provoke the wrath of God, that they
– that they endanger America?
Rev.
FALWELL:
Diane, I'm a pastor and I, for 50 years,
have been a pastor. The same, church, 45 years. I do oppose abortion. I do
oppose the removal of school prayer and so forth.
SAWYER: It's a different issue, though, about endangering - it's
a different issue about endangering America.
Rev.
FALWELL: Yes.
SAWYER:
And are you going to be...
Rev.
FALWELL:
I do not believe they endanger America.
I misspoke totally and entirely. I'm here by choice because, you know, I
want – want – we're helping. We're raising money for the firefighters
fund, we're trying to minister, we have people on the ground there working.
And that one stupid statement that I made is indefensible, it is not - it
is not a blip, it was a mistake, and I - I didn't get to straighten it out.
I - I made – by the way, I've done thousands of interviews and no -
nowhere have I ever said any such thing, you know that. And this one time
I hope that I can clearly say to the people who've been hurt in New York,
Washington, Pennsylvania, to all Americans, I do not blame God, I do not
blame any human being. This is the act of terrible zealots who hate us because
we love and support Israel.
SAWYER: Well, there was an ad taken out by a group, and we don't
know exactly who they are. They call themselves TomPaine.com. And it says,
"We needn't look halfway around the world for intolerance and zealotry. We
have them right here at home." And your picture is there with Reverend
Roberts[on] as the American Taliban. And their point is that you demonize
entire groups of people and that's exactly what the Taliban do.
Rev.
FALWELL:
Well, in that particular interview you
just showed, I did do that. And I - I did not intend to do that. But I don't
know what a Christian - I'm a Christian and a pastor, and my experience tells
me that when we do something that we shouldn't do, say something we shouldn't
have said, our apology and acknowledgment should be just as - as public as
our statement. That's why I'm here on Good Morning America to say to you,
the American people, to the groups I mentioned, I did not intend to do what
obviously I did do. I'm sorry. I have God's forgiveness and I ask yours.
SAWYER:
And you will not be attacking these groups
again, ever?
Rev.
FALWELL: When you say attacking
groups, I'll be speaking out against abortion for as long as I live. I'll
be speaking out against the secularization of our country as long - but no,
you will never hear me blaming individuals. I don't do that. I haven't done
it, I'm not doing it now.
SAWYER: A quick final thought
from you. Pat Robertson released a statement saying that you were, quote,
"severe and harsh" and that in concurring with you, that he did it because,
quote, "he frankly didn't understand you."
Rev.
FALWELL: Well, Pat Robertson
didn't...
SAWYER:
Didn't he understand you?
Rev.
FALWELL:
Well, Pat didn't say what I said. I take
the total blame for it. Pat was talking about something totally within the
concept of a good Christian program. I am the one who made the stupid statement
you just played, and I take full responsibility. Pat is totally nonresponsible,
and I am sorry.
SAWYER:
Reverend Jerry Falwell, joining us, as
we say, from Lynchburg, Virginia, we thank you for being on our program this
morning.
Rev.
FALWELL: Thank you.
SAWYER:
And as you just heard, an apology made.
And we'll be right back.…
UPDATES on Murder of CO TG Teen
Profile from The
Advocate
Before her 16-year-old son was
murdered in Cortez, Colo., in June, Pauline Mitchell didn’t know there
was more than one word—the Navajo word nadleehi—to describe people
like him.
“There’s gay, lesbian, bisexual—and what’s the other one, transgendered?” Mitchell says, after explaining that nadleehi, often translated as “two spirit,” encompasses all of these words. “We just accepted F.C. for who he was.”
But just who Fred C. Martinez Jr. was is the question residents of this southwest Colorado town of 8,000 have asked themselves since the young man’s body was found June 21. And in their search for an answer, many of them have for the first time come face-to-face with the term nadleehi—and with all the different people and identities the word represents...
“Cortez is a good community, but it has been my experience after living here 20 years that there are definite conflicts between Indians and whites,” says Mark Larson, who represents Cortez in the state house of representatives. “We had [an incident in which] high school youth beat a Ute Indian to death in the park several years ago. And we had another incident where a couple of youths beat another Indian to near death.”
But none of that history kept Martinez—a proud Navajo—in the closet.
Friends always assumed that he might be gay, and his mother says she knew for three or four years that he was nadleehi. But it wasn’t until summer 2000, right before his freshman year at Montezuma-Cortez High School, that the 6-foot-tall, 200-pound Martinez started to let his dark hair down and live in a manner that felt natural to him.
Halfway through his freshman year Martinez also dropped out of school and began attending adult education classes. He started to get counseling as well and, by most accounts, was at the same point in life’s journey where most 16-year-olds find themselves—the point of trying to figure out who he was as a person...
Martinez’s mother simply mourns the boy who was her son and, in many ways, her best friend. “It’s hard going around by myself. He would always make me laugh and smile. Always tell me, ‘Mom, I love you.’ He was my youngest, my baby. And I love him so much,” she says, removing her glasses to wipe her eyes. “He wanted to be a dress designer or fix hair. He had a lot of wonderful years ahead of him, and we lost out on what he would have become.”
source:
Rocky Mountain News 10/09/01
Update on hearing/ Acccused's
mother charged with threatening witness
As part of a preliminary hearing
today in Cortez, Colo., Judge Christopher Leroi set an arraignment date of
Oct. 18 at 8 a.m. and a trial date of Jan. 20, 2002 for the accused murderer
of gay, Two-Spirit teen Fred Martinez, Jr. The trial has been assigned to
District Court Judge Sharon Hansen.
Leroi found that, despite defense assertions to the contrary, there was sufficient non-hearsay evidence against Shaun Murphy to uphold a trial on charges of second-degree murder and first-degree murder. That evidence included witness reports and Murphy's statements to the police. Leroi also stated that a reasonable jury could determine that Murphy had a strong certainty that his actions against Martinez would result in his death.
The mother of the man accused of murdering a gay teenager, who was herself arrested in district court Friday, has a history of encounters with law enforcement, court records show.
Angel Tacoronte, mother of Shaun Murphy, was arrested in district court Friday on suspicion of felony menacing and intimidation of a witness during her son’s preliminary hearing.
According to court records, it wasn’t the first time she came to the "defense" of her son and wound up facing criminal charges.
On Friday, Murphy’s mother...sat in the courtroom as County Court Judge Christopher Leroi declared there was enough evidence against Murphy to continue with both felony murder charges...
At lunch recess, as Tacoronte left the courtroom, she passed by one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Mary Lobato, and allegedly made threatening statements.
Tacoronte, 34, was taken into custody following the preliminary hearing and booked into jail... her bond was reduced to $3,000…
In December 1998, Tacoronte also tangled with the law in relation to alleged criminal acts by her son.
Tacoronte pleaded guilty to third-degree assault for allegedly slapping a man, Thomas Jordan, who was attempting to break up a fight between Murphy and another man…
Initially, Tacoronte denied the incident had happened and stated her son had not been at Burger King the evening of the assault. Later, she entered a plea of guilty to third-degree assault....
Source: Cortez Journal 09/11/01
Caution Urged when Traveling TG
The mood of America has changed, and future months will doubtless see even more change. Americans are furious, considering that there is a state of war -- but there is no clear target for the anger. This is already translating into lack of toleration of those who are different. One obvious target for the people's rage is individuals with olive skin. Perhaps a less obvious target will be transgendered and transsexual people. We urge our readers, and especially our readers from the Middle East, to take precautions to ensure their safety, especially in public spaces like airports, train and bus stations, malls, parks, and on the streets.
Increased security at airports will result in an insistence that photos on documents of identification match the individual's appearance. Those who customarily fly cross-dressed without matching ID may find themselves grounded, and may be questioned by authorities. This is an issue primarily of security, but prejudice against transpeople may make matters worse.
Those who customarily fly crossdressed might consider whether it would be wiser not to do so in the next few months.
For those who decide to fly crossdressed anyway, and for those who have transitioned gender roles, we suggest you make sure your photo identification matches your appearance. If it doesn't, now would be a good time to get your ID updated. You should also consider carrying supporting documents such as letters from your support group, therapist, and physician explaining who you are and what you are doing.
If you should be removed from a flight, we suggest you not make a fuss at the scene. Save your complaints for later, when they will not put you in danger of being arrested.
Source: press release from Transgender Tapestry, GAIN and IFGE
The Adopt-A-Highway sign, which will be placed on the side of the road, may be the first state sign in the country with the word "transgender" on it, she said.
"This is basically a milestone in transgender history because there has been no other transgender group in the country that has ever adopted a highway," Helms said.
Helms did not tell state Department of Transportation officials the name or purpose of her organization when she called to apply for the highway adoption process. Once staff learned what organization she represented, Helms added, "they didn’t bat an eye."
The group is scheduled to begin its clean-up in October, but it may take six months to one year for the sign to be placed because of a backlog of orders, said Karen Barron, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Transportation.
But Trans=Action is being treated just like any other group, she said.
"We’re not treating them any differently—this is the same process, there’s nobody in here getting excited," she said.
Barron said she could not predict how others would react, but said Trans=Action will be part of the program as long as the group continues cleaning up the roadway.
Trans=Action, like all groups, must demonstrate its commitment to the Adopt-A-Highway project by cleaning up their stretch of highway before they are given a sign, Barron said.
"We’re struggling to ensure that people are picking up and not just using this as a publicity thing, so one of the things built into the process is for organizations to pick up at least once before we actually put names out there," she said.
The group will pick up litter from the stretch of highway on the fourth Saturday of ever other month, Helms said.
Source: by Erin O'Briant Southern Voice 09/21/01
Fresco, CA Clarifies
Marriage Laws
A man and a woman can get married
in Fresno County-even if they don't look like a man and a woman.
Whenever there is a question of sexual identity, the county will rely on birth certificates to determine the gender of the betrothed, said J. Wesley Merritt, chief deputy county counsel. "It gives the [county clerk] something that indicates what to do," Merritt said. "Look at the birth certificates-if one is for a man and one is for a woman, give them the marriage license."
The legal opinion comes after a man-who was getting a sex-change operation and who looked like a woman-attempted in March to marry a woman at the clerk's office in downtown Fresno. County Clerk Victor Salazar denied the marriage because same-sex marriages are illegal in California.
Charlotte Jenks, executive director of the Central California Pride Network, a gay and lesbian group in Fresno, called the opinion positive for transgendered people.
"I'm just glad we made this little step," Jenks said. California law allows a person to petition the court to change gender on a birth certificate after sex surgery. That means the county counsel's decision apparently favors transgendered couples who have opposite-sex birth certificates-no matter what sex they were born as.
In the March case, the man appeared to have breasts, carried a drivers license indicating he was a woman and even used the women's restroom. Salazar denied the marriage license but referred the matter to county counsel.
"The county counsel advised us to marry individuals under those circumstances," Salazar said. "That was contrary to the position that I had taken." The couple has never been publicly identified; Salazar heard they were married in Santa Clara County. Merritt said county staff members checked with other clerks across the state and found similar cases; different situations were handled differently.
So, Merritt looked to the law and found that gender could be changed on birth certificates after sex surgery, something permitted since 1977. He decided that the birth certificate should serve as a "black-and-white test" on gender, and it should be the "controlling document" when verifying sex.
Jenks said transgendered people aren't acknowledged under state or federal laws for such things as hate crimes or employment or housing protections.
"They are probably the least-protected under any of our laws," Jenks said. "It's interesting and awesome that they actually have some rights that the rest of our sexual minorities do not have."
But Merritt also noted that marriages could become voidable if the transgendered person in the marriage gets a birth-certificate change that would thus make for a same-sex marriage.
Source: by Jim Davis The Fresno Bee 09/11/01
Nellies Need Not Apply from www.Salon.com
Effeminate gay man seeking other nelly queens for hot times. If a purse doesn't fall out of your mouth when you speak then keep moving. But if you're effeminate, have more dresses than shirts, and say "girl" every other sentence, then let's hook up. No butch guys please."
It's a pretty safe bet you're not going to see this kind of classified ad in the personals sections of gay newspapers and Web sites.
Even screaming queens don't want to torch their beds with the flames of other queens. And this sets up an interesting contradiction about gay life: The culture that celebrates effeminacy as a social ideal ridicules it as a sexual ideal.
Gay men encourage effeminacy by venerating drag and calling each other "girl." They love bitchy humor and consider camp an art form. But you'll never see effeminate men idealized as sexual partners.
Nobody has a more fascinating take on the subject than Tim Bergling in his new book, "Sissyphobia: Gay Men and Effeminate Behavior." Bergling analyzed the personals section of dozens of gay newspapers across the country. He looked at code words like "straight-acting/straight-looking," "military," "frat boy," "blue jeans and sweatshirt" and counted up all the ads.
"If I wanted a woman I'd be straight" was a typical phrase in the masculine-themed ads. So was "Femmes need not apply."
Then he did the opposite, counting ads that sought an effeminate partner or described the writer as effeminate. The results? Forty percent of all ads were masculine-themed while only 2 percent were feminine-themed. (The rest were neither.)
That masculine gay men prefer other masculine gay men as partners isn't a shock. What is surprising is how few effeminate men wanted other effeminate men as sexual partners. Bergling quotes a study published by the American Psychological Association showing that a substantial number of effeminate-identified men prefer masculine men as sexual partners.
Of all the questions Bergling raises about "sissyphobia" (and he raises many good ones), the most fascinating is the one he leaves unanswered: Why do so many effeminate men prefer in their partners the very masculinity they've bleached out of themselves?
The obvious answer is that they're attracted to their opposites. But that's only a partial answer, because the opposites they prefer do not like their opposites. In other words, effeminate men may lust for their opposites (masculine men), but masculine men don't lust for their opposites (effeminate men). Talk about painting yourself into a corner and throwing away the lube.
Effeminate men get hoisted on their own petards. The more they take on effeminate characteristics, the less able they are to attract the kind of guys they want to sleep with. This process of being (or becoming) that which drives away what you're trying to attract is a mating absurdity. Imagine birds trying to attract mates with red and white plumage when the suitors are attracted to yellow and green.
The absurdity brings up a great question. Even though effeminacy is counterproductive to attracting the kind of sexual partners they want, do "nelly" men act that way because they can't help it? In other words, is effeminacy a choice? Few gay men believe they're gay by choice. But what about effeminacy?
Nobody knows what fuels the gay flame, whether it's a function of nature or nurture. Some believe gay guys turn sissy because they're naturally nelly, and some think they do so because they're conforming to a culture that expects it.
If nelliness is natural, then why don't the nelly find the nelly sexually attractive? And if nelliness is learned, then why would you take on characteristics guaranteed to alienate the very people you want to seduce?
I've always maintained that effeminacy is like obesity. Sometimes it's glandular, but mostly it's cultural. There's an undeniable pansy vortex in gay life. You fall into it with baggy jeans and climb out of it with spandex up the crack of your ass.
How else can one explain my ex-boyfriend "Larry"? Closeted when I met him, he was popular, gorgeous, smart and athletic. He was the "be" to everyone's bop. Then he came out. Everybody he hung out with liked to do drag and camp it up. Suddenly, Larry started shaving his legs, wearing tight shorts and calling everyone "girl." He ripened into a fruit before my very eyes.
Larry slid into the pansy vortex and I couldn't do anything about it. I was 400 miles away and saw him maybe every couple of weekends. One day he made me close my eyes and sit at the foot of his bed for a surprise. He pulled out a long black wig and a slinky Bob Mackie knockoff. And that was the end of that.
Was Larry born with the desire to dress like Cher or did he just adapt to a culture that demanded it?
I'm not the only one who has lost boyfriends to the culture's pansy vortex. My friend Gary dated this really cool guy who spoke four languages. He got sucked into the vortex and never came out. Now he lisps in four languages.
On the one hand, there really are guys who come out of the womb complaining about the backlighting. But my feeling is that just as many learn to complain. Either way, nature or nurture, it's a puzzlement that nelly guys don't find other nelly guys sexy.
Why don't we have pornographic magazines and videos showing two hot nelly queens going at it? Is it even grammatically correct to describe "nelly queens" as "hot"?
This is an absurd cruelty that gay culture plays on itself. We encourage effeminacy with one bejeweled, manicured hand but slap it down with the callused, unjeweled other. Few of us want to have sex with guys in dresses. Especially the guys in the dresses.
Many gay men have either heard of or taken the "Straight Acting Guy Quiz" on StraightActing.com. The subtext of the "test" is that the higher you score, the more desirable you'll be.
If effeminate men found other effeminate men attractive, wouldn't there be a Nelly-acting.com? Why don't we have an "Effeminacy Quiz" on which nelly guys could boast about their scores like the butch ones do on StraightActing.com?
It's a shame that even a nelly doesn't equate nelliness with sexiness, because there's something self-negating about taking on characteristics you don't want your partners to have. There are lots of ironies in gay life, but perhaps none greater than this: Sissies are often the biggest sissyphobes of all.
source: by Michael Avalear Salon.com 08/01/01