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Tennessee Vals
Newsletter MARCH 2002
Upcoming
Group Meetings
In This Issue:
The Queens Throne by Marisa
Richmond
marisaval@aol.com
Now that the curling “action” is over, and the conspiracy theorists have pored over the events at Salt Lake City’s version of the grassy knoll, we can now turn our full attention to the upcoming IFGE Convention here in Nashville. It is now only one month away, and it serves as a unique time for everyone here to make important contacts as well as to showcase our wonderful community. You owe it to yourself to make every effort to be there. If you have not yet registered, do not procrastinate any longer.
One reason for taking advantage of these sorts of opportunities is to learn things.
Nobody should ever feel like they cannot learn more. One sad thing that occurs far too often in this community is the use of black market or otherwise illegally obtained hormones. Of course, many who take this route probably feel like they have nothing to learn, but as recent medical evidence reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that hormones can increase the likelihood of cancer, especially breast cancer. This is not new, but the amount of evidence linking the two only increases. That is what makes the refusal of so many to visit legitimate medical professionals so perplexing. Your health is the most important thing you have, and ignoring the health implications of hormone therapy by engaging in illegal or unethical behavior is downright stupid. We are fortunate that we will have a concentration of knowledgeable people here in April, but they cannot do you any good unless you are willing to go listen and learn.
Shortly before the Olympics, I took another trip, this time to Atlanta for a Southern Comfort planning meeting. An interesting thing came out of that meeting. There was an expressed desire to see more political activism. Unfortunately, our community leaders are divided by personality and competing goals, and we discussed ways a neutral organization like SCC could facilitate unity for the benefit of all transgendered persons. One idea, which ended up in my lap, is to have a single day of panel discussions on political organizing. Last year, SCC had five seminars along with a reception, devoted to political activism, but they were not coordinated as a track. This year, they will be. But in addition to that, several expressed the desire for a March for Transgender Equality (my name–we never agreed on a specific name) in Washington. This will be a bit different from the Lobby Days that have taken place over the past few years, but it is hoped that a grassroots effort at such a March will increase awareness of all of our concerns, our presence in every state and community, as well as to foster cooperation amongst all the leaders and organizations representing parts of the transgender community. We discussed holding this in either 2003 or 2004, but no consensus was reached on either date.
What makes this important is that the idea is not coming from any one person or organization–other than the volunteers who plan Southern Comfort. It is our expressed hope that such an event will galvanize this community as long as we can keep personal rivalries and jealousies out of it. An important segment of this community has spoken. Let us all hope the leadership, from New York to Blue Bayou, will jump on board to make it happen right.
Now I am not the sort of person who participates in chat rooms or places personal ads. I find they tend to be rather superficial. People online often are more concerned with what you look like or what you are wearing than they are with what you think. Nonetheless, I decided to send in a photo of myself to one magazine recently since I was especially proud of a recent one. Not too surprisingly, I started to get a number of love letters from around the country. Most were pretty badly written, but the one that was the most articulate was also the most interesting. It seems the writer is in jail in New Jersey. He had “friends” in New York who had set him up in the nightclub business in Jersey. Drugs were being sold there by these “friends” and his club got raided. He explained that the prosecutors were willing to go easy on him if he ratted on his friends, but “I told them what they could do with that.” He said he wanted to be honest with me so I would not think terrible things about him. He pointed out that he was not there for any violent crime (he never said he hadn’t committed one–just that he wasn’t in for that reason...obviously they never found the body....), and he reassured me that he was not a psychopath, sexual predator or child molester. Just my luck, I’m attractive to a honest drug dealer for the mob. Of course, you know what this means--if anyone gets on my bad side, I can contact my new boyfriend and he can have his “friends” take care of things for me....
I look forward to seeing everyone at the convention next month. Consider this an offer you cannot refuse.
A
Blonde, Brunette AND Redhead
byJulie
Phillips FabulBabe@aol.com
The dishwasher, refrigerator and microwave oven can all burst into flames, turning the kitchen into a Lucy and Ethel disaster area—and yet our lives go on. We can run out of closet space and have clothes hanging on and out of every nook and hook in the bedroom—and yet our lives go on. But when even the slightest thing malfunctions in the bathroom, our lives come to a screeching halt. No toilet, no sink, no life. (In fact, archaeologists now believe the death of the dinosaurs resulted from a shortage of qualified plumbers.)
The sink in our bathroom developed a leak that we didn’t discover for days. Actually, we didn’t notice it until the floor became squishy. Since we don’t live in a shack in a swamp, we knew something wasn’t right.
Unable to continue our lives without a usable bathroom sink (forget that the one in the kitchen was working just fine) we dove for the phone and called the realty company.
The two repairmen they sent came over and quickly solved the problem. But the bathroom floor would have to be replaced.
There is a ritual that NON-straight people practice whenever un-informed or un-accepting guests come to visit. It’s known as “de-gaying the house”. If it’s rainbow colored, it goes in the attic; if it’s got Brad Pitt’s picture on it, it goes under the bed; if it’s even remotely girly, it’s locked in a trunk and buried behind the house. The high heels disappear and the tennis shoes come out.
When I was younger and more fearful, I would make a serious effort to de-gay and de-fabulize if I even thought there was a chance that a UPS delivery person might knock at my door. These days, I’m braver and less concerned about that kind of stuff. If the president of my company announced he was dropping by for a visit, be assured that I’d put away the four pairs of pantyhose hanging in the shower and hide the Styrofoam wigheads modeling my latest investments. Short of that, however, not much gets hidden anymore.
I’ll clue you in on the decorating scheme, the motif, of our apartment: there are pictures of me, me and Mr. Wonderful, me and Mr. Wonderful with friends, and more of me hanging throughout the house. Surprising, isn‘t it? (This is where you respond with a hearty, heartfelt, “Well, Duhhh!”) There’s just too much fabulousness to effectively de-fabulize anymore.
So here come the repairmen to spend a whole day in our place replacing the soggy bottomed bathroom floor. The spare hair has been put away and the pumps placed in their shoeboxes, but the pictures are everywhere and dresses are hanging from most doorknobs.
The lead repairman, a middle-aged man, never seemed to even notice any of this; in fact, he never seems to notice anything but the task at hand. If he glanced at our photos at all, he must have decided that Mr. Wonderful was dating some girl who changes her haircolor on a monthly basis. (“She must be a beautician. Yeah, that’s the ticket,” he’s thinking.)
The younger, 20-something repairman, though, was often seen looking at the photos. He never said a word; he never asked a question. He did, however, continue checking out our pictures throughout the day.
I’m thinking he may be on to me, but I‘m just not sure. Since he didn’t shriek and run from the house, it’s all good by me. However, if on their next visit he should ask Mr.Wonderful how long he’s been dating my sister, I’ll be the most flattered girl renting in Nashville.
My Closet by Leslie Louise DuPaix lldupaix@hotmail.com
Road Trip
Without going into all of the reasons, we (Bubba, the nice guy I live in, and I, Lesa) spent the last part of 2001 and the first month of 2002 on the road. We put over 6,000 miles on the car and went out west, a part of the country we know well. With all of the windshield time there was plenty of opportunity to think, dialogue and wonder.
New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado are magic areas that can’t help but become part of you. The “South” as in southeastern U.S. is another such area. You don’t just live in such an area passively. You become part of it and it becomes part of you. Your worldview, your speech patterns and your attitudes change. As I spent the first half of my life in the American South West, you could say it had “first grabs” on me. Carl Jung, in a 1930 essay on The Complications of American Psychology talked of the “tension between the ancestral heritage of white Americans and the spirit they have inherited from the land itself.” So going out west was more than just a geographical change it was spiritual and a meta-physical trip with an element of time travel in it.
When I was 11 years old, my Boy Scout troop took us through some of the same country I was again going through. Now I am half a century older, and the hills and the ruins are exactly as they were then (and probably much as they were 500 years ago). One cannot help but think of how short one’s time is here and how insignificant one is. That is why I think so many religions seem to come out of deserts. The space is just too large not to think of your self as part of something much, much larger than yourself. In the South, we live in a Garden of Eden. Life jumps out at you and attacks you, from the cockroaches in your living quarters, to the Chiggers and Wood Ticks in your front yard and the woods, to the Kudzu consuming the abandoned gas station and the telephone poles along the roads. In the South West, you have to seek life out. If there is green, it is because someone went to a lot of work to find the water and make it available. Life is fragile. The colors are muted and subtle.
This effects how you see your self and the universe. You have never seen stars and a night sky until you have seen it from a southwestern desert. You feel at once large and fulfilled as you are part of something so great and at the same time small and insignificant whose passing will be no more than a shadow on an Anasazi ruin.
There is a large civil engineering project that a member of my family had a hand in. I know where to look, and I can spot his fingerprints on the project that will still be there 500 years from now. But when I am gone, there will be few left that will know to look for these fingerprints. In my bookcase there is snap shot of an old man standing in front of the project. Unless someone knows the story behind the snapshot, taken a year or so before the old man’s death, his connection to that part of history will disappear into the desert just like the Anasazi engineers that made their public works projects possible centuries before the Spaniards came to this area.
Driving thru northern New Mexico I wanted very badly to stop and talk to my old college roommate, but could not as he was gone. Swallowed up by the hills in an airplane accident a decade ago.
So, everywhere I looked I was reminded that there is an ending to everything. It is easy to focus on just that and forget that when something ends, something else starts.
I am blessed that I still have one parent. My mother lives out there, so there was another part of my past that I tapped in to, while I still can. We both know that she may not be here next winter, and we are close enough that we talked about that openly.
I was able to have a long, wonderful discussion with my mother. I did not want her to cross over being concerned about me and without telling her that I thanked her for all of our time together and that I did not blame her for my T-ness. I thanked her for the positive role model she offered without knowing she had an unknown daughter learning from her example.
I told her that I see a commitment to life in the feminine that is not found in the male experience, and through my T-ness I am trying to appreciate this, and I learned that from her. Most importantly I wanted her to understand that the forms we take in this life are simply illusionary props to help us make a point or learn a lesson. That the important thing is the lessons we learn and teach, not the paths and forms we take. So I was able to embrace her as both a son and a daughter, and tell her that her daughter abandoned in childhood had come out just fine and loved her and understood that she had not understood and was glad to come home to her birth mother. We embraced and thanked and forgave each other.
So my traveling was more than just geographical. It was spiritual and impacted relationships. My oldest relationship was made deeper and stronger. An old relationship was touched and brought forward into the present and a third was further dismantled. On the drive back I did not feel that I was driving away from anything, but moving towards all the “somethings” that are my future however large that may or may not be.
Left
of Center by Pamela DeGroff
In the Mood
I used to never be able to figure out what it meant when a woman said "I don't have anything to wear!"...when you know darn well she has a closet the size of Rhode Island. I've been married once before, way back when in another time and galaxy, and when my then wife muttered that statement while we were getting ready to go out, I knew her "getting dressed" process was going to take a while. I knew I'd probably have time to do a little something around the house during the wait...like re-shingle the garage or rotate my tires.
It wasn't until Pamela came into my life that I finally learned the true meaning of "I don't have anything to wear!" Translation-"I don't have anything to wear that matches my particular mood for the evening." True, isn't it? Clothing isn't just clothing anymore. What you wear really depends on your mood sometimes, and not always on the circumstances of where you're going or what you're doing.
You really begin to understand this clothing/mood relationship when you start attending major social events en femme. "I don't have anything to wear!" suddenly means, "I don't have anything to wear that these people haven't seen me in already." Well, whose fault is it that you weren't in the mood to go shopping last week, huh, sweetie?
"Look," you say to yourself, "you already bought the tickets to this thing, you promised friends you'd be there, so just wear what you wore last year. No one remembers this stuff."
"Like heck they don't," you argue back. "Those girls are a bunch of catty, old b...., er, female puppies. It's written in stone to them. Why, there's probably photographs of frumpy little ole me in circulation even as we speak...in last year's dress!"
"Well, then," you say, "let's try some fashion camouflage."
"What's that?" you ask yourself skeptically.
"Oh, girl, you know. Wear that same dress with different jewelry, different accessories...c'mon, try it. Trust me."
Later that evening, at the Big Event, one of your friends comes up and says, "I'm jealous. You look wonderful, and I look like hell in this old thing." You pretend not to notice as you manage to suppress a snicker with a barely audible sigh of relief. "You look great, dear," you say diplomatically, yet condescendingly, all the while silently thanking the Great Wardrobe Mistress in the sky. The old dress passed after all, so to speak.
I pulled this same fashion maneuver off a year or so back at a Mardi Gras party. I've never been to the real Mardi Gras, (drag queen heaven, I understand), or anything vaguely related to Mardi Gras. However, I do know this: trashy, slutty hooker drag is totally acceptable, even expected.
I can do that. In fact, I did it really well. A very old black skirt and slutty looking body suit was accented by a bright green feather boa and sort of matching green marabou heels, courtesy of Frederick's of Hollywood. Someone told me that the official Mardi Gras colors are purple, green, and gold. I have purple marabou heels, but couldn't find a purple boa. I defaulted to the even more trashy green. It had been a while since I'd worn any of my hooker drag. But, this being a Mardi Gras party, I was in the mood for it. Makes me want to attend the real thing one of these years.
You have to be careful about dressing according to mood, though. See if this has ever happened to you: It's been a while since you've dressed and you're really in the mood to go out. You haven't make any arrangement to meet anyone anywhere, so you decide just to cruise the mall and do a little window shopping. However, from the minute you get out of your car, you're clocked. The problem? It's not that you don't pass, it's that you look a little too good. Your mood told you to wear a very nice dress and heels, full make up, and your best jewelry. What's wrong is that it's also the middle of the afternoon, and all the rest of the women aren't dressed like that. They're in sweats and sneakers, or jeans and a T-shirt. You look great, but you stand out like the proverbial sore thumb. Your mood won out over your common sense. (Gee, I've never done that...)
For those of us who live alone or have understanding house mates and/or spouses, being in the mood to dress around the house should be no problem. However, you discover after a while that some things are just impractical. It doesn't take long to realize that dressing en femme not always entails heels, hose, and make up. There's a reason loungewear is called loungewear. There's also a reason that most of it comes in flannel or sheer cotton. Interesting concept; you can wear something pretty, be en femme, and comfortable at the same time.
Which brings me to my next topic: mood enhancing clothing (...or, what is more commonly called lingerie...) There's a scene in one of Woody Allen's older movies where his girlfriend is opening his Christmas gift to her. It's some skimpy little postage stamp size thingy. She looks at it and says, "This isn't a gift for me, it's a gift for you." Like I mentioned earlier, one of my youthful indiscretions was marriage, and I completely relate to this movie scene. My ex always regarded any gift of lingerie as a form of gift wrapping. Go figure.
Pamela taught me what she was talking about. Lingerie may be expensive and look pretty, but damn, if it ain't uncomfortable. No wonder it's more fun to get out of.
Speaking of clothing and mood, I've come across something that defies all known logic: have you seen those hunting supply catalogs that carry camouflage clothing of every description? Many of them offer bras and halter tops designed to blend into woodland surroundings. Who buys these things? What kind of mood do you have to be in to become armed and dangerous, invisible in the bush, while comfortably ladylike? Talk about your conflicting mood. "Gee, Bob," your hunting buddies might say. "We sure am glad ya done wore that new bra today. That buck never saw ya. Gonna be powerful hard to tote him out of the woods in those heels though, ain't it?"
Truthfully now, are there any cross dressing hunters out there?
Uh...on second thought, maybe I don't want to know.
Hope you're in a better mood now, girlfriends.
Carlito
to Carla by Chrysis Monaco
A Mini-Novel
In Part 1
Carlito was the son of Italian immigrants Gennarino Angelinni and Mariangela Pazzini. Declining an executive career in his father’s business, Carlito pursued his passion for the arts. While studying in the Art School at New York University, Carlito worked as a waiter at the Grand Picino. Carlito’s best friends were co-worker pals Antonio and Santino. They frequented the nightclubs in Greenwich Village.
Conclusion: Part 2 of 2
On Christmas Eve of 1969, three Italian boys strolled through the door of Lucky Chiang’s in the SoHo district of lower Manhattan. The flashing lights and the beat of the music sparked anticipation of a unique experience. A beautiful oriental hostess greeted them. She was wearing a silk floral gown with black hair coifed in a bun. Her exotic eyes glistened when the trio of handsome Italian boys entered the club. The boys were startled to hear a male voice emanate from such a vision of feminine beauty. The audience was a potpourri of New Yorkers. All of the employees were in drag – bartenders, servers, and hostesses. Carlito could hardly concentrate on the Chinese dinner. He was captivated as he watched the queens singing and dancing on stage.
Carlito could not get that night out of his mind. It really put the hook in him. Carlito returned alone several times to Lucky Chiang’s. He was enchanted with the mystique of drag. A few months later, Carlito decided to see how he would look as a girl. With some fear of embarrassment, he shopped for the accessories needed to look like a woman. He got it all - wig, dress, lashes, jewelry, shoes, lingerie, and makeup. Making his way through the shadows, Carlito went to Lucky Chiang’s for his first experience out en femme. To his relief, he seemed to just melt into the audience.
Over the next few months, Carlito became more adventurous. He bought other outfits and went to several drag clubs in the City. It was an exciting feeling to finally break through a barrier that he came to realize had limited his fulfillment in life. Eventually, Carlito shared his transgendered interest with Santino and Antonio. To his surprise and delight, his friends thought it would be fun to try drag as well. To Carlito, it was more than fun. He assisted his friends with his newfound knowledge of shopping and amateur skill in makeup application. He took them to Lucky Chiang’s for their first “girl’s night” out. They loved it! They began to venture about town together en femme.
Carlito chose the feminine name of Carla Pazinni. Antonio took the name of Gabriella Montebello, and Santino took the name of Mia Bellagio. Over the next couple of years, they became more involved in the transie scene of New York. Carla inherited her mother’s facial features that resembled Sophia Loren. She blossomed to become a beautiful illusion of a woman. The girls dined at restaurants in the Village and broadened their club circuit beyond the drag showrooms. It was the 70’s – disco and wild clothes were the rage, and Studio 54 was in its’ heyday. Celebrities such as Salvador Dali were frequently seen in the company of queens.
Carlito graduated from NYU in 1973. His training in performance dance and fascination with the stage inspired him to seek the footlights of a showgirl. Carla landed a part time job as a chorus line dancer at The Limelight Club. Gabriella was also interested in performance. A year later, she got a part time job as a chorus singer at Sally’s, a dark and somewhat provocative club near Times Square. All three of the boys kept their jobs at the restaurant. Mia was not interested in performance. As Santino, he pursued his goal to be Head Chef at the Grand Picino. However, Santino occasionally dolled up as Mia for dinner out with the girls.
Carlito and Santino grew to become even closer friends. When their relationship turned to romance, they decided it was time to share their feelings with Santino’s parents. They were happy to find acceptance and frequently visited Santino’s parents in the small apartment over their pizzeria in the Little Italy section of the City. Carlito had not yet told his parents about his relationship with Santino. There was something else he needed to discuss. He decided that it was time to tell them about his transgendered feelings. He asked his mother if he could bring Santino for Thanksgiving dinner.
On a cool fall day in November, Carlito and Santino took the Pelham subway from their flat in the Village to the Angelinni home on the Upper East Side. As they sat around the holiday table, Carlito fidgeted in anticipation of the news he was about to deliver. Carlito’s mind raced with thoughts of the life changing events he had experienced over the past five years. When Mariangela served after dinner glasses of brandy, Carlito suddenly blurted out, “I’m in love with Santino”. In the twinkling of an eye, Carlito realized that instead of telling them about the “transie” thing, he had just announced that he was gay! Gennarino was too shocked to speak and left the room. Mariangela touched Santino’s hand and smiled, “Don’t worry, Santino…Gennarino will come to accept this and love you as he does Carlito…you’ll see”!
That was enough news for one day, so Carlito postponed the “girl thing” for later. A few months after the holidays, Gennarino died of heart failure. He was only 55 years old – the same age as Mariangela. Carlito and Santino rented an apartment on East 75th Street, just a block from Mariangela. Carlito took his mother to the opera and art museums, and on Sunday afternoons, they strolled through Central Park. Eventually, Carlito told his mother about his transgendered feelings. Mariangela knew his happiness came from within. Although he would someday inherit her fortune, she knew the money did not really matter to Carlito.
In the summer of 1977, Carla was performing as the headliner at the Silver Swan in Midtown. That fall, she was selected in a cast audition to perform in the Broadway production of La Cage aux Folles. On opening night, Santino accompanied Mariangela to the performance. She had never seen “Carla” and for that matter, had never seen a drag oriented show. As the lights dimmed, Mariangela whispered to Santino, “Now do not tell me which one she is…I’ll know!” Carla wore a red satin flamenco style dress. As a former dance choreographer, Mariangela beamed with pride to see Carla dancing on a Broadway stage. After the show, she asked Santino to take her backstage so that she could see Carla up close. She kissed Carla on the cheek and said, “I am so proud of you, my lovely daughter”!
With Santino’s support, Carla decided to live full time as a woman. She had taken hormones for years and had small breast implants. Given that decision and her stage aspirations, Carla resigned her job at the Grand Picino. Santino had been Head Chef at the restaurant for the past two years, and was recently promoted to General Manager. Antonio was then Matre de. He was engaged to Mona, a young girl he met in Greenwich Village. Antonio performed only occasionally as Gabriella. Accepting the reality of certain rejection and hurt, Antonio concluded it would be self-serving to tell his parents about his transgendered interests.
To celebrate Mariangela’s birthday, Santino and Carla took her to Lucky Chiang’s to see a performance by Gabriella. Mona and Santino’s parents joined the party. Gabriella performed an impersonation of Liza Minelli. She sang New York New York. It was a wonderful evening and a celebration by families and friends who loved one another and accepted each other’s choices in life.
On Christmas Eve in 1979, Carla Pazzini and Mia Bellagio met Gabriella Montebello for dinner at Miletta’s Bar and Restaurant. Ten years earlier, they took a turn in life and went to Lucky Chiang’s instead of Miletta’s. Sipping champagne, the girlfriends sat around a small table in the back room…glowing, and smiling with fond memories as they reminisced about their years of friendship. Sharing the personal feelings of a transgendered lifestyle was indeed special. Life was full and one could not hope to have better friends.
Carla fulfilled her dreams as she went on to become one of the most famous drag performers in New York. Carla was a showgirl…one of the best!
news, media mentions, etc...
Famed TG Participant of Stonewall Riots, Sylvia Riveria, Dies at 53
Sylvia Rivera, popularly credited as being the instigator of the Stonewall Riots, passed away at approximately 5:00 AM, February 19, 2002, in the intensive care unit of St. Vincent's Hospital in New York's Greenwich Village. She had been in and out of the hospital recently due to cancer of the liver. Both her lover, Julia Murray, and Reverend Pat Bumgardner of the MCC-NY (Metropolitan Community Church-New York), were at her side as she passed on. She was 53.
An internationally recognized pioneer in what became known as the "Gay Rights Movement", Ms. Rivera was one of the collection of drag queens, transsexuals and stone butch lesbians on the scene, June 27,1969 -- the fateful moment of the Stonewall Riots. Though the uprising is the subject of legend, Sylvia Rivera's name was always synonymous with the catalytic moment that became history. On an annual basis, she was requested across the country, and across the globe, to recount the historic incident in first-person detail.
One
misconception that persisted throughout was that Ms. Rivera was the first
to throw a 'stone' or 'brick' at Stonewall. In actuality, it was Molotov
cocktails that were thrown which began the ebb and flow of protester vs.
police conflicts. Another misconception that Sylvia was quick to point out
was that she did not throw the first Molotov cocktail, but the second one
instead. An unidentified "queen" threw the first.
Yet another popular misconception is that police frisked and arrested the 'queens' from inside the Stonewall Bar. In actuality, Stonewall was strictly for gay men -- the transsexuals, queens and butches were relegated to the streets outside. When police began hauling the arrested patrons outside, the collected group began verbally challenging the arresting officers -- some throwing coins (not rocks).
In 1970, less than a year after the infamous Stonewall Riots, Sylvia Rivera joined forces with another Stonewall veteran, the late Marsha P. Johnson, to form the group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR). Later renamed Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries, STAR and Sylvia Rivera worked tirelessly for the civil rights of transgendered and other queer people.
Across the country and around the globe, she was frequently called on to address audiences of rising activists and advocates. Sylvia's firebrand demeanor was world-renowned and instrumental in galvanizing the transgender community to fight to further the cause of justice for all.
Rivera was involved in the struggle for human rights until the moment of her death.
Last year, Rivera resurrected STAR in response to the high-profile murder of transsexual prostitute, Amanda Milan. Ms Rivera herself was the spearhead of both the vigil immediately following Milan's death, and another awareness vigil before the beginning of the murder trial of Milan's killers.
Recently, just out of the hospital, Sylvia participated in the lobbying effort to include gender identity in New York State's pending SONDA (Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act) legislation. She challenged the lead organization, ESPA (Empire State Pride Agenda) to push for revised wording to expand the coverage to transgenders.
Rivera met with the leadership of the Empire State Pride Agenda in her hospital room just hours before her death, presenting issues of concern to the Transgender Community and negotiating for greater support from ESPA. She left the national GLBT community as she had begun: a true and outspoken activist who was totally committed, and who never knew the word "quit."
"I am truly saddened by Sylvia's death," said Yoseñio Lewis, Board Chair of NTAC (the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition). Lewis, on business in Washington DC, described Ms. Rivera as one who "provided unending inspiration and motivation to countless people through her passion and unwillingness to settle for anything less than total equality for everyone."
"I know I am a better person ... for having been challenged by her and for having taken on some of her fighting spirit."
"Sylvia was beloved by many people" added local New York activist, Rusty Moore. "We shall not see her like again."
Source: NTAC release
02/20/02
STAR's website:
www.geocities.com/catskillmarina/index.html
CD Hookers in Peru Bust Up Stuff
Around 20 transvestite prostitutes have attacked and destroyed a police station in the Peruvian capital.
They attacked police in Lima after an officer allegedly shot one of them during an attempted robbery.
Police say the transvestite was shot in the leg while fellow prostitutes were robbing a car accident's victims.
According to the Ajá newspaper, police opened fire after the group turned on officers.
The transvestite gang later turned up at their police station in the Petit Thouars district looking for revenge, the paper says.
The gang smashed the building's doors and windows and destroyed equipment with stones and wooden planks.
Two police officers were hit by flying objects and were taken to hospital for treatment. Reports don't give details of the transvestite's condition.
Source: Ananova 02/05/02
UPDATE: Colorado TG Teen's Murderer Pleads Guilty
A New Mexico teen-ager has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the beating death of a 16-year-old Cortez boy.
Shaun Murphy of Farmington,N.M., entered the plea Thursday in Montezuma County District Court. Charges of first-degree murder and attempted escape were dropped.
Murphy, 18, is accused of brutally beating Fred Martinez Jr., whose body was found June 21 south of Cortez.
Murphy will be sentenced May 16. He faces between four and 48 years in prison.
Gay-rights advocates have raised the question of whether Martinez was killedbecause of his sexual orientation. He sometimes dressed as a girl and was considered transgendered.
Authorities have declined to call his death a hate crime.
Martinez's mother said at the hearing that she believes Murphy deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison.
"My home is so quiet without Fred," she said. "I have nobody to laugh with. I just miss him so much." During a preliminary hearing in September,Murphy's lawyer, Pamela Brown, said Murphy was fighting in self defense the night of June 16 when he struck Martinez in the head with a rock.
source: The Denver Post 02/08/02
Murderer Wants Free Sex Change
A man sentenced to life in prison without parole for strangling his wife is trying to force the state (Massachusetts) to pay for a sex change operation and hormone therapy to allow him to live as a woman.
Robert Kosilek, who uses the name Michelle, planned to be in federal court Monday to ask a judge to order the state Department of Corrections to cover the treatment.
He claims in a lawsuit that the corrections department is violating his civil rights and subjecting him to cruel and unusual punishment by refusing to provide treatment for his gender identity disorder. He said he suffers continuous depression, anxiety and a high level of stress as a result of being denied treatment.
"The universal prescribed treatment involves psychotherapy, hormone therapy, and surgical correction of the offending genitalia," he said in court documents.
Advocates say there have been several cases across the country of transgender inmates successfully suing to get treatment, including psychotherapy and hormone therapy, but none have succeeded in getting surgery.
Kosilek, 52, says he began asking the state for treatment in 1990, after he was arrested in the killing of his 36-year-old wife, Cheryl. During his murder trial, Kosilek wore shoulder-length hair and long fingernails to court. His lawyer called him Michelle.
His condition was not part of his defense, however. He claimed he killed his wife in self-defense after she spilled boiling tea on his genitals. He was convicted in 1993 of strangling her with a length of wire and leaving her body in the back of a parked car.
John Moses, who prosecuted Kosilek, said the state should not be forced to pay for the operation.
"It doesn't seem to make any sense to me," Moses said.
The Department of Corrections tried unsuccessfully to get Kosilek's lawsuit thrown out. Neither the department nor Commissioner Michael T. Maloney would comment on the case before trial.
Hill and Barlow, the law firm appointed by the court to represent Kosilek, said in a statement: "The case raises important constitutional issues about medical treatment for prisoners." ...
Jennifer Levi, an attorney with Boston-based Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, said inmates found to need sex change operations should get them.
"Transsexualism is a legitimate medical condition, and experts in the field recognize that for some individuals, sex reassignment surgery is the only way to treat that. Bias which is not based on medical information should not trump a prisoner's access to appropriate health care," Levi said.
Source: ABC NEWS 02/03/02
Sean Brookings, 55, who is embroiled in a Probate Court lawsuit in Akron with his former wife's children, was taken to the Stark County Jail and released on bond.
According to an arrest warrant issued by Canton city prosecutors, Brookings intentionally failed to disclose his past divorces from men and women on a 1994 marriage license he and Dimple L. McKinney obtained in Stark County Probate Court.
Brookings was born Sharon Mae Brookings. As a woman, Brookings was married to men twice. The last of those unions resulted in the births of two children.
After a sex-change operation and a name change, Brookings married three women. McKinney, a widow with three children, was his last spouse.
Ohio law prohibits same-sex marriages, regardless of sexual reassignment surgery. Laws also mandate full disclosure of past divorces.
McKinney was 61 when she died in May 2000 of natural causes. Before her death, she signed a survivorship deed giving Brookings her trailer on West Parkway Drive overlooking Springfield Lake.
Further, her will named Brookings, ``her loving husband,'' as the sole beneficiary.
Her children contend in a lawsuit filed last year in Summit County Probate Court that Brookings coerced and abused their mother to sign over the trailer, which had been in the family for years.
The children contend McKinney was unaware of her husband's sex change until after the wedding.
Brookings has denied the allegations, saying he loved his deceased wife and that it was her wishes that he obtain ownership of the trailer.
Last week, Probate Judge Bill Spicer voided the marriage of Brookings and McKinney. The judge ruled that Brookings never divorced his second wife -- who left him to marry his son -- and that he gave false statements in applying for the marriage license to McKinney.
The ruling allows the children to move forward with their lawsuit to have the trailer returned to their mother's estate and have the will vacated.
An arrest warrant from the city of Canton has been pending against Brookings since September.
Stark County Sheriff's Sgt. David Myers said Brookings was released from Stark County Jail on $120 bond pending an appearance in Canton Municipal Court.
Falsification is a misdemeanor and carries a possible six-month jail term and a $1,000 fine.
Brookings has a criminal history as a man and woman that includes arrests for domestic violence, assault and theft of mail.
Source: by Phil Trexler Akron Beacon Journal 02/09/02
NY TG's Upset
over Bill that Omits Them
Members of New York's transgender
community say a gay rights bill poised to become law this year will not
adequately protect them and should be amended.
The New York State Transgender Coalition, which includes cross-dressers, effeminate men, transsexuals and others, lobbied lawmakers Tuesday for an amendment to the bill known as the Sexual Orientation Nondiscrimination Act (SONDA).
"It's unconscionable to pass a bill that knowingly excludes the most marginal section of our community,'' said Charles King, co-executive director of Housing Works Inc., an AIDS advocacy group insisting SONDA have more inclusive language. "The freedom train shouldn't leave the station unless everyone is on board.''
A version of SONDA, which passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly last week, would protect people from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment, education, housing and public accommodations. But it makes no specific mention of transgender people.
Some believe transgender people may be protected by the New York State Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, sex and marital status. But transgender activists, who say their extreme fringe lifestyles subject them to perhaps more prejudice than gays and lesbians, are unwilling to take that chance.
A bill sponsored by Sen. Tom Duane, D-Manhattan, adds protection for people "whose gender identity, self-image, appearance, behavior or expression ... is different from that traditionally associated with the legal sex assigned to that person at birth.''
"I think Republicans, if they're scared, are scared of this whole issue and adding rights for transgender people won't make a difference,'' said Duane, the Senate's only openly gay member.
Leaders in the Republican-controlled Senate, which has refused for more than 30 years to vote on SONDA, said they are reviewing the original bill and indicated they are unwilling to consider Duane's measure….
Observers believe SONDA has its best chance of passing this year, in part because the entire Legislature and GOP Gov. George Pataki will likely seek re-election in the fall and would want to appeal to moderate voters. Pataki called for SONDA's passage in his State of the State address in January.
Pataki spokesman Michael McKeon said the governor supports SONDA "as it stands.''
"We think the bill is good to go now,'' McKeon said.
A spokesman for the Empire State Pride Agenda, a gay and lesbian civil rights organization that has long battled for passage of SONDA, said the group is not against protecting transgender people but fears amending SONDA would hurt its chance of becoming law this year.
"Whether New York state is ready to say that gender roles don't matter is a different situation to look at,'' said Ross Levi, the Pride Agenda's legislative counsel.
Source:by Elizabeth Benjamin Albany-Times Union 02/06/02
GASP! Men Secretly
Buy and Wear Pantyhose!
Kingsize, not Queen: Some men have
taken to wearing pantyhose. Mainstay for crossdressers is boon to athletes
and guys on their feet all day long.
Robert Rodgers used to carry into stores a list of items such as milk, eggs and pantyhose, hoping others would think he was shopping for a wife or girlfriend. But he is no longer hiding the truth. “The pantyhose are for,” say Mr. Rodgers, a 34-year-old San Francisco financial manager for an entertainment union.
It’s not news that some men like to wear women’s clothing. But a different sort of man is discovering the virtues of ladies’ hosiery. No crossdresser, he wears hose for warmth, comfort or the compression they provide as a possible antidote to circulator problems or varicose veins. How his pantyhose look-or what other people think of them—becomes moot once he puts on his slacks. “I don’t broadcast what I wear under my pants,” says Steve Newman, an Ohio engineering-firm manager who wears L’eggs Sheer Energy Active Support under them, among other brands.
Determining the amount of hosiery hiding beneath male trousers is impossible because store cashiers don’t usually record the buyer’s sex. But statistics online, Where a man can buy hose without raising eyebrows, points to an authentic niche. At Shapings.com, a lingerie Web site offering European brands, about 85% of women’s hosiery sales go to males, many of whom place two orders-large sizes for themselves and smaller ones for their wives. A “small” percentage of sales of the No nonsense brand go to men. Based on communications with these customers, parent Kayser-Roth Corp. estimates that 40% are crossdressers, and most of the rest men who simply like or need to wear pantyhose.
A generations-old wholesaler of women’s hosiery called G. Lieberman and Sons has restructured itself into a manufacturer and online purveyor of pantyhose made exclusively for men, called Comfilon. “There’s a whole underground culture of normal, mainstream guys who wear hose,” says Chief Executive Steve Katz. Most buy women’s brands. Mr. Katz says he sells hundreds of thousands of dollars a year worth of three-year-old Comfilon, which has male-specific features such as a fly in front. The company’s motto: “Comfilons are not your mother’s pantyhose.”…
But whether the incentive for pulling on that first pair is athletic performance or improved circulation, many men keep wearing women’s hosiery because it feels good. Mr. Rodgers, a former college athlete, substituted his girlfriend’s pantyhose for his running tights one day as an experiment. A decade later, “I wear them every day under my clothes to work,” he say, praising not just their comfort but efficiency. “It combines underwear, socks and thermals all in one.”…
source: by Kevin Helliker The Wall Street Journal 02/19/02
Sorority Boys
Have Too Much Fun at College
Plot summary from
www.sororityboys.com:
In this
hilarious comedy, Dave (Barry Watson), Adam (Michael Rosenbaum), and Doofer
(Harland Williams) are about to go where no fraternity boy has gone before.
In Touchstone Pictures’ Sorority Boys, our heroes are three playboy
chauvinists who, strapped for cash, find themselves drawn to one last, desperate
hope for free housing: one of their campus’ sororities, Delta Omicron
Gamma (or D.O.G.). With a little make-up, a little pantyhose, and lots of
“pluck,” Dave, Adam and Doofer go undercover in the sorority house
as Daisy, Adina, and Roberta. Everything goes according to plan...until Dave
falls for Leah (Melissa Sagemiller), the alpha D.O.G. Life’s a drag
as the boys see firsthand how the other half lives – their history
of treating women badly comes back to haunt them
when they walk a mile in another’s (high-heeled) shoes. Meanwhile, Dave
wants to tell Leah about who he really is, but without destroying
“Daisy’s” relationship with the girl of his dreams. What’s
a boy (pretending to be a girl) to do?
From
www.Premiere.com
...The lead actors enjoyed
getting in touch with their femininity. “I hope Daisy’s pretty,”
says Watson, on break from getting clobbered in football, of his
character’s female persona. He admits he “felt naked” at a
recent awards show “without the lipstick and eye stuff done.” ...
.
Tix for Nashville’s Pride Ball Available for IFGE Attendees
Nashville's Pride organization, OPEN (Our Pride Encompasses Nashville) is pleased to announce that tickets to the Pride Ball will be available at a discount to interested attendees of the IFGE conference. Due to scheduling problems that were beyond the control of both OPEN and the Tennessee Vals, Nashville's Pride Ball will be held on Saturday, April 6 at the Parthenon. Since this is the same night as the Saturday banquet for IFGE, OPEN has decided to offer tickets at the reduced price of $20 for any attendee of the conference. Tickets are regularly $30. Tickets need to be purchased in advance and the reduced price will only be for those attending the IFGE event, and will be available only at the conference. Please feel free to ask any Tennessee Val volunteer for details or contact Pamela DeGroff at Jdegrf@aol.com.
Drag Group Moves Up at Eurovision Song Contest
When the drag group Sisters began competing to represent Slovenia at this years Eurovision Song Contest most people thought it was a lark.
But, Sisters kept moving up, winning each competition along the way until they were in the finals.
Their song, "Only Love," captured the imagination of the public, but, it also captured the consternation of the government.
Sisters won the final by a single
vote, in a competition voted on by TV viewers and a jury of music experts.
The win means the three drag stars will represent the country
at the most important music festival in Europe.
Or will it?
Their win caused a huge media storm in Slovenia. Ten days of homophobic hate-speech followed when readers and viewers expressed their outrage in the press with some vowing they would 'lynch those faggots'.
Questions were also asked in Parliament about the participation of Sisters at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Now the head of Solvenia's state TV wants to nullify the results of the competition and have a new vote saying there were discrepancies in the original voting procedure which violate the Eurovision rules.
Sisters are fighting back. They've launched a website ( http://www.sestre.net ) and are mustering support. Sisters is calling the attempt to take away their win a "blatant show of homophobia."
Source: www.365gay.com London Newscenter 02/28/02