Vitale Letter #241, November 4, 2002 Anne Vitale PhD, Editor
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- Notes on Gender Transition
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- LEAD STORY -- Media Follow up on beating death of Gwen Araujo
USA: California--As students shed stereotypes, they embrace diversity USA: See Newark teen for what he was: still just a kid
- ANNOUNCEMENTS
[1] USA: National Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20 [2] USA: CaliforniaMonterey Transsexual Support Group Agenda [3a]USA: First Transgender Pioneers Awards Banquet Held at Site of Pilgrims' Initial Landing [3b]USA: $5000 Awarded to Transgender Pioneers Virginia Prince and Merissa Sherrill Lynn [4]USA: Writer for Marie Claire magazine looking for MTFs to interview
- GENERAL INFORMATION
[5]AUSTRALIA --Sydney-- Netball - the groovy game for hem and her [6] USA: --Kansas anti-gay church embarrasses Topekan [7] INDIA : Transsexuals expose themselves in railway protest [8] ITALY: Drag queen classes sweep Italy LEGAL ACTION [9]USA: New York-- Toys 'R' Us Ordered to Pay Fees [10] USA: New Jersey--Jury rejects claim that man killed transvestite in heat of passion BOOKS Etc.... [11]USA New York--Beyond Appearances: The Ambiguities of Sexuality HEALTH AND SCIENCE Abstract---Implications of Being Gender Dysphoric: A Developmental Review by Anne Vitale PhD Gender and Psychoanalysis, An Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol. 6, No. 2, Spring 2001 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT [12] THAILAND: Bangkok --Transvestite boxing hero on big screen [13] OHIO: Columbus--Pucker Up [14] Tennents new lager lovelies have and extra little something COMMENTARY What's in a pronoun? By Rebecca Kastl NTAC Decries cheap shot tactics in Ypsilanti (Michigan) Campagn The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition
- Re: Eugene Oregon--City hears testimony on human rights law
- by Kelly Stevens
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LEAD STORY-- Media Follow up on beating death of Gwen AraujoUSA: California--As students shed stereotypes, they embrace diversity Top Mercury News | 10/28/2002 | As students shed ... http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/opinion/4386632.htm Posted on Mon, Oct. 28, 2002 By Nancy Otto and Debra Chasnoff INTOLERANCE and ignorance led to the senseless murder of Gwen Araujo, and we have now discovered that this same intolerance led to her abandoning her studies at Newark Memorial High School. As activists involved in safe-schools training and anti-bias work in the schools, we fervently hope that the life and murder of Gwen will serve as a tragic reminder of why anti-bias education is the key to violence prevention. It's a fundamental survival issue. What caused such hatred and violence that led to Gwen's murder? Did young men feel attracted to Gwen and therefore confused about their own sexual orientation when they discovered she was biologically a boy? Did they then believe they had to prove they were ``straight'' by killing her? We may never know the real reason why Gwen Araujo was murdered. But what we do know is that too many young people have been harassed or violently attacked because of how others react to their real or perceived sexual orientation, or because they don't conform to strict gender roles. And the vast majority of the assailants are other young people, mostly young males. That's why we strongly believe institutions that work with children and teens must take a pro-active role in teaching a healthy respect for differences of all kinds, including differences in sexual orientation and gender identity. This kind of anti-bias education is not a luxury or a special-interest agenda, and not tangential to academic success. It is a fundamental survival issue, a health issue and the key to violence prevention. And it is essential for learning to take place. There are many age-appropriate, sensitive ways that institutions can weave these issues into existing curricula or programs. In fact, state law, under California Education Code Section 200, requires schools to protect students from harassment and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. In elementary school, we must support kids whose appearance, behavior and identity don't conform to gender stereotypes; in middle school, build community so that bullying and name-calling seem ridiculous rather than a rite of passage; and in high school, require all students to take classes that debunk stereotypes of all kinds. Young people are capable of having intelligent dialogue about these complex issues; they need to get their questions answered, their misinformation addressed, their fears allayed. But it's up to the adults in charge to offer leadership, to take the initiative to include these topics whenever the topic of differences arises. In an effort to keep students safe, we have seen schools adopt zero tolerance policies and all sorts of strict disciplinary procedures. But cracking down only goes so far. It doesn't change attitudes or create welcoming, safe communities. Pro-active efforts to understand and discuss differences of all kinds do. The adults who run our educational institutions, our churches, mosques and synagogues, our after-school and sports programs and, most importantly, our dinner conversations at home can do much more. Young people, including those who murdered Gwen Araujo, need an opportunity to learn that transgendered individuals are not a betrayal, not a threat, not to be feared, and certainly, not to be killed. Instead, they should be embraced like all members of our communities. -- Nancy Otto directs the Howard A. Friedman Education Project for the ACLU of Northern California and has trained over 3,000 faculty and staff about preventing harassment at school. Filmmaker Debra Chasnoff (``It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School'' and ``That's a Family!'') is working on films about bullying and stereotypes for Women's Educational Media's teacher training and media project, Respect for All. Top
See Newark teen for what he was: still just a kid Top Mercury News | 10/24/2002 | See Newark teen f... http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/news/columnists/joe_rodriguez/4356736.htm RETRIEVED: Monday, October 28, 2002 Posted on Thu, Oct. 24, 2002 See Newark teen for what he was: still just a kid By Joe Rodriguez Mercury News At age 14, a Latino boy from a traditional culture and macho town starts dressing like a woman. After years of teasing, fights and an attempted suicide, he's strangled to death recently at a drunken party, thrown in the back of a truck and buried in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Then his sad story takes off. His pretty face appears on national TV and, against his family's wishes, he becomes a martyr to the gay community. He was 17. The recent slaying of Eddie Araujo has got me squirming and asking questions I cannot answer right now. The few answers I have make me feel like a sanctimonious outsider. I wasn't even sure what to call him. His given name was Eddie. That's what his mother called him even after he started calling himself Gwen, Lida and Wendy. Now she'll bury him as Gwen. I was going to call him a transvestite, but that's become pejorative. The new, culturally acceptable word is ``transgender,'' though he never underwent sex-change surgery. I think I'll call him Eddie because he was still a boy. And I'll describe him as transgender because he surely felt more woman than man. Fatal discovery The police blotter says Eddie was killed at a party in Newark, a working-class town in the East Bay, after three men -- ages 19, 22 and 24 -- discovered he wasn't female. They've been booked on murder charges with hate-crime enhancements. Starting this weekend, there will be at least five gay-sponsored events in Eddie's memory and more to come later. Who knows, maybe some day we'll see a play like ``The Laramie Project,'' a stage interpretation of the murder of Matthew Shepard a few years ago in Wyoming. Eddie's mother, Sylvia Guerrero, wants nothing of the sort. ``This is not a gay issue,'' she told reporters. ``This is a human issue.'' >From what little we know of the family, Guerrero had accepted her son's sexual orientation, but many in their extended, Mexican-American family had not. I belong to that ethnic group. We are politically liberal but socially conservative. A lot us know where the line is, Eddie's family included. A Latino son's sexual orientation is strictly family business. But this is where I feel more like a wretched observer than a Latino-values guy. As much as I understand the family's wish to let Eddie rest in peace, I think gay-rights groups are entitled and even obligated to demand justice for him. In the end, Eddie belonged to two minority groups or, if you will, to two cultural families with conflicting views on sexuality. Both have claim to Eddie's life and death. Delicate questions Now for the questions I'd like to ask without blaming the victims or parents or sounding like a religious right-winger. When is it OK for a gay kid to cross-dress? At age 17? At 14? At 12? I'm not challenging the transgender lifestyle. Gay boys and girls discovering their true nature is a fact of life. Get used to it. But is it a good idea for the transgender ones to cross-dress in public while they're so young, trusting and vulnerable? Shouldn't we tell them society can't protect them every minute of every day from hate-filled thugs? For those who will cross-dress anyway, shouldn't there be a line of dress they shouldn't cross, parties they shouldn't attend? Would that be any different from telling a teenage daughter she can't wear a skimpy halter to a fraternity beer blast? I know this sounds like telling a rape victim that she asked for it, but we're talking about naive children who haven't figured out how to navigate a mean, nasty world. Some places and times, you just don't call attention to yourself. I'd like to hear real-world advice from the transgender community. I'd also like to hear it from prosecutors, politicians and community leaders. As much as he was anything else, Eddie Araujo was just a kid. -- Contact Joe Rodriguez at jrodriguez@sjmercury.com or (408) 920-5767.Top
ANNOUNCEMENTS [1] National Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20 Top ** WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20th ** Event: Transgender Day of Remembrance Date: November 20, 2002 Time: 6:30 pm Location: Harvey Milk Plaza Castro and Market Streets, San Francisco Event: Starts at Harvey Milk Plaza with a candle light vigil and march to the LGBT Community Center, for a 7:30 pm speakout and memorial in the Rainbow Room. Contact: Gwen Smith, gwen@gwensmith.com Description: the fourth annual memorial for victims of anti-transgender murder, this year held in nearly 40 locations worldwide, and noting 25 murders since last year's event, including that of Gwen Araujo. Top
[2] Monterey Transsexual Support Group Agenda Top Stephen Braveman writes: Hi all, This message below is to me from Jamison Green, one of the world's most famous post-op FtM. He is an advocate for trans rights and has spoken at AASECT/SSSS, etc.. If you are interested in hearing him speak let me know. He will be coming to speak to our Monterey Transsexual Support Group that meets here in my office once a month. We welcome guests when we have such special occasions like this. All my best, Stephen L. Braveman, M.A., L.M.F.T., C.S.T. Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Top[3a] First Transgender Pioneers Awards Banquet Held at Site of Pilgrims' Initial Landing
[3b] $5000 Awarded to Transgender Pioneers Virginia Prince and Merissa Sherrill Lynn
For more information contact Dallas Denny Real Life Experiences, Inc. P.O. Box 33724 Decatur, GA 30033-0724 e-mail: aegis@gender.org website: www.fantasiafair.org For Immediate Release 1 November, 2002On Tuesday, 22 October, attendees of Fantasia Fair and others assembled at the Provincetown Inn for the first Transgender Pioneers Banquet. The banquet was held mere feet from the site of the Pilgrims' initial landing in North America.
Transgender pioneers Virginia Prince and Merissa Sherrill Lynn were honored for their courage and determination in educating the world about transgender issues and for making safe space for transgendered and transsexual people. With no thought of personal gain, and often at risk to their safety and financial well-being, Prince and Lynn created organizations, founded, edited, and published magazines, and corresponded with and otherwise aided thousands of frightened and confused crossdressers and transsexuals.
The ever-cheerful Miqqi Alicia Gilbert was M/C for the event.
Speaker Alison Laing said of Prince, "Without her, we would literally not be here today." Laing told attendees of Prince's early support groups, including the Hose and Heels Club and Full Personality Expression, a forerunner of today's Society for the Second Self; and of her magazine Transvestia. Dallas Denny spoke of Lynn's key role as founder and first Executive Director of the International Foundation for Gender Education and founder and editor for many years of Tapestry Journal (now Transgender Tapestry).
Prince was not present. She was contacted by telephone immediately after the event. "I'm overwhelmed," she said, when told of her $2500 award. "Whatever have I done to deserve this?"
Lynn, who was present, made a short speech of thanks for her $2500 award, saying "I guess this means I have to buy a computer."
Award monies were provided by Real Life Experiences, Inc., the umbrella organization for Fantasia Fair. Board Chair Dallas Denny said the awards represented monies raised during Fantasia Fair 2001. "Fantasia Fair can no longer be considered an event just for the well-to-do," she said. "We've lowered prices significantly. The Fair costs early registrants only $64 per day, with at least one meal, and often two, provided daily during the week-long event. There are no additional charges."
Denny said donations, door proceeds from the Fantasia Fair Follies and Fashion Show, ad revenues, and monies saved by applying for grants are earmarked for the Transgender Pioneer Fund. "We try to leave town with money enough to make the deposits necessary to seed the next year's Fair; that's how we calculate the price. Some years we have a surplus, and some years a deficit. We go the extra mile to cut costs and find dollars. The Fund is not based on money obtained from registrants, but on any "extra" monies we can find. For instance, we raised nearly $1500 at the Follies this year, and $400 at the Fashion Show, and we hope to be able to add them to award monies for next year. Ad revenues from the Fantasia Fair Participants' Guide have been as high as $3000. We have no intention of making these awards based on registration monies."
A Transgender Pioneers bank account had been opened at Cape Cod Bank & Trust. Donations specified for next year's awards have so far totaled more than $600.
Fantsia Fair 29 will be held in Provincetown, MA on 19 -26 October, 2003. Registration for the seven-day event is only $450 until 1 January (considerably less for significant others). Thursday-Saturday packages are also available. See www.fantasiafair.org for pricing and information about Fantasia Fair.
- [4] Writer for Marie Claire magazine looking for MTFs to interview
- Julia Dahl writes
My name is Julia Dahl and I am a writer for Marie Claire magazine. Lynn Conway gave me your name because she thought you might be able to help me find a woman for a story I'm working on. Basically, we're looking to profile a woman between the ages of 24-38 who has undergone gender reassignment surgery (male to female). Ideally, the woman would live in the NYC area. I know it's a tall order, but I thought you might know someone who knows someone...or else have an email list you could forward this to. Let me know if you have any ideas. I look forward to hearing from you. Best, Julia Dahl 917-287-5166 juliaelizabethdahl@yahoo.com TopGENERAL INFORMATION
[5] AUSTRALIA --Sydney-- Netball - the groovy game for hem and her From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. Netball - the groovy game for hem and her - s... http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/01/1036027034244.html Netball - the groovy game for hem and her By Jessica Halloran November 2 2002 Some of the "sistergirls" toiled in the hot sun, practising and perfecting their defence and shooting, but most of the time just giggling and chatting. On the sidelines, other players lazily smoked cigarettes in the shade and talked about an evening outing at the Taxi Club in downtown Oxford Street and, of course, netball. The players, men, women and transgenders, from Tonga, Samoa and Papua New Guinea, are at the Gay Games as much for the sport as the partying. They are among 29 netball teams in the event, some of which have groovy names like Shooting Kylies. "Sistergirl" is an Australian indigenous term for transgenders, and is being used as a classification in the games' netball event, which starts tomorrow. The event, which is open to gays and straights alike, has several divisions inclusive of men, women and transgenders, netball sports manager Christine Mueller said. "The competition design is blurring the divisions rather than confusing things; it questions the boundaries of gender," she said. Samoa's Michelene - "I'm the manager, the physio, the water cooler and everything else" - said her team was pumped and confident. For the past two months the team has been training hard, on the court and at the sewing machines, making their costumes. To celebrate their efforts the players put on a variety show, "doing dancing, traditional to modern, in stage costumes". It went down a hoot. Papua New Guinea's Flames have also been improving their needlework skills. Team elder Grandma was glowing with pride yesterday as she showed off the black, yellow and orange netball shorts and skirts she made for the team. "I studied for advanced needlework school and my teacher was from Australia," she said quietly. "There are plenty of new styles in Sydney, but our styles match up to it. I think we will be the best dressed." At tonight's opening ceremony the Papua New Guinea team will sing a welcoming song. They also believe they are favourites to take out the competition. "The Samoans and Tongans are tall but not so quick. We Papuans are sneaky," Grandma said. -- GAY GAMES It's an Olympic Mardi Gras http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/01/1036027034254.html © 2002. The Sydney Morning Herald.
[6] USA: --Kansas anti-gay church embarrasses Topekan
The Oakland Tribune
http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82%7E1726%7E968805,00.html Monday, November 04, 2002 - 2:56:51 AM MST By Melissa Evans STAFF WRITER Say the name Fred Phelps to a resident of Topeka, Kan., and you're likely to hear silence. And then a sigh. Police officers, pastors, community leaders and legislators say they are tired of being associated with the message of hate broadcast by Phelps, head of Westboro Baptist Church. "He's kind of put Topeka on the map," said Jim McCollough, pastor of First Christian Church of Topeka. "But (Phelps and followers) do not represent what the city feels." The 72-year-old pastor is head of an anti-gay group whose members have been permanent fixtures at city parks, church services and community gatherings for the past decade. He and a dozen followers -- most of whom are family -- have promised to protest this month at seven East Bay locations, including Newark Memorial High School's performance of "The Laramie Project" on Nov. 15. Phelps' anti-homosexual and hate messages also have reached Oakland's Bishop O'Dowd High School, which will be performing "The "Laramie Project" the weekends of Nov. 15 and 24. Despite threats by Phelps and a faxed letter from the Westerboro church promising a protest of the O'Dowd production, school officials said Friday the play will go on as scheduled. On the surface, Phelps' group seems almost too eccentric to be taken seriously. Its Web site and unrelenting faxes declare the "eternal damnation" of just about every group imaginable: gays, Christians, Jews and African Americans. But Topeka residents warn that Phelps is more than just a Bible-thumping zealot. He and his followers have managed to drive businesses out of town and persuade celebrities to cancel visits, and filed numerous suits against the city, including one for $7 million, according to an article published by the Southern Law Poverty Center, a national organization that tracks hate groups. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports residents have been reluctant to disclose their names for news stories about the church for fear they will be harassed. "For those who were not intimidated by fear, there was often a general distaste for dealing with (Westboro) and their tactics," said Rick Musser, a journalism professor at the University of Kansas who spent a year studying Phelps. In one incident reported by Musser in his article "Fred Phelps versus Topeka," Westboro protesters used slurs against guests at an 86-year-old woman's birthday party. "One Topeka executive with international media experience once told me it made him 'feel dirty' even to discuss Phelps and his tactics," Musser said. Phelps was raised in Mississippi, where he played in the high school band and graduated with honors. He was seen as a model citizen, reports show. He moved to Topeka in 1954 with his wife, Marge. Many of his 13 children bought homes in the same square block that since has been dubbed the Phelps Compound. A jungle-gym for the grandchildren can be seen above a fence that surrounds the houses, setting the compound apart from the city. At the entrance is a large American flag hung upside down and a 40-foot banner insulting gays. "The homes are modest I would say. Well kept," Topeka resident Bill Beachy said. "People know where they are. (Residents) pretty much stay away." The first service at Westboro Baptist Church was held on Nov. 27, 1955, in a small chapel within the compound. Phelps made his living as a lawyer, but reports show he had difficulty earning a law degree because he had trouble finding judges who would vouch for his good character, a requirement under Kansas law. Still, he went on to file about 400 lawsuits dealing with everything from bankruptcy to civil rights. One of his biggest cases was in 1974 when he sued Sears for $50 million for failing to deliver a television set on time, according to a Southern Poverty Law Center article, "A City Held Hostage." After six years of litigation, he settled for $126 and never received the TV. Phelps and his children -- 11 of whom hold law degrees -- have used the courts to pay for thousands of trips across the country to protest, sources familiar with the group say. The group counts on people getting angry at their large signs bearing anti-gay slogans. Westboro lawyers have sued numerous organizations and individuals claiming First Amendment violations, reports show. Meanwhile, the Kansas district attorney's office has secured only four convictions from 109 harassment and disorderly conduct complaints against Westboro protesters, according to "A City Held Hostage." Phelps was disbarred in 1979 by the Kansas Supreme Court for harassing a court reporter he accused of being late with a document. In 1989 Phelps turned over his license to practice law at the federal level in 1989 -- with the condition that his family members could continue practicing law. When his law career ended, he unsuccessfully turned to politics. He ran for governor of Kansas in 1990, the U.S. Senate in 1992, Topeka mayor in 1993, and governor again in 1994. He lost in the primary each time. Phelps and his followers call themselves "primitive Baptists." They believe in predestination, the idea that God already has selected those who will go to heaven and that everyone else is irreversibly doomed to hell. Their mission, members say, simply is to spread this news. "We don't strive to change your hearts or minds," Phelps wrote in a letter to the Capital-Journal. "Even if we wanted to, we couldn't make you believe the truth. "Every person who is predestined for hell will remain in darkness." Westboro's crusade started in Topeka's Gage Park -- a place they said was known for meetings of homosexuals. They soon moved to area churches, city buildings and homes, protesting funerals, weddings, birthday parties and town meetings. Many of those who protested were not gay or even gay activists -- they simply disagreed with Phelps' message. That trend is expected to continue when the group visits the East Bay. Two of Westboro's scheduled stops are Bethel Christian Academy in Fremont and First Baptist Church in Newark -- chosen because their pastors called Phelps' message "appalling." "It's been an ongoing saga," said David Gaverson, Topeka's interim city administrator. "People here try to ignore them as best they can." The city has had numerous legal battles with the church, trying to enact ordinances that protect residents without violating the First Amendment. Because of Westboro, city ordinance now dictates that protests must take place across the street from churches and city buildings. The Kansas legislature also has passed a statute against fax harassment. "All we do is make sure (Phelps) isn't in violation of any laws," said John Sitwell, spokesman for the Topeka Police Department. "He's treated no different from anybody else." But his presence has been costly. Poet Maya Angelou canceled an appearance in a nearby town after being threatened by Phelps' group, according to news reports. Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway planned to add 600 jobs in Topeka, but dropped the idea after Phelps wrote a letter to the company saying Topeka was "well-known as Sodom City, U.S.A.," reports show. At least one positive thing has come from Phelps' actions, residents say. The city has become unified in its opposition to the group. Several groups have been formed to combat hate, including the Concerned Citizens of Topeka, Interfaith of Topeka and a group called Sunday in the Park Without Fred. While Phelps seems to have toned down his rhetoric in recent years, stopping him completely would be nearly impossible, said Beachy, president of Concerned Citizens of Topeka. "These (anti-hate) groups banded together almost overnight," he said. "All we can do is spread a different message. All we can really do is commit ourselves to peace and justice." Phelps' tactics have numbed Topeka, which only encouraged Westboro's national campaign, Musser said. The group claims to have staged 20,000 protests since 1991, from the East Coast to California, but it got the most notoriety at the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student at the University of Wyoming who was murdered in 1998. The group is protesting "The Laramie Project" because it focuses on the town's reaction to Shepard's death. Phelps' character is even depicted in it. A Capital-Journal reporter once asked Phelps if he worried about hurting Shepard's family. His response: "Yes, I worry about that. But my mom's words come back to me all the time. She'd say a little hurt now saves a big hurt later. I'm talking about living people who are headed straight for hell." -- ©1999-2002 by MediaNews Group, Inc. and ANG Newspapers Top
[7] INDIA : Transsexuals expose themselves in railway protest Top From --Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. Ananova - Transsexuals expose themselves in r... http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_701240.html?menu=news.quirkies Friday, November 01, 2002 Ananova: Transsexuals expose themselves in railway protest Transsexuals in India exposed themselves to protest at a new railway order banning them from travelling in women's compartments on trains. They sat on the Calcutta-New Delhi railway line before being dispersed by the police in the protest in Bardhaman, near Calcutta, Some even lifted their saris and blouses to show off their bodies and prove they did not have male sexual organs. Satya Ranjan Das, of the country's railway police, told Khabar Akhon TV news the ban was introduced following complaints from female passengers. He said: "It cannot be tolerated. They are not women, we shall not allow them to travel in women's coaches." A spokesperson for the protesters said: "We challenge the railway authority to prove that we are men. We don't have male organs - how do they put us in the category of men?" In India, transsexuals traditionally live on the edge of the mainstream society and earn their livelihood by singing, dancing and blessing newborn babies. Privately, some police officials feel implementing the railway order might be difficult as most dress like women and "proving their gender on the spot could be a hassle". END Story filed: 11:41 Friday 1st November 2002 © 2002 Ananova Ltd
[8] ITALY: Drag queen classes sweep Italy Top http://uk.news.yahoo.com/021028/80/dd7v6.html From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. Drag queen classes sweep Italy By Rachel Sanderson TURIN (Reuters) - La Karl du Pigne rolls up his trouser leg to reveal an alligator skin stiletto and takes to the floor of a make-shift catwalk. "Men are to the left, women are to the right, we are in the middle," said the founder of Italy's first drag queen school, gesturing to a rapt room of frosted lips and big hair. "Now walk that middle line, ladies." >From tourist guides to technical-whizzes, a group of five men pulled on their first high heels and sashayed across the room to waves of applause. "I feel a little unstable," said Johnny Ginobili, teetering in a pair of thigh-high, black patent leather boots with a 15 centimetre (six-inch) heel after arriving at the two-day course clad in jeans, a jumper and loafers. Alongside him, tourist guide Fabrizio Raimondi swept his platinum blond curls along the decolletage of his leopard print dress while former software designer Emmanuele Cale matched his eyeshadow to his turquoise diamante smock. Andrea Berardicurti, the man behind the stage name La Karl du Pigne, set up the Drag Queen College in Turin to teach men how to pull off drag -- dressing as a woman and amplifying the effect to an almost cartoon extent. "The key is always to exaggerate," Berardicurti said. "What is important is to leave people with their mouths open." A night spent watching Berardicurti's show in a gay club, where the six-foot-five (1.95 metre) blonde was dressed up and mimed to songs by Eurythmics' singer Annie Lennox, tempted Ginobili, 32, to take the 65 euro class. According to the course programme, he too could learn how to dress and walk like a queen and lip sync to drag favourites Liza Minnelli, Shirley Bassey, Kylie Minogue and Marlene Dietrich. GLITTER AND GLOSS "A drag queen is nothing without her make up," Berardicurti said, plumping a powder puff. "You have to create a mask -- to erase your original face and build something different." Snapping open a beauty case, Berardicurti set to work on his students, moisturising, plucking and shaving. Burly beard lines were smothered in thick orange foundation before stunned faces disappeared in a puff of heavy white powder to whiten the skin. Glitter, gloss and the smell of grease paints soon filled the room scattered with man-sized spiked heels and strappy sandals with Madonna-like pointy bustiers, slinky frocks and an oversized bunny outfit draped on chairs and hung on walls. Once Berardicurti's transformation was complete, Ginobili leaned forward to study his pencilled eyebrows, rouged cheeks and blue-bobbed hairdo in the mirror. "I feel the same inside," the company secretary said. "I just look completely different." When Berardicurti got his big break in Rome's "The Killer Cow" club in the 1980s, drag was a solely gay phenomenon. Now, straight men can often be found up on stage while their wives and children watch from the audience, he said. "I don't do this because I'm attracted to the idea of being a woman," said 36-year-old guide Raimondi, touching up his scarlet, glitter-lined lips. "I feel very much a man." FEELING FABULOUS Berardicurti, 45, first stepped out as a drag queen at a Mardi Gras carnival some 25 years ago. "I knew I wanted to express my female side...it's how a lot of men start. I caught the bug," he said. "Drag is a drug." Now he works as a drag-queen hostess in a gay club, mingling with party-goers and putting on shows which he said earned him enough to live on. Besides, drag was the only job he wanted. "When I left it for 2-1/2 years, they were the unhappiest years of my life," he said. "When I'm in drag I feel fabulous." Photographs around the classroom showed him with a headdress made of Barbie dolls, multi-coloured fake eyelashes and back-combed hair strung with Christmas lights. He once played the Virgin Mary in a tableau of Michelangelo's "Pieta". "You must be ironic, it saves you from ridicule," he said. Franco Mittica, from the Italian gay rights group InformaGay, said a new wave of Italian queens inspired by the 1994 Australian drag-queen road-movie "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert", had prompted the classes. "We are trying to make drag queens talk about themselves," he said. "Then people will know more about them." LEFT BEHIND Mittica said locals in the industrial city of Turin were hesitant enough about gays without being faced by six-foot-plus men in killer heels and fishnets. "They think you're a prostitute. But with 20 cm heels and a metre of hair, how are you supposed to get into the car?" Berardicurti asked, flicking a grey feather boa over his shoulder. Drag queen Piero Pirotto, a six-foot-three brunette, said the presence of the Vatican in Italy explained much of the country's reticence towards gays. He said it took far longer to qualify for a state-funded male-to-female sex change in Italy than elsewhere in Europe, with some men waiting years to shed their buttock and breast prosthetics permanently. A spokesman from the Sanca Millo hospital in Rome, which carries out state-funded sex changes, said it usually took about a year to swap sex once the case had passed through Italy's notoriously slow legal system. Berardicurti said he hoped his drag college would help put Italy's gays and cross-dressers on the acceptability map in a country where Prada and Gucci rule on the street rather than blue beehives and fluffy high-heeled slippers. "The Germans have always been very avant-garde. In Barcelona and Paris you can kiss your boyfriend in the street and people don't get shocked, but they do here," Pirotto said. "Italy has been left behind". END © 2002 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
LEGAL ACTION[9]USA: New York-- Toys 'R' Us Ordered to Pay Fees Top From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. WorldNews: Toys 'R' Us Ordered to Pay Fees http://cgi.wn.com/?action=display&article=16494909&template=worldnews/search .txt&index=recent Thu, 31 Oct 2002 Toys 'R' Us Ordered to Pay Fees The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) &emdash; A judge has ordered Toys ``R'' Us to pay nearly $200,000 in attorneys' fees for three transsexuals who said they were harassed by workers while shopping at a Brooklyn store. In June, a jury found that the plaintiffs were harassed but awarded them only $1 each. Donna McGrath, Tanya Jinks and Tara Lopez had each sought $300,000 in damages. In a 12-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Sifton labeled the lawsuit ``the first case in which the rights of transsexuals were asserted and vindicated.'' Awarding $193,551 in fees will ``encourage the bringing of meritorious civil rights claims which might otherwise be abandoned because of financial imperatives surrounding the hiring of competent counsel,'' the judge wrote. An attorney for Toy ``R'' Us, Nicholas Goodman, said the retailer would appeal on the grounds that ``the judge abused his discretion.'' The transsexuals alleged that during two shopping excursions at a Toys ``R'' Us store in December 2000, employees called them names and menaced them with baseball bats because of their lifestyle. Toys ``R'' Us is based in Paramus, N.J. ©2002 WN.com Top
[10] USA: New Jersey--Jury rejects claim that man killed transvestite in heat of passion Top From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. NorthJersey.com - Local News http://www.bergen.com/page.php?level_3_id=45&page=5476075 Wednesday, October 30, 2002 By JENNIFER V. HUGHES Staff Writer A jury on Tuesday rejected a Paterson man's claim that he killed a transvestite in the heat of passion, finding him guilty of knowing, purposeful murder. Carlos Camacho, 20, had no visible reaction as the guilty verdicts to murder and weapons offenses were read in state Superior Court in Paterson. The jury deliberated for about four hours in the case, which began last week. Camacho told police that on Feb. 25, 2001, he was walking on Paterson's Slater Street when a woman drove by and offered him $20 for sex. He said when he got back to the woman's apartment, he learned that she was a man - 42-year-old Victor Pachas. Camacho beat, stabbed, slashed, and asphyxiated Pachas by stepping on his throat. The killing was so brutal that the Genessee Avenue apartment was splattered with blood and police could not tell initially how Pachas died. Camacho's lawyer argued that his client became so enraged after learning he had picked up a transvestite, he reacted with fear and revulsion. John Latoracca, Passaic County chief assistant prosecutor, said the evidence indicated that Camacho had been the one acting as a prostitute that night. The victim's clothing was in the bedroom, and the defendant's brand of cigarettes were found on the nightstand. Latoracca argued that Camacho attacked as part of a plan to steal from the victim. He said Camacho's sister told police she saw the defendant with a woman's change purse the next day. A passion-provocation man-slaughter conviction carries a five- to 10-year prison term. The jury would have had to believe that Camacho acted in the heat of passion from a reasonable provocation. Now, Camacho faces at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole. After the verdicts were read, Latoracca said he thought the jury just didn't buy Camacho's story. He pointed to one part of Camacho's police statement, where he said he stepped on the victim's throat fearing that his cries for help would be heard. "That is a very rational thought for someone who supposedly has lost all touch with rational thought," Latoracca said. © 2002 North Jersey Media Group Inc. Top
BOOKS etc.... [11]USA New York--Beyond Appearances: The Ambiguities of Sexuality Top This article from NYTimes.com October 29, 2002 By DINITIA SMITH What maketh the man? Is it chromosomes? Or is it genitalia? Or, to borrow from Polonius, is it clothes? In her new book, "How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States," Dr. Joanne Meyerowitz, a professor of history at Indiana University and the editor of The Journal of American History, examines changing definitions of gender through the prism of transsexuality, that most mysterious of conditions in which a person is born with normal chromosomes and hormones for one sex but is convinced that he or she is a member of the other. Dr. Meyerowitz shows how mutable the words "male," "female," "sex" and "gender" have become, and how their meanings have evolved through time. Hers is one of several new books on the subject of the transgendered, an umbrella term to define those whose sexuality is not readily characterized as definitely male or female. The flow of books is evidence of society's continuing puzzlement and fascination with the subject. The novelist and psychotherapist Amy Bloom has published "Normal," interviews with transsexuals; transvestites, who like to dress in clothing of the opposite sex but may not want to change their gender; and the intersexed, people born with ambiguous genitalia, in the past referred to as hermaphrodites. The transgendered in Ms. Bloom's book, including the intersexed, refuse to be categorized as either male or female, and defiantly celebrate their ambiguity. A third book, "Scanty Particulars," by Rachel Holmes, is a biography of Dr. James Barry, a transvestite and the highest ranking military doctor under Queen Victoria. Dr. Barry, a pioneer in public health, is credited with performing the first successful Caesarean section. The doctor lived as a man, but on her deathbed was revealed to be a biological woman. Finally, there is "Middlesex," a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, about a character born with 5-alpha reductase deficiency syndrome, in which a person is genetically a male, but has ambiguous genitalia and may at first appear to be a girl. At puberty, the person may develop testes and other male characteristics, including the enlargement of the clitoris into a penis. But in terms of the scientific quandary of gender, the most important of the books is "How Sex Changed." At the turn of the century, Dr. Meyerowitz writes, the word sex was a catchall term meaning both biological sex and sexual behavior. Today, biological sex usually refers to chromosomes, genes, genitals, hormones and other physical markers. Gender usually means male or female, or some mixture of both. The word sexuality has come to connote sexual behavior. Of all the conundrums of identity, transsexuality is most imbued with the contradictions between physical sex and sexual orientation, and it illustrates the difficulty of defining gender. Until the turn of the century, Dr. Meyerowitz writes, gender was defined through a binary taxonomy of opposites: people were either male or female. But in the late 19th century, Sigmund Freud, the German psychiatrist Richard von Krafft-Ebing and Wilhelm Fliess, a German physician, began putting forth the notion that humans were inherently bisexual, and that sexuality existed on a continuum between male and female. In 1910, a Berlin physician, Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, published a pioneering work on transsexuality and articulated a relatively new modern definition of gender. "Absolute representatives of their sex are," he wrote, "only abstractions, invented extremes." The 1920's and 30's were a time of sexual emancipation in Europe, and in that atmosphere, Dr. Meyerowitz says, sex change operations were performed in Vienna, and at Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Science. In 1931, Dr. Felix Abraham, a physician at the institute, published the first scientific article on human transsexual surgery. The operations consisted of mastectomy, hysterectomy and in males, castration, creation of a vagina and even ovarian transplants. Phalloplasty, the creation of a penis on a genetic female, was not commonly done until after World War II in the United States. But until the 1960's sex-change surgery was rarely performed in this country, and treatment was largely unavailable. Desperate people begged doctors for help. The drive is so "fierce and demanding that it frightens me," one man, who had asked a friend to castrate him, told Dr. Harry Benjamin, a pioneer in sex-change treatment. According to one review of the medical literature in 1965, 18 of 100 male-to-female transsexuals had tried to remove their own testicles or penises; 9 succeeded. Dr. Meyerowitz writes that one man injected air, hand cream and mother's milk into his chest to give himself breasts. A female-to-male transsexual had her breasts removed on a kitchen table. A male-to-female transsexual who could not afford surgery studied medical texts to learn how to remove testicles, ligate, suture and anesthetize. She bought surgical equipment and successfully performed the operation on herself. With the publicity received by Christine Jorgensen, attitudes changed. Formerly George Jorgensen Jr., an Army private from the Bronx, in 1952 he underwent sex-change operation in Denmark. Dr. Meyerowitz argues that Ms. Jorgensen, by cultivating the demeanor of a lady and by refusing to call herself homosexual, removed some of transsexuality's stigma. >From the 1960's on, a handful of courts permitted transsexuals to change their names. In 1976, the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court ruled in an alimony dispute involving a male-to-female transsexual that the person could be called female in the case of that particular marriage. But the court said that generally, conventional gender definitions should apply to marriage, public records, military service, sports eligibility and some occupations. In 1977, the New York County Supreme Court ruled that Renee Richards, a postoperative transsexual, could play in women's tennis tournaments despite being genetically male. With the growing power of the medical establishment, doctors began to assume the right to define sexuality. In 1966, when the Johns Hopkins Gender Clinic opened with money from Reed Erickson, a wealthy female-to-male transsexual, there were 2,000 applications for surgery. Sex change operations became more frequent, though doctors balked at performing surgery for fear of prosecution under obscure statutes based on English common law that forbade the maiming of men who might serve as soldiers. Even as the medical establishment was trying to define gender through surgery, psychiatrists, psychoanalysts and psychologists contended that transsexuality and transvestitism resulted from psychological conditions. In 1962, the Gender Identity Research Clinic was founded at the University of California at Los Angeles. There, boys regarded as "sissies" and "tomboy" girls received behavioral treatment to make them conform to traditional definitions of gender. In one case, which Dr. Meyerowitz glosses over, the distraught parents of a boy, Bruce Reimer, whose penis was accidentally cut off during surgery for a condition called phimosis, brought him to Hopkins. The case was first reported in 1973 by Dr. Milton Diamond of the University of Hawaii-Manoa in Honolulu and Dr. H. Keith Sigmundson of the Ministry of Health in Victoria, British Columbia. Dr. John Money, a sexologist at the institute, recommended that the boy be raised as a girl. He was given hormone injections, his testicles were removed, and surgeons tried to fashion a vagina for him. Dr. Money began therapy sessions with him to teach him to be a girl. But the boy was miserable, and and at 14, he refused to continue living as a girl. He eventually had surgery to refashion a phallus, married and adopted children. The case was was later described in the book "As Nature Made Him" by John Colapinto. In the book, the man, who changed his name to David, asserted that Dr. Money had encouraged him and his twin brother to play sex games, and to simulate intercourse. In an e-mail message recently, Dr. Money wrote: "This is a false accusation. I gave no such encouragement." Today, scientists, psychiatrists and psychologists have reached something of a consensus about gender, saying that sexuality is determined by "psychological sex" or "gender role orientation," possibly caused by hormones or genes. As a consequence of the sexual revolution and the Internet, which has provided a forum to organize, transsexuals have begun to demand the right to define their own sexuality. Some male-to-female transsexuals have sex with men and call themselves homosexuals. Some female-to-male transsexuals have sex with women and call themselves lesbians. Some transsexuals call themselves asexual. The transgendered have begun to insist that sex, gender and sexuality represent "analytically distinct categories," Dr. Meyerowitz says. Doctors can alter the physical characteristics of sex, but bodily sex does not determine gender. No one knows how many transsexuals are in the United States today, Dr. Meyerowitz writes, though a 1993 study in the Netherlands reported that 1 in 11,900 born male and 1 in 30,400 born female took hormones to change sex. Meanwhile, scientists continue to ponder the meaning of sex. In 1995 another Netherlands study suggested that a region of the hypothalmus may differ in size in transsexuals from ordinary males and females. But, despite the studies, and gains in knowledge, all these books point out gender's essential mystery. Science is no nearer to determining what gender is than it was a century ago. "The definition of sex," writes Dr. Meyerowitz "was (and is) still up for grabs." http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/health/29GEND.html?ex=1036913209&ei=1& en=ad868f6b7efd241d Top
HEALTH AND SCIENCEImplications of Being Gender Dysphoric: A Developmental Review
by Anne Vitale PhD
Gender and Psychoanalysis, An Interdisciplinary Journal Vol. 6, No. 2 , Spring 2001
Abstract:
Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is defined as a persistent discomfort with one's sense of inappropriateness in the gender role assigned at birth. The condition can result in clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning. Recent studies have shown that the condition may be the result of insufficient or inappropriate androgenization of the brain at a critical stage of embryonic development. There is also a sexological theory of etiology but it too includes the possibility of an early onset. All agree that gender identity, whether considered appropriate or inappropriate relative to chromosomal sex can not be modified if ever beyond the first few months of life.
Individuals presenting with significant sex/gender dimorphic issues commonly report having had feelings of confusion and discomfort with their assigned gender role as early as age 4. Given the early onset, sex/gender dimorphic feelings understandably influence each of the five classic developmental stages of life. Since this discomfort manifest itself as chronic feelings of anxiety, this paper proposes that Gender Identity Disorder may for treatment purposes be better described as a chronic anxiety disorder; specifically, Gender Expression Deprivation Anxiety Disorder (GEDAD). GEDAD in childhood is characterized by confusion or rebellion. GEDAD in adolescence is characterized by false hopes and disappointment. GEDAD in early adulthood is characterized by hesitant compliance and GEDAD in full adulthood is characterized by feelings of self induced entrapment. Further, in old age, if still left untreated, GEDAD is characterized by depression and resignation.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
[12] THAILAND: Bangkok --Transvestite boxing hero on big screen Top From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. CNN.com - Transvestite boxing hero on big scr... http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/04/thai.film.ap/index.html Monday, November 4, 2002 Posted: 8:40 AM EST (1340 GMT) BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- When Assani Suwan was cast to play Thailand's most famous transvestite kickboxer, he thought boxing skills, looking good in makeup and enthusiasm were all it took to play the part. But months have passed and Assani, 22, says he still has not been able to overcome the "challenge" of getting under the skin of the former male boxer with a woman's heart, whose life is being immortalized in the multilingual movie "Beautiful Boxer." Director Ekachai Uekrongtham said Monday at a news conference that filming with debutante Assani, a professional kickboxer, will start in February. The movie is about Parinya Charoenphol, who shocked the boxing world by appearing in the ring wearing lipstick and mascara, and kissing opponents on the cheek. But his highly skilled classical style soon won him fans, fights and fame that spread to other parts of the world. Parinya began fighting at 13 and stopped in 2000 at age 19 after undergoing a series operations to change his sex. Parinya then became an entertainer in a night club and a drama teacher for young children. Since Parinya had won most of her 60 fights, the candidates for her role had to undergo two auditions -- including kickboxing skills and acting. Assani, ranked fifth by the World Association of Thai Kickboxing, fit the bill, outclassing more than 300 candidates. Finding feminine side While fighting was "a piece of cake," the hours of ballet, singing, English and Thai musical folk drama lessons he has had to take were an altogether different story, he said. "Although I think playing her role would help promote Thai kickboxing and make people understand her better, I never thought I had to do all these things," said Assani. But that was the best way to have the lead actor get in touch with his feminine side, especially Assani, who was thrown into the masculine sport at the age of 12, said Ekachai. "We need someone with enough confidence to be a man to express his gentle, female side without feeling awkward," Ekachai noted. More roles Asked if he feels awkward about playing the role of a transvestite, Assani -- who bears a striking resemblance to Parinya -- said: "If you play the role of a serial killer, it doesn't make you one." He said he would like to act in more movies while continuing to kickbox. Ekachai has produced and directed more than 100 plays and musicals in Singapore, where he is based, and in New York, Beijing and Bangkok. His most famous work was "Chang and Eng" -- the acclaimed musical about conjoined twins born in Thailand who gave birth to the term "Siamese twins." The US$1-2 million budget "Beautiful Boxer" is targeted for released in late 2003. It will have subtitled versions in English and Japanese. The movie will be co-produced by GMM Grammy, Thailand's largest multimedia entertainment company, which began producing movies five years ago. -- Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. © 2002 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. Top
[13] OHIO: Columbus--Pucker Up Top The Village Voice: Hot Spot: Pucker Up: King ... http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0245/taormino.php by Tristan Taormino King Leer November 1st, 2002 2:45 PM COLUMBUS, OHIO&emdash;When I was growing up during the late '70s and '80s, my mother had a close friend named Chickie who was one of my most important role models. I knew about gay men and drag queens, but Chickie was something altogether different. He wasn't an iron-pumping leather-chapped daddy or a lip-synching sequin-gowned diva. He was simply Chickie: A six-foot-two man with long chestnut hair and a meticulously groomed goatee who wore open-toed sandals, lots of jewelry, women's perfume, and skintight jeans that unmistakably showcased his prominent package. He effortlessly personified well-chosen trappings of both masculinity and femininity. Not for dress-up, Chickie's look was his own. He had a long-term male partner, but I'm not sure he considered himself gay. I learned about fashion, flair, eyeliner, and, of course, much more from him. Today, Chickie would embody a hip, I'm-neither-male-nor-female gender-queer, but when he was alive, gender bender wasn't even a choice. Chickie was on my mind a lot last month as I made the yearly pilgrimage to the mecca of gender bending, Columbus, Ohio. More than 1000 drag kings, queens, performers, artists, and their admirers, from four countries and 28 states, had gathered for the fourth-annual International Drag King Extravaganza (http://www.idke.com), a weekend of dialogue and debate, politics and presentations, and kick-ass performances. Drag kings fashion their own style from masculine archetypes, borrowing mack-daddy mannerisms and retro zoot suits. To me, all drag has an erotically charged component&emdash;the act of transforming one's gender, then being objectified by an audience, can be flirtatious and fun. But some drag kings choose to craft performances that are more explicitly sexual. The majority of drag performers at IDKE identify as queer or transgender, so queer sex is central to many of their personas and acts. In her keynote speech, Annie Toone, who chronicles the drag-king movement on her site, www.madkats.com, said, "As much as it is a deconstruction of masculinity, for me, drag king is a glorification of butch sexuality, a focus for queer desire." At this year's IDKE, the desires&emdash;queer and otherwise&emdash;that kings expressed onstage were diverse. In songs like "Master and Servant" and "Boys and Girls," they did everything from lusting for a dominant-submissive dynamic to exploring bisexual gender play. But a trend I noticed was the appropriation and refashioning of gay male aesthetics and sexual identities, which isn't so surprising considering there's always been a dialogue between gay men and lesbians on the subjects of sex, gender, and style. Sebastian Cock, Maxx Hollywood, and Izzie Big strutted their stuff as leather-clad cowboys with big dicks and smooth moves in their "Wild Wild West" number. Ken Las Vegas, true to his name, created a flashy Liberace-like character that channeled Elton John singing a Prince song. Curious schoolboys Stu and Johnny KingPin stripped and fondled each other to "I Want Your Sex." (George Michael's songs are perennial king faves&emdash;it doesn't take much to envision homo desire in his music, since we know with George it's real.) Billy White and Randy Black were Eurotrash fags with campy, synchronized choreography. Austin troupe Kings N Things reimagined "Stranded at the Drive-In" from Grease, in which slick tough guys pawed and poked each other. Ex-ex-gays Jake Danger and Damien Danger put down their Bibles and gave in to their queer lust in one of Friday night's politically charged offerings, and Boise Studley and Geoff E. Lube did a number about two men, one HIV-positive, the other negative, who share needles while shooting heroin. Our gay brothers' influence may fuel them, but these performers carve out their own creations of masculinity and femininity&emdash;ones where dudes wear skirts and flash their breasts, girls pack dicks under their skirts, and nothing is what it appears to be. While kings borrow from gay men, I haven't seen very many drag queens choose lesbian icons or subtext for their performances. That's just one of the noticeable differences: Kings seem more drawn to collaboration; there are well organized, active, multi-gendered troupes in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Austin&emdash;and those are just the ones represented at the conference. The results are large, inventive, choreographed numbers that resemble musical theater more than karaoke (who said only fags like musicals?). And, unlike the girls of Wigstock, I was struck by how deeply politicized the majority of IDKE performers were. By day, they debated issues like onstage representations of race and class and misogyny in drag-king culture. By night, they tackled such hot-button topics as homophobia, violence against queer and trans people, corporate greed, war, drug abuse, and incest. Pretty heavy stuff for what used to be thought of as just a bunch of lesbians who dressed like men. Even when kings choose not to have a political agenda, some argue that performing masculinity is itself a political act. "Our community grows larger and more diverse every year as charismatic entertainers and hardcore activists share one stage," says IDKE producer Síle Singleton. "Folks come here to learn, to connect, and to be inspired by each other; we take that energy home to our cities and towns and colleges, where we continue to raise awareness about gender performance to the mainstream world." When drag king Manuel Hung of a Boston troupe called the Princesses of Porn With the Dukes of Dykedom took the stage, audience members were surprised to see him/her in a dress. My first thought was "He/she looks like a drag queen." Then I realized the person before us could be read in multiple ways: a guy dressed as a transvestite, a butch-dyke dressed as a trans-woman, or a woman dressed as a man dressed as a woman. Maybe it was the long brown wig she wore&emdash;I don't know&emdash;but suddenly the smell of Chickie's spicy perfume filled my nostrils, and I felt his presence in the room. I think he would be proud of his modern-day successors, who continue to push the boundaries of gender performance both on- and offstage. http://www.puckerup.com. Top
[14] Tennents new lager lovelies have and extra little something Top From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. dailyrecord - TENNENT'S NEW LAGER LOVELIES HA... http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/features/page.cfm?objectid=12325053&method=full &siteid=89488 Oct 31 2002 Simon Houston Exclusive THE Tennent's Lager lovelies are back - but not as you remember them. Meet Rab and Rory, the ladyboy barmaids from Bangkok. The tartan-clad transsexuals star in the latest Tennent's ad campaign, set in a Scottish theme bar in Thailand called MacAndrew's. It's a far cry from the sexy Scots models - including a young Carol Smillie - who were plastered over lager cans in the pre- PC 70s and 80s. Aired for the first time tomorrow night, the ad shows Rab and Rory serving pints of lager and telling customers to "take a drink, big man". And when they're not pulling pints, the pair are serving up well-known Scottish delicacies such as deep- fried chocolate tempura - which look suspiciously like Mars bars. The new ad is the first in a series designed to show how popular Tennent's has become around the globe. It's the first Tennent's ad since the hugely successful Pintlings campaign. Tennent's' head of marketing, Sandra Mitchell, said: "Tennent's never rests on its laurels and we always want to surprise people - this new advert will certainly do that." Top
COMMENTARY What's in a pronoun? By Rebecca Kastl rkastl@earthlink.net Top What's in a pronoun? This is not the usual gripe about pronoun usage relating to people within the trans community. This is more related to the willingness of society to dehumanize transgendered people. By now you're probably asking what I‚m rambling on about anyway. Last week, and into this week, two stories came across the newswire that, when placed together have caused me a lot of consternation and thinking. One story relates to the transgendered community. The other does not. Both stories involve the taking of a life. The first story that started all of this was the case of Gwen Araujo in Newark, CA. Gwen was a transgendered teen who was murdered because it was discovered that her anatomy did not match her gender presentation. The second story was about a malcontent in Tucson, AZ who decided to go on a shooting spree and kill three professors in the University of Arizona School of Nursing. How do these cases intersect? It wasn't until a couple days after the shooting in Tucson that things really started to fall into place for me. I was reading through the editorial commentary and the suicide note left by the shooter in Tucson. It was reported that "he" said this, "he" did that. Then I harkened back to the articles from the case in Newark, CA where a teen was murdered because she didn't fit into a gender stereotype. Comments about her situation ranged from using "he" to "it" (as in a girl loosely connected with the killers stating "it's a 'he'!"), rarely finding any report referring to Gwen Araujo as "she". What disturbs me about all this? I'm not making the point that many would assume I'm making: that being that the killer in Tucson was referred to by a proper pronoun, while our victim friend in Newark, CA didn't get the same treatment. No. What disturbs me about all this is that no one, anywhere, has demonstrated any level of compunction about referring to Gwen as "it" -- thereby making her a non-person, and non-human, no longer deserving of the same treatment as others in society -- while our killer in Tucson, the one who so deservedly should be referred to as "it" (at least more deservedly so than Gwen), is referred to by appropriate pronouns and names. I don't refer to my dog or cat as "it" and I don't hear anyone else refer to their pets in this manner, either. So why then is it necessary, let alone condoned, to refer to a transgendered human being, who has committed no crime, as an "it". What is criminal in referring to transgendered people with a gender appropriate pronoun? -- especially when they have so obviously given their life in an effort to achieve some degree of gender congruity. Why is it okay to drop the latter part of the label "transgender person" and allow them to become some sort of non-human entity; devoid of life, devoid of dreams, devoid of needs, devoid of existence to the point where people need not pay any attention to them besides a morbid fascination to satisfy some juvenile curiosity? As a friend of mine commented, we talk about „old people,‰ not „olds‰ when referring to elderly persons. So how is it that „transgender people‰ become „transgenders‰? Some may scream about this being a form of political correctness run amok, or a „tyranny of language‰ (as Norah Vincent is fond of referring to it). But I can assure you that it is not. It is merely demonstrating a level of respect for fellow human beings that we are all entitled to expect. If we want to forgo formality and start referring to anyone as „it,‰ then let‚s focus that on those persons truly worthy of such disregard for their existence. For unless we can bring ourselves to dehumanize the least of the human beings among us -- those who represent the greatest danger to us all; murderers, rapists, thieves, and other violent criminals -- then we should, by no means, be prepared to so willingly dehumanize those who have committed no crime against society besides daring to be who they are inside, and challenging us all to think beyond a world of simple black and white. TopNTAC DECRIES CHEAP SHOT TACTICS IN YPSILANTI CAMPAIGN
For Immediate Release: Dated November 3, 2002From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) Contact Person: Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas Contact Email: ntacmedia@aol.com media@ntac.org Contact Phone: 832-483-9901Website: http://www.ntac.org
Transgender groups, including the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, are up in arms over what they call "low blows" by conservative groups trying to repeal Ypsilanti, Michigan's equal rights ordinance.
Just days before the elections and the vote on whether to repeal protection for the town's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents, the battle has heated up, with gay and transgender groups up in arms over opposition tactics, including inflammatory language, attack ads and stereotypes about transgender people.
The opposition includes Tom Monaghan, ex-CEO of Domino's Pizza, former Green Bay Packer Reggie White, the religious soul group the Winans sisters, and a group calling themselves "Ypsilanti Citizens Voting Yes For Equal Rights Not Special Rights."
Meanwhile the Ypsilanti Campaign For Equality (YCFE) is going door-to-door to explain how the opposition is resorting to mudslinging, negative, libelous attack ads.
This bedroom community of less than 23,000, nestled between Detroit and Ann Arbor, Michigan, passed an ordinance in 1997 protecting its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents from discrimination. Since then, this city has been in the crosshairs of a relentless attempt to overturn the measure - all of which have failed.
Monaghan, well-known for anti-abortion views, donated about $7,000 to put the initiative to repeal on the ballot. He is not a resident of Ypsilanti, and Washtenaw County Judge Donald Shelton threw out the initiative in August because Monaghan collected signatures illegally.
Since then, the decision invalidating the initiative has been overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals, allowing it to be reinstated on the ballot for a vote. A previous vote to repeal the ordinance in 1999 also failed.
Proponents of equal rights are dismayed at the opposition's tactics this year, which harkens back to D. W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" styled racist ploys.
The most recent tactics attempt to portray transgenders as pedophiles. In the latest development, the opposition group circulated an ad featuring a picture of a pre-operative transsexual, with the caption "Will you vote YES to protect your daughter ... your granddaughter ... from being forced to use the girl's bathroom with men like this?"
"It's misleading, and very provocative," said Vanessa Edwards Foster, chair of the transgender civil rights group, NTAC. "They implant the message of "protect your daughters" with the false image that male-to-female transgenders all somehow rape or molest.
"It's only a step away from the Klan movie "Birth of a Nation" inferring a need to protect your daughters by saying that all black men wanted to rape white women," Foster concluded. "These broad generalizations are not only inaccurate, they're defamatory and damaging to an entire class of people."
"This is more about a powerful man, Tom Monaghan, with a personal agenda," said Lisa Zuber, co-chairwoman of YCFE. They have been trying to inform voters and Michigan residents about the threat to repeal the ordinance.
"The ballot language is confusing," said Beth Bashert, spokeswoman for YCFE. The language of the ballot requires one to vote "No" in order to keep the equal rights ordinance in place, or "Yes" in order to kill the ordinance. "We need to make sure that voters understand that the nondiscrimination ordinance will be annulled (if the referendum passes)," Bashert added. "We have to get that message across."
The Ypsilanti Campaign For Equality (YCFE) may be reached at http://www.ycfe.org
Re: Eugene Oregon--City hears testimony on human rights law
by Kelly Stevens
October 28, 2002 Anne: This is a comment on the article from Eugene, OR, part of which I copied below for reference. I've heard this argument before, but this is the first time I've seen it so concisely stated. "The Human Rights Commission wants to force its ideas of morality on the community of Eugene". My observation is that Mr. Pearson, and others like him, have been imposing their idea of morality on Eugene, and the rest of the country for quite a few years. As long as it is their idea of morality they have no problems. But when someone challenges that morality they have major upset. I am of the opinion that it is long past time in the U.S.A. that morality, as a stand alone subject, be debated. What constitutes morality? Is it adherence to a particular religious point of view? Is it adherence to a commonly accepted code of conduct? Is it always black and white, or is there any gray? Where is the line between morality and immorality drawn, and most importantly, who gets to draw that line? Then we can get down to the nitty gritty of what constitutes moral. That is one super large, gargantuan can of worms. But a peak at the can label can show just a little of the problems within. Is it moral for two people to form a loving relationship? Can those two people form such a relationship that they chose to announce to the community, and stand up in front of it, that their love is so great that they wish to intermingle the most intimate parts of their lives until death separates them? Is it moral to keep two such people apart because someone, outside of the couple, objects to their partnering? Do you have a problem if I define that couple as Romeo and Juliet? Robert and Jose? Jane and Concepcione? The rest of the label on that can is more complicated. Opening that can may be extremely messy. Who knows where those worms will crawl, and what they'll get into? Anybody have a can opener I can borrow? Anybody willing to lend a hand getting the lid off? Kelly Stevens c/o smcbride@whc.net Who has lots of questions and not enough answers. [9] USA: Eugene Oregon--City hears testimony on human rights law via Rica Ashby Fredrickson <rica@netaxs.com> Daily Emerald, October 15, 2002 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR (Fax: 541-346-5821 ) (E-Mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu ) http://www.dailyemerald.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/10/15/3dac29a883967 Speakers testified for and against a proposed domestic partner registry and changes offering protection for transgender people Jacquelyn Lewis and Helen Schumacher, Staff Writers . . . Eugene resident Bob Pearson said he hopes the city won't approve the Human Rights Commission's recommendations. "The Human Rights Commission wants to force its ideas of morality on the community of Eugene," he said. Top
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