Vitale Letter #243, November 18, 2002 Anne Vitale PhD, Editor
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- LEAD STORY
4 th arrest in slaying of transgender youth
- MEDIA WATCH
- [12] USA: Life on the other side
- [13]USA: Transgender issues: Insurance coverage for a transgender family
- [14]USA: VICKI'S VIEW: God Loves Gwen and You and Even Me
- [15] Gender Bender Marriage rights
- LEGAL ACTION
- [16]USA: Massachusetts-- T-woman wins unfair dissmissal case, unfairly fired due to dress at work
- [17] USA: Birth Certificate Change Refusals in Conflict With Law
- [18]USA: Transgender issues: Insurance coverage for a transgender family
- [19]USA: Transgender people and marriage: the importance of legal planning
- BOOKS ETC....
- [20] USA: Washington Post--Sex and Sensibility
- Birds do it, bees do it. People write about it -- a lot.
- HEALTH AND SCIENCE
- [21]USA: California Transgender health added (to University of Southern California lecture series)
- [22] UK: How mothers can learn if their girls will be tomboys
- ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
- [23] Gender-bending
- [24]USA New York City --Experimental film fest in New York has TG section
- RELIGION
- [25]USA; Old church takes new look at gender
- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- RE: Khun Thanyaporn Anyasiri for Ambassador of Good Will
- From Kenny Marshall
- RE: Pronouns
- From R.L.Forrester-King to Mercury News
- Re: Pronouns
- From Leslie Forrester
=====///============///========///======///======///==========///==========///======
From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Police in Newark, California have taken a fourth suspect into custody in the slaying of Gwen Araujo, a 17-year-old transgendered woman. Local authorities have also hinted that other arrests may be made in connection with the murder.
"The trail seems to be hot," said Newark Police Lt. Tom Milner, "and we're continuing forward.
Jason Cazares, 22, was arrested Saturday, November 16, in this bedroom community in the San Francisco Bay area in connection with the murder. His arraignment is scheduled for today. Cazares was initially suspected to have participated in the murder, but claimed he had left the party before the incident took place. With insufficient evidence, police were unable to press charges until this weekend.
"The Newark Police have done a outstanding job of investigating [the murder,]" stated Vanessa Edwards Foster, chair of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC). "More often than not, murders committed against transgenders are left unsolved, and in cases where there are known suspects or arrests, the diligence [by authorities] is not there and justice is not sufficiently served. The general feeling is that transgenders aren't worth the effort."
The arrest comes immediately before the transgenders and supporters around the world observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance. This year's observance on November 20 is the largest ever, with over seventy locations participating from the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Chile, Argentina, Spain, Italy and France. Notably, this year's list of transgendered victims is also larger than in years past, with 27 victims being memorialized.
"The timing of this case, and the arrest of the suspects reminds us that murders like this happen all the time," said Gwen Smith, founder of the website "Remembering Our Dead" which spawned the Transgender Day of Remembrance. "I would hope that we can highlight the issue, and prevent there from being any more such deaths in the world."
Cazares joins Jaron Nabors, 19, Jose Antonio Merel and Michael William Magidson, both 22. Nabors has entered an innocent plea. Merel and Magidson enter their pleas on December 13.
It was one of these suspects, Nabors, who led police to a shallow grave more than 150 miles from the crime scene. At the gravesite, police found the body of Gwen Araujo, bound at the wrists and ankles and wrapped in a sheet.
According to affidavits collected by police, Araujo was slashed with a knife and beaten by suspects at a house party in Newark, after a third party discovered the victim was anatomically a male. She was then dragged into a garage and strangled with a rope.
"This case is unique," said Foster. "Gwen's family was supportive and adamant about seeing this pursued. In addition, the Newark P.D. has also been remarkably diligent in their investigation. This murder has not been given the short shrift, and the credit goes to the Guerreros - Gwen's family - for their open concern and support, and especially the Newark Police for following through and making every effort to tie up all loose ends.
"I'm very touched by the way this case has been treated," Foster added. "Finally, albeit in death, Gwen Araujo is treated as a human."
WorldNews: Man Arrested in Transgender Death http://cgi.wn.com/?action=display&article=16817564&template=worldnews/search .txt&index=recent Mon, 18 Nov 2002 Man Arrested in Transgender Death Top The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) &emdash; A fourth suspect was arrested in the slaying of a transgender youth who was beaten and strangled at a party after suspects discovered the cross-dressing teen was a boy, police said Sunday. Jason Cazares, 22, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder over his alleged role in the killing of Eddie "Gwen" Araujo, said Newark Police Lt. Tom Milner. He was being held without bail. "The trail seems to be hot and we're continuing forward," Milner said. He declined comment on Cazares's suspected role in the crime. Last month, another suspect led authorities to a shallow grave 150 miles east of San Francisco in the Sierra foothills two weeks after the Oct. 3 party. The 17-year-old was found buried &emdash; wrists and ankles bound &emdash; in the miniskirt he was last seen wearing while going by the name "Lida." Witnesses told police Araujo was beaten, dragged half-conscious into a garage and strangled with a rope, according to court documents. It was not immediately clear if Cazares had been assigned a lawyer. He was to be arraigned Monday. Three others have also been arrested and charged. Jaron Nabors, 19, pleaded innocent, while Jose Antonio Merel and Michael William Magidson, both 22, have not yet entered pleas. A hearing date has been set for Dec. 13.
4 th arrest in slaying of transgender youth Top Boston Globe Online / Nation | World / New Me... http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/322/nation/New_Mexico+.shtml Monday, November 18, 2002 THE NATION TODAY (SNIP) CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO - A fourth suspect was arrested in the slaying of a transgender youth who was beaten and strangled at a party after suspects discovered the apparent girl was a boy, police said yesterday. Jason Cazares, 22, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder over his alleged role in the Oct. 3 killing of Eddie ''Gwen'' Araujo, said Newark Police Lieutenant Tom Milner. He was being held without bail. Witnesses told police Araujo was beaten, dragged half-conscious into a garage and strangled with a rope, according to court documents. (AP) Top
ANNOUNCEMENTS
[1]USA: Transgender Day of Remembrance Ready To Roll
Top
Source: Gwendolyn Ann Smith
2002 Event set to be largest transgender event ever staged
With less than a week to go, organizers of the 4th annual Transgender
Day of Remembrance are set to host the largest multi-venue transgender
event ever staged. It may be about time.
"People are killed due to anti-transgender violence more than once a
month," says event founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith, "since our last event,
we've found 26 murders. Now, more than ever, people need to stand up."
And stand up they are: over 70 locations in 6 countries across the world
are set to host events against this sort of violence on or around
November 20th.
Events include candle-lit marches in West Hollywood and San Francisco,
California, a speakout at the United States capitol, and four separate
events within Atlanta, Georgia. Numerous colleges and universities --
and even one High School -- are also taking the initiative, hosting
Transgender Day of Remembrance events on their campuses.
The growth has been phenomenal. The first Transgender Day of Remembrance
was observed in one city, with the second and third being held in 14 and
23 cities, respectively. Organizers admit to being surprised by this
year's turnout, with several locations having to reevaluate crowd estimates.
Many are pointing to the brutal murder of 17-year-old Gwen Araujo in
Newark, California, as a flashpoint for interest in the issue of
anti-transgender violence, though they are loath to say that this one
issue has caused the growth of interest.
"The Araujo case has certainly played a part in the event's growth,"
said Smith. "It is not the sole reason. We had already seen an increase
in involvement and interest in the event, and groups such as the
National Coalition of GLBT Educators in Higher Education had started to
promote the event to their members."
The Day of Remembrance is November 20th. For additional information, see
http://www.rememberingourdead.org A Project of Gender Education & Advocacy.
Top
[2]USA: Workshop booklet on trans parenting concerns available on web
Top
Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002
From: "tgnews_moderator" <tgnews_moderator@yahoo.com>
A unique and valuable workshop on Trans Parenting issues was
presented at the recent NGLTF conference. It was conducted by Shannon
Minter, Jack Keegan and Paula Funatake. For those who were not able
to attend this conference or workshop, the booklet used in workshop
has been uploaded to the web.
This is the cover page of the booklet:
===============================
What are the additional issues that a trans person faces when they
are also a parent? What legal parenting protections exist or do
they? What defines the qualities of a parent ˆ birth gender, love
and affection? Mother, Father, birth parent ˆ how do you fill our
your child's school forms, how do they respond to, "Who is that?"
from their friends? What happens when the non-trans parent re-
marries or begins a new partnership?
Best Interests of the Child will present a glimpse at the social,
psychological and legal topics related to being a transgender parent.
*Custody determinations, evaluations, psychological testing, ethical
guidelines, legal guidelines, arguments against the transgender
parent.
*Non-custodial parenting, the new step parent, the children's
school/activities, filling out forms, protecting the biological,
transgender parent's rights.
*Current court cases including Kanteras v. Kanteras with video clips
from the CourtTV case.
*Legal protections, wills, pre-nuptials, the divorce/custody decree.
An open discussion, question and answer period will follow
Top
GENERAL INFORMATION
[3]THAILAND--Thailand shows off tolerance at annual gay parade
Thailand shows off tolerance at annual gay pa... http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/11/17/latest/8837Thailands&s ec=latest From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. Sunday, November 17, 2002 BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Hundreds of gay men and transvestites pranced down a Bangkok shopping street Sunday in an annual parade climaxing a 10-day gay festival. Some participants flaunted costumes inspired by the Bruce Willis science fiction movie "The Fifth Element'' with flowing tassels, tiny blouses, tight skirts and knee length boots. Others wore ball gowns, ostrich feathers and brightly colored wigs. A few donned traditional Thai costumes depicting mythological characters while some were in Japanese kimonos. Despite being a conservative Buddhist society, Thailand is one of the most tolerant countries in Asia in its attitude toward gays and transvestites. And Sunday's parade was another example of the country's tolerant attitude. Gay male students attend classes in skirts and make up. A prominent TV talk show host is a transsexual, and transvestites here have a place in society. "This is awesome. We love it not only because it shows Thailand is more open-minded about the issue but also these people look cute and beautiful in those dresses,'' said Kwanchanok Wannabhum, an 11-year-old girl who was brought by her parents to watch the parade make its way down Silom Road. Sunday's show was the biggest in terms of participants and spectators since the parade became an annual event four years ago, said Anan Anpruang, co-chairman of Bangkok Pride Coalition, which organized the parade. During the 10-day festival, gay men participated in sports competitions, attended a gay and lesbian film festival and participated in a beauty contest.-AP © 1995-2002 Star Publications (Malaysia) Bhd (Co No 10894-D) Top
[4]
USA: Killer of Amanda Milan (aka Amanda Dyer) gets 17
years
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 From: "tgnews_moderator" <tgnews_moderator@yahoo.com> >>> Source: Gay City News (GLBT weekly, New York City) Duncan Osborne http://tinyurl.com/2qqd http://www.gaycitynews.com/gcn25/guiltyplea.html Dwayne McCuller, the killer of Amanda Milan, has pleaded guilty in the 2000 homicide and will be given a sentence of 17-and-a-half years to life on November 22. "We're glad that this phase is over and ended," said Clarence Patton, director of community organizing and public advocacy at the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project. "We do think that, given the circumstances, given the hard work of the D.A.'s office, that the deal struck was a good deal... He will be put away for at least 18 years and because of the mental issues he is suffering with he will have supervision after that. We hope he will have some professional care for that as well." McCuller, now 22, stabbed the 25-year-old Milan to death on June 20, 2000 near West 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue. Activists charged that the attack was motivated by anti-transgender bias. On November 8, McCuller pleaded guilty. He admitted to possessing the murder weapon and using it to inflict serious bodily injury on Milan. McCuller's trial was postponed last year after he won a ruling from a court-appointed psychiatrist saying that he was not fit to stand trial. As part of his plea deal, McCuller has agreed to not contest a ruling made earlier this year that he was now fit. The pace of the prosecution was frustrating for some activists and the sentence may seem too short. "To me it seems a rather light sentence given the brutality of the crime," said Pauline Park, co-chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy. "Obviously we are delighted that he was convicted and that he will serve time for the murder. When one considers the very long sentences given for similar crimes against non-transgender people, I have to think that many in the transgender community will be disappointed." Still the case is notable for the very quick response by police and the, ultimately, effective prosecution. "The police did follow up on it and someone will be serving time for the murder," Park said. "In many cases police do not take crimes against transgender people seriously... I think that justice has been done in that the murderer will be doing time for this crime. That is more than what happens in most transgender hate crimes." Fred Seligman, McCuller's attorney did not respond to a call seeking comment. One of McCuller's co-defendants has already been sentenced and the second is awaiting trial. David Anderson, 32, was charged with hindering prosecution and he pleaded guilty earlier this year. Anderson received a sentence of one- and-a-half to three years. He tried to help McCuller leave New York City after the killing. Eugene Celestine, 28, is charged with criminally negligent homicide for allegedly assisting McCuller during the killing. Celestine faces up to four years in prison if convicted. He is slated to go to trial early next year. Vol. 1, Issue 25 November 15-21, 2002 Top
[5]USA:
Transgendered professor to visit Colorado University
Top Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 From: tgnews_moderator <tgnews_moderator@yahoo.com> Source: Colorado Daily Author: JENNY ATCHLEY http://www.coloradodaily.com/display/inn_news/news04.txt As a man, Deirdre McCloskey did not like frilly, colorful clothing. As a woman, such garb still does not suit her. For 53 years, McCloskey lived as "Donald," a man with a teaching career, a 30-year marriage and two children. But seven years ago, McCloskey realized he was supposed to be a woman. "It's something I wanted to do, but we all have an amazing ability to hide things from ourselves," McCloskey said. "When I was 11 I would fall asleep praying that the following morning I wouldn't stutter and I would be a girl. At age 53, I finally got half of my prayer." As keynote speaker at the Open Door Fund's seventh annual Monsoon dinner and silent auction fundraiser, McCloskey will share her story and speak on her book, "Deirdre After Crossing: The Normal Life of a Former Guy." The auction begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Spice of Life Event Center at 5706 Arapahoe Road in Boulder. Dinner follows at 7 p.m. Tickets, which are partially tax-deductible, cost $85 and are available at the door. The Open Door Fund, an endowment of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, benefits local members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities. Growing up a male in the "repressed era" of the 1950s, McCloskey tried to embrace traditionally male roles. She was captain of her high school football team and participated in athletics in college. "I was just kind of an ordinary guy from all external appearances," McCloskey said. But in August 1995, McCloskey said she had no doubt she had to become a woman. She considered names like "Dawn," "Donna," and "Diana," but settled on "Deirdre" after "Deirdre of the Sorrows," a character in Irish mythology. After changing genders, McCloskey said she was anxious about social reaction to her decision. Yet, she experienced little opposition. "The first job was to make sure I passed with strangers," she said, describing the nose job, cheek implants, hair transplants and more than $10,000 worth of electrolysis she underwent to remove her beard. The next obstacle for McCloskey, a distinguished professor of economics, English and history at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was finding acceptance from her professional colleagues. Again, she met with "surprisingly" little criticism. "I think the economists think of it as a free market choice and the English professors think it's cool and post-modern," McCloskey said. Sometimes conservative Christian college students comment negatively about her, McCloskey said, but for the most part students take no issue with her. "I think students these days are so much more easy on such matters than they were when I was a student," McCloskey said. "They aren't as hysterical about homosexuality as they were before." She cited television sitcom "Will and Grace," which features a gay man, and comedian Ellen DeGeneres, an open lesbian, as influences in making homosexuality a "ho-hum sort of thing." While McCloskey has met little resistance from general society, the same has not been true for her family. Her two children, who both live half an hour away from her, have refused to talk to her or introduce her to her grandchildren. "That's like being stabbed and having the dagger turn in the lung," McCloskey said. "We haven't in this world got infinite number of opportunities for love and to throw away an opportunity for love is very sad for all concerned." McCloskey emphasized that her children's disapproval has been the only negative aspect of her experience. Well, maybe. "The other bad news is it's hard to get a date," McCloskey said. "My girlfriends who are themselves 60-ish, successful and professional women are saying, 'Look, we haven't had a date for five years, either.'" It is not about looking beautiful, though, it's about passing, McCloskey said. "It's about not being taken for a man in a dress," she said. The Open Door Fund committee decided to invite McCloskey to speak after attending her presentation at last year's CU Conference on World Affairs. "Folks were just enchanted with her," said Joanne Arnold, a retired CU journalism professor and chair of the Open Door Fund Advisory Committee. Because the transgendered population is not as prevalent as gays, lesbians and bisexuals, organizers wanted to invite a prominent speaker from the "T" part of the GLBT community, Arnold said. McCloskey explained that changing genders was not something she desired, like wanting to be a woman because she liked frilly clothes. "To decide to do something like this is not about close calculations of cost and benefit," she said. "It's about who you are who you feel yourself to be." For more information about the Open Door Fund's fundraiser call (303) 443-0436. Top
[6]USA--San Francisco --Deputy fired over transgender abuse Top San Francisco Examiner http://www.examiner.com/news/default.jsp?story=n.transgender.1113w RETRIEVED: Friday, November 15, 2002 Publication date: 11/13/2002 BY DAVID KIEFER AND ADRIENNE SANDERS Of The Examiner Staff In the wake of news that a San Francisco sheriff's deputy was fired for abusing a transgender woman in custody, other transgender ex-inmates stepped forward Tuesday to say they also were mistreated. "Officers told me, 'Wiggle it, show us it's real.' They threw urine in my face and said I should be killed," said Marilyn Robinson, a transgender woman and former prostitute. Robinson was part of a group of transgender activists, lawyers and civil rights proponents who gathered in front of City Hall on Tuesday to thank Sheriff Mike Hennessey for firing Deputy Anthony Hughes. "Hopefully, this is something we can use to hold other city officials to the same standard," said Chris Daley, an attorney with The City's Transgender Law Center. "Our hope is that others will follow the sheriff's lead. Law enforcement agencies very rarely act with these kinds of principles based on these types of complaints." The woman involved in the incident, Tumeka Godwin, filed a civil lawsuit accusing the deputy of sexual assault. Hughes repeatedly ordered Tumeka Godwin to strip, masturbate, show him her body and dance for him over a period of three months late in 2001, according to the complaint. The Sheriff's Department did not return calls seeking comment on Monday or Tuesday. Godwin's attorney, Jana Carter, claims Hughes was fired Nov. 4, one week after being served with the complaint, largely because of his harassment of Godwin. Carter said she was thrilled that Hennessey was receptive to the transgender community, but disappointed that he seems reluctant to consider screening and transgender training programs for deputies. Robinson agreed that abuse is rife in the criminal justice system. "I was strip searched and beaten in front of 18 officers," said the program assistant for SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation), a SoMa nonprofit. Top
[7]GERMANY:Berlin--From gold medal to sex change Top Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 From: "Claire Ashton" <claire@c-ashton.fsnet.co.uk> http://www.namibian.com.na/Netstories/2000/May/Sport/0081DB4B1E.html Namibian Sport News Wednesday, May 31, 2000 - Web posted at 9:22:46 GMT >From gold medal to sex change BERLIN - An ex-East German women's shotput champion Tuesday confronted in court the men who prescribed the little blue pills that brought sporting fame -followed by the sex change he is today not sure he wanted. Andreas Krieger, formerly 1986 European women's shotput champion Heidi Krieger, was giving evidence in the Berlin trial of the two men who for years headed East Germany's state-run sport doping programme. Krieger, with close-cropped hair and a moustache the sole male figure among the score of female doping victims giving evidence, told how in 1983 he had first been given the little blue male hormone pills already described during the lengthy trial by other witnesses. While not claiming they had been the sole cause of his sex change, Krieger - now 34 - said they had "forced the transsexual tendency", yet the doctors and sports officials at the time ignored this. They had continued giving him up to five pills a day from the age of 16 or 17 - fully aware, Krieger said, that at the time he could also have been treated with female hormones. Sporting success had been all that counted under the system led by the two on trial - 74-year-old Manfred Ewald, erstwhile head of the East German doping programme, and the former deputy leader of the communist country's sports medical association, Manfred Hoeppner. They are charged with aiding and abetting actual bodily harm in 142 cases. Krieger told the court that as a young woman he had been expected to lift a total of 180 tons a week in a closely-regulated weight- lifting training schedule. "It was as if I was standing beside myself - I wasn't Heidi Krieger," he said. He was told simply to put up with the pain of the extreme training. His voice deepened, and people were starting to take him for a man. Unlike some of the witnesses heard at the trial, who insist that as young teenage girls they had no idea that the pills were banned drugs, Krieger said he was aware they were "not clean". They were replaced before major international competitions with "interim injections", as at the 1986 European championships in Stuttgart, then West Germany, where he won gold. Krieger added that in his view doping must still be rife, as it was "biologically impossible" for women to put the shot more than 20 metres. Krieger ended his court story with a description of his life today -every three weeks getting an injection of male hormone his body is unable to produce. But, he added, he had fully come to terms with the sex change. "Herr Krieger is someone I can identify with," he said. The former athletes giving evidence all claim they have suffered health problems as after-effects of performance-enhancing forbidden substances or that they gave birth to disabled children. Ewald led the East German Sports Federation (DZSB) from 1963 to 1988. The systematic state-organised drug abuse programme was revealed after German reunification 1990. Ewald's prominent status means the trial is the most important in a series of court proceedings against former East German sports officials, coaches and doctors. In previous cases defendants were fined or received suspended prison terms. German justice authorities are under pressure because the alleged offences of Ewald and others involved in doping are subject to a statute of limitations October 2, the day before the 10th anniversary of reunification. Nampa-Sapa-DP Top
[8a]
UK--Backing for head in transsexual row
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 From: "Claire Ashton" <claire@c-ashton.fsnet.co.uk> Source Claire Ashton http://www.thisisbrighton.co.uk/brighton__hove/archive/2001/11/13/NEWS490ZM. html First published on Tuesday 13 November 2001: Backing for head in transsexual row by Carrie Buckle The school head involved in a row about a transsexual supply teacher has won the backing of his union. The National Association of Head Teachers has called for better guidelines on the employment of transsexuals in schools after Natasha Thoday was asked to leave Telscombe Cliffs Primary School by head teacher Andrew Kearsey because of her gender change. An NAHT South-East spokeswoman said: "Mr Kearsey demonstrated he was in no way prejudiced against Ms Thoday when he welcomed her to the school in the knowledge she was transsexual." The spokeswoman said the supply agency involved had told the school Ms Thoday was a transsexual prior to her appointment. She said: "We are appalled no guidance has yet been issued by the Local Education Authority on the subject of gender reassignment and how this impacts on equality laws. "It is not enough to simply send out a reminder to schools about equal opportunities." Mr Kearsey has been unable to comment on the settlement reached with Ms Thoday following advice from East Sussex County Council. A council spokeswoman said: "We have supported the head teacher and governors throughout this dispute and in the matter of compensation for the breach of regulations that took place. "The wider issues of employment regulations and gender reassignment are relatively new for all employers and we will take account of experience in this case in producing further guidance for schools." Ms Thoday, 35, began tribunal proceedings against the county council under the Sex Discrimination Act but accepted an out-of-court settlement of £3,780 in September. Last week, she took her fight to be fully recognised as a woman to Rosie Winterton, the minister with new responsibility for transsexuals. Ms Thoday said: "The meeting went really well and Ms Winterton took everything I said on board. "She said it would take a long time, as it would be a matter of liaising with different governmental departments before anything became concrete. But I felt the wheels were starting to turn." Brighton transsexual Persia West, Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper and three civil servants were also at the half-hour meeting, in which the implications of a change in the law were discussed. Ms Thoday said: "My next step will be to write to thank Ms Winterton for meeting us and start asking more specific questions. "Transsexuals have a right to life like anyone else. We should not have to live in fear." Top
[8b]UK--
Transsexual in fight for status
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 20:43:40 -0000
Source Claire Ashton
http://www.thisiseastbourne.co.uk/eastbourne/archive/2001/10/31/NEWS240ZM.html
First published on Wednesday 31 October 2001: Transsexual in fight for status by Carrie Buckle Transsexual Natasha Thoday is today taking her fight to have her status fully recognised by UK law to Westminster. The supply teacher says she lives in fear because she is not legally recognised as a woman. Every day she copes with the knowledge that under current UK law she could be sent to a male prison, prevented from using female toilets and could not marry a man. Today she was due to meet MP Rosie Winston, minister for family affairs with new responsibility for transsexuals, in London, to ask her when the law will be changed. Brighton-based Ms Thoday, 35, said: "I feel vulnerable and frightened because I am not legally recognised. I run the risk of being outed every time I am asked for my national insurance number or my birth certificate. "I had to gather so much courage to come out to the world as a woman in the first place. I did consider committing suicide. To then have to deal with the law not recognising me is difficult. I shouldn't have to justify my existence." Out of 40 countries in the European Union, the UK is one of the few to not legally recognise transsexuals. Ms Thoday, who has lived as a woman for two years, said: "We have just as much right to a life as people with cerebral palsy or MS. "If transsexuals were fully recognised legally it would differentiate us from transvestites or drag queens. I don't go home and turn into a bloke, I am a woman all the time." A working party Government report on transsexuals published last year identified three options for the future - to leave the current situation as it is, to issue birth certificates showing the new name and possibly gender, or to grant full legal recognition of the new gender. Ms Thoday said: "We are not issuing threats, we just want to politely ask what the timetable is for consideration of the report. It took eight years of campaigning by transsexuals and a lot of work went into it. We are willing to help the Government in the process. The report cannot be left to gather dust." She said it was important people realised that transsexuality, also known as Gender Identity Disorder, was due to hormones and began in the womb. Ms Thoday said: "From my earliest awareness, I felt like a female. As I got older, I felt anxious and thought I was going mad. I felt like I was in the wrong body." Ms Thoday was recently given an out-of-court settlement after being asked to leave her job as a teacher by the head of Telscombe Cliffs Community Primary School because of her gender change. She said: "I never go into a school and announce to children that I am a transsexual. That would be totally unacceptable professionally. But if a child asks or makes rude comments then I would rather answer any questions they may have in a responsible manner." Ms Thoday said she was willing to answer any questions parents may have if they wanted to call a public meeting. Anyone who would like to call a public meeting or would like more information on transsexuality can contact The Gender Trust on 07000 790347 or email Ms Thoday on natasha@XXXXXX.com Top
[8c]UK--Transsexual
teacher wins compensation
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 20:45:32 -0000 From: "Claire Ashton" <claire@c-ashton.fsnet.co.uk> Source Claire Ashton http://www.thisisbrighton.co.uk/brighton__hove/archive/2001/09/27/NEWS120ZM. html First published on Thursday 27 September 2001: Transsexual teacher wins compensation by Carrie Buckle A transsexual supply teacher has won a pay-out after a school asked her to leave because of her gender change. Natasha Thoday, 35, had completed only one day at Telscombe Cliffs Community Primary School when she was told her services were no longer required. She began employment tribunal proceedings under the 1999 amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 but East Sussex County Council offered her an out of court settlement of £3,780. Ms Thoday, of Hanover, Brighton, used the cash to become the proud owner of a Mercedes Benz car. She said: "I feel fantastic. I went straight out and bought a new car but it was always about justice not the money. "I put my life and soul into teaching and deserved better than this. "It's illegal to discriminate against transsexual people and the county council should have known this." Ms Thoday described how, on March 5 this year, she received a call from agency Teaching Personnel telling her headmaster Andrew Kearsey no longer required her services at the school. She said: "I cried. Mr Kearsey had told them he was worried about me disrupting the ability of the children to concentrate on their learning. "I was upset and received a call from agency Teaching Personnel telling her headmaster Andrew Kearsey no longer required her services at Telscombe Cliffs Community Primary School. She said: "I cried. Mr Kearsey had told them he was worried about me disrupting the ability of the children to concentrate on their learning. "I was upset and outraged. If I do a bad job I want to be criticised for that, not because of my gender transition. "The agency offered me another teaching job the next day and I knew I had to continue or my confidence would be knocked." Recent changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 specify the employment rights of transsexuals. Ms Thoday, who has lived as a woman for two years, said: "I phoned Mr Kearsey and recorded the conversation. I explained that he was breaking the law. "I asked him nicely why he didn't want me in his school. He said he was worried about Section 28, which bans the promotion of homosexuality in schools. "He said he was concerned the kids would not be able to concentrate on their exams. "One of the pupils had asked him if I was a transsexual like Hayley on Coronation Street." Ms Thoday said when she first walked into a classroom she often had to put up with rude remarks about her gender transition from pupils. She said: "They are just curious but I tell them they should have the courage to say things to my face if I have the courage to stand up and answer their questions. Afterwards they often say 'We think you're cool, miss'." Ms Thoday said since she had become a woman she had felt genuine happiness and contentment for the first time in her life. She said: "It has been hard work but I feel wonderful. Before I felt like a puppeteer but now I am me. I no longer have to apologise for who I am. "Transsexuals are not second-class citizens. All we want is to be treated like any other women." Ms Thoday took the dispute to the first stage of an employment tribunal but it was resolved via the conciliatory service Acas. The compensation money was paid jointly by Telscombe Cliffs Primary Primary School and East Sussex County Council. A spokesman for East Sussex County Council said: "The headteacher of the school recognises there was a breach of the law. "The school is pleased an agreement has been reached and compensation awarded to the teacher concerned. The school believes the matter is now closed." Top
[9]UK--
Young boys who are allowed to dress up as female characters could
become better readers
Top Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 20:18:57 -0000 From: "Claire Ashton" <claire@c-ashton.fsnet.co.uk> From: Anon. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/337745.stm Friday, May 7, 1999 Published at 13:49 GMT 14:49 UK Young boys who are allowed to dress up as female characters could become better readers, it has been claimed. The assertion is made in Boys and Reading, a report published by the Centre for Language in Primary Education. The report's joint author, Sue Pidgeon, suggests that boys are poorer readers than girls because their experiences are more limited. While girls are allowed to dress up as male and female characters, boys are discouraged from taking on female roles. "Parents don't mind their little girls dressing up as pirates, but boys are not allowed to be princesses," Ms Pidgeon told BBC News Online. 'Ridiculous' "Part of understanding what you read is about being able to see a particular point of view, and to do that we need to feel familiar with different characters, male and female. "If boys are only offered a limited understanding when they are young, then we shouldn't be surprised if they have a limited understanding later on." Ms Pidgeon, English adviser to schools in the London Borough of Lewisham, said she had based her conclusion on many years of observing primary school children. But Nick Seaton, of the traditionalist Campaign for Real Education, described the idea as "ridiculous". He said: "It's inviting cross dressing, which could cause gender confusion and damage a child. "The research shows that boys learn to read well when they are taught properly, using the phonics method." Top
[10] THAILAND --Bid for gender benders to switch title Top From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. Bangkok Post Tuesday 12 November 2002 - Bid f... http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/12Nov2002_news12.html Tuesday 12 November 2002 Senator Wallop Tangkhananurak wants to amend the law to allow transvestites to call themselves Ms or Mrs after sex change operations. Mr Wallop, who chairs the Senate committee on women, youth and the elderly affairs, said he wanted to see the law amended to allow transvestites after sex change surgery to change their titles from Mr as they had effectively become women. The change would make it lawful for police to press rape charges against those raping men-turned-women. Suspect rapists face only molestation charges under the current law. He also said transvestites had every right to wear girl uniforms in college. © Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2002 Top
[11] MEXICO: Hundreds attend Tecate transgender protest march Message: 7 Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 10:58:55 -0000 From: "Mrs. Petra Henderson" <petrahenderson@yahoo.com> --- In transgendernews group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transgendernews "tgnews_moderator" <tgnews_moderator@y...> wrote: >>> Source: Gay & Lesbian Times (GLBT weekly, San Diego) >>> Author: Rex Wockner >>> TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/2qpn >>> URL: http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/asp/nm2/templates/sandiego.asp? articleid=637&zoneid=2 >>> Date: Nov. 14, 2002 >>> Location: MX >>> Item: News Title: Hundreds attend Tecate march; Council majority meets with transgender protesters (photo) http://www.gaylesbiantimes.com/asp/nm2/articlefiles/637-s41.jpg (caption)A Tecate transgender woman and a relative ride atop a car at the march About 400 marchers and more than 1,000 spectators turned out Nov. 12 for a protest march by transgender people and gays in the small Mexican border city of Tecate, which has a population of about 125,000. The protesters sashayed down the city's main street behind a sound truck playing "I Will Survive," "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," and "Livin' La Vida Loca." The march was a protest against a new city law that criminalizes any "man dressed as a woman who transits in the public way causing social perturbation." Üity councilors passed the law (Article 34.15 of the Police and Good Governance Act) Oct. 21 because, they said, crossdressing prostitutes are soliciting clients in the central plaza, behaving crudely and spreading HIV. The law has not been well-received by local residents, who lined the street to cheer the marchers. It also has been widely denounced by newspaper editorial writers, talk radiohosts and callers, as well as by local, state and national human-rights officials. "The Tecate mayor is trampling on our rights," said marcher Oeuki. "We are in a free country and he can't violate our rights like that." "We want this law repealed," said marcher Miguel. "We want the city government to respect every person's way of being." Jacqueline Ordhez and three of her transgender friends came from far- away Mexico City for the march. They belong to the Active Homosexual Revolutionary Front. "The city officials and the police, those fucking people make me sick," Ordhez said. "In Mexico City we are very free. The police don't bother us. If all the gay people get together, we can do something for this state, Baja California." Tijuana activist and marcher Max Mejía said Mayor Juan Vargas Rodríguez "is trying to rule people's lives as if Tecate were a tiny village far away from anywhere." "It's important to respond to this as a supporter of gay and transgender rights, and of human rights for everybody," Mejía said. "The support from the people on this matter, if you listen to the radio stations, is just incredible. All the media people are speaking very strongly against this law. The media is really laughing at the mayor." Tecate residents lining the parade route were unanimous in their support for the marchers. "It's great. They should be who they are. It's their right," said Israel Morales. "It's important that the international community know what's going on here," said spectator Felipe. "Tecate is a very nice town with nice people but the government is not respecting human rights. It's political repression. We have a new president nationally who ended 70 years of one-party rule, but Tecate has not changed politically." ?oberto Vázquez, the Tecate representative of the Baja California State Office for Human Rights and Citizen Protection, joined the march. "We are trying to help the homosexuals," he said. "City officials are having good times making laws. Most of the people of the city are against the law; they are calling to the radio stations and speaking against it." The march stopped for half an hour two blocks short of the central plaza when police had cleared traffic on one side of the street but not the other. "Our permit gives us the entire street, from sidewalk to sidewalk," said Sheila Obregón Mange, president of the Tecate Rainbow Gay Association. The march resumed only after several marchers carrying a huge rainbow flag ran ahead and used the flag to block oncoming cars ? something police had been unwilling or unable to accomplish. "In Tijuana, we do just march on one side of the street," said leading gay activist Enrique Alejandro García. "It appears the gays are a little more radical in Tecate. They have their permit and they want the whole street." Following the march, a large rally took place in front of City Hall, which sits on the southeast corner of the central plaza. City Hall spokesperson Roberto Rodríguez said it was scandalous that three transgender persons stood atop a van in front of City Hall, raised their blouses and exposed their breasts. "Did you see that?" he asked the Gay and Lesbian Times. "Did you see that? Do you think that's right, in front of little children? This is exactly what this law is trying to regulate. This is exactly what we mean by `social perturbation.'" As the rally continued, 12 local transgender persons went upstairs to the city council chambers for an impromptu meeting with the police chief and seven members of the 10-member council. (Two non- councilors, one the mayor, also have votes on the council for a total of 12 votes.) Although only three councilors voted against the law when it was passed, at least five of those present voiced support for repealing it. The next City Council meeting isNov. 21. "This is not a regulation against gays or homosexuals," City Hall's Rodríguez explained in an interview. "The sexual contact of every person for us is intimate and free. I want to be very clear about this. We are not against homosexuals, we're not against lesbians, we're not against gays. "This regulation speaks specifically to a man dressed as a woman transiting in the public way causing a social perturbation," he said. "It's a matter of the image of the city. They are bothering people, with words and gestures and actions." Rodríguez said crossdressers are free to walk around Tecate if they do not cause social perturbation, but Mayor Vargas told the local weekly, The Newspaper of Tecate, that even crossdressers who do not "upset public order" will be arrested. The punishment for violating Article 34.15 is arrest and a fine equal to 40 days' salary at the national minimum wage, about $152 in U.S. currency. All material Copyright © 2002 Uptown Publications Issue #777 - www.gaylesbiantimes.com - 11/14/2002 Top
MEDIA WATCH [12] USA: Life on the other side Top http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/women/chi- 0211130050nov13.story Date: Nov. 13, 2002 Born male, they chose to become the women they knew they were One of the first things Deirdre McCloskey noticed when she came out to society as a woman was "the quality of female friendship." "It was astounding to me," said the University of Illinois-Chicago economics professor. "As a man I had lots of acquaintances. I wasn't a loner by any means. But I didn't have any real friends, and that's true of a surprisingly large number of men." For Miranda Stevens-Miller, a research scientist at Kraft Foods, it was the realization that "your opinion was not as valuable. "As a man I would sit in a meeting and everyone would get their opinions out there and they listened to you and it would make a difference. Now, I can make a suggestion and it's almost like it's not heard. Until it rattles round among other people in the room and then it comes out of someone else's mouth and then it's heard." Welcome to the female gender! It's not always easy being a woman. But for those who were born male and spent years trying to sort out their psychological discomfort about feeling female, once they make the transition into full, unabashed womanhood, the main feeling is one of relief. Any disadvantages can be taken in stride. Transsexuals are more evident than ever among us. Often they are the butt of jokes, sensational television programs and outright discrimination in employment and housing. Yet the word "transgender," rarely heard a few years ago, has entered the mainstream media. "I was never a part of the men's club, because those who are transsexual don't all of a sudden become transsexual," said Stevens- Miller, a rangy blond with a model's sense of style, who is in her 50s. "You are transsexual your whole life. Until you really figure out how you fit into the world, you don't fit anywhere. You feel like you're dealing with the world with a mask on." Beth Plotner, a lawyer in Arlington Heights, said she thought about her gender identity all her life--often with fear. "As a child, when I got caught, we'll say, playing with inappropriate clothes, what my parents felt was proper gender behavior was literally beaten into me. I learned at a young age to hide." Plotner, 45, began her transition from male to female in her late 30s, when the world was more accepting. By then, transwomen were just as likely to be the woman next door or a co-worker, rather than simply distant anomalies, such as Christine Jorgensen, Renee Richards, or Welsh travel writer Jan Morris. But many, perhaps most, are not "out"; they prefer to blend in and not make an issue of their transition. Psychiatrists use the term "gender dysphoria" to describe transsexuals' discomfort with their anatomic sex or their sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex. The incidence of people who feel that their minds and emotions don't match their bodies is 1 in every 11,900 who were born genetically male, and 1 in every 30,400 who were born genetically female. Those statistics come from a study done in the Netherlands and replicated in other countries, including Singapore. There is no estimate for the number of people in the U.S. Most people here pay for sexual reassignment surgery themselves. In the Netherlands and Singapore, sexual reassignment surgery is covered by national health insurance and conducted through a central clinic. Those numbers reflect people who completed hormone therapy as well as sexual reassignment surgery. Walter Bockting, a psychologist and coordinator of transgender health services at the University of Minnesota, said the figures mean there are a lot more transgender women who may live as women but do not have the surgery. If the surgical procedures were covered by insurance, the number would be higher, he said. Very often transwomen make the transition in middle age. Those who are married usually end up getting divorced. Plotner's transition began at a point in her life when catastrophes had rained down on her. A power struggle at a law firm was forcing her out the door, her marriage was disintegrating, her father was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she herself had cancer, and her house was struck by lightning and caught fire. She beat the cancer but the brush with death made her feel "entitled to some personal happiness." Her marriage ended with a contentious divorce, but she was able to win visitation rights to allow time with her two sons, 10 and 13, whom she said accepted the fact that Dad is now a woman. Once living as a woman, Plotner, a long-haired brunette said she immediately became aware of "what a misogynistic world we live in." "I go to the bank and people treat me with less respect. As a woman, they think I have less intelligence than I used to have." Many challenging steps Still, the physical transition represents another challenge. Transwomen typically undergo hormone therapy, large doses of estrogen at the beginning and an anti-androgen to block testosterone. As a result, breast size increases; fat is redistributed and body hair decreases. Surgery to remove male genitalia and convert parts of the penis into a vagina then completes the process. Gender expression--how they walk, talk and dress--is up to the individual. McCloskey, 60, a slightly prim woman whose Yorkie, Jane Austen, accompanies her to classes, said learning the female language of gestures was like studying a foreign language. "I had to learn to change my gestures and I'm told they have gradually gotten more natural. I'm 6 feet tall, a large person, so it's important that I come across as a woman. It is an extremely bad life to be in between genders; it enrages people, particularly men." As many transwomen do, McCloskey, whose masculine hands are a giveaway, had facial surgery to feminize her features; many electrolysis sessions; and vocal cord surgery to raise the pitch of her voice. Stevens-Miller, a transgender activist, noticed that once she started on a low, maintenance dose of estrogen, she felt "more calm and at peace." "Obviously hormones have a major effect on psychology. Testosterone will affect anyone's brain and make them more aggressive. I used to be hell on wheels and would have a tremendous temper and anger. I don't have that anymore." Expressing emotions becomes more acceptable than it was when they lived as men. "As a guy I would never cry; as a woman I cry," McCloskey said. "I think that's largely hormonal. Little boys cry, but as soon as the testosterone starts going ... believe me they want to cry as much as women do." Dating is the one aspect of the transition that can be problematic for transsexuals. McCloskey said she's looking for a boyfriend and has been using dating services without much success. "I had this four-hour luncheon date recently with this really nice guy," she said. "We got along fairly well. I felt I had to tell him, so I sent him a copy of my book." McCloskey told her harrowing story in "Crossing" (University of Chicago Press, $25). "He didn't just drop me, but it's pretty plain he was quite surprised and I don't think much is going to come of it." McCloskey, who was divorced and is estranged from her ex-wife and children as a result of her sex change, said her main intent is "companionship, not sex, sex, sex. Changing gender is never about sex. It's about sexuality. Sexual pleasure cannot be the point, the point is who you are." Sexual orientation among transgenders runs the gamut, the same as in society at large. Male-to-female transpeople may have a heterosexual attraction to men or a lesbian attraction to women. Stevens-Miller, for example, lives with a woman. Unlike McCloskey, Stevens-Miller and Plotner, Lorraine Sade Baskerville did not try to conform to society's norms. Waving a hand decorated with long silvery nails, she said, "I did not come out to this community. I stepped on the scene as Lorraine Sade. No way I ever considered myself a man!" Dealing with gender early Baskerville, 52, grew up in the Cabrini-Green housing project, the eldest of seven children. She said that since early childhood, she "self-identified as a girl. But I had to search [for information]. I thought I had a mental illness. I was always very feminine acting. I grew up with a father missing from the family. My mother was a very strong person. I learned from her." After leaving home at 17, Baskerville worked every sort of job to make ends meet, and she started "transitioning" by doing research at the library and connecting with other people like herself. "White transgender people have a risk involved," she said, while African-American people like herself, often battling poverty and discrimination, have less at stake. "That's why we start out early dealing with gender at 13 or 14. "Look what happens [to white transgenders]: They suppress everything, go in the Army, do all the stuff society says. At a certain age, they're married, kids, picket fence and the volcano erupts." Baskerville has had several long-term relationships with men, lasting 12, 9 and 7 years, including her current involvement with a 56-year- old Jewish man who she says shares her philosophy. "Three men in my life took care of me. They took care of me financially," she said. Baskerville became a social worker in the 1980s and in 1995 founded TransGenesis, a social service agency for transgenders in Uptown. One of her main goals is to reach out to transgender youths, who often drop out of school because of verbal and emotional abuse, and end up on the streets. Another goal is to start a health clinic for transgenders and a fund to award money for surgery. She is concerned about young transwomen who undergo dangerous silicone injections from "unqualified, incompetent providers underground," in an attempt to feminize their bodies. They often suffer consequences that include gangrene and HIV from unsanitary syringes, Baskerville said. Gender reassignment surgery is expensive: $20,000 to $30,000 ($8,000 if you travel to in Bangkok, which makes it a popular destination for this kind of operation), leading some transwomen without means into illegal activities in an attempt to finance it. But they usually end up in jail instead of an operating room, Baskerville said. Once the transition is complete, one of the biggest concerns of transwomen is physical safety. "I'm much more careful of my physical surroundings, especially at night," said Plotner, chair of It's Time, Illinois, a transgender activist group. "A would-be mugger would perceive me as a much easier target, and then there's the issue of rape. I didn't worry about that before. "Someone might say there are so many downsides, why would you want to do it? I had to do it. I just wanted to be me." A lexicon of transgender terms "Transgender" is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from their anatomical sex. The term may include but is not limited to: Cross-dressers: People who routinely wear clothes associated with the opposite sex. Cross-dressing is a form of gender expression and is not necessarily tied to sexual orientation. Many cross-dressers are heterosexual. Transvestites: A term that many transgender people consider derogatory. Often synonymous with female or male cross-dressers who are heterosexual. "'Drag queens" or "kings": Female or male cross-dressers who are lesbian, gay or bisexual. Female or male impersonators: Individuals who impersonate a different gender for entertainment purposes. Intersexed: People whose sexual organs are ambiguous at birth. The commonly used term is hermaphrodite. Gender transition: The process of altering one's sex that includes one or all of the following: changing one's name and/or sex on legal documents, hormone therapy, hair removal and chest and genital alteration. Preoperative transsexuals: People who identify as one gender at all times -- a gender that conflicts with their anatomy. Many are either about to begin or are in the process of getting sex-change operations. This may also include people who have undergone or are undergoing hormonal treatment. Postoperative transsexuals: People who have had full or partial surgery to change their gender. Transgender groups prefer the term "gender reassignment surgery" over "sex-change operation." Source: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, San Francisco's Human Rights Commission, San Jose Mercury News reporting. Top
[13]USA: Transgender issues: Insurance coverage for a transgender family Top Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 From: Petra Henderson <petrahenderson@yahoo.com> from the HRC FamilyNet News. http://www.hrc.org/familynet/chapter.asp?article=668 Ask the experts / Transgender issues experts Insurance coverage for a transgender family Q: Dear Shannon, [Minter] What is the best way for a male-to-female transsexual with a same-sex spouse and child to apply for health insurance that's not sponsored by an employer? Are there any transgender-friendly insurers that you can recommend? My California driver's license says female. I married (before transition) to a woman. I am currently unemployed and I am now shopping for health insurance for my partner, our young daughter and me. Yesterday, for more than two hours, I filled out an electronic application for Blue Cross, only to be refused at the end because my legally wedded spouse and I are of the same legal gender. I don't mind filling out more forms, talking on the phone or meeting with insurance representatives. But I thought some expert advice could help avoid complications. Do you have any advice on how to describe myself and family to health insurance companies? Should we continue to describe ourselves as married women or as a lesbian couple? How do I describe the results of a Pap smear when I have not had one? How can I best describe the diagnosis that led me to take estrogen and progesterone? Or should I not mention my medications and pay for them without insurance? Thank you for any information. Helen A: Dear Helen, These are very good questions! Unfortunately, they are difficult to answer because different insurance companies (and even different individuals working for the same company) often respond differently to transsexual applicants who married before transitioning, and who therefore have same-sex spouses. With that caveat, however, here are a few suggestions. Generally speaking, it is preferable to go through the extra work of explaining your true legal situation than to present yourselves as an unmarried same-sex couple. This is because you ARE married, and you are entitled to all of the rights and benefits that flow to married couples. In addition, if the validity of your marriage is ever challenged (which hopefully will never happen), it will be important to show that you and your spouse have always held yourselves out as a married couple, so presenting yourselves as unmarried is not advisable. (When it comes to filling out electronic forms, however, you may want to consider leaving the gender box temporarily blank - if allowed, so that you can avoid being automatically rejected and at least have an opportunity to explain your situation to a personal representative.) As far as answering specific medical questions, there are no hard and fast rules. With regard to Pap smears and hormone therapy specifically, there are many other women, such as those who have had complete hysterectomies, who do not undergo Pap smears, and many who require hormone therapy for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any companies with a national reputation for being transgender friendly. At the local level, however, it is often possible to find friendly companies or representatives through word of mouth. Finally, it may be helpful to get a letter from an attorney explaining that you are indeed legally married, or to ask the insurance company to speak with a legal expert who can explain that you are legally married. The good news is that while it may take some extra effort and time, many other people in your situation have been able to purchase appropriate coverage. If you are unable to do so or run into other problems along the way, please feel free to contact me or another attorney who specializes in transgender issues. Sincerely, Shannon Minter Minter is the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Nov. 11, 2002 Related Links: Top
[14]USA: VICKI'S VIEW: God Loves Gwen and You and Even Me Top Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 18:08:26 -0500 source: VallejoNews.com http://www.vallejonews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=24839&webpage=79&s=1 A few Fridays ago I went to a funeral for someone I never knew in life but with whom I identify closely in death - 17-year-old Gwen Araujo, who was baptized as Eddie, killed because she was different, and vilified in death by so-called Christians giving vent to "God's perfect hate." And there, amidst the mourners, the redeeming, repeated message on so many signs: "God Loves Gwen." Despite the implied hope of that message, the experience left me drained and near despair. Trying vainly to plumb the depths of that despair, I wrote: I've touched, been touched today by violence, by God's most perfect hate. I want now nothing more than to write my poems in silence and to cry my lonely tears. Tears for Gwen, for Sylvia, for Judy, for all of us, and, at last, for me. Oh, God, this world is cruel, feeling, unfeeling, both too much. The poem it rises, unbidden, still unspoken. How loud it cries: "Write! Write!" "But what?" I cry, in turn. It's now night. My soul is empty, empty, numb, and parched. So, why did I go? Because, like Gwen, I'm transgendered -- a transsexual to be precise. Like Gwen, I'm not a thing, nor an issue, but a thinking, feeling, flesh and blood human being who strives to contribute to her community and seeks only the same right to live in the peace and dignity that each of you take for granted. I've cried for Gwen and, in her name, call for an end to the now epidemic transphobic violence in this already very violent country. So much for my "agenda." Confused? Confused about what it means to be transgendered and what to make of us in your midst? So were the kids at Newark Memorial High School, who, at the time of Gwen's death, were rehearsing their upcoming performance of the "Laramie Project" about Matthew Shepard's murder. So was a lesbian activist who said "It's something I don't completely understand myself, but I'm supportive of whatever people want to do." So, perhaps, was Gwen's beautiful, loving mom, Sylvia Guerrero who said the following: "He was born this way. He always felt like a girl. Eddie was different, and people were mean to him. But he was my baby. He was my son. I loved him unconditionally. When you see someone like Eddie, smile at him." But she buried Eddie in a dress and make-up, and the tombstone reads "Gwen." The reporters, too, revealed their confusion, if only in their use of pronouns, but still more in references to "lifestyle" "choices," to how Gwen lived and acted, rather than to who she was. I, too, was "born this way" and struggled with who I was for nearly 60 years. And even I must admit to confusion. Long ago, however, I stopped worrying about the causes of my conundrum and focused instead on the search for how best to live as myself with integrity. It was a journey young Gwen was only beginning, when her life was so brutally ended on a darkened garage floor. If It's Different, Kill It! In the wake of her death, there was no shortage of excuses. According to one Chronicle report, "some residents question whether Araujo may have put himself in harm's way." (There are those troublesome pronouns again.) Moreover, according to one of the killer's neighbors, "She (Gwen) played with their emotions." And that old standby "gay panic" reared its ugly head again as a justification for murder. Let's face it, there are no justifications for murder, but in this society there are myriad motives. And, let's face it, Gwen Araujo was killed simply because she was different. In the eyes of her killers that was motive enough. And, make no mistake about it, transgendered people are perceived by the rest of society as being infinitely more "different" than gays or lesbians. This is a very violent and, in many ways, insecure society. People like Gwen and I put ourselves "in harms way" every time we go to the market or the mall. And, until now, violence against us either went unreported or was folded into the tally of "gay bashing." As far as the police and media have been concerned, there were no transgendered victims of violence out there. But I and my transgendered brothers and sisters know better. Gwen Smith, who started tracking transgender deaths in 1998 as part of the "Remembering Our Dead" project, reports that one transgender murder occurs in the United States each month. Riki Wilchins of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition (GenderPAC) reports, moreover, that about two-thirds of the transgendered respondants in a recent study said that they had been physically or sexually assaulted. I've learned to "accept" lesser daily insults such as the fistfuls of rocks thrown at my car window from a passing pick-up truck or a shouted "You f---king crossdresser" from across the street, as I unloaded my car after marketing last Sunday. It's truly amazing what can learn to accept. But I feel blessed by the experience, for now I've walked in others' shoes and can truly identify with the marginalized in this society. So What Is This Transgendered Thing Let me reiterate as forcefully as I can that these words are not intended as an apologia for being transgendered. Neither Gwen, nor I, nor anyone needs a justification for being who we are. This is, rather, about murder and the hate that gives rise to it. It has, however, become obvious to me in the vetting of this column that there is a lot of misunderstanding out there -- even among otherwise intelligent and well-meaning people -- about what transsexuality is. In the interest, therefore, of clearing away some misunderstandings that may engender fears and, in turn, hate, let me say just a few words about the nature of this transgendered thing. First, it is not a gay-straight thing. It's not about sexual orientation. Try overlaying sexual orientation on the transgendered template and you only compound the confusion. Are male-to-female transsexuals who are attracted to women lesbians? Are female-to-male transsexuals who are attracted to women heterosexuals? Go figure. What we are talking about is not orientation and action, but rather gender identity. We are talking not about what one does, but about who one is. We are talking about gender identity confusion -- dysphoria, according to the clinicians. It is a confusion that most transgendered people have experienced since birth, suggesting nature rather than nurture as the cause. In examining the etiology of the "transsexual phenomenon," recent research has speculated on causes as diverse as in utero hormonal mix-ups and tiny glandular imbalances. But this is not intended as a JAMA treatise. I offer you no footnoted data, no regression tables, only conclusions from my own personal experience and those of others such as the eminent British historian/writer Jan Morris (Conundrum) or economist Deirdre McCloskey (Crossing) concerning the power of the drive. Let me address very briefly three other aspects of the "transsexual phenomenon." First, there are about as many female-to-male transsexuals as there are male-to-female transsexuals, witness Brandon Teena ("Boys Don't Cry"), another murdered teenager. Second, possibilities and fates are determined more by unequal economic contingencies than by medical need or social justice. We are told by the medical and insurance communities "You are sick, but we don't like your 'sickness'." As a result, the full cost of treatment and transition fall on the individual. "If you don't have the requisite $40,000 or so up front, in cash," we're told, "we're not interested. Go away and live your life in a limbo more akin to hell. If you do -- have the money, that is -- give it to us and live the rest of your new life as best you can, broke." Third, as Dr. Harry Benjamin, who first used the term "transsexual" in 1966, demonstrated, there is a wide and fluid spectrum within which gender identity fluctuates -- ranging from tomboys to, well, me. So, those of us who can struggle to stake out a stable identity do so at great personal and financial cost. Some, like Gwen Araujo, perhaps lacking the economic and social resources to realize their dream, are condemned to death or to a living hell by a society unable or unwilling to accommodate ambiguity. And Who Are We As People? We are as diverse as the rest of the population. We can be as flamboyant as Ru Paul. And we can be as dull as folks like Jan Morris or myself, who are more interested in doctoral dissertations or theological disputations than gay pride parades. Most of us just want to get on with the rest of our lives unharrassed and, if possible, unnoticed. To the extent that I've been able to do just that 99 percent of the time, my inclination has been to ignore the occasional provocations on these pages addressed to "Nancy" or "Vic" by courageous Bechtel-Shell supporters hiding behind such anonymous monikers as "Lurch." And, if the thin-skinned Chamber of Commerce President Tom Egidio feels offended by his mail, he should try wading through the truly crude e-mails and phone calls I receive directly every day. I have, moreover, avoided writing this sort of piece, because I didn't want to complicate opposition to LNG with my personal story. But, by the same token, I will not disappear or cease commenting on an issue of such importance to my community just because of who I am. I did not leave one closet to enter another. Above all, however, it is the impact of Gwen Araujo's death that now compels me to get this off my chest. For her and for all the other voiceless victims of transphobic violence, I must say "Here I am. I, too, am the face of the transgendered, and, I hope, a voice." For, if you don't know we're here, how can you begin to understand us, and how can we stand up for our rights as human beings? And, therein lies the message of this piece, we are human beings loved by the one God who made us all. As I said earlier, I identify closely with the marginalized in society. I know how Shylock felt, when he proclaimed in The Merchant of Venice: I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? -- fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? For myriad reasons, not just my identity, but also the experiences of my New York childhood and living later in Poland and Germany, I am proud to stand with Shylock and say "I am a Jew." And, I am proud, too, to say "I am a Christian" -- a Christian appalled by the hatred spewed by charlatans like "the Reverend" Fred Phelps, who, the night before Gwen's funeral paraded before Sylvia Gurrero's home, shouting on a bullhorn that God hated her child who would burn in hell. Wrong, Fred, God loves Gwen, and me, and even you. If you were in church the Sunday after Gwen's funeral, you would have heard Christ's simple message of LOVE. In the Gospel reading for that day (Matthew 22:34-46) Jesus said: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Can you live according to such principles? I try. An Afterword By way of an afterword, I also stand ready to enter a respectful dialogue with anyone seeking a better understanding of what it means to be transgendered and would love to share with you suggestions for further reading and resource groups. For I know how confusing and lonely the experience can be. Feel free to contact me directly. Vicki Gray, a retired diplomat, lives in Vallejo. She sells books, writes poetry and tends Mimi's garden. She may be contacted at VGray54951@aol.com. Top __________________________________________________________ [15] Gender Bender Marriage rights Top Reason http://reason.com/0206/ci.sr.gender.shtml RETRIEVED: Tuesday, November 12, 2002 June 2002 By Sara Rimensnyder Transsexual widow J'Noel Gardiner, whose 1998 marriage was recently declared invalid in Kansas, has never welcomed media attention. In one of few comments to the press during the three-year run of her case, she told the Kansas City Star, "It's a private lawsuit and nobody's business. Why don't you go join the Jerry Springer Show?" She should be right. The trouble is, restrictions on marriage codified in law turn private sex lives into public business. J'Noel's legal troubles began in 1999, when her husband Marshall passed away without a will. Soon, Marshall's estranged son Joe Gardiner found out that J'Noel was once Jay Noel, and he challenged her right to share the $2.5 million estate under a state law that automatically gives a portion to a decedent's spouse. J'Noel's sex change had taken place in 1994, in Wisconsin. Afterward, authorities there allowed her to change her name and the sex on her birth certificate from male to female. Neither that document, nor her electrolysis, thermolysis, tracheal shave, hormone injections, extensive counseling, or reassignment surgery constituted femalehood for the Kansas Supreme Court. "J'Noel remains a transsexual, and a male for purposes of marriage under [Kansas law]," the judges' decision read. "We recognize that there are people who do not fit neatly into the commonly recognized category of male or female....However, the validity of J'Noel's marriage to Marshall is a question of public policy to be addressed by the legislature and not by this court." The judges affirmed Joe Gardiner's win at the district court, which had ruled largely based on an earlier Texas trial. In that case, the judges asked, "Can a physician change the gender of a person with a scalpel, drugs and counseling, or is a person's gender immutably fixed by our Creator at birth?" They came down in favor of the latter. Top
LEGAL ACTION [16]USA: Massachusetts-- T-woman wins unfair dissmissal case, unfairly fired due to dress at work Top Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 1 From: "Mrs. Petra Henderson" <petrahenderson@yahoo.com> Author: Arthur S. Leonard Original Title: Transgender Win in Massachusetts; Court finds protections based on sex, disability In a first of its kind ruling in Massachusetts, Superior Court Justice Linda E. Giles held that a transgendered woman who claims she was fired because of her refusal to dress as a man could claim unlawful discrimination on account of sex and disability. The decision, issued October 7, was only recently released for publication. Allie Lie, born Robert Lie, began work as an editorial assistant at Sky Publishing Corporation in Cambridge in 1994. When hired, Lie went by the name of Robert and dressed as a male. But beginning in May of 1998, Lie began dressing as a woman. The following month, management met with Lie and demanded that she wear only male attire while at work. Management indicated that they did not want to discharge her, only to get her to dress in conformance with what they saw as "reasonable business policy." But Lie persisted in dressing as a woman. From the court's decision, it appears as if the employer did not understand what was going on, and it is not clear what Lie told them. She had been diagnosed with "gender dysphoria," the formal diagnosis for transsexuals seeking a change of gender, was receiving psychotherapy, and had begun hormone treatments to conform her body to her desired gender. But the employer took the position that she was merely a transvestite and should not cross-dress in the workplace. After being told that she could not dress as a woman at work, Lie filed a complaint with the Cambridge Human Rights Commission, but soon afterward received a letter from her employer demanding that she refrain from "dressing as a woman" and threatening termination. She replied that she had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and she would continue to dress as a woman. She also filed a suit with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, and two weeks later was discharged. She then amended her complaint with MCAD to included a charge of retaliation and by the end of 1998 filed a consolidated charge, claiming that Sky discriminated against her based on sex, gender, sexual preference, perceived sexual preference, disability, and perceived disability. Nothing came of the MCAD case and Lie withdrew it and filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court in July 2001. Sky Publishing filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that it was entitled to a dismissal as a matter of law without any trial. Sky's position was that Lie was not discharged for cross-dressing, but rather for sending a nasty, insubordinate email to two supervisors in July 1998, using hostile and disrespectful language. Sky also argued that discrimination against somebody who is transgendered does not violate the Massachusetts ban on sex, sexual orientation, or disability discrimination. Justice Giles found that no previous Massachusetts court decision has directly considered the question whether the state's Law Against Discrimination protects transsexuals from employment discrimination. She found that there are two, and possibly three, theories under which a transgendered person could seek relief. First, Giles found that this could be a type of sex discrimination. She noted that some federal courts, including the First Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over federal cases from Massachusetts, have found that discrimination against transgendered people for their failure to conform to a business' gender norms or expectations may be considered sex discrimination. She also noted a recent decision from New Jersey, interpreting that state's civil rights law to cover anti-transgender discrimination as a form of sex discrimination. Giles also found that since "gender dysphoria" is a diagnosable condition recognized in the diagnostic manual of the American Psychiatric Association, it could qualify as a "handicap" under the state's Law Against Discrimination. Unlike the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, which specifically provides that "gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments" may not be considered a disability under federal civil rights laws, the Massachusetts law contains no such statement and is open to a contrary interpretation. However, Giles felt that Lie's complaint would not support a claim of sexual orientation discrimination. For that to work, Lie would have to be able to allege that she was discharged because of her actual or perceived sexual orientation, and there was nothing in her allegations to support this. All the statements attributed to the company went to the issue of cross-dressing and gender identity, and nothing was ever said about her sexual orientation. However, Giles left open the possibility that in an appropriate case, a transgendered plaintiff could claim sexual orientation discrimination if she could show that the employer's motivation in terminating her was attributable to her actual or perceived sexual orientation. Giles also found that Lie's retaliation claim should not be dismissed at this stage of the lawsuit. There is a dispute between Sky Publishing and Lie as to the actual reason for the discharge, and such disputed questions of fact are supposed to be resolved in a trial, not in summary judgment motions. Thus, Giles concluded that Lie has sufficiently alleged three theories of discrimination in this case??sex, handicap, and retaliation??and is thus entitled to a trial on those claims. This is a decision of potentially great importance, especially if Sky Publishing appeals and it is upheld at an appellate level. Activists have been agitating for some time to add specific language to civil rights laws to protect transgendered people from discrimination. They have achieved limited success at the state level??Wisconsin and Rhode Island??and much success at the municipal level, with close to 50 municipal ordinances, including recent wins in New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Boston. At the federal level, however, activists have been unable to find a congressional sponsor for a gender identity bill and the sponsors of the Employment Non- Discrimination Act have stood firm against adding gender identity to their bill. An emerging body of judicial interpretation finding that transgendered people are already protected against discrimination by federal provisions on sex discrimination could eliminate the need for new legislative efforts. At the same time, such court rulings could provoke a backlash of amendments narrowing the scope of sex discrimination laws, but such a backlash has yet to materialize. Top
[17] USA: Birth Certificate Change Refusals in Conflict With Law Top Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2002 From: "Mrs. Petra Henderson" <petrahenderson@yahoo.com> Source: Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund Author: Eric Ferrero Date: November 12, 2002 Refusals To Change Transgendered People's Birth Certificates Almost Always Conflict with State Laws Lambda Legal releases chart showing nearly every state allows changes (Chart and map online at http://www.LambdaLegal.org .) On the heels of winning a birth certificate amendment for a female-to-male transgendered person in Virginia, Lambda Legal today released a first-of-its-kind chart identifying laws and policies in every state for amending sex designations on birth certificates. According to the chart, 47 states have specific laws, more general laws, or administrative processes allowing transgendered people to change the sex designation on their birth certificates, while three states have no laws or processes and have refused to amend birth certificates to reflect a change in sex. "When states refuse to change birth certificates to reflect transgendered people's correct sex, they are almost always violating their own state laws or policies," said Michael Adams, Director of Education and Public Affairs at Lambda Legal. "Because birth certificates are so critical in everyday life -- for being able to get passports or drivers' licenses and for completing employment documents -- we've compiled this information to help transgendered people know their rights and fight for them." According to Lambda Legal, many transgendered people are not granted the birth certificate changes they are entitled to by law. In one recent example, a Virginia man was denied a birth certificate amendment even though he had undergone extensive medical treatment and obtained a court order seeking to change his sex designation from female to male. Lambda Legal's Southern Regional Office fought with state authorities to get an accurate birth certificate for the man, identified only as "John Doe" for privacy reasons, and was just days away from filing a lawsuit when the state's Attorney General backed down and followed state law. In the last couple of months, the man received his amended birth certificate. "We shouldn't have to fight for months to get states to follow their own laws, but that's often the reality," Adams said. Transgendered people seeking to change their birth certificates should contact the Department of Health or Office of Vital Records in their state to find out what the process is, Adams said. Often, a court order is required to show that medical procedures have been completed. People should consult an attorney if the state resists changing the birth certificate or requires expensive and uncommon medical procedures (which was the case in Virginia, where the state initially refused to change the birth certificate because Lambda Legal's client hadn't undergone a full phalloplasty). People should also ask what the amended birth certificate will look like, since some states issue an entirely new one while other states amend the prior one, sometimes noticeably. The chart and additional background on the Virginia case are online at www.LambdaLegal.org. Background on the Virginia situation: http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/documents/record?record=1164 National map: http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/documents/record?record=1163 Detailed chart: http://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/documents/record?record=1162 Eric Ferrero Communications Director Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund Office: 212-809-8585, ext. 227; Pager: 888-987-1984 120 Wall Street, Suite 1500 New York, NY 10005 eferrero @ lambdalegal.org http://www.lambdalegal.org Top
[18]USA: Transgender issues: Insurance coverage for a transgender family Top Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 From: Petra Henderson [mailto:petrahenderson@yahoo.com] from the HRC FamilyNet News. http://www.hrc.org/familynet/chapter.asp?article=668 Ask the experts / Transgender issues experts Insurance coverage for a transgender family Q: Dear Shannon, [Minter] What is the best way for a male-to-female transsexual with a same-sex spouse and child to apply for health insurance that's not sponsored by an employer? Are there any transgender-friendly insurers that you can recommend? My California driver's license says female. I married (before transition) to a woman. I am currently unemployed and I am now shopping for health insurance for my partner, our young daughter and me. Yesterday, for more than two hours, I filled out an electronic application for Blue Cross, only to be refused at the end because my legally wedded spouse and I are of the same legal gender. I don't mind filling out more forms, talking on the phone or meeting with insurance representatives. But I thought some expert advice could help avoid complications. Do you have any advice on how to describe myself and family to health insurance companies? Should we continue to describe ourselves as married women or as a lesbian couple? How do I describe the results of a Pap smear when I have not had one? How can I best describe the diagnosis that led me to take estrogen and progesterone? Or should I not mention my medications and pay for them without insurance? Thank you for any information. Helen A: Dear Helen, These are very good questions! Unfortunately, they are difficult to answer because different insurance companies (and even different individuals working for the same company) often respond differently to transsexual applicants who married before transitioning, and who therefore have same-sex spouses. With that caveat, however, here are a few suggestions. Generally speaking, it is preferable to go through the extra work of explaining your true legal situation than to present yourselves as an unmarried same-sex couple. This is because you ARE married, and you are entitled to all of the rights and benefits that flow to married couples. In addition, if the validity of your marriage is ever challenged (which hopefully will never happen), it will be important to show that you and your spouse have always held yourselves out as a married couple, so presenting yourselves as unmarried is not advisable. (When it comes to filling out electronic forms, however, you may want to consider leaving the gender box temporarily blank - if allowed, so that you can avoid being automatically rejected and at least have an opportunity to explain your situation to a personal representative.) As far as answering specific medical questions, there are no hard and fast rules. With regard to Pap smears and hormone therapy specifically, there are many other women, such as those who have had complete hysterectomies, who do not undergo Pap smears, and many who require hormone therapy for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any companies with a national reputation for being transgender friendly. At the local level, however, it is often possible to find friendly companies or representatives through word of mouth. Finally, it may be helpful to get a letter from an attorney explaining that you are indeed legally married, or to ask the insurance company to speak with a legal expert who can explain that you are legally married. The good news is that while it may take some extra effort and time, many other people in your situation have been able to purchase appropriate coverage. If you are unable to do so or run into other problems along the way, please feel free to contact me or another attorney who specializes in transgender issues. Sincerely, Shannon Minter Minter is the legal director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights. Nov. 11, 2002 Top
[19]USA: Transgender people and marriage: the importance of legal planning Top Date: Tue, 12 Nov 2002 20:30:28 -0000 From: Petra Henderson [mailto:petrahenderson@yahoo.com] Transgender people and marriage: the importance of legal planning Relationships / Marriage http://www.hrc.org/familynet/chapter.asp?article=196 Developed by Shannon Minter, senior staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. (Link to National Center for Lesbian Rights http://www.nclrights.org ) To ask Minter a question, visit FamilyNet's Ask the Experts. (Link http://www.hrc.org/familynet/chapter.asp?chapter=142#minter ) Transgender people face unique legal issues with regard to marriage. Although marriage is not yet a legal option for gay or lesbian people in any state, it is already an option -- and a reality -- for many who are transgender. This article summarizes the legal issues surrounding marriage for transgender people and suggests some ways that transgender people can protect their marital relationships. A very real option Some people are aware that transgender individuals are often able to enter into a heterosexual marriage after undergoing sex-reassignment. What may be less well-known, however, is that a transgender person may also be married to a person of the same sex. That situation arises, for example, when one of the spouses in a heterosexual marriage comes out as transsexual and transitions within the marriage. If the couple chooses to stay together, as many do, the result is a legal marriage in which both spouses are male or female. Alternatively, in states that do not allow a transgender person to change his or her legal sex, some transgender people have been able to marry a person of the same sex. To all outward appearances and to the couple themselves, the marriage is a same-sex union. In the eyes of the law, however, it is a different-sex marriage because technically speaking, the law continues to view the transgender spouse as a legal member of his or her birth sex even after sex-reassignment. In short, marriage is a very real option for a variety of transgender people in a variety of circumstances. Two contrasting cases In practice, however, the legal validity of marriages involving a transgender spouse is not yet firmly established in the great majority of states. In 1999, for example, an appellate court in Texas invalidated a seven-year marriage between Christine Littleton, a transgender woman, and her deceased husband. The case arose when Ms. Littleton brought a wrongful death suit seeking damages for her husband's death as a result of alleged medical malpractice. Rather than ruling on the merits of Ms. Littleton's suit, the court held that a person's legal sex is genetically fixed at birth and that Ms. Littleton should be deemed to be legally male, despite her female anatomy and appearance, and despite the fact that she had lived as a woman for most of her adult life. As a result of that decision, Ms. Littleton was denied all of the rights afforded to a legal spouse -- not only the right to bring a wrongful death suit, but the right to intestate inheritance (or inheritance without a will), to obtain her deceased husband's Social Security and retirement benefits, and many others as well. In contrast, in 1997, a trial court in Orange County, Calif.., affirmed the validity of a marriage involving a transgender man. The case arose when the wife sought to invalidate the marriage in order to deprive her husband of his parental rights vis-a-vis the couple's child, who was born through alternative insemination. The trial court rejected the wife's argument that the transgender husband should be considered legally female and refused to nullify the marriage. The court held that California law recognizes the post-operative sex of a transsexual person for all legal purposes, including marriage. Notably, however, if the court had ruled differently, or if the transgender spouse had not undergone extensive and expensive sex reassignments surgeries prior to the marriage, it is likely that he would have lost any right to maintain a relationship with his child. Still the need to protect yourself As these and other similar cases make clear, it is critical that transgender people who are married become aware of their potential legal vulnerability and take steps to protect themselves as much as possible. As an initial matter, transgender people who are married should certainly act accordingly and should not hesitate to exercise their rights as legal spouses, whether that be the right to file married tax returns, the right to apply for spousal benefits or the right to have or adopt children as a married couple. At the same time, however, it is also important to create a safety net in the event that the validity of the marriage is challenged. Although there are many benefits and protections that arise exclusively through marriage and cannot be duplicated through any other means, there are also some basic protections that can be safeguarded and secured through privately executed documents and agreements. At a minimum, a transgender person who is married should have: (1) A last will and testament for both spouses; (2) Financial and medical powers of attorney in which each spouse designates either the other spouse or another trusted person to be his or her legal agent in the event of incapacitation; and (3) A written personal relationship agreement including a detailed account of each spouse's rights and responsibilities with regard to finances, property, support, children and any other issues that are important to the couple. The agreement should also include an acknowledgment that the non-transgender partner is aware that his or her spouse is transgender to avoid any later claims of fraud or deception. Ideally, the couple should draft those documents with assistance from an attorney and supplement them with any other legal planning documents that are appropriate for their specific circumstances. With those basic documents in place, transgender people who are married can at least ensure that the spouses can inherit each other's estates and retain control over their own financial and medical decisions, even if the validity of the marriage is challenged. In many cases, the safety net created by extra legal planning will never have to be used. In others, the presence of that extra protection will shelter the transgender person and his or her spouse from devastating emotional trauma and financial loss. Other helpful resources National Center for Lesbian Rights 870 Market St. San Francisco, Calif. 94102 Phone: 415-392-6257 The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is devoted to advancing the rights and safety of lesbians and their families. In addition, NCLR provides representation and resources to gay men, and bisexual and transgender individuals on key issues that also significantly advance lesbian rights. Transgender Law and Policy http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/polisci/pcurrah/genderlaw/index.htm Provides news and information about laws and litigation of concern to transgender people. Maintained by Paisley Currah, associate professor of political science, Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. Top
BOOKS ETC..... [20] USA: Washington Post--Sex and Sensibility Birds do it, bees do it. People write about it -- a lot. Top By Lily Burana Sunday, November 10, 2002; Page BW10 Washington Post Book World http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22826-2002Nov7.html Gender Benders "The notion that gender has a continuum, a fluid range of possibilities, seems to produce such anxious rigidity in many of us that we ignore everything we've learned through our own lives about the complexities of men and women, and seek refuge in explanations and expectations of gender that are . . . magical, romantic, and unrealistic." Amy Bloom offers this provocative observation in her first nonfiction book, Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Crossdressing Cops, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude (Random House, $23.95). Bloom's curiosity about transsexuals, cross-dressers and hermaphrodites leads her into their respective worlds to ask how gender difference has affected their daily existence and what their lives have to tell us about mainstream norms and assumptions. She interviewed rural and urban female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals, boarded a cross-dressers' cruise full of otherwise conservative heterosexual men (and their indulgent wives), and traced the groundbreaking path forged by activists such as hermaphrodite Cheryl Chase, as well as the evolution of gender-shifting surgeries. Bloom is a fabulous fact-collector. As a social commentator, however, she rapidly runs out of breath, bypassing nuanced explication to frequently sigh in favor of less prejudice and more forgiveness with regard to gender definition. Bloom's hesitation to judge is commendable, but her repeated emphasis on the (deep sigh) essential humanity of her subjects has a dulling effect. The narrative drifts inoffensively by, like so many PBS documentaries under the bridge. One yearns for some tart analysis, some bite. What edge there is comes from her subjects, such as the wife frustrated by her cross-dressing husband, whose gender divergence is strictly sartorial: "For twenty years he couldn't help with the dishes because he was watching football," she says. "Now he can't help because he's doing his nails. Is that different?" Normal manages to be simultaneously too much and too little: too much subject matter sketched in too little space, too much of the royal "we" and too little particularity. While admirable in intention, Normal feels like a Cliffs Notes version of a spellbinding lengthier text. Naked Truths In her early twenties, Elisabeth Eaves became intrigued by strippers -- she wondered if stereotypes about them were valid, if their lives were as free from social restriction as they appeared, and if she herself could stand in their sparkly platform shoes. She figured there was but one way to find out, so in between earning her bachelor's degree in Washington and shipping off to New York for grad school and a journalism career, Eaves danced for a year at Seattle's all-nude peep show, the Lusty Lady. In her memoir, Bare: On Women, Dancing, Sex, and Power (Knopf, $24), Eaves recounts her initial stint as a "girl-in-the-box," profiles a sampling of fellow co-workers, explores other local ecdysiast venues, and emerges with a clear-headed, thoughtful portrait of a controversial business much like photojournalist Erika Langley's underappreciated 1997 book, The Lusty Lady. Bare favors sociopolitical inquiry over prurience, using non-sensationalist language and stripper vernacular to explore whether the benefits of stripping outweigh the considerable costs. Unlike other postcard-from-the-edge memoirs such as Jerry Stahl's Permanent Midnight or Elizabeth Wurtzel's Prozac Nation, Bare exhibits little angsty hipster flash or confessional urgency. Rather, Eaves's writing evinces her journalistic training. No matter how intimate the matter described, the reportorial remove lends an almost mentholated coolness to the book -- a useful means of keeping readers engaged in such an incendiary subject without triggering repugnance or pathos flame-out. Bare has much in common with Ted Conover's Newjack and Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed as a first-rate, first-person work of social anthropology, in which the writer is immersed in a certain line of work for reasons more exploratory than financial. Impressively assured and astute, Bare reveals the working conditions and personal challenges inherent in taking it off to get ahead. Trans-Formations Christine Jorgensen, a Bronx-born former GI who underwent gender-reassignment surgery in the 1950s, had a life that made headlines ("Ex-GI Becomes Blonde Beauty," New York Daily News, Dec. 1, 1952). She performed in her own successful nightclub act and published a popular autobiography that was made into a film in 1970. Jorgensen was our nation's first transsexual superstar. Joanne Meyerowitz, editor of the Journal of American History and author of How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States (Harvard Univ., $29.95), turns this star into the sun by organizing her book around her. Meyerowitz may present Jorgensen as something of an Ur-trans as a means of attracting readers and giving them a distinct personality to whom they can attach. But given the book's survey-like scope, this seems awkward. Jorgensen was important, surely, but she's not transgenderism's Joan of Arc or even Rosa Parks. How Sex Changed is wonderfully readable, if woefully incomplete. Despite ample material on the early days, oversights abound from the '80s onward. A history of transsexuality that doesn't mention male-to-female transsexual performer/writer Kate Bornstein is like a history of rock-and-roll that doesn't mention Nirvana. Failing to mention the 1994 murder of Brandon Teena (a transgendered teen who did not surgically transition to male but successfully passed for a long time preceding his death) is akin to overlooking the assassination of John Lennon. The tragedy -- later chronicled in the acclaimed 1999 movie "Boys Don't Cry" -- sent shock waves through the queer community, galvanizing gender activism for years to follow. Meyerowitz rushes through the past two decades, a crucial period when self-publishing, the queer movement and the Internet accelerated grassroots organizing and information exchange. It's a quirk of many historians: painstakingly mapping the past only to trip over the present. Up to the 1970s, Meyerowitz's history is thorough and engaging. After that, it's a mad dash for the finish line. Pity. Titillating Tattle A kept man threatens to squeal on his married benefactor unless she continues supporting him. A band of thugs shakes down prominent closeted gays by brandishing incriminating photographs. The purportedly illegitimate daughter of a famous actor sues for increased support. Scandal will grab anyone's attention, especially if there's sex involved, but tales of sexual blackmail are more than just a means of selling newspapers or entertaining colleagues by the water cooler. So contends historian Angus McLaren in Sexual Blackmail: A Modern History (Harvard Univ., $35). "Blackmail stories," he writes, are "the product of a culture going through important transformations in attitudes toward sex and gender." By culling examples from the New York Times and the Times of London, legal reports, film, TV and tabloids, McLaren shows not just how sexual blackmail reflects social mores, but also the ways in which sexual deceit and secrecy have affected legislation. For example, Americans used to be legally entitled to financial compensation if they were dumped. Called "heart balm statutes," the laws were repealed by many states in the 1930s for fear that they would be exploited by "gold diggers" who manipulated the truth to fatten their wallets. And in the 1950s and '60s, the British Parliament partially decriminalized homosexuality when MPs realized that outlawing homosexual practices fostered blackmailing of gays and lesbians. The book tracks sexual blackmail from repressive Victorian times to today, when exposure of sexual secrets is far less damaging. "Our culture continues to regard a number of sexual practices as transgressive," says McLaren, " but it has seriously downplayed the significance of sex as the final social arbiter of one's character." Deftly organized and full of gripping facts and critique, Sexual Blackmail makes reading history a wicked indulgence. Girl Talk It's no secret that men and women exist in separate sexual spheres and that the rules for the sexes differ greatly. We expect that men advance while women receive. Men can flaunt sexual experience while women are urged toward discretion. The erotic divide becomes apparent with the first hormonal stirrings of adolescence, and Wellesley research scientist Deborah L. Tolman aimed to explore the female side of the schism. Her book Dilemmas of Desire: Teenage Girls Talk About Sexuality (Harvard Univ. $26.95) includes interviews with 30 urban and suburban teenage girls about their experience of desire (or lack thereof). For such a fresh concept, this book feels mighty stale. Tolman sullies the girls' candid tales of wanting, trepidation, restraint and indulgence with tedious generalizations such as "we so rarely think of sexuality in positive or healthy terms." (Um, we do?) When not generalizing, Tolman waffles, on one page blaming society for forcing "a wedge between (women's) psyches and their bodies," then later bemoaning the bedrock assumption that women favor sex within the context of emotionally intimate relationships. Tolman's references to the big bad patriarchal bogeyman who is responsible for the natural sexual confusion of adolescents (female or male) may elicit chuckles from the most sympathetic of feminists. Owing to the book's shoddy structure, non-feminist readers will more likely scratch their heads and say, "Am I missing the point