VL.9.23.2002

Vitale Letter #251, January 13, 2003
Anne Vitale PhD, Editor

Archives of back issues

Notes on Gender Transition

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OBITUARY: USA: OBITUARY: Dante 'Tex' Gill / Sexually ambivalent massage parlor owner ANNOUNCEMENTS
[1][USA: San Francisco Bay Area--Male-to-Female Group Reforming
[2]USA: New Organization for Transgender/Transsexual Veterans
[3]USA: An Important Message from the Executive Director: ISNA in Transition.
GENERAL INFORMATION
[4]USA: San Jose California --Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center :: Expansion will include ballroom, meeting rooms, cyber cafe.
[5]USA San Francisco--Talks underway to change date of 2004 S.F. Gay Pride Parade
[6]INDONESIA: Indon transvestite dies after injecting himself with silicon
[7]USA: Los Angeles California judge orders two to trial in attacks on gay, transgender people
[8]USA: California--Transsexual gets at least 50 years for killing woman
[9]USA Florida--Lauderdale police probing early morning murder of transvestite prostitute
[10] USA: Pennsylvania--Transsexual Jailed for Burgling Pensioners
MEDIA WATCH
[11]UK: Yesterday in Parliament (Filed: 08/01/2003)
[12] USA: The Village Voice: Savage Love by Dan Savage
[13] AUSTRALIA- Brisbane--The Courier Mail:--Schoolboy pursues sex change
[14] CYBERSPACE: WorldNetDaily: The sex-change charade
[15] NYPOST.COM Entertainment: MAKE ME A WOMAN
[16]Local News,Vancouver, canada.com network--Students applaud transgendered teacher's return to school LEGISLATIVE ACTION
[17]USA: Florida--Key West Approves Transgender Rights Protection
[18] UK: Hansard (House of Commons Daily Debates) Session 2002-03
IN THE COURTS
[19]USA: New York City-- Court: Teen Boy Can Dress As Woman
[20]USA: OHIO-- Suit claims discrimination
[21] JAPAN: Court rejects transsexual's demand to alter gender in register
[22] USA: Fired cross-dresser (Peter Oiler) giving up on lawsuit
BOOKS Etc....
[23] INDIA--Telling tales of the third sex: Mohakal Natya Sampraday stages drama that deals with the hermaphrodites
HEALTH AND SCIENCE
[24]USA: Food and Drug Administration: Hormone therapy drug labels to change

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
[25] UK: TV wife's gender blender
COMMENTARY
SexEd 101
By Rebecca Kastl ============///========///======///======///==========///==========/

OBITUARY: Dante 'Tex' Gill / Sexually ambivalent massage parlor owner
   TOP
   
   Dante 'Tex' Gill / Sexually ambival...
http://www.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20030109gillp4.asp
   
From....Brenda Lana Smith R.af D. 
    
   Obituary: Dante 'Tex' Gill / Sexually ambivalent rub parlor owner
    
   Thursday, January 09, 2003
    
   By Torsten Ove, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
    
   In all the old newspaper stories about Dante "Tex" Gill, she was always "the
woman who prefers to be known as a man," or some variation of that
description, and she sure looked and acted the part.
    
   Short and dumpy, she wore men's suits and short hair, she talked tough and
she may even have undergone the initial stages of a sex change that made her
appear masculine.
    
   During the 1970s and '80s, she was a bizarre fixture in the red-light world
of Pittsburgh's massage parlor district along Liberty Avenue.
    
   For years, according to police, Ms. Gill ran a string of parlors as fronts
for prostitution, all the while insisting that she was a man and telling
everyone she wanted to be known as "Mr. Gill."
    
   In 1984, she went on trial in U.S. District Court for tax evasion and ended
up in federal prison for seven years.
    
   Ms. Gill of Brentwood died yesterday in UPMC McKeesport. She was 72 and had
been undergoing dialysis for some time.
    
   Born Lois Jean Gill in the city, Ms. Gill was a savvy businesswoman who
became one of the most notorious of the city's massage parlor operators.
State and local authorities had long believed her parlors, including the
Japanese Meditation Temple, were little more than brothels, but she seemed
beyond the reach of the law for years until the Internal Revenue Service
stepped in.
    
   IRS agents caught her for tax evasion, not prostitution, by comparing the
money she spent with the income she reported. In 1984, she was convicted of
conspiracy and evading income taxes from 1975 to 1983.
    
   Those who knew Ms. Gill said she was every bit as colorful as the news
stories about her suggest. An unabashed lesbian in a less sexually liberated
age, she married a woman in Hawaii and lived with her in Pittsburgh for a
time before they eventually split.
    
   "She was just a hell of a lot of fun," said lawyer Carl Max Janavitz, who
met her in the 1970s and sometimes represented her. "She was just laughing
at the world. And naturally, the authorities don't like that. She was a very
good businesswoman, but she just had a different lifestyle."
    
   Before her entry into the massage parlor industry, Ms. Gill was involved in
several other ventures. In the late 1950s, she worked as a blacksmith at the
old horse stables in Schenley Park, where children and adults would come to
learn to ride.
    
   She went by the name Lois back then, but she wore her hair short and covered
with a cowboy hat, and she was known as gruff and no-nonsense. If a horse
acted up while she was shoeing it or cleaning its hooves, she smacked it on
the rump.
    
   She was apparently an accomplished horsewoman in her youth.
    
   Barry Paris, a Post-Gazette film critic and Ms. Gill's cousin, said she was
an anomaly for her day, someone who had to hide her sexuality as a single
woman in the transgender community, which at the time was so underground it
had yet to acquire that label.
    
   "She scared the hell out of us when my cousins and I took riding lessons
from her as kids at Schenley stables, and she got involved early on with the
proverbial 'wrong crowd,' " he said. "But she was personally gentle and
nonviolent, and she made a nice corrupt life for herself in a nice corrupt
American society."
    
   In her later years before she went to prison, Janavitz said, she ran various
businesses in town, including a baby furniture store and a frozen foods
store.
    
   She got involved in the massage parlors through business contacts, Janavitz
said, and did it because she needed money to care for her ailing mother,
Agnes, who eventually died of cancer in 1973.
    
   Janavitz, who had a falling-out with Ms. Gill and hadn't talked with her for
the last 10 years, characterized her as a true free spirit who did things
her own way.
    
   "You're talking about a person who was very complex," he said. "She was very
tough. A lot of fun. She drank a lot. She partied a lot. She could recite
poetry endlessly. Irish poetry."
    
   Ms. Gill is survived by two brothers, Donald M. Gill and Merritt Gill.
    
   Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow in
John F. Slater Funeral Home in Brentwood.
    
   A Catholic blessing service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in the funeral
home.
    
   Torsten Ove can be reached at tove@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2620.
    
   ©1997-2003 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.
   
   TOP

ANNOUNCMENTS
   
   [1][USA: San Francisco Bay Area--Male-to-Female Group Reforming:
Group 1:Advanced transition / Recent post-op
Group 2:   Early Stage / Questioning is now full. Waiting list applications only.
      Facilitater---Anne Vitale PhD 
          Top
      
   The Advance Group is for MTF's who are either in an advanced stage of transition (living full time in the female gender role) or 
has had SRS in the last year. The group has been meeting for the last 20 weeks and is well established. But due to natural attrition,
there is room for two new members. 
The Early / Questioning Group is now full. I have established a waiting list so let me know if you want to be on it. The group is for genetic males who have either decided to transition but are still living in the male 
gender role or genetic males who are trying to get a handle on their gender issues.
These are NOT drop-in/social groups. I expect real, intraspective work to be done at each session. Each participant is expected to make an attitudenal commitment to attend all or as many as possible of the 10 scheduled meetings. The fee is $25 per session or $225 if paid in full at the start of the 10 sessions. Participants are responsible for payment of each session whether they attend or not. If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and think you can make it to San Rafael from 7:30 to 9:00 pm on alternate Wednesday evenings, let me know. The first meeting for the Advanced Group is January 15th. Visa and MasterCard accepted.
Call Anne Vitale PhD at 415-456-4452 or send an email to Group@avitale.com for more information.
       Top
   
   [2]USA: New Organization for Transgender/Transsexual Veterans 

Contact: Monica F. Helms at monicahelms@prodigy.net: USA &endash; A new organization called Transgender American Veterans Association (TAVA) has been formed to advocate for fair and equal treatment of transgender/transsexual veterans and active duty service members, both from the military and the Veterans Administration. It is our hope that we can help to educate the US Military and the VA on gender-identity-related issues, of which they are seeing more and more of as time goes on. By doing so, this should foster a better understanding of who transgender and transsexual people are in this part of the US government.
Currently, TAVA exists as a Yahoo groups list, and we are hoping that anyone interested in working on issues that effect transgender and transsexual military personal and veterans please send in a request to join. There are no membership fees at this time. Use the above contact E-mail address. We will work toward building this new organization from the ground up, so all skills are welcome. "TAVA wants you!" And remember, "We served, too."
Top


[3]USA: An Important Message from the Executive Director: ISNA in Transition
    Top
    
   Dear Friends and Supporters of ISNA: (Intersex Society of North America)
    
   We are currently in the process of moving our offices from Northern 
California to Seattle. This is an exciting time for all of us. 
However, during this transition, some of our activities will be on 
hold. Our computers are being boxed up along with all of our files, 
and there will likely be delays in correspondence. It may take us 
longer than usual to respond to your questions, concerns, Internet 
purchases, and generous donations.
    
   Please be patient as we embark on this new phase of ISNA's growth, 
and know that we appreciate your support and interest even if we are 
unable to get back to you as quickly as possible. We anticipate that 
it may take up to two weeks to get on our feet in Seattle. When we 
do, we will tell you all about our new location and plans for the 
coming year.
    
   Thank you for your commitment to ISNA!
    
   Happy New Year and Best Wishes,
    
   Monica J. Casper, Ph.D.
Executive Director 
       Top

GENERAL INFORMATION

[4]USA: San Jose California --Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay Community Center :
Expansion will include ballroom, meeting rooms, cyber cafe.
Top

Mercury News | 01/13/2003 | New chief, home f...
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4934728.htm

Posted on Mon, Jan. 13, 2003

By Michelle Guido
Mercury News

For more than two decades, San Jose's Billy DeFrank Lesbian and Gay
Community Center has served as the comforting but crowded gathering place
for the South Bay's gay community.

Now in its fourth home, on The Alameda near Race Street, the center has a
new director and a new hope for the future, as part of its huge expansion
project nears completion.

"It always seemed like as soon as any of the spaces were open, they were too
small," said Patrick Soricone, who came to the center as executive director
in October. "We decided what would really make sense for the community is to
have its own center in this part of town, which has always been a
gay-friendly area."

For more than a year, as construction has been under way, the center has
been forced to cram all of its services into a dilapidated old house on the
corner of the property that will eventually become a parking lot and garden.

When the entire project is completed next year, the center will have a
20,000-square-foot permanent home that will include a 2,700-square-foot
ballroom, a counseling clinic, community meeting rooms and an eight-station
cyber cafe.

>From its small beginnings on Keyes Street in downtown San Jose in 1981, the
center has filled many roles for the region's lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender community.

It has been a place where newcomers -- both new to the area and newly out of
the closet -- could go to find a safe place to gather and relax. It offers
counseling services, support groups and classes to people of all ages.

David Harvey, the center's volunteer coordinator, has the task of scheduling
the 57 groups that use the center each month. Things have gotten so hairy at
times that a women's discussion group might have to meet in one corner of
the house while a home buyer's workshop takes place in a hallway and the
Coming Out Over Coffee group is crammed in the reception area.

"I'm very anxious to get into the new space," said an exasperated Harvey. "I
have groups calling all the time who want to have meetings or programs here,
and we're just not able to do it."

Soricone, 50, said the center's goal is to become a hub not just for the gay
community, but also for the surrounding neighborhood, which is targeted for
redevelopment by the city. In fact, much of the $5.5 million needed to
complete the three-phase project has come from the San Jose Redevelopment
Agency and the city. Local residents, corporations and foundations have
given more than $200,000 so far, and Soricone hopes to at least double that
in the next year.

Contact Michelle Guido at mguido@sjmercury.com or (408) 271-3648.

===== ABOUT THE CENTER =====

Mercury News | 01/13/2003 | ABOUT THE CENTER
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/4934714.htm

Posted on Mon, Jan. 13, 2003

ABOUT THE CENTER

When it opened: The non-profit center was founded in 1981 to serve the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Whom the center serves: More than 50 community groups use the center each
month.

Services: A health division includes peer and professional support groups,
HIV testing, a counseling clinic, and educational classes. The general
programs division includes youth programs, aging services and programs,
recreation, and a library and archive.

Building cost: The center has raised nearly $5.5 million from public and
private sources for the expansion.

New building space: 20,000-square-foot home that will include a
2,700-square-foot ballroom, a counseling clinic, community meeting rooms and
a cyber cafe.

Director: Patrick Soricone, joined the center in October.

Hours: 6 to 10 p.m. Mondays, noon to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; noon to
6 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sundays.

More information: Visit its Web site at http://www.defrank.org or call (408)
293-3040.
Top

[5]USA San Francisco--Talks underway to change date of 2004 S.F. Gay Pride Parade
Top

Mercury News | 01/12/2003 | Talks underway to...
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/4932188.htm
Posted on Sun, Jan. 12, 2003

By Renee Koury
Mercury News

Fireworks are expected over a proposal to stage the San Francisco Pride
parade on Independence Day in 2004 instead of the customary last weekend in
June.

The idea is to use the high-profile celebration of gay pride to shake up
traditional July 4 patriotic revelry and call attention to the view that
equal rights aren't always extended to gay people.

The San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Pride Celebration
Committee on Tuesday will hear public comment on the proposal by the group
calling itself Pride on the 4th.

``We want to point out that we're supposed to be treated free and equally
under the Constitution, but we're not,'' said James Devinny, one of the lead
proponents. ``We also want to show that we are Americans, too, and we want
to celebrate the rights we do have. For most of our history, American
identity and patriotism has been defined by a narrow class of heterosexual,
white, Christian men.''

Proponents want to stage an elaborate gay version of the all-American
holiday, Devinny said, to showcase their own patriotism and offer what they
call an antidote to traditional Independence Day barbecues.

So far, most of the opposition has come from within the gay community
itself. Many gays and lesbians worry that holding the pride celebration on
July 4 would diminish the event's impact. Some also say the move could imply
support for American policies that many gay people abhor, such as possible
war in Iraq.

``July 4th is a big patriotic holiday and at the moment patriotism is
synonymous with racial profiling, rounding up people from Arab countries,
putting them in secret prisons, and war, and a lot of things that I object
to as a lesbian and feminist,'' said Lisa Roth, a founder of the Pride
celebration's concurrent Dyke March.

Others don't want the spotlight on gay life to be diverted.

The San Francisco Pride Celebration Committee's board of directors on
Tuesday will hear public comment on the proposal to hold the parade on July
4 in 2004. The board will meet at 7 p.m. at committee headquarters, 1390
Market St., San Francisco. For information call (415) 864-0831, or visit
http://www.sfpride.org/beapart.htm on the Web.

Contact Renee Koury at rkoury@sjmercury.com or (650) 688-7598
Top

[6]INDONESIA: Indon transvestite dies after injecting himself with silicon
Top

FROM Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

Indon transvestite dies after injecting himse...
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2003/1/13/latest/9626Indontran&se
c=latest

Monday, January 13, 2003

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - An Indonesian transvestite died after he injected
himself with silicon that he hoped would enlarge his breasts, media reports
said Monday.

The victim, identified only as Sugrabrata, 35, was found dead in a rented
room in a poor district of central Jakarta late Friday, Koran Tempo daily
reported.

He had a substance that police suspected was silicon leaking from a puncture
hole in his chest, the report said.

The paper quoted Sugrabrata's brother as saying that he had injected himself
three times with silicon before his death.

He obtained the chemical from a friend, the report said.

Police were not immediately available to confirm the report.

Transvestites are a common sight on the city streets of Indonesia, where
many of them work as prostitutes.

They also frequently appear on television variety and quiz shows. - AP

[7]USA: Los Angeles California judge orders two to trial in attacks on gay, transgender people
Top

heraldtribune.com: Southwest Florida's Inform...
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030111&Category=AP
N&ArtNo=301110542&Ref=AR

RETRIEVED: Monday, January 13, 2003

January 11. 2003

The Associated Press

Two men accused of separate baseball bat attacks on a gay man and a
transgender person were ordered Friday to stand trial on charges carrying
hate crime allegations.

Superior Court Judge William Fahey found there was sufficient evidence to
require Ever Rivera, 20, and Selvin Campos, 19, both of Los Angeles, to
stand trial on two counts each of assault with a deadly weapon and one count
of second-degree robbery.

The hate crime allegations were added to the charges after prosecutors
concluded the alleged attackers thought their victims were gay.

The attacks occurred in October just east of West Hollywood, where a Sept. 1
attack on a gay actor is being prosecuted as a robbery and assault without
hate crime allegations. The decision by county District Attorney Steve
Cooley not to file hate crime charges in that case prompted picketing of
Cooley's office and a petition drive to recall him.

In the first case involving Rivera and Campos, a gay man testified that he
was struck in the head Oct. 13 with a bat by a pair of assailants who took
his house key after he ran home and left the keys in the door as he hurried
inside. The man, who identified Rivera and Campos in court, said he had to
receive 14 stitches for his injuries.
Shortly after that attack, a 19-year-old transgender person told police that
anti-gay slurs were hurled during another baseball bat attack.

The judge also ordered Rivera to stand trial on separate assault and robbery
charges stemming from an alleged Oct. 9 attack on another transgender
person.

Rivera remain jailed in lieu of $185,000 bail and Campos remains behind bars
in lieu of $135,000.

Both men were scheduled to appear back in court Jan. 24.

Last modified: January 11. 2003 12:54AM

[8]USA: California--Transsexual gets at least 50 years for killing woman
Top
From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

San Bernardino County Sun
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208%257E12588%257E1097232,00.html

RETRIEVED: Sunday, January 12, 2003

Wednesday, January 08, 2003 - 10:57:28 PM MST

By JOE NELSON, Staff Writer

A transsexual man was sentenced Wednesday in San Bernardino Superior Court
to 50 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a woman with a shotgun
while she was on the phone with police in a motel lounge.

Lyralisa Stevens, 33, of San Bernardino sat quietly in the courtroom of
Judge Ronald M. Christianson while his sentence was handed down.

Stevens received one 25 year-to-life sentence for first-degree murder and
another 25 years to life for using a gun to cause great bodily injury.

It was unclear Wednesday if Stevens, who has had breast implants, takes
estrogen and wore a navy blue skirt throughout his weeklong trial, will be
housed in the men's wing or women's wing in prison.

"He is genetically a man, anatomically from the waist down. I don't see why
he wouldn't be housed in a men's institution,' said Deputy District Attorney
Ron Webster, who prosecuted Stevens. "I will assume he will have some sort
of protective custody because of his sexual orientation.'

Webster said Stevens was housed in the men's wing at West Valley Detention
Center in Rancho Cucamonga during his jail stint, but was in protective
custody.

A jury convicted Stevens of first-degree murder Nov. 8 after his attorney,
public defender Rod Curbelo, withdrew a plea of not guilty by reason of
insanity.

Had Stevens fought for an insanity defense, Curbelo would have had to prove
in a second phase of the trial that Stevens was not sane when he killed
Bonnie Lynn Lewis, 45, at the Desert Inn Motel in San Bernardino on June 8,
2001.

Stevens and Lewis had been involved in an ongoing quarrel over $400 Lewis
claimed Stevens owed her for women's clothing, Webster said.

Defense attorneys argued Stevens was acting in self-defense and that Lewis
had returned to the motel three times over a two-day period after police and
motel management told her to stay away.

A San Bernardino police officer encouraged Stevens to get a restraining
order against Lewis the day before the shooting, according to court
testimony.

Two motel employees testified at a previous court hearing that Lewis arrived
at the Fifth Street motel the day of the shooting irate and yelling at the
motel manager. She walked into a lounge to use a pay phone to call police.

The two motel employees also testified they saw Stevens descend the stairs
cradling a shotgun wrapped in a white towel.

Stevens walked into the lounge and started yelling at Lewis, then fired a
blast from the gun. He then walked back up the stairs toward his room,
turning to the two employees and saying, "No one threatens my home.'

Motel employee Leah Heathcoat said during her testimony that she ran into
the lounge after the shooting and found Lewis lying on the ground groaning
and dying. The phone was off its hook and swaying back and forth from the
cord.

Top

[9]USA Florida--Lauderdale police probing early morning murder of transvestite prostitute
Top

From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

Sun-Sentinel: News Local
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/broward/sfl-18transvestitemurder,0,43
53498.story?coll=sfla-news-broward

RETRIEVED: Friday, January 10, 2003

By ARDY FRIEDBERG
sun-sentinel.com

Posted January 8 2003, 1:23 PM EST

FORT LAUDERDALE -- A transvestite prostitute was murdered early Wednesday
morning after talking with the driver of a car in the 500 block of Northwest
21st Avenue, a police spokesman said.

Timothy Broadus, 21, nicknamed "Cinnamon," was shot several times by the
driver of a late-model Honda Civic or Accord around 12:30 a.m., witnesses
told police.
Broadus, who was wearing women's clothes and a wig, ran a few steps before
collapsing and dying in the street, said Detective Mike Reed, police
spokesman

The victim, who had a long record of arrests on drug and other charges, was
known to work the area near Interstate 95 where the murder took place, Reed
said.

Police are looking for a silver, gray or champagne colored Honda that may
have a missing hubcap on the driver's side.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Detective Mark Breen at
954-828-5708, Detective John Curcio at 954-828-5529 or Crime Stoppers at
954-493-8477.

[10] USA: Pennsylvania--Transsexual Jailed for Burgling Pensioners
Top

From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

NEWS.scotsman.com - Latest News - Transsexual...
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=5618167

Fri 10 Jan 2003 1:40pm (UK)

By Matt Adams
PA News

An 82-year-old pensioner returned to his home to find a transsexual in
women's clothes sitting in his lounge, a court heard today.

Sally O'Rourke broke into the man's Hove flat before putting his arm around
him saying: "Let's get raving drunk."

Homeless O'Rourke, 32, &endash; also known as Stephen but referred to in court as
Miss O'Rourke throughout the hearing &endash; admitted burgling the man's home in
The Drive in March last year, and the flat of an 89-year-old woman in
Montague Street in Brighton in May.

She also pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing on December 11 to a
charge of affray on the same day as she burgled the elderly woman.

In that incident, O'Rourke entered on off-licence in Brighton and threatened
a female shop assistant with a pair of scissors before collapsing drunk on
the floor.

Today at Lewes Crown Court, recorder James Dingemans sentenced O'Rourke, who
appeared wearing a grey sweatshirt, to two years in jail for all three
offences.

He described the crimes as "despicable".

Nicholas Hall, prosecuting, told the court how on March 1 last year,
O'Rourke broke into the home of the 82-year-old man.

The victim, who lived alone, returned from doing his shopping to find
O'Rourke sitting on the sofa.

Mr Hall said: "He sat down and became aware of a woman sitting in the room.
He was surprised. The defendant said, 'I am pleased to see you'."

Mr Hall added: "He put his arm round the man and then got up and went to the
kitchen where he drank from a bottle. DNA was found on the bottle and
matched to the defendant.

"He went back to the man and said 'Let's get raving drunk".

O'Rourke, however, then picked up a fork and pressed it on the pensioner's
hand, demanding money. He fled with some coins, the court heard. The
pensioner later told police the incident had been a "great ordeal".

The court also heard how in the early hours of May 20 last year, O'Rourke,
who was again dressed as a woman, entered the flat of the female pensioner
who was partially sighted .

The victim woke to see O'Rourke standing in the lounge. Mr Hall told how
O'Rourke claimed she was the woman's home help.

He said: "The defendant picked up her bag and walked out and never came
back."

Later that day, the court heard, O'Rourke went to Victoria Wine in St
George's Street, Brighton, and tried to buy beer. The shop assistant refused
to serve her because she appeared drunk.

Mr Hall said: "The defendant started mumbling and then picked up a pair of
scissors and held them a foot and a half from the shop assistant's chest.
She was very frightened and was shaking."

O'Rourke also threatened a customer before fleeing with a can of lager. She
returned minutes later and threw chocolate bars at the shop assistant before
collapsing.

Police took the defendant to Brighton police station where they found a
credit card in her possession belonging to the elderly victim of the
burglary committed earlier that day. She was charged with two burglaries and
affray.

Peter Woodall, defending O'Rourke, tried to persuade Recorder Dingemans to
consider a non-custodial sentence on the grounds that the defendant would
not benefit from jail due to her personal circumstances.

He said: "Sally O'Rourke has been a victim all her life, a victim of her own
gender confusion, a victim of oppression from her peers and the inability of
society in the past and even today to help address her psychological
problems.

"It was perhaps tragically inevitable that she would embark upon more
serious offences at some time."

The court heard that O'Rourke, who has not had surgery, had 39 previous
convictions for 66 offences, including three burglaries.

O'Rourke had spent much of her six months on remand in the punishment block
of Lewes Prison, the court heard, not because she had misbehaved but because
of threats and a series of sexual assaults.

Mr Woodall said: "She has been on 23-hour lock up with no association or
gym. The things that tend to help reform are by necessity denied to Sally
O'Rourke because the system is not in a position to address her problems."

O'Rourke was told she would serve half her sentence in jail.

MEDIA WATCH

[11]UK: Yesterday in Parliament (Filed: 08/01/2003)
Top

From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

daily news, uk weather, business news - onlin...
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/01/08/npar08.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/01/08/ixhome.html

RETRIEVED: Sunday, January 12, 2003

January 08, 2003About us
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Reports by Michael Kallenbach

Parliamentary Correspondent

(SNIP)

Frank Johnson: Commons sketch

(SNIP)

But there was also solemnity yesterday. Hugh Bayley (Lab, Leigh) asked what
the Government's policy was on birth certificates for transsexuals.
Transsexual rights could be the latest liberal cause. That means it will
become one of the two subjects about which politicians must be pious but the
rest of us will tend to snigger; the other such subject being politics. So
the rest of us must get in our sniggers now. Soon polite society will forbid
us to do so.

As usual with these causes, the reformers would doubtless have us believe
that it affects millions. Soon we will be told that one in three of us is a
transvestite; then, that humans are by nature transvestite; then, that
Shakespeare was one, or rather, two.

Mr Bayley and Vincent Cable (Lib Dem, Twickenham) mentioned constituents who
had been a woman for many years, yet was still described as a man on her
passport; or his passport, if you are illiberal on this issue. Anne Begg
(Lab, Aberdeen South) had the same problem. I think I had better rephrase
that. Miss Begg was still a woman. It was her constituent who had the
problem.

Replying, Rosie Winterton, parliamentary secretary at the Lord Chancellor's
Office, promised to look into the problem. Presumably she is the Rosie
Winterton who was formerly Nicholas Winterton (C, Macclesfield).

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, made a warlike Iraq statement. Scarcely a
Labour backbencher backed him. This could be the first war in our history
that no member of the ruling party supported.

Yesterday's Times front page called him George Hoon, not Geoff; proof that
he is no self-publicist. Possibly our intelligence was using that
pro-Government paper to confuse the Iraqis into thinking that George had
murdered Geoff in a gun battle among the brutal Hoon clan. The transsexual
lobby protested that it The Times did not call him, or her, Gill Hoon.

(SNIP)

END

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[12] USA: The Village Voice: Savage Love by Dan Savage
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From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

The Village Voice: Hot Spot: Savage Love by D...
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0301/savage.php

RETRIEVED: Sunday, January 12, 2003
Hot Spot
January 1 - 7, 2003

I was watching Dr. Phil on television talking to a woman who discovered that
her husband was a cross-dresser, or at least had cross-dressing tendencies.
Dr. Phil counseled her to leave the man because of his "perversion," and
told her no one could ever be sexually satisfied with a cross-dresser for a
husband because he'd always be masturbating while wearing her underwear, and
so on, instead of sexually pleasing her. Mind you, the woman had three kids
with this guy so obviously they got it on occasionally, and she didn't say
that they didn't have sex, only that he had brought up the idea of wearing
her clothes and she was repulsed. Then he got the husband on the phone and
yelled at him for being dishonest. From reading your column, I was under the
impression that lots of people with fetishes live happy, productive,
sexually fulfilling lives. Just because something turns someone on doesn't
mean nothing else turns them on, does it? If I like blowjobs and my wife
doesn't, does that mean we are sexually incompatible? How is this different?
Or is Dr. Phil just projecting? &emdash;Perverts and Nylon Tights

Dr. Phil is simply doing what daytime TV talk show hosts are paid the big
bucks to do: Tell women exactly what they want to hear. Here, he's telling
all the wives of all the cross-dressers that their husbands are dishonest
perverts, that the wives are wronged innocents, and that their husbands'
ho-hum sexual fetish is grounds for divorce.

In an ideal world people would make a full disclosure of their secret sexual
fetishes before getting married and making babies. But most straight people
with "shameful" sexual fetishes deny and suppress them for years in what
almost always proves to be a futile attempt to control their sexual desires
and live "normal" lives. (Out gay people, as a rule, don't suppress their
kinks. Compared to a desire for same-sex sex and love, desires for leather,
dress socks, stuffed animals, spankings, piss, Ashton Kutcher, etc., just
aren't that scary.) Eventually, straight guys with fetishes realize that
it's impossible to suppress their sexual fantasies, and then make the
difficult decision to tell the wife.

And why do straight guys with bizarre sexual fantasies and fetishes try to
keep them secret? Because of people like Dr. Phil, who say that anyone with
a sexual fantasy wilder than whipped cream on the wife's nipples is a freak,
who spread the lie that people with wild sexual fantasies are not interested
in "normal" sexual activity, no matter how much "normal" sexual activity
they've had. They tell women with small children that the discovery of a
run-of-the-mill sexual fetish is grounds for divorce.

Color me Bill Bennett, but it seems to me that the damage of divorce for all
involved (especially kids!) is so great that the wife of a cross-dresser
might want to take a stab at accepting or accommodating her husband's fetish
before filing for divorce. And perhaps the woman on Dr. Phil's show might
have gone there if the not-so-good doctor took the trouble to do a little
research before he stuck his big, bald head up his big, white ass. He
could've told her that cross-dressing is a common fetish among straight men,
and that most cross-dressers are only interested in indulging themselves
from time to time. He could've said that most cross-dressers are capable of
having normal sexual relations with their wives, and referred her to the
numerous support groups, books, and Internet chat rooms for the wives of
cross-dressers. He could've told her that while it may not be pleasant to
contemplate her husband in women's clothes, there's no reason she has to
contemplate it all the time. If she can give him permission to indulge on
his own during solo masturbation sessions, and if his occasional indulgence
takes nothing away from their shared sex life, she should be encouraged not
to dwell on the whole husband-in-panties issue.

(SNIP)

[13] AUSTRALIA- Brisbane--The Courier Mail:--Schoolboy pursues sex change
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From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

The Courier Mail: Schoolboy pursues sex chang...
http://www.thecouriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,5823597%255E3102,00.html

Saturday, January 11, 2003
QUEENSLAND NEWS

Amanda Watt

11jan03

A BRISBANE boy is determined to become the first Australian school student
to go through a sex change.

The Year 11 teenager has finally admitted to himself and his family that he
wants to become a woman.

In what is believed to be an Australian first, the student last year began
going to school partially dressed as a woman &endash; wearing make-up and growing
his hair long.

This year he is taking the transformation further &endash; he has begun a course of
hormones that will stop facial hair growth and eventually develop breasts.
With the support of his parents, he has adopted a female Christian name and
now leaves the house every morning looking like a woman.

In two to three years, provided he passes the required testing for mental or
physical problems, he hopes to undergo surgery to make the transition
complete &endash; removing his male genitalia and replacing it with a female organ.

While his parents, extended family and friends are standing steadfastly
behind him, many of his school peers have not accepted the decision. He has
suffered months of verbal taunts, abuse and assault.

The campaign of vilification &endash; condemned by the school's administration and
some students &endash; has made him leave the school.

He is now investigating other education options for this year &endash; such as
completing Year 12 via a TAFE course.

The 17-year-old, who does not want to be identified, said he was a victim of
the widespread ignorance and fear.

Too many people saw it as a choice rather than understanding he had been
born in the wrong body, he said.

A transgender is also frequently confused with a transvestite &endash; who dresses
as a woman for sexual gratification or emotional release.

"It's not like I have chosen this for myself, I have lived my whole life
feeling that something is not right and all I want is to live a normal
life," he said.

"The entire process has been painful and difficult . . . I wouldn't want to
put anyone through what I'm going through.

"Life would be so much easier if I didn't have to do this."

Transgenders generally have to see psychiatrists for at least one year and
they need to live as their new identity for two years before getting a sex
change operation.

His mother, who has attended several of her son's medical appointments in a
bid to understand more about the changes, said while it took a while to
process her son's announcement she had always known there was something
"different" about her only child.

"We love our child and we want to do what's right, we want her to have a
happy life," she said.

"The suicide rate amongst transgenders is so high (43 per cent of
transgenders in Australia have committed suicide or have made an attempt)
and I don't want a dead child."

The family has found understanding and support from the group Parents and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays.

Convener Shelley Argent said about one in 20,000 Australians had gender
identity issues.

Mrs Argent said while the State Government's anti-discrimination legislation
would make a huge difference for the transgender population, the process of
sexual reassignment was a long, hard journey.

"Many in society believe that transgenders are either mentally ill, odd, a
reflection of bad parenting or from dysfunctional families but really that
isn't so," Mrs Argent said.

"We need to understand being a transgender, like homosexuality, is neither a
choice nor a fad.

"Who would want to put themselves through a medical system that can become
horrendous and not always sympathetic, live in a society that allows them
few rights plus the pain of surgery required to make them complete?"

The support group is pushing for recurrent government funding of $10,000 a
year.

Phone PFLAG on 3017 1739, The Australian Transgender Support Association of
Queensland on 3843 5024 or Open Doors on 3257 7660.

--
© Queensland Newspapers
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[14] CYBERSPACE: WorldNetDaily: The sex-change charade
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http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30442

Ellen Makkai
HEART OF THE MATTER

The sex-change charade

Posted: January 11, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

Gender gymnastics are going on out there. Transsexuals disenchanted with
their chromosomal selves are having parts lopped off or stitched on in
attempts to change sexual identity.

They hope to override male XY or female XX hardwiring &endash; thinking a newly
configured appendage or cleft re-defines gender. And they enlist a surgeon
to mutilate the body accordingly.

These tortured souls don't need draconian measures to align their physical
exterior with confused gender suppositions &endash; they need psychological and
spiritual truth that frees them to celebrate the skin they're in.

Last month the legitimacy of so-called sex-change surgery was challenged.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a New York state employer,
P & C Food Markets, was not required to pay for an employee's "gender
reassignment."

Marc Mario, born Margo, argued that she suffered "gender dysphoria," a
recently hatched phrase describing the sincere conviction that one's gender
was a mistake &endash; he or she should have been born as the opposite sex.

Could the Creator have flubbed it?

Former transsexual Gordon Babcock, who stopped short of surgery, says, "I
used to pray, 'Lord, make me the same on the inside as on the outside. I
don't care whether I wake up as a man or a woman, just as long I'm the same
inside and out.'"

Margo Mario wanted out of her female physique and "transitioned" from female
to male via voluntary double mastectomies, a hysterectomy and hormone
therapy. The newly minted Marc then sought reimbursement through his
employer's health-care plan.

The court nixed it, saying costs were not "medically necessary." P&C Food
Markets also cited conflict in the medical community over whether or not
gender dysphoria is a legitimate illness worthy of such severe medical
intervention.

"I had misgivings at first," says James J. Reardon, M.D., a Manhattan
surgeon who specializes in female-to-male transitions. "But I did research
and found that gender dysphoria is an acknowledged condition."

Acknowledged, perhaps, but valid?

"Some people consider it mutilating. And, of course, the scientific side of
it is pretty damn weak," said Chester Schmidt, M.D., one of the founders of
the Sexual Behaviors Consultation Unit at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

In 1960, Johns Hopkins was the first U.S. medical facility involved in sex
reassignment procedures. The program was discontinued in 1979 after Dr. Jon
Meyer published his long-term follow-up report of adult transsexuals treated
at Johns Hopkins. None of the post-operatives showed measurable improvement
in their lives.

"Sex re-assignment surgery confers no objective advantage …" Meyer
concluded.

Dr. Paul McHugh, chairman of the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry,
criticized the procedures as "the most radical therapy ever encouraged by
20th-century psychiatrists," comparing it to the discredited frontal
lobotomy.

Surgery will not silence Margo/Marc Mario's torment. Transsexual and medical
doctor Gregory Hemingway, son of author Ernest Hemingway, went through
sex-change surgery. But the sought-after serenity escaped him &endash; he died an
alcoholic shortly after his arrest for indecent exposure in October 2001.

"I would have been better off staying the way I was," said tennis star Renee
Richards, the high-profile sex-change recipient. "Today, there are better
choices … for dealing with the compulsion to cross dress and the depression
that comes with gender confusion."

"How can outward physical change bring about the needed change within?
[After surgery] there is still a painful void," says a regretful Joseph
Cluse, who in 1979 had surgery in Trinidad, Colo. "Relationships are
destroyed and everyday I have to live with scars. The mirror is ever before
me."

Cluse and Gordon Babcock point to acute psychological wounding in earliest
childhood as pivotal to their severe rejection of masculinity. Both say they
then heard the reoccurring lie, "No hope."

And both credit powerful divine assistance for their rescue, saying that the
Creator &endash; through counseling, revelation and unconditional acceptance &endash;
rewires and heals the damaged psyche.

"God touched my heart and showed me truth," says Cluse. Babcock initially
thought his impending sex switch was God's will, but now says, "Jesus led me
out of the prison I'd been in for more than 40 years."

Transsexuality signals a deceptively fierce disorder. Elective castration,
mastectomy, hysterectomy, etc. are futile non-solutions. The cruel,
permanent disfigurement of so-called gender reassignment is not the answer.

Fortunately there looks to be a better way.

Ellen Makkai began writing columns 16 years ago in response to what she
perceived as the moral and intellectual laxity among many feminist
commentators. Her writings have appeared since in the Denver Post, Rocky
Mountain News, Cleveland Plain Dealer and periodicals published by James
Dobson's Focus on the Family Ministries.

E-MAIL ELLEN MAKKAI
emakkai@worldnetdaily.com

GO TO ELLEN MAKKAI'S ARCHIVE
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/archives.asp?AUTHOR_ID=189

[15] NYPOST.COM Entertainment: MAKE ME A WOMAN
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From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/28057.htm
MAKE ME A WOMAN

By DON KAPLAN

January 9, 2003 -- NEW YORK'S Roseland Ballroom was transformed into
lipo-land last night when more than 100 people panting for plastic surgery
auditioned for ABC's bizarre new reality show, "Extreme Makeover 2."

On the reality show people get to change their appearances with plastic
surgery, dental work, tummy tucks and stylist makeovers.

"Extreme Makeover" was a one-time reality special that aired last month -
and turned out to be a surprise hit for the network when 13.2 million
viewers tuned in. Now the network is mounting a second edition targeted for
next spring.

The majority of the crowd at Roseland were seeking liposuction, nose-jobs,
breast implants or eye-surgery. Almost all said they would be willing to go
under the knife in order to look and feel better about themselves.

Among them were moms from New Jersey, a transgender man seeking to become a
woman and a man who, after dropping 200 lbs., needs to have rolls of
leftover flesh cut away.

"I think this would be a great opportunity for the country to be educated
about transgender surgery," said Laverne Cox, a six-foot-plus blond
originally from Alabama. Cox was born male but says he's been living as a
woman for four years.

Jenny Rosetti, from Hopelawn, N.J., told The Post she wanted to appear on
the show to get rid of "the pouch" she's had since giving birth about 20
years ago and to get breast implants.

[16]Local News,Vancouver, canada.com network--Students applaud transgendered teacher's return to school
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Local News - Vancouver - canada.com network
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/news/story.asp?id={C892DFB7-9B6B-4210-A154-7
8CBC2600BFD}
Dan Rowe
Vancouver Sun

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

A transgendered teacher at a Vancouver elementary school, received a round
of applause from students when she returned to work Monday.

Jack Johnston took a medical leave of absence from the school last July. He
was diagnosed by medical doctors as a transgendered person, someone who
changes their gender in order to successfully carry on with their lives.

Johnston's identity was changed legally and medically to Jenna Stuart and
Monday was her first day back in her Grade 5 class at Henderson Elementary.

Principal Karen Bunting said Stuart's return was noted at the regular weekly
assembly of the intermediate students (Grades 4, 5 and 6), including
Stuart's class.

"If people are returning from leave as Ms. Stuart was this morning, we
welcome her back," Bunting said Monday of the assembly. "She received a
round of applause."

The school informed students and parents of Stuart's pending return in a
mid-December newsletter.

It offered to make arrangements for any parents who were not comfortable
with their children attending the school after Stuart's return. Nine
children from six families were moved to new schools.

Overall, Bunting said, she was pleased with the response from most of the
school community.

"I take this as parents being understanding and showing tolerance. I think
for many of the parents, they know that the school does a very good job of
educating and that knowledge is powerful," she said.

drowe@pacpress.southam.ca

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LEGISLATIVE ACTION

[17]USA: Florida--Key West Approves Transgender Rights Protection
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Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News C...
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=2013039

Wed January 8, 2003 06:30 PM ET

By Laura Myers

KEY WEST, Fla. (Reuters) - The mayor of Key West, the easy-going island city
that prides itself on tolerance, is due to sign into law this week an
ordinance banning discrimination against transsexuals and transgendered
people.

The Key West City Commission unanimously amended its human rights ordinance
late Monday to include protection against discrimination based on "gender
identity and expression" in employment, housing, public accommodations and
lending.

Once Mayor Jimmy Weekley signs the ordinance later this week, Key West will
become the first Florida city to ban transgender discrimination and the 44th
nationwide.

"Even transgender people, either through expression or surgery, have human
rights like everyone else," said city commissioner Tom Oosterhoudt, 52, who
is openly gay.

"Thirty years ago, my first lover was a drag queen. Throughout my life,
there have been incredible characters who've been drag queens. All of these
people deserve to work and to have a roof over their heads." Oosterhoudt
said.

The measure orders the state attorney's office to address housing
violations, with other issues to be handled in civil lawsuits.

The law will be a "keystone for other communities," said Scott Fraser, who
runs the 400-member Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Key West. "We hope our
law will become a model."

"This just formalizes something that existed here for a long time and that's
tolerance of people and inclusion of all human beings," said Michelle
Wisniewski, 57, a transgender retiree who lives in Cudjoe Key, north of Key
West.

One-third of Key West's 26,000 permanent residents are estimated to be
openly gay or lesbian.

In Florida, other transgender protection efforts are under way in Monroe and
Seminole counties and in St. Petersburg.

In 2000, the town of Wilton Manor near Fort Lauderdale, Florida, required
businesses contracting with the city to include sexual orientation and
gender identity protection in their nondiscrimination policies.

Other U.S. communities last year added similar protections, including
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Boston; Chicago; Dallas;
New York City and Buffalo, New York.;

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[18] UK: Hansard (House of Commons Daily Debates) Session 2002-03
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From...Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

The United Kingdom Parliament
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/cm030
107/debtext/30107-03.htm#30107-03_sbhd2

Tuesday 7 January 2003

Debates

Transsexual People

27. Hugh Bayley (City of York):

If she will make a statement about the Government's policy towards birth
certificates for transsexual people. [89162]

The Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department (Ms Rosie
Winterton):

On 13 December, I issued a statement, published in Hansard on 16 December,
that set out our plans to give transsexual people recognition in their
acquired gender, including our intention to legislate for registrars general
to create a new record in relation to transsexual people.

Hugh Bayley:

I speak on behalf of three constituents who are transsexuals who have
approached me because they have all had problems in relation to official
documents that record their gender inappropriately. The Government have no
choice but to change the law because the European Court of Human Rights has
said that we must, but transsexuals, such as my constituents, still face
problems. The question on their lips is not whether the Government will
legislate, but when the Government will legislate.

Ms Winterton:

I fully accept the points that my hon. Friend has made. He eloquently sets
out the difficult position in which many transsexual people find themselves.
We propose to publish a draft Bill, which will be available for
pre-legislative scrutiny. I hope that my hon. Friend will understand that I
cannot say exactly when that draft Bill will be published but my officials
are currently actively engaged in bringing the work forward. Clearly, the
timing of substantive legislation after the draft Bill is a matter for the
Legislative Programme Committee and parliamentary business managers. It is
difficult to secure time within busy legislative programmes, but I assure
him that we are committed to legislating as soon as possible.

Dr. Vincent Cable (Twickenham):

Further to the Minister's answer, is she aware of cases such as that of a
constituent of mine who has been a woman for 40 years but cannot claim a
woman's pension because she is shown as a man on her birth certificate?
Although such people welcome the Government's overall approach, a real sense
of urgency exists in relation to some of these cases. Will she bear that in
mind in trying to expedite the legislation?

Ms Winterton:

The hon. Gentleman is right to draw attention to that particular issue. I
hope that he will appreciate that many issues need to be considered when
drafting legislation on this matter. It is therefore important that the
legislation addresses all the different aspects that are likely to arise,
which is why we want to make sure that we get the legislation right.

Miss Anne Begg (Aberdeen, South):

Will my hon. Friend make sure that, under any legislation that comes
forward, the new certificate that will be issued to show the new gender and
new name of the person will allow that person to be issued with a passport
in their new gender and new name. That is an issue about which one of my
constituents is most concerned.

Ms Winterton:

That will certainly be possible. At the moment, I believe that people can be
issued with a different certificate, and it is more an issue of explaining
why the birth certificate is different from the passport application. That
is certainly one of the issues that will be addressed in the legislation.

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IN THE COURTS

[19]USA: New York City-- Court: Teen Boy Can Dress As Woman
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January 10, 2003

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:44 a.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- A 17-year-old male living in foster care
may dress as a woman, a state court ruled.

Supreme Court Judge Louise Gans ruled Thursday the city had
violated the teen's rights when the Atlantic Transitional
Foster Facility, a city-run home, prohibited him from
wearing dresses and skirts.

The teen, whose name was withheld because of his age,
identifies himself as a female. He has been diagnosed with
a gender identity disorder and is considered legally
disabled.

Representatives of the foster-care facility had argued the
teen wore sexually provocative women's clothing in an
all-male home.

A spokeswoman for the Administration for Children's
Services told The New York Times it had not yet received
the decision but had moved the youth to a home where he can
wear what he wants.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Cross-Dressing-Teen.html?ex=1043209258&ei=1&en=d96da09b2c117d1a

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[20]USA: OHIO-- Suit claims discrimination
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Law and Order
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1042108527153
540.xml

RETRIEVED: Sunday, January 12, 2003

Law and Order

01/09/03

CLEVELAND

(SNIP)

Susan Myers, who was fired from her job at the Cuyahoga County Human
Services Department, sued her former bosses yesterday, claiming that they
discriminated against her because she was a transsexual. Myers claims in a
lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court that she had no problems working in the
department for 16 years. In 2000, a colleague became her supervisor and
often found fault with her work and called her a "he/she." Myers also claims
that she was discriminated against because she was a white woman and her
bosses were Hispanic. Myers, who now lives in Chillicothe, underwent gender
transition in the 1970s. She was fired in April 2000 from her job helping
low-income residents acquire benefits. Myers also sued the county
commissioners and asked for back pay and benefits. A spokesman for the
county prosecutor's office, which represents county offices, declined to
comment.

(SNIP)

[21] JAPAN: Court rejects transsexual's demand to alter gender in register
TOP

From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

Japan Today Japan News - News - Court rejects...
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=1&id=245599

Monday, January 13, 2003 at 09:30 JST

TOKYO &emdash; The Tokyo Family Court has rejected a request filed by a transsexual
in 2001 to allow him to alter his gender in his family register, sources
close to the plaintiff said Sunday.

The plaintiff in his 40s was born a woman but suffered from sexual identity
disorder and underwent a sex-change operation at Saitama Medical School, the
first medical facility in Japan to offer the procedure.

This is the third case in which a court has not allowed such individuals to
change genders in family registers, following two cases in August and
December last year.

"Is asking for a special law to be enacted the only way?" the plaintiff said
after the court handed down the ruling without directly hearing from him.

The Census Registration Law stipulates records can be corrected when any
contradictions are discovered. The court said it interpreted
"contradictions" as "in cases where the records in the register do not match
the truth in the beginning."

In this case, the plaintiff "was biologically female at the time of birth,"
and therefore the original records cannot be considered a "contradiction,"
the court ruled.

Sex-change operations have long been a taboo in Japan, but the medical field
began conducting authorized operations in 1998. Those who underwent the
operations, however, often experience trouble and inconveniences in cases
such as marriage and employment because family registers fail to reflect
their new genders.

Five other transsexuals had also filed similar suits at other family courts
in the Kanto and Tohoku regions in eastern and northeastern Japan at the
same time as the plaintiff in 2001. (Kyodo News)

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[22] USA: Fired cross-dresser (Peter Oiler) giving up on lawsuit
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heraldtribune.com: Southwest Florida's Inform...
http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030109&Category=AP
N&ArtNo=301091090&Ref=AR

RETRIEVED: Sunday, January 12, 2003

January 09. 2003

Fired cross-dresser giving up on lawsuit

The Associated Press

A trucker fired by a grocery store chain because he sometimes dresses as a
woman off duty has dropped his lawsuit against the company, saying he did
not like his chances for victory in the nation's conservative political
environment.

A federal judge ruled against Peter Oiler last September and refused to
reconsider the case in November. Oiler said further defeats might have set
back anti-discrimination efforts.

"I'm afraid I would have done more harm to the cause than good," he told The
Associated Press on Thursday.

Among his reasons he cited the Republican sweep in the November elections
and President Bush's re-nomination of conservative Mississippi Judge Charles
Pickering to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Oiler's appeal would have gone to the 5th Circuit. However, there would be
no way of knowing whether Pickering, should he be confirmed by the Senate,
would be assigned to hear the case.

Oiler was fired in January 2000 after working for Winn-Dixie super markets
for 20 years, the last 16 as a truck driver.

In his lawsuit, he had sought unspecified damages for lost wages and
emotional distress. He has been married for more than 20 years.

In September, U.S. District Judge Lance Africk ruled that Winn-Dixie
Louisiana Inc. had a legal right to fire Oiler after he told a supervisor he
went out one to three times a month as "Donna," dressed in wig, makeup,
breast pads, and women's clothes.

Court documents indicated Oiler told a supervisor about his crossdressing
during a meeting to squelch a rumor that he was a homosexual. Oiler is not
gay, but is "transgender," the lawsuit stated.

Africk ruled that Oiler is not protected by the federal law against sex
discrimination.

Congress has refused 31 times to amend the law to ban discrimination because
of gender or sexual identity, and it is not the federal court's job to
dictate policy, Africk ruled.

Oiler allowed the time to file an appeal to expire. Money is still an issue
in the case, however. The American Civil Liberties Union handled his case at
its own expense, but Winn Dixie is seeking money from him to cover the super
market chain's costs to defend itself. Court records show the amount is more
than $9,000. A Feb. 5 hearing date has been set on the issue.

Oiler said it took him five months to find a new, lower-paying job but his
new employers and coworkers have been supportive. His new employer, he said,
makes sure that potential new hires are told about Oiler's off-duty cross
dressing.

"They have to know who I am and what's going on," Oiler said. He declined to
identify his new employer.

Last modified: January 09. 2003 6:40PM
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BOOKS Etc...
[23] INDIA--Telling tales of the third sex
Mohakal Natya Sampraday stages drama that deals with the hermaphrodites
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by Harun ur Rashid

From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

The Daily Star: Features
http://www.dailystarnews.com/200301/13/n3011309.htm

Volume 3 Number 1190 Mon. January 13, 2003
Theatre

Telling tales of the third sex
Mohakal Natya Sampraday stages drama that deals with the hermaphrodites

Harun ur Rashid

Anan Zaman, a youth with a humane mind, has written a full-length drama on
the sexually challenged people commonly known in Bangla as hijra. A
sympathetic study of the lives of a few hermaphrodites, the drama entitled
Shikhondi Kotha (Tale of the Hermaphrodites) has struck quite a stir among
the intellectuals and theatregoers of the city. Recently, Mohakal Natya
Sampraday staged the ninth show of Shikhondi Kotha. Anan, a student of Drama
and Dramatics department at Jahangirnagar University, is, however, not the
first to deal with the hermaphrodites. In his novel Kobi Othoba Dondito
O-purush (The Poet or the Punished Un-man) eminent novelist Humayun Azad has
shown how the meaning of self-existence reduces into a nullifying
non-existence for the protagonist, when a group of religious fanatics sever
his male organ. But Humayun Azad has written from a different point of view,
on a different subject, and used the symbol of 'Un-man' for a different
purpose. Humayun showed his protagonist as protesting against the oppression
of the fundamentalism, whereas Anan's treatment of his subject is rather
realistic and sympathetic in nature.

In every existing social system of the world, a person's very first identity
is determined by his/her sex property. But there are people who, for some
unpredictable biological mystery, do not possess that vital property since
birth. Again sometimes they go through a transformation, especially in their
puberty, in which they lose their sexual identity. People with such sexual
disability generally show characteristics of both male and female sexes.
Deprivation of sexual identity apart, what is yet more unfortunate for them
is that these people lead a very inhuman life, always being subject to utter
neglect and disgrace of the society.

Directed by Rashid Harun, Professor of Drama and Dramatics at Jahangirnagar
University, Shikhondi Kotha is a tale of a person who is born as a boy in a
family, spends his childhood, and suddenly discovers in his puberty that he
is partly a man and partly a woman. At once all normalcy of his life
destroys, and an utter inner suffering runs him through his entire life, in
which he searches for a dignified identity for living in the society as a
human being. In course of this search he even stands defiant before the
Creator and demands a sexual identity. First, he wants to be made a man,
full of vigorous manliness and capable of reproducing his own blood
descendants. Then he demands the Creator to turn him into an affectionate
woman, who would be the caressing mother to all her children. Frustrated and
agitated at the Creator's silence, the poor hermaphrodite finally begs the
Creator to bestow on him at least a life as a human being.

Anan Zaman reveals through this research drama some common woes in the lives
of hermaphrodites, which he has found in his research work conducted on the
inhabitants of the den of Kali hijra at Sabujbag, Savar. After the
revelation of that fateful fact, the family involved always tries to conceal
it from the neighbourhood. But, unnatural and awkward as it is, the feminine
traits in a boy attract a lot of attention. Gradually, this burden of
humiliation gets so heavy on the boy that he one day leaves home and finds
out a hijra den. Often hermaphrodites of a den come to learn such facts and
come to the family to take away the boy--their new soul mate.

Most of the hermaphrodites in our country are generally males with some
exposed physical feminine characteristics. Due to this duality, young males
often fall in love with them. But once the truth is revealed, the lovers get
terrible on the poor hermaphrodites and treat them very badly. Sometimes
these lovers may show genuine human feeling, as is revealed in the drama by
a hermaphrodite character. She once nursed and cured a youth from leprosy,
for she had a true love for the man. He also loved her back and wanted to
marry her. But in the end she managed to restrain her lover: after all,
without the physical satisfaction a marriage could not last; after all,
without the possibility of child-birth a family could not be complete--she
assuaged his fancy.

The drama also shows how the agony of being a hermaphrodite drives after
these poor creatures even after their death. In their community
hermaphrodites maintain rituals of one's own religion, and after death they
are given funeral according to that religion as the sex to which one had
more bent. But often it is found difficult for them. In the drama, after the
death of Chhotki, a hermaphrodite who maintained Islam throughout life, a
moulovi denies to lead the janaja saying he does not know hermaphrodites'
janaja.

Apart from one's own religion, hermaphrodites perform a common ritual called
Dhol Puja, in which a dhol is given tribute. All hermaphrodites perform this
ritual, for they consider the dhol as the prime source of their income for
them. Besides collecting alms from markets, the other major occupation of
the hermaphrodites is 'to dance a new-born'. This is a ritual of blessing
the newborn through orgy of dancing and beating on the dhol. Sometimes they
are hired for dancing at various rural events like jatra, fairs and circus
shows.

Regarding his choosing such an extraordinary subject for writing drama, Anan
tells that after reading a short account of the hermaphrodites in Selim Al
Din's Keramat Mongol, he started thinking about it. He says that generally
hijras are extremely maltreated in our society. Moreover, their appearance
in our literature and cultural activities is also limited to making
ludicrous fun of them. But they are also human beings--absolutely human--in
spite of a major lack in sexual characteristics, over which they do not have
any control, Anan says. Anan frowns at why there is not even one
hermaphrodite rickshaw-puller or hawker-vendor. He believes that
hermaphrodites also have equal rights as we have to live in the society with
proper dignity; we should involve them into our ordinary social activities.
Anan decries the inhuman nature of our existing social system. He has
dedicated all the performances of Shikhondi Kotha to all sexually challenged
people. He wants to convey out the message to everyone: 'Come, let us accept
them as they are and as part of our society.'
TOP

HEALTH AND SCIENCE

[24]USA: Food and Drug Administration: Hormone therapy drug labels to change
TOP

Reuters Health Information (2003-01-08): FDA:...
http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2003/01/08/eline/links/20030108elin025.html

FDA: Hormone therapy drug labels to change

Last Updated: 2003-01-08 15:32:16 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By Keith Mulvihill

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The US Food and Drug Administration announced
Wednesday that makers of estrogen-containing products that are used by women
for menopause <http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc40.html>
symptoms will be required to make label changes reflecting new safety
concerns.

In addition, women who do decide to take the drugs are being advised to take
the lowest dose for the shortest possible time.

The announcement comes six months after a US government-sponsored study, the
Women's Health Initiative (WHI), was halted three years earlier than
expected. The landmark study found that women taking a hormone replacement
product had a slightly higher risk of heart disease, breast cancer
<http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc06.html>, stroke
<http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc45.html> and blood clots
compared with women not taking the hormones.

In that study, women were taking the drug Prempro, a combination of estrogen
and progestin. Another arm of the WHI, in which women are taking an
estrogen-only product called Premarin
<http://www.reutershealth.com/atoz/html/Estrogens_Conjugated.htm>, is
ongoing. Women who still have a uterus typically take estrogen combined with
progestin, while those who have had a hysterectomy take estrogen alone.

Shortly after the WHI was halted, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals made some labeling
changes and the new labeling will affect the company's estrogen-containing
products--Prempro, Premphase and Premarin. The FDA is also asking all other
manufacturers of estrogen or estrogen/progestin products to make similar
changes as well.

"Today the FDA is taking action to provide new advice to women who use or
are considering using estrogen or estrogen with progestin," said the FDA's
Commissioner Dr. Mark B. McClellan.

"Now a box warning about not using estrogens for cardiovascular protection
and about the findings of the WHI has been added to these products,"
McClellan told attendees of a press conference.

Although the FDA never approved the drugs for heart disease prevention, many
doctors prescribed the drugs "off label" because there was preliminary
evidence that the drugs might be helpful.

Patient information that accompanies the products will be revised to reflect
the new changes.

"Different estrogens and progestins are believed to act similarly, and in
the absence of data suggesting otherwise, women need to assume that the risk
of other estrogens and progestins are similar," said McClellan.

A labeling guidance policy will be published shortly for the manufacturers
of these drugs, according to the FDA.

Currently there are three FDA-approved indications for the use of Prempro,
Premarin and Premphase. One is the treatment of hot flashes and night
sweats, two common symptoms of menopause. "This indication and the FDA
labeling has not changed," said McClellan.

The two other indications have been revised, said McClellan.

While the drugs are still recommended for moderate to severe vulvar and
vaginal atrophy symptoms, "we now state that when prescribing for solely the
treatment of symptoms of vulvar and vaginal atrophy, topical vaginal
products should be considered," McClellan said.

Although HRT drugs can still be prescribed to prevent the bone-thinning
disease osteoporosis
<http://www.reutershealth.com/wellconnected/doc18.html>. the label will say
they "should only be considered for women at significant risk for
osteoporosis and nonestrogen treatments should be carefully considered," he
said.

There are now several different drugs on the market for patients at risk for
osteoporosis, including a class of drugs called bisphosphonates.

The FDA will continue to study whether low doses of the estrogen/progestin
products are safer than higher doses, and compare the safety profiles of
different types of products that contain the hormones.

Above all, a woman who uses or is considering using estrogen-containing
products should consult her doctor regarding the individual risks and
benefits of the hormones, McClellan said.

TOP

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

[25] UK: TV wife's gender blender
TOP

From Brenda Lana Smith R.af D.

The Sun Newspaper Online - UK's biggest selli...
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003010131,00.html

Tuesday, January 07, 2003

TV wife's gender blender

By SARA NATHAN

FOOTBALLERS' Wives is returning with a sensational story about a baby that
is born a boy AND girl.

The new TV series kicks off with Chardonnay and hubby Kyle throwing a
christening party for new son Paddy.

But delight turns to horror when a medical examination reveals the tot has
both male and female sex organs.

In the first series, the couple agreed to raise the baby after Kyle's mum
Jackie, played by Gillian Taylforth, got pregnant.

A show insider said: "Five months have passed since they decided to bring up
Jackie's son &emdash; and Chardonnay is negotiating the baby's first magazine deal.

"But in episode five they discover little Paddy has both male and female sex
organs and their world is turned upside down."

To make matters worse Chardonnay, played by Susie Amy, and Kyle,
ex-Hollyoaks star Gary Lucy, are dragged into a tug-of-love.

The insider said: "Jackie is finding it very hard to take a back seat while
the pair play happy families."

The baby was conceived on a snooker table during a romp between Jackie and
Jason Turner, captain of the fictional team Earl's Park.

The new series of the ITV1 show starts tomorrow at 9pm.

COMMENTARY

SexEd 101
By Rebecca Kastl
TOP

To even be writing this piece seems a bit too much for me. But there seems to be
a gap of knowledge that must be filled in order for us as a community to remain
effective and integrated with the rest of the LGBT folks out there.

What is the gap of knowledge you ask? The gap is in what we know about sex.

I'm not talking about basic anatomy (although that comes into play as well) but
I am talking about the confluence of each and every attribute which we consider
to be a part of what is construed by us and those around us as "sex"--what makes
you what you are?

To start with, society (and even the transgender community) seems to couch the
concept of sex on the configuration of the genitals with little consideration
given for anything else. How is the transgender community guilty of this? Any
time one asks another about whether or not they've had "the operation"--SRS--we
are guilty of falling into the trap of thinking that one's genital configuration
actually means something to anyone besides the owner.

Last year two things happened to me that brought much of this issue into much
clearer focus. To start with, I was fired from my job as a college professor for
failing to disclose what my genitals were. I reasoned that the school had no
right to be asking such things. Secondly, I tried to join an Internet mailing
list for transsexual women (I guess I should have qualified). But the list owner
predicated my participation on the list on me disclosing what my genital
configuration was.

Just the same as I wouldn't disclose to the school district what was going on
"down there," I was no more inclined to disclose that same iformation to a
complete stranger, no matter what she felt gave her some sort of default right
to demand such information.

So, I have encountered discrimination by both society at large as well as those
within the transgendered community for failing to disclose what my genitals look
like. How much sense does that make?

But this isn't about me. It's about the meaning of "sex."

We all should be aware that possessing a penis or vagina is not proof positive
of belonging to one sex or another, or even identifying as anything between the
two. Chromosomes, our favorite tell-all genetic marker, in conjunction with our
genital makeup go a long way to define more accurately our maleness or
femaleness. But even these are not definitive. There have been documented cases
of men with XX and women with XY, as well as so-called supermen with XYY or
superwomen with XXX (makes an interesting movie, huh?).

If we look at the whole X vs. Y debate in a simpler light, things get a lot
easier to understand. Cosider simple binary math: we start with a 0 or 1. This
only offers two possible permutations of the value.

Adding a second value to the equation, instead of considering just 0 or 1, we
now are presented with 01, 10, 00, 11. This provides us with four possible
permutations of chromosomal makeup--not just two.

Now, let's consider that additional chromosomes have been documented out as far
as three (with potentially more) places in addition to the default "X" we all
get to start with. Three positions would give us a total of 8 possible
permutations. Hardly an either-or concept anymore, is it?

Now take these 8 possible permutations, and add in the possession of
categorically male or female genitalia. But we can't stop there as there are
degrees of variation here, ranging from John Holmes to the Grand Canyon. Even if
we allow for 4 potential degrees in this spectrum, our 8 possible permutations
of sex has now increased to 32 (8x4=32).

And we haven't even gotten to the best part of the equation yet: the brain. What
does your brain say you are? Male? Female? Or one of those other 30 possible
combinations?

Hmmmm . . . . 32 physical combinations combined with 32 mental combinations
gives us a potential for 1,024 possible combinations.

In the end, there is a binary basis for our understanding of sex: 1024 is the
representation of 2 to the 10th power.

What happens when we add in our visual presentation? I won't even start the math
on that part as I think I've fairly illustrated the point so far.

So is it fair to state that anyone who wants to limit "sex" to male or female
simply hasn't gotten beyond step one of a basic understanding? Yes and no.
Provided that we continue to keep cramming people into a box of either-or in
regards to sex, regardless of where they fall within that spectrum of 1024
possible combinations of sex, we don't get to understand that these permutations
even exist. And if we don't know that they exist, how do we factor them into our
daily understanding of "sex"?

And the transgendered community, insofar as we limit our membership to
male-to-female transsexuals or cross-dressers, is about as diverse in its
understanding of "sex" as society at large.

I have made statements in the past regarding the willingness of the gay and
lesbian community to exclude or include the transgendered community in the
umbrella of LGBT. We, as a community, should also take a moment to examine our
own ideas of diversity and inclusivity. At bottom, are we any different? And
have we really differentiated ourselves from society at large?

Those who would oppose us, or those who would be our allies, should each
consider the entirety of the spectrum, and not focus in a single instance of the
spectrum of "sex". And our community should not exempt ourselves from this same
criteria or consideration.
TOP

-----------------------------------------*****----------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: The accuracy of any information presented herein cannot be guaranteed. The opinions expressed may not reflect those of the Editor, Anne Vitale PhD.

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