Home » AEGIS Online News » AEGIS Internet News, November 1996

AEGIS Internet News, November 1996

Posted on May 29, 2013 in AEGIS Online News, Editing & Layout, Gender

In May, 1995 when I was Executive Director of the nonprofit American Educational Gender Information Service, I compiled and transmitted what I believe was the first transgender-specific online news feed. It was called AEGIS Online News. The News initially went out to several hundred AEGIS members and other subscribers as a plain text file over the fledgling internet.

In those days there wasn’t much news to repost. Consequently, the News was initially distributed every other month; it took that long to compile enough material to create a newsletter. Within two years, however, there was almost too much news to handle.

I posted material as I came across it, both from primary sources and from other newsfeeds. Rex Wocker’s LGBT newslist was a valuable resource. Soon, subscribers were sending me material.

In November I moved the News to a majordomo automated list which kept track of subscribers; before that I handled subscriptions, unsubscriptions, and address changes manually and sent out the news via blind carbon copy. The name was changed to AEGIS Internet News and the introductory material about AEGIS was removed because it was available to readers on demand from the server. The list, initially hosted by my ISP (Mindspring) was eventually moved to a server hosted by Kymberleigh Richards, the publisher of the magazine Cross-Talk. This enabled me to send e-mails to the server as I came across news items, yet distribute them as a digest once per day– sometimes twice or three times daily if there was a lot of news. This was easier on both me and the readers, who had been receiving up to eight e-mails a day.

I stopped publishing AEGIS Internet News in mid-1998.

On January 1, 2000 AEGIS was repurposed as Gender Education & Advocacy. Under the supervision of the late Penni Ashe Matz, news went out as Gender Advocacy Internet News.

Many posts have been lost, but we preserved several hundred. Here are issues of AEGIS Internet News from November, 1996:

1996, 2 November

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Sat, 2 Nov 1996 00:20:52

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AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

A service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 30 Oct 1996 19:57:58 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E37xp; Wed 30 Oct 1996 19:57:58 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Good News! Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 19:57:58 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9610301957.E37xp@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 22:57:11 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Erin Swenson, who has been in the news of late, sent this message:

From: ErinSwen@aol.com Date: Wed, 23 Oct 1996 14:06:13 -0400

Yesterday (Tuesday) by a 186 to 161 vote the Presbytery of Greater Atlanta sustained my ordination and authorized my counseling ministry. It is the first time that I know of that a transexual person has transitioned in ordained office in a mainstream protestant denomination.

I think that this speaks well for the progress our community is making toward public acceptance of transgendered people of every kind.

— Erin Swenson

Factions of the church tries to have Erin’s ordination removed, but failed.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 30 Oct 1996 19:57:59 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E72Pp; Wed 30 Oct 1996 19:57:59 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Good News! Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 19:57:59 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9610301957.E72Pp@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 22:58:33 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

On Mon, Oct 28, 1996 12:46 PM PST, AOLNewsProfiles put out this information:

.c The Associated Press TORONTO (AP) —

Dr. Kurt Freund, whose research into human sexuality was considered among the most groundbreaking of the century, has died at his home in Toronto, the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry said Monday. He was 82.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 30 Oct 1996 19:57:59 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E23oP; Wed 30 Oct 1996 19:57:59 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Two From Etcetera Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 19:57:59 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9610301957.E23oP@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 23:11:25 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

>From Etcetera, 10 October, 1996 Reprinted with permission

Ohio Judge Issues Marriage License to Male-to-Female Transsexual

It’s not a same-sex marriage yet, but a judge issued a marriage license to a biological male who plans a sex change after s/he marries a lesbian. Since Ohio law specifies marriage as a partnership between a man and a woman, Judge Fred Skok asked for a doctor’s note specifying that Paul Smith of Willoughby still has male sex organs. Smith plans to marry Debi Easterday of Medina on October 12. Smith dresses in women’s clothing, except for work, and expects to complete his gender reassignment within three years. The two say they are lesbians. Smith and Easterday are in their 30s and have children from previous marriages.

>From Etcetera, 10 October, 1996 Reprinted with permission

The Continuing Sage of Matt Stickney

A group of about 40 protestors rallied October 5 to support an

18-year-old male who was forbidden from wearing a dress to Burlington High School and was sponsored by a national activist group, Transexual Menace, and several local organizations. Matt Stickney wore a dress to school on September 9 and was suspended.

He later disappeared from his home and is currently in a group home. “This is not just my personal issue,” Stickney wrote in a message to the protestors. “Young people must be more secure of their own identities… the issue not just about cross-dressing at Burlington High, it’s drawing awareness to a sensitive issue.”T

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 31 Oct 1996 18:42:24 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id F15qL; Thu 31 Oct 1996 18:42:24 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Call for Submissions Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 18:42:24 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9610311842.F15qL@xconn.com>

Original Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 21:50:00 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Call for Submissions

Queer Press Non-Profit Community Publishing of Toronto, committed to the writing of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and transsexual people, is calling for submissions for two upcoming anthologies. You are invited to contribute essays, short fiction, and poetry on the following themes:

Religious Identities, Spiritual Practices, and Queer Communities

Queer Press welcomes contributions from those who remain within and those who have withdrawn from religious affiliations of their upbringing, from those who developed their own spirituality and those who work in queer communities to respond to spiritual and religious needs. Queer Press encourages contributions from queers of all religious backgrounds.

Travelling Between Worlds: Queer Migrations

We are seeking contributions which take up the theme of Queer E/Im/Migration in the widest possible sense. Where do queers call home and how do we experience leaving/ coming home? What stories do we tell of travelling in and between a multiplicity of worlds? How do our stories of /migration shape ourselves, our sexualities and our communities?

Deadline for submissions: December 31st, 1996. Please direct further inquiries as well as submissions – no more than 2000 words – (three paper copies, disk copy if possible, a brief bio and a self-addressed, stamped envelope, or international reply coupon for contributions from outside of Canada) to: Queer Press P.O. Box 485, Station P. Toronto, ON, Canada, M5S 2T1.

email: luhmann@yorku.ca

Susanne Luhmann QueerPress Toronto e-mail: luhmann@yorku.ca

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation P.O. Box 33724, Decatur, GA 30033-0724 (770) 939-2128 Business (770) 939-0244 Information & Referrals (770) 939-1770 FAX aegis@mindspring.com E-Mail

Visit the AEGIS FTP Site: ftp://ftp.mindspring.com/users/aegis/ User ID: anonymous Password: (your email address)

We have several electronic mailing lists: AEGIS NEWS: Trans-related news, press releases, and items of interest GENDER HELP: Discussion of issues related to transition and personal growth (Send e-mail to listserv@xconn.com; on separate lines in the message, include the following: subscribe aegisnws subscribe gendhelp

If you’re on AOL, try the keyword AEGIS

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 31 Oct 1996 18:42:24 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id F63BT; Thu 31 Oct 1996 18:42:24 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Committee Member Wanted Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 18:42:24 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9610311842.F63BT@xconn.com>

Original Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 21:50:10 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Perhaps someone will have a suggestion for Loraine…

— Dallas

From: “Loraine Hutchins” <wonderwoman@igc.apc.org> To: aegis@mindspring.com Date: Wed, 30 Oct 1996 16:10:12 +0000 Subject: sacred sex

Dear Dallas, Beth Firestein gave me yur e-mail. I am writing because I’d like your advice. I am enrolled as a phd student at Union Institute, in women’s studies/sex ed. My advisor is Minnie Bruce Pratt, whom I think you know, or know of. She’s wonderful. I am studying queer feminist sacred sex groups (for short), or, really, looking at LGBT-friendly and feminist groups in the US who work with erotic and spiritual energy in ritual or focused ways together. I need an adjunct professor for my committee which is why I’m writing you. Do you know of anyone who might be good or anyone who might have suggestions for me of committee candidates or groups or individuals studying or doing same? The committee candidate need not be academic if they are naturally intellectual in their own right and need not be in any particular discipline – lit, history, socio, psych, theo, etc. will do — IF they dig the intersection of queer, feminist, spiritual, sexual, and working with divinity imagery in differently gendered ways. Thanks so much for considering this. I really enjoyed your piece in Beth’s book. Sometime soon we should talk more, too. There’s a joint AASECT/SSSS meeting coming up a year from now in DC and I want to do some planning for it. I live in DC. take care, Loraine Hutchins 202/882-4384

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

Visit the AEGIS FTP Site: ftp://ftp.mindspring.com/users/aegis/ User ID: anonymous Password: (your email address)

If you’re on AOL, try the keyword AEGIS

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———————————————————————— NOTE: The AEGISNWS list is a one-way newsfeed. You may not post to it. Your comments and news items should be sent to <aegis@mindspring.com>. For listserv assistance, send the message HELP to <listserv@xconn.com>. Originally From: sysadmin@xconn.com Original Date: Thu, 31 Oct 96 18:39:49 PST Once again, I find myself apologizing for using my authority as system administrator to post directly to you, but as Dallas opened this door by doing likewise, rather than waiting for Saturday’s digest, I feel I must briefly respond.

I feel as if Dallas just poured gasoline onto a fire that I had very nearly contained. While she was out of town, I was fielding a mailbox full of comments regarding Anne Lawrence’s original “action alert”, and even more after I posted more complete excerpts of Virginia’s columns in an attempt to give everyone the ability to read the remarks in context.

“Cross-Talk” has always explored a variety of philosophies and viewpoints within the transgender community, and this is not the first time (nor will it likely be the last time) we have published something controversial. But to suggest that I should censure (or even remove >from our list of associate editors) Virginia Prince for her remarks goes far beyond her right to speak her opinion and my right to publish it.

If Virginia wishes to apologize, that is her right, but I will not apologize on her behalf, nor will I apologize for publishing her opinion.

And if that position costs me business, I accept that, even though I’m virtually on the edge of oblivion a lot of the time anyway. If I cannot place myself and my livelihood at risk to defend someone’s right to speak, then I live in the wrong country.

For those who are not subscribers to “Cross-Talk” and wish to read the entire text of Virginia’s column, I have placed it on the ftp-by-mail server here at Cross Connection. To retrieve it, send e-mail to archive@xconn.com and use REQUEST XT84VPCL.TXT as the subject. (The message field should be left blank.)

I will not be making any further public comment on this matter, except within my own column in “Cross-Talk”. Private e-mail should be addressed to my kymmer@xconn.com address; DO NOT reply to this message, as this address is reserved for official Cross Connection BBS business. (I’m only using it because the listserv recognizes this address as authorized to post to all lists here.)

And PLEASE don’t call the phone number Dallas listed for me; it hasn’t been my number since the Northridge earthquake in 1994, and I doubt whoever has it now wants to hear from you!

||| Kymberleigh Richards, “Cross-Talk” Magazine |||

||| CROSS CONNECTION Los Angeles, CA (818) 786-8887 ||| ||| Info: e-mail <archive@xconn.com> Subject REQUEST XCINFO.TXT ||| | The senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail to users at this site are | | liable for a $500 per message cost under USC 47, which may be found at | | http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47 |

———————————————————————— NOTE: The AEGISNWS list is a one-way newsfeed. You may not post to it. Your comments and news items should be sent to <aegis@mindspring.com>. For listserv assistance, send the message HELP to <listserv@xconn.com>. Original Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 21:50:04 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. P.O. Box 33724 Decatur, GA 30033-0724 770-939-2128 770-939-1770 FAX aegis@mindspring.com For Immediate Release

31 October, 1996 I would like to thank those who responded to our request to send letters regarding Virginia Prince’s article “Gender Fundamentalits.”

I would like to ask at this time that no more letters or e-mail be sent to Tri-Ess or Kymberleigh Richards; the publisher of Cross-Talk. They have received a wide variety of messages,and any more would merely belabor the point.

Thank you. Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

Visit the AEGIS FTP Site: ftp://ftp.mindspring.com/users/aegis/ User ID: anonymous Password: (your email address)

If you’re on AOL, try the keyword AEGIS

1996, 9 November

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 00:03:33

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AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

A service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 7 Nov 1996 20:14:48 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E53Cv; Thu 7 Nov 1996 20:14:48 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: WSB Radio,Neel Boortz Show Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 20:14:48 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611072014.E53Cv@xconn.com>

Original Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 23:12:51 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Forwarded by: Tamara Lynn Alexander <talex01@emory.edu>u To: aegis@mindspring.com Subject: WSB Radio, Neal Boortz Show (fwd)

WSB News Talk Radio Management Staff: If the following account is accurate, which I have no reason to doubt, I find it abhorrent on the part of WSB radio to allow such a comment and to continue to broadcast this news talk show. I think Neal Boortz should be fired immediately. I am a “straight, but definitely not narrow WSB occasional listener” who will no longer be a listener at all if this kind of talk is continued to be tolerated. It is not only homophobic, it is encouragement for violent acts against persons. It is not only offensive to members of the l/g/b/t community, to me, and to others, it is dangerous.

—————————————– Caroline W. Landrum Atlanta, GA —————————————–

———- Forwarded message ———- Date: Tue, 5 Nov 1996 12:19:21 -0500 (EST) From: Saralyn Chesnut <schesnu@emory.edu> To: lgboffice@emory.edu Subject: WSB Radio, Neil Bortz Show (fwd)

FYI, I was just turning on my office radio when I heard the following comment made on this show. ( Is it Vortz or Bortz?) Neil had mentioned a TV news coverage story about a transvestite who had been set on fire. I am not familiar with that story yet. He implied it had no place taking precedence before coverage of the elections. Maybe so, maybe not. Then he asked, on the air, “how do you put out a flaming transvestite?”, when the Associate Producer, Belinda, came on the air and retorted, “with gasoline!” I was appauled, and didn’t think it appropriate for a news radio show, regardless of her ideas. Please feel free to forward this message to anyone who may want to respond, to WSB am radio.

Brett M. Reichert Emory Law School 404-727-6814

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 7 Nov 1996 20:14:48 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E36TL; Thu 7 Nov 1996 20:14:48 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Trans Person Set on Fire in Atlanta Date: Thu, 7 Nov 1996 20:14:48 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611072014.E36TL@xconn.com>

Original Date: Thu, 07 Nov 1996 23:12:49 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

On Tuesday, 5 November, 1996, Atlanta local television stations ran a story about a transgendered (they used the term transvestite, although it is likely that the individual in question lives full-time as a woman) person who had been set on fire. A 15-y.o. (approx.) teenage male suspect was apprehended and found to have 15 packets of crack cocaine in his pocket; earlier, the two were said to have been arguing. The transperson was said to be burned over about 15% of her body.

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1996, 13 November

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 00:52:07

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AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

A service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Sat 9 Nov 1996 06:33:40 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E25HX; Sat 9 Nov 1996 06:33:40 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Loren Cameron Book Signing Date: Sat, 9 Nov 1996 06:33:40 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611090633.E25HX@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sat, 09 Nov 1996 08:54:11 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

From: GAILTNT@aol.com

Subject: Loren Cameron Book Party and Signing

Loren Cameron, who has been photographing transsexuals for years, has just pubished Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits by Cleis Press. A book signing party for Loren will take place on November 26, 1996 at 7:30 p.m. at A Different Light, 489 Castro, San Francisco. Please attend this important event if you can. We want to have a big turnout for Loren’s book. Please liberally repost this message. — Gail Sondegaard Transsexual News Telegraph

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 11 Nov 1996 17:38:17 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E91Tu; Mon 11 Nov 1996 17:38:17 From: OnQGwen@aol.com Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Lesbian Who Married TS Ordered Out Of Church Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 17:38:17 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611111738.E91Tu@xconn.com>

Originally From: OnQGwen@aol.com Original Date: Mon, 11 Nov 1996 19:30:41 -0500

Lesbian Ordered Out Of Church

.c The Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A lesbian married to a male transsexual was escorted off her church’s property by police, and church leaders told her not to come back because she “remains unrepentant and seeks to mock God.”

Debi Easterday was not allowed inside the Medina Church of the Brethren on Sunday, and police warned that she could face trespassing charges if she returns to the church she attended for four years but never formally joined.

“I feel they are wrong,” Easterday said. “I feel in my own eyes that no one has the right to tell me where I can go to hear God’s word.”

Easterday married Paul Smith in a civil ceremony Oct. 3. Smith plans to change his name to Denise and undergo a sex change operation to become a woman.

The church’s administrative board issued a statement saying church members want to gather for worship, prayer and Bible study “without the fear of harassment, threats or general chaos.”

The board said it followed biblical principles in handling a difficult situation.

“Despite our initial acceptance, love, generosity and prayers, Debi remains unrepentant and seeks to mock God,” according to the statement, which did not specify any actions by Easterday.

Easterday, a mother of four, believes she is being banned because she is a homosexual and married Smith. She said church officials have falsely accused her of being “evil, demonic and a witch.”

“I do not mock God,” she said.

Not all church members condemned Easterday — Becky Buckroader said she was renouncing her membership over the woman’s ouster.

“You reach people by showing love and acceptance, and you don’t reach them by condemning them,” Buckroader said. “You can’t accept sin. But that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to the person.”

Nevin Dulabaum, spokesman for the Church of the Brethren General Board in Elgin, Ill., said the church issued guidelines in 1983 welcoming anyone who believes in Jesus, but also only condoning the relationship between husband and wife. Congregations are free to respond with what they believe is best for their churches, he added.

The Church of the Brethren, a pacifist church like the Quakers and Mennonites, has 144,000 members nationwide in 1,126 churches.

AP-NY-11-11-96 1814EST

Copyright 1996 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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1996, 16 November

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Sat, 16 Nov 1996 01:04:18

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AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

A service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 14 Nov 1996 11:12:41 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E51Nu; Thu 14 Nov 1996 11:12:41 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Rutgers Political Event Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 11:12:41 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611141112.E51Nu@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 22:22:49 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

From: FTMOLInfo@aol.com

Please post to all appropriate forums (some addresses on the above list may not go though):

Announcing a TRANS political event for all those in the vicinity of Rutgers’ New Brunswick campus:

“Constructing (a) Politics for Transgender and Transexual Communities: An Educational Forum.”

I am helping to organize this event in conjunction with the on-going struggle for TRANS inclusion in the university protections policies. This is an attempt to keep the political momentum, which now includes broad based (queer) student support, to keep the momentum going on campus.

The event starts at 11AM in the Rutgers Student Center (main lounge — ask for location at info desk), on the College Ave Campus (College Ave, New Brunswick, NJ). Call the Rutgers Office of Diversity Affairs for more info: 908.932.1711.

Ben Singer English Dept., Rutgers University

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 14 Nov 1996 11:12:41 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E41mv; Thu 14 Nov 1996 11:12:41 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: TOP PSYCHIATRISTS PICKETED AT CREATING CHANGE Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 11:12:41 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611141112.E41mv@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 22:22:52 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Date: Wed, 13 Nov 1996 00:25:55 -0500 From: Riki Anne Wilchins <riki@pipeline.com> Subject: TOP PSYCHIATRISTS PICKETED AT CREATING CHANGE

MEDIA ADVISORY – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Riki Anne Wilchins (212)645-1753, GPac@Gpac.Org

TOP PSYCHIATRISTS PICKETED AT CREATING CHANGE ============================ Gender Identity Wars Heat Up

[Washington, DC – November 8, 1996] IN AN HISTORIC EVENT, a broad coalition of national queer groups banded together for their first protest on genderqueer issues. 40 activists held a demonstration outside the national offices of the American Psychiatric Association’s in downtown Washington during rush hour this morning. The effort was jointly sponsored by the Transexual Menace, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), Hermaphrodites With Attitude (HWA), Bi-Net USA, and the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). Demonstrators protested the APA’s continued use of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) as a mental illness, claiming it unfairly pathologizes gender- variant youth and transpeople.

Protesters were met by a representative of the APA’s Public Relations Department, as well as 5 members of the DC Police Department. The demonstration, held as part of NGLTF’s annual Creating Change Conference, was largely a friendly affair on all sides. When a heavy rainfall threatened to disrupt the proceedings, APA security guards allowed protesters to continue their activities under the eaves of the APA’s building.

About 800 fliers were distributed accusing the APA of contracting “Gender- PathoPhilia,” defined as “an unnatural need or desire to pathologize any trans or gay gender behavior which makes you feel uncomfortable.” The action drew a broad cross-section from the queer community, including bi, trans, gay, lesbian and herm activists of several races and all age groups, many of whom donned black Menace T-shirts for the occasion.

GID has historically been used as a diagnosis for transexuals requesting hormones or sex-change surgery. However of late, fewer and fewer insurance carriers or HMOs have been covering trans-related medical care, and many now explicitly exclude it. Simultaneously, a increasingly militant national transactivism movement is demanding full social legitimacy.

This has prompted many to call on the APA to remove or reform GID on the grounds it forces them to accept a diagnosis of mental illness simply because they are gender-different. Protesters have picketed the APA at their National Conference in April ’96 in NYC, their annual Administrator’s Conference in Chicago in September ’96, and have already announced plans to protest at the APA’s upcoming May ’97 National Conference in San Diego.

Adding to this ferment, author Phyllis Burke recently weighed in with a book detailing decades of GID abuse by homophobic psychiatrists — some with thousands of dollars of government funding — who use the diagnosis to “treat” genderqueer teens and children as young as 3 years old. In her book GENDER SHOCK, she alleges that GID has become the back-door avenue of choice for homophobes seeking to “cure” homosexuality, but this time by targeting queer youth instead of adults. The allegations have caused outrage in the gay community and led to calls for GID’s elimination. And in a related development, the San Francisco Human Rights Commission this month passed a groundbreaking proclamation against the use of GID for genderqueer youth.

But the transcommunity itself is far from unified on the issue. In a remarkable juxtaposition, while DC demonstrators held aloft signs declaring “Keep Your Diagnoses OFF Our Bodies,” only a few days earlier an address by Burke on GID abuses was interrupted by 3 Transgender Nation protesters chanting “Keep Your Hands OFF Our Diagnoses.” Some transactivists fear eliminating GID will end their protection from employment discrimination under state laws which consider it a disability. Notably, ENDA — the Employment Non-Discrimination Bill — and other anti- discrimination measures, including those in Minnesota, Iowa City, and San Francisco, carve out similar protection without making sexual orientation or gender expression a disorder. Still other transactivists have expressed fear that losing GID will cost them what little insurance reimbursement still remains for transpeople who need surgery.

Said a Menace spokestrans/spokes-herm, “Even keeping GID has its costs: the stigma of abnormality and deviance means transpeople will continue to suffer through hate crimes, loss of child custody, job discrimination, and prisoner rights. In addition, many of us can no longer get medical or disability coverage because all applications ask, “Have you ever been diagnosed with a mental disorder?” And the most marginalized among us — who can’t afford insurance at all — must still fork out an additional $2-3,000 for a year of unwanted psychotherapy because they have to get diagnostic letters from 2 shrinks in order to obtain hormones or surgery.”

“A progressive movement which seeks full legitimacy and participation in society must recognize it can’t demand equal rights on one hand, while simultaneously employing a psychiatric model of disability, deviance and disease on the other. It is time to end GID as we know it. People will be hurt if we keep GID and people will be hurt if we don’t. The only question is — is mental illness a sound foundation on which to build a national movement for gender rights?”

Said NGLTF’s Media Director Robert Bray, “NGLTF is very sensitive to the differences of opinion within the transcommunity on GID. Thus, instead of supporting wholesale GID eradication, we support GID reform. ‘Reform’ means a another diagnosis — possibly physical — which does *not* pathologize transpeople or genderqueer youth, plus increased funding for research, and full participation by transpeople in policy decisions that affect their lives.

“The struggle of transpeople in 1996 is similar to the struggle of gay and lesbian people in 1973,” continued Bray, “when we removed homosexuality as a mental disease. No one — whether gay, lesbian, bi, transgender or intersexed (hermaphrodite) — should have to accept being pathologized as mentally ill in order to obtain wholeness, completeness and civil equality.”

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 14 Nov 1996 19:17:39 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E35oL; Thu 14 Nov 1996 19:17:39 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Message-Id: <9611141917.E35oL@xconn.com> Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 19:17:39

Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 19:17:39 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: <receipent!address!incerted!here>

Original Date: Thu, 14 Nov 1996 22:04:50 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

From: PRFrye@aol.com

ICTLEP & NCLR joint statement on GID

14 Nov 96

To follow — is the joint statement issued by both ICTLEP and NCLR to be used at a wrkshop during the NGLTF’s Creating Change.

The joint statement is only a few pages long.

The supporting twenty pages of documentation done by NCLR can be obtained by contacting Shannon Minter at NCLR, 415/392-6257, shanminter@aol.com. Shannon is the staff attorney for NCLR. He is also the GID Moderator for ICTLEP.

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GID AND THE TRANSGENDER MOVEMENT

A JOINT STATMENT BY THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TRANSGENDER LAW AND EMPLOYMENT POLICY (ICTLEP) AND THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS (NCLR)

Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Transgender is an inclusive term describing all persons (including transsexuals) within this community. Transsexuals seek to live full time in the corrected gender role, usually with hormone therapy, name change and gender identification correction on documents and the option of surgical interventions.

The existence of GID as a psychiatric diagnosis raises complicated and important issues. Unfortunately, much of the discussion around these issues has become polarized. In the past two years, both ICTLEP and NCLR (along with other LBGT — lesbiagatr — groups) have been criticized by some transsexual activists who believe that we are advocating an immediate and wholesale elimination of GID, without regard for the potential impact on access to hormones and surgeries, reimbursement and other issues. Given the importance of the issues at stake, we want to correct this misconception and to provide those who are interested with a joint statement on GID.

As the attached NCLR Information Sheet [not attached herein but available from Shannon Minter at NCLR, 415/392-6257, shanminter@aol.com] discusses in more depth, the diagnosis of GID in children explicitly targets lesbian, gay, and bisexual as well as transgendered youth. GID is used to identify so-called “pre-homosexual” and “pre-transsexual” children and young people for the purpose of preventing them from growing up to be gay or transgendered. The treatment for GID in children and youth is typically behavior modification or other therapies designed to eliminate cross-gender behavior and identification. In addition to the damage inflicted on individual youth, right wing groups have appropriated the concept that lesbigatr-questioning youth suffer from GID. The right wingers use GID in order to oppose protections and resources for lesbigatr-questioning students in public schools by arguing that lesbigatr-questioning youth need “treatment” rather than civil rights.

We recognize that GID has different implications for transsexual adults, for whom a diagnosis of GID is usually necessary to get hormones and surgeries or to get reimbursed for transition-related care. We also recognize that GID has been used to gain anti-discrimination protections for transgenders in some jurisdictions, under the aegis of laws prohibiting discrimination against people with psychiatric disabilities. Because we understand these realities, WE DO NOT ADVOCATE an immediate, blanket elimination of GID in a vacuum, without an alternative means of ensuring continued access to and reimbursement for hormones and surgeries.

We strongly believe that transsexualism should become a medical rather than a psychiatric status. The existing system of access to and reimbursement for transition-related health care is grossly inadequate, because it vests psychiatrists with far too much power over access to hormones and all corrective surgeries, because that power is far too often abused, and because the vast majority of transsexuals are excluded from any hope of reimbursement for transition-related care. We believe that shifting transsexualism from a psychiatric to a medical status will help to alleviate these problems. We also recognize that achieving this goal will be a difficult task. In the meantime, we believe that it is not only appropriate but essential for transgendered people to demand more accountability from the psychiatric professionals who wield so much power over our lives.

We also believe that transgendered people need and deserve explicit civil rights protections. For a number of reasons, we do not believe that the disability rights model is either the only or the most effective way to win civil rights protections for transgendered people. First, GID is explicitly excluded from the Americans with Disabilities Act and from the Federal Rehabilitation Act. GID is also excluded, either explicitly or through judicial interpretation, from most state disability laws.

Second, legal .protections based on GID as a psychiatric disability have some serious drawbacks, not the least of which is the perpetuation of the stereotype that transgendered people are inherently disturbed or unstable. Accepting the notion that we are mentally ill in order to gain some limited protections on the basis of disability will not protect transgendered parents who are denied custody or the right to adopt on the basis that they have a mental impairment which renders them unsuitable parents. Nor will it necessarily provide transgendered people with comprehensive protection against job discrimination. Even under the ADA, the extent to which employers must accomodate people with mental illnesses is highly contested and unclear.

Third, the disability model invests mental health professionals with tremendous authority to define appropriate treatment in any given case. In the context of prisons, for example, this drawback has already had devastating consequences. While some transsexual inmates have won legal cases holding that transsexuals have a right to treatment based on a diagnosis of GID, courts have consistently defered to the professional judgment of prison doctors and held that psychotherapy, tranquilizers, and even “hormone replacement therapy” (ie., testosteone therapy for male-to-female transsexual prisoners) are sufficient to satisfy this legal right.

Finally, the strongest argument against exclusive reliance on a disability model is the growing number of jurisdictions that prohibit discrimination against transgendered people without reference to GID. These include Minnesota, San Francisco (CA), Santa Cruz (CA), Seattle (WA), Cedar Rapids (IO), Minneapolis (MN), and St. Paul (MN). At the international level, the European Court of Justice recently held that employment discrimination against transsexual people violates the fundamental human right to be free of discrimination based on sex. We believe that these victories are the beginning of a new era in transgendered civil rights, and solid evidence that we have the potential to move beyond the disability model to a more comprehensive civil rights agenda.

Shannon Minter Phyllis Randolph Frye Staff Attorney, NCLR Executive Director, ICTLEP

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———————————————————————— NOTE: The AEGISNWS list is a one-way newsfeed. You may not post to it. Your comments and news items should be sent to <aegis@mindspring.com>. For listserv assistance, send the message HELP to <listserv@xconn.com>. Originally From: sysadmin@xconn.com Original Date: Sun, 17 Nov 96 18:40:35 PST Due a conflict between this list and another list with a high subscriber count and weekly digest format, I am moving the outbound posts for the AEGIS-News Digest to Sunday and Thursday mornings, effective this coming week.

I’d like to thank Dallas for allowing me the flexibility to make this change in delivery schedule, which will allow me to provide the best possible service to both lists’ subscribers.

||| Kymberleigh Richards, System Administrator |||

1996, 21 November

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 04:08:30

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AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

A service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Sun 17 Nov 1996 16:45:03 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E34Ni; Sun 17 Nov 1996 16:45:03 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Message-Id: <9611171645.E34Ni@xconn.com> Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 16:45:03

Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 16:45:03 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: <receipent!address!incerted!here>

Original Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 19:09:44 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

AEGIS regularly monitors breaking news from GLB newsfeeds. Usually, we re-post on this list only information which is about or at least mentions transgendered people. However, many PFLAG chapters are open to parents and friends of transgender and transsexual people, and this story reports such a blatant outrageousness and lack of sensitivity on the part of the Religious Right that we are reposting it.

— Dallas

Date: Sun, 17 Nov 1996 14:56:57 -0600 From: James Yorton <jjy@xnet.com> To: GLB-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

[ submitted by purdom@rabbit.com ]

According to the Nov. 15th issue of the “Gayly Oklahoman”:

During the October meeting of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays in Norman Oklahoma, group members as well as the guest speaker and guests were confronted by a small group of angry people representing the radical religious right. According to Kay Holiday, who cofounded the Norman chapter 18 months ago, four religious right members attended the October meeting at the Norman Library, where guest speaker, Shirley Hunter, an Oklahoma City psychologist, was scheduled to speak. The topic of the meeting was how coming out affects everyone connected to the gay or lesbian individual and was organized to be held in conjunction with National Coming Out Day. P-FLAG is a national organization which advocates tolerance and equal rights for gay, lesbian and bisexual people. There are chapters in every state in the country, with Oklahoma having five active chapters across the state. Holiday said: “We had had a big campaign push about P-FLAG in the “Norman Transcript” and had hung our P-FLAG banner across Main Street, right across from the high school. My phone number was listed and one of the men who attended the meeting called me at home and asked if there would be an opportunity for public comments at the meeting. He was very intolerant and I got a little nervous about him coming to the meeting.” Holiday said she contacted the library, inquiring about security measures and it was arranged to have three Norman police officers at the meeting as a precautionary measure. Although there was no violence during the meeting, Holiday said she found the officers presence “very comforting.” “Gay Newsbreak” producer Mick Shirron attended the meeting as a guest and gave the following report: ” We didn’t get to hear Dr. Hunter talk until much later because they kept disrupting her, trying to draw her into some kind of a confrontation. But Dr. Hunter was great, she didn’t rise to the bait and was actually very calm and collected while she tried to get the meeting under control. She tried to get them to confine their commentary to the topic of discussion, but they weren’t interested in hearing what was being said, they just wanted to shout out things abut the Bible and damnation.” One of those who interrupted the meeting was Rev. Don Rich, who lives in Noble, a small farming community about 10 miles south of Norman, where he is the pastor to the Pentecostal Holiness church. According to Holiday, Rich was apparently upset about the P-FLAG movement, which has gained considerable strength over the past few years. He was also upset about the banner across Main Street, “hanging over his grandson’s head.” After it became apparent the meeting would not be allowed to continue uninterrupted, Holiday asked the officers to escort the group out, but 15 minutes later they returned, disrupting the meeting again. This time, Holiday agreed to let the disrupters speak for five minutes, after which they would be invited to leave. Five P-FLAG members chose to stay while the four had their say; about 35 others exited en masse, taking a break out in the hallway. When their time was up, the dissenter left, but not without a few parting comments. “As Rev. Rich left the room, he held up his Bible and said, ‘Turn or burn’ which many of us found unnerving.” Holiday said. Dr. Hunter laughed about the experience, saying it tied in nicely with the topic of discussion and said: “I just kind of wove the incident right into my discussion, talking to the parents about how this kind of hatred makes it so hard for people to come out.”

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1996, 24 November

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 12:57:19

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AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

A service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Fri 22 Nov 1996 17:55:47 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E28oD; Fri 22 Nov 1996 17:55:47 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Call For Papers Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1996 17:55:47 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611221755.E28oD@xconn.com>

Original Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1996 21:10:17 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Return-Path: owner-glb-news@LISTSERV.AOL.COM Received: from listmail.aol.com (listmail.aol.com [152.163.200.7]) by camel3.mindspring.com (8.7.4/8.7.3) with ESMTP id NAA01604; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 13:27:44 -0500 (EST) Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by listmail.aol.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.0a) with SMTP id C69F1490 ; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 13:26:32 -0500 Received: from LISTSERV.AOL.COM by LISTSERV.AOL.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8c) with spool id 545167 for GLB-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 13:15:49 -0500 Received: from soong.club.cc.cmu.edu (SOONG.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU [128.2.232.225]) by listserv.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id NAA08668; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 13:15:40 -0500 Received: from [131.128.23.140] (131.128.23.140) by DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU (PMDF V5.0-5 #7763) id <01IC5ASV1TX08WX1V5@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU>; Fri, 22 Nov 1996 12:47:24 -0400 (EDT) X-Sender: julie@128.2.232.11 MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Fri, 22 Nov 1996 12:47:22 -0500 From: Song Weaver <julie@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU> Subject: Call For Papers (fwd)

**********************************PLEASE REPOST***********************

CALL FOR PAPERS PLEASE POST

NO LIMITS: TRANSGENDERISM – NEGOTIATING GENDER BOUNDARIES

REGIONAL WOMEN’S STUDIES CONFERENCE SPONSORED BY THE WOMEN’S STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN MARCH 14 & 15 1997

NO LIMITS is an annual conference dedicated to crossing boundaries between disciplines and exploring a wide range of women’s issues.

We invite proposals from undergraduate and graduate students ON ANY TOPIC and from ANY DISCIPLINE related to women’s issues, lives, and culture. Creative writing, visual arts, film, music, performance, and academic papers are welcome.

The 1997 NO LIMITS Conference invites proposals especially relating to our special theme of Transgenderism – Negotiating Gender Boundaries.

Please submit one 500 word abstract outlining your proposed paper, workshop, creative reading, film, or whatever by MONDAY DECEMBER 2, 1996 to: NO LIMITS CONFERENCE C/0 WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN 337 ANDREWS HALL LINCOLN, NE 68588-0303

PHONE: 402-472-9392 E-MAIL INQUIRIES TO: SWITHAM@UNLGRAD1.UNL.EDU (CONFERENCE INFO. ONLY-WE ARE UNABLE TO ACCEPT ABSTRACTS BY ELECTRONIC MAIL) NOTIFICATION SENT BY JANUARY 22, 1997 PLEASE INCLUDE A SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE WITH YOUR PROPOSAL FOR NOTIFICATION IN EARLY JANUARY. this message brought to you by Kristen Elise Job <00214358@bigred.unl.edu>. Post: BOYCHICKS@queernet.org Unsub: MAJORDOMO@queernet.org: unsubscribe boychicks

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>From listserv@xconn.com Sat 23 Nov 1996 21:40:37 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E27Lf; Sat 23 Nov 1996 21:40:37 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: News Items Date: Sat, 23 Nov 1996 21:40:37 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611232140.E27Lf@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 01:02:47 -0500 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Reprinted from Etc., 22 November, 1996

Judge Okays Drag, But City Says it Will Fight

Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning rules November 7 that the Raleigh, N.C. gay bar Legends may continue to present drag shows as long as they don’t cross the line into nudity. City officials cited the bar earlier this year for violating zoning restrictions regarding adult establishments. Legends’ owners sued, and Manning sided with their argument, not based on any constitutional grounds but because he said the city defined “adult establishment” more broadly than state law does. City officials said they will appeal the decision, pointing to what Mayor Tom Fetzer said were “boisterous, sometimes disreputable” crowds attracted by the club. After other businesses complained of “cruising and criminal conduct” around downtown clubs, dozens of men were arrested last August for soliciting crimes against nature.

Reprinted from Southern Voice, 14 November, 1996

San Francisco Contractors Must Extend Benefits

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved legislation requiring city contractors to extend health insurance and other benefits to their employees’ domestic partners including bereavement and family medical leave for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered partners.

The bill, written by gay Supervisors Leslie Katz and Tom Ammiano and passed November 4, is expected to affect tens of thousands of private companies seeking to do business with the city. The ordinance will not affect subcontractors. More than 3,500 gay and straight couples have registered as domestic partners in the four years since San Francisco passed a law allowing couples to register their unions at City Hall.

Also from SoVo, 14 November, 1996

Task Force, Others Join Trans Protest by Rob Nixon

Washington, D.C.– About 40 activists from a broad coalition of groups demonstrated outside the national offices of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) here November 8 to protest the APA’s continued use of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) as a mental illness classification. The protest was jointly sponsored by Transexual menace, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), Hermaphrodites with Attitude, BiNet USA, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

GID has been used as a diagnosis for transsexual requesting hormones or sex reassignment surgery. According to Transexual Menace, however, fewer and fewer insurance carriers have been covering trans-related medical care, and many now explicitly exclude it. And Phyllis Burke, in her book “Gender Shock,” has detailed decades of abuse by homophobic psychiatrists who have used the diagnosis to “treat” teens and children as young as three years old for their inability or reluctance to conform to gender “norms.”

Burke’s charges– that GID has become a means for those seeking to “cure” homosexuality by targeting gay youth instead of adults- – have caused widespread demand for the diagnosis to be dropped. But some in the transgender community are opposed to the change, fearing the elimination of GID will end their protection from employment discrimination under state laws that consider it a disability. Others are afraid it will cost them what little insurance coverage remains for surgery.

Acknowledging that people will be hurt either way, a Menace press release nevertheless calls for the end of GID by asking “is mental illness a sound foundation on which to build a national movement for gender rights?”

The protest was organized as part of NGLTF’s Ninth Annual Creating Change Conference, a national gathering of gay activists seeking to network, strategize, and share information and resources. More than 2,000 people attended this year’s conference, at which a new national organization, Colleagues, was launched. The group plans to work for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender rights in the workplace.

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1996, 28 November

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Thu, 28 Nov 1996 04:09:55

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AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

A service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 27 Nov 1996 13:40:22 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id G58Dz; Wed 27 Nov 1996 13:40:22 From: OnQGwen@aol.com Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Greek Monks Face Sex Scandal Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 13:40:22 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9611271340.G58Dz@xconn.com>

Originally From: OnQGwen@aol.com Original Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 15:55:21 -0500

(Yet another article from AP. It seems that AP has got something about digging up dirt that involves TG individuals — Gwen)

Greek Monks Face Sex Scandal

>.c The Associated Press

By ANTHEE CARASSAVA

Associated Press Writer

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Three monks and a priest were ordered Tuesday to face trial before a religious court in connection with tales of sex, child abuse and corruption in a monastery on the remote Aegean island of Kithira.

Clergymen at the Osios Theodoros monastery participated in sex games, holding private beauty pageants in flowing cocktail gowns and indulging in orgies of homosexual sex, according to a television news program.

Since the news program on Thursday, Greeks have been glued to their television sets, hearing the four clergymen accuse one another of sexual impropriety.

Bishop Iakovos of Kithira suspended the clergymen from their religious duties Tuesday and referred them to “ecclesiastic justice … for breaching a series of religious canons and rude televised scandalizing of the flock.”

A public prosecutor also has launched an inquiry.

“The scandal has dealt a powerful blow to the Church’s credibility as a perceived sacred and flawless institution,” said Makis Triantafyllopoulos, the journalist who first reported the scandal.

Fifty-six percent of all television viewers watched the show Thursday when a transvestite claimed to have participated in the sexual games along with a 9-year-old boy.

Speaking on camera without giving his name, the transvestite also alleged that he was paid to provide sexual services to an Osios Theodoros monk as recently as three months ago.

The Archbishop of Greece has refrained from making any comment, but church officials in this predominantly Orthodox Christian nation said the defendants may be defrocked if found guilty.

AP-NY-11-26-96 2226EST

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