AEGIS Internet News, June – October, 1997

Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest Date: 97-07-22 08:02:56 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server) Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com To: thexgrrrl@aol.com ============================================================================= AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E45Vx; Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Key Win by Transsexuals Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.03 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9707210820.E45Vx@xconn.com>

Dear list members:

If any of you happen to be subscribed to our aegis-list mailing list, I apologize for the multiple postings that appeared over the weekend. The list was subscribed to another list (Press for Change) by the owner of that list without permission from AEGIS.

I will be reposting items of interest from the Press for Change list on this

list; please bear with the following if you have seen it before.

I also apologize for the repeats of messages fon the list. Please bear with

us until Kym gets things sorted out.

Dallas Denny

Return-Path: <null@mbcomms.net.au> Date: Fri, 18 Jul 1997 18:39:49 -0400 From: Christine Burns <Christine_Burns@compuserve.com> Subject: Key win by transsexuals – The Guardian, July 16th To: UKPFC-News@mbcomms.net.au (Press for Change News list) Content-Disposition: inline Reply-To: null@mindspring.com (You cannot post to this list) X-To-Unsubscribe: pfc-lists@mbcomms.net.au (message body: leave UKPFC-News) X-ListMember: AEGIS@MINDSPRING.COM [ukpfc-news@mbcomms.net.au]

————————————————————————— ————————— Key win by transsexuals

Tribunal rules people who change sex should not suffer bias at work

by Clare Dyer Legal correspondent (From The Guardian, July 16th, 1997) ————————————————————————— —————————

TRANSSEXUALS have won a landmark ruling giving them protection against discrimination for the first time under English law.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that the Sex Discrimination Act, which makes discrimination on grounds of sex unlawful, also protects transsexuals from unfair treatment because of their sex change.

The test case judgment, delivered a fortnight ago but only made public yesterday, means employers cannot treat a transsexual less favourably than other employees. It is now unlawful to sack an employee for undergoing a sex change, to refuse to hire a transsexual on that ground alone, or to fail to prevent their harassment.

The tribunal made the ruling in the case of a rides technician, named only as C, at an unnamed amusement park who was ostracised by colleagues after changing sex and was dismissed in July 1994 on grounds of incapability.

The judgment means that the Equal Opportunities Commission’s brief to enforce the Sex Discrimination Act will now extend to transsexuals. In April 1996 the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled that transsexuals were protected from discrimination under European Community law.

This gave public but not private sector employees the right to bring discrimination claims against their employers in British courts and tribunals.

C took her case to an industrial tribunal which held that she was covered under EC law and the Sex Discrimination Act.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld the ruling, giving transsexuals rights against discrimination.

C joined the amusement park as a male employee in January 1987 and in July 1991 announced she was undergoing a sex change. The tribunal found she underwent “prolonged and serious harassment and ostracism” by some of her male colleagues”.

———-

Postscript:

Dr Lynne Jones MP, chair of the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism and Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak responded to the above news with the following question to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday .. somewhat unintentionally wrong-footing the PM, who was (because of an administrative mix up) expecting a question about something else. Reflecting on the outcome afterwards she commented “I hope that the shock will fix the subject in his mind!”.

Dr Lynne Jones:

Will the Prime Minister join me in welcoming the decision of the employment appeals tribunal that gives transsexuals the protection of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975? Does he agree that more needs to be done to help to combat the appalling discrimination faced by sufferers of gender dysphoria? In particular, they should have the right to have their birth certificates amended to give their correct gender.

The Prime Minister:

I have not seen the tribunal decision to which my hon. Friend refers, but I have no doubt that it will be studied by the appropriate people.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E60vy; Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Sheffield (UK) Policy on GRS Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.03 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9707210820.E60vy@xconn.com>

The following is excerpted from a longer, analytical posting on the Press for Change newslist.

Dallas

SHEFFIELD HEALTH AUTHORITY

Recommendation from the Clinical Policy Purchasing Advisory Group

Gender Dysphoria

It is recommended that Sheffield Health ensures through their Purchasing Plan that there is a mechanism in place locally for the psychiatric and psychological assessment and treatment of patients presenting with gender dysphoria.

* that the assessment and non-surgical treatment and follow-up treatment for these individuals are carried out by a designated psychiatrist with a special interest in psycho-sexual health and this service is purchased through local contracts.

* that the purchasing of surgical treatment for gender dysphoria is considered very low priority for Health Service expenditure. Gender realignment surgery should not generally be considered for Health Service funding unless exceptional clinical indications could be demonstrated by the designated psychiatrist who would need to demonstrate the capacity of the individual patient to benefit from the surgery. That patients be considered for gender realignment only after a second independent assessment.

* that as a low priority for health service funding gender realignment surgery should be considered against a background of other health considerations requiring funding. Availability of resources should be considered year on year.

* Sheffield Health generally does not purchase cosmetic surgery for non clinical indications. Clinical procedures requested by people with gender dysphoria other than gender realignment surgery should be considered a cosmetic procedure under the ECR policy and subject to the same conditions.

In the discussions several points were noted as follows:

1. That the judgement of what were considered clinical exceptional circumstances cannot be decided by the purchaser or established through purchasing mechanisms, but must be that of individual clinicians using their clinical judgement.

2. The group gave careful consideration to whether gender realignment surgery could be considered a health need which should justify NHS funding as opposed to a medical solution to a social need. It was considered that any psychiatric distress which may accompany gender dysphoria could constitute a mental health need. As far as possible these mental health needs should be treated by conventional psychiatric and psychological therapies and non-surgical interventions which should be covered within existing contracts with local providers. That these needs should be met subject to funding being available.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E57bE; Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Stearns objects to man in dress working for state Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.03 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9707210820.E57bE@xconn.com>

This was forwarded to us by a list member for posting.

Dallas

Stearns objects to man in dress working for state

Worker described as ‘an excellent employee’ BY MARIAN RIZZO STAFF WRITER

OCALA — U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns is asking state officials to set dress standards for government workplaces after a male state health agency employee in Ocala began reporting for work dressed as a woman.

Stearns, R-Ocala, said several employees in the Ocala offices of the Agency for Health Care Administration, the Department of Juvenile Justice and Developmental Services were offended and distracted by the cross-dressing of Sabrina Marie Theodora Robb, formerly Dale T. Robb, an AHCA human resources counselor.

“It sends wrong signals to our children and people of this county if we tolerate these cultural values,” Stearns said. “I think the public would have a high level of discomfort with his work activities. That’s why I feel pretty strongly about doing this. It’s antithetical to our morals in Ocala.”

Sabrina Robb declined to comment to the Star-Banner.

Robb is employed through the AHCA’s Gainesville office and works as an assistant to Dotti Pohleven in Ocala. Pohleven said that while Robb’s change of dress has been a distraction to some, it has not affected his work performance.

“He’s an excellent employee and a great asset to the MediPass program,” Pohleven said. “He’s very dependable. He’s thorough. We have, from time to time, contact with (Medicaid) providers and with clients, and it’s been a concern what their reaction is. But it’s too soon to really know if there’s any reaction at all.”

The agency’s employee handbook does not have a dress code; however, one paragraph says, “employees are expected to be neat and clean in appearance and to dress appropriately for the office and for contact with the public.”

Stearns said he became involved because local officials had not acted on the complaints.

“From our standpoint, we think that this is really a state problem,” Stearns said. “This is a state employee in a state agency. However, as an elected fellow officer, I think it’s important to point out that there’s a legal precedent that a state can act on this particular case. I think the state should address it immediately and set in place something, to set a standard because of this, and that they should implement something to stop this.”

In a letter to Florida Senate President Toni Jennings and Speaker of the House Daniel Webster, Stearns cited two cases that he believes allow the government to regulate a worker’s appearance. In one case, the Supreme Court decided the government can determine the proper length of a police officer’s hair; in the other, the court ruled that “The First Amendment guarantees free speech and assembly, but it does not guarantee the government employ.”

Both Jennings’ and Webster’s offices are looking into the matter. A staff member from Jennings’ office contacted the agency, but no action has been taken, said Colleen David, AHCA spokeswoman in Tallahassee.

The goal of the agency is to protect the rights of all the employees, as well as the public, David said.

“There are issues that are optional and may need clarification,” David said. “Uniform dress code is an issue that may require clarification in context with the policy set forth for all state employees.”

According to David, Robb works in an administrative position, dealing primarily with health care providers. Although Robb’s job description includes some public contact, most of his work is done by telephone or by written correspondence, and he generally does not have contact with Medicaid recipients, David said.

“We are continuing to work with Sabrina and the other employees in that office to assure that the workplace is professional and productive,” she said.

In such situations, the constitutional rights of the individual are considered, but the courts usually do not restrict government employers from establishing dress standards, said Robyn Blumner, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, headquartered in Miami.

“Certainly the employer can and should tolerate differences in personal appearance and dress, but the likelihood is the court would find that the state employer is not constitutionally obligated to tolerate them,” she said.

Blumner added, however, that the employer should consider whether the employee is doing his job and whether he is disrupting the workplace.

“If he’s acting like a disruptive influence, an employer should respond to that,” she said. “The courts would uphold the employer’s ability to regulate the workplace. If the employer is interested in leaving this guy alone to let him do his job, then leave him alone, and good for the employer for having an open mind about this.”

But some of Robb’s associates say his attire is a distraction. When Robb first came to work dressed in women’s clothing, it was somewhat of a shock, said Gary Hauge, a human services counselor for Developmental Services.

“While I, personally, am an advocate and supporter of one’s individual civil rights, as state employees, we should feel compelled to dress in appropriate attire and project the most favorable impression to the clientele we serve,” Hauge said.

Russell S. Crum, a human services program specialist, said Robb changed his appearance gradually, then one day reported to work entirely in female dress. “He was dressing a little bit more feminine, and then he decided to wear dresses and high heels,” Crum said. “My question was, basically, ‘How do we answer questions from the public?’ ”

A written dress code would settle the issue once and for all, said Zolika Heath, an AHCA specialist.

“Give me a break. This is a state agency,” she said. “If this is all right, then he deserves it in writing. Or, if it’s not all right, then he deserves it in writing. You know, let’s be fair to everybody.”

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E93wp; Mon 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Now Passes Transinclusion Resolution Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 08:20:06 -1200 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.03 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9707210820.E93wp@xconn.com>

Return-Path: <owner-iyf-online@asylum.apocalypse.org> X-Authentication-Warning: asylum.apocalypse.org: majordom set sender to owner-iyf-online using -f X-Sender: riki@pop.pipeline.com Date: Sat, 19 Jul 1997 11:39:41 -0400 To: RIKI@pipeline.com From: Riki Anne Wilchins <riki@pipeline.com> Subject: N.O.W Passes TransInclusion Resolution Sender: owner-iyf-online@asylum.apocalypse.org

MEDIA ADVISORY – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Riki Anne Wilchins (212)645-1753, Riki@Pipeline.COM

. NOW PASSES TRANSINCLUSION RESOLUTION

. CONSERVATIVE’S CONFERENCE CALLS HOMOSEXUALITY “TRAGIC AFFLICTION”

. HERMS INVADE DATELINE NBC

. NOW PASSES TRANSINCLUSION RESOLUTION ====================================

(Memphis, TN: 6 Jul 97) AFTER YEARS of debate and dialog, the National Organization for Women (NOW) has finally passed a resolution on transinclusion. The successful vote followed personal support by NOW President Patricia Ireland, and concentrated efforts by NOW-NJ President Bear Atwood and NOW Lesbian Rights Coordinator Kim Ward.

The measure was originally introduced and unanimously passed at NOW-NJ’s State Conference in 1994, and then introduced at the 1995 National Conference in Columbus, OH. A dozen gender activists in Menace T-shirts showed up to get signatures on petitions supporting the measure. But, in spite of signatures by over half the attendees and apparently overwhelming support, the measure was tabled to the National Board, where it languished for the next 2 conventions.

The breakthrough was prompted by an invitation Ms. Atwood extended to activists from GenderPAC and other groups to address the State Coordinators Conference in San Francisco several months ago. As more State Presidents got behind the measure, Ms. Ireland asked activists to address the NOW National Board at the current conference.

###

CONSERVATIVE’S CONFERENCE CALLS HOMOSEXUALITY A “TRAGIC AFFLICTION” ===================================

(San Francisco: 20 Jun 97) GAYS AND lesbians suffer from “gender disturbances” and an “infantile refusal to accept reality” maintains the American Public Philosophy Institute, a group of conservative ‘intellectuals’ who held a 3-day conference at Georgetown University. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that 350 people from around the country attended, including William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, who addressed the conference.

Organizers said their purpose is to understand homosexuality “as a tragic affliction, with harmful consequences for both individuals and society….” George Rekers, a professor at South Carolina Medical School, opened the conference with a discussion of gender roles in children.

He said that lesbians tend to be tomboys in childhood, preferring “masculine” toys and demonstrating, “a distinct dislike for doll play and other female activities.” Male homosexuals show the opposite pattern, “preferring the company of girls and wanting to wear lipstick and dresses.” He maintains that “gender disturbance” can be corrected by therapy during childhood.

Funded by Taxpayers ——————- Reker’s work, which is heavily funded by the federal government through research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, features “aversion therapy,” a technique that punishes nonconforming behavior (limp wrists in boys or swaggering in girls) and rewards conforming behavior (girls playing dolls, boys playing baseball).

Said another panelist, Joseph Nicolosi, “There is no such thing as a gay person,” because homosexuality is “a fictitious identity that is seized on to resolve painful emotional challenges.” Homosexuals engage in “a narcissistic refusal to accept a gendered world and the human biological reality on which that world is based.”

###

HERMS INVADE DATELINE NBC ===========================

(San Francisco: 21 Jun 97) FOR THE first time a major network news show has focused on Intersex Genital Mutilation. On June 17, Dateline NBC, a top-ten news show seen by 25- 30 million viewers, featured an interview with Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) founder Cheryl Chase. Included in the segment was footage from the August ’96 demonstration by Hermaphrodites With Attitude outside the annual conference of the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP).

A surgeon representing the AAP declared that surgery is now so improved that operating on intersex genitals has virtually no adverse consequences. He compared the surgery to facial surgery to remove a deformity.

But ISNA members, now numbering over 200, state flatly that the surgery has harmed them terribly. Many have been left with little or no erotic sensation. Some have ongoing urinary complications, and almost all of them are outraged and angry that their bodies were cut up without their consent.

Following the Dateline report, the San Francisco Chronicle also ran a piece highlighting IGM. A segment on ABC’s Prime Time Live is reportedly in the works for the fall. This media attention follows a half- page story in the New York Times Science section, and a 3-page spread in Newsweek magazine.

Noting that Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as practiced in African or Muslim countries has drawn wide condemnation in the US, Ms. Chase said, “Genital mutilation is a phrase that’s easy for us to apply to somebody who belongs to a third-world culture. “Yet any mutilating practice that’s delivered by licensed medical practitioners in our world has an aura of scientific credibility.”

###

Online Editor: Clare Howell, clareq@idt.net

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For prior press releases, check the GenderPAC web site at: http://WWW.Gpac.Org

(c) 1996 InYourFace An on-line, news-only service for gender activism. When re-posting, please credit InYourFace.

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Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest Date: 97-07-29 04:16:08 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server) Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com To: thexgrrrl@aol.com ============================================================================= AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 28 Jul 1997 06:10:21 -1200 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E75Jy; Mon 28 Jul 1997 06:10:21 -1200 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Sheffield City College Gives up the Fight Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 06:10:21 -1200 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.03 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9707280610.E75Jy@xconn.com>

Return-Path: <null@mbcomms.net.au> From: Stephen Whittle <S.T.Whittle@mmu.ac.uk> Organization: Manchester Metropolitan University To: UKPFC-News@mbcomms.net.au (Press for Change News list) Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 16:40:21 GMT Subject: Sheffield City College gives up the fight Priority: normal Reply-To: null@mindspring.com (You cannot post to this list) X-To-Unsubscribe: pfc-lists@mbcomms.net.au (message body: leave UKPFC-News) X-ListMember: AEGIS@MINDSPRING.COM [ukpfc-news@mbcomms.net.au]

Lindsey Henley has been single-handedly fighting Sheffield City College for the last 3 years, and this week with the help of PFC has won a major victory.

Lindsey, a mtf ts, orginally signed on for the college’s “Women Only Motor Mechanics Course”. When her legal status was discovered she was barred from the course. The college refused to let her register for the mixed course – which was all male – on the basis that they could not guarentee her safety.

Lindsey has sought help in this matter for some time – she was refused legal aid on the basis that the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA), which covers vocational training, did not cover transsexuals.

However, PFC activist and solicitor, Michelle Wilson picked up Lindsey’s case a few weeks ago and her work, along with Lindsey’s persistance has come to fruition.

The college have finally conceded and will allow Lindsey to take the course. The decision was almost certainly influenced by the recent Employment Appeal Tribunal (involving the mtf daughter of another PFC activist) decision which held that transsexuals were protected by the SDA. Although that decision is to be appealed by the employer, their chances of success are remote.

This is just one more example of the effectiveness of PFC, when we change life for one we change it for many.

Stephen

********************************************************************* Stephen Whittle Tel: 0161 247 6444 (work) Senior Lecturer in Law Tel: 0161 432 1915 (home) The School of Law Fax: 0161 247 6444 (work) Manchester Metro University Fax: 0161 432 8454 (home) Hathersage Rd Manchester M13 0JA United Kingdom

work email: s.t.whittle@mmu.ac.uk home email: stwhittle@msn.com ********************************************************************** Celebrating and affirming insurgent intellectual cultural practice …. an invitation to enter a space of changing thought, the open mind that is the heartbeat of cultural revolution (b.hooks, 1994) ———————————————————————-

**************** The UK Press For Change News List **************** For help send a message to: pfc-lists@mbcomms.net.au with this text in the message body: help ukpfc-news

UKPFC-News is a service operated by Press for Change, the UK’s transsexual rights campaign. For more details of the campaign and the news behind the news, visit our web site at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Press_For_Change/

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 28 Jul 1997 07:06:25 -1200 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E38lf; Mon 28 Jul 1997 07:06:25 -1200 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Repost from UKPFC-NEWS Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 07:06:25 -1200 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.03 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9707280706.E38lf@xconn.com>

Return-Path: <null@mbcomms.net.au> Date: Fri, 25 Jul 1997 18:36:13 -0400 From: Christine Burns <Christine_Burns@compuserve.com> Subject: US Military Creates Gender Limbo To: UKPFC-News@mbcomms.net.au (Press for Change News list) Content-Disposition: inline Reply-To: null@mindspring.com (You cannot post to this list) X-To-Unsubscribe: pfc-lists@mbcomms.net.au (message body: leave UKPFC-News) X-ListMember: AEGIS@MINDSPRING.COM [ukpfc-news@mbcomms.net.au]

Friday 25th July, 1997

Hello again everybody .. and welcome to the many new names who’ve signed up to the UKPFC-news list during its’ first week. The list is now subscribed by over 140 people and is proving to be a splendid way of passing out information about not just our own campaign, but the efforts of our sisters and brothers worldwide.

On that note, you’ll see that I’m forwarding, below, a fascinating article sent to me by Susan Parker, whose friend is in an astonishing position created by the US military. I’ll not spoil the story .. you can read it below .. but it’s a pointed reminder of the depths of absurdity which (supposedly) rational people can sink to because of their inability to cope with people who don’t fit their simple model.

Another interesting piece of reading was pointed out to me by another correspondent this week too. It’s a paper by Michael Gilbert and it puts some very good counter arguments to the central objections of the Greer school of essentialist feminism, especially in terms of whether “women” or “men” or “transgendered” are all that homogenous as groups to compare or contrast meaningfully. He also makes some interesting points about the potential for transgendered people to absorb much the same environmental socialisation as those with the “right” genitals.

The text is at http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/gilbert/transgen/tgtalk.htm and will be added as a new link to the web site this weekend.

But finally, before I press the button and head up to bed I’d also like to add a belated note of thanks to our benefactor, Kym Kovan, without whom (as they say) none of this would be possible…

The two new PFC lists are in fact hosted on Kym’s own private web domain (mbcomms.net.au), operated from Australia. (In other words, our messages will usually have been twice around the world before they reach you <grin>).

Claire Macnab, who administers our lists tells me that Kym herself is a former Ukranian, 20 years in Australia, and she has very generously offered her computing resources for TG space. Her server now hosts the 3 TGFolk lists, PFC’s two lists, PLUS the web pages for the Australian good Tranny guide (which you’ll find linked from our web pages under the heading about the New Zealand legislation). I gather that it will shortly also be hosting some other new services soon too .. but we’ll tell you about those in due course. Anyway .. the point is that we owe a lot of thanks to Kym for all the work she has put in at the technical end to get the new services operational .. and it’s one more nice reminder of how much we can all achieve when we link hands around the world for the common good.

Thank you Kym.

Actually I think it’s quite fitting that these messages are coming to you from an Australian computer too .. after all, if you’re going to turn the status quo upside down then a computer that’s upside down too seems rather fitting ! (Or is it that the computer’s the right way up and we’re the .. um .. “inverted” ones ??? <gd&r>)

Stay tuned this weekend, anyway .. Time permitting, my next little job is to write a review of Mildred Brown’s excellent new book, True Selves .. which you’ll find advertised on the web site and which is an excellent addition to anyone’s gender library. It’s the first book I’ve seen that’s really designed to explain transsexuality to friends and colleagues who are, so often, the bewildered bystanders in a transition .. and it does it well. More details later though .. because now it’s this campaigner’s bedtime.

Happy and enlightening reading everyone .. and keep pressing.

Kindest regards

Christine Burns Press for Change

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Press_For_Change

————-Forwarded Message—————–

Military Creates Gender Limbo by Tere Frederickson, Major, USAF (Ret.)

While we all celebrated Pride Month, there was a person here in San Antonio who sat stuck in the closet. It wasn’t her choice to be there, she was ordered by her commander to either stay in the closet (under virtual house arrest) or appear in public cross-dressed as a male. To “preserve the good image of the military,” etc., etc., the military has ordered a legally recognized female to cross-dress!

She is fighting her fight to be herself with very little support from our community and against all odds. She’s treading in such new territory that even her civilian attorney is almost completely baffled by her successes doing battle with “the system.”

Her commander has denied her request to vote (twice) – unless she cross-dresses as a male. Her commander has denied her request to attend church – unless she cross-dresses as a male. Her commander has denied her request to participate in the local PTA (she’s the vice president) – unless she cross-dresses as a male. Her commander has denied her request to participate in the education of her children – unless she cross-dresses as a male. In fact, she can’t even go to the grocery store – unless she cross-dresses as a male.

The military went on a “witch hunt” violating her rights. They interviewed her neighbors; they interviewed her pastor; they sent her for three psychiatric evaluations; they sent her to a discharge physical without informing her of its nature; they gave her two Article 15s, demoted her (subsequently suspended on appeal), and fined her $300. And they violated “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” by asking her neighbor if she was gay, and then pursuing it by asking if men frequently visited her (you can try to figure out the logic of that question). Her commander even tried to get the State of Texas to investigate her suitability as a single parent.

By all public and private records except one, she is female. The Texas courts ordered an amendment of gender marker; the State of Pennsylvania issued her a new birth certificate with her correct gender; Texas DPS gave her a new driver’s license; she has a new voters registration card; the Social Security Administration amended their records and gave her a new Social Security card; and all her personal records reflect her female gender. Military psychiatrists have cleared her for world-wide duty (as a woman) and access to classified information. They also said that her commander’s actions had resulted in a diagnosis of gender identity disorder (GID). Even her military medical records reflect a female gender, and medical authorities see a need for continuing assistance for her complete transition. She also wears the smaller insignia designated for women on her BDUs (unisex battle dress uniform except for size of insignia). The insignia were issued to her by her Orderly Room personnel.

The only remaining record in the world with a masculine gender marker is her master personnel file. It seems despite all evidence and medical research to the contrary, the Military Personnel Headquarters alone classifies one’s gender by the sole criteria, “if you have one, you are one.” She attempted to appeal to the Social Actions office (military equivalent of EEOC) citing a long litany of military gender bias abuses of her legal status as a female, but the five-sided puzzle palace (AKA: Pentagon) won’t touch her case, even though they did determine that discrimination has occurred. It’s all because she is in military gender limbo, neither recognized completely as female nor male. She’s in the proverbial “Catch 22,” because if she has genital reconstructive surgery then it constitutes “mutilation of the genitalia” and is grounds for declaration of unsuitability for military service, in other words, “if you get rid of it, we get rid of you.” And by not having surgery she is mired in the military personnel system of gender limbo.

So she lives in forced social exile in her “gulag closet” created by the military. However, she is redefining gender in the military. She’s a hero in our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered struggle for equal rights and fair treatment.

=========================================================

********************************************************** * * * “IT IS NEVER too late to be what you might have been.” * * * * George Eliot (1819-1880) * * The pen name of Mary Ann Evans, English Novelist. * * * **********************************************************

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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@gender.org>. For assistance with subscribing and unsubscribing, send the message HELP to <listserv@xconn.com>. ———————————————————————— You are invited to visit CROSS CONNECTION, host of the AEGISNWS list. Use your modem to call (818) 994-8887 (all lines 14.4 capable) for a free account, and please consider a paid upgrade for enhanced access. Your support helps Cross Connection provide services to the transgender community such as the AEGISNWS list. ———————– Headers ——————————– From listserv@xconn.com Tue Jul 29 04:15:43 1997 Return-Path: <listserv@xconn.com> Received: from netcomsv.netcom.com (uucp13.netcom.com [163.179.3.13]) by emin36.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id EAA17149 for <thexgrrrl@aol.com>; Tue, 29 Jul 1997 04:14:12 -0400 (EDT) Received: (from uucp@localhost) by netcomsv.netcom.com (8.8.5-r-beta/8.8.5/(NETCOM v1.01)) with UUCP id BAA29502 for thexgrrrl@aol.com; Tue, 29 Jul 1997 01:02:14 -0700 (PDT) Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E00Le; Tue 29 Jul 1997 00:30:00 -1200 From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server) Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: AEGIS-NEWS Digest Date: Tue, 29 Jul 1997 00:29:59 -1200 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.03 for DOS To: thexgrrrl@aol.com Message-Id: <9707290030.E00Le@xconn.com>

Subj: AEGIS Internet News 8/8/97 Date: 97-08-08 18:35:18 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

Subj: TGS-PFLAG News item Date: 97-08-06 23:43:54 EDT From: FTMOLInfo To: FTMOLInfo

In a message dated 97-08-06 08:28:24 EDT, tgs-pflag writes:

NEW ZEALAND CANCELS SEX-CHANGE OPERATIONS

Midland Health in Waikato, New Zealand, cancelled three sex- change operations last week after realizing that no other regional public-health authority funds gender-reassignment surgery, reports Mark Proffit.

Alan Wilson, Midland Health program director, explained to the New Zealand Herald that a sex-change operation is cosmetic surgery no different than a nose job.

The three people who were awaiting the operation must now come up with NZ$18,000 (US$12,240) each for the surgery. ————————————- Reprinted (with permission) from Etcetera, 1 August, 1997

Delores Dickerson, president of the transgender activist group Trans Action and a founding member of the California equal rights group Voices for Justice, called for the repeal of a San Diego city ordinance during that city’s Pride celebration, July 25. The ordinance bans anyone person from crossdressing “with the intent to deceive another person for the purpose of committing an unlawful act.” Dickerson said the law has been used to harass members of the transgender community and has no practical value for protecting the public, “except for a few johns actually fooled by male prostitutes in drag.” ———————————————– Reprinted (with permission) from Etcetera, 1 August, 1997

U.S. Rep Acts Against Transsexual State Worker

by Rob Nixon

Ocala, FL– U.S. Rep Cliff Stearns (R-FLA) is pressing Florida officials to set a dress-code for state office workers to stop a transsexual from dressing as a woman on the job.

On June 20, Stearns wrote to Florida Governor Lawton Chiles, state House Speaker Daniel Webster, and state Senate President Toni Jennings to “express my concern regarding the professional appearance of Dale Raab [sic], who commonly refers to himself as Sabrina.” Robb is employed as a human resources counselor at the state’s Health Care Administration office in Ocala, which is in Stearns’ district.

Robb gradually began changing her appearance to a more feminine one and has in recent months started wearing dresses and heels to work. Her immediate supervisor, Dotti Pohleven, told the Ocala Star Banner that Robb is an asset to the program and an “excellent employer” whose new book has been a distraction” to some coworkers but has not affected her performance. But Stearns, claiming to act on numerous constituent complaints, wanted the state to prevent Robb’s cross-dressing.

“In my hometown of Ocala, this manner of behaving is particularly appalling,” wrote Stearns, a conservative who has advocated for less government interference in people’s private lives. “I content that the practice of an individual’s free speech must not infringe on the rights of the general public. In this case, the general public can be defined to include both Mr. Raab’s co- workers and the citizens who seek assistance provided by this… office. You can imagine what consternation they feel when confronted with this deviant behavior.”

In his letter, Stearns cited what he sees a constitutional precedent for denying Robb the right to cross-dress: 1951 Supreme Court case guarantying free speech and assembly but not government employment and a 1976 case allowing law enforcement agencies to regulate the length of a police officer’s hair.

“A lot of folks are out there worrying where their next meal is coming from, and this guy is worrying about what one person wears to work,” Robb told the Orlando Sentinel. At press time, none of the officials Stearns contacted had responded publicly to his complaint. ——————————————— Reprinted from Playboy’s Playboy After Hours feature, September, 1997

Serb Somebody

The troubles in Serbia have apparently spawned a rash of soothsayers. Newspaper are clogged with ads for fortune-tellers, and business is brisk. The queen of the Serbian soothsayers is Kleo Patra, a 36-year-old transvestite whose clients include the wife of Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic. His $80 fee is the equivalent of an average month’s salary. He sports long ree hair and diaphanous gowns, and though he weighs more than 200 pounds, he sells diet teas and pills called Kleo tablets that promise to make the user more vital. He even has a TV show on which he warns that the “Serbs are a doomed people destined to slaughter themselves in catastrophic wars in the next century.” As for the U.S., he says, “Don’t worry about America. In your country I see lots of floods.” Whew. Patra is also sought out for relationship advice. “I tell couples who have trouble that they have to go out and find new sexual partners. If you love someone you have to be able to give them up for others to love. For Kleo Patra, physical betrayal does not exist.” Patra does not take criticism lightly. When a local paper accused him of being a sham, he said that he was preparing “to beat that so-called reported like a cat.”

AEGIS Internet News is a service of The American Educational Gender Information Service. To subscribe, send a message to aegisnews@gender.org and ask to be be put on the mailing list.

 

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 (answered live Tue. & Thur. 6-9 pm Eastern) (770) 939-1770 FAX aegis@gender.org E-Mail

Our website is http://www.ren.org/aegis.html 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

 

———————– Headers ——————————– From aegis@gender.org Fri Aug 8 13:45:28 1997 Return-Path: <aegis@gender.org> Received: from brickbat9.mindspring.com (brickbat9.mindspring.com [207.69.200.12]) by mrin40.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id NAA20571; Fri, 8 Aug 1997 13:45:27 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-2k7i80j.dialup.mindspring.com [168.121.32.19]) by brickbat9.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id NAA18795; Fri, 8 Aug 1997 13:43:13 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199708081743.NAA18795@brickbat9.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Fri, 08 Aug 1997 13:57:48 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News 8/8/97

Subj: AEGIS Internet News 8/11/97 Date: 97-08-11 12:00:43 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

From: Rex Wockner <rwockner@NETCOM.COM> Subject: WOCKNER/2,000 RALLY AT PRIDE KICKOFF To: GLB-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

2,000 RALLY AT PRIDE KICKOFF {729 words}

Transgendereds Embraced, Bisexuals Excluded

by Rex Wockner

SAN DIEGO — Transgendered people were welcomed but bisexuals were excluded — and they protested — as 2,000 people launched Pride weekend Friday night at the Spirit of Stonewall Rally outside the Lesbian & Gay Men’s Community Center.

The event featured comic Elvira Kurt, National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Executive Director Kerry Lobel, 1996 U.S. figure-skating champion Rudy Galindo, City Councilwoman Christine Kehoe, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund attorney Myron Dean Quon, and Delores Dickerson of San Diego’s Trans Action, among others.

Dickerson — a last-minute addition to the speakers’ list — spoke against San Diego Municipal Code Section 56.19 which bans wearing “apparel customarily worn by the opposite sex with the intent to deceive another person for the purposes of committing an unlawful act.”

The antiquated law — used exclusively in recent years against male, non-white transvestites, some of them alleged prostitutes – – is the target of a repeal campaign that is gathering steam — mounted by Trans Action and by Voices for Justice, the continuation of VOICES ’96, the group that protested last year’s Republican National Convention.

Dickerson had been denied a slot at the rally podium until local drag leader Nicole Ramirez Murray came to her rescue with a threat that 100 drag queens would picket the event.

Bisexuals had no such advocate so their late request to speak stayed rejected. Members of the San Diego Bisexual Political Action Group, BiPol, demonstrated with signs reading “Not Seen, Not Heard” and a banner reading “Inequality Through Invisibility,” a takeoff on the pride slogan, “Equality Through Visibility.”

“We’re doing a silent protest at the exclusion of any bisexual presence at this rally,” said Jan Hansen. “I spoke to [Pride Executive Director] Mandy Schultz several days before Delores Dickerson did and I was told on June 26th that the schedule was locked in and there could be no exception made.”

Fellow protester Ray Paquette added: “With the theme this year, they should have already invited a bisexual speaker and a transgender speaker.”

Subhead: San Diego: A National Model

Such flaps notwithstanding, NGLTF head Lobel told the Gay & Lesbian Times that San Diego’s gay community is “a model for the rest of the country.”

“The level and depth of organization of the community here is unparalleled,” she said. “There are hundreds of volunteers ready to go, there’s a [gay] center that has increased its budget every year, there’s a community that’s hooked into feeling invested in itself and it’s really rare what’s going on here and it’s a model for what should go on around the country.

“Part of it is location, location, location,” Lobel noted. “People want to live here. Some of the best and brightest people have moved here and they stayed involved instead of checking out which should be a model for anyone who’s moving to a nice place.”

Kurt, the Canadian comic who emceed the rally, joked about the Andrew Cunanan media feeding frenzy.

“Between [the] Heaven’s Gate [suicides] and [Cunanan’s appearances on the TV show] ‘America’s Most Wanted,’ this is the only place in the world where the gay community is mainstream,” she said. “You know there’s been too much media [attention] when even the gay community is going: ‘Please! Leave us alone!'”

Added Lobel: “I’ve seen your Gay Mart [on TV] at least 200 times [but] you handled yourselves so well over the past few months.”

Several awards and recognitions were handed out at the rally. Toni Atkins was named Woman Of The Year. An aide to Councilwoman Kehoe, Atkins has been a gay activist for 10 years.

“The rewards have been many and I have not regretted being out as a lesbian, not for one moment ever,” she said.

Men of the Year were Joe Pascale and Jeff Palmer, a businessman/photographer couple who have* donated more than $380,000 to AIDS organizations. They run coming-out groups at the gay center and created Halloween’s “Nightmare on Normal Street.”

The American Civil Liberties Union was named Friend Of The Year and the Live & Let Live Alano Club received the Stonewall Award For Community Service. Other Community Service Awards went to Imperial Court de San Diego Emperor Noel Guanzon, queer-youth activist Karleen Pendleton Jimenez, P-FLAG leader Diane Warner, and longtime activist Mike Lloyd.

“One of these days,” Pride’s Mandy Schultz suggested at the rally’s end, “we’re not going to have a pride celebration anymore because we will be equal and we won’t need to be here anymore.”

-end- From: Al Kielwasser <MediAction@aol.com> Subject: “MEDIAlert!” [B] – 08.11.97 (Media/Briefs & Web Watch) To: GLB-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

Only trans-related content is in this posting)

[4]

*** ROCK AND SOULS . . . . The latest “media devil” for the fundamentalist set seems to be singer Marilyn Manson. Manson’s unorthodox music has been attacked for advocating everything from bisexuality to suicide.

Among Manson’s detractors is Al Menconi, the president of Menconi Ministries — a self-described “Christian Ministry whose mission is to educate and equip Christian parents, leaders and youth to consider the values communicated in their entertainment — especially today’s music.” In a recent column for the “AFA Journal” (August, 1997), Menconi says of Manson: “This popular drug-using, bisexual rocker is one of the most demented artists to hit the scene in the history of rock music.”

Unlike many of his colleagues in censorship, Menconi has at least listened to Manson’s music — and even went to one of his concerts to witness the depravity first-hand. “I couldn’t believe how shocked some of my Christian friends were when they heard that I went to see Marilyn Manson,” said Menconi. “Some of them even asked if I wasn’t afraid of demon possession!”

Menconi further reported that “the concert was loud and profane, with many in attendance cross-dressing just like their hero.” While the singer “did strip down to a leather jock strap,” he failed to offer any of the “animal sacrifices” Menconi expected.

Manson is also the subject of a boycott supported by the American Family Association and the Minnesota Christian Coalition. These Right Wing groups are advocating a campaign against the Best Buy Company, because the nationwide retailer was one of several sponsors of “Ozzfest” — a tour which featured Marilyn Manson.

“Best Buy’s promotion of this hateful act is the moral equivalent of dealing drugs to children,” explained Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association. “The company doesn’t deserve the patronage of families struggling to raise children in difficult times.”

C o n t a c t : Al Menconi, President, Menconi Ministries, P.O. Box 5008, San Marcos, CA 92069, tel. 619-591-4696; Tim Wildmon, Vice-President, American Family Association, P.O. Drawer 2440, Tupelo, MS 38803, tel. 601-844-5036, fax 601-844-9176, web-site www.afa.net; Richard M. Schulze, Chairperson, Best Buy Co., P.O. Box 9312, Minneapolis, MN 55440-9312, tel. 612-947-2000, fax 612-947-2422; Marilyn Manson/Interscope Records, e-mail interscope@interscoperecords.com, web-site www.interscoperecords.com.

GLAADALERT August 8, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

(Only trans-related content is in this posting)

2. AP Warns Community of Serial Killers

Last week, the Associated Press (AP) brought public attention to the numerous unsolved serial murders of gay men and transgender people. The article states, “from New Jersey to Virginia to Texas, the slayings of as many as 30 gay men or transvestites, which activists believe are the work of five serial killers, remain unsolved.” The article mentions that in some localities working relationships between the police and gay community have recently been forged, yet “other activists remain frustrated and say it still takes a lot of pushing to get many officers to take seriously any crimes involving homosexual victims, even homicides.”

This article is a positive step on the part of AP to create awareness around the egregious lack of attention to these murders by some law enforcement officials and the media. Now than Andrew Cunanan is dead, it is important that people realize our community has always been, and currently is, at risk for anti-gay violence.

Please thank AP for taking these crimes seriously and responding to the call for action from anti-violence activists.

Contact: Darrell L. Christian, Managing Editor, Associated Press, 50 Rockefeller Plaza, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10020-1666, fax: 212.621.7520, e-mail: rgersh@ap.org.

Note: AEGIS has considered the probability of trans-serials killers for years; in fact, we published an article in The Advocate in 1992, which follows:

Copyright 1997 by Dallas Denny and Margaux Ayn Schaffer

The following, which appeared in April, 1992 in The Advocate, was written in response to the murder in Atlanta of three crossdressed persons in Atlanta in as many months. Here is the citation:

Denny, D., & Schaffer, M.A. (1992, 21 April). Vox Populi: Do transgender issues affect the gay community? Violence against transgendered persons: An unrecognized problem. The Advocate, 601, 114.

 

 

Violence Against Transgendered Persons: An Unrecognized Problem Dallas Denny and Margaux Ayn Schaffer The American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

They turn up alongside the interstate highways and in back alleys throughout the nation: dead women, who, upon inspection of their persons and paperwork, turn out to be men, or to have once been men. Others, fortunate enough to still be among the living, show up crossdressed, bruised and bloody, at the emergency rooms of hospitals or on the doorsteps of friends. Beaten. Robbed. Shot. Stabbed. Raped. The police have been known to laugh at the violence and throw the unfortunates back into the pool with the predators. The media either ignore the victims or focus on their gender status, making them, and not the violence which has been done to them, the story. The most respectable, most productive person, if transgendered, becomes just another “transsexual” or “transvestite” when assaulted or murdered. Due to their often ambiguous appearance, transgendered persons present easy targets for ridicule or abuse. Those who are living crossgender often have difficulty in changing their victim profile, for their body habitus is frequently at odds with their gender identity and their social role. Unlike the case with other sexual and gender minorities, transsexualism provides visual stigma which pervade every waking moment, even when the individual is trying to blend in. Although they are certainly at risk when crossdressed, drag queens and male crossdressers can and do go home and take off their dresses and go back to being men, and crossdressed women go back to being women– but the transsexual woman is not impersonating a woman, and the transsexual man is not impersonating a man. They are doing their dead level best to be men and women, and it can get them assaulted or killed. Despite the fact that they are much more often victims of violence than they are perpetrators, transgendered persons are frequently portrayed in the media as psychotics or criminals. This is a legacy left us by Alfred Hitchcock. His “Psycho” is mirrored in such films as “Dressed to Kill” and, more recently, “Silence of the Lambs,” as well as on innumerable television shows. In actuality, violent crimes by transgendered persons are quite rare, but homicide and assault of transgendered persons are very common. Yet how many television shows and movies have focused on transgendered persons as victims? The murders of three transgendered persons in Atlanta in one month have made us acutely aware of the problem of violence in our society. We remembered having read newspaper accounts of such killings, but when we checked, we were appalled at the magnitude of the problem. Transgendered people have been turning up dead in many of our cities: San Diego, San Francisco, Dallas, New York, Chicago. We found that transsexual people are sometimes beaten by the police, and have been abused and raped by their jailers. We found that transgendered inmates are sometimes housed in common areas with the general population of their original gender (recently, one transsexual woman had her breast implants ruptured in a scuffle with male prisoners in a holding tank). We found that care providers will sometimes refuse to treat transgendered persons, even when they are in obvious physical or mental distress. We found that there is little support for those who have been abused or attacked, and that perpetrators are rarely apprehended. Our conclusion was that violence against transgendered persons pervades our society, and that a system to monitor and prevent it is not in place. We would estimate that dozens of murders of transgendered persons are occurring every year. Most happen for unknown reasons, and are never solved. Certainly, the police in different cities do not seem to be communicating with each other. We doubt, for instance, that the Atlanta police have spoken with the police in San Diego, where there have been a number of recent killings. Perhaps all these murders are unrelated, but consider this: what if there is a serial killer of transgendered persons? What if there are several serial killers? How would we ever know? The murders and violence will continue unless our culture comes to understand that the transgendered are people, too. One need only substitute words for other classes of people for “transsexual” or “crossdresser” to see just how our society devalues transgendered men and women: “Three Children Murdered in Inner City!” “Another Dentist Found Dead on Interstate!” Would the police take immediate action if those were the headlines? Of course. Would the media make a big deal of it? They certainly did a decade or so ago, right here in Atlanta, when children were being murdered. You can bet that there would be a police task force and national headlines if schoolteachers or preachers were turning up dead in Atlanta. But with three transgendered women recently murdered, the police and media don’t seem to be taking the problem seriously. There is a problem, of course, and it is not an Atlanta problem, not a Georgia problem, not a Southern problem. It is a national problem. It is time that violence against transgendered persons is recognized as a matter for national concern, just as has happened with violence against gay men and lesbians. But just as it is not a local problem, it is not a gay matter, nor a transgender matter. It is a question of safety for all people. Everyone is at risk, especially those who do not fit into rigid gender stereotypes. Last year, for example, a woman who was walking with her husband in San Francisco was beaten because bashers perceived her to be a gay man. The United States is based on freedom of expression. Allowing violence against any of its citizens subverts the intention of its founders. Inaction by the authorities can lead only to increasing violence and widening circles of victims. We must work cooperatively to deal with the problem of violence against American citizens, no matter what their sexual orientation or presentation of gender. We can do this in forums such as this, by approaching our lawmakers, and by educating those who are ignorant. We can do it by supporting hate crime laws, and by demanding that those who are sworn to protect us do so. We must let the authorities know that we do not demand special treatment, but that we do demand equal treatment. But by all means, we must take action now, for the violence has gone on for too long. From: Wrede <101526.2743@CompuServe.COM> To: “‘Denny, Dallas'” <aegis@mindspring.com>

The International Journal of Transgenderism Editors: Friedeman Pfaefflin and Eli Coleman Assistant Editor: Brunhild Kring Language: English URL (internet adress): to be announced in late August

is a scientific journal on all aspects of transgenderism. Its first issue is to be published in early September ’97 in an online edition on the Web. Frequency will be quarterly. Additionally, a short version of each issue will be available in print, containing the abstracts and the URLs of the articles.

*

Table of contents of the first issue:

Blending genders: Contributions to the Emerging Field of Transgender Studies by R. Ekins

Gender Identification and Sexual Orientation Among Genetic Females with Gender-blended Self-perception in Childhood and Adolescence by A.E Eyler

Self and Gender: Narcissistic Pathology and Personality Factors in Gender Dysphoric Patients. Results of a prospective study by U. Hartmann, H. Becker and C. Rueffer-Hesse

The Medicalization of Gender Migration by S. Hirschauer

Legal Aspects of Transsexualism in Brazilian Law by C.L Marques and E.Ramos da Silva Introducing the archive section, we will republish with the first issue:

A Sex Difference in the Human Brain and its Relation to Transsexuality by J.N. Zhou et al, originally published in Nature.

The archive section is to serve as a source of ‘milestone’ articles, published elsewhere in the past. Also, the first issue will contain the abstracts of the papers, to be presented during the HBIGDA meeting in Vancouver.

*

Access to the Int’l Journal of Transgenderism will be free of charge for the current issues. Starting in early ’98 we will offer additional services for a small subscription fee, including:

The short version of the IJT, to be mailed to the subscribers in its printed or electronic version in advance of the new online issue.

Access to the complete archive section with milestone articles and past issues of the IJT.

Electronic versions of books on transgenderism, starting with: Follow-up Studies on Sex Change. A commented review of literature 1961 – 1991 By F. Pfaefflin and A. Junge. Full text search of all our contents.

*

We would like to provide you with the URL, as soon as possible, and some free copies of the printed short version.

In case you are interested, please mail to: Claudia Wrede, 101526.2743@compuserve.com

—————————- (ATLANTA-BASED) PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP FOR TRANSGENDERED PERSONS

A psychotherapy group is now forming for people of MtoF transgender experience. This group is designed to assist members in the following ways:

· supporting self-discovery · exploring identity within the cross-dressing/ transgender/transexual spectrum · dealing with feelings about transgender experience · finding ways to become more at ease and self-accepting · integrating transgender experience into general identity and life · enhancing communication with significant others · addressing “coming out” for those who wish to do so · exploring options for congruent gender expression · offering support through the process of gender transition, when and if that is desired and appropriate

Time: Wednesdays, 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Place: 1924 Clairmont Rd. Suite 120, Decatur GA Cost: $40 (inquire about sliding scale if necessary) Statements provided monthly for your insurance reimbursement Membership: limited to 8 people Twelve session initial commitment requested

We will work together to create an atmosphere in which safety, support, and respect are emphasized, in order to foster exploration and affirmation of individual differences. This will be a therapy group rather than a support group, and therefore appropriate for people who have serious interest in exploring their issues at some depth.

The group will be led by Virginia Erhardt, Ph.D., a licensed psychologist and sex therapist who writes a monthly column about emotional health in Southern Voice newspaper. Dr. Erhardt trains professionals to work with people who have gender issues, and follows the Standards of Care of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association. For more information and an intake interview, contact Dr. Erhardt at 404/256-6664 or by e-mail at VIRGPSYCH@aol.com.

————–

A Call for Proposals for the Third Annual West Coast Conference on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Education: Opening Minds

Saturday, November 1, 1997 James Logan High School, Union City, California

Sponsored by GLSTN/San Mateo and GLSTN/San Francisco Bay Area (formerly BANGLE)

The GLSTN Conference Planning Committee cordially invites you to submit a proposal to present at the Third Annual Bay Area Conference on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues in Education. The conference is scheduled for Saturday, November 1, 1997, at James Logan High School in Union City, California. The site offers easy driver access and is within walking distance of the Union City BART Station on the Richmond-Fremont Line. Conference goals are to make school environments safe and supportive of ALL students and to provide concrete tools and tested activities to combat homophobia on campus.

Please submit your proposal(s) on the enclosed form postmarked or e-mailed no later than Wednesday, September 10. Please feel free to duplicate and share this invitation with others. All workshops are planned to be 75 minutes. This includes time to allow for questions or discussion. We regret that we are unable to reimburse presenters. However, all presenters will receive complimentary registration for the conference.

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Proposed Title ____________________________________________________

Presenter(s) ______________________________________________________

Affiliation ________________________________________________________

Address, Phone Number, E-mail Address of Presenters: __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

A/V Equipment Needed ____________________________________________

I can repeat my presentation. [ ] Yes [ ] No

Brief Description of Workshop (75 words or less–use back if necessary) __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Return to: Wanda & Ben Steffens 7 Creekside Dr Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 Or e-mail to: steffens@aol.com For more info, call: (415) 726-6902

Return by Wednesday , September 10, 1997

GLSTN 121 West 27th Street, Suite 804 New York, NY 10001 212-727-0135 http://www.glstn.org —————

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Subj: AEGIS Internet News Digest 8/14/97 1 of 2 Date: 97-08-14 13:56:08 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

AEGIS Internet News Digest Part 1 of 2 8/14/97

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—————————————— From Southern Voice, 7 August, 1997. Reprinted with permission.

Transsexual Seeks Myrtle Beach City Council Seat

by Laura Brown

Campaigning on a platform of diversity and change, a 30-year-old African-American transsexual has announced her plans to run for City Council in Myrtle Beach, SC.

White men make up five of the seven members of the council, but if Sharon Franklin Brown has her way, those numbers will change in November’s election. All members are elected citywide, and three of the four-year terms will be filled this fall, said Myrtle Beach City Manager Tom Leath.

“I”m qualified as an individual coming from an oppressed group that’s still looking for avoid and has not been represented. Being a minority and a woman, too, we need equal and adequate representation,” Brown said. “I’m a strong believer in democracy, that majority rules, but you have to protect the rights of minorities, and I think we’ve lost sight of that, especially in Myrtle Beach.”

Brown said she became involved with the City Council in March, when Councilman Mark McBride was quoted as saying, “We don’t want this garbage on the Boulevard” and “I don’t want to end up seeing transvestites and drag queens and people being led around on leashes in dog collars” in reference to a gay ar opening in Myrtle Beach’s Pavilion area.

“I was living in Myrtle Beach at the time Mark McBridge made those comments about gays being garbage, and I went to the Council and voiced my opinion, and it led from there,” she explained. Brown said she has attended every council meeting since the gay bar debate.

McBride, who is running for mayor in November’s election, said he has “no problem” with Brown’s candidacy and denied making the “gays are garbage” comment.

“We are a family beach…” he told Southern Voice. “Whether it’s obscene T-shirts, drug paraphernalia, prostitutes, gangs, or gay bars, all that in my opinion is garbage, but I never said gays are garbage… If I was her– I mean his– inspiration for running, then OK, whatever. I’m not a supporter of the gay lifestyle, but what someone does is their own business.”

John Maxwell, who is finishing his second term on City Council and plans to run for a third, said he welcomes Brown to the race. “I see Sharon as a very articulate and intelligent girl, and she is certainly qualified to serve.”

“Myrtle Beach is not a sleep southern town anymore. It’s a city, and as cities grow, their outlook has to grow,” he continued. “When it comes to transsexuals or homosexuals, like with people of different races and religions, those who have a problem with it are showing a lack of intelligence or understanding. They are people, and they deserve equal opportunity like everyone else.”

Maxwell also said Brown’s background should be an issue “no more than my background as a construction worker. Why should people hold your background against you? You’re there to serve. She brings a culture and experience from beyond the city limits, and I think that’s good.”

Brown, born Franklin Brown, said she had Sharon added to her legal name and began living as a woman about nine years ago. “As far back as I can remember, I knew I was a girl. I never identified as gay,” she said of her childhood in rural, segregated Louisiana.

“Any black person, especially raised in the Deep South, has to deal with major obstacles, and that’s been even more than being transsexual. I was pretty popular in school. I had name calling, but only a few times, and I was very competitive academic-wise.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration and pre-law at Northeast Louisiana University, Brown said she began a master’s program in psychology and business at North Carolina’s Fayetteville State University, where she was fired from her job as a resident hall director in a women’s dorm.

“I was up for promotion, and they said they needed to confirm my degree. It came back with my birth name, and they thought I was trying to use my brother’s degree, so I had to explain,” she said. “They asked me to prove my sex, and when I refused and asked them if they require that of all applicants, they dismissed me.”

After the incident, Brown said she began speaking out about the need to include gender identity and sexual orientation in non- discrimination policies. While she said she takes female hormones, she declined comment on whether she will have gender- reassignment surgery.

“When people ask about that, I always say, does it matter to my candidacy?” It doesn’t, so that’s it,” she said. Still, she said her gender identity has been a big issue in her campaign, and she has been frustrated by press reports calling her a “transvestite,” a “cross-dresser,” and “he.”

“People really do get hung up on that, and that includes the gay community as well. A lot of gay men and women don’t understand the transgendered community, too.”

Although her candidacy might help shed light on gender and sexual orientation issues, Brown stressed that mere visibility is not the goal of her campaign.

“Our population is changing rapidly, and Myrtle Beach has to change, too,” she said. “From public safety to public transportation, we have a lot of problems to deal with. I’d also like to see a non-discrimination ordinance passed citywide, where it would be illegal to discriminate on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.”

In the meantime, Brown said she’s looking for a campaign manager who isn’t afraid of being considered “gay by association.” She’s also continuing her jobs at Applebee’s restaurant and as a Whitney Houston impersonator at Metropolis By the Sea, the club whose opening McBride opposed.

Regardless of the outcome of the City council election, Brown said her political career has just begun. “Whether I’m elected or not, one day I want to run for state house and then governor. It may be 10 years down the road before I feel comfortable enough and like I have the political background to do it, but it has to start somewhere, and I’m starting here in Myrtle Beach.”

“Some little kids have dreams about being millionaires or rock stars, but when I was a kid I wanted to be in the White House,” she concluded. “In 20 or 25 years, I’ll be about 50, and who knows? A lot can happen in 25 years; just look at how far we’ve already come.” —————————————- Lest We Forget…

This is a selection from an article in Southern Voice, 7 August, 1997. Reprinted with permission.

History of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival by David Blanco

…. The most recent– and perhaps the most wrenching– major debate has been over the participation of post-operative male-to- female transsexuals at the event. One such transsexual, Nancy Burkholder, participated clandestinely at the 1990 festival. When she openly shared her story the following year [this is erroneous– she didn’t share her story– Dallas], security guards escorted her from the premises. A “camp Trans” was set up outside the gates of the festival [several years later– Dallas] to protest the “womyn-born-womyn-only” policy adopted in 1993 and some women were spotted with “Friend of Nancy” buttons. But festival organizers continued to defend the policy. As one woman put it, “It’s the dick in their heads I don’t want here.”

————————————————— From “Odds & Ends” in “Weekly Alibi” (Aug. 13-19), New Mexico alternative news and entertainment publication.

Dateline: Senegal — Officials in Dakar are trying their best to quell the growing mob frenzy over so-called “sorcerers” capable of shrinking a man’s penis to nothing with a mere handshake (hey, I could have saved $10,000). Scores of people have been beaten and burned to death in the West African nations of Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal in the past year. Daily newspapers in Dakar, Senegal, published pictures of suspected “genital thieves” (Dr. Biber on vacation?) killed in the latest waves of panic along with headlines like “Have We Lose Our Common Sense?” Police have tried to assuage public fears by assuring West African populations that allegations of vanishing penises are baseless. –compiled by Devin D. O’Leary

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———————– Headers ——————————– Received: from mrin48.mail.aol.com (mrin48.mail.aol.com [152.163.116.86]) by mrin68.mail.aol.com with SMTP; Thu, 14 Aug 1997 13:56:08 -0400 Received: from brickbat9.mindspring.com (brickbat9.mindspring.com [207.69.200.12]) by mrin48.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id LAA13218; Thu, 14 Aug 1997 11:49:13 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-38lc94h.dialup.mindspring.com [209.86.36.145]) by brickbat9.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA05158; Thu, 14 Aug 1997 11:47:25 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199708141547.LAA05158@brickbat9.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 12:02:28 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News Digest 8/14/97 1 of 2

Subj: AEGIS Internet News 8/26/97 Date: 97-08-26 10:09:58 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

AEGIS Internet News Digest Tuesday, 26 August, 1997 AEGIS Internet News Digest is a Service of The American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org. —————————————————————————- ————————-

Return-Path: <apc@wamani.wamani.apc.org> To: lista-ales1@wamani.wamani.apc.org Subject: National Campaign to Penalize Discrimination From: ales@wamani.apc.org (Alejandra Sarda) Date: Fri, 22 Aug 97 14:22:16 ARG Organization: Red Wamani – APC Networks – Argentina

PENALIZE DISCRIMINATION To discriminate is a crime

National Campaign for Penal Code amendment

Background

a) Argentinean legislation

No legal norms protecting from discrimination based on sexual identity and orientation exist in our country. Thanks to the work of gay, lesbian, transvestite, transsexual and bisexual individuals and groups, Buenos Aires Statute states -in its Article 11- that: “the right to be different is acknowledged and guaranteed; no discrimination aimed at segregating people on the basis or race, ethnical origins, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, ideology, beliefs, nationality, physical features, psichophysical – social – economical condition or any other circumstance that implies exclusion, restriction or demeaning will be accepted”. This article only applies to the city’s public administration. It’s not national in scope and does not apply in the private sector. No penalty is prescribed for those committing discriminatory acts. National Law Against Discriminatory Acts (number 23.592) does not penalize people who discriminate and the only punishment eventually prescribed is “to stop committing the discriminatory act”. This law does not specifically mention sexual identity and orientation as basis for discrimination. Those two traits render the law useless.

b) Other countries Several countries have national level laws protecting sexual minorities against different forms of discrimination. Such protection might be included in the Constitution (South Africa), discriminatory behaviour might be forbidden by the Penal Code (Spain, Island, Slovenia, France, Denmark) or there might be a Human Rights Protection law (Netherlands and Canada)

Current Situation

Police edicts are enforced in the whole country. Police has the power to arrest people as a “preventive measure”. The edicts are unconstitutional, and they are used by the police force against citizens’ civil rights. People are arrested, beaten, tortured and murdered with total impunity. Discrimination is also rampant at the workplace, specially in the private sector. Many people are not hired or loose their jobs because of their sexual identity or orientation. The same situation is affecting People Living With HIV/ AIDS.

Proposal

The National Campaign Penalize Discrimination, To Discri- minate Is A Crime, is aimed at preserving human and civil rights through introducing a Penal Code amendment. That is the only way for discrimination to be considered what it really is: A CRIME. As discrimination is an action against people, only the Penal Code prescribes penalties according to the nature of the act and leaves open the possibility of civil lawsuits against the infractor for moral and material damage.

Article to be included in the Argentinean Penal Code, Chapter VII, Book II, Title I (Crimes against persons), through the passing of a National Law: “Anyone who through discriminatory acts or omissions or publicly inciting to hate based on race, ethnical origin, gender, sex, sexual orientation, sexual identity, language, religion, ideology, beliefs, age, nationality, physical features, psycho-physical – social – economical condition impedes, obstructs, limits or in any way incites to undermine the full exercise of rights and guarantees stated in our National Constitution for all citizens, will be penalized with 6 months to 2 years imprisionment”. The Campaign is conducted by Gay, Lesbian, Transvestite, Transsexual and Bisexual individuals and groups in Argentina.

Information and support: Phones: (54 1) 373 89 55 and/or (54 1) 361 36 43 Fax: (54 1) 373 89 55 and/or (54 1) 382 90 95 Mailing addresses: 4to. Piso, Buenos Aires and/or Pte.Roca 663 Of.5 (2000) Rosario, Prov. de Santa Fe. E.mail: ales@wamani.apc.org and/or jlhb@pinos.com

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MEDIA ADVISORY – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Clare Howell, clareq@gpac.org (718) 638-7062

. NYC POLICE SODOMIZE HAITIAN MAN . MENACE, GENDERPAC & TOPS JOIN OUTCRY OVER CASE OF POLICE RACISM & BRUTALITY

NYC POLICE SODOMIZE HAITIAN MAN ===============================

(New York, NY: 11 Aug 97) ABNER LOUIMA, A 30- YEAR-OLD Haitian immigrant, was arrested by NYC police on 9 August outside a Brooklyn nightclub, beaten repeatedly, taken to the 70th Precinct house, beaten again, and anally raped by the arresting officer and several others. The story has quickly ballooned from a simple arrest into national news.

Mr. Louima, a security officer and married father of two, alleges that he was sodomized with the handle of a toilet plunger while being subjected to racial epithets. His front teeth were knocked out when the plunger was then jammed into his mouth. Mr. Louima made the allegations from his Long Island hospital bed, where he lay in critical condition from a torn rectum and ruptures in his bladder and intestines.

### MENACE, GENDERPAC, TOP JOIN OUTCRY OVER CASE OF POLICE RACISM & BRUTALITY ==========================================

(Brooklyn, NY: 16 Aug 97) THOUSANDS OF ANGRY MEMBERS of the Haitian community and black civil rights leaders were joined today by groups including the Gay & Lesbian Anti- Violence Project, Jews for Peace and Reconciliation, and the Transexual Menace to protest police brutality against minority citizens. The demonstration was sparked by the alleged police assault last weekend on Haitian immigrant Abner Louima.

This marks the second time gender activists have publicly protested on the troubling issue of prisoner sexual abuse, an issue Menace spokestrans have long accused gay and feminist organizations of ignoring. Said one, “We were asked why we’re here; I have no trouble at all connecting the beating and anal rape of a black man with gender- based oppression.”

Carrying banners, toilet plungers, and chanting, “No Justice–No Peace,” approximately 150 protesters gathered outside the 70th Precinct stationhouse to voice their outrage, as more than 2,000 protesters marched from the nightclub to join them. Despite the sweltering heat, angry marchers, and scores of police officers on the scene, no arrests were made during the afternoon- long demonstration.

Last week both GenderPAC and Transgender Officers Protect & Serve (TOPS) signed a letter drafted by the Lesbian & Gay Anti- Violence Project and address to NY Mayor Rudy Guiliani, deploring the brutality and racism of the Louima beating.

A second protest, marching all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Mayor’s office in Manhattan, has been called for August 29. Menace activists are expected to attend.

###

Online Editor: Clare Howell, clareq@gpac.org

Subscriptions. Please send: Subscribe iyf-online OR Unsubscribe iyf-online TO MajorDomo@Apocalypse.Org

For prior press releases, check the GenderPAC web site at: http://WWW.Gpac.Org

(c) 1996 InYourFace An on-line, news-only service for gender activism. When re-posting, please credit InYourFace.

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Several trans-inclusive Conferences: 1. PROGRESS SUMMIT 2. ’98 Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender College Conference: February in Chicago Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 07:45:53 -0700 From: Kelly Lyndon <klyndon@QUALCOMM.COM> Subject: PROGRESS SUMMIT MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii”

DALLAS TO HOST ’97 PROGRESS SUMMIT SEPTEMBER 19 – 21

PROGRESS Now National Organization Los Angeles — August 19, 1997 — PROGRESS, the nation’s largest coalition of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employee resource groups, today announced that it has selected Dallas to host its third annual PROGRESS Summit for Workplace Leaders, to be held at the Fairmont Hotel from September 19 – 21. Dallas-based Leadership Lambda will co-host the Summit. Official sponsors of this year’s Summit include The United Way, Visa International, Pacific Bell, Human Rights Campaign, Kaiser Permanente, American Airlines, Genentech, and the Los Angeles Gay & lesbian Center.

Openly-gay Texas State Representative Glenn Maxey has been tapped as the Summit’s key-note speaker.

“Hosting the Summit outside of California this year demonstrates PROGRESS’ growth as a national coalition,” said Sarah Fairchild of Kaiser Permanente, event co-chair. “PROGRESS is now educating employers nationwide about inclusive workplace policies and showing them how employee groups play an integral role in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement.”

San Francisco Bay Area human resources and diversity expert Paula Jones developed the leadership program in conjunction with the PROGRESS Event Committee. The committee is made up of workplace activists and professionals from national and multinational corporations.

This year’s Summit is expected to be the largest ever, with participants from dozens of corporate, governmental, non-profit and educational workplaces nationwide. PROGRESS Summit ’97 registration fees range from $95 – $235 including lodging, meals and seminars. Information on the PROGRESS Summit is available by telephone at 888-PRO-LGBT or email at PROGRESSUS@aol.com.

Founded in 1995, PROGRESS provides programs and services to employee groups, employers and individuals addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender workplace concerns. Its programs and services include The PROGRESS Report, the “PROGRESS Page” website <http://www.bayscenes.com/np/progress>, the Leadership Training Program, education manuals, and the Sample Document Library.

Leadership Lambda was established in 1993 to strengthen skills for existing and new leaders in the gay, lesbian and bisexual community of Dallas. Leadership Lambda offers a six-month intensive skills-building Seminar Series, as well as customized technical assistance to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations across the United States.

PROGRESS Contact: Garrett Hicks 888-PRO-LGBT

** Please post widely ** Date: Thu, 21 Aug 1997 10:58:42 -0500 From: David Barnett <barnett@UIC.EDU> Subject: ’98 Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender College Conference: February in Chicago MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii”

For Immediate Release

*******************************************************************************

“Across the Fruited Plain” — The 1998 Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender College Conference

The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is proud to host this conference on our campus February 20 to 22, 1998. The conferen organizers are pleased to announce they have booked Urvashi Vaid, Leslie Feinberg, and Michelangelo Signorile as our three keynote speakers and singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick as one of our entertainers. The conference will also feature dozens of workshops, panels, and programs, two dances, a vendor fair, and more. The conference web site offers the most current information: http://www.uic.edu/depts/quic/mblgtcc

The conference is cosponsored by PRIDE at UIC: Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgendered People Advocating Diversity; The UIC Chancellor’s Committee on the Status of Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Issues; the UIC Office of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns; and the Office of the Chancellor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The conference has been a regular event in the Midwest for the past half decade. The 1997 conference, held at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, had attendance near 600 — the highest to date. Previous conferences have been held at Beloit College, Southern Illinois University, Earlham College, and Iowa State University. 1998 marks the first time the conference will take place in a major metropolitan area. Due to space constraints, UIC can accommodate a maximum of 1100 registrants at this conference. Register early to avoid disappointment.

Workshop proposals: The theme for the conference is “across the fruited plain.” Workshop proposals are being accepted now and the conference organizers urge early submission of proposals. This provides an opportunity to highlight programs for those considering attending the conference. The organizers plan to offer a variety of programs and workshops during the conference on a wide range of topics of interest of college and university students. They also plan to provide a series of workshops for faculty and staff advisers of campus LGBT student organizations.

Proposals (or intents-of-proposal) should be sent to: MBLGTCC-98 Program Committee OGLBC (M/C 369) 1007 West Harrison St 4078 BSB Chicago, IL 60607-7140 or by Fax: 312-996-4688 or by e-mail: mblgcc98@uic.edu

The registration form is now available on-line at the web site and hotel accommodation information will also be on the web site in a few weeks. For those who need help finding another registrant to reduce expenses, the conference planners are providing a roommate matching service. In addition, they will be seeking free community housing in Chicago for registrants who cannot otherwise afford to attend (there will be a limited number of these spaces).

The program booklet will include paid advertising from organizations and commercial firms. Those interested in purchasing an ad or renting a booth at our vendor fair should contact Jennifer Mueller (jmueller@uic.edu) at 312-413-8619. Proceeds from advertisements and vendor booths will help to finance the conference.

Questions can be directed to the Office of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Concerns at (312) 413-8619 or send them to mblgcc98@uic.edu

-30-

************************************************* David Barnett, Ph.D., Director Office of Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Concerns University of Illinois at Chicago 1007 W Harrison St 4078 BSB (M/C 369) Chicago, IL 60607-7140 (voice) 312-413-9862; (FAX) 312 -996-4688 http://www.uic.edu/depts/quic/oglbc/ *************************************************

 

———————– Headers ——————————– From aegis@gender.org Tue Aug 26 08:57:19 1997 Return-Path: <aegis@gender.org> Received: from brickbat9.mindspring.com (brickbat9.mindspring.com [207.69.200.12]) by emin43.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id IAA22571; Tue, 26 Aug 1997 08:57:14 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-38lc95r.dialup.mindspring.com [209.86.36.187]) by brickbat9.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id IAA13023; Tue, 26 Aug 1997 08:54:50 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199708261254.IAA13023@brickbat9.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Tue, 26 Aug 1997 09:11:26 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News 8/26/97

From aegis@gender.org Thu Sep 4 16:20:01 1997 Return-Path: <aegis@gender.org> Received: from brickbat9.mindspring.com (brickbat9.mindspring.com [207.69.200.12]) by mrin78.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id QAA29106; Thu, 4 Sep 1997 16:19:49 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-37kbsoc.dialup.mindspring.com [207.69.243.12]) by brickbat9.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id QAA13665; Thu, 4 Sep 1997 16:15:01 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199709042015.QAA13665@brickbat9.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Thu, 04 Sep 1997 16:32:56 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News 9/4/97

AEGIS Internet News Digest

4 September, 1997

 

This mailing list is a service of AEGIS, the American Educational Gender Information Service. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to send us news, direct your e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org.

Contents

1. Incredible Statements from Religious Right in Louisville 2. Lavender Law Conference ’97 3. BBC Documentary 4. Holiday at Sea 5. NZ Marriage Appeal 6. NOW Quote

————- Forwarded message: Subj: Incredible Statements from Religious Right in Louisville Date: 97-08-29 08:24:51 EDT From: Will Nich

Our religious right opponents are coming up with some really incredible crap in order to defeat the Fairness Amendment in Louisville. A vote is scheduled for Sept. 9. If someone had called me up and asked if I favored “special rights for homosexuals,” I would have also told them no.

–David Williams, Louisville

Louisville Courier-Journal Friday, August 29, 1997

GAY-RIGHTS FOES CLAIM BIG BACKING Their poll finds 53% oppose what they call special rights

by Beverly Bartlett, The Courier-Journal

Opponents of the proposed “Fairness Ordinance” said yesterday it would force the city of Louisville to spend millions of dollars to create new restrooms for transvestites. They also disclosed a new poll showing that most Louisvillians oppose “special protection” for gays and lesbians. In a news conference on the steps of City Hall, Ron Smith, a lawyer who is a member of the American Family Association, also said that enactment of the gay-rights measure would prohibit people from reading the Bible in church and prohibit churches from refusing to hire homosexuals as clergy. The poll, of 604 people who identified themselves as residents of Louisville over 18, was commissioned by the American Family Association of Kentucky, which is headed by Dr. Frank Simon, a prominent opponent of gay rights. Fifty-three percent said they would oppose granting homosexuals “special protections like those given to minorities or the disabled.” The use of the phrase “special protection” has been controversial nationally because advocates of gay rights say they are asking only for equal protection. Teri Wood, director of the Survey Research Center at the University of Kentucky, said in an interview that the use of the phrase might skew the results. “I think the question is suspect,” she said. She said supporters of the proposed gay-rights ordinance asked fairer questions in their recent poll, which showed that 68 percent of registered voters in Louisville believed that it should be illegal to refuse to rent an apartment to someone because of his or her sexual orientation, and 71 percent said it should be illegal to fire someone because of his or her sexual orientation. A Courier-Journal Bluegrass State Poll of Louisville residents in June 1996 found that 65 percent of the respondents said they would favor a law to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination in housing and employment. The proposed ordinance would add “sexual orientation” to laws that prohibit discrimination in housing and employment to people based on race, color, religion, national origin or handicap. Smith defended his group’s poll and said the proposed ordinance would add sexual orientation to civil-rights law and “elevate” homosxuals to “minority class status.” Supporters disagreed with that assessment, saying that the law pertains to everyone by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation–whether it be heterosexual or homosexual. Maureen Keenan, co-coordinator of the Fairness Campaign, said she also believed the poll question posed by Smith’s group was offensive to minorities and disabled people, implying that their hard-won civil rights were somehow “special protections.” Vince Heuser, Jr., another lawyer who opposes gay rights, said at the news conference that protections offered minorities and the disabled were different because they protect those groups from discrimination based on things they cannot change–their race or their disability; Heuser said he believes homosexuality is a choice. Smith said that the ordinance’s provision requiring “full and equal enjoyment” of “goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations” would allow transvestites to demand access to women’s restrooms–“creating a chaotic situation”–or at least to have separate restrooms opened for them. Kennan said Smith’s remarks about restrooms “defy reason and don’t even justify a response.” Smith also contended that the ordinance would hurt churches because it would not allow them to refuse to hire a homosexual clergy member. He said it would forbid the reading of the Bible–with its condemnation of homosexuality–based on a section of the law that would prohibit “any person or organization” from limiting or classifying its membership based on sexual orientation. Alderman Tom Owen, a sponsor of the ordinance, said he believes it should be amended to make a clear exception for churches. Keenan said the campaign is also willing to have such an exception added to the ordinance, which she said couldn’t override people’s First Amendment religious rights anyway. The American Family Association of Kentucky’s poll was conducted Aug. 20 to 26 by National Data Questing, Inc., of Louisville. The margin of error was 4 percentage points. Jim Lunger, a vice president at the firm, said that it didn’t choose the question asked or analyze the data, and that its participation doesn’t imply that it supports the American Family Association’s position.

[NOTE FROM DAVID WILLIAMS, LOUISVILLE: Jim Lunger is gay and also a friend of mine: I can hear him smirking now….]

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The electornic version of the brochure for the Lavender Law Conference is courtesy of Phyllis Frye.

LAVENDER LAW ’97

WEST HOLLYWOOD

OCTOBER 23-25, 1997

LAVENDER LAW 1997 IS THE SIXTH CONFERENCE OF THE NATIONAL LESBIAN AND GAY LAW ASSOCIATION (NLGLA). Established in 1988 and an affiliate of the American Bar Association since 1992, NLGLA sponsors year-round regional and local events throughout the United States. NLGLA has rapidly become a national voice for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders in the legal profession. Lavender Law 1997 offers training for practicing attorneys and theoretical debates on evolving legal issues confronting our community. Presenters and attendees are practicing attorneys, judges, law students and law professors who share this unique opportunity to learn, compare strategies, network, strengthen each other’s efforts, and build a stronger community. Lavender Law 1997 begins on Thursday, October 23, with afternoon workshops and presentations, followed by the opening plenary and reception featuring KEYNOTE SPEAKER SHEILA KUEHL. Ms. Kuehl, Speaker Pro Tem of the California Assembly, has been a professor of law, and was a star of the television series, “Dobie Gillis”. Friday includes a full day of workshops and presentations. Saturday morning activities include regional caucuses, special interest group meetings, and final workshops. The Dan Bradley Luncheon honors the outstanding efforts of a member of our community who has led the way for equality under the law. The Conference concludes with a mid-afternoon plenary business session.

NEW THIS YEAR On Friday, October 24, the morning and early afternoon sessions will lead to a plenary session entitled: CIVIL RIGHTS ROUNDTABLE, a discussion of current high profile litigation and legislative proposals, theories about strategy, and the political future of our movement. Professor William Rubenstein of UCLA Law School, former head of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Project of the ACLU, will serve as moderator for this session.

WORKSHOP SESSIONS will include panels for beginning lawyers as well as advanced panels in family law, estate planning, litigation techniques, and AIDS law. Transgender issues will be covered both in the Transgender Law Cluster and in workshops in other clusters.

WORKSHOP CLUSTERS INCLUDE AIDS law, careers, civil rights, criminal law, employment law, estate planning, family law, juvenile law, non-profit organizations, right to marry, transgender law.

CONFIRMED PANELISTS INCLUDE Carol Anderson, Carla Arranga, Michelle Benecke, Roberta Bennett, Pat Cain, Jerry Chasen, Matt Coles, Jon Davidson, Henry Doering, Jeffrey Erdman, Phyllis Frye, Jamison Green, Catherine Hanssens, Fred Hertz, Kate Kendall, Hon. Stephen Lachs, Roger Leishman, Jean Love, Allison Mendel, Shannon Minter, Dixon Osborne, William Rubenstein, Even Wolfson, Emily Doskow, Michael Hernandez, Ed Jajeh, Jeff Kim.

(Phyllis adds that also being considered are Spenser Bergstedt, Melinda Whiteway, Diana Cicotello, JoAnna McNamara and other tg legal professionals and legal activists.) ACCOMODATIONS AND TRAVEL

HYATT WEST HOLLYWOOD, the Lavender Law 1997 Conference Hotel, is next door to the House of Blues and the Comedy Store, in the heart of West Hollywood’s sunset strip. Services include a roof-top swimming pool and deck with a panoramic view of Los Angeles.

REQUEST Lavender Law 1997 room rates at the Hyatt West Hollywood. Single $120, Double $120, Triple $135, Quad $150. Applicable taxes total 13%.

AMERICAN AIRLINES IS THE OFFICIAL AIRLINES OF LAVENDER LAW 1997.

The Travel Express Division of Revel Travel Services, in Beverly Hills, is the Official Travel Agendt for Lavender Law 1997. Revel is prepared to assist with all your travel needs for the conference, from flight and hotel reservations to specially-negotiated car rental rates and optional side trips for spouses, significant others and family. In addition to the services provided to conference attendees, NLGLA benefits by receiving a percentage of the revenue earned by the Revel Official Travel Agency

TO BOOK FLIGHTS AND RESERVE HOTEL ACCOMODATIONS, call Revel at 800-227-3835. Revel can also be reached at 310-553-5555 voice, 310-553-5554 fax and e-mail: tvlexpress@aol.com. REGISTRATION FEES cover costs of materials, the opening reception, and all coffee breaks. Information concerning optional Conference activities will be sent to registrants with confirmation of registration.

NLGLA is committed to assisting students with the expense of attending Lavender Law 1997. In addition to the reduced registration rate, Lavender Law 1997 will offer stipends to help defray student costs as funds are available. Please consider a contribution to the fund for this purpose.

If you cannot attend Lavender Law 1997 but would like to purchase the printed conference materials, the cost is $100, postage included. Materials will be sent 4-6 weeks after the Conference. For more information, please call 213-654-7449.

REGISTRATION FEES FOR MEMBERS

—————————————————-by 10/15 ——– after 10/15

Attorneys: income over $60,000 —– $285 —————– $300 Attorneys: income $40-$60,000 —– $255 —————- $270 Attorneys: income $25-$40,000 —– $225 —————– $240 Attorneys: income under $25,000 — $165 ————— $190

Law students ——————————– $ 50 —————– $75 Non-Attorneys —————————– $75 —————— $100 Significant Others ———————— $100 —————– $150 Legal Workers —————————- $100 —————– $150 Speakers ———————————– $100 —————- $150

REFUND POLICY Refunds may be requested by those who pre-register for the Conference but later find they are unable to attend. A procession fee of $25 will be assessed. Notice of cancellation of pre-paid registrations must be received no later than October 16, 1997. No refunds will be granted after that date. REfund requests should be sent to NLGLA Conference, 1279 North Harper Avenue, Suite 3, Los Angeles, CA 90046

REGISTRATION FORM:

name _______________________________________________

firm _______________________________________________

address _______________________________________________

city, state zip _______________________________________________

business phone and fax _______________________________________

home phone and fax __________________________________________

e-mail screenname ___________________________________________

principle areas of legal practice ___________________________________

— if you would like to receive move information regarding the following items, please circle the appropriate options: Child care, alternative housing, others __________

— I authorize publication of the above information in the list of Lavender Law 1997 participants YES NO

— I authorize publication of the above information in the next edition of the NLGLA Legal Directory YES NO

— I authorize acknowledgement of my donation to the student fund in the Conference Program YES NO

— I am a law student. Please send me stipend information YES NO

— If your significant other is registering: name _______________________________________________ occupation _______________________________________________ TO BECOME A MEMBER OF NLGLA

——————————————————————— for 1 year ————-for 2 years

income under $30,000 ————————————— $25 ——————– $45 income $30-$60,000 —————————————– $50 ——————- $90 income $60-$80,000 —————————————– $75 ——————– $135 income $80-$100,000 ————————————— $125 ——————- $225 income over $100,000 ————————————– $175 —————— $315 nonprofit organizations ————————————- $100 ——————- $180 Students ——————————————————– $10 ——————– n/a

PAYMENT OF ALL REGISTRATION FEES:

fees for attorneys, law students ——————————– $__________ significant others, legal workers, speakers —————- $__________ CLE surcharge ($5 per state) ———————————– $__________ Contribution to Student Fund ———————————– $__________ non-NLGLA member surcharge ($50) ———————– $__________ printed materials only ($100) ———————————– $__________

total ——————————————————————— $___________

paid by enclosed check? __ charge to visa card? —– __ charge to mastercard? – __

credit card number ____________________ exp date ______________ name as it appears on card ____________________

signature _____________

make checks payable to NLGLA Conference

mail form to NLGLA Conference, 1279 North Harper Avenue, Suite 3, Los Angeles, CA 90046.

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Saturday 30th August

A FRESH CHANCE TO SEE THIS GROUND-BREAKING DOCUMENTARY ON BRITISH TELEVISION

Channel 4 is to repeat the excellent Oliver Morse documentary, “The Wrong Body” on two successive Saturday evenings this coming month as part of a rerun of the series “The Decision”.

Broadcasting Support Services, the organisation which provides telephone counselling to viewers, is also planning to provide a hotline for people to ring on both nights, as it did for the original showing, and is looking for volunteers with relevant experience to staff the lines.

——

Oliver Morse’s ground-breaking documentary, which took two years to make, was first shown on British television in the weeks following the second reading of the Alex Carlile bill in Parliament in February, 1996, and remains (in my view) the most significant and compelling piece of transsexual- related television ever made in this country.

The film has also be shown, under other names, in some other countries since then too.

Over the course of two hour-long episodes the programme probes the lives and hopes of two juvenile FtM transsexuals, and follows them on a pilgrimage with their families to Amsterdam, and to Louis Gooren’s gender team, in search of better understanding and treatment than they could find at home in the UK.

The programme’s most important contribution, on its’ first showing, was not just that it centred exclusively on transgendered *children*, but that those children were FtM’s. This, perhaps more than any other single event at the time, contributed to the weakening of the classic stereotypes about transsexuality, and startled many observers and pundits into pausing long enough to look deeper.

The film’s two most enduring and powerful messages were (first) that transsexuality was not about sexual desire or sexuality (these were pre-pubertal children talking unequivocally about their ROLE in life) .. AND (second) that transsexuality affects both sexes (rather neatly severing the association with transvestism into the bargain).

Transsexual men had, perhaps, the most to gain from this treatment. Before “The Wrong Body”, they were the truly invisible transsexual subclass .. regarded as a statistical aberration in an otherwise neat generalisation that painted all transsexuals as people born with penises .. and people, moreover, who were just an extreme case of a single category of crossdressing folk. “Women” were considered to be rather “above” that kind of thing .. and those “few” who did, were cast as misguided dykes, who had somehow gone wrong somewhere on the one true road to lesbian enlightenment.

One infamous feature article by the journalist Sally Vincent, writing for the Guardian’s weekend magazine in October 1994, memorably epitomised that viewpoint.

In a masterpiece of character assasination upon transgendered people, the author stated that the she had only managed to find “a couple” of female to male transsexuals in her research.

You didn’t need to read far in her article to realise that transsexual men with any sense were probably using their invisibility to give her a very wide berth when she came prowling though.

The sad part at the time, however, was that such a transparently obvious indication of poor research could go editorially unremarked, and be awarded the newspaper’s stamp of authority.

“Invisible” may threfore be something of an understatement to describe the status of transsexual men in Britain till last year.

“TWB” was the right programme at the right time, however. It rode on an interest already cultivated by Alex Carlile’s private member’s bill, and picked up the threads tantalisingly left hanging by so many other media morsels at the time, and turned this into a subject which had not just *political* but also (as seen in the film) evident and substantial medical understanding and support.

Through this clever and original approach, the film created a new and far more accurate picture of *all* transsexuals.

The film depicts transsexuality as a thing that begins in childhood, and which has the capability to blight a life from the very dawn of consciousness and individuality. It is seen as a matter of identity, not of sex. The people in the film are all very ordinary and .. unlike any other film I can recall .. there is a thought for the people AROUND the transsexual .. the parents and siblings who have to come to terms with and learn to support the transsexual child in a harsh world, often with next to no support and guidance offered THEM.

If you tape nothing else this year, tape this one .. and make sure it reaches the audience that missed it last time around.

—

If you have a background in counselling or care line work and live within reach of Manchester city centre then Broadcasting Support Services could do with some help too .. and they’ve contacted us and other groups, like the Gender Trust and Samaritans, to find sufficient volunteers to cover what is expected to be a very strong demand for advice in the hours after the programme.

On its’ first screening, over 200 people contacted the telephone number given out after the two broadcasts .. and calls kept coming in from 10pm until 2am, when the lines were closed. Not just people who needed advice on their *own* feelings either. Many calls came from parents worried about their children .. and a tragic few from parents still trying to make sense of why a child had disappeared forever from their lives decades ago. People who were suddenly seeing a light.

The person to contact for an application form is Lizzie Mearns, the project manager for this particular programme .. but you’ll need to be quick, because forms need to be back to her by Tuesday 2nd September. She can be reached, however, on 0161 455 1212 (fax 0161 455 0066).

The programme screening times are :

Saturday 13th September – 20.00 – 21.00 Saturday 20th September – 20.00 – 21.00

The BSS lines will be open from 20.30 till 00.15 both nights.

Christine Burns Press for Change

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Return-Path: <JEFTRIS@aol.com> From: JEFTRIS@aol.com Date: Wed, 3 Sep 1997 00:44:58 -0400 (EDT) To: AEGIS@mindspring.com Subject: PRESS RELEASE – HOLIDAY AT SEA

PRESS RELEASE SEPTEMBER 1, 1997

As most of you know by now, the 1997 HOLIDAY EN FEMME was cancelled due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control. In its place we will sponsor the first HOLIDAY AT SEA. The event will be a cooperative effort of the Tri-Ess International Board of Directors and Dignity Cruises.

Those who have saved money and vacation time in anticipation of the Holiday will not be disappointed, for the Holiday at Sea will be in the same affordable price range, and fill about the same amount of time as the Holiday En Femme. The base price is $329 plus port charges and taxes of $78.50. Thus $407.50 is the total cost, since you will have no additional room, entertainment or food charges. We believe you will be experiencing the best of both worlds: The Holiday, known for quality, education and pleasure, plus the Dignity Cruise which represents a dream come true for crossdressers around the world, the ultimate in femme expression.

The traditional activities of the Holiday will be scheduled – including the Awards Ceremony which recognizes the Leader Servant, the Chapter of the Year, and Commended Chapters. The Tri-Ess National Board will have its official meeting Saturday morning while the ship is in port at Nassau. When the brief meeting is over, there will be ample time to explore Nassau and Paradise Island, since the ship remains in port until 3:00 A.M. While there will be some serious programming, the emphasis of this Holiday will be on fun.

There will be a few noticeable differences between the Holiday En Femme and the Holiday at Sea. The vending area will be replaced by a spectacular five-story Centrum Lobby lined with boutiques featuring clothing and jewelry. The entertainment will be on a grand scale with beautiful Las Vegas or Broadway stars. Traditional convention food will be replaced with gourmet meals, featuring more options than you can imagine! You can even stay with your diet if you choose to do so, since the menu offers “heart-smart” and vegetarian selections. The added touch is the waiter who helps each lady with her chair and napkin and addresses her, “Madam.”

Other features will include a beauty salon, a casino for those who want to spend a bit more on the cruise, two cinemas if you want to catch up on the latest films, a health club with classes in aerobics, a sky walk for joggers, and a fun-filled excursion to our own private island, CoCoCay, where there will be a delightful picnic. The Conference Center has been reserved for special programs and activities. If you want to start the fun sooner we will have a hotel reserved near the pier for Thursday night. The cost will be $59 per person which will include the transfer to the ship on Friday.

Cruise lines tend to sell all available space, so IT IS VITAL THAT WE RESPOND QUICKLY. Call Brenda at 800-247-7021 for details about your deposit which will guarantee space. Final payment will be due near the time you had planned to pay for the Holiday En Femme. Hurry! We are saving a deck chair for you!

HOLIDAY AT SEA

SPONSORED BY TRI-ESS INTERNATIONAL aboard Royal Caribbean’s

SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS

January 15-19, 1998 Roundtrip from Miami to the private island, CocoCay, and Nassau, Bahamas

FINE DINING, PAMPERED SERVICE, SPECTACULAR SCENERY PLUS: ENJOY THE FREEDOM TO EXPRESS YOURSELF WITH OTHER MEMBERS OF THE GENDER-GIFTED COMMUNITY!

Rates (Cruise Only, Per Person, Double occupancy)

Category Brochure Rate Group Rate Port Chgs. Total

L/Inside Cabin $679 $329 $78.50 $407.50 G/Picture Window 829 379 78.50 457.50 C/Deluxe 999 589 78.50 707.50 Single Occupancy 150% of selected category, plus port charges

Also available: Low cost airfare and pre-and post-cruise packages

LIMITED SPACE-CALL TODAY TERMS: $250 per person deposit with reservation secures cabin and rate. Balance due November 7, 1997. Payment can be made by check made payable to CRUISES, INC, or VISA, MASTER CARD, DISCOVER, or AMERICAN EXPRESS. CANCELLATION CLAUSE: $25 charge on any cancellation after the deposit is made. Additional penalties apply 60 days prior to sailing. Optional cancellation insurance available. For Reservations or information call CRUISES, INC. 800-247-7021. Ask for Brenda, Master Cruise Counselor

HOLIDAY AT SEA SPECIAL PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES JANUARY 15-19, 1998

JANUARY 15, 1998 THURSDAY OPTIONAL PRE-CRUISE HOTEL AVAILABLE $59 including transfer to the ship

JANUARY 16, 1998 FRIDAY 9:00 A.M. BREAKFAST AT THE HOTEL for those with the optional extra night BUFFET LUNCH AS YOU ARRIVE ON BOARD CONFERENCE CENTER OPEN, deck 7 near Champagne Bar 7:30 P.M. MEET IN THE SCHOONER’S PIANO BAR, deck 5 near the Casino for drinks before dinner. 8:30 P.M. DINNER

JANUARY 17, 1998 SATURDAY 9:00 A.M. TRI-ESS BOARD MEETING, CONFERENCE CENTER , deck 7 7:30 P.M. CAPTAIN’S COCKTAIL PARTY 8:30 FORMAL DINNER VISIT NASSAU UNTIL 3:00 AM SUNDAY

JANUARY 18, 1998 SUNDAY VISIT THE PRIVATE ISLAND CONFERENCE CENTER OPEN, deck 7 7:00 P.M. AWARDS CEREMONY AND PRIVATE COCKTAIL PARTY Location TBA 8:30 P.M. DINNER

JANUARY 19, 1998 MONDAY SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR FRIENDS AND HEAD FOR HOME. NEXT WEEK: POUR YOUR OWN JUICE AND MAKE YOUR OWN BED!

REGISTRATION HOLIDAY AT SEA, January 15-19, 1998 ROUNDTRIP FROM MIAMI TO THE PRIVATE ISLAND, COCOCAY, AND NASSAU, BAHAMAS 1. NAME AS IT APPEARS ON PASSPORT, DRIVER’S LICENSE, OR BIRTH CERTIFICATE. __________________________________

2.CURRENTADDRESS______________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

3. TELEPHONE NUMBER__________________________________

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SEND YOUR $250.00 DEPOSIT TO:

Brenda Cyrus 5111 Rogers Ave # 551 Fort Smith, AR 72903

Payment may be made by Check, Visa, Master Card, Discover, or American Express. If you plan to use your credit card please include the account number,______________________________, your name as it appears on the card,___________________________, the expiration date,__________ and the address where the bill is to be sent if different from the address above:

_______________________________________________________ Final payment is due by November 7, 1997. Rates( Cruise only, per person, double occupancy)

CATEGORY BALANCE DUE NOVEMBER 7, 1997

L INSIDE CABIN $157.50 G PICTURE WINDOW 207.50 C DELUXE 457.50 Price includes cabin, port charges, all food, and entertainment on board.

Add $59.00 if you plan to book an extra night in Miami on January15th. The $59.00 includes transfer to the ship.

SINCE WE ARE DEALING WITH A MAJOR CORPORATION, ROYAL CARIBBEAN CRUISE LINE, WE WILL FOLLOW A MORE STRICT TIME FRAME FOR REGISTRATION AND PAYMENT. ALL AVAILABLE SPACE WILL BE SOLD, THEREFORE THE CRUISE LINE MAY RELEASE OUR SPACE TO OTHERS IF OUR ACCOUNT SHOWS LITTLE OR NO ACTIVITY. MAIL THIS FORM WITH $250.00 AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CALL BRENDA TOLL FREE AT: 1-800-247-7021

———————-

Return-Path: <owner-glb-news@LISTSERV.AOL.COM> Approved-By: julie@DRYCAS.CLUB.CC.CMU.EDU X-Sender: xtr99465201@pop3.xtra.co.nz (Unverified) Date: Sun, 31 Aug 1997 21:50:13 +1200 Reply-To: GAP Wellington New Zealand <gap@NZ.COM> Sender: Information Repository for News of Interest to GLB* Folk <GLB-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM> From: GAP Wellington New Zealand <gap@NZ.COM> Subject: [GLB-NEWS] MEDIA RELEASE – Monday 1st September, 1997 To: GLB-NEWS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

NATION-WIDE MARRIAGE APPEAL LAUNCHED TODAY

“Just because” -Minister of Justice, Hon Doug Graham, when asked why he objected to same-sex marriage

“Treating homosexual and heterosexual de facto relationships as the same as marriage is sensible and consistent” -Justice Baragwanath, President Law Commission 15 August 1997 This Wednesday and Thursday (3 & 4 September) Jools Joslin and Jenny Rowan, along with Lindsay Quilter and Margy Pearl from Auckland and Sarah Anderson and Sam Court from Christchurch, are taking their case for legal recognition of their relationships (under the Marriage Act 1955) to the Court of Appeal.

Last year Judge Kerr, at the High Court in Auckland ruled against their right for legal recognition stating that any decision on interpretation of the Marriage Act should be made by Parliament. However, in 1995 the same Act was interpreted to include transexuals resulting in full legal marriage rights and protection for transexuals, but not for same-sex couples. The issue has raised serious concerns about equality of legal rights and protection for lesbian and gay relationships under our Bill of Rights and the Human Rights Act Amendment.

The ruling of this week’s Court of Appeal, New Zealand’s highest court, in Wellington will challenge Judge Kerr’s decision on legal grounds and in the context of the current human rights legislation in this country.

The outcome of this case has implications for us all. Currently, the only piece of legislation in our country that provides full legal recognition and protection of relationships is the Marriage Act. Although this Act is gender neutral, currently the Registrar General prohibits same-sex couples from registering their relationships under this Act. Our choice now is either to rally in support of legal marriage or to concede the issue, have no choice of marriage, and remain second-class citizens in New Zealand.

The couples involved in the case undertook a major fundraising exercise last year that netted enough funds to cover the 1996 High Court case, with $7,000 in the bank for the Appeal case. Unfortunately, just this week, they were advised that a further $8,000 is required to cover legal costs to take this case to the Appeal Court.

We ask you to please consider making a donation to the costs of this case. Cheques made out to ‘Parity in Law Fund’ or provide your credit card details below. Post to Box 122 70, Wellington.

*More info available on-line at http://www.base2.co.nz/agm/agm.html or http//www.gap.org.nz/newsletter MORE INFO & COMMENT: Jools Joslin, Ministry of Health Telephone 04 496 2441 wk, 04 475 3663 hm Jenny Rowan, Commissioner, Planning Tribunal Tel 04 04 915 8300, 04 475 3663 hm Nigel Christie, Law Commission, Tel 04 473 3453 wk, 04 389 0420 hm, 025 819 648

 

___________________________________________________ GAP is Australasia’s largest business & professional network proudly supporting gays and lesbians.

Box 122 70, WELLINGTON 6038

Fax: +64 4 472 22 26 GAP INFOline +64 4 472 5006

Email gap@nz.com http://www.gap.org.nz

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The following is courtesy of Rex Wockner “[T]he transgender community is today’s cutting edge. Transgender people are now doing the pioneering work in exposing artificial constructs of gender and breaking down the stereotypes and barriers which divide us all.”

–National Organization for Women Action Vice-President Rosemary Dempsey as NOW passed a transgender-inclusion resolution at its recent conference in Memphis. The resolution states, in part, “BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that we acknowledge that gender is a patriarchal social construct used to oppress women.” — End —-

<HTML><PRE>Subj: AEGIS Internet News Digest– 9/8/97 Date: 97-09-08 13:55:48 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

The AEGIS Internet News Digest is a service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. (AEGIS). To subscribe or unsubscribe from the list, send e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org.

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Dee McKellar Passes

On the 6th of September, 1997, Dee McKellar (DeeMcKellr@aol.com), a prominent member of this community and former Executive Secretary of ICTLEP passed away. Dee collapsed at 8:55pm, while waiting for the Houston Q-Patrol to begin. Despite immediate help, all efforts to revive her, failed. She was 55 years of age.

Ms. McKellar had recently been terminated from her job at the International Conference on Transgender Law & Employment POlicy, Inc. (ICTLEP). Information provided by Marie Denise (MarieDeniG@aol.com) and Gwen Smith (OnQGwen@aol.com) ——————————————————- Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 11:11:59 -0400 From: Wrede <101526.2743@compuserve.com>

The International Journal of Transgenderism launched.

The first issue of The International Journal of Transgenderism is now online. You may access it at http://www.symposion.com/ijt

The IJT is the first scholary journal on transsexualism, crossdressing and related topics. The journal is peer-reviewed and its editorial board consists of many well known scientists from all over the world.

Exclusively available on the internet, the IJT is published quarterly with additional updates during the respective quarter. Access to the current issue is free.

The second issue is due September ’97 with the abstracts (and some fulltext) of the HBIGDA meeting in Vancouver.

A limited number of copies of the 1st issue’s printed digest is available on request to transgender media, and a free email newsletter is available to everybody.

Contact adress: Claudia Wrede, Email 101526.2743@compuserve.com

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Date: Sun, 07 Sep 1997 22:10:00 -0500 From: Dawn Atkins <datkins@blue.weeg.uiowa.edu>

Queer & Dis/abled

Special Issue of The Journal of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Identity Guest Editors, Dawn Atkins and Catherine Marston

Looking for original scholarly articles, clinical studies, research papers, cultural and literary theory and analysis, history, as well as personal essays, interviews, and poetry which explore the intersections of lesbian/bisexual/gay/transgendered and disabled identities. Would particularly welcome contributions from people with various disabilities (physical, mental, developmental and learning disabilities) and people of color.

Deadlines:

Scholarly articles: Require a 250 word abstract by Jan. 1, 1998. (Final manuscripts of those selected by the editors will be due April 15, 1997.)

Personal essays, interviews and poetry: Due by Jan. 1, 1998.

Send for submission quidelines via email to dawn-atkins@uiowa.edu or with self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Dawn Atkins & Catherine Marston, 114 MacBride Hall, Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242.

For more information contact:

Dawn Atkins Email: dawn-atkins@uiowa.edu Phone: (319) 354-0549 Regular Mail: 114 MacBride Hall, Anthropology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242.

Catherine L. Marston Email: catherine-marston@uiowa.edu Phone: (319) 356-6252 Regular Mail: 205 Communications Center, Journalism & Mass Communication, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242. <FONT COLOR=”#0f0f0f” BACK=”#fffffe” SIZE=3>

———————– Headers ——————————– Received: from mrin59.mail.aol.com (mrin59.mx.aol.com [198.81.19.169]) by air07.mx.aol.com (V32) with SMTP; Mon, 08 Sep 1997 13:55:48 -0400 Received: from brickbat8.mindspring.com (brickbat8.mindspring.com [207.69.200.11]) by mrin59.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id NAA29848; Mon, 8 Sep 1997 13:55:35 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-38lc8n7.dialup.mindspring.com [209.86.34.231]) by brickbat8.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id NAA17583; Mon, 8 Sep 1997 13:53:18 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199709081753.NAA17583@brickbat8.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Mon, 08 Sep 1997 14:10:59 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News Digest– 9/8/97

</PRE></HTML>

<HTML><PRE>Subj: AEGIS Internet News Digest 9/18/97 Date: 97-09-18 21:31:54 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

From The Advocate, 9/30/97

Tolerance for the Transgendered

Only about ten cities nationwide provide antidiscrimination protections based on gender identity, and now the transgendered can count the Chicago suburbs of Evanston, Il, as one of them. With a unanimous city council vote July 28, Evanston became the first city in the state to extend such protection.

“The city council really opened up their hearts and minds to what we go through,” said Stephanie Young, chairwoman of It’s Time, Illinois!, a transgender political action committee that lobbied for the change. ITI, which presented the council members with a report that documented 21 reports of discrimination and violence against transgendered people, was supported in its efforts by the parents of a female-to-male transsexual who have started a support group for other parents.

“Being transgendered is not something you can change,” Young said. “It’s not a choice. It’s inherent in your person. When you get to the point where you need it to be a bigger part of yoru life, you don’t have any way to hide it. This isn’t something that’s done for shock value.”

Home to Northwestern University, Evanston already banned discrmiination based on sexual orientation. The July decision strengthened those laws, giving the city authority to act on complaints. Young said ITI, which faced no opposition in Evanston, next will focus on tougher battles for transgender protection in Oak Park and eventually Chicago.

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In an Advocate (9/30/97) article titled “Pinball Machines with a Twist,” the magazine says “Michael Brown has made some of the butchest pinball wizards in the world go girl. Brown is creator of Go Girl!, a drag-themed pinball game that puts players in high heels, wign, and makeup while they take shots at Senator Jesse Helms and the Reverend Fred Phelps.” The article goes on to describe how the game “literally puts players in drag. The player must stand in high heels at the base of the machine, allowing a camera to capture a graphic image of the player’s face.” The player then selects a wig and makeup styles for the video image.

———–

The Advocate of 9/30/97 also dedicates a page to dish about Madonna’s 39th birthday party, in which the “drag-queen part of the evening did not go so well.” Indeed, as Justin Bond was reportedly kicked and threatened by soul singer D’Angelo for putting his drink drink on D’Angelo’s table; Madonna apparently sided with D’Angelo, saying “Don’t let that silly little drag queen bother you.”

————-

If we’ve already transmitted this, I apologize.

Dallas

Return-Path: <cchase@isna.org> X-Sender: isna@holonet.net (Unverified) Date: Mon, 8 Sep 1997 18:28:18 -0700 To: “ISNA News” <cchase@isna.org> From: Cheryl Chase <cchase@isna.org> Subject: Prime Time Live misses the mark on groundbreaking story

NEWS RELEASE September 8, 1997 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRIME TIME LIVE MISSES THE MARK ON GROUNDBREAKING STORY KEEPS INTERSEXUALS BEHIND POTTED PLANTS

Intersex activists were shocked by the September 3 Prime Time Live story which rendered them invisible, permitting doctors to speak for them. “While we were pleased to see Prime Time take note of the controversy over medical treatment of intersexuals, it is surprising that a respected national news magazine would get the story so wrong, especially in light of the fair and accurate coverage that intersex people have received over the past year in such serious journalistic outlets as NBC Dateline, Newsweek, and the New York Times,” said Minnesota journalist and intersex activist Martha Coventry.

We urge Prime Time Live to do a follow-up story to allow intersex people to speak for themselves, and to place the issue in an accurate historical and cultural context. Five years ago such a confused presentation of the issue might have been understandable. Given the advances made in recent years by Intersex Society of North America and other intersex advocacy groups worldwide, this shoddy production is disappointing.

Psychologist Dr. Howard Devore, who investigated intersexuality at Johns Hopkins, who treats intersexuals in his private practice, and who earlier this year addressed the American Psychiatric Association on the issue said, “It is unconscionable to present this as a problem of merely getting the sex right or wrong. Prime Time did all their viewers a disservice by not informing them of the worldwide network of intersex advocacy organizations and the availability of peer support for the option of a healthy intersex identity.”

Prime Time Live presented a man whose identity was disguised by an oversized hat, electronic blur, pseudonym, and altered voice. “By failing to use footage of openly intersex activists which they had already filmed, Prime Time cast the story in a sensational slant reminiscent of the 1967 CBS interview of a shame-filled homosexual hiding behind a potted plant which represented homosexuality as essentially shameful,” said Intersex Society director Cheryl Chase.

Prime Time viewers were told the surgery is “so new that here at Hopkins, there has been very little follow-up — to find out how these children fare when they grow up to be adults.” Yet the surgery has been standard practice since the late 1950s, and intersex activist Kira Triea, who was treated at Hopkins says, “They wouldn’t listen, even when I returned as an adult and made it clear that I desperately needed help.” Hopkins surgeon Gearhart was quoted in the New York Times last year dismissing intersex patient-advocates as “zealots.”

“Experts estimate that 2,000 surgeries are performed each year in the US,” says Dr. Alice Dreger of the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences at Michigan State University. By focusing only on an unusual case in which the patient rejected the sex assigned by surgeons, Prime Time ignored the real tragedy: Intersex advocates point out that many former patients are left emotionally traumatized and sexually dysfunctional, even if they do not change sex role.

 

Contact: Cheryl Chase 415 575-3885, cchase@isna.org

Intersex Society of North America http://www.isna.org

A transcript of the segment “Boy or Girl” is available at http://www.abcnews.com/onair/ptl/html_files/transcripts/ptl0903d.html.

###

———– Return-Path: <PRFrye@aol.com> From: PRFrye@aol.com Date: Thu, 11 Sep 1997 11:57:44 -0400 (EDT) To: PRFrye@aol.com Subject: WITH LOVE, FROM THE CHILD OF A TRANSGENDERED PARENT

WITH LOVE, FROM THE CHILD OF A TRANSGENDERED PARENT

Phyllis here:

The following was written by Dee McKellar’s daughter only days before Dee died. I do not know if Dee ever saw it, but Dee already knew that her daughter loved HER!

We were given permission by the daughter to share this and Vanessa Edwards (moonflowrr@aol.com) did the keyboard work.

Please share and post

##################################

DEALING WITH CHANGE – FROM THE DAUGHTER OF A TRANSGENDER FATHER By Debbie McKellar Donaldson

When I was growing up, there were good times and conflicts as in any other family I knew. We were living the average middle-class American life and everything seemed fine. It was not until I was nine years old that I was told about our family secret. My father was a cross-dresser and had been for all of my life. This admission shocked me, of course, but I was really too young to understand what was going on. Over the next four or five years the cross-dressing continued with my knowledge. However, our encounters at home were infrequent enough when he was ‘dressed’ that I was able to block out the feeling that I thought my father was a freak. Things changed, however, when I was thirteen or fourteen years old. He actually started wearing these clothes in front of me on a regular basis! It became a routine. When he came home from work he would check the mail and proceed to go change. Other than the clothes, the evenings went on as always. During my teen years, I spent a lot of time in my room to get away. I also kept very busy with school, a job, and spending time with my friends. I did anything I could to distance myself from the freak. Needless to say, there was a lot of discord in the house and animosity between us.

Things finally came to a head when I was eighteen. I found my own place and moved out. Things were tough, but there was no way that I was going back. Shortly thereafter, my parents separated and filed for divorce. In a period of approximately seven or eight months my father had effectively erased his family from his life.

Over the next two years or so, I would occasionally visit my father and share small talk to catch up. A close friend of mine likened these visits to business meetings because of our demeanor. Over time, however, I began to notice changes. His hair was getting longer and he seemed to be developing — dare I say it — breasts! Finally, my father put me out of my questioning misery and gave me a letter. This was his way of coming out of the closet to publicly live his life as a woman. The letter explained the steps that would follow; such as name change, changing the sex on the driver’s license, and everything else that goes with becoming a new person. When I read that letter I felt as though I would fall over. This piece of paper was telling me that my father was essentially dead. After this revelation, I saw my father even less than ever. Suddenly, about three years ago, I grew up. Visits became more frequent and conversations were longer and more enlightening.

Now, I am twenty-eight years old. I am proud of who my father has become and the person that she is. She is not ashamed of her identity and does a lot of work in the community. She is also a major force in the transgender community. She is working nationally and internationally to help make things better for other people who are having trouble adjusting to their identity.

I still have problems getting my pronouns straight and on occasion I still accidentally call her Dad in public. She is patient though, and tells me that it will just take time. She tells me that she is thankful that we are talking because there are kids that sometimes turn completely away from their parents. I sometimes apace my visits apart, but I could never lose complete contact. After all, deep down inside is the person that raised me. She is my father.

note: Debbie Donaldson is the only child of noted transgender activist, Dee McKellar. She wrote this article just days before Dee passed away suddenly on Sept. 6, 1997.

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>From: listwrangler@netgsi.com >Subject: Fabulous New Ezine for F2M Erotica!

> >PRESS RELEASE: Please forward to all interested parties >12 Sept 97 > >Roughriders Erotic Ezine of f2m erotica is now online. Catering to all f2ms >of all orientations and gender expressions, with a special focus on gay/bi >transmen and intersexed men, Roughriders Ezine features top quality erotic >fiction, reviews, humor, and letters. Stop in and read it at: >http://www.netgsi.com/~listwrangler/roughriders.html. Or for more >information, guidelines, or submissions, send email to: >listwrangler@netgsi.com. > >Volume One features fiction by Britain’s hot new gay author, Jack Dickson, >plus fiction by Raven Kaldera, Nady/alec Arnaoot, and Sir Gwen M’Clatchy, >as well as letters, humor, and a review of Sex Changes: The Politics of >Transgenderism by Pat Califia. > >Thanks to the American Boyz for hosting our ezine! > >Editor & Staff

————-

From: transman@netgsi.com

PRESS RELEASE: Please distribute to interested parties

Latino Transgendered Resources 12 Sept 97

The American Boyz is sponsoring a Latino email round robin for Latino/a and Spanish-speaking f2ms and soffas. The American Boyz is the largest grassroots organization in the United States serving people who were assigned female gender at birth but who feel that is not an adequate or complete description of who they are, including but not limited to: tomboys, butches, female crossdressers, drag kings, transsexuals, transgenderists, intersexuals, and others (f2ms), along with our significant others, friends, family, and allies (soffas).

To subscribe to the Amboyz-Latino email round robin, send a subscription request to: listwrangler@netgsi.com. Posts to the round robin can be in English or Spanish. The American Boyz has begun work translating transgendered information into Spanish. Our first document, ‘Transgenero?’ is a set of questions and answers on the topic. It is available via email from: listwrangler@netgsi.com or on our web site at: http://www.netgsi.com/~listwrangler. As additional Spanish language documents become available they will also be posted to the web site.

The American Boyz has a Spanish-speaking contact person, Calico Rechy, who was born in Mexico but now lives in Boston. She can be reached at: calrechy@aol.com.

The American Boyz is in the process of compiling a list of resources both online and offline for Latino/a and Spanish-speaking people; if you have any information to contribute to this list, please send it to: listwrangler@netgsi.com.

 

transman@netgsi.com, or: http://www.netgsi.com/~listwrangler — — — — — —- — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — For more info about The American Boyz, send email to: majordomo@netgsi.com with the command ‘info amboyz’ in the body of the message. The American Boyz serves all types of f2ms and soffas (people born female for whom that is not an adequate or accurate description of who we are, along with our Significant Others, Friends, Families, and Allies) with email forums, web sites, newsletters, local contacts, meetings, and the annual True Spirit Conference. — — — — — —- — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — “Those who say something cannot be done should not interupt those who are doing it.”–Chinese proverb

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Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 13:11:46 +0100 (BST) From: CV Hemmings <cvh1@york.ac.uk>

Subject: Call for Papers 5th International Bisexual Conference (IBC5) “One World, Many Faces”

CALL FOR PAPERS The 5th International Bisexual Conference (IBC5) will take place in Boston Massachusetts on April 3, 4, and 5, 1998. The IBC5 conference theme is “One World, Many Faces: Unity and Diversity in Bi Communities, Queer Communities, and the World.”

We are currently seeking proposals for papers, presentations, panel discussions, performances, and workshops in the following subject tracks:

– Activism – Organizing – Youth/Student – Writers/Literature – Media/Culture – Relationships – Gender – Research/Theory – Bisexual History – Spirituality – Safer Sex/HIV – Personal Growth – Sexual – Computer/Internet – Non-Bi Partners/Families – Performance – Film and Video – Track X (other sessions) – Our Bodies: Differing Ability, Health, Image – Global/Regional/Racial/Cultural/Class Differences

The official language of the conference will be English; however, sessions in Spanish are encouraged and other languages will be considered. If you would like to present your session in a language other than English, please include that information in your proposal.

Please follow the format of the proposal submission form below. Regardless of the language to be used during the session, please complete the form in English. The deadline for proposals is February 1, 1998. Send completed forms to:

IBC5 Call for Papers P.O. Box 639 Cambridge MA 02140 USA

Alternatively, you may submit proposal forms electronically by sending them to lbggs@hcs.harvard.edu and including “ATTN: PAPERS” in the subject line. This address and subject line can also be used to contact the program coordinator.

Further information about the conference can be found on the worldwide web at http://hcs.harvard.edu/~lbggs/conference.html .

5th International Bisexual Conference Session Proposal Form

———

From: glaad@glaad.org (GLAAD) Subject: GLAADAlert 9.12.97

GLAADAlert — September 12, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Intersex People Hidden Behind Potted Plants (ABC Prime Time Live)

SF Chronicle Looks Back at Transgender Films (San Francisco Chronicle) Intersex People Hidden Behind Potted Plants An otherwise excellent September 3 ABC Prime Time Live story entitled “Boy or Girl?” on intersex issues and the debate over medical genital mutilation of intersex children ignored the voices of intersex activists and misrepresented certain key facts. Featuring talking heads of doctors and a mother who had struggled with the decision to have her child surgically made a girl, the story examined “What can happen when doctors are forced to play God,” according to Diane Sawyer. While one pediatric surgeon who opposed the controversial surgery was represented, a great deal more time was spent with Dr. Gearhart, a pro-surgery advocate who pronounced certain intersex children “boy” or “girl” during a slide presentation. Prime Time Live failed to mention that Gearhart has always refused to engage in a dialogue with intersex activists. In addition, the only adult intersex person Prime Time Live presented was a man who was disguised by a large, floppy hat, dark lighting, a pseudonym and an altered voice. “By failing to use footage of openly intersex activists which they had already filmed, Prime Time Live cast the story in a sensational slant reminiscent of the 1967 CBS interview of a shame-filled homosexual hiding behind a potted plant,” said Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) Director Cheryl Chase. In addition, the program failed to note the support resources now available for intersex people. In an ISNA press release, psychologist Dr. Howard Devore added, “It is unconscionable to present this as a problem of merely getting the sex right or wrong. Prime Time did all their viewers a disservice by not informing them of the worldwide network of intersex advocacy organizations and the availability of peer support for the option of a healthy intersex identity.”

Please urge Prime Time Live to do a follow-up story to allow intersex people to speak for themselves, openly and honestly, and to place the story in a context which acknowledges the strides made by intersex activists and advocacy groups in the past five years. Contact: Phyllis McGrady, Executive Producer, ABC Primetime Live, 147 Columbus Ave., 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10023, fax: 212.456.1246.

SF Chronicle Looks Back At Transgender Films In anticipation of the release of the critically acclaimed film Different for Girls, the San Francisco Chronicle featured a September 6 article on the history of transsexuals in film. “Kim, the modest secretary in Different for Girls, isn’t the first big-screen transsexual, but she’s one of the first whose gender reassignment and surgical history weren’t treated with freakish curiosity,” it begins. Going back to “the dour biopic” The Christine Jorgensen Story in 1970, the article notes that “the movie manages to be simultaneously dull, lurid and embarrassed by itself.” It discusses Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde, a 1971 movie about a transgender serial killer, but fails to mention the far more popular Silence of the Lambs (1991). Along with the works of John Waters and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, PBS’ Tales of the City (1994) and John Lithgow’s Oscar-nominated performance as Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982), it describes Terence Stamp as “demure and poignant” in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994).

As audiences around the country discover Different for Girls, which opened September 12 in limited release, the Chronicle’s placement of the films in a historical context gives the multi-layered film even greater depth.

Please thank the San Francisco Chronicle for this brief history of film representations of transsexuals. Contact: Jerry Roberts, Managing Editor, San Francisco Chronicle, 901 Mission St., San Francisco, CA 94103-2988, fax: 415.896.1107, e-mail: chronletters@sfgate.com.

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End

 

<FONT COLOR=”#0f0f0f” BACK=”#fffffe” SIZE=3>

———————– Headers ——————————– From aegis@gender.org Thu Sep 18 10:32:51 1997 Return-Path: <aegis@gender.org> Received: from brickbat8.mindspring.com (brickbat8.mindspring.com [207.69.200.11]) by emin60.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id KAA05987; Thu, 18 Sep 1997 10:32:49 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-38lc9j6.dialup.mindspring.com [209.86.38.102]) by brickbat8.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id KAA14425; Thu, 18 Sep 1997 10:30:25 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199709181430.KAA14425@brickbat8.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 10:49:14 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News Digest 9/18/97 </PRE></HTML>

<HTML><PRE>Subj: AEGIS Internet News 9/30/97 Date: 97-09-30 11:06:59 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

AEGIS Internet News is provided courtesy of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org. GLAADALERT September 26, 1997

Sports News Says That Steroids Make The Lesbian On September 17, Los Angeles radio station KFWB “News 98” morning reporter Brett Lewis suggested that steroid use makes female athletes lesbians. During the 6:45 am broadcast, Lewis reported on an athlete who had been permitted to return to competition after a suspension for using steroids (testosterone), adding, “I guess that means she’ll have to cancel her scheduled appearance on Ellen.” United at United, the lesbian and gay employee group at United Airlines, is meeting with the airline’s management to urge them to pull advertising from the station after requests for a retraction from Lewis went unanswered.

Lewis’ comment propagates the worn-out stereotype that all lesbians are “mannish,” and adds his own bizarre twist, implying that taking testosterone would make a woman “more of a man,” and thus, a lesbian. Further, that once an athlete stopped using testosterone, she would be restored to heterosexuality, and so would no longer want to be on Ellen, since it is a “lesbian show.” While the athlete probably never had anything to do with the show in the first place, Demi Moore, Oprah Winfrey, Billy Bob Thorton, Gina Gershon and Dwight Yoakam would certainly be surprised by Lewis’ assertion that guest appearances on the show are predicated by one’s sexual orientation. The reporter’s off-hand remark was probably not meant to offend, and yet reveals his own homo-ignorance and anti-gay bias as a journalist.

Insist that Lewis issue an on-air retraction and let United Airlines know that you support their pulling sponsorship of the station if KFWB is unwilling to correct its immature and wrong-headed mistake. Contact: KFWB-AM, PO Box 4310, Los Angeles, CA 90078, fax: 212.871.4670, e-mail: quake@kfwb.groupw.wec.com; John Kiker, Vice President, United Airlines-WHQPR, Corporate Communications, P.O Box 66100, Chicago, IL 60666. Chronicle Of A Self-Made Man An excellent front-page story of the Sunday, September 21 San Francisco Chronicle features James Green, a leader of the female-to-male(FTM) transgender community. Below a full quarter-page shirtless picture of the well-built, bearded Green, the headline “A Self-Made Man,” is followed with the lead-in, “When James Green was a little girl, he saw Mary Martin play Peter Pan and knew right away he could do a better job.” Staff writer David Tuller says that Green “wants people to understand one thing about masculinity: It has more to do with a man’s inner life than with his genitals.” Tuller takes pains to explain how FTMs have struggled for visibility even within the transgender community, and the difference between “sex” (“the biological category represented by the genitals”) and “gender” (“the psychological identity that nestles wherever a person’s most intimate sense of self resides–in the mind, or in the soul or in the heart”). Filling two inside pages, the text continues by recounting Green’s appearance in almost erotic terms: “His voice is deep and rich as chocolate. His arms and upper torso are thick and muscular. His beard is full, and his hairline is receding. His booming laugh explodes across the room like a grenade,” Tuller writes. In addition, the inner pages feature nine pictures of Green, from early childhood to adulthood, with his brother, as a woman with her daughter, and with his girlfriend. Alternating between descriptions of Green’s life and discussions of the logistics and politics of FTM surgeries and the struggle for transgender rights, Tuller represents a full, well-rounded group of perspectives on Green and the issues of FTM transgender people.

To feature an article on FTMs in a major daily newspaper is exceptional. To do so with such sensitivity and at such length, and to illustrate the article with so many photographs brings the subject to life, making readers >see both the common humanity and the differences and challenges that FTM transgender people embody.

Please commend the San Frncisco Chronicle for an outstanding and sensitive feature on an often overlookd segment of our community.

Contact: Daniel Rosenghei, an Francisco Chronicle, 901 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-2988, fx: 415.512.8196, e-mail: chronletters@sfgate.com SOUTHERN COMFORT BRINGS TRANSPEOPLE TOGETHER: Hundreds of transgender people and friends will gather in Atlanta for the Seventh Annual Southern Comfort Conference October 1-5. “From basic presentations for newly out crossdressers concerned with beauty and appearance to nitty gritty legal, medical and political issues, to informative seminars on family relationships, sexuality and spirituality, our schedule reflects a deep commitment to serve the diverse needs of the transgender community and probe cutting-edge thought and action on gender issues,” said conference organizers. For more information contact Donna Johnston (Southern Comfort Conference) at (404) 633-6470 or e-mail sccatl@aol.com. Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) glaad@glaad.org

TO REPORT DEFAMATION IN THE MEDIA – Call GLAAD’s Alertline at 1.800.GAY.MEDIA or go to the GLAAD Web Site at www.glaad.org and report through our Alertline Online.

(End GLAAD Section) ———————————————–

Here’s one to try (I haven’t yet).

— Dallas <FONT COLOR=”#0000ff” SIZE=3>IS GOD FEMALE?</FONT><FONT COLOR=”#000000″ SIZE=3> Could a woman be Pope? Before you say no, read <A HREF=”http://www.bizarrenews.com/popejoan/”>POPE JOAN</A>. She is the legend that will not die–the woman who sat for two years on the papal throne. This stirring novel tells the dramatic story of a woman whose courage makes her a heroine for every age. <FONT COLOR=”#0000ff” SIZE=3>”Love, sex, violence, duplicity and long-buried secrets.” (LA Times)</FONT><FONT COLOR=”#000000″ SIZE=3> <U>Soon to be a major motion picture from New Line</U>. Click here for <A HREF=”http://www.bizarrenews.com/popejoan/”>POPE JOAN</A>

The URL is http://www.bizarrenews.com/popejoan

—————————–

Some more interesting URLs

New England Journal of Medicine http://www.nejm.org

Journal of the American Medical Association http://www.ama-aassn.org/public/journals/jama

Online Medical Health http://www.coil.com/~grohol/

Healthfinder http://www.healthfinder.com

Mediconsult http://www.mediconsult.com

USDA Food & Nutrition Research Briefs http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/usda/fnrb

———————————

From Etcetera, 26 September, 1997 Reprinted with Permission

Three Films

Ladyboys (Waterbearer Films).

Charles Herman-Wurmfield’s 1995 documentary about female impersonators from Thailand and their struggle to attain notoriety is thought-provoking and entertaining. The effort provides a detailed portrait of two gay teenage boys– Odd and Dod– from northern Thailand.

The pair aspire to win a title in a local pageant in order to move south to the larger city of Pattaya where many clubs offer lavish drag reviews. After failing to win, they choose to make the trip anyway, hoping that somehow they’ll find work. In Pattaya both view for drag jobs, one successfully, the other not Along the way, the viewer if privy to the emotional ups and down of Odd and Dod, as well as several other entertainers by whom they are befriended. Story’s end leaves you wanting an explanation to their fate today.

David A. Moore Days of Pentecost (Videoactive Releasing).

Lawrence Elbert produced, directed and edited (all on video) this gen of an independent release. Apparently spoofing “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and “Valley of the Dolls,” his unique vision of a group of black and latino holocaustal drag queens on the lam provides sufficient laughs (especially from Melena D’L’Moja, played by Marcus Kuiland- Nazario.

All three are employed by a West Hollywood gay bar as dancers, where they must endure the continual jobs of asinine clientele. After a particular nasty confrontation with a customer they flee the big city, but quickly find themselves trapped in a small town after their car breaks down. Here they are forced to content with a completely different world, including a self-loathing closeted auto mechanic. From a nearby gay club they abduct a bar patron whom they continuously torture and provide impromptu musical numbers for. It ends as one might expect, with an elaborate chase scene, ala “Set It Off.”

Despite the fact the production values are bordering on painful (perhaps that’s part of the charm), Elbert’s efforts should encourage wannabe moviemakers to get off their butts. If John Waters had access to video back in the mid ’60s, we know what direction he would’ve gone.

P.S. Keep your eyes peeled for Alexis Arquette. David A. Moore Fanci’s Persuasion (Turbulent Arts).

Campy, outrageous and utterly nonsensical, “Fanci’s Persuasion” is a full-throttle gender-bending, pansexual farce about a lesbian wedding in San Francisco.

In the passionate heat of doing the nasty, butch Loretta asks the punk-femme Fanci for her hand in marriage, and chaos quickly ensues. A power outage, a ripped wedding dress, dueling supernatural friends, a disapproving mother and a butch with cold feet are just some of the normal-gone-bizarre obstacles that Fanci must face the day before her wedding.

But don’t expect an entirely comprehensible plot. Half of he time it’s hard to know what’s going on in any given scene, but the wackiness seems to be the point, even if it sometimes misses its aim and falls short of funny. Then again, when Fanci hangs upside-down in suspension boots wearing her miles-of-lace wedding dress or when the friendly witch Olive stages a version of “West Side Story” starring dogs and cats, it’s difficult not to experience a sudden sense of the playfully ridiculous.

There’s a fabulous performance by Justin Bond as Kiki DuRane playing Fanci’s evil homophobic mother and an appearance by director Herman-Wurmfield as the sadistic, pretty-boy-in-killer- reg Theo. The sexy-stud Boa as Loretta and the pun-lovely Jessica Patton as Fanci make for yummy eye-candy , and there’s a mild dose of kinky sex as good measure. A marriage of the weird and the mundane, “Fanci’s Persuasion” is a queer cult film with a kinky-sweet message for gender-transgressive, self-identified perverts of the wedding-aisle persuation.

Ami Morrison — End AEGIS Internet News —

<FONT COLOR=”#0f0f0f” BACK=”#fffffe” SIZE=3>

———————– Headers ——————————– Received: from mrin59.mail.aol.com (mrin59.mx.aol.com [198.81.19.169]) by air09.mail.aol.com (v33) with SMTP; Tue, 30 Sep 1997 11:06:59 2000 Received: from camel14.mindspring.com (camel14.mindspring.com [207.69.200.64]) by mrin59.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id LAA24138; Tue, 30 Sep 1997 11:06:41 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-38lc91j.dialup.mindspring.com [209.86.36.51]) by camel14.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA00685; Tue, 30 Sep 1997 11:00:36 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199709301500.LAA00685@camel14.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 11:20:09 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News 9/30/97

</PRE></HTML>

<HTML><PRE>Subj: AEGIS Internet News Digest 10/6/97 Date: 97-10-06 12:08:22 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org, VIRGPSYCH@aol.com (Virginia Erhardt), VIRGPSYCH@aol.com (Virginia Erhardt)

AEGIS Internet News Disgest is a service of The American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org.

 

From Etcetera, 3 October, 1998. Reprinted with permission.

Eight demonstrators from the activist group Hermaphrodites with Attitude and Transexual Menace, Sept. 20, protested former Surgeon General Dr. Jocelyn Elders’ keynote address at a fundraiser for the Mautner Lesbians with Cancer Project in Washington, D.C. Stressing they had no quarrel with the Mautner organization, the protesters carried banners denouncing Elders’ advocacy of performing cosmetic surgery on newborns to conform to genital physical “norms.”

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From Etcetera, 3 October, 1998. Reprinted with permission. The Uneasy Gay-Trans Alliance by Chris Crain

All to often, arguments about whether transgendered issues have a place in the movement for gay civil rights come off like a bad episode of the McLaughlin Report. A lot of posturing and one- liners, and only the true political junkies stay tuned in.

Many gay political leaders take the position that we are asking way too much too soon from our heterosexual allies by including transgendered issues in our movement and civil rights legislation, effectively destroying any real chance at winning equal rights for gays– at least in this lifetime. The Human Rights Campaign has taken this approach and has included only sexual orientation– and not gender identity– in its Employment Non-Discrimination Act, for example.

To many, this attitude smacks of the same “my-civil rights-come- first” attitude that lesbians endured in the women’s movement of the ’60s and ’70s.

Transgendered activists, on the other hand, often resort to demanding a place at the gay rights table because gender-benders have always been “in the forefront” of “the movement.” And invariably, they trot out the fact that the 1969 Stonewall riots were started by drag queens.

Whatever the moral force of that argument, it’s unlikely to win many hearts and minds. Just ask the lesbians who had hoped that their commitment to AIDS causes might win over a little reciprocal support from gay men on lesbian health issues like breast cancer.

heterosexual majority that sexual orientation ought to be considered morally and legally neutral– a straight person is no more deserving than a gay person of respect and equal rights under the law.

For transgendered folks, on the other hand, the struggle is to convince a skeptical heterosexual majority (along with a sizable number of skeptical gay men and lesbians) that gender, for some of us, is psychological and not purely biological. Among the more radical element, transgendered activists go a step further and argue that gender is a prison from which we all should be liberated.

Besides these more obvious differences, many gays feel additional discomfort because much of the education process around sexual orientation issues involves debunking myths about whether gay men and lesbians are the way we are because of our own gender identity issues.

Even in the late ’90s, it is not at all uncommon for a well- intentioned straight person to wonder out loud whether men are gay because they are uncomfortable being men, or for a lesbian couple to be asked which one “plans the wife” and which one “plays the husband.”

Burdened with society’s stereotypes, so many gay men, especially, have had their own struggles reconciling being gay with being a man. Not because their gender didn’t seem a good fit, but because their sexual orientation didn’t. For them, joining hands with the transgendered movement reopens those old, internal battles.

But perhaps, even at this move vulnerable level, there is some unexpected common ground.

Being gay has always been about challenging gender roles. Living openly as a man who loves another man strikes many heterosexuals as unnatural primarily because “that’s not what a man is supposed to do.”

The Hawaii Supreme Court even said as much. We will win the right to marry in that state not because the Court accepted that heterosexuals and homosexuals are entitled to equal dignity under the law, but because those judges recognized that preventing a man from marrying another man is a form of gender discrimination based upon prejudice about proper gender roles.

Moreover, lesbians and gay men have always found to expand the scope of gender roles. As many a straight woman has complained, it is gay men who have proven that emotionally sensitivity and personal flair are not incompatible with masculinity. And as the history of the women’s movement will attest, lesbians have long been in the forefront in challenging notions about what it means to be feminine.

Still, there is at least a difference in degree between stretching the bound of gender and crossing the line entirely, much less liberating us from gender as some arbitrary construct imposed by society.

Understanding these differences, and determining how they play out in the middle of a struggle for our basic civil rights, is a task of no small order.

As we homosexuals are so fond of telling our heterosexual counterparts, education is the first key to understanding our differences. Open and honest communication should follow– without fear of being labeled an “ist” or a “phobe” of some sort.

So let’s leave the partisan bickering about political realities and historical obligations to the self-appointed leaders of the gay and transgendered movements.

At least until they sort things out for the rest of us, gay people and transgendered people need to talk freely about what makes us tick, and what we can reasonably expect from each other.

———-

Return-Path: <postmaster@ngltf.org> Sender: postmaster@ngltf.org Errors-To: postmaster@ngltf.org X-Listserver: Macjordomo 1.1a4 – Macintosh Listserver by Michele Fuortes Date: Tue, 23 Sep 97 15:53:43 EST From: “NGLTF” <ngltf@ngltf.org> To: Multiple recipients of presslist – Sent by <ngltf@ngltf.org> Subject: New NGLTF Mission Stmt, Bd Chairs, Members NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Mark F. Johnson, Media Director mfjohnson@ngltf.org 202/332-6483 x3314 pager 1-800-757-6476

2320 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009 http://www.ngltf.org

…………………………………………. NEW NGLTF MISSION STATEMENT ADOPTED;

WASHINGTON, DC—September 19, 1997—The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) today announced the adoption of a new mission and vision statement. In addition, the organization announced the election of new board co-chairs and the appointment of three new members to its board of directors.

At a September 13 meeting, the board adopted new language for its mission and vision statements. The newly approved mission statement reads: “The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force works to eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people at the local, state and national level.” The language in the new vision statement reads: “As part of a broader social justice movement for freedom, justice and equality, we are creating a world that respects and celebrates the diversity of human expression and identity and where all people may fully participate in society.”

“Our revised mission statement is the result of discussions by our board and staff to add clarity to our work,” said Kerry Lobel, executive director of the NGLTF. “As gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people, our future is closely linked to other movements for social justice. We have recommitted ourselves to that important work.”

——————

Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 14:52:40 -0700 From: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation <glaad@glaad.org> Subject: GLAADAlert 10.03.97

GLAADALERT October 3, 1997 The GLAADAlert is the weekly activation tool of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation

Ru And Improved On October 2, on the always fun and flamboyant RuPaul Show on VH-1, Ru introduced the audience to his family. First the show featured footage of RuPaul performing at a large family reunion. Then RuPaul brought out his three sisters and father, and they reminisced about his childhood and his deceased mother. When RuPaul asked one of his sisters what she would do if her son asked if he could be a drag queen “just like his Uncle Ru,” she responded, “I’d say ‘Let’s go to Patricia Field,'” a New York shop that caters to drag queens.

Since the show was revamped in July for its second season, the RuPaul Show has seen the host reveal his more outrageous side, with the biting humor of a drag queen, his open expression of his sexual orientation and a stronger sense of camp. In doing so, VH-1 has a stronger, better program on its hands, showing once again, just as with Ellen, that by allowing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and issues to be openly celebrated and explored, television becomes more engaging and entertaining.

Please thank RuPaul and VH-1 for this continually fun, gay-positive, drag extravaganza. Contact: RuPaul and Jeff Gaspin, Senior Vice President of Programming and Production, VH-1, 1515 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10036, fax: 212.846.1751, e-mail: Shows@vh1.com.

————-

I had heard about the sex scandal with sportscaster Marv Albert; I didn’t know about the women’s clothing involved…

Dallas

Marv Albert

By Patricia Wilson

ARLINGTON, Va., Sept 25 (Reuter) – The trial of veteran U.S. sportscaster Marv Albert, accused of biting a woman and forcing her to perform oral sex, ended abruptly on Thursday when he pleaded guilty to assault to avoid the graver charge of forcible sodomy.

His main employer, NBC Inc., reacted by firing Albert, saying that in May he had assured senior management there was nothing to any of the charges. Another employer, the MSG cable network, later said Albert had resigned.

Albert, one of the top U.S. sportscasters, agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor of assault and battery against the woman in a hotel in this Washington suburb in return for the prosecution dropping the charge of forcible sodomy, which in Virginia includes oral sex.

“I felt I had to end this ordeal for myself, my wonderful family, my fiancee Heather (Faulkiner), my friends and my supporters,” he told reporters outside the courtroom in suburban Washington.

In a statement later, Albert said, “I have resigned from MSG and was let go from NBC. I fully understand the position in which the networks found themselves, due to my very painful situation. In the interest of my family, my friends and my many supporters, I step aside with deep humility, and seek to reconstruct my personal and professional life.”

The 54-year-old NBC broadcaster was accused of repeatedly biting a 42-year-old woman on the back and forcing her to perform oral sex in an Arlington hotel room on Feb. 12.

Testimony in the four-day jury trial, which drew wide media attention, came from witnesses telling of Albert’s demands for rough sex and multiple partners.

One woman on Wednesday related an encounter with Albert in which she said he had appeared in a Chicago hotel room wearing lingerie and a garter belt. She said she escaped after distracting Albert by pulling off his toupee.

Albert’s lawyer Roy Black said he advised his client to accept the plea bargain because the judge had excluded valuable evidence about the previous conduct of his accuser, who lives in Washington’s Virigina suburbs.

On Wednesday Black told the judge, in the absence of the jury, that she was a vindictive scorned woman dedicated to seeking revenge on men who jilted her. He said she had a history of harassing and stalking her former boyfriends.

But Arlington Circuit Court Judge Benjamin Kendrick refused to allow her testimony.

“Eighty-five to 90 percent of our defense had been excluded. That made it difficult to proceed as we intended … it took a lot of soul-searching but I felt that based on the court rulings this was the best way for Marv to end this matter,” he said.

Albert will be sentenced on Oct. 24 and faces a jail term of up to 12 months and a $2,500 fine instead of possible life imprisonment had he been convicted on the forcible sodomy felony charge.

Lead prosecutor Richard Trodden said Albert’s team was offered the exact same deal before the trial and changed their minds this week partly in response to surprise testimony by the second woman who said she went through an almost carbon copy experience.

“I think the significance of that testimony was profound,” Trodden said.

But Black, a renowned Miami attorney who succeeded in having William Kennedy Smith acquitted of rape charges in another high profile case, disputed the prosecutor’s assessment.

“It was the inability to present our evidence that explains what happened,” he told reporters.” “My only regret is the rulings under Virginia law which excluded our defense.”

NBC said: “When charges against Marv Albert became public, Mr. Albert asserted his innocence, and assured NBC senior management that there was no basis whatsover to the charges … Today, given Marv Albert’s plea of guilty to assault and battery, NBC terminated its relationship with Mr. Albert.”

Albert worked 30 seasons as the voice of the New York Knicks basketball team and 32 seasons broadcasting for the New York Rangers hockey team, most recently on MSG. He also covered football, boxing and the Olympic Games for NBC.

——–

Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 14:19:11 -0700 From: “Jude Patton, PA-C” <pattjf1@ghc.com> Subject: HBIGDA consumer concerns Hi :

As you may already be aware, Dr. Sheila Kirk and I were elected to the board of directors for HBIGDA,Inc. last month. I had previously served on their board of directors from 1979 to 1981, as far as I know the FIRST openly FTM person to do so. Now I get a second chance. This time the other board members are, for the most part, VERY pro-community. Unfortunately, some of those serving on the SOC revisions committee are very conservative and rigid, resulting in the present unacceptable revision draft.

Dr. Richard Green, HBIGDA’s new president, has asked Dr. Kirk and me to estabish a consumer concerns committee to provide an opportunity for the trans-community to voice opinions, suggestions and recommendations for enhancing medical care for transpersons and for addressing other consumer concerns such as quality of life issues.

I am making a committment to my community to make sure that any issues brought to me to present to the consumer concerns committee will be discussed and given every consideration.

Everyone is welcome to send their proposals to me:

E-mail: JUDEPATTON@aol.com

Phone: (425) 787-5094

Snail Mail: Jude Patton CMHC, CMFT, PA-C The T Group 1812 East Madison, Suite 102 Seattle, WA 98122

I need your assistance in distributing this information throughout your organization and to other transpersons organizations. Thanks- Jude

—————

From: “Kim” <trans@mundivia.es>

TRANSNEWS From Cibeles, the web of Identidad de Genero

http://www.personales.mundivia.es/personales/trans/ E-mail: trans@mundivia.es

 

ROSARIO, URGENT

ROSARIO, Argentina, September, 29,1997. Gay activist, Pedro Paradiso, from Colectivo Arco Iris, has called urgently about transgender and gay people’s situation in Rosario. Every month, about 150 transvestites are arrested in Rosario, not counting these ones being without trial or not appearing in the police´s register books. Sexual harassment and rape are usual police practices. They are arrested 20 days for transvestitism and 30 for working in prostitution, according to Code of Faults, frequently in basements, without mattresses nor light. The same number of gay people, approximately, are arrested every month. Colectivo Arco Iris, from Rosario, has presented in the Courthouses a document reporting transgender and gay people situation. In the last ten months, there were four murders. On July, 29, Marcela Arias, which was stabed, was then abandoned in the street by the Police and the municipal ambulance No. 4; after that she died. Gay activist Pedro Paradiso is death threatened. We ask for protest e-mails (in evidence of international follow-up) to Dr Hermes Binner, Intendente Municipal de Rosario, in binner@rosario.gov.ar or faxes to Ing. Jorge Obeid, Gobernador de Santa Fe, 54-42-591067 or to Dr Rosua, Ministro de Gobierno de Santa Fe, 54-42-596147 No one of these authorities, in a so hard situation, has never received Colectivo Arco Iris. We ask you to send this information through your webs. Thanks.

——-

From: DAINNA@aol.com Date: Sat, 4 Oct 1997 11:19:48 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Fwd: Women Athletes

HI ALL!

….Proving once again that transcending gender-roles out in public is *THE* problem, sexual orientation is not the real problem, I offer the following…..

A very good column! –David Williams, Kentucky Gay and Lesbian Library and Archives

Special to Louisville Courier-Journal September 30, 1997

THE WHISPERS WOMEN ATHLETES HEAR by Victoria E. Murden

(The writer is project administrator for the enmpowerment zone of the Louisville Development Authority. She and teammate Louise Graff, formerly of Charleston, SC, and now living in Louisville, are the only all-female team entered in a trans-Atlantic row-boat race).

The values institutionalized in competitive athletics–strength, stamina, swiftness, and skill–have been traditionally defined as masculine. This being the case, how are athletic women to prove their femininity? Through weakness and vulnerability, by being slow or clumsy? More often than not, it is the weak and fragile woman who is portrayed as sexually alluring. Do we not see time and again leading ladies in films stumble and fall only to be rescued by powerful male heroes? When a man is strong and aggressive and excels in a sport, he often receives a paycheck. When a woman is strong and aggressive and excels in a sport, she must face questions about her “masculine behavior” and whispers of lesbianism. I am six feet tall. I am strong as a bull moose. I can row for hours on end and there isn’t a man or woman in Louisville who can beat me rowing single sculls. My records demonstrate that I am a successful athlete. But with that mastery comes the insinuation that to succeed as an athlete is to fail as a woman. Pardon me for mentioning it, but that’s not fair. I plan to race a 23-foot rowboat 3,000 miles across a powerful ocean. My partner and I are the only American team entered in the Atlantic Rowing Race. Out of 33 teams, there are 29 men’s teams, three mixed teams, and we are the only all-female team. What does it mean to be the only women’s team in the world willing to take on the challenge of rowing across the Atlantic? Well, if I can be honest, the ocean is not the challenging part. On several occasions, individuals have asked whether my partner and I are lesbians. At first I was startled. I wondered how many of our male competitors will be asked if they are gay. My public responses have ranged from laughing to growling. My private responses have run the gauntlet from sputtering frustration to feminine tears. I am not promiscuous enough to defy the homophobic stereotypes that are attached to women with my physique and temperament. Even if I could find willing gentlemen, promiscuity does not seem an intelligent response to prejudice. I am an athlete. I am a woman. My dream is to be part of the first all-women’s team to row across the Atlantic Ocean. If the price of following that dream is that I will be labeled a lesbian, it is a price I am willing to pay. I am strong enough to carry a label that does not fit. I mention this not because I care about what others think. I mention it because this issue has been taking up space in my head. I must clear my head for the journey that lies before me. I must be able to support my partner without second-guessing how that support will appear to shallow-minded individuals. If this were a community where Fairness ruled, I would not be obsessing over a misfit label. After all, I am Tori Murden. I have climbed tall mountains, skied across a continent, and as an encore I will tackle an ocean. Sticks and stones have broken my bones; I didn’t let them make me cry. But I have allowed the names to hurt me. If every strong, competent woman willing to take on the challenge of exploration is a lesbian, I should meet more of them. I need to make these women my friends. The world may think what it will. Louise Graff and Tori Murden are going to row the Atlantic. Call us gay, call us straight, call us whatever you want. I call us winners, because that’s what we are.

——-

Date: Sat, 4 Oct 1997 13:17:27 -0700 (PDT) From: “H. Devor” <hdevor@UVic.CA> Subject: new FTM book

PLEASE POST OR FORWARD TO OTHER INTERESTED PEOPLE

 

Holly Devor’s new book

FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society

is now available from Indiana University Press Price: $49.95 hardcover phone (US & Canada): 1-800-842-6796 email: iuorder@indiana.edu internet: http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/ordering.html For further information:

Holly Devor, Ph.D. Professor Sociology Department University of Victoria Box 3050 Victoria, BC Canada V8W 3P5

Phone: 250-721-7577 FAX: 250-721-6217 EMAIL: hdevor@uvic.ca

http://web.uvic.ca/~hdevor

——————-

End

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———————– Headers ——————————– Received: from mrin56.mail.aol.com (mrin56.mail.aol.com [152.163.116.94]) by air13.mail.aol.com (v33) with SMTP; Mon, 06 Oct 1997 12:08:21 -0400 Received: from brickbat8.mindspring.com (brickbat8.mindspring.com [207.69.200.11]) by mrin56.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id LAA29475; Mon, 6 Oct 1997 11:56:02 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-38lc9m8.dialup.mindspring.com [209.86.38.200]) by brickbat8.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id LAA14046; Mon, 6 Oct 1997 11:50:00 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199710061550.LAA14046@brickbat8.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”iso-8859-1″ Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Date: Mon, 06 Oct 1997 12:10:06 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org, Virginia Erhardt <VIRGPSYCH@aol.com>, Virginia Erhardt <VIRGPSYCH@aol.com> From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News Digest 10/6/97

</PRE></HTML>

<HTML><PRE>Subj: AEGIS Internet News Digest 10/8/97 Date: 97-10-08 15:35:54 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

AEGIS Internet News Digest is a service of the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org.

—————-

From: OnQGwen@aol.com Date: Mon, 6 Oct 1997 15:23:04 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Community Feedback Questionnaire

*Please consider posting the following to your lists* Howdy folks,

The following was given to me during the Southern Comfort Conference in Atlanta, and I felt it important enough to pass around.

Gwen Smith

====================================

Community Feedback Questionnaire

Dallas Denny and I have been asked by the publisher of my book In Search Of Eve: Transsexual Rites Of Passage to write a followup book. A number of changes have occured in the transgender community since I undertook my original journey in 1980. We would like your guidance for this new book. Would you please answer the following questions intended to give us feedback from the transgender community. You may mail your response to Anne Bolin, 1223 Franklin St., Burlington, NC 27215, or e-mail Dallas Denny at <book@gender.org>. Your responses will be completely confidential. Please feel free to pass this questionnaire on to friends. And if you think of something else to add at a later date, please contact us. If you need extra space, continue on the back of this sheet.

1. Age

2. Ethnicity

3. Would you please describe yourself as a member of the transgender community. Is there a gender identity that best describes you?

4. We anticipate that our primary audience will include academics (researchers and college students), professionals from the caregiving community (clinicians, mental health helping professions, and others), members and future members of the transgender community, and families, friends, co-workers among others. With this in mind, would you please tell us what topics or issues you think we should cover in this new book and why: are there any special points you would like us to make?

Provided by Anne Bolin, Ph.D Associate Professor of Anthrolopology Elon College Department of Sociology Provided online by the Transgender Community Forum AOL: Keyword: TCF

—————————

We received the following regarding our post of 10/23, which included a press release from GenderPac about the DSM Reform. I think the sender did not realize GPAC is advocating reform and has not called for removal. Nonetheless, her it is. We removed her eddress and name, as she did not reply when we asked her if we could include it in a repost. Date: Sun, 5 Oct 1997 00:25:00 -0400 (EDT) To: aegis@gender.org, Clare@gpac.org Subject: Re: AEGIS Internet News Digest 10/23/97 Part 2 of 3

To whom it may concern,

If you people actually do manage to get GID removed from the DSM-4 thousands of pre & non-op Transsexuals will no longer get ANY reimbursement from their insurance companies. As a post-op TS I have spent $57000.00 on various surgeries. I would not of been reimbursed for over $10000.00 in therapy bills. I know other post-ops that have managed to get their ins.. companies to cover therapy and a number of other bills. ( SRS, Electrology, etc… ).

It is not right for you people to say that, we as a whole, no longer need this diagnosis number. Those in the middle of transition and those waiting to start it and the thousands of us that will follow will have no medical insurance benefits. Had I not had them and the luck of a sizeable inheritance I would have chosen one of two paths, Prostitution or Suicide. Either way in a few years I would have been dead. Last summer I buried a friend that died of Aids. Having been kicked out of her house at the young age of 14 by religious parents she turned to the only available means of financial support she could find…prostitution . She was 22 when she died. Not every one has the ability, knowledge or luck to have a great job that stands behind you when you transition. People in so much pain from the inner conflict of GID often rebel and never finish Collage or High School. That equals out most of the time to a low paying job. A person can barely get by on such wages much less pay for Therapy, Electrolysis, Medicine, Save for SRS if they so desire and possibly other surgeries.

Unless Gender Pac provides for a diagnosis that can be used to help get insurance reimbursement while a TS goes through the process I will fully oppose and warn others to oppose the work of Gender Pac on this issue as I have done so in the past. Respectfully,

<name withheld, as we did not receive permission to print it>

———————–

I was informed that the following will be run in Southern Voice; I wrote it in response to Chris Crain’s article about transgender inclusion, which was in the last AEGIS News Digest.

–Dallas Dear Editor:

In his editorial in the 25 September Southern Voice, the points made by Chris Crain were right-on. However, I feel that Mr. Crain is flogging a dead horse.

Several years ago, the issue of trans inclusion in the gay/lesbian/bisexual movement was a hot topic in both the transgender and GLB communities. However, it is a done deal. While some individuals in both communities and even a few organizations (most notably the Human Rights Campaign in the GLB community and Tri-Ess in the trans community) are against or see no need for inclusion, ‘most everyone else is busy working together. Consider just a few indicators, taken from both camps:

* More than 150 PFLAG chapters have T-SON coordinators for transgender issues.

* The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (as have many other GLB organizations) recently changed its mission statement to be trans-inclusive.

* Atlanta Pride (as are most other Pride organizations) is inclusive of transgendered, intersexual, and other queer-

identified folk.

* GenderPAC, which started as a transgender political action group, is inclusive of sexual orientation, gender (not just transgender) and racial issues.

* When the topic of working with gay and lesbian and bisexual people was raised at the Town Hall meeting on 4 October at Southern Comfort, no voices spoke against inclusion.

As more transfolk identify as bisexuals, gay men, or lesbians, and as more GLB folk acknowledge their own transgender issues– and as we continue to come under common attack from those who do not differentiate between us– I hope, as does Mr. Crain, that we continue to communicate and concentrate on the may ways we are the same, and not the few ways in which we differ.

Dallas Denny Executive Director American Educational Gender Information Service

 

— END —

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</PRE></HTML>

<HTML><PRE>Subj: AEGIS On-Line New Digest 10/10/97 Date: 97-10-10 09:57:42 EDT From: aegis@gender.org (Dallas Denny) To: aegis@gender.org

AEGIS On-Line News is a service of the American Educational Gender Information Service. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org.

———————

Transsexual Harassment Suit Ok’d

By LARRY NEUMEISTER

NEW YORK (AP) – A federal judge Thursday refused to dismiss a transsexual’s harassment lawsuit against New York University just because the victim was then a man in the process of becoming a woman.

U.S. District Judge Whitman Knapp allowed Jennifer Miles’ $14 million lawsuit to go forward, saying federal law protects her.

Miles was studying musicology in a graduate studies program and undergoing hormone treatment in advance of sex change surgery when she claims Professor Cliff Eisen began harassing her in 1993.

Eisen fondled her breasts, buttocks and forcibly tried to kiss her and repeatedly requested a sexual relationship, her lawsuit against the school claims.

NYU sought to have the lawsuit dismissed.

“There is no conceivable reason why such conduct should be rewarded with legal pardon just because, unbeknownst to Professor Eisen and everyone else at the university, plaintiff was not a biological female,” Knapp wrote.

“There can be no doubt that Professor Eisen’s conduct with respect to Jennifer Miles, assuming it can be proven, related to sex and sex alone,” Knapp said.

The school reprimanded Eisen but let him continue to teach.

The school later assured the professor that the reprimand would have no effect on its decision to award him tenure, the judge said. Knapp called the assurance “bizarre” considering four other female students had previously accused the professor of inappropriate sexual advances.

The professor was not awarded tenure and his contract was not renewed.

John Beckman, a spokesman for New York University, said the school does not comment on legal matters.

The plaintiff, a 31-year-old New Jersey resident, was too traumatized by her experience at the university to complete her studies, said her lawyer, Daniel Kaiser.

Kaiser said his client was not suing the professor because the statue of limitations had passed. He said there is a different statute of limitations for the school’s liability.

AP-NY-10-09-97 2210EDT

—————————-

Haig backing phone venture

Sky Station International (Chantilly, VA) has filed with the FCC to build a worldwide wireless telecommunications service via a sky platform suspended from helium balloons

Electronic Media, Vol. 15, n 19, p 1+ 6 May, 1996

BY DOUG HALONEN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

Washington — So, what’s Alexander Haig up to these days?

Well, according to a recent Federal Communications Commission filing, the former general and Reagan administration Secretary of State is now backing a plan to use helium balloons to suspend a new generation of 250 communications platforms in the sky to create an international network for portable smart telephones.

The current generation of communications satellites are usually blasted 22,300 miles into space — into what’s known as geo-stationary orbit.

But in its FCC filing, Sky Station International — headed by the general’s son, also Alexander — is proposing to use giant helium pontoons to hoist its network of 650-foot, 37-ton communications platforms 18 miles into the stratosphere worldwide, then hold them in place with high-tech “ion engines.”

“This is a technological breakthrough that will offer consumers worldwide wireless telecommunications services at lower prices than current systems,” said the younger Mr. Haig. “It they can put the platform up there and keep it up there, it’s a real breakthrough,” said Tom Tycz, chief of the FCC satellite radio communication division.

Martine Rothblatt, the attorney/satellite entrepreneur credited as one of the brains behind the operation, told Electronic Media last week that because the platforms will be so close to earth, they’ll be able to beam signals to receivers no bigger than cellular telephones.

“It’s a broadband smart phone with Internet/Web capabilities,” Ms. Rothblatt explained.

Sky Station International, based in Chantilly, Va., is requesting use of frequencies in the 47 gigahertz band, which it says virtually nobody else is using.

The company’s chairman is Harry Darlington IV, who, according to Ms. Rothblatt, is an independently wealthy activist who has also been trying to “raise public awareness about the need to close the ozone hole.”

Ms. Rothblatt, who was formerly a man, announced in 1994 that she had undergone a sex-change operation because she wanted to be a lesbian.

The Sky Station technology is credited to Alfred Wong, head of the plasma physics department at the University of California, Los Angeles.

According to the FCC filing, Sky Station projects that its system could be fully deployed worldwide by 2005 for $4.2 billion. It says up to half of that total cost could be realized from revenue generated as the first platforms launch.

Sky Station is a client of Andrew Barrett, who recently resigned as an FCC commissioner to become an executive for Edelman Public Relations Worldwide.

————————–

Dial 1-900-OVERCHARGE

Telmex will soon introduce to the national audiotext market new ‘policy controls’ in order to clear its name of blame

Business Mexico, Vol. VII, n 5, p 14+ May 1997

by Kristen Smith

[snip]

Mexico pay-per-call companies already have straggled to create a market niche free of pornography and where, at first, they lacked live-line technology, the mainstay of the U.S. market. Mexican industry is unique,in fact, in an international market that is best known for its sleazy adult lines. Unlike in the United States and Europe, Mexican audio-text companies do not provide live adult fantasy lines. Telmex barred pornography from the market when the SCT allowed “pay-per-call” companies to open business in 1992. Companies became creative using taped audio-text, the same kind of thing customers hook into for automatic checking account totals. Data Dial, for example, has joke lines that would probably not go over well in the United States, but are very popular in Mexico, says Andreas Seppelt, commercial director of the audio-text company.

Its sexually deviant character Beba the transvestite, played by the comic Victor Trujillo, gives women cues about men’s no-good ways.

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— END —

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———————– Headers ——————————– Received: from mrin43.mail.aol.com (mrin43.mx.aol.com [198.81.19.153]) by air07.mail.aol.com (v33) with SMTP; Fri, 10 Oct 1997 09:57:42 -0400 Received: from camel14.mindspring.com (camel14.mindspring.com [207.69.200.64]) by mrin43.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id JAA13600; Fri, 10 Oct 1997 09:57:24 -0400 (EDT) Received: from MS. (user-37kb76o.dialup.mindspring.com [207.69.156.216]) by camel14.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id JAA09839; Fri, 10 Oct 1997 09:51:46 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <199710101351.JAA09839@camel14.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 10:13:06 -0400 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS On-Line New Digest 10/10/97

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From aegis@gender.org Wed Oct 29 15:43:59 1997 Return-Path: <aegis@gender.org> Received: from camel8.mindspring.com (camel8.mindspring.com [207.69.200.58]) by mrin72.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0) with ESMTP id PAA06518; Wed, 29 Oct 1997 15:43:42 -0500 (EST) Received: from MS. (user-38lca8b.dialup.mindspring.com [209.86.41.11]) by camel8.mindspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id PAA16298; Wed, 29 Oct 1997 15:37:00 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199710292037.PAA16298@camel8.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Wed, 29 Oct 1997 16:00:11 -0500 To: aegis@gender.org From: Dallas Denny <aegis@gender.org> Subject: AEGIS Internet News 10/29/97 Part 1

AEGIS Internet News 10/29/97

To subscribe or unsubscribe from this news service, please send e-mail to aegisnews@gender.org. Well, folks, it’s good to be back in the office after 10 days away. Lots of stuff to send, so a multi-parter today.

— Dallas From The Advocate, 28 October, 1997

Albert and a Transvestite?

Was a male transvestite the reason sportscaster Marv Albert copped a plea September 25 in his sexual assault case? According to the New York Post, it may have been. The Post quoted unidentified law-enforcement sources as saying that Albert, who had been accused of forcing a woman to perform oral sexa nd biting her, had a 15-year-old relationship with a “raven-haired” male transvestite. Prosecuters were reportedly alerted to the unidentified man, a retired Broadway dancer, by an anonymous letter, and New York City detectives tracked him down and confirmed the allegation. Albert may have pleaded guilty to an assult charge to prevent the information that coming out in court, even though the transvestite disappeared after he was subpoened. “He was a normal civilian person who would be outed in a sense if this story ever came out,” an associate of the transvestite told the Post. “The relationship he had with Marv Albert– there was no violence, no rudeness, no inappropriateness. It was just straight transvestite sex.

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From: CousinKat@aol.com

Subject: Film festival info The First International Transgender Film and Video Festival

During the festival over fifty films and videos will be screened. Themed programmes of shorts include “Hermaphrodites with Attitude” which looks at the identities of intersexual people who have sexually ambiguous bodies. Artists’ short work includes Linda/Les and Annie (1992) with performance artist Annie Sprinkle in the first female to male transsexual love story and Reel Girls, an anarchic and eclectic programme of film and video from San Francisco’s lively drag underground. Work from the Archive includes Kristiene Clarke’s Sex Change-Shock ! Horror ! Probe ! (1984), the first documentary about transsexualism on British TV by a transsexual filmmaker.

Gala Ball: at Charlie Wrights International Bar, 45 Pitfield Street, Hoxton. 5 minute walk from the Lux Centre. Time: 9.30 til Late. Prices: minimum donation #5 / #3 concessions. DJ Vicki Lester (Geezer, Oi!, Heaven) plus a glittering star-studded cabaret featuring Chloe Poems. Come in costume for the complimentary whore-dervs. Vogue for the stars a la Jennie Livingston’s film, “Paris is Burning”, sink into the East-end underworld as a gangster/moll, or zoom through the stratosphere as your own special creation. Profits will go to produce safer sex materials addressing the special needs of the transgender community.

Photographic Exhibition in the cinema foyer: The photographic exhibition will include the work of Debbie Humphry whose photographic project with text “Gender Crossings” present images of familiar contexts which on a second reading subtly challenge our expectations of gender. Del LaGrace Volcano’s (formerly Della Grace’s) photographs of “Transversity” and “FTM Visibility” stridently document the community and confronts the viewer with representations of the post-modern beyond of gender identities.

The First International Transgender Film and Video Festival Lux Cinema, Hoxton Square, London, 29/10/97 – 2/11/97

* *STOP PRESS* * * *Press Update* *

Highlights: Transexual Menace, Opening Night, Wed. 29 Oct., 7pm Dir. Rosa von Praunheim, 1996, Germany, 90 min. Rosa von Praunheim’s TS Menace documents the birth of transgender activism in the States and its demands for basic human rights. Personal in its approach, the film has a range of cross-cultural interviewees who have sought refuge in the US from Africa, South America, the Philippines, Japan and Europe as well as Hawaiian, Native American and African American perspectives.

I Am My Own Woman, Thurs. 30 Oct., 7pm also by von Praunheim, 1992, Germany, 91 min. Award-winning portrait of notorious Berlin transvestite Charlotte von Mahlsdorf.

Glen or Glenda ? (I Led Two Lives) in two double bills (+ Let Me Die A Woman, Thurs. 30 Oct., 9pm / + Women In Revolt, Late Night screening on Halloween Fri. 31 Oct. at 10pm) Dir. Ed D. Wood Jrn., 1954, USA, 67 min. Probably the first ever transgender film: Glen or Glenda ? (I Led Two Lives), made in 1954 soon after Christine Jorgensen’s story became the world media’s first representation of a person who had “changed sex”. Wood, a cross dresser himself, was inspired by her story and called for tolerance with his sympathetic, if quirky portrayal of intersexuals, transsexuals and transvestites.

Let Me Die A Woman, Thurs. 30 Oct., 10pm Dir. Doris Wishman, 1978, USA, 77 min. Cult director Doris Wishman’s film is a first in its explicit portrayal of sex change surgery. Called “a sort of Glen or Glenda goes to Hell”.

Warhol’s Women In Revolt, Fri. 31 Oct., 10pm Dir. Paul Morrissey, 1971, USA, 98 min. Andy Warhol’s radical and amazing (but sadly overlooked) Women In Revolt with transgender superstars Candy Darling, Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis.

You Don’t Know Dick-The Courageous Hearts of Transsexual Men, Saturday 1st Nov., 8pm Produced & Directed: Candace Schermerhorn & Bestor Cram, 1997, USA, 75 min. Winner of the Best Documentary at the 1997 New England Film and Video Festival, presents interviews, testimonies and recollections tracing the journeys of transition made by six female-to-male transsexuals.

Mirror, Mirror, Sat., 1st Nov., 6pm Dir. Baillie Walsh, 1996, France, 86 min. Baillie Walsh’s Mirror, Mirror, a portrayal of Hispanic transsexual Consuela Cosmetic, living with AIDS and negotiating a mastectomy.

Paradise Is Not For Sale, Sun. 2 Nov., 4pm Dir. Teit Ritzau, 1984, Denmark, 59 min. With rare early footage of Christine Jorgensen, the film follows her meeting thirty years later with the surgeons that performed what became known as the world’s first “sex change” operation.

Phantom Pain, European premiere, Closing Night, Sun. 2 Nov., 7pm Dir. Neil Matsumoto, 1996, USA, 83 min. Kristy Nichols is a pre-op transsexual prostitute working the streets of Hollywood. Gently comic, the film looks at Kristy’s confusing life, downplaying the usual issues of gender identity. When a professor of sexology asks her to star in a film about a transsexual prostitute, Kristy thinks she may have finally found some direction in her life. She’s wrong. SYMPOSIUM: THREE PANELS AND PLENARY AND THREE DISCUSSION SESSIONS

1. Representation & Trans-aesthetics, 10-11.30pm Wednesday 29 October including Kristiene Clarke and Chris Straayer 2. Trans-youth, 2.30-3.30pm, Sat. 1st Nov. 3. Cybergender + Plenary, 9-10.30pm, Sunday 2 Nov. 4. Hermaphrodites with Attitude Discussion, Friday 31 Oct., after 8pm screening 5. You Don’t Know Dick Discussion, Sat. 1st Nov., after 8pm screening 6. Let Me Die A Woman Discussion, Thurs., 30 October after 9pm screening

The Symposium will take the form of three panel events with practitioners, theorists and activists discussing and debating topics of identity, body politics, social construction and performance of gender, post-modern gender and technology, trans-aesthetics and cross-cultural expression of gender.

KEY SPEAKERS INCLUDE: *Chris Straayer*, Assoc. professor, Dept. Cinema Studies NYU, author of “Deviant Eyes, Deviant Bodies”; *Susan Stryker*, has taught at Women’s studies Dept at UC Berkeley and History at University of San Francisco, *Jay Prosser*, London based trans-theorist who has written on transsexual autobiography and photographing the TS body; *Dr. Stephen Whittle*, who has just fought a case in the European Court of Human Rights for the right to be the legal father of his four children, he is a law lecturer, trans-activist and writer on subjects like cyber-genders in cyber-space; *Kate More* known for transgender activism in HIV and campaigns for TS prisoners’ rights, a founding editor of the trans-theory journal Radical Deviance.

TICKET PRICES: Day pass tickets must be booked in advance to insure places. Uncollected tickets go on resale a half hour before the performance. Lux Cinema annual membership: #10/#8 concessions. Day pass: standard #18 / members #17 / concession #15 / members concession #14. Tickets for Opening & Closing Night (including panel ) and Double Bills: #8/#7/#5/#4. Single Screening: #6/#5/#4/#3. Single Panel: #5/#4/#3/#2. Box Office: 0171 684 0201, telephone bookings from 3.00-9.00pm.

VENUE: The Lux Cinema in the Lux Centre 2-4 Hoxton Square, London N1 6NU. The centre is on the west side of Hoxton Square, right next door to the Blue Note cafe and nightclub. From Old Street Underground Station, walk straight ahead from exit 2 and turn left at Rufus St.

Space for sponsors logos [Have: Lux/G&SA/London Film & Video Agency/Still need: Channel 4 TV]

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Return-Path: <null@mbcomms.net.au> Date: Sat, 25 Oct 97 20:07:06 UT From: “Christine Burns” <C_Burns@classic.msn.com> To: UKPFC-News@mbcomms.net.au (Press for Change News list) Subject: Report from Vancouver – The HBIGDA Conference Reply-To: UKPFC-Forum@mbcomms.net.au (Reply to the PFC Forum. Members only) X-To-Unsubscribe: pfc-lists@mbcomms.net.au (message body: leave UKPFC-News) X-ListMember: AEGIS@MINDSPRING.COM [ukpfc-news@mbcomms.net.au] Saturday October 25th, 1997

VANCOUVER – THE HBIGDA CONFERENCE REPORT

Foreword by Christine Burns Report by Tracie O’Keefe (katfox@easynet.co.uk)

———————————— Foreword

Last week the dominating theme on the UKPFC-forum was the issue of labelling and people’s perceptions of what they were in their own and other people’s eyes. It’s hardly surprising, therefore, that when the debate moved on it should alight next on the subject of Gender Identity Clinics (GICs), the personalities who run them, and the touchy matter of who serves whom in the whole process.

Understandably this is a very touchy issue, not helped by the fact that scarce funding for treatment in the UK places the people who run the only substantial GIC in the UK (Charing Cross) in an almost impossible position, swamped by overwhelming numbers of referrals. all of whom require an extent of careful and time-consuming evaluation which, in an ideal world, would keep a DOZEN Charing Cross’es busy full time.

We haven’t GOT a dozen Charing Cross’es though .. and that’s maybe the biggest part of the problem. When there IS no effective choice (or we know the choices to be even worse), the consumer’s only effective weapon lacks ammunition.

It is very easy to criticise, of course .. and, in the process, focus anger on the individuals seen as gatekeepers, failing to recognise that practitioner and client are both subjects of the same system.

It is easy too, to take every hearsay story which comes along as gospel, forgetting that the blame is sometimes wrongly assigned to innocent individuals as it is handed down on the grapevine .. and that some of the people originating the stories have as much an agenda as the people being vilified. People don’t always tell the whole story. Clinical decisions take place in a room where two people often start with the unfortunate expectation that confrontation is the order of the day, and that the task of one is to batter their way past the other. When parties evaluate each other in those settings, is it any wonder that the “real” picture doesn’t always come across straight away to the person sitting behind the desk ?

This isn’t an apology for the very real instances of bad treatment and neglect that occur in the various UK centres though. …

Even if only ONE client had ever reported having been treated like a carcass on a production line, or felt their evaluation had been swayed by the practitioner’s subjective values ..

Even if only ONE person had said they felt talked at, rather than being listened too, or felt they were part of a Stalinist regime ..

Even if only ONE person had written to me to say that they came away feeling physically violated, and emerged more damaged than when they went in ..

… That would be one too many .. and the OVERALL treatment of vulnerable gender dysphoric people in the UK remains as much a scandal as it was when a man called Randall dominated the franchise, with his own brand of authoritarian subjectiveness.

By common assent, in the eyes of the clients, things at centres like Charing Cross leave a lot to be desired.

It is rather too easy to throw the baby out with the bathwater though .. to assume that ALL practitioners toiling against an impossible workload are equal in blame, rather than possibly being victim to the same desensitisation which is the trap awaiting all overworked and stressed people in caring professions.

Evaluation of gender issues takes time, experience and cooperation .. of which the most precious and least plentiful asset is the first. The client is in a hurry. The professional has a queue outside the door and a home to go to. Not a recipe for joy.

It isn’t just the patient who lives and is constrained by an ignorant and sceptical world, either. Gender Clinic workers inhabit the same world as us .. they face the same challenges to the verity of what they’re doing .. couched in different terms, maybe .. and played out in funding and peer review meetings, rather than at the bus stop .. with a career and funding for their work at stake.

So, whilst it is right for the community to vigorously question those who serve it .. and I’ve often tried to encourage that through what I’ve written and reported .. we MUST do that questionning and finger-pointing responsibly, and on the basis of FAIRNESS and FACT, otherwise we cease to be an intelligent lobby and become a mob.

This week it’s very timely, therefore, that I’ve received not one, but TWO very relevant reports from Tracie O’Keefe and Katrina Fox, whose book “Trans-X-U-All” we reviewed in the Press for Change newsletter, and on this news list a few weeks ago. (Don’t forget that you can buy the book thorugh PFC now too, and contribute substantially to PFC’s campaign funds in the process).

Six weeks ago Tracie and Katrina attended the fifteenth annual symposium of the organisation which originated the infamous Standards of Care, in Vancouver. Now Tracie has written a report on the symposium itself, and Katrina has accompanied that with an interview of the HBIGDA’s new president, Professor Richard Green.

These reports can be found on Tracie and Katrina’s growing web site, where you can also read more reviews about Trans-X-U-All, and some of Tracie’s professional papers .. you’ll find a link to the book review on the PFC web site front page .. or you can go direct to –

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~katfox/tran1.htm

Tracie’s report on the conference follows below, for the benefit of those who don’t have access to the web. Katrina’s interview with Richard Green, follows behind, in a separate message posting.

Read them .. and then approach the debate about Standards of Care, and the people framing and practicising them, in a different light.

Christine Burns Press for Change

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A review of the XV Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium September 10 -13, 1997

By Tracie O’Keefe

After having travelled several thousand miles from London to Vancouver my partner and associate Katrina Fox found the Canadians a charming and polite people, in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Since I am in private practice and not skimming off the profits of my government’s health system or on the expense account of a teaching hospital we stayed at the YWCA hotel.

The conference, however, was held at a down town five star hotel called The Sutton Place, more suitable for a convention on pyramid selling than an academic meeting of minds. With jet lag we made it to the welcoming cocktail party to find that the board members were absent and unwelcoming. In fact they were all having a silver service dinner in a private dining room and much too busy filling their faces to mingle with the rest of the association. The cocktail nibbles the rest of us were left would have been sent back to the kitchen in the very seediest of diners.

Alice Webb told me with confidence that the organisation would be more democratic in future as she had just been voted president elect. Also two transpeople, Jude Patton and Sheila Kirk had now been voted onto the board, which I was assured would make a difference. There were hopes too that Richard Green, the new president would help recapture the spirit of Harry Benjamin during his presidency.

The conference was a fine collection of many of the world’s most talented and adventurous professionals involved in helping people find their own sex and gender identities. From the biologists came the latest discoveries about the differentials in the inner brain in males, females, gays, and the rest of us. Apparently the distribution of certain neurological compositions in the brains are different when an individual is subject to certain hormones. However, they were unable to conclude whether this was due to nature in humans or indeed the result of the biological manifestation of nurture. Neither could it be determined if this supposed biological phenomenon had its causes in pre-natal or post-natal development.

Just when the sociologists had reminded us that Harry Benjamin was happy to adopt the psychosocialbiological model of human sex and gender identity, the proceedings were brought to a dead stop by the arrival of demonstrators. Apparently some of Vancouver’s less affluent gender and sex adventurers felt they were being deprived of knowledge because they could not pay hundreds of dollars to get in. To be fair to the organisers, the conference was for professionals dealing in the field, and not open to the general public. Most of us were in private practice and put our hands deep in our pockets to be there, as well as carrying out a great deal of pro-bono (free) work during our working year.

However, the disturbance did open up the “us and them” debate between the HBIGDA and the client group and how many people in the world felt that their needs were not being listened to. Whether that sunk in with the board members will only be seen in a historical context. The calls from the protesters to do away with categorisation met with profound logical reasons to keep them. In short, if there is to be no diagnosis then there will be no funds for treatment because a clinician cannot claim for treating nothing. Further to that my abstract suggested many other dimensions of sex, gender and sexuality that need to be considered as part of the human experience and covered by the HBIGDA.

By far one of the most important announcements was that the HBIGDA was to publish a journal on the internet, making information available for the whole world to access free of charge. This would include abstracts presented at conferences and articles written by experts in the field presenting state-of-the-art research and treatment.

This was now beginning to turn into one of the best conferences for professional carers I had ever been to and far better than I had expected. There were a lot of transpeople who were also professionals in the field at the conference, moving the atmosphere towards facilitating the needs of the client group. Amongst them was Rosalyn Bloomenstein from New York, who works with members of the gender community who are on the streets, working in the sex industry, or HIV positive; Petra Klene, from Holland, who runs the trans-identity section of the Humanitas social welfare organisation; the writer and campaigner James Green from the Bay area of San Francisco; Dallas Denny, writer and international organiser of transinformation; Marsha Botzer, the American therapist and social researcher; Sandra Framboise, executive director of the High Risk Project in Vancouver, and myself. To top that, many were presenting too.

The reports of metoidoplasty were that it seems to be a very successful technique and an adjustment in cosmetic foreskin design was exhibited by J Joris Hage. The presentations on phalloplasty were profoundly different, consisting of lower arm, leg and midriff donor sites. One local young man spoke of the fear and trepidation he had in researching surgeons and their methods, whilst trying to sort out the information from the misinformation circling around the transmen community.

There was a further presentation on the enlargement and styling of the neoscrotum by using tissue expanders to give it more length and volume. The surgeon rightly pointed out that the effects were much more realistic when the testicular prostheses were put in, since the majority of men have low hanging scrotums.

An American surgeon reported on his progress and success in operating on people who were HIV positive. He also believed that it is the responsibility of the surgeon to know if a client is HIV positive, because then the appropriate treatment can be particularly devised to assist the patient’s recovery. He further went on to say that being HIV positive is no reason not to operate on a patient; after all, anyone could have had a serum conversion days before the surgery and the surgeon would be none the wiser. It is also the duty of a doctor to do the very best they can for a patient. It was also a surprising revelation that so many surgeons did not test for Hepatitis B or C pre-operatively.

Another presentation talked of colonoplasty as first process of vaginoplasty, indicating that depth of vagina was very important. He further went on to say that this left more penile skin for design of the labia minora, allowing the cosmetic results to look more authentic. Some surgeons disagreed saying that colonoplasty was too complicated an operation to use as a first choice and should only be used as a salvage process or if minimal penile skin is available. It was further pointed out that penile inversion did generally produce the desired vaginal lengths for clients who managed to have a very satisfactory sex life. One woman pointed out that in the older transsexual intercourse was less important and often not required as they were seeking a purely cosmetic solution to their conundrum. Ultimately it must be up to the individual client to choose because in the case of minimal penile tissue colonoplasty as a primary option may be the only choice.

The conference had changed its attitude to being more concerned with the treatment of gender dysphoria and less concerned with the perpetual search for the derivation of the condition. Indeed it was accepted that much could be done to completely dispel the gender dysphoria in the majority of the cases through hormones, surgery and psychotherapy. The debate once again opened up as to who was dysphoric and who was not, as many patients felt they knew exactly what they needed and sometimes that did work. There are of course the kind of patients for whom treatment only partially dispels the dysphoria and for them that diagnosis still needs to be used to help them become more whole.

At the end of the conference Dr Sheila Kirk and Dallas Denny made a plea for the transgendered group of clients to be included under the protection of the Harry Benjamin criteria. James Green further pointed out that those who are cross-dressers and take minimal amounts of hormones, perhaps dressing part- time, should also be included, and someone else added that transvestites should also be included. A psychiatrist commented that the general public would probably have a hard time dealing with these concerns.

The funny thing is though: Is this not the same argument that led Harry Benjamin to forming the association in the first place – to move towards treating and helping transsexuals? Is giving transsexualism an elite status simply replacing one type of stereotypical prejudice with another?

As I said earlier only time will tell if the lessons of this conference will be integrated into the HBIGDA criteria and guidelines. If they are not then I believe one of the most innovative and generative conferences I have ever been to will have been partly wasted. However, as I left I heard that Jude Patton and Sheila Kirk had been appointed to set up a sub-committee to look into what the client requirements might be.

Tracie O’Keefe

——————–

This report will also be found on the World Wide Web at :

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~katfox/review.htm **************** The UK Press For Change News List ****************