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AEGIS Online News (Some Single Posts, 1995-1996)

AEGIS Online News (Some Single Posts, 1995-1996)

Below are single posts that were distributed by AEGIS Online News. Some may be duplicated in the other posts of this series.

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

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

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

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

I stopped publishing AEGIS Internet News in mid-1998.

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

Initial Message, 1995, 23 July

Welcome to the aegis-list mailing list!

If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list,

send the following command in email to

“aegis-list-request”:

unsubscribe

Or you can send mail to “Majordomo” with the following command

in the body of your email message:

unsubscribe aegis-list TheXGrrrl@aol.com

Here’s the general information for the list you’ve

subscribed to, in case you don’t already have it:

[Last updated on: Fri Jul 21 22:57:43 1995]

Welcome to aegis-list, an electronic information distribution system of the

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

 

aegis-list is a read-only majordomo list which was set up to facilitate

communication with large numbers of people. Subscribers will receive

information sent from us, but cannot post directly to the list. If you wish

to contribute to AEGIS On-Line News (our electronic newsletter) or have

comments about this service, you can communicate directly with us by sending

us e-mail at aegis@mindspring.com. We will consider re-posting notices or

letters to the editor. However, all information posted will be by approval

of AEGIS.

 

The usual majordomo commands apply to this list. To receive a list of

commands, send e-mail to majordomo@lists.mindspring.com. The first line of

the message should contain the word help.

 

We hope you will enjoy this list. We would appreciate your feedback, so

don’t be shy to e-mail us at aegis@mindspring.com

 

We also hope you will become a member of AEGIS. Membership info appears

later in this message. We accept checks, money orders, Mastercard or Visa.

 

AEGIS

P.O. Box 33724

Decatur, GA 30033-0724

 

(404) 939-2128 Business

(404) 939-0244 Information & Referrals

(404) 939-1770 FAX

 

aegis@mindspring.com e-mail

 

ftp.mindspring,com

User ID: anonymous

Password: (your email address)

Directory: /users/aegis

————————————————–

About AEGIS

 

The American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. is a

501(c)(3) clearinghouse for information about transgender and

transsexual issues. We publish the journal_Chrysalis: The

Journal of Transgressive Gender Identities_; a newsletter, _AEGIS News_, and

various other materials.

 

_Our History_

 

AEGIS was founded in September, 1990 by Dallas Denny to address

the problem of lack of credible information about transsexual and

transgender issues. We published our first Transition Series

booklet at the end of the year, and the first issue of

_Chrysalis_ in the Spring of 1991. We incorporated in 1992, and

obtained 501(c)(3) status with the IRS in 1994.

 

_Our Reputation_

 

AEGIS has an excellent reputation for common sense and quality

information.

 

_Our Philosophy_

 

AEGIS is dedicated to serving the needs of ALL transgendered and

transsexual persons, and of helping professionals. We promote

nonjudgemental treatment and depathologicalization (now _there’s_

a word for you!) of persons with transgender and transsexual

issues. We seek to do so in an atmosphere of respect and

toleration.

 

AEGIS has worked within the medical and psychological communities

to enlighten helping professionals about the shortcomings of much

of the literature, and to the misunderstandings about the nature

of transgendered and transsexual persons which that literature

has fostered.

 

AEGIS celebrates the true diversity of transgendered and

transsexual persons, and advocates the right of the individual to

seek body-modifying procedures, up to and including sex

reassignment surgery. We also advocate the right of the

individual to live without such procedures. We believe that with

adequate education, individuals can make competent decisions

about their lives.

 

_AEGIS Personnel_

 

Our Executive Director is Dallas Denny, who holds a Master of

Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Tennessee, and

has a doctorate in progress at Vanderbilt University. She has

been licensed to practice psychology in Tennessee since 1980.

Dallas is a prolific author and popular speaker on transgender

issues, and has produced two books on transsexualism, and has a

third in progress.

 

The Chair of our Board of Directors is Joann Roberts, Ph.D., a

co-founder of Renaissance Education Association and owner of

Creative Design Services. JoAnn has written several books about

crossdressing, and is a past member of the Board of Directors of

the International Foundation for Gender Education.

 

Gianna Eveling Israel, the Vice-Chair, is a peer counselor who

resides in San Francisco. She is principal author of

_Recommended Guidelines for Transgender Care_, which is the first

project of AEGIS’ Sullivan Press.

 

Other Board members include Delia van Maris, M.D., Laura Skaer,

Melissa Foster, Alison Laing, Carol Miller, and Jason Cromwell.

 

AEGIS maintains a 28-member Board of Advisors, which includes

Carolyn (“Tula” Cossey, JoAnn Roberts, David Gilbert, M.D.,

Eugene Schrang, M.D., Stephen Morganstern, M.D., Anthony Karpas,

M.D., Donald Tarver, M.D., Virginia Prince, Ph.D., Jason

Cromwell, Ph.D.(c.), Anne Bolin, Ph.D., and others.

 

Gianna Israel serves as an omnbudsperson who takes complaints and

concerns of AEGIS members to the Board of Directors. She can be

reached by e-mail at jamaica@calon.com, or via US mail at P.O.

Box 424447, San Francisco, CA 94142-4447. [Phone (415) 858-

8058].

 

_Our Services_

 

AEGIS is a membership organization. General memberships are $36

a year, and include two issues of _Chrysalis_, four issues of the

newsletter, a 10% discount on materials from our bookstore, and a

membership card (available in July). Professional memberships

are $60 per year, and include the above, plus additional

materials. There are additional levels of membership, with

additional benefits and discounts, for those who wish to

financially support us, as well as categories for students and

those who are incarcerated. All donations are tax deductible.

 

AEGIS maintains an extensive database of support groups, helping

professionals, and other resources throughout the world. We will

be happy to provide you with referrals and information.

 

AEGIS has compiled a definitive bibliography of transgender and

transsexual-related material; it was published last year by

Garland Press with the title _Gender Dysphoria: A Guide to

Research_ (650+ pp.).

 

AEGIS maintains the National Transgender Library & Archive at its

Atlanta headquarters. We publish a holdings list (100 pp.).

 

The Transgender Historical Society serves as a watchdog

organization for the NTL&A. Memberships in the Transgender

Historical Society are $30 per year ($20 for AEGIS members). All

funds are used to maintain and promote the library and to acquire

new materials.

 

AEGIS has a bookstore, through which we sell educational

materials, including our _Transition Series_, the holding list

for the National Transgender Library & Archive, and back issues

of _Chrysalis_.

 

AEGIS regularly publishes medical advisories and alerts and

issues position statements. Recent advisories have included

alerts about the advisability of electrolysis in the groin area

before MTF SRS; and the dangers of silicone injection.

 

—————————————————————-

That’s who we are, and what we do. We hope you will join us.

1995, 6 September (1)

Subj: AEGIS News 1-3 pt. 2 Date: 95-09-06 23:49:29 EDT From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

AEGIS News August, 1995, Pt. 2 —————————————————————-

* * * COMMUNITY NEWS * * * — God Squad? —

Most transgendered and transexual persons have always been intensely interested in spiritual matters. Lee Frances’ _Grace and Lace_ newsletter has addressed the needs of Christian crossdressers for the better part of a decade, and for some years, small healing circles which draw heavily on Native American and pagan traditions have come together in various areas of the country.

Now a network of transgendered and transexual ministers and others interested in transgender spiritual issues (affectionately nicknamed the God Squad, but still without an official name) is forming. Lynn Walker, a Russian Orthodox priest, is serving as coordinator.

For information, write

Lynn Walker P.O. Box 090248 Brooklyn, NY 11209-0005,

or send her e-mail at NatashaNZ@aol.com

—————————————————————- — T.O.P.S. —

In a similar vein, an organization called T.O.P.S. (for Transgender Officers Protect & Serve), was formed in July when _The New York Post_ ran a story on Trenton, New Jersey Police Officer Janet Aiello, who recently transitioned from a male role to a female role. The _Post_’s article, written in the usual sensationalistic and patronizing tone, was unwarranted, as Aiello’s police department is well aware of her transexualism and neither her supervisors nor city officials had any particular problem with her transition. Following the _Post_’s article, reporters and camerapersons staked out Aiello’s house and even hid in bushes to ambush her. Three cameramen were “attacked” (pushed) by Aiello’s sister, who screamed, “Leave my sister alone! If she wants to have an operation, that’s her business!”

Transexual activist Riki Anne Wilchins suggested that T.O.P.S. be formed to serve as an organization which can respond to future attacks and intrusions like the _Post_’s. Founding members include Officer Aiello; Tonye Barreto-Neto and Stephan Thorne, both female-to-male police officers; and Michelle Kammerer, a California firefighter whose transition several years ago resulted in national headlines.

Janet Aiello is an AEGIS member.

—————————————————————-

— Presbytery in Quandary —

For the first time ever (so far as we know), a Protestant church has been forced to deal squarely with the issue of transexual ministers.

In the near future, an issue of the Atlanta _Journal/Constitution_ will carry a major story on Presbyterian minister and psychotherapist Erin Swenson, Ph.D., whose name change resulted in her Atlanta- based Presbytery being forced to confront the issue of her transexualism. Dr. Swenson has been charged by a fellow minister with “impersonating a woman,” despite the fact that she is open about her transsexualism and had informed the presbytery about her transition. She was working quietly with a committee from the presbytery; however, the minister who made the charges brought _Journal/Constitution_ religion reporter Doug Cumming to a presbytery meeting, and when it was made clear to her that there would be newspaper story about her regardless of whether or not she cooperated, Dr. Swenson agreed to cooperate with Cumming.

Dr. Swenson is a member of AEGIS. AEGIS has helped her provide educational material about transgender and transexual issues to her presbytery and to Dough Cumming.

—————————————————————-

— Out Transgendered Physician —

Dr. Melanie Erin Spritz, an AEGIS member and an out transexual physician, has landed a 5-year residency in internal medicine/psychiatry at SUNY Brooklyn Hospital. The battle was not an easy one; she was turned down for a number of other residencies because of her transexualism.

Dr. Spritz is working to establish a clinic for transgendered and transexual persons in the New York city area, and to educate her physician peers about transgender issues.

Congratulation to Dr. Spritz for being (so far as we know) the first transexual person to go through medical school post- transition and out of the closet, and to SUNY Brooklyn Hospital for supporting her.

—————————————————————-

– ACTIVISM PAGE –

— Transgender Community Protests HRCF —

The transgender community is up in arms following the introduction in Congress of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) without transgender-inclusive language.

Last year, transgender lobbyists Phyllis Frye, Riki Anne Wilchins, and Jane Fee visited Capitol Hill for purposes of lobbying for T* people. After visiting with staff of Senator Jeffords, the sponsor of ENDA, they succeeded in having the language of the bill modified to include transgender and transexual people. After they left the hill, lobbyists from the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF), an organization which has pledged to fight for human rights for everybody, succeeded in having the transgender language removed from ENDA. The transgender lobbyists then went into educational mode with HRCF, explaining the importance of transgender-inclusive language to all feminine males and masculine women, whether or not they are transgendered.

When ENDA was introduced in June of this year, it happened to occur during the annual conference of ICTLEP, the International Conference on Transgender Law & Employment Policy, which was attended by transgender and transexual activists from across the country. When Sarah DePalma, one of the attendees, downloaded the language of the 1995 ENDA bill from the Internet and saw that transgender language was once again not in it, she called it to the attention of the other attendees; this resulted in a special planning session at which a comprehensive strategy to protest HRCF was developed.

Because of the ease and speed of communication through the Internet (for those who can afford a computer; see editorial which follows the news section of this newsletter– Ed.), it was possible to bring together protests against HRCF within one week. There were actions at Pride events in Atlanta, Seattle, Houston, New York, and Philadelphia; most typically, leaflets were quietly handed out, although in typical form, Phyllis Frye went over the top in Houston, bringing along a large sheet advising people not to give money to HRCF, and showing her willingness to be arrested for the cause (There’s nothing shy about Phyllis <grin>– Ed.). Fortunately, no one was arrested at any of the protests.

HRCF has received e-mail, telephone calls, and letters from angry transgendered and transexual people across the country, but for some time maintained a stance that there are other ways to include transgendered and transexual people than by including them in ENDA. The transgender community showed no intention of letting up the pressure. There were plans for protests at HRCF fundraisers across the nation, and transgender lobbyists will converge on Capitol Hill for Transgender Lobby Day, October, 2, 1995.

Most recently, HRCF Director Elizabeth Birch has entered into serious dialogue with leaders of the transgender community, including Phyllis Frye, Tere Frederickson, and Riki Anne Wilchins. HRCF has agreed to a meeting to resolve its differences with the transgender community. Meanwhile, however, the protest against HRCF will continue.

Those who wish to learn more about the HRCF controversy and/or Transgender Lobby Day can get on the Transexual Menace mailing list. To subscribe, simply send an e-mail message to majordomo@zoom.com, and include the following in the body of the message:

subscribe ts menace your full e-mail address

example: subscribe ts menace fingers@phoenix.phoenix.net

—————————————————————-

— Transgender Lobby Day —

On 2 October, 1995, Transgender and Transexual lobbyists (both MTF and FTM, despite the title of this article) will gather on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to make lawmakers aware of their special needs. A prime topic will be transgender and transexual inclusion in ENDA. For more information, join the Transexual Menace mailing list (see above for the particulars of the Menace List).

—————————————————————-

— Transgender Employment Day __

ICTLEP, the International Conference on Transgender Law & Employment Policy, is calling for the celebration of “International Transgender Employment Day,” on Monday 4 September, which happens to also be Labor Day.

It’s no secret that transgender and transexual persons are frequently unable to get or keep jobs simply because of their status. International Transgender Employment Day acknowledges this problem and declares the right of transgender and transexual persons to secure and retain employment and to receive just compensation; this is one of the rights in the International Bill of Gender Rights, which was originally written by JoAnn Roberts and which has been slightly modified by ICTLEP.

Intl. TG Employment Day will also serve as an opportunity to raise funds for the transgender lobbying organization It’s Time America.

For more information, contact Riki Anne Wilchins of Transexual Menace at riki@pipeline.com (212-645-1753) or Karen Anne Kerin of It’s Time America at kkerin@vermontlaw.edu (802-223-4756). And of course, you can always join the Transexual Menace list (see above).

—————————————————————-

* * * EDITORIAL * * *

— Two Communities —

There are two transgender communities. The members of one community correspond with each other via long distance phone calls and e-mail and Priority mail. Members of the other community don’t “do” letters, have no computers, and their phones are as likely as not to be disconnected at any given time. They tend to run into one another in bars and nightclubs, or in the laundromat. One community is composed primarily of persons with college educations and stable and even exceptional work histories. The other community is plagued by homelessness, legal problems, and drug and alcohol dependency. Most of the members of one community have been married (heterosexually, prior to transition), and many have children. Most of the members of the other community have never been interested in members of the other biological sex.

HIV rates are low in the first community; rates of infection in the second community are among the world’s highest.

These two communities exist largely independent of and remain largely ignorant of each other. Members of each community typically have little idea of the problems and frustrations of the members of the other community.

What everyone in the two communities have in common is what has been called gender dysphoria, transexualism, transgenderism, gender identity disorder. It is a powerful feeling, an incredible desire to express oneself in ways Western society has considered inappropriate. Those in the first community have typically kept those desires hidden or repressed, and gone through their lives in the gender roles that was expected of them. Those in the second community have been unable or unwilling to do that, and have freely expressed themselves, typically at a very young age, despite the usually harsh consequences.

The consequences of those who start crossliving when very young are typically devastating. Rejection occurs at all levels of society. Parents kick them out. Officials refuse to allow them to attend school. No one will hire them. Typically, they wind up on the street, with all of the temptations and danger which lie there: violence, prostitution, alcoholism, drug use, promiscuous sex. Having nothing and no one else on whom they can rely, they often turn for a source of income to their only asset:

their bodies. Some do so with eagerness, most with resignation, for prostitutes, and especially transgendered prostitutes, are devalued by our society. No one cares if transgendered street workers are beaten or murdered. Few care about their health. A few people try to help them, but as exploitation often begins with a profession of friendship, and from authority figures; they become suspicious of those who claim to be their friends. There are no rewards for being honest or dependable; what pays off are scams and hustles. Friendship is a rare thing, and hard to risk, for friends get murdered, die of AIDS, get carted off to prison, make off with your belongings, or simply disappear.

Under such circumstances, honor takes a form almost inconceivable to those who have not lived the life: don’t rat on others, don’t cooperate with the cops for any reason, never give a sucker an even break. Erratic or abnormal behavior becomes the norm; those who act “normal” don’t survive for very long. And experience is not guarantee of safety; even the most streetwise wind up victims to violence or disease.

Those who have maintained some semblance of stability in their lives have little conception of the ways in which life on the street molds personality, damages psyche, and places its own variety of Golden Handcuffs on those who live it– or on early influences like physical and sexual abuse which can damage an individual so that he or she is incapable of functioning in middle-class society. They see only how they have bettered themselves by hard work, and consider those who are on the street to be lazy, shiftless, or otherwise morally flawed. They don’t understand how their lives as males (or as females) have imbued them with privilege that is lacking for those with acknowledged transgender status. They see only that they have worked for what they have become, and what they have accumulated; they don’t see how their relatively stable lives have left them relatively psychologically intact enough to work towards those ends, or how people have basically left them alone as they have worked towards their goals. No one gets left alone on the street.

Those who transition later in life tend to resent the natural femininity (or masculinity) shown by so many on the street, while simultaneously detesting them for their lifestyles. They never realize that it was the pursuit of self which has resulted in the lifestyles that they find so distasteful.

People on the street, on the other hand, tend to be resentful of those with middle-class lifestyles. Many are not in their situation so much by choice as by circumstance, and a journey to a middle-class lifestyle is an improbability, at best. They are stuck on the street in the same way that so many middle-class persons are stuck in their original gender roles. There is a great amount of inertia to overcome. Just as most transgendered individuals who achieve middle-age without transitioning never do so, most men and women on the street never overcome the inertia that keeps them there. They see no way out. They see those with more than they have, who are not as “pretty” as they are, and assume that such persons have had an easy route. What they don’t see is the anguish and psychological damage which has been caused by the years of denial and the bodily changes which have occurred as a result of not dealing with one’s transgender nature until middle age.

To be honest, many of those who have had the advantage of a middle-class lifestyle rarely give any notice, or especially much money, to the organizations which exist to support them. They certainly don’t give money to organizations which serve people on the street. Many call organizations like AEGIS and IFGE repeatedly, asking for advice and referrals, but don’t join or otherwise support those organizations, and don’t donate either their time or money to building community. The social and support groups in the community are hard-pressed to serve those who come to them, and either through oversight or lack of funds and volunteers make little attempt to structure events for people on the street, who find an evening in the bars eminently preferable to support groups in which they are expected to sit around in a circle four three hours, baring their souls (support group) or sipping tea (social group).

To be equally honest, most of those on the street are more interesting in taking, also, and do little to contribute to community, even when they can. They find it easier to drink or smoke or snort away their money rather than using it to improve their situation, and tend to complain about their lot and sometimes to protest the activities of the “other” transgender community than to form their own organizations or conduct their own outreach and education programs.

I don’t have any magical solutions for how these two communities can work together. But I believe they should, for it is our histories and our present circumstances which make us different much more than any strength or weakness of character. Those in both communities are battling the same internal feelings, the same shame and guilt.

It’s perfectly legitimate to be a member of either community, or as a few of us are, of both. Perhaps those with a foot in each community can work to ensure that both communities keep in mind the ways in which they are the same, and the ways in which they are different, to stop (when they aren’t ignoring each other or denying each others’ existence) blaming and envying one another for who we are and what we do, and to learn to work with one another.

— Dallas Denny

1995, 6 September (2)

 Subj: AEGIS News 1-3 pt. 3

Date: 95-09-06 23:53:01 EDT From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

—————————————————————-

* * * FEATURE * * * — Ask Lola Anything —

Lola Cola’s advice column in _The Southern Belle_, the newsletter of Atlanta’s Sigma Epsilon chapter of Tri-Ess, is always funny. However, she topped herself in the July ’95 column: Dear Lola:

Last weekend, my wife and I went out to dinner with some straight friends who don’t know about my evil twin sister. We went to Planet Hollywood, that trendy new restaurant owned by some film stars where the walls are bedecked with Hollywood memorabilia. Well, one of the items on display was a bustier Madonna wore in “Desperately Seeking Susan.” It was gorgeous and I just couldn’t keep my eyes off it all night. Now I’m obsessed. I must have it. I must! Tossing and turning at night, I dream of felonious midnight adventures to secure this treasure. Either I’ll own that glorious garment or die of sleep deprivation. What am I going to do? Keep in mind, I’m law-abiding and 6’2″, 235 lbs.

— Desperate Wannabee Dear Desperado,

Oh sure, I can see it now… black outfit, blackened face, James Bond burglar gear, rappelling through the skylight, deftly avoiding the laserbeam alarms, and at last getting your hands on the object of your lust. Overcome by passion, you try it on right there at the crime scene… only to discover that Madonna is just a wee bit smaller than you as the seams explode. Though it sounds like a terrific aerobic workout, why not save the sweat and just ask a qualified seamstress to duplicate it in your size?

It will spare you the potentially humiliating experience of performing “Like a Virgin” for the boys on cellblock 19.

— Love, Lola Dear Lola,

My wife thinks I’ve lost my mind and I really need your advice. I recently bought this wild platinum wig that’s cut in a radical bob style. Every time I put it on I start talking like a Valley GIrl… which is pretty odd, considering that I’m 43 years old and from the South Side of Chicago. And I don’t mean sometimes; I can’t, like, speak any other way? Like, when I’m in this rad ‘do, ya know? So, like, what I’m wondering? Should I, like, totally deal with it? Like, with my wife, like? She’s, like, sooo stone age about it. Saying, like I neeed to purge it. I’m like, so sure!… As if I might do that. So, like, help… or something?

— Radical Babe Dear Sunshine,

Honey, drop the wig off at a qualified speech therapist and see if that helps. Maybe they can teach it French.

— Love, Lola Dear Lola,

Do you have any helpful household hints about how I might get some mascara stains out of towels? I really laid it on my lashes thick last night, as I was off with a few of the girls to one of those really dark, loud nightclubs where everyone wears black and either feigns boredom or seems to be on some new designer drug I’ve never heard of. Anyway, I had a few cocktails, and when I got home, I just wiped a towel across my face a few times before falling into bed. Seems I picked the wrong towel, however. It was one from a really expensive set my new girlfriend brought home from New York City as a gift for my birthday. Now I’ve apparently ruined it and I’m afraid when she finds that out, I’ll have done equal damage to our relationship. It certainly seemed like a good idea at the time. Now what?

— Clean & Sloppy Dear Miss Piggy,

How on earth did you ever get me mixed up with Heloise? Perhaps some of those designer drugs you’ve never heard of? Well, I’m sorry, but I simply haven’t a clue, dear. There are people for that sort of thing. Had you directed your letter to Heloise, I”m sure she’d have the answer for you, something involving old pantyhose and white vinegar, I imagine. But since you’ve written me, I feel dutybound to supply you with some properly Lola-like advice, and so I shall. Stash the towel away for the time being.

At your next opportunity, take girlfriend out clubbing with you and liberally administer all those dangerous drinks (don’t neglect shooters) until she answers the question “How many fingers?” with her name. At that point, you can take her home, put her to bed, and then drape the ruined towel over the bathroom sink. In the morning, throw a hissy fit, and you will find yourself rewarded for your slovenly habits. Now then, let’s see Heloise answer a question about tucking!

— Love, Lola

—————————————————————-

— MediaWatch —

In Which We Bring you News of Books, Articles

Movies, and Other Transgender-Related Stuff The current catalog for Cornell University Press has this listing:

Trexler, Richard C. Sex and Conquest: Gendered violence, political order, and the European Conquest of the Americas Cloth, ISBN 0-8014-3224-3 $29.95

This dazzling book delineates the relation between force and sex in social and political institutions. Its subject is male sexual culture in Europe and America at the time of the conquest; its basis is the primary sources of the period. The story it tells– of biological males who lived as women– forges a link between sexual themes dating from Antiquity and the erotics of much of the violence in today’s world. What does it mean, Richard C. Trexler asks, that the Spanish and Portuguese repeatedly justified their conquest of America’s Indians with the claim that the Americans had to be saved from themselves because they practiced sodomy, transforming into “women” (berdaches) the young men whom they penetrated. To answer his question, Trexler interrogates the sexual culture of both conqueror and conquered. The author first examines the erotics of power in early modern Iberia and reveals a world in which domination and subordination were coded as masculine and feminine. He pays particular attention to the military, where abuse of the young and humiliation of the vanquished often were signified through homosexual rape and effeminization. Indeed, Trexler says, the sexual subordination of young males, so common in the violent world of the early modern army, is central to the thinking and institutions of the patriarchal state. Turning to the native American world, the author finds a remarkably similar pattern of gendered dominance and submission. he reconstructs the lived experience of the berdaches– biological males who lived as women– analyzing the familial and political pressures that produced them and concentrating on the social, religious, and sexual roles they were expected to fulfill. Trexler concludes that making berdaches was a form of state building,and that state building through berdaches involved child abuse. Finally, assessing both Iberian and American attitudes toward the transvestism and homosexual behavior he describes, Trexler maintains that civil institutions in both the Old and New World were modeled on the military; the weak, however defined, were gendered as feminine to guarantee the power of the (macho) elite. In an impassioned conclusion, he argues that the sexual violence so deeply encoded in social and political institutions must be confronted before “we [can] freely revel in the distinctive genius of each human culture.”

—————————————————————-

— A Plea From Kate Bornstein — My name is Kate Bornstein, and this is a call for submissions for an upcoming book I’m working on, called “My Gender Workbook.” It’s a follow-up to my first book, “Gender Outlaw.” It should be out from Routledge some time in the fall of 1996, with illustrations by Diane DiMassa, creator of “Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist.” Lookin’ to make it a fun piece of work.

The book will contain a section which, hopefully, will weave through the entire book. This section will be called “1001 Ways To Live Without Gender, By People Who Do.”

So, I’m looking for a *lot* of outlaws and in-laws to respond to the following questions:

1) Do you consider that you break any rules or laws or conventions of gender?

If so, which ones? How do you do that?

2) Have you ever had to, or do you now have to overcome any fear regarding breaking gender conventions? Which fear(s)? How do you overcome that?

3) Do you consider that you live, or have lived either all or part of your life without gender? Could you describe how that works for you?

Please feel free to write as many responses as you like, to one, two, or all three of these questions. Answers can be humorous, serious, or in any vein whatesover. They can be poetry, cartoons, slogans, or they can be more questions. The only thing I’m asking is that they be *short.* because I want to include as many people’s voices as possible.

Sadly, there’s no payment available for these, but I’ll be *very* glad to credit your words as you like. Please do include your name and a way to contact you (email, fax or snailmail addresses, please) to get permission in writing from you to publish your words. Deadline for submission is October 31st (Halloween), 1995.

*****IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do *not* email submissions to my OutlawGal address. I’ve got a whole system set up to receive submissions as follows.

Thanks!******

You can get your responses to me in any number of ways:

1) e-mail them to: 1001ways@eor.com

2) fax them to 206-860-5030

3) snail mail them to:

1001 Ways 1202 East Pike Street, #991 Seattle, WA 98122, USA

Finally, if you have any contact with any lesbian, gay, bisexual, transwhatever, SM, sex worker, feminist, radical faerie, new male, queer or radical zines or newsletters, bulletin boards, BBSes, newsgroups, mailstrings, phonetrees, websites, comix, whatever: please pass this request along!

Thanks *very* much.

Sincerely,

Kate Bornstein

—————————————————————-

— Your Tax Dollars at Work —

(Well, they’re probably at work somewhere, but AEGIS is funded solely by memberships, book sales, and the occasional contribution)

— These are some of the letters we’ve written lately — 25 July, 1995 Food & Drug Administration Blood Bank Practices Laboratory 1401 Rockville Pike Ste. 200 North, HFS 370 Rockville, MD 20852-1447

 

Dear madam or sir:

I am the Executive Director of American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit clearinghouse for information about transgender issues.

I am writing in response to the recently-raised question of blood donations by transexual and transgendered persons. Attached for your information are letters from Sarah DePalma of It’s Time, Texas! and Arthur W. Bracey, MD, of the St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital Volunteer Blood Donor Program. I have also attached a list of journal articles concerning HIV risk in transexual persons, as excerpted from my 1994 book by Garland Press, Gender Dysphoria: A Guide to Management.

I am writing for two reasons: first, to make it clear to you that there are two distinct sub-groups of the transgender/transexual community. Because of differences in lifestyle, sexual behavior, and income, these groups are largely invisible to one another and to the professionals who provide them with medical treatment.

One of these sub-groups consists of persons with low- incomes, many of whom are unable to find work because of their gender presentation. This group is likely to use shared needles for injection of illegal drugs and/or hormones, many of whom run afoul of the legal system, and many of whom become prostitutes. This group, as a whole, is at grave risk for HIV. The journal articles I have included concentrate entirely on this sub-group; in fact, this has been a problem common in the literature in general (Denny, 1992).

The other group consists largely of persons with a middle to upper class lifestyle, and many of whom are celibate or monogamous. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there have been no studies of HIV prevalence in this group; however, infection rates are not considered to be any greater than for the rest of the population, and may be somewhat lower, due to the typically long periods of celibacy which most transexual people go through as parts of their transitions.

I would like to point out first, that refusing blood from the second group exacerbates the national blood shortage, and unfairly links them with sexual behaviors which are not common to that group; and second, that the problem of HIV in the first group is endemic, and the struggle of those in the second group to participate fully in society does not diminish the critical health care needs of the first group, who are infected at astonishingly high rates.

Furthermore, to discriminate against an individual solely because of his or her gender identity is unfair, and possibly illegal. It makes little sense to reject blood because of the clothes an individual wears, when the real risk factors are his or her history of drug use and sexual history.

I realize that the FDA is in the business of protecting public, but in this case, I think that a straw man has been set up.

I feel it is invoking global proscriptions against taking blood from transgendered persons is premature before some effort is made to measure HIV infection rates in transgendered and transexual persons in which socioeconomic class is controlled for. I think you’ll find that the existing studies do not do that, but concentrate on populations who live in poverty, frequently engage in intravenous drug use with shared needles, and engage in promiscuous unprotected sex– and that these are the real issues, and not the clothes that they wear. Sincerely, Dallas Denny, M.A. Licensed Psychological Examiner (TN) References

Denny, D. (1992). The politics of diagnosis and a diagnosis of politics: The university-affiliated gender clinics, and how they failed to meet the needs of transsexual people. Chrysalis Quarterly, 1(3), 9- 20.

pc JoAnn Roberts, Sarah DePalma, Phyllis Frye, etc.

—————————————————————-

10 July, 1995 Elizabeth Birch Human Rights Campaign Fund 1012 14th St., NW Ste. 607 Washington, DC 20005

 

Dear Ms. Birch:

This is an official position statement of AEGIS, the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. We are a membership organization with more than 500 constituents.

We are entirely in support of the community’s initiative to call attention to HRCF’s continuing efforts to keep transgender-inclusive language out of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. I say community, rather than transgender community, because the concern extends beyond just transgendered persons; many lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and heterosexuals have expressed their concern at HRCF’s actions and pledged their support.

The transgender community is showing a strength and fervor previously unknown in GLBT political circles. Four things are clear, from my reading of the community’s mood and intentions: first, that the transgender community is in this for the long haul and will not back down from this issue or buy HRCF’s platitudes, but will settle only for full inclusion in ENDA and other legislation; second, that the transgender community will inexorably wear down the resistance of HRCF (and no doubt legislators) by deluging you (and them) with protests, letters, e-mail, FAXes, and phone calls; third, that the transgender community’s initiative will hit HRCF very hard in the pocketbook, eventually leaving you in a very undesirable financial position; and fourth, that the transgender community, which will have upwards of 60 lobbyists on Capitol Hill this fall, will cost you far more votes than transgender inclusion in ENDA could ever have.

AEGIS does not engage in direct political action, but we can and do help others to get organized, and our members and officers, myself included, frequently engage in political protests. We will help the community in any way that we can in this matter.

This year, Atlanta’s transgender community had a contingent marching in the Pride Parade, as well as a double-sized booth. The community engaged in an action in which 15 activists quietly passed out more than 600 flyers condemning HRCF’s exclusion of transgendered persons (enclosed). In the entire action, only one individual, a member of the local HRCF board, had a problem with the protest; he suggested that we should try to change HRCF from within, rather than from the outside. We have every intention of joining HRCF.

The overwhelming reaction of Atlanta Pride attendees was 1) we didn’t know this was happening; 2) how can they do that?; and 3) how can we help? Many of the people we leafletted said you would be hearing from them (and some in fact stopped by the HRCF booth that day), and any number of people, including more than a few HRCF members, indicated that they would not be donating to HRCF until ENDA contains transgender-inclusive language. Several people spontaneously helped us pass out flyers, and several gay/lesbian/bisexual organizations have since pledged to give us their support.

We are enclosing Terry Murphy’s account of Atlanta Pride for your edification. We concur entirely with that report. We respect HRCF’s work, and value a good working relationship with HRCF, but absolutely cannot live with HRCF’s behavior in this instance.

We have no doubt that next year, if this situation still exists, the transgender community will pass out hundreds of thousands of flyers to the attendees of Pride marches everywhere. I am sure that before then there will be actions at HRCF events in Greeneville, SC, Nashville, TN, Raleigh, NC, Philadelphia, PA, and anywhere else HRCF attempts to raise money in the nation.

HRCF is playing a vital role in the fight for human rights. However, we remind you that your name is not Gay and Lesbian Rights Campaign Fund, but Human Rights Campaign Fund. To deliberately sell out the rights of the few does not set well with people whose rights have themselves been sold out. You shouldn’t have to be told this.

We have no doubt that HRCF will eventually come to the realization that the way for anyone to win is for everyone to win. We only hope that day comes sooner than later, and with a minimum of hard feelings. Sincerely, Dallas Denny, M.A. Executive Director, AEGIS JoAnn Roberts, Ph.D. Chair of the Board, AEGIS

cc Phyllis Frye

1995, 6 September (3)

Subj: HRCF Date: 95-09-06 23:57:31 EDT From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

To those of you who are following the transgender community/HRCF controversy, this is a posting from Gulf Area Gender Alliance

— Dallas Summary:

* Gulf Gender Alliance agrees to call off leafletting. * Two members attend dinner. * Keynote speaker speaks out for transgender inclusion in EDNA & rights movement. The New Orlenans HRCF leadership is very aware of the transgendered community’s outrage over the exclusion of the transgendered in ENDA. Nancy Sharp is the lead person on local discussions and has found the local leadership to be receptive to the concerns of the transgendered. They were not aware of the stance on ENDA in Washington, D.C. After local leaders agreed to voice their dismay to D.C. leaders, the planned leafletting at the HRCF Fund raiser was called off.

Nancy sat between Joan Ladner, an HRCF national board member, and Brian Sheer, the HRCF state coordinator (LA). Nancy was treated very well at the dinner. Internal discussion among the HRCF leadership is continuing at this time in an attempt to reconcile the national board’s position on the Transgendered and its opposition to ENDA inclusion. Look for evidence of their support prior to our Sept. 16th meeting in Washington. Adrianne Tayler, a Gulf Gender Alliance member from Baton Rouge, also attended the dinner and has gathered support from the HRCF members in Baton Rouge.

Dee Mosbacker, MD, PHD, co-producer of the films “Straight From the Heart” and “All God’s Children” was the keynote speaker. She asked the over 500 members and politicians in the audience “Who do we think we are, as we go about obtaining our (Gay) rights. to exclude others from obtaining those same basic rights? Who do we think we are to exclude the Transgendered, the Drag Queens and the Dykes? Who are we?” Dee then went on to say “These people have made valuable contributions to us and we should value them.”

Ms. Mosbaker concluded by saying that she would not be part of an organization that denies the Transgendered their rights. There was some chuckling and laughter at some tables but the vast majority agreed with her in their ovation. We hope that Dee Mosbacker does not need to resign from HRCF over this issue. Dallas Denny, M.A. Executive Director, American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1995, 11 September

Subj: AEGIS Affiliate Policy Date: 95-09-11 01:23:47 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com CC: jamaice@wco.com, edents@aol.com, prfrye@aol.com CC: chell1955@aol.com, boysen@aims.unc.edu CC: titmouse@u.washington.edu CC: petrad@freenet.scri.fsu.edu, merrfi@aol.com CC: gaintnt@aol.com, jeftris@aol.com CC: brown.george_richard@mtn-home.va.gov CC: shygayad@aol.com

From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com CC: jamaice@wco.com, edents@aol.com, prfrye@aol.com, chell1955@aol.com, boysen@aims.unc.edu, titmouse@u.washington.edu, petrad@freenet.scri.fsu.edu, merrfi@aol.com, gaintnt@aol.com, jeftris@aol.com, brown.george_richard@mtn-home.va.gov, shygayad@aol.com, caitling.flowers@gtri.siu.edu, lkglass@ionet.net.com, teref@aol.com, f2mlist@tantalus.clark.net, davinaanne@aol.com, phillida@mindspring.com, ifge@world.std.com, djohns1240@aol.com, mhk@ionet.com, drlee@rt66.com, lees@cps.msu.edu, kmhk27a@prodigy.com, wendi@gate.usaor.net, kymmer@xconn.com, elliottd@harpo.tnstate.edu, gender3@aol.com, melpet@ix.netcom.com, jane@oalonett.no, sc5@prism.gatech.edu, stucomone@aol.com, kimstrophe@aol.com, erinswen@aol.com, vasecret@aol.com, natashanz@aol.com, thecallan@aol.com, theXgrrrl@aol.com, bensalem@cpcn.co, bz247@freenet.carleton.ca, jamisong@aol.com, gndrflx@netcom.com For Immediate Release 10 September, 1995 AEGIS Board Approves Affiliate Policy

The Board of Directors of AEGIS, the American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc., has approved a policy which would allow affiliate members. The matter was brought at the previous Board meeting because of a request by Oklahoma New Men and Women, a part of the C.O.T.A. consortium of groups in Oklahoma. JoAnn Roberts, Board Chair, and Dallas Denny, Executive Director, pepared an affiliate policy which was approved at the Board meeting today.

Any group interested in transgender and transexual issues can apply for Affiliate status. Transexual, open, FTM, drag, and heterosexual crossdresser

groups are all welcome to apply.

Those who wish a copy of the Affiliate policy can send e-mail to aegis@mindspring.com or write AEGIS at P.O. Box 33724, Decatur, GA 30033 (404) 939-1770 (FAX)

In other news, Tennessee Vals founder and President Marisa Richmond was unanimously approved as a Board Member.

Dallas Denny, M.A. Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. P.O. Box 33724 Decatur, GA 30033-0724 A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation Publisher of CHRYSALIS

(404) 939-2128 Business (404) 939-0244 Information & Referrals) (404) 939-1770 FAX aegis@mindspring.com

To be on our electronic distribution list send e-mail to majordomo@lists.mindspring.com on the first line of the body of your message, include the following: subscribe aegis-list <your e-mail address>

Visit the AEGIS FTP Site: Host: ftp.mindspring,com User ID: anonymous Password: (your email address) Directory: /users/aegis One is not born a woman.^ One becomes one.

– -Simone de Beauvoir ^ (or a man!

1995, 3 November

Subj: AEGIS On-Line News, 1(4), Pt. 2 of 2

Date: 95-11-03 13:31:55 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com CC: merrfi@aol.com

AEGIS On-Line News, Vol. 1, No. 2, November, 1995 Part 2 of 2

* * * COMMUNITY NEWS * * *

HRCF Protests Called Off!

The Human Rights Campaign Fund has made a commitment to work with representatives of a spectrum of the transgendered community with a specific focus on hate crimes.

The Human Rights Campaign Fund has also committed to assist transgender representatives with an amendment strategy in the context of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). The strategy does not include re-introduction of the current ENDA; the language of the current bill remains as is.

All groups involved will work in good faith to continue their dialogue and to build coalitions in the context of ending violence and discrimination against this community.

In a meeting that can easily be described as historic in its significance, the national leadership of the Human Rights Campaign Fund (HRCF) and the leaders from three of the largest transgender rights organizations met in Washington D. C. on September 17, 1995. The meeting was arranged by Elizabeth Birch, Executive Director of the HRCF, following a nationwide protest sponsored by It’s Time, America!, Transsexual Menace, and Transgender Nation.

Transgendered persons viewed the HRCF as the organization primarily responsible for their exclusion from ENDA and retaliated by picketing selected HRCF fund raising events in major cities across the nation.

As a result of intense negotiations the HRCF has committed to actively support a transgender inclusive amendment to ENDA. At least two transgender activists will work with the HRCF on drafting the amendment language. In addition, the HRCF and transgendered leaders agreed to work together in gaining gender and transgender inclusion into the Federal Hate Crimes Statistics Act and other federal hate crimes legislation. It was further agreed the organizations would work together in reaching out to people of color, feminist organizations and others as part of a larger coalition building process. Additionally the HRCF agreed that if asked, they would provide training for transgender activists new to lobbying on Capitol Hill and limited logistical support.

The ENDA portion of the agreement applies only to the legislation as it currently exists. Assuming the bill does not pass in the near future, it will need to be re-introduced in 1997. Unfortunately, the HRCF would not commit to transgender inclusion in the new version (if needed) and further discussions on this and several other topics will be necessary. However, transgender rights activists involved in the meeting felt the meeting produced substantial progress and further protests of the HRCF have been canceled.

—————————————————————- First Transgender Lobby Day Huge Success

More than 100 transgender and transexual lobbyists representing most of the 50 states met on the East steps of the Capitol on Monday morning, 2 October before separating into small teams which visited the majority of the US senators and representatives. Lobbyists shook hands with staffers and made them aware of the needs of the community. The lobbyists were for the most part treated with courtesy (some aides were very uncomfortable and let their facade slip).

Media coverage was minimal due to the unexpectedly announcement that the Jury in the O.J. Simpson murder trial had reached a verdict after only four hours. However, ABCs 20/20 has done a segment on transgender and transexual activism which is scheduled to air in early November.

* * Of Interest from the Internet * *

From: lisa@interport.net (Lisa Aaronson) Subject: Re: “Unusual” genealogical situations: This one takes the cake! Date: Wed, 1 Nov 1995 08:18:13

I came across this on soc.genealogy.computing. The question going on was how exactly you deal with same-sex marriages and TSity in a family tree chart.

Smiles, Lisa ————————————————– In article <476lc4$dfa@doc.cc.utexas.edu> churchyh@doc.cc.utexas.edu (Henry Churchyard) writes:

>In article <NEWTNews.815079078.25660.jac@jac.wrlc.org>, >Jim Cobbs <jac@wrlc.org> wrote:

>> Trans-sexuality: Since the individual who undergoes a sex >> change operation is physically sterile in the new gender, we >> dodge the bullet of the same individual being BOTH a natural >> father *and* a natural mother (or mother and father).

>How about the following case from the Fugger archives: >(G. Matthews, 1970, pp.247-8)

>From Piadena in Italy, the 26th day of May, 1601

> A weird happening has occurred in the case of a lansquenet > named Daniel Burghammer, of the squadron of Captain > Burkhard Laymann zu Liebenau, of the honourable Madrucci > Regiment in Piadena, in Italy. When the same was on the > point of going to bed one night he complained to his wife, > to whom he had been married by the Church seven years ago, > that he had great pains in his belly and felt something > stirring within. An hour thereafter, he gave birth to a > child, a girl. When his wife was made aware of this, she > notified the occurrence at once. Thereupon he was > examined and questioned as to how this had come to pass. > He then confessed on the spot that he was half man and > half woman, and that for more than seven years he had > served as a soldier in Hungary and the Netherlands; in > proof whereof he produced his genuine passport. He also > stated that while in the Netherlands he only slept once > with a Spaniard, and he became pregnant therefrom. This, > however, he kept a secret unto himself and also from his > wife, with whom he had for seven years lived in wedlock, > but had never been able to get her with child. The child > has been christened Elizabeth. He is able to suckle the > child with his right breast only and not at all on the > left side, where he is a man. He has also the natural > organs of a man for passing water. Both are well, the > child is beautiful, and many towns have already wished to > adopt it. The couple, however, are to be divorced by the > clergy. —————————————————————-

* * Fantasia Fair * *

Better Than Ever Your fearless AEGIS Executive Director has been on the Board of Directors of the Outreach Institute for the past three years, working to improve Fantasia Fair and make the organization fiscally accountable. All OIGS monies are now tracked by Treasurer Marcia Heindl, who happens to be an accountant, and the fair was wonderful this year. Here’s a post by Miqqi, a member of The Canadian Men’s Chorus.

From: mag@nexus.yorku.ca Subject: Fanfair 1995 Date: 30 Oct 1995 00:17:29 GMT FANTASIA FAIR 1995

by Miqqi Alicia Gilbert

[Editors note: Italics are indicated by *.]

I have just returned from Provincetown, Massachusetts, a small picturesque town on the very tip of Cape Cod. I was there to participate in my first Fantasia Fair, a week long celebration of the feminine in the male ranging from timid to committed cross dressers to long time transsexuals, with every stop along the way. The week consisted of workshops given by first rank professionals, lunches with speakers on fascinating subjects, wonderful banquets, exciting events, and some of the most warm and beautiful people I’ve met in my life. I could just give a diary of my own time in P’town, but everybody’s Fanfair is different depending on who they are, what they need, and how much they are willing to give and take. So, instead, I will take different aspects of the fair and tell you about them. The four parts of my story will be, 1] What Happens at the Fair; 2] Workshops and Personal Growth; 3] People at the Fair; and 4] Will You Go?

1. WHAT HAPPENS AT THE FAIR

Fanfair, which just celebrated its 21st year, take place in the predominantly gay and lesbian town of Provincetown, MA. This quaint fishing village is now a renowned tourist resort with numerous inns sprinkled through the town. There is an abundance of great shopping in charming boutiques specializing in women’s clothing, jewelry, and tourist items. As the fair takes place late in the season there are many great bargains to be had.

The first, and perhaps the foremost, fact about Fanfair is that you are totally free to be yourself. You can dress all the time and go wherever you want. You can stroll the beach, explore the shops, sample the restaurants, go for a manicure, get your hair done, have a coffee, and walk in and out of every shop on commercial Street. The only `look’ you’ll get is one from a pleased and hopeful shopkeeper. As you walk down the street, the light breeze swirling your skirt against your hose, local residents will smile at you and say, “Hey, honey, having a nice time?” (On my first such walk just after I registered, I reached such a heady state of euphoria I had to go off by myself and breathe slowly and deeply just to keep from bawling with joy.)

When you arrive at the fair you will already have been assigned to one of the charming inns in town. You will check in with your hosts, unpack the U-Haul trailer of clothes you brought (almost just kidding), and walk down to the Crown & Anchor on Commercial Street to register with the fair. After that you can have a walk, a nap, or, if you’re of a more serious bent, begin shopping.

The first night is the welcome dinner where you will meet many sisters from all over the world, some of whom will, by the end of the week, be friends for life. No one is lonely at Fanfair. No one sits alone, because someone will always say, “Hey, why don’t you join us?” And, of course, there is always your house mother, one to each inn, to make sure that no one gets lost in the shuffle.

Monday, this year, was focused on orientation. We had speakers from the police come to reassure us that P’town has zero tolerance on hate, and that if you get into trouble your mode of dress is no concern of theirs. As long as you obey the parking rules, which basically means leave your car at the inn, the police are a girl’s best friend. Having heard a fair number of stories on the net and other places about rude cops (and nice ones too) it was gratifying to be told that I’m all right and part of their public. After the police we had introductions of staff and the experts who were there to help us grow and explore our feminine selves in workshops and discussions. After a sumptuous buffet lunch there were mini- workshops so newcomers could get an idea of what they wanted to do. There are always free workshops and discussions available, but some have fees (never more than $20) so that the professionals can be paid. Seemed fair enough to me.

After the orientation, Fanfair is in full swing. Monday night was the Diversity Dinner, a church supper put on by us for the town’s people. Many local residents come religiously every year (pun intended). The dinner is cooked, served, and cleaned up by us Fanfair gals. At every table there are local people and Fanfair participants, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for everybody to learn about each other. And doing it is fun. I’ll never forget standing next to Virginia Prince as she washed and I dried a seemingly endless stream of pots, pans, and flatware, all the while deep in discussion about the nature of cross dressing.

Mornings are taken up with workshops, and I’ll write about those separately later on. Lunch, which is included in the package every day, provides a choice. You can go to one of two restaurants depending on what discussion topic interests you. The first hour of the two hour lunch break is taken up by eating and yakking and swapping stories with new and old friends. Then, at 1:00, the speaker begins talking or running the discussion. Then at 2:00 there are more workshops and discussion groups. And any time the spirit moves you, all the work can be abandoned in favour of walking, relaxing, shopping or exploring. No one takes attendance at Fanfair.

Tuesday night was the fashion show, and it was here that our little gang, the Canadian contingent which dubbed itself The Canadian Men’s Chorus, first made our presence known. We were all in the show and had a ball. Imagine this. You have four outfits, four changes, two before the break, two after. There’s a tiny change room where everybody who is dressing squeezes in and helps each other with zippers and jewelry. Out there in the front of the house are 200 people, mostly from town, who cheer and whistle with the appearance of every one of the 18 models who walk down the runway, do their little twirl, and sashay on back. Scared as I was, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven.

Wednesday night was the Outreach awards banquet, so we all dolled ourselves up in evening dresses. The night was a social event to celebrate those of our own community who had made special contributions above and beyond the call of duty. The food was great, the company was perfect, and the sense of celebrating ourselves was moving.

Thursday night and The Canadian Men’s Chorus, along with fifteen or so other acts were back to work. It was the night of the Fanfair Follies! And, if I thought the house was crowded for the fashion show, it was *packed* for the follies. I peeked out from the bar, where I was having a small drink (ok, a large drink,) to steady my nerves, and saw a line extending half a block long. “What,” I asked an experienced gal, “are all those people doing there?” When I was told they were lining up for good seats for the follies I had to be physically restrained from bolting. There was live singing, dancing, lip synching, and the house was full and exuberant. (And just so no one gets too scared, there were lots of sisters who enjoyed the show from the seats_not everyone has to participate in everything.) The follies was followed by a scrumptious buffet and house parties. I think I checked in about 3 am.

Friday night was the Fantasy Ball. Dinner was on our own, one of the three of seven nights where dinner is on your own, and a whole bunch of us went to a really nice restaurant. At the ball, the night where you can dress up in your wildest fantasy, there were numerous Dommes in black and fishnet and leather, colourful genies, pirates, peasant maidens, and several nurses, cheerleaders and aerobics instructors. The prize for best costume went to a charter member of The Canadian Men’s Chorus, Melissa, who stunned everyone with her magnificent Little Bo Beep costume including ruffled pantaloons and shepherd’s crook. It was a wild night, and I frankly don’t know what time I got to bed.

Saturday night it poured rain. It was the first bad weather we had, so we really couldn’t complain. And, as we were going to be in one place for the evening (and you could drive there and park) it wasn’t so bad. The Awards banquet is where those people who have been outstanding for and during Fanfair receive recognition. There is Miss Cinderella, who is the gal who everyone thinks seemed to grow and flower the most. This year it was won by our own Melissa, she of the Bo Beep fantasy, for whom the whole experience was rich with growth and sharing. Others awards were for the Best Dressed, Miss Femininity, Miss Congeniality, and, finally, Miss Fanfair, given to the gal who has served the most and the longest in the interests of the fair.

That last night was exciting and beautiful as we pulled out all the stops and wore our most wonderful dresses. But it was also tinged with sadness, as we knew that the morrow brought an end to our magical ephemeral world. But, even then, we all knew that we had each changed and grown and made new friends, and that would *never* leave us.

On Sunday there was a `whenever you turn up’ brunch at one of the restaurants, and then some of us went to the Unitarian Church for the service. I did, and believe me, I’m not a churchgoer, and was very glad. There was a sense of closure, and being in that lovely tabernacle with so many local people who had embraced and loved us, was, somehow, right.

Leaving was the most difficult thing I had done since arriving in P’town. And, as one friend said, the only solace is that tomorrow is one day closer to next year.

Copyright M.A. Gilbert, 1995 Toronto, Canada

[This article may be re-published or re-posted in or on any transgender magazine, newsletter or electronic bulletin board, provided only that no profit is made and that the copyright notice and authorship are left on.] —————————————————————- * * U.S. Passport Policy * *

Recently, the following was posted on one of the transgender- related USENET groups by Louise Raeder. We were happy to see it, as it saved us from having to type it in! We have a photocopy of the original document in our files; it represents official US passport policy. To wit: you can get your name changed immediately upon presentation of a court-ordered name change, or without a court order, if you have been using the name exclusively and can prove it. You can have your passport amended to the new sex with an affidavit from a physician that you have had genital surgery. If you are in the “final stages of sex reassignment” (what this means is unspecified, so you can be creative here), you can get a one-year passport in the new gender so you can go abroad for treatment.

Please note: this is official policy. Your treatment at the hands of officials at different offices may differ. Some of our members report difficulties with getting their one-year passports, and others report that they were able to get the usual 10-year passport without problem. If you encounter an obstacle, you can show them a printout of the memo which follows. Then, at least, they’ll know official policy. Department of State

Washington, D. C. 20520

In reply refer to: PT/LS

August 18, 1978

Ms. Joanna M. Clark Director, Legal Research Division Renaissance [THIS ORGANIZATION CLOSED IN 1986]

Dear Ms. Clark:

I refer to your July 20 letter to the Passport Office.

When an applicant has changed his/her name, the passport will be issued in that name if the applicant presents a court order changing the name. When the applicant has not obtained a court ordered name change, a passport will be issued in the assumed name only when the applicant submits the following:

a) Affidavits executed by two or more persons attesting that they have known the applicant by both names and that the applicant has used the assumed name exclusively for at least the past 5 years;

b) Documentary evidence such as school records, military records, employment records, tax records, or other public records; and

c) Identification in the assumed name only.

A transsexual who meets either of the above requirements may have a passport issued in a new name.

In addition, a transsexual may have the sex designation in the passport changed from that indicated on the birth evidence provided the applicant submits a doctor’s letter which states that the applicant is a post-operative transsexual or a pre-operative transsexual who is in the final stages of treatment prior to surgery. If the applicant is post-operative, a full validity passport will be issued. If the applicant is pre-operative, a passport valid for one year will be issued. Unless a pre-operative applicant shows extenuating circumstances, a passport will not be extended until the applicant submits a doctor’s letter stating that the surgery has been performed. The reason for this is, as stated above, a pre-operative applicant must be in the final stages of treatment prior to surgery before a passport will be issued with the new sex designated therein. This policy is based on 22 U.S.C. U211a which grants the Secretary authority to issue passports “under such rules as the President shall designate . . . “.

Executive Order No. 11295, 31 Federal Register 10603 (1966) designated the Secretary to exercise authority conferred upon by the President by Section 211a. In addition, 22 U. S.C. U2658 provides that “the Secretary of State may promulgate such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the functions . . . vested in the Secretary of State . . . “.

Based on the above authority, the Secretary has promulgated rules and regulations pertaining to the issuance of United States passports. Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 51.24 concerns the issuance of passports to individuals who have changed their names. A copy of the passport regulations is enclosed for your convenience.

There is no regulation which specifically deals with the sex designation in the passport. Our policy explained above is based on the fact that the passport is a document of identity as well as citizenship and is highly regarded as such both domestically and abroad. Accordingly, the passport must be issued with data which best identifies the bearer. We believe that a pre-operative transsexual whose treatment has progressed to the final stages prior to surgery can, in most cases, be better identified by the new sex.

The passport is limited in validity to one year because, until surgery is completed, issuance with the new sex designation is an accommodation.

I hope this information is of assistance to you.

Sincerely,

Michele E. Truitt, Acting Chief Legal Division Passport Office

by: Robert W. Knott Attorney Advisor

Contents of letter verified 22 April 1988 by William B. Wharton, Director, Office of Citizenship Appeals and Legal Assistance, Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20520. Contents of letter re-verified 14 July 1989 by Bonnie Lea-Brown, Attorney Adviser, on behalf of William B. Wharton, Director, Office of Citizenship Appeals and Legal Assistance, Department of State, Washington, D.C. 20520.

— Thanks for Subscribing to this Newsletter! —

— END AEGIS NEWS 1(4), Pt. 2 of 2 —

1995, 15 November

Subj: Excerpt from SIECUS Advocates Reports

Date: 95-11-15 10:35:00 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

(From SIECUS Advocates Reports) Fall, 1995

FYI: SIECUS and NEA Under Attack

The conservative group Concerned Women for America (CWA) has launched a campaign against the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States and the National Education Association (NEA). As part of a fundraising appeal to its members, CWA grossly misrepresented SIECUS’ positions and alliances. CWA requested their members to send a pre-printed letter to their representatives in Congress which contained patently false representations of SIECUS’ positions, a request that SIECUS receive no federal or state funds, and a plea that Congress investigate SIECUS.

The group is attacking the NEA for passing “Resolution B-9: Sexual Orientation Education.” The NEA’s text reads, in part, that it recognizes “support for the celebration of a Lesbian and gay History Month as a means of acknowledging the contributions of lesbians, gays, and bisexuals throughout history.” CWA misrepresented the NEA resolution as a proclamation that “October is Gay/Lesbian History Month” and falsely claimed that NEA would use federal funds to do “special trainings,” programs, hallway displays, and film showing as part of ‘Gay/Lesbian History Month.”

The Christian Action Network has targeted the National School Health Education Coalition (NaSHEC), which was listed last year in the Congressional Record (during the debate on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act) as opposing restrictions on services for gay and lesbian youth in the public schools. Christian Action Network members are writing letters to the national organizations belonging to NaSHEC to encourage them to withdraw from the coalition.

National Far Right organizations continue to distort statistics and misinform their constituents in an effort to remove accurate, effective sexuality education programs from the public schools. The Christian Coalition’s September 1995 issue of Christian American includes arguments that condoms don’t work, people won’t use condoms even if they did work, and that young people prefer an abstinence-only approach. The article also comments that “These [sexually transmitted] diseases and the devastation they inflict, serve as a biological judgement upon the sexual revolution.”

— One of these days the Right Wing will turn on transgender organizations.

— Dallas

Dallas Denny, M.A. American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1995, 17 November

Subj: Re: FTM autobiographies

Date: 95-11-17 17:03:01 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

The following is from Stephen Whittle <S.T.Whittle@mmu.ac.uk>:

>Dear Dallas – you mind want to post this to the Aegis list. >———————————————————— > >I thought people might be interested to hear that there have been 3 >FTM autobiographies printed over here in teh UK this year. They are: > >Raymond Thompson with Kittey Sewell: `What took you so long: a girls >journey to manhood’, Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-024645-2 > >Paul Hewitt with Jane Warren: `A self-made man: the diary of a man >born in a wmona’s body’, Headline Books, ISBN 0-7472-7819-9 > >Both are ghost written which is perhaps unfortuante in the way they >have been edited, and the way the emphasis is. However Ray Thompson’s >book is an excellent account of being a FTM who has a hard time, and >ends up on the wrong side of the law, in prison etc. Pauls is much >more a diary account of the actual process of transition. Both are >members of the UK FTM network. > >The third book – due out in December is by one of the pioneers over >here in the UK. Its Mark Rees’s story, he was the first TS in the UK >to go to the European Ct of Human Rights, also he is one of the >founders of Press For Change the campaign and lobby group on behalf >of TS/TG rights over here, and is a great campaigner on behalf of the >cause with a very public profile over here. He is also a leading >figure in the FTM network. The book is: >Mark Rees `Dear Sir or Madam’, to be published by Cassells, in >December. > >All are well worth adding to your library. > >Stephen Whittle

1995, 19 November (1)

Subj: Re: Trans Firing at NC University Date: 95-11-19 00:59:30 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: judithg555@aol.com CC: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: judithg555@aol.com (JudithG555) CC: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Judith:

Thank you for your comments about the firing of Resident Assistant Sharon Franklin Brown. I typed the story in from the article sent me by Ruth Sheerhan, the reporter who did the story, which she was kind enough to send me. She initially contacted me for general information about transexualism while she was researching the story. I’m quoted in the article, although I left that part out, as members of this list wouldn’t really care to hear the general information. She included her card. There’s little doubt that Ruth is legitimate.

I’ve also received a post about Ms. Brown from activists in the area who personally know her.

What gets picked up by the wire services is highly variable. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently had a full–page spread on Dr. Erin Swenson, a Presbyterian minister, who is fighting to keep her ordination. We thought it would be picked up, but it wasn’t.

I believe the story is legitimate. I’ll try to find the phone number of the Board of Regents so I can call them and verify it.

— Dallas >Dallas: > I’d be skeptical about this story for several reasons: > 1) The story, which is about an *eastern* North Carolina school, came > from the N&O’s *Charlotte* bureau at the other end of the state. > (Being that the N&O, a Raleigh paper, is widely read in >Fayetteville, > I’d expect it to have a bureau there. Also, the N&O’s home >offices > in the middle of the state are a lot closer to Fayetteville than > > Charlotte is.) > 2) This story has not been carried as a wire-service item in other > central N.C. papers, such as Greensboro – which normaly cover even > mundane killings in other parts of central N.C. > (Anything “hot” anywhere in N.C. inevitably ends up covered in >almost > all major papers here – and that just hasn’t happened with this.) > 3) When I was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill years ago, there was no > discrimination against the many openly gay students – their group > even got campus fee funds! > (I’ve never heard of anti-gay discrimination at any of UNC’s 16 > schools in the past 15 years.) >Judith >

1995, 19 November (2)

Subj: Some News Items

Date: 95-11-19 00:50:56 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

Donald McCloskey, a University of Iowa professor who told his wife he wanted a divorce because he planned to become a woman, was invountariliy committed for a psychiatric evaluation on 2 November. He was released the next day. His wife initiated the action which led to the commitment.

 

Drag Candidate Loses Bid to Restore Resort to Glory

If Ktty Cole had been elected mayor of Palm Springs, CA, the desert resort town would be on its way to becoming once again “the playground for mobsters and movie stars it was intended to be.” Cole, a 6’5″ former modeling agent and self-described drag queen, ran on a platform of reversing years of family-oriented tourist marketing under past mayors like Sony Bono, the former entertainer now in Congress. Cole’s other proposals included marking no-parking zones with red or gold glibber, sponsoring celebrity croquet tournaments on city golf courses and reopening Palm Springs to college spring break revelers. But the bulk of Cole’s platform was more mainstream– speeding up city bureaucracy, loosening sign and vendor regulations and putting abandoned buildings to use as youth and music centers. Despite such positions– and campaign donations of two $3000 wigs– Cole was defeated on 7 November.

— Etcetera Magazine, 17 November,1995, v. 11, No. 46.

1995, 5 December

Subj: News Item Date: 95-12-05 15:55:56 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com I apologize if I already posted this.

— Dallas

The following article is from the Boston Globe, Thurs, Nov. 23, 1995, page 57.

VICTIM’S TWIN SAYS GENDER WAS NO SECRET ————————————————— He disputes alleged motive for slaying of transsexual ————————————————— By Ric Kahn and Matt Bai (Boston Globe Staff) ___________________________________________________

A Watertown man accused of strangling a transsexual he picked up in a gay bar Sunday – purportedly after discovering that his pickup was a male – was a regular at the bar and knew the victim’s gender all along, other bar patron’s and the victim’s brother say. William Palmer,34,a computer programmer,pleaded not guilty to the murder of Roman Pickett,23, in Waltham District Court yesterday and was ordered held without bail. Proscecutors allege that Palmer was at the Playland Cafe in the Combat Zone when he met Pickett and Pickett’s twin brother Gabriel, also a transsexual awaiting sex change surgery. Palmer drove them back to their Washington Avenue home in Chelsea, where the group snorted cocaine. Palmer then took Roman Pickett, who went by the name Chanelle, back to his Chandler Street apartment, said Adrienne Lynch, an assistant Middlesex district attorney. There he discovered Pickett was a man and strangled him during a scuffle, Lynch said. But Gabriel Pickett, who uses the name Gabrielle and has appeared with his brother on television shows such as Jenny Jones and Geraldo, said Palmer had been seen several times in the Playland Cafe, which patrons described as a bar frequented by gay men and transvestites. “He didn’t kill her because he didn’t know,” Pickett said yesterday, referring to his brother as a woman. “He’s saying that to cover up. He’s been in Playland several times. He knew exactly what she was.” Palmer’s attorney, Walter Prince, branded as “absurd” the allegations that Palmer had dated transsexuals and knew Pickett was a man. “We have it on pretty solid ground that any accusations are certainly false and out of character for a gentleman who has lived the normal upstanding life he has.” he said. Palmer grew up in the Boston area and graduated from Stoughton High School. “He has worked every day of his life since high school and has deep roots in the community,” Prince said. Gabriel Pickett said his brother worked as a prostitute at the bar to help finance his planned sex-change, but Palmer was not his customer. Roman Pickett thought Palmer might be someone with whom he could have a relationship, his brother said. The night of the killing, Gabriel Pickett said, Roman and Palmer had shared drinks and kisses at the bar before Roman packed an overnight bag for their date in Watertown. The two brothers were often seen together at the Playland Cafe and at Jacques’s, a bar in Bay Village. Roman Pickett was arrested in Bay Village last January for assault and battery on a police officer and was sentenced to perform community service, which he never did, according to court records. An arrest warrant for him was outstanding at the time of his death. Gabriel Pickett said Roman had worked at Nynex but was fired in February after an argument with someone who made snide remarks

about his sexuality. The two brothers loved entertaining and were thinking of forming a musical group, he said. Gabriel Pickett was in the courtroom yesterday, dressed in a mini-skirt and high heels, and yelled “All right!” when Judge Gregory C. Flynn ordered Palmer held without bail. Patrons of the Playland Cafe agreed that Palmer could not have been unaware of Pickett’s gender. “He knew what he was doing,” said Toyaer Shearrion, 30, another pre-operative transsexual, who said he dated Palmer four times. “He loves them.” Pickett was “a beautiful person,” Shearrion said “She was always there for you if you needed something.” In court yesterday, Lynch recounted the version of events provided by the two men with whom Palmer shares his apartment. About 5 a.m. Monday, the men were awakened by sounds of crashing and screaming, she said. One of the roommates, inquiring whether Palmer was alright, was assured everything was fine. Police discovered Pickett’s body in Palmer’s bedroom Monday afternoon by breaking into the apartment after the three room- mates visited an attorney, who called police. Roman Pickett was wearing a woman’s shirt and jeans when he died. Police recovered a long, black, curly-haired wig and and cocaine at the scene. Prince said Palmer consulted with him before going to the Watertown police station to give a statement. Prince plans to go before a Superior Court judge tomorrow to try to get Palmer released on bail. —————————————————————– Paul Langner and John Ellement of the Globe staff contributed to this report. _________________________________________________________________

 Dallas Denny, M.A. American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. P.O. Box 33724, Decatur, GA 30033-0724

A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation / Publisher of CHRYSALIS

(770) 939-2128 Business / (770) 939-0244 Information & Referrals) (770) 939-1770 FAX / E-MAIL aegis@mindspring.com

To be on our electronic distribution list send e-mail to majordomo@lists.mindspring.com on the first line of the body of your message, include the following:

subscribe aegis-list <gallae@azstarnet.com>

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

One is not born a woman [or a man]– One becomes one.

— Simone de Beauvoir

1995, 7 December

Subj: MAAD at GLAAD Date: 95-12-07 13:54:01 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has reorganized amist claims that it has purged its staff of persons friendly to the transgender community. Cathy Che, who was Membership Director, and Donald Suggs, former Associate Director, claim they were fired by Managing Director William Waybourn. Waybourn denies that they were, and also claims that the transgendered person who had been in the office had completed her internship.

Waybourn is fooling no one. AEGIS suggests that you contact GLAAD chapters and GLAAD national to express your dissatisfaction about this affair.

At this time we do not have contact information for GLAAD National. If anyone has it, would you please post it directly to AEGIS-List so that we and others can contact GLAAD to express our disapproval. Thank you. Dallas Denny, M.A. American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. P.O. Box 33724, Decatur, GA 30033-0724

A 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Corporation / Publisher of CHRYSALIS

(770) 939-2128 Business / (770) 939-0244 Information & Referrals) (770) 939-1770 FAX / E-MAIL aegis@mindspring.com

To be on our electronic distribution list send e-mail to majordomo@lists.mindspring.com on the first line of the body of your message, include the following:

subscribe aegis-list <gallae@azstarnet.com>

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

One is not born a woman [or a man]– One becomes one.

— Simone de Beauvoir

1995, 11 December

Subj: RE: Slain Activists/Medford OR (fwd) Date: 95-12-11 23:56:41 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com >Return-Path: phillida@borg.mindspring.com >Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 23:13:12 -0500 >X-Sender: phillida@pop.atl.mindspring.com >To: aegis@mindspring.com >X-UIDL: 818742294.004 >From: Phillida Hutcheson <phillida@borg.mindspring.com> >Subject: RE: Slain Activists/Medford OR (fwd) > >Dallas, > >Here are more details of the murders mentioned last night on the phone. > >Phillida > >>Return-Path: owner-avengers@QueerNet.ORG >>Sender: owner-avengers@QueerNet.ORG >>Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 13:31:38 -0800 (PST) >>From: Amy Millward <millwara@ucs.orst.edu> >>To: avengers@QueerNet.ORG >>Subject: RE: Slain Activists/Medford OR (fwd) >>Sender: owner-avengers@QueerNet.ORG >>Reply-To: avengers@QueerNet.ORG >> >>Hello, >> I live in Corvallis, a few hours north of Medford in Oregon. >>Here’s a composite update for those of you who haven’t heard the news. >>Also a contact number to send donations, etc. >> And here’s my own personal addition: these murders have taken their >>toll on many of us. I have been alternately brooding and raging since I >>heard about the abduction. It’s a huge loss, and extremely close to home >>for rural dykes and Lesbian Avengers in small Oregon towns. >> Courage, >> Amy M. >> >>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX >>If you wish to receive private updates, email Alan at the address below. >> >>Please Forward … >> >>The response to Michelle and Roxanne’s death has been overwhelming. This >>is intended to be a brief synopsis of the events that occurred. This will >>be the last post I will make to listservs and mailgroups to save >>bandwidth. If you wish to continue receiving updates send me e-mail at >>alanb@efn.org >> >>Individuals interested in doing something in response to the murder of the >>two lesbian activists in Medford Oregon, Michelle Abdill and Roxanne >>Ellis, have been asked by the family to please not send cards or flowers. >>A memorial fund has been set up to benefit PFLAG, donations can be made >>to: Abdill & Ellis Memorial Fund, Bank of America, Ashland Oregon Branch >>or mailed to PFLAG, Abdill-Ellis Memorial Fund, PO Box 13, Ashland OR >>97520. >> >>Individuals may also write letters to the editor of the local paper, the >>Medford Mail Tribune. The mailing address is PO Box 1108, Medford Oregon >>97501 or the e-mail address is mailtrib@mind.net. Be sure to include your >>name, address, and a DAY TIME phone number. If sending it via e-mail >>start the subject with “ATTN: Letters”. >>

>>—————————————————————————- >>Synopsis:

>>—————————————————————————- >> >>On Monday, December 4th Roxanne Ellis had an appointment to show a rental >>duplex for their property management company. Latter she contacted her >>partner of twelve years, Michelle Abdill indicating she needed a jumpstart >>for her vehicle at around 5pm. Th at is the last either woman was seen. >>Michelle’s truck was discovered missing, Roxanne’s car was found unlocked >>with her purse, keys and credit cards left behind. >> >>Information about their disappearance and a call for help in locating them >>went out onto the Internet from PFLAG at 6pm on Wednesday, December 6th >>and activists around the nation responded. >> >>On Thursday, December 7th at about 4pm, a cable company employee that had >>memorized the missing vehicle’s license plate discovered the pickup >>belonging to Roxanne Ellis parked behind an apartment building and >>notified police. The bodies of both women were found shot in the back of >>the truck hidden by the truck’s canopy. >> >>[The news also mentioned that they were “disfigured” so badly that the >>police had difficulty identifying them. This detail is what gives me >>chills — the overwhelming cruelty and malicious intent of the crime-Amy] >> >>At the time of this writing the police are searching for a male subject >>described as: White male adult (30’s to 40’s). 5′-7″ to 5′-10″ tall; 150 >>to l7O lbs. Brown and grey hair, clean shaven. Wearing:gold wire rim >>glasses,’grey jacket and tan pants. P ossible related vehicle: Large >>dark blue 4-door sedan, similar to a Chevrolet sedan. California license >>plates (white background/blue letters). A composit sketch of the subject >>is still available via the World Wide Web at: >> >>http://www.efn.org/~alanb/subject1.gif >> >>Or by e-mailing a request for a specfied graphic format (BMP, PCX, TIFF, >>GIF, JPG) to: >> >>alanb@efn.org >> >>Following the discovery of the two women a number of vigils were >>scheduled: >> >>Bend, Oregon >>Cincinati, Ohio >>Corvallis Oregon >>Eugene, Oregon [And at other sites not mentioned here-Amy] >>Medford, Oregon >>Newport Oregon >>Yachats, Oregon >> >>Michelle and Roxanne were both activists in combating anti-gay ballot >>measures in Oregon. It should be noted that Medford is one of the local >>communities where a a city-wide anti-gay initiative was passed, as >>was a >>county-wide measure in Jackson County. Police report the two had received >>threats in the past and are investigating the murders as possible hate >>crimes although no motive has as yet been established. Neither woman was >>sexually assaulted. >> >>Focus at this time is on vigils for the women and on bringing their >>murderer to justice. Activists are requested to continue circulating the >>police sketch until he is found, this is especially critical in the states >>of Oregon, California and Washington. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > This time I’ll grow more daisies > >Fax (404) 732-0623 >http://www.mindspring.com/~phillida/pchintro.html > > >All who joy would win must share it > >Happiness was born a twin. -Lord Byron

1995, 20 December

Subj: (Australia) Brother Sister News – 14/12/95

Date: 95-12-20 02:11:29 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

(Australian) Democrats back tranny lesbian

>DEMOCRATS BACK TRANNY LESBIAN > >*The Australian Democrats recently announced male to >female, transgender lesbian Julie Peters as their candidate for >the federal seat of Batman in the next election.* > >The Batman electorate is a safe Labour seat, taking in the >Northcote and Fairfield area, that will be contested by the >former ACTU leader Martin Ferguson for the ALP and >independent socialist Irene Bolger. > >Peters told ‘Brother Sister’ that she chose to join the >Democrats after becoming disillusioned by the lack of >differences between this country’s two major parties. > >Peters : “I like the Democrats because I feel that they >recognise that political situation is in need of urgent >attention more so than other parties.” > >Although aware that her transgenderism and sexuality will >be issues in the election campaign, she sees the main issue as >poverty and other across-the-board problems such as >domestic violence. > >”It is necessary to take gay issues into a broader arena,” says >Peters. “Poverty affects the gay and lesbian community too. >All issues are gay and lesbian issues as well.” > >She also accepts that she will not immediately win the gay >vote in the area, “If I have the right policies I will get the vote >of gays and lesbians but I don’t deserve them immediately >just for being a lesbian.” > >The subject of transgender lesbians has torn much of the >lesbian community in recent years, something that Peters is >well aware of, having addressed many lesbian groups about >the subject in the past. > >Peters : “I’m talking a more conciliatory approach to that. I >can understand why some lesbians don’t want us in their >space if our presence is not conducive to a group of women >who may be trying to work through some personal subjects >such as incest. But on a social level I should be accepted,” >Peters adds though, “Since I came out publicly as a >transgender I have had a lot more lesbian friends.” > >She also points out that a recent survey by Sydney >researcher Roberta Perkins shows that one third of male to >female transgenderists identify as lesbians (another third >identify as bisexual). > >To critics that claim changing gender to lead a homosexual >lifestyle is illogical or an act of denial (ie. a male’s inability to >accept his ‘feminine’ side) Peters has an answer ready. > >”People think that transexuality is about sex,” says Peters. >”It’s not. It’s about identity and who you want to be. Roles in >culture are about more than sex.” > >Peters says that her fight to being a transgender and getting >recognised as a lesbian has prepared her to be a fighting >politician. > >Peters : “Becoming a transgender seems such an impossibility >that I’m not intimidated by the size of any problems that a >political career can offer.” >GLAD ACCUSED OF DISCRIMINATION > >*Gays and Lesbians Against Discrimination Inc. (GLAD) >have been accused of dropping a scheduled drag >performance from a weekend benefit after saying members of >the group found drag to be offensive.* > >Management of Melbourne drag artist Tracey Twat allege >their client was approached to host a GLAD benefit being >held at the Glasshouse Hotel this weekend only to be >informed earlier this week that his services were no longer >required. > >Peter Robinson, who manages Tracey Twat, claims the >organisers of the benefit contacted him on December 12, >saying it was the general opinion of the group that a lot of >the gay community found drag offensive. > >Robinson told Brother Sister that Twat had agreed to host >the charity event, wavering his normal fee for the night’s >three hours work. > >David Feighan, male co-convenor of GLAD, says his group >would not discriminate against drag performers in such a >way, although he is aware Twat was initially scheduled to >appear but was no longer on the bill. > >For any members of GLAD to discriminate goes against a >policy statement that was approved at a GLAD meeting in >October. > >The statement reiterates the group’s fight against >discrimination and says that it will not be tolerated “in any >form”. > >It goes on to state that: “Any members found in breach of >this policy, may be fined under regulations on of the model >rules of GLAD Inc.” > >Andrew Mast

1996, 7 January

Subj: Chicago Tribune Article Date: 96-01-07 20:40:07 EST From: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com This was forwarded to us by Dana Moore.

— Dallas >Date: Sunday, January 7, 1996 >Source: By Jeff Lyon. >Section: SUNDAY MAGAZINE >Column: FOR STARTERS. >Parts: 6 >Copyright Chicago Tribune > >UNCLE SAM’S GENDER COPS > > The Newts among us gripe about federal intrusion into our lives, but I >confess that until now I thought the Feds’ meddling was limited to forcing >ranchers to accept the return of wolves to Yellowstone and making M.D.s take

>less pay to fix Grandma’s gallstones. > That was before I learned that Washington has begun telling people what >sex they are. > For the first 40 years of his life, Daniel M. was a typical, if overly >macho, guy. He was a Marine. A pilot. A rock-climber. He’s been married >twice and has three children. > Then Dan (we’re withholding his surname in the interest of his kids) had >his midlife crisis. But instead of running off with a babe, he decided he >wanted to be one. > “Ever since I was a child, I’ve felt I was in the wrong body,” he says, >explaining why he’s pursued a sex change over the last year. > First he underwent counseling and hormone therapy, overseen by Dr. Fred >Ettner of Evanston. When his blossoming breasts and vanishing beard evoked >interest from his wife, he broke down and told her of his plans. “She cried >for a couple of days,” he said, “mourning the loss of Dan the Marlboro Man. >But she’s wonderful. She said, ‘I truly love you and want to support you,’ >and she’s decided to stay married to me. She’s taught me to walk, talk and >dress as a woman and to do makeup.” > In September, the people at work (he manages new computer systems for a >suburban electronics giant) had to be told. “I literally left on Friday as >Dan and came back Monday as Dana Marie. People gawked for a couple of days, >then accepted me.” > So did Illinois and Arizona when he, now she, sought a change of name and

>sex on her driver’s license and birth certificate. But then she ran into the

>U.S. Passport Agency’s gender cops. > Urged by her firm to travel internationally, she sought a new passport as

>a woman. > But the agency balked. It demanded that Dana change her name legally in >court, which she did. Then, to keep things kosher, she moved her sex-change >surgery up by a few months. On Oct. 30, Dr. Eugene Schrang of Neenah, Wis., >removed two of Dana’s male appendages and some of the third. > But again the agency rejected her petition. This time they wanted a >letter from the surgeon. So now Schrang verified in print that he’d >performed “sex reassignment” on Dana. > A reasonable person would now say, ‘She wears a dress, she’s been >permanently streamlined, and her doctor says she’s a woman. Who are we to >argue?’ But on Dec. 11, an agency lawyer in D.C. ruled that Dana could get a

>new passport, but only as a male. “They told me it’s because Dr. Schrang >said he’d ‘performed’ the operation, not ‘completed’ it,” says Dana. > “Great, huh? I’ll be visiting sticky places like Colombia with a ticket >that says I’m Dana Marie and a passport that says I’m a man.” > Passport officials couldn’t comment. They were home due to the government

>shutdown. Which gives me an idea of where we can cut some money from the >budget. >PHOTO (color): Dana Marie. “Be a man,” says U.S. Tribune photo by Hung T. >Vu. >Keywords: ISSUE SEX CHANGE > > >Document ID: S6007116 Content goes here

1996, 21 January

Subj: Position Statement on SRS Date: 96-01-21 02:51:37 EST From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc. (AEGIS) P.O. Box 33724 Decatur, GA 30033-0724

770-939-2128 business 770-939-0244 helpline 770-939-1770 FAX aegis@mindspring.com

Position Statement

January, 1995

Sex Reassignment Surgery: Sometimes, But Not Always, Necessary or Desirable (SRS Should Never Be Forced on Those Who Do Not Want It)

In the minds of the general public, and unfortunately, in the minds of many professionals involved in the medical and psychological treatment of persons with gender identity issues, the inevitable result of sex reassignment procedures (hormonal feminization or masculinization, electrolysis, breast augmentation or reduction, resocialization, establishment of new legal identity) is or should be masculinizing or feminizing genital surgery (Sex Reassignment Surgery, or SRS). However, SRS is neither wanted nor needed by a significant percentage of persons who have established or plan to establish cross-gender roles nor is SRS ever achieved by the majority of persons who desire it.

Consumer advocacy organizations like AEGIS and the International Foundation for Gender Education have long argued that SRS should be a choice and not a requirement for transsexual persons. In The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV), the American Psychiatric Association (APA) took an important conceptual step forward by dropping the category Transsexualism (302.50) in favor of a single diagnostic category for all persons with gender identity issues (Gender Identity Disorders, 302.85). Thus, the APA no longer clinically distinguishes those transgendered persons who desire SRS from those who do not. A number of articles in professional journals and several texts currently in press, including Current Concepts in Transgender Identity: Toward a New Synthesis (Garland Publishers) and Recommended Guidelines for Transgender Care (Sullivan Press) reflect this sensibility.

SRS is intrusive, irreversible, and expensive, and has the usual risks of any surgical procedure. It should never be required of those who do not want it, or are not sure they want it. It should not be a requirement in order to establish a legal identity, live in a particular gender role, or obtain medical or psychological treatments. In particular, the lack of a stated desire for SRS should not be used as a reason to deny hormonal therapy, electrolysis, breast reduction or enlargement, other masculinizing or feminizing plastic surgeries, or other procedures usually considered part of sex reassignment. In fact, to force such a drastic and irreversible procedure as SRS on another human being, for whatever reason, is clearly unethical.

SRS is a valuable tool which provides great relief to many persons living in cross-gender roles. Many transsexual persons consider it essential for their psychological well-being, and a number of studies indicate that the procedure has a high success rate. This advisory should not be interpreted as an argument that SRS is not sometimes necessary. It is an essential part of treatment for many transsexual persons. However, it should never, for any reason, be forced upon those who do not want it.

1996, 21 April

Subj: AEGIS’ Letter to GLMA Date: 96-04-21 00:57:07 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

19 April, 1996 Valerie K. Ulstad, M.D. President, GLMA 211 Church St., Ste. C San Francisco, CA 94114 Dear Dr. Ulstad:

AEGIS is a nonprofit clearinghouse for information on transgender and transsexual issues. We are a membership-based organization with a largely professional membership base. At least six of our members are transgendered or transsexual physicians, some of whom are members of GLMA.

We are grievously concerned that GLMA has removed transgender from its title, and moreso because of the way it was done– without debate, and apparently without any real need to do so.

The Board’s actions show a profound misunderstanding of what lies at the core of the transgender phenomenon, and of how sexual orientation and gender identity are inextricably intertwined. Both same-sex behavior and gender nonconformity violate social norms; both are, at bottom gender transgressive.

We find the reasons given for the Board’s decision in your letter of 5 April unconvincing. It is not difficult to see a motivation of transphobia and homophobia underneath the talk about “respect.”

I would like to specifically point out a problem with Board’s reasoning that because some transpeople are heterosexual, trans inclusion on your letterhead

“would mislead people into thinking that… heterosexual transgender issue are a core focus of GLMA’s activities.” Heterosexuality and homosexuality break down completely in the face of gender nonconformity. I am a post-operative transsexual woman. If I am partnered with a postoperative transsexual man, is that “heterosexual?” “Homosexual?” “Bisexual?” If I were a GLMA member, who could I pair with/not pair with to be assured that GLMA was interested in my ability to love whom I choose?

There is really no word to describe any relationship I might become involved in, although it would most assuredly be a queer one– and I do assume that the Board, in its revisionist mood, did not see fit to remove queerness from GLMA’s area of interest?

 

One thing is certain, and that is that GLMA’s dismissal of transpeople is disrespectful. I hope the Board will see fit to put transgender back in the name.

 

Sincerely, Dallas Denny, M.A. Licensed Psychological Examiner

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996,10 May

Subj: No Subject Date: 96-05-10 00:28:38 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: jamisong@aol.com CC: elliottd@harpo.tnstate.edu

9 May, 1996

Friedemann Pfafflin, M.D., Ph.D. President, HBIGDA Klininkum der Universitat Ulm Abteilung Psychoterapie Am Hochstrasse 8, Ulm, D89081, Germany

Judy Van Maasdam, M.A. Interim Executive Director, HBIGDA 3790 El Camino Real, #251 Palo Alto, CA 94306

HBIGDA Board of Directors Dear Dr. Pfafflin and Ms. Van Maasdam and HBIGDA Board:

I am writing to express my concern and that of many of AEGIS’ more than 500 general and professional members about the forced resignation of Alice Webb as HBIGDA’s Executive Director.

Under Ms. Webb’s direction, what was essentially a moribund organization trebled its membership, conducted two successful conferences, and published membership directories and several newsletters. Under her leadership, the organization showed a professionalism that I found unfortunately lacking in the several years which preceded her appointment. I and many others consider that Ms. Webb has done an exemplary job under difficult circumstances and fear that her resignation is a sign of the organization attempting to close itself off from change, and, in particular, from the membership and research of transgendered and transsexual professionals. I certainly remember the difficulty I had joining the organization when Ms. Van Maasdam was Director. It’s unlikely that I will ever forget that experience, as, to help me remember, I have kept copies of my unanswered correspondence and logs of my unreturned phone calls to HBIGDA and an audio tape of Ms. Van Maasdam acting most unprofessionally to my request for an application form.

Ms. Webb feels understandably bewildered and heartbroken that she was removed from her position as Executive Director in her absence, without due process, and without identified reason. I certainly hope that the Board of Directors will consider reinstating her to the position which she filled so very capably.

Sincerely,

Dallas Denny, M.A. Licensed Psychological Examiner (TN)

cc Alice Webb

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 21 May (1)

Subj: Reference List for Family and Partnership Date: 96-05-21 01:35:07 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

People are always asking us for information about families. Here’s a list of articles and book chapters from the professional literature. The Following list is C. 1996 by AEGIS

Family and Partnership Issues

Afzal, G. (1994). Issues facing transsexual parents and children. Paper presented at The Conference of the European Newtork of Professionals on Transsexualism, Manchester, England, 31 August, 1994.

Antill, J.K. (1987). Parents’ beliefs and values about sex roles, sex differences, and sexuality: Their sources and implications. In P. Shaver & C. Hendrick (Eds.), Sex and gender. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Bastani, J.B., & Kentsmith, D.K. (1980). Psychotherapy with wives of sexual deviants. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 34, 20-25.

Bates, J., Skilbeck, W., Smith, K.V.R., & Bentler, P. (1975). Interventions with families of gender disturbed boys. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 45, 150-157.

Beigel, H.G. (1963). Wives of transvestites. Sexology, 29(7), 814-81.

Bernstein, S., Steiner, B., Glaister, J, & Muir, C. (1981). Changes in patients with gender-identity problems after parental death. American Journal of Psychiatry, 138(1), 41-45.

Blanchard, R., & Sheridan, P.M. (1989). Parental demographics and sibship configuration in homosexual and nonhomosexual gender dysphoria. Paper presented at the 11th Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium, Cleveland, Ohio, 20-23 September.

Blanchard, R., & Sheridan, P.M. (1992a). Proportion of unmarried siblings of homosexual and non homosexual gender- dysphoric patients. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 37(3), 163- 167.

Blanchard, R., & Sheridan, P.M. (1992b). Sibship size, sibling sex ratio, birth order, and parental age in homosexual and nonhomosexual gender dypshorics. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180(1), 40-47.

Blanchard, R., & Steiner, B.W. (1983). Gender reorientation, psychological adjustment, and involvement with female partners in male-to-female transsexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 12(6), 149-157.

Brown, D.A. (1989). Children of transsexuals. Paper presented at the 11th Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium, Cleveland, Ohio, 20-23 September.

Brown, G.R. (1989). Coping with a transvestite partner. Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, 23.

Brown, G.R. (1990b). The transvestite husband. Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, 24(6), 35-42.

Brown, G.R. (1991). The transvestite husband. Journal of Gender Studies, 13(1), 14-19.

Brown, G.R., & Collier, L. (1989). Transvestites’ women revisited: A nonpatient sample. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 18(1), 73-83.

Buck, T. (1977). Familial factors influencing female transsexualism. Master’s thesis, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, Massachusetts.

Buck, T. (1977). Familial factors influencing female transsexualism. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 48(1), 25- 26.

Buhrich, N., & McConaghy, N. (1978a). Parental relationships during childhood in homosexuality, transvestism and transsexualism. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 12(2), 103-108.

Bullough, V.L. (1988). Women married to transvestites: Problems and adjustments. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 1(2), 83-104.

Bullough, V.L. (1989, August-September). Thomas Weinberg and Vern L. Bullough. Wives of transvestites: Concerns and adjustments. Gender Expressions, 1, 15-20.

Bullough, V.L., & Weinberg, T.S. (1988). Women married to transvestites: Problems and adjustments. Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 1(2), 83-104.

Calogeras, R.C. (1987). The transvestite and his wife. Psychoanalytic Review, 74(4), 517-535.

Children from transsexual or lesbian home are heterosexual. (1978). Clinical Psychiatry News, 6(1), 36.

Cohen-Kettenis, P.T., & Arrindell, W.A. (1990). Perceived parental rearing style, parental divorce, and transsexualism: A controlled study. Psychological Medicine, 20(3), 613-620.

Curry, S.L., & Rumenik, D.K. (1989). Looking beyond the individual in gender dysphoria: Assessing the couple. Paper presented at the 11th Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium, Cleveland, Ohio, 20-23 September.

Di Ceglie, D. (1993). Therapeutic aims in working with children and adolescents with gender identity disorders and their families. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Gender Dysphoria, New York City, 21-24 October.

Fleming, M., Costos, D., & MacGowan, B. (1984). Ego development in female-to-male transsexual couples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 13(6), 581-594.

Fleming, M., & Feinbloom, D. (1973). The heterosexual transvestite and his wife. Sandoz/Psychiatric Spectator, 11(5).

Fleming, M., MacGowan, B.R., & Costos, D. (1985). The dyadic adjustment of female-to-male transsexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14(1), 47-55.

Freund, K., Langevin, R., Zajac, Y., Steiner, B., & Zajacandrew. (1974a). Parent-child relations in transsexual and non- transsexual homosexual males. British Journal of Psychiatry, 129, 22-23.

Halle, E., Schmidt, C.W., & Meyer, J.K. (1980). The role of grandmothers in transsexualism. American Journal of Psychiatry, 137(4), 497-498.

Hoenig, J., & Duggan, E. (1974). Sexual and other abnormalities in the family of a transsexual. Psychiatria Clinica, 7(6), 334- 346.

Huxley, P.J., Kenna, J.C., & Brandon, S.B. (1981a). Partnership in transsexualism: Part I. Paired and nonpaired groups. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 10(2), 133-141.

Huxley, P.J., Kenna, J.C., & Brandon, S.B. (1981b). Partnership in transsexualism: Part II. The nature of the partnership. Archives of Sexual behavior, 10(2), 143-160.

Imielinski, K., Godlewski, J., & Lamacz, M. (1976). (Transsexualism and partnership: A clinical case). Psychiatria Polska, 10(5), 565-569.

Janssen, P.L. (1984). (Transsexual symptoms in a partner arrangement– only one case?) Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, Medizinische Psychologie, 34(3-4), 76-80.

Jones, S.L., & Tinker, D. (1982). Transsexualism and the family: An interactional explanation. Journal of Family Therapy, 4(1), 1-14.

Litin, E., Giffin, N., & Johnson, A. (1956). Parental influence in unusual sexual behavior in children. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 25, 37-55.

Lothstein, L.M. (1988a). Female-to-male transsexuals who have delivered and reared their children. Annals of Sex Research, 1(1), 151-166.

Lothstein, L.M. (1989). Influences of family dynamics on the development of gender identity disorders. Paper presented at the 11th Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium, Cleveland, Ohio, 20-23 September.

Marantz, S.A. (1984). Mothers of extremely feminine boys: Psychopathology and childrearing patterns. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, New York University.

Mesnikoff, A., Rainer, J., Kolb, L., & Carr, A. (1963). Intrafamilial determinants of divergent sexual behavior in twins. American Journal of Psychiatry, 119, 732.

Money, J., & Brennan, J.G. (1970). Heterosexual vs. homosexual attitudes: Male partners’ perception of the feminine image of male transsexuals. Journal of Sex Research, 6(7), 193-209.

Money, J., Clarke, F., & Mazur, T. (1975). Families of seven male-to-female transsexuals after 5 to 7 years: Sociological sexology. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 4(2), 187-197.

Munsinger, H., & Rabin, A. (1978). Family study of gender identification. Child Development, 49(2), 537-539.

Newcomb, M.D. (1985). The role of perceived relative parent personality in the development of heterosexuals, homosexuals, and transvestites. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14(2), 147-164.

Newman, L.E. (1976). Treatment for the parents of feminine boys. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133(6), 683-687.

Nijsten, G. (1994). Isolation or integration: The importance of a social network preceding and following real life test. Paper presented at The Conference of the European Network of Professionals on Transsexualism, Manchester, England, 31 August, 1994.

Olson, J. (1989). The legal aspects of transsexuals and their children. Cooley School of Law Law Review (East Lansing, MI).

Parker, G., & Barr, R. (1982). Parental representations of transsexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 11(3), 221-230.

Peo, R.E. (1984). Women who relate to male transvestites: A descriptive study. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, San Francisco.

Pleak, R., & Anderson, D.A. (1993). A parents group for boys with gender identity disorders. Paper presented at the 13th International Symposium on Gender Dysphoria, New York City, 21-24 October.

Rekers, G.A. (1986). Inadequate sex role differentiation in childhood: The family and gender identity disorders. Journal of Family and Culture, 2, 8-37.

Rekers, G.A. (1988). Psychosexual asessment of gender identity disorders. In R.J. Prinz (Ed.), Behavioral assessment of children and families, Vol. 4. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

Rekers, G.A., Mead, S.L., Rosen, A.C., et al. (1983). Family correlates of male childhood gender disturbance. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 142, 31-42.

Sipova, I. (1980). (Interpersonal relationships in transsexual women). Casopis Lekaru Ceskych, 119(17-18), 509-511.

Sipova, I., & Brzek, A. (1983). Parental and interpersonal relationships of transsexual and masculine and feminine homosexual men. Journal of Homosexuality, 9(1), 75-85.

Steiner, B.W. (1985d). Transsexuals, transvestites, and their partners. In B.M. Steiner (Ed.), Gender dysphoria: Development, research, management, pp. 351-364. New York: Plenum Press.

Steiner, B.W., & Bernstein, S.M. (1981). Female-to-male transsexuals and their partners. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 26(3), 178-182.

Stoller, R.J. (1967d). Transvestites’ women. American Journal of Psychiatry, 124(3), 333-339.

Stoller, R.J. (1979b). Fathers of transsexual children. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 27(4), 837- 866.

Studer, R., Kind, H., & Kohler, T. (1980). (Marriage partnerships of transsexuals). Nervenarzt, 51(12), 708-711.

Thorne, M. (1967). LSD and marital therapy with a transvestite and his wife. Journal of Sex Research, 3(2), 169-177.

Tsoi, W.F. (1990b). Parental influence in transsexualism. Singapore Medical Journal, 31(5), 443-446.

Uddenberg, N., Walinder, J., & Hojerback, T. (1979). Parental contact in male and female transsexuals. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 60(1), 113-120.

Walinder, J., & Thuwe, I. (1977). A study of consanguinity between the parents of transsexuals. British Journal of Psychiatry, 131, 73-74.

Warnes, H. (1986). A particular type of perverse marital relationship. 26th Annual Meeting of the Group-Without-a-Name (1984, White Plains, New York). Psychiatric Journal of the University of Ottawa, 11(1), 31-34.

Weinberg, T.S., & Bullough, V.L. (1988). Alienation, self- image, and the importance of support groups for the wives of transvestites. Journal of Sex Research, 24, 262-268.

Weitzman, E.L., Shamoian, C.A., & Golosow, N. (1971). Family dynamics in male transsexualism. Psychosomatic Medicine, 33(4), 289-299.

Wilchesky, M. (1989). The transsexual parent: Ethics and management. Paper presented at the 11th Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium, Cleveland, Ohio, 20-23 September.

Wise, T.N. (1985). Coping with a transvestite mate: Clinical implications. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 11(4), 293- 300.

Wise, T.N., Meyer, J.K., & Dupkin, C. (1981). Partners of distressed transvestites. American Journal of Psychiatry, 138, 1221-1224.

Woodhouse, A. (1985). Forgotten women: Transvestism and marriage. Women’s Studies International Forum, 8(6), 583-592.

Zuger, B. (1970b). The role of familial factors in persistent effeminate behavior in boys. American Journal of Psychiatry, 126, 1167-1170.

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 21 May (2)

Subj: Reference List for Gay and Lesbian Parenting Date: 96-05-21 01:30:47 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

Here’s a reference list someone (I think perhaps it was Lisa Aaronson) posted on one of the USENET groups. Although the content is about gay and lesbian parents, rather than transgender parents, most of the issues (custody, etc.) are the same.

— Dallas Agbayawa, M. O. (1984). Fathers in the newer family forms: Male or female? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 29, 402-406.

Baggett, C. R. (1992). Sexual orientation: Should it affect child custody rulings? Law and Psychology Review, 16, 189-200.

Basile, R. A. (1974). Lesbian mothering. I. Women’s Rights Law Reporter, 2, 3-18.

Benkov, L. (1994). Reinventing the family: The emerging story of lesbian and gay parents. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.

Bigner, J. J. & Bozett, F. W. (1990). Parenting by gay fathers. Homosexuality and Family Relations, 155-176.

Bigner, J. J. & Jacobsen, R. B. (1989). The value of children to gay and heterosexual fathers. Homosexuality and the Family, 163-172.

Bigner, J. J. & Jacobsen, R. B. (1992). Adult responses to child behavior and attitudes toward fathering: Gay and nongay fathers. Journal of Homosexuality, 23(3), 99-112.

Bigner, J. J. & Jacobsen, R. B. (1989). Parenting behaviors of homosexual and heterosexual fathers. Homosexuality and the Family, 173-186.

Bozett, F. (1981). Gay fathers: Identity conflict resolution through integrative sanctioning. Alternative Lifestyles, 4, 90-107.

Bozett, F. W. (1981). Gay fathers: Evolution of the gay-father identity. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 51, 552-559.

Bozett, F. W. (1984, Oct). Parenting concerns of gay fathers. Topics in Clinical Nursing, 60-71.

Bozett, F. W. (Ed.). (1987). Gay and lesbian parents. New York: Praeger Publishers, Inc.

Bozett, F. W. (1988). Social control of identity by children of gay fathers. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 10, 550-565.

Bozett, F. W. (Ed.). (1989). Homosexuality and the family. New York: The Hawthorn Press.

Bryant, S. (1992). Mediation for lesbian and gay families. Mediation Quarterly: Journal of the Academy of Family Mediators, 9, 391-395.

Casper, V., Schultz, S., & Wickens, E. (1992). Breaking the silences: Lesbian and gay parents and the schools. Teachers College Record, 94, 109-137.

Clabber, D. J., Howell, R. J., & Tibbits-Clabber, A. L. (1986). The impact of parental homosexuality in child custody cases: A review of the literature. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatric Law, 14, 81-87.

Coleman, E. (1990). The married lesbian. Homosexuality and Family Relations, 119-135.

Collins, L. E. & Zimmerman, N. (1983). Homosexual and bisexual issues. The Family Therapy Collections, 5, 82-100.

Cramer, D. (1986). Gay parents and their children: A review of research and practical implications. Journal of Counseling and Development, 64, 504-507.

Crosbie-Burnett, M. & Helmbrecht, L. (1993). A descriptive empirical study of gay male stepfamilies. Family Relations, 42, 256-262.

Evens, N. & Levine, H. (1990). Perspectives on sexual orientation. New Directions for Student Services, 51, 49-58.

Falk, P. J. (1989). Lesbian mothers: Psychosocial assumptions in family law. American Psychologist, 44, 941-947.

Gibbs, E. D. (1989). Psychosocial development of children raised by lesbian mothers: A review of research. JOURNAL, 65-75.

Golombok, S., Spencer, A., & Rutter, M. (1983). Children in lesbian and single-parent households: Psychosexual and psychiatric appraisal. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 24, 551-572.

Gottman, J. S. (1990). Children of gay and lesbian parents. Homosexuality and Family Relations, 177-196.

Gottsfield, R. L. (1985). Child custody and sexual lifestyle. Conciliation Courts Review, 23, 43-46.

Green, R. (1978). Sexual orientation of 37 children raised by homosexual of transsexual parents. American Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 692-697.

Green, R. (1982). The best interests of the child with a lesbian mother. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 10, 7-15.

Green, R., Mandel, J. B., Hotvedt, M. E., Gray, J., & Smith, L. (1986). Lesbian mothers and their children: A comparison with solo parent heterosexual mothers and their children. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 15(2), 167-184.

Hare, J. & Richards, L. (1993). Children raised by lesbian couples: Does context of birth affect father and partner involvement? Family Relations, 42, 249-255.

Harris, M. B. & Turner, P. H. (1986). Gay and lesbian parents. Journal of Homosexuality, 12(2), 101-113.

Henry, W. A.,III. (1993, Sep 20). Gay parents: Under fire and on the rise. Time, 66-71.

Herman, S. P. (1990). Special issues in child custody evaluations. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Development, 29, 969-974.

Hoeffer, B. (1981). Children’s acquisition of sex-role behavior in lesbian-mother families. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 51, 536-544.

Kirkpatric, M., Smith, C., & Roy, R. (1981). Lesbian mothers and their children: A comparative study. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 51, 545-551.

Kirkpatrick, M. (1987). Clinical implications of lesbian mother studies. JOURNAL, 201-211.

Knight, R. G. (1983). Female homosexuality and the custody of children. New Zealand Journal of Psychology, 12, 23-27.

Kweskin, S. L. & Cook, A. S. (1982). Heterosexual and homosexual mothers’ self-described sex-role behavior and ideal sex-role behavior in children. Sex Roles, 8, 967-975.

Laird, J. (n.d.). Lesbians and lesbian families: Multiple reflections. JOURNAL, 209-213.

LaTorre, R. A. & Wendenburg, K. (1983). Psychological characteristics of bisexual, heterosexual, and homosexual women. Homosexuality and Social Sex Roles, 87-97.

Levy, E. F. (1992, January). Strengthening the coping resources of lesbian families. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Human Services, 23-31.

Lewis, K. G. (1980, May). Children of lesbians: Their point of view. Social Work, 198-203.

Maddox, B. (1982, February). Homosexual parents. Psychology Today, 62-69.

Maggiore, D. J. (Ed.). (1992). Lesbians and child custody. New York: Garland Publishing.

Mayadas, N. S. & Duehn, W. D. (1976). Children in gay families: An investigation of services. Homosexual Counseling Journal, 3(2), 70-83.

Miller, B. (1979, October). Gay fathers and their children. The Family Coordinator, 545-552.

Miller, J. A., Jacobsen, R. B., & Bigner, J. J. (1982). The child’s home environment for lesbian vs. heterosexual mothers: A neglected area of research. Journal of Homosexuality, 7, 49-56.

Newcomb, M. D. (1985). The role of perceived relative parent personality in the development of heterosexuals, homosexuals, and transvestites. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14(2), 147-164.

Pagelow, M. D. (1980). Heterosexual and lesbian single mothers: A comparison of problems, coping, and solutions. Journal of Homosexuality, 5(3), 189-204.

Patterson, C. J. (1992). Children of lesbian and gay parents. Child Development, 63, 1025-1042.

Patterson, C. J. (1994). Lesbian and gay families. Current Directions in Psychological Science: A Journal of the American Psychological Society, 3, 62-64.

Peters, D. K. & Cantrell, P. J. (1991). Factors distinguishing samples of lesbian and heterosexual women. Journal of Homosexuality, 21(4), 1-15.

Peters, D. K. & Cantrell, P. J. (1993). Gender roles and role conflict in feminist lesbian and heterosexual women. Sex Roles, 7/8, 379-391.

Pies, C. A. (1990). Lesbians and the choice to parent. Homosexuality and Family Relations, 137-154.

Polikoff, N. (1986). Lesbian mothers, lesbian families: Legal obstacles, legal challenges. Review of Law and Social Change, 14, 907-914.

Pollack, S. (1990). Lesbian parents: Claiming our visibility. Oppression, 181-194.

Riddle, D. I. (1978). Relating to children: Gays as role models. Journal of Social Issues, 34(3), 38-58.

Ringer, R. J. (Ed.). (1994). Queer words, queer images. New York: New York University Press.

Rohrbaugh, J. B. (1989). Choosing children: Psychological issues in lesbian parenting. JOURNAL, 51-64.

Shavelson, E. S., Biaggio, M. K., Cross, H. H., & Lehman, R. E. (1980). Lesbian women’s perceptions of their parent-child relationships. Journal of Homosexuality, 5(3), 205-215.

Sherman, S. (Ed.). (1992). Lesbian and gay marriage. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Skeen, P. & Robinson, B. E. (1985). Gay fathers’ and gay nonfathers’ relationship with their parents. Journal of Sex Research, 21, 86-91.

Skeen, P. & Robinson, B. E. (1984). Family backgrounds of gay fathers: A descriptive study. Psychological Reports, 54, 999-1005.

Somerville, M. A. (1982). Birth technology, parenting, and “deviance.” International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 5, 123-153.

Voeller, B. & Walters, J. (1978, April). Gay fathers. The Family Coordinator, 149-157.

Werrbach, G. B., Grotevant, H. D., & Cooper, C. R. (1992). Patterns of family interaction and adolescent sex role concepts. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 21, 609-623.

Wyers, N. L. (1987, March-April). Homosexuality in the family: Lesbian and gay spouses. Social Work, 143-148.

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

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

To be on our electronic distribution list send e-mail to majordomo@lists.mindspring.com on the first line of the body of your message, include the following: subscribe aegis-list <your e-mail address>

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

 

———————– Headers ——————————– From aegis-list-owner@flux.mindspring.com Tue May 21 01:30:27 1996 Return-Path: aegis-list-owner@flux.mindspring.com Received: from flux.mindspring.com (flux.mindspring.com [204.180.128.33]) by emin30.mail.aol.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) with ESMTP id BAA18668; Tue, 21 May 1996 01:30:24 -0400 Received: (from majordom@localhost) by flux.mindspring.com (8.6.12/8.6.12) id WAA17769 for aegis-list-outgoing; Mon, 20 May 1996 22:06:42 -0400 Message-Id: <199605210457.AAA22729@borg.mindspring.com> X-Sender: aegis@pop.atl.mindspring.com X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 1.5.2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=”us-ascii” Date: Tue, 21 May 1996 01:14:40 -0400 To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Subject: Reference List for Gay and Lesbian Parenting Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Precedence: bulk Reply-To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

1996, 25 May

Subj: Menace Overgeneralizations

Date: 96-05-25 22:26:10 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com CC: riki@pipelline.com

From: Transfags@aol.com 01:54 AM 5/24/96 -0400

Dallas,

I know you probably find my desire to see things presented as facts actually be facts and not rhetoric, but please clarify: The releases from TO indicate a serial killer targeting prostitutes, with 2 trans and one non-trans victim; the Menace release indicates the target is transpeople and all 3 are trans. It doesn’t make it any less heinous if the target is sex workers, trannies, or ladies in blue housecoats, but I keep trying to point out the rhetoric should at least be based on reality. I never did find out what was going on with the Craig Abernethy thingie, either, did you?

Thanks,

Jules And from someone who wishes to remain anonymous…

Dallas,

I’ve been following all the local news items on this. The third victim, Brenda, was not transgendered.

Additionally, the menance article refers to Shawn as “she”. To my knowledge, from someone I know who knew Shawn, he did not identify as a “she”.

I think it is important that as we unite in the face of tragedy, we do not distort gender facts. That’s an abuse of the true victims of this tragedy: Shawn, Deanna, and Brenda. Dallas here…

This isn’t the first time Transexual Menace has been inaccurate in its facts in its press releases. Obviously, there was a need to get something out in a hurry in this case, but for something so important, a little fact-checking is in order if the Menace wants its releases posted here and in similar places.

And yes, Riki, I know your mailbox gets cluttered, but you needed dto see this. Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 27 May

Subj: Basketball Great Breaks Free… [ARTICLE] Date: 96-05-27 00:58:00 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

From: ww@nyxfer.blythe.org (Workers World Service) Subject: Basketball Great Breaks Gender Rules Date: 23 May 1996 03:45:40 GMT Summary: Rodman comes out, flamboyantly, in his new book Keywords: basketball, professional sports, transgender, homophobia

Reply to: ww@wwpublish.com <== NOTE! ————————- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the May 30, 1996 issue of Workers World newspaper ————————-

DENNIS RODMAN: BASKETBALL GREAT BREAKS FREE OF GENDER RESTRICTIONS

By Monica Moorehead and Leslie Feinberg

“I paint my fingernails. I color my hair. I sometimes wear women’s clothes.”

So writes Dennis Rodman, the greatest rebounder in basketball history, in his number-one best seller, “Bad as I Wanna Be.”

Many thousands–possibly even millions–of people of every sexuality in this country cross-dress some of the time or all of the time. Unrelenting oppression has largely driven this self-expression underground.

But the rise of the transgender-liberation movement has opened up space for people to start coming forward about who they really are. In turn, Rodman’s bold assertion can only empower others.

Rodman is courageous as a defensive player with the Chicago Bulls on the courts and as a human being. At his premier book signing he wore a sleek silver tank top, matching makeup and a fuschia boa.

When he appeared the next day on Oprah Winfrey’s TV show, the audience was packed with youths sporting colorful hairstyles similar to his.

Some sports writers immediately accused Rodman of a “publicity stunt,” comparable to the racist Howard Stern’s. Stern may or may not be a cross-dresser in private. But his public stance–like the burlesque drag acts by ruling-class white men in the elite Bohemian Grove club–is mocking and cruel.

Dennis Rodman, already a target of racism, ire and innuendo, had nothing to gain by coming out proudly as a cross-dresser. He’s open about the fact that his gender expression is not new.

He explains in his book: “As a kid I would sometimes dress as a girl. You play house, you play doctor–everybody does that, but some people like it more than others. I used to go through the whole routine–dress up, wear makeup, act like a girl.”

Reaction from bigots ranged from barely concealed baiting to out-and-out foaming at the mouth. Some fumed in the press that Rodman’s transgender expression is a “distraction.” Madison Square Garden President Dave Checketts raged: “When I saw the pictures of him showing up on the motorcycle with the makeup job, I just couldn’t believe this is what it has come to. I guarantee you that as long as I’m running the New York Knicks, he will not be on this club.”

Unfortunately for Checketts, Rodman’s self-expression didn’t distract the Bulls from trouncing the Knicks in this year’s playoffs.

Bulls Coach Phil Jackson remarked that Rodman has “reached a heart space with other members of the team I’d never anticipated.

“Dennis has been a real blessing for us, because he’s like a heyoka.” Jackson explained that among the Lakota people a heyoka “was a cross-dresser, a unique person … respected because he brought a reality change when you saw him.”

A PRINCIPLED STAND

Vast evidence proves that ancient cooperative societies on every continent respected transgender expression.

Today, apologists for capitalism harumph about the right to individualism. Yet while Rodman’s labor on the courts brings mega-bucks to the Bulls’ owners and the industry as a whole, his unique sense of style and flair–from his hair hues to his tattoos–has drawn the wrath of basketball owners, officials and commentators.

Rodman doesn’t identify as gay or bisexual. But he has taken a principled stand in support of full rights for lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals–including athletes. For this, right wingers in Texas once painted an anti-gay epithet on his truck’s windshield and slashed its tires.

But that hasn’t daunted Rodman. At a recent interview he wore a T-shirt that read “I don’t mind straight people as long as they act gay in public.”

In his book, Rodman writes: “To hang out in a gay bar or put on a sequined halter top makes me feel like a total person and not just a one-dimensional man.

“It seems that people feel threatened when an athlete does something that is not considered manly. It’s like they’ve crossed over some imaginary line that nobody thinks should be crossed.”

Rodman noted, “The NBA image of a man is the one they put out on the commercials, with guys smiling and waving to the crowd. … Isn’t there room for some other kind of player out there? Some other kind of man?

“I want to challenge people’s image of what an athlete is supposed to be. I like bringing out the feminine side of Dennis Rodman.”

BARE-KNUCKLE BALL AND PAINTED NAILS

Rodman grew up in the impoverished Oak Cliff projects in Dallas. At age 19 he was homeless. He pushed a mop at night as an airport janitor for $6.50 an hour. He battled virulent racism at Southeastern Oklahoma University.

Rodman hadn’t played a minute of basketball before he turned 21. He arrived at the NBA as little-known second- round draft choice. And then he turned rebounding–one of the least favorite chores in basketball–into a science. And an art.

Whenever the basketball leaves a player’s hands, Rodman begins calculating angle, arc and trajectory of its flight. When that ball bounces off the rim, he has positioned himself to snatch it mid-air. He does it like nobody’s ever done it before.

That’s how Rodman helps secure victories for his team without ever having to personally score a point.

He has raised basketball to a new level of excitement, the way offensive players Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan did when they entered the league. Yet although Rodman won his fifth rebound title this year, the coaches denied him a spot on the NBA All-Stars team. Bulls coach Jackson and fellow team members denounced this outrage.

Only unabashed bigotry could deny Dennis Rodman his rightful place in NBA hall of fame. But he deserves tribute for off-court valor as well.

He makes no bones about his cross-dressing: “If I want to wear a dress, I’ll wear a dress.

“After years of struggling with my identity–who I was, who I was going to be–I’ve become totally confident about being who I am. I can go out to a salon and have my nails painted pink, and then go out and play in the NBA, on national television, with pink nails.

“When I cross-dress now, it’s just another way I can show all the sides of Dennis Rodman. I’m giving you the whole package. I’m becoming the all-purpose person. I’m like the running back that can break one to the outside and also go over the middle to catch a pass.”

– END –

(Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if source is cited. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: ww@wwpublish.com. For subscription info send message to: ww-info@wwpublish.com. Web: http://www.workers.org)

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 3 June

Subj: Re: TS’s in the army Date: 96-06-03 01:21:33 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@flux.mindspring.com

Stephen:

The unidsputed authority on transpeople in the military is Dr. George Brown, whose contact information follows

Brown, George, M.D. 175 Bill Jones Road Jonesborough, TN 37658 (615) 927-1177 x 7709 wk (615) 753-0535 FAX

He is the author of the following:

Brown, G.R. (1987). The transsexual in the military: Flight into hypermasculinity. Proceedings of the 10th Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Conference, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Brown, G.R. (1988). Transsexuals in the military: Flight into hypermasculinity. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 17(6), 527-537.

Brown, G.R. (1989). Letter to the editor. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 18(4), 371-373.

The author supplements his 1988 article with discussion, with a case example of the policies of the U.S. military in regard to transsexual people. (6 refs.)

Brown, D.G. (1989). Current legal status of transsexualism in the United States military. Paper presented at the 11th Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Symposium, Cleveland, Ohio, 20-23 September.

The presenter discussed his experience in a court case of a transsexual officer, noting that the military “continues to view transsexualism in the same nonmedical light as transvestism and ‘perversions.'” (No refs.) Dr. Brown is the author of many other articles, as well. He serves as an expert witness on occasion. His other area of authority in regard to transpeople is relationships.

You might also be interested in the following report:

Central Intelligence Agency. (1993). Sexual behavior and security risk: Background information for security personnel. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency, Analysis Division, Office of Security.

It concludes that risk may not not be significantly greater for a transsexual or crossdresser than for a heterosexual, regarding sexual behavior. The author concludes that if one is “out,” one is not susceptible to being blackmailed; consequently a heterosexual in an extramarital affair may be more of a security risk than a homosexual or a transperson.

I’m typing the trans section for distribution on aegis-list, and could hurry it up, if you want.

One other person eto contact might be Sister Mary Elizabeth, who knows case law very well.

Elizabeth, Sister Mary Box 184 San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693 (714) 248-5843 voice 248-2836 BBS jmclark1@ix8.ix.netcom.com

I looked through all the court cases I had, but found nothing having to do with the military.

Hope this helps. Good luck. Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 14 June

Subj: Letter to Producers of “The Transformation” [LETTER] Date: 96-06-14 13:58:48 EDT From: aegis@mindspring.com (Dallas Denny) Sender: owner-aegis-list@netbot.mindspring.com Reply-to: aegis-list@netbot.mindspring.com To: aegis-list@netbot.mindspring.com

As ITA!s Sarah DePalma stepped up the heat on PBS regarding the upcoming showing of the film “The Transformation,” in which a transperson is “rescued” by right wing evangelicals, AEGIS sent the following letter to Sarfish Producdtions, the producers of “The Transformation,” 12 June, 1996 Starfish Productions, Inc. 330 West 42nd St., Ste. 2410 New York, NY 10036

 

Dear madams and sirs:

I am writing in regard to your film, “The Transformation,” scheduled to be shown on PBS’ Point of View on 9 July.

We are a 501(c)(3) clearinghouse for information on transsexual and transgender issues. We maintain a telephone hotline and internet sites, publish the respected journal Chrysalis and other materials, and house the National Transgender Library & Archive, North America’s only publicly available collection of trans- related materials.

We’re aware of the controversial nature of “The Transformation,” and of the harsh reaction of Sarah DePalma of It’s Time, America! and others to the film. We consider Ms. DePalma’s reaction unduly harsh, especially as she is prejudging the film without seeing it– but perhaps understandable, considering the inaccurate and sensationalistic way in which the media usually portrays transpeople.

A review of existing scientific evidence clearly shows that no real “cure” is possible for transsexualism, any more than it is for homosexuality. I imagine Susanna Akin and Carlos Aparicio figured this out while making “The Transformation.” I also imagine they discovered how misinformed, one-sided, and Bible-blinded the Christian right-wing is when it comes to transsexual people, and how much of a sham Richardo/Sara’s “transformation” really is. In other words, I imagine that the filmmakers show the “transformation” in such as way as to let viewers decide for themselves. I suspect Ms. DePalma’s worst fears will not be realized.

However, those are but my personal beliefs. The truth is that a one-sided, inaccurate portrayal of a transformation ministry could do immediate and lasting damage to the lives of thousands of transsexual people, including many of our members.

I would appreciate it if you would send us a copy of “The Transformation” so that I and other AEGIS staff members can preview it. If we find it a reasonable treatment, we will produce a press release to that effect to counteract the rising hysteria in the transgender community which, I assure you, is considerable. After viewing, we will place the film in our National Transgender Library & Archive, where it will be preserved in perpetuity.

Our U.S. mail address is on the letterhead. UPS or other carrier address is Ms. Dallas Denny, c/o DeKalb Workshop, 395 Glendale Road, Scottdale, GA 30079.

Our telephone number is on the letterhead. My daytime telephone number is 404-294-1616, should you wish to talk.

Thank you. Sincerely, (Ms.) Dallas Denny, M.A. Licensed Psychological Examiner Executive Director 

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 5 July

Subj: Re: Declaration of Gender Liberty Date: 96-07-05 01:05:52 EDT From: aegis@atl.mindspring.com (Dallas Denny)

Dear Sharon:

Thank you for your long and thoughtful letter. I’m sorry I was unable to be at ICTLEP so we could have spoken in person.

I understand that GAL’s document is dated and contains their own “genderist” language, which never caught on. Things have changed so much that I’m sure the document you come up with will be considerably different. But I did want to bring the GAL Declaration of Independence up for those on the long list of folks you mailed to so they would be aware of it.

I think that what has been confusing about the Gender Bill of Rights disseminated by ICTLEP is that at first glance it seems to be JoAnn Roberts’ version with some additional language. I haven’t compared the two side by side.

JoAnn disseminated her version in 1990 or early 1991. She did not copyright the BGR, but instead gave it to the community. I think what is important is that she *published* the doucument, For this reason, and since the BGR as it currently exists seems to be deriivative (even if it is more closely based on your own, unpublished and apparently nearly identical work), I’ve felt for some time that Jo deserves credit as the original author, and that her name should always be associated with it. I’ve seen it several times without that attribution made, apparently dropped as the document is copied and recopied.

ICTLEP has done the community a great service by updating and distributing the BGR. I commend you for your work on it, and only wish that you have published your own work which was long in progress instead of waiting. It reminds me of Charles Darwin, who labored for twenty years on his theory of natural selection, only to find that Alfred Russel Wallace had published a paper about it. — Dallas Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 30 July

Subj: Connie Norman Dead at 47 [NEWS] Date: 96-07-30 23:32:55 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (XCONN List Server)

Original Date: Tue, 30 Jul 1996 21:36:31 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com>

Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 17:05:35 -0700 (PDT) From: Jacob Hale <hcphi002@dewey.csun.edu>

Subject: Connie Norman Dead at 47 (fwd) Message-ID: <Pine.HPP.3.91.960729165648.3673F-100000@huey.csun.edu> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-UIDL: a2bd46a793db42392d74a3856b8e2c93 Status: U

There are apparently plans in the works for an anthology of Connie’s essays to be published.–cjh

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

CONNIE NORMAN died on Monday, July 15, 1996. Appended is the L.A. Times Obit.

Obituary in the L.A. Times Thursday, July 18, 1996 page A18

Connie Norman; AIDS Activist, Radio Talk Show Host

By MYRNA OLIVER TIMES STAFF WRITER

Connie Norman, a nationally known transsexual AIDS activist who pioneered commercial radio talk shows focusing on homosexual issues, has died. She was 47.

Norman, a gay youth who underwent a sex-change operation in 1976 and became HIV-positive in 1987, died Monday in Los Angeles’ Chris Brownlie House of the complications of AIDS.

“Connie Norman worked tirelessly with AIDS Healthcare Foundation to fight for AIDS services and was a prescient and powerful voice in the community,” said Michael Weinstein, president and co-founder of the foundation. “Her outspokenness frequently made people uncomfortable, but she said things that needed to be said. Her efforts on behalf of gay and lesbian youth, the tranegendered community, and people living with HIV and AIDS were extraor dinary.”

Norman began “The Connie Norman Show,” an innovative Monday through Friday evening talk program on XEK-AM (950) on Nov. 25, 1991.,

“The gay and lesbian community has, to date, had to depend upon the kindness of others,” Norman told The Times at the outset of the program. “If we’re going to have an argument, it should be amongst our family. It should not be a heterosexual person having the token argument or the token discussion for us.”

Sometimes called “the AIDS Diva,” Norman championed reform of federal AIDS funding formulas, routine offering of HIV tests by medical providers, testing newborns for HIV and better treatment of those who have HIV or AIDS.

In addition to the radio show, Norman co-hosted a weekly cable television show, wrote a column called “Tribal Writes” in the San Diego gay and lesbian newspaper Update and a monthly column titled “Notes on Life” in the publication Stonewall Speaks. As an actress, she appeared in the film “Wrecked for Life,” gave a show “An Evening with Connie Norman,” at Highways Theater in Santa Monica, and was part of the cast of “AIDS Us Women.”

“I often tell people that I am an ex-drag queen, ex-hooker, ex-lV drug user, ex-high risk youth, and current postoperative transsexual woman who is HIV-positive,” she said recently. “I have everything I ever wanted, including a husband of 10 years, a home and five adorable longhaired cats…. I do, however, regret the presence of this virus.”

Norman’s advocacy earned her awards from the Los Angeles chapter of ACT UP and AIDS Healthcare Foundation, as well as proclamations from the state Senate and Assembly, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Los Angeles City Council.

Born in Texas, Norman ran away from home at 14, lived on the streets in Hollywood and became addicted to drugs. In 1976, after therapy and becoming drug-free, she had a sex-change operation.

In addition to her husband, Bruce Norman, she is survived by her grandmother, Mable Murphy, and an aunt, Barbara Potter.

 

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 3 August

Subj: Cross-Talk Deal [ADVERT] Date: 96-08-03 01:35:56 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (XCONN List Server)

Original Date: Sat, 03 Aug 1996 00:31:39 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com> “Cross-Talk: The Transgender Community’s News & Information Monthly” is overstocked on fifteen of our back issues from 1993 and 1994. We need the storage space, we covered the costs of printing these long ago, and we figure there are people discovering the community via the Internet who probably have never seen us, so …

We’ve put together some “grab bags” of five issues from our overstock, and you can have one for $15.00, priority mail postage included!

These issues originally sold for $7.00 in boutiques, newsstands, and bookstores, so you’ll be getting them at even less than half-price. (To be honest, we can only afford to do this because the Postal Service’s flat-rate mailer will fit five copies, and so this offer is only valid within the U.S.; other countries, e-mail us for an alternate offer.)

If you’ve already sampled “Cross-Talk” in the past, you’re still welcome to take advantage of this offer. Just let us know which issues between #39 and #62 you already have and we’ll take care not to duplicate those.

It won’t surprise you that there will be a discounted subscription offer included in the mailer, but we want to reassure you that we will *not* be compiling a list of addresses from this offer. You will *not* hear from us again unless you write us (or subscribe) first.

If you’re one of those people who likes “completeness” we also have a few dozen complete sets of 1994 issues, which are available at $50.00, postage included in the U.S. (add $5.00 airmail postage outside the U.S. if you’re ordering a full set).

Our mailing address is: “Cross-Talk” P.O. Box 944 Woodland Hills, CA 91365-0944

Thanks in advance for your kind attention!

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 13 August

Subj: The Chicken & Egg Argument [ARTICLE] Date: 96-08-13 15:33:40 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server) Reply-to: aegis@mindspring.com

From: MelindaMW@aol.com

Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1996 20:32:25 -0400 The following is an article by Marc Breedlove published in the June, 1996 Psychologue, the newsletter of the Psychology Department of the University of California at Berkeley entitled “The Chicken-and-Egg Argument as It Applies to the Brains of Transsexuals: Does It Matter”:

Most of us are perfectly comfortable with the fact that we are male or female. In fact we normally never give it a thought. But there are a very few people who feel they were born with the wrong body – men who feel they should have been born women and vice versa. In many cases these people, referred to as transsexuals, remember feeling this way even in childhood. When the feeling becomes strong enough, the person may seek surgery to remove their testes or ovaries, may have their external genitalia surgically altered and take homones to make them appear like the other sex. These extreme measures are accompanied by discomfort and risk, so no one would entertain them on a whim. Rather, transsexuals take such drastic measures because they feel so strongly and consistently that they should have been born the opposite sex. Because transsexuals are born with bodies that seem perfectly normal to other people, we may suspect that the souroe of these deep-seated feelings about their bodies arises from their brains. The recent report from Dick Swaab and his colleagues at the Netherlands Institute for Brain Research confirms this notion (Zhou, J. N., Hofman, M. A, Gooren, L. J. G., & Swaab, D. F. A sex difference in the human brain and its relation to transsexuality. Nature, 378, 68-70, 1995). Swaab and colleagues examined the brains of many individuals, including homosexual men, heterosexual men and women and six male-to-female transsexuals. They found that a tiny region with the unwieldy name of the central region of the bed nucleus of the stria terininalis (BSTc) was larger in men than in women. Sexual orientation seemed irrelevant to the size of the BSTc because it was as large in homosexual men as in heterosexual men. But the BSTc of the six trnssexuals was as small as that of women – about half the volume of the BSTc in other men. Thus the brains of the transsexuals seem to coincide with their conviction that they are women. Of course such a report seems fantastic for several reasons. We kww the brain is the center which controls all our behaviors, so of course differences in our behavior must reflect some differences in our brains. But the brain is a very complex system, and who would suspect that we might discern a difference related to such a rare and complicated condition as transsexuality? On the other hnnd, perhaps this is no more surprising than the discovery of sex differences in the structure of the human brain, and there have been several such reports over the last decade. If we can discern differences in brain structure between men and women, why not between transsexuls and other genetic males? Is there a simple way to dismiss these findings? Since all the raissexuals had received long-term treatment with estrogen and all but one had been castrated, one concern is whether the brain differences simply reflect the hormone treatments rather than the psychological condition of these people. But among the other men and women are several cases which seem to dispute this view. For example, several of the women were well past menopause and so had seen little estrogen in the years before they died, and two of the heterosexual men had been castrated to treat prostate cancer. Yet the women without estrogen still had a small BsTc and the men without their testes still had a large BSTc. So there does not seem to be any simple relationship between hormone exposure and BSTc size. You can think of other spurious reasons for the correlation, such as body size or brain weight or age, but the scientists have examples that seem to rule out each of those possibilities. So the only variable that seems to explain the small BSTc in the transeexuals is their transsexuality itself. But there is another aspect of these results that we must consider, and that is the origin of transsexuality and brain differences. When did this difference in the size of the BSTc arise in these individuals – in childheod, in adolescence or in adulthood? We will not know the answer to this soon, because the BsTc is so small that none of the non-invasive imaging techniques provides enough resolution to measure or even detect the BSTc. That means that at present we can measure the BsTc only by removing the brain, which in turn means it can be measured only oncein any one individual, after they have died. Thus there remain two alternative explanations for why the BSTc is smaller in traussexuals. Perhaps as babies these individuals were born with a small BsTc (or born with a BSTc that was programmed to grow only a little) and that small feminine BSTc caused them to regard themselves as fenitnine and to become transsexuals. But on the other hand, it is possible that other factors (such as filily structure, peer interactions, or random variation) caused these boys to regard themselves as feminine and grow up to be traussexuals. And those same “other factors’ may have caused their BSTc to develop a small size. For most laymen the idea that experience can alter the structure of the brain may seem unlikely, but for over 30 years neuroscientists have provided demonstrations that this idea is quite correct. At Berkeley, David Krech, Mark Rosensweig and colleagues found that when rats were raised in enriched environments (with toys and other rats) rather than caged alone, the animals showed many reliable changes in brain structure. Shortly after, David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel of Harvard demonstrated that depriving kittens of visual stimulation to an eye would alter connections between the eye and the brain. Such demonstrations of experience altering brain structure have been extended to monkeys and, in recent years, to humans. For example, a human who had lost his hand as an adult showed clear evidence that the side of the brain controlling that hand was reorganized less than a year after the accident (Yang, T.T., Gallen, 0., Schwartz, B., Bloom, F. E., Ramachandran, V.S., & Cobb, S. Sensory maps in the human brain. Nature, 386, 592-593, 1994 [letter]). As noninvasive imaging techniques are perfected we can expect to see further demonstrations that experience can alter the adult human brain. Why an I so confident that there will he more such demonstrations? I’m well aware of how much humans can learn, how much they can alter their behavior, and how frequently they do so. All of this behavioral plasticity requires that something in the brain remain plastic, too. But there is another important feature of the recent work with transsexuals that we can all ponder. Whether these men were born with a small BSTc which caused them to become transsexuals, or whether these men became transsexuals which then caused them to have a small BSTc, the fact remains that their brains are physically different. And that difference is not trivial, because any difference we can detect with our primitive understanding of neuroanatomy is, by definition, not trivial. Thus we might regard transsexuality as a deep, abiding conviction. Presumably these adults could no more set aside their feelings about which sex they are than you or I could. So perhaps the report of Zhou et al. will make it easier for our society to accept and tolerate transsexulity. Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 21 August

 Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest

Date: 96-08-21 19:18:11 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server) Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com To: thexgrrrl@aol.com

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 15:47:14

============================================================================= AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

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

============================================================================= ** QUICK APOLOGY FROM THE SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR:

This digest was delayed leaving here because we were updating some of the listserv software (mostly to make sure last Saturday’s disaster doesn’t have a repeat performance). I forgot entirely that we missed the automated process this morning that sends the digest, and so I am manually processing it, 12 hours late. Saturday morning’s digest should be automated. Thanks for your patience!

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————————————————————————–

>From listserv@xconn.com Sun 18 Aug 1996 14:21:03 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E8463pb; Sun 18 Aug 1996 14:21:03 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegispst@xconn.com Subject: Argentina [Contact Info] Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 14:21:03 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9608181421.E8463pb@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 09:28:08 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com>

Here is some contact info for Argentina.

— Dallas

To: aegis@mindspring.com Subject: contact addresses in argentina From: ales@wamani.apc.org (Alejandra Sarda) Message-ID: <e3PPsD5w165w@wamani.apc.org> Date: Thu, 15 Aug 96 13:21:25 ARG Organization: Red Wamani – APC Networks – Argentina X-UIDL: c6a3efaa978f789602f0cbeee81b9119 Status: U

I know this answer is unforgivably delayed, but our computar collapse and we

were relying on friends’ plus moving the Archives and it all caused a huge mess we are only starting to clean up.

Transsexual organization TRANSDEVI is now called “Tratado del derecho a la identidad personal” (T.D.I. – A treaty on the right to personal identity). Its spokeperson is Karina Urbina, and you can write to them at: C.C. 151, General Rodriguez (1748), Buenos Aires, Argentina. TRAVESTIS UNIDAS has not been very active lately. All transvestite groups have no fixed address in Argentina, for safety reasons (to avoid being detected by the police). They can be contacted at any of the Libraries’ addresses:

Escrita en el Cuerpo (Lesbian Archives and Library) Piedras 1170 – 1ero. B (1070) Buenos Aires, Argentina

or

Biblioteca G/L/T/T (Gay, Lesbian, Transvestite and Transsexual Library) Parana 123 – F (1017) Buenos Aires, Argentina.

There are two very active transvestite groups right now in Buenos Aires: ATA

(Argentinean Association of Transvestites) and OTTRA (Transvestites and Transsexuals’ Argentinean Republic Organization). Both can be contacted at the above mentioned addresses, as we work very closely together. Transsexuals are not organized in the same way; there are individual activists like Patricia Gauna who are doing superb work. You might also write to her at the Libraries’ addresses.

The situation of transvestites and transsexuals in our country is desperate:

they are arbitrarily arrested several times a week, forbidden to do any type

of work except prostitution and harassed for doing it, beaten and verbally abused when arrested. There have been several deaths in the last few years, too. Just to give an example: an ATA member reported few days ago that a new

pavillion was opened in the largest women’s jail to accomodate transvestites

who will be kept in jail 21 days for no crime other than being themselves, at police’s will and with no judicial intervention. Further research is being done around that measure.

Any help in the way of international protests or calling out will be much helpful. Please contact us for further information. And thanks for your interest.

Alejandra Sarda Escrita en el Cuerpo

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

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

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

ASK US FOR INFO ON OUR ELECTRONIC MAILING LISTS!

————————————————————————

>From listserv@xconn.com Sun 18 Aug 1996 14:21:05 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E4256qJ; Sun 18 Aug 1996 14:21:05 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegispst@xconn.com Subject: Argentina [Contact Info] Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 14:21:04 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9608181421.E4256qJ@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 09:28:05 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com>

Date: Sat, 17 Aug 1996 17:33:40 -0400 From: Song Weaver <julie@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu> Subject: Husband failed to tell wife he was a woman [sic]

I don’t know where this originated –Julie

BY RUSSELL JENKINS

A MARRIAGE was declared null and void after 17 years when a wife discovered her husband was really a woman, the Court of Appeal was told yesterday. Their

relationship was based on a “profound deception”, her counsel said.

The couple had two children – a boy aged 9 and a girl of 4, – who were born after the woman underwent artificial insemination from a donor. The wife said

her husband had told her he had had a vasectomy.

Eventually she began divorce proceedings after an argument in which she accused him of not being a real man. She hired a private detective to find out her husband’s true sexuality by producing his birth certificate.

The husband took his case to the appeal court after a High Court judge ruled

that he had married by committing perjury and that, consequently, he was not

entitled to a division of the marriage wealth or automatic access to the children.

After the hearing, Madeleine Rees, his solicitor, said that the case raised profound issues about the status of transsexuals in British society. She said

that if her client won his case, it would be a step in the right direction for the “true identity of transexuals of both sexes.”

Neither of the couple can be named in order to protect their children. The husband, called “J” in court, lives in the Birmingham area and his former wife, now 49, lives with the children in West Sussex.

Ben Emerson, for the husband, said his client had “an unshakable conviction that at his core he is a man, although he is trapped in a woman’s body”. Mr Emerson said it was never discussed before or during the marriage “what the nature of this man’s birth position was”.

He said there had been ample chance during sexual intercourse for the woman to realise she was in “a relationship with someone who was not a full-blooded

man”.

The man had an operation to remove his breasts and had undergone hormonal treatment before he met the woman. During intercourse he used an artificial sex aid. He had never told her his original gender and now accepted that he should have done so.

The three appeal court judges, Lord Justice Neill, Lord Justice Ward and Lord

Justice Potter, were asked if the man could have been said to have committed

a perjury when he declared himself a bachelor on the marriage certificate.

Lord Justice Ward, announcing that the judgment would be reserved, said: “We

are aware of the growing body of medical and international opinion that this

court will ignore at its peril.”

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

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

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

ASK US FOR INFO ON OUR ELECTRONIC MAILING LISTS!

————————————————————————

>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 19 Aug 1996 21:55:18 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E7540bn; Mon 19 Aug 1996 21:55:18 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: First Trans-Violence Web Page Launched [OTHER RELEASE] Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 21:55:18 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9608192155.E7540bn@xconn.com>

Original Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 00:22:55 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@atl.mindspring.com>

From: riki@nyc.pipeline.com (Riki Anne Wilchins) X-PipeUser: riki X-PipeHub: nyc.pipeline.com X-PipeGCOS: (Riki Anne Wilchins) X-Mailer: The Pipeline v3.4.0 X-UIDL: 996bf733551dc0a9e48c8299fb3ea420 Status: U

First Trans-Violence WebPage Launched =====================================

[August 18 – New York City] Today Emilia Lombardi, National Research Coordinator for GenderPAC, announced the launch of a new World-Wide Web page devoted to studying trans-related violence. The page is located at http://www.cdspub.com/srvy.html, and contains the full text of the national Study on TransViolence currently distributed by GenderPAC through snailmail.

Said JoAnn Roberts, a GenderPAC board member, “We are confident that by using the Web, we can make this study available to many people who would otherwise never have had access to it. The Web and the Net, already important places for transpeople to meet and organize, are now becoming a place for us to do research critical to our community.”

Echoing these sentiments, Lombardi added, “Not only have most studies totally ignored violence against the gender-variant, but the few studies of any kind on transpeople are generally have only a couple dozen respondents. By leveraging the global reach of the Web, we think we can collect an unprecedented sample size of over 1,000 people. This community *needs* a definitive benchmark of transviolence, and we’re committed to using every available tool to make that a reality.”

Among other uses, final results of the survery are planned for use at the upcoming 2nd National Gender Lobbing Day in May 1997, when gender activists will lobby their congressional representatives for inclusion in future versions of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act (HCSA).

GenderPAC’s survery was developed in coordination with the Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, or AVP, a national group which pioneered research and advocacy services for gender and queer people. The survery is directed to anyone who is trans- identified, gender-variant, or genderqueer.

People unable to access the Web can get a survery via e-mail by contacting Ms. Lombardi at CherRed@En.Com, or via snail-mail by sending a SASE addressed to: Ms. Emilia Lombardi, GenderPAC Research, 291 Grove St. #1, Akron, OH 44302.

All surveys are anonymous and completely confidential. [END]

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director American Educational Gender Information Service, Inc.

1996, 14 September (1)

Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest Date: 96-09-14 09:13:37 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server) Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Sat, 14 Sep 1996 05:00:36

============================================================================= AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

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

============================================================================= >From listserv@xconn.com Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:24 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E44pB; Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:24 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Candy of a New Strips Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:31:24 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609111831.E44pB@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 21:10:04 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

>From the “Dish” column in Southern Voice, 29 August, 1996

Candy of a New Stripe

How about Angela Bassett playing Lady Chablis in the upcoming film version of John Berendt’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.” Naturally, Savannah’s first drag queen expected to play herself when the movie was made. When producers made it clear that wasn’t gonna happen, she named Angela as her first choice. This being bhe best and only real transgendered

character ever in a major motion picture, Dish will quiver with rage if Jaye

Davidson or some other tranz thespian doesn’t get a shock at it.

————————————————————————

>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E18ya; Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Harlem’s Annual Queer Extravaganza Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:31:24 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609111831.E18ya@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 21:10:12 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

reprinted with permission from Southern Voice, 5 September, 1996

Harlem’s Annual Queer Extravaganza

by Maria Helana Dolan

I tell you, in Harlem, almost anything went. What about Harlem’s yearly extravaganza– The Dance of the Fairies? Held annually since 1869, “the most spectacular homosexual events were the costume balls held at the cavernous Rockland Palace on 155th Street.” (“The Harlem Renaissance,” Steve Watson). Organized by Hamilton Lodge No. 710 of the Grand United Order of Odd

Fellows, it was known officially as “The Masquerade and Civic Ball,” but by the late 1920’s everyone in Harlem knew it as The Faggots Ball.” (Gay New York, George Chauncey). Langston Hughes, central Renaissance figure, offers an account of the ball in his autobiography, “The Big Sea,” which covers his first 40 years. Of course, if you didn’t know that every man in the Renaissance was in love with him, you certainly wouldn’t pry it out from within these pages.

“Strangest and gaudiest of all Harlem spectacles in the ’20s… [wa]s the annual Hamilton Club Lodge Ball at Rockland Palace casino… “It is the ball where men dress as women and women dress as men… It was fashionable for the intelligensia and social leaders of both Harlem and the downtown area to ocdcupy the boxes at this ball, and look down from above at the queerly assorted throng on the dancing floor, males in flowing gowns and feathered headdresses, and females in tuxedos and box-black suits.

“Prizes are given to the most gorgeously gowned of the whites and Negroes who, powdered, wigged and rouged, mingle and compete for awards.” It presented quite a spectacle. According to Watson, “Not all guests were homosexual: many came to gawk. These onlookers ascended a gold-banistered staircase to the box seats that ringed the huge ballroom and

looked down on the Grand March of ersatz divas promenading beneath a colossal crystal chandelier and a sky-blue ceiling. “The women mostly dressed in drably colored loose-fitting men’s suits… while the men outdid themselves in backless dresses and huge spangles; and as a creature called ‘La Flame’ who wore only a white satin stovepipe hat, a red beaded breast plate, and a white sash.” Not only was this the gaudiest and largest of events in the year for

New York’s Queers; the Ball also drew thousands of spectators, as well as participating cross-dressers. In Chauncey’s description, “the ball’s popularity grew steadily… and peaked in the early 1930s, when a ‘panzy craze’ seized the city.” We’ll get into that in a future column. Sure, “New Negro” tabloids such as the widely-read Interstate Tattler reported on the doings at Rockland. But even venerable journals such as The Amsterdam News, while adopting a cheeky tone, reported on the proceedings. For instance, in 1934, it sassily recounted that “4,000 citizens, numbering some of Harlem’s best, elbowed and shoved each other aside and squirmed and stepped on one another’s toes and snapped at each other to obtain a better eyeful.” Chauncey elaborates. “In the 1930s the black press paid more attention to the Hamilton Lodge ball than to any other ball held in Harlem, regularly publishing photographs or drawings of the winning contestants, interviewing them and describing their costumes, and listing the dozens of society people in attendance– almost all int he news section on the first or second pages, not buried in the society pages where the balls thrown by other social clubs got briefer notices.” Plus, the Black press open rooted for the Black contestants over the

white ones. THEIR drag queens represented the REAL Harlem, and so rightfully earned a place within the pages of the papers. No wonder that this instution became a community and family fixture. As Chauncey recounts, “Harlemites turning out to see the balls included celebrities, avant-garde writers, society matrons,prostitutes, and whole families. “At the begiing of her career, the singer Ethel Waters not only attended the balls but boasted about the prizes won by drag queens (fans from a local club) to whom she had loaned her gowns.” Funny; I don’t recall

reading any of this in her autobiography, “His Eye on the Sparrow.” Not that everyone in Harlem was thrilled with The Faggot’s Ball. Churchmen and striving-for-respectability blacks were appalled, and attributed the presence of drag queens and homos to disgusting whites infecting Harlem from the vile bohemia of Greenwich Village. Their cries went mostly unheeded, until the late ’30s. The really amazing thing about the Rockland Ball wasn’t the mixing of black and white in a segregated city. It wasn’t the overt presence and dominance of the “third sex.” I believe it was instead the fact that Harlem society itself, and all the wellsprings which fed it across the country, so genuinely and openly embraced this event and its attendees.

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

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

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

We have several electronic mailing lists: AEGIS NEWS: Trans-related news, press releases, and items of interest GENDER HELP: Discussion of issues related to transition and personal growth

(Send e-mail to listserv@xconn.com; on separate lines in the message, include the following: subscribe aegisnws subscribe gendhelp

If you’re on AOL, try the keyword AEGIS

————————————————————————

>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E75iF; Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Soldier Charged in Hawaii Transgender Death Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609111831.E75iF@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 21:10:10 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

>From Southern Voice, 5 September, 1996

Soldier Charged in Hawaii Transgender Death

Army member Anthony Tyrone Briscoe, 22, will stand trial on a charge that he

killed Thomas Hall, 33, whom Associated Press identified as a transvestite. Anthony “Angel” Marcos, Hall’s friend and sister sex worker, testified that s/he saw Hall with Briscoe behind Dot’s restaurant on Mango St. Aug. 14 before hearing Hall screaming. Marcos ran to the victim and found hir bleeding from the head. Anthother witness placed Briscoe’s car at the scene. Police said Hall suffered facial and head injuries when beaten with a brick and died the following day. Briscoe is charged with second-degree murder and if convicted will face a mandatory life prison sentence with the possibility of parole.

————————————————————————

>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E20SN; Wed 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Transvestite Math Teacher Comes Out at School Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 18:31:25 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609111831.E20SN@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 11 Sep 1996 21:10:06 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

>From Southern Voice, 5 September, 1996

A 58-year-old father of 10 who teaches math at Santa Rosa (CA) Junior College has come out on the job and wearsz a dress to class every day. Dick

Giles, also known as Diane, said, “I just decided I needed to quit living a lie.” This summer, with the support of his wife, Diane began dressing full-time in women’s clothing, and visited his family in Quincy, IL, and attended his 40th high school reunion in a dress. “I’ve known about it all the time we have been together,” said Anne Giles. “I’m glad the hiding, the

worrying, and the concern for the mental health of Diane is over. This is the person she is.” School administrators said Giles can teach in a dress as long as it does not interfere with his duties.

1996, 21 September

Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest Date: 96-09-21 04:22:08 EDT

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 00:06:57

============================================================================= AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

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

============================================================================= >From listserv@xconn.com Wed 18 Sep 1996 11:59:49 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E97Cn; Wed 18 Sep 1996 11:59:49 From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Boy Who Wore Dress to School Listed As Runaway Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 11:59:49 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609181159.E97Cn@xconn.com>

Originally From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Original Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 13:29:56 -0400

>From The Boston Globe

Boy Who Wore Dress to School Listed As Runaway

By Aaron Nathans, 09/17/96; 20:29

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – The boy who sparked controversy when he wore a dress to Burlington High School last week has been listed as a runaway with Burlington City Police.

The report came after Burlington High School officials were set to meet with

Matt Stickney, 15, Tuesday morning to mediate their differences. But school officials said the session never happened because not all parties were present.

Burlington Police Lt. Emmet Helrich said Stickney was reported as a runaway at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and there have been no reports of his whereabouts.

Stickney, who is gay, has been showing up at school in a dress, and the administration has been sending him home. Administrators say his clothing disrupts class and therefore violates the school’s dress code.

About 100 BHS students had cut class Friday morning to protest the school’s decision to suspend him.

In a statement Friday, the Burlington School District said it was concerned that allowing Stickney to wear the clothing he chose would disrupt learning. “We are responsible for protecting the educational environment from disruption and maintaining a safe environment for all students,” it said.

The situation has attracted national notoriety. David Hyde Pierce of TV’s “Frasier” referred to Stickney in an interview on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” And Karen Eade, executive director of Outright Vermont, a gay services

organization, said a representative of the daytime “Jerry Springer Show” left

a card at her office Tuesday.

“This has been such a media circus,” Eade said. We have a young person who is

at great risk right now. There are a million different reasons a young person

would feel isolated and condemned at this turn of events.”

[addendum from person in area: “According to local radio here in Burlington this morning someone from OUTright Vermont (the glbt youth support group) says Matt is “in hiding” but OK.]

[note from The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project:

Vermont has prohibited discrimination based upon sexual orientation in its education code. [16 V.S.A. ss 11].

Vermont also has a “public accomodations” statute which *may* be applicable to anti-LGBT abuse in public high schools. {See 9 V.S.A. ss 4502}.

All decisions regarding curricular policy are handled at a local level. Nonetheless, a State Dept. of Ed. DOES exist, and the Commissioner should be contacted regarding treatment of LGBT students in his state. It is time for his department to take a leadership role, and it could start with sensitivity trainings for school principals, superintendents, and other administrators.

State Dept. of Ed., 120 State St., State Office Building, Montpelier, VT 05620-2501; Departmental Faxes: 802-828-3140 or 802-828-3146. Richard P Mills, Commissioner, phone= 802-828-3135]

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ OK TO RE-POST. Jessea Greenman <jessea@uclink4.berkeley.edu> The P.E.R.S.O.N. Project (Public Education Regarding Sexual Orientation Nationally) CHECK THIS OUT FOR TONS OF INFO – – <http://www.youth.org/loco/PERSONProject/> Please cc us (for our files) on

correspondence you send or receive re our action alerts.

**As posted in the Transgender Community Forum **On America Online (Keyword: TCF) **TCF Info: http://members.aol.com/glcfwendy/tcf

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>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 18 Sep 1996 16:38:56 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E26Yg; Wed 18 Sep 1996 16:38:56 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Media Watch Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 16:38:56 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609181638.E26Yg@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 19:22:33 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

The movie Stonewall, featuring all sorts of drag and transgendered characters, opens this weekin art cinemas across the nation.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Wed 18 Sep 1996 20:30:05 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E54mp; Wed 18 Sep 1996 20:30:05 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Drag Decadence in Crescent City Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 20:30:05 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609182030.E54mp@xconn.com>

Original Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 19:22:30 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Reprinted with permission from Southern Voice, 12 September, 1996

Drag Decadence in Crescent City

New Orleans held its 24th annual Southern Decadence Day celebration over the

Labor Day weekend. A five-day round of drag shows, a leather contest, dances, cocktail parties, beer busts and barbecues culminated in the traditional Sunday afternoon costumed walking parade through the streets of the French Quarter. In keeping with his chosen theme, “Queen of Da’ Nile,” grand marshal Wayne White and his retinue of slaves were dressed in King Tut-inspired gowns and loincloths. Following behind were several hundred drag queens, leathermen, and members of costumed contingents including a purported passel of Hooter’s girls, “pink ladies,” and Value Jet stewardesses.

Transsexual Claims Parenthood in Eurocourt

A women who became a man took Britain to the European Court of Human Rights recently to win recognition as father to the child of his long-time female companion. The child was born in 1992 through artificial insemination by sperm from a third person. The British transsexual, named only as X, argues

that the Registrar’s refusal to register him as the father breached the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees respect of family life.

Lady Bunny Dolls Up

>From Atlanta Queen and current czarina of that fabulous NYC extravaganza Wigstock, Lady Bunny has now been immortalized. She’s one of eight dazzling

real-life divas featured in a new, one-of-a-kind book called “Drag Dolls.” Subtitled “Eight Cut-Out Drag Queens and Their Fabulous Over-the-Top Ensembles,” it is all that and more. Along with Bunny (who can sport twooutrageous ’70s outfits or a country queen ensemble complete with gingham

mini apron), you can also play dress-up with the intimitable Joey Arias, the

formidable Misstress Formike, the ubiquitous Hedda Lettuce, and a few lesser-known luminaries. Published by Chronicle Books ($12.95,), it features the photographs and illustrations of David Croland.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Fri 20 Sep 1996 17:39:50 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E97gJ; Fri 20 Sep 1996 17:39:50 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Transsexual Custody Case Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 17:39:50 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609201739.E97gJ@xconn.com>

Original Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 19:10:58 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

From: ASuper8069@aol.com Subject: TRANSSEXUAL CUSTODY CASE

Here’s an article from the 18 September St. Louis Post Dispatch: COURT TO HEAR TRANSSEXUAL CUSTODY CASE by Tim Bryant of The Post Dispatch Staff

After a father undergoes a sex-change operation, begins living as a woman and calls himself (sic) Sharon, should he (sic) still have an active role in his (sic) children’s lives? The Missouri Court of Appeals has to answer that tricky question. The mother, who lives in St. Charles County, has said “no” in court records. She contends that it is in the best interest of her two sons, age 9

and 6, to deny their father visitation and temporary custody. Her oldest son

has expressed “suicidal ideations” and was put on antidepressants, court records state. The youngest son has been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder. But the father’s lawyer said Tuesday that the father should have regular, unsupervised visitation. The children’s father now lives in suburban Washington, D.C. “It’s fairly obvious that we feel any restrictions are unwarranted at this time,” said the father’s lawyer, Elizabeth Harris Christmas. Last year, a St. Charles County judge granted the wife, who uses the pseudonym Karen to protect the children’s identities, primary physical custody. The father, now called Sharon, got weekend temporary custody and unsupervised visitation for two weeks in the summer and on alternate major holidays. However, Sharon could not cohabit with a transsexual or sleep with

another woman during those visits. “We think she is ‘married’ [to another transsexual] but we don’t know what that means,” said Susan Hais, Karen’s lawyer. Both parents appealed. The issue could be heard in the Missouri Court of Appeals in St. Louis as early as December. This may be the first time the issue of child visitation with a divorced

transsexual parent has come before the appeals court, Hais said Tuesday. However, that issue may not be the one heard in this case, she added. State law prohibits the divorce judge, Judge William T. Lohmar Jr., from

giving the father unsupervised visitation without a prior hearing to determine whether it would be proper, Hais said. The appeals court could decide the case on that issue alone. As part of his decree, Lohmar had ruled that the father’s visitation with the children could begin one year after the divorce was granted, or last

June. The father wants to delete from the divorce decree the requirement that that the father cannot “cohabit” with other transsexuals while the boys

visit. Karen and Sharon met in 1982. He was an Air Force Academy graduate stationed at Whitman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Mo., near Sedalia. Karen

was a junior at a state university in Missouri. The couple met at a Bible study group. They married in March 1983. Karen said in an interview last

year that their relationship was always strained. In the summer of 1991, Karen’s husband — “Tom,” as he (sic) is called in the case — refused to go with the family to visit Karen’s relatives. When she and the boys came home three weeks later, Tom told Karen that he had spent the whole time living as a woman. The couple separated in August

1992. Tom underwent a hair transplant, electrolysis, hormone treatments and

psychotherapy. Karen filed for divorce in June 1993. While the divorce was pending, Tom underwent sex-change surgery in Montreal. Hais said Tuesday that the case was “fascinating in a lot of ways.” “Emotionally, I suppose, it’s complicated for everybody,” she added.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Fri 20 Sep 1996 20:27:59 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E24xX; Fri 20 Sep 1996 20:27:59 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Transsexual Challenges Tri-Ess Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 20:27:59 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609202027.E24xX@xconn.com>

Original Date: Fri, 20 Sep 1996 23:01:47 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

September, 1996 For Immediate Release Transsexual Challenges Tri-Ess

Dallas Denny, popularly believed to be a six year post-operative transsexual

woman, has sent an application to the Society For the Second Self, claiming to be a heterosexual crossdresser and asking for full membership status. The Society, popularly known as Tri-Ess, is a sorority for heterosexual crossdressers. Only heterosexual crossdressers and their female partners are allowed full membership status. Some chapters offer affiliate status to those who do not meet requirements for full membership.

Denny, formerly a full member of Tri-Ess, has been an associate member of Tri Ess’ Atlanta-based Sigma Epsilon chapter since 1990, when she submitted

her letter of resignation to Sigma Epsilon and was told she was welcome to attend functions as a friend of the chapter.

Over the years, Denny, who has remained active with Tri-Ess, has become increasingly concerned about Tri-Ess membership requirements, which she calls exclusionary. And not only exclusionary, she says, but hypocritical.

“There are members, chapter officers, and even some members of the national Tri-Ess board who are not heterosexual crossdressers by any common-sense definition of the term. Some live full-time as women, some take hormones. And yet I am identified by Tri-Ess as transsexual and denied full membership

privileges. I presume it’s because I’ve had sex reassignment surgery, but I

don’t recall a panty check. My genital status is my own business, and not Tri-Ess’ . If I say I’m a heterosexual crossdresser, then by golly, I’m a heterosexual crossdresser. For the purposes of joining Tri-Ess, I’m a heterosexual crossdresser, and as such, I am applying for full membership privileges. If Tri-Ess denies me membership, then I’m going to insist on a clear explanation why. I don’t want to hear that I don’t believe in and support the mission of the organization, which is to serve heterosexual crossdressers and their partners. I do. And I don’t want to hear that I’m transsexual. Tri-Ess has no right to label me. If they want to deny my membership on the basis of my presumed genital status, then I’m going to insist on a panty check, not only for myself, but for all Tri-Ess members. And I’m going to ask why others born male who live as woman are allowed in, while I’m not. ”

Denny, who founded and is director of the American Educational Gender Information Service, a national clearinghouse for transsexual and transgender issues, was also concerned by the number of Sigma Epsilon members who approached her privately to talk about their issues with homosexuality and transsexualism. “Cumulatively, over five years, it was more than half of the organization,” she said. “We re talking 30 or 40 people. Eventually, I said Wait a minute. Something is not adding up here.”

In May, Denny published an article entitled “Heteropocrisy: The Myth of the

Heterosexual Crossdresser,” in which she brought up her concerns about the massive amounts of denial she had seen in various Tri-Ess chapters. Tri-Ess

officials responded by asking the AEGIS Board of Directors to counsel with Denny for her criticism in Heteropocrisy and other articles. The AEGIS Board has not yet taken action on Tri-Ess request.

Denny received a Friends of Tri-Ess award in 1992 at the organization’s national convention in 1992. She displays the award prominently in her home

office. “It’s because I am a friend of Tri-Ess that I’m doing this,” she says. “Supporting the organization does not require me to condone the membership policy. Let’s face it: any organization which excludes homosexuals from membership can only be called homophobic; any organization which excludes transsexuals can only be called transphobic; and any organization which differentially enforces its own rules is in need of reform.”

>11 September, 1996 > > >Society for the Second Self >P.O. Box 194 >Tulare, CA 93275 > > >Dear Tri-Ess: > >Enclosed is my $40 membership fee. I am requesting full membership in Tri-Ess as a >heterosexual crossdresser. As you know, I have been a long-term supporter of Tri-Ess. I’ve >been reasonably content to be an associate member of Sigma Epsilon, the local chapter here >in Atlanta– but I’ll be much happier as a full member with voting privileges. > >Now, most people would say I’m transsexual, and in truth, that’s a designation that I have >proudly used for myself. I have lived full-time as a woman for more than six years, and >have every intention of continuing to live as such. However, I know some Tri-Ess members, >including some Board members, cross-live full time; if they are heterosexual crossdressers, >then I certainly am too! > >I’m not sure if it’s possible to be a heterosexual crossdresser after genital sex reassignment >surgery. I do admit to making a two-week trip to Belgium in 1991, and it’s

commonly >believed that I went there for SRS. However, I would submit that my genital status is my >own business. Tri-Ess, to my knowledge, does not do physical examinations on its members, >and I should certainly hope that it would not begin with me. Of course, there will be a Tri- >Ess physician present at Southern Comfort, should you insist on a panty check. > >So far as my sexual orientation goes, it’s difficult to say what constitutes the “opposite” sex. >The only person I’ve have a sexual relationship with within the last six years was a pre- >transition FTM transsexual. I can happily say that heterosexual is as good

a term as any to >use to describe my sexual orientation. > >It’s swell to be a heterosexual crossdresser who, like so many Tri-Ess members, cross-lives >full-time, has taken hormones, has had electrolysis, and maybe even (I’m not tellin’) had >SRS. Why, if everyone just understood that no matter what they do with their bodies and >who they have sex with, they can be heterosexual crossdressers just by saying that they are, >they would know that Tri-Ess’ membership criteria aren’t really exclusionary. > >I’m happily awaiting my full membership status. > > >Proudly heterosexual, proudly crossdressin’ > > >Dallas Denny >P.O. Box 33724 >Decatur, GA 30033-0724 > > >cc Just about everyone you can think of

1996, 28 September

Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest

Date: 96-09-28 04:15:20 EDT

Originally From: aegisnws-digest@xconn.com Original Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 00:13:16

============================================================================= AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

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

============================================================================= >From listserv@xconn.com Wed 25 Sep 1996 07:14:07 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E51qD; Wed 25 Sep 1996 07:14:07 From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Oct LA Gender Group Features Janis Walworth Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 07:14:07 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609250714.E51qD@xconn.com>

Originally From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Original Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 08:23:32 -0400

Originally From: Michele Kammermer (Firewomon@aol.com)

The Los Angeles Gender Center is now offering monthly support & informational

group meetings for the transsexual (FTM & MTF), transgender communities, their partners, families and friends. Meet others, share ideas, include the

family. Second Sunday of the month

October 13, 1996: Interfacing with the Lesbian Community: Protesting transsexual exclusion, promoting understanding, and creating inclusive events Speaker: Janis Walworth Janis Walworth has been a lesbian since before Stonewall and has been an activist and advocate in the gender community since 1991. She was instrumental in protesting the exclusion of transsexual women from the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. In 1994, she created “Full Circle of Women,”

an annual conference for all kinds of women that helps to build bridges between the trans, lesbian, and women’s communities.

Location: The Women’s Center 1512 S. Robertson Los Angeles, California Thomas Guide 632 H4 Time: 3:00 – 5:00 pm Admission: $5.00

For information, call Elise, Amanda (ASLive@aol.com), or Marie at the Los Angeles Gender Center (310) 475-8880 or e-mail Janis: Merkin77@aol.com

**As posted in the Transgender Community Forum **On America Online (Keyword: TCF) **TCF Info: http://members.aol.com/glcfwendy/tcf

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 26 Sep 1996 21:58:11 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E31qM; Thu 26 Sep 1996 21:58:11 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: San Francisco Mulls Sex-Change Comp Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 21:58:11 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609262158.E31qM@xconn.com>

Original Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 00:23:42 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 22:05:34 -0400

.c The Associated Press By KARYN HUNT Associated Press Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco, the city that has made nonconformity practically a civic virtue, is considering broadening municipal employees’ insurance to cover sex-change operations.

The idea came from what’s known as the “transgender community” in San Francisco, where the Board of Supervisors in recent years has considered such things as legalizing marijuana for the terminally ill and prostitution.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, a gay man who sidelines as a comedian, said he will introduce the measure at the request of those who consider gender transformation a medical necessity.

“People don’t choose to be transsexual. They’re born that way,” said police Sgt. Stephan Thorne, who is undergoing the change from female to male at his own expense. “I haven’t `opted’ to do anything. I am taking the medical treatment that is required for my medical condition.”

Kiki Whitlock agrees. She worked three computer jobs at once to raise the $10,000 she needed to have her gender changed from male to female in Colorado in 1985.

“I think it’s important that people recognize we’re not trying to get a free ride,” she said. “We’re taxpayers, too, just like anybody else. I’m able to be productive to society now. I’m happy. I’m complete. Whereas before the surgery, I was suicidal.”

No one knows how many of the 28,000 municipal employees might want the procedure. The surgery costs $10,000 to $20,000, not counting psychiatric evaluations and hormone treatments before and after.

“This is not a problem for Boise, Idaho,” complained Arthur Bruzzone, chairman of the city Republican Party. He called sex reassignment, like breast enhancement, a “lifestyle decision” and said that “special interests” are ignoring more urgent problems like homelessness.

“That allows them to propose what is viewed by the outside world as absurd proposals while we’re facing all the normal problems of urban America,” he said.

San Francisco is believed to have about 6,000 transsexuals.

In recent years, the Board of Supervisors has flouted federal law in offering sanctuary to Latin American refugees. And the city can’t complete its $40 million emergency radio system because the two companies building it do business with Burma, which the board has declared an “evil empire.”

AP-NY-09-25-96 1922EDT

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

**As posted in the Transgender Community Forum **On America Online (keyword: TCF) **TCF Info: http://members.aol.com/glcfwendy/tcf

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>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 26 Sep 1996 21:58:12 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E78il; Thu 26 Sep 1996 21:58:12 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Police Edicts Repealed in Buenos Aires Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 21:58:12 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609262158.E78il@xconn.com>

Original Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 00:23:36 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Subject: Police Edicts Repealed in Buenos Aires Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 09:29:00 +0100

Escrita en el Cuerpo – Lesbian Archives and Library Electronic News Service

POLICE EDICTS REPEALED IN BUENOS AIRES

Yesterday, the city’s Statutory Convenction passed a clause that, in practice, repeals the infamous Police Edicts that were the force’s key weapon to arbitrary detain young people, transvestites, gays, lesbians and prostitutes (among others) for years.

400 people are arrested every day in Buenos Aires without having comitted any crime, simply because Police suspects they are ‘dangerous’. Those people usually spend around 12 hours in a police station, where most of them are blackmailed and verbally, emotionally and even physically abused. No judge ever intervenes in the process, and they are not even notified of the arrest. In 1995, 150.000 people were arrested to ‘check their police records’ and only a 2% of them were previous offenders (which by no means implies they had actually comitted a crime at the time of their arrest and/or Police had any right to arrest them)

In this last years, due to several denounces of police brutality through torture followed by death and street murders having young males and transvestites as their main victims, mainstream society became increasingly aware of what Police Edicts meant and started to oppose them. Human Right organizations like Madres de Plaza de Mayo Linea Fundadora, FUBA (university students) and transvestite, gay and lesbians groups followed closely the events at the Statutory Convention. Police -backed by the country’s president, Carlos Menem- tried to exert pressure on political parties to keep the Edicts, by threatening the city with ‘chaos’ and ‘lack of protection’. Nevertheless, the Convention again chose to favour the citizen’s interesest and not to fear the ‘powers’, and the Edicts were repealed.

Once the new city Statute is promulgated, a Contravention Justice will have to be created in a 90 days period, to see over those cases of infrigments like illegal gambling, being drunk in public places and causing trouble, etc. Police will only be able to arrest somebody who is effectily contravening and she/he should be inmediately sent over to a Contravention Judge. Nobody could be arrested in Buenos Aires simply for being ‘suspicious’ or to check her/his police records. Police will not be allowed to hold IDs or to take statements.

Conventional Maria Jose Lubertino (UCR), who advocated this project as well as the anti-discriminatory clause including sexual orientation (already passed), said both were related as the Edicts are “a vestige from the past, aimed at separating those considered ‘different’ from the mainstream society; to repeal them is a way to make non-discrimination effective”.

In the l/g/b/t/t community, transvestites and transsexuals are the most benefitted by this measure, as they suffered police brutality in its cruelest forms during all these years. Facts: more than 40 transvestites were murdered in these last 4 years; a 43 years old transsexual estimates she has spend a total of 6 years in jail during her life; transvestites working in the street spend in average 3 nights in police stations every week.

This achievement is the work of those who denounced police brutality and fought against it during all these years: transvestites, transsexuals, sex workers, young people, victim’s families and their lawyers who in many cases were arrested and beated themselves when defending their clients. The support provided by human right, feminists, g/l/b/t and community organizations was also important in order that politicians finally decided to listen to what people claims.

Alejandra Sarda

Piedras 1170 1ero. B, (1070), Buenos Aires Phone: (54 1) 307 66 56 y/o 581 01 79 Fax: (54 1) 373 89 55 E.mail: ales@wamani.apc.org

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

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

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

We have several electronic mailing lists: AEGIS NEWS: Trans-related news, press releases, and items of interest GENDER HELP: Discussion of issues related to transition and personal growth

(Send e-mail to listserv@xconn.com; on separate lines in the message, include the following: subscribe aegisnws subscribe gendhelp

If you’re on AOL, try the keyword AEGIS

————————————————————————

>From listserv@xconn.com Thu 26 Sep 1996 21:58:12 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E81kr; Thu 26 Sep 1996 21:58:12 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: The 3rd Annual Symposium on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 21:58:12 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609262158.E81kr@xconn.com>

Original Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 00:24:34 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

From: “Christine E. Coffman” <coffman@scf-fs.usc.edu> Subject: CFP: Perspectives on Progress (Lesbigay, transgender)

Subject: CFP: Perspectives on Progress (Lesbigay, transgender)

[ALL questions and submissions to Holly Nichols: HNIC7061@uriacc.uri.edu ] *Call for Papers/Presentations*

“Perspectives on Progress” The 3rd Annual Symposium on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Issues

The University of Rhode Island April 10-12, 1997

We invite members of the LGBT and Straight communities, Civil Rights Leaders

and Activists, Students, Faculty and Staff to submit proposals for presentation at the 1997 Conference. We welcome both academic and non-academic submissions, including those which are artistic, research-based, and discussions of exper- ience within activists movements.

Topics might include, but are not limited to:

-Activism -Assimilation vs. Dissidence -Unity vs. Separatism -Strategies for change -Parental rights -Civil Rights -Domestic Partnership Benefits -History of the LGBT Rights Movement

-Sexuality in Literature, Film, Video, Drama, Opera, Music, Television and Popular Culture (this coud be either a presentation of your own work or an analysis of others’ work)

-Gay Bashing

-The Diverse Representations of Spirituality within the LGBT Community

-Health Issues -AIDS Lesbians and Breast Cancer -Living Wills -Substance Abuse -Suicide -Mental Health

-Sexual Abuse

-Campus Life -The Greek System -Residential Life -Classroom Climates -Queer Studies

-Politics of S/M

-Relationship between Homophobia, Heterosexism, Racism, Sexism, Classism & Ageism

-Transgender Issues

-Scientific Research in Sexual Orientations

—- Please submit a one-page description that provides the nature of your presentation, including the title, approximate length, expected visual/ audio aids required, and brief summary. Proposals must be received by November 1, 1996 to be considered. Submissions should be mailed to Holly J. Nichol, Chair, 3rd Annual Symposium, Women’s Studies Program, URI, Roosevelt Hall, Kingston, RI 02881. Phone inquiries can be made by leaving a message at (401) 874-5150.

— Rosa Maria Pegueros 217C Washburn Hll Department of History e-mail: pegueros@uriacc.uri.edu 80 Upper College Road, Suite 3 telephone: (401) 874-4092 University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881-0817

1996, 2 October

Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest Date: 96-10-02 04:10:43 EDT From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server) Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com

============================================================================= AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

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

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

>From listserv@xconn.com Sat 28 Sep 1996 07:22:09 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E93ov; Sat 28 Sep 1996 07:22:09 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Message-Id: <9609280722.E93ov@xconn.com> Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 07:22:09

Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 07:22:09 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: <receipent!address!incerted!here>

Original Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 09:51:59 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

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SAA16838 for <glb-news@listserv.aol.com>; Mon, 23 Sep 1996 18:02:35 -0400 X-Received: from [198.216.26.166] by gator1.brazosport.cc.tx.us; (5.65/1.1.8.2/22Jun95-0401AM) id AA29561; Mon, 23 Sep 1996 17:13:36 -0500 Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 11:56:41 -0400 From: “Robert E. Lewis” <rlewis@brazosport.cc.tx.us> Subject: Denial in AIDS List Leak

AIDS WORKER DENIES MISUSING LIST

TAMPA, Fla. — A state health worker on Friday denied that he’s responsible for leaking a confidential list of nearly 4,000 AIDS patients that was sent to two Florida newspapers.

“Somebody knows what I do and used my name, I would suggest, as a personal vendetta,” said William B. Calvert III, who is on paid leave pending an investigation. Calvert claims he took the disk out for field work, and that it was stolen.

A computer disk containing the list was sent anonymously to two newspapers, with a letter claiming that Calvert showed it to friends on his laptop computer outside a gay bar. The letter said the sender copied the disk after Calvert became intoxicated and dropped the disk.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Sat 28 Sep 1996 07:22:10 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E64Yz; Sat 28 Sep 1996 07:22:10 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Intl. Congress Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 07:22:10 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609280722.E64Yz@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:06:06 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Please repost this to any and all bulletin boards. Feel free to pass this to friends and colleagues.

** CALL FOR PAPERS **

SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON SEX & GENDER ISSUES June 19 – 22, 1997, The Park Ridge at Valley Forge, Pa (suburban Phila.)

**** DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: JAN 15, 1997 ****

INFORMATION FOR PRESENTERS Major Themes of Interest: * Brain Sex and Gender Identity: Nature vs. Nurture * Gender Identity in The Third Millennium: Social and Legal Issues * Counseling Issues & Methods * Transgender Identity and the Arts

Format Three Plenary Sessions: Fri., Sat., Sun. mornings (Jun. 20-22) Four sets of 45-minute concurrent sessions Workshops; one and two hour formats (optional)

Each conference day will be structured to provide ample time to attend sessions and conduct general discussions. Meetings and workshops will take place between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM. Social and business functions will be in the evenings.

Papers Papers offering research data and theoretical positions are welcome.

Experimental work is particularly desired. Clinical material is welcome particularly to illustrate how counseling helps resolve transgender issues. Non-clinical presentations on the social and legal issues of gender and gender identity are especially welcomed.

Workshops There will be opportunity to present significant material in workshops. Submit topic, length of time required, goals of the workshop, and facilities required for presentation. Workshops are open to all conference registrants.

HOW TO SUBMIT PROPOSALS FOR PAPERS/WORKSHOPS 1. Two copies of abstracts of papers and workshops must be submitted to both of the Program Committee Co-Chairs: Vern Bullough, Ph.D., R.N., 17434 Mayall St., Northridge, CA 91325, and Sheila Kirk, M.D., PO Box 38114, Blawnox, PA 15238-9998. Submission deadline: January 15, 1997

2. Abstracts and Workshop Descriptions should contain sufficient information to adequately judge the proposal. Those proposing a workshop are not required to submit an Abstract but rather include information about the format of the workshop, e.g., experiential, demonstration, discussion, et al., and what the workshop will accomplish.

3. Proposals should be typed on 81/2″ by 11″ paper, one side only, double-spaced. Send four (4) copies. Proposals may also be submitted by email to <SheilaKirk@aol.com>.

4. All proposals must include: Title Author’s name, position and/or title, address of affiliation or institution, phone#. Specific area of contribution (educator, therapist, counselor, researcher) Objectives of presentation Methodology of presentation Outline of presentation content Time needed to make presentation A list of equipment and aids required: slide projector, overhead projector, chalkboard, newsprint pad, etc. This information should be included even though it may be tentative.

All questions on programs and presentations must be directed to Drs. Kirk and Bullough.

The Park Ridge Hotel is located in King of Prussia, Pa., about 30 minutes from Philadelphia International Airport. The hotel is served by several limousine services for which the cost is about $18. The hotel is located close to Valley Forge National Park and the now-famous King of Prussia Shopping Mall. Rooms rates are $90/single, $100/double (1997 rates) + 8% occup. tax. Free Parking. Participants should make their own room reservations by calling The Park Ridge at 800-337-1801 [610-337-1800] or by FAX at 610-337-4624 and mention the Renaissance Education Association.

General correspondence *only* may be directed to: JoAnn Roberts, Ph.D., PO Box 61263, King of Prussia, Pa 19406. Phone: 610-640-9449, Fax: 610-648-0257; Email: <cngrs2@cdspub.com>. This conference is co-sponsored by the Human Sexuality Program in the Graduate Department of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and The Renaissance Education Assoc., Inc. — END —

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>From listserv@xconn.com Sat 28 Sep 1996 07:22:10 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E68BW; Sat 28 Sep 1996 07:22:10 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Intl. Congress Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 07:22:10 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609280722.E68BW@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sat, 28 Sep 1996 10:07:21 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Please repost this to all bulletin boards and feel free to pass this around to friends and colleagues.

PRESS RELEASE King of Prussia, Pa., USA September 1996 For Immediate Release

**** SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON SEX & GENDER ISSUES **** June 19 – 22, 1997 The Park Ridge at Valley Forge, (King of Prussia, Pa.)

The Second International Congress On Sex & Gender Issues is cosponsored by the Human Sexuality Program in the Graduate Department of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and The Renaissance Education Assoc., Inc. The Second Congress will be held at the Park Ridge Hotel in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (suburban Philadelphia). Activities begin Thursday evening, June 19, with a Welcome Cocktail Reception at the hotel.

Special Plenary Session speakers are *Kate Bornstein*, playwright and author, and *Dr. Louis Gooren*, Professor of Medicine at the Vrije University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Ms. Bornstein is best known for her play “Hidden: A Gender” and her book “Gender Outlaw.” She will also speak at the banquet on Saturday night. Dr. Gooren is one of the preeminent sex and gender researchers in the world. His research team made the recent finding of significant similarities between the brain structures of MtF transsexuals and genetic females. A partial list of participants giving one of the 48 presentations or workshops includes: Dr. Randi Ettner; Dr. Carl Bushong; Phyllis Frye, Esq.; Jacob Hale; Holly Boswell; Dr. Roger Millen; Maxwell Anderson; Dr. Lee Etscovitz; Michael Saffle; Dr. Michael Gilbert; Alison Laing; Dallas Denny; Niela Miller; Dr. Mary Ann Schroeder; Dr. Bill Stayton; and Dr. Carol Cobb-Nettleton.

** New to this congress will be a vendor area with an emphasis on publishers and professional organizations. If your organization/company would like to exhibit at the conference, please contact Ms. Dallas Denny at <aegis@mindspring.com> or call (770) 939-2128. **

The Park Ridge Hotel is located in King of Prussia, Pa., about 30 minutes from Philadelphia International Airport. The hotel is served by several limousine services for which the cost is about $18. The hotel is located close to Valley Forge National Park and the now-famous King of Prussia Shopping Mall. Rooms rates are $90/single, $100/double (1997 rates) + 8% occup. tax. Free Parking. Participants should make their own room reservations by calling The Park Ridge at 800-337-1801 [610-337-1800] or by FAX at 610-337-4624 and mention the Renaissance Education Association.

Registration Fee: $80 per person. **** Register before January 1, 1997 for only $60 per person and your name will be entered in a drawing to win a complimentary room for the conference. **** Note: Rooms and meals are not included in the Registration Fee.

Make check or money order payable to the Renaissance Education, Assoc., Inc., Congress Registration, 987 Old Eagle School Road, Suite 719, Wayne, PA 19087. The Saturday evening banquet with Guest Speaker Kate Bornstein, author of “Gender Outlaw,” is extra cost ($37). Please indicate if you will attend the banquet.

Questions, ideas, and general correspondence may be directed to JoAnn Roberts, Ph.D., PO Box 61263, King of Prussia, PA 19406. Phone: 610-640-9449; Fax: 610-648-0257. Email — congrs2@cdspub.com

Dallas Denny, M.A., Executive Director

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

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

We have several electronic mailing lists: AEGIS NEWS: Trans-related news, press releases, and items of interest GENDER HELP: Discussion of issues related to transition and personal growth

(Send e-mail to listserv@xconn.com; on separate lines in the message, include the following: subscribe aegisnws subscribe gendhelp

If you’re on AOL, try the keyword AEGIS

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>From listserv@xconn.com Sun 29 Sep 1996 17:48:34 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E77HH; Sun 29 Sep 1996 17:48:34 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: High School Crossdresser Suspended in Vermont Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 17:48:34 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609291748.E77HH@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 16:58:50 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Reprinted with permission from Southern Voice, 26 September, 1996.

High School Student Suspended in Vermont

A gay Burlington High School student suspended several times for wearing a dress, makup and a wig to class says he has no plans to change his wardrobe. “This is who I am,” said 15-year-old Matt Stickney, who showed up

for school Sept. 13 in a black top with a flowered shirt. Administrators say the outfits are disruptive in class and therefore violate the district’s

dress code. About 100 students cut class to protest the suspensions, with some boys wearing pink lipstick and some girls wearing button-down shirts and ties.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Sun 29 Sep 1996 17:48:34 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E40Bf; Sun 29 Sep 1996 17:48:34 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Rupaul and Rodman? Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 17:48:34 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609291748.E40Bf@xconn.com>

Original Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 16:58:52 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Reprinted with permission from Southern Voice, 27 September, 1996

RuPaul and Rodman?

Look out, Jay. Move over, Dave. There’s a new girl in town. Cable’s VH1 is throwing their push-up bra into the late-night talk show ring, with the help of none other than supermodel/crossdresser/actress RuPaul. The early awaited “The RuPaul Show” will do some dishing of its own on celebrity lives, which premieres October 12. The show will be taped before a life audience at VH1’s New York studios. Guests scheduled so far include Chicago

Bulls star and ex-Madonna man Dennis Rodman, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, Eartha Kitt, and Dionne Warwick. Finally, an alternative to stupid pet tricks.

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 30 Sep 1996 15:20:43 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E45jk; Mon 30 Sep 1996 15:20:43 From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Transvestite Gets Wed License Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 15:20:43 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609301520.E45jk@xconn.com>

Originally From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Original Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 17:00:18 -0400

(Area Coordinator’s note: Judging from the title of this piece (Transvestite

Gets Wed License) I think it is hurridly time that the Associated Press begins to learn just what a Travsvestite (rather than a transsexual) is…)

.c The Associated Press

PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) — It’s not a same-sex wedding, yet. But a judge issued a marriage license today to a man who plans a sex change after he marries a lesbian.

Since Ohio law specifies marriage as a partnership between a man and a woman,

Lake County Probate Judge Fred V. Skok asked for a doctor’s note specifying that Paul Smith of Willoughby still has male sex organs.

Smith agreed to the request and got the license to marry Debi Easterday of Medina, said Smith’s attorney, Les Evan Rockmael.

Smith dresses in women’s clothes, except for work, and expects to complete his sex change within three years. The two say they are lesbians.

The license issued to the couple is good for two months. Rockmael said the wedding date is Oct. 12 but might change.

Smith, who began counseling five years ago over his feeling more like a woman, has applied in the same court to change his name to Denise.

Smith and Easterday are in their 30s and have children from previous marriages. Smith has boys ages 9 and 12 and Easterday has three adult-age sons and a 16-year-old daughter.

Two weeks ago President Clinton signed a law denying federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

AP-NY-09-30-96 1406EDT

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

**As posted in the Transgender Community Forum **On America Online (Keyword: TCF) **TCF Info: http://members.aol.com/glcfwendy/tcf

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>From listserv@xconn.com Mon 30 Sep 1996 15:20:43 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E78Lw; Mon 30 Sep 1996 15:20:43 From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Groom-to-be plans sex change operation Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 15:20:43 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9609301520.E78Lw@xconn.com>

Originally From: GLCFWendy@aol.com Original Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 17:00:29 -0400

(Area Coordinator’s note: This one is a lot better worded than the AP article…)

The Repository Canton, OH Saturday Sep 28 p A-10

Groom-to-be plans sex change operation

Painesville – A groom-to-be who plans a sex change after he marries must provide a judge with a doctor’s note certifying that he stitll has male sex organs, his attorney said Friday.

Paul smith, who has applied to change his name to Denise, expressed amusement

at the requirement for receiving a marriage license.

“Physically, I’m still a male. Legally, I will always be a male,” Smith, of

Willoughby, said in a telephone interview.

He plans to marry Debi Easterday, of Medina, On Oct 12. He expects to complete his sex change within three years. The two say they are lesbians.

Both are in their 30s and have children from previous marriages – Smith has boys ages 9 and 12 and Easterday has three adult-age sons and a 16-year-old daughter.

For Easterday, their marriage isn’t a male-female question.

“I love Denise very much,” she said. “Personally, I look at her as a person.

I do not put her in a box. I do not know the male side of her. I love a person.”

**As posted in the Transgender Community Forum **On America Online (Keyword: TCF) **TCF Info: http://members.aol.com/glcfwendy/tcf

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>From listserv@xconn.com Tue 1 Oct 1996 16:04:32 Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp id E49ih; Tue 1 Oct 1996 16:04:32 From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com> Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com Subject: Demo Called for Embattled TG Teen Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 16:04:31 X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS To: anechoxc Message-Id: <9610011604.E49ih@xconn.com>

Original Date: Tue, 01 Oct 1996 18:49:52 -0400 Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 18:01:31 GMT Subject: DEMO CALLED FOR EMBATTLED TG TEEN From: riki@nyc.pipeline.com (Riki Anne Wilchins)

Media Advisory – For Immediate Release

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

CITY-WIDE DEMONSTRATION PLANNED FOR EMBATTLED TRANSGENDERED TEEN ================================

[Burlington, VT – October 1, 1996] THE NATIONAL PROTEST group Transexual Menace and the Vermont -based organization T.R.A.N.S. today announced a city-wide demonstration of support for suspended crossdressing teen Matthew Stickney for Saturday, October 5th, in downtown Burlington, VT.

The demonstration quickly drew endorsements from a wide spectrum of city groups, including the Burlington Women’s Council, Outright Vermont , Bi-Net, the Vermont Coalition for Gay & Lesbian Rights, and local queer newspaper “Out in the Mountains.”

In a case that attracted national attention, Matthew was suspended on September 9th from Burlington High School for wearing a dress to class. Matthew, who identifies as both gay and crossdressing, explained his attire as both an expression of identity and pride.

However, after Matthew was verbally assaulted by other students, principal Ridgley Shott claimed Matthew was “creating a disturbance” and suspended him from school. During the ensuing national media barrage, Matthew went into hiding, from which he has only recently emerged.

The October 5th demonstration marks the first city-wide expression of support for the embattled gay youth, and hundreds are expected to attend.

WHERE: Unitarian Universalist Church, top of Church St., Burlington town center.

WHEN: Press Conference at 11:45 am. Demonstration at 12:00 noon.

(c) 1996 InYourFace The on-line, news-only service for gender activism from GenderPAC. To be removed from this distribution list, email GPac@GPac.Org When re-posting please credit InYourFace. ###

1996, 16 October

Subj: AEGIS-NEWS Digest

Date: 96-10-16 04:52:28 EDT

From: aegisnws@xconn.com (List Server)

Original Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 00:25:47

 

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

 

 

AEGIS-NEWS DIGEST

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

>From listserv@xconn.com  Sun 13 Oct 1996 09:08:48

Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp

id E73Fy; Sun 13 Oct 1996 09:08:48

From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com

Subject: “Transsexual” Challenges Group’s Membership Rules

Date: Sun, 13 Oct 1996 09:08:48

X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS

To: anechoxc

Message-Id: <9610130908.E73Fy@xconn.com>

 

Original Date: Sun, 13 Oct 1996 11:32:48 -0400

Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

 

The following is reprinted from Etc., 11 October, 1996

 

Atlantan Dallas Denny, describingherself as “popularly believed to be a

six-year post-operative transsexual woman,” sent a letter to the Society for

 

the Second Self, aka Tri-Ess, requesting full membership.  Denny, who would

not confirm in the letter whether or not she had had gender reassignment

surgery in 1991, took the action to challenge Tri-Ess’s policy of granting

full membership status only to heterosexual crossdressers and their female

partners.  “Because of categorizing people as they do and restricting

membership, people get hurt,” Denny explained.  “People often have issues

around sexual orientation and transsexuality, so they go undercover for fear

 

of the other members.  Then they pursue things unwisely, like having safe

sex or getting hormones without counseling.”  Denny says she met with

Tri-Ess officersa t the Southern Comfort trans-community conference, held in

 

Atlanta Sept. 26-29, and that they expressed concern about the issues she

raised.  Denny does not expect her request to be granted, but has agreed to

stop criticizing the group in exchange for Tri-Ess’ pledge to work with her

to meet the needs of members who may be gay or transsexual.  Nevertheless,

Denny said after the conference, “The bottom line is, any organization that

excludes gay people or transsexuals has a real problem.”

 

 

 

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>From listserv@xconn.com  Sun 13 Oct 1996 09:08:48

Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp

id E36rZ; Sun 13 Oct 1996 09:08:48

From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com

Subject: DOMA Results in Genital Check for Marriage

Date: Sun, 13 Oct 1996 09:08:48

X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS

To: anechoxc

Message-Id: <9610130908.E36rZ@xconn.com>

 

Original Date: Sun, 13 Oct 1996 11:32:51 -0400

Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

 

The following is reprinted from Etc., 11 October, 1996

 

Paul Smith of Painesville, OH, who has applied to change his name to Denise

and plans to have sex reassignment surgery, must provide a judge with a

doctor’s note certifying he still has male sex organs before he weds Oct.

12.  Smith and bride-to-be Debi Easterday say they are lesbians.  Lelia

Rupp, who teaches history of gay and lesbian sexuality at Ohio State

University, said the case highlights the difficulty of legisltating the

status of relationships, while attorneys and government officials agree the

marriage would still be legal after Smith’s surgery.

 

 

 

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>From listserv@xconn.com  Tue 15 Oct 1996 18:55:26

Received: from xconn by xconn.com with uucp

id E48sF; Tue 15 Oct 1996 18:55:26

From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

Reply-to: aegisnws@xconn.com

Message-Id: <9610151855.E48sF@xconn.com>

Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 18:55:26

 

Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 18:55:26

X-Sender: UUPlus Listserver 2.01 for DOS

To: <receipent!address!incerted!here>

 

Original Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 21:11:16 -0400

Originally From: Dallas Denny <aegis@mindspring.com>

 

MEDIA ADVISORY – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACTS:

Cheryl Chase, (415) 436-0585, CChase@ISNA.Org

Riki Anne Wilchins, Riki@Pipeline.Com

INTERSEXED DECRY AMERICAN GENITAL MUTILATION

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

[San Francisco, CA – October 14, 1996] WHEN

CONGRESS PASSED a bill outlawing African

genital mutilation last week, American

advocates of the intersexed were quick to point

out that there is *plenty* of home-grown

genital mutilation here at home — it’s the

mutilation of intersexed children and it occurs

in US hospitals every day.

Said Cheryl Chase, Executive Director of

the Intersex Society of North America, “About 1

in 2,000 babies is born with genitals that are

“queer,” and the response of American doctors

is to cut them off, simply because they judge a

clitoris to be ‘too large’ or a penis to be

‘too small.’  These infants have no say

whatsoever in how their bodies are cut, and its

outrageous that Congress didn’t address

Intersex Genital Mutilation or IGM.”

“It’s For Your Own Good”

———————–

Doctors contend IGM is for the child’s own

good. “Not so,” rejoins Chase hotly. “Ask any

ISNA member.  IGM has robbed us of our

genitals and our sexual feeling.  Most who

survive IGM are also psychologically scarred

for life, while others have committed suicide.

Cutting infant genitals to fit heterosexist

norms is *not* medicine; it’s mutilation in

every sense of the word and it’s got to stop.”

Since Congress refused to act, some ISNA

members have banded together to form

“Hermaphrodites with Attitude” or HWA, a

protest group which recently announced plans to

picket hospitals where IGM is being performed.

5 Children Mutilated Each Day

—————————-

Said an unnamed HWA spokes-herm, “Doctors

are now cutting into 5 intersexed infants every

day.  If we can save just one helpless child

from IGM it will be worth it.  Congress has

decided that African infants have the right to

keep their genitals — now we’re fighting to

win the same right for American children.”

Both HWA representatives were subjected to

IGM at New York City’s Columbia Presbyterian

Hospital.  Articles in the September issue of

OUT Magazine and in a January issue of the NY

Times profiled ISNA’s activities.

###

(c) 1996 InYourFace

The on-line, news-only service for

gender activism from GenderPAC. To

be removed from this distribution list,

email GPac@GPac.Org  When re-posting

please credit InYourFace.