From Thailand...

Image from BBC

A secondary school in northeastern Bangkok has put in a third toilet for transgender students.

"Boys" who would rather be girls are very happy having their own space to put on makeup and such.

But as an activist says in the article, down the road they would rather be full women, and use women's restrooms.

Transpeople are very visible in Thailand, but are limited to entertainment, prostitution, and other select industries, rarely making it into the professional world. They don't even have legal status, in fact! I'm fed up with the white liberals considering the rampant homophobia and heteronormativity of Thailand and other Asian societies to be "trans-friendly."

BBC

103 notable transpeople

I'm well aware of many of them - though not all. And I've met a good number in person - including transman attorney Shannon Minter, and New York activist Melissa Sklarz.

In the ten years I spent in the trans community, things have improved dramatically for the community members. Legal protections have spread from just Minnesota to at least 12 states (and many other jurisdictions) over those ten years, for starters. It's thanks to these 103, for the most part, that I live a more comfortable life.

I do have to say that I disagree with a few of the choices in the list (nominated and compiled by many different transgender people, by the way), but for minor reasons, and wouldn't deny the contributions they made to the trans community worldwide in any case. For example, I consider Ha Ri Su to be the product of South Korea's Confucio-Christian heteronormativity and the gay male community's response (a trans lesbian, like me, simply has no room existing there), but she was one of the reasons why legal gender changes are even possible in that nation today.

Here's the list:

Pam's House Blend

Church shooting

This one involves a Unitarian church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The story is still developing, but an apparent right-wing nationalist, unaffiliated with the church, started shooting at random. Currently two are dead, and seven more injured, according to reports I am reading off of Daily Kos and elsewhere.

Mental illness is being ruled out at this time.

My thoughts are with the church and its members.

Update: BBC is naming the Unitarians' gay-friendly liberal positions as a very possible cause of the rampage - something the US-based reports are overlooking.

WBIR, Knoxville
Knoxville News Sentinel
BBC
Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church

TWAATs

As in, Transsexuals Who Are Ashamed of Transsexuals.

Some older conservative transwomen prefer to live in complete stealth, never revealing their trans history - and frowning on those who are out as trans.

I used to be like that several years ago, when I would out myself as a lesbian, but never as trans - but that has changed since, and now most people I deal with know of my trans history as much as my lesbianism. It partly has to do with the nature of Perfect Girl and Sarah - a trans novel is much more convincing when written by a transperson.

Calpernia Addams (whose name I've been mentioning here a lot lately) has heard quite a bit from the TWAATs, and has put up her rebuttal on her diary. I'm copy-pasting her message below so that it speaks for itself and spreads near and far.

To Transsexuals Who Are Ashamed of Transsexuals

Living in stealth can be comfortable, and I can’t deny that I would have tried if I hadn’t been outed so publicly in 1999. But ultimately the facts still exist that most trans women were assigned the male gender at birth, grew up being pushed toward the male social role, and had to undertake a colossally difficult transition to align their bodies and social roles with their hearts. You, Andrea, I and every other trans woman has been through some version of that process.

I am simply living my life with an openness my history. While my soul has always been female, it is simply a lie to say that I did not have to go through some major struggles to attain the physical body and social situation of a woman. I’m just tired of lying about my history. I do not feel that saying “I am a woman” is a lie. But saying or implying that “I never transitioned. I have always lived in the female social role, in a female body” is a lie to me. You may somehow feel differently, but this is how I feel.

I offer the radical idea that I can be both honest about my past and still claim full womanhood. In the minds of many older trans people and conservatives, a history of transition disproves their womanhood so they lie about this history to everyone in their lives. Sometimes even to themselves. “I’m not trans- anything.” Rejecting labels is understandable. Claiming unqualified womanhood is understandable. But you grew up for some part of your life forced into the male social role. You underwent medical, legal and social transition steps. This doesn’t mean you’re not female, but it is a fact of your history.

And to the smaller set of self-diagnosis fans, unless you’ve been genetically tested, or reliably diagnosed by a doctor, you are probably not intersexed. I’ve seen so many of these Shush Brigade members insult real intersex people by reading a page or two on Klinefelter Syndrome, circling “overweight” and “short attention span” on the symptoms list and suddenly self diagnosing themselves as “intersex”, and thus even further away from the hated label of “transsexual”. This is pathetic, and an insult to people really dealing with IS issues. Get a reliable diagnosis if you really think this is the case, otherwise… save it.

Some conservative gays say they don’t mind other gays as long as they are “quiet” about who they date, what they think and what they feel. “Why can’t you just keep your private life private?” they say. At the same time, heterosexual people freely place photos of their boyfriends and spouses on their desk at work, discuss dating with friends openly and perform their socio-sexual rituals such as dating and marriage with much pomp and circumstance. Similar sentiments come from some transsexuals who are ashamed of transsexuals (TWAATs, for short), usually the old guard who had to transition in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. “Why can’t you just be quiet, why can’t you just lie about your history?” That’s just not my thing. I’ve come to the conclusion that if you don’t get this at all, and you’re over 30, you never will and we should just agree to disagree right now. If you don’t like what my visibility is doing for (or “to") the community, but you won’t leave the safety of invisibility to counter it, then I guess you’re just out of luck.

I do enjoy being able to walk down the street without being called names, and being able to flirt with a handsome man at a party without dealing with the prejudices that usually come from him knowing I’m trans. I don’t wear it like a tattoo on my forehead. But if that handsome guy asks what I do, I will find a way to tactfully explain to him as much as he needs to know, with consideration of how closely we might interact in the future. If Mr. I’ve-just-met-you says, “You must’ve been a very cute little girl.” I will probably reply something along the lines of, “Well, I certainly wanted to be.”

I am an entertainer. I have always been an entertainer. There are plenty of women like me: Bette Midler, Cher, Madonna, Mae West, Barbara Eden, Bernadette Peters… the list goes on. Those women are strongly associated with drag queens (the ultimate anaethema to TWAATs) because of their combination of overt femininity and entertainer’s spirit. If I were a gay man with those qualities, I would be a drag queen. Because I am a woman with those qualities, some TWAATs would use that as a sign that I was less of a woman and more of a drag queen. Obviously, I disagree and say that I simply share the qualities that also drive women like Madonna and Bette Midler and Cassandra Peterson and others.

I wish everyone the best in their choices of stealth or varying degrees of openness. But if people like Andrea and I don’t work to make the general public more comfortable with transsexuals, people like you will face losing your job, your legal rights, your spouse, your access to medical care and maybe even violence from phobic idiots if you ever slip up even the tiniest bit one single time and out yourselves.

Being out is not for everyone, but remember that it was at one time illegal for someone who was legally male to even wear female clothing in public. Your identification papers were quietly changed to say female because out trans women were willing to fight that legal battle years ago. You can quietly get hormones and surgery from legitimate doctors because out trans women fought for that right years ago. Your neighbor is probably not going to assume you are a child molesting Satanist if you ever were outed because women like me were willing to go on television and show a likeable girl-next-door image. Every moment of comfort, peace and safety you have as a stealth trans woman has been bought by those loud, abrasive drag queens, transsexual picketers and women willing to make positive efforts in the media.

I’m not advocating that every transsexual person be out about their history. It’s a colossally individual choice, and one that was made for me years ago so I’ve never had the luxury of considering it. Living in stealth allows you to avoid most of the stupid, ignorant prejudices that stupid, ignorant people still carry around, and that’s a wonderful freedom. But never forget who walks the line and maintains the integrity of the medical, legal and social safety wall that surrounds your Shangri-la of comfortable privacy. Your bubble may pop someday, and it will be our work that means the difference between some social embarrassment vs. complete ruin for you when that happens.

Feel free to share this note with your friend, or anyone with similar questions. It’s an important idea to get out there to those women who live comfortably in the stealth bought with years of risk and battle by women who were not so comfortable.

Calpernia Addams

Even more on Midge Potts

Midge is now running for US Congress again, challenging Republican incumbent Roy Blunt one more time in Missouri's 7th Congressional district, which includes Springfield.

Unlike last time, when she ran as a Republican in the primary, she will be in the general election as a write-in Green candidate this time.

Her platform includes the ten key values of the Green Party as well as ending the Iraq war and challenging the status quo of both the Republicans and the Democrats.

Obviously, I won't be able to vote for her, but I've joined her Facebook group and will lend her moral support.

More on Midge Potts

Midge Potts is a transgender woman who is on the front lines of peace activism as part of CODEPINK: Women for Peace. I've mentioned her before on this blog, and since then I've befriended her on Facebook.

Midge has now posted an interview, which she had done last November at Bates College during a visit there, on her Facebook profile. It tells more about her political beliefs (she once ran for Congress as a Republican, but now is a Missouri Green Party activist), as well as why she is so passionate about peace, and why she continues to be active in peace activism.

She says the same thing that I will also say - that CODEPINK has been very receptive to the presence of transwomen in their midst.

Midge is surely an inspiration for me, and for many other transpeople around.

Soldier's Girl

I've had a copy of the movie Soldier's Girl, rented from Netflix, for a few weeks - but didn't get to watch it until now. And it is an understatement to call the story shocking.

Of course, the movie is about the July 4, 1999 murder of Pfc. Barry Winchell due to his relationship to transgender showgirl Calpernia Addams, and the military's rampant homophobia.

I loved how every major character was a complex, well-portrayed individual, from Calpernia and Pfc. Barry Winchell to murderer Calvin Glover and accomplice/roommate Justin Fisher. Glover was an immature minor, and Fisher had substance abuse problems. Winchell came across as a very mature, honest, ordinary yet courageous character, and as Sergeant Diaz points out, his loss is a huge loss to the military.

Lee Pace, despite his deep male voice, did a wonderful job of portraying Calpernia; although he didn't look much like the Calpernia I met a week ago, he did look similar to her earlier photos from the era. And he really came across as poignant in carrying Calpernia's insecurities as a struggling transgender showgirl, who gets hit on by many men but rarely gets into the serious relationship that Winchell gave her.

Ever since Transamerican Love Story brought Calpernia back into the spotlight this year, I've been following a lot about her since - including her relationship with Barry Winchell, and the horrid details of the investigation that happened in the aftermath of the murder that I had initially overlooked. And thanks to the film, now I have a much better idea of the true dynamics behind the murder, and the sorry state of the military's homophobia (the taunting of faggots during a march, led by a drill sergeant, told me everything).

Now the next step will be to read Calpernia's memoir, Mark 947, to further get a peek into her background, including the touchy issues with her birth family (something also briefly touched on in the movie, alongside Calpernia's male photo and identity from her own military service). I won't be able to do that until I have a bit of privacy, however, which will be late next month.

Soldier's Girl on IMDB

Of course, Calpernia discusses quite a bit about this part of her life on her website, but she respectfully asks that the topic, still raw to her, not be brought up in person.

Weekend Report, Part II

As today, Sarah's 31st birthday, rolled in, I had even more interesting things happen.

The morning was spent, as usual, at Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church in Pasadena. I was happy to say hi to Phyllis Gebauer again - though she misremembered my name as Ramona! After correcting her, and after the service, I caught up with her again - and she was standing next to an old man with a rather familiar face. As it turned out, he was Jim O'Brien, a retired high school English teacher. Turns out that he taught one of my honors English courses at Arcadia High School. I did identify myself as a former student of his, but didn't go as far as revealing my old identity.

The evening was spent at PEN USA's activist writing panel, at a private residence in faraway Brentwood. Some pictures below...

One of the panelists, and also the moderator, Celeste Fremon is a journalist with an interest in the criminal justice system.

From left to right:

• George Larkin, who corresponds with writers and artists in Baghdad, Iraq, in an attempt to get their voices heard.
• Gayle Brandeis (of course, my longtime mentor), whose novel The Book of Dead Birds won Barbara Kingsolver's prize for fiction that addresses social justice.
• Diane Lefer (Gayle's own mentor during her days at Antioch University), who's been very vocal about the mistreatment of immigrants and the mentally ill by the US government. Her orange jumpsuit is in protest of Guantanamo Bay.
  

Gayle talks about what brought about The Book of Dead Birds - I've heard the story before, but was very happy to hear it again in this panel setting.

Also in attendance were Gayle's friend Mike and daughter Hannah. It was my first meeting with Mike, while Hannah had seen me before at a peace rally in Riverside that Gayle had organized in '05.
Gayle and me, at the end of the panel. Thanks to Mike for the photo. Gayle is in one of her CODEPINK T-shirts, while I, in celebration of Sarah's 31st, am wearing a very Sarah-ish outfit in the form of a white belted shirt (along with black tights, white socks, black shoes, and black purse - the retro 1990ish white/black look that both Sarah and I love).

I will also send this photo to our Facebook profiles.

After this photo, I kept chatting with the panelists; George's advice was for me to finish the novel (or at least an excerpt as a short story) and get it out there. Diane got a little intro to Sarah's story; both she and Gayle were happy to hear about my run-in with Andrea James and Calpernia Addams yesterday - and mentioned that this was all the more reason to get the story out there.

It was a nice weekend, for sure!

Weekend Report, Part I

The weekend was spent at various events as scheduled - and I (and my writing life) had a blast!

My first order of business was Outfest 2008, where I saw two transgender-themed features, and attended a reception for MAGNET (an anti-defamation group for the trans community) and its first anniversary. The first feature, which was all transmen-themed, were of varying quality and composition, and I thoroughly enjoyed them all. My favorite was Trannymals Go to Court, which involved animated figures composed of... well, ambiguous genitals.

At the MAGNET reception, I was able to introduce myself to both Calpernia Addams and Andrea James. Andrea had been aware of me and this blog because I had made comments here regarding Transamerican Love Story (and in fact, she said hi to me first), but I was pleasantly surprised to know that through Andrea's blog, Calpernia was aware of me too. I was more than happy to point out that my novel was about a tall, redheaded transwoman named Sarah (which sounds a lot like Calpernia, as her middle name is also Sarah) - then Andrea interjected to point out that Sarah is a flight attendant, at which point Calpernia told me she wasn't flight attendant material! (I told her that I'm not either, and further said that everything is based on my knowledge and research.) We had a nice talk - and now that I know the two biggest stars of Los Angeles's trans community are well aware of Sarah, I have even more of an obligation to get her story out. The reception also included key officers of MAGNET.

I continued on to the second movie, which was titled She's a Boy I Knew, chronicling the life of Vancouver-based filmmaker Gwen Haworth, and the reaction of her family members and friends to her transition to womanhood. Between the slick production quality, the authenticity of family member testimonies, and a frank revelation of Gwen's own life, I thought this raised the bar on trans projects. Moreover, the difficulties Gwen's parents and sisters faced in understanding Gwen's transition at first, but eventually coming to terms with it in their different ways, were very noteworthy. I need to not only share this with my own family, but also use it as reference material for further refining Sarah's family.

I wrapped up the evening at Oxwood Inn, where Alice Novic, the author of cross-dressing memoir Alice in Genderland, was making one of her occasional visits. When other bar patrons introduced me to Alice, Alice offered to sell me a copy of her memoir and autograph it on the spot - I took up on the offer. When it's safe to do so, I will have one more transgender memoir to go through, and hopefully use as reference as I formulate Sarah's own life.

So that was yesterday (Saturday the 12th)... Part II coming up.

This weekend

I have purchased tickets to two shows at Outfest this afternoon, and will be attending them. There is a trans-themed reception between the two shows, which I will also take part in. (Hoping that either Andrea James or Calpernia Addams will be there!)

I'll then move on to Oxwood Inn to hang out with a great trans crowd one more time tonight.

Tomorrow, it's Unitarian Church again, then in the evening, a panel on writing activism by PEN USA in Brentwood. My mentor Gayle Brandeis will be a panelist. It's also Sarah's 31st birthday - a nice way to mark the occasion.

Next week will be an informational transgender meeting at Oxwood Inn on the 19th at 6PM, with many care providers in attendance. I'll have to miss that, however...

Outfest 2008

Outfest is a major LGBT movie festival held in Los Angeles every July. This year, it runs from the 9th to the 21st.

And looks like I will most likely attend some of the screenings this year, as I am free until the evening of the 13th. Between the 9th and the 13th, there are two trans-themed movies (XXY and She's a Boy I Knew) worth watching, complete with receptions, at the Director's Guild of America complex on Sunset.

Trans activist Andrea James says she'll attend, and if I run into her, I will surely say hi. Even if I don't run into her, I expect to find some new inspirations that may influence Sarah's story in a way.

Outfest 2008

Phyllis Gebauer

One of my instructors at UCLA Extension, for an outlining class three years ago, was Phyllis Gebauer, author of a novel called Pagan Blessing from the 1970s, as well as a memoir called Hot Widow which describes her life after her husband's death.

I was glad to run into her again today at Pasadena's Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church, where she attends (and so do I, whenever I can) - and finally get to introduce myself. We talked about our writing lives, and I updated her on my progress with Sarah, particularly switching from the autobiography format to the memoir format.

Phyllis wished me luck, and told me about her memoir, as well as the novel, which has now been republished, as it turns out. I'll definitely order the books.

Solitude again

I have ten more days of solitude.

I will start off by heading for Las Vegas, then hit my favorite spots back in Southern California again - Oxwood Inn and the Unitarian Church, among others.

Looking forward to some sanity again.

Transman gives birth

A transman has given birth... He's been in the news since April, when his pregnancy was made public.

Thomas Beatie, despite living as a man since his 20s, kept his dreams of giving birth alive, and kept his female reproductive organs. Artificially inseminated, he did end up pregnant - and giving birth to a healthy girl.

I had concerns that the testosterone injections could jeopardize the baby's health, but since testosterone had been discontinued for a few years in anticipation of the pregnancy, no harm was done.

Wishing Thomas and his wife good luck. This was a brave act - one that makes Sarah's trip to the sperm bank tame by comparison.

BBC