Interesting reading

[Sharon]

I often receive interesting and educational e-mails having to do with transsexuality and transgenderism -- and I thought it would be to some people's interest to read them also. If anyone else comes across articles, opinion pieces, etc. that they would like to share, then please do so.

[Sharon]

T is for Transsexual

Written by Lisa Jain Thompson


"With a penis one may live as a woman, be socially accepted as a
woman, pass as a woman but one is not in fact a woman." -- Suzan Cooke

Springfield, Virginia, USA. We do not oppose the transgendered.
Unlike their philosophy of a single political umbrella under one big
let's include the world T, we admit they exist. They can define
themselves however they wish – just don't include us, the ones with
Harry Benjamin's Syndrome (Transsexual Syndrome), the women and men
born transsexual.

Our gender has never been in doubt. We are born intersexed with the
brain of one and the body of the other. Male and female god created
us, unfortunately sometimes in the same body.

The defining confirmation of someone born transsexual is Sex
Reassignment Surgery (SRS), not that we can pass for a woman or man
on a night out with the girls or boys. SRS is the moment where
reality parts company from fantasy, the moment that separates
the "girls" from the women.

First and foremost, there is identity, set inside the brain. You know
who you are, male or female, and whether you wear a suit (like Ellen
DeGeneris) or a dress (like Virginia Prince) does not change your
identity.

Outside the brain, the body has a visible sex. You either have a
penis, or you have a vagina. Some are born with ambiguous genitalia,
people with TS are born with brains that do not agree with their
genitalia – both groups can properly be termed intersexed. For the
men and women born transsexual, SRS corrects that birth defect.

The least important aspect is called gender, the sexual roles and the
outward appearance, masculine and feminine, that society expects
people to fall into. Gender is not sex, gender is presentation. You
can be butch or femme, macho or a retiring milk toast. It doesn't
change your sex, you still have either a penis (male) or a vagina
(female).

You can have a penis and be feminine, it does not make you a woman.
You can have a vagina and be masculine, it does not make you a man.

Your identity is inside the brain and not subject to outward
appearance. We can chose our clothes not our identities. If it were
otherwise, Lands End and Eddie Bauer would be running sales on
identity.

Whatever the transgendered identity is, I wish they would define it.
A definition that excludes no one does not include anyone. To say a
pine tree is a color (without defining the color) is null
information. Only when we state the pine tree is "green with reddish
brown bark" does the term "pine tree color" start to become
meaningful.

Likewise, to be transgender without definition, is to be nothing. We
support that nothingness, but we really would like so me sort of
definition that would allow meaningful discussion.

In the meantime, we will continue to oppose the misguided inclusion
of people with TS under a non-scientific generic tent that does not
distinguish between those born transsexual and those who are
transgendered. People born transsexual have the right to self-
determination. We will not allow others to determine who we are or
label us as being just like everyone else.

We are not transgendered. We are not delusional. We are not and never
were mentally unbalanced (at least as far as being transsexual) .

SRS takes all the acting and wannabe whining and makes life reality.
SRS separates the political activists and opportunists from the those
born transsexual. Only after surgery, can you begin the life long
process of learning who you are. Paraphrasing Simone de Beauvoir, one
is not born a man or a woman, but becomes one.


---

Lisa Jain Thompson is President of the Transsexual Symposium, Inc.
(TS-Si).

---

Copyright © 2005-2006 Transsexual Symposium, Inc. (TS-Si) • Some
Rights Reserved. • Except where noted, this site is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution- NoDerivs 2.5 License. • TS-Si is a
nonprofit organization dedicated to the acceptance, medical
treatment, & legal protection of transsexuals as they transition into
society.

http://ts-policyrev iew.org/content/ view/2305/ 771/

[Sharon]

Transgenderism - Its Societal Impact Upon Those With HBS

Written by Ellen R.


Lumping people with HBS into the transgender camp has terrible
consequences


Somewhere in the USA. The concept of Transgenderism (the so-
called "crossing of gender") was coined by Charles (Virginia) Prince
(a full time cross dresser) over 30 years ago. Originally it was
intended to describe those who like Prince, wanted to assume the
female role full or part time, and did not desire to be a physical
woman, and did not intend to undergo SRS. In recent years the
definition of the term has changed to become a social construct, to
mean those individuals who assume a gender or sexual presentation
other than the one they were assigned with at birth.

As a result if this, Transgender, has become a catch-all description
for people as disparate as drag queens, she-males, cross dressers, so
called "non-op" transsexuals, pre-op transsexuals, and even post-op
transsexuals, who aren't even transsexual anymore. This definition is
wrong, due to the fact that it forces transsexuals, whose condition
is biologically based, into the same category as those whose behavior
is psychologically, and in many, if not most cases, fetish based.

Unfortunately, in recent years, Transgender people (especially of the
activist variety), have become increasingly visible in public, and as
a result have exposed the general public to their view that "we are
all kissing cousins." It is human nature to generalize things. So,
since most Transgender people are considered to be weirdo's, and
fetishists by the general public, by default transsexuals are also
considered to be the same thing. It doesn't matter that our condition
is not even psychological in nature, Joe Public assumes that we
are "one of those "Transgender weirdo's", so we're viewed as being
sick in the head. In spite of the fact that the vast majority of us
are not deviant, just want to get on with our lives, and be
productive members of society. Throw in the fact that many who are
NOT transsexual, claim that they are, even though they are really
Transgender, and they you just add fuel to the fire of people's
perceptions that transsexuals are just another type of transgender
weirdo.

The transsexual term becomes unusable for people with a legitimate
medical condition. Hence the reason why many transsexuals are
discarding the term, and adopting the term HBS (Harry Benjamin
Syndrome).

Lumping people with HBS into the transgender camp has terrible
consequences for them. They are viewed as having a psychological
problem, and are told to either get over it, or "see a shrink" to
have it fixed. As a result, the proper medical treatment of hormones
and surgery become more difficult, if not in some cases impossible to
obtain. Jobs can be denied (after all you're one of those weirdo's).
The denial of the right of marriage in some states and countries (due
to the belief that "assigned with one sex at birth, means you are
always that sex", results in the refusal to change birth
certificates) is also reinforced. This creates the possibility of
revoking this right in other states and countries, where people with
HBS are considered to be transgender, since transgender people are
almost never considered by the general public to be any sex other
than the one they were assigned to at birth.

Spend time in jail if you are considered transgender, and you will
end up being put with men, running the risk of rape, and other forms
of serious body harm. Being considered transgender does me, a woman
born with HBS, more harm than good. It creates the probability that I
will be viewed as "born a man, always a man."

It does not matter that I had the corrective surgery 3 years ago,
because as a transgender individual one's sex never changes from the
one you're assigned at birth. It also creates the nasty corollary
mentality, of "gee, why can't you just live with what you have, and
be happy with it like a cross- dresser, she-male, or drag queen
does?"

As a result of concern over the problems mentioned above, there is a
growing attitude among people with HBS, to divorce, and separate
completely from the LBGT community. We want to send a clear message
to the public that we are NOT a bunch of TGs. We DO NOT get off on
fetishism, and DO NOT act like guys in dresses. HBS is NOT about
sexual preference or behavior. It is about the body and mind being in
synch.

All we want is to be treated as the Women (or Men for that matter)
that we are. This WILL NOT happen if we are considered transgender.
NOTHING can be gained politically for people with HBS by being lumped
into the transgender category and allying with the LBG.


---

The full, correct, name of the author has been withheld at her
request. TS-Si verified that the author has special circumstances
that prevent full disclosure of her identity in the public prints.
Readers with questions or comments can contact her via the Contact
Form.

---

Copyright © 2005-2006 Transsexual Symposium, Inc. (TS-Si) • Some
Rights Reserved.

[Sharon]

The Shame of Transgender Inclusion

Written by Diane Lynn


Thank you transgender proponents; you really know how to hurt others
by your forced inclusion of us under your exhibitionist and often
sexual banner


Somewhere in the USA. Many years ago I had surgery that would allow
my body to conform and meld with my brain. There were no surgeons
then as there are none today that could trans genders (brain) so I
had to opt for Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) ... the alternative
that would bring my body into focus with the reality of my basic
being...female.

I transitioned during a time when transgender was not yet coined by
Chuck Prince the heterosexual married transvestite and publisher
of 'Transvestia' . He not only demanded he not be linked to
transsexualism but he actually thought those of us who wanted surgery
were delusional. I still firmly believe that some cannot understand
the difference between a fetish and a driving need to correct a birth
wrong. There are a lot of Chuck Princes out there screaming for the
right to express male privilege when it suits them, and also
demanding the privileges of womanhood part time even though their
only identification with female is the cloth on their body. And then
they equate their demands with our driving needs as if they are but a
slight difference.

Today because of politics many seem to think that transsexuals should
be placed in the GLBT as a sub-set of transgender. That is a
travesty. I am not a cross-dresser, a she-male, a drag queen, etc.
and never was. So I might ask why am I thrown into the same barrel
with those that link to those behaviors? Now even transsexual has
become an attractive term used by porn solicitors. That is one of the
reasons a groups of us all over the world have created a website
named after the man most responsible for me and others being able to
move into society as the woman we should have been born, Dr Harry
Benjamin.

If I may, let me make a point that most do not seem to take into
consideration. When I had my SAS (sex affirmation surgery) and went
through all of the agony of political intrigue, that changing my
birth certificate entailed, I had hoped it would in the end, mean
that all to follow would gain by it. But today, in some areas, and
even a few states in the U.S., birth certificates cannot be changed
and post surgery transsexuals cannot marry.

Some TSs are arguing that once same sex marriage laws are passed then
that will all change. How so might I ask? If a post-op is still
refused to be permitted to change her birth certificate then she will
continue to be, 'born one sex, always that sex'. Yes, might still be
able to marry but look at how that will work: A MtF post-op might
still legally be able to marry a natal female but as a legal male; a
ts MtF post-op lesbian can marry a natal female lesbian since the MtF
is still legally considered a male; a MtF can not marry a male unless
same sex marriage is legal and then only as a male to a male; can not
marry another post-op lesbian unless both wish to marry as male to
male. So, would someone explain to me how same sex marriage would
help post-op transsexuals unless our legal status had been recognized
as that of our acquired sex? It would not! Fine, support the effort
for same sex marriage and/or civil union but remember that if you are
a post-op it will not benefit you one iota.

Many 'professional' transsexuals are leaning toward the inclusion of
us under the transgender umbrella. My feeling is that they do so for
political motives and do not fully realize how harmful they are being
to the transsexual community. They are betraying us! Now when judges
and legislatures hear a case that involves a transsexual their first
thought is that the person might well be simply a man in a dress
because groups like the glbt and the ACLU continually refer to us as
transgender and even if inside the courthouse the judge heard the
case as involving a transsexual. What right has the ACLU or the GLBT
to define what we are and include us under the confusing banner of
transgender?

Most of the 'so-called' transsexual support groups and websites have
become transgender linked. Take a look at all of those 'famous'
transsexuals who have websites and you might see for yourself. Even a
doctor who is a post-op has betrayed us. She took it upon herself to
nominate a transvestite drag queen to be not only on the HBIGDA
review committee a few years ago in Detroit but she actually
nominated him to be the chairman. How could a drag queen understand
the changes needed in the Standards of Care for transsexuals when he
is as far separated from our actual needs as anyone? That is an
insult. Not really surprising since she is a transgender advocate
much in tune with another who exclaims herself to be an
autogynephilic and supporter of Michael Bailey.

Take an FtM in the UK who was supposedly fighting for recognition of
transsexuals under the GERBIL. He now is a strong advocate for
transgenderism and even sits on the WPATH committee board (World
Professional Association for Transgender Health). Talk about two-
faced hypocrisy.

Now the American Psychological Association is replacing HBIDGA with
WPATH. Now we can all jump under the banner with the transvestites as
being no different. And the worst of it is that we are now to be
linked not with a medical need but with sexual orientation. Yes, the
division of the APA that will oversea WPATH is the gay and lesbian
division of the APA. Since when are all transsexuals gay, lesbian or
bi I might ask? Are we to be seen now as simply acting on and a
result of our sexual orientation?

I am a married woman about to retake her wedding vows on her 25th
wedding anniversary in less than three years and I am sure my husband
would find it insulting to find out I had surgery to satisfy my
sexual orientation needs. What nonsense! I had surgery to be whole
and not fragmented, as have most of us. To link us with sexual
orientation is simply another way to link us with transgender
behaviors that often are in the realm of deviance. Some of us are
hetero and some gay or lesbian but that is just a part of us...not
the basics of what we are deep down. Anyone who feels differently I
might suggest is not a transsexual. Might just be an autogynephilic
or even a person who is a transgender that took a step too far and
will mostly likely blame someone else in time for his own mistake.

Years ago I went through the hassle of having my documentation
changed. I went into court knowing I would be the first to do so in
that jurisdiction. After surgery I attempted to have my birth
certificate changed. The state required that doctors at a County
Hospital certify me and I complied. Still have the letter certifying
that I am mentally and physically female. I even went to my
congressman who happened to be a Conservative Republican. I thought
there was no hope for help but was I wrong. He did all in his power
to make things easier for me. Today I have to wonder if he would be
as helpful because of the confusion the transgender have imposed on
our issues. Ours is not a political endeavor; it is a medical
dilemma.

We are slowly being seen as nothing more than an extension of
homosexual behavior. I was dealt with as a person requiring
assistance because of a medical correction. It was that simple! The
Catholic Church even changed my baptismal certificate to reflect my
proper sex. They now refuse to do that and the reason is simply the
confusion generated by the transgender propagandists. Today we are
seen as being part of the glbt and also treated as if we were the
result of choice or nurture, which has nothing to do with our birth
anomaly. That is what has happened so now we too are seen as part of
the transgender gobblygook.

I have nothing against the GLBT groups per se; I just have no
connection with their political forced inclusion of us. They are
involved in sexual orientation issues and that is fine... for them.
Transsexuals are in need of something much different than linkage to
sexual orientation or fetish-linked groups as can be found under
transgender associations. To be attached only confuses the issue not
only with the powers that be but also with the general public that at
one time was so helpful and tolerant of me at least. Now we are
simply seen as freaks, queers, deviants, mutilated males/females,
etc.

Thank you transgender proponents; you really know how to hurt others
by your forced inclusion of us under your exhibitionist and often
sexual banner.

--

The full, correct, name of the author has been withheld at her
request. TS-Si verified that the author has special circumstances
that prevent full disclosure of her identity in the public prints.
Readers with questions or comments can contact her via the Contact
Form.

--

Copyright © 2005-2006 Transsexual Symposium, Inc. (TS-Si) • Some
Rights Reserved.

[Joy Carter]

Thanks Sharon for puting this up. It took allot of work and was informative.

[Sharon]

Transgender People Face ID Dilemma

by Peter Cassels
EDGE National News Editor
Thursday Jan 4, 2007

http://www.edgenewy ork.com/index. php?ch=news& gh=108&sc= glbt&sc2= features& sc3=&id=3533& pf=&key=& start=&sort=

Even as transgender people continue to make strides in overcoming
discrimination, they still face the problem of securing valid
identification documents in an increasingly security-conscious
nation.

When Gov. Jon Corzine signed into law a bill on Dec. 20, New Jersey
became the ninth state to make discrimination based on gender
identity or expression illegal. It joined California, Hawaii,
Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Washington
in putting such laws on the books. With similar ones in the District of Columbia and more than 80 cities and counties, transgenders in a
third of the U.S. now are protected.

But action by the New York City Board of Health last month put the
spotlight on a problem transgender people throughout the nation
face: changing their birth certificates to reflect how they appear,
not necessarily how they were born.

The board voted unanimously on Dec. 5 against a measure to allow
transgender people to amend their birth certificates without
requiring that they undergo sex reassignment surgery, sparking
outrage among transgender- rights advocates.

They point out that birth certificates are a vital form of
documentation that are the gateway to all others, such as Social
Security cards, school records, driver's licenses, passports and
employment records.

According to the New York City LGBT Community Center, having a birth
certificate that lists the wrong gender can make securing other
documents difficult or impossible. When transgender people show a
certificate with a gender other than the one they live in, they may
be accused of fraud, turned away, or harassed, arrested, attacked,
humiliated or discriminated against. Even in the best of cases they
may face embarrassment, confusion, and delays.

Obtaining a driver's license or passport, the ID gold standards in
the U.S., are just the tip of the iceberg, says one national
transgender activist.

"We are more and more living in a country where having appropriate
ID is necessary," Mara Keisling, executive director of the National
Center for Transgender Equality, said in an EDGE interview. "Most of
the focus on things like identification in news media has been
around travel and how you need good ID to get on an airline. It is
an important part, but you also need appropriate ID that matches to
open a bank account, to ride on trains, to buy cigarettes, to drink
alcohol and most importantly- -far, far more importantly- -to have a
job."

Keisling offered as an example the plight of an imaginary person, a
composite of people her organization hears from every day. She has a
birth certificate that says her name is Marcus and that she is a
male, but her name is now Leticia.

At age 12, Leticia told her parents that she's a girl: "I've always
known it. I would like to seek help about this to find out what to
do." Perhaps Leticia's parents are poor or don't know how to seek
help. Maybe they're worried about what people will say or what their
fellow churchgoers will say. They throw Leticia out of the house.
"There are tremendous numbers of LGBT youth who are homeless,"
Keisling points out. "Very often, parents put them on the street."

So now Leticia doesn't have a home. She does everything she has to
do to survive, which is tough, particularly for someone who has no
documentation. By the time Leticia turns 16 she's moved to
Washington, D.C. She thinks she can go get a job, maybe go back to
school and turn her life around. The only ID she has access to is a
birth certificate that indicates she is male and her name is Marcus.
She doesn't have the money to get a name change. She wants to get a
driver's license, because it will help her get a job. The Department
of Motor Vehicles wants to see a birth certificate before it will
issue her first driver's license. The one she provides lists her
name as Marcus and her gender as male.

Sometimes the DMV official will say: "Clearly this is wrong. I can
see you are female and I'll put female." But most of the time the
DMV will list her gender as male, according to Keisling.

Leticia next applies for a job. She is now in a position where she
has to share her personal medical information with an employer, who
really only wants to know her name. If she writes "Leticia" on the
application, they may think she is lying. If she writes "Marcus,"
they might say, "Oh, we don't want to hire a transgender person."

"So she must decide how to be honest, but the context that has been
created is that it is almost impossible for her to not be accused of
trying to hide something," Keisling explains.

She questions the wisdom of putting a person's gender and other
descriptors on driver's licenses, which made more sense before
photos began to appear widely on such documents in the 1970s.
Keisling's first driver's license listed height, weight, hair and
eye color, race, gender, birth date and address, but had no photo.
States eventually dropped race from licenses when they realized it
was discriminatory, but still list the others, most of which she
says make little sense. One can change hair color by dieing it or
change eye color by wearing contact lenses, she points out.

Keisling says the invasion of privacy transgender people have to
endure by revealing medical information extends to applying for
passports, which under tougher security rules will be required for
air travel to all countries in the Western Hemisphere beginning Jan.
23. The U.S. Passport Office requires that if a person has undergone
sex reassignment surgery, the information must be included on a
passport, she reports. Only a small number of transsexual people
undergo genital surgery because it is very expensive and usually not
covered by insurance.

She describes the case of Mike (not his real name), a Philadelphia
transgender person who looks like a man, but has not undergone such
surgery. "He has a beard and a receding hairline," Keisling relates.
"In a million years, you would never pick him out as being female,
yet the passport office wants him to prove that he has had some kind
of genital surgery." Under the rules, his passport lists his gender
as female.

When Mike, who has the opportunity to travel to Canada on business
and soon will need a passport to do so, asked the Passport Office
what would happen when if a customs official notices that his
passport lists his gender as female, he was told that he'd probably
have to be strip searched.

"It is not in anybody's national-security or public-policy
interests" to invade a person's privacy in that way, Keisling
asserts, "but we as a society are still stuck in preconceived
notions of what a transgender person is. Somehow this arbitrary rule
got attached and it still makes sense to most people."

The purpose of passports and birth certificates is not so you can
tell who the transsexual people are, she contends. "It is nobody's
business and no one has any interest in it. We want to know who has
weapons, not who has penises."

The solution to the dilemma facing transgender people is to update
policies to reflect a more modern, reality-based understanding of
gender and of transsexual people, Keisling explains. Presumably,
agencies want to issue documents that are accurate and she predicts
that one day that will happen. "They must have policies that are
flexible enough to do their job and are not driven by old, ignorant
stereotypes, " she says.

Visit www.nctequality.org to learn more about transgender people and
the issues they deal with.
--
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