NBC is running a poll as to whether a person being a crossdresser would affect your vote – & right now, the people who wouldn’t vote for a CD are winning!
C’mon, folks, let’s turn this around!
Vote NO!
Trans-Partners forum at GLBT Center/NY
Tuesday, June 8
7 – 9 pm
The Center’s Public Policy Committee, Center Kids, and the Gender Identity Project present a forum on the challgnes facing individuals who are, or have been, or seek to be in relationships or partnerships with transgender, gender-different and gender questioning people. Experts and community members will explore some of the social, legal, medical and personal issues facing partners of trans, gender-different and gender question people, including:
Who are we? What do we call ourselves?
We are often in “community limbo” – where do we fit? Is there space for us in the “gay” community? Should there be? If not, where can we find or create community?
How does our hidden, and sometimes invisible, communite gets its needs met?
Are our concerns sometimes overshadowed by the issues of our trans-identified partners?
How do we maintain our identity when our partners’ identies may be in transition?
How can we create community in the face of these daunting matters?
How can we get our medical needs met by providers who often seem ignorant of our needs and identities?
Some of us are openly attracted to trans-people – why is it so difficult to find space for us too?
For more information, call 212 620 7310, or visit www.gaycenter.org
This Week's Action – 4/5/04
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on Tuesday photographs of candidate Sam Walls dressed in women’s clothes have circulated among political leaders in Johnson County, south of Fort Worth. Local Republican leaders confirmed separately that they had seen the photographs of Walls in a wig, dress and high heels.
The story is on the Reuters newswire, and so is being picked up by other papers – Newsday, the New York Times, the Houston Chronicle, etc. Find one of these papers – or write to Reuters directly – explaining that a man’s crossdressing by no means affects his ability to do his job! If you are a CD, explain who you are (engineer, teacher, tech, etc).
This is your opportunity, closeted CDs! Stand up for one of your fellow CDs. Mr. Walls is, some stories mention, a member of a chapter of Tri-Ess.
Of course, his being a CD is not a good reason to vote for him, either – unless of course his crossdressing encourages him to vote for trans-friendly legislation.
11 Stories about Crossdressing
An online magazine called The Morning News has a great set of stories up about crossdressing, by a writer named Kevin Fanning. Do check them out.
(thanks, gazingo!)
Transnews
Doug Wright wins Pulitzer
I think the headlines all should have read, Gay Playwright Wins Pulitzer for Play about Transvestite
Doug Wright, who wrote the play, “I Am My Own Wife,” won the Pulitzer a couple of days ago. (There goes my chance of interviewing him.) If you haven’t gone to see the play yet, and you’re TG, you should be ashamed of yourself! It’s a wonderful, sympathetic-but-realistic portrait of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, who lived through the Nazis and the Communists.
Read more about the play and order tickets
It’s worth checking out Charlotte’s book, I Am My Own Woman, as well as the documentary of the same name.
Betty onstage!
Betty is making her stage debut en femme, and it’d be lovely to see some of you there!
For more info
Join the IFGE
We just came back from the 2004 IFGE Conference, and we absolutely loved it! Lots of smart folks on hand to ask questions of (Richard Docter, Vern Bullough), activists to get inspired by (Hawk Stone, Holly Boswell, Angela Brightfeather), amazing artists (Kate Bornstein, Mariette Pathy Allen), people with medical information (Dr. Ousterhout, Dr. Shrang, Dr. Ostad), advocates (Wally Bacon, Debra Weil), counsellors (Virginia Erhardt, Arlene Istar Lev, Sandra Cole, Judith DiPerna), and presenters on everything from make-up to succeeding as a CD (Lacey Leigh, Susie Paris). The workshops were incredible. The entertainment was amazing. The community was inspiring.
So JOIN!
Subscribe to Transgender Tapestry. Become an IFGE member and go to their next conference, to take place in ’05 in Austin, TX!
www.ifge.org
Betty with Kate Bornstein:
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Prince? (Helen with VP)
Helen with Vern Bullough (author of Crossdressing, Sex, and Gender):
Mariette Pathy Allen and her hard-working camera, with Virginia Prince in the background:
Online Support Groups
Here are a few other online support groups you might be interested in:
For the Gen X generation, there’s Ronnie Rho’s group:
Married Gen X CD support group
Lacey Leigh’s group for Successful CDs
A group for the Trans Family:
which focuses on couples
The sister group of the above, for partners only
TG Kickboxer in Thailand
From National Geographic:
Read the full article
View a photo gallery of Nong Turn
Here’s their intro to the story:
Thai “Ladyboy” Kickboxer Is Gender-Bending Knockout
Laura Greene
March 25, 2004
Laura Greene, host of National Geographic On Assignment, traveled to Thailand to delve into the world of the ladyboy – Thailand’s “third sex.” While on location she met with the country’s most famous ladyboy – a former champion kickboxer named Nong Tum.
Here Greene describes her time with Tum, and his transformation from a masculine boxer to a petit, pretty young woman. Tum’s story is now the subject of the new movie Beautiful Boxer.
I’m on my way to meet a celebrity who is a gender-bending knockout. Here in Thailand, Nong Tum is a household name.
Meeting a star is a little nerve wracking at the best of times. But today I have extra reason to worry…