A Transgender Candidate Is Hoping to Make History [nytimes.com]

by Kate Taylor / nytimes.com

Zoning. School overcrowding. The design of New York’s transportation system.

These are just a few of the subjects that Mel Wymore, a candidate for City Council on the Upper West Side, brought up in an interview before addressing the elephant in the room: that, if elected, he would be the first transgender member of the Council.

“I’m not running because I’m transgender,” said Mr. Wymore, 50, who was born female but now, after testosterone therapy and top surgery, identifies as transgender. But, he said, that “doesn’t mean that being transgender doesn’t bring a certain perspective.”

Although gay men and lesbians have broken many electoral barriers — serving as mayors, state legislators and members of Congress — the same is not true of the transgender community. Only a few, including a Democratic district leader in Westchester County and a former member of the Hawaii Board of Education, have been elected to office around the country.

“I think there is a feeling that there is too much difference there,” Mr. Wymore said. But he said he believed: “This is the seat. This is the community that’s ready to go forward.”

The race, for the Sixth District seat occupied by Gale A. Brewer, who is term-limited, is competitive and has drawn a number of candidates, including Marc Landis, a district leader; Helen Rosenthal, a former chairwoman of Community Board 7; and Ken Biberaj, a vice president of the Russian Tea Room.

Melissa Sklarz, a transgender woman, said that the race was full of worthy candidates, and that as president of the Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, she could not make an endorsement. But she described Mr. Wymore’s candidacy as “an opportunity for transgender people everywhere.”

“He’s a great representative,” Ms. Sklarz said. “Many people only know of transgender, I guess, from watching Chaz Bono on ‘Dancing With the Stars.’ Mel Wymore brings a much different, broader experience.”

Click to read the rest of the story…

Cynthia Nixon says she’s gay by ‘choice.’ Is it really a choice? [latimes.com]

By Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times/For the Booster Shots blog

Former “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon says she is gay by “choice” – a statement that has riled many gay rights activitists who insist that people don’t choose their sexual orientation.

Here’s what Nixon, who recently shaved her head to play acancer patient in a Broadway production of “Wit,” told the New York Times Magazine:

“I gave a speech recently, an empowerment speech to a gay audience, and it included the line ‘I’ve been straight and I’ve been gay, and gay is better.’ And they tried to get me to change it, because they said it implies that homosexuality can be a choice. And for me, it is a choice. I understand that for many people it’s not, but for me it’s a choice, and you don’t get to define my gayness for me.”

The question of whether sexual orientation is subject to nature or nurture – or some combination of both – has been hotly debated for years. If it is not an immutable characteristic, that would imply that a gay person could be somehow transformed into a straight one. In other words, homosexuality could be “cured.” Which in turn implies that being gay is some sort of illness.

Hence, the offense taken to this point of view.

Nixon seemed to anticipate the controversy her remarks might generate. She also told the New York Times:

“A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it’s a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn’t matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not.” Her face was red and her arms were waving. “As you can tell,” she said, “I am very annoyed about this issue. Why can’t it be a choice? Why is that any less legitimate? It seems we’re just ceding this point to bigots who are demanding it, and I don’t think that they should define the terms of the debate. I also feel like people think I was walking around in a cloud and didn’t realize I was gay, which I find really offensive. I find it offensive to me, but I also find it offensive to all the men I’ve been out with.”

As expected, this did not go over smoothly with everyone. Writing on AmericaBlog Gay, John Aravosis wrote that Nixon “needs to learn how to choose her words better, because she just fell into a right-wing trap, willingly. When the religious right says it’s a choice, they mean you quite literally choose your sexual orientation, you can change it at will, and that’s bull.”

So, what’s the scientific evidence that sexual orientation is either a biologically determined trait or an actual choice?

A Spanish study published in 2009 in the journal Investigacion Clinica summarizes the evidence forgenetic influences. Based on research comparing identical twins, fraternal twins and even siblings who were adopted, scientists have determined that 27% to 76% of the chance that one is gay is determined by DNA. The genetic influence appears to be greater for men than for women, according to the study.

Other stuff is probably happening in utero that influences one’s sexual orientation. As a review articlepublished last year in the journal Endocrinology explains, exposure to atypical levels of testosteroneand other steroids in the womb is probably responsible for some people being gay. Another review article, published last year in Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, makes the same point:

“The evidence supports a role for prenatal testosterone exposure in the development of sex-typed interests in childhood, as well as in sexual orientation in later life, at least for some individuals. It appears, however, that other factors, in addition to hormones, play an important role in determining sexual orientation. These factors have not been well-characterized, but possibilities include direct genetic effects, and effects of maternal factors during pregnancy.”

One of those prenatal influences may be the number of males who have previously inhabited the mother’s uterus. It may sound strange, but Canadian researchers have found that “having one or more older brothers boosts the likelihood of a boy growing up to be gay,” as I explained in a 2006 Los Angeles Times story. As I wrote at the time, “The so-called fraternal birth order effect is small: Each older brother increases the chances by 33%. Assuming the base rate of homosexuality among men is 2%, it would take 11 older brothers to give the next son about a 50-50 chance of being gay.” Those findings were reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In addition, my colleague Shari Roan wrote about a fascinating controversy surrounding treatment for a rare condition called congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The disorder can cause girls to be born with genitals that look male, making it hard to tell the baby’s gender. One treatment is to give women hormones during subsequent pregnancies to reduce the risk for siblings. But doctors have found that this approach has an unusual side effect:

“The treatment might reduce the likelihood that a female with the condition will be homosexual,” Roan wrote. “Further, it seems to increase the chances that she will have what are considered more feminine behavioral traits.”

This is all just the tip of the iceberg. But the scientific consensus seems to be that there is indeed a biological basis for homosexuality – though it’s not necessarily 100% determined by either genes or by environmental factors.

http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-cynthia-nixon-gay-by-choice-20120125,0,2504094.story

 

Awesome Homeless Girl Places in Intel Science Competition [jezebel.com]

by Margaret Hartmann / jezebel.com

Here’s your inspiring story for the day: 17-year-old Samantha Garvey of Long Island moved into a homeless shelter with her family a year ago, but she still managed to become one of 300 semi-finalists for the annual Intel Science Talent Search. Garvey conducted a two and a half year study on aquatic ecosystems, which she describes in the video above. She says her family’s situation “motivates me to do the work I do. I want a better life. I want a home. I want to show other people that even though you’re going through something bad, there’s a brighter side to everything.”

‘Primetime Nightline’ Explores Transgender Childhood Issues [news.gather.com]

by Shula Asher Silberstein

A new special about transgender childhood issues is set to air on August 31, 2011. The special, which is an episode of the Primetime Live news series, interviews three transgender children and adolescents, their families and experts on transgender issues.

Stories like this are important not just for the mainstream population, which may not be aware of the issues transgender individuals face in childhood and beyond, but also for transgender kids and teens. 33 percent of transgender adolescents attempt suicide, many after being kicked out or otherwise rejected by their families. Hopefully, the special will help show these kids and their parents that there is nothing wrong with them and that they deserve the same happiness as everyone else.

The special explores the lives of three transgender youth: two trans girls and one trans boy. One of the trans girls is pre-pubescent and will soon be taking medication to stop her body from developing male secondary sex characteristics, while the other is a young adult who is traveling to Mexico to have feminizing surgery. The trans boy is an adolescent who is taking testosterone to help his body match his gender identity.

These topics may make some parents uncomfortable. If the special explores them appropriately, however, it may help parents to understand why allowing children as young as ten to express their gender identity is not only proper parenting, but is psychologically and medically necessary for these children.

The special also profiles Charles Kane, a confused rich person who was able to bypass normal medical channels to have a sex-change operation without exploring his actual gender identity and then had a second procedure to change back to male. It’s unfortunate that Kane, who had more money than common sense, is profiled at all. Bigots love to hold him up as an example of how all transsexuals are unhappy, confused people who should not be allowed to change sexes. The truth is that Kane was never transsexual to begin with and didn’t take the time to explore his gender identity before rushing into surgery. Conversely, transsexual people often spend years working with therapists to clarify their gender identities and must save up for their operations. Hopefully the special will neither spend much time on Kane nor suggest that these children will have experiences anything like his.

The special airs on August 31, 2011 at 10 p.m. Although some parents may feel the material is inappropriate for children, any parent who has questions about his child’s gender identity should watch it with the child and discuss the child’s feelings about gender.

http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474980105941

 

Mathematician-Philosopher Bertrand Russell on the Two Most Important Things

“I should like to say two things, one intellectual and one moral.

The intellectual thing I should want to say is this: When you are studying any matter, or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only what are the facts and what is the truth that the facts bear out. Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe, or by what you think would have beneficent social effects if it were believed. But look only, and solely, at what are the facts. That is the intellectual thing that I should wish to say.

The moral thing I should wish to say…I should say love is wise, hatred is foolish. In this world which is getting more closely and closely interconnected we have to learn to tolerate each other, we have to learn to put up with the fact that some people say things that we don’t like. We can only live together in that way and if we are to live together and not die together we must learn a kind of charity and a kind of tolerance which is absolutely vital to the continuation of human life on this planet.”

Renée: Los Angeles Film Festival Review [hollywoodreporter.com]

by Kirk Honeycutt / Hollywood Reporter

Eric Drath’s documentary explores the life of transsexual tennis star Renée Richards before and after her 1975 gender reassignment surgery.

Renée, Eric Drath’s documentary about transsexual tennis star Renée Richards and her battle to play as a woman in the 1977 U.S. Open, is as fascinating as it is frustrating. Made for ESPN Films and shown in the current Los Angeles Film Fest prior to broadcast later this year, the film brings you up-to-date on a personality who once dominated headlines but has now largely faded from public view.

Drath tries to get to the bottom of two people, Richard Raskin, who was born in 1934 into a comfortable upper middle-class existence, and Renée — “French for ‘re-born,’ ” she reminds — following Raskin’s gender reassignment surgery in 1975. It’s fair to say both remain an enigma.

Richards has written two autobiographies and seen two movies made about her life, the TV movie Second Servestarring Vanessa Redgrave and now this one. Yet she remains elusive. This enigmatic quality isn’t just about the schizophrenia of Dick and Renée but about the contractions and self-doubts each possessed.

Drath, who comes from a tennis-loving family, remembers as a boy Dr. Raskin, an eminent eye doctor who treated his sister, yet later appeared in a skirt at the U.S. Open, and wants to find out what happened. Good luck.

Observing Richards in an interview today and then in old footage and old interviews, one clearly observes a war going on within this person, not so much between male and female, as between what one friends calls the “private person,” who is extremely wary of all this attention, and a headstrong and arrogant individual who craves the limelight.

Click to read the rest of the article: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/ren-e-los-angeles-film-203165

Diagnosing Differences: A Film that Should Be Required Viewing for Health Providers Working with Transgender Populations

“Diagnosing Difference should be mandatory viewing for all medical and mental health providers, including those currently in training and those who have practiced for many years … This film provides not only a real portrayal of the diversity of gender identities within transgender communities, it also takes the medical and mental health professions head on with compelling historical facts, contemporary debates and personal narratives.  This film is a call to all mental health providers to not only educate themselves but to become activists for transgender patient rights within their professional communities.”
– Dr. Sara Kimmel, Staff Psychologist, Harvard University Mental Health Services

Diagnosing Difference is a feature-length length (64 mins) documentary featuring interviews with 13 diverse scholars, activists, and artists who identify on the trans spectrum (transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, and gender variant) about the impact and implications of the Gender Identity Disorder (GID) on their lives and communities.

Historically, non-trans medical and mental health care professionals have positioned themselves as the “experts” on transgender experience, creating standards, guidelines, and diagnoses that inform legal policies and mediate every aspect of life. Diagnosing Difference shifts the focus to explore the many complexities of the diagnosis from the perspectives of those it affects most directly and personally, including access to medical care, legal ramifications, social stigma, implications for psychotherapeutic care, treatment trauma, and differences in experience based on factors like race, class, gender orientation, and generation.

Diagnosing Difference humanizes the debate around the GID diagnosis by valuing personal experience as a vital (and often ignored) form of expertise. Rather than trying to create an exhaustive examination of the diagnosis or offer claims of universal representation, Diagnosing Difference is purposefully personal, seeking to expand the experience of the audience, provoke thought, and create as many questions as it answers.

Using the diagnosis as a departure point, the participants debunk myths and misconceptions about transgender identities, challenge stereotypical gender expectations, and offer educative insight into the terms and language used to describe transgender lives. This groundbreaking film is the first to explore the impact of the GID diagnosis on people who identify on the trans spectrum in their own words and images.

Diagnosing Difference is accessible to a broad audience, including graduate training programs in psychology and medicine, and represents a significant contribution to the emerging field of trans-affirmative health care.

Filmmaker Annalise Ophelian is a queer San Francisco-based human sexuality educator and trans ally. She holds a doctorate in clinical psychology.

For more information, please go to the film’s website: http://www.diagnosingdifference.com/

 

A Call for Written Stories from Transgendered Individuals

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” – E. L. Doctorow

from Helen Hill LMFT

One of the most powerful catalysts for change is telling your story.  It doesn’t need to be your entire life.  In fact, for the purposes of effectiveness, it should not be your entire life.  People often relate to events such as sudden change, loss, triumph, grief, acceptance, love, rejection, challenge, redemption and the like.

A story can humanize the experience of transgendered people to those who have never experienced a transgendered individual.  Let’s face it, there’s just not that many of us around!  (According to a UCLA study there’s only 700,000 of us in the USA out of 360 million people!)

If you have a short story you’d like to share that you feel taught an important lesson, I would be honored to place it on my blog.

There are a few caveats:

• Your story, you, and the people involved will remain anonymous.
• No references to outing identifiable others.
• No one should be personally endangered by the telling of your story.
• Your story needs to focus on one important event or life lesson to be shared.
• Please, nothing prurient, no fetishism or exhibitionism, no encouragement of self-harm/self-destruction.
• I will only EDIT your story for grammar, punctuation and anonymity.

For an example of what I mean about a short story, please see my example, “A Transition Story: The High School”  (Of course, since I’ve already “outed” myself years ago, anonymity does NOT apply to me!)

You can email me your stories at: helenhillmft@gmail.com

Thank you and let’s get writing!

McDonalds Transgender Victim of Beating Comes Forward [gawker.com]

Anyone in my predicament should not be afraid to walk the streets,” Polis said. “They should not have to go into a restaurant and get gawked at and made fun of. They shouldn’t be afraid to leave the house. It’s just wrong.

Max Read — Chrissy Lee Polis, the 22-year-old transgender woman who was the subject of a video-recorded beating in a Baltimore-area McDonald’s last week, spoke out for the first time in an interview with The Baltimore Sun.

Polis’ account confirms most of the Facebook-driven speculation that she’d been targeted for using a woman’s bathroom. She says the attack was “definitely a hate crime,” and tells the Sun that the dissemination of the tape on the internet has worsened the aftermath of the assault:

She said seeing herself all over the Internet and all over the news has been “like walking out of the closet all over again.” Polis is concerned that the public attention could trigger more violence – and worries it could hurt her chances of getting a job. “I want to cry, but I need to hold my head up,” she said.

Though hate crime charges against Polis’ attackers—said by police to be two women ages 14 and 18—haven’t yet been filed, the state’s attorney says that a review will take place next week to determine “if [they] need to make additional charges.” The McDonald’s employee who recorded the video has been fired, and the franchise owner says he may take further action against other employees.

[Baltimore Sun]

http://gawker.com/#!5795129/mcdonalds-beating-video-victim-comes-forward

1985: Christian, Gay, & HIV+ : Steve Pieters and Tammy Faye Bakker

Steve Pieters is one of the few surviving individuals with AIDS since 1982.  He is also a minister, a therapist, and a member of the Los Angeles Gay Men’s Chorus.

In November of 1985 Steve was interviewed by Tammy Faye Bakker of PTL Ministries; at the time a worldwide network for Christian broadcasting.  It was a groundbreaking interview reaching millions who otherwise might never have heard his story, and that of many gay religious people like him – dealing with a life threatening illness in the face of societal indifference and, often, outright rejection, while reconciling what it means to be gay man of faith.

Tammy Faye Bakker received a great deal of criticism for doing this interview.  Her reply was succinctly summed up in this way, “I believe Jesus loves all of us, and so should I.”

Below is Part 1 of this amazing interview.

To view Part 2 and Part 3 please go to the YouTube playlist link:

http://www.youtube.com/user/helenofirvine#g/c/F72AEC859D5EE680