The Cutting Edge--May 18, 2014

By Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 Bradley/Chelsea Manning, the soldier convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, was granted the right to a legal name change to Chelsea Elizabeth Manning by a Kansas judge.  This decision allows for official changes to Private Manning’s military records; however, it does not compel the service to treat her as a woman.  Therefore, she is not entitled to be moved to a prison with a women’s unit or receive counseling or hormonal or surgical treatment. (NY Times Apr.2014)

 In 2 more related articles about military practices affecting trans soldiers, it appears that there is more willingness to review policies.  The Report of the Transgender Military Service Commission, issued March 2014, considers whether Pentagon policies that exclude trans service members are medically sound.  The Commission, chaired by Joycelyn Elders, MD (former US Surgeon General) and Alan Steinman, MD, found the discharge of trans military personnel  “inconsistent with how the military regulates medical and psychological conditions, and arbitrary in that medical conditions related to transgender identity appear to be the only gender-related conditions requiring discharge irrespective of fitness for duty.” The Commission enumerates numerous examples supporting their findings and these can be accessed online by googling the Report of the Transgender Military Service Commission.

 In reaction to the findings of the Commission, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stated that “the military should ‘continually’ review its prohibition on transgender people in the Armed Forces, calling into question whether the Pentagon’s ban may eventually be lifted, as was the ban on gay men and lesbians in the military.”  This story appeared in the NY Times May 11, 2014.

 

“For These Females, No Such Thing as Penis Envy” is an article on a recent study of the Brazilian insect, Neotrogla. In a case of sex-role reversal, findings are that females have penises that can erect and penetrate and males have vaginas.  Copulation lasts 40-70 hours during which time sperm is transferred from the male to the female.  “As soon as the females become adults, they may force weaker males to have sex with them just to obtain the fluid to produce eggs.”  Ain’t nature grand? (NY Times Apr. 22, 2014)

 Seamus Johnston, a transgender man, is being represented by the Transgender Law Center in his sex discrimination law suit against the University of Pittsburgh.  After having lived as a man for the 3 years he was a student at the university, he was summarily informed that he was no longer allowed to use men’s restrooms or locker rooms unless he obtained a new birth certificate or court order attesting to his male gender.  He continued to use the banned facilities following which the university “engaged in a campaign of persecution against him, having him arrested and criminally prosecuted and eventually expelling him, causing him to lose his full scholarship.”  The TLC’s defense maintains that laws prohibiting discrimination based on sex include protections for transpeople as well.  For more info on this case, go to www.transgenderlawcenter.org/archives  /10154.

 A new resource for consumers, activists, and. policy makers concerned with upholding the rights of transpeople is “License to Be Yourself.”  Addressing the dilemma faced when one’s passport, driver’s license or national ID card does not reflect one’s gender identity, it documents worldwide laws and policies that enable transpeople to change their identity on official documents.  To learn more, go to www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/license-to-be-yourself.

 

 

The Cutting Edge-April 14, 2014

Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

“Neither Female Nor Male” is the title of an op-ed piece by Julia Baird in the NY Times, April 7, 2014.  Ms Baird hails from Sydney, Australia and is commenting on a recent Australian court decision addressing the desire for some individuals to decline to adhere to the binary system of gender.  At the center is an individual, Norrie May-Welby “who has been permitted to register as ‘nonspecific’ on official certificates.  Now, 52, Norrie was identified as male when she was born… but was drawn to the world of girls…. In 1989, Norrie underwent gender [sic] reassignment surgery.  But after a while being purely female did not seem right, either.”  The article goes on to say that she “began questioning the sex binary, and realized I didn’t want to dissociate myself from aspects of myself simply because they were labeled masculine…. I am both a man and a woman, I am not simply one and not the other.”

 In researching this subject, the author says that Nepal now issues citizenship papers with an optional category, “third gender.”  Germany became the first European country to allow parents of intersex children to mark their birth certificates with an X.  Various terms such as androgynous, neuter, intersex and transgender were considered by the Australian court but “nonspecific” was chosen to describe the situation of an individual unwilling to adhere to the binary system of categorization.

 Norrie is reportedly over the moon in view of her triumph in court.  She has held news conferences, posed on a rainbow-colored bicycle and then announced her engagement to her best friend, Samuel.  Unknown is whether she can marry Samuel in view of the fact that same -sex marriage is illegal in Australia.  Well, they’re not the same sex, are they?  What’s the problem?

 

Along the same lines, Facebook now offers users 50 different alternate opportunities to identify one’s gender.  Some of the options are non-binary, neutrois, androgyne, agender, gender fluid and neither.  This “gender project” was developed with input from Glaad in NY.  Facebook has not revealed how many users have departed from the standard choices of M & F.

 

The 2^nd annual Trans 100 event has just occurred.  Its purpose is to recognize trans persons who have had a positive impact on society.  Trans model, Carmen Carrera, as well as Alana Nicole Sholar, author of “Hung in the Middle: A Journey of Gender Discovery” were both recognized.  (See April’s edition of this column for a review of Ms. Sholar’s book).

 

The NY Times of April 12, 2014 featured an op-ed article, “The Trouble With Too Much T.” The authors, one a bio-ethicist, Katrina Karkazis and Rebecca Jordan-Young, a professor of women’s gender studies, highlight the unfairness of subjecting women athletes with higher-than-average testosterone levels to humiliating tests and treatment involving either surgery or drug therapy to reduce their hormone levels.  The authors cite studies which dispute the commonly held belief that T levels predict performance outcome on tests of speed, strength, or determination to win.  Instead they maintain that lean body mass better explains superior performance.

 

 

The Cutting Edge-March 20, 2014

Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

“Transgender Troop Ban Faces Scrutiny,” an article on the Air Force Times site, discusses the current armed forces prohibition against admitting transgender individuals to the service.  An independent commission led by a former US surgeon general has concluded that ”there is no compelling medical reason” for this rule and it could be nullified by Pres. Obama without congressional approval.  The report found that “Department of Defense regulations designed to keep transgender people from joining or remaining in the military on the grounds of psychological and physical unfitness are based on outdated beliefs…. The ban is an expensive, unfair and damaging barrier to health care access for the approximately 15,450 transgender personnel who serve currently ….“ said the commission led by Dr. Joycelyn Elders, who served as surgeon general during Bill Clinton’s first term.

 At least a dozen countries, including Australia, Canada, England and Israel, allow transpeople to serve.  The Center for Military Readiness, which opposes lifting the ban, predicts that “putting transgender people in barracks, showers and other sex-segregated [venues] could cause sexual assaults to increase and infringe on the privacy of non-transgender personnel.”

 Following up on last month’s article in which a 92-yar-old transgender widow was denied benefits from her legal spouse, a Lambda Legal news release states that the Social Security Administration has been persuaded to grant Robina Asti the benefits due her.  The organization awaits changes to SSA policy that will ensure that this does not happen to subsequent applicants in Robina’s position.

 Jennifer Finney Boylan, Professor at Colby College and trans memoirist (“Stuck in the Middle with You’), described in the N Y Times (2/16/14) her observation that “we finally have trans characters on TV.  But what about trans actors?”   She is commenting on the new Amazon show, “Transparent,” in which the actor playing a male-to-female character, Jeffrey Tambor, “is neither female nor trans…. Why do these parts go to people who struggle to imitate us, when there are trans actors ready and able to bring to these roles the authority and authenticity of their own lives?”

 CA’s School Success and Opportunity Act went into effect Jan. 1^st, “ensuring that schools have the guidance they need to make sure all students, including those who are transgender, have the opportunity to do well in school and graduate. The effort to repeal this law failed to qualify for the ballot allowing AB1266 to become law.

 “My Husband Looks Better in Lingerie than I Do—Damn It,” by Bobbie Thompson describes life with her transgender spouse, who has also authored a book, “Hung in the Middle: A Journey of Gender Discovery” by Alana Nicole Sholar. Ms. Thompson’s book deals with challenges greater than social disapproval and financial difficulties, such as Alana’s positive diagnosis of HIV.

 “Transgender Models Prosper in Brazil, Where Carnival and Faith Reign,” in the NY Times (3/16/14) describes the “growing class of transgender models in Brazil.”  Apparently the cosmopolitan capitals of Sao Paulo and Rio in Brazil, a country which celebrates its multi-racial and cultural heritage, “have become places where crossing gender lines is increasingly accepted.  Still, transgender models themselves say Brazil is also in many ways a deeply conservative country with strong religious forces that can create a hostile environment for its gay and transgender population.”  Sadly, they have had less success beyond the confines of fashion.  In trying to enter the performance field, one model complains that they are only considered for roles as trans characters. “The majority of actors are gay and they can play a heartthrob…. Why can’t I play a maid, a secretary, a tree?”

The Cutting Edge-February 18, 2014

By Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

The Transgender Law center (TLC) is organizing their 8^th annual Transgender Leadership Summit—a conference designed to build the foundation for community members to take action for transgender equality and justice.  There will be workshops in legal, healthcare, organizational development and much more.  It is scheduled for April 11-13 at Cal State U. @ Northridge.  For more info: info@transgenderlawcenter.org

Robina Asti, a 92 year old transwoman, was denied survivor’s benefits by the Social Security Administration after her husband’s death.  The ruling was based on their belief that she was “legally male” at the time of their marriage in 2004 despite the fact that the government has recognized Robina as a woman for over 30 years as attested to by her passport, FAA pilot’s license and driver’s license.  The back story: 9 years ago Robina, a WWII vet and pilot and her longtime sweetheart, Norwood Patton, were married in an airplane hangar in New York State.  When Norwood, 97, died in 2012, Robina applied to the Social Security Administration for survivor’s benefits.  As mentioned above, she was denied.  In June 2013, Lambda Legal filed a request for reconsideration but after 6 months has still not had a reply.  Stay tuned.

Did you catch the “Fashion & Style” section of the NYTimes (1/30/14)?  If not, you missed the story on the new Barneys catalogue and magazine campaign.  Nearly 20 transgender models were photographed by Bruce Weber wearing clothes from designers like Ann Demeulmeester, Balenciaga, Lanvin and Manolo Blahnik.  The models, ranging in age from 17 to “early 30’s,” are of various races and socioeconomic strata. The intent was to create awareness of a community that has been left behind as gays and lesbians have moved further into the mainstream.

 From a contribution to a listserve of WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) the following entry bears circulating.  The writer tells of being denied funding by the CDC for a mammogram.  Despite having legitimately met the qualifications for a subsidy for the screening, denial was based on her identity as a transwoman.  She filed a civil rights complaint on the state and federal levels and the Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal, and the National Center for Transgender Equality became involved on her behalf.  Subsequently, the CDC officially changed its discriminatory policy and now all transwomen who meet the income and age requirements, and are referred by a healthcare professional, are eligible for a federally funded mammogram.

Global Action for Trans* Equality and the American Jewish World Service conducted a survey of 340 transgender and intersex groups worldwide between July and Sept. 2013.  Revealed are the deep discrimination and multiple challenges faced by these groups.  Some findings:  The trans and intersex movements are young, many groups having been founded in the last 3 years.  Most focus on local issues and are led by community members.  Most are not independent but are programs of larger human rights and health organizations with broader mandates.  For more info on the survey’s findings, Google “Global Action for Trans* Equality.”

The Cutting Edge- January 2014

By

Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

Transgress Press has put out a call for letters from “Our Partners,” partners and spouses of transpeople.  They are seeking personal stories from individuals who are/have been in relationship with people who identify as transgender.  In 2011 they published “Letters for My Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect,” an anthology of letters to trans partners.  Now they seek reflections on these relationships.  They are interested in stories about personal identity that address questions such as:

 1) How has your identity been challenged or supported by your partner’s identity?  Has your self-perception of your own gender evolved?

 2) How has disclosure impacted personal, community, family, or work relationships?  Affected your role as a partner or your identity?

 3) How has medical transition affected your relationship?  Has your partner’s desire or lack of such affected your role or identity?

 4) How has your relationship changed?  Has monogamy or polyamory become a lifestyle choice?  What has been the effect on children?

 f you’d like to know more about the project or are interested in submitting a letter of 2500 words or less, contact jess@iamsocialjustice.com

 

Are you aware of the controversy re: the term “trans*” vs. transgender among gender variant individuals, professionals who work with them and activists for the cause?  Some feel “trans*” has supplanted transgender and is more inclusive of all who identify as CD, TG, TS and gender diverse.

 Apparently, the “*” as an abbreviation comes from computer science.  It was prominent as a wildcard character in early operating systems in the 1970’s and remains so in Mac and Windows today.  Many global advocacy organizations have adopted “Trans*” such as GATE—Global Action for Trans* Equality.  A growing number of members of WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) have adopted the term as well, although the “*” has not modified the title of the organization.

 Another point of view comes from a physician/Executive Director of an advocacy organization who says “I am not an asterisk.  Roger Maris may be an asterisk.  Barry Bonds may be an asterisk.  I am not an asterisk.”  These comments have been excerpted from online correspondence between members of WPATH.

 

“Massachusetts: Court Upholds Sex Change for Inmate”  is the headline of a NYTimes article.  The State Department of Corrections is required to provide SRS for an inmate serving a life sentence for murdering  his/her wife.  Michelle Kosilek, 64, was born male but receives female hormones and lives as a woman in a men’s prison.  A federal judge ruled in 2012 that surgery was necessary for her gender identity disorder.  Prison officials have concerns about protecting her post surgically.

 

 

The Cutting Edge Dec. 24, 2013

Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

In addition to my psychotherapy practice I have embarked on another venture—I have been deputized as a Marriage Commissioner by the State of California.  Once a week I report to San Francisco City Hall and perform marriages for couples who choose to take their vows at this most impressive site.  A large proportion of the individuals that wed are same-sex couples who became “legal” on Dec. 2, 2013.  After a bit of paperwork, I sign in a couple’s witnesses and we proceed to either a private room or up the grand staircase to stand under the cupola of this gorgeous building.  There, surrounded by family and friends, photographers and children, the spouses-to-be take their vows, exchange rings and kiss.  It is the high point of my day each week.

 

“Victory! Transgender Man Wins right to Work as Authentic Self” is the headline of an article on the Transgender Law Center’s site.  The organization responded to K.S.’s request for help when his employer refused to allow him to serve clients who had requested a male massage therapist.  K.S. had begun transitioning the prior year and had also been denied usage of his chosen name without a court ordered name change or a gender change on his driver’s license.   A TLC lawyer discussed the matter with K.S., explained his rights to him, and helped him identify the specific areas at work where he was treated differently from other men.  As a result, K.S. felt confident to meet with his employer and advocate for more equitable treatment.  He is now “booked” as a male massage therapist, wears a male uniform and uses his chosen name.

 

“Taiwan to allow legal gender changes without transitioning” appeared Dec. 11, 2013 on the site, GayStarNews.  After hours of debate, the Ministry of Health voted to drop previous requirements –“removal of all relevant sexual organs” and psychiatric evaluation—and now allows TG individuals to change their legal gender at will.  Taiwan has become only the second nation, after Argentina, to liberalize their laws to such an extent.  To the objections of a psychiatrist who cited 2 cases of individuals who committed suicide post-transition, a supporter of the ruling suggests that “adaptation difficulty is indeed more of a social problem….  It is the double requirement of evaluation and sex reassignment surgery, which together with monetary and physical constraints, prevents trans people from obtaining their desired legal gender and brings problems.” 

 

In July, California passed AB 1266, introduced by Tom Ammiano of San Francisco. It required public schools to allow TG students to use bathrooms and participate on sports teams consistent with their gender identity as of Jan. 1, 2014.  A conservative coalition has formed to repeal the measure in the 2014 election.  It needs to collect 305,000 signatures by Nov. 8 to get on the ballot.  A statement from political consultant, Frank Schubert, who masterminded the passage of Proposition 8, maintains that 500,000 have been collected so far.  If the referendum qualifies, the law will be suspended until voters decide.  (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 20, 2013)

 

In brief:  Lambda Legal has a great website which deals with such subjects as: identity documents; TG youth; restroom access rights; TG workplace rights; health care; TG seniors;  TGs and marriage laws; TG parents; and fighting anti-trans violence. It is www.lambdalegal.org/know-your-rights/transgender

 

 

 

`The Cutting Edge-November 2013

By Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) is preparing for its bi-annual conference in Bangkok, Thailand in Feb. 2014.  A featured speaker will be Antonio Guillamon, MD, PhD who will speak on “The Brain of Transsexual Persons.”  A summary of his presentation  follows: “The brain structures and mechanisms that support gender identity are unknown.  One way to approach this topic would be to compare males and females with dysphoria to those who do not feel dysphoria.  Two decades of research into brain differences in our laboratory, working with several species, including humans, has produced 2 main ideas.  First, sex differences are seen in complex networks and differences in any given structure must be approached in this context.  Second, sex differences in the brain can take 1 of 2 morphological patterns; in some structures males show larger measurements than females while in other structures the opposite is true.

 “…post-mortem studies of hormonally treated m-t-f transsexuals have reported that 2 nuclei, which are located in the hypothalamus… are feminized.  The idea that the brain[s] of transsexual persons might be feminized in m-t-f transsexuals or masculinized in f-t-m transsexuals has attracted media attention and become popular.  It also seems to fit with the idea of being trapped in the wrong body.  However, findings from post-mortem brain studies include the effects of the cross-sex hormone treatment and the suggestion of brain feminization in m-t-f transsexuals might be an over-simplification of how the brain actually is in transsexuals before they receive hormone treatment.”  For more information on Dr. Guillamon’s talk, see WPATH’s website @ www.WPATH.org.

 

“Trans-Kin Update: Support for Family & Friends of transgender People” recently won the international Book Award in the Gay and Lesbian Non-Fiction category.   According to Eleanor Hubbard (who may be the author/editor/publisher) “this guide has helped countless significant others, family members, friends and allies” to deal sensitively with TGs.  For more info: www.Trans-Kin.com

 

New Jersey joins California as only the 2^nd state to prohibit licensed therapists from engaging in conversion therapy.  This is the now-discredited form of psychotherapy designed to “cure” patients of homosexual and transgender thoughts and behaviors.

 

Pakistan’s TG community, along with intersex and cross-dressing  individuals are known as  “hijras.”  These male-bodied people identify as women and have faced discrimination  and ridicule for centuries.  Segregated, they have usually earned their living as dancers, circus performers, sex workers, and beggars.  In 2012, a Supreme Court ruling allowed them to obtain IDs that permit them to vote and acknowledge them as the “3^rd gender.”

 

On November 4, 2013, 18 year old Sasha Fleishman was set afire while dozing on an Oakland bus.  Sasha identifies as “agender” and though appearing male, was wearing a skirt, according to his father.  “Being agender simply means that a person doesn’t feel that they are either a boy or a girl, according to Mr. Fleishman.  A 16 year old high school student is in custody as a result of footage available on a security camera.

 

Know the name William T. Vollmann?  Refreshingly, a New York Times feature (Nov. 14, 2013) presents a positive story about a cross-dresser who is accomplished and confident that he is OK.  In the article, “The Self Images of a Cross-Dresser,” Mr. Vollmann,  “the absurdly prolific author and National Book Award winner…has developed a female alter ego named Dolores ….”  She is the subject of his new edition of photos and paintings, “The Book of Dolores.”  The author is 54, straight, the father of a daughter and married to a physician.  He began cross-dressing “seriously” about 5 years ago after meeting some “girls’ in the Tenderloin.   They took an interest in him and he responded, researched the subject of the Noh theater dancers and Kabuki actors of Japan, and writing a short book (504 pages) on the subject.