The Cutting Edge-Jan 2015

Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

Another wonderful article by Jennifer Finney Boylan, transgender author of “Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders,” appeared on the Op-Ed page o f The NY Times, Jan 7, 2015.  The article focuses on the suicide of 17 year old Leelah Alcorn and Jennifer’s recollection of her own suicidal ideation.  I’ll quote liberally from her article as I could not do it justice otherwise. 

 

“Leelah was no mistake.  The world abounds with all sorts of ways of being human, one of which is being trans.  It is a tragedy that Leelah was never given the chance to be proud of who she was. And that she thought the only way to change the world was through her death.

 

“Suicide is a constant among transgender people; we are one of the most at risk groups in the country.  One study suggests that over 40% of us attempt it during the course of our lives.

 

“I was among that number.  In 1986 I stood at the edge of a cliff in Nova Scotia, looking down at the Atlantic, considering the plunge into the sea below.  Then I turned back.  Somehow here I am….

 

“My own life was saved in part by books. When I found Jan Morris’s 1974 memoir, “Conundrum,” it was as if I found a wormhole to another universe, a galaxy where people like me could thrive.  I wish I could have also given Leelah two more recent works:  Janet Mock’s “Redefining Realness” and Kate Bornstein’s  “Hello Cruel World.”  They might have made a difference.

 

“If reading provided me with solace, so did writing.  Keeping a journal, telling stories, inventing worlds gave me comfort until the time came when I had the agency to make my own choices….

 

“It may still be possible to fulfill at least one of Leelah’s wishes.  In her note, she wrote: ‘My death needs to mean something.  My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year.  I want someone to look at that number and say, ‘that’s [expletive] up and fix it.  Fix society.  Please.’”

 

In November 1997 I published an article in my column for this newsletter entitled, “Did it Have to Happen?”  Like Jennifer’s piece, it focused on suicidality among the trans population.  As a therapist I emphasized the importance of psychological treatment in identifying and addressing depression and serious mental health issues before irreversible actions ensued.  In the spirit of the adage, “when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” each of us offers the resource we have at hand.  I will certainly consider Jennifer’s suggestions and hope that she will include mine in forthcoming writing on the subject.

 

Once again the city of West Hollywood is in the forefront of liberal causes.  Not known as “Gay Camelot” for nothing, having been one of the first in the nation to pass a same-sex marriage law, known as a haven for gay people, painting its crosswalks in rainbow hues, now it has taken one more step to make transpeople feel welcome.  An ordinance has been passed prohibiting the designation of “male” or “female” on single stall public restrooms. All such facilities have to be labeled “gender neutral.” (New York Times Jan. 18, 2015)

 

 

The Cutting Edge-November 2014

Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

The new (Oct. 14, 2014) report by the Williams Institute found that transparents generally report positive parenting experiences.  Transgender individuals parent at lower rates than the general public—approximately ¼ to ½ of such individuals are parents.  The vast majority report that their relations with their children are positive, even during the parent’s “coming out” or transition period.  They report a high level of discrimination—either formally at the hands of the court or informally by the child’s other parent in child custody and/or visitation arrangements.  For more info on the report, contact Laura Rodriguez lrodriguez@rabengroup.com

 

Veterans’ Health Administration policy states that “medically necessary care is provided to enrolled or otherwise eligible intersex and transgender Veterans, including hormonal therapy, mental health care, preoperative evaluation, and medically necessary post-operative and long-term care following sex reassignment surgery.  Sex reassignment surgery cannot be performed or funded by VA.” For the full VA policy: http://va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pubID=2863 (Personal correspondence Nov. 13, 2014)

 

November 20, 2014 was the 16^th Transgender Day of Remembrance, “a solemn tribute to those who have lost their lives to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice, and a day to raise awareness of the constant threat of brutality.”  Founded in 1998, it is an annual event commemorating the still unsolved murder of Rita Hester. The next year, the “Remembering Our Dead” web project was established and a San Francisco candlelight vigil was held in 1999.  Subsequently, hundreds of cities throughout the US and the world have hosted annual Transgender Day of Remembrance events in solidarity with trans victims of hate crimes. While not every victim self-identified as trans, each was a target of violence because of his/her real or perceived gender identity or expression. 

Some stats: transpeople are 1.5 times more likely to be targeted than the broader LGBT community.

                      67% of the victims were transwomen of color.

                      78% of transchildren (K-12) reported harassment in school.

<www.LGBTQnation.com>

 

The author and transgender activist, Leslie Feinberg, died at 65 on Nov. 15, 2014.  Best known for the novel, “Stone Butch Blues” (1993), Feinberg is survived by partner and spouse, Minnie Bruce Pratt, Syracuse poet and professor, who described her as “an anti-racist white, working class, secular Jewish transgender, lesbian, female, revolutionary communist [who] was the first theorist to advance a Marxist concept of ‘transgender liberation.’”  Feinberg also authored “Transgender Warriors” (1997); “Trans Liberation” (1999); and “Drag King Dreams” (2006).  Before her death of complications from a tick-borne disease, she was “preparing a 20^th anniversary edition of ‘Stone Butch Blues.’  She worked up to a few days of her death to prepare the edition for free access, reading, and download from on-line.”  In an interview she talked about the language she used to describe her gender.  Though she has been referred to “as a butch, as a he-she, as a passing woman, as a drag king,” Feinberg stated that no language really describes her experience.  However, she “accept[s] the language that best conveys to a large group of people who I am and what I’m arguing for.”  (LA Times, Nov. 18, 2014)

 

The Cutting Edge-November  2014 

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

 

Have you seen “Transparent,” the new Amazon show that has received raves from critics and fans alike?  Rotten Tomatoes’ site gives it a 97% approval rating, describing it “as much about a change in television as it is about personal change.  Transparent raises the bar for programming with sophistication and sincere dedication to the human journey, warts and all.”  Jill Soloway created the pilot about 3 siblings whose father reveals he is going through a significant life transition.  She says the show stands for gender freedom for all and within that freedom we can find grays and muddled purples and pinks, chakras that bridge the heart and mind, sexiness that depends on a masochistic love or a sweeping soul dominance.  In particular, Transparent wants to invent worlds that bridge the binary….”

 

“Easing the Law for New Yorkers Shifting Gender” is an article in the NY Times Oct. 7, 2014.  It refers to a change being advanced by the N. Y. City Council and the Mayor in the definition of “what constitutes a transition from one sex to another, allowing a person’s own identity, not anatomy, to be the The Cutting Edge determining factor.”    It would allow alterations to birth certificates at the recommendation of physicians, psychotherapists, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and midwives.  The criteria for amending a certificate will be “that the requested change more accurately reflects the applicant’s sex and is consistent with contemporary expert standards regarding gender identity.”  The long-standing requirement for SRS will be dropped and original birth records will be sealed.

 

“Lily McBeth, 80, a Focal Figure for Transgender Rights” is the heading of an Oct 5, 2014 obituary in the NY Times. Formerly, William McBeth had been a medical supplies salesman from New Jersey. Upon retirement, s/he took a position as a substitute elementary school teacher.  Having taken a break to recover from SRS, upon returning to the classroom in February 2006 as Lily, an intense debate arose among parents leading to an exploration of the human rights issue concerning opportunities for transgender people.  Ms. McBeth, who died on Sept. 24, was referred to as “the state’s most important civil rights figure in the last 2 decades.”  It is notable that the NJ school administration defended her right to teach based on NJ Civil Rights laws.  Parents were divided with some trotting out the usual claims that children were being forced to confront issues of sexuality beyond their ken while others felt her teaching skills were unimpaired by her transition.  Although never terminated, the school stopped requesting her services as a substitute teacher, and she finally withdrew her availability stating in an interview that “they put me in a closet again.”  She never wrote her autobiography but in an interview she stated that had she done so, it would have been called, “From He to Shining She.”

 

On Sept. 3, 2014, Mills College in Oakland, CA became the first all-women’s college in the US to openly welcome gender non-conforming students.  Any student ho self-identifies as a woman is welcome.  Applicants “who do not fit into the gender binary” are eligible as long as they were assigned “female” at birth.  Enrolled students who transition and later identify as a man may stay and graduate.  However, those who were assigned “female” at birth but already legally identify as a man are not eligible.

 

About 3 to 5 of the 1,000 undergrads identify as gender non-conforming every year.  Mt. Holyoke has an even broader policy of inclusion admitting “any qualified student who is female or identifies as a woman.” (Think Progress website, Sept 2, 2014)

 

Don’t be surprised if some of your glamour photos end up some day on display.  Robert Swope found a cache of 340 snapshots of men”dressed cozily as women, engaging in domestic pursuits…, having dinner or playing scrabble.”  He learned the photos, found at the 26^th St Flea Market in Manhattan, were taken at Casa Susanna, a weekend retreat in the Catskills for 1960’s cross-dressers.  120 of the images have been collected into a book published in 2005 by Powerhouse that is now in its 3^rd printing.  Now all of the photos are to be auctioned at the Wright Auctionhouse in Chicago in the hopes that an institution will buy them for public display. (NYT 10/16/14)

 

Lastly, don’t miss the13th San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, Nov. 7-9 at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16^th St. @ Valencia.  For more info: WWW.SFTFF.ORG.

 

 

The Cutting Edge-October 29, 2014

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

 

Have you seen “Transparent,” the new Amazon show that has received raves from critics and fans alike?  Rotten Tomatoes’ site gives it a 97% approval rating, describing it “as much about a change in television as it is about personal change.  Transparent raises the bar for programming with sophistication and sincere dedication to the human journey, warts and all.”  Jill Soloway created the pilot about 3 siblings whose father reveals he is going through a significant life transition.  She says the show stands for gender freedom for all and within that freedom we can find grays and muddled purples and pinks, chakras that bridge the heart and mind, sexiness that depends on a masochistic love or a sweeping soul dominance.  In particular, Transparent wants to invent worlds that bridge the binary….”

 

“Easing the Law for New Yorkers Shifting Gender” is an article in the NY Times Oct. 7, 2014.  It refers to a change being advanced by the N. Y. City Council and the Mayor in the definition of “what constitutes a transition from one sex to another, allowing a person’s own identity, not anatomy, to be the determining factor.”    It would allow alterations to birth certificates at the recommendation of physicians, psychotherapists, physician’s assistants, nurse practitioners and midwives.  The criteria for amending a certificate will be “that the requested change more accurately reflects the applicant’s sex and is consistent with contemporary expert standards regarding gender identity.”  The long-standing requirement for SRS will be dropped and original birth records will be sealed.

 

“Lily McBeth, 80, a Focal Figure for Transgender Rights” is the heading of an Oct 5, 2014 obituary in the NY Times. Formerly, William McBeth had been a medical supplies salesman from New Jersey. Upon retirement, s/he took a position as a substitute elementary school teacher.  Having taken a break to recover from SRS, upon returning to the classroom in February 2006 as Lily, an intense debate arose among parents leading to an exploration of the human rights issue concerning opportunities for transgender people.  Ms. McBeth, who died on Sept. 24, was referred to as “the state’s most important civil rights figure in the last 2 decades.”  It is notable that the NJ school administration defended her right to teach based on NJ Civil Rights laws.  Parents were divided with some trotting out the usual claims that children were being forced to confront issues of sexuality beyond their ken while others felt her teaching skills were unimpaired by her transition.  Although never terminated, the school stopped requesting her services as a substitute teacher, and she finally withdrew her availability stating in an interview that “they put me in a closet again.”  She never wrote her autobiography but in an interview she stated that had she done so, it would have been called, “From He to Shining She.”

 

On Sept. 3, 2014, Mills College in Oakland, CA became the first all-women’s college in the US to openly welcome gender non-conforming students.  Any student ho self-identifies as a woman is welcome.  Applicants “who do not fit into the gender binary” are eligible as long as they were assigned “female” at birth.  An enrolled student who transitions and later identifies as a man may stay and graduate.  However, those who were assigned “female” at birth but already legally identify as a man, are not eligible.

 

About 3 to 5 of the 1,000 undergrads identify as gender non-conforming every year.  Mt. Holyoke has an even broader policy of inclusion admitting “any qualified student who is female or identifies as a woman.” (Think Progress website, Sept 2, 2014)

 

Don’t be surprised if some of your glamour photos end up some day on display.  Robert Swope found a cache of 340 snapshots of men ”dressed cozily as women, engaging in domestic pursuits…, having dinner or playing scrabble.”  He learned the photos, found at the 26^th St Flea Market in Manhattan, were taken at Casa Susanna, a weekend retreat in the Catskills for 1960’s cross-dressers.  120 of the images have been collected into a book published in 2005 by Powerhouse that is now in its 3^rd printing.  Now all of the photos are to be auctioned at the Wright Auctionhouse in Chicago in the hopes that an institution will buy them for public display. (NYT 10/16/14)

 

Lastly, don’t miss the13th San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, Nov. 7-9 at the Roxie Theater, 3117 16^th St. @ Valencia.  For more info: WWW.SFTFF.ORG.

The Cutting Edge-October 2014

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

 

Have you run into radfems yet?  The New Yorker magazine, in its Aug. 4, 2014 issue, published a fascinating article titled, “What is a Woman?” and tells us all about them.  Michelle Goldberg, the author, writes of this movement of women who challenge trans women’s right to call themselves women.  They trace their position back to 1973, at the height of the second wave feminist movement, when a group of women at the West Coast Lesbian Conference took the position that a born male hasn’t “earned the title of woman.”  They believe that “anyone born a man retains male privilege in society; even if he chooses to live as a woman …he can never understand what being a woman is really like.”  Reference is made to the book, “Unpacking Queer Politics” (2003) by Sheila Jeffreys which criticizes m-to-f transition as a “capitulation to misogyny.”  The author is considered the “Andrea Dworkin of the U.K.” and is seen as either a heroine or zealot, depending which side you are on.  An opponent of the movement posits that radfems are victims of trauma at the hands of men and deserve respect for their experience. However, “the pain of radical feminists … can’t trump trans rights.”  She advises them to “stay out of spaces where transgender male-to-female people go.  It’s not our job to avoid you.”

 

“As One” is an opera with a “novel twist” according to the NYTimes of Sept. 6, 2014.  Laura Kaminsky and 2 collaborators (one of which is herself, trans) have written this chamber opera which premiered Sept. 4, 2014 at the Brooklyn Academy of Art.  Hannah, the protagonist is trans and the dilemma faced by the creators is how to make her story universal while reflecting the very specific events around her transition.  They solved this by having 2 voices unify one character.  A baritone sings “Hannah before,”  while a mezzo-soprano plays “Hannah after.”  Throughout the piece, the singers’ voices are notably incompatible until the end when they sing “strikingly in unison…. A harmonic disturbance in the final chord suggests that Hannah’s fulfillment is not so complete.”

 

Did you catch Lady Valor: The Kristen Beck Story on CNN Sept 4?  It told the story of Christopher Beck, Navy SEAL in Iraq and Afghanistan.  According to the review in the New Yorker, Sept. 5^th edition, “Christopher Beck carried out countless secret missions.  Beck’s most covert action, however, had nothing to do with the military.  For most of his life, and his 20 years with the SEALs, Beck considered his true identity to be female.  Months after retiring from the Navy in 2011, he summoned the courage to begin hormone therapy and come out publicly.” 

The Cutting Edge-August 2014

Barbara F. Anderson, Ph.D., LCSW

 

From the Transgender Law Center (TLC) comes an announcement of the implementation of AB1121.  It is a CA bill signed into law in Oct. 2013 and refers to obtaining an accurate birth certificate without the need for a court-ordered gender change in order to amend a gender marker on a birth certificate.  Instead, one can submit a form with a doctor’s letter to the state Department of Health accompanied by a $23.00 fee. Additionally, those seeking a name change consistent with their gender identity are no longer required to publish their intention in a local newspaper.  Only if another person challenges the requested name change is the applicant required to attend an in-person court hearing.

 

The TLC has updated their comprehensive publication, ID Please!  It is a guide for “navigating processes of updating California and federal identity documents to reflect accurate gender markers.”  For more info,  info@transgenderlawcenter.org.

 

More from the TLC:  Chelsea Manning will get “rudimentary treatment” for her transition, according to Chuck Hagel, US Secretary of Defense.   It is not clear what treatment will consist of, but TLC will urge that all medically necessary health care be provided the soldier convicted of leaking classified material to WikiLeaks.  For background on this case, see the June 2014 edition of Devil Woman.

 

And more: Since 2011, Meggan Sommerville, transwoman, has been suing her employer, Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., for the right to use the women’s restroom.  HLS will only grant permission upon seeing proof of gender confirmation surgery despite the fact that her identity documents and her employer’s health plan acknowledge her as female.  In a more recent and widely publicized case, her employer has received a favorable ruling from the Supreme Court allowing them to deny health coverage of contraceptives pleading conflict with religious beliefs.

 

On a happier note, TLC reports that San Francisco has named a street after “transgender icon, Vicki Marlane.”  At the end of the Trans March of the Pride Parade, a new street sign was unveiled.  Turk St., between Jones and Taylor in the Tenderloin, has been renamed in honor of the late transgender performer and community activist.  Marlane died in 2011 of complications of AIDS.  She started her career as a traveling circus performer, did drag throughout the country, and moved to San Francisco in 1966. Her show, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” at Aunt Charlie’s, evolved into a weekly event, “The Hot Boxx Girls.”

 

Two interesting notices from WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) arrived in June.  “This month, the American Medical Association joined the World Health organization in adopting a policy declaring that transgender individuals should not be required to undergo genital surgery or forced sterilization in order to change legal identification documents….”  The goal is “to ensure that transgender patients always receive appropriate preventive care regardless of whether or not it matches with the gender on the birth certificate.”  For more info, www.amaassn.org/ama/pub/news/2014

 

Also from WPATH, “Wall Street Journal Editorial Critiques Transgender Health, July 2, 2014”  A spokesperson from the organization commented on an op-ed article by conservative psychiatrist, Paul McHugh, who described trans identity as “disordered” (whatever that means) and, ignoring generally accepted medical opinion, argued that patients should be denied medically necessary treatment such as hormonal and surgical interventions.  He believes that the growing support of transgender rights illustrate a troubling trend toward affirmation rather than treating such individuals as ill and confused.

 

A freebee:  Free trans and queer yoga is available at CounterPULSE, 80 Turk St.@ Taylor.  For times and dates, <CounterPulse.org>

 

The Cutting Edge June 20, 2014

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

 

Good news on the Medicare front.  The National Center for Transgender Equality has issued a Fact Sheet on Medicare Coverage of Transition-Related Care.  Medicare provides health insurance for older adults and people with disabilities.  For years certain medical services for transpeople were excluded.  In May 2014, an independent federal appeals board ruled this to be unreasonable.  The backstory:  In 1989, Medicare adopted a position excluding SRS.  In May of this year, The US Department of Health & Human Services, in response to the appeal of a beneficiary, invalidated this categorical exclusion.  Now decisions about coverage for transition-related care will be made on a case-by-case basis, just like all services provided by Medicare.  This ruling is final and not subject to appeal. For more information :<www.TransEquality.org.>

 

More good news!!!  The Respect After Death Act (AB1577) passed the California Assembly (61-3) and will now move to the Senate.  It will ensure that transpeople have their authentic gender identity reflected on their death certificates providing appropriate documentation such as written instructions from the deceased, an updated birth certificate or driver’s license, or evidence of transition-specific medical treatment.

 

The NY Times (May 30, 2014) announced the death of Storme DeLaverie, 93 year-old early leader of the Gay Rights Movement.  “Storme was a singer, cross-dresser and bouncer who may or may not have thrown the first punch at the 1969 Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village…. She said in interviews that she had begun performing as a singer by her late teens, first as a woman and later dressed as a man…. She was the M.C. of the Jewel Box Review … in which she dressed as a man; the rest of the cast members, all men, dressed as women.”  RIP.

 

News from Sweden and New York.  Transpeople no longer need to provide a psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis when changing their legal gender in Sweden. The sole requirement is that applicants are living in their experienced gender role and plan to continue to do so. (Personal correspondence, June 2014)

New York State changed its policy requiring transgender people born in NYS to provide proof of SRS in order to alter their birth certificates.  Now a medical provider’s affidavit of “appropriate clinical treatment” will suffice.  Oddly, this change does not apply to NYC which has its own system for issuing birth certificates. (NY Times June 10, 2014)

 

In recognition of Pride Month, Time Magazine elected to feature Laverne Cox on its June cover.  She is a transgender woman who plays the trans character, Sophia, on the Netflix show, “Orange is the New Black.”  Her identical twin brother plays her character in pre-transition flashbacks.  When asked in an interview by the NY Times, if Laverne looks forward to the time when there is a transgender crime-scene investigator on a CSI spinoff, she responded, “this is my dream! I actually believe it is possible.”

 

An unprecedented number of transpeople have been honored as Grand Marshals in Pride parades across the country.

 A lengthy opinion piece in the NY Times (May 25, 2014), titled “Who Are Women’s Colleges For?” explores the concern that some women’s colleges’ administrators have that admitting students who aren’t “legally female” will cause them to lose Title X funding.  This ruling prohibits all discrimination “on the basis of sex” in any educational institution receiving federal funding.  Exempted are private schools that serve a single-sex student body.  Therefore, private women’s colleges can accept or reject anyone based on gender.  Such schools do not define what constitutes a woman but they do require that documentation submitted with the applicant’s application for admission “reflect her status as a woman.”   The writer, Kiera Feldman, opines that “it is worse than short-sighted to deny admission to any women who want to attend.  Founded in the spirit of advancing the rights of women, these schools should lead the way for society, and accept transgender women.”  Perhaps the issue will be moot in view of the fact that the number of such schools is down from 200 in 1960 to 46 today.