Scotland/Germany - Sexual dry spells hurt blood pressure, intensify orgasms... [2008-08-18 LA Times]

http://www.latimes.com/features/la-he-mateside18-2008aug18,0,2324754.story

Sexual dry spells hurt blood pressure, intensify orgasms

August 18, 2008

Sexual dry spells, the good and bad

What happens after a few weeks of abstinence? Two studies shed light on how a body changes after a sexual dry spell.


Before a big day: A study of 46 men and women in Scotland looked at whether sex affects the body's blood-pressure response to a stressful event -- in this case, a nerve-racking combo of public speaking and verbal arithmetic. The results, published in 2006 in the journal Biological Psychology, showed that people who'd had no sexual activity (no intercourse of any kind, no masturbation) in the two weeks before the stressful day had the worst blood-pressure responses. Those with the best reactions? Folks who'd had penile-vaginal intercourse only. (Those who'd had other types of sexual activity with another person still fared worse than those who'd had vaginal intercourse; masturbation was barely an improvement over no sexual activity.)


Before a big night: A study of 10 German men, published in the World Journal of Urology in 2001, looked at how three weeks of no sexual activity can affect orgasmic responses -- in this case, during an evening of erotic movies and masturbation in the lab. Compared with a similar session before their abstinence, the men were more sexually aroused by the film, and their orgasms were longer and more intense. (They reported that the finale did not arrive any more quickly than usual.) What's more, after the three-week period the men's testosterone levels were elevated, which is known to boost libido -- an effect that persisted throughout the film and even after orgasm.

-

Regina Nuzzo

--

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times   

US - California Supreme Court decides that an antidiscrimination law takes precedence over doctors' right to religious freedom... [2008-08-19 LA Times]

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-supreme19-2008aug19,0,5953214.story

California doctors can't refuse treatment to gays on religious grounds, court rules

The state Supreme Court decides that an antidiscrimination law takes precedence over doctors' right to religious freedom.

By Maura Dolan
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 19, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- Doctors may not discriminate against gays and lesbians in medical treatment, even if the procedures being sought conflict with physicians' religious beliefs, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday.

In its second major decision advancing gay rights this year, the state high court ruled that religious physicians must obey a state law that bars businesses from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

"The 1st Amendment's right to the free exercise of religion does not exempt defendant physicians here from conforming their conduct to the . . . antidiscrimination requirements," Justice Joyce L. Kennard wrote for the court.

The decision stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Guadalupe T. Benitez, an Oceanside lesbian who lives with her partner and wanted to become pregnant with donated sperm.

Benitez filed a suit after Dr. Christine Brody, an obstetrician and gynecologist at the North Coast Women's Care Medical Group in Vista, said she would not perform an intrauterine insemination. In her lawsuit, Benitez alleged that Brody said her religious views prevented her from providing the procedure to a lesbian.

Another physician at the clinic, Dr. Douglas Fenton, later told Benitez that the staff was uncomfortable helping her conceive a child and advised her to find another doctor outside the medical group, Benitez said.

The doctors denied the allegations. Brody said she would not perform the procedure on any unmarried woman, heterosexual or homosexual.

The state high court said the doctors' constitutional rights to freedom of religion did not trump the state antidiscrimination law because the state has a compelling interest in ensuring full and equal access to medical care.

But the doctors "remain free to voice their objections, religious or otherwise, to the [law's] prohibition against sexual orientation discrimination," Kennard wrote.

The court also said the doctors could testify at a trial that their religious beliefs barred them from doing the procedure for reasons other than the patient's sexual orientation.

Robert Tyler, general counsel for Advocates for Faith and Freedom, predicted that the ruling would spur voters "to recognize the radical agenda of our opposition" and support a November ballot initiative that would amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage in California. A state Supreme Court ruling in May made gay marriage legal.

Kenneth R. Pedroza, who represented the doctors, said the ruling would probably cause many physicians to refuse to perform inseminations at all. Pedroza said Brody did not violate the law because it did not bar discrimination on the basis of marital status when Benitez sought insemination in 1999. The state law has since been amended.

Asked whether Brody would perform the procedure on a married lesbian, Pedroza said: "I don't know."

But Jennifer C. Pizer, senior counsel for Lambda Legal, said Benitez's experience was "sadly common" for lesbians seeking reproductive healthcare.

"We get calls routinely about it," she said.

Benitez, 36, who is now the mother of three, said she has been pursuing her case for 10 years.

"This isn't just a win for me personally and for other lesbian women," Benitez said. "It's a win for everyone because everyone could be the next target if doctors choose their patients based on religious views about other groups of people."

Justice Marvin R. Baxter, the court's most conservative justice, said in a separate concurring opinion that doctors could protect against liability by referring patients to other doctors in their practice who did not share their religious objections.

But he conceded that sole practitioners might have little choice and hinted that he might vote in a future case to spare them from the requirement.

"I am not so certain this balance of competing interests would produce the same result in the case of a sole practitioner," Baxter wrote. The court did not specifically address that question.

A spokesman for the California Medical Assn. said it opposes "invidious discrimination" and believes it is "not protected by a claim of a religious belief." The spokesman said he did not know what practical effect the decision would have on doctors and stressed that the group has no position on what the outcome of the lawsuit should be.

A trial court ruled for Benitez, but an appeals court overturned that decision in favor of the doctors. After the case landed in the state high court, civil libertarian groups sided with Benitez, and religious groups, including Jewish and Islamic clergy, argued that doctors were entitled to disavow treatments that conflicted with their beliefs.

Monday's ruling clears the way for Benitez's case to go to trial.

-

maura.dolan@latimes.com

-
   
DISCUSSION

Did the court make the right decision?

1. The fact that a lot of you commenters see nothing wrong with using government coercion to force an exchange between two private parties (the patient and the doctor) is actually pretty disturbing. No wonder America is a shadow of what it could have been.
Submitted by: Edward
12:12 AM PDT, Aug 19, 2008

2. Jinx. I'm not suggesting that one parent is somehow better than two, and submit that having two is certainly ideal. However, some could argue that having mom and her girlfriend "aunt Linda" as parents introduces circumstances into a childs life that would NOT be comparable to the challenges of children growing up in financially stable single family homes. Either situation requires balance for the child. The question is which situation would be more likely to introduce that balance in a way that influences the healthy social development of the child?
Submitted by: Absolutely Incredible...
11:56 PM PDT, Aug 18, 2008

3. As an Orthodox Jew I am happy to see this decision. If a doctor can deny medical treatment to someone because they are gay, medical treatment may also be denied to me for being devoutly Jewish. Doctors can't use their particular slant on religion to deny medical treatment to anyone - at least not in America!
Submitted by: Chaya
11:28 PM PDT, Aug 18, 2008

Read all 157 comments
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-supreme-gb,0,6114163.graffitiboard

--

Copyright 2008 Los Angeles Times  

Britain - M2F gender variant activist and police adviser Lynne Braithwaite dies at 74... [2008-08-19 Lancs Evening Post]

http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Activist-and-police-adviser-dies.4403767.jp

Tuesday, 19th August 2008

Activist and police adviser dies at 74

A transgender activist who served in the RAF for nearly 40 years has died of a stroke.

Retired Flight Sergeant and author Lynne Braithwaite, 74, of Morecambe, died in Royal Lancaster Infirmary on August 12.

She enlisted as a Boy Entrant in September 1949 and retired as a Flight Sergeant in July 1989.

An expert in Vulcan Bombers, she was invited as a consultant to the Sky Trust whose aim was to get a Vulcan bomber flying again. The mission was achieved early in 2008.

Lynne, who penned the books From Brigands to V Bombers and Diaries of a Transfemale, became a woman in 1994.

She also worked with Lancashire Police to advise the force about transgender people.

She was a member of Trans Lancs, the advisory group for Lancashire police, and campaign group Press For Change.

Supt Bob Eastwood, of the diversity unit, said: "The trans community may have lost a strong activist but her achievements will have lasting effects.

"Lynne was a vibrant person who was always active and approached life with the enthusiasm of someone decades younger. She will be greatly missed. Her motto was: If you cannot be true to yourself then you cannot be true to anyone."

--

©2008 Johnston Press Digital Publishing

Brazil - Sex Change Is Human Right in Brazil and Can Be Made for Free... [2008-08-19 Brazzil Magazine]

http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/9793/1/

Sex Change Is Human Right in Brazil and Can Be Made for Free
           
Written by José Wilson Miranda
   
Tuesday, 19 August 2008

Sex-change operations can now be made for free in Brazil, courtesy of the Brazilian federal government SUS (Unified Health System). The decision that these operations should be done for free was taken a year ago by a Federal judge. The government never appealed the decision despite protests by religious groups.

The decree regulating such surgeries was published this Tuesday, August 19, in the Diário Oficial (Federal Daily Gazette) and recognizes sex change as a "right," as defined in 2007 by the court ruling. The measure formalized today had already been announced in June by the Health minister, José Gomes Temporão.

To be eligible to the operation the person should be older than 21 and will have to undergo two years of psychological evaluation, which will be done by state and municipal health departments. Due to these requirements none of these free sex-change operation should happen before 2010.

These sex-change surgeries. says Brazil's Health Ministry, are not experimental anymore and they have the seal of approval of the Brazilian CFM (Conselho Federal de Medicina - Federal Medical Board).

The Health Ministry believes that 1 in every 10,000 Brazilians will be seeking the operation now that it has become free. About 300 sex change operations occurred in Brazil last year, according to the CFM, but all of them in private clinics, which charge in average 4,000 Brazilian reais (US$ 2,439) for the procedure.

The Diário Oficial text talks about the right people have of getting a humanized assistance free from any discrimination due to their sexual orientation.

"The sexual orientation and the gender identity are factors identified by the Health Ministry," says the document signed by minister Temporão, "as determining and conditioning the health situation, not only for involving specific sexual and social practices, but also for exposing the GLBT (Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual, Transvestites and Transsexuals) population to harm due to the stigma, to discriminatory and exclusionary procedures that violate their human rights, among them the rights to health, dignity, non discrimination."

The text also makes de defense of a transexualist way of life:  "Considering that transexualism means a desire to live and to be accepted in the condition of being a person of the opposite sex, which  generally comes together with a discomfort or a feeling of inadequacy towards his own anatomical sex, these situations should be approached taking into consideration the wholeness of the health care advocated and to be provided by the SUS."

END

US - Post-operative M2F gender variant Muslim convert Gwen Boucher (aka Khadija) banned from Southwest Portland mosque... [2008-08-20 WWEEK.COM]

http://wweek.com/editorial/3441/11399/

ISSUE #34.41 • CULTURE • Queer Window

The Trans Muslim
Why can’t Khadija go to mosque?

BY BYRON BECK
bbeck@wweek.com

August 20th, 2008


Gwen Boucher (aka Khadija) 2008-08-20

Khadija could be a star spokeswoman for Muslims if they wanted to show off Islam’s teachings of peace and acceptance.

She doesn’t see the teachings of Islam as “harsh,” nor do the religion’s tenets make her feel like a “second-class” citizen, rejecting two common claims from some Western critics. In fact, she believes the neoconservative press has got it all wrong when it comes to Islam. “Arab terrorists are not Islam,” Khadija says.

But things get nastier when others interpret those teachings. Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, the imam, or spiritual leader, of Masjed As-Saber, won’t let Khadija back in his Southwest Portland mosque because Khadija is transgendered.

I met Khadija, who still uses her birth name—Gwen Boucher—for coffee after the 61-year-old Muslim convert had read WW’s “The Queer and the Qur’an” on a website for trans Muslims (groups.yahoo.com/group/transmuslims). She had posted a comment on our website about how, after finding acceptance in a local mosque, she was asked never to return. “I felt that it would’ve been better for them to kill me,” her comment read.

Look, I know readers will say, “Get off the Muslim kick.” That Christians and Jews crap on queer people every day. So be it. Send me those stories and I’ll be happy to write them. But Khadija came to me, and this story deserves telling.

Boucher was born a boy, but raised at first as a girl, in San Diego. “My mother always wanted a girl,” she said. “That’s why she named me Gwen.” Her family moved to Portland shortly after her fourth birthday. It was here that she says her stepfather abused her. By the age of 5, Boucher finally got beaten into step with the gender she was born with. “He said he was going to beat the woman out of me,” she said.

He did. Boucher did all the guy things. She got married, had three kids, was a policeman in the Army and eventually worked as an electrician. Her fundamentalist Christian family went to church at least twice a week. Boucher lived life as a man until the age of 56. But in the first week of January 2004 Boucher, who had felt different her entire life, finally said enough’s enough and came out as a woman. She transitioned surgically soon after and has been living as a woman ever since.

Fascinated by Arab culture since the 9/11 bombings and rejected after becoming a woman by her wife and kids and her funda-faith, Boucher started investigating Islam. What she found surprised her. “It’s more monotheistic than Christianity,” Boucher says, explaining that many Christians treat Jesus more like a god than a prophet. Rather than feeling like a freak, Boucher felt accepted as a woman by her newfound Muslim faith, especially after visiting a website, askislam.org, which told her it was OK to be transgendered on three conditions: if she wore the traditional garb of women, went to mosque and told the imam her history.

On Sept. 26, 2006, during Ramadan, Boucher underwent the final step, another personal transformation—she became a Muslim.

After meeting a Muslim woman soon after, Boucher was invited to a women’s feast at Masjed As-Saber—the largest of seven mosques in the Portland area.

Upon her arrival at the Southwest Portland mosque, Boucher had an emotional struggle about whether to go in the men’s section or the women’s.

She was escorted to the ladies’ section, where she tried to hide her trans status. “I wanted to tell the imam as I was instructed,” Boucher says. “But the women said they wanted to handle it themselves.” Boucher says that initially the women were very accepting, but after three months, a couple of them objected to her being part of the mosque. That’s when the imam got involved and, according to Boucher, talked with other imams about her situation. After a six-month investigation, she was told she could not return.

Imam Mamadou Toure of Beaverton’s Bilal Mosque, the only local imam whom Boucher says has been sympathetic to her cause, did not respond to several email requests for comment.

Upon that “death sentence,” Boucher walked into the middle of traffic on Southwest Barbur Boulevard. “I wanted to die,” she said.

After someone nearly mowed her down, she snapped out of her funk. But while she remains alive, so does her pain.

“In my heart I am still a Muslim,” Boucher says. “But I was shunned after that, and I’ve never been back to a mosque since.”

--

Copyright 2008 Willamette Week Newspaper & WWEEK.COM

Wales - March tribunal set for pre-operative M2F gender variant production planner Sophie Morris' (nee Gareth Morris) claim of unfair dismissal... [2008-08-21 Neath Guardian]

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south-wales-news/neath/2008/08/21/sex-change-claims-91466-21560354/

Sex change claims

Aug 21 2008

by Matt Nicholls
Neath Guardian

A PRE-OP transsexual claims her career has been “destroyed” since she announced she wanted to become a woman.

Sophie Morris, 40, alleges she was sacked from her £23,000 job at the JTEKT factory in Resolven after she changed her gender from male to female.

The former production planner, of Glynneath, has suffered from gender dysphoria, a condition recognised by psychologists as a person’s discontent with the body they were born in, throughout her life. She had been known as Gareth until she started taking prescription hormones in December 2006. But a year later, she claims she was given the boot by factory bosses, who told her there had been an “irretrievable breakdown” in their working relationship.

“They reduced my responsibility and I started receiving aggressive e-mails,” she told the Guardian. “Some people had grievances against me and were joking about them in the canteen.”

Sophie had planned to undergo gender reassignment surgery in June at a cost of £10,000. But she has not been able to find another job, and has run up debts of more than £10,000 trying to fight her dismissal. Those suffering from gender dysphoria in England can get NHS treatment – but they can’t in Wales.

“My job was my way of paying for my operation,” she said. “But my career has been destroyed. I’ve applied for 18 positions, and had interviews for about 10, but I can’t even get a second interview. How much of that is down to my dismissal and how much is down to me being trans-gendered, I don’t know. I think it’s a combination of both. Image is everything in industry when you’re dealing with customers. They just feel I’m not that perfect image.”

She added: “I know a lot of trans-gendered people fear for their careers. I would tell everyone to keep a record of how things are. Keep a diary of events as they happen. That’s what I’ve done and I can refer to that and prove what was actually happening and how people’s attitudes were changing.”

Despite her setbacks, Sophie praised her neighbours for their support.

“From the outset, they were very supportive and understanding,” she said. “I sent a letter to tell them and I received Christmas cards a few days later addressed to Sophie.”

A tribunal to hear Sophie’s claim of unfair dismissal has been set for March.

A spokeswoman for JTEKT was asked to comment, but declined to do so.

--

© 2008 owned by or licensed to Media Wales Ltd.

US - Talking About Disorders of Sex Development: Interview with Intersex activist Amy Hinton... [2008-08-20 Political Affairs]

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/7284/
   
Talking About Disorders of Sex Development: Interview with Intersex activist Amy Hinton

By Gregory Esteven
   
08-20-08

Editor's note: Amy Hinton works with the Intersex Society of North America.

Political Affairs: For our readers who don't know, intersexuality and its alternative, "disorders of sex development," are modern names for what used to be called "hermaphroditism." But intersex really refers to a variety of conditions. Would you mind giving us an idea of this variety?

AMY HINTON: Intersex or Disorders of Sexual Development is basically an umbrella term for a number of conditions. Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, 5-alpha reductase syndrome, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, gonadal dysgenesis, Klinefelter syndrome, etc. are all under the umbrella of "intersex" or DSD. Each condition has some effect on the sexual development, which creates a situation where sex chromosomes, genitalia, and/or secondary sex characteristics are not exclusively male or female, hence the term intersex—between sexes. However, since that isn't always the case, we have advanced our terminology to say disorder of sexual development.


PA: How common is intersex?

AH: Generally, 1 – 2% of live births are born with some form of intersex.


PA: You have what's called Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. Could you explain to us what that is?

AH: AIS is a condition where an XY (male) fetus does not respond to androgens. All XY fetuses have androgen receptors. Our bodies do not respond to those receptors, basically ignoring them. So when the sexual development occurs in utero, we just ignore it, and we stay in a form that would most likely be associated as being female. All fetuses in development, look female. A cleft forms where a vagina will be and tissue to form a clitoris. However, the same tissues are in all fetuses. That cleft can also fuse to form scrotal sacks and the tissue grows to form a penis. AIS doesn't really form either, and keeps a female appearance. Internally, all fetuses have gonads. This tissue in XX (female) ascends to form ovaries. In XY (male) they descend to form testes. With AIS, they remain in the lower abdomen region. Typically it is the gonads that are the cause for someone to be diagnosed with AIS, because they will form what appears to be a hernia in the lower abdomen. Or one of the gonads will "drop" or descend, or try to, and that is when the child is rushed to the doctor. These unknown masses are taken out and tests show XY chromosomes.

In most cases of AIS the child is born appearing like a female. This was true in my case. No signs indicated otherwise. And it was the hernia that brought me to the doctor and tests found that I had AIS. So I've been a female all my life and identify as such.


PA: Like many people with disorders of sex development, you didn't find out until you were an adult. Were you aware of being different when you were growing up?

AH: No, I did not know. However – feeling something – I can admit that I felt different, but it was something I couldn't put my finger on. Like I was just not like everyone else. My mother told me when I was 11 years old that I would not be able to have children, and that I would never get a period like other girls. She told me that I was born with a condition that had no name and was very rare. And being me, I believed her. I did not question this until years later. Thankfully the internet came to be during my teenage years and I was able to research and find out about AIS.


PA: How did you finally find out about your medical history?

AH: I did not find out the truth that I was in fact intersex, or genetically male, until I was 21 years old. I was in college, and after a few years of research, I finally got the courage to talk to my mother. Again, I thought she had no clue about any of this, so I had to approach the conversation as though I was telling her I might be genetically male. Well, I was definitely stunned and shocked to know that she had the answer. This was in 2003 not long after my 21st birthday. Later that summer while I was home on break from school, we went to see the geneticist and endocrinologist I saw as a child. They gave me copies of my medical records and we talked. However, I was stunned still, and confused. Our agreement was for me to come back and continue seeing them, but I did not.


PA: How has having AIS intersected with your gender and sexual identity?

AH: After the first few months of finding out about being AIS I was really confused. Not so much about my gender identity, but how to cope with being one thing and living as another. However, I found a wonderful support group of wonderful people who really helped me understand that regardless of what I have, I'm still me.


PA: What are some of the difficulties that intersex people face due to ignorance and prejudice?

AH: I think on a social spectrum, people are so afraid to tell anyone about themselves. Some people that I know did not find out until they were in their 30s and 40s that they were even intersex. These women are married to men. And all of the sudden they are being told they are genetically male. Well, it really rattles their foundations and core beliefs, especially those with really conservative and religious backgrounds. All of the sudden, they find themselves in a genetically homosexual relationship even though socially they are heterosexual. It's a hard thing to grasp. Many people would also lump intersex people with transgendered people. However, although I am a big supporter of transgendered issues, I must stress that intersex and transgender are two totally different things. We (intersex) have a medical genetic condition where our sex chromosomes do not match our gender at birth (in most cases). Transgendered people's sex chromosomes match their gender at birth, and even have functioning bodies to reproduce. Intersex cannot reproduce.


PA: The Intersex Society of North America advocates a new "patient-centered model" for dealing with intersex patients, leaving behind the days of secrecy, shame and unnecessary surgeries performed on children. How do you feel about this position?

AH: I agree with that. I think most importantly, a person should have the right to choose his or her course of treatment.


PA: Finally, do you see the struggle for intersex rights as related to other struggles for social justice, such as women's equality and LGBT rights?

AH: Yes and no. Women's equality and LGBT rights should be fundamental rights we get at birth. I personally think it is sad that we live in a country where we have to define the rights of the citizenry to ensure proper equality while some groups are guaranteed freedoms just by winning some sort of genetic lottery (right gender, right sexuality, right color etc.).

However, as an intersex person, I believe there are some safeguards needed to be in place that are somewhat separate from things such as women's equality and LGBT issues. For instance, being intersex is completely a medical issue. We need rights to ensure we get proper treatment in ways that only help us, and in ways that produce no long term effects. We have to be able to make decisions for the ways in which our bodies are treated. As a child between the ages of 0 – 14 years (at least) we cannot knowingly make those correct decisions. I think in some cases it would be hard to comprehend what it means. We live in a world that doesn't always embrace diversity, so the natural choice for any kid would be to be like everyone else, whatever it takes. However, that's not to say that as an adult the same decision won't be made, but at least as an adult you can understand the results of those decisions a little better. I am intersex: I need medical safeguards to ensure my proper treatment in the medical world. I am an intersex, female, and lesbian. So naturally women's equality and LGBT issues are important to me. They are something I embrace; however, my being intersex has nothing to do with that type of social justice. Only if I choose to live as an intersex person—non-gender, Middlesex, or whatever label that would imply a person in between male and female—then I would drop the Women's equality and LGBT issues pertaining to myself. That would be an intersex social justice cause all in itself.

END

US - New Data on Gender Identity in Military Finds Discrimination... [2008-08-21 Palm Center]

http://www.palmcenter.org/press/dadt/releases/new_data_on_gender_identity_in_military_finds_discrimination

New Data on Gender Identity in Military Finds Discrimination

Palm Center Publishes Analysis of Veterans Organization Data

Date: August 21, 2008

Press Contact: Nathaniel Frank, Senior Research Fellow, The Palm Center, University of California, Santa Barbara, 805-893-5664, frank@palmcenter.ucsb.edu

August 21, 2008, Santa Barbara – New figures released today by the Transgender American Veterans Association reveal that transgender service members and veterans, like many transgender people in the U.S., face a variety of forms of discrimination based on their transgender status. The survey of 827 U.S. military veterans and active-duty personnel mark the first major empirical findings on transgender people in the military.

A Palm Center analysis < http://palm5.civicpixel.com/system/files/Transgender+People+in+the+U.S.+Military%283%29.pdf > of the data, also released today, showed that over a third of survey respondents reported having experienced some form of discrimination in the workplace and 10% of respondents were turned away from the VA due to being transgender, while many reported other forms of discrimination including lack of respect from VA doctors (22%), non-medical staff (21%), and nurses (13%). In addition, among those who served under the “don’t ask, don’t tell policy,” 1 in 5 were questioned by an officer about their sexual orientation, a violation of the military’s DADT policy. Nearly two thirds reported there were suspicions about their sexual identity. Pre-transition transmen were twice as likely pre-transition transwomen to report suspicions about their sexual identity.

Dr. Jeanne Scheper, Research Director of the Palm Center, a think tank at University of California, Santa Barbara that studies sexual minorities in the military, said that “the survey adds to the growing evidence that the impact of the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy varies by gender,” and corroborates recent pentagon data that show women are disproportionately affected by the ban on openly gay service. “More research is needed,” she added, “to understand the full impact of the policy on all members of the military,” but she said that the existence of the policy itself makes that almost impossible.

The Palm Center analysis, “Transgender People in the U.S. Military: Summary and Analysis of the 2008 Transgender American Veterans Association Survey,” was conducted by researchers Karl Bryant, Ph.D. and Kristen Schilt, Ph.D. It details the findings of the survey on issues including Veterans’ access to healthcare and experiences of workplace discrimination, both within and outside the military.

###

The Palm Center is a research institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara. For more information and a copy of the report visit www.palmcenter.ucsb.edu.

For information on the TAVA survey, contact Monica Helms, President, at president@tavausa.org or Denny Meyer, Media Relations, at media@tavausa.org or call 718-849-5665. For TAVA survey results go to www.tavausa.org/Survey_Results.html.

For a pdf of the press release, click http://www.palmcenter.org/files/active/0/TAVA%20Report%20PR.pdf.

END