Canada - Vancouver M2F gender variant park board hopeful Jamie Lee Hamilton says city party nixed candidacy over sex issues... [2008-08-31 Canadian Press]

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hnWz93I-T4rzrhD-Jpx5Uz3LEqlw

Vancouver transsexual says city party nixed parks board candidacy over sex issues

2008-08-31

VANCOUVER — A transsexual Vancouver prostitution advocate is preparing a human rights complaint against the city's governing party after it rejected her as a parks board candidate nominee.

Jamie Lee Hamilton said candidate interviews with two board members of the Non-Partisan Association party about being a nominee for November's municipal elections focused on her sex life.

B.C.'s Human Rights Code says it is illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of sex or sexual orientation.

Hamilton said the interviews made her very uncomfortable.

"I felt that my whole lifestyle was being interrogated. . .that I was somehow immoral," she said.

Hamilton said the board members invited her a cafe to discuss an ad she had placed on ShemaleCanada.com., an online meeting place for transsexuals.

She had described herself as a "cougar" in the ad.

And, she said, she declared on her candidate's form that she had worked in the sex trade.

Hamilton told The Canadian Press she had, at the party's request, signed up new members for mayoral candidate Peter Ladner's campaign to replace current mayor Sam Sullivan.

Then, she said, she paid the $1,000 deposit the party asked in return for a nomination consideration.

In return, she said, she had to submit to what amounted to an inquisition on her sex life.

"This is 40 years after Pierre Trudeau said the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation," Hamilton said.

"Forty years after this we're still having to deal with this? This is unacceptable."

Ladner said he could not comment on the issue having not been part of the board decision.

Director Joost Bakker confirmed he was involved with the interviews of Hamilton but declined comment. Director Doug Leung also met with Hamilton.

Ladner, Bakker and Leung all referred questions to NPA president Ned Pottinger who could not be reached for comment.

Hamilton has also run for a variety of political positions, from MP for the Green Party to city councillor.

And Hamilton has a record of grand gestures to push her advocacy work forward.

When announcing her candidacy for city council in 2005, she held a news conference dressed in a robe and tiara, calling herself Queen of Hearts.

This year, she has styled herself Queen of the Parks.

However, she readily admits her high-profile antics have provided plenty of publicity for her activism.

And in 1998, she dumped 68 pairs of stiletto-heeled shoes on the steps of city hall to highlight women missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

When she took on federal bawdy house laws, Hamilton opened Grandma's House, a not-for-profit society that offered condoms, referrals, showers and food to prostitutes.

For a fee, the workers could also use a room for their clients.

She was arrested and charged with running a bawdy house and had hoped to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court but the charges were later dropped.

Hamilton supporter Trude Huebner said a number of high-profile NPA members were at a Wednesday fundraiser for Hamilton's campaign.

Huebner said former NPA mayor Phillip Owen spoke of her courage, while councillors Kim Capri, Suzanne Anton and Elizabeth Ball praised her work in the community.

She said candidates Michael Geller, Laura McDiarmid and Christopher Richardson all acknowledged her hard work and consistent advocacy.

With the decision, though, Hamilton said she now questions whether the party is as tolerant and inclusive as it claims and questions whether the party has the "moral authority" to govern Vancouver.

Hamilton said she has long advocated for change for the downtrodden of Vancouver's poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside and lobbied for the rights of the gay, lesbian and transsexual community, as well as sex-trade workers.

"I have been a long-time community activist," she said.

"All of these issues take legislative change to enact fairness and justice for people."

"To be denied a place at the table based on my gender identity and my sexual orientation is absolutely deplorable."

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© 2008 The Canadian Press.

Britain - Imperial War Museum North in Manchester presents Military Pride on view through 2008-10-12... [2008-09-01 Huliq News]

http://www.huliq.com/13/67355/imperial-war-museum-presents-military-pride

2008-09-01

Imperial War Museum Presents Military Pride

Imperial War Museum North in Manchester presents Military Pride on view through October 12, a small but powerful display which reveals via portrait photography and personal testimony the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people within the context of conflict, war and military service.

Military Pride also details changes in historical and cultural context and a timeline of post 1945 legislation and policies within the Armed Forces and is timed to connect with the Manchester Pride Festival.

The display of 12 personal testimonies reflects through contributors’ own words how war and conflict have shaped people in the LGBT communities' lives from 1945 to the present day. As well as reflecting adversity the display aims to celebrate the achievements and reflect the positive contributions of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities to the Armed Forces and examine how experiences may have changed since 1945.

Catherine Roberts, Visitor Programmes Manager, Imperial War Museum North says: "The experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, within the context of conflict, war and military service, is arguably still a largely hidden history. Through this small but important display hopefully we can make a step towards helping to reveal and celebrate it."

An intimate, temporary display, Military Pride will have a permanent legacy as the histories collected will form part of Imperial War Museum’s collections for future generations and it is hoped that the display will also tour.

Imperial War Museum North has a 3-year history of delivering tours and events relating to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender experience in war and conflict from the First World War to the present day, reflecting the Museum's focus on how war has shaped and continues to shape peoples lives.

The Imperial War Museum is the national museum of the experiences of people who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth since 1914. The Museum continues to gather the testimony of those whose lives have been shaped by war. The Imperial War Museum is the museum of everyone's story: the history of modern war and people's experience of war and wartime life in Britain and the Commonwealth. It is an educational and historical institution responsible for archives, collections and sites of outstanding national importance.

The Museum's five branches include Imperial War Museum London which houses the award-winning Holocaust Exhibition; the Second World War cruiser HMS Belfast; the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, housed in Churchill's secret headquarters below Whitehall; Imperial War Museum Duxford, a world-renowned aviation and heritage complex, and Imperial War Museum North, one of the most talked-about new Museums in the UK. -- www.iwm.org.uk

-

Posted September 1st, 2008 by ruzik_tuzik

--

© 2008 Huliq.com

US - M2F gender variant Nigerian Mia Nikasimo: On being transgender... [2008-09-01 African Path]

http://www.africanpath.com/p_blogEntry.cfm?blogEntryID=5850

On being transgender

September 01, 2008

My name is Mia Nikasimo. As a volunteer for Changing Attitudes at the Lambeth Conference I found myself in an opportune position to reflect from a translesbian (i.e. a transsexual woman who identifies as a lesbian not to be confused with above or beyond “lesbians,” or a transgender man) standpoint on the Anglican Communion and attempts to exclude the LGBTI.

I have purposely mentioned my trans status here because “transgender” as an umbrella term (for transsexual female, male, sister, brother, mothers, fathers any of the following might choose to cross dress, are intersexed, queer, kings, drag queens and more) can easily loose ones identity in the mix and because I can only share this reflection as a translesbian in the full awareness that some, like my LGBTI African brothers, sisters cannot. As the founder of an online support group call Transafro I aim to give voice to our various narratives Anglicans or otherwise, to promote, empower and raise consciousness in Africa, the Diaspora and allies.

Transgender, contrary to what is often believed to be the case, is not about sexual orientation. Rather it is about gender identity which, for instance, in the case of transsexuals (i.e. female or male), sexual orientation is something that gradually happens as birth sexuality goes through a sort of transformation and so on and so forth. Even some transsexual people do not fully understand this so I am not surprised that most members of the lesbian, gay, and bisexual community do not understand the “T” or transgender enough to change their attitudes towards us never mind the wider Anglican Communion of Bishops which is why education, dialogue and reflection is important.

The consensus will always be that: WE DO EXIST, WE ARE TRANSGENDER AND WE ARE PROUD!!!

Primarily, in conjunction with some members of Changing Attitudes, this stance is saying that I am here, a transsexual woman and a lesbian of African origin (Nigerian, in my case) but also as a member of the wider lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community here to reaffirm our identity in the face of attempts to erase our presence from the Anglican Communion. However, the organisation’s mission statement which states that we are: ‘working for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender affirmation in the Anglican Communion’ is well intentioned we need to be proactive in our efforts.

On reflection, I have found that one significant question in particular seemed to manage to escape our attention. Although we have raised the stakes immensely in changing the Bishops attitudes, what are we as attitude changers doing to bring the same rigour to bear on ourselves? Before we can change attitudes among the Bishops we have a lot of education, dialogue and reflection work to in our community (i.e. the LGBTI) especially with regard to bisexual (although I cannot speak for them I am aware that they have little or no representation) and transgender people. Simple definitions such as what is a transsexual woman/lesbian? still manage to confuse some lesbian and gay men who then amusingly or otherwise call a transwoman or a translesbian a gay man robbing her of her trans identity and or her sexual orientation simultaneously just for a laugh. Likewise, referring to a transgender/transsexual man as a woman denies him his status as a man. Attitudes within the Anglican Communion cannot be changed in an atmosphere of homophobia or transphobia because of deep rooted fear which is why there is a call for more education, dialogue and reflection.

Although my mother is an Anglican which meant I could easily have chosen Christianity I opted for Buddhism. This is not to say that Buddhists are without similar conditioning as the Anglicans but because it was a religion I chose with a full understanding of what I was doing. Rather than the impositions and guilt ridden disposition of the Anglican Communion towards gender identity (i.e. as a transsexual woman) and sexuality (i.e. as a lesbian) I left Christianity and became a Buddhist and found peace of mind albeit formative. With committed and concentrated practice of meditation I was more able to get on with my life.

This suited me. I read broadly about Buddhism finding solace in the stories of practitioners like Tenzin Palmo and Milarepa to mention just two. With meditation practise I also found a sort of peace of mind that meant I could let go of hatred, guilt and fear and approach the world from a position of compassion, love and understanding. I even wanted to become a Buddhist nun and spend the rest of my life in spiritual contemplation in a cave out in the wild somewhere but I quickly realised that that would be indulging my desire to escape it all. Somehow, the city became my cave practice based on Plato’s Cave allegory.

I began to see anew and in seeing saw the Anglican Communion and the human condition as both locked horns and wondered where all the compassion, love and understanding had gone. I followed the Anglican Communion as it observed its rituals I did mine with Buddhist ones evoking the essence of compassion, Tara and or the Boddhisattva of fearlessness, Amoghasiddhi and shared the experience at every opportunity in social engagement.

However, on a final note, I feel the service of the Bishops is not about celebrity or notoriety rather it is about the cultivation of the seeds of compassion, love and understanding in all the Anglican Communion and not just some. This must include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people too or the shepherd fails in his duty to all his flock of sheep. But this mantle is not for them to bear alone. We have our part to play in the affirmation of the LGBT without excluding the “T” as can happen and continues too.
            
--

© 2008 African Path.

Canada - Gay rights education: When Jill wants to be a Jack... [2008-09-02 National Post]

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=760708

When Jill wants to be a Jack

Brian Hutchinson
National Post

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

As children across the country return to school, the National Post takes a look at the curriculum issues that are flashpoints in their respective regions and examines how the most controversial subjects are taught. Today, gay rights education.

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VANCOUVER -This is the week that all hell was to break loose in British Columbia classrooms. Thanks to an extraordinary agreement between two homosexual activists and the province's Ministry of Education, controversial new "gay-friendly" curriculum and teaching resources were to be introduced today in public schools.

Education Minister Shirley Bond says B. C. is now a world leader in matters of diversity training. But raising the subject of sexual orientation in the classroom sends a chill up some spines.

Depending on one's point of view, the launch of Social Justice 12, an elective course aimed at high school seniors, and "Making Space, Giving Voice," a guide for teachers in all classroom levels, signals either that B. C. public schools are the most progressive and inclusive in the country, or that they permit the suppression of religious and parental rights by forcing schoolchildren to accept as "normal" gay, lesbian and transgender lifestyles.

Conservative education critics have lambasted the province's willingness to allow any same-sex discussion into B. C. classrooms. The prescribed curriculum -- the first course in the country to explicitly endorse homosexuality and transsexualism, coupled with a new policy that gives teachers discretion to bring gay themes into their lessons -- is unique in Canada and, perhaps, North America.

Meanwhile, those on the opposite side of the issue complain that by refusing to make mandatory lessons about gays, lesbians and the transgendered, the province has not moved far enough.

Somewhere in the middle are Murray and Peter Corren. One of the first gay couples in Canada to marry, they almost single-handedly forced the topics of sexual orientation, gender identity and same-sex families into schools, launching a B. C. Human Rights Tribunal complaint against the provincial government.

The Correns said they had "much evidence" that the province's Ministry of Education had, in the past, "taken active steps to suppress these issues from the provincial curriculum." This was discriminatory, they alleged.

Rather than see the complaint wend through the human rights process, where a quasi-judicial panel might find in favour of the Correns and impose a far-reaching remedy, the province negotiated a settlement two years ago. It pledged to solicit feedback from "organizations or groups with expertise in sexual orientation, homophobia and other issues of inclusion of diversity in the curriculum" and then develop what has become the Social Justice 12 course.

Even more remarkably, the Correns were able to influence how the new gay-friendly initiatives would develop; their settlement agreement made them de facto consultants to the province. This, even though they have no children in the school system. Both men are in their 60s, retired, with an adopted, 28-year-old son.

Peter Corren has no background in education. Murray Corren is a former elementary school and literary support teacher. He says he witnessed discrimination based on sexual orientation in schools. Indeed, he experienced it firsthand. "I've had parents pull their kids from my classes because I am openly gay."

Now, he finds himself with perhaps more influence than he ever had in the classroom.

The Correns aren't radicals; they say they aren't interested in "forcing" students to be immersed in gay issues, and, as proof, they have not held the province to the strict letter of their settlement.

The person most responsible for the development and implementation of the new gay-friendly themes in B. C. won't discuss them. Shirley Bond has ordered her staff and ministry officials not to broach the Corren settlement and its impact with media. Indeed, the Minister herself has avoided questions about this year's new classroom material and teachers' guide; she would not consent to repeated interview requests with the National Post. Her written responses to this newspaper's questions were formulaic and vague.

Ms. Bond only signed off on the Social Justice 12 course in late August, giving prospective teachers no chance to prepare for it, and students little time to consider whether they wish to add it to their list of optional classes.

Social Justice 12 is not a course in homosexuality. According to an outline released by the Education Ministry, it is meant to "raise students' awareness of social injustice, to enable them to analyze from a social justice perspective, and to provide them with knowledge, skills and an ethical framework to advocate for a socially just world."

Students who complete the half-year course will be expected to "identify and define a range of concepts," issues that are often ascribed to society's aggrieved. Heterosexism and homophobia are two of many; others include ageism, consumerism, cultural imperialism, sexism and even "ableism" and "speciesism." The mistreatment of animals figures almost as prominently in the course outline as does homophobia.

With its late and unheralded entry into the provincial curriculum, Social Justice 12 has attracted little -- if any -- notice from critics or advocates. It seems few schools are even prepared to offer the course.

The Vancouver school district is among the largest in the province with 542,509 public school students and, by all accounts, the most progressive. Yet Vancouver school board officials could not say with any certainty last week whether the Social Justice 12 course is to be offered in any of its 18 secondary schools.

This, even though some of its schools already offer special programs and resources that draw gay, lesbian and transgendered students from around the province. Some Vancouver high schools, for example, feature "gender neutral" washrooms for students with identity issues.

The Vancouver school board also boasts a diversity team and an anti-homophobia consultant to work directly with students, parents and teachers. Victoria and other B. C. municipalities have similar resources available.

According to Glen Hansman, the school board's former anti-homophobia consultant and now president of the Vancouver Elementary School Teachers Association, schools in B. C. generally do more to promote acceptance of gay students than schools in other provinces.

"Outside of B. C., it's pretty different from school board to school board," he says. "Winnipeg took the lead in the early 2000s with similar staff training. Toronto did some [diversity] work on its curriculum in the mid-1990s. There is more generic inclusion and tolerance, but other provinces are less pro-active." Indeed, it appears that Social Justice 12 is the first and only non-health related course in Canada that will deal directly with sexual orientation.

But because it is a Grade 12 level elective, and watered-down with other issues, the course is less of a concern to conservatives and religious organizations than the other made-in-B. C. initiative that was also to be unrolled this week.

"Making Space, Giving Voice" is a resource guide for teachers working in all grade levels, and is meant to suggest how they might encourage discussions about alternative sexual orientations in their classrooms.

This is far more troubling than the Social Justice 12 course, say some critics. Sean Murphy, western region director of the Catholic Civil Rights League, notes that while it will not influence all teachers in B. C. -- it is a voluntary guide, after all -- it is, nonetheless, an official policy document. As such, it will give teachers discretion to introduce gay, lesbian and transgender-themed lessons into their teachings.

A draft version of the guide, released by the Ministry of Education last year, "authorizes the introduction of 'non-heterosexual realities' into every subject in the curriculum," Mr. Murphy noted, in a piercing analysis of the draft he prepared last year.

He went even further: The guide "is openly authoritarian and includes elements that are characteristic of education in an authoritarian state: isolation of students from parents, destruction of natural marriage and natural family and a methodology calculated to destroy the capacity to form and maintain convictions that are not approved by the state."

That may seem extreme, but Mr. Murphy points out that once adopted, "Making Space, Giving Voice" will allow a Grade 2 teacher the ability to diverge from a mathematics lesson into a discourse about gay issues.

"The guide suggests that teachers can use any class to inculcate children into homosexual conduct," he says. "This is contrary to the idea that parents can remove children from courses they object to, because the subject can come up at any time."

The guide was to be finalized and a copy was to be in every B. C. school this week, according to the Corren settlement agreement. But that hasn't happened; ministerial approval has been delayed, for reasons that Shirley Bond refuses to explain. In fact, she seems loath to discuss it at all, which is troubling, given the potential far-reaching impact. Sources inside the Ministry of Education blame a "heavy workload" for Ms. Bond's failure to sign off on the material; until she does, it cannot be introduced into schools, nor can teachers refer to it.

"We'd certainly like to see that last part of our agreement in place," says Peter Corren, who acknowledges that some teachers -- and for that matter, some schools -- will simply ignore the new teaching guidelines when they are finally introduced. "Some might put their copies straight into the shredder." Others, he says, "will make the most of it. They'll run with it."

That is precisely what Sean Murphy fears. If that happens, he says, his group of concerned Catholics will do its best to educate parents. "We will protest," he says. "We will mobilize."

It seems B. C. has not heard the last of this issue. Activists and educators in other provinces will be watching.

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bhutchinson@nationalpost.com

TOMORROW: On history, and the English-French divide in the classroom.

---------

National PostSEX ED, BY THE BOOKS

"Making Space, Giving Voice" is a new educational resource guide that is meant to help B. C. teachers promote "awareness and understanding of the diversity that exists within our society" and the "support for the achievement of social justice for all people and groups."

A draft version of the guide provides only two "sample instructional plans" that refer explicitly to homosexuality; however, once formally introduced as policy, the guide may give teachers the capacity to introduce the issue of sexual orientation in any class, at any level. Here are two sample instructional plans, from a draft copy of the guide: - Course: English 12

Material: Paul's Case by Willa Cather "Paul's Case is about a boy who does not fit in. He is being pressured by his father to become what 'all the other boys' become.

Some young people feel that they do not fit in. Paul does not have any real friends. He is often bullied because other youngsters do not understand him. His teachers treat him cruelly because he makes them feel small and inferior. Have students research the correlation between adolescent suicide and homosexuality. What are the possible reasons for this statistic? (Note to teachers: Ensure students understand that homosexuality does not 'cause' depression or suicide.)" - Course: English 12

Material: The Crucible by Arthur Miller "Some of this play's themes [the dangers of rumours, fear mongering, and finger pointing] are certainly current today. The aftermath of September 11 is obviously still being felt. Blaming others out of fear and hysteria is an all-too-common reaction amongst people. One can see that any group can become the so-called 'witches' of the play: communists, terrorists, gays, Arabs, etc. Not understanding others or acting sanctimoniously or self-righteously will likely not bring about good will."

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© 2007 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc..

Britain - Do the Lady Boys of Bangkok light your fire? [2008-09-02 The Guardian]

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/09/ladyboys_of_bangkok.html

Sanjoy Roy
Do the Lady Boys of Bangkok light your fire?

Watch out, Beyoncé: these Thai queens are driving audiences wild. But what's the appeal of the lip-synching, gender-bending troupe?

September 02, 2008 11:00 AM


Bangkok dangerous ... the Lady Boys getting ready for a show at the Edinburgh festival. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Chances are you haven't come across the Lady Boys of Bangkok  < http://www.ladyboysofbangkok.co.uk/ > in the arts pages of national newspapers. But the show was one of the big sellers at the Edinburgh Fringe < http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/edinburghfestival >, and has been for years. Back in May it was also a hit at the Brighton Festival Fringe < http://arts.guardian.co.uk/brighton2008/ >, where it's also a regular visitor. And those are just two stops on its nationwide tour that lasts until Christmas.

By chance, the Lady Boys were my introduction to Edinburgh. My colleague Clifford Bishop (whom I call Culture Boy), writing for the Independent on Sunday, had already been at the festival for a week, by which time he'd had enough of dance and physical theatre and needed a break. "I got tickets to the Lady Boys of Bangkok," he said. "Want one?"

And so I found myself watching a troupe of "kathoeys" < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathoey > (male-to-female transsexuals/transvestites) lip-synching to hits from Bassey to Beyoncé and beyond. The Lady Boys were accompanied by Gent Boys who also got their own spots with such outré macho turns as Bat Out of Hell, Relight My Fire and YMCA. One number showed a Lady Boy turning into a Gent Boy; another featured a character who was half Lady <

<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/_IYy53frNEc" width="425px" height="350px" AllowScriptAccess="never" quality="high" wmode="transparent" /><noembed><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/_IYy53frNEc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/_IYy53frNEc</a>

>, half Gent. One Lady Boy was certainly no lady, nor indeed gent, but rather a big bruiser in heavy slap who did a mean Tina Turner.

What surprised me most was not the show but the audience: overwhelmingly women. Mostly they were in big, intergenerational hen-party style gangs, and I pegged the few men as mostly husbands and boyfriends. But basically, the Lady Boys pull in the ladies. (And, I should add, the locals. Though not, I think, the lesbians).

I am neither lady nor local, and was struggling to understand the show's X-factor. It's not a drag act, nor is it panto. It's quite karaoke, and has more than a touch of circus/freakshow (Exhibit A: the midget who humps a Lady Boy leg). So, what was its particularly feminine appeal?

You may have other answers, but here's what I came up with. For women, it's risqué, but not risky: they are almost completely outside this particular web of identification and objectification. The "women" on stage aren't actual women, and so provide neither competition nor identification nor aspiration. The men on stage are "playing" men (and, I'm guessing, are mostly gay), so there's no danger that the women's gaze will be returned (Exhibit A: the YMCA number).

The gendered safety zones are made even clearer during the audience participation. Occasionally a Lady Boy would go into the audience to single out a man (Culture Boy got a smacker from Ms Turner); sometimes that man would be brought on stage to become an object of fun/innuendo/humiliation (made to take off his shirt and dance, for example). But when the women came up, it was in groups who joined in the singing (YMCA, again); they were invited to be one of the girls, in on the act.

As the show ended I turned to a grinning Culture Boy and said, "You're very heterosexual - but not very straight" (he was well chuffed). Then I looked around at the exuberantly swaying women - and their somewhat cowed menfolk - cheering the outlandish spectacle of gender-bending impersonation and lipo-sucked lip-synchery and I thought no, it's more than that ... heterosexuality itself is not very straight.

--

© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

US - M2F gender variant diner owner Julie Yoo used to be known as Jim Yoo, The Omelet King... [2007-09-12 TPA Creative Loafing]

http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/tall_order/Content?oid=301578

News: Urban Explorer

Tall Order
Jim Yoo used to be known as The Omelet King. Now he's Julie -- but the food's still good

09.12.07

By Alex Pickett

A NEW LIFE: "I would just put it off, but the more time you put it off, it gnaws at you," says Yoo.

It's an unusually bustling Monday morning at the cozy Tarpon Diner, and Julie Yoo is busy behind the grill. When she gets a moment between scrambling eggs or flipping hotcakes, she peers out of the kitchen with a weary, sweaty stare.

"Tough day?" someone asks her.

"Tough life," she mumbles, returning to the grill.

The last two months have been especially hard for Julie, the Tarpon Diner's owner and cook. The workaholic hasn't had a day off since March, even though business has been slowing down; the snowbirds have left, and construction has been blocking access to the diner's entrance on Pinellas Avenue in Tarpon Springs. And then there are the challenges of trying to present yourself as a sophisticated lady while running a greasy spoon.

She's had to learn to wear less makeup so it doesn't run (the kitchen gets hot). She's forgone high heels for more utilitarian sneakers. Julie's ad hoc fashion consultant (a waitress at the diner) advised her to save the cocktail dresses for nights out on the town. Recently, she ditched the blonde wig and let her own tresses show, receding hairline and all.

You'll have to forgive Julie -- she is new to this whole woman thing. Because for the last 48 years of her life, Julie has been Jim -- a sloppily dressed, quick-tempered guy from Allendale, Pa.

Going through gender transition in the workplace isn't easy; just ask former Largo city manager Susan Stanton, with whom Julie shares an electrolysist. And this is Tarpon Springs, home of Epiphany Days and a conservative population of Europeans and elderly folks. A town where rumors get around quickly, often circulated inside gathering spots like the Tarpon Diner.

"It's not the ideal place to try and do something like this," says Julie. "You'd have to be nuts to try to do it like this."

Still, despite the day-to-day struggles -- sarcastic comments from customers, snickers from the school kids -- Julie is finally beginning to reclaim her true self. Earrings and all.

"People think you just made this decision two weeks ago," Julie says, her large fingers (nails painted pink) delicately grasping a cigarette. "Some people think it's a decision you make on a vacation."

But like so many transgender folks, Julie has long struggled with the knowledge she was different. As a boy growing up with a stoic Hungarian father and three brothers, Jim knew to keep his true thoughts secret. He snuck away to wear his mother's clothes. He never pierced his ears, even when it was popular for men. When his father found a dress in his room and showed it to his friends, Jim laughed along with them. Nobody suspected anything awry with the brawny 6-footer, not even himself.

"I never admitted what was truly going on in my brain," Julie says.

There was a fiancée six years ago. Julie even revealed herself, and they desperately tried to make it work. But their engagement, like all the relationships with women before it, failed.

"That's when I started working towards being Julie," she says.

But acceptance never came easy. Her best friend quit speaking to her after she found out. Her brothers avoided her, except for the one who suggested she move back to Pennsylvania so a doctor could "fix" her.

"It seems the people closest to me have given me the most problem," she says, smiling but holding back tears. "You would think they would have a clue, but they don't understand."

Those she counted on the most failed her. But as Julie transitioned, a funny thing happened: Those she least expected to understand become her biggest cheerleaders.

Jim knew there was no way he could fully become Julie without including the diner; she'd been spending most of her time there since the former owners hired her in 2000 (three years later, she bought the establishment). As hormone treatments and electrolysis began to change Julie's physical characteristics, her therapist -- Dr. Kathleen Farrell, a gender therapist who has worked with the transgender community since 1985 -- suggested Julie introduce herself to the diner. But each time the date pushed closer, Julie backed down. Then, last spring, Susan Stanton came out to Largo and the world.

"She opened a lot of people's eyes to something that they never did understand," Julie says.

Sufficiently inspired, Julie told her staff what was going on and decided on a date: July 4. Independence Day.

She woke up an hour early to dress, picking out a pink shirt, black pants and dangly gold earrings. She took a deep breath and headed straight for the diner, which had been decorated with signs welcoming "Julie."

As customers strolled in, Julie ignored them, trying to hide in the open-air kitchen.

Some customers thought Jim was pulling a prank. Regulars whispered to waitresses, who explained Julie's new "life choice." But others didn't even notice. ("One of the ladies told a waitress, 'That girl you have back there does a better job than Jim did,'" Julie shares.)

Not all of Tarpon Diner's customers could accept Julie's transformation. A handful never returned after that first day. One customer attempted a short-lived campaign to convince other regulars to eat at another local diner.

But most stayed. After all, the food never changed.

In the back of the diner, three regulars sit drinking coffee, their finished breakfast plates stacked in front of them. Woody Daniels and Betty and Nel Jensen have been coming to the diner in its various incarnations since the '60s. They've become friends with all the owners including Jim and now Julie.

"As far as we're concerned, we adore Julie," Nel says. "We support her 100 percent."

That's the sentiment most regular customers share, even if they forget to use her proper pronoun.

"That's his business," says George Vinton, who has made the drive from New Port Richey to the diner every week for 10 years. "It doesn't change his ability to cook."

Vinton catches himself, "Her ability to cook."

Even Julie's employees say they prefer her to the quick-tempered Jim.

"Jim and I never got along -- ever," waitress Cristy Strobele says. "When [Julie] told me, she was ready for a reaction of laughter or shock, but I was more relieved. It made me understand why she's been so miserable."

"I'm a lot calmer," Julie admits. "I'm not ranting and raving. ... I'm an emotional person now. The only emotion that ever came out of me [before] was anger."

Road construction, intolerant customers and the hot weather may have siphoned some business away, but on this Monday inside the Tarpon Diner, the slowdown is hardly noticeable. Most of the booths are full and the tables surrounded by jovial patrons. Julie isn't looking to attract the attention of national transgender advocates or CNN; running the Tarpon Diner and cooking a mean omelet is enough for her.

"Everything is just one day at a time," she says, adjusting her pink bandanna. "Sure, I have doubts: Is anybody ever going to accept me? Am I able to really pull this off? Am I ever going to blend in? I just got to build the self-confidence."

There is still a lot more Julie needs to resolve before her transformation is complete. She's not sure of her sexual orientation or how far she'll go with surgery. And she's still trying to develop some "style."

"I don't have the experience of a 40-year-old woman," she says. "I'm still learning."

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COMMENTS

RE: Tall Order
Posted by Stacey on 10.31.07 @ 08:41 AM
My husband is transgendered and I understand the struggle. Glad your staff is supportive. Looks like we need to come out to Tarpon sometime.


RE: Tall Order
Posted by Barbra Lynn on 09.13.07 @ 02:45 AM
as a 40yo trans woman, I had it tough, but the feeling of being you, makes it all worth while. Smile everyday you are alive! Hugs, Barbra

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© 2008 Creative Loafing Media

Kenya - Intersex prisoner Richard Mwanzia Muasya: My rights abused... [2008-09-02 The Nation]

http://allafrica.com/stories/200809030031.html

Kenya: My Rights Abused, Says Double-Sex Prisoner

The Nation (Nairobi)

02 September 2008

Jillo Kadida
Nairobi

A hermaphrodite who is seeking to be released from Kamiti maximum security prison wants a report about his medical and physical condition tabled in court.

Richard Mwanzia Muasya says the report will help the court understand the continuous human and constitutional rights violations he is going through at the prison, where he is being held after he was convicted for robbery with violence.

A detailed report by medical experts will also help the court to fully understand his gender, says Muasya.

Muasya was born with both male and female sex organs, but goes about life as a man.

Through his lawyer John Chigiti, Muasya says he is suffering inhuman and degrading treatment by exposure to male convicts, prison warders and the public.

Muasya is seeking to be set free because he says he is neither man nor woman and there is no special prison to hold people like him.

The law is discriminatory against him, he says, because it only recognises the two sexes. He wants the law changed.

Muasya was arrested alongside three other suspects in February 2005 after a robbery in their village in which a victim was gang-raped.

Doctors at the Kitui General Hospital confirmed that the suspect was a hermaphrodite, and he was held in seclusion in police custody throughout the two-year trial.

He was kept in an isolated cell at the Kitui police station.

Police also dropped the rape charge against the suspect after medical examination determined that none of his sex organs was fully developed and that it was unlikely for him to commit rape.

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© 2008 The Nation.