New mayor is transsexual, and so is partner

Cambridge is first British city to have chief who has changed gender

Jenny Bailey, right, Britain's first transsexual mayor, is sworn in at Cambridge's Guildhall on Thursday. Her partner, Jennifer Liddle, left, is also transsexual and a former city council member.
Cambridge City Council via AP

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18866534/

Second European TransGender Council im November in Turin

At the closing of the first European Transgender Council in Vienna, you may recall we voted affirmatively to continue our efforts. To this end we established a steering committee charged* to prepare a follow-up conference,* to build a Europe-wide network of and for transpeople, and* to form a permanent organization to pursue our interests.The committee came together over the past twelve months in Geneva, Manchester, Berlin, Turin, and Amsterdam. We are now a duly recognized non-profit association according to Austrian law with seat in Vienna. Now we call upon you to join us. We ask that you now take the time to go to our website and complete the application formembership. http://tgeu.net -> left menue: [TransGender Europe] -> [Membership]We really do need your support.Our Association statues and other documents are also be found here: http://tgeu.net -> left menue: [TransGender Europe] -> [Organisation]We are also pleased to announce that the Second European TransGender Council will take place in Turin, Italy, 15 - 18 November 2007, with the theme "Making Human Rights Work". Mark these dates in your calender. If you have ideas for workshops or questions please get in touch with us at tgeurope@tgeu.net.We need to build up a strong organisation to fight for the rights of trans-people everywhere in Europe. We need you!Become a member of TGEU.net and/or support this work with a donation.And please do spread the word to all trans-folk that we are now enlisting members. Thanks for your support.TransGender EuropeNetwork and Council

Transgender groom and bride arrested in Pakistan

May 21, 2007, 1:09AM

Transgender groom and bride arrested in PakistanCouple is accused of lying to a court about husband's gender

Associated Press

LAHORE, PAKISTAN — Police on Sunday arrested a couple who are accused of lying to a Pakistani court about the gender of the husband, who was born female and had sex reassignment surgery 16 years ago.
The bride's father wants the marriage annulled on the grounds that it is against Islam, but the couple say they married to protect the bride from being sold into marriage to pay off her uncle's gambling debts.
The husband, Shumail Raj, 31, initially went to court seeking protection from harassment by their relatives, but the Lahore High Court earlier this month ordered the arrests of Raj and his wife, Shahzina Tariq, 26, for lying to the court.
Raj told the court he is male but a court-appointed panel of doctors ruled he is a woman.
He said his breasts and uterus were surgically removed at age 15 after his voice changed and he began to grow facial hair. But the doctors say he has a vagina that was surgically closed and no penis.
After the couple's arrest on Sunday, Raj told The Associated Press that the surgery made him a man and he married Tariq to save her from the arranged marriage.
"She told me that one of her uncles wants to sell her to pay off a debt," Raj said by telephone from a police station in their hometown of Faisalabad.
"I had told Shahzina that I have had two operations and I am not a male. But she said that it was not a problem for her," Raj said. He referred to himself as both male and not male during the interview.
"I knew that Shumail was not a male, ... but I begged her for protection," Tariq said, referring to her husband as a woman throughout an interview.
Aslam Tareen, a senior police officer, said authorities will wait for orders from the court before investigating further, including the claim that Tariq's uncle wanted to sell her into marriage.
The couple are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4820750.html

Transexual brasileira lidera marcha de prostitutas na Itália

18/05/2007:

Um protesto "sério, porém colorido". Assim está sendo anunciada a manifestação das prostitutas de Pádua contra a lei do prefeito, Flavio Zanonato, que multa os clientes da prostituição de rua. Quem lidera as movimentações é a brasileira Kristal, transexual que está na Itália há dez anos e foi eleita porta-voz das prostitutas de Pádua. Profissionais do sexo de toda Itália devem aderir ao protesto. O ato está marcado para as 16h desta quarta-feira. As prostitutas sairão da estação ferroviária, caminharão por diversas ruas da cidade e terminarão sua marcha na praça central, diante da prefeitura do município."Realizar o percurso é uma primeira vitória", anuncia Kristal. "O chefe de polícia de Pádua queria que o protesto parasse antes de chegar à prefeitura, mas uma reunião hoje garantiu as ruas livres no trajeto que nós pedimos", explicou."Estaremos vestidas com roupas sóbrias", Kristal avisa. "Claro que não usaremos as roupas do trabalho, porque não queremos provocar nem ser provocadas. Estamos nos manifestando pelos nossos direitos de cidadãs, contra essa lei. Nada mais".O "colorido", no entanto está garantido segundo a porta-voz. "Haverá muitos balões e cartazes, em muitas línguas, representando todas as nacionalidades das mulheres que trabalham na rua, para dizer não à lei". Alguns dos cartazes representarão, em dimensões bem maiores, o "selinho rosa do amor", sinal que as prostitutas adotaram para anunciar que qualquer cliente multado enquanto estiver com elas tem direito, em protesto contra a lei, a um novo programa gratuito. AdesãoA marcha das mulheres deve contar com uma centena de prostitutas de Pádua, além das adesões que chegam de outros lugares da Itália como Roma, Milão, Gênova e Veneza. Ao chegar ao palácio municipal, o cortejo se encontra com o movimento antiglobalização do Centro Social Pedro. "Os manifestantes farão um acordo", informa o líder do movimento, Max Gallob, "e enviarão ao vivo à rádio independente Sherwood os fatos importantes do dia, com ligações telefônicas de solidariedade de personagens como [o rapper] Caparezza, [a cantora] Gianna Nannini e Don Gallo".As ações, segundo Gallo, serão feitas "para combater a disputa absurda entre Zanonato, Sergio Cofferati [prefeito de Bolonha] e Giancarlo Gentilini [ex-prefeito e atual vice-prefeito de Treviso] para ver quem é o prefeito mais conservador da Itália".Outros grupos locais aderem à manifestação, como a Arcigay Padova, a Associação de Defesa dos Trabalhadores, o Vagabondi di Pace e o Opera Nomadi.Enquanto a lei não é revogada, a polícia de Pádua realiza uma série de ações de repressão à atividade das prostitutas. Nesta noite, três romenas com cidadania européia tiveram seus vistos notificados pelo chefe de polícia. Outras quatro que se recusaram a ser submetidas ao mesmo procedimento foram denunciadas.

http://www.athosgls.com.br/noticias_visualiza.php?contcod=19831

Candidate transgenre part à l'attaque de Rueil-Malmaison

REVOILÀ Camille Barré sur le devant de la scène. Cette fois, il ne s'agitplus de mariage mais de politique. Camille Barré, 48 ans, employée à lamairie de Rueil, se lance à l'assaut de la septième circonscription desHauts-de-Seine (Rueil, Garches, Saint-Cloud) sous l'étiquette PCF, contrele député-maire qui avait refusé de célébrer son mariage. Petite piqûre derappel : homme devenu femme, Camille avait souhaité épouser Monica (enfait Benito, sur l'état civil) à Rueil, en avril 2005. Mais ledéputé-maire Patrick Ollier, puis le procureur de la République deNanterre, avaient finalement empêché cette union, jugée « militante ». Cerevers vient à bout du couple Camille-Monica, alimente la révolte deCamille contre une certaine France « rétrograde », et la pousse à prendresa carte au PCF.« Je ne suis pas là pour faire un coup » Aujourd'hui, la candidate d'une «France qui sait vivre avec ses différences » embrasse manifestement samission de militante avec bonheur : « J'adore coller des affiches. J'ail'impression d'être en résistance... c'est quelque chose de très émouvant», sourit-elle. Camille Barré a pu animer, pendant la campagneprésidentielle, un débat sur le respect des orientations sexuelles àl'initiative de Marie-George Buffet, « seule candidate à s'intéresser ausujet ». « Le parti communiste est un parti courageux, qui fait despropositions audacieuses, estime la militante. Je porte les problèmes LGBT(lesbien, gay, bi et trans, NDLR). Une situation comme la mienne n'est pascourante... » Mais cette candidature aux législatives n'a rien d'uneprovocation, prévient-elle : « Je ne suis pas là pour faire un coup. Jeveux faire de la politique au niveau national, et porter un certain nombrede projets et de lois, parce qu'il y a trop d'injustices en matière dediscrimination ». Entre autres revendications, Camille Barré souhaite deslois qui puissent accorder aux individus « le mariage et l'adoption sansdistinction de sexe ou de genre ». Ou encore « que les femmes, qui seretrouvent en situation d'infériorité dans ce pays, puissent accéder à unvrai statut ». Ou enfin que l'on « reconsidère les genres » : « Les gensdoivent pouvoir décider de ce qu'ils veulent être, précise Camille Barré.Je défends une liberté individuelle absolue ». Son discours sera-t-ilentendu à Rueil ? « Ce n'est pas parce qu'on est bourgeois qu'on estsystématiquement à droite, sourit l'intéressée. J'en connais qui entendenttrès bien ce que je dis. »Gaëtane Bossaert

In one part of Mexico, mothers are encouraging their boys to become girls.

Found in March 2007 Marie Claire Magazine

In one part of Mexico, mothers are encouraging their boys to become girls.At the festival of the Virgin of Juguila in Juchitan, a small Mexican city near the Guatemalan border, men sit quietly on the sidelines of a makeshift dance hall, swilling Corona from bottles, cowboy hats pulled low over their eyes, while women arrange chairs in a semicircle, dressed in traditional Zapotec galawear—long, swirling skirts and velvet tops embroidered with multicolored flowers—red roses pinned to their straight black hair. And when the four-piece salsa band starts to play, they dance not with their men, but with each other.At the fringes of the semicircle, a group of younger women in their 20s and 30s linger. They are dressed in utterly modern clothes: clingy polyester cocktail dresses, three inch heels, and glittery eye shadow. One has tossed a scarf around her neck that trails down her back. Another is clad in an ice-blue camisole and tight capris.They are strikingly different from their older counterparts with the long gray braids, who wear petticoats beneath their full, ankle-length skirts. The biggest difference, though, isn’t the clothes. It’s the fact that these glamorous, slightly tawdry women are actually men. Muxes, they’re called in the Zapotec language, which literally means “gay men” but translates culturally as a third gender, with few similarities to gay men in America. Muxes dress and wear makeup like women. They shave their legs and tweeze their eyebrows into high, thin arches. They are respected in their community for excelling at “women’s work”—designing festival gowns, embroidering blouses, and making the elaborate decorations that adorn parade floats.But perhaps most distinctively, muxes in this Mexican village seem to have little interest in romantic liaisons with other men. Of the 500 to 800 muxes estimated to live in Juchitan, locals say only three live with lovers. They are classic mama’s boys, who pledge to live with and care for their mothers until the day they die.“I will stay with my mother always,” Estrella Vazquez Guerra, 25, tells me when I meet “her” on the front porch of her family’s turquoise one-room house, where she sits embroidering a blouse. Estrella, a member of the third gender, is tall and thin, with long limbs, high cheekbones and an aquiline nose. Though she claims to have a boyfriend—“not serious, of course”—she would never consider living with him, she says. Her mother, a squat woman in her mid 40s with warm brown eyes and a gold-capped smile, beams across the porch at her daughter/son.Whether there are more muxes in Juchitan, which has a population of 67,000, than in other small Mexican cities is arguable and hard to prove. At the very least, muxes in Juchitan are more accepted than muxes in other parts of Mexico, with its notoriously macho attitudes and male-dominated politics. One reason is that muxes here play an integral role in perpetuating the 400-year-old traditions of the region, seamlessly blending Catholicism with local Zapotec culture in their artistic endeavors.Every three or four days, there is a fiesta in Juchitan. Most celebrate saints or the day on which an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to an indigenous nonbeliever. This nonstop partying means the muxes’ design and decoration businesses are in high demand.“Muxes work harder than men, and we’re more curious and entrepreneurial than women,” says Estrella. “We are known for our artistic talent. People seek us out—they like to have their dresses made by muxes.”To kick off a fiesta, some neighborhoods hold an event called a regada, a sort of parade to build excitement through the town. The day before the party for the Virgin of Juquila, two floats glide through the streets of Juchitan carrying young girls and boys who toss packets of instant noodles, bright plastic balls, and laundry detergent to spectators on the side of the road. The floats are mounted on trucks, which have been decorated with papier-mâché flowers and painted wooden panels, all created by muxes. In the center of the float, coordinating the seat assignments and the gift-throwing, is a muxe in full fiesta regalia.But muxes do more than fulfill a cultural role; their jobs also tend to be more lucrative than the work of either men or women. Men in Juchitan generally work as fishermen or campesinos (peasant farmers), earning 1000 pesos (about $92) a month. Women, by making tortillas or tamales to sell at the market, earn slightly more. But a muxe can make as much as 3000 pesos a month selling dresses and decorations.It’s not that other women—or men, for that matter—couldn’t dabble in the same profession. But over the years, the muxes have come to dominate the design industry. Such salaries make them an economic boon to their families. “People see how we earn good money making dresses,” says Estrella, “and if they only have sons, five or six boys, sometimes they ask one—couldn’t you be a muxe? We want you to do what the muxes do for a living.”“I wouldn’t be living if it weren’t for my son Felicza,” says 45-year-old Antonia Regalado Jimenez. “She is my greatest supporter. I’m lucky to have her.” Jimenez’s husband is a campesino, and Felicza makes dresses and party decorations. Like most muxes, she also helps her mother with the household chores. Felicza’s five siblings are all married and live on their own, but she remains with her mother.Given the economic advantages and social prominence a muxe in the family brings, it is not unreasonable to assume that mothers encourage this transgender behavior in their children. But it’s not something most are comfortable admitting. “Other women say to me, ‘You are so lucky to have a muxe. I wish I had one,’” says 40-year-old Antonia Guerra Aquina. Two of Aquina’s eight children, including Vidal Aquina Guerra (in Mexican families, children take their mother’s maiden name as their last), are muxes. “Sometimes, neighbors will ask my advice: ‘What do you do in order to have a muxe?’” Aquina shrugs and smiles smugly. “I tell them it runs in the family.”Like many others in this town, Aquina says being a muxe is genetically predetermined. But when you listen to her describe her muxe children’s early tendencies—playing with girls instead of boys, playing with dolls instead of trucks, putting on their sisters’ skirts and swaying their hips to music—the language is nearly identical to that used by other muxe mothers. So similar, in fact, that it sounds canned, rehearsed—it’s been the party line for generations—when in fact the mothers are subconsciously molding their sons into daughters.Indeed, other locals believe that muxes are made, not born; that their feminine tendencies are nurtured by their mothers in the hopes of elevating their family’s status. “It’s an economic thing,” says Rosario Fuentes Morales, a local business owner. “It’s no coincidence that one finds more muxes in poor families. People know that a muxe will give them a better life, that they will always be cared for.”Felicza herself believes that her muxe lifestyle is a product of her mother’s encouragement. When she first began exhibiting feminine tendencies at age 4, her mother supported them. “She treated me like my sisters,” says Felicza. “She saw that I was drawn to dolls and that I had taken an interest in her skirts. She asked me if I wanted her to make me a huipile,” which is a traditional embroidered blouse.Then, too, in a town in which women are generally more respected than men, it’s possible that female role models simply have a stronger pull. “The women rule Juchitan,” says Silvia Dehesa, 36, a restaurant manager in the town. “We are much harder working. The men drink too much and sleep half the day and everyone knows it.”The very fact that muxes are so visible in the culture of Juchitan might also help elicit those tendencies in young boys. Estrella Vasquez Guerra was 10 when she met Felicza, who, at age 17, knew the attention and admiration her muxe status drew and spent weekends parading around with her muxe friends, proudly displaying red lips, gold earrings and fake eyelashes. Estrella used to go to Felicza’s house to watch them apply makeup, awestruck by their beauty. “I used to say, ‘Why don’t you try on some makeup, too?’” Felicza recalls. “I could see how much she wanted to experiment.”But Estrella was too frightened. Her father, an alcoholic with violent tendencies, had caught her dancing in her mother’s skirt when she was 8 and beat her with an electrical cord. When her mother tried to defend her son, Estrella’s father beat her as well. “It was very sad,” Estrella says softly as she recalls the story, picking at a tortilla on her plastic dinner plate. “I felt responsible.” It’s a common theme among muxes: Mothers and other community members celebrate these third-gender breadwinners, but their fathers, dismayed that their sons are veering toward femininity in a culture in which men are expected to hunt and drink and fight, try to beat the muxe out of them. The mothers step in to protect their sons, and a powerful mother-muxe bond begins to develop.With the threat of her father’s temper always looming over her, Estrella repressed her desire to act on her feminine urges publicly until she was 20, although at home, she was still very much fulfilling the muxe role as her mother’s helper. It took Felicza’s encouragement for her to make the decision to “show herself to the world,” as she puts it. “I could see that she was suffering,” says Felicza, “and I told her that she had to liberate herself.”Muxes often choose to celebrate their third-gender lifestyle with big parties, announcing to their community that they are choosing to accept their futures as domestic helpers and dressmakers. Juchitan hosts two annual parties devoted to muxes: La Vela de las Autenticas Intrepidas Buscadoras del Peligro, or “Festival of the Authentic, Intrepid Danger-Seekers”—a no-holds-barred gathering of cross-dressers that draws people from around the world—and Baila Conmigo, which means “Dance with Me,” a party that is attended by the entire town of Juchitan, from toddlers to rough-soled farmers to octogenarians. At that time, many muxes also swap their male names for female names, usually inspired by famous singers or telenovela stars.But Estrella had lived in secrecy for too long to share the spotlight with the dozens of other muxes coming out at the balls. She was compelled to make a strong, solo statement to the world—and she wanted it to be during a quinceanera, the traditional party Mexican girls have when they turn 15 to mark the threshold of adulthood. Despite the fact that she was five years past the proper age for a quinceanera, Estrella announced to her family that she planned to throw one for herself. She also told them that she was going to wear a dress. “You can’t stop me,” she said to her father, “because I am paying for the party myself.” The day before the event, Estrella’s father told her that he planned to come to the party drunk and raise hell. “I said, ‘If you do that, I will call the police.’”In the end, her father not only showed up, he behaved himself—although in photographs he looks reluctant and surly in his baseball cap, posing beside his glamorous muxe son. Estrella, by contrast, looks exultant in her silvery-blue ball gown, her layered black locks sprayed into an elaborate hairdo worthy of a nighttime soap star from the ‘80s. The next day, at the after-party known as the lavada (or “the washing of the pots and pans”), her father made up for the sobriety of the previous day by drinking himself into oblivion. As promised, Estrella called the police, and her father spent three days in jail. “He hasn’t said a critical word to me about being a muxe since then,” she says.Vidal Aquina Guerra publicly embraced her muxe nature at a much younger age: At 8, she was asking to wear a dress to sell bread at the market with her mother. By age 12, she was wearing miniskirts and heels out on the street. Today, at 17, she stuffs her bra and wears smoky purple eye shadow and fuchsia lipstick, and her laugh is high-pitched and melodious, the studied device of a coquette. She has even injected hormones from time to time, although she says she stopped because they were too expensive--$6 an injection for the cheapest variety. Last year, she took the name Mariana. “Vidal is dead,” she says emphatically when people try to address her now by her former male name.In 2006, Mariana clinched the most prestigious title available on the muxe social scene: She was chosen as the queen of the Baila Conmiga. It’s flattering, yes, but it also means she is expected to spend $500 on a dress and refreshments for the pre-party. Mariana’s family is desperately poor. Her father is an iguana hunter, her mother a tortilla maker, and it is incumbent upon Mariana to supplement her family’s income. The lavish dress seems out of her reach, although she is working long hours as a waitress (“and occasionally a little more,” she says) at Rincon del Brujo (“The Wizard’s Corner”), a gentlemen’s club on the outskirts of town.It’s 10pm at the local ranch, and the fiesta for the festival of the Virgin of Juquila is still in full swing. Locals have been partying hard since the festival’s opening ceremonial prayer at 5am (where sugar cookies and beer were served to all who attended the before-sunrise gathering), but judging by the endless booze flowing and the hips swaying on the dance floor, it’s going to be quite a long night.The older women cluster together, dancing in their traditional costumes, while husbands and sons look on, nursing their cervezas. In another corner, the muxes cut loose to the sounds of the salsa band, shimmering in their tight tops and clunky high heels. For now, the two groups remain separate. But if tonight goes like most festival fiestas, after a few more rounds of drinks when everyone is feeling good, some of the muxes will cross the room to ask a very special person to dance. As fathers and brothers watch stoically from their seats, Estrella, Mariana, Felicza, and several others will pair off with the women who gave birth to them, raised them, and regard them as domestic companions. And as the salsa band slows the tempo to a soft serenade, mother and muxe will share a dance that lasts a lifetime.

Transgender teens come out in Canada at young ages

By HAYLEY MICK May 7, 2007

As a child, Adrian Daniels wore hockey jerseys. He dreamed of marrying figure-skating champion Katarina Witt. And each night before he went to bed, he prayed that he would wake up the next morning with something he had always wanted: a penis.
"I always knew I was a man," says the Toronto native, now a frank 20-year-old with a neatly trimmed beard, pierced eyebrow and confident swagger.

Adrian's transition from female to male included an official name change at the age of 16, male hormones at 18, and breast-removal surgery a year later.
With each step, he bumped into people who argued that his feelings were temporary, banished him from the boys' washroom, or made him pay for being different with taunts and fists. "They thought I was a freak," he says.
Transgender Canadians are coming out at younger ages than ever before. Support groups for transgender teens report growing memberships, and are sprouting up beyond the major cities in areas such as Kitchener, Ont., and the Niagara region. One by one, school boards are amending their human rights policies to include gender identity.
Suddenly, parents, teachers and health professionals are having to address a host of new and sensitive issues, such as whether gender-neutral washrooms belong in schools and what is the right age to provide funding for a teen's breast-removal surgery.
"It's a massive shift," says Bev Lepischak, who runs a transgender youth program in Toronto and has watched transgender teens emerge for the past two decades. "They're coming out much younger."
Neveah Staver, 17, spent her early teens in a farming community in Southern Ontario. Friends and family knew her as a boy, but behind a locked bedroom door she would wear dresses and make-up, and chat through a webcam. "It was my only time to really be me," she says.
At age 15, Ms. Staver fled small-town bullies and a tumultuous relationship with her mother. At Triangle Program in Toronto, the only high school in Canada geared specifically to teens who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, she found the courage to live openly as a woman.
Last year, members of the Triangle staff were caught off guard when the number of transgender students exploded. The school almost doubled in size from 18 to 30 students - and the transgender population grew to 10 students from only one or two in previous years.
In recent years, the success of the gay-rights movement has helped pave the way for transgender rights, some say. For teenagers, the increasing presence of transsexual role models in the mainstream media has helped make it easier to come out at a younger age.
"You have a generation of youth who are watching movies like Transamerica," says Kyle Scanlon, a female-to-male transsexual who helped pioneer support programs for the trans community in Toronto. "They're seeing examples of themselves that are positive examples for a change."
For the doctors who treat transgender youth, the younger patients present a new set of challenges. The best-known guide for professionals, Harry Benjamin's Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders, recommends that trans patients don't start hormones before the age of 18. "I think we are challenged, definitely, when someone's under the age of 18," says Jamie Read, who has worked with about two dozen transgender patients at the Sherbourne Health Clinic in Toronto.
The long-term side effects of living on hormones are not known, Read says. Other doctors may hesitate because they have no previous experience dealing with gender dysphasia, he says. Some worry about liability in the event a youth changes his or her mind.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)

Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co. Want to use this article? Click here for options!

S.F. Police Commission Elects Transgender President

May 10 - KGO - San Francisco broke ground Wednesday night by choosing a transgender person to lead the city's police commission.
By a one-vote margin, the panel selected Theresa Sparks as its new president.
She becomes the country's first transgender person to head up a police commission.
Sparks has served on the police commission since 2004, when she was appointed by the city board of supervisors.
Copyright 2007, ABC7/KGO-TV/DT.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=local&id=5293952

Gisberta em Tela

Temos à venda um magnífico quadro a óleo, "Gisberta", executado por uma Pantera do Porto mais dada às artes, Vicente Andréu. O artista pintou a obra em memória de Gisberta Salce Júnior durante uma das intervenções recentes das Panteras sobre o 1º aniversário do crime que a vitimou.O Vicente pintou este quadro há já algum tempo, como forma de intervenção pública sobre o caso, mas também para que revertesse em fundos para a actividade quotidiana das panteras.Preço: 250 euros

Queira contactar-nos quem quiser adquiri-la - panterasporto@gmail.com

Acción contra la Transfobia y los procesos de psiquiatrización de los y las Trans

Barcelona- 29 y 30 de Junio

El próximo 29 de Junio tiene lugar en Barcelona la primera Asamblea Trans internacional con el objetivo de crear un espacio de debate entre activistas que luchan contra la transfobia en distintos territorios, de crear una red y poner en común nuestras distintas militancias y acciones. La Asamblea Trans tiene lugar en un momento muy concreto para el activismo Trans: a principios del 2007 fue aprobada la Ley por la Identidad de Género en España a través de la cual se normalizaba el protocolo psiquiátrico para acceder al cambio de nombre y sexo en la documentación oficial. Ahora para poder obtener dicho documento debemos tener un diagnóstico de "disforia de género" de la mano de un (médico) psiquiatra y haber pasado dos años de tratamiento médico (hormonal). Además pensamos que es muy importante encontrarnos y establecer alianzas de forma periódica, ya que nuestro activismo es muy minoritario y nos encontramos muy alejados los unos de los otros, a pesar de nuestra lucha común: la transfobia (ya sea médica,social o legal).Para ello, y aprovechando la fuerza de la convocatoria de Barcelona, hemos pensado en hacer una acción contra la Transfobia en el marco de este encuentro. Hemos convocado una concentración frente al Departamento de Psiquiatría del Hospital Clínico de Barcelona el 29 de Junio a las 17:00h. El Hospital Clínico es quien dispensa la mayoría de "Certificados de Disforia de género" y donde se encuentran "Los Especialistas" en este "Trastorno". Ésta será la primera vez que los y las trans realizamos una acción pública contra los procesos de psiquiatrización y por ello buscamos el apoyo de todos los grupos trans de Barcelona, Catalunya y el Estado Español, así como de fuera del Estado y, por supuesto, de todos aquellos activistas que de alguna forma u otra estén dispuestos a visibilizar con nosotros que no estamos dispuestos a soportar más Certificados, más "Tests de la Vida Real", más Terapias de Grupo, que no somos disfóricos y que tenemos derecho a decidir! ADHESIONES!!!!! Para poder sumaros a la Convocactoria de Concentración solo teneis que re-enviar este mail al mail de la Guerrilla Travolaka: guerrillatravolaka@gmail.com ADHESIONES!!!!! Para poder sumaros a la Convocactoria
Para más Información sobre la Asamblea, la Concentración, y los demás actos www.assembleatransbarcelona.tk(en breve actaulizaremos las Traducciones en Francés e Inglés) Para información sobre el alojamiento para venir a la Asamblea: guerrillatravolaka@gmail.com


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Acció contra la Transfòbia i els processos de psiquiatrització dels i les TransBarcelona - 29 i 30 de Juny


El proper 29 de Juny tindrà lloc a Barcelona la primera Assemblea Trans internacional amb l'objectiu de crear un espai de debat entre activistes que lliten contra la trasfòbia a diferents territoris, de crear una xarxa i posar en comú les nostres respectives militàncies i accions.
L'Assemblea Trans té lloc en un moment molt concret per a l'activisme Trans: a principis del 2007 va ser aprovada la Llei per la Identitat de Gènere a Espanya, a través de la qual es normalitza el protocol psiquiàtric per tal d'accedir a un canvi de nom i sexe a la documentació oficial. Ara, per obtenir aquest document, hem de tenir un diagnòstic de "disfòria de gènere" de mans d'un (metge) psiquatra i haver passat dos anys de tractament mèdic-hormonal.
A més amés, pensem que és molt important trobar-nos i establir aliances de manera periòdica, ja que el nostre activisme és molt minoritari i estem molt allunyats els uns dels altres, a pesar de la nostra lluita comú: la transfòbia (ja sigui mèdica, social o legal).

D'aquesta manera, i aprofitant la força de la convocatòria de Barcelona, hem pensat dur a terme una acció contra la transfòbia dins el marc d'aquesta trobada. Hem convocat una concentració davant el Departament de Psiquiatria de l'Hospital Clínic de Barcelona el 29 de Juny a les 17:00h. L'Hospital Clínic és el centre que mèdic que dispensa la majoria de certificats de "disfòria de gènere" i on es troben molts dels "especialistes" en aquest "transtorn". Aquesta serà la primera vegada que les i els trans realitzem una acció pública contra els processos de psiquiatrització, i per a això busquem el suport de tots els grups trans de Barcelona, Catalunya i Espanya, així com de fora de l'Estat i, és clar, de tots/es aquells/es activistes que d'alguna manera o altra estiguin disposats/des a visibilitzar amb nosaltres que no estem disposats a suportar més certificats mèdics, més "tests de la vida real", més teràpies de grup, que no som disfòrics i que tenim dret a decidir!

ADHESIONES!!!!! Per a sumar-vos a la convocatòria de la Concentració, només heu de reenviar aquest e-mail a la nostra adreça:
guerrillatravolaka@gmail.com

Per a més informació sobre l'Assemblea, la Concentració i altres actes, visiteu: www.assembleatransbarcelona.tk
(aviat actualitzarem les traduccions en francès, anglès i altres idiomes)
Per a informar-vos sobre l'allotjament per venir a l'Assemblea, envieu-nos un correu a guerrillatravolaka@gmail.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Action contre la Transphobie et les procès de psychiatrisation des Trans Barcelone- le 29 et le 30 JuinLe prochain 29 Juin a lieu à Barcelone la première Assemblée Trans Internationale avec l'enjeu de créer un espace de débat entre activistes qui luttent contre la transphobie dans des différents territoires, de créer un réseau et mettre en commun nos différentes militances et actions. L'Assemblée Trans a lieu dans un moment très concret dans l'activisme Trans: au début de l'an 2007 fut adopté par le Parlement espagnol la Loi d'Identité de Genre à travers laquelle le protocole psychiatrique pour accéder au changement de nom et exe dans les documents officiels se normalisait. Maintenant pour obtenir ces documents il nous faut un "certificat de dysphorie de genre" délivré par un médecin ( psychiatre) et avoir passé deux ans de traitement médical ( hormones). On pense aussi que c'est très important de nous retrouver et établir des alliances de façon périodique pusique nos luttes sont minoritaires et on se retrouve souvent très loins les uns des autres bien qu'on ai un combat en commun:la transphobie ( qu'elle soit médical, sociale ou légale). Pour cela, et en profitant de al force de l'appel de Barcelone on apensé à faire une action contre la Transphobie dans le cadre de cette rencontre activiste. On a donc convoqué un Rassemblent devant le Département de Psychiatrie de l'Hopital Clinic de Barcelone le 29 Juin à 17h00. Cet Hôpital est celui qui donne la plus grande partie des "Certificats de Dysphories de Genre" aux trans catalans et où se trouvent "les Spécialistes" dans ce genre de "troubles d'identité". Ce sera la première fois que les trans nous réalisons une action publique contre les procés de psychiatrisation en Espagne et c'est pour cela que l'on cherche le soutien et l'addhésion de tous els groupes trans de Barcelone, Catalogne et de tout l'État Espagnol ( comme aussi de groupes trans de l'exterieur) mais aussi de tous les activistes qui d'une façon ou d'une autre soit près à visibiliser avec nous qu'on ne veut plus de Certificats, ni de Tests de la Vie Réelle, ni de Thérapies de Groupe. Qu'on est pas des dypshoriques et qu'on a le droit à décider par nous-mêmes! ADHÉSIONS!!!!Pour pouvoir vous adhérer à l'Appel de Rassemblement vous n'avez que à re-envoyer ce mail à celui d ela Guerrilla Travolaka: (guerrillatravolaka@gmail.com )Pour plus d'Information sur l'Assemblée et le Rassemblement et les autres actions: www.assembleatransbarcelona.tk(on actualisera en peu de temps les traductions en français, anglais, etc) Pour Information sur le logement pour venir à l'Assemblée, adressez-vous au mail de la Guerrilla Travolaka. La Guerrilla Travolaka

General Idea: Found Formats / Kunsthalle Zurich

Art and HIV

Old Mike, new Christine

By Mike Penner, Times Staff WriterApril 26, 2007
During my 23 years with The Times' sports department, I have held a wide variety of roles and titles. Tennis writer. Angels beat reporter. Olympics writer. Essayist. Sports media critic. NFL columnist. Recent keeper of the Morning Briefing flame.Today I leave for a few weeks' vacation, and when I return, I will come back in yet another incarnation.As Christine.I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words. I realize many readers and colleagues and friends will be shocked to read them.That's OK. I understand that I am not the only one in transition as I move from Mike to Christine. Everyone who knows me and my work will be transitioning as well. That will take time. And that's all right. To borrow a piece of well-worn sports parlance, we will take it one day at a time.Transsexualism is a complicated and widely misunderstood medical condition. It is a natural occurrence — unusual, no question, but natural.Recent studies have shown that such physiological factors as genetics and hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy can significantly affect how our brains are "wired" at birth.As extensive therapy and testing have confirmed, my brain was wired female.A transgender friend provided the best and simplest explanation I have heard: We are born with this, we fight it as long as we can, and in the end it wins.I gave it as good a fight as I possibly could. I went more than 40 hard rounds with it. Eventually, though, you realize you are only fighting yourself and your happiness and your mental health — a no-win situation any way you look at it.When you reach the point when one gender causes heartache and unbearable discomfort, and the other brings more joy and fulfillment than you ever imagined possible, it shouldn't take two tons of bricks to fall in order to know what to do.It didn't with me.With me, all it took was 1.99 tons.For more years than I care to count, I was scared to death over the prospect of writing a story such as this one. It was the most frightening of all the towering mountains of fear I somehow had to confront and struggle to scale.How do you go about sharing your most important truth, one you spent a lifetime trying to keep deeply buried, to a world that has grown familiar and comfortable with your façade?To a world whose knowledge of transsexuals usually begins and ends with Jerry Springer's exploitation circus?Painfully and reluctantly, I began the coming-out process a few months ago. To my everlasting amazement, friends and colleagues almost universally have been supportive and encouraging, often breaking the tension with good-natured doses of humor.When I told my boss Randy Harvey, he leaned back in his chair, looked through his office window to scan the newsroom and mused, "Well, no one can ever say we don't have diversity on this staff."When I told Robert, the soccer-loving lad from Wales who cuts my hair, why I wanted to start growing my hair out, he had to take a seat, blink hard a few times and ask, "Does this mean you don't like football anymore, Mike?"No, I had to assure him, I still love soccer. I will continue to watch it. I hope to continue to coach it.My days of playing in men's over-30 rec leagues, however, could be numbered.When I told Eric, who has played sweeper behind my plodding stopper for more than a decade, he brightly suggested, "Well, you're still good for co-ed!"I broke the news to Tim by beginning, "Are you familiar with the movie 'Transamerica'?" Tim nodded. "Well, welcome to my life," I said.Tim seemed more perplexed than most as I nervously launched into my story.Finally, he had to explain, "I thought you said 'Trainspotting.' I thought you were going to tell me you're a heroin addict."People have asked if transitioning will affect my writing. And if so, how?All I can say at this point is that I am now happier, more focused and more energized when I sit behind a keyboard. The wicked writer's block that used to reach up and torture me at some of the worst possible times imaginable has disappeared.My therapist says this is what happens when a transsexual finally "integrates" and the ever-present white noise in the background dissipates.That should come as good news to my editors: far fewer blown deadlines.So now we all will take a short break between bylines. "Mike Penner" is out, "Christine Daniels" soon will be taking its place.From here, it feels like a big improvement. I hope with time you will agree.This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-oldmike26apr26,0,588768,full.story?coll=la-home-headlines

'I'm a Girl' -- Understanding Transgender Children

Parents of Transgender 6-Year-Old Girl Support Her Choice

PareBy ALAN B. GOLDBERG and JONEIL ADRIANOApril 27, 2007

From the moment we're born, our gender identity is no secret. We're either a boy or a girl. Gender organizes our world into pink or blue. As we grow up, most of us naturally fit into our gender roles. Girls wear dresses and play with dolls. For boys, it's pants and trucks.
But for some children, what's between their legs doesn't match what's between their ears -- they insist they were born into the wrong body. They are transgender children, diagnosed with gender identity disorder, and their parents insist this is not a phase.
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"A phase is called a phase because it is just that. It ends. And this is not ending. This is just getting stronger," Renee Jennings told ABC News' Barbara Walters. The Jennings asked that "20/20" not disclose their real name in order to protect the identity of their 6-year old transgender daughter, Jazz.
Most transgender children still live in the shadows, hiding from a world that sees them as freaks of nature. Rejected by their families, many grow up hating their bodies, and fall victim to high rates of depression, drug abuse, violence and suicide.
Today, hundreds of families with transgender children -- who have found each other over the Internet -- are taking a dramatically different course. They're allowing their children to live in the gender they identify with in order to save them from a future of heartache and pain.
"I think we're a very normal family," said Renee's husband, Scott. "I think we have a very healthy marriage. We love to watch our children in all of their activities, whether it's at school, or on the field playing sports."
'You're Special'
On the surface, the Jennings and their four children are a typical American family. But their youngest child, Jazz, is only in kindergarten, and already she is one of the youngest known cases of an early transition from male to female.
"We'll say things like, 'You're special. God made you special.' Because there aren't very many little girls out there that have a penis," said Renee. "Renee and I are in 100 percent agreement as to how we should raise Jazz," said Scott. "We don't encourage, we support. And we just keep listening to what she tells us."
From the moment he could speak, Jazz made it clear he wanted to wear a dress. At only 15 months, he would unsnap his onesies to make it look like a dress. When his parents praised Jazz as a "good boy," he would correct them, saying he was a good girl.
The Jennings wanted to believe it would pass. Scott said he "was in a bit of denial" about what Jazz was trying to tell them. After all, even their rowdy twin boys, who are two years older than Jazz, had painted their nails growing up. But Jazz kept gravitating to girl things, insisting that his penis was a mistake.

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3088298&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

DOS NOSSOS AMIGOS DA CATALUNHA!

http://www.guerrilla-travolaka.blogspot.com/