My son looked at the bruises and puffiness on my face last night and asked if I planned to go to work like that. Yup. It should be an interesting day.
Many companies spend quite a bit of time developing transition guidelines to address some of the challenges that can arise when an employee indicates that they’re planning to transition on the job. These guidelines cover policy on everything from harassment, identification, pronouns, and which bathroom the transitioning employee will use.
Apparently, the British armed forces have established similar documentation for transitioning soldiers (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell? Nowhere to be found). Someone somewhere learned about this and decided that this was a waste of money and time:
Defence chiefs are under attack for producing an 11,000-word guide on dealing with transsexuals in the Armed Forces.
They are accused of wasting time and money on the 33-page document while troops face helicopter and equipment shortages.
The Policy for the Recruitment and Management of Transsexual Personnel in the Armed Forces goes into extraordinary detail to explain what transsexualism is and how to avoid discriminating against people who change sex.
There’s also an interesting story in a publication out of Bangkok titled “The Transgender Issue in the USA“. I’ll admit off the bat that some of the photos are stunning. The story explains how transgender people in other cultures are simply part of the fabric of society – as it should be:
For most Americans, their first encounter with transgender individuals may have been when they were stationed abroad in the military, in such places as Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, where the phenomenon, especially of ladyboys, is well known; many Arabs having visited Thailand, Lao, Malaysia or Indonesia; countries with a significant transgender population.
To find, however, that there were, in fact, a large percentage of people of a transgender persuasion living amongst them in mainland America probably came as rather a shock. In reality, according to statistics published by the American Psychological Association 1 in 11,900 men and 1 in 30,400 women are uncomfortable being in the body they were born in and wish they were of a different sex. “A lot of people think there aren’t transgendered people here. But that’s not right. We’re everywhere. We’re your neighbors, the person at the store checking your groceries, your social workers. We’re not just in big cities like Chicago. We’re everywhere,” so says Trey Polesky, a 27-year-old man from Bloomington, who asserts he was born a man in a woman’s body.
In Thailand, the phenomenon of katoeys, or ladyboys, is not only well known, but an established part of the culture, such individuals featuring prominently not only in the media, but also in the monkhood.
The story goes on to document the difficulties that some of these people have when visiting the United States:
But the US is radically different in this respect. There, as in the early days of the gay movement, they have to face mainstream rejection, discrimination, harassment and violence. To cope, some live in denial, whilst others hide their light behind a bushel, so to speak.
The US has a harsh reputation when it comes to the treatment of minorities, especially out of the cities, but even in major cities like Chicago, extreme reactions to the transgender community are commonplace. At a recent candlelight vigil held in Chicago in remembrance of 2008’s transgender victims of violence when at least two such were murdered, a Illinois Gender Advocates Board member, Stevie Conlon, had this to say: “Some people see us, and the entire GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered) community as immoral. I believe that attitude justifies or fosters hate crime against all of us. I believe transgendered people are victims of horrible violence and hate crime because we are objectified. We are not treated with dignity as human beings.”
Instead, however, we find ourselves constantly dealing with situations like the one outlined in a recent article on Queery titled “Dr. Kenneth Zucker’s War on Transgenders” where bufoons disguised as experts simply beause they have a title in front of their name do their best to maintain the status quo that would pathologize and marginalize us.
The head of the child and adolescent gender identity clinic at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Dr. Kenneth Zucker, has made a career promising the parents of intersexed and transgender children that he can make them “normal”. His method, called reparative therapy, in which children are pushed into assigned gender roles and discouraged from behaving or dressing in a way that’s counter to their ‘assigned’ sex, was once standard practice, but in recent years, has been increasingly scrutinized.
Zucker needs to disappear. Or at the very least, he needs to shut his face.
These two contrasting articles highight one of the main reasons I got involved in advocacy at the very beginning. It was the realization that there’s absolutely nothing wrong with who or what I am. The problem comes from how our society chooses to deal with it. That realization provided two options – either to accept it and to move on in life hoping I’d never be “discovered” or to work to change it. Needless to say, the decision was an obvious one.
If anyone attended IFGE, I’d be interested to share your thoughts on how things went.
And, lastly for this morning I want to highlight some remarks that Mr. Joe Solmonese apparently made at the NYC HRC Dinner over the weekend regarding ENDA. I don’t think I’ve said anything particularly critical of my “friends” at HRC recently but I need to make an exception about that today. From today’s Gay City News:
In talking about ENDA, Solmonese delicately made the case that success on a version of the bill that includes protections for transgendered Americans was possible because HRC was willing to compromise in accepting a non-inclusive version when it passed the House in late 2007. After voicing his confidence that a stronger version of the measure would be enacted, he said, “Why? Because we had the guts and the will to start this fight and we more than any other organization have devoted the resources and the ground troops to finish it, and we will do that this year.”
Are you shi**ing me? That’s the biggest pile of bullsh*t I’ve heard so far this year and should infuriate anyone with half a brain, especially on the heels of Creating Change. There were no “guts” involved in what HRC did over ENDA. The only person showing anything resembling courage or leadership at the organization at the time was me. For their part there were blatant lies. There was inexcusable betrayal. There was a vacume of leadership at a time when the community needed it more than ever. There was punishment for legislators who set a higher standard for equality and who showed more “guts” than HRC could muster even if it wanted. This is an organization that chooses to fight only those battles it thinks it can win regardless of the emptiness of the victory. That is not “guts” my friends. The word for it is hypocricy and this latest putrid pile of “spin” is simply more of the same.
This typical and expected credit-grabbing crapola simply sets the stage for the all-too familiar effort to justify an increasingly insignificant existence. An inclusive ENDA will pass despite HRC – not because of it regardless of the what the organization says – our memories are not that short.
You know what would have taken guts? To engage in a respectful dialogue with the broader community on issues and concerns that we face. To work with us to establish some kind of groundbreaking educational campaign. To establish a forum for engagement that isn’t owned by HRC, but is a cooperative effort. Of course, none of that has happened so as far as I’m concerned HRC has demonstrated very little in terms of courage or leadership. They’ve played it safe, as they always do. And then they try to take credit. Guts? I think not.
The thing that is moving the ball of Equality down the field isn’t some newfound organizational dedication to trans issues. It’s the ongoing work of transgender people everywhere. It’s people visiting their legislators and telling their stories. It’s the Task Force and others who never wavered in their dedication to full equality. From a recent interview with Barney Frank:
Saying they sense more support this year for a trans-inclusive ENDA, both [Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi] pointed to last June’s first-ever congressional hearing on discrimination against transgender workers and to increased lobbying by trans-Americans and their allies.
“The transgender community is lobbying the way you need to do this,” Frank said. “I always tell our people we should be like the (National Rifle Association) and go member by member and lobby them.
That’s what will move this forward and will get the job done, not HRC’s “ground troops” or misinformation campaign. This crap is an insult to transpeople and our allies everywhere. Guts? Gimme a break. Zucker isn’t the only one who needs to disappear or shut his face….
I realize that the HRC/ENDA horse has been beaten to death but this kind of stuff is infuriating and needs to be exposed for the spin that it is. HRC will do what it’s told to do on the Hill and then claim credit for it. The good news is that lots has changed in the last year and a half. Apparently, lots has stayed the same as well.
How does those British Armed Forces do math? The time “wasted” on that 33 pages hardly exceed 30 days of work? Would that buy them another helicopter?
When I last visited the US, I used unisex clothing. At one time I had to lift my cap, because one of the unown number of security guards you have to pass thought my passport image didn’t match my face, but my thin hair made him belief (and smirk). I saw it a sign of good passing, even when clothed not exactly female.
Sarah
You are an amazing person.
Good to see that, though battered and bruised, you’re back in fighting form !
So, Joe thinks that he advanced transgender rights by marginalizing and excluding them from ENDA ? By that same logic, he should have been campaining for Prop 8 as a way to advance marriage rights …. a little too close to “We had to destroy the village in order to save it ” for my way of thinking.
Unfortunately, in the pseudo-logic of politics, it all makes perfect sense. Remember, a politician is always willing to act altruistically, so long as there’s something in it for him or her.
This is why I come here to read your blog. No body else seems to have the perspective that you have on these issues! Keep up the fight!
Interesting that the APA is still padding numbers on the light side. Even when you take the numbers from the various sources, all of which are not vetted and of subjective value only, it gets more interesting. Add them up and reduce them to acute medical terms it becomes a factor of 12/1000, or one person in 83 As far as sexual insecurity and discomfort, UCLA studies in 2006 indicated 1/50. So, we are becoming a major factor in the mix, and in another ten years will probably outnumber most of the GLBt, and those who still go to Rotary Club meetings combined. It has become exponential change in a chemically broken world. However, then the HRC will be screaming mad that we rule!
Regarding Zuker, I would like to see one documented case where he can show success that would stand scrutiny. Someone needs to start suing these guys for fraud!
Zucker is disgusting. Maybe he should read a little about John Money. His “reparative ” therapy does not work. What does it take to convince him.
The HRC reminds me of a scenario that a friend would describe as “seeing a parade and jumping in front of it to lead.” Keep telling your side of the story. People need to know.
I wish Zucker would neither go away nor shut up but rather get some enlightenment, publicly. He should be taken to task for peddling snake oil as “science” and fess up that he doesn’t have anything to go on except his own crackpot theories. I hope more and more parents realize that if they love their child, they won’t take him or her to Zucker for “treatment.”
The American Medical Association seem to have figured out gender issues. The American Psychological Association too. What’s wrong with the American Psychiatric Association? Why are they legitimizing quackery?
I am normally not shocked at anything Joe Solmonese says, but I am shocked at his comment “we had the guts and the will to start this fight”. Joe, I hate to disappoint you, but many trans people have been fighting for this for 5, 10, 15, 20 years. You started nothing except a non-inclusive ENDA.
I can see it now. Congress will pass a united ENDA and HRC will take the full credit for it, saying it was THEIR fight that won the day.
When are LGBT people going to see through this and stop giving $$ to HRC?
“In talking about ENDA, Solmonese delicately made the case that success on a version of the bill that includes protections for transgendered Americans was possible because HRC was willing to compromise in accepting a non-inclusive version when it passed the House in late 2007. ”
He’s right – in a way. Jesse Helms’ support of segregation helped bring about the civil rights act. His stance was so transparently despicable that it highlighted the basic unfairness he was advocating, empowered his opponents and garnered support from politicians who hadn’t taken a stance on the issue.
Joe is involved in a campaign of revisionist history not only because admiting the truth should be incredibly embarrassing for a civil rights organization – but because it’s diminished HRC’s standing among the DC ellites.
The politicians had to take a civil rights organization and force them to do the right thing. And they now know what his word is worth. Better to just …reinterpet the facts to suit ones purpose than to learn from your actions, make ammends and form alliances based upon mutual respect.
It’s the form of historical revisionism called “negation:
“Examples of historical revisionism (negationism) include: Japan’s comfort women, Holocaust denial and Soviet history. Negationism is also used by hate groups on the Internet, and its effects can be found described in literature (e.g. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell). In some countries historical revisionism (negationism) of certain historical events is a criminal offense.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_revisionism_(negationism)
Though one usually expects an actor on the national stage to employ it less comically. Perhaps the better description comes from the world of comics – where characters can undergo a “retcon” – having their past history & biography completed rewritten & reinterpreted.
“Retroactive continuity is the deliberate changing of previously established facts in a work of serial fiction.[1] The change is informally referred to as a “retcon,” and producing a retcon is called “retconning”.
Retcons are common in comic books, especially those of large, long-established publishing houses such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, because of the lengthy history of many series and the number of independent authors contributing to their development. Retconning also occurs in soap operas, movie sequels, professional wrestling, video games, radio series, series of novels, and any other type of episodic fiction.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retcon
In Joe’s mind, he’s not really a bald industrialist – but the last son of Krypton. Appropriating all the ideals he was unable to embody.
I wanted to comment earlier and I had some other obligations but this has stuck in my head all day…
This past weekend there was an informal poll taken on AOL regarding an article about a 16 year old transsexual in Germany… MTF, she was allowed to begin social transition at an early age with her parents blessing and, at 16, was allowed SRS. The poll first asked if they agreed with the parents in allowing this. The results from more than 100,000 respondents, was 40% agreed and 60% disagreed (I’ve rounded here but those are pretty close.) The second question was if the respondent had ever met a transsexual. 20% said that they had, 10% said they didn’t know and 70% said that they hadn’t. My point, I think, is an illustration of how society as a whole (even gay society, it seems) does not know who we are or even have an opinion of whether we are worthy of rights. The HRC is like any other entrenched PAC and, although they seem to be taking credit for something that they didn’t really fight for (thank you, Donna, sincerely…), the bottom line is that it seems to be getting done and it looks as though we will be included in a comprehensive ENDA bill. I personally don’t care who takes credit before it happens, as long as it happens. And, if HRC is already taking credit for it, they must believe it will happen. Let’s get the job done (I don’t mean to sacrifice principle here, as there are many avenues that one can take to contribute and that does not have to include the HRC) and then we can shower the accolades and the raspberries to those who deserve either.
I guess “chutzpa” starts off with an “H”!
So what’s new? They are up in New Hampshire putting on a public show when all it would take is a face to face meeting with one official … no drama! Quick and easy! But no, they need to put on a show, rather than play real power politics. What a waste!
Had a chat with a friend this weekend, former COS to a senior congressman, who observed what a paper tiger HRC was in fact, after the ENDA fiasco.
Good post, Donna! Spot on!
Babs
Guts and will, eh? Yeah, took lots of guts to bald-faced lie in front of a thousand t people. Solmonese is a man who is a known liar, a man who is not worthy of anyone’s respect. I don’t understand why gays or lesbians respect him, either.
At this point, I wish I could say I don’t care a rat’s arse about HRC. We’ll lobby without them, as we have for years. Inclusion in ENDA will happen in spite of, not because of, them.
Great piece Donna! We are going to educate our new Republican Congressman Leonard Lance on the truth about ENDA because he is approached by the dark side.
Hey Donna
Package pickup for you! See email!
Hello Donna, After reading your website regarding HRC and their leadership, my monthly donation was permanantly withdrawn. I will no longer give a dime to an organization that shows the blatant & unapologetic hypocrisy toward the transgendered community it does and has. Count me as another in a long line of people that supported the end of your association with that. Polar was exactly right – inclusive ENDA will happen in spite of that so called advocacy group, not because of it. Many good wishes to you. Kim
Perhaps a final expression of how to perceive the attitudes of some who say they speak for equality. – Oral sex is an act that is performed to bring enjoyment to another. The performer gets only satisfaction, but no real return for their giving. On the other had, anal intercourse, while it can be a mutual experience, can become singularly a gratification for the one performing the act. It is a small distance from a shared experience to something that is hurtful and not welcomed. When it is forced upon another, it is abuse. When the act is repeated and assumed a privilege, then it is perverse and criminal.
Hey,
On the UK Armed Forces, BBC America Reveals did a show on a trans Brit soldier http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/337/index.jsp .
Saw the show – she didn’t have that easy of a time with respect to the service – forced to resign, shunned, the same old story. So, they do need a policy.
On the IFGE: yep, was there, ran registration (I’m with the local host group, TGEA). I was surprised at how many folks we eventually got – somewhere over 130 I’m sure. We got positive comments back that folks liked the somewhat smaller size (as opposed to hordes of 200-300). Everybody seemed to have a pretty good time actually. Lots of ideas for improving it for next year. It should be pretty nice, i hope.
take care
Solomonese is a loathsome scumsucker whose ethics are unrecognizable from something that, if I stepped on it in the street, I would burn my shoes instead of trying to clean them. I would call him a whore but that would be an insult to many fine, honorable sexworkers everywhere. No, the most damning thing I can call him is a “politician” of the most opportunistic sort, one who cares more about keeping his hands on the controls of The Big Electric Train Set than how he runs the railroad. I donated over $700 to the HRC until their betrayal of the trans community in 2007, and I will not donate one penny more until Solomonese and every HRC chief who supported the sellout has left the organization. Let them all go to the Log Cabin Republicans, because that’s who they mostly represent in the first place. The only guts he’s shown is that baldfaced spindoctoring about having guts.
i am a former employee of hrc and can affirm that the same errant judgement that led solmonese to supporting a non-inclusive enda trickles down to the way they run their organization.
i was hired by hrc as a fundraising consultant in 2007 and brought in approximately $200,000 to hrc in donated items and services for their auction over the course of 3 months.
once the money was raised, i was not offered a permanent position and let go – and it wasn’t for lack of skill or professionalism. this sounds like some horn-tooting, but having experienced this first-hand i can tell you: the organization that doesn’t recognize the worth of a committed team member who brings in $200,000 in 3 months is an organization that exhibits poor judgement.
“Guts or Hypocrisy? You decide.” Hypocrisy!,
Donna I’m glad you left them. They did this to us in the mid 90’s when Elizabeth Birch jettisoned us after she promised she wouldn’t. Someone else did it in the early 2000’s and then Joe in 2008. This is the third time they have done this. They can’t be trusted and they always renege on their promise not to ditch us. Don’t ever believe them.
To send them a message you could… When you get a letter from them asking to send them money, as if!, take the return envelope tape it to a box. In the old box put in a old tire, cut up if need be to fit. Include a note saying that we are tired of being run over by their bus when they say that they wont ditch us and that they can not ever be trusted. This wont cost you a dime except some time and please don’t send anything bad to them. That would just give them ammo we don’t want them to have
Perfectly legal to do with a return envelope but there is a good chance that they will phone your local postmaster and ask that you no longer be allowed to send them boxes with return envelopes attached to them, But they will sure get the point your trying to make.
Donna, Keep up the good fight!