The katoey, or ladyboys, of Thailand, like most TGs, have a hard life. While there is a place in the Thai culture for the katoey it’s not necessarily something that is welcomed or treated with respect. As too often happens around the world the ladyboys get involved in criminal activities since they are denied a way to legitimately support themselves. Our correspondent in Thailand has filed another report on misbehavior by katoey.
Today The Artist D makes a discovery. She realizes, suddenly and deeply, that she has neglected the male side of her personality. He should be just as fabulous and witty as she but for too long he has accepted the imposed gender norms of society and let her do the over the top, the extravagant and amazing. The Artist D knows in one moment that he/she is a complex and fluid creature who won’t be bound by the rules of gender, whether from inside or outside the TG community. Join The Artist and investigate the tyranny of The Binary.
Our TG politics correspondent Babs Casbar Siperstein thinks that the timing might just be right for the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. After languishing for years and years could this be the right time? Without Federal protections in employment transgendered people can be fired just for being transgendered. In 33 states TGs have no protection under the law if their employer fires them for being TG or if someone refuses to hire them for that reason. With the election of Cory Booker to the Senate Babs feels his positive voice for ENDA will tip the scales and we will see movement in the Senate.
It’s strange how certain words or phrases come into vogue, slip into “fashion,” reoccur in regular usage–perhaps initially being used by a small group of people, and then becoming adopted by the wider community at large. Language is always evolving and we’re forever seeing new “tech” words or words or phrases, which often begin as […]
Feminism is often a difficult word to swallow and has been cruelly abused over time for numerous campaigns. The fight of feminists has been a flag taken up by many transgender male to female comrades. Depending on the feminist we are either welcome or completely banned from the club for ever being tainted with any […]
Dee A. Levy was deceived by her crossdresser husband who hid his dressing and chose to reveal it at possibly one of the most inopportune moments — ever. So Dee has become an advocate for crossdresser’s wives everywhere by demanding honesty and consideration of the wive’s needs. Today she comments on an article she read that celebrated the rising acceptance of “varied genders.” Dee asks, “What about wive’s?”
Babs Casbar Siperstein has been reappointed to the Democratic National Committee and was re-elected to the DNC Executive Committee. She reports today on other transgendered people who are involved in politics and touches on the history of TGs working for change through the political process. She also discusses how things have changed since the time when Democratic Party felt that adding TG rights to the Party platform would scare people away. Trans-inclusive language was added to the Democratic Party platform for the 2008 convention.
Dr. Danielle Kaufman has some thoughts on the new law in California which allows students to use the restroom and locker room facilities appropriate for their gender identity. Dr. Kaufman, author of Untying the Knot, has just recently come out as a transgendered woman and from that perspective she comments on the reason the law was needed and deflates the ludicrous fears of those who oppose the law. This is Dr. Kaufman’s first contribution to TGForum and we welcome her thoughts and insights.
Fresh from my Hong Kong trip, I spent a few days in Bangkok, where I tracked down a contact I’d been given by a friend living in Hong Kong — the Bangkok based person being someone who works for a quasi government body, and is working to help minorities and other disadvantaged people. The reason? […]
Fifty years ago Dr. Martin Luther King had a dream. Here in the 21st century The Artist D has a dream and it is one she tries to live everyday. As John Lennon imagined, so The Artist D dreams and she dreams of a world without judgement or gossip. A world where there is no need to come out because everyone is “out” about who they are all the time to everyone. Come and live, at least for a few brief moments, inside The Artist D’s beautiful dream.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell may be a thing of the past for gays and lesbians in the military but for transgendered people who want to serve or are currently in the armed forces there is no shield from a sudden discharge if they come out as TG. And recent studies have indicated that transgendered soldiers and veterans are prone to depression and suicide, and they aren’t being treated well by the VA when they leave the service. Dee Levy writes about the Pentagon’s transgender problem.
Our new contributor Catie Maye has provided her Doodles to TGF. Today she posts her statement about transvestite/crossdresser pride. Catie wonders why crossdressers should accept being lumped in with the other spots on the gender spectrum under the label “transgender.” She’s proud to be a crossdresser and has no problem with the word “transvestite.” Read her point of view and registered users can add their two cents in the comment box.
A letter to the editor of The New York Times from a “Big Shrink” concerning the case of Coy Mathis, the young TG who can now use the girls’ room at her school, raised the hackles of our contributor Dr. Dana Bevan. Dr. Bevan takes the shrink to task for not understanding transgender issues and for pushing an agenda of “reparative therapy” for TG children. And the shrink makes statements that aren’t backed up by scientific evidence. Decide for yourself who’s the winner in Coy vs. the Big Shrink.
We use words to describe people and things but many times there are disagreements about the words, or the way we use the words describing ourselves. The gay community has fought over the use of “queer” by some of its members. Others don’t want to be called “gay.” In our neck of the woods we have had the “cross dresser vs. transvestite” battles. Now there is conflict over how to use the word “transgender.” Should it ever have an “ed” added? Giving a bit of history around TG terms and speaking her mind Angela Gardner takes this topic on in “Transgender or Transgendered?”
Our Video Fashion Tip blogger Victoria Williams had camera trouble this week and instead of a video fashion tip she has filed a piece on how she became the woman she is today. Her story takes us from the days when she dressed up alone at home to meeting people on the Internet, taking those late night trips outside, contacting a support group and then setting goals and working on all the things she needed to become herself.
“Dream a little dream with me.” That’s the thrust of Sophie Lynne’s post today. Whether the dream is one you have at night while you’re tucked into your bed or if it’s one that you think about throughout your day, a longing for something more in your life, all your dreams are important. The one’s you have when you sleep are out of your conscious control but Sophie thinks the waking ones you hold dear and strive to achieve are more than dreams. They’re goals that you can work toward and someday achieve.
Now that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has opened the military to openly gay service members where does that leave TGs who want to serve their country? Babs Casbar-Siperstein runs down the advances transgendered people have made in regard to military service and speculates on what will happen next. Citing the results of surveys and personal experience with trans soldiers Babs postulates that it won’t be long before TGs can proudly, openly server their country.
This month our correspondent in Thailand has left the country for a trip to Hong Kong. Christine has highlighted the lot of transgendered people in Thailand but what has she found in Hong Kong? Fortunately it seems that progress is being made on transgendered rights and recognition. When Christine lived in Hong Kong, just a few years ago, the trans community was completely underground. Now thanks to the efforts of local TGs things are beginning to change. But is it enough progress?
Age is all about numbers. Pick a number you like and stick with it is the philosophy espoused by The Artist D. When she was 21 she decided to tell everyone she was 23. But this month The Artist D turns 30. And she has a quandary — she’s spent several years being ages other than her actual age. How long should she stay 30? With Mick Jagger turning 70 and 70 becoming the new 50 how is a girl supposed to decide what age she should claim? Get all of The Artist D’s perspective on the numbers game in Dirty Thirty.
A place for everything and everything in it’s place is a good way to run your life. Online groups for TGs however tend to try to do that but no matter how noble the groups purpose people join who have only one thing on their minds. A recent situation in an online group that was established to provide “role models” for TGs caused RachelX to write her take on the proper place for horn dogs who are only online so they can be hitting on people and about the meaning of “role model.”
A news report about a FtM transgendered teen — or perhaps just a a teen with gender confusion — has prompted Dee Levy to write her contribution to TGF. The teen, born female, established and online male identity and courted a young girl. The teen went to visit the girl and they engaged in sexual activity without the girl knowing her boyfriend was not born with male parts. The boyfriend was arrested and is now a sex offender in the eyes of the law. And the “boyfriend” now identifies as female. See what Dee thinks of this complex affair.
Stealth is useful when you don’t want your spy planes to be noticed by the people you are spying on. It’s not as useful and may be actually harmful when you’re transgendered. The burden of having to pass all the time, having to watch yourself constantly to make sure you don’t betray your gender status and then the damage to your personal relationships and career from being outed make it an unhealthy way to live. Dallas Denny read an essay by another TG writer on the dangers of stealth and has been inspired to expand on the subject.
In 2011 a British television program called My Transsexual Summer followed seven transgendered individuals around documenting what, for them, it is like to be transgendered. Now the program is available on YouTube and recently our columnist Linda Jensen got an email from her friend Janne Carbonneau about the program. Ms. Chabonneau wanted to let everyone know that the program did a good job of introducing TGs to the world in a non-exploitative way. Linda thought she should share Ms. Charbonneau’s review with the TGForum readers.
Sophie Lynne was at one time, back in the ’80s, an avid gamer on Playstation and her favorite was Twisted Metal 2. The thing that appealed to her about video gaming was the levels of play. You could start out at Easy, then move on to Medium and after you mastered that change the setting to Hard and really test your skills. Today Sophie finds a parallel to the levels of gaming in the transgender world. Find out what Sophie feels defines each “level” in the Transgender Game and see if you agree.
For all of our gains in recognition and rights there we still often face transphobia. As Babs points out in this post some of the transphobia isn’t coming from the straight world. It’s coming from the gay, lesbian and bisexual parts of the community. Is there a resurgence of gay and lesbian transphobia menacing the T in GLBT? Babs looks a a few examples, like the firing of Allyson Robinson, after only 9 months on the job at Outserve-SLDN. And what about Janice Covington being told it would be better for her to join her state’s Democratic men’s auxiliary rather than the women’s. It’s enough to make you wonder. See what else Babs has to say about G&L transphobia.
Recently an interview Dustin Hoffman did with the American Film Institute in 1998 surfaced on YouTube and went viral with the TG community. Hoffman talks about what the motivation for doing the film “Tootsie” was and how it affected his understanding of the relationship between the sexes. Much has been made of the fact that he broke down and wept when he realized that he had been judging women not by their character but by their looks. He reveals that he felt “brainwashed.” The AFI interview inspired our contributor Geogria TG to some commentary on the film and Hoffman’s epiphany. She thinks that Hoffman’s male character in the film would not have killed off Dorothy Michaels.
