Dallas Denny is renowned for her work on advocacy, policy issues, and health practices involving transsexual and transgender people. She has served as adviser to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, The University of Michigan, the Centers for Disease Control, the city of Atlanta, journalists, and filmmakers. Shelly Anne Baker interviews her in the first installment of Tell Shelley Anne.
Chrissy Gann devotes today’s Butterfly Chronicle to her own progress in transition and then goes on to acknowledge the contributions to transgender visibility and and rights by those who came before. For a short course on the progress of trans people in modern times be sure to take a look. You may find validation and inspiration in what Chrissy has written.
We pick up Drag in Cinema in the year 2000 with the Ving Rhames made-for-TV movie Holiday Heart. The early years of the 21st century featured several films that show cases male actors adopting drag, from comedy drag like Big Momma’s House, to the more realistic female impersonation of Juwanna Man. And of course the problematic Sorority Boys. Join us for a walk down the history of drag in cinema for the early years of the 21st century.
Linda Jensen has found an unexpected benefit to being isolated at home. She is getting in touch with people she met earlier in her life. They are reaching out to her to comment on her posts here on TGF. One lady she hadn’t heard from in years wrote to comment on one of Linda’s posts and also to wonder how some of the people they both know were able to put their femme side away while quarantining with family that had no knowledge of their femme side. And, Linda’s friend is benefitting from isolation as now her wife is not worried that anyone will be stopping by their house so Linda’s friend is able to dress everyday.
TGForum’s Mr. Spock is our in-house scientist and fact-based life form, Dana J. Bevan. Today she applies science and logic to the manner in which transgender people are exploited by politicians. She does not recommend or endorse one party over another but presents factual information about where we are today and what should be done to achieve full rights for transgender people. Give her blog a read and use the comment area to weigh in with your opinion.
Kristine Holt starts to recognize people throughout the ages who are seen as role models for transgender people. Along the way she gets caught up in not just the individuals who have helped transgender people win recognition but list many of the events that occurred because of trans people’s effort to be seen and accepted. She starts off in 204 BC and follows our progress up to 2015.
Initially, when people wore clothing beneath their outer garments they called it underwear. Due to changes in societal mores, and where sexuality is concerned underwear is now called lingerie and it has become provocative. Among primitive tribes and in more sophisticated societies crude or more subtle loin cloths were worn. Civilizations around the Mediterranean tended […]
Possible it’s time to change “Letters to the Editor” to “Emails to the Editor.” Last week we received a message in our inbox that says it is an “open letter.” In that spirit we publish it today so you can see what the author is saying and then, if you are moved to do so, add your comments in the comment area.
We dive into the TGForum Archives and pull out a Transgender History Quiz from 1996. It was put together by Dr. Barbara Anderson for a local California support group’s newsletter and then presented on TGForum. See if you know the answers to the quiz.
Back in 1996 Aleisha Michelle Emerson contributed some columns to TGForum that explored the transgender side of rock and roll. She began the columns in the 1950s and covered up to 1970 with her first column which we brought back last month. Today we present her column on the influence of David Bowie and the Glam Rock of the ’70s.
Dana Bevan has been at the US Professional Association for Transgender Health convention is Washington, D.C. and she has filed a report about what happened over the weekend. First she runs over some history about where transgender health advocacy began. Turns out it was at the kitchen table of trans activism pioneer Louise Lawrence. Learn some history and get the current news from USPATH’s convention from Dana.
Back in 1996 Aleisha Michelle Emerson contributed some columns to TGForum that explored the transgender side of rock and roll. She began the columns in the 1950s and covered up to 1970 with her first column. We unlocked the vault and ventured down into the dusty Archives of TGForum past to bring you that first column. Today she looks at The Beatles, Little Richard, The Who and The Kinks.
Way back in 1998 TGForum contributor Hebe Dotson wrote an article that imagined what someone in 1899 would prognosticate about the nature of things in the coming 20th century. We pulled it out of the Archives, dusted it off to be our Retro Rerun. Today we present part two of A Tale of Two Centuries in which Hebe attempts to gaze into the 21st century from 1998. Now that we have a few years of this century under our belts lets see how she did with her predictions.
Back in 1998 there was a lot of concern about the coming turn of the century. Would all the computers go crazy after midnight on the last night of the 1900s? Using that and other concerns about what would happen when the world entered the 21st century Hebe Dotson wrote a pair of contributions to TGF. The first was an imagining of a conversation between two people in 1899 in which one person has foreknowledge of the nature of the 20th century. And of course they possess knowledge of what will happen surrounding the LGBT community. Which in 1900 just didn’t exist. Right.
On the 500th episode of Realtime with Bill Maher on HBO one of Maher’s guests was a woman named Debra Soh. Dr. Soh holds a Ph.D. and was on the program to talk about transgender issues. Her statements on the subject seemed to be based in right wing politics rather than in any actual scientific research and she led Maher to believe she was the victim of academic discrimination by academics who wished to promote their theories about transgender people. She said she was accused of being “politically incorrect.” Today Dana Bevan looks at Dr. Soh and her statement about transgender people. Dana finds that Dr. Soh is just the latest in a long line of people who want the world to see trans phenomena their way.
Guest Contributor Angela Stephanie Haddow reports on the New York City Pride March and reminds us all of the history of LGBTQ rights in the USA. As she marched through Manhattan proudly being herself she thinks about how the fight for rights began and while the advances, evidenced by participation in the Pride March by public officials and businesses, have been great there are still miles ahead on the road to full equality in the eyes of society.
The theater of the ancients of Greece and Rome was different in several ways from theater today. At that time all of the actors onstage were male, no matter if the the character being portrayed was male or female. This type of casting was present up to the first century BC when female actors began to appear. Former TGForum contributor Hebe Dotson wrote about the presence of crossdressing and transgender characters and themes in Greek and Roman plays back in 1998. We bring her article back as today’s Retro Rerun.
Today Dina Amberle takes a variety of tasty ingredients and whips up a satisfying soufflé that is sure to sell well at the Diner. It features one part, how the Jewish community is changing to deal with gender fluid b-mitzvahs. The she stirs in some gender changing that crosses the borderline. Adds a soupçon of male Filipinos walking in high heels and stirs in a few female spies. Then she garnishes with a bit about the true gender of a Revolutionary War hero, giving you another scrumptious repast available only at Dina’s Diner.
Ms Bob Davis digs into the history of the recently closed transgender friendly San Francisco nightclub, Divas. It was a favorite spot for members of the transgender community to hang out, take in some drag performances and mingle with other segments of the greater queer community. From it’s beginning in one spot to the fight with local residents to move to a much larger venue nearby Ms. Bob dishes the history of Divas.
Back in 1996 TGForum ran a bi-coastal pictorial feature on Halloween in New York City and San Francisco. Editor Cindy Martin did the photo layout of pictures shot in NYC by photographer Dana B. and photos from San Francisco taken by Jamie Faye Fenton. We bring you those photos again so you can enjoy the costumes and the lovely ladies back in the day.
Classic female impersonator Paul Lavern Cummings passed away in Las Vegas, Nevada in March of 2018 after being severely injured in an auto accident. Back in 1999 TGForum ran an interview with Cummings that was conducted by TGF contributor Ken Spaulding. Since it’s been almost a year since Cummings’ death we dip back into the TGForum Archives and bring you that 1999 interview.
Suzzie gives a transgender history lesson that features Roberta Cowell and April Ashely. She tells their stories and explains how she relates to them. They were contemporaries who took the path to gender transition. Suzzie also contemplated making that move but then she turned away from GRS and made a deal with a cisgender woman. Read her tale of three transgender women and see if you think Suzzie came out ahead.
After a long battle with cancer, Alison Laing, a founding member of The Renaissance Education Association, Inc., board member and then executive director of IFGE, director of Fantasia Fair, author, and wine expert, passed away peacefully on January 22, 2019 at the Elizabethtown Masonic Village in Pennsylvania. She was surrounded by loved ones. Dallas Denny worked with Alison’s daughter to write this obituary. Many thanks to Dallas.
Dallas Denny met Alison Laing at a gender conference in 1991. That meeting turned into the decades long friendship of two transgender activists. In this post Dallas brings you some photos of Alison at work and play and she writes about her memories of those times.
In the past few years a lot has been said about “missing emails.” Today we have a Page Pundit Review by Sophie Lynn about a book that has been made out of the decidedly not missing emails of Merissa Cheryl Lynn. Ms. Lynn was one of the pioneers in the trans movement back in the late ’80s and ’90s. She passed away in 2017. She founded the “Tiffany Club” near Boston, and eventually formed the International Foundation for Gender Education. Around 2008 and 2009 she wrote a lot of emails to a friend about her history in the movement. That friend has compiled those emails into the book Sophie reviews today.
In 1996 JoAnn Roberts, one of our founders, reviewed a book titled The Man in The Red Velvet Dress. It was written by Justine Sahnjay under the name J.J. Allen. The book stirred controversy for a few things. Prime among the complaints was a broad definition of what made a crossdresser: “. . .any person who wears clothing of the opposite sex.” JoAnn found that objectionable along with a couple of other points but overall she felt. . . well, you’ll have to read her review and see.
