Trans News/ Issues

[Soon]

"Today is a day of tremendous reparation. Today we do not shout for liberation but instead we shout for equality, which is just as important as freedom. I do not want to use a word that bothers me greatly: Tolerance. No. I do not believe in 'tolerance'. To tolerate is to say I'll allow you to be because I have no other choice. I want to talk about equality and I want to talk about all of you who will now have the same rights I have enjoyed from the moment I was born and the rights that so many millions of Argentinians have enjoyed from the moment they were born. This is the society we want."

- Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, at an event marking the new right of transgender citizens to officially change their gender on official documents without proving they'd undergone surgery.

Blabbeando author Andres Duque says the new law, which was passed unanimously by the legislature, makes Argentina the world's most progressive nation for transgender rights. Argentina legalized same-sex marriage in 2010 and it's now quite arguable that they are the world's most progressive nation for LGBT rights overall. Hit the link for video of the above-cited ceremony. It's a beautiful thing even if you don't speak a word of Spanish. (reposted from joemygod)

[EnderD_503]

Was linked to this earlier today. Very powerful. http://thespiritwas.tumblr.com/post/...age-after-some

[Linus]

http://www.advocate.com/crime/2012/0...ng-another-man -- he will likely need our support. Let's keep our eyes out for him when he needs help.

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Linus

http://www.advocate.com/crime/2012/0...ng-another-man -- he will likely need our support. Let's keep our eyes out for him when he needs help.

First time I actually hear about an incarcerated transguy being talked about in the news. Its good that this is getting news time, at least. Thinking of what a friend of mine went through at the hands of authorities and inmates when he was incarcerated, I wish Jayce a heck of a lot of good luck with this and hope that he gets out of this relatively unscathed.

Hopefully now that this is a news issue/in the public eye, they'll be a little more humane towards him. Prison is not a friendly place for transmen (or trans people in general) and its so rarely talked about (and not because it doesn't happen frequently. It does.). Good luck, dude, and hopefully they recognise this as self-defense...

[Jesse]

He has bonded out on a $150,000 bond and will have a preliminary hearing for a charge of aggravated battery on Aug. 6.

The police of course, felt it necessary to release his original birth name!

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/0...#storylink=cpy

[DMW]

Very disturbing really.
A different case and good article.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...e-crime-murder

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Jesse

He has bonded out on a $150,000 bond and will have a preliminary hearing for a charge of aggravated battery on Aug. 6.

The police of course, felt it necessary to release his original birth name!

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/0...#storylink=cpy

Thanks for the article. In it's defense the article gave the man's birth name (female) and then said, "Friends say the 27 year old is now a man and goes by the name Jayce...". I think it is possible, if not probable, that the suspect did not legally change his name yet. I also noticed that the article refrained from using any pronouns throughout. I am wondering if this is an attempt to be tolerant?

[Jesse]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

Thanks for the article. In it's defense the article gave the man's birth name (female) and then said, "Friends say the 27 year old is now a man and goes by the name Jayce...". I think it is possible, if not probable, that the suspect did not legally change his name yet. I also noticed that the article refrained from using any pronouns throughout. I am wondering if this is an attempt to be tolerant?

Hey Dapper,

Yes I agree, perhaps it is as you say. I still feel that it was not okay to publicly release the birth name. This is likely just a personal issue that I have about outing people. Many transguys do not want others to know their birth name or that sort of personal info, and I think it just struck a cord with me is all.

Thanks

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Hey Dapper,

Yes I agree, perhaps it is as you say. I still feel that it was not okay to publicly release the birth name. This is likely just a personal issue that I have about outing people. Many transguys do not want others to know their birth name or that sort of personal info, and I think it just struck a cord with me is all.

Thanks

I absolutely and completely get what you are saying here about many/most transguys not wanting their birth names/trans status released. I assume that a newspaper would have to print the legal name of a suspect in a story (that they wouldn't have a choice about it), is all I was saying.

[alexri]

The newest edition of the psychiatric diagnostic manual will do away with labeling transgender people as "disordered."

http://www.advocate.com/politics/tra...nder-dysphoria

This is interesting and will hopefully help more people...

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by DapperButch

Thanks for the article. In it's defense the article gave the man's birth name (female) and then said, "Friends say the 27 year old is now a man and goes by the name Jayce...". I think it is possible, if not probable, that the suspect did not legally change his name yet. I also noticed that the article refrained from using any pronouns throughout. I am wondering if this is an attempt to be tolerant?

Originally Posted by DapperButch

I absolutely and completely get what you are saying here about many/most transguys not wanting their birth names/trans status released. I assume that a newspaper would have to print the legal name of a suspect in a story (that they wouldn't have a choice about it), is all I was saying.

Not willing to give what appears to be an extremely conservative newspaper of a very conservative state the benefit of the doubt as far as trying to be "tolerant" or anything of the sort. Other news sources have identified him solely as Jayce D. McClerkin (f.ex. the Advocate article originally posted in the thread). But it also wouldn't be the first time that law enforcement have used a trans person's birth name over their real name (whether legally recognised yet or not).

If I remember right, Nikki Araguz went through the same thing when she was initially imprisoned...they used her birth name on her prison id instead of her real name (then also her legal name). If I remember that was the case with another transwoman recently in the news as well, and happens frequently when trans people are imprisoned. Nothing law enforcement or the media do to refer back to a trans person's assigned sex is ever coincidental or out of innocence/ignorance...ever. Its always another attempt to emphasise to the public and to themselves what they believe of the trans person, rather than who the trans person truly is. Just another humiliation tactic.

[aishah]

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/b...der-community/

What MPD’s Condom Practice Means for the Transgender Community
Posted by Stephanie Haven on Aug. 3, 2012 at 1:40 pm
Transgender individuals don’t have it easy in the District: The last time the District government studied the population, in 2000, it had a 42 percent unemployment rate, and 47 percent of the community didn't have health insurance. To make ends meet, many end up in sex work as a last resort, transgender activist Jeri Hughes says—16 percent nationally, according to a 2011 report by the National Center for Transgender Equality.

For those reasons, one Metropolitan Police Department practice is particularly daunting to the District's transgender community—whose relationship with the police force is already fraught.

According a July 19 study by Human Rights Watch, if police find condoms either in a bag or with a person during a stop and search, they can use them as evidence of prostitution—even though there’s nothing illegal about the contraceptive method. These actions discourage sex workers from using condoms, increasing the risk of HIV—a particularly worrisome possibility for transgender people in the District, where the rate is already so high across the population, says Megan McLemore, a senior researcher in the Health and Human Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.

But MPD Chief Cathy Lanier remains steadfastly in favor of using condoms as evidence. She says this practice is analogous to using the discovery of several bags of drugs to demonstrate a person has distributed or plans to distribute an illicit substance, as opposed to mere possession. “If we have an arrest, and there is evidence to support the probable cause for that arrest, we have to submit that as evidence,” Lanier says. “We can’t ignore it and that goes for any case. I think we can still give a strong message about practicing safe sex without encouraging something that’s illegal. I don’t think those two things are exclusive of each other.”


Human Rights Watch studied the practice in four major cities across the country. In D.C., it found that MPD confiscated or disposed of condoms at disproportionately high rates. Condoms can be used as evidence of prostitution in the District, but haven’t been the sole cause of arrests, as they can be in Los Angeles and New York City. Condoms have also never been presented as evidence in District courts, McLemore says.

One consequence of the practice is a false rumor that could discourage condom use. “In D.C. we found that there was a pervasive rumor and understanding among sex workers that there is a three-condom rule,” McLemore says. “If you carry more than three, the police are going to hassle you. But nothing is on the books about this at all.”

The problematic three-condom practice intersects with an existing tension between MPD and the transgender community. Some police associate transgender people with criminality because of the significant percentage of transgender individuals engaged in sex work, according to Laurel Westbrook, an associate sociology professor at Grand Valley State University. Twenty-nine percent of the transgender population nationwide has dealt with police harassment or disrespect, according to National Center for Transgender Equality. Human Rights Watch's McLemore says that the three-condom practice contributes to profiling of transgender individuals by police.

Such profiling reached such a high level in 2007 that Lanier issued a 10-page general order on how to interact with transgender individuals. The District's police force was one of the first in a major city to create such a guideline. “It’s not just a matter of officers knowing what the policy says,” Lanier says. “They have to be able to interact in role-call training scenarios to demonstrate that they understand.”

Training and reality can present different situations, though. While Lanier says her officers are reprimanded if they don’t comply with the policy, misconduct isn’t always reported. The transgender community remains distrustful toward police, Lanier acknowledges, hindering the frequency with which MPD is notified about police harassment and other types of profiling. Even though Lanier's heard of only two officers who didn’t follow MPD's policy, it’s unclear how many incidents have gone unreported.

Thus, a discrepancy remains between what the policy says police ought do and how some perceive MPD actions. For example: Although they are now under legal review, prostitution free zones were a hot bed for harassment against transgender individuals, says Jason Terry, an activist at the District of Columbia Transgender Coalition. Whether it was catcalls or frequent stop-and-searches, he says prostitution free zones may as well have been called “transgender free zones.” “They used them to push trans women in particular into less safe areas which made them more vulnerable to other forms of violence,” Terry says.

Lanier says she has no account of these issues.

Compared to the other cities in the Human Rights Watch study, MPD has demonstrated more sensitivity toward the transgender community and public health issues overall, McLemore says. It’s a sentiment that Hughes agrees with, although she says MPD needs to tone down what she terms its zealous pursuit of transgender prostitutes.

Which is another issue that Lanier says she’d stop if it were brought to her attention. She says every officer, regardless of personal beliefs, has to interact with individuals according to the force's policy. “When you come to the job, you’re expected to deal with anyone and everyone you come in contact with,” Lanier says. “If you can’t separate your opinions, your biases from law enforcement you’re not in the right line of work.”

[Nadeest]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Hey Dapper,

Yes I agree, perhaps it is as you say. I still feel that it was not okay to publicly release the birth name. This is likely just a personal issue that I have about outing people. Many transguys do not want others to know their birth name or that sort of personal info, and I think it just struck a cord with me is all.

Thanks

To be more accurate, many transfolk, both men and women, do not want others to know their birth name or past life personal info.

It is dangerous for both transmen and transwomen to be outed. I am certainly prejudiced on the subject, but I think that in a lot of ways, it is more dangerous for transwomen, out there. Then again, I could certainly be wrong.

I've been outed before, in a hospital that I had never been to before, by the doctor that had sent me there for a test. He had agreed, prior to this, not to use my birth name for anything except for pay purposes. Yet, when I went for my MRI, the appointment was in my birth name, and the clown didn't think that he had done a thing wrong.

[DMW]

Originally Posted by Nadeest

To be more accurate, many transfolk, both men and women, do not want others to know their birth name or past life personal info.

It is dangerous for both transmen and transwomen to be outed. I am certainly prejudiced on the subject, but I think that in a lot of ways, it is more dangerous for transwomen, out there. Then again, I could certainly be wrong.

I've been outed before, in a hospital that I had never been to before, by the doctor that had sent me there for a test. He had agreed, prior to this, not to use my birth name for anything except for pay purposes. Yet, when I went for my MRI, the appointment was in my birth name, and the clown didn't think that he had done a thing wrong.

So, agree with you on this one. So agree.
HIPPA? anyone HIPPA? That makes me angry actually. You asked him not to include your birth name and he did. Did you confront him? and he just shrugged it off? That could be ignorance or pure evil.

I can remember my last Dr's appt. in a new city. ( a smaller city)
I had decided to be open to my doctor because i needed to get T there.

So, i had a male nurse doing my medical history and askin ?'s etc.. we were hitting it off...and then, i gave him the honor of including him on my being trans for some reason...(it was some ? i had to answer, i forget) and his face got beat red. It was interesting to watch him squirm kinda and to try and wrap his mind around the idea that i was a transman. I had to insist that i was trans. It was eye opening to me. I said to him..."dude, i don't share this personal information with everyone... consider yourself privileged". I said, this is who i am, we exist and you can learn something about trans people and our health needs." And we laughed a bit and talked more but, he got up to leave. So, in comes a female nurse to ask me questions. And another one comes in to ask me more ?'s. So, i check the dude's emotional state out and he was ok and chill and we talked more. If he had been rude or had a serious issue with me... i woulda gone off. I didn't confront him on telling the other nurses because i realized he couldn't deal. He was so caught off guard.

That is interesting to think about now too. He was a new nurse and i don't think he had any idea about what to do. I had some compassion for him. Lucky for him.
So, in comes a female nurse, who did know about trans issues and it was refreshing. She was awesome. Now that i am thinking about it again. I wonder...
Did they send in a female nurse because i am trans or did they send in the female nurse because she was not ignorant about trans health care like the others? One female nurse just acted way too happy to see me. freaked me out. I was just kinda curt with her. Maybe she was a femme...hummm
But, as a transman i am more comfortable with male drs. and nurses i think.
I think it is because i am shy and i would rather talk about personal things that embarrass me with a male.

But, my point, I didn't share with him so that more people would be invited into another (show and tell answer trans questionnaire 101) question and answer session. I was just there to get some bp medication and talk to the dr about getting T in the small city. And i still had to tell my doctor.

If i had asked him not to share and he did...i would have gone off. Wouldn't be the first or second time i have had to stick up for myself in a dr's office.
I hope you never have to deal with that doctor again. And if you do, i hope that you can get a different one that is more respectful.

i do think that transwomen have more hate (is that the right word here?) directed towards them. Transguys have to be careful also. But, it just isn't the same.

[Jesse]

Originally Posted by Nadeest

To be more accurate, many transfolk, both men and women, do not want others to know their birth name or past life personal info.

It is dangerous for both transmen and transwomen to be outed. I am certainly prejudiced on the subject, but I think that in a lot of ways, it is more dangerous for transwomen, out there. Then again, I could certainly be wrong.

I've been outed before, in a hospital that I had never been to before, by the doctor that had sent me there for a test. He had agreed, prior to this, not to use my birth name for anything except for pay purposes. Yet, when I went for my MRI, the appointment was in my birth name, and the clown didn't think that he had done a thing wrong.

Nadeest,

I apologize. It was not my intention to leave transwomen out of the picture, but I certainly did so.

The danger and humiliation factors are there for all transpeople indeed. Not to mention the lack of inherent privacy issues in general.

Again, my apologies to you and the other transwomen,

Jesse

[Nadeest]

Eh, it happens, Jesse. I didn't think about transmen when I first started transitioning, though I had known one before I had even known that I was ts. When I first started transitioning, I was way the heck up north, in a very rural area. There were no other transfolk around there for support, though there were some that were there, in stealth mode, from what I was told.

Transmen didn't really come into my consciousness until I moved to Houston, and started hanging out at the TG Center here. Then I started learning.

[DMW]

Originally Posted by alexri

The newest edition of the psychiatric diagnostic manual will do away with labeling transgender people as "disordered."

http://www.advocate.com/politics/tra...nder-dysphoria

This is interesting and will hopefully help more people...

Don't really wanna start a can of worms. This could be a real catch 22

Don't have a label to your problem sometimes = no help.
I have never really liked the particular word or the label.
But, if i have a disorder with my body not matching my brain since my brain
is fine and you can't get in there to fix my brain cause it isn't broken ...then help me change my body since you have recognized there is an issue.

Ok, trans issue health care coverage for me ...thanks

[DapperButch]

Originally Posted by DMW

Don't really wanna start a can of worms. This could be a real catch 22

Don't have a label to your problem sometimes = no help.
I have never really liked the particular word or the label.
But, if i have a disorder with my body not matching my brain since my brain
is fine and you can't get in there to fix my brain cause it isn't broken ...then help me change my body since you have recognized there is an issue.

Ok, trans issue health care coverage for me ...thanks

I understand what you are saying here. If there is no diagnosis, then an insurance company won't "treat" the illness by paying for surgery.

However, they ARE still keeping a form of gender identity in the DSM V. They are simply calling it "Gender Dysphoria". This should meet the requirments for therapy (if the person wants some). If their insurance company will pay for SRS surgery, this diagnosis will meet the requirments for this, as well.

What is different about calling it Gender Dysphoria is that the APA is saying it is not a "mental illness" per se.

I see all this as them finding the loophole we all wanted (both those in the trans community and those of us who are gender therapists)... the DSM is not saying it is a mental illness, but it is still saying that SRS is the TREATMENT for Gender Dysphoria (therefore, insurance companies should pay for any surgery the person may want).

As a gender therapist, I am pleased with this change. As a gender variant individual, I am happy with it, as well.

[Nadeest]

I am happy with the change in the DSM, as well. Now, we won't be charactized as having a mental illness, when we, in fact, do not have one. Our brains and gender identities simply do not match our bodies. The only possible fix, these days, is to remodel our bodies and our lives.

[Tony]

Been reading through this thread. Very interesting & nice to see the exchange of thoughts & experiences. I definately want to contribute as soon as I have enough time. Just hoping to keep the thread going.