We are looking for people who would be interested in making presentations or planning short program for some upcoming meetings. If you're interested in participating, please get in touch with Karen at (216) 691-HELP (4357) or e-mail Karen at karen_gross@transfamily.org

Employer Challenges Cambridge, Mass Gender Diversity Protection

By Nancy Nangeroni

Sky Publishing, publisher of "Sky & Telescope," (www.skypub.com) has taken legal steps to avoid a public hearing on whether or not their firing of a transgender employee violates a Cambridge law that protects employees from gender-based discrimination. Rather than responding to the discrimination complaint on its merits, Sky has challenged the constitutionality of a Cambridge nondiscrimination law that specifically defines gender to include transgender people. Their action could eliminate protections for gender diversity in Cambridge, and could also influence protections for gender diversity elsewhere.

Please join with us in objecting to Sky Publishing's attempt to deny equal protection to an entire class of persons just so that they can avoid a public hearing on their firing of a former employee. Sky's attack on the nondiscrimination law that ensures all Cambridge residents and employees protection regardless of whether or not they conform to gender stereotypes is unacceptable and wrong.

Join with us in opposing their mean-spirited challenge. Their actions, in addition to threatening the Cambridge law, could have widespread implications for every other city or town that, like Cambridge, seeks to ensure protections for all of its residents and employees. Sky Publishing's transphobic actions cannot be ignored. Please join with us in making your voice heard now, so that transpeople are not excluded from the law when we need it most.

Please take a few minutes to let Sky Publishing know that there is a significant community out here that will not sit quietly by while they undermine our efforts to win greater respect from and protection against those who would deny us our most basic protections under the law.

As always, all communications should be RESPECTFUL and POSITIVE. Angry notes do not soften hearts or open minds. Let them know how their attempt to repeal Cambridge's protection against discrimination on the basis of gender will hurt you and your friends and family, and urge them to choose another course of action in dealing with the complaint that has been filed against them.

Write to: skytel@skypub.com

If you are a subscriber or would like to comment on how their actions will affect your future purchases of their publications, try custserv@skypub.com or write to: Sky Publishing Corporation, 49 Bay State Rd., Cambridge, MA 02138. You can also call them at: 800-253-0245 (ask for Human Resources or the President).

The Cambridge Human Rights Ordinance (Chapter 2.76, Cambridge Municipal Code) says (Section 2.76.110 ):

"Discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religious creed, disability, national origin or ancestry, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, family status, military status or source of income is unlawful in the City of Cambridge. "

Section 2.76.030 Definitions: " 'Gender' means the actual or perceived appearance, expression, or identity of a person with respect to masculinity and femininity. "

Section 2.76.160 City discrimination policy.

A. Any practice that by design or effect discriminates against individuals, because of race, color, sex, age, religious creed, disability, national origin or ancestry, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, family status, military status or source of income is of public concern, as such discrimination creates strife, hostility and unrest, threatens or impairs the rights and privileges of individuals and deprives individuals of the benefits of a free and open society. Discrimination that deprives individuals of equal opportunities is unjust and results in serious injury to the public safety, health and welfare of the City.

B. Accordingly, it is the policy of the City to safeguard the equal opportunities of all individuals in the City in accordance with their abilities, regardless of their race, color, sex, age, religious creed, disability, national origin or ancestry, sexual orientation, gender, marital status, family status, military status or source of income and to prevent discrimination against such individuals in the provision of City services and in employment, housing and real estate, education, credit, bonding, insurance and public accommodations.

C. Further, it is the policy of the City to encourage harmony and mutual respect among its inhabitants and visitors and to reduce tensions and strife caused by discrimination. (Ord. 1016 (part), 1984: prior code Ch. 25 § 9(A))

Notes on the ordinance amendment (arguments made pursuant to its passage) that added gender to the list of protected classes: www.gendertalk.com/legislation/hrcnotes.htm

CONTACT:
Gunner, gunner@butchdykeboy.com
Stacey Montgomery, sheerchaos@aol.com
Nancy Nangeroni, nancy@gendertalk.com

School, Transgender Student Reach Agreement

By The Associated Press

Brockton, Mass. (AP) - May 17, 2001 - The school department has reached an agreement with a 15-year-old transgendered student who sued after school officials refused to allow him to wear girls clothing to school, according to published reports.

The settlement allows the student, known as ''Pat Doe'' in court documents, to wear girls clothing to the Champion Charter School in Brockton next fall.

The student had sued claiming sexual discrimination and freedom of speech violations. The agreement must be approved by a Superior Court judge Friday.

''I think in the end there was a certain realization that the continued litigation wasn't in the student's best interests,'' Brockton Mayor John Yunits told The Enterprise of Brockton.

An attorney for the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which represented Doe, declined comment, saying the agreement was not final.

Last fall, Doe was told not to return to South Junior High if he continued to wear girls clothes. School officials said Doe was disruptive, wearing tight skirts, padded bras and pinching the buttocks of male students.

Attorneys for Doe said if he wasn't allowed to wear girls clothes, his mental health would be harmed. Doe has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder by therapists.

In November, a Superior Court judge upheld an injunction allowing Doe to return to school, but he has been tutored at home.

The Champion Charter School is designed for students who may have left school previously, or need a non-traditional educational setting.

Brockton MA Court Rules In Favor Of Transgender Student

Editor's Note: Below is the original article regarding the "Pat Doe" case, which was also the subject of a recent controversy regarding a Readers Digest's reprint.

GLADD - Boston, October 12, 2000 - A Massachusetts Superior Court in Brockton ruled yesterday that a middle school may not prohibit a transgender student from expressing her gender identity even if that expression does not conform with the sex ascribed to her at birth. In a case brought by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders ("GLAD") on behalf of a 15-year old student who was born male but has a female gender identity (known in court records only as Pat Doe), the court ruled that disciplining a biologically male student for wearing girls' clothing would violate her First Amendment right of free expression and constitute sex discrimination.

According to GLAD Staff Attorney Jennifer Levi who argued the case, "As the first reported decision addressing the rights of a transgender student to express her gender identity in school, it is tremendously important. We know that a large number of transgender students face serious hostility from teachers and administrators who lack a basic understanding about gender identity. This case confirms that a school may not exert its authority over a student simply to enforce stereotyped ideas of how boys and girls should look. Nor can a school's discomfort with the fact that a biologically male student has a female gender identity, justify enforcing a dress code in a discriminatory way."

The case was brought against the Brockton School Department when the school prohibited Pat from attending wearing what the principal considered to be girls' clothing. This exclusion from school followed nearly two years of disciplinary action against Pat for wearing girls' clothing, starting from the time she began to identify as transgender. The term transgender is used to describe people whose gender identity, meaning a person's internal, deeply felt sense of being either male or female, is not consistent with their anatomical sex at birth.

Despite acknowledging that girls who wore the same clothes Pat did were not prevented from attending or otherwise disciplined, the school tried to justify its exclusion of Pat based on other students' discomfort. The court rejected this argument, holding that prohibiting Pat from wearing girls' clothing was akin to "the stifling of plaintiff's selfhood merely because it causes some members of the community discomfort."

The court affirmed that transgender students need the same support and protection for their safety that other students need. It further recognized that "exposing children to diversity at an early age serves the important social goals of increasing their ability to tolerate differences" and teaches "respect for everyone's unique personal experience."

Oregon Community College Builds Separate Shower for Transgender Student

By Jamilah Evelyn, The Chronicle of Higher Education

Eugene, OR - Monday, May 21, 2001 - A transgender student at Lane Community College says that administrators who arranged for a private shower to be built for her are trying to segregate her from other students in her physical-education class. But officials at the Oregon two-year college say they are doing the best they can to accommodate Amy Kathryn May, who is in the process of becoming a woman.

Last week, the college converted a custodial closet near two women's locker rooms into a single shower and changing facility so that Ms. May could have privacy. Ms. May said she approached physical-education instructors at the Eugene, Ore., college early this year, just after she began her physical transformation into a woman. "I told them what I was doing, and I just asked them if they had any concerns and left it open," says Ms. May, 21.

College officials came up with a temporary solution of letting her shower and change in a women's faculty locker room, which has private showers. They made plans to convert the custodial closet and then discuss a long-term solution.

But Ms. May, who currently uses women's bathrooms, says she wants the college to make all of the stalls in the women's locker room private so she can change there. She says she is satisfied with the former custodial closet for now, but still expresses frustration with college administrators, who have failed to respect her "womanhood."

Mary F. Spilde, vice president for instruction and student services, says the college is consulting its lawyer and weighing several options. "To do some kind of major remodeling in the locker rooms will take lots of planning," she says, adding that Ms. May raised the matter only a week before classes started. "Our primary focus was to provide her with access to physical-education courses and to balance that with the rights of our other students as well."

Ms. May says that when she embarked on her gradual transformation into a woman last semester, she sat out of physical-education courses even though she has an injured knee that needs exercise. She has taken previous gym courses at the college but says she never showered and barely changed clothes afterward. "I just don't feel comfortable in men's rooms," she says.

Ms. May, whose transgender status is not covered by the college's antidiscrimination policies, says that she filed an internal complaint against the administration, noting her frustration with negotiations about the showering facility. "The general feeling that I get is that basically [Ms. Spilde] doesn't trust me in the locker room," says Ms. May, who is currently on a waiting list to have her operation. "I don't believe she even sees me as a female."

Ms. Spilde, who will become the college's president in August, says that the college's lawyer has told officials there that they have an "obligation to provide for the privacy of other users" of the locker rooms. She says the college had gotten some complaints about Ms. May's using women's restrooms, but because they have private stalls, the college did not prevent Ms. May from using them.

"This is all uncharted ground for us," Ms. Spilde says, adding that the college was considering revamping the men's and women's locker rooms to create private areas in both. "Transgender students often don't bring these kinds of things up because they have been discriminated against," says Ms. Spilde. "So in one sense, it was fortunate that this student was willing to come forward.

"We've certainly learned some things from this."

Copyright © 2001 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

Claire Skiffington: New Policy Helps City Administrator On Journey To Life As A Woman

By Rachel Gordon, San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer

San Francisco - May 14, 2001 - The death of Ron Skiffington has been slow and deliberate. It started in earnest 11 years ago and is almost complete.

As Ron Skiffington has been dying, Claire Skiffington has been coming alive. "I never felt like I was a man. I always felt like a woman, in some way," Skiffington said.

Skiffington is a transsexual, changing from male to female, and has been active in the controversial push in San Francisco to include sex-change procedures in the health benefits package for city workers.

Despite an outpouring of public reaction -- much of it negative -- the Board of Supervisors gave final approval to the plan last week. Mayor Willie Brown is expected to sign it into law this week.

San Francisco is set to become the only government employer in the nation to offer the benefits. Now, however, officials in Berkeley, San Jose and Santa Cruz are exploring the idea.

A 56-year-old, pearl-wearing administrator with the Department of Public Health, Skiffington is one of 14 openly transgender people employed by the city and the community college and public school districts in San Francisco. The three public payrolls combine for a workforce of 37,000.

Skiffington's gender transformation began, she says, with a stirring feeling in grade school. At the time, Skiffington wasn't armed with the clinical definition of what was going on -- a condition known as gender dysphoria in which a person feels discomfort with his or her birth gender.

"As a child, I sat back and observed the family, the classroom -- and Ron," Skiffington said. "I saw this little boy and never felt it was me."

As a kid, Skiffington couldn't wait until he was home alone so he could sneak into his parents' room and try on his mother's shoes.

As a teenager: "I knew something was going on, but I didn't know how to express it." That led to a feeling of shame and a reputation "of being a dork."

Later, as an adult, Skiffington started cross-dressing on the job as a secretary at AT&T, but in an understated way. "I'd wear Levi's and a nice top, and sandals."

At home, Skiffington would dress in women's clothes, earning the nickname "Miss Skiffington" and later "Aunt Claire" from friends. Then 11 years ago, after more than a year of intensive psychotherapy, Skiffington took the plunge and started hormone treatment that would begin the physical metamorphosis. The pronoun switched from he to she.

It took about a year for doctors to get the hormone "cocktail" right. During the initial period, Skiffington had bouts of stomach cramps, dizziness and sweating. "I wasn't scared. I would look in the mirror and look for differences and wonder what's going to happen next," she recalled.

Slowly, the body hair thinned dramatically, the muscles on the arms and legs recessed, and cleavage emerged. She still has to shave her face, joking that her 5 o'clock shadow is an early riser. Her hair is kept short but well-coiffed. She dresses conservatively, in sensible dresses and comfortable shoes. A string of pearls, single-pearl earrings and a touch of red lipstick complete the look. "I'm not into a lot of makeup or rhinestones," she said. Her voice is neither deep nor high-pitched, but soft.

Backers of the plan to offer sex change benefits for city workers call the move an issue of fairness and civil rights.

But critics say it is an expensive program that caters to a small group at the expense of other health care needs. Some opponents also question the city lending legitimacy to a group that has skirted the edge of societal acceptance.

"It's a violation of every established moral law, and one of the reasons we should be concerned is that San Francisco is making other people pay for it," said Art Croney, executive director of Committee on Moral Concerns, a lobbying group in Sacramento.

Skiffington said the opposition doesn't surprise her. While transsexuals, drag queens, cross-dressers and others pushing the gender boundaries have been around throughout the ages, it is only in the past decade or so that the transgender rights movement has started to gain clout here.

Supervisor Mark Leno, chief sponsor of the San Francisco legislation, said public awareness was one of his goals. "First of all, it will bring access to our health plan for all city workers. But beyond that, because of what we're doing in San Francisco, people across the nation are talking about this. We have helped accelerate, if not initiate, a debate and educational opportunity around the transgender issue."

Eight years ago, Ron became Claire to the world. She named herself after St.Clare, who worked on behalf of the poor and was an admirer of St. Francis -- San Francisco's patron saint.

Around then, Skiffington shed the last piece of Ron's clothing, a teal-turquoise-eggshell plaid sport coat she gave to a friend who was transitioning from female to male. "They're both living fashionably well in Seattle," Skiffington remarked.

Skiffington's favorite hobby, crocheting and knitting, mainly afghans and bedspreads, has been carried over from Ron to Claire. She also collects cookbooks.

Still receiving hormone treatment, she hopes to make the change complete in the next year or two with genital reassignment surgery. It will take two operations. The first involves removal of the testicles. In the second, which she refers to as a "snip and tuck," a vaginal canal will be created out of the penis. "I've convinced myself to get modernized, to have my outdoor plumbing changed to indoor plumbing," said Skiffington, who as Ron dated men but is now asexual.

The average cost of surgery to go from male to female is $37,000 -- about half the cost of female-to-male procedures. If the new city ordinance takes effect in July, as expected, Skiffington's health plan will fund part of the cost. If she picks a doctor in the city's health network, she'll pay 15 percent; an out-of-network doctor will cost her 50 percent.

Skiffington estimated she already has spent $18,000 to $20,000 on her preoperative therapy and hormone treatment.

Born in Oakland to an Irish-Catholic family, Skiffington had shunned her parents and three siblings for years, but now is back in the family fold. Her father is dead, and her mother is slowly accepting her new daughter. "She gets 'Claire,' but she doesn't always get the pronouns right," said Skiffington, who now lives in San Francisco.

When the old family albums are opened, it's as if Ron never existed; all the pictures of him have been removed, at Skiffington's request. It's a decision she now regrets. But it's one of the few regrets she has about her new life. The change, she said, has "given me a chance to stop hiding from myself, to stop beating myself up. I have never, ever been able to be this free and truthful to myself. I am so grateful, and I'm content."

Rochester, NY Council Approves Anti-Bias Law

By Alan Morrell, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

May 16, 2001 - Discrimination in housing, public accommodations, employment and obtaining property is prohibited under legislation passed by City Council last night.

The law prohibits discrimination based on age, race, creed, national origin, gender, disability, marital status or sexual orientation.

The state and federal governments offer legal protections in most aspects, but neither deals with discrimination based on sexual orientation. The city law, which passed 9-to-0, will allow city residents to seek speedy relief through arbitration or by filing civil suits in local courts.

The majority of residents who spoke at last night's council meeting represented the gay/lesbian/ transgender community. Their message: It's about time.

"This legislation ... answers the call to do the right thing," said Robert Gelder, executive director of the Gay Alliance of the Genesee Valley. "When you can't be yourself at work or at your residence, a dangerous wedge is driven between you and the rest of society."

Harry Bronson, a gay activist and lawyer, recounted how he and his partner have been taunted while walking in their city neighborhood. Bronson said he and gay friends have had stones thrown at them, and he said a higher-up in a Buffalo law firm where he used to work said he would lose his job if the partners discovered he was gay. "We need this legislation," Bronson said. "It's the right thing to do, the fair thing to do, the just thing to do."

Other speakers said the law would help businesses by attracting gays, lesbians or transgender people who otherwise might not be here.

Council members said the law was needed because of national and local incidents of intolerance. Tim O. Mains, who sponsored the bill with fellow members Wade Norwood and Council President Lois Giess, added amendments to specifically include the transgender community and to include mention of "compensatory and punitive damages." Those damages would be determined by the courts.

The next step, Mains and others said, will be a campaign to educate the public about the law.

Editor's note: The following two articles were presented as opposing views on the San Jose Mercury News's editorial page. The Mercury News also expresses its own opinion in the final article.

Transsexuality Is Not A Choice, Cover It Is Morally Justified

By Jamie Fenton, editorial in San Jose Mercury News

May 17, 2001 - While the decision of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to offer limited "sex change" benefits to municipal employees may seem strange, covering transgender health-care expenses through insurance is both medically sensible and morally justified.

It is a policy that other governments and private businesses should adopt. Transsexuality, while rare, is not exotic.

Though the causes are not fully understood, between 30,000 and 300,000 people in the United States were born with brains patterned with a deeply ingrained sense of gender identity that is opposite to their bodies. This mismatch can cause an intense, pervasive, discomforting feeling called gender dysphoria.

Most transsexuals realize that something is wrong early in life and attempt desperately to conform to the roles and expectations of their birth sex. We endure ridicule, ostracism, shame and, for many of us, violence.

Eventually, we abandon our facades and begin changing our bodies to match our minds. This process, called transition, is a fully developed and well-understood course of treatment. It involves psychotherapy, the administration of sex hormones, and for some of us, surgical gender reassignment.

Those of us who can afford it also have electrolysis to remove unwanted hair, breast augmentation or removal, plastic surgery to enhance feminine or masculine features, and voice therapy.

Nothing about the transition process is experimental. There is no active scientific controversy about the validity of this diagnosis or the necessity for treatment.

The only reasons this is not covered by most health insurance are ignorance and prejudice. For those who cannot afford treatment, the outlook can be bleak. Gender dysphoria can significantly impair, and left untreated can lead to substance abuse, anti-social behaviors, and suicide.

Gender reassignment surgery has been compared to cosmetic rhinoplasty (“nose job”'). This comparison is misleading and demeaning to both transsexuals and those with facial disfigurements.

There is hardly a person so constantly unhappy before treatment as the transsexual. Make no mistake, gender reassignment saves lives.

There is also an issue of fairness. Transsexual people pay taxes and insurance premiums that go to provide benefits for others. While transsexuality is in no way a choice, most benefit plans cover treatments for the consequences of ill-advised activities like smoking and drug use. Why include these and exclude transsexuals?

Many European countries, several Canadian provinces, IBM, Apple, Lucent, and now San Francisco provide transgender health-care benefits.

It is time for the local governments and private companies of Silicon Valley to do the same.

Jamie Fenton is a software engineer and a member of the newly formed Transgender South Bay group.

City's Health Plan Is Limited And Cannot Cover Every Need

By Tony Hall, editorial in San Jose Mercury News

May 17, 2001 - Supporters of San Francisco's new health plan argue that providing coverage for sex change procedures, and the related psychotherapy and hormone therapy benefits, will be a natural extension of the city's laws that ban discrimination against transgender citizens.

I believe this is fallacious.

By providing these benefits to city employees who elect to begin the six-month process of determining whether they are eligible for the treatment, we would actually be granting special or exclusive treatment to a select group of people, while ignoring other groups who may have a similar need.

Proponents of this plan claim that this procedure is not elective. I, again, strongly disagree. The beneficiaries of the procedure must make the decision that they are not happy with their current gender and elect to undergo the treatment necessary to switch gender.

Our city's health plan has limited financial resources. It would be wonderful if we could cover every type of medical and psychological need, but we can't. We must choose which medical and psychological procedures we can cover.

Consider some of the following levels of coverage currently available in the city's health plan: Cardiac rehabilitation costs are limited to $2,500 and 36 visits over the course of a lifetime. Hearing-aid costs are limited to $1,000 over three years. Acupuncture costs are limited to $1,000 per year. There is no coverage for nutritional education (i.e. educating dependents of city employees about anorexia, bulimia, etc.) There is no coverage for the costs of broken or misplaced prostheses. There is no coverage for the costs involved in correcting learning disabilities.

All health plans involve some sort of discrimination because there are limited financial resources and coverage can not be provided for all needs. I question whether our priorities are misplaced in covering sex change procedures before remedying the above problems in our health plan.

I am not satisfied that a majority of those covered by the city health plan are willing to pay the additional $1.70 per month for these benefits.

Further, this $1.70 figure is based on 35 employees going through with the procedures in one year. The $1.70 figure does not take into account how many dependents (i.e. children or domestic partners) of city employees may elect to undergo the procedures, nor does the figure take into account how many people may try to get a job with the city simply because our health plan covers these procedures. Thus, the $1.70 cost per employee could potentially be much higher.

The city and particularly members of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have more important issues to debate. The health plan ordinance has passed. It is now time to move forward.

Tony Hall is a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

EDITORIAL: The opinion of the Mercury News

May 17, 2001 - Transgender: special case? San Francisco courageously expands health coverage, but a big question is whether other needier employees are shortchanged

At first glance, the plan seems radical, if not bizarre, to people without transgendered friends or family members. Snubbing the status quo, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors extended health benefits to cover sex-change operations for its employees and dependents.

City workers will see their monthly premiums jump by at least $1.70. But the disagreement over the expanded health coverage was less about money than it was about how one defines ``equal treatment'' for all employees.

We applaud the city's show of political and civil courage in deciding that its transgender workers -- who number few -- must be entitled to help for gender identity disorders that are medically diagnosed.

By a 9-2 vote, the supervisors added the insurance coverage along with other items such as infertility treatments, improved prescription drug coverage and even Viagra for employees. Still, sex changes cost a lot and benefit only a few. The measure places a $50,000 lifetime cap on insurance payments for employees who change their sex.

We'd be happier if the supervisors gave more serious discussion to whether, in approving the policy, they might have been shortchanging the medical needs of needier employees. Only 15 of the city's 37,000 employees have identified themselves as transgender people.

Supervisor Tony Hall underscores our concern in his article below.

Still, the decision does have its good points. As Jamie Fenton, a member of the Transgender South Bay group, argues in her accompanying article. ``Transition'' is an important, though largely misunderstood, treatment for gender dysphoria, a condition that can lead to substance abuse, anti-social behaviors and, in some cases, suicide, she notes.

Supervisor Mark Leno, who pushed the measure through the board, said the move was about more than extending health benefits. It was a matter of life vs. death.

"This is not like being displeased with the size and configuration of one's nose and trying to change it,'' Leno said. ``We're talking about something so much more profound, that goes to the core of one's person. No one would enter into this lightly.''

That's true. San Francisco has once again expanded the bounds of inclusiveness by recognizing the needs of a previously ignored group. Now the challenge is to make sure other employees and their families don't feel slighted in their medical coverage.

We Need You In New Orleans

Soulforce Urgent Alert

Anti-homosexual teachings that flow out of 40,000 Southern Baptist churches across America have become the nation's primary source of confusion, suffering, discrimination and even death for 16,000,000 Southern Baptists and for all God's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender children everywhere.

The Annual Meeting of approximately thirteen-thousand Baptist "Messengers" will be held in the Superdome, New Orleans, June 12-13, 2001. Soulforce "mourners" (volunteers) will be there…

• To stand silent vigil on behalf of millions of Americans who are victims of Southern Baptist untruth;
• To distribute materials to the "Messengers" that say clearly that homosexuality is NOT A SICKNESS, NOT A SIN;
• To conduct a Jazz Funeral to grieve for our gay sisters and brothers born into Southern Baptist homes and churches; and
• To block an exit to the Superdome ("No Exit Without Justice") on Wednesday, June 13, in an elegant, nonviolent act of civil disobedience.

WE NEED YOU TO STAND WITH US IN NEW ORLEANS.

At this moment, less than 100 people have registered to join us in this front line struggle for justice. Most of us missed our chance to stand for justice during the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s. Don't miss this opportunity to stand for justice NOW. You don't have to be arrested to participate fully in our Soulforce action.

Airfares to New Orleans are on sale now. We have inexpensive hotel rooms and even private housing to offer. Register (or get more information) at New Orleans Information. Everything you need to know is on line! http://www.soulforce.org/nolaaction.html

Please, especially if you've been a victim of Baptist teachings, you know that this is the ONLY large Protestant denomination that doesn't have anyone working from inside. Our Baptist sisters and brothers need us desperately to take a stand on their behalf. When they see you on television or in the news standing "gay and proud" it will give them hope.

But even more, by standing "gay and proud" your own spirit will be renewed and your life transformed. Join us for their sake AND FOR YOURS.

Mel White, Executive Director, SOULFORCE

PS: If we don't raise up a new generation of activists, we are lost! Old or young, be a part of our civil rights movement. Read Urvashi Vaid's editorial in this week's Advocate "Sick of Being Pacified" if you need a wake up call. Our freedoms are on the line. Southern Baptist teachings and actions about sexual and gender minorities threaten to undermine our freedoms and postpone if not end our struggle for justice. Please, help us take a stand.

I WANT TO SIGN UP NOW! http://www.soulforce.org/app2001.html

Childless Husband Told "You're Really A Woman"

By James Chapman, Science Correspondent, Daily Mail

Britain - May 19, 2001 - A MARRIED man has been told he will never father children after doctors discovered he was genetically a woman.

In what is believed to be a world first, the 29-year-old, who appears male in every way, was found to be 100 per cent genetically female. The husband has normal male anatomy and enjoys a full sex life with his wife. The professional couple have been together for five years. They sought help and underwent a series of tests when the woman had difficulty conceiving.

'As far as we know, this is the first case in the world where this has happened,' said Dr Naim Abusheikha, a fertility consultant who treated the couple at the Bourn Hall Clinic near Cambridge. 'Science is not able to explain it.'

The doctors suspect that the case involves an incalculably rare genetic abnormality, but do not know how and why it happened. The husband, who is not being named, is said to have been left devastated and bewildered by the news. He is thought to be in a state of denial and has refused to have counselling. 'They had been trying for a baby for two to three years and decided to come for infertility treatment,' said Dr Abusheikha, who now works at the Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford.

'They are a very close couple who had met at work and fallen in love and had a perfectly normal life. He is a normal, well-built man with nothing unusual about his appearance.

'We discovered he was not producing sperm, so sent him for tests to see if there might be a genetic reason for that.

'They showed he was genetically entirely female. He had no Y chromosome, which is what makes men male.

'We could not believe it. The specialists said there must be some confusion, so the tests were repeated and the result was the same.

'They were done for a third time, with a different sample, which confirmed it. It was an absolute mystery.'

Babies normally inherit 46 chromosomes - bundles made up of DNA in each cell in the body from each parent, half from the mother and half from the father. The sex chromosomes are called X and Y and a girl inherit its the X chromosome from each I parent, while the boy takes the X from the mother and the smaller Y from the father - which carries the genes for maleness.

There are rare cases of men inheriting X chromosomes from both parents, but they also have fragments from the Y chromosome mixed in which account for the development of a masculine appearance.

There are also hermaphrodites, who have abnormal or ambiguous genitalia. Doctors say that what makes the husband, who is from East Anglia, unique is that he has no physical abnormalities and has no fragments of Y chromosome.

'Throughout the world, there have been six cases reported, but with all of the others there were genitalia problems and other symptoms which the person was aware of,' said Dr Abusheikha who has written a report on the ease for the medical journal Human Reproduction. 'This is the only case where the patient presented only with infertility and had no other problem. The usual symptoms include abnormal genitalia, short stature and pelvic cysts.'

Dr Peter Brinsden, medical director at Bourn Hall and a co-author of the report, said: 'I think anyone who was given this news would be shattered.

'As a team, we thought deeply about whether we should tell him, and the profound consequences of what we told him.

'We were very aware and we did ask him to get counselling and support but he closed in on himself and took it very badly.'

Court Overturns Ruling That Voided Transsexual Marriage

By Anne Lamoy, Kansas City Star

May 12, 2001 - In a far-reaching decision that sets forth new legal criteria for gender identification, the Kansas Court of Appeals ruled Friday that J'Noel Gardiner, who had a sex change operation in 1994, is entitled to a court hearing on whether she should receive a portion of her late husband's $2.5 million estate.

A three-judge panel overturned a Leavenworth County probate judge who declared the 1998 marriage of Marshall and J'Noel Gardiner void because she "was born a male and remains a male for purposes of marriage under Kansas law."

In a 25-page ruling, the appellate court ordered the case sent back to Leavenworth County District Court, saying: "A trial court must consider and decide whether an individual was a male or female at the time the individual's marriage license was issued and the individual was married, not simply what the individual's chromosomes were or were not at the moment of birth."

Marshall Gardiner, who was 85 or 86 when he married J'Noel Gardiner, was a Leavenworth resident. He died without a will in August 1999. Joe Gardiner, his son from a previous marriage, is contesting J'Noel's claim to half of Gardiner's estate. The appellate court ruling said Joe Gardiner and his father were "estranged."

J'Noel Gardiner, who is in her early 40s, is an assistant professor of finance at Park University.

The case has garnered national attention from the American Civil Liberties Union and groups that advocate on behalf of gays, lesbians and transsexuals. "This is a groundbreaking decision," said Anne Coughlin, professor of feminist legal theory at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "It really goes to the heart of personal identity."

The ruling has significant implications for transsexuals throughout the country, said Hector Vargas, state legislative lawyer for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. "It's probably the first time that a court has essentially said that sex reassignment surgery is irrelevant to how a couple lives," Vargas said.

J'Noel Gardiner's attorney, Sanford P. Krigel of Kansas City, said he was pleased at the ruling. Reached by telephone at her office Friday, J'Noel Gardiner refused to discuss the case.

Joe Gardiner could not be reached for comment. His attorney, William M. Modrcin, said his client would have to decide among several options, including appealing to the Kansas Supreme Court, requesting a rehearing before the entire appellate court or returning to Leavenworth County District Court.

From the start, the case has hinged on the issue of whether J'Noel Gardiner was a woman when she married Marshall Gardiner, a former state representative and stockbroker. Under Kansas law, only couples of the opposite sex may marry. Only one state, Vermont, recognizes "civil unions" between couples of the same sex.

The couple met in May 1998 at Park University, where Marshall Gardiner was a contributor and alumnus. In documents from the district court case, J'Noel Gardiner stated that Marshall was told in July 1998 about her prior history as a male. They were married in Oskaloosa, Kan., on Sept. 25, 1998.

The appellate court ruling says that evidence in the court record pointed to a conclusion "that Marshall knew of the transsexual nature of J'Noel, approved, married, and enjoyed a consummated marriage relationship with her."

Both sides agree that J'Noel Gardiner had long suffered from gender identity disorder, believing from before puberty that she was female, even though she had male genitalia. In the early 1990s, she began electrolysis to remove body hair on the face, neck and chest. Court records show that she had been named Jay Ball and had been married to a woman from 1988 to 1993.

Beginning in 1992, she began taking hormones and in 1993 had surgery to change her voice. All the while, the appellate court said, J'Noel was receiving therapy and counseling.

In 1994, after undergoing sex reassignment surgery -- which involved converting the external male genitalia into female genitalia -- she sought and was granted a court order in Wisconsin directing that her birth certificate be amended to state that she was female.

The appellate judges reopened the issue of the validity of the marriage by saying that "we can no longer be permitted to conclude who is male or who is female by the amount of facial hair one has or the size of one's feet."

The ruling lists eight specific factors, gleaned from a 1999 Arizona Law Review article, for the district court to consider when deciding a person's sex. Most of the criteria involve medical conditions that sometimes muddy the distinction between males and females.

In addition to chromosome makeup, the appellate court directed the lower court to consider gender rearing, sexual identity and sexual reassignment surgery, among other factors.

"I'm very surprised the court of appeals adopted the eight-point test," Modrcin said. "Kansas is now the first state that says you can change your sex for the purpose of marriage."

Transsexuals Sue Toys R Us

By Denise Buffa, NY Post

May 17, 2001 -- Three transsexuals have sued Toys "R" Us, claiming they were threatened by bat-wielding workers while shopping for life-size Barbie Dolls last Christmas at the Bensonhurst store.

The three men-turned-women say they went to the Bay Parkway store Dec. 20 when a mob of workers called them "fags," "faggots," "homos," and "disgusting transvestites," and threatened to attack them with bats.

"I was scared for my life," said Donna McGrath, a 27-year-old blond homemaker who lives with her husband in Brooklyn's Midwood section. McGrath and her friends - Tanya Jinks, 37, of Bensonhurst, a former law clerk who is now a dancer, and Tara Lopez, 25, of Midwood, who works in a nightclub - filed a suit Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court asking for at least $100,000 each in damages for discrimination.

"The simple question that this case presents is whether or not the defendants are Toys 'R' Us or Bigots 'R' Us," their Manhattan lawyer, Thomas Shanahan, told The Post.

Toy "R" Us did not return phone calls, but in a letter to the complaining customers, the firm said, in part, that an internal investigation found "no fault on our part . . . As we are sure you can understand, the fact that an incident occurred on our premises does not automatically make us responsible."

The Dec. 20 incident marked the second time the transsexual trio had visited the Toys "R" Us Bensonhurst store.

The first time they went in was Dec. 13, when they say a woman working there spotted them. Before they knew it, the three say more than half a dozen workers were calling them names.

When the three complained to the manager, they say he warned the workers and offered them a 50 percent discount, which they accepted. The three say they felt safe enough to return to the store Dec. 20. But the three said things were worse on that visit. Workers followed them and verbally abused them, armed with bats, they say.

Copyright 2001 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

University of Utah Professor Announces His Transition to Female

By Kirsten Stewart, Salt Lake Tribune

May 15, 2001 - For more than 30 years, William Nash has been known by friends and colleagues as "Bill."

But as of Wednesday, the University of Utah geology professor, regarded nationally as an expert in volcanic rock chemistry, will go by "Barbara" and "transition to living full time as a woman."

"I am transgendered, which means . . . although I have always been identified as and perceived to be male, my sense of self has always been female," Nash wrote in an e-mailed note May 8 to colleagues and friends announcing her life transition.

Though news of Nash's gender reassignment -- the first case in U.history -- has caught many on campus by surprise, faculty and administrators expressed widespread support Monday for what they consider to be a courageous decision. "My feeling is that gender identity, while certainly a very important aspect of who a person is, should not be a concern for how a person performs as an educator," said John Bowman, who has taught geology at the U. for 16 years. "Sure, it will take a little time for all of us to get used to. But it shouldn't be a major concern."

David Chapman, dean of the U.'s graduate school, said, "Officially and legally she is now Barbara Nash." But she will also continue to be "Dr.Nash" and "professor." "We are very supportive of her. She has been a terrific faculty member, an award-winning teacher and chair of the department," Chapman said. "There is genuine respect for her as a person and as a scientist."

The university, which has a policy against discrimination on the basis of gender, is briefing graduate students who work closely with Nash about her new identity, said Chapman. "We expect the students to be modern, mature people and deal with this like any other issue in life. We don't anticipate any problems. We're in the year 2001," he said.

Nash did not respond Monday to phone calls from The Salt Lake Tribune. Chapman said the professor wanted to keep her transition as low-key as possible. But in her letter, Nash made no bones about going public with "personal identity" issues and encouraged anyone with questions to contact her. Nash's home page on the U.'s Web site had already been updated to reflect her new identity as of Monday.

Nash, who was previously married and has children, said in her e-mail that she has been undergoing hormonal therapy and "living as a woman in [her] private life" for "the past several years." "I realize this comes as quite a shock for many of you," she wrote. "As my 11-year-old niece said upon learning that her Uncle Bill was becoming Aunt Barbara, 'Wow, this doesn't happen every day.' "

U. geology professor Thure Cerling said, "She has a great sense of humor."

Nash's sense of humor may come in handy. Except for the Western Transsexual Support Network, there are few resources available in Utah for transgendered individuals. "We know there are about 200 transsexuals in Utah," said Paula Woolf, director of the Utah Gay and Lesbian Community Center. "But we're sure there are more."

Eli Coleman, president of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association in Minnesota, said transgendered describes myriad individuals who cross or transcend socially defined categories of male and female. What now is called gender identity disorder is a documented condition affecting about one in 12,000 males and one in 30,000 females, said Coleman. "It is a condition that causes emotional and psychological distress and often interferes with social and interpersonal functioning," Coleman said.

Treatment, which includes surgery, hormonal therapy and psychological therapy, is left to the individual. But, Coleman said, "We have a lot of evidence that people who do make the change, either from a male to female or female to male, are able to live much healthier, productive lives."

Many who seek gender re-assignment choose to start new lives, move to different locations or change careers.

But for a tenured faculty member with a family, that's not really an option, said Olivia Jensen, a geophysicist at McGill University in Quebec, Canada. Formerly known as Oliver, Jensen also made the transition from male to female 12 years ago. Also formerly married and the father of two children, she said she has struggled with gender identity for as long as she can remember, but repressed it. "There is a process, a very clear process a transgendered person goes through. But there's an eventuality to it. . . . There's no way to continually depress it. You can live in the shame of your desires, but it's much easier to live 'out,' even in Salt Lake City," she said.

Other prominent scholars who have transitioned from male to female include Deirdre McCloskey, a renowned economist at the University of Iowa and author of Crossing: A Memoir; Lynn Conway, a computer science professor at the University of Michigan; and Joan Roughgarden, a mathematical ecologist at Stanford University.

Jensen, who knows Nash, said Nash was lucky to have received support from her university's administration. Another faculty member at McGill was fired for going public with her new identity, said Jensen.

The only hurdle Jensen said she faced was the issue of which restroom to use. "What I did was take to lunch all the women in my building, introduce myself to them and promise them that I would only use a particular bathroom, so, if they were uncomfortable with it, they could avoid that bathroom. They found it quite acceptable."

Jensen, who has "no regrets" about her transition, jokes about such things now, but says the process isn't easy.

In Nash's own words: "Changing gender is not something one undertakes unless it is absolutely necessary for one's well-being. "I imagine that my transition will be uncomfortable for some of you, and I genuinely regret any discomfort I might cause you," Nash said in her e-mail. "I can only say that my decision has not been entered into lightly, and what I am doing is not intended to cause anyone distress."

© 2001, The Salt Lake Tribune

Cobb County, GA To Train Staff On Trans Issues

By Penny Weaver, Southern Voice

Marietta, Ga - May 10, 2001.- Despite Cobb County's reputation for hostility to gays, the local jail staff is being prepped to handle the special needs of transgendered prisoners.

It's training that just makes sense, said Cobb County Detention Center Director Lewis Alder.

"It's an issue of human dignity," Alder said. "We have to train and prepare our staff to manage individuals without allowing any personal perspectives. The best way to deal with any issue. is with education." Alder has agreed to include transgender issues in upcoming training sessions for all Cobb jail staff members. The training is in unison with the expansion of the mental health resources at the facility, Alder said.

"What we're trying to do is educate our staff and our management," he said. "We provide a multitude of training to our staff on an in-service basis [and now] we're going to be refining our efforts."

Monica Helms, director of the statewide transgender advocacy group TransAction, said she is delighted at the move by Cobb officials. "This could have long-reaching effects," Helms said. "At least it appears that Cobb County is very open minded about wanting to understand special needs prisoners in the detention center, and not just transgenders. They want to be able to take care of these individuals."

The training for officers that includes addressing trans issues likely will begin this summer. "Within a month to two months, we're going to be going down to the Cobb County Detention Center and doing official training to the detention center officers on transsexual/transgender [needs]," Helms said.

The issue came up after the plight of a transgendered prisoner at the jail came to Helms' attention. The person was a biological male in the process of becoming a female. She told Helms she is 24 and has been on hormones since she was 15 to further the change. Arrested on a forgery charge, she was put in solitary confinement after officers discovered she was a biological male.

"When I saw her [I thought] this person is definitely very feminine and definitely does not need to be in with the rest of the [male] population. This person would definitely be a target," Helms said. "She was afraid; she was shaking like a child."

In addressing the inmate's needs, Helms opened a discussion with Alder regarding special issues for transgendered inmates, including hormone injections and the necessity of the proper undergarments if a male-to-female trans person has silicone breast injections.

The inmate was released from the Cobb jail before all of her needs were addressed, but the dialogue had begun, Helms said.

"I was talking to Lou about this and I said, 'You know, you're going to come across some others later on and you're going to have some questions,'" Helms said. She suggested that TransAction could help, and Alder agreed.

"It makes perfect sense to me to bring in an advocate group or one that is intimately familiar with the subject material," Alder said.

Helms is unsure who may do the actual training, but she is excited about the opportunity. "I see this as just another positive openness of how people are starting to see individuals in our situation, as in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community," Helms said. "Every little step that we make in the positive direction is a step that is going to help others in the future. We're basically in the ground floor of helping those future generations in Georgia live a full and productive life."

The Cobb jail processes about 30,000 prisoners each year, routinely housing about 2,000 inmates at any one time, according to Alder. The facility does not track the numbers of trans prisoners, Adler said.

"These are issues that we take don't take lightly," Alder said.

In 1993, Cobb County commissioners passed a resolution condemning the gay "lifestyle" as incompatible with "community standards." Olympic organizers eventually pulled the volleyball preliminaries out of Cobb over the measure.

Dr. Seuss On English

We'll begin with a box and the plural is boxes; but the plural of ox should be oxen not oxes.
Then one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice; yet the plural of house is houses, not hise.
If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called a beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those, yet hat in the plural would never be hose. And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.
So English, I fancy you will agree, is the craziest language you ever did see.

Transgender Splendor

Book Review By Andrea Sachs, Time Magazine

Time - May 11, 2001 - They don¹t make transsexuals like they used to. Aleshia Brevard (born Alfred Brevard) joined a transgender support group, thinking it would be helpful. But Brevard underwent her own sex-change operation back in 1962, when only a few people had undergone the then-gaspably painful surgery. Contemporary transsexual America is a different story. "Maybe there¹s just a generation gap," muses Brevard, 63, the author of "The Woman I Was Not Born To Be" (Temple). "Where I felt it important to learn about makeup and walking and sitting and talking, none of that was really important [to the group]. The attitude very much seemed to be, people need to accept us as we are. And I have difficulty with that, because I¹m from another school entirely. Perhaps this is old hat, but I did feel, and do feel, that I was joining a sorority, and that I needed therefore to understand the history and the rules and what was expected of women in general. There is a political movement that has totally left me in the dust."

Brevard tells the story of her fabulous life, including her childhood as a feminine boy, her pre-surgery years as a 20-year-old drag queen at San Francisco¹s world-famous nightclub Finocchio¹s, and her much-married (three times) adulthood. And of course, she tells the story of her $2,500 operation. Looking back to the early years, Brevard says "The transsexuals that I met at that time and there were just a handful were very feminine. They all wanted the same thing. We were misguided, but we wanted to get married and live this very normal heterosexual life. Only after I got there did I realize..." Brevard laughs. She has no plans to walk down the aisle anytime soon. "Never again! They¹d have to hit me in the head and most have. I¹m not interested at all. I don¹t even date." Brevard¹s life is a great story, a spellbinding documentary waiting to happen. Filmmakers, send us a message and we¹ll hook you up.

© 2001 Time Inc. All rights reserved.

Gene Duplicate Causes Sexual Ambiguity

By Kate Wong, Scientific American

May 02, 2001 - In one out of every 3,000 births, the physician cannot tell the new parents what some have waited to hear -- namely, whether they have had a boy or a girl. But the results of a study described in the May issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics may offer new hope to parents whose infants are born sexually ambiguous. According to the report, researchers have determined that a second copy of a sex determination gene known as WNT-4 can change an embryo from male to female, which often results in ambiguous genitalia. The finding could help doctors more accurately and quickly identify an externally ambiguous baby’s gender.

Geneticist Eric Vilain of the University of California at Los Angeles and his colleagues identified WNT-4 as one of several genes that determine sex. Whereas most genetic defects stem from the absence or mutation of a gene, genital defects arise when WNT-4 appears twice on the chromosome. WNT-4, it seems, "influences the sex determination pathway at each step of the way," Vilain notes. "We discovered that when the amount of the gene fluctuates even slightly at any stage in the genetic blueprint, it changes the embryo from male to female."

The WNT-4 study results will enable researchers to use genetic testing to help identify the causes of genital ambiguity. Moreover, scientists might one day even be able to treat a defective embryo in utero. "Our findings suggest that clinicians could identify the WNT-4 duplication prenatally," Vilain remarks. "If this proves true, in the future we may be able to correct the defect in the womb and restore the embryo to its original male status. This may repair the genital malformations before the child is born."

Leaders Respond to Anti-Gay Reparative Therapy

April 24, 2001 - A national group of religious leaders today responded to the latest anti-gay "Love Won Out" conference, which was held this past weekend in Philadelphia.

The conference is part of a series of events held around the nation sponsored by Focus on the Family, a conservative religious organization.

The events are aimed at convincing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) people, as well as their clergy, family and friends, that sexuality can and should be changed through reparative therapy and a conversion to Christianity.

The National Religious Leadership Roundtable, which represents leaders from 40 faith-based traditions, denounced the anti-GLBT message being promoted by Focus on the Family. The Roundtable is convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and was founded with Equal Partners in Faith.

"These discredited attempts to change sexual orientation are really only suppressing behavior, not changing the natural attractions that are in a persons heart," said Rev. Bob Gibeling, program executive of Lutherans Concerned and spokesman for the Roundtable. "Any ministry that uses fear, guilt and shame to try to change someone's sexual orientation is not only unethical, but is also putting themselves and their ministry in legal jeopardy because of the professional medical associations clear stand against it."

"Many individuals in houses of worship, denominations, and religiously affiliated organizations throughout the United States, believe that gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals do not need to be repaired or saved from their sexual orientation or gender identity," the Roundtable said in a statement. "On the basis of medical opinion and our various religious beliefs, personal testimonies and first hand experience, we believe that reparative therapy is not appropriate for gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals. The effects such practices have on the majority of people range from useless to extremely harmful, and may be a contributing factor to self-destructive behavior and many suicide attempts by GLBT individuals."

According to the American Psychological Association (APA) statement on homosexuality which was released in July, 1994, "The research on homosexuality is very clear. Homosexuality is neither mental illness nor moral depravity. It is simply the way a minority of our population expresses human love and sexuality. Research findings suggest that efforts to repair homosexuals are nothing more than social prejudice garbed in psychological accouterments."

The assessment of the American Psychological Association is also held by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Medical Association. Yet, Focus on the Family continues to advance the harmful and demeaning message at their conferences that GLBT people need "treatment."

Despite repudiation from virtually the entire psychological and medical community, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi, a speaker at the conferences and president of the National Association for the Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), tells parents to tell their kids that "homosexuality is really a psychological problem and that many of them, if they really work hard at it, can overcome their homosexuality, get married and have families. This is basically what we want to teach our kids."

The National Religious Leadership Roundtable considers that ex-gay testimonies featured at the "Love One Out" conferences are "based not only on the misguided belief that everyone should be heterosexual, but also that everyone should belong to the same narrow religious view." These conferences deny the reality that a broad array of religious traditions throughout time and across the world embrace GLBT people and celebrate their unique sexuality as a divine gift.

The National Religious Leadership Roundtable members are leaders of over 40 faith-based organizations including Muslim, Hindu, Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Mormon, Black church, and other religious and spiritual traditions. Together they work in partnership with other justice-seeking groups to: amplify the voice of pro-GLBT faith organizations in public discourse; promote understanding of and respect for GLBT people within society at large and in communities of faith; promote understanding and respect within GLBT communities for a variety of faith paths and for religious liberty; achieve commonly held goals that promote equality, spirituality and justice. It is convened by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and founded with Equal Partners in Faith. For more information, visit http://www.ngltf.org/pi/nrlr.

Participants in the National Religious Leadership Roundtable include, in alphabetical order, Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons, Affirmation: United Methodists, Al-Fatiha Foundation, American Friends Service Committee, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, Bretheren Mennonite Council, Christian Lesbians OUT, Christians for Justice Action, Dignity/USA, Disciples Justice Action Network, Ecumenical Catholic Church, Equal Partners in Faith, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Fellowship Tabernacle, Gay, Lesbian and Affirming Disciples, Human Rights Campaign, Inner Light Unity Fellowship Church, Integrity, The Interfaith Alliance, The Interfaith Working Group, Interweave Continental.

Other participants, continuing in alphabetical order, include Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, Kashi Ashram, Lutherans Concerned/North America, Methodist Federation for Social Action, More Light Presbyterians, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, New Ways Ministry, People For the American Way, Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays, Q Spirit, Reconciling Congregations of the United Methodist Church, Reconstructionist Jewish Federation, Sacramento Grove of the Oak, SDA Kinship International, Soulforce, Inc., That All May Freely Serve, Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, Unitarian Universalist Association, UCCG, Woman Vision, Women's Alliance for Theology Ethics and Ritual, and the World Congress of GLB Jewish Organizations.

Founded in 1973, NGLTF works to eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people at the local, state and national level. As part of a broader social justice movement for freedom, justice and equality, NGLTF is creating a world that respects and celebrates the diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully participate in society.

Email Facts Of Life

1. Big companies don't do business via chain letter. Bill Gates is not giving you $1000, and Disney is not giving you a free vacation. There is no baby food company issuing class-action checks. You can relax; there is no need to pass it on "just in case it's true." Furthermore, just because someone said in the message, four generations back, that "we checked it out and it's legit," does not actually make it true.

2. There is no kidney theft ring in New Orleans. No one is waking up in a bathtub full of ice, even if a friend of a friend swears it happened to their cousin. If you are insistent on believing the kidney-theft ring stories, please see: http://urbanlegends.tqn.com/library/weekly/aa062997.htm And I quote: "The National Kidney Foundation has repeatedly issued requests for actual victims of organ thieves to come forward and tell their stories. None have. That's "none," as in "ZERO." Not even your friend's cousin.

3. Neiman Marcus doesn't really sell a $200 cookie recipe. And even if they do, we all have it. And even if you don't, you can get a copy at: http://www.bl.net/forwards/cookie.html Then, if you make the recipe, decide the cookies are that awesome, feel free to pass the recipe on. (But I hear they stink.)

4. We all know all 500 ways to drive your roommates crazy, irritate co-workers, gross-out bathroom stall neighbors, and creep out people on an elevator. We also know exactly how many engineers, college students, Usenet posters, and people from each and every world ethnicity it takes to change a light bulb.

5. Even if the latest NASA rocket disaster(s) DID contain plutonium that went to particulate over the eastern seaboard, do you REALLY think this information would reach the public via an AOL chain-letter?

6. There is no "Good Times" virus. In fact, you should never, ever, ever forward any email containing any virus warning unless you first confirm it at an actual site of an actual company that actually deals with virii. Try: http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html And even then, don't forward it. We don't care.

7. If your CC: list is regularly longer than the actual content of your message, you're probably going to be punished eternally. (Ever heard of BCC:?)

8. If you're using Outlook, IE, or Netscape to write email, turn off "HTML encoding." Those of us on Unix shells can't read it, and don't care enough to save the attachment and then view it with a web browser, since you're probably forwarding us a copy of the Neiman-Marcus Cookie Recipe anyway.

9. If you still absolutely MUST forward that 10th-generation message from a friend, at least have the decency to trim the eight miles of headers showing everyone else who's received it over the last 6 months. It sure wouldn't hurt to get rid of all the ">" that begin each line. Besides, if it has gone around that many times, we've probably already seen it.

10. Craig Shergold in England is not dying of cancer or anything else at this time and would like everyone to stop sending him their business cards. He apparently is also no longer a "little boy" either.

Rhode Island House Extends Civil Rights To Transgendered

By Ariel Sabar, Providence Journal

Providence -- A divided House of Representatives voted last night to extend civil-rights protections to transsexuals and cross-dressers, a measure that would make Rhode Island one of three states to bar such discrimination.

The bill would prohibit schools, banks, employers, and other non-religious institutions from bias on the basis of "gender identity and expression," a category that would join current protections for race, religion, sex, nationality, age, disability, and sexual orientation. "This bill would protect ... the man who wears women's clothes on weekends to go to parties, it would protect individuals going through sex-change operations from losing a job or having to lie about it," the bill's sponsor, Edith H. Ajello, a Providence Democrat, said on the House floor . The 46-to-41 vote split both Democrats and Republicans.

Critics skewered the bill as unnecessary because of the state's landmark 1995 law securing the civil rights of gays and lesbians. But supporters countered that most people who cross-dress or undergo sex-change operations are heterosexual. And many, they said, have lost jobs and apartments or suffered other discrimination because their sexual identity differs from the physical traits with which they were born.

The Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights, the state's enforcer of antidiscrimination laws, said in a letter to Ajello this week that it has had to turn away "a number" of complaints from "transgendered individuals" because of the lack of such a law.

The word "transgendered" is used by advocates to refer to transsexuals, cross-dressers, and others whose appearance or behavior does not fit masculine or feminine stereotypes. The bill is broadly worded, protecting anyone whose "gender-related expression is different from that traditionally associated with the person's sex at birth."

The measure is likely to meet a chillier reception in the Senate, which has taken on a more conservative cast since the election last year of Sen. William V. Irons as majority leader.

If it becomes law, Rhode Island would join two states -- Minnesota and Connecticut -- and several cities with such measures, including Seattle, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Cambridge, Mass.

The provision was part of the state's original 1995 gay-civil-rights bill. But it was dropped to gain a winning margin for the broader bill, which advocates had sought for 11 years.

Kate Monteiro, the president of the Rhode Island Alliance for Gay & Lesbian Civil Rights, said the group waited six years to revive the measure because of lasting rancor over its failure in 1995. She said her group represents transgendered people, as well as gays, lesbians and bisexuals. "There was a great deal of pain in the community from the fact that we were unable to get this part of it passed," she said last night in an interview. "There was need for our community to heal."

She said that the political climate has shifted markedly since 1995: Several House opponents of the gay-civil-rights bill backed yesterday's measure.

House Minority Leader Robert A. Watson said he opposed the bill yesterday in part because of what he called "logistical complications."

"Could boys say they feel more comfortable in the Girl Scouts?" he said after the vote. "Is the Miss Rhode Island Pageant going to see competition between men or women?"

Another opponent, Timothy A. Williamson, a West Warwick Democrat, said an employer has the right to assume that the man who applied for a job one day will not show up as a woman the next. He likened the alternative to a kind of employee fraud. "Let the buyer beware," he said.

But social activists call those examples fanciful, saying that Rhode Island's several thousand transgendered people are not lining up for state-sponsored beauty contests or trying to finagle their way into a Brownie troop.

Many, they say, have lived for years in fear of discovery. Monteiro said that one transgendered board member of her group leaves home as a woman, stops on the way to work to change into men's clothing, and then dons women's wear on her way back home. "This is one of the most stigmatized group of individuals," she said of people born with the physical characteristics of one sex but who identify "in their soul" with the other.

She added that nothing in the measure would prohibit employers from enforcing a dress code, so long as that dress code didn't make distinctions between transgendered people and everyone else.

Gwendolyn A. Spencer, 49, a government worker from Portsmouth, adopted her female name just eight years ago and in 1998 started going to work dressed as a woman. She says discrimination is rampant. Just a few years ago, she believes a landlord unfairly turned her down for an apartment. "Without the bill, people can still be fired from their jobs, kicked out of homes, denied employment," Spencer said last night in a telephone interview. "Transgendered people don't have any civil rights without this bill."

The bill would enable victims of discrimination to file complaints with the state Commission for Human Rights, which can impose fines and penalties and in some cases grant awards. The commission is also a first stop for discrimination lawsuits on their way to Superior Court.

Copyright © 2001 The Providence Journal Company

Canadian Support Building For Same Sex Marriage

By Tom Arnold, National Post

May 10, 20001 - A majority of Canadians believe gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry and the number of Canadians approving of homosexuality has doubled in the past five years, according to a poll.

The opinion survey, conducted by the Environics Research Group between April 5 and 24, found that 55% of Canadians strongly (29%) or somewhat (26%) support marriage between same-sex couples. Four in 10 Canadians strongly (30%) or somewhat (11%) oppose it. Four per cent have no opinion.

"It is a significant shift," said John Fisher, executive director of Equality for Gays and Lesbians Everywhere. "To get a majority support for equal marriage rights for same-sex couples at a time when people know it is becoming an increasingly real possibility I think indicates that Canadians are generally comfortable with the idea that any couple, same sex or opposite sex, should be able to decide for themselves whether to marry."

Dr. Mark Genuis, founder of the Calgary-based National Foundation for Family Research and Education, said a national debate should be held on the definition of marriage.

"What is the point of marriage in Canada, at its core?" Dr. Genuis asked. "Marriage has traditionally been between a man and a woman for a specific purpose, to raise the next generation of society. One may want to say that's just an outdated view, but it's worthwhile to ask that question."

If such a debate were held, Dr. Genuis said, a majority of Canadians would be against same-sex marriage. He said such unions would not be in the best interest of children. Among those aged 18-29, 73% back gay weddings. Among respondents over 60, support drops to 35%.

The survey also found that 21% of Canadians strongly approve of homosexuality and 23% somewhat approve. That 44% approval is a 10-point increase from an approval level of 34% in 1999 and a 22-point increase from the 22% who said they approved of homosexuality in 1996.

Just over one-third of Canadians, or 37%, said they strongly (24%) or somewhat (13%) disapproved of homosexuality. That is a three-point increase since a 1999 poll, but an 11-point drop from a 48% disapproval rate recorded in March, 1996.

Sixteen per cent said they neither approved nor disapproved of homosexuality.

"To double in the last five years -- it is very rare that we ever see such a drastic shift of public opinion on a kind of 'values' question," said Derek Leebosh, a senior associate with the Environics group. "This is not 'How are you going to vote in the next election?' This is a gut feeling. When you say you approve of homosexuality, you're essentially saying it's good to be gay or lesbian."

Approval is highest among women, younger people, those with higher incomes and those with post-secondary educations, as well as among Quebecers.

Disapproval is highest among men, those over the age of 60, those with low levels of education and residents of Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Mr. Leebosh cited a number of reasons for the change in attitude about homosexuality: the AIDS epidemic, a gap among generations, a growing trend toward greater openness, equity and tolerance, increased media coverage of gay issues, strong public support for homosexuals from former U.S. president Bill Clinton, more celebrities emerging from the closet, as well as a host of political and legal changes in the area.

Support for gay marriage is stronger in Quebec (69%) and British Columbia (60%). Support is weakest in Saskatchewan and Alberta (each 43%). In Ontario, support is just below the national average at 50%.

"What this is telling us is that for a long time there was this idea that somehow marriage was the final taboo for gays and lesbians -- that the public would never go along with the idea of same-sex couples marrying because marriage has all the symbolism to it," Mr. Leebosh said. "But it is obviously not true."

The survey of 2,035 adult Canadians is considered accurate within 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

© 2001 National Post Online
National Post Online is a Hollinger / CanWest Publication.

The following corporations deserve your support for their commitments to the GBLT community.

AT&T
American Airlines
American Express
Anheuser Busch
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream
Coors Beer
Disney Corporation
IBM
Kodak
Levi Strauss
Miller Beer
NAYA Spring Water
Neiman Marcus
Progressive Insurance
Starbucks Coffee
Subaru
Toyota

SSAFE News

SSAFE Speaker Training

This is the training for those interested in either our speakers Bureau or SSAFE presentations. Speaker's Bureau topics are usually about awareness of general LGBT issues. These range from "Homo 101" to specific topics like marriage, hate crimes, parenting, HIV/AIDS and aging. SSAFE presentations focus on GLBT issues.

To register, please call The Center at 216-651-GLBT (5428) or TransFamily at 216-691-HELP(4357). There is no charge, but reservations are needed, so please call by. Please help SSAFE and TransFamily to be successful in this join endeavor with The Center and GLSEN! !

SSAFE and TransFamily

SSAFE Coalition has voted to accept TransFamily as one of the collaborative groups. Our name will now appear on all SSAFE brochures along with GLSEN, PFLAG, and Gay Lesbian Center. We need many of you to volunteer to help with their projects. Please call the center (216-522-1999) and Judy Maruszan, identify yourself as a member of TransFamily, and ask what you can do to help. Their biggest project is the annual fund raiser, which is held in either March or April (at the Cleveland International Film Festival). Let's have many of our members available to help with the project. In the fall, there will be a need for many of our members to speak at area schools. Please let the center know if you will be available.

Trans information is being required more often at some of the SSAFE seminars. It is really important to have a transperson represented at some of these programs. Please help schools better understand how to help trans youth and take part in these programs!

Call The Center for the location and date for the next SSAFE meeting. And, for more information on any of the above events, please contact The Center at 216-522-1999.

Community Calendar

Courtesy of The Center and PFLAG Cleveland

June

June 7 TransFamily Of Cleveland, meeting at our usual location, 6:30 pm

June 12 PFLAG - Cleveland Monthly Meeting, 7:30 p.m., Trinity Cathedral, 22nd and Euclid, Downtown Cleveland 216-281-5554

June 16 Cleveland Pride Parade and Festival

June 17 Pride Interfaith Service 3pm @ Trinity Cathedral E. 22nd and Euclid

June 21 PFLAG-Akron Monthly Support Group Meeting, 7:00 p.m. 671 Canton Rd., Akron (Route 91 at Albrecht Ave) 330-342-5825

June 23 Columbus Pride Parade and Festival

June 23 North Coast Men's Chorus "Our Time" Waetjen Auditorium 2001 Euclid Ave. at E. 21 st Street on the campus of CSU. Tickets are $12 in advance; $15 at the door. Tickets can be ordered at tickets.com or by calling 1-800-766-6048

July

July 5 TransFamily Of Cleveland, meeting at our usual location, 6:30 pm

July 11 - 15 Ninth Annual SPICE Conference Tri-Ess S.P.I.C.E. Conference, Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland

July 15 The Center's Garden Party! Save the date!

July 22 Dancing in the Streets

August

August 2 TransFamily Of Cleveland, meeting at our usual location, 6:30 pm

August 26 NOCI Picnic

September

September 6 TransFamily Of Cleveland, meeting at our usual location, 6:30 pm

September 8 Ohio Lesbian Festival

September 14-16 Stonewall Democratic National Conference

September 16 Cleveland AIDS Walk

October

October 4 TransFamily Of Cleveland, meeting at our usual location, 6:30 pm

November

November 1 TransFamily Of Cleveland, meeting at our usual location, 6:30 pm

November 7-11 Creating Change Conference National Gay and Lesbian Task Force @ Hyatt Regency in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Conference schedule and to register at www.creatingchange.org

December

December 6 TransFamily Of Cleveland, meeting at our usual location, 6:30 pm

Presenters/Speakers Wanted for Illinois Youth Pride 2000

Rainbow Youth Outreach is looking for presenters / speakers who are willing to donate their skills, ideas and passion to this summer's Illinois Youth Pride event. We surveyed LGBT youth groups across Illinois and intersex and transgender issues were topics that topped their interest lists over and over. We are looking for excellent keynote speakers, panel participants and discussion moderators. If you or someone else representing your organization would be interested in talking with the LGBT youth of Illinois please contact us as soon as possible.

Event Details:

Illinois Youth Pride 2000: True Colors June 11th at Jubilee State Historic Site Kickapoo, IL

An opportunity for GLBT youth to celebrate, network and socialize, including: speakers, discussion groups, games, art, pride merchandise, food and much more!

Early Registration - $7 for group members/youth, $12 for adult volunteers.
Day of registration - $10 for group members/youth, $15 for all others.
Registration begins at 10:30am Opening ceremonies at noon.
Dance with DJ at 6:30pm

Sponsored by Rainbow Youth Outreach Peoria, IL To pre-register or for more information contact Amy Jo: rainbowyo@yahoo.com 309-673-7954

Young, Loud & Proud - July 13-15 2001 - San Francisco

We at LYRIC are thrilled to announce that the sixth annual Young, Loud, and Proud (YLP) youth leadership conference for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth 25 & under will be held in San Francisco, California over the weekend of July 13th-15th, 2001.

The YLP conference is organized and produced entirely by youth and is FREE for all youth participants. We are expecting hundreds of young people from all over the world to attend. YLP is an exciting opportunity for queer youth from across the globe to come together to exchange ideas. Through the unification of our diverse abilities and talents YLP provides queer youth with the opportunity to find strength in numbers despite adversity and empower each other.

YLP¹s workshops and caucuses present rich resources and tools for queer youth to become leaders and activists. The workshops serve to educate and provide a space for dialogue on topics ranging from Communication and Empowerment to Gay/Straight Alliances 101 to Anti-Racism. The caucuses work to break down isolation and provide a chance for young people to connect with others who identify in similar ways.

This year YLP will furnish an all-new adult track for service providers, parents, and teachers that will include workshops on topics like LGBTQ youth/adult partnership, youth development, and an adult ally caucus. Please note that these will be the only workshops permitted for people over 25 and there is a fee of $50 per person.

For more information, to register, or to facilitate a workshop or caucus please visit our website at www.lyric.org or e-mail at ylp@lyric.org. You can also contact Lena Turner @ 415.703.6150 x 25 if you have any further questions.

Submissions Invited for Vancouver Bisexuality, Gender & Sexual Diversity Conference

The following notice is an invitation for all interested parties to submit proposals for the First North American Conference on Bisexuality, Gender & Sexual Diversity 2001 (NACB 2001), to be held at the University of British Columbia Conference Centre in Vancouver (CANADA), August 9 - 12, 2001.

NACB 2001 represents the first opportunity for the international community to come together to discuss aspects of bisexuality and gender under a purely North American context. As a reflection of the widespread diversity within the cultural fabric of this region, NACB 2001 is proud to present a multifaceted, multilingual event, with many opportunities for cultural exchange. Proposals for all subjects related to the region(s) of North America will be considered, and contributions from all levels of expertise, and experience are welcome.

Thus, NACB 2001 seeks submissions in the form of proposals for papers, presentations, panel discussions, lectures, interactive workshops, readings, cultural events, performances, displays, and days of action to be held during the conference on all subjects relating to bisexuality, gender and sexual diversity. Proposals could be placed into one of the following general subject/track areas:

* Gender * Sexuality * Activism * Youth Issues * Women's Issues * Relationships * Spirituality * Personal Growth * Health* Safer Sex & HIV * Body Image * Partners & Families of Bi * *Media & Culture * Race & Culture * Arts & Culture * Film & Video * History * Vanguard Research & Theory * Community Organizing * Technology & Cyberspace * Open-X *

The thematic concentration for NACB 2001 will be summarized by the following heading: "Unity in Diversity: The Many Faces of Bi & Queer in the Americas"

Please submit your proposal at the earliest possible date, to ensure it has the best chance of being implemented! Completed proposal forms, with all supporting materials, must be received by NACB 2001 no later than APRIL 1, 2001. Conference fees will be waived for the presenters of all accepted proposals.

Send completed forms to:
NACB 2001 - Call for Submissions
c/o P.O. Box 53515, 984 West Broadway
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V5Z 1K0

Further information about the conference can be found on the World Wide Web at: http://bi.org/~binetbc/2001. NACB 2001 is facilitated by a coalition of members from the Bisexual Network of British Columbia (BiNetBC).

Maureen O'Beraigh C.T. Cosmetic Therapist & Esthetician 216.228.8886 Lakewood, OH

Certified: State Medical Board Of Ohio Ohio State Board Of Cosmetology Eyebrows, Chin and Upper Lip Bikini Area Under Arm Area Breast Area Genital Area Chest, Back and Shoulders Beard Removal Pre-operative Hair Removal for SRS Ms. O'Beraigh is transgendered, located in Lakewood, OH, and offers full service Electrolysis, including pre-operative hair removal for SRS. Ms. O'Beraigh is board certified and a member of TransFamily. All services by appointment only. Call for a free consultation or contact medb@medb.net. Visit her website at www.medb.net.

Trans-Friendly Legal Service D.A. Smith Co., L.P.A.

My name is Randi Barnabee. Most of you already know me from my participation in TransFamily meetings, etc. I am a retired military attorney, licensed in Maryland, admitted to practice law in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, and I plan to take the Ohio bar this summer. I work with attorney Deborah Smith, my "significant other," as a federal practice attorney. The focus of my federal practice is in representing victims of sexual harassment and sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Debbie's primary areas of practice are in Estate Planning and Probate (wills, trusts, etc.) and Business Incorporations. We also have expanded to include some of the more general areas of law as well. As active members of TransFamily we are especially attuned to the special needs and circumstances of the GLBT community, and would be happy to work with anyone. If a topic is beyond our expertise, we will help you locate other attorneys who are likewise GLBT-friendly and appropriately experienced to assist you. Please call us at (330) 467-5000 (work) or email us at SmithBarnabeeLaw@aol.com if we can be of assistance. We look forward to working with you and helping you with your legal matters.

Brooke Kroto, LISW Creative Soul-utions Counseling Services 250 Richmond Road Richmond Hts., OH 44143 & 21851 Center Ridge Road Suite 411 Rocky River, OH 44116 email creasoul@aol.com	Services provided: Individual psychosocial assessment and evaluations, counseling and psychotherapy. Assists in meeting the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care for Transgenders. Brooke's mission is to enhance the ability of all individuals to live a life of purpose, creativity and optimum health.

Antone F. Feo, PhD & Assoc., Inc. 24500 Center Ridge Rd. #100 Westlake, OH 44145 440.899.1300 email afeo@afeophd.com

Therapy group for Transgendered M to F individuals meets weekly in a safe, supportive environment, professionally facilitated. Assists in meeting the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care requirements at a lower cost than individual therapy. Covered by most insurance plans. Facilitated by Diana Mueller, LPCC. Call 440.899.1300 for more information or to schedule an interview. Visit the website at www.afeophd.com.

Senex ElderCare, Counseling, and Training. Fairhill Center 12200 Fairhill Road Cleveland, OH 44120 216.421.1793 www.senexcare.com

Jeffrey Mostade PCC, NCC provides Trans-supportive counseling to pre and post operative transsexual people, transgenderists, intersexuals, other gender variant people and their family and caregivers. This clinical counselor can help with compliance with the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care. I believe that the values of the client should guide the issues examined and the choices made. I am not value-free, but work to reflect a compassionate response to my client's worldview. We work collaboratively to empower the client to see alternatives and take action, utilizing a range of techniques from cognitive-behavioral interventions to active imagination. Homework and accountability are essential. I acknowledge and work with the effects of cultural oppression in an actively sexist, racist, classist, ageist, ableist, and heterocentrist society. I subscribe fully to the American Counseling Ethical Code and Standards of Practice. The ACA Code of Ethics may be reached at the ACA Website. Senex is a member of IFGE, ISNA, NTAC and GenderPAC and believes that advocacy on behalf of its clients is part of the mission of anti-oppression work. Please call 216.421.1793 to discuss your needs

Feeling Creative??

Hey folks, we need some input. This family newsletter is for the whole group. Please share! Turn in articles and ideas as soon as possible so that they may be included in the next newsletter. Also, don’t forget to inform us of the date, time and place of upcoming events.

If you have any ideas, articles, poems, etc. for the next newsletter, please get them to Karen or Cindy at the next meeting, or calling (216) 691-HELP (4357) or e-mail Karen at karen_gross@transfamily.org or Cindy at cindy.scott@transfamily.org

Promoting Awareness

TransFamily of Cleveland was founded to provide support and education for transgender persons, their families, friends and significant others. We hope to form an outreach group to promote awareness of transgender persons and their issues through PFLAG and to bring awareness to our school systems, through their principals and counselors, by offering literature, speakers, consultation and support.

Notice

Organizations, health care providers, gender clinics, etc. If you have a web site or e-mail address and would like to have us put a link to you on our web site, please send an email to Suggest a Link and let us know!

TransFamily is provided as a service of Pro-Motion Internet Design a division of Pro-Motion Video and Global Graphics Internet Design, . Website design ©® by Rick Cordaro for Global Graphics Internet Design. Original content and design © copyright TransFamily, all rights reserved.