The International Foundation for Gender Education

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.

by Andrew N. Sharpe



This article considers and situates within the context of English transgender jurisprudence a recent decision of the Family Division of the High Court, W. v. W. The decision, which recognized the sex claims of an intersex person for marriage purposes, is significant in that it departs from the legal test for determining sex enunciated by Justice Ormrod in Corbett v. Corbett. However, while the decision might be viewed as representing something of a thaw in English judicial approach toward transgendered people, it will become clear that the judgment of Justice Charles tends to bolster the underlying legal reasoning in Corbett?a decision which has for over 30 years now stood between transgendered people and legal reform. Of course, W. v. W. is not the first case to bolster Corbett. There is an entire line of English cases decided in its wake which do that, including, most recently, Bellinger v. Bellinger and another case. Nevertheless, W. v. W. is of particular significance because it consolidates Corbett even and precisely at a moment of reform, and serves to redraw our attention to what is really at stake in transgender cases in the English context, especially those involving issues of marriage.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.



On Passing



by Robyn Walters

? 2001 by Robyn Walters. All rights reserved.



A central theme of Holly Boswell and Jessica Xavier?s thought-provoking articles seems to be that passing is no longer politically correct. Passing is portrayed as a betrayal of the transgender community. Taken in the context of two-spirited people and of complete freedom of gender expression by the gender queer, not wanting or needing to pass makes a certain amount of sense. In the context of a transsexual living life in a manner true to himself or herself, however, it does not.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.



by Carl Tripp



This is the text of a speech given at Southern Comfort Convention 2001?Ed.


In the summer of 1993, I was on a quest for balance. I had just finished reading Leslie Feinberg?s Stone Butch Blues, a novel about a male-identified transgender person in the 50s and 60s. Although it was a novel, Stone Butch Blues was based on Leslie?s life. I respected and admired Leslie?s struggle and eventual acceptance of herself as an individual who embodied both genders. From my perspective, Leslie was someone who could live at peace right in the middle of the gender continuum. I elevated this unique individual to hero status. I thought perhaps I could do the same thing, integrating maleness into my identity while remaining female. It?s interesting to note that although I aspired to this middle ground, as I look back I was slowly but surely creeping closer to the male end of the gender continuum, leaving my femaleness behind. In the name of balance, I minimized my femaleness as much as possible. My struggle with personal integration was already beginning.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.



by Shirley Boughton



What makes us transgendered? Why are we transgendered? Is it a blessing or a curse? These are questions I have struggled with for a lifetime. The answers seem somehow critical to my very survival as well as my ability to accept myself as a transgendered person. My personality drives me to dig deeply into who I am and why.



The question for many of us who are transgendered is whether our transgender nature is a result of a mistake of nature (akin to a club foot) which should be fixed, or whether we have been deliberately designed by the divine creator for a special spiritual purpose. Do we need to seek medical assistance to conform our bodies to match our brain patterns so we can better fit into a two-gender society, or do we represent a third gender with a specific role to play? Do we shape our bodies and our forms of dress to fit gender stereotypes, or do we do these things to achieve harmony with our soul? I have now come to believe my transgenderism was hard-wired before I was born, and that the divine architect intended this for a reason.

Originally published in DaKine, June 2001; appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.



by Li Anne W. Taft



With Hawaii Legislators withholding equal rights and protection from TG men and women, we must work harder together towards a safer society



May 1st?Lei Day?brought frightening news: Hawaii?s Hate Crimes Bill was sent to the Governor with ?gender and transgendered? removed from its protected status list. Our legislators had made a poor choice and a biased statement: that gender identity and gender expression were not worthy of government protection.



Such prejudiced legislation could very well put transgendered men and women at greater risk of harm in Hawaii. By excluding gender and transgender from protected status in our islands? laws and public policies, our elected representatives put forth a message: the legislation, the police, and the court system do not value transgendered people.



Present and future attackers and murderers of transgendered men and women in Hawaii motivated by hatred and prejudice can breathe easier now: if convicted, they will not receive increased penalties as in other hate crime cases.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.



by Gianna E. Israel



Copyright 2001 by Gianna E. Israel

This article was reviewed and edited by Barbara Anderson, Ph.D., Dee Deidre Farmer, Attorney Ann Grogan, and Sheila Kirk, M.D.



Not surprisingly, many people believe those who are imprisoned deserve what they get. Among law-abiding citizens, a prevailing attitude exists that wrongdoers must be punished. However, what becomes lost to moral argument is the pattern of victimization experienced by transsexual and other transgendered inmates?treatment which has no place in a progressive, ethical society.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.



by Miqqi A Gilbert, Ph.D.



Gender is a complex concept that changes depending on your perspective. There is assigned gender?a legal concept that places you in a certain category. There is social gender?the assignment made on you by the people with whom you interact. And there is self-gender, which you feel internally is correct. Difficulties arise, we know all too well, when self-gender and social-gender do not coincide, since one of the most basic rules is that you are one gender, and that gender is the one people can identify. You are supposed to be what you appear to be.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.



by Janis Walworth



In past years the annual Out and Equal Workplace Summit has included workshops on transgender issues, but never as many as at the most recent conference, which was held the first weekend of October 2001. The Summit, which addresses lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in the workplace, brings together LGBT employees, Human Resource (HR) and Diversity professionals, union advocates, and others who want to create safe and equitable work environments for LGBT people.



The conference, held just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati in Erlanger, Kentucky, was smaller than expected due to slashed budgets and fear of flying in the wake of September?s terrorist attack. Nonetheless, a full schedule of workshops was presented to an enthusiastic audience from all over the country. Six of the 45 workshops offered during the three-day conference were about transgender issues.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.

by Monica F. Helms



This column began taking shape on September 15, 2001, four days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I?m telling you this so you?ll know why you?re not reading my usual jovial opening. I wanted to put down my thoughts while they were still clear. Consider this my chance to heal, if healing is at all possible.



I?m 50 years old, so I hadn?t yet arrived when Pearl Harbor was attacked. I am old enough to remember when an assassin?s bullet took President Kennedy?s life. We were living in Germany at the time. I remember my mother telling me to go get my father at the high school gym, where he and his friends were setting up for a square dance. It seemed surreal as I hurried through the cold November night. When I arrived at the gym, it was dark and deserted. I had horribly sad news, but no one to tell it to.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #096, Winter 2001.



As I write this, it?s September 12th. Workers in New York are searching for survivors amidst the rubble of

what was until yesterday the twin towers of the World Trade Center. In Washington, at the Pentagon, fires are hampering rescue efforts. The nation is reeling as estimates of fatalities begin to come in. We know the final toll will certainly surpass the 3800 Americans who perished in the 1941 sneak attack on Pearl Harbor; how much so is unknown. Many of us haven?t been able to get in touch with friends and family members and don?t know if they are alive or dead.



To our readers who have lost loved ones, our deepest sympathies.