The International Foundation for Gender Education

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #096, Winter 2001.



Violence Continues



A Tennessee man was shot to death in Nashville because his assailant assumed he was gay. According to a 3 August article in Bay Windows, Willie Houston was holding a purse and assisting a blind friend to the men?s room at Opry Mills, a country music showboat, where his assailant shouted anti-gay epithets and then followed him into the parking lot and shot him in the chest as Horton tried to reason with him. Nedra Jones, Horton?s fiance, had asked him to hold her purse just before his friend asked for assistance in going to the restroom. The gunman was identified as 25-year-old Lewis Maynard Davidson, III, who had not been apprehended at the time the article was written. Amazingly, Nashville police have not classified the incident as a hate crime, claiming insufficient evidence.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #096, Winter 2001.



In this and the next issue, we feature responses to essays by Holly Boswell and Jessica Xavier, which appeared in Transgender Tapestry #95. Our authors are Dr. Becky Allison, Marsha Botzer, Jamison Green, Bill Henkin, Alison Laing, Judy Osborne, and myself.



The issue of passing is a crucial one for transgendered and transsexual people, for two reasons. First, it is personal; we each have our own history of passing?or not?and our own feeling about its importance as it applies to us. Second is the political; passing goes to very core of who we are. When we pass as a nontransgendered person, are we passing as ourselves, or as the very opposite of who we are? If there is deception, is it in our early lives, when we pass as transgendered, or after transition?or both? To be true to ourselves, must we or should we do our best not to pass, even when the changes we?ve made in our bodies cause us pass naturally and without artifice? Finally, must we all rage against the binary gender system? Is the system inherently evil, or is the real evil the lack of freedom to choose one?s role within the system?



The essays which follow speak to some, but not necessarily all, of these issues. We invite our readers to send us their thoughts?Ed.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #096, Winter 2001.
by Stefani Moore

n 1997, my then 11-year-old son Zachary walked into the bathroom to catch me coming out of the shower. At that point I?d been on hormones for a little over a year. He looked at me and said, ?Wow Dad, you?re growing udders.?

A familiar dilemma gripped me. When should I tell my son? When should I sit him down and have that heart-to-heart discussion I?d been dreading? What words would I use? Daddy is really another Mommy? Nothing sounded right in my head. Eleven is so young. Nor was I ready. So I reacted as I always do when I?m uncomfortable: I made a joke out of the whole thing by mooing like a cow.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #096, Winter 2001.

by Monica F Helms



I wonder what time of the year this issue is coming out? It?s important to know this so I can write a clever opening. Now, let?s see ... Dallas gave me this wonderful formula that is suppose to help me keep this straight?or in my case, let?s say correct. I don?t do anything ?straight? any more. According to her formula, I first take the square root of the number of shoes once owned by Imelda Marcos. Then I divide by the amount of stitches Dr. Schrang uses in the average MTF surgery. After that, I subtract the number of streetlights in downtown Ajo, Arizona, then multiply that by the cosine of 32 degrees to the third power.

International Foundation for Gender Education, Inc.



I would like to address the condition of the International Foundation for Gender Education with you, our readers and supporters. I feel it necessary for you to have firsthand knowledge of where we are and where we are going.



IFGE offers a variety of programs. The most visible is our quarterly journal, Transgender Tapestry. While we maintain this journal as a separate program, it is in reality fully integrated with the rest of the organization.



Many people feel that in this day of the Internet Transgender Tapestry is the primary reason for IFGE?s existence. I would ask that you read not only about the magazine, but about our other projects and services, and what we are doing about IFGE as an organization.

Dear Ari,
I began my transition two years ago with my ex-wife?s support (sort of). At first she really seemed happy that I was finally becoming myself, but lately she has been difficult to get along with and I feel she?s trying to take my kids from me. My son is seven years old, and my daughter is 10, and they both ?know,? but I?m not sure they understand. Recently, my ex yelled at me on the phone and told me the children could never call me ?Mommy.? This hurt my feelings. What do you think the kids should call me? Daddy doesn?t really fit anymore, does it?
Just sign me ?Parent?

Transgender Tapestry 096 Spring 2001 Table of Contents

Transgender Tapestry 095 Fall 2001 Table of Contents



BUY
THIS ISSUE - click here

Transgender Tapestry 094 Summer 2001 Table of Contents

BUY THIS ISSUE - click here

Transgender Tapestry 093 Spring 2003 Table of Contents

BUY THIS ISSUE - click here