The International Foundation for Gender Education

IFGE launched its new website on May 4 of this year. Based on the open source Content Management System (CMS) PostNuke, the new site will allow large volumes of articles to be published on the web and give users powerful search capabilities. The new site is still in its infancy and will be evolving before your eyes as it is brought into full operation. Please be patient as the new features are integrated into the site. Your comments on the new site are welcomed.

IFGE has joined MassEquality.Org, an alliance of leading advocacy organizations to support marriage rights for everyone regardless of gender. The resolution can be read below:

by Nancy Nangeroni

Monday May 18, 1998. 6:23pm

I returned from my recent west coast visit to bad news: while I was gone, we ran out of money.

This is not earthshattering news, it happens to us regularly.

I'm a Christian who happens to be transgendered. It's taken a long time to get the description in the right order.

It isn't a divinity degree or special schooling that makes me write to you about issues of faith. By training, I'm a scientist, by profession an engineer, by upbringing a lukewarm Protestant, hardly the makings of an evangelist.

What, then, have I have to say? First, let me relate what my pastor tells me in counseling, a man who does hold a Ph.D. in divinity, taught theology, leads an 800 member church, a forthright type many would consider a fundamentalist Christian.

YOU AREN'T GOING TO HELL FOR WHAT YOU WEAR, OR HOW YOU APPEAR.

by Nancy Nangeroni February 2, 1998
I just returned from my first visit to the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association's web site showing the 8th revision of the proposed Standards Of Care. Frankly, I'm stunned.

I'm stunned to recognize (awakening from a pleasant dream, I suppose) that the title of this organization -- the "Gender Dysphoria Association" -- reinforces a view of gender-transgressive behavior that worships the "norm" and pathologizes difference. This organization's name presumes that there is some gender norm to which we've all agreed, and which us crazy gender dysphorics just can't seem to accept. OK, call me a gender dysphoric if you must, but it's not MY gender I don't like, it's society's idea of what my gender ought to be that bugs me. And this "Gender Dysphoria Association," by it's name, presumes that to stray from this norm is unhealthy, indicative of illness of some sort.

Baloney.

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Transgender Tapestry 104 Winter 2004 Table of Contents

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Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003.



by Deborah Greenway



It surprises many of my friends now, but I once lived in the dream of being a Baptist minister. This was in a younger, more idealistic time, before I knew the political landscape, and before I reached my current level of self-knowledge and acceptance. I?m so comfortable now with my femme self, Deborah, that I will go anywhere, any time, and not give it a second thought. Recently, the day came to return to a place preserved in memory, to meet it as it exists in reality today?as my current self?and to proclaim peace.
Traveling east through Kansas, the driving is fast, and daydreaming is easy for someone who spent a good portion of life in the area. It?s that time of year when the trees are budding, and you know it?s spring. A spotty, light rain is falling. When we reach Missouri, the terrain gets more interesting?there are hills and a plethora of billboard signs, apparently sponsored by local churches?Christians Obey!!!! this or that selected Bible verse, hopeful attempts at 60-mph roadside conversions, or perhaps an effort to keep the unruly masses in line. The billboards continue, and so does the rain.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003.



When I was (to be historically accurate) a young man, older and supposedly wiser heads told me my political views would change with age. I told them they wouldn?t.



Now that I?m of an age at which it?s customary to look forward to retirement, I find my views remain unchanged. That magical moment at which I was supposed to become a Republican has come and gone.
That?s not to say I?m a Democrat, or that this little chat we?re having, although of a political nature, will be about politics in the partisan sense of the word. I?m here to talk about issues which have concerned me all my life, namely the rights to free speech and assembly, and a right that isn?t in the Bill of Rights but should be and doubtless would have been if the Founding Fathers had foreseen the Information Age?the right to privacy.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003.



?By Miss Debra Kate and H. Kapplow



One of Miss Debra Kate?s biggest regrets is that her current schedule doesn?t leave her enough time to put her makeup on properly. It?s not that she doesn?t get a chance to apply everything she intends to?it?s all there?and it looks fantastic. She just doesn?t have the luxury these days of savoring the experience. Applying makeup is a fulfilling act for Debra Kate, and the pleasure she?s accustomed to taking in the process is an essential part of the magic by which she transforms herself into a woman. Or into a man. It can be confusing for the casual onlooker, trying to guess what the final transformation is. Perhaps there is no final transformation.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003.



by Monica F. Helms



A dark and dismal Phoenix apartment sits empty, waiting for its one lone occupant to return. Enter one Monica Helms, a broken shell of a transsexual woman, eking out a meager existence in a life of endless solitude and anonymity. Little did she know, as she put her groceries away, that her life would soon change. The concept of change is not unfamiliar to a transsexual. However, the kind of change Monica will experience can only be found in? the Twilight Zone.? (Insert theme music here.)
Monica placed the last can of baked beans on the shelf. ?My life is so dull and boring,? she sighed. ?Just once, I wish I could have a little excitement.?