Category: Columns

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #99, Fall 2002.

And That's The Way It Is!
by Monica Helms

This April, I felt privileged to attend my first IFGE convention. I had fun, and made new friends. The awards ceremonies brought tears to my eyes, while the workshops and panels informed and delighted me.

This column appeared in Da Kine magazine, November 2001 and reappeared in Transgender Tapestry #099, Fall 2002.

by Li Anne W. Taft

Make No Excuses

Whatever others may think or say about their appearance and lifestyles, transgendered men and women can feel secure in who they really are . . .

Early in my journey between genders, I learned an important lesson. One morning, after I had boarded a Honolulu bus, the driver leaned back and gave me big stinkeye, as if to communicate his disapproval of my transgendered appearance. Feeling uncomfortable, I grimaced back and looked for a seat in the back of the bus.

by Miqqi A. Gilbert

The initial installment of this column appeared in Transgender Tapestry #098, Summer 2002 and continued with this column in Transgender Tapestry #099, Fall 2002.


III

Back in my office, I watched the clock as time approached for my lecture. The course, Gender and Sexuality, is in a lecture hall that seats about 130, but there are only about 90 in the class. I timed my arrival for a few minutes after the start, so I wouldn?t be standing around waiting for the class to begin. I entered, butterflies fluttering away, walked to my table, put down my books and purse, and faced the class. A round of applause started, begun by a wonderful gang of students from the TBLGay club, who had come to offer support and make sure I was all right. These are young people who have come out at a tender age. Most have suffered as they discovered their own non-mainstream identities early in life, so they know how important support is.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #099, Fall 2002.

by Monica F. Helms

This April, I felt privileged to attend my first IFGE convention. I had fun, and made new friends. The awards ceremonies brought tears to my eyes, while the workshops and panels informed and delighted me. But in spite of all this, there is one evening that will forever live in infamy. I call it The Night of a Thousand Ribs.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #099, Fall 2002.

A Word from the Editor

Gender conventions?and I?ve attended more than 50?have always meant work for me. I almost always give presentations and have board meetings to attend, and in many cases I?m involved with the actual running of the event. One of my biggest frustrations over the past dozen or so years has been to fly to fabulous places like New York, Vancouver, Boston, Chicago, Aspen, and Los Angeles and not see my surroundings because I can?t manage to get away from the convention.

Life in the Contra Lane
Living contrary to society?s norms, transgendered men find peace in the unique lives they have built.

by Li Anne W. Taft

This column appeared in Da Kine magazine, April 2001 and was reprinted in Transgender Tapestry #098 in Summer 2002.

When David fell in love with Leilani, he was a woman. Born female, a lifelong gender identity struggle troubled Linda and her lesbian relationships. Then, at age 32, guided by a powerful urge for resolution, Linda began taking testosterone and began to appear in public as David?oftentimes with Leilani at his side.

by Miqqi A. Gilbert
12 November, 1996

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #098, Summer 2002

It?s the day before my first time ever going to work dressed en femme. This is a major part of my coming out process?not, as you might imagine, as a transsexual who is going full-time, but as a crossdresser who is public about his pastime. I am, just so you know, quite nervous about the whole thing. I?m also excited. It?s going to be a wild, crazy, emotionally tumultuous day that I will remember forever.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #098, Summer 2002

by Monica F. Helms

It will be a long time before these words appear in Transgender Tapestry. Today, in early March, the weather is unseasonably cold and uninviting here in Georgia?but summer will have set in by the time you peel back the cover of this magazine. Somewhere across this country, pre-op MTF transsexuals will be standing in front of mirrors, modeling new bikinis the world may never see them in. Been there, done that.

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 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.