Topic: Health

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #104, Winter 2004.

by Shirley Boughton

My efforts to control and suppress my transgender urges failed in a spectacular way. In 1983, in a moment of weakness, I lost control and acted out on my transgender urges by dressing as a woman and engaging in sex with a man. This was the only way, I thought, that I could be affirmed as a woman.

Following this incident, I knew my efforts at control and suppression would not work. I finally got up the nerve to bring my wife in on my deep secret, and together we sought professional help. I still kept the fact of the sexual encounter from her, hoping I had avoided being infected by a sexually transmitted disease. The AIDS virus had not yet been identified; AIDS was called Gay Related Immune Deficiency, or GRID. I wasn?t gay, so I didn?t think I was at risk.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #104, Winter 2004.

by Petra De Sutter, M.D., Ph.D.

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is a technology that screens embryos, obtained through in vitro fertilization, to be screened for genetic status; only embryos without abnormalities are transplanted into the uterus. PGD is currently most often performed for genetically inheritable diseases such as cystic fibrosis or chromosomal imbalances in the parents, as an ethically defendable alternative to prenatal diagnosis and interruption of an affected pregnancy. To date, about 1000 children have been born worldwide following PGD, and many pregnancies are ongoing (Tanner, 2002).

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.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003.

? Why do transgender people often find themselves competing for the same seat at a table?
? What must you know about someone before you can even consider extending friendship?

Expectations of Gender
? Judy Osborne


At the moment of birth, a glance at a baby?s genitals confers lifelong legal and social expectations. These expectations vary greatly among societies.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #102, Summer 2003.

This is the first in a series of twenty-four Transcending Genders letters being made available to the transgender community. Nos.2-6 will appear in future issues of Transgender Tapestry and the remainder will be released on a website. The letters are written to help enlighten mental health therapists and their teachers. Other interested people have found them useful too for learning about transgender folks and our issues.

Transgender people often pick mental-health therapists as the first people to tell of their anguish and unfulfilled needs, sometimes after considerable anxiety and a series of false starts. The reaction of a therapist, selected perhaps at random out of fear of being found out and the need to see someone close to home, makes all the difference. If he or she knows a bit about our people and tries to understand the immensity of the revelation and the sensitivity of the client, healing can begin. If, on the other hand, the therapist reacts out of ignorance and prejudice, an unfulfilled life or even a suicide may be the outcome.