This site came up in conversation in one of the forums I participate in and I thought I would share it.

 

The points of view are rather interesting

 

 

-Dana

 

The Fact And Fiction Of Being Transgender

By REGINE LABOSSIERE
Courant Staff Writer

June 15 2007

A disgruntled playboy becomes a female fashion magazine editor. A rock
star born biologically male finds her true self. A boy is scripted
freely adding a pair of girl's shoes to accessorize his outfit.

Transgender people have become the new go-to characters on television
on such ABC shows as "Ugly Betty " and "All My Children" and the FX
show "The Riches." They also have become the topic of more news
reports in recent months.

A Florida city manager is fired seemingly for disclosing he will have
a sex-change operation. A sports reporter in Los Angeles decides it's
time everyone learns who she really is.

A sibling in the famous acting Arquette family has brought the
struggles that a transgender person faces to the big screen in the
documentary "Alexis Arquette: She's My Brother," which made its debut
this year at the Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary follows other
indie favorites, such as "Boys Don't Cry" and "Transamerica," to bring
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender stories to the forefront.

Fiction and reality have mixed to bring an increasing presence in the
media of transgender people in the past six months. This is all
positive for transgender individuals and society, say those who are
active in the transgender community.

Mara Keisling, executive director of National Center for Transgender
Equality, partially credits the Internet and medical advancements with
allowing people to express themselves physically. That outlet, she
says, has created a domino effect.

"There's so many trans people out that more and more people do have
trans people in their lives, and that's going to cause more trans
people in the media," she says . "... When the entertainment media
stories happen, they really have a dramatic impact. When they're done
sympathetically, they make people feel safe and more willing to come out.

"When they're done maliciously, that has a chilling effect, makes
people feel less willing. It's really that simple."

The country saw both sides in recent months when, in February and
March, the Largo, Fla., city commission voted to fire Steve Stanton as
the city manager after 14 years on the job. Commissioners have said it
was Stanton's judgment and not his decision to have a sex change
operation to become Susan Ashley Stanton that cost him his job.

When Los Angeles Times sports writer Mike Penner wrote a first-person
story in April, formally coming out to readers and co-workers about
what his life had been like and what it would turn into by becoming
Christine Daniels, the reaction was mostly favorable, says Daniels.
Since coming out in the article headlined "Old Mike, New Christine,"
Daniels has been inundated with supportive emails and phone calls,
received a promotion and keeps a blog on the Times website,
latimesblogs.latimes.com/womaninprogress/.

"For some reason there's an acceptance or openness right now that
wasn't there a year ago," Daniels says.

"One person who's known for doing an amazing job gets fired and
another gets embraced," Keisling says. "Both of those stories really
strike home because we now all know transgender people."

(Sarasota, Fla., city officials had named Stanton as one of six
finalists for the Sarasota city manager position, but she didn't get
the job.)

During the years that Daniels, 49, waited to come out, the Jerry
Springer phenomenon, as she refers to it, where transgender people are
portrayed as freak shows, caused her to grind her teeth in
frustration. Daniels says so many people are closeted because of years
of that kind of media portrayal.

But high-profile outings and more positively portrayed characters on
television are all beginning to push the stigma aside, she says.

"It's just created a lot of discussion. There's a curiosity right now;
it's opened the door for people. Between the e-mails I'm getting and
the interview requests I'm getting, people want to know about this. I
think that's what people can take away from 2007," Daniels says.

Damon Romine, the entertainment media director for the Gay & Lesbian
Alliance Against Defamation, agrees that increased visibility creates
an increased acceptance of "a community which has been misunderstood
and misrepresented for far too long."

Romine lists the real-life stories presented on news programs and
documentaries, including "A Girl Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story" as
avenues that make transgender stories real for everyone.

"This is breakthrough storytelling and really seems to just be the
beginning," Romaine says.

Ryan Murphy, the creator of FX's "Nip/Tuck," is developing a new
series for that cable network that will follow a male sportscaster and
father's transition into a woman. The story is unrelated to Daniels'
story. Fox and ABC also are developing shows that feature transgender
characters, Romine says.

"There will never be acceptance of an issue without visibility, and
it's these kinds of representations of the transgender community that
will ultimately make the unfamiliar familiar," he says.

Jerimarie Liesegang, director of the Connecticut TransAdvocacy
Coalition, a transgender civil rights group, says the results of the
media's progress in Connecticut are "to be seen." As director of the
coalition, she conducts training sessions and works a lot with state
legislators.

"We hear more and more people coming up to us [saying], `We saw the
"20/20" piece' or `Read the Newsweek article.' It influences them.
They become more understanding," Liesegang says.

One powerful result of media attention would have been the passage of
a Senate bill that would prohibit discrimination on the basis of
gender identity or expression. The state legislature did not pass the
bill, but other states have passed similar laws.

Keisling says there shouldn't be a backlash to the momentum
transgender people have in the media right now.

"Americans have had to relearn this human-rights thing and this
diversity and acceptance thing over and over as a society," she says.
"People start understanding not only are they here to stay, but
they're us. We're all in this together."

Contact R€ ¦égine Labossi€ ¦ère at rlabossiere@courant.com.

Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant

http://tinyurl.com/2maj3q

 

 

Always,

Dana

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dana 

 

CHICAGO , IL-- U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement to commemorate Pride Month.

"Pride Month is a reminder that while we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do."

"Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."

"It's time to turn the page on the bitterness and bigotry that fill so much of today's LGBT rights debate. The rights of all Americans should be protected -- whether it's at work or anyplace else. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" needs to be repealed because patriotism and a sense of duty should be the key tests for military service, not sexual orientation. Civil unions should give gay couples full rights. And those who commit hate crimes should be punished no matter whether those crimes are committed on account of race, religion, gender identity, or sexual orientation."

"This Pride Month, let's make our founding promise of equality a reality for every American."