Resources and Additional Information about Trans/Gender Variant People

• Of the fifty states, only Minnesota (1993), Rhode Island (2001), New Mexico (2003), and California (will take effect January 1, 2004) protects trans/gender variant people discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression. The State of Kentucky, New York State Office of the Comptroller, Pennsylvania State Government, and the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General currently have executive orders to prohibit discrimination in public employment on the bias of gender identity and expression.

• Even when legal protections for gay men and lesbians exist, they do generally not cover trans/gender variant people because very few communities explicitly state "gender identity" and/or "gender expression" in their protection ordinances.

• Violence against trans/gender variant people can be particularly brutal. In 1997, in Washington D.C. a pre-operative transsexual woman named Tyra Hunter was fatally injured in an auto accident. Paramedics at first refused to treat her after they discovered she had male genitalia, laughing and mocking her as she lay dying. Receiving medical treatment, insurance, and regular physical examinations through college or university and place of employment regularly practice transphobic office administrative regulations in terms of birth name use, pronouns, changing rooms, as well as refusal to acknowledge medical services that may be needed regardless of gender identity (i.e. self-identified man needs a pap smear, etc.)

• Trans/gender variant people, unable to access or afford appropriate treatment for their transition, often must bypass traditional medical care and inject "black-market" hormones or steroids obtained off the street or across the border in Mexico, putting them significantly at-risk for severe health problems.

HOW DO I DEAL WITH A TRANSGENDER PERSON?

The most important element to remember is that anything you do is more than what is probably being done. Our culture created these social norms and they change over time (Think about what would have happened 400 years ago is a woman wore pants or today if a man wore a powdered wig and full make-up!). These norms can change. With your energy, action, and initiative, these changes can end the oppression and violent discrimination against our trans/gender variant students, faculty, and staff members. Change begins with you.

Special thanks to TGNet Arizona's Alexander John Goodrum and New York University's Office of LGBT Student Services, Coordinator, Todd M. Smith, for providing information and encouragement for this article.

DEFINITIONS AND TERMS:

LGBT is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. At times, a Q will be added for ‘Queer' and/or ‘Questioning', an A for ‘Ally', and/or a TS for ‘Two Spirit'.

A self- identified Ally is person who supports and honors sexual and gender diversity, acts accordingly to challenge homophobic, transphobic, and heterosexist remarks and behaviors, and is willing to explore and understand these forms of bias within him or herself.

A self- identified Bisexual person (males and females) has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to both males and females or someone who identifies as a member of this community. A person that may not self- identify with a binary gender system and has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to other people without a perceived binary gender system may identify as Fluid, meaning they themselves may have a fluid gender and/or sexual orientation identity and/or have such attractions to others on a fluid on gender spectrum.

A self- identified Gay man has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to other men, or who identifies as a member of the gay community. At times, “gay” is used to refer to all people, regardless of sex, who have their primary sexual and or romantic attractions to people of the same sex. Lesbians and bisexuals may feel excluded by this word.

A self-identified Lesbian woman has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to other women, or who identifies as a member of the lesbian community. Bisexual women may not feel included by this term.

The self-identified Transgender (TG, trans/gender variant) individual recognizes that their own appearance and behavior do not conform to the cultural "norm" for the sex into which they were assigned at birth. In other words, trans/gender variant people, to varying degrees, "transgress" cultural norms as to what a man or a woman "should be." This includes transsexuals, both operative & non-operative, bigender, intersex, & gender variant people. This term is rooted in a binary gender system (male and female), meaning that an individual is assigned a gender at birth based on socially constructed genitals normative descriptions and actually identifies as the other in a binary. The term “Gender Variant” is often used to be inclusive of individuals that do not support socially constricted sex assignments given at birth as well as a binary gender system, but identify with a spectrum of gender possibilities in their own identities, expressions, and perceptions of others.

Transsexuals were born into one gender but identify psychologically and emotionally as the other. Transsexuals are generally thought to have a condition called gender dysphoria (also called Gender Identity Disorder). Those who are born physically male but are emotionally and psychologically female are called Male to Female or MTF's. Those who are born female but are emotionally and psychologically male are called Female to Male or FTM's. There is some disagreement as to whether gender dysphoria is a physical condition, a psychological condition or both. Some scientists believe that gender dysphoria occurs when the developing fetus is in the womb and that a chemical imbalance occurs in their development that affects sexual difference.

The primary way transsexuals differ from other trans/gender variant people is that in almost all cases, they seek to modify their bodies through hormones, SRS (Sexual Reassignment Surgery) or both. This process (which may take several months or many years) is called Transition, where transsexuals will make major life changes in order to bring their physical appearance in line with their gender identity. Some of those changes include changing their name and gender designation on legal documents such as birth certificates, driver's licenses and social security records. However it is achieved, the ultimate goal of transition is to enable the transsexual to live completely as the gender with which they identify. It is extremely important to remember that male to female transsexuals are women, just as female to male transsexuals are men and should be referred to and treated as such.

Intersex people may also be born exhibiting some combination of both male and female genitals (usually determined by the doctor to be either a clitoris that is "too large" or a penis that is "too small.") As one can imagine, such a diagnosis is entirely subjective. At birth, the attending physician or parents or both "choose" which gender to raise the child, necessitating surgery and/or hormonal treatment that must be continued throughout the child's life. Many intersex people, now adults, are advocating for an end to the way intersex children are seen as "damaged goods" needing to be fixed. Historically, the term “hermaphrodite” has been applied to this community. This term is derived from Hermes and Aphrodite's child that was both the ideal man and ideal woman, having both masculine and feminine characteristics, in behavior and genitals. Hermaphrodite was then adapted to medically diagnose psychological abnormalities and currently has severely negative social connotations.

Crossdressers (previously known as transvestites) identify as, and are completely comfortable with, their physical gender at birth, but will occasionally dress and take on the mannerisms of the opposite gender. Of course, crossdressing is more onerous on men, since our culture accepts the idea of a woman wearing pants, but not a man wearing a skirt. Most crossdressers are heterosexual men. The term transvestite is now considered offensive and should not be used because it is associated with negative images of sexual fetishism.

Drag Performers include people like RuPaul, or Elvis Herselvis (a well known lesbian Elvis impersonator). Drag performers are precisely that - performers. They dress and act like the "opposite" sex for the entertainment of an audience. For them, drag is a job - not an identity. Some are gay - some are not. Some identify as transgender - most do not. It is important to be aware of the fact that some people, including many drag performers themselves, do not consider drag performers to be members of the transgender community.

Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) is the surgical process of creating a phallus or vagina, sometimes also refers to surgery on the upper body including mastectomy or breast implants. This is commonly called a “sex change operation.”

Transitioning is the process of changing gender and/or sex, which could include hormone therapy, psychological counseling, cross-living (the full-time presentation/expression via living, dressing, working, etc. as the self-identified gender), and sex reassignment surgery.

FTM or MTF: abbreviations used to describe female to male or male to female transsexuals. Also written FTM, F2M, FM or MTF, M2F, MF.

A self-identified Heterosexual person (male or female) has significant sexual and or romantic attractions to primarily members of the other sex.

Homosexual is the formal or clinical term that was coined in the field of psychology, sometimes meaning only “gay male,” but at times encompasses lesbians and occasionally bisexuals. The word is often associated with the proposition that same sex attractions are a mental disorder, and is therefore distasteful to some people.

Queer, originally a derogatory slur, it has recently been reclaimed by some to be an inclusive word for all of those within the sexual minority community. Because of the original derogatory nature of the word, it is not necessarily accepted by all.

The term Closet is used as slang for the state of not publicizing one's sexual and/or gender identity, keeping it private, living an outwardly heterosexual life while identifying as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender, or not being forthcoming about one's identity. At times, being in the closet also means not wanting to admit one's sexual and/or gender identity to oneself.

To disclose one's own sexual identity and/or gender identity is often referred to as Coming Out. It can mean telling others or it can refer to the time when a person comes out to him/herself by discovering or admitting that their sexual or gender identity is not what was previously assumed. Some people think of coming out as a larger system of oppression of LGBT people- that an LGBT person needs to come out at all shows that everyone is presumed heterosexual until demonstrated otherwise. But this word need not apply only to the LGBT community. In some situations, a heterosexual may feel the need to come out about their identity as well. Coming Out may also be embraced in social justice movements as self-identifying your subordinate and/or dominate group memberships.

Lifestyle is a word that is often used outside the LGBT community to describe living life as an LGBT person, i.e. the “gay lifestyle.” Many people do not find this word particularly appropriate or positive because it seems to trivialize personal identity, as well as not make space for the large variety of lifestyles those lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people live.

Homophobia is the fear and hatred of or the discomfort with people who love and sexually desire members of the same sex. Homophobic reactions often lead to intolerance, bigotry, and violence against anyone not acting within heterosexual norms. These fears can also lead to Biphobia, excluding or not acknowledging the Bisexual community and/or looking at a self-identified bisexual person as “Bi now – Gay later” as they move between two options of sexual orientation – straight/heterosexual and gay or lesbian. Transphobia is also a problem in both the heterosexual society and LGB communities. Transphobia insists that the socially constructive norms of sex, gender, and sexual orientation are constant and any individual deviating from these norms is abnormal. Because most LGBT people are raised in the same society as heterosexuals, they learn the same beliefs and stereotypes prevalent in the dominant society, leading to a phenomenon known as “internalized homophobia/biphobia/transphobia” where an individual must wrestle through social normification while also developing their own identity.

Heterosexism refers to the individual person, group, or institutional norms and behaviors that result from the assumption that all people are heterosexual. The system of oppression, which assumes that heterosexuality is inherently normal and superior, negates LBGT peoples' lives and relationships.

Resources and Additional Information about Trans/Gender Variant People

HOW DO I DEAL WITH A TRANSGENDER PERSON?

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