Recently a panel of Psychiatrists at Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic in the UK has cited one of their own, Dr. Russell Reid for breaking the rules (Standards of Care) in approving hormones and surgery for patients that were not ready.  They accuse him of not following guidlines, waiting periods and screening patients for other mental illnesses.  A Pedophile was accpeted as a candidate as well as a FTM patient who first thought she was transsexual from a local Television documentary on the subject.  Other patients of his wanted to reverse their gender change therapies.  He also told one patient that if she wanted to afford surgery that she should become a Transsexual Prostitute.

Being a Transgendered person is very complex and often confusing.  Figuring out what genere you fit into should only be done by a competent Gender Psychologist.  Dr Harry Benjamin and a committee of his peers came up with The HBIGDA Standards of Care for transsexuals.  The aim was to assure that only those psychologically healthy would receive treatment and undergo hormone therapy and surgery to permanently change their gender.  While it certainly was a good way to avoid a medical mistake it also excluded those who were also troubled by their Dysphoria but not diagnosed as Transsexual from any Psychological treatment at all. 

Some who feel they are Transsexuals complain that  The Standards of Care are too strict.  This is because no alternatives or treatment is offered to them or to Transgenderists who should never obtain genital surgery.  Fortunately Transgenderists are now provided for with hormones and cross living but not genital surgery in changes to the standards.

Certainly we should all be able to depend on our mental health professionals to keep us from harm.  Therapists are suppossed to screen us for mental illness.  AFter all we have a 31% suicide rate before surgery.  Illnesses are no longer a problem if they are medically controlled as with some pschiatric medicines.  Once that happens the therapist goes to work and starts to allieve any confusion, myths and underlying motivations by the patent.  As the patient jumps through the hoops they explain permenance of the surgery as well as one very important fact.  30% of post-op Male to Female Transsexuals are not orgasmic.  For a patient whose motivations for surgery are purely sexual the absense of satisfaction could lead to suicide.

Those Transsexuals who were properly screened will find their risk of post-op suicide much lower, in line with the rest of the population.  Those who weren't will be unhappy and their risk will soar.

Doctor Reid is unfortunately not  alone in his disregard of the rules.   Recent polls are proving that.   The post-op  dissatisfaction rate has been increasing.   Where  the suicide rate was 5%  after surgery it is now 11% and rising.    The reason could be either from relaxing Standards,  not explaining  the 30%  of non-orgasmic  Ts's, or  a simple matter of patients lying to their therapists.    The increased levels in dissatisfaction  need to be more closely examined by the Professionals who treat us.  If not  the time may come when the cure  is worse than the malady.

Laura Amato
 

Transgendered Day of Rememberance: Do the Math

by Laura Amato

Every year Transgendered people all over the world honor our dead on November 20th. This Day of Remembrance was founded by Gwendylon Ann Smith, a Transsexual who was outraged over the violent deaths of Transgender persons. The Observance is now honored world wide. Over 250 somber ceremonies will be held in 2005. Others like us will observe moments of silence to Remember our Dead. Already in November 2005 their have been 12 hate related deaths.

Transsexuals are a rare breed in our society it affects only 1 in 300,000 . Why then is our death by violence and our suicide rate so high? There are only a miliion or so of us. We're a drop in the bucket of the world population. Yet so many of our brothers and sisters won't make it til Christmas. Being born Transsexual is not our fault yet there's probably not one of us that can't relate a story of hate to us or someone we know. That's because the world sees us as choosing this lifestyle much like our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters. It doesn't take a smart person to know that no one would make this choice. We know what's going to happen to us.

Would you kill a person born with Down's Syndrome or laugh at someone who is crippled from birth? No, of course not. Yet daily People born Transgendered face a life of secrets, shame and fear. Unable to really be ourselves we often turn to suicide. It would be very difficult to find one of us who Hasn't at least thought of suicide, if not actually attempting it. Estimates have put our suicide rate from 31% to 50% or 9 times the average rate. We're not nuts, just different.

Being Transsexual is a treatable medical condition. The aim is to make the body and mind the same gender. Surely we're all entitled to that. Yet getting identification is difficult, or jobs or even going to the bathroom is a maze that even Magellan couldn't navigate. If you can't pass as your new gender you are subject to ridicule, violence and even death. Post ops who marry can be left out of wills legally in many places as well as denied basic marital rights. While many have the right to the pursuit of happiness Gays and Transgendered are denied this basic human right. The violence and humiliation we suffer can even be inflicted by the police as well as the rest of the population.

Either we can stand quietly by the sidelines as we watch our brethern get picked off one by one or we can get angry and stand and fight. After all we have nothing to be ashamed off. Did you realize that in the United States the FBI doesn't even count Transgendered violent deaths. We aren't even a blip on the radar screen of justice.

People have vowed to fix Society since the dawn of time. It hasn't happened and never will. The world won't respect us until we respect oursleves. Be proud of who and what you are. Forget the religions of hate and the slurs they heap on you. Stand up for yourself and be yourself. To be Transsexual is to realize that you do have strength to endure and overcome. If it is the strong that survive then we have to show our will will not be broken. Stand up to your friends, Stand up to your family, Stand up to your religion, Stand up to the world and most of all stand up for yourself. We are United and much stronger than we think.

"In September the House of Representatives passed for the first time ever a bill that would give local law enforcement vital tools to fight bias crimes against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans". Meanwhile in the Senate they are determined to exclude the Transgendered. Our numbers may be small and all our voices may raise is a squeak. Its still far better than suffering in silence. If you do the math discrimination of the Transgendered just doesn't add up yet it continues to happen.
/P>

Transgender Day Of Remembrance

Genetic Redemption

Sexuality is Genetic

Study: Homophobia hard wired by evolution

A Sex Difference in the Human Brain and its Relation to Transsexuality

Tramssexual Teens a Real Life Horror Movie

Discuss this article in the forums

There is an interesting article about a 73 year old Transsexual that has created quite a stir in New Zealand.  In NZ they have a public health care system that does not seem to be held in high esteem by the public.  Out of all the Transsexuals seeking Sex reassignment Surgery (SRS) only three per year are allowed to have surgery in their own country.  That hardly seems excessive.

As Male to female Transgendered Folk We don't just want our minds and hearts to be female, we want the physical package too, right down to that cute little giggle.  How far are we willing to go to get it?  Well after events this week I'd say dangerously far.  http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/4640939/detail.html?rss=dgo&psp=news

I first heard about Silicone injections twenty years ago.  It was all the rage among Brazilian Transsexuals.  It was just as lethal back then as it is now.  That's right people can die from this stuff.  The same thing happened not two months ago in Florida. It happens several times a year.  So why don't people pay attention to the warnings?

If it works the results can be wonderful for a while.  Imagine having every curve a woman has.  A few injections later and you can have a body to die for, quite literally.  Depite the warnings people think just any old Silicone will do, even Industrial grade.  The problem is many are fooled into thinking that they are getting medical grade silicone.

Lets face it having that drop dead gorgous body isn't worth it if you're too dead to enjoy it.  It can also cause coma's, extreme pain, disfigurement and yes even Organ damage.  In addition all that silicone may not stay where its put for long anyway.

Will this warning fall on deaf ears as well?  Much as we'd like to believe That a fairy godmother with a needle-like wand is going to make us Poof into a gorgous woman reality is very different.  Please, Please. if you're going to have injections of a foreign substance into your body please have it done under medical supervision.  You have been warned.  Yet in another two or three months we'll hear about more deaths.  Why don't we ever learn.

Laura 

Its Official Transsexuality and Homsexuality is not a Choice

Transsexuality and Homosexuality is there a choice? One of the biggest reasons people hate us is because they believe that we have a choice. They say we choose the behaviour. Indeed the Religous Right and even President Bush and Pope Benedict openly condem our right to marry among other things.

What however if they are wrong. What if its not a behavioural choice but is something Genetic that we are born with. Would the hatred stop? Would people change their minds? Would they stop condemning us. Its not likely. Its ironic that a religion based on love is so full of hate.

Within the last two weeks two new studies involving Homosexuals and Transsexuals have been released. You'll notice that the even the press barely mentions it except for our own GLBT Press. Why is that? People love to hate. If they couldn't hate they might have to actually get along with us and grant us the rights we should ALL have as Human beings.

..... But wait A new study also shows that people are born with Homophobia. Again you'll notice that the main press has released NOTHING about any of these studies. Hmm could even the press be prejudiced. Its an Interesting question.

http://uk.gay.com/headlines/8678
http://www.pridesource.com/article.shtml?article=14518
http://uk.gay.com/headlines/8588

So what do YOU think?

Laura

Finally some good news for transgendered folk.  A Federal Bill making it a crime to harrass, discriminate, injure or kill a gay,lesbian or transgendered person.  While its not a done deal in being passed it soes have a good chance of passing in the House of Representatives.  A hate crime carries a more severe penalty than a regular non hate crime.

It was just a few months ago that gay organizations vowed public support for transgendered people for the first time in the political arena.  Few believed it would actually happen though.  Even Congressmen warned gay organizations not to include us as it would have little chance of passing. 

"Statement by Matt Foreman, Executive Director of theNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force
"This is truly a historic moment - the introduction of the first major piece of federal legislation that explicitly seeks to protect transgender people. We have worked for many years to see this day and we thank the bill's Democratic and Republican sponsors, led by Barney Frank, for making it a reality. We look forward to working with them and our friends, allies and heroes in the transgender community to push this bill forward.
Given the pervasive nature of hate violence against transgender people, any hate crimes bill that fails to specifically include transgender people would be deeply flawed, both morally and from a law enforcement perspective. We hope the Senate will now update its bill with the new House language so that we can support it as well." 
 
What's changed: "A 1997 survey conducted by GenderPAC found that 59 percent of transgender people reported being the victim of harassment or violence. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs 11 percent of the 2,384 victims of anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender hate crimes recorded in 2003 identified as transgender".

So it finally clear that both gay and transgendered share a common pain as well as large lists of member victims. http://gender.org/remember/about/core.html

I urge you to write to your Congressman and urge them to support this bill.  Include any particular personal experiences you've had that shows this bill is needed.

Laura

A trangendered teen starts off with two strikes against them. The overall suicide rate for transgendered pre-operative folk is estimated as high as 50%.  The rate for teens aged 11 to 19 is 3 in 100,00 people.  Combine the rates together and you can see a disturbing trend.

Why is transgendered teen suicide so high?  There's one simple answer.  Its called Puberty.  While a normal teen certainly has a hazardous road with all the changes going on inside of them Transgendered kids have it far worse because their changes do not match their minds.  Imagine how horrible it is to be a Female to Male (FTM) Transsexual teen growing breasts or the voice and muscle changes of a male to female (MTF).  Couple that with a Transgendered teens tendancy to cut themselves and they are the star in their own Real Life Horror Movie.
http://lauras-playground.com/horror_films.htm

The real key in keeping these kids alive is being listened to by an adult.  These kids are scared and alone.  Yet who is going to confide in a parent or school counselor that is homophobic?  It is critical that these kids get the help they need.

Transgendered Teens need to see a Gender Specialist.
http://lauras-playground.com/gender_therapists.htm   As soon as possible. Please don't wait.  While childhood taunts are common Transgendered kids bear the brunt of it.  With proper treatment most of them can live fairly normal lives.  The trick is they have to make it this far first.

Laura Amato

Commentary is relativly easy to write.  Add your opinion no matter how outragous and find a high ranking source that agrees with you and voila your an author.  You have your source so you've proved your point, or have you?

Transsexuals have long been controversial subjects.  They can't understand us and apparantly we can't speak for ourselves so they must do it for us.  Apparantly the moral majority bouyied by recent electoral victories feel they have earned the right to speak for us. Dale O'Leary is a writer, pro-family activist and educator living in Rhode Island. Her e-mail address is daleoleary@thefactis.org. Dale is so concerned about Transsexuals that she wants the world to stop us from mutilating ourselves. http://www.thefactis.org/default.aspx?control=ArticleMaster&aid=111&authid=7
The article that O'Leary quotes is from Dr. Paul Hughs who discontinued the gender program at John Hopkins University. http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft0411/articles/mchugh.htm

Its easy to see that Hughs was never a fan of transsexual surgery (SRS).  I remember the newscast well when the announcement was made.  He mentioned two personal comments that were not in his report.  "Transsexuals wore too much makeup and dressed flamboyantly and that he was "tired of turning out sex workers".  Of course he didn't fault his program for having no classes on good grooming.

I know a great many postop transsexuals.  All are well groomed and are living stealth in Society and they are not sex workers.  Of course I'm sure there are sex workers which I haven't met.  Are they outnumbering females in the same industry? Of course not. The motivation is the same as born women working the streets, money. 

Almost all Transsexuals who have had surgery have been under medical supervision follow the HBIGDA Standards of care by Dr. Harry Benjamin.  http://www.hbigda.org/soc.cfm
Doctors pride themselves on the appearance and functionality of their work. 

Miss O'Leary says "Male transsexuals - men who think they are women, whether or not they have had surgery to create the illusion of a woman's body - have always struck me as tragic caricatures of women".  Someone needs to inform this wonan of the medical facts.  If you have an outie, or prong you are Male.  If you have an innie or receptacle you are female. Its that simple. After surgery a male to female Transsexual is a functional female whether she likes it or not.  In a lineup of female genetalia even Miss O'leary could not tell the difference.  So sorry Miss O'Leary calling us names won't ever change the real facts.

Laura

Well it looks like the bathroom issue won't just go away.  If you thought the Transsexual bathroom issue was just about drag Queens and Pre-ops guess again.  http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=3324243