Pristine Angie’s Good Homemaker Adventures at www.d332.com

Has there really been a portrait photographer who has depicted transvestites in a compassionate way? I have been thinking about that one. Diane Arbus was considered by many to be one of the first to explore transvestites in a humane light. However, if one were to examine her photos of transvestites within the oeuvre of her work, it would become clear that they were just one of the many “freaks” on the fringe of her society, a motif that writers have often treated as Arbus’s own alienation from society. Nan Goldin is a later figure that comes to mind as well. Though I respect how Goldin sees the transcedental nature of transgirls, there’s still an element of the sideshow curiosity, detached from any connection to the rest of the human race or emotion. It certainly isn’t representative of what’s really out there. I’d like to think that a persona isn’t wholly centered around one’s trans* state. To put it simply, when the clothes, padding, makeup, and hormone tablets are put away, what are we left with?

It’s a problem, because success stories- by validation of public recognition- always form a precedence for many future practitioners to emulate. I’ve always been of the opinion that ideas which result from interdisciplinary knowledge are far more interesting than homogenous copies. That’s not to say that I won’t be interested in a photo essay on transvestites by someone like Mary Ellen Mark, or Sebastiao Salgado.

There are many things you can do for Transgender Equality, whether you call yourself an admirer, a trans-identified individual, or you’ve eaten quiche (but didn’t inhale). The excellent website, National Center for Transgender Equality is working hard in Washington DC to lobby to get bills passed for your rights. Go over and have a look and see what YOU can do to help.

Speaking of the Transgender community, I am doing my little part in helping the TEC (Transgender Events Committee) at the Gay Center on West 13th street NYC to organize this year’s trans prom. Last year’s was a fabulous success: About 150 people showed up! Trans-identified individuals from ALL groups are welcomed. I was happy to see the growing population of FTM represent. Here from my archives, is a flyer from last year’s Trans Prom.

This year’s Trans Prom welcomes Trans*, FTM, MTF, TG, TV, TS, CD, gender-questioning, genderqueer, partners, allies, and my personal favorite: PWSHLTL (People Who Still Haven’t Learned To Label). It starts at 8 pm on April 21 Friday. It is Free, and you don’t need a partner to attend. Also, anyone who is interested in volunteering their time and help may do so by simply showing up at our next Trans Events Committee Meeting (next one will be on April 5 Wednesday 6-7:30pm). Just go to the front desk and ask where the TEC is meeting and they will direct you. We need people to volunteer for set-up from 5pm to 7pm, shift #1 from 7:30pm to 10.00, shift #2, from 9:30 to 12, and clean-up from 12-1am. Surely, you can come by for a little while to help out and/or join in the fun! And of course, I’ll be there from 4pm onwards helping out until midnight.

Do drop in and help give our trans* representation greater visibility in the LGBT.

Several people have asked me to post the partial transcript of the talk I gave on prejudism for the Rainbow Alliance on Coming Out Week at Long Island University CW Post. The following is an abridged version. I have removed my usual arsenal of comical asides and jokes to get to the meat of the matter. I considered it a “Lecture” because I was under the impression that I were to be a guest member in a panel of speakers discussing the topic of prejudism towards and within the LGBT community. When I arrived, I was told that I was the sole guest speaker for the entire evening. So a casual talk became some sort of presentation, that morphed into a lecture, given the weight of the topic, my somber writing style, and that gritty voice that taxed everyone’s genteel ears as if Lemmy and Joe Cocker had an illegitimate child and put him in a skirt so people would be so shocked, that they won’t even notice trannychasers turning a 100 meters under five seconds. Wait a minute, I just said that like I have it written on the back of my hand.

You didn’t hear that.

For those of my gentle readers who have not had the sad occasion to be acquainted with the Gwen Araujo story, Lifetime Cable TV Channel is planning to make a original tv movie about her case. Araujo picked ‘Gwen” because she idolized Gwen Stefani, so it was a natural choice when it came to deciding upon her girl name. At 17, Araujo was at a party when three boys discovered she was a biological male. They proceded to brutalize and end her life before disposing her body in a shallow grave in the foothills of the Sierra mountains. It’s a terrible way to go, but certainly, it’s a story that needs to be told, as it provides the general public with a window into just how far transpanic can push people who have “issues.”

Personally, I think it’s a natural progression on Lifetime’s part, as they have the most visibility in telling stories about women whose lives have been brutalized by men.

Prominence of stories about trans* individuals such as TransAmerica, TransGeneration, and Lifetime’s “Just A Girl,” are glad tidings that transfolk are making headway in the public concept of the LGBT collective.

Just today, I heard a radio announcement about “Irish Lesbians and Transgender individuals fighting to march on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.”

Cheers.

Lifetime Movie To Tell Transgender Tale

Justice for Gwen Araujo, a blog

One year since transgender teen’s death Gwen Araujo’s family still struggling to cope

It goes without saying that the most shocking part of this news item is the fact that there’s actually a public bathroom still available in midtown Manhattan. The least shocking part is the public harrassment from that portion of society to whom tact and graciousness appears to be foreign terms. A transit police officer who feels it serves the public in some way to address someone as “A freak, a weirdo, and the ugliest woman in the world” comes as no surprise, as I have witnessed bystanders of mainstream identities suffer the same abuse from those who need to announce personal opinions to the general public at all times. Don’t they know we have personal websites to fulfill those nagging itches?

News, as some documentarians have theorized, is a form of crowd control. If one were to recreate the world according to the newsfeed, only blond white girls would be missing. All brown people would be violent extremist fundamentalists. And people who have that look of excruciating urgency with flushed complexions, perspiring, running in a stilted manner in half Kegels posture towards a bathroom is in search of licentious relief. Barring movie nominations, news- when it involves trans* people - have mostly consisted of either public policy changes, celebrities getting a cheap laugh by transforming into garish caricatures of themselves in the opposite gender, or violent cases of abuse and nonacceptance. The future looks bright with media broadcasts of transgendered stories and profiles slowly seeping into public consciousness. What we are witnessing is the well-trodden path towards integration, traveled by fringe groups for many decades.

So don’t get intimidated. Be wary, expect unpleasant surprises, keep an eye out. But never, ever, let it scare you into staying locked up for being who you are.