In the same week the Australian Prime Minister, John Howard declares his intent to have gay marriages explicitly banned, he is apparently also seeking advice on the recently reported case of Alex, the 13 year old transsexal boy, set to receive hormone therapy.
Howard constantly uses the rationale that he speaks for the (silent) majority of "ordinary Australians" so any counter-attack needs to be united and focused on the underlying issue of human rights.
The Organisation Internationale des Intersexués is one organisation to have sent a letter (reproduced below)
to the Australian government to condemn any moves to block this historic precedent.
They suggest writing to the following email addresses expressing concern:
john.anderson.mp@aph.gov.au, Tony.Abbott.MP@aph.gov.au
facs.internet@facs.gov.au ; libadm@liberal.org.au ; theworldnews@sbs.com.au ;
larry_anthony.MP@aph.gov.au
In practice, snail mail (by post) has significently more impact to politicians.
"Honourable Members of the Australian Government:
We the undersigned, Joëlle-Circé Laramée and I, are writing on behalf of the
Organisation Internationale des Intersexués (www.intersexualite.org) to
express our concern about the young transsexed boy Alex.
It is our understanding that certain legal judgments in Australia have
classed transsexuality as an intersexed condition. If this is so, we are
requesting that Alex be given access to all medical care that will assist him in living
as the young man that he is. To subject this young man to further mutilation
of his sexual identity is, in our opinion, a very serious human rights
violation.
We are therefore, as an international organisation which campaigns in favour
of human rights for the intersexed, imploring you to respect this young man
and to treat him with the dignity that all people, with or without intersexed
conditions, should be accorded.
Respectfully,
Joëlle-Circé Laramée, Vice-présidente de l'OII
Curtis E. Hinkle, Président de l'OII"
Lynn Conway maintains Transsexual Women's Successes, a site that showcases M2F women getting on with life.
Spread the word. Apparently there is more to life than SRS and make-up!
"Approximately 30,000 to 40,000 postoperative transsexual women live in the United States, and many thousands more are now in the process of gender transition here. These numbers are much larger than commonly assumed by the public because a veil of invisibility hides the true nature and extent of the transsexual condition. Especially hidden are large numbers of highly successful women who have fully transitioned. The reason is that most successful women live in "stealth mode" or are "woodworked". They leave their pasts behind and hide in plain sight in order to avoid social stigmatization and get on with their new lives. Their personal successes insure that they assimilate and blend right into society."
If you know of an equivalent page for F2Ms, please put the URL in a comment here.
In a landmark decision, a 13-year-old transgender boy has just been granted permission by the Family Court of Australia to use contraceptives to delay his development (in a female body) so that at 16 he may begin hormone treatment:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/13/1081838723546.html
On TV today, the channel 10 presenter referred to the child throughout as “he” – hooray! However the ch 10 presentation included an interview with a medical ethicist who opposed the decision, saying a child should be treated for the mental illness (dysphoria), not given physical treatments.
Last week it was two years since I had SRS, something which in hindsight was pretty life-changing. This may sound glib but at the time it was not something that I gave myself a huge amount of room to consider. With something as drastic as gender re-assignment a huge leap of faith is required. Faith in the medical system, faith in your perception of self, faith in what appears to be the goodwill of others. I challenge anyone to know for sure whether or not they are doing the right thing in such circumstances. For me, I went with what felt right.
Two years later and the memories are receding. Body mods aside, life rolls on, full of surprises and new discoveries. My transsexual identity is less of "an issue" these days as a virtue of which I am quietly proud. Being "made", once such a big deal, is now a subject which has little bearing on my life. If anything, since SRS, I feel more free to express male personality traits more openly. I have the luxury of not having to choose. Playing with dress sense, voice and general intonation, it is possible to play up and play down gender. If only more people understood how successfully gender cues can be manipulated. You are what you do.