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Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003. by Miqqi Alicia Gilbert It?s fascinating to sit in an outdoor caf? or pub and watch the people stroll by. It?s just amazing how they vary in height, weight, width, facial shape, body configuration, skin color, eye shape, hair color and quantity, and on and on. Think how rarely we confuse people, how unusual it is to mistake one person for another. It?s so rare that when it happens we?re struck by it, and wonder at the similarity, at how one person can look so much like another. Even when people are the same height and weight, even when they have the same measurements, we know they?re different. This is because there?s an infinite number of variations among people, and when we take them all together those infinite combinations result in individual uniqueness.
Published Oct 10, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'The Rule, Not the Exception' (1023 more words) 
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003. ? Why do transgender people often find themselves competing for the same seat at a table? ? What must you know about someone before you can even consider extending friendship? Expectations of Gender ? Judy Osborne At the moment of birth, a glance at a baby?s genitals confers lifelong legal and social expectations. These expectations vary greatly among societies.
Published Oct 10, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'Transcending Genders' (868 more words) 
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #102, Summer 2003. by Monica F. Helms I was going through my morning routine, getting ready for another day at Tapestry Towers. Only a few months ago, we all thought we would lose our jobs because of the lavish spending of the editor, Dallas Denny. However, Dallas used her beguiling ways to convince a Saudi sheik to float a multi-million-dollar loan, which in reality should be considered a ?gift,? as she has no intention of paying it back. As I adjusted my skirt and slipped into my flats, I heard what sounded like a knock at the door. Rounding the corner into my living room, I saw the strangest thing?the air in front of the door appeared distorted, like ripples in a pond. The ripples increased in intensity and air started rushing into the center. The turbulence was so intense that papers flew off the table and into the opening.
Published Jul 03, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'AND THAT?S THE WAY IT IS!' (2869 more words)
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #102, Summer 2003. by Miqqi Alicia Gilbert The richness and soul of a society is indicated by the way it cares for its differences, for those within it who don?t fit the general categories. In our western societies, we are more and more making room for those who are on the edges, who don?t fit in the mainstream categories and boxes. In many jurisdictions, for example, one can?t construct a new building without including facilities and access for the disabled. More and more elevators have Braille markings, more public transport has facilities for wheelchairs, and so on. This indicates that our society is beginning to take care of those who previously had to fend for themselves.
Published Jul 03, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'Bigenderism' (1036 more words) 
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #102, Summer 2003. by Li Anne W. Taft I once read a novel in which the only life choices for the characters were to look and act like John Wayne or Madonna. I trembled at the thought of such limitations being put on my own gender expression. Recently, when I read a letter to the editor in the Honolulu Weekly, the phrase ?the gender of our sex? caused me to shiver once more. Both writers seemed to assume that sex?our biological characteristics?is inevit-ably linked to the appropriate socially-constructed gender. I calmed myself by reviewing my beliefs that gender identity need not follow any particular path or the social dictates of our assigned-at-birth sex. Realizing that not everyone feels the same and that society often chooses what is appropriate, I quivered once more, even as I sat in the warm tropical sun.
Published Jul 03, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'Gender and Sex: Are Two Choices Really Enough?' (916 more words)
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #102, Summer 2003. This is the first in a series of twenty-four Transcending Genders letters being made available to the transgender community. Nos.2-6 will appear in future issues of Transgender Tapestry and the remainder will be released on a website. The letters are written to help enlighten mental health therapists and their teachers. Other interested people have found them useful too for learning about transgender folks and our issues. Transgender people often pick mental-health therapists as the first people to tell of their anguish and unfulfilled needs, sometimes after considerable anxiety and a series of false starts. The reaction of a therapist, selected perhaps at random out of fear of being found out and the need to see someone close to home, makes all the difference. If he or she knows a bit about our people and tries to understand the immensity of the revelation and the sensitivity of the client, healing can begin. If, on the other hand, the therapist reacts out of ignorance and prejudice, an unfulfilled life or even a suicide may be the outcome.
Published Jul 03, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'Transcending Genders - Letters' (1601 more words)
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #101, Spring 2003. by Monica F. Helms ?OK, class. Take your seats. It?s time to begin. My name is Ms. Monica Helms. I?ll be your instructor for Transgender 101 this semester. Let me start off by asking all of you to put your hands down. I already know what your first question is, because it?s the same one I get every semester. No, I am NOT related to Senator Jesse Helms. However, I would like to meet him one day and tell him I?m his long-lost niece/nephew and watch him keel over. If he has a heart attack, he?d better not expect mouth-to-mouth from me.?
Published May 02, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'And That's the Way It Is!' (2728 more words)
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #101, Spring 2003. Miqqi Alicia Gilbert The name you will find on my birth certificate, driver?s license, and other official documents is Michael A. Gilbert. I?m a Full Professor in the Department of Philosophy of York University in Toronto, Canada. York is the third-largest university in Canada, and I?ve been there for a very long time. In addition to the aforementioned name, I have another, which can be found on my IFGE membership card, numerous event badges, and the articles and columns I write for the transgender community. That name is Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, and it?s been my chosen femme name for over 15 years now (before that I was known as Shelley). I?ve taken the name Miqqi Alicia because I?m a lifelong crossdresser who, unusually, is out and public about his pastime. I?m 56 years old, have been married a few times, once for 14 years and divorced, once for two and widowed, and currently for 13 and neverending.
Published May 02, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'Crossdressing 101' (1661 more words) 
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #101, Spring 2003. ? Arlene Istar Lev 2003, Rainbow Access Initiative, 518-471-9080 info@rainbowaccess.org, www.rainbowaccess.org Assumption: Sex and Gender is the same thing The terms ?gender? and ?sex? are often used interchangeably and conflated in common usage. People are as likely to say, ?There is a man,? as they are to say, ?There is a male,? not identifying any salient differences in the terminology used. Reality Check: Sex is the physiological makeup of human beings, referred to as their biological or natal sex, which includes a complex relationship of genetic, hormonal, morphological, biochemical and anatomical determinates that impact the physiology of the body and the sexual differentiation of the brain.
Published May 02, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'Deconstructing Assumptions About Gender and Sex' (620 more words)
Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #101, Spring 2003. by Li Anne W. Taft The right to define ourselves and live how we choose has been guaranteed by the U.S.constitution for more than 220 years, and is supported by numerous United Nations decrees. Yet in reality, our right to the pursuit of happiness is limited by others who want us to conform to rigid sex stereotypes. Transgendered, transsexual, and intersexed people of the 21st century can achieve happiness only with equal opportunity in the workplace and equal access to government, medical and social services?including marriage licenses.
Published May 02, 2003 - 08:00 AM
Read full article: 'The Transgender Rights Movement in the 21st Century' (1014 more words) |
