Text from the InYourFace news service. For other IYF press releases, check the GenderPAC website at http://www.gpac.org. You can reach Ms. Cartwright at donnac@nytimes.com.

[New York, NY: 22 May 98] Transsexual woman Donna Cartwright appeared today on the ABC-TV morning interview program "The View." Ms. Cartwright, a 51-year-old copy editor, is the first New York Times staffer to come out as transgendered.

The sympathetic interview, conducted by Barbara Walters and broadcast live on national TV, focused on Cartwright's long struggle with loneliness and isolation and her decision two years ago to resolve her gender conflict by transitioning with a view to Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS) sometime early next year.

Ms. Cartwright described the mostly positive reaction of her family and co-workers and the support she received from Times management, but she stressed the importance of transgender institutions like the Gender Identity Project (GIP) of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Manhattan.

It was the GIP, according to Cartwright, that truly changed her life. And she talked of the positive impact of her decision on the rest of her life. "I have become a warmer, friendlier, more outgoing person since beginning my transition," she said.

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