From All Over: GenderNews
  • TGs & Gays Win New Zealand Elections
  • Japan's First Legal Sex-Change Operation
  • British House of Commons Motion Applauds TS Theme on TV Show
  • Pediatrians Hear Call For Moratorium on Genital Surgeries
  • Reform Rabbi Gives Bible Lesson To Christian Right Movement

  • Posted
    November 4
    1998




    GenderNews Headlines

    GenderNews Index

    Other News Sources

    Community Notices

    IFGE Home

     

    TGs & Gays Win New Zealand Elections

    Copyright © 1995-1998 PlanetOut Corporation.

    NewsPlanet Staff (with thanks to Graham Underhill)
    October 12, 1998

    Final results are in from New Zealand's elections, which were held by mail-in ballots due October 10.

    Georgina Beyer of Carterton, believed to be the world's first openly transsexual mayor, was returned to office with an overwhelming 90% of the vote, while an unusually high number of eight mayors nationally were being replaced.

    Transsexual Jacqui Grant failed to take the mayoralty of the Grey District, but was returned to her council seat there.

    In Auckland, where the lesbian comics the Topps twins made a satiric bid for mayor, the candidate they threw their support to, Member of Parliament Christine Fletcher (Epsom-National party), ousted three-term incumbent Mayor Les Hills by a solid margin of nearly 5,000 votes. Open gays Damien McLeod and Lindsey Rea won seats on Auckland's Western Bays and Eden-Albert Community Boards, respectively, but five other Auckland gay candidates were defeated.


     
     




    GenderNews Headlines

    GenderNews Index

    Other News Sources

    Community Notices

    IFGE Home

     

    Japan's First Legal Sex-Change Operation

    Copyright © 1998 Nando.net (http://www.nandotimes.com)
    Copyright © 1998 The Associated Press

    TOKYO (October 16, 1998)

    Doctors removed the breasts, uterus and ovaries of a 30-year-old woman in Japan's first authorized sex change operation.

    The surgery, performed at Saitama Medical College, north of Tokyo, was completed successfully, said Haruo Nose, a spokesman for the medical center.

    "The patient is fine," Nose said.

    The woman, who has asked to be identified as K. Nakahara, said in an interview with Tokyo television that she had been uncomfortable with her gender since she was a child.

    In a second operation, to be conducted in six months, doctors will construct male genitals.

    In May, the college's ethics committee approved the sex change.

    The Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology said last year that sex-change operations should be permitted on the condition that patients undergo psychoanalysis and hormone therapy afterward.


     
     




    GenderNews Headlines

    GenderNews Index

    Other News Sources

    Community Notices

    IFGE Home

     

    British House of Commons Motion
    Applauds TS Theme on TV Show

    From UKPFC-NEWS, of Press for Change, the UK's trans rights campaign. Info & online-archives: http://www.pfc.org.uk/pfclists/

    In a preface, Claire McNab wrote -- The following Early Day Motion was tabled yesterday (19th October) in the House of Commons by the Chair of the Parliamentary Forum on Transsexualism, Dr Lynne Jones MP (Lab, Birmingham Selly Oak).

    Early Day Motion No. 1655:
    Portrayal of 'Hayley' in Coronation Street

    That this House congratulates the scriptwriters, actors and producers of Coronation Street for their sensitive and realistic portrayal of Hayley, a transsexual woman; is particularly pleased that Granada consulted members of groups representing transsexuals about the day to day problems faced by people who are suffering from, or have undergone treatment for, gender dysphoria; notes the surprising, but satisfying, lack of media hysteria about the Hayley character; gives special regard to Julie Hesmondhalgh, the actress playing Hayley, who has made so much effort to find out about what it is to be transsexual; and hopes that the Government will soon see fit to guarantee transsexual people full civil rights, including the right to correct birth certificates and enter into marriage, so that Hayley and Roy will, like any other couple, be entitled to make a State-recognised, lifelong commitment to one another if they so wish.


    Related story: On British Television -- ../july/nws7228a.htm#story2


     
     




    GenderNews Headlines

    GenderNews Index

    Other News Sources

    Community Notices

    IFGE Home

     

    Pediatrians Hear Call For
    Moratorium on Genital Surgeries

    An October 21 press release from ISNA (The Intersex Society of North America) News. The ISNA web page is at http://www.isna.org

    Noted sex researcher Milton Diamond, in an invited lecture last Saturday, told the American Academy of Pediatrics that the time has come to instate a general moratorium on genital surgeries and sex reassignments performed on intersex children without their consent.

    "No large scale or even small scale study shows that 'normalizing surgery' does more good than harm," the University of Hawaii researcher told the packed room. Though they have been performed for more than 40 years, the procedures remain experimental, and without data it is impossible for parents to give informed consent on their children's behalf, he observed.

    Earlier presentations by surgeons served to underscore Diamond's charges. Surgeon Laurence Baskin of the University of California at San Francisco presented three dimensional images of fetal clitoral neuroanatomy. Though surgeons attempting to reduce the clitorises of intersex infants have claimed that the nerves are highly localized in bundles at the 11:00 and 1:00 positions, making possible preservation of sensation and hopefully sexual function, Baskin's images demonstrated that the innervation is circumferentially distributed. Questioned about what this means for the future sexual function of girls subjected to clitoral surgery as infants, Baskin repeatedly emphasized, "We have no data."

    Diamond also called for a concerted effort to be made to undo the effects of past physician deception. He cited not only the direct harm inflicted upon patients by deception, but also indirect effects. A policy of deception undermines relations of trust and confidence between patient and provider and conveys the clear message that intersexuality is "unspeakably shameful in the minds of parents and physicians." And as intersexuality becomes more widely known, not only intersexuals but the community at large learns that "doctors choreography familial mendacity and dysfunction."
     


    An October 28th column in the Miami Herald by Nancy Murrell 1998 takes up the issue of genital surgery and features the ISNA. The article is on the web at http://www.herald.com/liv_art/archive/outlooks/docs/out981028.htm.


     
     




    GenderNews Headlines

    GenderNews Index

    Other News Sources

    Community Notices

    IFGE Home

     

    Reform Rabbi Gives Bible Lesson To
    Christian Right Movement


    Statement Of Rabbi Marc Israel, Director Of Congregational Relations, Religious Action Center Of Reform Judaism

    October 15, 1998; Washington, D.C.

    My name is Rabbi Marc Israel and I am the Director of Congregational Relations at the Religious Action Center, the Washington office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, representing 1.5 million American Reform Jews in 875 congregations throughout the country.

    In the last few days and months, we have seen a disturbing marriage between the Christian Right and the ex-gay movement. In newspaper ads, in political and religious rhetoric and now in television commercials, using language that is deceivingly full of love and compassion, they are, together, promulgating a message of hate across our country. We stand here today, together, to say that this campaign goes against the teachings of our religions and against the values that America holds dear.

    The Christian Coalition would have us believe that the Bible's central teachings are anti-gay and lesbian. We know that this is not now, nor has it ever been true. When asked to explain the meaning of the Torah over 2000 years ago, the great rabbi Hillel taught "Love your neighbor as yourself -- all the rest is commentary." Shortly thereafter, the great sage of the Talmud, Rabbi Akiva, taught that this is the great principle of the Torah. In Christianity it is this, and not a few passages from Leviticus, that is the Golden Rule.

    Similarly, America has a long history of working towards greater tolerance and greater inclusivity for all its inhabitants. Since the Declaration of Independence stated that "all Men are created equal" and "are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" our country has worked to make this ideal a reality for more and more people. This is why over 75% of Americans now believe that gay men and lesbians should be protected from discrimination in the workplace and support a federal law that would do so.

    In the Biblical passage that every Jewish congregation will read this week, we are taught that God created every person B'tselem Elohim -- In God's divine image. It is taught that the reason that God began creation with a single human being, Adam, is so that none of us might claim that our inheritance is any greater than any other person. All people -- men, women and children; gay men, lesbians and heterosexuals, rich and poor; black, brown or white; Jewish, Christian or Muslim-all people are equal under God's eyes and all people are capable of loving God and receiving love from God.

    The prophets teach that one day, "God's house will be a house for all people." Our task, our solemn obligation, is to work towards making that dream a reality, to make our homes, our congregations, our community, and our nation a place where everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, will feel welcome and accepted. That is what our tradition demands. That is why we raise our voice in opposition to those who claim that gay men and lesbians need to be "saved." We know that they, like all of us, need only to be embraced for who they are -- a part of God's holy creation.
     


    The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) and the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), representing 1.5 million Reform Jews and 1880 Reform rabbis in 870 congregations nationwide.


     
     
    Send news stories or comments to the editor at iphge@hotmail.com.
    GenderNews Headlines
    GenderNews Index
    List of Community Notices

    Back to IFGE Home

    Page prepared by Beth Lewis.