San Francisco Rally to
Protest Police Harrasment

From Matthew Godino, gardenia63@hotmail.com

Across the country, we hear more and more reports of cops harassing the TG/TS community.

We hear about

• the routine use of strip searches to "verify" gender;
• violence and sexual assault;
• undercover officers making demands for sex;
• people being placed in male or female jail housing against their will; and
• cops deliberately humiliating us by using the wrong pronouns when they talk to us.

We won't take it any more!

Join TransAction, the TG/TS community, and our allies for a
Press Conference And Community Rally

Wednesday April 7, 12 noon
on the steps of the Hall of Justice
(850 Bryant Street between 6th and 7th Streets)

What we do: TransAction is a San Francisco-based organization of transgender and transsexual people and our allies. We are committed to exposing and ending the police misconduct and violence that our community experiences.

Why we do it: TG/TS people are regularly subjected to verbal, physical and sexual abuse; we are often assumed to be sex workers when we are not; and for those of us who are sex workers, we are more likely to be brutalized, assaulted, blackmailed or arrested by the SFPD. In the name of maintaining "public safety," the SFPD enforces gender "norms" and sexual "morality." We demand the right to live our lives, in the gender of our choice, without interference from agents of the state.

How we do it: We know that ending these abuses will require the work of TG/TS people of all colors, cultures and backgrounds. Our tools for struggle are public education, community dialogue, fierce humor, and militant direct action. We also know that our commitment to making common cause with all other communities facing harassment by the state is the key to winning dignity, respect and lives free from police violence for all oppressed people.

For more information contact Community United Against Violence at 415-777-5500: Shawna Virago (x302) or Jennifer Rakowski (x306).

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London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
To Show Gendernaughts

From Claire McNab (claire@siberia.demon.co.uk) via Press For Change News.

Date: Saturday 10th April 1999.
Venue: National Film Theatre, Screen 1
Time: 15:20.
Event: London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
Tickets: from NFT. 6.20UKP. Concessions 4.70UKP. Tele: 0171 928 32323
Lines open 11:30 - 20:30.

Alchemy Festival Productions (organisers of the International Transgender Film Festival) are co- presenting the above with the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

After the screening there will be a panel discussion with filmmaker Monika Treut and representatives of the transgender community.

Gendernauts

New from the prolific Monika Trent, Gendernaughts is a feature length documentary that takes us on a tour of San Francisco's transgender community. San Francisco - the city where the sun always shines and where the boundaries set by labels such as male/female/straight/gay/lesbian and transgender dissolve, creating an environment in which people can discover themselves. Familiar faces on on hand to led us though - Annie Sprinkle, Stafford, Jordy, Max (some of which have featured in Treuts earlier films) - as she moves around a supportive 'family' that constantly challenges convention. These are warm, affectionate portraits by Treut, who seems like an old family friend, and the end result is a fascinating and stimulating picture of a community, rather than a series of individuals.

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Seeking LGBT Support for
Activist Prisoner Facing Death

Lesbian, gay, bi, two-spirit, trans people demand:
New trial for Mumia Abu Jamal
Build the Rainbow Flags contingent in the April 24th Millions for Mumia demonstration
Stop the execution!

Who Is Mumia Abu-Jamal? Mumia is a former Black Panther and a lifelong fighter against racism, repression and police brutality. He is a widely published author and radio commentator who is known as the "voice of the voiceless."

In 1981 Mumia was framed for the murder of a white police officer in Philadelphia. All the evidence, however, indicates that Mumia is innocent. Lawyers and supporters for Mumia revealed, for example, that witnesses were intimidated by the police and coerced into giving false testimony. As part of this unfair trial, the prosecution used his political activism to smear him in order to obtain a conviction. Mumia was sentenced to death. For the last seventeen years he has been a political prisoner on Death Row. His last appeal to the State of Pennsylvania has been denied, despite the fact that witnesses who had been intimidated by the police have now come forward.

He could be executed within six months.

Why should LBGTST people support Mumia? The LGBTST community has been in the forefront of every struggle in this country--reproductive rights, the fight against racism, AIDS, in union struggles, and the anti-war movement.

Lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and trans peoples experience first-hand police brutality and repression--from raids in trans and gay bars to the police attacks and brutality against us. We understand what it means to be harassed, arrested, and jailed for just being who we are.

The execution of Mumia would be the killing of a political activist with State sanction. It would be a green light to right-wing forces that provoke attacks like those against James Byrd in Jasper, TX, Matthew Shepard in Laramie, WY, and Dr. Barnett Slepian in Buffalo, NY.

We can win a new trial for Mumia. We can strike a blow at the same forces that want to push our community back. That means that a victory for Mumia is a victory for us. `That's why we have to be in Philadelphia on April 24th, --Mumia's birthday.

Demonstrate April 24 Philadelphia
Join the LBGT contingent on April 24th
Millions for Mumia: 212-633-6646
39 West 14th St., #206, NY, NY 10011 email: rainbows4mumia@hotmail.com
Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition 212-330-8029
Int'l Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia 215-476-8812
Check out http://www.peoplescampaign.org for Rainbows Flags organizing in your area.

All are welcome including: intersexuals, androgynes, bi-gender, gender-benders, zamis, adodi, shape-shifters, same gender loving, all sexualities, drag queens & kings, cross-dressers, passing men & women, and add your own!

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Need TG People for
Study of Communications

We are conducting research in preparation for speaking at a major, international communication conference to be held in San Francisco in May 1999. We have been asked to speak about the role of popular communication in the lives of transgender persons as they move from youth into adulthood.

If you are a transgender person, we are hoping that you will complete a questionnaire about your adolescent years and how you used (or why you chose not to use) popular forms of communication such as television, radio, magazines. If you are a young person who currently identifies as transgender we are also interested in if and how you use the Internet. We will ask questions about images of transgender persons, gender role stereotypes in popular communication, your experiences using different media forms (e.g., television versus film) for different purposes (and with different outcomes), and so on.

If you are interested please contact Sara Brewer (madonna@sfsu.edu) or Dr. Michelle A. Wolf (mawolf@sfsu.edu) via e-mail. You may also reach Dr. Wolf by telephone at 415-648-1810. Depending upon your preference, we will send you a questionnaire by e-mail or snail mail. We will formally present what we learn from this research at the International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference in May 1999 held in San Francisco. We have been invited to speak at a "Popular Communication and Youth" panel and will be representing the queer community.

Thank you for your interest and participation in this important research.

Sincerely,
Sara Brewer (madonna@sfsu.edu)

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British Prize for Gender Research

From Stephen Whittle S.T.Whittle@mmu.ac.uk.

GIRES Research Prize - Closing date for entries is 30/4/99.

GIRES (The Gender Identity and Research Education Society) will award stlg500 for the most influential piece of research which has been published in a major medium on or before 31/3/99. The criteria for evaluating entries are:

The subject researched should be highly significant for those directly affected by gender identity and intersex issues; it may relate to any medical, social, legal, legislative or other aspect of these issues; The medium in which the research data has appeared should be highly influential among those who can significantly improve the way British society treats those affected; thus it might be a prestigious professional journal, a large circulation national newspaper or a popular broadcast; The article or broadcast describing the research should contain readily understood explicit or implicit recommendations which are highly likely to improve the treatment of those affected.

Entries should be accompanied by the researchers' own assessments of how well they have met the above criteria.

The adjudication of articles submitted for consideration will be carried out by GIRES' trustees. They will, as necessary, seek the advice of appropriate persons in the academic and media fields. If no article adequately meets the above criteria, the award will be witheld and offered again in the following year.

For more details refer to the GIRES web pages:
http://www.pfc.org.uk/gires/

Or, write to us at:
email: bernardgi@aol.com
Melverley, The Warren, Ashtead, Surrey KT21 2SP
Fax: 01372 272297 / Telephone: 01372 801554

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Ontario Support Group

Effective March 14 1999, Eastern Ontario will see the birth of a second Transgender Support Group:

Gender Metaphor

Based in Ottawa,Ontario we will serve the Transgender community of eastern Ontario and surrounding areas. We are prepared to provide:

• Support and Outreach to all, including youth: Male to Female, Female to Male, Inter sexed.
• Support for the significant others of the Transgendered.
• Community education: Colleges, Universities, Employers and Unions.
• We will be registered as a Non-Profit, Charitable Organization, to allow us to entertain fund raising not only to support our own activities, but the community we live in, including Children's Hospital, Heart & Stroke, Canadian Cancer Society.

Through community involvement, we will also enlighten the public as to who we the Transgendered are.

Those interested in a somewhat different approach to Transgendered Support, are encouraged to contact us. You may be assured of absolute discretion and confidentiality at all times.

Those interested in becoming a member or part of the Executive, are encouraged to contact us at:
gender-metaphor@ottawa.com or ICQ #33731914

Note: If you are "In The Closet" and need help, please feel free to contact us. You need not be a member to get help at any time.

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