NDRI: The Transgender Project
If you live in the New York Metro area, you might want to consider being a part of the Transgender Project.
The project, funded by the NIH, is designed to:
describe the economic, social and personal, family and workplace experiences of male to female trans-persons, how these experiences change over the course of our lives, and the impact of these experiences on our mental and physical health.
This sounds like a worthwhile study that will produce some very valuable information on the transgendered community. If you live in the NY Metro area, go have a look, sounds like you could be a part of history if you do!
Gay rights bill passes in Washington State
Over at Scobelizer, there is a terrific, peaceful, comment debate on the Gay Rights bill in Washington State. The bill passed (see link here) but the debate on the comments section is both respectful and thought provoking, regardless of which side you are on.
Have a lookie at the link and the debate by clicking here.
My Husband Betty
Helen Boyd is the author of one of the best books on dealing with living with someone with who is transgendered from the spouse’s (most particularly the wife’s) perspective. If your married, I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to understand your spouse’s point of view, it goes a long way to helping you both communicate on your very real transgender (GID) issues. Whether your male-to-female or female-to-male I’d suggest you take a look at her book. This book was very important to me in understanding my wife’s point of view. For my wife, she was able to at last read something from another genetic woman who’s husband is transgendered and who did not necessarily think their situation was all "wonderful" nor all "terrible". It’s well researched, well written, and well worth reading.
Helen’s journal, (en)gender, is at this link here.
You can buy the book from Amazon at this link here.
Gender Therapists – how do you choose?
One of the things I’ve done right in my gender journey is to seek out a qualified therapist who has experience dealing with gender related issues. A qualified gender therapist can be a true oasis for you when you are first dealing with suspected gender issues. They can be an anonymous sounding board, provide guidance on what to do, help you evaluate options, help keep your marriage together if your married, and, help you get to the root of your gender issues (because maybe you aren’t transgendered, but it’s a symptom of another issue,perhaps abuse when you were younger).
One of the questions I often hear is “how do I find a qualified therapist”. This is an important point as most therapists do not have experience or education in dealing with transgender patients. If you end up choosing such a therapist, you may find you spend more time educating your therapist about what your dealing with rather than getting the help you need. That’s a bad deal (unless you are charging them $150 per hour, then you have a good gig going). There are two things you need (1) a list from a qualified source and (2) references from people where you live…
Jennifer Lee Jackson – Mormon and Woman
I was actually looking from some funny (and relatively clean) jokes and stories to post up when I found this interesting article about Jennifer Lee Jackson, a transgender woman who is now full time. That story at NPR is at this link here and an article at SLMETRO is here.
What makes her story different is that she’s the first Mormon I’ve ever read about who’s transitioned. Her story sounds like many of ours who are trans (whether Male-to-Female or Female-to-Male). But her being a part of the Mormon church is an interesting piece that is well worth reading. Sadly, she was ex-communicated. This is also a common theme among many of us who are transgender and belong to a faith community of some type. Generally speaking, we get the axe. I’m not sure why this is. If one were a Christian, say, then decided that Christianity was simply groundless and then committed to preach a different alien gospel in that church body, well that would certainly be grounds for expulsion. But, to try and be a healthy whole person, follow the teachings of Christ, and then be tossed? Quite a puzzlement.
