Transsexual Road Map Notes

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

26 suicide prevention experts call for end to trans pathologization in DSM-5 by 2013

Lynn Conway notes:

“A panel of 26 leading researchers, clinicians, educators and policy experts have released a comprehensive report on the prevalence and underlying causes of suicidal behavior in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender adolescents and adults. The report will be published as the lead article in the January 2011 issue of the Journal of Homosexuality. The article is currently available online and will appear in print on Jan. 19.

Titled “Suicide and Suicide Risk in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Populations: Review and Recommendations,” the report makes sweeping recommendations for closing knowledge gaps about suicidal behavior in LGBT people, and calls for making LGBT suicide prevention a national priority . . .

The consensus panel called for revision of diagnoses pertaining to transgender people in the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (due out in 2013) to affirm that gender identity, expression and behavior that differ from birth sex is not indicative of a mental disorder.

Other recommendations focus on improving information about LGBT people by measuring sexual orientation and gender identity in all national health surveys in which respondents’ privacy can be adequately protected, and encouraging researchers to include such measures in general population studies related to suicide and mental health.”

http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_ID=4D087E92-D94D-8D97-57BF6BA564D8BBA3

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/section?content=a931819675&fulltext=713240928

Friday, December 31, 2010

Letter from a grandmother who transitioned decades ago

When I first started writing about hair removal and transition in 1995, I had no idea how people would respond. One of the happiest surprises has been receiving hundreds of letters from people who transitioned long ago, wanting to share their own experiences. Most of them are living quiet, productive lives. I thought it would be nice to share one of the letters I got this week, for those who worry about what life will be like after transition. This one is from a musician and grandmother out here in the Los Angeles area:

When I transitioned decades, well really quite a lifetime ago, I am sure I would have paid dearly for only a fraction of the information in the ts roadmap website.  I think it is great, and very encouraging to see how far the community has come in its dedication to itself and each one of us in the gender variant community.  It’s wonderful to see the concern for youth inherent in the site.

Thank you for your efforts.

I sometimes wonder about how to determine the success and value of the life I have lived and how that might relate to others who walk a similar path.  I am not an activist - oh I wrote a couple articles at one time when asked to do so, but that was small, not my job in life.  My job has been in the trenches, so to speak, individual accomplishments one step at a time.  Reading through the website today brought many memories back - with all the many different emotions of each experience - to the point that I can say without reservation that each individual journey, each tragedy, every comedy, every moment brings success to each one of us and to the community at large.

Thank you for providing a map.

While reading through, I remembered a time when I wondered what life would be like 10 or 20 years down the road I walked.  I can so vividly remember my amazement the first time I met someone who was just ten years past surgery.  From all of my experience I suspect there might be only one thing that I can possibly add to your website, if you like, a simple map symbol for so many people, but something I had never even dreamed as possible oh so very long ago when I transitioned, and that is what my grandson calls me: Nonna.  I didn’t have a map, and didn’t know this point even existed. 

With gratitude for your service to the community,

Natalie “Shahrazad” Russell aka Nonna

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Ten Reasons Why the Transvestic Disorder Diagnosis in the DSM-5 Has Got to Go

The 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is shaping up to be a disaster for all trans people, but the diagnosis poised to cause the most harm is getting the least coverage and protest, probably because those diagnosed under it are the least political of all forms of cross-gender expression.

Kelly Winters notes:

While the diagnostic category of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) has garnered most of the controversy, a second category of so-called Transvestic Fetishism (TF) has harmed transwomen, including transsexual women, as well as male-to-female crossdressers, dual gender and gender nonconforming people since the earliest days of the DSM. Trans and LGB advocates have been inexplicably quiet about the TF category, even after the APA proposed to expand the category in the DSM-5, renamed Transvestic Disorder, to implicate gender nonconforming people of all sexes and all sexual orientations.

The proposed DSM-5 diagnosis of Transvestic Disorder, even worse than its predecessor Transvestic Fetishism, labels gender expression not stereotypically associated with assigned birth sex as inherently pathological and sexually deviant. The diagnosis is punitive and scientifically capricious, serving to punish social and sexual gender nonconformity and enforce binary stereotypes of assigned birth sex. Here are ten reasons why the Transvestic Disorder diagnosis should be eliminated entirely from the DSM-5.

Ten Reasons Why the Transvestic Disorder Diagnosis in the DSM-5 Has Got to Go
http://www.gidreform.org/blog2010Oct15.html

Wednesday, September 08, 2010

Suspicious organization GenID.org/GIEC targeting trans people

Monica Roberts at TransGriot notes:

Arianna Kitti Davis has had a seemingly meteoric rise in the last two months as the head of the Gender Identity Empowerment Coalition. It has a Facebook group called Trans Role Models that has user uploaded photos. But it’s the interesting and eyebrow raising claims made over the last two months that have people in the trans community talking.

When Gina Morvay and I started asking tough questions about the claims that GIEC has given emergency financial assistance to transpeople for various purposes, a Katerina G. du Lac popped up, claimed that she was the VP of the org, and posted an IRS Employer Identification Number as ‘proof’ the organization was legit.

That EIN number she gave (272340079) when I checked it on the IRS website and a nonprofit verification website called Guidestar drew a blank. When they were called on it, that number and the FB post trumpeting it as ‘proof’ of GIEC’s existence suddenly vanished off the page.

In my experience, trans individuals and unestablished groups collecting money and accepting applications to receive that collected money are usually lining their own pockets. This whole affair has looked like the work of an attention-craving eccentric from the get-go. Read more at Monica’s blog

Gender Identity Empowerment Coalition Questions
http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2010/09/gender-identity-empowerment-coalition.html

Monday, September 06, 2010

Bank safe deposit boxes and financial planning

A reader notes:

While I was saving for my top surgery, I ended up homeless and had to go on food stamps. Prior to that, I had the money in a higher interest money market. I had to pull it all out, or the government would have required that I spend it before they gave me any services. The solution was opening a safe deposit box. No, it doesn’t grant any interest, but it does keep cash out of a checking account where it can be easily spent. It also keeps it off any official radars, since what is in a box is no one’s business but yours. No impulse spending can happen either, since you have to go all the way down to the bank and get someone to let you into it if you want the cash. It was a lifesaver, and I’m about to open one up again for another major expense.

This is an excellent option, especially for people who get paid in large amounts of cash. It’s generally safer than hiding it in your home, especially if you have roommates or a lot of visitors. The money doesn’t get interest and you have to set aside the time and money on a regular basis, but for some people, it’s a good way to keep cash from just slipping through their fingers on impulse purchases.

Starting costs range from $15 to $25 a year, but check with your local bank. You may ge a deal if you have an account with them already.