From: Riki Anne Wilchins <riki@pipeline.com>
Date: Sat, 23 Sep 1995 19:41:49 -0400
Subject: Founding Member of TOPS Comes Out

Founding Member of TOPS Comes Out 
 
Hillsborough County, Florida (September 22, 1995) -- 
This evening Deputy Sheriff  Tonye Baretto-Neto, a founding member of 
TOPS*, the national organization for transexual and transgendered police
and firefighters, came out today in a sometimes raucous, sometimes
supportive press conference attended by both major dailies, four local TV
affiliates, and a number of radio stations.  As home to the major
metropolitan center of Tampa, Florida, Hillsborough County is home has one
of the three largest sheriff's departments in the US.  Deputy Sheriff
Baretto-Neto is a decorated 5 year veteran of the force, and is believed to
be the first police officer to come out deep in the so-called "Bible Belt."
 
 
Deputy Sheriff Baretto-Neto read a prepared statement which appears below
in full .  He is featured in a segment on ABC's 20/20 set to air in early
November about TOPS, the National Gender Lobbying Day on Oct 2-3 in
Washington DC, and the growing transgender liberation movement. 
 
* Transgender Officers Protect & Serve 
 
----- 
My name is Deputy Sheriff Tonye Baretto-Neto.  I have been a peace officer
for 7 years, and for the last 5 years I have had the honor of serving here
in Hillsborough County, alongside some of the finest officers anywhere. 
 
In spite of this, for some time I have been aware of being profoundly
uncomfortable living as a woman, for I have always understood myself to be
a man.  After close consultation with my doctors, I have undergone hormonal
and surgical treatment, and will henceforth be living as a male. 
 
As a transexual man, I am acutely aware that many of my friends in similar
circumstances have elected to quit their jobs, leave their cities, or go
into the closet.  That I have not chosen to do likewise, and am instead
meeting publicly with you here today, I attribute to 3 things: 
 
1) My department has stood behind me.  Hillsborough County is home to one
of the progressive and professional police forces in the country,
exemplified by our Sheriff, Cal Henderson. 
 
2) My brother officers have stood behind me.  Transgendered police and
fire-fighters across the US have banded together to form TOPS,
Transgendered Officers Protect & Serve.  I have received support from other
TOPS members from LA to NYC. 
 
3)  It is past time for transexual and transgendered people to come out of
the closet, agree to be public, and begin to put an end, once and for all,
to the discrimination and violence which stalks our community, decimates
our families, and all too often, takes our lives.   
 
Pursuant to this effort, on Oct 2nd and 3rd, over 75 transgender and
transexual activists, including the myself and the other founding members
of TOPS, will meet in Washington DC, for the first National Gender Lobbying
Day.  We will be meeting with our senators and representatives to discuss
our civil rights, bias-related violence, and a long-term presence in
national legislation.   
 
There is a revolution sweeping our country today, of ordinary people
standing firm, declaring an emphatic "No!" to discrimination and violence
against those who are perceived as somehow "different", or simply
vulnerable.  Whether it is the housewife who is a victim of domestic
violence, the college student who is sexually assaulted, the transgendered
person who losses their home and job, or a person of color who is attacked
and killed. 
 
I sincerely hope that my actions today will serve in some small part in the
larger struggle for *all* Americans to live safe and productive lives free
of discrimination and fear. 
 
Thank you very much. 
[END]