Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 10:02:51 -0500
Subject: BIRDY JO HOAKS RELEASED FROM JAIL
From: riki@pipeline.com (Riki Anne Wilchins)

BIRDY JO HOAKS RELEASED FROM JAIL 
FACES HATCHET JOB BY NBC. 
 
[SALT LAKE CITY - March 15, 1996] 
	Birdie Jo Hoaks, a 25-year old transgendered person, has finally been
released from jail, after serving only 2 months of an 18 month prison
sentence in Salt Lake City, UT.  Hoaks had been charged for Making False
Statements and Theft of Services in connection with his/her presenting
her/himself as a young boy to Salt Lake City social services. 
 
	Hoaks, an indigent person, has repeatedly asserted s/he had first sought
shelter at a women's facility because s/he needed a bed for the night, but
was turned away because a shelter worker considered her/him a young boy. 
Penniless and still in need of a bed, Hoaks then presented her/himself to
Salt Lake City Child Services shortly before Christmas, 1995, carrying a
note stating s/he was a 13 year-old boy abandoned by his parents.  Hoaks
was then successful in getting food and a bed and was subsequently sent to
a Salt Lake City boys home. 
 
	During a routine examination at the boys home, Child Services discovered
Hoaks had vaginal sex organs, and had Hoaks arrested.  S/he was charged
with two misdemeanor counts, Theft of Services and Making False Statements,
for which s/he was sentenced to a year and a half in Utah Prison. 
 
	Hoaks story was covered by some of the national news services, and was
even the subject of a determinedly hostile article in The Advocate. 
Headlined "Adolescent Behavior," the Advocate article took Hoaks to task
for his/her history of using various poses to get food and shelter from
social services systems in a number of states.  [Thus proving that a bunch
of sheltered California white boys can't imagine being a 25 year-old female
transperson alone on the streets without food, money or a bed. - ED] 
 
	Following a psychological evaluation, a second hearing was scheduled at
which the judge recommended Hoak's release to a women's shelter, exactly
what s/he'd originally sought, as soon as a bed became available.  In
addition, the judge held Hoaks must get a job within 90 days, undergo
ongoing psychotherapy, serve 2 years probation, and repay the State of Utah
$580.  This last represents approximately $100 per night for Hoak's 6
nights in the boy's home, apparently constituting the "theft" in which
Hoaks was said to have engaged. 
 
	According to Hoaks, s/he was approached by NBC Dateline in the last months
with an offer to tell the true story of what happened and redeem him/her in
the eyes of the public. Instead, the Dateline segment which aired last week
was themed "The Birdie Who Stole Chirstmas" [We don't make these up folks,
we don't have to - ED].  It featured Hoaks as a scam-artist, singlehandedly
stealing the Salt Lake City Christmas from a do-gooding Utah public. 
During the segment, NBC aired information about Hoak's current employment,
causing her/him to lose his/her job, and making Hoaks for all intents and
purposes indigent again. 
 
	Members of the Transexual Menace have been in touch with Hoaks since last
December, trying to assist Hoaks and highlight the plight of indigent
transgendered people across the country, many of whom must manipulate the
system in order to receive any services or merely survive.  In addition,
NOW Utah had originally planned activities at their upcoming State
Conference around the matter, including a speech by Leslie Feinberg, but
has lately been backing away from the Hoaks incident without explanation. 
 
	Said Jess Bell, a Vermont member of The Menace who has followed the case
from the beginning and spoken repeatedly with Hoaks: "Birdy Jo is a
transgendered person living in a society whose social system dismisses and
punishes gender variance.  Birdy Jo is also a poor person living in a
society whose social system dismisses and punishes the 'crime' of poverty."

 
	Declared Riki Anne Wilchins of the NYC Menace, "It is unconscionable that
both the queer and women's movements have failed to make any connections
between the Birdy Jo's plight and the twin oppressions of class and gender.
 All those privileged people see is Birdy Jo's various 'deceptions:' well,
I've lied to the system, too, when I've been without money or a job and
needed both.  Working every angle you can think of to get food in your
mouth and a place to sleep isn't exactly insider trading.  But then I guess
you have to have slept on the pavement with an empty belly a night or two,
to really understand that." 
[END]