From: Riki Anne Wilchins Date: Mon, 15 Jan 1996 12:08:07 -0500 Subject: STRAIGHT MEDIA DISCOVERS TRANSPEOPLE - FILM AT 11! STRAIGHT MEDIA DISCOVERS TRANSPEOPLE - FILM AT 11! Contact: Riki Riki@Pipeline.Com (212)645-1753 [New York - January 15] Sources at ABC's 20/20 have confirmed it will air a groundbreaking segment on transgender activism, Friday, January 19th, at 10pm (EST). It will reportedly focus on TOPS (Transgender Officers Protect & Serve), the national organization for transgendered police and fire fighters. The piece reportedly touches on decorated Florida Deputy Sheriff Tonye Barreto-Neto, as well as embattled New Jersey police Lt. Janet Aiello . Deputy Sheriff Barretto-Neto is believed to be the sworn transexual officer to come out in the "Bible Belt." Both officers are founding members of TOPS, and both have come out recently, with mixed results. Despite a distinguished career and her status as a top prospect for promotion to Captain, Lt. Aiello is currently fighting efforts by the Hoboken PD to have her discharged. Deputy Barreto-Neto, initially encountering a supportive response from the Hillsborough County Sheriff (Tampa, FL), has recently begun to experience resistance among some deparment officers. 20/20, a weekly news-magazine and perenial frontrunner in the Nielsen ratings, is viewed by about 26 million people weekly. Announcement of the piece follows hot on the printing of an extensive and unprecedented lead article on Lt. Aiello in the Sunday New York Times Metro Section, January 14. The article also mentions TOPS and the steepening trend of trans political activism. The article surprise some in the transgender community, for although the Times has vastly stepped up coverage of gay and lesbian topics, coverage of bisexual, transgendered and intersexed people has been conspicuous by its absence. The 20/20 confirmation comes after a particularly disturbing piece it aired last week on the intersexed. The piece left viewers with the impression that any genital configuration which was intersexual, i.e., not clearly male or female, was a "deformity" in need of surgical "correction." This view has been mobilized by the surgical establishment to cut away the sexual functioning of intersexed infants (i.e., clitorises that are "too large" or penises that are "too small"), depriving them of all erotic sensitivity in later life, all in the name of a cosmetic standard of "normalcy." Not to be left behind, and proving ime-Life remains as uninformed and neolithic as ever, the January 15 issue of Time Magazine (article by Bruce Handy) successfully lumps together "neo-nazis and transsexuals," as examples of "talk show sleaze." The activist group Transexual Menace is currently considered picketing both organizations as this release goes to press. [END]