Date: Fri, 09 May 1997 22:15:22 -0400 From: Riki Anne Wilchins Subject: CONGRESSMEMBERS SPEAK OUT AT GENDER LOBBYING DAY MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Riki Anne Wilchins (212) 645-1753, Riki@Pipeline.COM . CONGRESSMEMBERS SPEAK OUT ON TRANSVIOLENCE AT NATIONAL GENDER LOBBY DAY . HERMAPHRODITES WITH ATTITUDE AND TRANSEXUAL MENACE PROTEST INTERSEX GENITAL MUTILATION . INTERSEX SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA LOBBIES US CONGRESS . On the lighter side... EDDIE MURPHY PASSES GO, GETS INTERVIEW. TRANS-PROSTITUTE GOES DIRECTLY TO JAIL CONGRESSMEMBERS SPEAK OUT ON TRANSVIOLENCE AT NATIONAL GENDER LOBBY DAY ======================================== [Washington, D.C.: 6 May 97] FOR THE first time, members of Congress have gone on record about transviolence as 60 members of the transgender, intersex, lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities converged on Capitol Hill today for GenderPAC's 2nd National Gender Lobby Day. At present, 3 members of Congress have spoken out about violence against transpeople with the possibility of half a dozen more making statements in the next week. Said GenderPAC Exec. Dir. Riki Anne Wilchins, "This marks the first time we've actually been able to get any congressmember to speak publically on a trans-related issue. But now that we're `on the map,' all kinds of things become possible. We owe a real debt to the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for supporting our efforts to gain this breakthrough." GenderPAC plans to release a complete list of signatories, once all signers have okayed a public statement. Unlike the 1st Lobby Day, this year activists concentrated their efforts on gender-violence. The event coincided with a number of happenings that highlight the urgency of speaking out on violence against gender-variant people: . The jury verdict in the strangulation of transgender woman Chanelle Pickett, in which admitted assailant William Palmer was found innocent of murder and convicted only on assault and battery. . The publication of GenderPAC's first National Study on Transviolence, the largest study of its kind, which found that over 60% of respondents had survived assault of some kind (with a weapon, without a weapon, or sexual assualt). . The prestigious Leadership Council on Civil Rights (LCCR)'s annual report, which, for the first time, specifically mentioned transviolence: "...Trans-gendered people have been assaulted, raped, or murdered; these crimes should be included in the Hate Crimes Statistics Act." . The bombing of the Otherside bar in Atlanta, which, in addition to gays and lesbians, was known for its popularity with a large bisexual and transgender clientele. GenderPAC has also requested a meeting with the Department of Justice to discuss the need for federal monitoring of hate crimes against the transgender community. ### CONTACT: Cheryl Chase (707) 775-3121, cchase@isna.org HERMAPHRODITES WITH ATTITUDE AND TRANSEXUAL MENACE PROTEST INTERSEX GENITAL MUTILATION ======================================== [New York, NY: 2 May 97] FIVE MEMBERS OF Hermaphrodites With Attitude (HWA) and 7 members of Transexual Menace demonstrated outside Columbia Presbyterian Hospital today, protesting its continued practice of performing Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM), the cutting of intersex children's genitals to make them clearly male or female for strictly cosmetic, as opposed to functional, reasons. The demonstration drew news media crews from Newsweek, ABC's Prime Time Live, the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and Rolling Stone, among others. Said HWA's spokesherm, Cheryl Chase, "Africans remove children's genitals for their own cultural reasons, and we accuse them of acting not only irrationally, but barbarically. We remove children's genitals for our own cultural reasons, and because the surgeons are licensed and use sterile techniques, we call their actions scientific. It's always easier to criticize someone else's culture rather than your own. It's time to lift the veil on the operating theater down the street from where you live." The American Academy of Pediatrician's public statement on IGM recommends the procedure to prevent emotional, cognitive, and body image problems, and that the cutting is best carried out when the child is from 6 weeks to 15 months old. Coverage on intersex issues is expected in the upcoming Monday, May 15th issue of Newsweek. as well as in the Tuesday, May 15th Science section of the New York Times. ### CONTACT: Cheryl Chase (707) 775-3121, cchase@isna.org INTERSEX SOCIETY OF NORTH AMERICA LOBBIES US CONGRESS ================================= [Washington, D.C.: 6 May 97] LED BY EX. Dir. Cheryl Chase, 5 members of the Intersex Society of North America (ISNA) conducted a groundbreaking lobbying effort on Capitol Hill today to educate Congressmembers about the toll of Intersex Genital Mutilation (IGM) on their community. They were there as part of GenderPAC's 2nd National Gender Lobby Day. Said Ms. Chase, "Transgendered people are the targets of violence because their gender expression is considered `abnormal.' Cutting the genitals of intersex infants is simply another form of the same hatred. It's great to see the synergy in these groups working together." Noted researcher Dr. Anne Fausto- Sterling, Professor of Medical Science at Brown University, estimates that about 1 in every 2,000 births is intersexual. Most of these children will be subjected to IGM at anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 years of age, and some as late as 13. ISNA and GenderPAC are currently investigating an amendment to the recent Congressional bill which outlaws Female Genital Mutilation in the US. The bill, passed as part of the broad appropriations bill, Public Law 104-208, contains a specific exemption for surgical procedures for "the health" of the patient. The amended wording would allow such procedures only for "physical health" and not for cosmetic or pscyho-social reasons ### On the lighter side... EDDIE MURPHY PASSES GO, GETS INTERVIEW. TRANS-PROSTITUTE GOES DIRECTLY TO JAIL ====================================== [Los Angeles, CA: 3 May 97] Comedian Eddie Murphy, who has often drawn fire for making "jokes" about woman, gays, and people with AIDS, was stopped by police last night with a transexual working girl in his car, proving conclusively that there is a god. This being America, Mr. Murphy was released while his companion was sent to jail on an outstanding warrant. Murphy, who obviously has invested a great deal of money in PR flacks deeply into recreational drugs, then went on national TV to admit that he had been caught in the act of... good Samaritanism. He elaborated by explaining that he frequently gives rides and cash to errant women at 3 am, simply out of the goodness of his heart. Asked if the check was in the mail or would he mind if his sister married one, Murphy allegedly replied, "Sure it is, and of course I wouldn't." A third question relating to oral hygiene was considered unprintable by IYF staffers. ### Online Editor: Clare Howell clareq@idt.net (c) 1996 InYourFace An online, news-only service for gender activism. When re-posting, please credit InYourFace.