From: WillNich@aol.com
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 1997 07:42:36 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Transgender Win

To be published in the November issue of The Letter - Kentucky's gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender newspaper.

--David Williams, Editor

***************************

Transgendered Man Wins Custody of Son

A transgendered man in New Albany, Indiana won full custody of his
eleven-year-old son on September 26 after a court battle with her ex-wife
that lasted nearly two years.

"I won!" Terri proclaimed on the internet.  "Needless to say that it was a
long, hard road and a dirty fight," she went on.  "Having to sit in the
courtroom and have a bunch of strangers see 30"x30" color pictures of you
dressed and to have your transgenderism describe in the most demeaning and
sickest way possible by the one person in the world you thought you could
trust was the worst part."

Terri tells The Letter that she had initially decided to give full custody of
their son to her wife when they divorced nearly two years ago because she
feared exposure in the courts and the media as a transgendered male.  But
when social workers uncovered the unsanitary conditions in which the boy was
being raised, they removed him from the home, prompting the latest court
battle.

"When it comes to your child, you have to put those fears of exposure behind
you and fight for him," Terri says.  "Even if it means losing your job and
having to go to work for McDonald's, I'd do it for him," she added.

Terri feels that she was lucky in getting a judge who had the best interests
of the child in mind and wasn't intent on punishing a "dress wearing faggot."
 Although, according to Terri, the judge disagreed with her "lifestyle," he
didn't think it mattered because she was keeping it a secret.

END