Date: Fri, 27 Feb 1998 08:27:13 +0000 From: Clare Howell Subject: IYF MEDIA ADVISORY -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Editor: Clare Howell (718) 638-7062 clareq@gpac.org .TRANSGENDERED SEX WORKER MURDERED .HOUSTON PROTECTS TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES .MADEMOISELLE EXAMINES INTERSEX CONTROVERSY .DC DROPS 1ST AMENDMENT CLAIM IN WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT .PRE-OP TRANSEXUAL WINS NAME CHANGE Contact: Tonye Barreto-Neto, TBHawk@aol.com TRANSGENDERED SEX WORKER MURDERED ================================= [Tampa, FL: 18 Feb 98] RONALD 'TASHA' DUNN, a 42 year-old prostitute, was found bludgeoned to death early Saturday morning in a Tampa parking lot. Dunn was found wearing pants, a jacket, and a bra. Police have no leads in the case. As to a motive, Tampa Homicide Detective Jerry Clark stated, "I don't even want to speculate. The truth is, we don't know. We are hoping someone will come forward." Transactivists expressed little confidence that police will aggressively pursue the killer(s). Said Tonye Barreto-Neto, of Transgender Officers Protect and Serve (TOPS), "Violence against the transgendered is horrific, yet it continues to be ignored or underplayed by the police, news reporting agencies, and the public." ### Contacts: Vanessa Foster, MoonFlowrr@aol.com Phyllis Frye, PRFyre@aol.com HOUSTON PROTECTS TRANSGENDER EMPLOYEES ====================================== [Houston, TX: 19 Feb 98] NEWLY ELECTED HOUSTON Mayor Lee Brown today signed an Executive Order to prohibit discrimination in the hiring of city employees based on sexual orientation. The order defines sexual orientation as "The actual or perceived status of a person with respect to his or her sexuality." The wording of the order is based on a similar statue in Minnesota. It is the result of efforts by Houston's first openly-queer City Council member, Annise Parker, and members of Houston's transgender community. Said Phyllis Frye, Executive Director of the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policies (ICTLEP), "The term sexuality can be defined in many ways, and the real or perceived status of a person's sexuality definitely covers the transgender experience." ### Contact: Cheryl Chase, cchase@isna.org MADEMOISELLE EXAMINES INTERSEX CONTROVERSY ========================================== [Chicago, IL: 25 Feb 98] TITLED 'AM I A WOMAN Or a Man?', an article in the March issue of Mademoiselle magazine features intersex woman Angela Moreno and highlights the trauma she suffered at the hands of medical specialists intent on making her 'normal'. Born with a vagina, XY chromosomes, internal testes, but without ovaries or a uterus, Ms. Moreno was raised as a girl. In 1985, when she was 12, her parents consulted doctors about her enlarged clitoris. The doctors recommended surgery to remove the testes and the 1 3/4" clitoris, saying this was necessary for Angela's mental health. Angela was told she had ovarian cancer and the operation was a hysterectomy. The years of sexual awakening after the operation caused Ms. Moreno much trauma and frustration as a result of her amputated clitoris. Now, at age 25, she still has no clitoral sensation. She discovered the true nature of her operation in 1995 when she demanded her medical records. She now identifies as an intersex woman and is an outspoken critic of medical intervention. "I want to make sure that other intersex kids don't suffer like I did," she said. "I don't believe I was treated for a medical emergency; what the doctors treated was their discomfort with indeterminate gender. Cutting infants' genitals to fit cultural norms isn't medicine-- it's mutilation." There is a growing movement among health care providers that reflects this view. Clinical Psychologist Howard Devore, in a sidebar to the article, maintained that surgery should wait until the child is old enough to decide whether to identify as a boy or girl. He said, "Doctors need to respond to the infants' needs, rather than the panicked parents'." ### D.C. DROPS FIRST AMENDMENT CLAIM IN TRANSEXUAL WRONGFUL DEATH SUIT ============================================== [Washington, D.C.: 13 Feb 98] WASHINGTON D.C. Counsel John Ferren has withdrawn a statement from a legal brief contending that an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) had a First Amendment right to ridicule dying transexual woman Tyra Hunter. The EMT ceased giving first aid to the critically injured Hunter and began making derogatory comments to her when he discovered that she had a penis. In the city's initial response to a wrongful death suit brought against the city by Hunter's mother, Counsel Ferren had contended that the EMT had a right to shout derogatory comments at Hunter because the comments, although offensive and crudely stated, were protected under the First Amendment because they did not include false representations of Hunter. The Washington Blade reports that Ferren withdrew that contention from the city's legal brief after a storm of complaints by Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender activists. ### PRE-OPERATIVE TRANSEXUAL WINS LEGAL NAME CHANGE =============================================== [Pittsburgh, PA: 14 Feb 98] IN A PRECEDENT setting case, transexual woman Lisa Harris has won a court-ordered name change, from Brian to Lisa, after living for 22 years as a woman. She has undergone hormone therapy and had facial surgery to feminize herself, but has not had Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS). Many jurisdictions throughout the country have denied name changes for transgendered people until presented with evidence that SRS has been completed. Although no state law prohibits transgendered people from changing their names, many judges have cited attempted fraud as the reason for denying transexuals' name change petitions. Reflecting this reasoning, dissenting Judge Saylor wrote, "To judicially sanction a pre-operative transsexual's adoption of an obviously female name would grant recognition to a physiological fiction." However, concluding for the majority, Judge Olszewski stated, "We believe that the better reasoned approach is to require such a petitioner to demonstrate that he or she is permanently committed to living as a member of the opposite sex." ### Subscriptions. 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