Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 07:31:59 +0000 From: Clare Howell Subject: IYF11 MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Editor: Clare Howell, clare@gpac.org . NGLTF NAMES TRANSEXUAL TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS . VIOLENCE AGAINST TRANSPEOPLE . NY TIMES COPY EDITOR COMES OUT NGLTF NAMES TRANSEXUAL TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS ============================================ [Washington, D.C.: 16 May 98] THE NATIONAL GAY & Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) has appointed L.J. Irving of Oakland, California to its Board of Directors, marking the first time an openly transgender person has served on the board. Ms. Irving is a founding member of Lesbians and Gays of African Descent for Democratic Action and has been involved in the Harvey Milk Democratic Club as well as the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center. She was active in the establishment of the San Francisco Youth Commission and currently works as a drug counselor and case manager at Jelani House in San Francisco. ### VIOLENCE AGAINST TRANSPEOPLE ============================ [Amarillo, TX: 23 May 98] "AT 1:30 IN THE MORNING, a loud noise woke me up," said transexual woman Joy Richards. "There were pieces of glass and blinds everywhere, with holes in the far wall." She had been stalked the previous day. Now she is afraid for her life. Sixty percent of the transgender people responding to GenderPAC's 1st National Survey on Transviolence report that they have suffered physical assault. The story of Ms. Richards puts a human face on that number. On Friday, 22 May 98, she noticed a man staring at her in a neighborhood grocery store. "I know the difference between lust and stalking in a person's eyes," she said. "As I left the store he was waiting, staring from his pickup. He was looking back at me--glaring. I continued walking; he drove around the corner and passed by me slowly, still glaring. He went up the street past my house and was still staring at me as I crossed the street." The police responded to her 1:30 a.m. 911 call. There were two bullet holes in the wall opposite her window and two in the brick outside her window. The police called the incident a drive-by shooting. "Yes, I'm definitely moving," Ms. Richards said. "I just hope I can move soon enough. I don't want to be a statistic." One of GenderPAC's priorities is getting gender-based hate crimes tracked in the Hate Crimes Protection Act (HCPA) of 1998, currently in Congress. ### Contact: Donna Cartwright, donnac@nytimes.com NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR COMES OUT =============================== [New York, NY: 22 May 98] TRANSEXUAL WOMAN DONNA Cartwright appeared today on the ABC-TV morning interview program "The View." Ms. Cartwright, a 51-year-old copy editor, is the first New York Times staffer to come out as transgendered. The sympathetic interview, conducted by Barbara Walters and broadcast live on national TV, focused on Cartwright's long struggle with loneliness and isolation and her decision two years ago to resolve her gender conflict by transitioning with a view to Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS) sometime early next year. Ms. Cartwright described the mostly positive reaction of her family and co-workers and the support she received from Times management, but she stressed the importance of transgender institutions like the Gender Identity Project (GIP) of the Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Manhattan. It was the GIP, according to Cartwright, that truly changed her life. And she talked of the positive impact of her decision on the rest of her life. "I have become a warmer, friendlier, more outgoing person since beginning my transition," she said. ### Subscriptions. Please send: subscribe iyf-online or: unsubscribe iyf-online to: MajorDomo@apocalypse.org For prior press releases, check the GenderPAC website at: http://www.gpac.org (c) 1998 InYourFace Our online news-only service for gender activism.