Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 23:02:28 +0000 From: Clare Howell Subject: IYF12 MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Editor: Clare Howell, clare@gpac.org . TRANSWOMAN IN MURDER/SUICIDE . UNLICENSED SURGEON ENDANGERS TRANSPEOPLE TRANSWOMAN IN MURDER/SUICIDE ============================ [San Diego, CA: 13 Jun 98] TRANSEXUAL WOMAN Julia Kate Morgan, 27, shot and killed her therapist, Rita Powers, on Wednesday (10 Jun) afternoon and then turned the gun on herself, committing suicide. Witnesses report hearing gunshots some- time after 5:20 p.m. at the Cognitive Therapy Institute in San Diego. SWAT team members later found the bodies of Powers and Morgan. Powers had been shot numerous times; Morgan had one gunshot wound in the head. Police speculate that Ms. Morgan was distraught over Powers's refusal to write a letter recommending Morgan for Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS). Current medical procedure requires transexuals to obtain written recommendations from psychotherapists in order to get SRS. Ms. Morgan, a Navy veteran, had been involved in therapy with Ms. Powers for six months. Friends of both women report that there had been tension between the two and that Morgan felt frustrated by the "system" (The Benjamin Standards of Care) that prescribes the steps transexual people must follow to gain SRS. Friends say that Julia had lost all hope of completing her transition. Note: "Standards of Care: The Hormonal and Surgical Sex Reassignment of Gender Dysphoric Persons" was developed by the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association and disseminated throughout the professional community. ### Contact: Dallas Denny, aegis@gender.org UNLICENSED SURGEON ENDANGERS TRANSEXUALS ======================================== [New York, NY: 13 Jun 98] DR. JOHN RONALD BROWN was arrested in California in May, charged with murder in connection with the death of a patient who went to Brown for surgery. Brown, having lost his medical license in the 1980s for incompetence, had become infamous in the transcommunity for performing SRS on transpeople who were desperate for the operation but unable to comply with the Benjamin Standards of Care. Medical procedures established by Dr. Harry Benjamin in the 1970s are followed by professional caregivers to decide who gets SRS and when the operation can be performed. Reputable surgeons require that transexuals adhere to the Standards before they will perform SRS. Working out of a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico, Brown has performed SRS on transwomen who have later required emergency care to save their lives as a result of Brown's operations. Near fatal peritonitis, permanent colostomies, and decaying flesh have been reported as resulting from Brown's work. Although he has served time in prison for practicing medicine without a license, Brown has continued to prey on transpeople desperate for the operation and unable or unwilling to comply with the Benjamin Standards. There has been controversy within the transcommunity about the legitimacy of the Benjamin Standards and the diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) which undergirds the Standards and from which all medical treatment of transpeople follows. ### 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.