National
Transgender
Advocacy Coalition

05/30/00

ALERT:
New York Times promotes
sexual reasigment (sic)
as a solution to gender varinace (sic)

[spacing]The following note, by Jim Fouratt, has finally begun to be forwarded to concerned individuals in the LGBT and queer communities. It is always sad to see someone as well known as Jim denigrating how others express their identities and singling them out for abuse. It is equally sad to see him utilizing such a dated, frightening and divisive rhetoric such as the one that had been proposed by other transphobes, including janice raymond, over 20 years ago. In fact his attack sounds surprisingly similar to that currently utilized by anti-choice, anti-feminist and anti-gay groups against women and the LGBT/queer communities. His e-mail address is JimFour@aol.com, so please write Jim and let him know how you feel about his bigotry and blatant misrepresentation of the facts. Also please feel free to forward this note to others for their comments.
[spacing]ps: The wonderful NYTimes Magazine cover article that bothers Jim so much, follows his comments at the close of this e-mail, below.

ALERT:
New York Times promotes
sexual reasigment (sic)
as a solution to gender varinace (sic)

[spacing]NY Times article: An Inconvenient Woman
[spacing]Date: Saturday, May 27, 2000 2:58:21 PM
[spacing]by Jim Fouratt
[spacing]I am shocked to hear a member of the Imperial Court endorsing this blatantly homophobic article written by a gagman. Yes, this is a tragic story. Murdered because he was perceived to be gay, Barry Winchell deserves all our grief and anger. As do his loved ones including a gender variant gayman self named Calpernia Sarah Addams, a professional gender illusionist.
[spacing]All around us we see these attacks on gaymen who do not conform to somekind of Tom of Finland or Andrew Sullivan image, What is new is we now see gay academics and pop journalists embracing this new push to make gaymen and lesbians straight by leading them to endure painful physical body manipulation and dangerous hormonal injects to take on the topography of the conventional definition of what is male and what is female. Modern medicine is once again trying to cure us of our desire for same sex love. Our gender variant gay and lesbian population is under intense pressure to deny their homosexuality and to take all physical, hormonal and emotional steps in order to be accepted into heterosexual society.
[spacing]First we had Boys Don't Cry which told the horrific story of a 19 year old baby butch lesbian who was first raped and than murdered because she hadthe audacity to role play and act on her desire to love and have sex with women.
[spacing]In death Brandon Teen became the poster girl of the reparative therapy movement (aka transgendered) for adult gender variant gaymen and women and in this guise was deemed acceptable frirst to Hollywood and than to a larger straight audience.
[spacing]We are familuar with the smarmy tabloid journalism of gaywriter David France. Who could forget his bizarre book on Andrew Crispo? But does the New York Times need to sink to the level of the National Inquirer doing a Talk-ish sex/celebrity/death feature? I would hope not.
[spacing]The Barry Winchell story needs to be told. How homophobia both external and more importantly internally puts at risk most homosexuals and lesbains and all gender variant individuals, How the rush to gender reassign through the wonders of modern medicine has ultimately failed ... where in the sensational picture of a professional skin strutter was there any reference to the 30 year John Hopkins study of sexual reassignment and how ultimately it did not improve the self image or well being of the subjects in their program. The results of this study caused John Hopkins to cease sexual reassignment as a solution to gender dysfunction. Or where is the information on how most transsexuals who are not closeted have very few job options other than in the adult entertainment and/or sex industry... Wendy Carlos and Dr. Renee Richard's are the exceptions.
[spacing]The Imperial Court can be a powerful voice in confronting the solutions that are now being promoted by mainstream publications like the New Times and by the toxic, anti-gay/lesbian "queer" academics. Neither group is a friend of the Cherry Grove and/or Court community,
[spacing]Why can't Calpernia Sarah Addams dress, act and be himself as a gagmen, The Court sets a powerful role model of how to be who ever you want to be and to be true to your gay male identity. After all, this construction of 'women" is totally informed by gaymale sensibility and has little in reality to do with the essence of being female.
[spacing]Speak up. Help those gender variant gaymen and women who are under siege to save their pennies to mutilate their bodies to gain acceptance into the heterosexual society.
[spacing]Would be most interesting in hearing each of your response to this increasingly serious attack on who we are and how we live.
[spacing]
Jim Fouratt

[spacing]

[spacing]note: the article that jim refers to is located here ...

NY Times article: An Inconvenient Woman

 

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