Manager's Report

by Elizabeth Riley

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Counselling

We have been concerned for some time at our capacity to provide quality counselling to members of the community. Following the resignation of the Community Worker late last year we entered into discussion with Central Sydney Area Health Service to explore the possibility of replacing the Community Worker position with a Counselling position. C.S.A.H.S. have agreed to provide us with a counsellor on a one day a week limited basis. This counsellor's role will be limited to working with residents of the service.

We expect that this will provide a sound base for us to then engage our own counsellor on a part time basis to provide the same quality service to the entire community. We are also exploring the possibility of providing client access to a clinical psychologist where such need might arise. It seems likely that this service will be offered through C.S.A.H.S. and will offer a positive continuum of care to members of the community wishing to access the centre for counselling.

We are also in discussion with Dr. Louise Newman looking at the possibility of her providing Psychiatric service to clients one half day per week at the Centre. We hope this will make access easier for clients wishing to see a Psychiatrist. Louise will be bulk-billing to clients who are unemployed or part-time employed.

Department of Employment and Training

The Gender Centre recently participated in the production of a video with the Department of Education and Training. The video centres on the theme "Valuing Diversity" and aims to foster a culture that acknowledges difference in all people. While we were involved in a short segment covering transgender issues the video also included segments on sexuality, race, disability and so on.

The video is expected to be completed later this year and will be distributed to all primary and secondary schools in N.S.W.

I think it extremely encouraging that C.S.A.H.S. has chosen to include a transgender component in the video and I am hopeful that this, along with other awareness raising strategies, will ultimately lead to the improved status of transgender people in our society.

C.H.A.S.P.

We have received our "Certificate of Quality" from the New South Wales Community Health Accreditation and Standards Program (C.H.A.S.P.), following the review of the centre which was conducted last year. Staff are busy implementing recommendations from that review and the centre remains committed to providing the best service possible to the transgender community.

Training

The demand for training from the centre has increased by more than fifty percent in the last year. This reflects a much stronger willingness in the community at large to put aside prejudice and stereotyped perceptions and learn first hand about the nature of transgender identity. Training sessions are invariably positively received and although we are still only reaching a small percentage of the wider community I believe we are making an impact. Since many transgender organisations around the world are involved in raising wider community awareness the future looks promising.

The N.S.W. Institute of Psychiatry has engaged two transgender lecturers out of a total of eleven lecturers for its six month course on Gender, Sexuality and Mental Health. A transgender woman from Berlin was a guest lecturer at a psychiatric conference held in Sydney in April. Our voice is beginning to be heard and our expertise acknowledged. It is still very recent times where we were the subjects of gender discourse with limited opportunity to participate. Now we are becoming the teachers. A significant step forward.

Women Only

On a perhaps less positive note the debate over transgender inclusion/exclusion in women only space is still raging, even after a quarter of a century. I was recently invited to speak at a transgender forum at Sydney University. Two other speakers were also invited, one favouring inclusion, one favouring exclusion. While the dominant response of the women present was supportive I was somewhat dismayed that the concerns expressed by these women, most of whom were in their early twenties, were the same concerns being expressed twenty five years ago before most of them were born. The predominant ones were; "conforming to gender stereotypes", "moving into women's space and taking over" and "not being socialised as a woman".

I wonder if we are making much progress. Certainly the recent decision by the Women's Room at Macquarie University to exclude a transgender woman would suggest that we are not. Even more alarming in that particular case is the fact that the transgender woman involved has been accessing the Women's Room for the past year and now suddenly finds herself unwelcome. As a counter to this I suppose we should acknowledge those organisations that have responded more positively such as Lesbian Space Inc. And we are at least now being invited to participate in the debate. I guess there is no alternative but to keep quietly plugging away.

I do sincerely wish though that we could close the door on this debate. Would transgender women, who perhaps number 1 in 35,000, pose any real threat, (even if we were the horrendous human beings that some choose to want to believe?) Surely there are many more pressing issues facing the women's movement that warrant its energy. The transgender debate has been a distraction for far too long. We have attained a notoriety that far exceeds our reality. Included or excluded I will continue a commitment to equity and human rights. I invite members of the women's movement to do the same.

Transgender versus Transsexual

There seem to be many conflicting perceptions within and outside the trans community over the meanings of the words transgender and transsexual. The N.S.W. Anti-Discrimination legislation uses the terms interchangeably including the term transsexual in the belief that it is a more recognisable term in the wider community. Both terms in this legislation are defined as someone who lives or seeks to live in the gender opposite to their birth gender regardless of whether they have had surgery or are taking hormones. Legislators at the federal level seem to have adopted the view that transsexual means post-operative and transgender means pre or non-operative. Many non-trans lay people also have adopted that perception. Within the trans community the same varied perceptions seem to exist and these are evident from the different writings of trans authors around the world. My understanding of the origin of the two words has a bearing on my interpretation. The term transsexual as I understand was devised by the medical profession in the late forties and we were therefore being defined by an outside body. The term transgender was coined in the late eighties by the transsexual community partly as a process of self defining and self determination and partly because it was seen to more accurately reflect the process of gender transition. That it is a crossing of gender and not a crossing of sexuality. I had also assumed that the term transgender would ultimately replace the term transsexual.

I am often asked to explain the difference between the two terms and the explanation becomes complex given that there are a variety of interpretations involved. Since staff at the centre are often consulted on many areas relating to transgender identity it is important that we find a unified answer to this question. I think it is also imperative that the transgender community take the initiative over this. We must avoid the risk of definitions being imposed on us by outside forces. I would ask readers to give some thought to this question and we will look at ways of accessing your feedback in the near future either by community consulta­tion or survey. We will also put the question out to trans organisations in other parts of Australia and the world.

N.S.W. Police Service

I have been asked to join a committee with the aim of producing N.S.W. Police Policy in relation to the transgender community. Issues that will be addressed include employment, harassment, treatment of transgender people whether victims or perpetrators of crime and appropriate record keeping. The first meeting is scheduled for June 18th and I am seeking feedback from any member of the community who has had dealings with the police. If you have an issue that you would like addressed in the development of police policy then contact me with the details and I will raise it at the meeting.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.