Editorial

by Katherine Cummings

(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.)

With an unexpected synchronicity which is so frequent that it has almost become expected synchronicity, Elizabeth and I both chose the same basic topic for our respective (but seldom respectful and never respectable) columns, namely the need for solidarity in our little (but convoluted) corner of the world.

The cover design I chose for this issue, from a magazine only five months younger than I am [wheeze, dribble] seems to support the view that it takes all kinds to make a world. The dapper artist with his wasp-waisted suit, Panama hat, brush and easel may seem to have little in common with the languid unclad mermaid sunbaking on the rock beside him, but they co-exist and, judging by their expressions, do so happily.

Some years ago now I was invited to join a beginning organisation which wanted a better deal for transgenders (who were then usually called transsexuals). I went to the first meeting, which started an hour late and was as well organised as a Martian fire-drill (and I don't want a lot of letters from you Martians out there, calling me politically incorrect!)

It was suggested that we throw in our lot with the gay and lesbian movement, in order to capitalise on their numbers and considerable progress toward human and legal rights. Although I am a lesbian, I did not see why we should piggy-back on the achievements of another group and suggested, sarcastically, that if we were looking for an oppressed group to join, maybe we should throw in our lot with the women's movement. And then I left.

I think now that I may have been over-conscious of the public's tendency to assume that transsexualism was a variation on homosexuality or lesbianism, and I may have wanted us to demonstrate our separateness and our right to be considered as an independent entity and not as another "sexuality".

I have mellowed with the passing of the years and am more prepared now to accept support from larger segments of society which have experienced social problems similar to those of the transgender community. I am also prepared to work as hard as I can for the rights of smaller sub-groups who may not have come as far as we have.

I hope, therefore, that all segments of our community who find themselves marginalised by ignorance and refused basic rights through bigotry will band together to amend the wrongs done to us, and the rights withheld from us, by those who consider us transgressive.

Incidentally, the item on page 29 concerning M.S.N.'s transphobic referral to a porn site of people using "transsexualism" as a search term has been partially sorted, presumably following the storm of protest from trans people around the world. Use of the term "intersex" on M.S.N., however, still results in referral to a porn site. So ... get those emails flying on behalf of those who are intersexed. All for one and one for all!

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.