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.)

20 November marked the annual day of remembrance for the many transgender people who have lost their lives at the hands of the violent, intolerant and bigoted elements within society. The Gender Centre marked the day with a special tribute to those whose lives have been cut short for simply being true to themselves. The website was closed for the day with our home page featuring a burning candle with the names of the victims and descriptions of the way they were killed scrolling across the page. At the Centre the walls were adorned with names and, where available, photographs of the victims. Black cloth was placed over all the tables and draped across our front fence as a mark of respect and flowers and candles were distributed throughout. My thanks to Grace and Jai, our new Social and Support Workers, and the many volunteers who assisted them for their stoic effort in transforming the centre into a shrine for the day.

While only a small number of people came to the centre to participate in the event the day was particularly significant and those who did attend were deeply moved and affected by the proceedings. The event culminated in a formal ceremony conducted in the back yard by Maggie, a celebrant who volunteered her services, and was marked by the poignant reading of poems by a number of those attending. Maggie effectively summed up proceedings by expressing her dismay at the capacity of human beings to treat one another with such brutality and encouraging us all to maintain our outrage in order to bring about a more respectful and tolerant world.

This was an emotionally charged day and one that touched us all deeply and at many levels uncomfortably, but the simple act of acknowledging the nature and level of violence that does occur, and the people who have fallen victim to it, is a powerful catalyst for us to stand together as a community and resist the forces in society that presume to deny us the right to be. Like Maggie, I encourage you all to be outraged and at every opportunity take a stand against violence. That's the least we can do to show our respect to those in our transgender family whose lives have been taken through wanton violence.

Frolic 2003

On a much, much lighter note this year's Trany Pride Ball renamed Frolic 2003 was held on 21 October at Moulin Rouge Down Under in Kings Cross. What a fabulous night it was and all those who attended had a wonderful evening in a great venue with first class entertainment. Miranda Fair was Mistress of Ceremonies for the evening and she did it beautifully. Entertainment was provided by Minnie Cooper who danced her way into our hearts and Michael Fox, and his offsider Tommy, who left us in stitches with their comedy routine. The raffle was an all win affair with so many prizes donated by various businesses within the community that many people won more than once and very few people ended up not winning anything.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jai and Grace for stepping in at the eleventh hour to organise such a successful evening, to all the businesses whose sponsorship made the raffle so special, to Moulin Rouge for a great venue and fabulous service on the evening, to the performers and the DJs for keeping us thoroughly entertained and to Miranda for her witty and bubbly repartee.

If you missed it this year the good news is Frolic 2004 will be coming soon. Definitely not to be missed so keep your eyes peeled for details in Polare and book your tickets early.

A Word on the Gender Centre Residential Service.

The Gender Centre celebrated its twentieth birthday in November of 2003. For twenty years the Centre has been providing refuge accommodation for those transgender people whose circumstances have left them without a roof over their heads. In that time hundreds of people in our community have benefited from the respite that the centre has provided. We were particularly honoured to have Roberta Perkins attend our Annual General Meeting in 2003. Roberta was instrumental in gaining the original funding that made it possible for the Gender Centre, then known as Tiresias House, to come into being in 1983.

Originally a half way house for transsexuals, Tiresias House was founded on a grant from Frank Walker M.P., a man of great humanity, who, on hearing of the plight of young and homeless transsexual sex workers, declared to Roberta 'we have to find them a place where they can lay their heads'. The Gender Centre has expanded considerably since those early days but still a significant part of our core service delivery remains the housing of homeless transgenders, regardless of their backgrounds or life experiences. Roberta's early accounts of the difficulties and conflicts that arose from the housing of people with diverse histories still rings true in the Gender Centre today. While the centre itself takes a totally non-judgmental approach and considers residential applications from all people in our community who identify as transgender, (and our funding bodies would expect no less), the same absence of judgementalism is not always found among those who we take into residency. Despite our best efforts there are individuals who will adopt a self righteous attitude in condemning the lifestyles of others and ultimately condemn us for allowing these 'undesirables' into our housing.

In an attempt to combat this we have recently added a paragraph to our Residential Handbook. The paragraph states the following:

"Clients accepting residency should be aware that they may be sharing accommodation with people of varied cultural backgrounds and with a diverse range of experiences including early stage transition, sex work, drug and alcohol, mild mental health problems and periods of incarceration among the potential issues".

By including this paragraph we hope to make it clear to people seeking accommodation that if they have an issue in living with someone who is, for example, a sex worker then they can choose to not take up the offer of residency. They cannot, however, move in and demand that we evict someone who is a sex worker. That is discriminatory and we do not and will not discriminate. Tiresias House was founded in 1983 on the need to accommodate the most disadvantaged within our community and the Gender Centre proudly maintains that tradition all these years later in 2004.

It is true that we cannot house everyone. We are only able to offer limited support and cannot, therefore, offer accommodation to those who may require twenty-four hour support seven days per week. Nor can we sustain accommodation for those whose behaviour is such that it severely impacts on the well being of other clients. We will not, however, discharge someone from the residence simply because someone else doesn't like them, or doesn't like what they do, or doesn't like the way they dress, or doesn't like the colour of their skin, or doesn't like their conversation, or doesn't like their ...

The Gender Centre, its staff and its management committee, have in the past and will continue in the future to commit with unwavering resolve to providing the best service we can to those in our community who are in need. We will do so with compassion and integrity and we will do so without apology to those small minded few who would try to divert us from our just and proper purpose or who seek to hijack the Centre in order to gratify their own agendas.

Finally I would like to thank the vast majority of our past and present clients for supporting the centre and its aims over the last twenty years.

Cheers, a belated merry Xmas and may 2004 turn your dreams into reality!

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.