Manager's Report

by Phinn Borg

(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.)

We have started an F.T.M. drop-in on the first Friday of every month. So far we have held two such drop-ins and the attendance numbers are slowly picking up. Word of mouth publicity has helped and at the last get together there were ten people present. Leo Turner from Concord Hospital was kind enough to address the group despite the fact that it was his silver wedding anniversary night.

We will ask Dr. Megan Hassall, a reconstructive surgeon from North Sydney to attend a drop-in and give a talk on the latest methods used for F.T.M. top-half reconstruction.

We are also starting a support group for transgender parents with school-age children and a support group for parents with young transgender children. Watch this space and the Gender Centre website for details.

You will recall the recent highly successful debate on the proposition "Does the T. still fit in G.L.B.T.?" The presentation by Julie McCrossin, including the entire debate was filmed and edited. Shortly the film will be uploaded onto the Gender Centre website so that the transgender community and/or anyone interested can watch the event. We are all proud of the entire process and we are sure it will be informative and helpful.

Please note that there will also be an online survey on the website on the same topic and we welcome and encourage your participation. You will be able to obtain an instant report of the total number of responses and whether they are for or against the proposition.

A brief history behind the organisation of the debate.

"Where does the T. fit in G.L.B.T.?"

In September 2008 ACON asked the Gender Centre at short notice to participate in a G.L.B.T. strategic planning conference (absent the "Intersex" which appears to have been dropped from G.L.B.T.I..

ACON decided, after our prompting, to invite the Gender Centre to join a round table discussion to develop a strategic plan for the G.L.B.T. community in N.S.W. This proposed strategic plan was to be developed with the involvement of as many G.L.B.T. community organisations and individuals as possible throughout N.S.W. in order to identify a number of key areas for discussion within the so-called community.

The fact that the conference was organised without our involvement is astonishing, and then for us to have been invited at the last minute seems to indicate lack of understanding of and sensitivity of transgender issues on the part of ACON.

Despite the difficulties, we attended the conference only to find that another related organisation, SAGE (Sex and Gender Education), which had not been invited, was picketing outside the venue in protest against exclusion. It seems that no other organisations representing the transgender community had been included in any way and the Gender Centre was alone in representing transgenders (as an after-thought and following our prompting). The Intersex community had been totally ignored.

From the outset there was absolutely no discussion of any matters related or relevant to transgender issues but rather, exclusively to gay and lesbian issues. Indeed there was no discussion of any gender issues, no mention of transition and its attendant problems, no discussion on the difficulties of obtaining surgery, nor on the discrimination faced by transgenders within the gay and lesbian community, including the exclusion of M.T.F.s from some lesbian events because they were not born female i.e. for not being "wimmin born wimmin". Nor were the basic, everyday issues such as access to accommodation, protection within the law, crisis accommodation, problems of obtaining or holding employment, the need to revise official documentation, the need to resume education interrupted by transition and so on. Not one of those topics was even mentioned. Every time we raised these topics the response was a deafening silence! It was impossible to determine whether those in attendance were totally ignorant of the issues, or felt insulted or shocked by our raising them.

In any event they invariably moved on to the next pressing gay or lesbian issue. There was no point in attempting to make progress in that forum.

Subsequently, after some months of total silence we received an email from the Chair of the G.L.B.T. 2020 Working Party congratulating itself on the notion that in September 2008 a large number of Sydney-based G.L.B.T. organisations came together to hold a round-table discussion. The goal of this ground-breaking event was to discuss aspirations for the G.L.B.T. community in the year 2020, and come up with concrete ways we could all work together to help achieve these aspirations.

A link was provided to the on-line survey for the "2020 thingy" asking us to mention the survey in our newsletters to our members, supporters and volunteers.

We logged onto the site to see what wondrous and insightful questions they were asking in order to gauge our community needs. The first question in the survey was:

1. What is your sexuality?

• Gay;
• Lesbian;
• Bisexual;
• Transgender;
• Heterosexual;
• Other.

Obviously, nothing has been learned!

"Transgender" in the eyes of the G.L.B. community is a form of sexuality.

We emailed the Chair immediately and pointed out the difference yet again between sexuality and gender, to which the Chair responded by leaving the question "What is your sexuality?" but removing all reference to Transgender, replacing it with another "Other" as follows:

1. What is your sexuality?

• Gay;
• Lesbian;
• Bisexual;
• Other;
• Heterosexual;
• Other.

It seems the sexuality of Transgender people might now be any one of the above, including two forms of "Other". The mind boggles as to what might be included in one or the other "Other(s)". (And whatever happened to "Asexual"? Is it just another "Other"? Editor.)

We encourage our friends (and "members, supporters and volunteers") to respond to this amazing survey, and for them to feel free to describe their sexuality, including their "other" sexuality in any way they see fit. The results should be informative, possibly even educational.

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.