In November 2008, 15 year old Takeshi Shimozato, won the 60th All-Japan inter-middle school English Oratorical Contest.
The prize-winning speech was about Takeshi's GID.
The prize presenter was Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado.
(The original story and speech appeared on "The Daily Yomiuri" of Japan, but links to both are now broken.)
Here is Takeshi's speech, as originally published by "The Daily Yomiuri".
******************************************************************************
I am Takeshi
Takeshi Shimozato
Haebaru Nansei Middle School
You are probably about to check the speech contest list to see if there has been a mistake. Don’t bother. It’s correct. I am Takeshi, and I am a boy, but my mind and my heart tell me different. I have a condition called “Gender Identity Disorder”.
Since I was born, I grew up playing with my cousins and friends that were all girls. I had a wonderful childhood and felt happy and loved by all those around me. However, when I became a fourth grader, all that began to change. I couldn’t understand why I was being asked to wear a boy’s P.E. uniform and why I was being forced to change clothes in the boy’s bathroom. Even some of my closest friends started saying bad things to me. What really hurt most was having to walk home by myself and hearing students behind me call me names. Why is everyone treating me like this? I cried to myself. I began to hate anything about school that separated boys from girls.
One day at school, I saw a girl playing the piano. She was surrounded by other students and they all looked so happy. I wanted to be able to smile like her. More importantly, I wanted others to smile at me. That made me wants to learn how to play the piano. I started taking piano lessons and from the start I was able to play with both hands.
One day I asked my mom to buy me a piano. She told me that if I could learn an entire song in three days, she would buy me a piano. The song was four pages long, but I was so determined to make friends, that I was able to do it. She bought me a piano and my life improves every time I play it. All I could think about was playing the piano. I began to play at contests and won many prizes. Many people began saying good things about me.
One day, I sat down at the piano at school. Students were looking and pointing at me and began to say bad things. I touched the keys and suddenly every one froze. I was so nervous that I could only look at the piano. When the last chord was played, I looked up and there were many students standing next to the piano. A few were even smiling. Their smiles made me feel so good. After that, all I wanted to do was play the piano.
I still have my condition, but playing the piano helps me to deal with it. I feel that playing the piano helps others to understand my condition as well. I donft want to hide who I am. More importantly, I want others to understand who I am. That’s why last year I wore the most beautiful dress while playing at the Ryukyu Music Contest. It was the biggest contest I had ever entered. Thousands of politicians, pianists, adults, and children were there. Some of their mouths dropped, and others rubbed their eyes. After I finished playing the piano, they stood and clapped. More importantly, they smiled at me.
Music has helped me find happiness, make friends, and even become the Ryukyu Music Contest Champion. My dream is to use my music to help others. I want people, who are constantly worrying about what other people say and do, to search for their dream. My mother has always told me that I am the only person that can live my life. She said I have to be myself. I am myself, I am Takeshi.
(1st Prize in the 60th Contest, 2008)
Monday, 29 June 2009
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Russia: Erika Kisheva in her own words
Erika moved from her native Nalchik in Southern Russia to Moscow in 2003, where she soon had breast implants. She wandered the clubs and after a few months was asked to take part in shows like “Eva Braun” and “The Magic Lady”.
Erika entered Miss Transsex Russia 2004 and, applying what she had learned in 7 years at the School of Oriental Dance, she won the competition.
Under a different name she rented an apartment in a prestigious area of Moscow and placed adverts on sites for ‘intimate services’, charging a rate of $500/night.
With the money she earned, Erika then paid for SRS and blended into society as a woman.
Erika then appeared in the television series "House-2", being one of the more popular participants, and was open on TV that she was transsexual. She was later removed from the house when the series editors found out that she had been a porn actress, something she hadn’t mentioned in her application.
In April 2009, Erika had an interview with “Lada”, a newspaper in Kazakhstan, when she clarified a few points.
At the time of “House-2” the media had reported her as a transvestite, whereas throughout her life she had gender dysphoria and dreamt of the day when she would wear luxurious dresses and high heels.
Her parents knew of her desire to transition but as Muslims from Caucasia they were against surgery, which was why she left for Moscow. Her life seems to have led to some sort of scandal for the family, but when she had her SRS her mother arrived in Moscow to take her home to recuperate, and her family became supportive.
Erika said she had not watched “House-2” but that appearing in it had changed her life because of her popularity on the show, and so she became recognised in the street.
Nowadays she is a professional dancer, specialising in Eastern and Indian dance in a colourful and vibrant show. She has also done some acting, and tours Russia in a four person transgender dance show.
Sunday, 14 June 2009
Nigeria: Wale does not exist, officially
Nigeria is Islamic in the north. In those 12 states the maximum penalty for male same-sex activity is death by stoning for Muslims and 14 years in jail for non-Muslims.
In the remainder of the country, Nigeria is Anglican. The maximum penalty for male same-sex activity is 14 years in jail.
In Dec 2006, the New York Times reported the following, on Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, the head of the church in Nigeria and leader of other organizations representing Anglican provinces in Africa and the developing world.
“Archbishop Akinola’s views on homosexuality — that it is an abomination akin to bestiality and pedophilia — are fairly mainstream here. Nigeria is a deeply religious country, evenly divided between Christians and Muslims, and attitudes toward homosexuality, women’s rights and marriage are dictated largely by scripture and enforced by deep social taboos.”
In July 2008, Davis Mac-Iyalla, a leader of the gay Christian movement in Nigeria, was granted asylum in the UK.
Mr Mac-Iyalla, 36, is the leader of Changing Attitude Nigeria, a group that works for equality for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members of the Anglican Communion.
"If the Anglican Church of Nigeria and the Nigerian government had a more open-minded and understanding attitude, then people like me would not need asylum in the first place" he said.
In Feb 2009, the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs told a UN review of human rights in the African nation that there was no gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans community in his country.
Ojo Madueke was addressing the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UNUPR) on Human Rights in Geneva.
"As we have indicated in our National Report, we have no record of any group of Nigerians who have come together under the umbrella of Lesbian, Gay and Transgender group; let alone to start talking of their rights," Mr Madueke said in his UNUPR address on February 9th.
Despite these conditions, stories that showcase Nigeria turn up from time to time.
The BBC reported the following in Feb 2005.
“A Nigerian Islamic court has sentenced a man to six months in prison and fined him $38 for living as a woman for seven years in the northern city of Kano. The judge told 19-year-old Abubakar Hamza, who used his female identity (Fatima Kawaji) to sell aphrodisiacs, to desist from "immoral behaviour. … Since his arrest, he has become a celebrity in the strict Muslim city. Posters of him dressed in women's clothing have been selling well."
Fatima Kawaji - full story and poster photo here.
The following is an extract from a report by Jimmy Leon, coordinator for African-rapport and educator for Amnesty International, published in Apr 2005.
Despite all these atrocities the Nigerian LGBTI community face, there can not be a better embodiment of the spirit of resilience, courage, pride and commitment one man possesses. This enormous courage, wit and talent are personal traits Wale is gifted with. He was crowned Miss Gay Nigeria in a glittering function in December 2004.
African-rapport interviewed this 18 year old student and model in a place where gay people are not valued and appreciated, a fact that he emphasized at length. Wale mentioned that at the moment there is a lack of cohesive gay and lesbian dialogue and unity. The only recourse are avenues of intimacy and underground social gatherings.
Wale explained that although the annual Miss Lagos was organized by a gay man, most people were frightened to enter the pageant. This particular event took place at a hotel somewhere in Nigeria with 15 contestants and a cheering crowd of about 300 people. Wale explained further that people “might get shocked and say to themselves how can this happen in an so unfriendly gay society, yea, in fact the gay beauty pageant does take place in all the Nigerian states and afterwards they all come together to the final contest, most beautiful gay in Nigeria – Miss Gay Nigeria”.
Wale - full story and photo here.
In the remainder of the country, Nigeria is Anglican. The maximum penalty for male same-sex activity is 14 years in jail.
In Dec 2006, the New York Times reported the following, on Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, the head of the church in Nigeria and leader of other organizations representing Anglican provinces in Africa and the developing world.
“Archbishop Akinola’s views on homosexuality — that it is an abomination akin to bestiality and pedophilia — are fairly mainstream here. Nigeria is a deeply religious country, evenly divided between Christians and Muslims, and attitudes toward homosexuality, women’s rights and marriage are dictated largely by scripture and enforced by deep social taboos.”
In July 2008, Davis Mac-Iyalla, a leader of the gay Christian movement in Nigeria, was granted asylum in the UK.
Mr Mac-Iyalla, 36, is the leader of Changing Attitude Nigeria, a group that works for equality for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members of the Anglican Communion.
"If the Anglican Church of Nigeria and the Nigerian government had a more open-minded and understanding attitude, then people like me would not need asylum in the first place" he said.
In Feb 2009, the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs told a UN review of human rights in the African nation that there was no gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans community in his country.
Ojo Madueke was addressing the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UNUPR) on Human Rights in Geneva.
"As we have indicated in our National Report, we have no record of any group of Nigerians who have come together under the umbrella of Lesbian, Gay and Transgender group; let alone to start talking of their rights," Mr Madueke said in his UNUPR address on February 9th.
Despite these conditions, stories that showcase Nigeria turn up from time to time.
The BBC reported the following in Feb 2005.
“A Nigerian Islamic court has sentenced a man to six months in prison and fined him $38 for living as a woman for seven years in the northern city of Kano. The judge told 19-year-old Abubakar Hamza, who used his female identity (Fatima Kawaji) to sell aphrodisiacs, to desist from "immoral behaviour. … Since his arrest, he has become a celebrity in the strict Muslim city. Posters of him dressed in women's clothing have been selling well."
Fatima Kawaji - full story and poster photo here.
The following is an extract from a report by Jimmy Leon, coordinator for African-rapport and educator for Amnesty International, published in Apr 2005.
Despite all these atrocities the Nigerian LGBTI community face, there can not be a better embodiment of the spirit of resilience, courage, pride and commitment one man possesses. This enormous courage, wit and talent are personal traits Wale is gifted with. He was crowned Miss Gay Nigeria in a glittering function in December 2004.
African-rapport interviewed this 18 year old student and model in a place where gay people are not valued and appreciated, a fact that he emphasized at length. Wale mentioned that at the moment there is a lack of cohesive gay and lesbian dialogue and unity. The only recourse are avenues of intimacy and underground social gatherings.
Wale explained that although the annual Miss Lagos was organized by a gay man, most people were frightened to enter the pageant. This particular event took place at a hotel somewhere in Nigeria with 15 contestants and a cheering crowd of about 300 people. Wale explained further that people “might get shocked and say to themselves how can this happen in an so unfriendly gay society, yea, in fact the gay beauty pageant does take place in all the Nigerian states and afterwards they all come together to the final contest, most beautiful gay in Nigeria – Miss Gay Nigeria”.
Wale - full story and photo here.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Bangladesh: Adnan Hossain is the expert on transsexuals in Bangla culture
“There is no legal stance on transsexual surgery in Bangladesh. Nor is there any medical establishment caring for the needs of transsexual people.” Source – Fourth Round of the Universal Periodic Review, Report on Bangladesh, February 2009.
Richard Ammon wrote an article about Bangladesh in 2006 and updated it in Aug 2008.
It is a definitive picture of Bangladesh and covers precisely why the Western concept of ‘transsexual’ simply has not made it into Bangladesh.
It explains why there is no lesbian movement in Bangladesh. That’s because ‘there are no lesbians’.
And why there is no gay movement. Because ‘there are no gays’.
And why there is no women’s movement.
For the explanation of that, read Richard’s article at Richard Ammon on Dhaka, Bangladesh.
It kicks off on the existence but non-existence of gay Bangladesh. It paints a truly vibrant picture of what life is like in the country’s capital, Dhaka.
The following is lifted from the article, so it’s Richard Ammon on “Adnan Hossain is the expert on transsexuals in Bangla culture”.
Bangladesh is a Muslim country but it is not an Islamist one so people don’t live under the gender-separate strictures seen in other more fundamentalist countries as Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
Adnan and his Transsexual Friends
My other companion at Lalbagh Fort was Adnan Hossain, a college lecturer in Development Studies at British-American University, a small new college, one of many in Dhaka.
Adnan is probably the most knowledgeable person in Bangladesh about the ‘outcast’ hijra transsexual ‘females’ of the Bangla culture. His interest in human sexuality extends across a broad social spectrum from queer studies to transgender identity. He has extensively researched and written about the underserved and scorned world of male-to-female trans persons who inhabit the nether-land of cross-gender life.
During a visit to his university office, Adnan insisted the word ‘hijra’ is difficult to translate into English because it is a summary word that encapsulates a variety of ‘other-sex’ people. “Hijras are a mosaic of ‘polymorphous’ gendered females who live on the impoverished fringe of society. Nearly all of these women are male-to-female. Many have had sex change surgery yet many have not. The latter are not simply transvestites because these ‘men’ identify as women and feel that is their true gender ID. Keeping their cocks acts like a mask that protects them from being identified as a hijra in the areas where they live with their straight families.”
Adnan claims hijras are seen by straight society as sexually impotent, but closer analysis reveals them as authentically sexually desirous beings who gain gratification as passive partners of males and being in that role allows them to feel vicariously female.
Adnan says he is not “a gay”; he is married and his wife recently they gave birth to a daughter. Prior to his marriage Adnan disclosed to his fiancé that he had previously taken a hijra as a ‘wife’ as part of his research. Although it was not a legally registered ceremony there was a hijra ritual conducted by that community. Adnan said his legal wife accepted this arrangement since she was quite liberal of mind.
“The hijra subculture is a very closed subculture. They are ridiculed and scorned by the larger society so they are naturally protective of their bodies and community. I could never get inside their minds, their community, their mythology, their secrets as an outsider, so I agreed to marry one in order to become more familiar and friendly with them. I wanted to take the step into their world.”
Seemingly a cold motive for taking a hijra ‘wife’, Adnan is nevertheless passionate about his desire to talk and act on behalf of the hijra community, which numbers in the thousands in Bangladesh, to improve their dim destiny. “Some of them are so uneducated they cannot even write their name…I would like to start a school for them and help them to find work other than begging and prostitution.”
Yet despite their questionable status hijras are occasionally called to ‘bless’ childbirths or entertain at weddings (where more than one seduction has occurred) stemming from old cultural myths that ‘inter-sex’ people had spiritual powers of wisdom and healing. Indeed, across southeast Asia similar folklore regarding enhanced spiritual authority of polysexual people are woven into ancient legends and mythologies.
But not uncommonly, even in western ‘advanced gay societies’, transsexuals and transvestites are often the orphans of gay lib and gay rights movements. Bangladesh is no exception, Adnan explained. “There is no outreach to the hijra community from the gays here—assuming they could find each other. Even if there were a gay community here, they would have nothing to do with hijras,” Adnan declared. “It’s another example of what I call ’horizontal hostility’ –discrimination against one’s own type or rank.”
However, Adnan does recognize that it’s more than just a sexuality issue. “We are a very class-separated society. You don’t find the classes mixing very much. Hijras are very poor and without education. The middle and upper classes don’t deal with such people except as labourers.
It would be virtually impossible for these two extreme opposites to meet as equals. There are many well-to-do gays who drive around in their family’s car and go to universities abroad. This is unthinkable for the vast majority here, including the hijras. So I’m not foolishly idealistic but I think hijras do deserve a small chance at a better life.”
The negative view of hijras was further confirmed over dinner one evening at Spaghetti Jazz restaurant. When I asked Tanveer why gays don’t connect with hijras. He said, “because of their weird behaviour. They harass people. They don’t just beg. If someone refuses to give them baksheesh (money) they will start yelling at the person or they may expose themselves and act crazy. Who wants to be around that! I think that they are caught in a vicious cycle of cultural norm--a transgendered person can't find any normal job anywhere. So, the only thing they can do is go and live with people of their kind and extort money from others or work as sex-workers." However, even though he keeps a distance from hijras, he does not feel they should be treated so badly by society.
Tanveer told about a debate with his father when the latter expressed his disapproval of transvestites one evening at dinner. This was just after his parents had sympathetically viewed an Indian TV program on HIV, which included reference to same-sex relationships. (Parental reactions to sexual matters can vary greatly: when he revealed his sexual orientation to his masters-degreed mother she immediately broke into distracted prayer. And his brother does not understand it at all.)
Richard Ammon wrote an article about Bangladesh in 2006 and updated it in Aug 2008.
It is a definitive picture of Bangladesh and covers precisely why the Western concept of ‘transsexual’ simply has not made it into Bangladesh.
It explains why there is no lesbian movement in Bangladesh. That’s because ‘there are no lesbians’.
And why there is no gay movement. Because ‘there are no gays’.
And why there is no women’s movement.
For the explanation of that, read Richard’s article at Richard Ammon on Dhaka, Bangladesh.
It kicks off on the existence but non-existence of gay Bangladesh. It paints a truly vibrant picture of what life is like in the country’s capital, Dhaka.
The following is lifted from the article, so it’s Richard Ammon on “Adnan Hossain is the expert on transsexuals in Bangla culture”.
Bangladesh is a Muslim country but it is not an Islamist one so people don’t live under the gender-separate strictures seen in other more fundamentalist countries as Saudi Arabia or Pakistan.
Adnan and his Transsexual Friends
My other companion at Lalbagh Fort was Adnan Hossain, a college lecturer in Development Studies at British-American University, a small new college, one of many in Dhaka.
Adnan is probably the most knowledgeable person in Bangladesh about the ‘outcast’ hijra transsexual ‘females’ of the Bangla culture. His interest in human sexuality extends across a broad social spectrum from queer studies to transgender identity. He has extensively researched and written about the underserved and scorned world of male-to-female trans persons who inhabit the nether-land of cross-gender life.
During a visit to his university office, Adnan insisted the word ‘hijra’ is difficult to translate into English because it is a summary word that encapsulates a variety of ‘other-sex’ people. “Hijras are a mosaic of ‘polymorphous’ gendered females who live on the impoverished fringe of society. Nearly all of these women are male-to-female. Many have had sex change surgery yet many have not. The latter are not simply transvestites because these ‘men’ identify as women and feel that is their true gender ID. Keeping their cocks acts like a mask that protects them from being identified as a hijra in the areas where they live with their straight families.”
Adnan claims hijras are seen by straight society as sexually impotent, but closer analysis reveals them as authentically sexually desirous beings who gain gratification as passive partners of males and being in that role allows them to feel vicariously female.
Adnan says he is not “a gay”; he is married and his wife recently they gave birth to a daughter. Prior to his marriage Adnan disclosed to his fiancé that he had previously taken a hijra as a ‘wife’ as part of his research. Although it was not a legally registered ceremony there was a hijra ritual conducted by that community. Adnan said his legal wife accepted this arrangement since she was quite liberal of mind.
“The hijra subculture is a very closed subculture. They are ridiculed and scorned by the larger society so they are naturally protective of their bodies and community. I could never get inside their minds, their community, their mythology, their secrets as an outsider, so I agreed to marry one in order to become more familiar and friendly with them. I wanted to take the step into their world.”
Seemingly a cold motive for taking a hijra ‘wife’, Adnan is nevertheless passionate about his desire to talk and act on behalf of the hijra community, which numbers in the thousands in Bangladesh, to improve their dim destiny. “Some of them are so uneducated they cannot even write their name…I would like to start a school for them and help them to find work other than begging and prostitution.”
Yet despite their questionable status hijras are occasionally called to ‘bless’ childbirths or entertain at weddings (where more than one seduction has occurred) stemming from old cultural myths that ‘inter-sex’ people had spiritual powers of wisdom and healing. Indeed, across southeast Asia similar folklore regarding enhanced spiritual authority of polysexual people are woven into ancient legends and mythologies.
But not uncommonly, even in western ‘advanced gay societies’, transsexuals and transvestites are often the orphans of gay lib and gay rights movements. Bangladesh is no exception, Adnan explained. “There is no outreach to the hijra community from the gays here—assuming they could find each other. Even if there were a gay community here, they would have nothing to do with hijras,” Adnan declared. “It’s another example of what I call ’horizontal hostility’ –discrimination against one’s own type or rank.”
However, Adnan does recognize that it’s more than just a sexuality issue. “We are a very class-separated society. You don’t find the classes mixing very much. Hijras are very poor and without education. The middle and upper classes don’t deal with such people except as labourers.
It would be virtually impossible for these two extreme opposites to meet as equals. There are many well-to-do gays who drive around in their family’s car and go to universities abroad. This is unthinkable for the vast majority here, including the hijras. So I’m not foolishly idealistic but I think hijras do deserve a small chance at a better life.”
The negative view of hijras was further confirmed over dinner one evening at Spaghetti Jazz restaurant. When I asked Tanveer why gays don’t connect with hijras. He said, “because of their weird behaviour. They harass people. They don’t just beg. If someone refuses to give them baksheesh (money) they will start yelling at the person or they may expose themselves and act crazy. Who wants to be around that! I think that they are caught in a vicious cycle of cultural norm--a transgendered person can't find any normal job anywhere. So, the only thing they can do is go and live with people of their kind and extort money from others or work as sex-workers." However, even though he keeps a distance from hijras, he does not feel they should be treated so badly by society.
Tanveer told about a debate with his father when the latter expressed his disapproval of transvestites one evening at dinner. This was just after his parents had sympathetically viewed an Indian TV program on HIV, which included reference to same-sex relationships. (Parental reactions to sexual matters can vary greatly: when he revealed his sexual orientation to his masters-degreed mother she immediately broke into distracted prayer. And his brother does not understand it at all.)
Monday, 8 June 2009
Pakistan - The Case of Noreen Aslam
(Photo is Shumail Raj on left and Shahzina Tariq on right).
In December 1973, the district appeal court (the Oberlandesgericht) of Hamm in Germany considered the case of a German male who had married a female from Pakistan. The woman, a male to female transsexual, had her gender reassignment recognised by Pakistan, and Pakistan also recognised her subsequent right to marry.
Move forward to May 2007, and a case in the Lahore High Court in Pakistan that exploded in the media.
Shumail Raj and Shahzina Tariq had applied to the court to prevent Shahzina being married off by her family, allegedly to pay for an uncle’s gambling debts.
Shumail and Shahzina petitioned the courts on the basis that they were legally married, as husband and wife.
The family counterclaimed that they could not be married, as Shumail was a female-to-male transsexual, and it was illegal for two women to marry.
It transpired that Shumail had undergone a sex-change operation some 16 years earlier.
Shumail was examined by a court appointed doctor, found to lack male genitals and so was deemed to be female.
The Times of India reported the issue as follows –
The role of religion, a dominant question in Pakistan in any situation, is a matter of debate in what is being claimed as the first case in the country. Leaders of the two principal Muslim sects differ while disapproving of the marriage.
Shia cleric Allama Syed Abbas Sherazi says: “It depends on the courts to give punishment to such people according to the circumstances to save the society from distraction. In Shia sect the same-sex marriage is considered ‘haram’. The clerics in their Friday prayer sermons should educate the nation about the curse of same sex marriages and obscenity.”
But his Sunni counterpart, Maulana Hanif Jalandhari, said: “The court can give the couple a capital punishment, a lifetime imprisonment or a fine.”
"The media is spreading vulgarity in Pakistan. The parents should force their children to say their prayers. The clerics should educate Muslims about the conspiracy of the anti-Islamic forces," said Jalandhari.
Zahid Hussain Bokhari, a retired judge, said: “There is no law in Pakistan to stop two women from living together. It is against the basic human rights to interfere in their personal matters. The 'nikahnama' (marriage contract) procured by Shumail Raj and Shahzina has no importance. They should not be dealt as married.”
S.M. Masud, a former law minister, says the case should be handled in the light of Islam, as there is no provision in Pakistani law.
"If the husband cannot perform sex, the law gives this right to the wife to get a divorce. Shumail looks like a man, but if "she" cannot perform sex, "her" wife Shahzina has the right to get divorced."
"The couple has not committed any offence, as penetration is essential for imposition of the Section 377 of the Pakistan Panel Code (PCC). Fatwas issued in the past should also be consulted in this case.”
Section 377 is ‘indecent conduct’, and the absence of male genitals indeed meant the couple could not be found guilty of this under Pakistani law.
However, the judge at the hearing in Lahore decided that both Shumail and Shahzina had lied in their depositions to the court that Shumail was male, and so sentenced them each to 3 years jail, plus a fine. The judge also ordered that action should be taken against the doctors who had carried out Shumail’s surgery.
The couple were sent to jail in separate locations, both in women’s institutions.
Shortly afterwards the couple were freed on bail as they appealed their sentence. Then a declaration of martial law in 2007 led to the removal of the judge, and it seems no appeal has been heard yet. (June 2009).
But in April 2008, Noreen Aslam from Faisalabad petitioned the High Court in Lahore to undergo female-to-male SRS.
The assistant director general for health in Islamabad testified that he concurred with a diagnosis of GID and that medical authorities had no objection in this case. Noreen’s counsel stated that a surgeon had agreed to carry out the operation, but then refused after the Raj case hit the media. Counsel noted that the judge had not said such operations were banned, thus clearance should be given.
Justice Muhammad Ahsan Bhoon of the High Court of Lahore agreed and gave permission to proceed.
Sunday, 7 June 2009
Brazil: Yeda Brown, the Muse of Salvador Dali
This account of the life of Yeda Brown is based mainly on a report in Portuguese at http://yedabrownmusadedali.blogspot.com/2008/05/yeda-brown-la-musa-de-dal.html. That has numerous photos of Yeda and links to material in the Spanish press that are not repeated here.
Yeda is from Bagé, a town in Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil, close to the border with Uruguay. Brown was the child of a military officer and when rejected for military service as a transsexual, the father promptly paid for SRS. (But see later).
The name ‘Yeda’ was picked in homage to Ieda Vargas, Miss Universe.
In Dec 1967 Yeda left Bagé for Rio de Janeiro and by Feb 1968 was performing in the Teatro Rival, “a great place for a close-up look at musicians performing as seating is close to the stage. The menu has a humorous quirk with its selection of cold dishes being named after famous Brazilian actors.”
Various other engagements followed in Brazil and Uruguay, but in Jan 1974, Yeda moved to Paris.
Yeda had SRS in Belgium in Feb 1975.
In November 1975, Yeda became the first post-op transsexual to enter Spain, in the last days of Franco, visiting Madrid, Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca.
Yeda gained fame in theatre, magazines, records and half a dozen films. She became a hit with the people much as Roberta Close did in Brazil.
The press called her ‘the golden body’ and ‘the trans diva’. Her class, culture and beauty gained her entry into the jet set of Madrid.
Salvador Dalí met her and they became close. He introduced her to pop stars and the press now called her ‘the muse of Dalí’.
She lived by the beach in Benidorm, Valencia and was a star of popular television.
From 1996 to 2000, Yeda went back to Brazil to check out her roots and to get doucumentation changed.
Yeda moved first to Barcelona, then to Madrid, and a biography is in the making.
Note. The films made in the late 70s included one called ‘El Transexual’, released in 1977, based upon the story of Lorena Capelli, who had died during an illegal sex-change operation. By 1982, according to http://www.naschy.com/transexual.html, this was released on Spanish TV with a scene taken from another film, Tenebre, played by Eva Robyn’s.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
Lina Sutrisno wants to be a woman when she meets God
From The Jakarta Post, 14 May 2005 (article not available via Jakarta Post as at Jun 2009).
'I want to be a woman when I meet God'
Transvestites, transsexuals and other gender-benders have long been part of Indonesia's entertainment industry. Their ability to amuse and enchant often hides a great sadness. The Jakarta Post contributor Duncan Graham meets one tough, clever woman in East Java:
If cruelty, rejection and hostility during childhood can determine attitudes in adult life then Lina Sutrisno has a thousand reasons to hate -- probably more.
That she shows no signs of bitterness is a tribute to her determination that nothing would halt her precious ambition: To be a woman.
For Ibu Lina was born Ano Liong Thay -- a boy.
In his early school years in Malang little Ano found no pleasure in the company of knockabout boys. He had male genitalia, wore trousers and was considered by classmates and teachers to be male.
But he wanted dolls and dresses, mascara and nail polish – behaviour that rapidly singled him out for derision. He didn't realize it at the time but through some quirk of nature he was a transsexual.
Ano's parents, who ran a small general store in the Klontong market, were not sympathetic to their little lad's situation. His mother was Christian and her son was sent to a Catholic school. It was there that his position became most distressful when a priest and sisters rejected him as evil.
Unable to tolerate the sneers and derision from children who didn't know better -- and the adults who should have done -- he fled school in second year high. He also made his first move to Islam, a religion he found more accepting and which she now embraces with grace.
After working in his parents' shop Ano entered puberty and felt the overpowering pull of his feminine side. He grew small breasts but also facial hair. His male organs remained undeveloped but he shaved and wore women's clothes.
His parents' marriage broke up and he was truly alone. Aged 15, Ano changed his name to Lina, after a Roman royal called Queen Messalina, a character in a popular film of the time. It was a clear statement of independence: "He" had become "she".
Two years later she got her identity card with the classification "female."
Big city, broader horizons
Lina moved to Jakarta and only there encountered people with wider knowledge and tolerance. A friend who had lived in Holland reported on European perspectives. Fortunately, at that time some advances had been made overseas in the recognition and treatment of transsexuals, particularly by an American physician, Dr Harry Benjamin. She learned that surgery could help change her body and soothe her mind and spirit.
"Surgery meant big money," Ibu Lina said in the beauty salon she now runs in her hometown. "I knew I had to strive hard to get those rupiah. I was on my own, so I learned makeup and hairdressing and became successful. I worked in Jakarta for seven years. Then I had to find a doctor who would do the operations."
No easy task. President Soeharto controlled the media and there were to be no detailed stories of sex changes littering the pages of the nation's press.
Strange things might happen in the decadent West, but Indonesians had to be protected from such information -- even when needed for serious reasons by people who had been born incomplete and desperately needed to know the facts.
Slowly and by word of mouth Lina's road led to the Surabaya surgery of Professor Dr Johansyah Marzuki. Before any operation could be undertaken Lina had to get supporting letters from specialists in a wide range of fields, from urology to psychiatry.
And every one wanted a close look at her naked body, along with their fee. Once they'd peered and probed and satisfied their curiosity some then rejected her, applying personal moral strictures instead of professional counselling.
This gross embarrassment lasted for three years: It would have discouraged any lesser person. Lina wasn't confronting some ordinary disease that could be revealed to arouse public sympathy. Instead she was facing a future of being physically incomplete and emotionally ambiguous; it was psychologically scary and extremely personal.
"Everyone wants to be a woman or a man, not half-and-half," she said. I had a problem and I knew I must be clever enough to get the money to solve the problem.
"I remained determined. I didn't care what people thought. I knew that I wanted to be a woman when I'm called to God."
Femininity and self-confidence
Through hormone treatment, Lina grew a pair of most presentable breasts that gave her the courage to wear a bikini on the beach. But the hormones had unpleasant side effects.
Eventually Ibu Lina had two operations, one to enhance her breasts, the other to remove the small male genitalia and shape it into a female form. That was in the early 1980s.
Then she started to lose body hair though the hormones had been discontinued. Now, at 53, her skin is smooth and soft. She looks 13 years younger than her age, a tall and extremely feminine woman proud of her sexuality and her substantial achievements.
And also with the courage and self-confidence to tell her story.
Through her long quest to consolidate her gender Ibu Lina learned much about human psychology and the powerful drive women have to retain their looks and to battle aging.
Through her encounters with the medical profession she began to assist doctors working in cosmetic surgery and has built a good business specializing in the laser removal of hair, warts, birthmarks and wrinkles.
Ironically, her salon is only a few hundred meters from her parents' old stall and where she endured so much public humiliation.
Ibu Lina has been married twice in a bid to fulfill her destiny as a woman but the unions were unsuccessful. She has an adopted daughter and has recently started turning her multiple talents to doll-making and painting. Like many transsexuals she is highly creative. Along the way she's built an impressive array of qualifications and skills that have customers from afar seeking her services.
She is also strongly supported by other women in business who understand how difficult it is to survive alone.
"I know about discrimination. I can't forget the cruelty -- though I do get close to forgetting," Ibu Lina said. I hate cruelty. I only want love. Now I know we can finally only get true love from God. My childhood years were undoubtedly bad. However, I knew what I wanted and I never cried. I was never angry with God.
"Even now, the position of women in Indonesia is not good. To succeed we must be very smart and intelligent. Where there is a will there has to be a way. I urge young people in whatever they are doing and however they have been made to value themselves above all.
"Don't worry about what others think: It's not their business. No one asks to be born a transsexual -- people should be more flexible in their outlook and thinking.
"Everyone is different. Keep an open mind. Who knows what handicap can visit you or your family? Respect difference."
'I want to be a woman when I meet God'
Transvestites, transsexuals and other gender-benders have long been part of Indonesia's entertainment industry. Their ability to amuse and enchant often hides a great sadness. The Jakarta Post contributor Duncan Graham meets one tough, clever woman in East Java:
If cruelty, rejection and hostility during childhood can determine attitudes in adult life then Lina Sutrisno has a thousand reasons to hate -- probably more.
That she shows no signs of bitterness is a tribute to her determination that nothing would halt her precious ambition: To be a woman.
For Ibu Lina was born Ano Liong Thay -- a boy.
In his early school years in Malang little Ano found no pleasure in the company of knockabout boys. He had male genitalia, wore trousers and was considered by classmates and teachers to be male.
But he wanted dolls and dresses, mascara and nail polish – behaviour that rapidly singled him out for derision. He didn't realize it at the time but through some quirk of nature he was a transsexual.
Ano's parents, who ran a small general store in the Klontong market, were not sympathetic to their little lad's situation. His mother was Christian and her son was sent to a Catholic school. It was there that his position became most distressful when a priest and sisters rejected him as evil.
Unable to tolerate the sneers and derision from children who didn't know better -- and the adults who should have done -- he fled school in second year high. He also made his first move to Islam, a religion he found more accepting and which she now embraces with grace.
After working in his parents' shop Ano entered puberty and felt the overpowering pull of his feminine side. He grew small breasts but also facial hair. His male organs remained undeveloped but he shaved and wore women's clothes.
His parents' marriage broke up and he was truly alone. Aged 15, Ano changed his name to Lina, after a Roman royal called Queen Messalina, a character in a popular film of the time. It was a clear statement of independence: "He" had become "she".
Two years later she got her identity card with the classification "female."
Big city, broader horizons
Lina moved to Jakarta and only there encountered people with wider knowledge and tolerance. A friend who had lived in Holland reported on European perspectives. Fortunately, at that time some advances had been made overseas in the recognition and treatment of transsexuals, particularly by an American physician, Dr Harry Benjamin. She learned that surgery could help change her body and soothe her mind and spirit.
"Surgery meant big money," Ibu Lina said in the beauty salon she now runs in her hometown. "I knew I had to strive hard to get those rupiah. I was on my own, so I learned makeup and hairdressing and became successful. I worked in Jakarta for seven years. Then I had to find a doctor who would do the operations."
No easy task. President Soeharto controlled the media and there were to be no detailed stories of sex changes littering the pages of the nation's press.
Strange things might happen in the decadent West, but Indonesians had to be protected from such information -- even when needed for serious reasons by people who had been born incomplete and desperately needed to know the facts.
Slowly and by word of mouth Lina's road led to the Surabaya surgery of Professor Dr Johansyah Marzuki. Before any operation could be undertaken Lina had to get supporting letters from specialists in a wide range of fields, from urology to psychiatry.
And every one wanted a close look at her naked body, along with their fee. Once they'd peered and probed and satisfied their curiosity some then rejected her, applying personal moral strictures instead of professional counselling.
This gross embarrassment lasted for three years: It would have discouraged any lesser person. Lina wasn't confronting some ordinary disease that could be revealed to arouse public sympathy. Instead she was facing a future of being physically incomplete and emotionally ambiguous; it was psychologically scary and extremely personal.
"Everyone wants to be a woman or a man, not half-and-half," she said. I had a problem and I knew I must be clever enough to get the money to solve the problem.
"I remained determined. I didn't care what people thought. I knew that I wanted to be a woman when I'm called to God."
Femininity and self-confidence
Through hormone treatment, Lina grew a pair of most presentable breasts that gave her the courage to wear a bikini on the beach. But the hormones had unpleasant side effects.
Eventually Ibu Lina had two operations, one to enhance her breasts, the other to remove the small male genitalia and shape it into a female form. That was in the early 1980s.
Then she started to lose body hair though the hormones had been discontinued. Now, at 53, her skin is smooth and soft. She looks 13 years younger than her age, a tall and extremely feminine woman proud of her sexuality and her substantial achievements.
And also with the courage and self-confidence to tell her story.
Through her long quest to consolidate her gender Ibu Lina learned much about human psychology and the powerful drive women have to retain their looks and to battle aging.
Through her encounters with the medical profession she began to assist doctors working in cosmetic surgery and has built a good business specializing in the laser removal of hair, warts, birthmarks and wrinkles.
Ironically, her salon is only a few hundred meters from her parents' old stall and where she endured so much public humiliation.
Ibu Lina has been married twice in a bid to fulfill her destiny as a woman but the unions were unsuccessful. She has an adopted daughter and has recently started turning her multiple talents to doll-making and painting. Like many transsexuals she is highly creative. Along the way she's built an impressive array of qualifications and skills that have customers from afar seeking her services.
She is also strongly supported by other women in business who understand how difficult it is to survive alone.
"I know about discrimination. I can't forget the cruelty -- though I do get close to forgetting," Ibu Lina said. I hate cruelty. I only want love. Now I know we can finally only get true love from God. My childhood years were undoubtedly bad. However, I knew what I wanted and I never cried. I was never angry with God.
"Even now, the position of women in Indonesia is not good. To succeed we must be very smart and intelligent. Where there is a will there has to be a way. I urge young people in whatever they are doing and however they have been made to value themselves above all.
"Don't worry about what others think: It's not their business. No one asks to be born a transsexual -- people should be more flexible in their outlook and thinking.
"Everyone is different. Keep an open mind. Who knows what handicap can visit you or your family? Respect difference."
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
USA mid-60s: Phyllis Wilson got married
In 1952, Christine Jorgenson made news headlines when her story of a sex-change operation in Denmark was leaked to the US press. Media treatment was described as salacious and lurid. In 1959, the New York Times reported that an engagement to Howard J Knox had been called off, after the couple could not get a marriage licence as Jorgensen was still considered male. And Knox lost his job in Washington, DC when the engagement became public.
By the mid-60s, US public opinion was no more favourably inclined to sex-change surgery. Those wishing the surgery were forced to travel abroad, to Mexico, Europe or Casablanca.
In 1964, reporters got wind of SRS being carried out at The University of California in San Francisco. The UCSF rushed out a defensive press release in order to “forestall the attendant unsavoury publicity” (associated with Christine Jorgensen’s story). It emphasised that only 3 transsex operations had been carried out in over a decade and that its main work was in the intersex arena.
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore was also, primarily, interested in intersex conditions. John Money (the person who got it wrong with David Reimer) was part of the Hopkins team and badgered the others to do operations on TS people. Johns Hopkins then set up what was meant to be a very small research programme. It was their intention to see not more than two TS patients a month and they expected to carry out even fewer operations.
The university obtained legal clearance to carry out sex-change operations from a Baltimore court in late 1965, and had a formal programme in place, chaired by John E. Hoopes, by July 1966.
In October 1966, a gossip columnist in the New York Daily News wrote the following –
"Making the rounds of Manhattan clubs these nights is a stunning girl who admits she was a male less than one year ago and that she underwent a sex change operation at, of all places, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Surprisingly, the hospital confirms the case, saying surgery followed psychotherapy. Such operations, although rare in this country, are neither illegal nor unethical, according to a Johns Hopkins spokesman. Officials at a number of major hospitals here agreed with Johns Hopkins on the legality and ethics of the operations but none could recall such an operation ever having been performed in New York."
This report about this ‘stunning girl’ forced the team at Johns Hopkins to interact with the media. They decided to work through a single reporter at the New York Times in the hope that the prestige of the Times would work in their favour.
On 21st Nov 1966, the New York Times devoted its front page to the story – “The Johns Hopkins Hospital Has Quietly Begun Performing Sex Change Surgery”. This report did not mention the ‘stunning girl’. It made it clear that a small number of sex-change operations had been carried out in the US before the Johns Hopkins programme.
It also flagged up Harry Benjamin as one of the leading authorities in the field, and noted that his book “The Transsexual Phenomenon” had been published earlier in 1966.
But more importantly, this news was repeated across the media of the US.
Johns Hopkins never became a significant centre for sex-change operations.
However, the need was there and public opinion was now favourable, so other centres in the US introduced SRS programmes, and by the end of the sixties, there were 15-20 major centres at work within the US. Over a thousand sex-change operations had now been carried out within the US. While Dr Stanley Biber was now running the first private clinic.
The ‘stunning girl’ worked as a dancer in New York, under the name Avon Wilson, real name Phyllis Wilson. She was the first person to have SRS in the Johns Hopkins programme, and the spark that ignited this u-turn.
And according to Jet Magazine (issue date 13 July 1967), in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Warren Combs, musician, Phyllis Wilson got married.
By the mid-60s, US public opinion was no more favourably inclined to sex-change surgery. Those wishing the surgery were forced to travel abroad, to Mexico, Europe or Casablanca.
In 1964, reporters got wind of SRS being carried out at The University of California in San Francisco. The UCSF rushed out a defensive press release in order to “forestall the attendant unsavoury publicity” (associated with Christine Jorgensen’s story). It emphasised that only 3 transsex operations had been carried out in over a decade and that its main work was in the intersex arena.
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore was also, primarily, interested in intersex conditions. John Money (the person who got it wrong with David Reimer) was part of the Hopkins team and badgered the others to do operations on TS people. Johns Hopkins then set up what was meant to be a very small research programme. It was their intention to see not more than two TS patients a month and they expected to carry out even fewer operations.
The university obtained legal clearance to carry out sex-change operations from a Baltimore court in late 1965, and had a formal programme in place, chaired by John E. Hoopes, by July 1966.
In October 1966, a gossip columnist in the New York Daily News wrote the following –
"Making the rounds of Manhattan clubs these nights is a stunning girl who admits she was a male less than one year ago and that she underwent a sex change operation at, of all places, Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Surprisingly, the hospital confirms the case, saying surgery followed psychotherapy. Such operations, although rare in this country, are neither illegal nor unethical, according to a Johns Hopkins spokesman. Officials at a number of major hospitals here agreed with Johns Hopkins on the legality and ethics of the operations but none could recall such an operation ever having been performed in New York."
This report about this ‘stunning girl’ forced the team at Johns Hopkins to interact with the media. They decided to work through a single reporter at the New York Times in the hope that the prestige of the Times would work in their favour.
On 21st Nov 1966, the New York Times devoted its front page to the story – “The Johns Hopkins Hospital Has Quietly Begun Performing Sex Change Surgery”. This report did not mention the ‘stunning girl’. It made it clear that a small number of sex-change operations had been carried out in the US before the Johns Hopkins programme.
It also flagged up Harry Benjamin as one of the leading authorities in the field, and noted that his book “The Transsexual Phenomenon” had been published earlier in 1966.
But more importantly, this news was repeated across the media of the US.
Johns Hopkins never became a significant centre for sex-change operations.
However, the need was there and public opinion was now favourable, so other centres in the US introduced SRS programmes, and by the end of the sixties, there were 15-20 major centres at work within the US. Over a thousand sex-change operations had now been carried out within the US. While Dr Stanley Biber was now running the first private clinic.
The ‘stunning girl’ worked as a dancer in New York, under the name Avon Wilson, real name Phyllis Wilson. She was the first person to have SRS in the Johns Hopkins programme, and the spark that ignited this u-turn.
And according to Jet Magazine (issue date 13 July 1967), in Baltimore, Maryland, to a Warren Combs, musician, Phyllis Wilson got married.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
India: Jayshree's SRS was helped by the people of Botad
Botad is a town of about 100,000 people in that state of Gujurat, India. Its position on the crossroads to 4 nearby district centres means it is vibrant, with above-average facilities.
In April 2006, the Times of India reported that Jayshree, 41, was recovering from SRS, performed by urologist Kirtipal Visana and plastic surgeon Vijay Bhatia, in Shrey Hospital in Ahmedabad.
The plastic surgeon said the next step would be breast implants and hormones.
The total cost of the operation was Rs 150,000. As a sought-after dancer, Jayshree could charge up to Rs 1,000 per performance, and funded most of the cost this way.
However, the people of Botad made individual contributions of Rs 5 to Rs 100, giving in total Rs 50,000, a third of the cost.
In November 2008, Jayshree told the Times of India that she was being harassed by a group of men posing as eunuchs, who wanted to get her to join them to cash in on her celebrity status. She said she went to a police station to file a complaint, but apart from talking to the family of one man, the police did not take her seriously. A Botad Police Inspector said a formal complaint had not been registered, but if it was raised, it would be acted upon.
Jayshree also told the Times that shortly after her SRS she had entered into a relationship with a Mumbai man who did daredevil tricks in a circus, and was still happily involved with him.
(May 2009. Rs150,00 is roughly £2,000, or €2,300 or $3,200 USD.)
In April 2006, the Times of India reported that Jayshree, 41, was recovering from SRS, performed by urologist Kirtipal Visana and plastic surgeon Vijay Bhatia, in Shrey Hospital in Ahmedabad.
The plastic surgeon said the next step would be breast implants and hormones.
The total cost of the operation was Rs 150,000. As a sought-after dancer, Jayshree could charge up to Rs 1,000 per performance, and funded most of the cost this way.
However, the people of Botad made individual contributions of Rs 5 to Rs 100, giving in total Rs 50,000, a third of the cost.
In November 2008, Jayshree told the Times of India that she was being harassed by a group of men posing as eunuchs, who wanted to get her to join them to cash in on her celebrity status. She said she went to a police station to file a complaint, but apart from talking to the family of one man, the police did not take her seriously. A Botad Police Inspector said a formal complaint had not been registered, but if it was raised, it would be acted upon.
Jayshree also told the Times that shortly after her SRS she had entered into a relationship with a Mumbai man who did daredevil tricks in a circus, and was still happily involved with him.
(May 2009. Rs150,00 is roughly £2,000, or €2,300 or $3,200 USD.)
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
China 2004 Zhang Kesha, Zhang Lin, Chen Lili
In January 1983, plastic surgeon Wang Damei carried out the first SRS operation in China, on Zhang Kesha (pictured above).
The link below tells the story of the wedding of a different person, Zhang Lin, but notes that 4 trans people were married in China in 1996.
Chen Lili is another famous trans person touched on in the report.
The estimate of 1,000 people udergoing SRS in China by 2004 is higher than other sources (typically quoting 500), but all say hard statistics are not available.
The China Daily report also covers how Chinese society viewed trans people at that time.
China 2004 in full.
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