Author Archives: Trans...

Transgender Children-Out Of The Shadows
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A film about an issue facing children and youth that is far too often overlooked or sensationalized for political reasons.
If you support this film and the children and families it represents, then please consider supporting the organization that is working on behalf of these kids, TransActive Education & Advocacy

 

TranSE, Transgender South East peer support group…

 

meets at the Cheshire Home, John Street, Waterford
every second Friday of each month.
TranSE • Transgender SouthEast
Facebook group
Contact Vanessa@teni.ie
Phone; 085-1477166

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Trans Voices ‘Touching the Surface’ • Book Launch • Waterford • 20th July
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Transgender South-East in association with Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) & sOUTh

Cordially invites you to the Trans Voices ‘Touching the Surface’ Book Launch

• Friday 20th July 2012
• 7pm-8.30pm
• Bishops Palace, The Mall, Waterford City

The Mayor of Waterford Councillor Jim D’arcy will officially launch this first ever book of its kind in Ireland

Canapés, wine, tea, Coffee and Light refreshments will be served

A number of guest speakers will join us on the night

Please RSVP by Tuesday 17th July (if possible) to Vanessa@teni.ie
Phone; 085-1477166
Facebook: event

Touching the Surface’ is a landmark publication celebrating trans experiences from across Ireland. The collection contains prose, poetry, artwork and photographs from more than forty contributors.

Trans Voices ‘Touching The Surface’ has previously been successfully launched in Dublin and Cork and now Waterford, see the TENI site for more details on the book.

Come and show your support for the launch and some of our very own Waterford friends who also feature in the book! The cover graces beautiful Tramore and a proud Waterford local!


“Well here we go, it’s about time we launched this in Waterford. There is a great representation of Waterford Women in the book, even though this is a National publication Transgender South-East are well in.

The front cover is the beautiful view of Brownstown Head from the Beach at Tramore, there is also a nice profile of the” back of me” (something that many people like to see).

The launch is in Bishops Palace (across the road from Waterford Crystal Showrooms) a beautiful location for such a special book. Canapes will substitute Blaas and scallops, and wine will substitute Large Bottles of Guinness. We will have some Trad music from our very talented members, sure what else would ye want. So please come along and support what certainly is a groundbreaking resourse from the Trans community in Ireland.

Join us in Geoffs Bar after for a bit of a session, thanks for all your support as always xx”

Vanessa Lacey

Touching the Surface: Trans Voices in Ireland Launch photo by Joan O’Connell • Gaelick.com

The book has submissions from people who identify across the entire gender spectrum, and will be an invaluable resource for trans* people all over Ireland.  Touching the Surface contains poetry, photographs, and narratives about the trans* experience, as well as examples of art work and drawings.

“We had a fantastic response to our call for submissions,” said Orlaith O’Sullivan, Communications Officer for TENI. “We received entries from a great diversity of ages and gender identities across Ireland. Portrait photographs, poetry, short stories, memoirs and artworks – the collection reflects the personal, political and creative spheres of trans people across the country.”

For the publication, TENI even received a submission from as far afield as Russia, from a young trans man whose visit to Ireland had been an inspiration to him. TENI also worked with BelongTo’s IndividualiTy group, whose members submitted poetry, stories, images and thoughts on identity and questioning gender.

“From well-known figures like Lydia Foy and Panti to anonymous voices from small rural communities, the book marks the wealth of trans experiences in Ireland,” said O’Sullivan. “It is a beautiful, funny, poignant read. We at TENI hope that it will raise awareness – and a smile.” by Gaire.com: Book launch

Buy the Book : Touching the Surface : ‘Trans Voices in Ireland’ costs €10

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Children & Transgender
Trans...

As editor of the Trans*Wexford facebook page, hosted by Gay Wexford, I regularly seek Trans* stories to share on the page. May appears to be the month of Transgender children. A positive trend? In the stories highlighted below we’re shown the healthy aspects of children coming to terms, or rather their Parents, Teachers and adults around them, with their real gender. It would have been good to share some Irish stories too.

Washington Post

Transgender children: Learning to listen to their reality By Petula Dvorak, Published: May 20 in the Washington post

Kathryn wanted pants. And short hair. Then trucks and swords.

Transgender at five: “I am a boy,” she insisted at age 2. It became a constant theme in struggles with her parents, who eventually concluded she wasn’t just a tomboy. Then, they had to figure out how to handle it.

Her parents, Jean and Stephen, were fine with their toddler’s embrace of all things boy.

They’ve both been school teachers and coaches in Maryland and are pretty immune to the quirky stuff that kids do.

But it kept getting more intense, all this boyishness from their younger daughter. She began to argue vehemently — as only a tantrum-prone toddler can — that she was not a girl.

“I am a boy,” the child insisted, at just 2 years old.

Five-year-old Tyler, known until last fall as Kathryn.   After much angst and much research, Tyler’s parents made two difficult decisions.

  • The first, to allow their child to identify as a boy.
  • The second, to go public with their story.

(Dvorak has not used the family’s full names.)
Transgender at five

Introducing Our Parents’ Generation To Transgender Children Can Be Hard But Rewarding
Posted: 05/16/2012 11:22 am .huffingtonpost.com by Wayne Maines

Exerpt

“I said, “Listen, you cannot ever say you hate the President. He is our President and Commander-in-Chief. You can say you disagree with his policies, but you cannot say you hate him.” My little boy looked up at me, scared and looking a bit puzzled because of my harsh tone. I was on edge because I had just come from a school meeting to address the bullying and harassment that his sister was being subject to at school. I said, “Hate is such a strong word, lets not use the word hate in our family.” The grandfather looked at me with a smile, extended his hand and said “you’re a good dad.” I shook his hand and said, “There is another reason why I needed to teach my son about hate at such a young age. You see, he has a twin sister who is transgender. She was born as a boy, but is a girl trapped in a boy’s body. …more

Gender born, gender made

These are children who have taught us that our gender does not lie between our legs, but between our ears,” Diane Ehrensaft is an advocate for transgender children, a parent of one herself and the author of the recently published “Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children,”

(The Experiment, 2011). genderborngendermade.com

 

 

 

 

WITN.com

Mon 10:24 AM, May 07, 2012
Mother Of Transgender Child Fears Amendment One

Alice Walz is a mother of three children: two boys and a girl. Her daughter, however, was born a boy named Brogan. Around age 3, Brogan started saying that he was really a girl…. more

nbc Los Angeles

Transgender Teen’s Journey From From Meghan to Mason “Really, Really Good”
By Bruce Hensel |  Friday, May 18, 2012

Transgender surgeries are becoming more popular, especially among teens. Doctors say the teen years may actually be the best time, both medically and emotionally, for this type of surgery more

Mancunian Matters

Saturday, May 5, 2012

It’s not all blue and pink: A glance at Manchester’s transgender community
By Jessica Wilson

GIRLS WILL BE BOYS: Hollyoaks' Jasmine / Jamie

In Native American tribes, the twin spirited body is the most prized gift of nature.
A berdache, or two-spirit, is someone who possesses two souls within one body- one male and one female. …

But what if the soul of a person doesn’t fit inside the body they were born in? What if a little boy believes he is a girl? Or if a little girl desperately wants to grow into a man?
As much as 3% of the UK population feel this way. more

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Bigotry running at Cheltenham Festival discourteously of Paddy Power +€200? • Feb’12
Trans...

There are so many other ways they could have gotten the point across in a fun entertaining way, without deliberately being nasty. EG: I know many Drag Queens who’d love the publicity & provide additional positive entertainment to boot. This attempt to create a viral campaign is really! really! bad, on so many levels, it’s mega sad!.

The add below is poor taste against not only towards transgender & then they try to capitalize on the poor taste by making a point that, some find it funny, some don’t. Transphobia isn’t a joke.

Suggesting another persons circumstances are  found humorous by a few and that those who don’t see the humor have the problem, implies the attacker has a serious & dangerous mental state. They have difficulties with perception, ignorance (in both guises), common decency and can’t tell ‘wrong from right’. You can do something, about this transgression. follow the conversation below,  make up your mind, then do something!

FB: * @Vanessa Lacey and ** @Louise Hannon shared a link & a request.

• Cheltenham Festival Paddy Power Ladies Day TV Ad & £200 free bet!
• www.cheltenhamfestival.net

Screenshot taken from the Cheltenham Festival website see the link below. or use a search engine to locate: Cheltenham Festival Paddy Power Ladies Day TV Ad & £200 free bet!

 

Dear Paddy Power,


Please remove this offensive advertisement. Transgender people are not horses to bet on. If you agree contact Paddy Power headquarters here and tell them so Paddy Power,
Belfield Office Park,
Beaver Row,
Clonskeagh,
Dublin 4
Tel: 01 4045900

Please make your complaints to the Advertisment Standards Authority of Ireland. Please share this disgrace.

Thank you for you help in this matter

FB: @FrJoseph… shared the following contact details

Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland, Ferry House
• 48 Lower Mount Street
• Dublin 2
• phone is : +353 1 613 70 40
• fax is +353 1 613 70 43

FB: @Emma… you can also submit online- done
http://www.asai.ie/

FB: @FrJoseph… added:  Complaints submitted online also – advise when doing so to include the link to the video so as to ensure the ASAI are in no doubt as to what tawdry advertising this is by Paddy Power!!

http://www.cheltenhamfestival.net/category/Latest-Betting/Cheltenham-Festival-Paddy-Power-Ladies-Day-TV-Ad–200-free-bet-201202170035/

You Tube link: http://youtu.be/1XZ5MOB3nww

Paddy Power You Tube profile : Cheltenham Festival Ladies Day 2012 TV Advert

View the video here

*Vanessa Lacey (TENI Development Co-ordinator) Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI) seeks to improve conditions and advance the rights and equality of trans* people and their families. Vanessa is also on the sOUTh (Waterford LGBT committee) & works with TranSE – a community group supporting transgender people in the South East, Ireland. [interview below Jun 4, 2011]. Vanessa since the interview below has attained her Psychology Degree and has successfully transitioned.
** Louise Hannon:
Ms Hannon, was born a male & is the first transsexual worker to successfully use the Employment Equality Act in a case of discrimination on the grounds of transsexualism. Her employer requested her to switch between a male and a female identity and to work from home. Today Louise runs a successful photography business in Ireland.

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