Chaz Bono reportedly on "Dancing With The Stars"

"Dancing With the Stars, which has had very little LGBT representation in all its years on the air, has reportedly signed Chaz Bono as a celebrity contestant for its upcoming season.

This is GREAT news if it does indeed come to pass.

It’s not only a personal opportunity for the only child of Cher and Sonny Bono to take on a physical challenge, having him on such a high-profile show will be the most exposure most people will ever have had to a transgender person.

Chaz transitioned from the female Chastity Bono to the male Chaz Bono and his journey was chronicled in the documentary Becoming Chaz and the memoir Transition: the story of how I became a man."

 HollywoodNews.com

Sister Mary Elizabeth Clark, transsexual nun.

The world’s first transsexual nun also deserves a mention in military history. She served twice, once as a man and once as a woman, before being honourably discharged (for the second time).

It was then that she entered religious life as an Episcopal nun.

From Matt & Andrej Koymasky:

Born in Pontiac, Michigan, Clark was christened Michael by his parents. But he soon realized nature had made a horrid mistake.

"From the time I was 3, I felt that I was different from other boys. I felt more comfortable in the company of girls. I tried to talk and act like a girl instead of a boy. I believed I was one of them - even though I knew I had a male anatomy. When I started going to elementary school, the other boys called me a sissy because I walked without 'macho' stride and carried my schoolbooks like a girl."

When he reached junior high school, Michael tried to talk to his parents about his mental torment. It didn't work. After finishing high school in 1957, Clark went on active duty with the Naval Reserve. Two years later he entered the regular Navy. Within a few months he took my greatest step to show everyone he was 'normal.' and got marreied. The marriage was very painful for both because he couldn't satisfy her needs and desires. It was further complicated by the fact that they had a son.

During this disastrous marriage he threw himself into Navy career, serving in Hawaii and Vietnam as an instructor in anti-submarine warfare, scuba diving and sea survival. In 1972, after 11 frustrating years together, Clark and his wife divorced. He hasn't seen his son since. After the divorce he married again. He was still desparately trying to be 'normal'.

"My new wife was a girl that I really intensely loved as a person. I still lover her today. We liked the same things - hiking, concerts. But she needed more from me than I could give. And she started having a guilt trip over our situation, thinking she was at fault. Finally I said to myself: 'My God, I'm reining this beautiful woman's life by keeping my secret from her.' So I broke down and told her I was a transsexual - a woman trapped in a man's body. Instead of making me feel ashamed, she talked about what we had to do."

She convinced Clark to tell his parents. Incredibly, they understood - a vast relief for him because he'd feared rejection. Then, with the encouragement of his wife and parents, Clark underwent psychological evaluation. It showed he realy was a woman inside. When the Navy found out about the evaluation, Clark was discharged. He had been an enlisted sailor in the U.S. Navy for 17 years, and rose to Chief Petty Officer. The discharge, though honorable, left him "angry and bitter" because he'd often been commended for outstanding service, he said. 

Clark underwent hormone therapy, and then, in June of 1975, had a sex change operation - emerging as Joanna Michelle Clark. Joanna divorced her wife moved in with her parents in San Jaun Capistrano, California, and began a new life as a clerk-typist. But in August of 1975 a Reserve recuiter visited her office and urged her to enlist again. She revealed to him that she was a transsexual, but he said he didn't think it would be a problem. And is wasn't. She was accepted, becoming a supplys clerk as a Sargent First Class in the WACs.... but 18 months later she was booted out of the Army Reserve. 

Ms. Clark fought the charges and discharge. The case was eventually settled out of court with a stipulation that the details of the settlement not be discussed. However, she received an honorable discharge, with credit for time served in the Reserve. The Army had capitualated on its charges... however, Ms. Clark had won a battle but lost the war. It remains unlawful for transsexuals to enlist in the services to this day, inspite of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

As Joanna Clark she lobbied successfully in 1977 for a law that allowed replacement birth certificates in the state of California. She later wrote Legal Aspects of Transsexualism, an important early document on the subject, still referenced twenty years later. She founded the ACLU Transsexual Rights Committee, serving as chair for several years, seemingly tirelessly working to improve the legal status of TS persons. Joanna served with Jude Patton as a TS advisor with a Gender Identity Clinic during the early '80s. 

She decided to become a nun; the world's first transsexual Episcopal nun, founder and sole member of the Community of St. Elizabeth, a nonprofit religious organization. She took her vows at St. Clement's by the Sea Episcopal Church in San Clemente in 1988. She transferred to the Order of St. Michael in 1997. 

In 1990, as Sister Mary Elizabeth, she founded and continues to operate the largest AIDS and HIV online information BBS and website - ÆGiS (AIDS Education Global Information System; www.aegis.com), a definitive and comprehensive web-based reference for HIV/AIDS-related information, to meet the need for access to up-to-date HIV/AIDS information by people in isolated areas.

"Of all the things I've done in my life, military-wise, or working with children, I don't think I've had anything in my life that I've had more passion for. I really can't put it into words. When you see letters from people and you know that you're helping them, that's what it's all about."

Georgina Beyer,Trans Politician

First transgender member of a national legislature

b. November 1957

“It is important to allow people who want to be positive contributors of our society regardless of sex, race, creed and gender to reach their human potential.”

“It is important to allow people who want to be positive contributors of our society regardless of sex, race, creed and gender to reach their human potential.”

As the first openly transgender person in the world to hold a national office, Georgina Beyer was elected a member of Parliament in New Zealand. Beyer’s transformation from stripper and prostitute to politician is a testament to her remarkable fortitude.

Beyer, born biologically male, spent her early childhood on her grandparents’ farm in rural New Zealand before moving to Wellington with her mother and stepfather. From an early age, Beyer recalls feeling like a girl trapped in a boy’s body.

In her 20’s, Beyer began working in the Wellington gay nightclub scene as a singer and drag queen performer, and then a prostitute. During a trip to Australia, she was attacked and raped by four men. Beyer refers to this experience as her defining moment.

In 1984, she had sexual reassignment surgery and forged a successful career as a film and television actress in Auckland. She was often typecast as a drag queen or streetwalker. From Auckland, Beyer moved to the small conservative town of Carterton, where she took a job as a youth social worker.

In 1993, Beyer was elected to the Carterton District Council. Two years later she was elected Mayor of Carterton, where she served for five years. In 1999, she won a seat in the New Zealand Parliament. While in Parliament, Beyer helped pass the Prostitution Reform Act, which decriminalizes prostitution and protects sex workers and their clients. She was instrumental in securing same-sex civil union benefits for New Zealanders.

Beyer chronicled her life in “Change for the Better: the Story of Georgina Beyer” (1999). A documentary film about her, “Georgie Girl” (2002), won international awards.

Beyer was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on LGBT Human Rights in Montreal in 2006. She retired from Parliament in 2007, saying, “I can now look for fresh challenges.”

Bibliography
“Georgina Beyer.” ILGA Trans Secretariat. June 27, 2008http://trans.ilga.org/trans/welcome_to_the_ilga_trans_secretariat/trans_zone/personalities/georgina_beyer
“Georgina Beyer Biography.” Georgina Beyer Website.  June 26, 2008
http://www.georginabeyer.com/index.htm
“Interview with Georgina Beyer.”  P.O.V. June 20, 2003
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/georgiegirl/update.html
Marks, Kathy. “The Double Life of Georgie.” The Independent.  July 19, 2002
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020719/ai_n12629887
Articles
“Movie Review: Georgie Girl.” The New York Times. 2002
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/281471/Georgie-Girl/overview?scp=1&sq=georgina%20beyer&st=cse
Books
Change for the Better: the Story of Georgina Beyer.” (1999)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Change-Better-Story-Georgina-Beyer/dp/1869413717
Films
Georgie Girl (2003)
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2003/georgiegirl/update.html
Interviews
“Interview: Georgina Beyer.” GenderTalkRadio. May 22, 2007
http://www.gendertalk.com/?q=node/188
Websites
Georgina Beyer Website
http://www.georginabeyer.com/

Military Transitions: Australia Supports Transitioning Soldier

While the US continues to dither over DADT, its military allies have moved way beyond lesbian and gay inclusion, to providing also for transgender service - and full support during the transitioning process.  News from Australia is that military authorities there will not only allow a transitioning soldier to continue to serve after transitioning, they will provide full support during the process (including state funding for the surgery). I known of at least one similar case from South Africa - I am certain there are others elsewhere.

Somewhere along the line of modern history, the myth arose that only hetero males could make good soldiers - completely overlooking the evidence from around the world that in some societies, women, gay men, and transgender people have frequently served with distinction.  Classical Greek history and literature are littered with pairs of military lovers, including the renowned Sacred band of Thebes, which was exclusively composed of such pairs. Similarly, the famed Japanese Samurai mentored younger men who served also as sexual partners. Many African societies had entire regiments of fighting women, including the Amazons of Dahomey and Shaka's Zulus in Southern Africa. In North America, the widespread institution of the berdache included many instances where biological males adopted female dress and roles - but also fought with distinction in military battles. It is good to see how so many countries in the modern world are putting historic myths and prejudices aside, to focus only on service members' abilities, and not their genital or psychosexual characteristics.

When with the US finally follow suit?

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="390" caption="Tammy (left) and Bridget Clinch."][/caption]
From the Australia Herald Sun:

Sex-change case through Defence

DEFENCE force chiefs will pay for the sex change operation of a soldier who wants to return to work.

Army Captain Matthew Clinch, who served twice in East Timor, will become Bridget Clinch after gender reassignment-realignment surgery, funded by taxpayers.

Victorian RSL president Maj-Gen David McLachlan said he was surprised the Army was picking up the tab.

"It seems a little odd that they would allow such an abnormal situation get this far," Maj-Gen McLachlan said. "The soldier involved would be putting themselves in a situation where they would be subjected to all sorts of peer pressure."

Asked if paying for the surgery was a good use of defence funds, he said: "It's unusual."

Capt Clinch is in Brisbane with partner Tammy and two daughters on extended sick leave from her job as second-in-command of the army's Adventurous Training Wing based at Wagga in southern NSW, but wants her former job back.

Appearing on Seven's Sunday Night last night the decorated East Timor veteran, who did two tours of duty with the Townsville-based 1st Battalion, said she'd always felt like a woman locked in a man's body. "There is no difference between what I can do and what any other female can do once I've finished all of my treatment," Capt Clinch said. Tammy, who also trained as an army officer and describes Capt Clinch as her "knight in shining armour", is angry the military took so long to agree to fund the treatment.

"Matt was a good army officer, I think that Bridget will make a better army officer, they just need to realise it.

"I saw my partner suffering really badly and I helped him. It was hard though because I was helping destroy the outside bit of the man I loved."

-Read the full report

Recommended Books

Naphy, William: Born to be Gay: A History of Homosexuality

Roughgarder, Joan: Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People

Related articles

• Australian military embraces transgender soldiers (itsaqueerworld.blogspot.com)
• Australia Lifts Ban on Transgender Military Service (towleroad.com)
• Frustrated With DADT Limbo, Active Duty Gays Flock To Underground Network (lezgetreal.com)
• Transgender Australians Allowed To Serve in the Military (gayrights.change.org)
• Epaminondas: Military Hero, Democrat, Cultured Statesman. Gay. (queerhistory.blogspot.com)
• Gays in the Military: Japanese Samurai
• Gay Soldier:  Role Models at the Foundation of Democracy
• British Military Advises U.S. on DADT Repeal (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Don't Ask, Don't Tell: A Gay Marine Writes (atwar.blogs.nytimes.com)