Thailand's First TDOR Ceremony

The 'Land of Smiles' has the most well known and open trans community on the planet, but surprisingly until this year had never had a TDOR memorial ceremony.

Prempreeda Pramoj Na Ayutthaya and the Thai Transgender Alliance decided to change that this year.   She organized Thailand's first TDOR which was held in Bangkok's Centara Grand Hotel.   It's also talking place as the Miss International Queen trans pageant is being conducted in Pattaya this week.    

Congrats to our Thai sisters on a successful and historic TDOR event. 

2010 Miss International Queen Pageant Gets Underway

The 2010 edition of the world's most well known trans beauty pageant gets underway this week in Pattaya, Thailand  with 25 transwomen from around the world competing for the chance to be crowned the successor to 2009 queen Ai Haruna of Japan.

The finals will be televised live on Thai television Friday night Thai time (Thursday our time)  and over the years have garnered international new coverage.

The Thais take their pageants seriously, and this one gets treated with the same level of respect they do with any cis pageant.   Winner gets $10,000 USD and a nice prize package.

While we're waiting for this week's Miss International Queen contest to play out, here's some YouTube video from last year's pageant and the announcement of the 2009  ten finalists.

STRAP Chair Profiled In Philippine Magazine

I'm fortunate to be able to count STRAP chairwoman Naomi Fontanos as one of my international friends.   She's all that and three bags of chips as we say in the 'hood.

Naomi has been the STRAP chair since 2009 and the creative force behind the PinayTG blog    She is one serious lady that I enjoy chatting with.   Then again, that's true for many of our transpinay sisters I've had the pleasure of talking to about various issues trans and non-trans and having the honor of calling my friends..

While perusing the STRAP blog it was interesting to read an article published in the August issue of a Filipino men's magazine about transpinays featuring her and I thought I'd share it with you loyal TransGriot readers as well.  .   

Asia-Pacific Transgender Network Statement on Ms. W Case

TransGriot Note:  Press Statement from APTN Developed Asia Representative Leona Lo concerning the Ms. W case.

For Immediate Release (this version dated 6 Oct 10)

For any enquiries, please contact acraks@gmail.com.  This quotation has to be cited in its entirety. 

“It has come to my attention that the Hong Kong High Court has struck down Ms W, a post-operative transgender women’s right to get married to her boyfriend.  Ms W is a woman who simply wishes to settle down with the man she loves and have her marriage legalised.  I cannot see any reason for the Hong Kong High Court to deny her this basic human right.   Ms W deserves to live life on an equal footing with her fellow Hong Kong citizens.  I hereby call upon the Hong Kong High Court and government to respect her basic human right.

Throughout Asia, transgender women remain largely unprotected and unrecognised in the eyes of the law.  We are exposed daily to verbal and physical abuse, not to mention workplace and institutionalised discrimination.  This abuse has to stop.  It is time for the Hong Kong government to truly commit to being a world-class, developed country that is known not only for its financial services but also its humane treatment of its transgender population.  

I agree with the Director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor Law Yuk-Kai’s comment that “A person’s basic human rights are not dependent on majority acceptance” and “The public doesn’t have the right to impose its values on other people” (Source: AP article)

This is an excellent opportunity for the Hong Kong government to show its readiness to embrace the role of a genuine global citizen.  I urge the Hong Kong government to act now to grant Ms W the right to get married.”

Ms Leona Lo

Representative, Developed Asia, Asia-Pacific Transgender Network

Founding Working Group member, Asia-Pacific Transgender Network

Reclaiming The Wronged Body

TransGriot Note:  Have much love and respect for Sass Rogando Sasot.  She's one of our international trans leaders and thinkers based in the Philippines.   This is from a talk she gave at the University of The Philippines-Diliman October 6.   (Remember, she's on the western side of the International Date Line.)    Check out her blog Transpinay Rising for more thought provoking commentary and speeches.     

And now, here's Sass.

***

* Speech delivered during my talk in a Social Science 3 class on Gender and Sexuality at the University of the Philippines-Diliman (6 October 2010 | 12 noon)

Before anything else, I would like to thank Ms Beatriz Torre for giving me this opportunity to speak with you today. To my dear friends in the Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP), thank you for being my source of strength and support all these years. To my lifemate, Aernout Schram de Jong, thank you for your endless patience and warmth, and for letting me enter into your heart, which is one of the safest spaces I can ever find in this world. Dear students of the University of the Philippines, marvelous expressions of the human form, a pleasant and life-affirming afternoon to each and every one of you!

The parade of nations of the 2009 Copenhagen Outgames had just finished. Naomi Fontanos, my friend and the current Chairwoman of STRAP, and I decided to skip the programme and to go back to our hostel to rest. Naomi, who served as the muse of the Philippine contingent, was wearing a traditional Filipino dress, while I was wearing a 50’s dress.

While we were walking towards the train station, we encountered two bulky tall guys. One of them approached us and casually asked me, “Why is your chest so flat?” Then they walked away laughing. I was stunned by his rudeness. Before I could say anything, Naomi stopped me, and said “Sassy, don’t mind them! Assholes!” Scared, we ran towards the train station.

This was not the first time I encountered such harassment. The scariest one was eight years ago.  One night, while I was on my way home from a speaking engagement, a gang of teenagers who were hanging outside a 7-11 convenient store saw me and started debating among themselves whether I was a girl or a boy.  One of them settled it and shouted, “Putang-ina walang suso! Bakla yan! (Fuck! No breasts! That’s a fag!)” Then they started running towards me, shouting “Bakla! Takbo! (Run faggot!)” Terrified, I ran as fast as I could. I screamed for help but there was not much people in the road, only cars and jeepneys speeding by. Luckily, I saw an empty cab. I immediately hailed it. I locked all the doors and asked the driver to drive fast.  There I saw that the teenager closest to me was carrying a steel pipe. He banged the trunk of the cab with it. The driver was furious and tried to stop to confront the guy. But I pleaded for him to just go and hurry up. Only fate knows what would have happened to me if I had been too slow or if there had been no empty cabs that happened to be there.

I have also experienced being humiliated because of my body even in spaces one can consider to be safe, like in a human rights conference. Last June, I was in Barcelona for the International Congress on Gender Identity and Human Rights. We had just finished the affairs of the day. I joined the table of a group of transgender women having a lively chat. As I was about to sit, one of them stopped talking and shouted at me “You are in desperate need of boobs!”  Every one laughed. I felt so embarrassed. I just smiled at her and asked myself, “How can a transgender rights activist bully and make someone feel bad about her body? Does she really know the point of what she was fighting about?” I have been harassed, humiliated because I have “the wrong body.”

August 2005, Washington D.C. Tyra Hunter was a passenger in a car that was badly hit by another car. The fire department personnel arrived on the scene and pulled the driver and Tyra out of the car. Tyra, who was semi-conscious, soon received treatment for her injuries but her pants needed to be cut open first. According to the witnesses, as soon as her pants were cut open, the fire personnel  who was supposed to give her treatment stopped. He saw that Tyra Hunter had a penis. The firefighters started making jokes about Tyra while she was gasping for breath and in great pain. Some of the witnesses shouted at the firefighters to help Tyra. One of them even said to the firefighters, “It don’t make any difference, he’s a person, he’s a human being.” An EMS supervisor arrived and resumed Tyra’s treatment. Tyra was then rushed to DC General Hospital. Unfortunately, Tyra suffered the same fate. The doctor refused to give her adequate medical treatment. Tyra died because she had “the wrong body.”

December 2003, Nebraska.  John and Tom, two male friends of the girlfriend of Brandon Teena confronted him at a Christmas Eve party.  They found out earlier that Brandon Teena was not born with a penis. They pulled down Brandon’s pants for everyone to see. Later that evening, they raped Brandon and threatened to kill him if he reported the crime to the police. Nonetheless, Brandon proceeded to report the assault. On New Year’s Eve, Brandon was shot and stabbed to death by John and Tom. Brandon died because he had “the wrong body”.

Perhaps some of you here have also experienced being humiliated, bullied, and harassed because of your body.  The experience does take a toll on your self-esteem, leading you to ask yourself  “What’s wrong with me?”  Oftentimes we weigh this reflection against our societies’ demands for a particular kind of body. So before we can even appreciate the uniqueness of our form, we already feel the pressure to transform it into something more palatable to the tastes of other people.

Consider transsexual bodies. These are the bodies that were born without the genitalia and other sexual characteristics that are considered appropriate for the gender identities of their inhabitants. These are the girls and women who have penises and testicles, whose puberty didn’t command the growth of breasts, and who are incapable of pregnancy. And the boys and men who have vaginas, ovaries, breasts, and who aren’t capable of producing sperm. And of course within this general description, there are various permutations of what a transsexual body looks like. To the eyes of Mother Nature, this is one of the countless configurations of the human form. It is sad that we tend to appreciate people and ourselves not with the naked and embracing eyes that Nature has given us but with the prejudiced and limiting eyes that the conditionings of our societies have produced. So to some people, the transsexual body is an undesirable, freaky deviation from the norm that should not be allowed to exist.

I understand that an explanation of our existence by some expert opinion can be our lifeline against the different forms of violence and discrimination wielded against us by those who are disturbed by our existence.  There are different scientific and religious theories that have been offered to explain us. I find that all of them seem to revolve around that famous statement that “We were born in the wrong body” or its other form “Trapped in the wrong body”.

For us transsexual people, this statement has been a convenient explanation to make people understand why we live with a gender that does not match the gender associated with the genitals we were born with. However, the realization that “I am born with the wrong body” and the action one takes in order to “right this wrong body” cannot be divorced from the traditional beliefs about how a female or male body should look like. We live in our bodies and our bodies live in a particular society. The moment we stand naked in front of the mirror, the reflection that we’re seeing is not necessarily being seen by naked eyes for our eyes are adorned by the conditioning of our societies.  We were conditioned to consider those who were born with or do have vaginas and breasts as girls and women while those who were born with or do have penises as boys and men.

I identify and live my life as a woman, I look at myself in the mirror and I see a penis and a flat chest. How do I convince you that I am a woman?  By feeling wrong about it? By hating the genitals I was born with as well as the body my puberty sculpted? By feeling trapped in this body? By transforming this body so that it can resemble the form of your woman? But is this body really wrong? What made it wrong? Who made it wrong? God? Scientists? Politicians? Theorists? Or me?

I am a human being inhabiting a transsexual body. Why am I inhabiting this body is a question that I cannot answer. I know that some dare to answer it by virtue of their whims, religious beliefs, scientific research, or various theoretical discussions. Yet what is the point of subjecting the existence of people like us under the microscope of various opinions? We exist, therefore we are and we do not need to prove and justify why we exist in order to be.

I am a human being who is neither in a wrong body nor trapped in a wrong body but a human being who is expressing her beingness in one of the various forms of the human body. I am not in a wrong body. I am in this body just like how you are in your body. I am not trapped by my body. I am trapped by your beliefs. And I want to reclaim this body from those who want it to breathe and be fed by their dogmas.

And I want to reclaim the body of the Tyra Hunters of this world from those who ridiculed and shamed  it to its death. I want to reclaim the body of the Brandon Teenas of this world from those who raped it so it could be put to its “right use.” I want to reclaim the bodies of all those who have been killed because their bodies have been wronged by the  life-denying righteousness of those drowning in their hatred.

And to reclaim this body is to reclaim the inherent dignity and liberty of our bodies to live according to its own elegance and intelligence.

Friends, the next time you look at yourselves in the mirror, consider appreciating your bodies. Perhaps as you marvel at its reflection you might feel a deep, abiding sense of gratitude for its mere existence -  after all, it is through your body that you can sense and be sensed by life. Remember this feeling the next time you encounter another human being for it will bring you closer and closer to appreciating the bodies that are different from you. Those bodies are not there for you to ridicule, hate, and eradicate but for you to get intimately and directly acquainted with the diversity of the creation of life. The same life that allowed you to exist. And one of the greatest ingratitude you could do to life is to wrong other bodies.

Thank you!

Search Begins For 2010 Amazing Philippine Beauties Queen

Since the inaugural event in 2003 the Amazing Philippine Beauties Pageant has rapidly built itself up into one of the world's well known trans pageants in less than ten years. Not surprising since the Philippines like Thailand has always loved beauty pageants.

The search for the successor to 2009 queen Bem Bem May Rozado began August 3 with the initial call for contestants. That group will be whittled down to the 26 finalists who will compete at the Manila Film Center for the pageant finals.

As always, I'll be keeping y'all posted and let you know when the 2010 queen has been crowned and who she is.

In the meantime enjoy the promo video for the 2010 pageant.

Hong Kong Trans Marriage Case Update

I posted about the start of a trans marriage case that could impact the Araguz one that will resume August 16.

Post operative transwoman Ms. W is suing for the right to marry her longtime boyfriend. Hong Kong Registrar of Marriages ruled last year that because her birth certificate still lists her as male, she can't despite the fact her identity card lists her as female.

The Hong Kong Marriage Ordinance says marriage can only be a union between a man and a woman. However, mainland China allows transpeople to marry.

On Tuesday Monica Carss-Frisk of Britain, the lawyer hired by the Hong Kong government to represent them in this case because they have no one locally that was familiar with how the law impacted trans people, argued that the existing law did not accommodate transgender marriage and it was up to the legislature to decide.

"If there is a desire to change attitude, then the legislature can seek to do that," she told the court.

Carss-Frisk warned that any judicial attempt to broaden or re-interpret the legal definition of "man" and "woman" would create uncertainties in the law.

Ms. W's lawyer Michael Vidler pointed out that other Asian nations such as mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan allow trans people to marry the opposite sex in their new gender.

Stay tuned, and keep praying that Ms. W wins.

2010 Miss Tiffany's Universe Winner Crowned

Something else that transpired while I was in the process of moving to H-town was the 13th annual Miss Tiffany's Universe pageant in the resort city of Pattaya, Thailand, 150 km (90 miles) away from the chaotic political situation in Bangkok.

This year's winner of the nationally televised pageant was 19 year old university student Nalada Thamthanakorn. She walks away with the 100,000 baht ($3,100) cash prize and a Honda Jazz car.

The Miss Tiffany's Universe Pageant is the Thai transwomen only one that determines who represents the 'Land of Smiles' for the open to all international transwomen Miss International Queen Pageant later this year.

Assuming the political drama wracking the capital doesn't spread to the rest of the country, it's scheduled to be held at Tiffany's Cabaret Theater.

This year's competition theme was, 'I am what I am', which is applicable to transpeople around the globe. The hundreds of applicants were whittled down to the 28 lucky ladies that took part in the televised portion of the contest.

In addition to being the most prominent transgender pageant in the world, Miss Tiffany's Universe continues to get more educated girls competing every year.

Out of the 28 contestants, 75 percent of them were students pursuing bachelor's degrees in Thailand's prominent universities such as Mahidol University, Bangkok University and Khonkaen University. Their majors or professions varied from safety trainer for firefighting to film director.

If everything stays relatively calm in the Pattaya area, 2009 Miss International Queen winner Ai Haruna of Japan will be making another trip to Thailand to crown her successor.

The Thais are hoping that Nalada Thamthanakorn is the girl that will keep the title at home this year.

Sisters In Solidarity Press Conference

There comes a time as a oppressed minority group member when you finally get fed up with the slings and arrows of soul destroying injustice and disrespect heaped upon you and you're ready to fight back.

That tipping point may just have been reached in Singapore, and as my sis Leona Lo said in her speech opening the press conference, transgender women in Singapore 'will be bullied no more'.

That bullying has led to the foundation of a group called Sisters In Solidarity to address those discrimination issues.

Here's the video from the Singapore press conference I told you loyal TransGriot readers about the other day.

Stop Harassing Our Singaporean Trans Sisters

TransGriot Note: I received this e-mailed press release from my sis Leona Lo in Singapore. The clubs there are going buck wild in terms of openly expressing their anti-trans bigotry and my sisters there have had enough.

You can check out the Facebook group End Discrimination Against Transgender Women


Stop Abusing Us!

Latest Clarke Quay Incident Sparks New Anti-Discrimination Campaign by Singapore Transgender Women

Monday, 3 May 2010, Singapore.

A group of transgender women in Singapore have rallied to issue a joint call to Clarke Quay night spot operators to stop discriminating against transgender women. The latest incident involving a transgender patron has sparked outrage among the long-suffering community, drawn close to 500 supporters on Facebook, and sparked the launch of a first-ever anti-discrimination campaign entitled "Sisters in Solidarity" (SIS).

The SIS campaign will be launched on Wednesday, 5 May 10, at 2 pm at Post Museum on Rowell Road. Ms Marla Bendini Junior Ong, a Singapore transgender woman will be present to share her experiences at Clarke Quay witnessed by her dance instructor who will also be present. Trish, a transgender pioneer, will speak up for the first time about her personal experience with workplace discrimination. The campaign will include a series of education activities throughout the year.

Media invitation
We invite you to send a representative, photographer/camera crew to attend the media conference. Please RSVP to Leona at leona@talksense.biz by 6 pm on Tuesday, 4 May 10. We regret we cannot grant pre-event interviews. As the media conference is open to media representatives only, we would also require your representative to show his/her press pass.

Date: Wednesday, 5 May 10
Time: 2 pm
Venue: Post Museum at 107 Rowell Road, Singapore 208031.

Our Asian-Pacific Rim Transsisters Form APTN

TransGriot Note: Our transsisters in Asia and the Pacific Rim made a little history this month to close out the 2k's. They formed an organization designed to advocate for the rights and the health issues of transpeople across the region.

This is wonderful news not only for transpeople in Asia and the Pacific Rim, but their transsisters on the rest of the planet.

Here's the press release for the Asia Pacific Transgender Network courtesy of Leona's blog.

***

World’s First Asia Pacific Transgender Network Launched to Champion Health and Rights of Transgender Women in the Region

Diverse groups from warias, kathoeys and hijras to be represented

22 December 09, Singapore. Transgender women from 10 Asia Pacific countries and areas are coming together to say “No!” to discrimination and marginalisation by forming the world’s first Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN). After three days of intense meetings, it was decided that the APTN, composed entirely of transgender women across the region, will champion transgender women’s health, legal and social rights.

Ms. Khartini Slamah, Founding Working Group member and Core-Group Chair of the Transgender Programme in Pink Triangle (PT) Foundation, Malaysia, says this represents a milestone in the history of transgender women in the region. She says, “For a long time transgender women have been represented among the MSM (men who have sex with men) sub-population group, but there is now a recognition that we are a distinct demographic with our own unique needs. We wish to be separated from the MSM umbrella and inform The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to stop clustering us under the MSM umbrella. Transgender women are not men – we have different issues and needs. Thus we have formed a network addressing the needs of transgender women only.”

From hijras in South Asia to warias in Indonesia

The group represents a broad spectrum of transgender women from sex workers to career women, from hijras (South Asia), warias (Indonesia), kathoeys (Thailand) and sao praphet songs (Thailand) to specialized interest groups such as youth, Muslims and elderly transgender women.

Ms Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, another Founding Working Group member and one of the most recognizable faces of hijras in India, says she is pleased the community is being represented by the network. She says, “For the first time in history, hijras from Nepal, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh are joining hands with our transgender sisters from Asia Pacific to say ‘No!’ to being treated like second-class citizens. We know there is strength in numbers. Together, we can advance and improve the health, legal and social rights of transgender women.”

The network will also tackle issues in the region such as HIV prevalence among transgender sex workers, especially in countries such as Indonesia and Cambodia, where infection rates are extremely high and resources in place are inadequate to ensure access to quality healthcare, as well as to protect the rights of the sex workers.

Outreach activities

The network is developing a workplan for the next two to three years. The Working Group will identify and explore key populations/groups in immediate need of support and plan activities to reach out to these target groups. Transgender representatives have also been appointed from every sub-region and from key sub-populations to rally transgender organisations within their respective sub-regions or areas to become members of the network.

Ms Sitthiphan (Hua) Boonyapisomparn, APTN Coordinator who is based in Bangkok, says, “At this stage, it is important that we develop a comprehensive workplan that addresses the needs of APTN members. We are already in discussion with potential donors and sponsors to explore how they might support APTN programmes.”

For more information about the network or to support its programmes, please contact Ms Sitthiphan at huab2007@gmail.com.

APTN Sub Regions and Key Populations

The APTN is categorized according to seven sub-regions and seven key populations. Each group is represented as follows:

Danisha (Malaysia) for transgender drug users

Jetsada Taesombat (Thailand) for transgender youth

Jin Qiu (China) for China Sub-Region

Khartini Slamah (Malaysia) for senior transgender women

Laxmi Narayan Iripathi (India) for India Sub-region

Leona Lo (Singapore) for Developed Asia Sub-region

Luluk Surahman (Indonesia) for Insular Southeast Asia Sub-region

Manisha (Nepal) for South Asia Sub-region

Prempreeda Pramos Na Ayutthaya (Thailand) for the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Sam Sela (Cambodia) for transgender people living with HIV

Sulastri (Malaysia) for transgender sex workers

Zahida Hijra (Bangladesh) for hijras

Vacant – for transgender Muslims

Vacant – for Pacific Sub-region

About APTN

The mission of APTN is to enable transgender women in the Asia Pacific region to organise and advocate to improve their health, protect their human rights, and enhance their social well-being and the quality of their lives. The network startup is supported by the 7 Sisters Coalition of Asia Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS, Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM), and Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers (APNSW)