Knowing terminology is a way to connect and empathize with your clients.
Knowing terminology is a way to connect and empathize with your clients.
See Joan Roughgarden, page 23.
Flowering plants pollen is the male part seeds or ovule is the female part
Flowering plants pollen is the male part seeds or ovule is the female part
Flowering plants pollen is the male part seeds or ovule is the female part
Sexism or any kind of ism is when we generalize from a single example and then impose that generalization. It is a simplification, and our brains do this naturally, until we are able to step back and re-evaluate the situation to see it as more complex than it was. The brain or ego loves to simplify which is an act of pre-judgement, or prejudice. Sexism is abusive.Assuming people are a way they aren’t is damaging and hurtful.For example:We shouldn’t assume men are aggressive and tough, but allow them to be compassionate and caring.We shouldn’t assume women are docile and weak, but allow them to be intelligent and capable of leadership.
Knowing terminology is a way to connect and empathize with your clients.
Knowing terminology is a way to connect and empathize with your clients.
Knowing terminology is a way to connect and empathize with your clients.
Within two hours of coming out as transgendered to her Human Resources department, corporate jet pilot Jamy Spradlin was put on paid administrative leave. To make matters worse, the Federal Aviation Administration delayed renewing her license to fly for nearly a year while they evaluated her psyche for stability after beginning hormone replacement therapy.Spradlin is 41 years old now, though she grew up as a biological male. She loves to fly. It’s in her soul and her passion, she says. "I’ve been flying since I was 16. I got bit by the flying bug and have to do it." She says it brings her great peace and great freedom, and she loves to share that with other people. But her former Dallas-based corporation said no, they did not want a transgender woman flying their executives around the country. Instead of asking how they could help her transition to female, the corporation’s lawyer asked her, "How can we help you transition - away from the company?" Spradlin does not wish to disclose the name of the corporation.Within four days of her coming out in March of 2006, the company asked Spradlin to tender her resignation. Because she was not in a financial position to fight a legal battle, she agreed to a settlement. Almost a year after being fired, Spradlin was ready to fly again, but her FAA medical certificate had lapsed. Getting that certificate reinstated has taken nearly another year, since last June. It should only have taken two hours as it had in the past, just like a driver’s license. "All of this is because I started taking estrogen," she says.Spradlin went to see her FAA-approved medical examiner, Dr. Gabriel Fried, M.D., in Dallas. Though she passed her First Class medical examination otherwise, when she told the examiner she was taking estrogen, Dr. Fried required two additional things: a letter from her licensed counselor describing her mental stability, and a letter from her family practitioner describing her hormone usage. The details of what Spradlin went through to get her medical certificate back almost requires a flow chart to understand. But the FAA thinks otherwise: Les Dorr, FAA spokesperson in Washington DC, maintains that "nothing happens" when you come out as transgendered to the FAA. Dorr says it is up to the individual medical examiner to determine whether pilots are fit to fly, but says that transgender people undergoing hormone treatment have "potentially associated medical psychiatric conditions." However, Dorr also says FAA chief psychiatrist Charles Chesanow is not aware of any transgender pilot that has ever been denied getting a license, nor of one that has ever lost a license.Though Dorr says the FAA leaves testing up to the medical examiner, the FAA required Spradlin to undergo extensive psychological evaluation, costing her $1400. In addition, Spradlin had to provide the FAA with a copy of her counselor’s therapeutic session notes. Spradlin says she is not aware of any non-transgender female pilots that have had to undergo such stringent evaluation when they began taking hormone replacement therapy. Spradlin believes the system is a mess. "The whole process was utterly frustrating," she says. "No one wanted to take responsibility." She says that most of the issues that came up were due to "lack of communication" and "lack of understanding". She believes that while she wasn’t personally discriminated against, the system unfairly assumes that transgender people are cognitively dysfunctional until proven otherwise. "They really didn’t have a clue, but I don’t blame them for not knowing what to do."Still, Spradlin remains optimistic that the FAA will eventually get it right. "You gotta laugh about it," she says. There was a lesson in all of this, she explains, and that is patience. Even as she was a day away from getting the needed medical certificate in the end, the assigned physician granting her a medical certificate had a heart attack, causing another three week delay. After two years of being grounded, Spradlin now has her medical certificate in hand and expects to find an industrial pilot position in the near future. She lives in Plano, Texas and is an active volunteer in the GLBT community and in her church. She is happy to have her wings back.Dr. Renee Baker is a massage therapist, transgender consultant and board member of Youth First Texas. She may be reached on her website at www.renee-baker.com
It’s been over forty years since Martin Luther King Jr.’s embarked on his impassioned civil rights crusade, battled with police forces and ultimately was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. The recent beating of an African American transgender woman, Duanna Johnson, suggests that discriminatory police brutality in Memphis has not ended. WMC-TV in Memphis recently obtained surveillance footage from the reception room of a local police station, where Johnson was beaten and maced by two police officers. It’s "every trans-person’s nightmare come true," says Donna Rose, transgender woman and a leader in several national GLBT organizations.Johnson was booked on prostitution charges Feb. 12 at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center in Memphis - charges that have now been dropped because the district attorney’s office found no probable cause for arrest. Video footage shows Johnson being brutally beaten by officer Bridges McRae, while probationary officer James Swain holds her down. Michael Silverman of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund says the outburst was not only unconscionable, but extreme and disproportionate to the case. Silverman says they receive many complaints of mistreatment by police, but none on this scale of brutality.Jennifer Donnals, communications director of the Shelby County district attorney’s office, says the case is now being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. When the FBI concludes its findings, the Shelby DA’s office will evaluate them for possible state charges. The U.S. attorney’s office will further review the findings for possible federal charges.The Memphis Police Department said in a statement that they are investigating the case. Officer Swain was immediately released from duty after the February beating incident. McRae was placed on non-enforcement status pending an administrative hearing until just yesterday, when he too was released from duty, according to WMC-TV.Donnals says that an investigation into how the video was released to the media is being done by a separate agency, as "release of evidence to the public in this manner could jeopardize a case" against the officers if it comes to trial. According to WMC-TV, the video was released to the media by Johnson’s attorney, Murray Wells, who felt it was an outrage that McRae was not immediately fired and no disciplinary actions were forthcoming. WMC-TV reports Memphis PD director Larry Godwin denies he was slow to hold a hearing until the tapes went public. McRae was fired just one week after the video footage was released to the media, and four months after the initial beating.What exactly prompted the officers to beat Johnson is still unclear. The consensus among witnesses at the event and LGBT organizations is that Johnson’s actions in no way justified the police officers’ violent actions. Johnson was said to have ignored prompts from the officer to stand up after he called her derogatory names such as "faggot" and "he-she."Patrick Callahan, public information officer of Transgender Community of Police and Sheriffs, an international organization of 800 transgender law enforcement officers and personnel, is very concerned about the video footage released. "The actual mistreatment or even the perceived mistreatment of a prisoner while in the custody of police officers sworn to uphold the law and to protect and serve is intolerable," he says.Callahan says that transgender police officers themselves have trouble transitioning in the workplace, and that many have to remain in stealth mode. "Police officers, just like the people they protect and serve, can often be very conservative people and may not easily accept change, particularly a change perceived to be as drastic as the transition from one gender to another." But Callahan thinks that the Memphis PD has more serious issues. "The severity of the attack on Ms. Duanna Johnson...suggests that there may be more severe issues that exist within the Memphis PD that place not only minority populations in danger, but the greater community as well."All those interviewed agreed education is needed. "The entire police department needs education," Rose says. "We need to find ways of turning this inexcusable act of violence into something positive so others will not have to face the same thing." Silverman, who says though we will have to wait for the legal process to mature, believes that Johnson should most likely be [financially] compensated and the officers should be punished. According to WMC-TV, Johnson is making plans to sue the Memphis Police Department. Though Johnson was not available for immediate comment, Wells says he is proud of how she is handling the case.