Back To the Main SiteThe AGA Youth Group
The A Gender Agenda youth group met for coffee this evening at Tosselini’s. I fucking love our youth group! Its for people under 30 who are trans, intersex, gender questioning, queer, genderqueer, and the friends and partners of any or all of the above. We’ve only had two meetings so far, but each one was heaps of fun, and we’ve already made four new friends, who I hope keep coming along.
Canberra is a pretty sleepy little town, and even though we’re national leaders with regard to Gay and Lesbian rights, we tend to be a bit behind the times when it comes to queerness and gender diversity. There seems to be a pretty persistent belief that all trans people are straight elderly ladies who started out as boys. Tonight as I sat at a table with a pair of cute radical queer dykes, young trans men, and young queer trans women, I felt very at home, and mused that most people don’t even realise that we have this many gender diverse and radically queer people in Canberra, let alone this being a rather smallish gathering of a narrowly defined demographic. I really hope that AGA’s youth group continues to grow, both in numbers, and in diversity of genders, sexualities, cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and abilities.
We started talking about what kinds of things we might do in the future, and floated such ideas, as having a glamorous and highly silly dress up party, a craft-a-noon, going bowling, or just meeting up for another coffee. We’ll also be adding a mailing list for the youth group to use for discussion and organising, so no doubt things will start to happen.
I’d like to finish off this post, by thanking Robyn and Gabrielle for taking over the task of organising the Youth Group. You are both AWESOME!
Desiring Gendered Bodies
Pleasure Activism Australia was kind enough to republish an article on gender and sexuality that I wrote. They are a great website, and a group working for a very important cause. After all, who couldn’t use a little extra guilt free pleasure once in a while? Anyway, go check them out, and here is my article reposted for your enjoyment.
Community Picnic: October 09
A Gender Agenda love our picnics. They are laid back, family friendly, low pressure, and tend to be lots of fun. Our last picnic attracted close to 70 people across the afternoon, and everyone seemed to have a ball!
This picnic is intended to be a fun day out for the entire alphabet soup. You don’t need to be trans to attend, you don’t even need to know a trans person. If you are gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, genderqueer, intersex, asexual or questioning your gender or sexuality, or know someone who is, you are more than welcome to come along and join in the fun.
Remember that you can bring your whole family, parents, partners, kids, and pets. Its a day out in a park, and there’s a playground for youngsters to play on. There are also BBQ facilities for those who want to cook food.
We try to be as inclusive as possible, so if you have a disability or other special requirements that we might be able to help with, please shoot us an email, and we’ll do our best.
WHAT: A Picnic
WHEN: 10th of October 2009, 12.30pm
WHERE: Glebe Park in Civic
WHO: You, and your family
WHY: To get to know other people of diverse age, sexuality, gender identity and expression, in a fun and family friendly environment.
Another reminder will go out closer to the event, but pencil the date into your calendar now!
Gender Library Update
A Gender Agenda has been very busy over the last few months. Even though we’ve not been updating the website much, plenty has been happening. We’ve held a fundraiser, continued lobbying the ACT Government for legislative change, provided free training for a group of local volunteers, supported student politics, and generally been out in the world, trying our hands at new things.
I think one of the most exciting new idea’s that we’ve had, has been the AGA Gender Library. The rationale behind the project, is that here in Canberra we don’t have a queer focussed bookshop, and none of the local LGBT Organisations have any trans employees, or information for or by trans/genderqueer or intersex people. This means that there is a dearth of information for sex and gender diverse people, and for those people who wish to educate themselves, and become more knowledgeable supporters of the sex and gender diverse individuals in Canberra. We thought that if we could collect enough of that material, we could provide a social and informational hub where people can gather to learn and talk about the myriad of issues that face the sex and gender diverse community both locally, and further afield.
A few months ago we sent out requests for book donations, and titles of books that people thought we should purchase, and since then we’ve been accumulating a stock pile of literature, films, and resources for transgendered, intersex, genderqueer, and other sex and gender diverse people. I currently have two big boxes of books in my lounge room, that have been donated by people from all over the country. The Bookshop Darlinghurst was kind enough to give us a 10% discount on the books we purchased from them, and an organisation in the USA refunded us the cost of our shipping when they heard what the books were for.
The public support of this project has been absolutely phenomenal. We’re currently looking for some kind of physical space where we can set up our library, and we’re hoping to have everything good to go so that our grand opening can coincide with Gender Diversity Day 2010.
The Butch Auction Fundraiser
From Transgender Day of Action 2009
June 26 saw our first ever Transgender Day of Action fundraiser. I have to admit it, I was nervous in the lead up, terrified even! However, on the night, things went incredibly well!
The venue was HUSH Lounge, and the price was right. People started rocking up well before we opened the doors. I’ve never seen Canberran’s looking so queer and fabulous. There were queers that had come all the way from Sydney and Melbourne because it seemed like such a novel event.
There were several main events. We had stage performances from the Canberra Kings, and a belly dancer who left all the ladies drooling for more. We also Auctioned off volunteers, including a Bondage Rope master, a Photographer, a Chef, and of course all the Drag Kings. One of the local dykes fetched the hefty price of $500 in return for one dirty dance!
We departed from the usual trans event policy of Unisex toilets, and split the bathrooms at HUSH along another binary. Head and tails! Our polite Toilet Valet would toss a coin, and tell you whether you were allowed to use the Heads or the Tails bathroom. Most people took this with good nature, in the spirit it was intended, but unfortunately one person took offence, and verbally harassed our valet. I find it utterly remarkable that anyone would come to a trans event, thinking that they can cause a fuss about being asked to use the men’s toilet! At least surrounded by trans folk, and our allies, she would have been thoroughly embarrassed for being the one scolded by the MC’s.
By the end of the night, I was exhausted. I’d MC’d with Mr Rocco Hardness, and staved off disaster when the Auctioneer called to say he couldn’t make it, 15 minutes before the Auction was due to begin. One of the local dykes, who usually Drag Kings but hadn’t been on stage that night, kindly volunteered to run the Auction for us.
We made about $2000 in donations, and it was truly a community effort. We couldn’t have done it without the support of the Canberra Kings, HUSH Lounges staff, and all the volunteers from A Gender Agenda who faithfully ran the Toilet stall, took donations at the door, and generally made sure the night ran nice and smoothly.
Sex Files Launch
Yesterday the Australian Human Rights Commission launched their Sex Files Report at Parliament House. Peter Hyndal was asked to speak at the launch alongside Human Rights Commissioner Graeme Innes, and Western Australian Senator Louise Pratt.
This is a copy of the speech that Peter presented.
—-
My name is Peter.
I am 36 years old.
I am a man.
Unfortunately, the Government disagrees.
The Government maintains that I am a woman.
Although I am a man, I have not always been a man. My birth was registered as female. And I lived the first 25 years of my life as a woman.
When I was a woman, my personal identity as a woman was unquestionably mine to ‘own’ without interference from Government.
Now that I am a man, my personal identity as a man is consistently interfered with by all levels of Government.
This is not the case in other countries. The United Kingdom for example, has provided me with a document stating that I am legally a man for all purposes under all UK law. Many other countries in the world also legally recognise me as a man. Which is great, and just, and right… but I don’t live in any of those countries. I live in Australia, I have done all my life, and my government, the Australian government, refuses to recognise me as a man.
I have lived in the ACT for almost 20 years, but the ACT will not recognise me as a man because I was born in NSW. And NSW will not recognise me as a man until I provide evidence that I have been sterilised.
I believe that I have a right to have my own identity recognised by my own government. I find it morally unjustifiable for any government to make my rights contingent upon my surgical sterilisation.
And so I am, officially, in no-man’s land.
Unofficially, the situation is even more complicated.
Without a nationally consistent, sensible approach, different agencies struggle to know how to deal with reality.
The taxation office recognises me as a man. The Family Assistance Office says that I am a woman. Centrelink not only refuses to recognise me as a man, but also insists that my heterosexual female partner is a lesbian. Medicare says that I am male – most of the time, but every now and then, they “turn me into a woman” so they can process specific claims that relate to procedures that apparently only women can have. My Australian Passport shows my sex as “male”, but was issued along with a letter stating that the Australian government does not believe that I am really male, and that I would be committing fraud if I ever used the Passport to identify myself as a man.
Whenever I have to provide ID – to open a bank account, to cash a cheque, or even to collect a parcel from the Post Office, the official documents that I can provide state that I am female.
Sometimes my ID is not accepted at all. The bank teller looks at me, and says “but that can’t be your ID – it says you are a woman!”. Mostly my ID is accepted – but only because I am prepared to cause a scene, to declare to the bank teller, and their supervisor, and the manager on duty, and everyone else waiting in the queue behind me, that “I am transsexual”. “Oh!, so he’s really a woman! I guess we should let her cash the cheque..”
Today is a very significant day for me – this report is the light at the end of the tunnel. It is the first step towards law reform that is long overdue. Law reform however, will only be achieved when governments actually act on these recommendations.
The day that government actually acts on these recommendations will be of even greater significance to me – because it will signal for the first time my government’s acknowledgement that I exist.
My story is not isolated – tens of thousands of other people with similar personal histories share these experiences. And there are hundreds of thousands more people out there, who are sex and gender diverse but have very different personal histories, who currently experience equivalent levels of hardship and uncertainty.
When governments act on these recommendations, the practical every day lives of all of us will be dramatically improved – forever.
2009 Sydney Mardi Gras
Our Entry in Mardi Gras was a raging success. We had 22 people show up on the day to march with us. We wore fantastic green t-shirts, had awesome placards, and made waves with the crowd, the other floats, and the commentators alike!
It was my first ever Mardi Gras, and the feeling of marching with 21 other trans people, genderqueers, and our friends and families while being cheered on by the crowd, was an incredibly empowering experience. We handed out hundreds of stickers that said “Gender Rights are Human Rights” and lollipops with “Trannies are Sweet” written on them. Trans people and their supporters in the crowd screamed “I love trannies too!” at us from the sidelines, and we had post op FTM’s flash their scars at us.
I was thrilled to see the level of support for our community from other LGBT organisations, and from the wider community. Some people were obviously confused by our marching group, and our placards gave more than a few cause to pause and think about their preconceived notions of what a trans person looks like, and what they experience.
So, maybe next year YOU will be marching with us too! :)
Gender Diversity Day BBQ
We’ve decided to call TransAction Day, Gender Diversity Day here in Canberra (and hopefully Australia when it catches on elsewhere!)
To celebrate Gender Diversity Day we will be holding a BBQ. It will be a laid back, no pressure event. A bunch of us will be around eating food and hanging out for several hours, so even if you don’t feel like staying for an entire meal, feel free to just drop by and say hello.
This event celebrates Gender Diversity in all its forms, and so we encourage everyone to come along… whether you are gay, lesbian, straight, trans, non-trans, genderqueer, a parent, a partner, or a friend of someone who would like to come. The more the merrier is our philosophy!
The BBQ will be in Glebe Park at 1pm on the 28th of February. Bring your friends, and family and partners. This is a kid friendly event, and is definitely open to non-trans people as well as trans people and their families.
TransAction! Vs TransAwareness!
TransAction! is held on February 27, and Trans Day of Action is held on June 27 this year. I think that those names are far too similar – Its confusing! TransAction Day has never been held before, but Trans Day of Action has been running in New York for 4 years, so I think if either is going to have their name changed, it will have to be TransAction Day.
I’m not asking for GLSEN to change the name of their event, but I think that Australian organisations could hold an event with a name that sounds a little less like a day when you do your banking. I think that “Trans Awareness Day” is an excellent title, and one that as far as I can tell isn’t taken. (Gendered Intelligence in the UK ran a single Trans Awareness Day back in 2007, but it hasn’t been held since). However, it is very trans-centric. Perhaps “Gender Diversity Day” would be a more inclusive and appropriate name?
A preliminary survey of my friends revealed a strong leaning towards Gender Diversity Day. What do other folk think? Suggestions for other names are also welcome!
Connecting Generations: The importance of History
Jason Tseng of the Bilerico Project recently wrote an article called Reinventing the Wheel: Cultural Reproductive Labor and its cost on Queer youth
In it he discusses how queer youth are faced with the problem of finding and then reproducing queer culture often without the benefit of mentorship by the previous generations of queer people.
Because of the highly lateral dispersion of queer people in our society, (being that there are few indicators showing that queer people are more likely to come from one part of our society than the other), from our entrance into the world, the queer nation is constantly a nation in diaspora. With each successive generation, the new queer generation is mustered together by a collective sense of “otheredness,” and introduced to a radically new culture to which we may choose to cleave to.
However this process is highly individualized and extremely informal, with very few opportunities for mentorship or leadership. What often occurs is learning through mimicry and trial and error. Queer youth learn to copy examples of queerness that they see in television, in film, the older queers they might see on misadventures into queer life. But most importantly, queer youth learn about being queer mostly from each other.
This process of recreating queer culture is not without its benefits. It means that we are a highly adaptive culture, and although there is a massive ‘generation gap’, I think that young queers are moving in the right direction, particularly when it comes to accepting gender variance and making cultural space for all kinds of trans people and new sexual orientations.
However, there are also problems. For example, we forget our history so quickly. The history of the LGBT movement is not taught in school. When I came out, I had no idea what ‘Stonewall’ was and was quite alarmed when I saw a documentary about the first Australian Mardi Gras. (Police brutality!? IN AUSTRALIA? What a shock!) Then on the trans side… who knew that the first medical transitions occurred only a few decades ago? Amazing!
Another notable issue for young people, is that even today, and particularly sex and gender diverse children and teens, we are still often rejected by our families, leaving us alone, and somewhat vulnerable. We create new queer families, and tribes, but we miss the mentorship from the older generation. Sometimes we wonder what on earth will become of us… we wonder if we’ll ever grow up, what we’ll look like when we are 40, 60, or 80. We wonder how other, older people coped with transition, with being genderqueer, whether they lost their family and friends too, or maybe they patched things up? If so, how? How hard is it to have kids? How do you go about having kids? What about negotiating the legal minefield surrounding marriage?
There are so many questions, and its often hard for young sex and gender diverse people to find older mentors who can help them with their unique gender journey.
There are ways to combat these problems. There are websites about our history that celebrate successful trans people. Organisations like AGA have members who range in age, providing a valuable source of mentorship. As individuals we can all do our bit, helping out young people, and people who are newly awakening in their identity as gender diverse.
Its very important that older people understand how important they are to the next generation of gender diverse people, and that young people have access to safe mentors and leaders.
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