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Southern Comfort Report

Growing Pains

Southern Comfortable

Southern Comfort Draws Record Attendance

November 1998 - Online Edition


Upcoming Meetings and Events

November 14: Dr. Bill Turner, Lesbian & Gay Coalition for Justice

December 12: 6th Annual Anniversary/Holiday Party,Hilton Suites Brentwood, 9000 Overlook Drive, Brentwood, TN

Future Board Meetings: November 19, December 17, January 28

Tennessee Vals Special Events: Saturday, November 7: Fall Fundraising Dinner for The Center,

Edgehill United Methodist Church, 1502 Edgehill Avenue

Tuesday, December 29: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, TPAC

Friday, January 29: Rent, TPAC

Saturday, January 30: Mid-Winter's Night, Cheekwood

Saturday, February 13: Room in the Inn, The Center (703 Berry Road)

Sunday, February 28: Bus trip to Players' Island Casino, Metropolis, IL (Scheduled)


Her Majesty, The Queen, Marisa

The Queen's Throne

By Marisa Richmond

marisaval@aol.com

Here it is, election month again. While we certainly have these quite often in this country, I feel strongly that it is very important always to participate in the political process. I have voted in elections where as few as 8% of registered voters have turned out. I have never understood how people can be so apathetic towards something that has such an impact on their everyday lives. The people we elect to office determine everything from this nation's entry into war, the taxes we pay, to the quality of our educational systems and even where police and fire stations are located in our neighborhoods. The people we send to Washington may well be forced to confront one of the biggest challenges we have seen in years. The vote we send could well have an impact on this country's leadership for the next two years. I have noted that people often like complaining but do not wish to be responsible for the system. Well, I may not like all that I see in our myriad levels and branches of governments, but I make the time to participate in virtually every election. Here in Tennessee, we are not voting for the U.S. Senate this year, and my Congressional Representative is unlikely to change, but I still plan to vote. Of course, we do have a rather bizarre Gubernatorial race in which one candidate is proud of the fact that he has done absolutely nothing over the past four years and pledges more of the same if reelected, while the challenger spends more on his bar tab than campaign expenses. We do, however, have several state legislative races, and their roles are just as important in our everyday lives. So if you want the right to complain about government between now and November 2000, then it is your responsibility to participate in the process. And it is also well to keep in mind that as transgendered people, those representatives in Washington, Nashville, and other state capitols can pass laws that extend discrimination against us, or end it. I hope you realize that you owe it to yourself to vote for candidates not in the pocket of the Religious Reich who wish to keep us oppressed.

While many are hostile towards us, I was quite thrilled to hear that P-FLAG had adopted a trans-inclusive policy at its national meeting in September. We actually donated money to the local chapter for a billboard they erected in I-40 just before hearing this news, so we are pleased to be supportive of them. The vandalism of that billboard clearly shows that the bigots will continue to fight us, although it did bring more media attention to the organization and the fact that bigots will do anything to destroy the message of love and acceptance. As long as we do have friends and family members willing to support us, however, it makes it that much easier to stand up to the hate-filled attitudes of others.

I would be willing to bet that those same bigots are probably pounding their Good Book in perplexed anguish over a couple of recent developments. First, Marilyn Manson, who wears prosthetic breasts (among other things...), had his new album, Mechanical Animals, debut on the album charts at #1. Then, the October `98 issue of Supergirl (a comic book!) was called "The Flying Game," and focused on tolerance and acceptance of sexual diversity, especially since one character, Andy Jones, was transgendered. If they cannot teach the young to be intolerant, what hope do they have?

Katrina Rose of Houston (who visited Nashville in January) has a project in the works called Southern Stars. It is a publication by Southern TGs about their lives or thoughts or a combination of both. She is looking for contributions of 5 to 10 pages or 3000 to 6000 words. If you are interested in submitting an essay, she can be reached at TexKatrina@aol.com.

Now, on to other news. Obviously, we are all back from this year's Southern Comfort Convention. It is hard to put into words the atmosphere at this year's event. The final night, we had 450-500 people in attendance, making it the largest gender event ever. There was such an incredible amount of energy as a result of such a huge turnout--and in the South no less, the region historically associated with intolerance and hatred of diversity (although the recent torture and beating of a gay University of Wyoming student shows that close-minded, religious-based bigotry exists in all regions of the country). Over the years, SCC Board Member Terry Murphy reiterated the desire of Southern Comfort to be the best event, not the biggest. But with so many people, including Jenni, working hard to make it the best, it has become the biggest. I don't even know the sheer number of volunteers (such as Pamela and Toni Lynn) who worked hard to make this year's event so special, but for all who worked, participated, or attended, it was simply an awesome experience to be a part of it. Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good. Of course, with us moving into a new hotel, and with an event this large, problems did emerge, but they seem insignificant when you consider what we all acheived just by being together and sharing as we did.

The weekend started for me on an unexpected high. As I was unloading my car, Mistress Kia of Nashville's Rose-n-Thorn was also arriving. She mentioned that she had recently gone online to see what hotel the convention was in since she had misplaced her information, and when she typed in the word `transgender', my website came up: not the Vals' website, mine. I have never considered myself typical or representative of anything, so I was quite surprised, but I guess everyone has to start by contacting somebody, so I don't mind if it is me. That evening, several of us went by the Newcomer's Reception which was organized by Beverly of Jacksonville, Florida. Last year, Beverly was a newcomer herself, and she organized this event, and made herself available as a big sister, to help all other newcomers. All of us old timers (if I wasn't still 29, I swear I'd feel old...) made a point of attending and we all had a great time. Beverly should definitely be commended by all for her willingness to do all that she did for nothing more than hugs. Another highlight was our virtual takeover of Atlanta's Hard Rock Café for the second year in a row. One thing I noticed when my fajitas arrived is the club motto: Love All Serve All. Cool.

I will mention two personal disappointments, but they had nothing to do with the organizers. Last year, we got a Vals' family portrait. This year, we forgot to do so. We were all so busy having a good time, we never stopped and grabbed one another for such a shot. Second, I wanted to talk to Leslie Feinberg, the keynote speaker at the Saturday luncheon. Les was here in Nashville several years ago, but I just happened to be out of town then on family business, so I had never met him. The crowd around Les was so huge immediately after his speech, I just figured I would catch him that evening at dinner, and then I never did so. I have only myself to blame, but I expect our paths will cross again.

Every time I return home from Southern Comfort, there is the inevitable wind down. I usually have so much adrenalin pumping through me (not to mention plenty of alcohol....), it does take a while to recover and return to everyday matters. Yet, while I am very tired, the experience also leaves me refreshed and renewed, because it reminds me of why I got involved working for others in the first place. I had many people come up to me all weekend and tell me how much they enjoyed one thing or another that I had said or done or written. I don't ask for much (well, OK, I did request an open bar, and yet I still have to pay for all my cocktails every year...), but seeing so many people there being out and learning to feel good about themselves is the greatest reward I could have. I just love it.

The day after we returned from Atlanta, the A&E network had a special called The Transgender Revolution. There were quite a number of people interviewed in the show who were present at SCC including Robert Eads, one of the speakers at the Thursday lunch, and Tonye Barreto-Neto, with whom I shared a birthday that weekend. The show presented numerous real concerns of transgendered people as well as portrayed our increasing visibility, organization, and activity.

There were, however, a couple of important inaccuracies. First, with the segment on "Terry", a post-operative F2M, host Bill Kurtis said that for Terry his status is "no longer a source of fear." Just minutes earlier in talking about Tonye, who is a deputy in the Hillsborough County (FL) Sheriff's Department, they noted that he has himself been the target of hate mail, abuse of the animals on his farm, and harassment on the job. There are still plenty of people out there who will target Terry if they ever discover his former identity, and he must always be concerned about that. Second, they stated that Riki Ann Wilchins had formed Gender PAC. It was actually formed by a consortium of national gender support groups including AEGIS of which I am the board chair. It is very unfortunate that these two misleading statements, along with the attention given to a close-minded Boston radio talk-show host, were made in the show.

Despite this, I still liked the show. It portrayed real people with real concerns, including our vulnerability to brutal hate crimes. The F2M community received a lot of attention in the show and they have often been under-represented in the past. It also pointed out that the Internet has been a big part of our increased visibility. It is much easier now to find others like ourselves and it has certainly helped pull more out of the closet to events like Southern Comfort. I will always be concerned about those who use the Internet as an excuse for not coming out, but it has been a positive tool for this community, and the sheer attendance numbers at SCC, and the increased and improved media coverage, have been the result.

Don't forget to vote! Have a Happy Thanksgiving.



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Miss Jenni

Wigged Out

By Jennileigh Love

jlove1@ix.netcom.com

Southern Comfort has finally come and gone. For those of you who made it to Atlanta this year, thank you for coming. To say this year was a "growth" year was fairly accurate. However, the growth was unbelievable and unpredictable, sort of like Southern Comfort on steroids. This year's conference was dubbed "The Largest Gathering of Transgendered People in the World Ever". The actual attendance, as always, remains an elusive figure. We sat over 450 at the Saturday dinner this year (compared with around 300 last year). We gave out more than 450 badges and lots of attendees did not even attend Saturday dinner. So the exact figure is probably somewhere around 475-500. With this volume of people, the hotel staff and the Southern Comfort volunteer staff really struggled to meet the demands of our attendees. Everyone said I looked tired during the con, and the truth is that I was tired, and so were a lot of other people. I suppose it was a result of not planning for the volume of people we had attending. It seems we were going non-stop, and never having time to enjoy the con ourselves.

But enough whining. After all the dust settled, we did have a very successful conference. Considering that we moved to a totally new hotel, I think things went very well. The coming out stories and testimonials are being sent to our webpage (www.sccatl.org) and are very heartwarming. Southern Comfort will march on in 1999. We are currently restructuring our Board of Directors to better manage the conference next year.

I have some highlights of Southern Comfort that I want to mention. I believe the "Prom That Never Was" was a smash hit. The spontaneous dancing that erupted was exactly what we wanted on Saturday night. The 70s music from The Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus only threw gasoline on our disco inferno. I believe the date auction fundraiser we did with the chorus was also successful. We took an astonishing 150 people to Atlanta's Hard Rock Café on Thursday night. This number doubled last year's attendance. We had to turn away a lot of people who wanted tickets because we simply didn't have transportation for them. It makes me wonder how many to plan for next year. I wonder how much it costs to rent the entire Hard Rock Café? I also believe our keynote speakers were of premium quality this year, including the famous trans-author and activist Les Feinberg, local Georgia transman Robert Eads, Lexington Kentucky's Dawn Wilson and the Vals own Marisa Richmond. Especially stirring was Gizella Schumacher, the mother of my fellow SCC co-chair, Stefanie Schumacher, who touched everyone with what it was like to be a parent of a transgendered person.

I didn't get to attend any of the seminars that I had set up, but I did try to make sure every speaker was where they were supposed to be. Only one speaker failed to show this year. I think one speaker out of fifty isn't too bad. Setting up speakers is a huge effort for the conference organizers. You have to deal with egos, compensation and other people's time schedules. I think the high praise we received for our quality programming was worth all the work I put into it.

On Friday morning. Sabrina Marcus, Jessica Britton, Jean Rich and Kristin Rivers and I were on 99X radio in Atlanta. The station was simply interested in having us on a morning show to talk about Southern Comfort and transgender issues. After we verified that it wasn't a hatemonger radio show, we got a group together to go. The radio station provided limo service (my absolute first time in a limo). The staff was very gracious and funny and the show went very well. It's too bad that the other scheduled guest, Atlanta Braves pitching ace, Tom Glavine didn't make it to the studio. I wonder if he likes brunettes…

Another event that happened was a protest by "fundamentalist Christians" outside the hotel. Rumor was that six people showed up to protest Southern Comfort outside the hotel on Friday night about 11pm, perhaps fueled by our stint on the radio. Why any protester would show up at 11pm at night is beyond me. To show you how much of a non-crisis this was, I didn't even know about it until the following morning. And the truth is, these folks have a right to protest anything they want, as long as they behave civilly, and do it on public property (the hotel is private property). That First Amendment thing applies to us as well as those who disagree with us.

The sheer magnitude of what I had been a part of didn't set in until after I got back home. I will admit to shedding a few tears after it was over, but they were tears of complete joy. The excellent article in the October 8 edition of Southern Voice about Southern Comfort only reinforced the pride I had in this conference.

To use a sports metaphor, we had fumbled a few times, and the team had played a lot of defense, but we still got our share of touchdowns and won the big homecoming game. My thanks and A Big Hunk of Love go out to Sabrina Marcus, Terry Murphy, Maxwell Anderson, Holly Boswell, Stefanie Schumacher and all our Southern Comfort Volunteer Committee for a smash conference and letting me be part of the family.

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Left Of Center

By Pamela DeGroff

I was able to attend Southern Comfort this year. This was only the second time I've been able to go, and I honestly couldn't remember in what year I attended my first convention. I thought it was either in '94 or '95, but on my first day there, I met someone who came up to me and said, "Hey, I remember you. We met back in 1993 at the other hotel, and talked a lot about music. We swapped tapes, remember?" I remember the tapes, and I really did remember this person, but 1993...? Good Lord, I'm getting old. Is it true you start forgetting little things as you age?

Now, what were we talking about? ( Don't help me. I'll get it.) Oh yeah. Southern Comfort. Atlanta. Got it. Anyway, I went as a volunteer, and brought my significant other, Cheryl, with me. She's still new to the Gender community, and has definitely never seen anything like a Southern Comfort Convention. I guess I've been involved in the community for so long that some things no longer faze me. The observations that a genetic woman has, when confronted with 300 trannies, are well, insightful. Here are just a few, from the short list.

At the formal dinners, why are the largest people the only ones wearing glittered Spandex?

If you're going to dress like a lady, and especially have on something pretty, please, please, please-learn how to sit like one.

Tuck BEFORE you leave the restroom.

Breast forms should hopefully compliment the rest of your body size. When they start to resemble something you could rappel or bungie jump from, well...(I'm proud of myself, I've resisted the temptation to take the low road and start doing Dolly Parton jokes. Nah, too easy.)

Ladies don't guzzle their beer. Got to see some real deviant behavior on this one. At one of the nightly get-to-gethers over in the small lounge, I saw a real pretty blonde tilt her head all the way back to where the beer bottle was upside down and vertical. She drained it in two gulps, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and belched. She could have made a drunk biker blush.

I get to be around so few Female To Male trans people that I'm still amazed at the transformations they undergo with hormone therapy. One guy in particular whom we met was really quite willing to talk about the entire process. He had a very striking male pattern baldness thing happening, and I just had to ask how he achieved it. He beamed with pride and said, "Isn't it great? My doctor can't even figure it out." Only a FTM would regard a comment about baldness to be a compliment.

Another observation concerns hats. There weren't that many people who wore them, but those

who did, well let's just say it was quite interesting. Now, at a Transgendered convention, you might expect any hats you'd see to be somewhat along the lines of a Carmen Miranda fruit basket atrocity. Not in this case. We're talking lampshades. Very ugly, found it at a garage sale, lampshade. I saw one lady who had on an old crumpled black thing that reminded me of this lampshade that went on the light in my room when I was a kid. The light stand had figures of cowboys and Indians, and the shade itself had a little covered wagon. I had the thing for years and it wound up looking exactly like that hat, without the covered wagon, of course. Isn't it odd what weird things can trigger childhood memories?

On a very personal note, I'd like to offer this bit of advice: never drink excessive amounts of anything when wearing a new girdle for the first time. (Yes, girlfriends, it's come to that. Pam needs a girdle. Heavy sigh-party's over.) And to add insult to injury, anyone who reads this column on a regular basis knows that I really like high heels. Well, guess what? They no longer like me. After three days, I actually couldn't do it anymore. I gave up and wore flats.

There was a smaller hotel next to the bigger facility where SCC was held. They had 180 rooms available, 179 of which were rented out to convention attendees. I'd like to know who the people were who got the last room. Would it be possible that they pulled in real late at night, and the clerk rented them the room without telling them anything about the other "guests"? Here's a possible scenario. Bob and Betty Mudphlapp from Flyphart, Iowa, wake up the next morning, just waiting to see the sights of beautiful downtown Atlanta. Bob looks out the window to check the weather. Well, instead of being concerned about the weather... "My God, Betty, c'mere! Look at this! Where the hell are we? NOOO! Don't open the door." "Now Bob, they're just crossdressers. They won't bite. Say, look at that big one over by the pool. Sort of looks like your sister Gertie after the radio fell in the bathtub with her. I think they're really interesting people. Why don't we go and introduce ourselves? This'll be fun." "Betty, no! Come back!! BETTY!" To make a short story even shorter, later that night, Bob (now known as "Babs") was seen getting off the shuttle bus at The Chamber. I hope they got pictures for the folks back home.

I really enjoyed myself at SCC. Even though I went as a volunteer, I still had a blast and am

already looking forward to next year. This is something everyone should do at least once. Hope to see some of you there next time.

Bye for now, girlfriends.

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Anne

Behind Blue Eyes

By Anne Casebeer

agc@cwix.com

Southern Comfortable

Relaxation is something I have never had an easy time doing. I'm pretty high strung and hyperactive, a serious coffee and diet Coke addict, and a workaholic besides. Further, I turn up the intensity when I have to, and the tank runs dry after awhile. That was indicative of my state of mind on September 30. I'd worked nearly 3 weeks with no day off, and was completely fried. To appreciate my work ethic, try this: work 9 hours, pack for 4 days and nights of serious crossdressing, grab a trollop and her luggage, drive from Louisville to Lexington, pick up the legendary D.J. Wilson, then drive to Atlanta. All of which we did in about 6 hours flat. Did I break any laws? I'll never tell.....As many have observed previously, Southern Comfort is aptly named; a comfort zone for all transgendered people, located in a comfortable hotel, and attended by a lot of transpeople who, well, make you feel very much at ease. Comfort, indeed. I walked into the bar at the Sheraton 4 Points after this marathon work-and-drive Wednesday, just about overcome with road hypnosis and caffeine overdose, attired in the worn out jeans, black golf shirt, and half-rotten running shoes that I wore to work that morning. The sight of the good Dr. Richmond at the bar was quite welcome, and a couple quick Heinekens before closing time provided a temporary remedy for what ailed me, thank you very much.

If destroying rain forests were my goal, I could discuss the whole conference, but I'm better off just hitting the highlights. The nice thing about SCC is that everyone will have different highlights. By doing it this way, I'm going to omit many worthy events, but sorry, it's my highlight film. My highlights usually focus on people, and with 500+ transpeople in one place, it's inevitable that one would meet many interesting individuals. Plus, something else happened that was pretty momentous... whoops, can't tell you about that yet. So, in no particular order....

Meeting Jamie Adcock of the Swans, and Terrianne Summers of the North Florida Sisters was a major highlight. I've traded a bit of email with these ladies, and ladies they are indeed. Placing faces with names is always nice, and I enjoyed getting to know them better. They both were as intelligent and witty as I expected them to be, and I hope they can come to......you're not ready yet.

The talent show is always a favorite event, even if I couldn't participate, which time didn't allow this time (you'll see why later...) I thoroughly enjoyed the comedy of Jami Ward, Sabrina Marcus, and Angelika! Angela delivered the routine of her life, while Jami managed to make us all bust our girdles in laughter as only she can. Sabrina is the measure against which I judge emcees, TG or not. Which brings us to Marc Eden's incredible rendition of The Impossible Dream (The Quest), from Man of La Mancha. How could Marc top last year's performance? All he did was choose a song that all TG people can relate to, and simply sing the heck out of it. His voice was even better than last year, if that's possible. The day after, I had the opportunity to talk to Marc for awhile, and he's every bit as impressive in conversation as he is on stage. A true gentleman.

While we're speaking of gentlemen, I must mention Robert Eads. Robert brought the house to tears with his speech before Thursday's luncheon. Once again, I made certain to meet this man. I found another true gentleman, a man who reminded me very much ofmy father in build and demeanor. They could have been brothers, in fact. Robert is suffering from cancer, and is a warrior of the first order. He will live at SCC as long as there are SCCs, and I am a better human being for having met him. Thank you, Robert, for being there for all of us.

I first met JoAnn Roberts at SCC in 1997, but didn't have much chance to talk to her at that conference. This time, I was able to talk to her a bit more. I found her to be very approachable and funny. The way that she handled her quick, apparently unplanned "performance" in the talent show was a nice piece of quick thinking. Very impressive. I was also particularly impressed with Stefanie Schumacher, the other co-chair, who I didn't know well at all going in. A very witty and intelligent woman who, with Jenni, did a great job in a difficult situation. Cindy Martin and Jamie Faye Fenton were also very much in attendance from TG Forum. and I hope they can attend......almost gave it away, you aren't ready for it yet.

The luncheon speeches were universally excellent. Giselle Schumacher (Stef's mom) delivered a simple and moving message, Dawn Wilson's address was a 90-proof dose of medicine that was needed by all in the community, Marisa was both funny and thought-provoking as only she can be, and Les Feinberg was everything I'd expected and more. I didn't get to that many seminars, but the ones I did attend were well done. The biggest problem, other than the effort of making my damaged knees function in the morning, was deciding which of several seminars to attend that ran simultaneously. Not an easy thing to do. I watched a girl, one from the Louisville area in fact, place tape recorders in seminars and attend another one at the same time, which is something I may try that next spring....whoops, almost gave it away.

The only negative part of Southern Comfort for me was something that comes of growth, something that occurs more and more in the real world, and something that was in no way the fault of the organizers. There was a strange atmosphere to this conference, a certain noise, vibration, and harshness. With the increase in attendance came an increase in the rudeness and crudeness factor. I don't expect any gathering of 500+ human beings to be peaches and cream, but there was a certain increase in cutting in line, loud talking and argumentativeness, and general rudeness. Maybe more people got cut off on the freeway on the way to the convention, I don't know. I heard of at least one incident of someone supposedly using the sink in a ladies' room as a urinal, and a couple near-fights breaking out. I hope that next year, with the increase in attendance that is sure to happen, that people can leave their rudeness in their hotel rooms, but I won't be holding my breath. Could we all consider that? I'll try to

do the same, because I'll admit to being the one who made fun of the Bible-thumpers in front of the hotel that Jenn was referring to in her article by screaming the opening soliloquy to the Doors' "Soft Parade" at them. The hotel management dealt with them effectively, and compliments are in order for them. Also, bringing a certain trollop to a convention was bound to raise the volume level somewhat. Still, folks , I get cussed out enough at work. Civility really is the glue that holds society together, and as we grow, we'll need to remember that. We are really creating a small town every year in a hotel in Atlanta now for 4 days.

"So, Anne, What's The Big News?".

I guess you're ready for the news. In the last issue of this newsletter, you will recall that IFGE's annual convention was canceled. Well, it was resurrected at Southern Comfort. Dawn Wilson and I met with members of the IFGE board on Friday afternoon of SCC, and Dawn made a presentation to the full IFGE board on Saturday afternoon. It's now official; IFGE's 1999 convention will be held March 17-21 in Louisville, Ky., and is to be hosted by BGB, the TG group in Louisville that I also belong to. We knew that we had it around dinner time Saturday, but needed to let it be announced from the podium before we started talking much about it. That begged the question; "where do you go, when you want no one to know?" We needed to use the chance of having that many transpeople around to get some volunteer help and try to line up a speaker or 2, and the rumors were causing people to approach Dawn, Angela, Cindy Lee, and I wanting details we weren't prepared to give out. Fortunately, it all worked out, Terry Murphy announced it, and we didn't have to play dumb anymore. It will be called "Standing United" (the state motto of Kentucky is "United We Stand, Divided We Fall,") which is a fitting name that should also apply to our community. At the request of Kristine James of IFGE, we will be emphasizing TG health and wellness, which covers a lot of ground and is of interest to all of us, except when we're out for the evening. We, of course, will be emphasizing that greatly, and I expect that you'll enjoy what we have in mind. I've spent the weeks since returning from SCC getting organized to do this, conducting the search for the hotel, and picking the brains of every expert I could find on convention planning. The convention bureau in Louisville has provided first-rate service, and the hotels we are considering are all very nice and reasonably priced.. There is an awful lot of work to do in a very short period of time, but we have a good team working on it. We'd like for you to all come to Louisville for the convention - I can assure you that it will be educational and fun. . Plus, Louisville doesn't close until 4AM...Watch this space for more details, but pencil in March 1999 on your calendar if you can. If you are interested in presenting a seminar, compose a syllabus for it and email that to Marjorie Demaille at efduhr1@pop.uky.edu.. Hey, if I can drive to Nashville every month, you can drive to Louisville for once....

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Angela

Totally....

By Angela Bridgman

angelafox@cybergal.com

Southern Comfort was pretty much an unqualified success. If you missed out on this one, do not fear, there will be one again, next year, and I'm sure it will be as much fun as this year's was! There were shopping trips, vendors selling all kinds of neat stuff (I got a nice pair of black heels), and lots of fun people at the Convention. It was a chance to meet, in person, some of the people I'd only read about...or read their writings.

Unfortunately, I missed out on the Hard Rock trip, tix were sold out long before I had a chance at them. However, we did take in the local nightlife in Atlanta, first at the Nomenclature Musevm (yes that's spelled right, Anne!) and then at the ever-famous Chamber. The Chamber reminded me a lot of Connections, so I'll say no more on that subject....

There was the talent show on Friday, in which yours truly gave a smashing performance, thanks, in part, to some instruction received by Jami Ward, about whom I'd only heard legends.... The best thing at Southern Comfort, though, without a doubt, was the "Prom That Never Was." I wish they had told me months in advance that they were auctioning off some of the guys from the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus, so I could've saved up my money, to get a real prom date! Ah, but never underestimate the seductive powers of The Trollop! Whilst all these other girls had a nice man to dance with, I roamed around the hotel a bit, and happened upon John, the cute flight attendant from British Airways, who happened to be staying that night in the hotel. He told me that he was gay, and had heard that the Gay Men's Chorus was performing. Mmmmmmm...I got an idea! With me on his arm, John got to see the final half of the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus, who were truly fabulous! After they had finished, the dance resumed, and John swept me onto the dance floor for my moment. I can tell you this much...I enjoyed it! And he sure had no complaints!! And, contrary to popular belief, he was the closest I have gotten to a man in about six months...not for lack of trying, you understand!!!

There was, however, a small bit of ugliness at Southern Comfort....reprehensibles (oops, representatives) of HRC were to speak at our convention. Because of delays in serving at the luncheon, speaker Leslie Feinberg went over, and I missed out on the last of his speech, in order to insure myself a front-row center seat for the HRC seminar. I got to the room, and only one other person was there...the man was on the Board of Governors for HRC! Apparently, he had come only to observe the proceedings, he did not speak during the presentation given by one Tony Esoldo...who, by my own estimation, was the youngest, least experienced, and greenest person HRC could possibly have sent us...perhaps they were sending us a message....I took advantage of the fact that I had a captive audience, right then, with a member of the Board of Governors for HRC...and gave him a piece of my mind. I advanced to him what I call my "big money" theory. Here's the way of it...HRC is pretty much aware that trans-inclusion is not only right, but necessary! However, there are a few donors to HRC that I call the big-money donors...My theory is that it is these big-money donors who are against trans-inclusion...and HRC must do as the big-money donors want, or lose the support of those individuals. The man (whose name I never caught) did not disagree with me on that theory. And, on one level, if that is what it is, I can understand their hesitation to include trans-people...after all, they would be losing a lot of their big money....never stopping, even for a moment, to consider that they may gain a lot more than they lose by trans-inclusion! Tony himself was a nice enough fellow, but he had no idea of what really had been going on between HRC and the transgender community; he was not able to answer any of the tough questions. questions like those posed by Helen Garfinkle, of WBA. Tony as much as admitted that the transgender issues were well known by the local gay and lesbian people, and well over 50% of them supported inclusion of transgender people...however, it seemed word of this was not getting back to Washington, hence Tony's plea for more education (sound familiar yet?) Helen then told Tony that she, and her group had spent hundreds, no thousands of dollars educating the GLB community as to our issues...and it seemed to do no good, since the word was not getting back to Washington (and Helen, I might add, is a Maryland resident...how much closer to home does HRC want this to be before they get it, anyway??? Do we have to serve it up to them on a silver platter??) After that, Angela Brightfeather got in a few remarks about how the GLB community was not effectively using transpeople in their arguments against the same-sex marriage bills, like DOMA...in light of what has recently happened in Alaska, this was a most excellent point! Terry Murphy took a few shots herself, supporting the sentiments of all present, save the reprehensibles (oops, representatives) of HRC. After all that, The Trollop took aim. I had the evidence in my hot little hands of HRC's attempts to sabotage the Lobbying event led by Phyllis Frye in Feb. 1997. Two weeks prior to that event, HRC, accompanied by GenderPAC's own Riki Anne Wilchins, warned all the Senators and Representatives in Congress who would listen that we (the transpeople) were coming...and to tell them that ENDA would not pass with trans-inclusion!! Dawn Wilson confirmed this...and also mentioned that when she had worked as an L.A. for Sen. Mitch McConnell, she had observed HRC in there persuading the Congressmen and women that ENDA would not pass with trans-inclusion. I then threw Tony Esaldo's own words back at him, and asked if that was how they, in his own words, were "opening the doors of Congress to the transgender community." Needless to say, Mr. Esaldo had no sufficient answer to that question! Round Two...The Trollop takes careful aim again...and scores a direct hit, drawing gasps from all present, including the HRC reprehensibles (oops, there it goes again!!! representatives) I built this one up more slowly, to ensure maximum impact. I asked if anyone in the room remembered the last ENDA vote, which went down 49-51...with 1 abstention. I asked if any in the room remembered who the abstention was...then told them. Sen. Mitch McConnell! I then pointed out that Sen. McConnell had all but bent over backwards to help me in my struggle with the U.S. Census Bureau...in Indiana!! Completely out of his jurisdiction!!! But he did so anyway.... And then, I delivered the bomb...do you suppose that if trans-inclusion had been a part of that legislation that McConnell just might have voted yes, rather than abstaining? That would have made the vote 50-50...sending the tie-breaking vote to Mr. Gore...who undoubtedly would have voted in favor...and Clinton most definitely would have signed it! I then pointed out that since we talked to all supporting Senators...and every one of them said they would not have withdrawn their support for ENDA had trans-inclusion been in it...So, therefore, I posed the rhetorical question that, had trans-inclusion been in that bill, ENDA may have actually passed!! It was reported to me that Mr. Esoldo looked like he'd been punched by the time that meeting was over! So, is it MOTS for HRC...I guess we will have to wait and see. However, I do wish to point out here that first, I have no personal problem with Mr. Esaldo, merely the organization he represents...and secondly, I have to hand him a whole lot of credit for having the guts to come to this convention in the first place! I also must hand him a lot of credit for standing up to the tough questions....although he could not answer them, he did not hedge, or try to change the subject.

Overall, I have to say, if you missed this year's Southern Comfort, you really missed a lot!!


Southern Comfort Draws Record Crowd

More than 500 gather for social and political conference, & press the Human Rights Campaign to add transgender rights to its mission

by Laura Brown

As dozens of attendees at last weekend's Southern Comfort transgender conference waited outside the event's host hotel Friday night for shuttles to Atlanta nightclubs, a group of about five Bible-carrying young people began shouting verses at the hotel's door. Assessing the situation, Southern Comfort Board Chair Sabrina Marcus broke into songùa rousing rendition of "God Bless America" that soon had the crowd of about 100 transgendered people singing, and the tiny group of protesters fleeing.

Rather than disrupting the eighth annual event, held last weekend at Buckhead's Terrace Garden Inn, the incident exemplified the spirit that organizers said makes Southern Comfort the most popular transgender event in the country. While they cite "phenomenal growth" and "cutting edge" seminars as hallmarks of last weekend's Southern Comfort Conference, they attribute its overall success to the sense of "home" and empowerment it provides to transgendered attendees from all over the world.

Organizer Terry Murphy described Southern Comfort as "what amounts to a transgender Pride event," providing the

opportunity "to experience the joy of being a transgendered person in a group of transgendered people, where you are completely the majority." Murphy, a former Southern Voice editor, resigned as a member of the Southern Comfort board of directors on Sunday to accept a position as the event's first year-round executive director.

"I can't tell you what a profound experience [being in the majority for the first time] is," said Murphy. "As a gay person, when you find the gay community, and you walk into that gay church or gay bar for the first time you're a fairly young person typically when you have that experience of dropping your otherness at the door and walking into a public space that's full of people exactly like you. "Southern Comfort is the only place on the planet where transgendered people can have that experience, à and even you are doing something as silly as learning how to get your wig styled à that is very personal and political at the same time. It's life changing," Murphy continued. "Laid on top of that very simple opportunity is the opportunity to à learn a lot, not only about personal issues, but about intellectual ideas and political issues."

Conference co-chair Jennileigh Love offered similar reasons for her involvement with Southern Comfort, which she attended for the first time four years ago. "A lot of people helped me when I got into this whole gender thing, and I asked myself, 'What can I do to give back, to save just one person?'" she said. "Well, I'll take 400 to 500 over one any day, and I want to help people come to grips with who they are and build community. Southern Comfort is home, it's a great community builder, and it's a party. Imagine living your whole life in some little town where you always felt like you were the only one. Finally being one of the majority is a powerful thing."

Record attendance

According to Murphy, the "big story" from this year's Southern Comfort Conference was the attendance - 515 registered

participants, a 60-percent increase from last year's 320. Organizers said the record participation, which included male-to-female and female-to-male, pre-op, post-op, an non-op, transsexuals, transgenderists and heterosexual crossdressers created organizational headaches while demonstrating the growing strength of the transgender movement. "The growth this year was amazing-it was difficult to manage, it was just chaos, but we don't want to put a limit on it," Love said. "We want to help all of the folks who come down, and we heard so many stories of how we did that." While exact numbers were not available, Love said a "significant number" of those attending Southern Comfort were female-to-male "transmen",a segment of the transgendered community that has been less visible in mainstream media, but that is growing in visibility and political power. Leslie Feinberg, described by Murphy as "the most celebrated

living female-to-male queer theorist in the world, maybe ever in history," delivered Saturday's keynote address. Maxwell Anderson, a "transman" who serves on the Southern Comfort board, said growing activism in the community has created some tension with male-to-female transgenders "who don't want to take us seriously," but praised Southern Comfort as one of the most inclusive transgender events.

The record attendance also helped the Southern Comfort Conference raise $5,600 for charity, Murphy said. The donations included $2,300 to the Atlanta Gay Men's Chorus, which entertained at the conference; $2,000 to the International Foundation for Gender Education, the world's largest transgender advocacy organization; $800 to Georgia's "Trans=Action" gender education and advocacy group, which recently changed its name from It's Time, Georgia!; and $500 to Transgender Officers Protect and Serve.

Taking on HRC exclusion

According to Love, the theme for seminars at this year's

Southern Comfort was "cutting edge stuff that has never been done before," including seminars bringing together trans men and women, sessions focusing on sexuality, and a tense but productive "transgender townhall meeting" with staff from the Human Rights Campaign. HRC, the nation's largest gay and lesbian rights organization, has drawn criticism from the transgender community for refusing to include transgender rights in the agency's mission statement or in the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation but not gender identity. The sometimes heated Saturday afternoon discussion, which brought together leaders of transgender organizations and Tony Esoldo, southern field organizer for HRC, drew an audience of 20 and ultimately proved productive, both sides agreed. "The vast majority of the audience [was] either trans activists upset with HRC or members of the trans community who are also members of HRC, so it wasn't one-sided," said Murphy, who served as moderator for the forum. "HRC was not pilloried, although a couple of members of the audience expressed the passion with which many in the transgender community regard HRC's refusal to deal with us." Esoldo asked to come to Southern Comfort, and told the forum that many members of HRC need education on transgender issues. He urged transgender activists to work with the organization and be patient, and said HRC had worked with members of the transgender community to have crimes committed on the basis of "perceived gender identity" included in the proposed Hate Crimes Prevention Act. But he reiterated HRC's position that ENDA would have no chance of passage if protection for gender identity were included. Although his comments were often interrupted by objections from vocal audience members, Esoldo later called the meeting a success. "I thought it was great," he said. "It was difficult, and there are still some misconceptions out there. HRC is on a journey with this, and we need to keep moving, and I think we are. I think being there was good, and I made a lot of good contacts and friends." Murphy said the very political HRC townhall meeting was just one of the seminars at Southern Comfort that reflected the

community's diverse interests.

According to conference participant and pioneering transgender educator and author Virginia Prince, the inclusion and

blurring of societal gender distinctions evident at Southern Comfort will continue spreading through society as a whole. Active in the transgender movement for 35 years, Prince predicted the issue would be resolved in the next 30. "Thirty years from now, women will be wearing pants, which they can now, and men will be wearing dresses, which they can't now, and no one will care," she said. "Thirty years from now, we won't have Southern Comfort, because there will be no need to have a gender conference. Gender won't exist any more."

The Atlanta Southern Voice, October 8, 1998


A Cross-Dressing Carey

On the Wednesday, October 28 episode of the ABC hit sitcom The Drew Carey Show, Drew (Carey) and his heterosexual cross-dressing brother Steve (John Carroll Lynch) square off over the clientele at Drew's favorite watering hole, The Warsaw. Throughout last season, Steve's "coming out" was dealt with responsibly and with humor, as Steve was never the butt of hostile and transphobic humor (see GLAADAlert 11.21.97). In the October 28 episode, Drew stands up for his brother when he is accosted by a Warsaw patron.

Steve, upset that anyone would tell him what establishments he can and cannot frequent, invites some of his transgender friends to the bar a few nights later. Drew and Steve soon fight over the bar's new patrons. While the casting of Steve's "cross-dressing" friends is a bit off base, the overall episode is exemplary. Last month, GLAAD contacted the producers of the show, who provided GLAAD

with a script followed by a rough-cut of the episode. Throughout the month long communication, the production team at The Drew Carey Show made it clear that they wanted the representation of Steve Carey to be as fair and accurate as possible. Much to their credit, the sitcom has done more for American television audiences' understanding of cross-dressers than any other sitcom in recent TV history. Steve Carey is given an incredible amount of dignity, despite the often odd and twisted world the other characters seem to inhabit. Executive Producer Deborah Oppenheimer told GLAAD that Steve is one of the show's and audience's favorite characters, and that "we feel proud to present the character of a cross dresser to an audience of more than sixteen million people."

Please thank The Drew Carey Show for the always impeccably dressed and confident Steve Carey and for consulting with GLAAD. Contact: Ms. Deborah Oppenheimer, Executive Producer, The Drew Carey Show, c/o Warner Bros. Television, Burbank, CA 91522-0191

Courtesy of GLAADAlert


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