Below you will find my Letter to the Editor which I have just submitted. I hope that after reading my response to your June 21 column you will do what you can to assure that the Hartford Courant publicizes this important response. I am sure you did not intentionally mean to marginalize or minimize the issues and serious concerns facing the transgender community. However, it is also clear that you and the Hartford Courant do not fully appreciate the implications of such statements, even if stated to tangentially make a point. In addition, to the reasons we state in the Letter to the Editor below, you should be aware that on May 9, 2003 a New Haven TransWoman was brutally murdered [probable Hate Crime] and that our national community is experiencing nearly 2 anti-transgender hate crime related murders a month [many unsolved] - a rate we call epidemic! And many of them are to our youth ranging as young as 17!

The CT TransAdvocacy Coalition would be very willing to meet with you to further discuss these concerns and maintain a dialogue on the issues of gender identity and expression.

Sincerely,

Jerimarie Liesegang, PhD

Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition, Director

In one way, I guess Jim Shea's comment in his June 21 column where he states "I'm thinking about going transsexual" can be viewed as a positive comment regarding mainstream acceptance of transsexuality. However, for some reason I can't. Perhaps it’s because he states his reason for “going transsexual” is: "… this lifestyle change is professional flexibility". I find this an interesting choice of words. I had not realized that my or other Transmen or Transwomen had looked at their transsexuality as a lifestyle change, kind of like "I'm going to own a Jaguar or win the lottery" – those are lifestyle changes, not being trans-identified! Or perhaps the words professional flexibility. He is correct many Trans folks either are fired or eventually loose their job once they come out as a transsexual. So yes, I guess accepting ones inherent sex and coming out as trans-identified can be considered a lifestyle change with professional flexibility. Or perahps, as noted below, only in an ironic way it is!

You may say that I and many others of my community are too thin skinned for such levity. Or perhaps when Jim Shea looks to a community to make a point, he better reflect upon the implications of his words and understanding of that community. A Washington, DC Transgender Needs Assessment survey revealed: Unemployment rate is 42%; 40% have not finished high school; 29% have no income and 31% have incomes of under $10,000/year; 47% lack health insurance; and 43% report being victims of transphobic violence or crime. The most common barriers to all care types are economic situation, lack of insurance, failure of insurance to cover care, caregiver insensitivity or hostility to transgendered people, and fear of their transgendered status being revealed. I ask you: Did these people who “went transsexual” achieve your nirvana of “professional flexibility”. I think not!

Don’t get me wrong, more and more trans-identified individuals are achieving and maintaining economic and societal success, though far too many are struggling with societal misconceptions and prejudice against gender identity and expression! And I do enjoy good natured and intelligent humor as well as the next one. However, such humor carries with it a burden of societal sensitivity and understanding. To this point, the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition [CTAC] does ask Jim Shea, the Hartford Courant and all those in Connecticut who abhor violence and discrimination based upon ones gender identity and expression to join CTAC’s campaign of “STOP THE HATE – EDUCATE AND LEGISLATE!”

Regards,
Jerimarie Liesegang, PhD

CT TransAdvocacy Coalition, Director

jerimarie@transadvocacy.com