ST Saturday Special Report - Once a Tourist Attraction, She is Now a Tai Tai (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
transformed
Once a tourist attraction, she is now a tai-tai
FACE TO FACE WITH... SELVI WIDMER, ex-Bugis Street transsexual
By Wong Kim Hoh
HER long tresses are swept up in a stately bun and threaded with
elaborate hairpins and strands of jasmine.

She wears a silk sari in a majestic shade of jade and an aubergine
blouse with gold trimmings.

On her neck hang three necklaces - her thick gold wedding thali, a
string of pearls, and a $42,000 choker studded with pearls, rubies and
diamonds.

It may be an outing to the temple but it is also an opportunity for
Selvi Widmer, 49, to mark her standing as a respected elder in the
Indian transsexual community.

She has come a long way from her dancing days in the 1970s and 1980s.
Then, the ebony-skinned, long-limbed transsexual was - along with
scores of exotic transwomen - a tourist attraction at the infamous
Bugis Street.

The exotic nightspot was torn down to make way for urban redevelopment
in the mid-1980s.

'They used to call me Miss Black Beauty. I would dress up in mini
skirts and hot pants, wear high heels and tourists - ang moh, Japanese
- would pay $20 to take a picture with me,' she recalls coquettishly.

'Eh, we were famous, you know, long before the Thais,' she says,
lamenting how Thailand's transwomen have since superseded their
Singaporean counterparts in the fame stakes.

Selvi was born the only son of a Public Works Department foreman and a
housewife, who had three daughters.

Selvi says that from young, she knew Mother Nature had made a mistake
with her. Her late father would hit her to make her mend her feminine
ways.

After completing Primary 6 at Newton Boys' Primary School, she ran
away from home.

'I wanted to be a woman but since I couldn't be one at home, I decided
I would live on my own,' she says.

She bunked in with other transsexuals in a room in Little India,
paying the $3 daily rent with money she earned as a worker in sari
shops and factories.

From her group of 'sisters', she learnt how to take hormone pills,
grow out her hair, dress up and apply make-up.

Visits to several psychiatrists when she was 17 confirmed for her that
she was indeed a woman born with the wrong body.

She started dancing in Bugis Street to earn money for the operation.
The money was easy.

She claims she did not need to sleep with men then.

'I could make $200 a night, just dancing and posing for photos. That
was nearly $6,000 a month, a lot of money in those days,' says Selvi,
adding that she often helped her family out with her earnings.

A German tourist told her she could make a lot of money dancing in
Europe. Being young and fearless, she did just that.

She worked as an exotic dancer in many European cities, and at 19, she
had saved enough for her operation - which cost her $19,000 at
Gleneagles Hospital.

'My mother had to sign the form for me, I was underaged then. She also
looked after me when I was recuperating,' she says, adding that she
reconciled with her estranged father two years before he died in 1981.

She continued performing in Europe for many years after her operation.

It was while dancing in a club in Locarno, Switzerland, that she met
her realtor husband, now retired, in 1988.

'I told him only three years after meeting him. I thought I had better
tell him, especially since he has a gun, a real gun,' she says with a
loud cackle.

He took it well. 'He told me not to talk about the past. He also said
I didn't look like a transsexual.

'He's a simple man who loves my traditional ways and only insists that
I dress up in saris and carry myself well,' says Selvi, who now speaks
German fluently.

Now 78, Mr Hans Walter Widmer also paid for his wife to attend several
make-up and beauty courses, and even opened a boutique for her in
Singapore. Unfortunately, the business did not take off.

The couple have three homes - one in Wintherthur (a bustling city just
18 minutes by train from Zurich), one in Locarno and one up in the
Alps. They also have a three-room HDB flat in Ang Mo Kio, where she
stays when she comes home for her annual holidays.

'What more can a woman want? I have seen the world three times,' says
Selvi, showing pictures of her with her husband in Egypt, Paris and
other exotic locations.

Brassy, well-spoken and charismatic, she also makes yearly pilgrimages
to India where she has many friends in the hijra or transgendered
community.

Quite the tai-tai, but she has not forgotten her local sisters.

In 1986, she set up an association called the Hijadah Pan with a
fellow transsexual from Malaysia.

Functioning like a social network, it rallies members - who number
several hundreds in both countries - for both happy and sad occasions
like weddings, operations and funerals.

'We are all blood sisters, we need to help each other.'

kimhoh@sph.com.sg

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275763.html

ST Saturday Special Report - Face to Face (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
transformed
He decided against operation
FACE TO FACE WITH... KRIS H, counsellor
FOR six years in the 1990s, Kris H, 39 walked the streets, offering
sex while dressed in women's clothes.

He charged between $30 and $300 during the 1990s in red light areas in
Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The sixth of nine children of a railway officer and a housewife, he
used to endure beatings as a child from his father and two elder
brothers for being effeminate.

At 12, he was sexually abused by an adult he knew.

He befriended a group of transsexual and transvestite sex workers
while doing an electrical engineering course after his O levels.

Before long, he was taking hormones and wearing dresses. When they
found out, his brothers threw him out of the house.

Left to fend for himself, he became a sex worker. In his 20s and known
as Sheela, he started saving up to go for sex reassignment surgery (SRS).

He also had a three-year relationship which ended when the man left
him for a woman. Heartbroken, he decided to go for the sex operation,
but a friend hauled him to a counsellor instead.

The counsellor asked him if he was sure, telling him that a sex
operation would not magically change his life.

Dr Calvin Fones, consultant psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre,
says he has seen several patients who have regretted changing sex.

'Quite often, these are people who have experienced failed
relationships. They latch on to the idea that the operation would
totally change their lives and solve all their relationship woes.

'It won't. And they can't go back; SRS is totally irreversible.'

Indeed, research has shown that many transsexuals become depressed and
suicidal because they cannot cope with many post-operative challenges.
In Malaysia, where Kris lives, these include the inability to change
their civil status, to marry a person of the opposite sex or to adopt
a child.

After several soul-searching sessions, Kris abandoned the idea.

Determined to leave his old world behind, he took up a course in
counselling and became a coordinator with Wake, the Women and Health
Association of Kuala Lumpur.

He now presents himself as a male and counsels people afflicted with
Aids, as well as transsexuals.

Having come from the streets himself, he is passionate about steering
transwomen from the sex trade.

Kris says: 'Some do it for survival, others because they like sex and
that's the only way they can meet men who want them and make money at
the same time.'

And there are also those who want to cling to their boyfriends or
husbands who are their pimps.

'Unfortunately, at least 80 per cent of these relationships never last
because these men just want their money and will leave them for real
women.'

In private, Kris still occasionally puts on dresses and make up. 'I am
who I am,' he says resignedly.

WONG KIM HOH

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275762.html

ST Saturday Special Report - When Papa Became Mama (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
transformed
When Papa became Mama
FACE TO FACE WITH... FANNY LER, ex-navy sergeant
TWO months ago, a former first sergeant who served 10 years in the
Singapore navy sent a mass SMS to all his friends.

It said: 'Dear friends, I have changed my name from Frankie to Fanny.'

Some laughed it off as a prank. Others called up Frankie Ler, 34, and
were stunned when he told them he had decided to become a woman.

The divorcee and father of a 10-year-old girl told them he had started
'transitioning': He had grown his hair, was taking female hormone
pills, and had begun wearing women's clothes.

'I didn't want them to get a shock if they bumped into me on the
street,' said the administrative assistant, sitting in a Rowell Road
Cafe with her daughter.

Her face is powdered, and she is wearing light eyeshadow and lipstick.
Her broad shoulders fill out a conservative black blouse which she
complements with a knee-length patterned skirt and sensible pumps.

Half an hour earlier, Fanny was the main 'attraction' at My Wife, My
Kids, one of several events in this year's IndigNation - the local gay
community's annual pride season.

Facing an inquisitive audience of more than 60 people, she explained
why she had to change sex so late in life, after marriage and fatherhood.

Fanny - who has a younger sister - claims her transsexualism surfaced
only last year. Her late father was a factory worker, her mother, now
56, is a retired washerwoman.

'I never thought I had any problems, I just thought I had an abnormal
hobby,' she says in a mixture of English and Mandarin. That hobby was
a penchant for dressing in women's clothes. She discovered she liked
it while trying on her mother's clothes at 10, and continued to
furtively cross-dress until she got married at 23.

The Yio Chu Kang Secondary School alumnus - who signed up with the
navy after a brief stint as a security guard - met and fell in love
with her wife on an Internet chatline.

They got married three months later. Their daughter was born the
following year. 'Just before I got married, I threw out all the shoes
and dresses I had bought over the years. We were a very normal couple
during our marriage. I was not gay and I did not have any interest in
men,' says Fanny.

The marriage broke up seven years later in 2004. The couple have joint
custody of their daughter.

'We just drifted apart. It had nothing to do with cross-dressing,' she
says.

One day in June last year, she typed 'men who love to dress up as
women' in Google. The search engine threw up many links, one of which
led to sgbutterfly.org - a resource site for local transsexuals.

She trawled through the site's many articles and discussion threads,
and even posted questions, on transsexual issues - from identity
struggles to hormone treatments and make-up tips. 'I was so happy. I
finally found the answers to so many of the questions in my head,' she
says.

Two months later, after she was convinced that she was a woman trapped
in a man's body, she spoke to the person closest to her: her daughter.

'I wanted to be a woman but I had to be sure it wouldn't hurt my
daughter. So I decided to ask, not tell, her if I should transit. If
she had said no, I wouldn't have done this.'

The Primary 4 pupil (whom we are not naming to protect her identity)
says she was 'a little bit surprised that he should ask this
question'. Fanny carefully explained what she was going through and
why she felt the way she did.

The precocious little girl gave her approval. 'His physical looks will
change but he is still my father. He has always been very caring, and
is always teaching me to be brave,' she says, adding that she has told
two of her closest friends but sworn them to secrecy.

Fanny felt a big load taken off her shoulders. 'My mind was very
clear. I was divorced and I've been given a second chance to live my
life right.'

She went for psychiatric evaluation which confirmed she had gender
identity disorder (GID). She started her hormonal therapy late last
year. Her sister, parents and friends were told next. They were
shocked but took it well save for just one friend who has cut off all
contact.

The last to know was her former wife.

'She was very upset but I explained that I found it hardest to tell
her because we had such a close relationship,' says Fanny who plans to
have her operation in Singapore next year.

'To her credit, she joined sgbutterfly to try and understand why I had
to do this,' says Fanny, who adds that the former spouse occasionally
takes her shopping for women's clothes.

Fanny happily lets on that she recently found a job in a construction
firm. Her boss and her colleagues are aware of her status.

She does not harbour grand plans such as marriage for the future. 'I
just want to focus on my daughter.'

The latter ponders when asked what it's like to have two mothers.
'It's okay to have two mummies. I can still enjoy both their love.'

WONG KIM HOH

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275759.html

ST Saturday Special Report - Why He Set Up Portal For 'Sisters' (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
Why he set up portal for 'sisters'
No sleaze, please. Straight guy just wants to give transsexual
community a space for bonding
By Wong Kim Hoh
DANIEL Kaw deflates expectations of how a champion for Singapore's
transsexual community should look.

The 36-year-old assistant project manager with a water engineering
firm is stocky and burly. Not surprising, since he is a lion dancer
and a certified wushu instructor.

Despite the ponytail, he is also 100 per cent male, straight and
married. And a father to boot.

So why did he set up sgbutterfly.org, Singapore's only Web portal for
the transgendered community in Singapore?

He grins as he sips his iced coffee in an Orchard Road cafe.

'Why do you do charity?' he volleys back.

'People think it costs a lot of money to host a Web portal. It
doesn't, it costs me just $10 a month,' says Mr Kaw, who studied
industrial electronics at the Japan-Singapore Technical Institute.

However, the youngest of three children of a businessman and a
housewife forks out more than just money. He invests at least four
hours daily to make sure the portal - which will celebrate its third
anniversary next month - runs smoothly.

The portal has - among other features - news clippings, discussion
forums and resource lists on transgender issues.

Its membership has grown from about 500 in the first year to about
1,600 now, and the site attracts between 40,000 and 80,000 hits a month.

Mr Kaw - who works on the site with three other volunteer moderators -
also organises monthly outings for its members, as well as talks to
raise awareness of transsexual issues.

His first encounter with a transsexual took place on an IRC channel
called Singapore 30something more than 10 years ago.

'Her name was Victoria, and she was very open about who she was and
the issues she faced,' he recalls.

Intrigued, he started talking to others on the Internet. He even met
some of them.

He explains his fascination: 'They are human. Like everyone else, they
want to live a normal life.'

He is used to people questioning his intentions.

'Even my wife, who knows what I do, once asked me if I was transsexual
myself,' he says with a laugh.

'But she's supportive and has even met some of them,' adds Mr Kaw, who
declines to reveal more about his family in order to protect their
privacy.

The martial arts exponent decided that he would set up a Web portal
for his 'sisters', the way he did for wushu and lion dance fans a few
years earlier with sgwutan.com.

He started discussing the idea with his transsexual friends, including
outspoken activist Leona Lo.

While there are several sites frequented by transgendered prostitutes
for sexual hook-ups, there was none which properly addressed the
issues the community faces or gave its members a space to bond and
socialise.

'Before I set up the site, I spent at least four hours nightly over
three months reading up on transsexualism issues,' says Mr Kaw,
reeling off the names of world-renowned experts and researchers in the
area such as American computer scientist Lyn Conway, and Associate
Professor Sam Winter from the University of Hong Kong.

It was not all smooth sailing.

'I spent a lot of time initially throwing out and banning people who
thought it was a sleazy 'ladyboy' sex portal,' he recalls grimly.

The portal has settled into a smooth groove now. A visit to the forums
shows spirited, well-articulated discussions on issues such as whether
transsexuals should pursue activism.

The founder observes: 'The focus of the portal has changed. When we
started, we wanted to build awareness. Now, we want to reach out to
the community.'

That's why he started monthly outings.

'I hope these outings will send out the message that they are not alone.'

Held mostly at Newton Hawker Centre or coffee shops around town, these
excursions attract between five and 25 people.

'We occupied almost six tables at Starbucks in Plaza Singapura on one
such outing last year,' says Mr Kaw, adding that one member wrestling
with his sexual identity even took along his mother.

Mr Kaw and members of the portal will be celebrating its third
anniversary next month with a party at a yet-to-be-confirmed venue.

The unlikely activist is gratified to see more new members coming into
sgbutterfly.org to ask more questions.

As a moderator, there is one principle he abides by.

'I do not help them make decisions. I do not tell them if they should
go for sex reassignment surgery, I also do not tell them if they are
transsexuals or not.

'Those are issues they sort out with the experts.'

kimhoh@sph.com.sg

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275761.html

ST Saturday Special Report - What's The Difference (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
translate
What's the difference?
THE ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) is a coding of
signs, symptoms, abnormal findings, complaints, social circumstances
and external causes of injury or diseases, as classified by the World
Health Organisation.

In the ICD-10, the definition of TRANSSEXUALISM (F64.0) has three
criteria:

1 The desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex,
usually accompanied by the wish to make his or her body as congruent
as possible with the preferred sex through surgery and hormone treatment.

2 The transsexual identity has been present persistently for at least
two years.

3 The disorder is not a symptom of another mental disorder or a
chromosomal abnormality.

Dual-role TRANSVESTISM (F64.1) has three criteria:

1 The individual wears clothes of the opposite sex in order to
experience temporary membership in the opposite sex.

2 There is no sexual motivation for the cross-dressing.

3 The individual has no desire for a permanent change to the opposite sex.

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275760.html

ST Saturday Special Report - Trans Singapore (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
Trans Singapore
A new study suggests that there are at least 1,500 transsexuals in
Singapore, higher than previously thought. They come from all kinds of
socio-economic backgrounds, and many - debunking stereotypes of lowly
educated sex workers - are high-earning professionals in both the
corporate and public sectors. The majority prefer to lead invisible
lives because transphobia is still very prevalent in Singapore.
By Wong Kim Hoh
A DEGREE from Curtin University, Western Australia, and a regional
management position in a large logistics organisation.

While laudable, Juliet's achievements are not likely to make most
people sit up and take notice.

Until, of course, the 40-year-old tells them she is a transsexual.

'When you say transsexual, a lot of people immediately think of Changi
Village and Desker Road,' she says, referring to two of Singapore's
most notorious vice haunts.

'People harbour so many stereotypes. Not all of us are prostitutes. In
fact, a lot of us lead and want to lead very normal lives,' says the
articulate professional whose company and colleagues know of her status.

Transsexuals - people who do not identify with the gender they are
born in and sometimes change their bodies through surgery or hormone
therapy - in Singapore have Bugis Street to blame for this albatross
hanging around their necks.

Before it made way for urban development in the mid-1980s, the street
- and nearby Johor Road - was world-famous for its transgendered
denizens peddling their bodies for profit.

The stereotype still dogs Juliet and members of her community,
although many hold down respectable jobs in law firms, engineering
companies and government departments.

They live with many other tags, including widely held beliefs that
they are mentally sick and sexually deviant.

Make-up artist Lynette Leong aka Ginger, in her 30s, says the
community has to put up with many derogatory names, including ah kwa
and bapok.

The Singapore Polytechnic graduate, who has a diploma in mechanical
engineering, says: 'Even the Chinese newspapers describe us as ren yao
(human monsters). How can society accept us when they perpetuate this
nonsense?'

Not surprisingly, many transsexuals choose to live their lives as
privately as possible. This makes it hard to determine how big the
community is.

In 1988, psychiatrist Tsoi Wing Foo - Singapore's foremost authority
on the subject - carried out a study on the prevalence of
transsexualism in the country.

That study suggested that the prevalence rate for male-to-female (MTF)
transsexuals was 1 in 2,900, and female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals, 1
in 8,300.

However, a new statistical study by two renowned researchers last year
indicated that the rates are higher.

Using data from Dr Tsoi's study, Professor Femke Olyslager from Ghent
University and Professor Lynn Conway from the University of Michigan
extrapolated that the MTF prevalence here is 1 in 2,000, and FTM, 1 in
4,000. This means the little red dot is home to at least 1,500
transsexuals.

Singapore was once famous for sex reassignment surgery (SRS), thanks
to the late Professor S.S. Ratnam who did the first one in the then
Kandang Kerbau Hospital in 1971.

About 1,000 SRS were performed here until 1987 when the authorities
asked hospitals to phase them out for fear that hospital staff might
be exposed to Aids. The objection was lifted in 2001. By then, cities
like Bangkok and Seoul had overtaken Singapore as an SRS hub.

Currently, the National University Hospital still offers such
operations. Professor A. Ilancheran, a senior consultant in the
department of obstetrics and gynaecology, says the hospital has
performed 15 in the last five years. It costs between $8,000 and
$9,000 for an MTF operation, and from $15,000 for an FTM one.

Compared to many other Asian countries such as Malaysia and Thailand,
Singapore has fairly enlightened laws about transsexualism. It has
allowed transsexuals - who have undergone SRS - to change their gender
on their identity cards since the 1970s, and to marry since 1997.

These legal provisions, however, have done little to banish
discrimination against transmen and transwomen.

In 2005, someone named Javier put up an online petition for SBS
Transit to ban transsexuals on buses the way they ban animals.

Last year, Singapore's most famous transsexual Leona Lo was denied
entry to a Clarke Quay nightspot which did not welcome 'ladyboys'.

Indeed, all the 15 or so transsexuals interviewed by The Straits Times
have experienced transphobia socially, at work and even in the family.
Almost all of them have attempted suicide because they cannot cope
with the rejection.

Mr Daniel Kaw, 36, who founded sgbutterfly.org, a resource portal for
transsexuals, says: 'I see scars on the wrists of many of the
transsexuals I know. They've gone through the kind of sadness that you
and I will never understand.'

Rare are the likes of Juliet, Ginger and Leona who have stepped
forward to dispel the 'culture of shame' enveloping their community.

Several of those who spoke to The Straits Times wanted to go public,
but were dissuaded by their families or fear that they would lose
their jobs.

Ignorance surrounding the condition is one of the main reasons why
transsexualism is a taboo subject in Singapore society. Dr Tsoi, 75,
who has counselled more than 700 transsexuals over three decades, says
many people do not know that transsexualism is a medical condition,
not a sexual perversion.

The main symptom is dysphoria, an intense feeling of anguish and
anxiety about having been assigned the wrong sex at birth. To seek
relief, many transsexual persons 'transition' - through surgery and/or
hormones - and begin to live their lives in their target genders.

Before SRS, transsexuals here have to be evaluated by two
psychiatrists, and undergo RLT (real-life testing) where they have to
live and dress as their target gender.

Almost all the transsexuals interviewed by The Straits Times say their
families reacted harshly when they outed themselves.

The father of civil servant Ivan (not his real name) threatened to
disown him and did not speak to the 24-year-old for over two years
after his SRS.

S.L., a 37-year-old MTF regional manager for a public-listed education
company, was thrown out of the family home. At least three other MTFs
were beaten up by brothers and/or fathers.

Many of them underwent their SRS without their family's blessings.
Ivan - who has two older sisters - did it in Bangkok last year,
accompanied by a friend.

After the operation, the surgeon handed him his removed womb. 'I
thought: 'I will never have children' and I remember feeling really
sad and alone.'

Psychiatrist Calvin Fones, 37, counsels about 30 transsexuals each
year. He says: 'Most parents have dreams for their kids, and normal
dreams include them having their own family and children.'

The working world is even more unforgiving.

Ivan, a National University of Singapore arts graduate, applied for a
teaching job last year. Even though he already had his gender changed
in his identity card, he came clean when asked why he did not do his
national service.

'They then asked if I would influence my students because of what I
am,' he says. He did not get the job, and is now an administrative
officer.

Leona, 33, says transsexuals often have to lie about their NS status,
or whether they have gone for operations, when filling up employment
forms.

'That's why I decided to strike out on my own. I am hired and can hire
on my own terms,' says the entrepreneur who owns a public relations
agency, Talk Sense.

Five years into her job as a regional manager, S.L., who holds a
master's degree in sociology from the University of Wollongong in
Australia, says her employer has no inkling she used to be a man.

'I've worked too hard to get where I am. I can't risk coming out
because I know it will jeopardise my career,' she says. Her paranoia
stems from an unpleasant experience. She used to be the operations
manager for a local restaurant and oversaw its expansion from one to
four outlets.

Her decision to 'transition', however, had dire consequences. 'One
day, when I was on leave, a letter was delivered to me, telling me I
need not report for work the next day,' she says.

Juliet, too, knows the odds that are stacked against transsexuals in
the marketplace. To get hired, she went for no fewer than 60 interviews.

'Many times, I could tell that the interviewers thought I was suitable
for the job.'

But when she told them about her sexuality at the end of each
interview, suddenly 'their faces would change'.

Fortunately, Fanny Ler, 34, fared better. Several months ago, the
administrative assistant sent out 60 resumes, all of which made clear
she was a transitioning MTF.

She got three interviews, and was offered a job by a construction
company which picked her over 50 others.

Her employer Betty Oh, 43, says: 'No one would want to do what she did
if they had a choice. I picked Fanny because she had the relevant
experience. I'm not paying her a free wage. She has to do her work,
which she has done very well.'

But Fanny, who was once married and has a daughter, is not too hopeful
that she would fare as well in love.

While they have heard of cases of happily married transsexuals, those
interviewed, particularly the MTFs, say finding a partner here is near
impossible.

Leona - who will be giving a talk on transsexualism at the Pelangi
Pride Centre at 9, Kreta Ayer Road on Oct 11 - says she has yet to
meet a local man who dared to date her publicly. Juliet, meanwhile,
echoes the sentiments of many when she says: 'Many men just want money
and sex from you.'

The FTM cases seem to fare better.

Dr Fones says: 'Women tend to look less at the physical and overtly
sexual attractions. Many can be happy with FTMs as emotional partners.'

The Straits Times knows of several FTM transsexuals who have become
happy husbands. But none was willing to give his real name or be
photographed.

'We've gone through too much to get here, we can't risk compromising
our happiness,' says businessman Andrew (not his real name), 45, who
has been married for over a decade.

Juliet understands. She says: 'Many transsexuals are afraid of losing
the comfort zone they fought so hard to get.'

The feisty woman adds: 'I was paranoid too, but now I guess I just
want to do what's right.'

kimhoh@sph.com.sg

http://www.straitstimes.com/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275758.html

ST Saturday Special Report - Goddess of the Third Gender (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
Goddess of the third gender
IN INDIA, the Bahuchara Mataji is the patron goddess of the famed
hijras. Also known as the third gender, they include transsexuals,
transvestites, hermaphrodites and eunuchs.

Wikipedia and several websites such as TranSpiritual.com throw up many
myths surrounding the goddess' origins. One says she was a princess
who castrated her husband when she found out that he preferred
cross-dressing in the forest to jumping in their bed.

Another suggests she was a princess who jumped into a temple pond and
emerged a prince.

Yet another has her as a woman who, when threatened by rapists in the
forests of Gujarat, sliced off her breasts. She said she would offer
them to the attackers if they did not touch her.

She died, and was reincarnated as a goddess. She would appear before
impotent men and command them to cut off their genitals and become her
servant. If they did not, they would become impotent for their next
seven lives.

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275766.html

ST Saturday Special Report - Yearly Revelry to Worship Goddess (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
transfixed
Yearly revelry to worship goddess
By Wong Kim Hoh
THE muted sounds of animated chatter reverberate along the corridor on
the ninth floor of the Crystal Lodge Hotel in Port Klang.

The door of room 989 opens, letting out a heady scent of perfume,
incense and jasmine. A portly matron in a blue sari dashes out,
hairdryer in hand, and frantically races down the passageway.

Inside, confusion reigns.

Seven transsexuals in various states of undress create cacophony as
they beaver away at the business of making themselves beautiful. They
have enough gold and bling on them to light up Little India.

Saris in brilliant hues of red, yellow and green are laid out on the
two single beds and draped over chairs. Several big bags - containing
metres of jasmine garlands - sit on the vanity table, alongside an
assortment of make-up and beauty brushes.

In a corner, on a small makeshift altar, sit framed pictures of
several Hindu deities, including the elephant-headed Lord Ganesh and
Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth.

The scene is repeated in at least two other rooms along the corridor.

Indeed, for five days each year, the Crystal Lodge and other hotels in
Klang are invaded by hundreds of transwomen from Malaysia and Singapore.

Decked out in their finest, they gather to worship the goddess
Bahuchara Mataji, enshrined in a small temple in this bustling port
town, about 30km west of Kuala Lumpur.

The presiding deity for transsexuals and other members of the
transgendered community, the goddess is often depicted sitting on a
rooster. She has four hands - the upper right hand carries a sword,
the upper left, scriptures. She has a showering of blessings in her
lower right hand, and a trident in the left.

Many myths surround Bahuchara Mataji. One suggests that she was once a
princess who castrated her husband upon discovering that he preferred
dressing up as a woman and going to the forest instead of coming into
their conjugal bed.

In India, Bahuchara Mataji's original temple was built in 1783 in
Gujarat and attracts about 1.5 million pilgrims each year.

The shrine in Klang - situated in the compound of a house - was set up
about 11 years ago by Ms Asha Devi, matriarch of transsexuals in Malaysia.

The 65-year-old transwoman, who underwent traditional castration in
India in 1972, has been visiting the temple in Gujarat annually for at
least two decades.

She set up the shrine so that the closely-knit Indian transgendered
communities in Malaysia and Singapore would have their own place of
worship too.

The occasion is not only an opportunity for them to worship, but to
bond and celebrate their uniqueness.

The scale of the festival has grown over the years, and now draws even
Indian transsexuals who have settled abroad. This year, at least three
of the devotees returned from Switzerland and Germany for the
celebrations.

The festivities last five days but reach fever pitch on the fourth.

In the morning, a whip-wielding priest leads a procession of at least
100 transsexuals - dressed in green saris - from a nearby shrine to
the temple. They carry urns of milk and earthen pots of fire as
offerings for the goddess, walking in unison to the heady din from a
group of musicians working the tabla, cymbals and clarinet.

The rhythms hit a frenzy as the procession reaches the temple. Several
devotees start to go into a trance, prompting fellow worshippers to
restrain them.

Some manage to break free, yelping and rolling up their eyeballs
before throwing themselves to the floor. They writhe like serpents
with their tongues sticking out. Others bow before the shrine,
chanting prayers as priests start bathing the goddess with the urns of
milk.

More elaborate rituals take place in the evening. With much fanfare,
the deity is borne aloft in a gaily-lit float which winds its way
around the town centre. The four-hour procession, which attracts a
huge crowd of devotees and onlookers, is the highlight of the
festival. Half a dozen whistle-blowing security officers clear traffic
and maintain crowd control.

It is quite a spectacle: hundreds of elaborately made-up transsexuals,
dressed to the nines and dripping with jewellery.

Some walk with hands linked. Others break into feisty dances while
balancing pots on their heads, and yet others twirl their colourful
skirts as they execute nifty moves with wooden sticks.

More prayers, riotous dancing and singing take place after the
procession returns to the temple.

It's past midnight.

A gaggle of transwomen with damp hair, streaked mascara and sweat
patches on their saris troop along the corridor on the ninth floor of
the Crystal Lodge.

They open the door to room 989, throw off their dancing shoes, and
take off their make-up and finery to retire for the night.

kimhoh@sph.com.sg

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275768.html

ST Saturday Special Report - Crossover Celebrities (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
transformed: CROSSOVER CELEBRITIES
Making it in the mainstream
SINGAPOREAN transsexual activist Leona Lo has a dream: To become a TV
talk show host.

'If Eunice Olsen can have her own talk show on TV, why can't I?' says
the PR practitioner, referring to the former beauty queen and
Nominated Member of Parliament who currently hosts Rouge.

Leona thinks she is made of the right stuff for the job: decent looks,
gift of the gab and grey matter. After all, she has a degree in
English, as well as a master's in qualitative research from York
University in Britain.

But she is grounded enough to know that the dream is not likely to
come true, not if mindsets and discrimination do not change.

Which is a pity, she says, because transsexuals have made great
strides in showbusiness.

Indeed, they have. They include:

# Candis Cayne: She plays Carmelita, the transsexual mistress of New
York Attorney-General Patrick Darling (William Baldwin) in the TV
series Dirty Sexy Money.

Essentially, the role means that the 1.78m tall actress is the first
transsexual to play a transsexual in prime time.

Born Brendan McDaniel in Hawaii, the classically trained dancer gained
public attention as a female impersonator in popular gay bar Boy Bar
in New York City. She later landed roles in a number of movies
including To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything Julie Newmar; and Stonewall.

She transitioned in 1996 and has a boyfriend, DJ Marco.

# Jin Xing: A former army colonel who became a ballerina,
choreographer and now owner of a contemporary dance company Shanghai
Jin Xing Dance Theatre, in China.

Now 41, she joined the People's Liberation Army at nine, became a
member of the military's dance troupe and worked her way up to the
rank of colonel.

She left for New York to study modern dance in 1987, before travelling
and performing in Europe. She had her sex operation in 1996 when she
was 28, and later went to Shanghai to be a choreographer. She and her
German husband now have three adopted children.

# Rose: The first transgender TV host in India, Rose's talk show
Ippadikku Rose discusses contemporary social issues including
traditions, sexuality and taboos. It is watched by millions in Tamil
Naidu.

The former Ramesh Venkatesan started dressing up as a woman in her
early 20s. Now 28, she used to work as a Web designer in the United
States and has a master's in biomedical engineering from Louisiana
Tech University.

Her family has yet to come to terms with her sexuality.

# Nong Toom: Thailand's most famous kathoey (male-to-female
transgendered person) is a multi-hyphenate: a muay thai champion,
model and actress.

She started learning Thai boxing as a young boy, determined to win
matches to help support her poor parents and fund her sex change
operation.

She came into the public limelight when she was 16. Wearing make-up,
she floored a much bigger opponent in Bangkok's Lumpini Stadium.

She was to win many more matches before retiring in 1999, when she had
her sex operation. She became an actress, nabbing roles in plays and
movies such as Mercury Man.

Theatre and film director Ekachai Uekrongtham turned her life story
into a movie Beautiful Boxer in 2003.

# Abigail Chay: Born Caesar Chay Tuck Kwong, this Anglo-Chinese alumna
became Abigail Chay after sex reassignment surgery at the age of 22.

Her late mother Yau Chung Chii - beloved by Singaporeans as the
McDonald's granny - got the former tutor to audition for TV shows.
That's how she landed up as single, desperate and ugly Aunty Abigail
in the comedy Under One Roof.

Chay has since appeared in other TV series such as Maggi And Me and
The Legendary Swordsman on both Channel 5 and 8, and in movies such as
Money No Enough.

The reed-thin actress came out as a transsexual only in 2006, and
revealed that she got married in her early 20s, only to get divorced a
year later.

WONG KIM HOH

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275765.html

ST Saturday Special Report - A Life of Tribulations, but He Has No Regrets (Sept 6)

Sep 6, 2008
transformed
A life of tribulations, but he has no regrets
FACE TO FACE WITH... JORDAN, branding manager
HIS colleagues and bosses know Jordan (not his real name) as a happily
married fellow with a pretty wife.

What they do not know is that the branding manager was born female. Or
that he and his wife went through many trials and tribulations to be
together.

He has kept his past secret not because he is embarrassed.

'There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I just don't want this to
have an impact on my career,' says the 38-year-old who works for a
training company.

Jordan - who became legally male after undergoing sex reassignment
surgery (SRS) more than 10 years ago - has run into people who know of
his past.

'But no one has exposed me,' he says with a big smile.

The elder of two children born to a civil servant and a housewife, he
knew very early on that he was different.

'The mirror and my body told me otherwise but in all my dreams, I was
always male, never female.'

In Primary 1, he confided in his best friend. Alas, it got back to his
mother who gave him 'the whacking of my life'.

'That was when I knew that what I was feeling was very taboo. From
then on, I learnt not to betray what or how I felt,' he says.

Puberty - with its attendant physical changes - was traumatic. So were
teenage infatuations. However, he never acted on them.

'I could not imagine having a physical relationship when I had the
body of a female,' he says.

When he made it to the National University of Singapore, he felt free
for the first time as he could live the life and wear the clothes that
he wanted.

'That was when the repression of being was lifted,' says the arts
graduate, adding that he took on many male roles in varsity musicals.

After graduating with his basic degree, he started work with a public
relations company.

'I guess it was a last-ditch attempt to be normal. I wore suits with
skirts and really went the whole hog but drew the line at make-up.'

His misery was compounded when a colleague proposed marriage. 'I
really didn't know where that came from,' says Jordan, who then
decided to go back to university to do his honours degree.

By then, he had read up enough on the subject and was convinced he
wanted to undergo SRS after graduating.

He then met his future wife on campus. He shocked himself by telling
her all about himself three days after knowing her.

'I was just drawn to her and I didn't want a relationship to develop
under false pretences.'

She decided to be his girlfriend although she had other suitors.

After graduation, Jordan had his transsexualism confirmed by two
psychiatrists. Not long after, he had his SRS done in Mount Elizabeth
Hospital for about $25,000.

His father was sad; his mother refused to talk to him for a long time.

More challenges loomed ahead.

When his wife's father found out, he hit the daughter he had never hit
in his life, and threatened to disown her and 'ruin' Jordan.

He even got the couple kicked out of the church they went to.

The couple stayed firm and got married, five years after meeting.

Attempts to get a pastor to solemnise their wedding failed. They
finally got married in a ceremony officiated by a Justice of the
Peace. They still go to church.

Jordan says: 'I don't think God makes mistakes. I think he has handled
me differently and he may have a purpose for me, one I don't know and
may not know while I am on this earth.'

Meanwhile, Jordan's father-in-law came around one year after the marriage.

'I think he's sometimes closer to me than to his daughter,' he says,
chuckling.

Life has happily settled now. Children are, however, not on the cards.
His wife told him: 'If they're not yours, I wouldn't want them.'

The branding manager says: 'I owe my wife a great debt of gratitude.'

And, he adds, with great satisfaction: 'We genuinely love each other.'

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Saturday%2BSpecial%2BReport/Story/STIStory_275764.html

ST: Transgender man tells Oprah of 'miracle child' (April 5)

April 5, 2008
Transgender man tells Oprah of 'miracle child'
A TRANSGENDER man who is six months pregnant said in the Oprah Winfrey
Show that he always wanted to have a child and he considered his
pregnancy a miracle.

'It's not a male or female desire to have a child. It's a human
desire,' a thinly bearded Thomas Beatie said on Thursday. 'I have a
very stable male identity,' he added, saying that pregnancy neither
defines him nor makes him feel feminine.

Mr Beatie, 34, who lives in Oregon, was born a woman but decided to
become a man 10 years ago. He began taking testosterone treatments and
had breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest.

'I opted not to do anything with my reproductive organs because I
wanted to have a child one day,' he said.

His wife of five years, Nancy, said she inseminated him with a syringe
using sperm purchased from a bank.

She also appeared on the show, saying the couple's roles will not
change once the baby is born. 'He's going to be the father and I'm
going to be the mother,' she said. Their marriage is recognised under law.

'I can't believe she's inside me,' Mr Beatie said as he was being
filmed watching an ultrasound image of his daughter. 'We see her as
our little miracle.'

In 1999, fellow American Matt Rice gave birth to son Blake. Mr Rice
and his partner, both transgender males, decided to become parents by
using sperm donors after side effects caused Mr Rice to stop taking
testosterone for a few years, the Daily Mirror reported.

REUTERS

Religion News Service: Aligning Psyche and Sex

Aligning Psyche and Sex
Methodists Meet to Evaluate Transgenderism, Starting With Baltimore Pastor

By Daniel Burke
Religion News Service
Saturday, October 20, 2007; B09

The Rev. Drew Phoenix is many things to many people.

To congregants of St. John's of Baltimore, he's the fun-loving pastor who counsels them, takes their children hiking, explains Scripture and plunges into worthy causes.

To conservative Methodists, Phoenix embodies another front in the culture wars: a rebel who has defied God and nature and should be removed from ministry.

To mainstream society, Phoenix is an enigma who transcends traditional sexual boundaries, provoking uncomfortable questions about the interplay between body, mind and soul.

To the Judicial Council of the United Methodist Church, he's number IV on the docket for its Oct. 24-27 session: "A Review of Bishop's Decision . . . Whether Transgendered Persons Are Eligible for Appointment in The United Methodist Church."

The issue of transgenderism seems too hot to touch for religious Americans already bitterly divided over sexual orientation. A number of Methodist theologians and ethicists asked to comment for this article declined.

But as scientific advances and changing sexual mores allow transgender people to slowly move into the mainstream, religious leaders will soon have to grapple with the theological implications of sexual identity, scholars say.

In practical terms, they have to consider Phoenix and whether he should remain in ministry. The judicial hearing of the United Methodist Church, one of the largest Christian bodies in the United States, may be a high-water mark for transgender awareness in the pews.

"The theological issues here are very important," said Mark Jordan, a professor of Christian ethics at Emory University in Atlanta. "It's not just an issue of church discipline, and it's not just a freak show."

About 18 months ago, after 46 years of feeling trapped in the wrong body, the Methodist minister had sexual reassignment surgery, at last aligning psyche and sex.

The Rev. Ann Gordon became the Rev. Drew Phoenix.

Phoenix, now 48, describes the transition from female to male as a homecoming. "For me, now it's very much about being embodied. My spirit is in a body now," Phoenix said. As a female, "my spirit was just, like, homeless."

The 40 or so members of St. John's, who say they pride themselves on being the most accepting and inclusive Methodist church in Baltimore, said their minister's sex change was no big deal. They had some questions, which Phoenix answered in individual meetings, but no large theological hang-ups.

"It was like, 'Okay, great, congratulations. You're living as God intended now. How wonderful,' " said Kara Ker, 33, a social worker and lifelong Methodist. "Every now and then, people struggle with the pronouns. That's the biggest challenge."

But to some Methodists, Phoenix's ministry posed larger problems.

At a meeting of the Baltimore-Washingto n Conference in May, several pastors questioned whether the ministry should be open to transgendered people.

Baltimore-Washingto n Bishop John Schol reappointed Phoenix, reasoning that the Methodists' Book of Discipline has no rule forbidding transgender pastors. Now the nine-member Judicial Council -- the United Methodist Church's supreme court -- will rule on Schol's decision in San Francisco this month.

James Holsinger Jr., President Bush's nominee for U.S. surgeon general, heads the council. Senate Democrats have stalled Holsinger's appointment in part because he has described gay sex as abnormal and unhealthy.

Conservatives have promised to pass a ban on transgendered pastors at the Methodists' next General Conference in 2008.

"Most church people instinctively recognize there are problems with the church affirming a gender change but haven't really thought through all the implications, " said Mark Tooley of UMAction, a branch of the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy.

Christians and Jews have traditionally derived fixed notions of sex from the Hebrew Bible, in which God creates Adam and Eve. To mess with that, some argue, is to mess with God's plan for creation.

Other conservatives point to Deuteronomy, which says, "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment; for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God."

"There's the issue of what's God's intention for us," said the Rev. David Simpson, a United Methodist pastor from Ellicott City who challenged Phoenix's reappointment. "Is that something that we get to choose?"

On the other hand, some medical professionals and transgendered people say sexual identity and sexual orientation are separate things.

"It's not about whom I love," Phoenix said. "It's about who I am."

Moreover, they argue, science is demonstrating that sexual identity is fluid and not fixed into binary categories. And it's innate, not a choice.

Finally, those who argue the "God doesn't make mistakes" and "Don't mess with creation" points of view readily make use of medical procedures to change their bodies, Phoenix said. "Think of all the vaccinations, medications and pharmaceuticals we take," he said. "We completely alter our bodies."

But to many Christians, there's a fundamental difference between taking a vaccine and changing something as basic as sex.

In 2003, the Vatican said transsexuals suffer from "mental pathologies" and barred them from Roman Catholic religious orders. Last year, a Christian college in Michigan fired a transgendered professor for failing to live up to Christian "ideals."

Other mainline Protestant churches haven't banned transgender pastors, but they haven't exactly welcomed them, either.

The Rev. Erin K. Swenson, a Presbyterian pastor who transitioned from male to female in 1996, has written that "transgendered individuals are modern lepers in a culture that worships at the altar of sexual stereotypes. "

TODAY: A web beacon for transgenders (May 28, 2007)

A web beacon for transgenders

A project coordinator by day, he uses his net-savvy skills at night to reach out to an unlikely group

Monday . May 28, 2007

Cheow Xin Yi and Esther Fung
news@newstoday. com.sg

A sword-wielding wushu (martial arts) enthusiast who is also a father of two, Daniel is not someone you would readily associate with the transgender community.

So when the assistant manager of a construction firm decided to start a local web portal for the group two years ago, he was - not surprisingly - inundated with questions from those around him.

"Many people ask me for a reason. You can say it's sympathy or empathy, I seriously do not know. It's like asking, 'Why would you make a donation or do charity?'" he said.

Daniel met his first transsexual friend online more than 10 years ago during the early era of IRC (Internet Relay Chat), who "showed him what it was like to be a 'sister'," a local lingo for male-to-female transsexuals.

As he befriended more through the net, he started toying with the idea of forming an online support group for the transgendered, which consists of transsexuals, or those who wish to become members of the opposite gender, and cross-dressers.

"The focus is on the net-savvy ones. They are generally young, clueless about life, with no one to turn to besides surfing the web for information, " he said.

Garnering previous experience with hosting websites for the wushu community, Daniel finally set up SgButterfly. org in 2005, a website dedicated to the transgender community in Singapore.

While it focuses on transgender issues, anyone - including non-transgender people - can participate in discussion forums or register as SgButterfly members.

The open nature of the portal is deliberate, said Daniel, since a big objective of SgButterfly is to create awareness of a group prone to misconceptions.

"The idea is to educate people with proper information on issues like transgenderism and Gender Identity Disorder (GID)," he said.

GID is a psychiatric condition commonly associated with transsexuals.

Fully aware of the sensitivity of the topic, Daniel, however, stressed that education in this sense does not mean advocating a lifestyle.

"In life, nothing is 'the right way'. Information and discussions within the portal is to bring knowledge to all, but the decision to accept is really up to individuals, " said the 35-year-old, who takes pains to make sure that his website keeps within Media Development Authority guidelines.

Acknowledging that gaining public understanding for the group does not come overnight, Daniel is happy meanwhile with the progress that SgButterfly has made in uniting the community.

It currently has more than 900 members, monthly hits of 600,000 and 200,000 page views, a result Daniel considers "very successful for a local portal catering to a niche group".

Besides online activities, Daniel also organises monthly outings to further reach out to members.

But maintaining the website is no easy task. Besides the hours spent every night (four hours initially) to generate discussion and build up member base, Daniel has had to fend off online intruders who harassed members or solicited openly and privately.

To enforce tight measures for the website's non-soliciting policy, Daniel has eight moderators monitoring the forums everyday, removing and banning participants who break the rules spelt clearly on the website.

And of course, there were the raised eyebrows about his liaison with the community.

While his wife and parents approve of his SgButterfly activities, his wife has requested that his face not be identified for this article, for fear of a public backlash.

But Daniel is amazingly upfront with what he is doing - even his superiors at work know about his "interest". In fact, some SgButterfly members have visited Daniel - who stays in a four-room flat in Teck Whye with his wife - for Chinese New Year.

"I talk to lots of my colleagues about SgButterfly and its members. Many actually want to know more about my movement out of curiosity. They don't object, but neither do they openly accept it."

UMNS Report: Pastor speaks of transgender experience

Pastor speaks of transgender experience

The Rev. Drew Phoenix, a transgender United Methodist pastor, shares his story during the May 24 plenary session of the Baltimore-Washingto n Annual Conference in Washington. A UMNS photo courtesy of the Baltimore-Washingto n Conference.

A UMNS Report
By Linda Bloom
May 25, 2007

A transgender United Methodist pastor has shared his story with other members of the denomination' s Baltimore-Washingto n Conference in the hopes of promoting a broader discussion about gender identity.

The Rev. Drew Phoenix - formerly the Rev. Ann Gordon - spoke at both a closed clergy session and a general plenary session on May 24 during the annual conference meeting at the Wardman Park Hotel in Washington. He is pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church in Baltimore.
"I was very grateful for the opportunity to be able to share my story and who I am," Phoenix told United Methodist News Service in a phone interview following those sessions. "I was very pleased at the number of people who were very honest in their reflections and questions."
He said he has been undergoing medical procedures for the transition from female to male during the past year, with "a great team of medical people who helped me think it out."
In his statement to the plenary session, the 48-year-old pastor explained that "last fall, after a lifelong spiritual journey, and years of prayer and discernment, I decided to change my name from Ann Gordon to Drew Phoenix in order to reflect my true gender identity and to honor my spiritual transformation and relationship with God."

By sharing the story of his spiritual journey and relationship with God, Phoenix said he hoped the conference participants "will commit ourselves to becoming educated about the complexity of gender and gender identity and open ourselves to those in our congregations who identify as transgender. "

Phoenix, who was ordained in 1989 and previously served in the Bethesda area, said he joined the ministry because of "a calling to be in service to folk who are oppressed, who are poor, who are excluded, who are marginalized. "

Although he was named Ann and declared a girl, Phoenix said he always felt he was male and had trouble understanding "the disconnect I was experiencing between my physical, external self and my internal, spiritual self."

"Fortunately, today, God's gift of medical science is enabling me to bring my physical body into alignment with my true gender," he told the plenary session.
No church policies

Bishop John ScholHe had informed his bishop, John Schol, and his congregation about his decision to undergo the transition. Schol told United Methodist News Service that he, the conference cabinet and the congregation have approached the matter in a serious and prayerful manner.

The United Methodist Book of Discipline has no specific policies regarding gender reassignment. "The cabinet and myself have done everything to ensure that the Discipline is being carried out," Schol said.

Both Phoenix and St. John's staff-parish committee requested that the pastor be reappointed to the church as part of the normal appointment cycle, which begins July 1. That request will be granted, according to the bishop.

Church members told Schol that under Phoenix's leadership, membership has grown and the congregation' s financial situation has improved. "There is a spirit within the congregation that hasn't been experienced within a number of years," the bishop reported.

More effective pastor
Phoenix believes his transition is making him "even more effective" as a pastor and said his greatest concern "is that the congregation continues to grow and thrive."
That growth, he pointed out, is evident at St. John's, located just north of downtown Baltimore. With a membership spanning a wide range of ages and backgrounds - including the first youth group and confirmation class in years - the congregation is planning to renovate its historic building.

Phoenix is not the first transgender clergy member in the Baltimore-Washingto n Conference. In 2002, the Rev. Rebecca A. Steen decided to leave the denomination after controversy over her desire to return to active ministry after gender reassignment.

She had sought voluntary leave from the conference in 1999. Prior to that time, Steen, who was then the Rev. Richard A. Zamostny, had served churches in three Maryland communities during a 17-year career.