My name is Joanne Law. I am a chemically induced transgender lipstick lesbian. How is that for starters? I Iive in Gatineau Quebec. A city across the river from our nations capital Ottawa, Ontario. Canada. The view from my balcony is awesome, a vista of our parliament buildings and the downtown core of the two cities. A population of approximately 1,000,000. As a transgender activist I have designed conducted and assisted individuals, corporations, unions and organizations in the most efficient manner to address transgender and gay/lesbian issues. The venue for sharing my knowledge have varied radically from one to one support, small groups, large national conferences, to hosting my own weekly radio show. I have also been the objective of many national and local radio interviews and television productions. My objectives has remained constant to the acceptance of all individuals independent of their orientation, gender identity/expression providing that they also respect the needs and comfort level of their co-workers, family members and community. I am a member of Gender Mosaic one of North America’s oldest transgender support groups. 17 years in existence.

I am one of the lucky ones to survive the transgender existence and live my true identity. My brothers and sisters have welcomed me back to the fold with their love; my son and daughter are by my side with their love and support. Another lucky part of my life is that I am a 50% part owner of a cleaning business in Ottawa, Ontario. I don’t make much money but I do survive as an independent businessperson, for almost 6 years.

I was fired from my place of employment almost 30 years ago for being who I was. I was reported to my employer of my extra curricular activities. They did not want my kind on their pay role. Being older and over qualified to be rehired I ender up on welfare. I know what it’s like to be at the end of the tunnel. Divorce, loss of financial income, depression, are just some of the things that I experienced although I did see a small light at the end of the tunnel and I did strive to save my sole. I guess that was my fate to start being a person and not a thing that the world despised.

Over the many years and being a visible trans activist I have been invited to sit in the boardroom with leaders, movers and shakers of the greater communities. I am talking about the Canadian postal workers employees and union representatives, Canadian Public Service Employees Unions, Ottawa Police Service, representing the police union. For over 11 years now I have sat with the police hate crime section liaison committee. I have worked with City of Ottawa Employees equity and diversity policy. I have lectured and taught at Ottawa’s two university campuses. Ottawa University and Carleton University. I have worked for several years with the Pride Festival becoming the first Transwoman in Canada to be elected to the position of second vice-president. Holding that position I challenged “The City of Ottawa” Mayor and council to add the word transgender to the Pride Proclamation. I had to give a 7-minute speech to the forum on why they should recognize the transgender community After two years of lobbing, the council voted to add our community to the proclamation. I have been invited to lecture to the high tech industry at the human resource offices, high schools, service providers within the health and welfare system, children’s aid and women’s shelters. I have also had the privilege to host and research my own weekly radio program “Joanne’s Closet” at CKCU and CHUO for over 5 years.

I have also been harassed for being the only voice to represent the transgender community. Its, Joanne does this and Joanne does that. Why is the community always going to her? I have a bumper sticker that reads. “The World Is Run By People That Show Up” Things are changing as more and more transgender people are becoming visible. I believe there are only about 30 people in Canada that can stand up and be counted as transpersons and be proud of that statement. Not a lot for a population of 30,000,000. One tenth of the USA population.

I have received many accolades for being there. The Trinity award from IFGE in 1999 is just one of them, another is to be invited to the Govern Generals leadership diner representing, enterprising leaders from across Canada. The Govern General is Canada’s highest head of state representing our Queen. I guess it’s like having President Bush invite you to a special reception. And of course spending a fantastic week meeting very special people and being an honored guest of Fantasia Fair. There is a lot more to relate about during my presentation about getting started. I will be talking about Education, Unions, Health, Social Services, and Police. Venues that we can be a part of. It takes time, just being there, we can make changes.

A now for our featured presentation...

Are you Ready To Stand Up And Be Counted?

Through out my presentation I will be talking about personal and some community advocacy and how I reached my goals, and maybe you could become that active participant. Each one of us has a goal in becoming free of harassment, intimidation, and society prejudice. Each one of us has to work at accepting ourselves as human beings. Some of you here have already started to become visible transgender persons and this is awesome. We are all at different steps in making others aware of whom we really are. It takes a while, so others can become comfortable with us in the crowd. Don’t just show up once or twice; be there for the long haul. Participate in community events that you think will make a difference, and show that you care. One of the other issues is to give a name. I learned this from JoAnne Roberts. Sitting on the veranda at her getaway in the Poconos in the early 90s. We were talking about how we can continue our cause in acceptance, and her advice was to have a contact name on a business card. I was the president of Gender Mosaic at that time and after the weekend of fun and frolic I brought the matter back to the executive in Ottawa, Ontario. The executive gave me the go ahead to put my name of the Gender Mosaic business card with a phone number and mailing address. FYI Gender Mosaic also has a curtsey info phone line. I have had that phone line in my apartment for over ten years. The business card became public information and was placed into community card file books for further access. This was the first time that a support group and a name became visible to the greater communities. We are talking about 15 years ago when the word crossdresser was the accepted term. Like I related in the opening statement I was on welfare living a poor single life, divorced and had lost my family. I was taking the chance of becoming the open visible transgender woman living full time. I took the chance of using public transit, walking the streets in the downtown core and believe it or not I had to use the community soup kitchens for nourishment, not a place for the timid. A whole new community that most of us never see. People started recognized me as I stood in line for my food and smiled I smiled back. One of the rules in the soup kitchens, no conversations allowed. I became a regular. Yes I did look different and weird and I was accepted. One noon hour I had finished my food, one of the councilors running the soup kitchens discretely asked me to stay afterwards. I nodded that I would. After the clean up was done and the dishes put away I was asked to come into the office. What had I done? Was I going to be kicked out for being who I am? I was supprised as they asked me sensible questions about my community as they had others like me attend other soup kitchens. They were looking for the proper protocol in accepting and dealing with transgender people. I guess that this was my first political connection in my outreach. I had become an educator/activist without realizing it. The meeting took about one hour as I explained our situation. Tons of questions. Some of the answers were very weak. I did the best I could with my limited lack of information.

I guess that the best way to become active is with the local pride committee in your town or city. Become a volunteer, a much needed and rewarding job. The gay community has open many doors making gay and lesbian folk a real issue. They have lobbied for acceptance and won. There are many people that you will encounter through pride. Government employees, Union members, just regular folk wanting to do their part. It is an opening that is there for us, lets use it. If you stay around long enough things will happen and people will accept you for who you are and your ability to do things. I volunteered with the pride committee for over 8 years in different co-ordinators positions ending up as Vice President. This was in 1999. During my term as VP we were invited to attend a conference here in “P” town, a weekend of workshops and dialogue, sponsored by N.E.R.P. a delegation of several pride committees from Canada, and the eastern seaboard meet at the Province Town Inn. The purpose of these workshops was to build bridges between the community and the government, three days of intensive live dialogue.

I was there to build a bridge between the gay community and the transgender community. I was invited to give a presentation on why we should be there. It was kind of funny to be in a town that was not aware of our community, not knowing that we have taken over this town every October for the last 30 years. It seemed that thee was no communication between the two communities, and it seamed that I was the only one that was out they’re celebrating our diversity and pride. Now its our turn as a community to renew our alliance and move onward.

I know that most of the transgender community can’t become visible due to family, employment, personal stability and a whole bunch of other stuff , like human rights. And that’s OK. But others can and are already willing to do it. In out outreach we have to be strong and able to take the knocks that will be given to us. There are people and organization that will deny us our rights, and not give us a place at the table. We just have to be there and stand up when the cause arises. We might be invited to attend a workshop dealing with G&L issues. But it does takes courage to stand up and be counted, to become the voice and the visual to promote the transgender community and the issues we face.

Another way to get involved is to attend an AGM in a community organization you think might interest you, and listing to what is going on. It could be an election or health related issues. It could be a venue of education. Its amazing how we can make a difference by just being there. May-be a point in the agenda will click an idea and you might be able to change some minds. Like I said it takes courage and several years of patients. You could also become involved through university campus GLBT centres. Every campus has a centre now. If there is a centre near you give workshops to the volunteers, have books available in their library on trans issues. Most centres have a budget that is used for outreach like library books. Most campuses have a pride week with workshops as part of the agenda during the week. Diversity awareness with campus police and the student body with a zero tolerance are part of the program.

If you are invited to attend a meeting don’t go there with an attitude and demand everything now. It doesn’t happen that way. Our first impression is the one everybody remembers. If we respect the issues being discussed on the agenda, people will respect us. From there we can move to another venue of education and awareness. Multicultural awareness, gay and lesbian awareness, the greater community awareness. Getting involved with organizations, volunteering your time and energy for the greater cause, letting people know that we exists. One of the things that you will face is the press. I am talking about local and national television. The people operating these cameras will be in the background shooting some open political or community event and they have the zoom lens focused on people attending. All of a sudden you just become a target for the camera, as you are now a visible minority. 5 seconds on national or local TV can ruin a life. Be prepared for any situation that arises.

If you live in the Nation's Capital, or a capital city of your state or Province you have access to many unions, usually a pink triangle caucus run by the gay and lesbian members of that union. It could be a postal union; it could be a public service union, it could be a National Congress union, hotel unions or restaurant unions. Unions are always looking for a better way to make there members have more privileges. Ask if you could give a presentation to that caucus or union meeting giving the members a new challenge to think about. Let them know of our plight of costs for SRS, medication, financial and physical support. Give that union a reason to make the commitment to there members that the next negotiation will include legal text for complete costs the we occur during this process. There might be a few members that will come out to vote, there might be a nay vote, but if we are not there, a zero vote will be counted. Like I said it takes a while for the thought to sink in. We have to make that argument and win. In Canada our federal government has been working with different unions through their membership and has now produced a document, which is very interesting. Put to gather by our Heritage Canada and Parks Canada departments and is available to all federal departments. Its called “Out And About” working towards a better understanding of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender persons in the work place. Canadian Heritage and Parks Canada embrace diversity and respect, and believe that their employee population should resemble the public they serve also the duty to accommodate.

Another area that we have to negotiate is the health system, access to professionals and caring doctors that will help in our quest to become who we are. It seems that their education about transfolk is just a story they hear about during coffee break. We have to get into universities and colleges, into doctors programs to give our point of view. These programs are 4 to 5 years so to give one hour or three hours in a term is not much to ask. We have to plant a seed in their brain, so if the situation arises and these doctors are working the emergency room its not a shock when we arrive needing their help.

We always wonder what would happen if we were involved in a accident and given a ride by the ambulance to the hospital. The nurse attendant at the hospital would take our vitals, birth certificate and personal information that is required on the admittance application, we would be placed on a gurney and wait for the doctor to fix us. If the birth certificate and the gender of the person on the gurney does not match, what happens to us? Will we be put into the corridor and refused treatment or would the nurses and doctors protect our identity and proceed with the care we need? Again we hear the horrible stories of transfolk not getting the proper attention and left to die. We also hear the other side of the story where the doctor helped and the person was released keeping the true identity a secret from the public in the hospital waiting room.

Another part of the health system that we have to educate, are the service providers, what I mean are the community intervention service people, crisis centres, help line call emergency centres, service providers, care givers and shelters. In Ottawa all of the community health centres have a rainbow sticker on the entrance door and the reception people at the front desk use discretion making your visit a pleasure. All of the councilors are aware and were educated about the GLBT through workshops of people that live a GLBT existence, not by a book. The shelters are open to transfolk that live full time and within the halls, zero tolerance is observed. If one person in the shelter has a issue they are told to shut up and deal with it. Its taken a long time to enter these walls and the activism in Ottawa has made it possible for the needed support and help. We have to provide links to other health centres in your town and across the country. We have to provide some sort of transgender 101 module accumulating info already available and the new research just being presented. I have put together some instruction, a list of general information that social workers and service providers need to know while practicing their profession. Its very basic but it is important that these rules apply.

Impact Of Transphobia On Social Workers And Their Clients

Personal transphobia on the part of a social worker can result in inadequate, improper and harmful service to transgender clients and those related to or dependent on them. Discussion of personal attitudes and their importance in worker-client and worker-community interactions. Professionalism dictates being aware of one’s own attitude and referring clients when their own attitude gets in the way of providing a high quality service.

Community transphobia leads to inadequate treatment of transgender clients. It may also lead to restriction of behavior so that individuals of either sex may not perform the full range of behaviors of which they are assigned at birth. For example, boys are supposed to be strong and viral, girls are supposed to be soft and pretty. If for any reason these norms are challenged, punishment or isolation is the direct result. Suicide is sometimes the only way out.

Transphobia in all service agencies and service providers prevent social workers from accomplishing their goals, in providing a complete service to the client. Each provider is giving a bias and un educated translation to the problem. Transphobia in all human resource areas can be discussed in the content of agencies as hospitals, prisons, community health centres, child and family service agencies and psychiatric evaluation, Etc.

Transphobia in agencies can be the hardest because anyone who speaks up risks being labeled and is guilty through direct association. We have to be available to answer questions and give workshops when asked.

I remember one presentation which I and Matt a female to male transexual gave to a group of volunteer women who answer phone crisis intervention. One lady from the group a middle east Moslem had a very hard time dealing with my identity but not Matt’s. Both of us took extra time trying to explain the situation. This lady debated over and over that I was not a real woman and could not understand what real women go through, could never be a woman, could never give birth, or deal with real women’s issues. This is when I termed the phrase “Chemically Induced Transgender Woman”. It kept her quiet for a while. To me this person is a candidate for dismissal because she kept her ethnic issues present, keeping the blinders on and not allowing herself the freedom of knowing more. If she was to help others in crisis I pity the person calling for help.

The third area that we have to challenge is the school system and educating councilors, principals even the liberian on the diversity of their material and periodicals available and have a safe area for the students to access them, Some schools already have a gay strait alliance and have safe place for students to gather. Now it’s our turn to reach out and add the transgender student to that alliance. Because of the hate and violence in our schools this task will become of the hardest of all we do. We hear of the transgender student, always having to go back home and change and not allowed back on campus until he or she identifies as the person on the student roster. The school officials and the student population can’t deal with a lot, not only with school boards and parents of the students attending class but the bully and their lack of respect of others. So to have an openly gay or lesbian students or god forbid a transgender student facing them just add to the dilemma of teaching.

Just recently I gave a presentation to 25 grade 11 students. I was asked to talk about the issues the transgender community face. The teacher reaching out beyond the realm of education discussed the David Reamer story to his students. He had seen a TV program and thought it would be a good topic to discuss. I then got a phone call asking if I would come and talk to the students. This was the first time that most of the students ever saw a transgender woman speaking openly about issues and smiling as she talked. I think I opened a few eyes. I had one hour and an extra 20 minutes for questions and answers, some interesting questions were asked of me and I answered with honesty and from the heart. Also in the room were the principal, the liberian and one of the school councilors. I was allowed access to the 25 students. Having people of authority present made my presentation easier, it’s sort of my safety net when talking to youth. Dealing with an angry parent or school board trustee would be another story. They would have banned this horrible person from the halls of education. It was sort of a safety net when talking to the youth. We don’t really know who is in the audience, especially in the schools.

My next topic is one of police interaction and police awareness of our Community.

Working with your police can be very challenging. There is the old school police officers that control the new enlisted men and women, there are the police unions that have an in-house agenda that nothing will change. There are the police supervisors and management that have to bring all the issues of ethnic diversity, religious rights, cultural minorities to the squad room before each officer starts their beat. We hear about police officers standing around while someone gets beaten up. Just some of the daily routine police officers observe each day. Now if we incorporate the transgender person into the picture it can become rather blurred. What rights do we have when a police officer shows up or stops us for a traffic violation? What rights do we have if a place is raided? What rights do we have when our legal identity and our assumed identity are different? Just some of the questions we have to ask ourselves, and some of the questions we do have to worry about.

Does your police department have a Hate Crime unit or a Bias Crime Unit? I know that Boston has one. Most police services across the USA now have some sort of Hate Crime Unit. This is where you start. Being a transgender person is not a crime, being abused is. At least in Canada. I have heard that some states have old laws that will not allow you to dress in the clothes of the opposite sex.

Get an interview with the officers that work that unit, tell them what is going on and how the police can help. Find out if there is there some sort of liaison with the gay and lesbian communities? Find out when and where they meet. Start to attend these meetings and when ever the words Gay and Lesbian are said add don’t forget Transgender to the dialogue. After a few meetings people will soon know that you are there. Add some references to the minutes of the meeting. All police meetings have detailed minutes. Like I said don’t go in with an attitude.

A little history. Ottawa sent two police officers to Boston to see what they could do in promoting a Hate Crime unit in Ottawa. They spent several weeks, looking and educating them selves on what was being done and how they could incorporate the idea to the Chief of Police in Ottawa. This was in 1992. With all the information in hand they came back and in 1993 Ottawa held a press release. There was an open forum in the police headquarters building and the public were invited to attend. In the room were the police officers who went to Boston, the Chief of Police, senior members of the police force, recently recruited police officers, members of the Mayors office and city council, national and local television reporters, national and local press, about 70 people in total filled the room, but mostly from the gay and lesbian communities and one transgender person. I was with a dear friend and the meeting was held in the headquarters main reception room.

I am talking about 12 years ago when we were the targets of sensationalism. Like I said I sat with a friend near the back of the room, not realizing that I was being filmed. A camera person was a using a long distant lens. A room full of visible minorities and who do the cameras focus on, this individual. I had about 5 seconds of national news exposure about 7 seconds of local news exposure. At that time my ex was watching the news and saw me. She knew of my outreach in the community and this was the first time that she actually seen me. I guess that I was outed by the press.

The Chief of Police at that meeting promoted this new Hate Crime unit and a book called “Looking Toward A Distant Horizon”. a book written for the police by a gay and lesbian activist to access the Gay and Lesbian communities and how the police can help, educate and become aware of the issues. I thought it was important that we should be there, to become visible especially at the beginning of the formation of the Hate Crime Unit in Ottawa.

There was also the formation of the liaison unit of the GLBT communities. Every month since the formation of the liaison I have attended, maybe I have missed several but the police and the gay/lesbian became aware that there was still a community that needed protection. 12 years ago when I walked into the foyer of the police department into a group of people gathered for the reception was an adrenaline rush. What was I doing?

Being visible to the police is important, as our issues are a lot different. The clothes that we ware may cause friction to a police officer that has stopped us for a infraction of traffic act, a ride program, a verbal comment or physical harassment. IFGE several years ago put out a wallet size info guide that is used if and when the police stopped you. The most important thing listed was, don’t lie or make the police officer become defensive, never shows a bogus driver’s license or any bogus identity.

Working with the police is very rewarding and can opens many doors to the communities we need to reach. And with the police what better venue is available. In the next 10 years there will be turnover of the old guard police. A new and improved model will take over. These new police officers have been educated as public relation people, to serve and protect not goons that carry a gun. Their attitudes about policing have changed for the better, and making awareness of visible minorities becoming our allies. Policing in Ottawa has really changed as they are now reaching out into the Gay Lesbian and Transgender communities for new recruits. 12 years ago the police had a hard time saying the words gay, lesbian, and transgender now it on their agenda. I have introduced many transfolk to the Chief of Police our Deputy Chiefs, our Mayor and local leaders to let them know we exist and want to become members of their community. They have opened their arms to include us.

In Canada a private members bill C250 was presented to our government in our House of Commons (like your senate) to amend the Canadian Human Right Act to include any hate crime to any Gay or Lesbian person a federal offence. This was bill was passed in 2004 Another private members bill C396 also to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to include Gender Identity/Gender Expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination. This bill and its amendment are one of many, to be brought forward in the next sitting of our government. We have a long way to go and being there makes it possible. I hope that the transgender movement is alive and well here in the USA. Are you ready to stand up and be counted?