Tranzmission Drag Benefit for Trans-Health Conference Attendees

Asheville, NC – Tranzmission is putting on a drag show benefit on May 17.

Tranzmission’s Las Vegas Drag Show (what happens here, stays queer!) will raise money to send individuals from the Asheville area to the Philadelphia Transgender Health Conference.

The Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference was founded in 2001 as a one-day seminar on medical, psychological, and legal issues of the transgendered. From that modest start, it has grown into a three-day conference.  The conference is also valuable for networking and socializing.

The Seventh Annual Mazzoni Center Trans-Health Conference will be held in Philadelphia May 29-31.

The Conference will focus on the specific issues, needs, and experiences of trans and gender-variant people with regard to the health of our bodies, lives, and communities. Everyone concerned about these issues is welcome to attend, including members of the trans and gender variant communities, partners, allies, family members, healthcare and social service providers.

Asheville based Tranzmission is an organization, devoted to transgender advocacy, education and outreach.  To that end they present informational workshops, host a trans/queer prisoner support group (the only one in the country), and raise money to support trans cultural events including Camp Trans, The Dirty South Radical Trans Queer Convergence, Mondo Homo, and the Philadelphia Transgender Health Conference.

Tranzmission organizes a benefit show every year to raise “scholarships” to help send interested folks to the Philadelphia conference.  Those who attend the conference are then able to share information from the conference with the rest of the trans community and its allies.

Tranzmission is well known for its cutting edge, out-of-the-box, and over the top drag performances.  These shows are usually themed events with a large portion of the attendees in drag or theme-appropriate attire.

The Las Vegas Drag Show at Joli Rouge (130 College Street in downtown Asheville) on May 17 is guaranteed to be as colorful, fun and memorable as past events.  A special part of the Las Vegas Drag Show will be a Las Vegas Queer Wedding Chapel complete with marriage certificate, plastic commitment rings, and a photo. All that fabulous nuptial finery for a small $5 fee per couple. (Sorry, drive thru ceremonies will not be available.)

Tranzmission is also known for creating events that are affordable on any budget and they never skimp on the fun.  In keeping with that tradition, admission to the Las Vegas Drag Show will be $5-9 for regular admission or $10-20 for VIP admission.  There is an additional $5 fee for couples who want to take advantage of the Las Vegas queer wedding chapel.

For more information about Tranzmission, visit myspace.com/tanzmissionasheville.  And for more information about the upcoming Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference go to www.trans-health.org.

Stepping Up as Transgendered

by Jennifer M. Barge

I just moved to Asheville from Orlando five months ago.  I appreciate the harmony and solidarity that seems to exist here within the LGBT Community.  And yet, it is obvious to me just how far the Transgender Community still needs to go.

When I recently came out to a co-worker that I was trans, and happened to mention that I was totally unprotected in terms of being fired from any job, or being evicted from any rented housing – just for being a transgender person -- she was horrified.  Like most people, she had absolutely no idea that such laws existed or were lacking.  She happens to be the wife of a local preacher, and to her credit, she is now wanting to get her church involved in a letter-writing campaign to try to correct this injustice. 

There is hope.

LGB people have made major strides, with the help of the HRC and other organizations, toward protecting their rights. But, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), currently being debated in the U.S. Congress excludes “T”.  How ironic is it, considering it was the “drag queens” of the Compton Riot in San Francisco (1968) and the Stonewall Riots in New York City (1969) that ignited the entire Gay Liberation Movement, that now we trans people are being left behind?  Perhaps we need to step up even more.

In some ways, this may all be explainable by the “blur” that often happens in many people’s minds about sexual orientation vs. gender identity.  Putting the “T” back in “LGBT” is still somewhat controversial.  What is the difference between sex and gender?  How does that affect us as a community?  How can we stand together, rather than at odds?

As most of OIA readers know, sexual orientation is mostly about who we love, while gender identification is more about who we are – at least within our current cultural definitions.  And yet, there are a number of very interesting overlaps between the two.

Let’s start with the notion of a “queer lifestyle”.  What does that mean?  And what about choosing partners?  When a trans woman couples with a so-called straight woman, are they suddenly lesbians?  Also, the need to somehow “pass” as straight in order to earn a living or otherwise function in society is an ugly issue we all share from time to time.

I wonder how we might find even better ways of supporting each other, and working together to overcome our obstacles.  The population at large still often sees us all as merely drag artists, sexual perverts, and gender deviants.  We all need to move beyond gender stereotyping.  But unless we play by their rules and act straight, they dismiss us as somehow less than human, and therefore expendable.

As LGBT, we are clearly quite diverse.  And yet we have a profound common ground that needs to be respected, and honored as a foundation for our work together.  We all need to put a strong, confident and united face on our issues, and step up and speak out – past our guilt or shame.  We need to do more outreach, and continue to educate all our people, and dispel their fears. The preacher’s wife inspired me to believe that when we tell our truth, good people will not only listen, they will act.