Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 09:30:19 -0500 From: Riki Anne Wilchins Subject: InYourFace Online News MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Editor: Riki Anne Wilchins, riki@pipeline.com (212) 645-1753 . MAJOR U.S. CORP PROTECTS TRANSGENDER WORKERS . ROLLING STONE ADDRESSES INTERSEX CONTROVERSY . "JOHN/JOAN" SEX RESEARCHERS PUBLISH RECOMMENDATIONS . 2nd PROTEST OF SEX CENSORSHIP AT SUNY BOARD MEETING Contact: Dawn Leach Gay People's Chronicle chronicle@chronohio.com (216) 631-8646 MAJOR U.S. CORP PROTECTS TRANSGENDER WORKERS ============================================ [Cleveland, OH: 21 Nov 97] LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES, a maker of telephone systems, has adopted a new employer anti-discrimination policy that protects gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees against discrimination. "As far as we know, it's the first time a major corporation has used specific transgender-inclusive language in an employee anti-discrimination policy," said Cathy Palatine, chair of the transgender advocacy group It's Time Ohio. The new policy states, "Lucent's policy is to prohibit unlawful discrimination or harassment... because of a person's sexual orientation, gender identity characteristics or expression, in any employee decision or in the administration of any personnel policy." ### contact: ISNA News news@isna.org ROLLING STONE ADDRESSES INTERSEX CONTROVERSY ============================================ [San Francisco, CA: 12 Dec 97] THE 12/11/97 issue of ROLLING STONE contains an extensive article on "John/Joan" and its implications for the treatment of intersexuals. In 1967, doctors turned the infant John, the victim of a circumcision accident into Joan. For 25 years, the case has been cited as proof that gender identity can be determined by social conditioning, a theory that has been used as justification for assigning sex in infants born with ambiguous genitals. In fact, the experiment was a dismal failure, with John reclaiming his manhood through much turmoil and suffering. Today medical specialists find themselves embroiled in controversy, with their theoretical foundations undermined and under pressure from inter- sex activists demanding an end to a model of treatment which views intersexuality as shameful. The article "has already garnered from subscribers... the best, and most gratifyingly outraged, email of any story the magazine has ever published," said the author of the article, John Colapinto. ### Contact: ISNA News news@isna.org "JOHN/JOAN" SEX RESEARCHERS PUBLISH RECOMMENDATIONS =================================================== [San Francisco, CA: 8 Sep 97] THE SEX RESEARCHERS WHO revealed the "John/Joan" case to be a failure have published an article that calls for a new model in the medical management of intersexuality. In the October issue of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Milton Diamond and Keith Sigmundson write, "Some of these suggestions are contrary to today's common management procedures... Underlying our guidelines is the key belief that patients themselves must be involved in any decisions [about] something so crucial in their lives." The article emphasizes openness, honesty, peer support and professional counseling, and avoidance of early cosmetic surgery. Breaking with tradition, APAM closed the article with nearly a full page of listings for a variety of peer support groups. ### 2nd PROTEST OF SEX CENSORSHIP AT SUNY BOARD MEETING ===================================================== Albany, New York -- December 16, 1997 -- At the SUNY Board of Trustee's meeting today, Board Members were faced with a street demonstration organized by the Student Association of the State University of NY (SASU) and the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Issues Office. Students gathered in the midst of finals week to protest the call for President Bowen's resignation over the SUNY New Paltz Women's Studies Conference which included S/M and sex toys. The protest was the second surrounding the heated issue of academic freedom at SUNY, as earlier in the month activists from the queer, leather, and feminist communities demonstrated outside the Board's previous meeting in midtown Manhattan. Adding to the pressure, SUNY has just been given a public donation of $350,000 in support of free speech. In accepting the donation, the president read a statement from the donors praising the conference organizer while specifically condemning censorship and conservative legislators who have threatened the school. Chancellor John Ryan told reporters that the Bowen investigation had been discussed in executive session by the Trustees and was "under continuing review." After the meeting, Dan O'Sullivan, Executive Organizer of SASU, asked, "Is the Board going to censure future conferences at SUNY?" Chancellor Ryan responded, "I don't think they will do anything like that." "I'm still calling for the resignation of President Bowen," stated Candace deRussy, Board of Trustees Member and Chairman of the Academic Standards Committee, as she left the meeting. "How much do we want government to interfere in academic conferences or medical conferences or even prison conferences just because they receive state funding?" asked Robb Goldstein, a representative of the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom (NCSF) who attended the Board of Trustees meeting. "That's the real issue here." NCSF is a a national organization seeking to change public policy and laws that prejudice society against those engaged in alternative sexual or affectional practice. The next State University of NY Board of Trustees meeting will take place on January 27th. The location has not been officially released, but SUNY administrators say it will likely be in Albany again, at the State University Plaza. ### Subscriptions. Please send: subscribe iyf-online or: unsubscribe iyf-online to: MajorDomo@Apocalypse.org For prior press releases, check the GenderPAC website at: http://www.Gpac.org (c) 1996 InYourFace Our on-line news-only service for gender activism. When re- posting, please credit InYourFace