A Prayer for Harvey Milk Day, Every May 22nd

Eternal One, You created us b’tzelem Elohim , in Your image, filling us – as You are filled --- with hope, hope that we might yet bring to fruition Your vision of cooperation and harmony, of wholeness and peace. You imagined such a world, Holy One, and then instilled within us the ability to imagine it too. You hope even now for such a world, Holy One, knowing You created us with the desire to give each other hope like Yours, hope that tomorrow will find us finally ready, finally able, to bring Your imagined world into being. Blessed are You, Hopeful One, creator of hope and of those who bring it to the world.

- Created by Rabbi Lisa Edwards, Beth Chayim Chadashim, Los Angeles

In the Windchest

This was a really cool day at my Church First Congregational (UCC) in Riverside - I got to tour the workings of our Austin pipe organ during our History day a couple weeks ago. I never imagined that I would actually get to go inside what amounts to the bellows while the organ was being played.

Here I am inside the "Austin Universal Air Chest."

John Austin filed an application for the patent of his "new" style of windchest design on April 4, 1893. He developed the idea of this new kind of chest in which all of the parts could be seen and repaired even while the organ was turned on and the mechanism was in operation.

The unit gets pressurized and as the organ keys are pressed the little solenoids open valves that let the air go out into the appropriate pipe. If you are inside it makes your ears pop when the pump starts, but it isn't painful or even loud when played. The pipe simply resonates with the air moving out of the chest through it and all you hear inside is just a soft whistling of air blowing out, but outside where the pipes are hold on to your hat! Because in the space where the pipes are mounted it is very loud and sounds awesome!! There are two of these Air Chests, one on each side of the chancel with different banks of pipes for different kinds of sounds.

Just for kicks, here is a link to the American Theatre Organ Societies internet radio station:

http://www.atos.org/radio/atos_radio-player.html

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

A Letter to the Mother of a Young MtF

I just wrote this reply to the mother of a young (MtF) girl. She was having trouble using her daughters name and spoke of it in one of the groups I belong to.

"Hi [mom],

I was 51 when I came out to my mom - she was 81 at the time - and she had a lot of trouble with my new name but she tried and she cared and that is what is really important. For 51 years I was her son Evan and life long habits do not break easy of quickly. Sometimes as a child she called me Ev for short and so we agreed that it was still appropriate to call me that instead of Eva. After about a year she started addressing letters to me in my full new name and has started using Eva more often with me on the phone. This has taken about 4 years for her to change and she certainly has the right to go at her own pace. You do too [mom] - so don't beat yourself up if you slip up once in awhile.

To your daughter I urge patience. I know that it is easy for me at 55 to say and it is hard to be patient in your youth, but remember little sister: time is on your side!

Sometimes we trans folks get impatient about our families catching up and using our new names. We want them to instantly understand and fully grasp all of our changes and be happy for us. But we must always remember that though we knew from early on we were different and have always lived with the inner image of our true selves, to others our change seems sudden and drastic and often very disconcerting. We have to give them the space to adjust too. We have to be accepting of them as they are, slow to comprehend as they may be and let them act according to their own perceptions if we expect them to accept us our way too. It is a long process for them to understand us. We must nurture them into understanding just as we need and want their love and acceptance."

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

Ticked-off Tra**ies With Knives?

I am commenting on this article in the Advocate - if you are not aware of the controversy please take a look this link for some backgound:

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/04/22/Ticked_Off_Trannies_With_Knives_to_Alter_Marketing/

I haven't seen the movie and I probably won't (because I avoid movies that glorify violence and violent revenge taking), but I don't think a couple of asterisks solve the inherent problem. Any movie that glorifies violent revenge taking is a problem and the title, standing alone, reeks of violence and anger and revenge. We who have been the victims of violence and abuse need to be setting an example of being peaceable if we want to gain acceptance into the mainstream of society. An eye for an eye went out of style a long time ago. Fighting violence with violence resolves nothing and the violence only escalates when it is exploited in the media. Two asterisks just do not, in my opinion, counterbalance or negate the violence implied in the title nor do they disguise the fact the movie shows trans-folk as violent and vengeful. Hopefully we all try to avoid being defined by those terms. Hopefully we all seek to rise above the base, raw, emotion driven spirit of violent revenge. God knows I want to lash out at those that abuse and hurt us just as much as the next T-person but surely we can find a better way to combat the ignorance, bigotry and violence than by exploitative violence in films or even implied in a film title.

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

An Awesome Video from the UCC

The Language of God from United Church of Christ on Vimeo.

A Great Interview

Here is a great interview with Jo Clifford a Transgender Playwright on BBC Scotland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rv6b3

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

1st Annual Bobbie Watts Memorial Award

Greetings everyone,

I received Saturday night at Club Shine (Oxwood Inn - North Hollywood). The award is the first annual Bobbie Watts Memorial award and was presented to be by Laura Gonzales, the founder of TGCD.net and Club Shine. Bobbie was an awesome lady in the TG/CD community (as you can read below) who passed away very suddenly last year. I generally feel like I'm not doing enough - certainly nothing worthy of being awarded anyway - and said so prior to getting the award and here is the reply that set me back on my heels from one of the co-organizers of the LA CD/TG "Meetup" group (AKA Bobbie's Dreamers). Here is what was said about Bobbie and myself...

"Eva:
Nothing in this world gives me more honor and pleasure than to present to you the First Bobbie Watts Memorial Award to you for your commitment to the comunity, in uniting, encouraging, advocating and bringing new, young and older ppl to the community that is growing each day.Your heart is just as big as the person with who we honor in this award. As she opened not only her heart, her house, her space and at times her money to all those who needed something to drink , or food, a place to sleep, or a safe haven, and or just someone to feel accepted with, perhaps a place to be able to change and hang out with so they may/could feel comfortable in doing so. Someone who even tho at times felt she tried and many did not reach out to her and to the rest; she still insisted in trying to unite what perhaps could be imposible but she managed to do it to the few or many people she managed to unite throughout her last years of life!I present this award to you Eva-Genevieve as our first recipient because you are a corageous woman with a big heart that tries to unite all of our hearts, with you words of wisdom and encouraging each of us to come out and show the world who we are; that we should not be afraid of coming out and letting the world see... that we are humans after all! And that gender is not a thing between one's legs but between our ears! Eva it gives me so much joy & pleasure to present to you the 2010 first ever Bobbie Watts Memorial Award to you for your continuing Community outreach and in hopes that you continue to reach out to all of our community and unite us with other communities as well. Please accept this award on behalf of Bobbie, Laura and all of Bobbie's Dreamers for your hard work!"

(That's me in the zig-zaggy blue dress)

I am blown away that people feel this way about me and I had tears in my eye as as I read the note. I am pleased and very humbled that I was chosen to receive the award given in her honor. What this shows is that being open about who one is - boldly at times - does make a difference in other people's lives. It is a behavior I encourage for everyone who has truly discovered their true self. If one lives openly as the person God created them to be, good will flow from that, so live your life to the full before God and the people around you!

Hugs and Blessings,
Eva-Genevieve!

Will the Real Eva-Genevieve Please Stand Up?

Greetings my friends,

Well it has been a long time in coming but finally I have in hand my Name Change Decree from the Los Angeles Superior Court! For the sake of expediency we did not include the exclamation point as part of my name because, according to the Court Clerk, it would be a problem for the DMV and other agencies and for getting a Passport. I generally include it because it is my way of thanking God for giving me this wonderful second chance in life and eventually I will get it added legally, most likely once I have had SRS surgery when it will be even more of a thing for me to celebrate and be thankful about. Below is a scan of the Decree (with a couple personal items removed) and I also include a scan of the public notice Published in the Glendale News-Press in February.

Hugs and Blessings,

the real Eva-Genevieve! Scarborough

Why it Matters to Me

I feel that I am a two-spirit; part man and part woman. I seldom put it out in the open as I am doing now because there will always be someone to take issue with it needlessly. The mix is about 80/20 in favor of the woman and though I identify as female I can't in good conscience pick just simply the F box on important Civil or medical forms. It is not a fully truthful answer (for me) and so I always correct the form and indicate I am a transgender female, for this truly is my gender. I can't change my genetic make up (not, at least, until Revlon comes out with Genetic Makeup - lol) nor can I change the spirit and soul I have been given, and so I strive for truthfulness about myself. I am a female built on a male frame and that is impossible to change; this is the wonderful gift God gave to me and so I celebrate it rather than hide it. In this spirit, the US Census is important enough that I can't take the easy way out and simply mark F.

For the sake of most other questionnaires and surveys (especially on the internet) I simply pick F because it isn't important nor oppressive to the male aspect of my spirit to do so. (Yes - I love deals on womens clothes and cosmetics & etc so marking F is appropriate in those cases). I promised myself when I went full time on July 24th, 2006 that I would never do to the male aspect of my spirit (I.E.: crush it and abuse it) what I had, in ignorance, done all the first years of my life to the female aspect of my spirit.

As usual I was not and am not telling anyone what to do - urging isn't telling - but it is interesting to see once again through the responses how diverse we all are just within the T part of the rainbow. I urge everyone to be true to themselves and follow their own conscience. I also urge anyone that feels like I do about their gender to stand up and be counted in whatever way you can. Be true to yourself; what you are and who you are is a wonderful blessing from your Creator so don't hide it and don't take the easy way out if doing so compromises who you are!

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. (Psa 27:13)

Census, Schmensus

Hi everyone,

Well, here's the "official" answer I got from the Census bureau about how to be counted as a transgender (or LGB) person. It basically says do nothing other than mark the boxes they have without modification and be satisfied with the smoke that they are blowing up our skirts.

They say just mark your preferred sex only and hope for future changes. Follow the link below and then the links on that page. You can see for yourself that there is absolutely nothing of substance there for us in spite of the fact they hired a trans-person to answer our questions.

I, for one, am not satisfied at this multi-billion dollar, over-budget method of being totally ignored and marginalized (again) by our Government and so I am urging everyone to make a third box labeled "Transgender" or "Transsexual" and then write in how you identify if you wish. But don't use the provided boxes - force them to hand tally these forms. It isn't much I know, but it is something we can do to let them know we we exist!

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve!

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Edward J. SanFilippo
To: Eva-Genevieve Scarborough
Sent: Wed, March 17, 2010 9:19:30 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: A question regarding transgender people

Hi Eva,

Thanks for getting in touch! As the Transgender Specialist for the
whole Census, this question is very important to me, which is why we
created the Transgender Fact Sheet, which can be found at
http://ourfamiliescount.org/census-bureau/ in the second link. The
document may not answer every question for the trans-community, but as
the first official outreach by the federal government, it's a great
start.

In your email to Matt, you expressed a lot of frustration about not
being able to mark 'trans' on the form. Obviously I understand this.
Unfortunately, changing/adding a question on the from takes years of
advocacy work and a mandate from the federal government. In general,
Congress must make the decision. To date, there has not been an
organized,long-term effort by the trans community to make this happen.
In a political climate where a fully-inclusive ENDA is so
controversial, I'm sure you understand how problematic the entire
issue can be.

Your best bet is to simply answer the question as truthfully as
possible (every individual decides what this means for themselves),
and of course, mail it back. The fact that my position exists within
the Census is a tremendous step forward, and one that hopefully
inspires you to stay engaged to make a difference on future forms. If
you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

-Ed

--
Edward J. SanFilippo
LGBT Partnership Specialist / Transgender Specialist
U.S. Census Bureau
(619) 864-5287