Homecoming...

Article by By MELINDA WALDROP of the Daily Press

WILLIAMSBURG - History was made without fanfare on Saturday. Jessee Vasold, William and Mary's first transgender homecoming queen, took the field at halftime of the Tribe's game against James Madison wearing a red shirt, black pants and a small silver lip ring to applause and not much other notice.

Vasold, a junior, and the other members of the homecoming court were introduced to the crowd, posed for pictures, and walked off the field.

"I knew I was nominated, but I was just surprised, because there were a lot of other really good candidates on the ballot," Vasold said. "I know all of the other girls, and they're wonderful people, really friendly. So I was surprised."

Jessee Vasold, William and Mary 's first transgender homecoming queen, took the field at halftime of the Tribe's game against James Madison U. today in Williamsburg. (Joe Fudge, Daily Press / October 24, 2009)

Read more...

Here is the comment I posted to the article:

"I think this is appropriate for our times and our diverse culture - including the moral aspects of it.

Thank you W&M for being understanding and progressive enough to embrace this!

Thank you Jessee for being bold enough to step into the spotlight!!

To the folk that stick to the strict view that God made man and woman let me say this. While I absolutely believe that God made one pure man and a pure woman just as Scripture says, I also believe that God knew and intentionally created us is in a way that guaranteed gender diversity. St. Paul loved to say "look at nature" for examples of gender roles so, OK, lets do that in the light of what we know to be true today.

God made a man and then a woman but every successive generation born takes some of the male and some of the female to make a child - that is basic genetics. Logic indicates there would be a few that fall somewhere else along the bell curve of gender other than pure male and pure female. I.E.: That some would posses a mix of attributes from both genders. Being intersexed (or hermaphrodite) is one of many known gender variant conditions. So this is not a mistake or an oversight of God or some horrible sin. God knew and did exactly as David said and formed all of us including us transgender folk "perfectly".

What W&M has done here is openly embrace human diversity as created by a loving God!

This is Awesome!!!!!"

Hugs and Blessings,
Eva-Genevieve!

Let’s change the way we all interact within the LGBTQI “community”

For a long time now we have grouped ourselves together by preferred traits and promoted just the issues that benefit us while avoiding personally controversial ones that pertain to other’s needs. As a transgendered Christian woman I have watched this go on for several years and I have come to see this tendency as something that is often counterproductive for us on the whole. We no longer have this luxury – that of being separate, exclusive and picking and choosing which “rights” we work for while there people dying from, or suffering with hunger, AIDS and other illnesses, or that lack basic sanitary necessities or dignity because they are differently abled. And these folks are plentiful right in our own neighborhoods!

I understand the apprehension and discomfort we feel when we must push the envelope of our personal comfort zones and stretch again resources that are already stretched. But in this day of unrest and mis-trust, of corruption at the highest levels of our society and government, of economic collapse, of hate crimes and of budget cuts that are hurting so many of us, this is what we need to do – push our limits... Again. If we won’t take notice and help each other and build each other up, regardless of how each of us perceives others, self-identifies or presents, who will? Now is the time to take the progressive lead and reshape our world together.

Rather than gravitating to our comfortable niches where hopefully we can ride out the storms without having to stretch too much farther, we need to be our own strongest allies and work together – setting aside some of or prejudices and unease with those that are different or foreign to us. It is past time to build up the whole of our community. We need to be lifting up the ones that struggle with the effects of life-long marginalization, rejection and ridicule and those that wrestle with death itself or who have no means of their own to survive.

For example, I don’t see Marriage Equality as the number one issue currently but nonetheless I am very active in that movement, and it isn’t because I seek to marry someone of the same sex. I have set aside some of my own discomfort and prejudice to work with some people whose needs and motives I sometimes can hardly fathom. To an in-process transgender woman the inequity is something that be can worked around just by changing or not changing an obsolete method of identifying gender once certain “plumbing” issues are resolved (though this is not a perfect solution, it is livable), so I view the situation from a completely different angle than most folks do. Supporting M.E. is a means of advancing the common good. My faith, and who I now am, drives me into this effort. This is where my Christian faith “does something” more than lift my spirits up for an hour on Sunday. Even mentioning it LGBT circles risks some discomfort but it does bring my faith down to street level. A little bit of personal challenge is all that it really takes to make a noticeable difference and that is all I am advocating here. Every one of us can make things a little bit better for someone else.

What is important now is working together; getting known, building networks and visibility within our community and finding ways to build bridges between different groups of people, cultures and preferences. Bringing my abilities to the table and sharing the load with people who have different needs and experiences is what I try to do and encourage others to do now that I have found the freedom to be myself.

I was pleased to have a few moments to speak with Harvey Stern of the Golden Rainbow Senior Center (Palm Springs) the other day after the LGBT Mental Health Task Force Meeting in Perris. They are reaching out beyond the traditional limits of what one would define as a “senior” center and they are accommodating many groups at their center now that others centers in the area have been forced to close. (Thanks, Harvey, for your efforts and the wonderful example you are for us all).

We – Harvey and I – agreed that we are down to the bare necessities of survival these days. He deals with this every day at the Center and I feel the pinch daily; I can barely afford the basics every month. I can’t afford a car or a place of my own to live and I struggle to find adequate and appropriate health care, even food sometimes. But I can push the limits of my abilities and means to build up and help to homogenize our community. I encourage you all to do the same.

Hugs and Blessings,
Eva-Genevieve! Scarborough
Human
Christian
Transgendered
Freelance Advocate for Human / Civil-Rights and Faith without Prejudice
evagenevieve@yahoo.com

"Stand with anybody that stands right, stand with him while he is right and part with him when he goes wrong." A. Lincoln

Things Happening This Month

Greetings Friends,

Maybe I will run into you at one of these events in Southern California...

Starting October 3rd (and repeating every Saturday) in West Covina:

Safe Haven Community Christian Church Opens In-Home Neighborhood Ministry Center

This Saturday, October 3^rd 2009 at 2:00 PM

Safe Haven Community Christian Church will dedicate an In-Home Neighborhood Ministry Center at 3931 S. Ellesford Avenue, West Covina, CA. We will serve the San Gabriel Valley and outlying areas.

Safe Haven is an independent and non-denominational Christian Church. The church serves all Christians, and encourages all people of faith, and those who are seeking, to come and worship together in a spirit of, “Faith without Prejudice” towards all humankind. Safe Haven calls us all to set aside bigotries and prejudices. This is the ethos of this church; that all people have equality and full human rights.

We are a Christian Church that has its arms open wide, as would Jesus, to welcome all who wish to come and worship in peace and love. This inclusive invitation includes G.L.B.T.I.Q. brothers and sisters, their families and friends.

Contact: Rev. Renee Painter - RevRJPainter@aol.com - for more information.

October 10th at White Park in Downtown Riverside, CA:

http://riversideIEpride.org

October 15th at the University of Redlands:

The Trans/Giving Film Festival is on Tour!

first stop, University of Redlands

Host:	Trans/Giving
Type:	Music/Arts - Performance
Network:	Global

Date:	Thursday, October 15, 2009
Time:	5:00pm - 9:00pm
Location:	University of Redlands
Street:	Pride Center and ASUR Gender Affairs
City/Town:	Redlands, CA
	View Map

Email:

transgiving@gmail.com

Web: http://www.transgiving.com

October 17th at Occidental College in Eagle Rock, CA:

www.modelsofpride.org

Put a Pin in the Map for the Inland Empire

Greetings friends,

I hope you are all well.

After the pause I took away from things in August to get a little rest, the moment I stuck my head up and looked around I found myself right back in the thick of the Marriage Equality Movement. I am helping to organize the effort in the Inland Empire (and I have several other irons in the fire too - a couple of them are in earlier posts. At the moment I am sitting in The Lark -- an LGBT club -- in San Bernrdino recruiting people to help with the campaign effort. Tonight we had 26 more people that want to help sign up. While I'm here I'm posting this to my blog since Verizon has the DSL screwed up at home. So here is the post about our first "field work" event in a place everyone has been saying is insignifigant. Well guess what - I refuse to be insignifigant and so do a whole bunch of folk out here - stay tuned...

Wednesday evening the Inland Empire (Region 9) team of the statewide Restore Equality 2010 campaign started recruiting efforts for the coming petition signing work. Five volunteers met last Saturday to coordinate this regional effort and have hit the ground running. We were met by a surprising amount of enthusiasm in downtown Riverside.

Armed with fliers for our upcoming strategy meeting on Oct 3 we talked to many people at three prime locations – Back to the Grind, The Menagerie and Worthington’s Tavern – and we were overwhelmed at the positive response. Once we explained that we were preparing to hit the ground running when the petitions are in hand come November not one person balked at the idea of a 2010 effort. Most said they were glad that we are already organized and working to win this battle now instead of later and got excited that they could help and really make a difference – I hope that sentiment becomes infectious!

The owners and staff of the places we “worked” were awesome and totally supportive too. I would estimate that in the 2 hours we were there three of us spoke with at least 40 individuals and groups of people. We now have 9 more people signed up to help. We passed out the few “Repeal Prop 8 2010” and “:I DO…” signs I had kicking around and almost 100 fliers.

Friday we will be at the Lark in San Bernardino around 9 PM. We will be at The VIP on the 30^th and back to Downtown Riverside on Oct 2^nd. We are now looking to get out into Palm Springs and a few other key areas in October – follow this link to the Region 9 page of the Restore Equality 2010 website.

If we were not on the map last November here in the IE this time we will be. And we will make a big difference!! Please come out and help us if you can.

Where ever you are located in California you can help – go to Restore Equality 2010’s web site and select the link for your region and contact the volunteers shown for your region to find out how you can make a difference locally and nationally too.

Hugs and Blessings,

Eva-Genevieve! Scarborough

I Think...

...that it is time to have a good laugh.

Have a great day!

Hugs, Eva-Genevieve!

Taking on New Projects

Greetings friends and associates,

I am helping, along with Safe Haven Community Christian Church, EQIE’s Transgender Issues Committee, and other nearby transgender and allied community members, to put together a Transgender 101 panel and presentation. Our purpose is to help educate and enlighten those whose jobs or personal ethos calls them to serve society and be in contact with the full diversity of it. We are already in contact with two major Civic entities interested in and seeking out this kind of help so they can better serve the traditionally under-served portions of society. Riverside's Department of Mental Health is one, thanks to Elder Benita Ramsey's and others work on the LGBT Mental Health Task Force, and the other is the LAPD. I expect that there will be many more worthwhile leads to follow very soon. The US Census Bureau as a follow-up to the 2010 Census may be one of these.

I was approached by an Officer in the LAPD Community Relations Office last Sunday at San Gabriel Valley Pride, and she inquired whether I would be willing to be a part of Chief Bratton’s farewell Forum Summit community meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 09 from 6 -8 p.m., at the Police Administrative Building (150 N Los Angeles St, in the Auditorium). We had a lengthy conversation about what they hoped to accomplish and we have agreed to discuss future Transgender (and the LGBT… inclusive) community involvement with them, such as an educational panel presentation like what we are already preparing for Riverside.

So, what I am asking for here is twofold…

First, I am extending the LAPD’s invitation to the Forum on the 29^th to the entire LGBT community and urging as many of you as possible to come out for it. I’ll see you there.

Second, I am seeking transgender individuals that are willing to participate in an ongoing speakers panel – and this includes individuals of all areas of transgender and those in any stage of transition, even those that are sex-workers or other highly at risk members of our community. We hope to be very inclusive and very open in this project to tough questions posed by the professionals - social service workers, medical and mental health providers, safety and law enforcement personnel and etc. So you would need to be serious about helping and willing to commit to being open and honest about the needs and feelings of the area of the community you represent as well as with your personal experiences.

For me, going back down to Parker Center in LA will be a bit of a traumatic challenge, because the last time I was there I was incarcerated and I must again face painful ghosts of my sordid past. But I believe both the Forum and our future presentations will very well be worth the effort. Please search your hearts and see if there is room for you to take on another important commitment too.

Please contact myself (evagenevieve@yahoo.com) or Rev. Renee Painter (RevRJPainter@aol.com) if you are interested in helping us with the TG 101 Project.

(We will also be needing some moderate financial support to see this project become a reality – Safe Haven Community Christian Church is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) institution – contact Rev. Painter for more info).

Thanks and Warm Regards,
Eva-Genevieve! Scarborough

My Comment on Comments

Tonight I was looking at the comments posted to the West Covina article and I decided to comment. I figure its about time I get around to the blog again too, so here what I just posted on the SGVTribune site (with a few minor edits)…

Commenting on what some are saying about the truth of the Bible:

I believe it is true in its original form (even though it was penned by people, their hearts and minds were moved by God), but it must be used in context of our society and the diversity of God's creation if it is to be relevant today (I.E. scientific and social facts must be taken into account too). The original texts were given to members of non-technological societies ranging from 3500 years BC to a few after Christ's death (His atonement for all of us) and His resurrection (our way to live in newness of life).

Paul spoke about looking at the example of nature and based many of his teachings on what then was the accepted truth and appropriate for that society. So, therefore, to be true to Scripture we are obligated to look into the physical truths presented by science and academics today. To ignore it perverts the truth of Scripture. Today we know more about nature, psychology, cosmology, humanity, genetics, etc., and if one sets aside ancient prejudices and denominationally imposed limitations Scripture blends very well with the tangible, measurable truths of science, humanity and nature. These things all point to intelligent design of the universe and all that is in it. Also, though science has perhaps not proven beyond a doubt that Jesus Christ did live, the evidence found of his life clearly supports scripture - there is a long track record of it (check out Lee Strobel's book "The Case for a Creator" for a great synopsis - it's in the appendix).

I personally believe Christ existed and that He died and lives again because I have personally experienced His salvation and forgiveness. So far, taken as a whole everything in my experience corroborates what I take on faith. Being transgender and accepting it as a gift from God and embracing it as such has not lessened this closeness for me, but enhanced it.

I also know Christ loves even those that don't believe it - you can experience His love regardless of your circumstances. I thought for many years that I was accursed, unforgivable and an abomination because of what many others taught that the Bible said about my dirty little secret of being a girl inside, but we were all totally wrong on that point.

God promised that more would be revealed to us as the age progresses and in this light we discover that God and his acceptance of people is quite a bit larger still than any human can imagine and so is His love and Grace. His forgiveness extends to cover greater sins than can be imagined or committed, so why don't we all resolve to simply accept this and be part of His family or at least put animosity to rest. That is what the cross was all about, right? Let’s let God figure out the details that we can't resolve in the light of the limited view of truth each one of us has. We know that at our best we all see through dark and smokey glass. This way we don't have to quibble so much over relatively insignificant issues like what is or isn't sin or who is acceptable (especially since everybody is).

The UCC Churches have a slogan that I like "God is still speaking..." So don't put a period where He puts a comma.

(By the Way the "gender inclusive" 2011 revision of the NIV is on the way).

Hugs and Blessings.
Your sister in Christ,
Eva-Genevieve!

Another article

Hi all,

I just found this link the other day - another reporter picked up my story too. This one is a little bit different.

Click here

Hugs,

Eva-Genevieve!

I'm in the Papers!

Check out this link to an article in my local newspaper this morning:

West Covina resident finds faith at gender crossroads

By Emma Gallegos, Staff Writer, San Gabriel Valley Tribune,

Photo by Watchara Phomicinda of the SGV Tribune

I would only make one comment on the content of the in-print version (on-line this has been corrected) - when referring to the EQIE the author said we were part of EQCA and that is not the case. We collaborate with them and other activist groups at times and we "co-branded" with them specifically on the Leadership Summit last Saturday in San Bernardino, but we are our own, very independent grassroots activist group. We don't want to be bogged down by the agendas and policies of other larger groups or be crippled by the infighiting and posturing that goes on in many of them. We learned a lot on that subject at the Summit on Saturday past.

The author of the article said this to me this morning after she updated the article on-line:

"Since you do a lot of activism and such, I thought I'd let you know that you (or any other locals around SGV or the Pasadena area) don't need a stamp to send a letter to the editor.

Go to http://www.sgvtribune.com/writealetter or http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/writealetter. We tend to get the same people writing in all the time about the weirdest stuff (there was a two-month debate in the letters about whether a jack-in-the-box commercial was morally bankrupt), so it'd be nice to mix it up."

So there you go - let's "mix it up"!

Hugs and blessings,

Eva-Genevieve! Scarborough

A Little Bit of Everything

Greetings friends,

...and welcome to my new followers too.

I’m sitting here looking at my languishing blog page and still not quite sure what to post. So much has happened this month that I am still processing it all while mostly trying to avoid being out in the ongoing triple digit heat in the Inland Empire. It feels like my brains have melted into a lump of goo so I think I’ll just ramble and see what drips out in no particular order - every paragraph is a different topic. The photos are recent ones of myself and some friends at Church.

Presently I am house sitting in a house that is home to 3 dogs 6 or 7 cats and at dusk the yard is taken over by a large family of raccoons all of whom bring quite an appetite. This is quite a handful to say the least and in the heat it gets crazy at times.

In my activist activities the EQIE (Equality Inland Empire) co hosted a “Leadership Summit” on the 25th with Equality California. (I will post some pictures as soon as I get them). This was a long and grueling affair in the IE heat and I think by the end of the afternoon everyone was too hot to think quite straight because we left really with no clear direction on whether to take same-sex marriage back to the polls in 2010 or 2012 and some left rather disillusioned about the whole process. I’m sad to say I am not so sure it was of any real benefit other than to learn what not to do on a very hot mid-Summer day. Of course rumor had it that the evangelicals had prayed for just such a circumstance – and I expect they did because I used to be one – so that just means we that are people of faith in the TLGBQ and allied community need to re-learn the value of uniting our hearts and also placing our cause before our Maker before we participate in such large scale undertakings; there is power in prayer and in the uniting of purposes. This is exactly what our movement needs right now: Unity on the basic issues.

Speaking of issues, as the interim Chair person of the EQIE’s Faith Issues subcommittee I, with the company of Kerry of California Faith for Equality, met with several faith leaders in the Inland Empire a week or so ago and started to get a better feel for the pulse of our local faith community. We spoke with Rev. J. Edwards of Bethel Congregational Church in Ontario – a non Open and Affirming UCC congregation, Rabbi Hillel Cohn, Rabbi Emeritus, Congregation Emanu El in San Bernardino and, Julius Nam – Professor of World Religions at Loma Linda University. This was the first effort of its kind that I have participated in and so these first conversations outside of my own circle of faith were very enlightening. I have high hopes that much good is going to come of these and many similar efforts in the future. We are hoping in to develop a directory of faith homes and spiritual congregations and groups that are welcoming to TLGBQ folk – all faiths and groups are being sought to participate. Our hope in this effort is to become better known and accepted in places many of us at one time thought were absolutely closed to us. I have discovered that there is a great stirring and need for just this kind of effort and many already are coming on board to help. I am very excited and hopeful!

The EQIE also has subcommittees looking into transgender issues, LGBT youth issues and many other areas we have identified as important within our community. We are building a wonderful coalition of local allies and LGBT based organizations. If you live in the Inland Empire and would like to help please contact me (evagenevieve@yahoo.com)

Recently I tangled with a group of very extremist TS people that operate some TS only Yahoo groups and I was shocked to see that there is such fundamentalist-like prejudice within the TG/TS part of the TLGBQ… alphabet soup. A statement was made by their representative that we, who use any terminology other than TS to describe ourselves or that associate with LGBT people and issues, are not really true transsexuals because we don’t have a “condition” like they do. My answer to that foolishness is that everyone has a "condition" - it's called the human condition. Every one of us has been given some challenges in our lives - granted, some folks got some very difficult ones, but somewhere down the road one simply has to draw the line, get over themselves and re-join the human race or else become blindly fanatic and bitter at the rest of the world as seems to be the case here. Having been a militant Evangelical Fundamentalist for a substantial part of my pseudo-man life I know firsthand how damaging such extremism can be – regardless of ideology – both to the adherents and to those they openly bash.

I was recently interviewed for an article in the San Gabriel Valley News and the photographer came out last week. I will post the link to the article when it comes out and hopefully I will have some more pictures for the blog and my Facebook page too.

This month I was blessed to finally have found some legal assistance to get my Medi-cal and another ugly snag with my Disability benefits looked into - I think there is some hope of a good outcome even though the system is in a shambles with the State budget cuts. (Those that pray please hold this area of my life up to God if you would be so kind - thanks)!

So far the results of my little survey on Transgender Marriage Survival have interesting and positive results – I am still keeping it open by the way so I don't have a final tally, but the trend seems to indicate that more than half of marriages where the TG person transitions after being married actually last! And in more than half of those the couple still remains intimate after transition. At least for me that is a very positive bit of information – it is possible to make marriage work and last!! There is hope. The survey can be taken at:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=1wgbvhk4FOJlMS1AfJciIg_3d_3d

One last note in closing on a very uncomfortable issue within our part of the alphabet soup: AIDS/HIV (and other STD’s too) are still cause for taking great care should you be intimate with anyone. If you have any doubts about your own health or exposure to disease, PLEASE get yourself checked and PLEASE be truthful with your partners.

OK I guess I have beaten this ramble to death - what a month, huh?

Hugs and Blessings to you all,
Eva-Genevieve! Scarborough