Trans Melbourne Gender Project

We were saddened to hear that Zoe Belle took her own life last Monday night. Zoe was a member of  Trans Melbourne Gender Project and was involved in the effort to start a gender drop-in and resource centre in Melbourne. She was much loved, and will be missed by many, many people.

Zoe was passionate about trans rights, and wanted to make a  difference in the world. She was meticulous in her work and presentation, and was a valued team member and friend. She had her finger in many, many pies. In fact, she was involved in so many projects that it is almost impossible to think of a trans- or queer-related event that has taken place in Melbourne recently without her presence. She was the main organiser of Trans/Destinations, the first dedicated trans conference in Melbourne, which is about to happen as part of the Midsumma Festival. But she wasn’t just interested in one issue: Zoe saw the big picture, and was also committed to disability rights, queer rights, feminist politics and anti-violence work. For her ongoing volunteer work with Midsumma, Zoe was mentioned in the GenerationQ  list of Australian suporters of the GLBTIQ community for 2007 as an unsung hero. She was involved in Out of the Silence, a conference for tranz, women and genderqueer people. She was also about to perform onstage in the Melbourne run of The Vagina Monologues. She had worked as an electrical engineer, and had great website design skills. In fact, this year, she was going to be the TMGP website update manager.

Zoe had a wicked sense of humour, and was a trouble-maker in the best way possible. In meetings she was always very focused, but on the TMGP email list, she let her sense of fun have free range. Recently, someone had written expressing their anger that she had to listen to transphobic and homophobic comments by some popular DJs on NOVA FM at work, because her boss was a big fan of the radio station. Zoe suggested re-cutting the radio show so that Hughsey, Kate and Dave sounded like they were making pro-queer and pro-trans remarks, and playing it at work to ‘retrain’ the annoying employer. It was a very Zoe thing to say: a perfect, geeky, wicked response.

Zoe tried the best to be herself in a world that was often unsympathetic and unyielding to her needs. The space she leaves is not only painful because of the loss of a friend, colleague and co-conspirator. It’s also a reminder that the causes she fought for are doubly important to win.

Zoe, we all love you and we hope that wherever you’ve gone, you are free.

PUBLIC MEETING: COMMUNITY CONSULTATION FOR PROPOSED GENDER CENTRE

Congratulations and well done to the winners of the 2006 Tranny Awards….

Most Outstandingly Unhelpful and Transphobic Gay and Lesbian Organisation:
United We Dance

Most Supportive and Trans-Friendly Health Professional:
Dr Nick Medland, Centre Clinic, St Kilda

Most Trans-Friendly Organisation:
Gender Schmender

Best Genderfucking Event of 2006:
Gender Schmender – Damnation

Most Misinformation About Transpeople in a Newspaper or Magazine Article:
Jason Foster, MCV (the only nominee)

The Harry Benjamin Award for the Most Inappropriate Comment by a Psychiatrist:
Dr Trudy Kennedy, Monash Gender Dysphoria Clinic

The Milli Vanilli Award for the Most Lazy and Uninspired Drag Performance of 2006:
Jim Karma (drag king)

Best Example of Simultaneous Racism Sexism and Transphobia from A ‘GLBTIQ’ Perspective:
Los Ridiculos (drag king)

The TransAmerica Award for the Most Conservative Trans Movie:
Transamerica (with a nod to ‘Normal’)

Golden Shower Award for the Best Gender Neutral Bathroom in Melbourne:
Robot Bar

The Ratbag Award for the Most Incorrigible Gender-Variant Upstart:
Ashlan ‘Radio’ Pike

The Red Tape Award for the Most Time Consuming Gender Related Administrative Nightmare
VicRoads Carlton

The Sharp Learning Curve Award for Most Improvement in Gender Awareness:
Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria

The Token Award for the Best Performance of Trans-Friendliness Without the Action to Back it Up
Victorian Aids Council Gay Mens Peer Suport Program
(Australian Bureau of Statistics a close runner up)

International Achievement Award for the Best Example of Trans Advocacy Overseas:
Spanish Parliament

Best Tranny:
Sally Goldner

The Binary Award for the Most Gender Restrictive Trans Publication:
Craig Andrews, TORQUE magazine, Men’s Transsexual Resources Australia

This English translation quotes from Guerilla Travolaka:

We of the ‘Trans’ Guerrilla believe in the power of SHOWING ourselves, talking about our bodies, our sexuality, our differences and the thousand identities that are hidden beneath that label of “trans”. We want to be visible and we speak in the first person.
We want to possess gender, redefine our BODIES and create free, open networks where we can develop, where anyone can build up their security mechanisms against gender pressure.

We aren’t victims; our war wounds are our shields.

In opposition to the Trans-normativity that imposes strict medical morals and a binomic gender system, we propose new alternatives to understand and construct our bodies. We are NOT talking about a third sex, as we don’t even believe in a first or second sex. This is a question of being able to express our gender freely, of understanding the utopia that means and the pressures that exist.

We present ourselves, not as terrorists, but as pirates, trapeze artists, guerrillas, members of the gender RESISTANCE.

We defend Doubt, we believe in the ‘going back’ medically and in going forward, we think that no construction process should be labelled as IRREVERSIBLE. We want to make the beauty of androgyny visible. We believe in the right of removing our bandages to breathe, and that of not removing them ever; in the right of undergoing operations at the hands of good surgeons and not BUTCHERS, in free access to hormone treatments without the need for psychiatrists’ certificates, in the right of self hormone administration. We demand the right to live without asking for permission.

We believe in direct action against trans-phobia. And to achieve this, we feel it is necessary to redefine the limits of this phobia, understanding it to be the rejection of any non-regulatory expression of gender identity, not just transexualism.

(Via Jay Sennett)