MAY 2, 1997

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

9

A transgender warrior returns to fight again

Back from the brink of death, Leslie Feinberg prepares to tour the country

by Dawn Leach

In 1995, Leslie Feinberg, author of Stone Butch Blues, was just finishing up the manuscript of the book she called "the heart of my life's work" when her physical heart began to falter. She became seriously ill with endocarditis, a life-threatening disease of the inner heart lining.

Feinberg needed intravenous drug treatments and round-the-clock attention, but had difficulty getting medical care. She did not have insurance. Hospital staff reacted negatively to her masculine gender expression, referring to her, in her presence, as a “Martian" and "it."

With the love and constant care of her partner, author Minnie Bruce Pratt, and the help of supporters around the country, Feinberg beat the odds and is on the road to recovery. She is finally able to tour with her book, Transgender Warriors: Making History From Joan of Arc to Ru Paul, a combination of personal narrative and carefully documented historical information which chronicles the existence of transgender people through the ages.

"My writing is an extension of my activism and my organizing," Feinberg said, and so rather than promoting her book, she sees her tour as opportunity to dialogue with other people about transgender issues.

Dawn Leach: How is your health? Leslie Feinberg: I'm not dying, which I was for a year. However, I'm in a long rocky recovery driven by will because of course I was ill for so long, so gravely and I received powerful intravenous medications for more than a year. Simply to remove the underlying illnesses doesn't make me well, but it removes the risk of immediate death. So I'm working really hard physically. I'm going to be 48 this September, and my goal is that by the time I'm 50 I want to be stronger than I was when I got sick.

Sometimes will power can make the difference between life and death.

My will to live played an incredible role that all my health care providers recognized, which was a real affirmation. But also, I just told Minnie Bruce again this morning that really she was key and instrumental in saving my life. As was my own political organization, all the members of the Worker's World who rallied for me. The movement, and the kind of material and emotional support that I got from the movement became a factor in being able to keep my head above water and live. And for Minnie Bruce to survive it too. That must have been hard for her. It was very hard for her, and I think her recovery is going to be as long as mine.

How did Minnie Bruce handle your illness?

It's an important thing to ask, because first of all, there's the three shift a day emergency-driven care, the sleep deprivation, the fear of watching your partner dying and feeling very powerless. Also there was the bigotry that she saw exhibited to me when I was frequently so delirious with fever that she had to decide: Would yelling at the doctors or staff make it better or worse? It was a tremendous strain on her, and it's something that not only should no trans person have to deal with, but no partner should either.

There has been some argument about what pronoun is appropriate to use for

you.

Well good, I'm glad to hear that, because there's nothing I'd rather do than stimulate a discussion about pronouns. I feel that I'm more complex than any of the pronouns that exist in the English language. I don't want to have to simplify myself to fit one or the other, and I want to be able to confront people's understanding of how many gender assumptions are built into each one. The assumption for example, that your gender expression will match and be harmonious somehow naturally with your birth sex.

What pronoun do you prefer? When I'm in a non-transgendered setting, insist that people refer to me as she, because if they called me he they would be matching up my birth sex and my gender expression to a way that is satisfactory for them and pass-

ing me off as male, and there would be no visible social contradiction. By calling me she, people have to deal with the fact that when they talk about female they have to factor me in. It means a larger discussion of what kind of range of expression is possible and wonderful and apparent amongst the whole population of females.

When I'm in an all-transgendered setting and people refer to me as he, that's completely appropriate too, because they're honoring my gender expression.

How is Transgender Warriors doing? It's doing very well, most of it while I was delirious. I got sick just as I was finishing the manuscript. My fever started to soar to 105, that was the fall of '95; and the next thing I know it's spring of '97 and the paperback's coming out. I've changed the subtitle. The title is still Transgender Warriors, but the subtitle is Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman. I've included a new foreword about the whole struggle around Dennis Rodman and a photo of him in drag.

I'm really looking forward to getting out, and I really missed the joy last year of a full tour of traveling to meet people, carrying with me the book that was my life's work and my heart. So now I'm really excited about the paperback coming out and getting to do just that. Like coming to Ohio.

wit

Do you ever get tired of explaining transgender issues to people who don't understand?

I feel very patient with people who don't. I always start out my talks by going over a "101" with people, to honor those who have no idea what this is about and think everyone else does, and that everybody's going to think they're a bigot if they say something.

I find the more faith you put in people who are honest in not understanding the question-not those who try to raise questions in a dishonest way to split and divide-but those who are saying "I just don't get it." It's okay, let's sit down and talk about it, because people do. And then it's like a bone that won't break twice in the same place again.

Once people get it, it's like being white and realizing how racism has been used to try to pit you against people of color and you say "I'm not going to ever let that happen again.” That's what I'm feeling, some of the best, most steadfast supporters of trans inclusion have been people who had said earlier “I just don't understand."

How do you think the transgender movement has progressed in the last year and a half or so?

I think, for example, I could say that the New York Times now uses transgender without an explanation, I've noticed several times, which is wonderful. When you get the New York Times to use a phrase, it means it's entered mass consciousness, and I think that's true.

I think that we have a lot of work to do in terms of allowing the whole iceberg of underground, hidden populations to emerge and feel the sun on their bodies and feel the warmth of human relations and respect. Heterosexual crossdressers, the underground most-oppressed drag population, the young trans population who is homeless or turning tricks, and in jail being brutalized.

There are so many segments of the trans population who have not even spoken out in their own voices yet. I'm looking forward to the continued dynamic machinery of our activist community being able to generate enough public support, and also liberate some space. Community centers where people are welcome, and town meetings and support groups etcetera for people to be able to tentatively step out of what has been a very painful isolated existence and silence and invisibil-

ity.

How you feel about coalition building? Clearly, there is a need for all communities who are discriminated against and op-.` pressed, and groups to be able to get together, to have caucuses, to be able to have support groups, to be able to meet and talk about a common oppression or a very similar set of oppressions and discriminations and build their strengths with each other.

Women's caucuses, black caucuses, you

know, transsexual support

groups, heterosexual crossdressing networks; all these things are important, but there comes a moment when push comes to shove and we have got to come out together.

We're all moving in the same direction, but that moment when we have to draw together and unite and fight on each other's behalf and be each other's best allies, that's the moment when we have to stand up and decide: Which way forward to liberation? And no group can do it alone. That's the lesson of history.

Do you feel that coalitions are being built between lesbian, gay and bisexual communities and transgender communities?

I think that the lesbian, gay and bisexual communities have overwhelmingly, particularly amongst the grassroots, shown the heart for inclusion and unity. Even amongst people who don't completely understand the question yet, is instinctively knowing that this is another form of oppression, that even if it's not identical, it overlaps. Like that old truism says, united we stand, divided we fall. And it's only hackneyed because it's so true.

Leslie Feinberg

What I've also been encouraged by is how people are thrilled by opening up the discussion. It shows that it's a period where people are resilient in their consciousness, because everyone knows something has to give, that

JAKRON AREA PROFESSIONALS

Reserve

Psychological Consultants

Serving the Lesbian and Gay Community

Individual and Couple's Therapy

Day, Evening and Weekend Appointments Available

Pam Michelson, Ph.D. and Associates

96 Graham Rd., Suite A, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223 (330) 929-1326

na Wens

AED BREAKFAST •Lakend Ocean Views

• Privita Becks

• 1 Bochio Shops,

3 Mocks to the Ocean •Pvate Baths

9014

•Enormous Roof-Top Deck Monday-Thursday SPECIAL RATES! 20 Lake Ave.

ch, Delaware

429

it just can't keep going this way. And so anything that challenges the status quo and that points a direction towards unity is exciting and dynamic. ♡

Feinberg will appear in Columbus at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 7:00 pm on Friday, May 9 and at An Open Book at 1:00 pm on Saturday, May 10.

Q. Afraid of the Dentist? A. (216)226-3800 it's normal!! We can help! We're absolutely dedicated to providing your dental care as comfortably as is modernly possible. We welcome cowards.

Q. Afraid of the Cost? A. (216)226-3800 Our various payment options take the fear out of dental expense. We welcome most insurances and gladly accept Visa, Mastercard and Discover. We also have interest-free financing packages available.

Q. Afraid to take the Time? A. (216)226-3800 Our early morning, evening and Saturday office hours will take the worry out of interfering with your busy schedule.

COMFORT DENTAL GROUP

Lower Than Average Fees!

David M. Raiffe, DDS & Associates

(216)226-3800

15901 Hilliard Rd. • Lakewood, Ohio (Corner of Hilliard & Madison)

Exam, Cavity-Detecting, X-rays, and

Cosmetic Consultation

$5

Reg. $68.00

(cannot be combined with other offers)