Transsexual Issues

Arrest Made In 2009 Stabbing Murder of Paulina Ibarra

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:28:51 +0200

More positive news.

http://cbs2.com/local/arrest.stabbing.murder.2.1795026.html

Transgender woman wins discrimination case against Georgia General Assembly

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:25:55 +0200

Cool. 8)

http://sdgln.com/causes/2010/07/06/transge...eneral-assembly

FucM

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:17:49 +0200

Gene knockout makes female mice masculine.

"The mammalian fucose mutarotase enzyme is known to be involved in incorporating the sugar fucose into protein. Female mice that lack the fucose mutarotase (FucM) gene refuse to let males mount them, and will attempt copulation with other female mice. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Genetics created the FucM mouse mutants in order to investigate the role of this enzyme in vivo."

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/11/62/abstract for the article in full, free of charge.

Irish Government Withdraws Appeal Aagainst Landmark Ruling

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:53:44 +0200

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/irelan...4273030020.html

Dallas Area Rapid Transit or DART board unanimously approved a transgender inclusive policy.

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:44:26 +0200

"The Dallas Area Rapid Transit or DART board unanimously approved a transgender inclusive policy with regards to employees of the business which services the Dallas area after removing a one word amendment which would have gutted the measure."

http://lezgetreal.com/2010/06/dallas-area-...ination-policy/

Passports

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 19:27:44 +0200

"The United States has new, more flexible passport regulations for transgender people, and ended an earlier requirement that reassignment surgery precede a passport gender change, the State Department said."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/artic...48cMKemnXv3731g

Taking someone else's estrogen?

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:42:33 +0200

A "trans friend" of mine offered to "help me out" in transitioning with her estrogen for a "fee".

Here is the deal I have hypertension and my "doctor won't write a scrip for estrogen or blockers because of a stroke risk".

I really want to start transitioning, but how risky someone else's estrogen? I feel that it is not that big of a deal because her shots/pills come from a doctor not the street.

What are your thoughts?

Jamie Erika

Botched surgeries

Fri, 14 May 2010 06:41:37 +0200

First, I've been banned from elsewhere on the web, for no other reason than my story is too horrific to deal with. And so people, including my own family, including the medical community, including the transgendered community, don't want anything to do with me. And all I want is a tissue biopsy to show that what I've been screaming about over the last 9 months is not some delusional freak but somebody with a real problem. And what has been most difficult throughout my ordeal, which is still ongoing, and still without a formal diagnosis, and still untreated, is that I'm being called a crossdresser, a troll, a delusional freak, a man in a dress, etc, etc. Not only did my surgery get sabotaged by the best surgeon in the world, but I'm getting no help from anywhere or anyone. And I submitted to SRS with 8 yrs of HRT and 4 yrs RLT. My mistake is that I thought I could do this in stealth mode, putting my life on hold until after SRS, thinking that once I had my new parts, I could just assimilate into the binary world of men and women, beginning my life as the real me. And so to do this, meant living a lonely life, because I didn't want to have to tell a boy I couldn't make love to him, or even to lie that I was never a man. I turned down lunches with coworkers, I kept away from bars, I kept away from doctors, etc. I was a contract engineer that moved around too often to find a therapist, or a electrologist. More to do with the overtime work that I was given as well as the neverending deadlines.

And so I wonder as I come here, will it be the same here as elsewhere? Why is it that I'm not given a fair shake? Is it the surgeon who is more important to protect than one of our own? I'm losing my entire groin as a result of an embalment, and I can't get a single doctor to agree to a tissue biopsy. I use the term embalment because my symptoms are consistent with that: scars aren't healing, complete numbness of groin, severe hardness of erectile tissues of clitoris and urethra, severe hardness of vaginal canal such that I can't sit at 9 months and counting, and a severe stiffness of my groin after an period of immobility.

My family feels that I'm rejecting their support because I don't completely 100% comply with (a) their chosen doctor for me, and (B) the doctor's demands that (b1) I see a psychiatrist (for unknown reasons, but one reason from my brother was that the family wanted to make sure I really wanted to be a woman), and (b2) that I give consent to see all medical records. The problem I have with that, is that I want an independent test done first, by this doctor, in the form of a tissue biopsy, BEFORE I let him see what the other doctors have said about me (and all the doctors have said about me is (a) they don't see necrosis, they don't see infection, they don't see a reason to order a tissue biopsy, but (B) they aren't qualified to give an expert opinion/diagnosis because it's transgendered surgery, and they don't know where to send me, etc, etc, and they don't think they should see me again, and they don't think they should order a test if they don't have the expertise to treat the condition diagnosed from that test).

And so I am pretty sure that if I let this doctor have his way, he will only find a way to say that (a) there's no problem based on what all these other doctors are saying (which is really inconclusive analysis) and (B) from the therapy with some psychiatrist, you're delusional and should be locked up for your own safety (and I was locked up involuntarily for a week by an ER in NYC, because the ER doctor got shit scared of my situation, and instead of ordering the test I was asking for - formalin exposure test by way of tissue biopsy - he called the security people and had me rushed into a holding cell where all my belongings were stripped from me and I was incorrectly diagnosed as suicidal and admitted involuntarily into the hospital's psych ward, all within 24 hrs of first stepping into an adult walkin ER!!

So this family doctor - if he really wanted to help me - would have by now ordered a tissue biopsy to rule out formalin exposure. But instead, over a 4 month period that my family has been trying to explain his demands, this family doctor has not once returned a single phone call of mine, or answered a single email. Why am I to trust this doctor, let alone my own family who won't even meet with me when I arrive into town after a 1000 mile drive after losing my job 'cause I can't sit at my desk because my vaginal canal is hardened and feels like it is being rammed up inside me.... how am I to put my trust into that??

Enough said.

I am afraid that (a) the diagnosis of embalment is correct and they know it and the medical community in the US is afraid to acknowledge it, and (B) the surgeon in Thailand is going to get away with it as long as I don't get the sought after medical test before the formalin or otherwise toxin is absorbed so much that it is undetectable, or the statute of limitations expires (in July 2010). THAT is the big dark black hole that is out there, at least for the stealth TS who really has no one (the "out" TS on the contrary has a support network, and at least a few people, including doctors, that are following them every inch of the way) to turn to. And I went to Thailand by myself. And I had no one, including the handful of Americans who I met while there who are afraid to talk to me, to talk to while there. When I showed fellow patients my hard-as-clay vulva, none were the wiser. They each thought there wasn't a problem.

And so I'm left with this interesting argument by everyone that says that (a) if I don't see a problem, then there probably isn't one, and so I don't need to help you, or I don't need to order a test that just might be a waste of your money, when (B) the test would end the discussion, period, paragraph. It's as if they'd rather BET MY LIFE that they're right, than PROVE with a test that they're right. And the PHI (Protected Health Information) waiver that I have to sign every time I want to see a doctor, gives that doctor the right to review my PHI (and what all the doctors previously said about me) BEFORE they even see me. And so they are unanimously refusing to give me a tissue biopsy, choosing to bet with my life rather than prove with a test.

I'm .... one wonders what really happened to those that took there life after SRS. The stories of people not "fit" for transsexuality, or for fulltimeness, or for womanhood, or for SRS or what have you. I can tell you that visually, both in the tall dressing mirror as well as the small bicycle mirror the occasional gyno offers you, there is nothing peculiar or odd looking to the casual observer. It is a hopeless feeling to go down a track that puts you against everyone else. At a time in your life when you are most vulnerable - a stealth TS who wants to assimilate and hide her past.

That is my introduction. I hope I can get some help. I can't even get a lawyer. When I go to the doctor, even in a new state that I haven't been to, it's my transsexualityness and my being alone I think which is lending to the utter mistreatment of my situation. I've been sent to a psych ward, I've been prodded and pushed and pulled, more so out of curiosity than trying to help me. I've been left on a gurney for 12 hours in a small closed room without food or water or bed pan, and no one to respond to my cries for help.

Is there anyone out there that can take me under her wing, take me to her doctor, so that I can be treated with seriousness rather than as some sort of joke? Can I get help before it's too late and the doctor gets away with this hideous crime he has committed? I am recused by this doctor, and I have been rejected so far by all the major SRS surgeons in the US. Perhaps because I had no letter since Thailand doctor didn't require one, even though US doctors do. Note that I was legally female for 4 yrs, with amended birth certificate (via orchiectomy letter) and passport prior to my surgery.

That is my introduction.

meccagirl0 (youtube)
theotherdrsclub (yahoo group)

Paulista

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:57:42 +0200

Note to Israel Luna: a movie opened in LA recently what will give you an idea of the proper way to represent transpeople in film.

Lost in the uproar about TOTWK is the opening of a movie featuring a trans character that unlike that jacked up film, has garnered rave reviews. It also features 'gasp', a transwoman actress playing her transwoman character in a non-stereotypical fashion.

The Brazilian made movie directed by Roberto Moreira is called 'Paulista'. Ir focuses on the lives and exploits of several young people living in a Sao Paulo apartment building and looking for love. One of the interesting characters in 'Paulista' is played by transwoman Maria Clara Spinelli.

She plays an attorney named Suzana, who tentatively begins to open her heart to another attorney named Gil at her firm. But she faces the 'when do I tell him' dilemma common to all transwomen who find themselves falling in love with cismen. Once she does,

Gil has a hard time getting past her trans status and allowing himself to fall in love with the person in front of him. Spinelli has gotten rave reviews for her portrayal of Suzana on the film festival circuit and even picked up a best actress award in the process.

Wouldn't it be nice if more US filmmakers actually hired trans actors to play transpeople in films as has been done in other nations?

It's the reason I want to see 'Stealth' when it finally gets released.

http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2010/04/mov...f-paulista.html

Debate Over Transgender Teachers

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:39:50 +0200

Nancy Cordes spoke with the Human Rights Campaign's Allyson Robinson
and the Traditional Values Coalition's Andrea Lafferty about the upcoming
congressional vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

I'm not telling my gender status!

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:19:53 +0200

I'm not telling my gender status!

I agree with the majority of the ladies 'that it t'aint nobody's business if I do, as Billie Holiday would say.

There's no way in hell that I'm going to tell every guy that hits on me, my gender status. You approached me, you're trying to get my attention. If I end up talking with you, it's to see you're worthy of getting to know better, if you aren't then one of us will get to stepping.

Telling people all over the place, that your trans is more dangerous than not. Next thing your whole town or city knows, or people at your workplace or school. And you really don't want to bring that up in a crowded club, where it can spread like wildfire.

The reality of this issue is that men don't have a clue what our lives' are like. They think cause you chat with them on a forum, or they have been in a pay for play situation that they know what makes us tick.

Hell most of them have never even met a transwoman.

I've been full time over 35 years, going on to the 13th year as a post op. I have been in many, many relationships with men. I have dated many, many men. I have been sexually intimate with many men. In none of those years have I had violent or verbal altercations with men about my gender status.

Why?

Well the men will say that I've just been lucky, and that I'm skating on thin ice, and that one day the ice will break.

As I stated as a post op I don't confide my gender status if it's just a casual encounter. And when I say casual encounters I don't mean having sex with someone I just met on the train, in a social setting, etc. We've talked about various things, conversated on a variety of topics, and I now find you somewhat interesting. You're smart, funny, engaging, so we might date for a while, but you're not quite a 'keeper'.

Now if in the course of getting to talk with and know you,what type of person are you, your temperment, and you're starting to look like a 'person of interest', somebody that I might like to be in a relationship with, then I will pick a safe time, place, and method to tell you my herstory.

But no I don't meet someone in a bar, bring him home, we're both drunk, we start to make out, and he might feel something that shouldn't be there.

For me those aren't issues cause I don't drink, and all my parts are the correct ones, but I trust you get the point.

In my life I have known many, many transwomen, and for the most part they too are aware of how to protect themselves from hazardous situations like the ones I just outlined.

I won't say that guys going off on girls because of finding out their 'T' is an urban myth or legend, but from my time as a working girl 'on the game', I've known more girls to get into situations for dipping into a clients' pocket for money, or that he doesn't want to pay after he has played.

And that "we should go to gay and tranny bars, where the men who love us are".

Sorry, that dog won't hunt.

I'm not sitting through lip-synching drag shows, with men all up on the walls looking for dick.

I don't have a dick, so you don't have any use for me, and I don't have any interest in you.

So no gay or tranny bars, I'm mildly bi, but I'm not gay, I'm not a tranny, I'm not on the game, I don't drink, so why would I go to a gay or tranny bar.

Finally, I feel that men are blaming the victim or condemning us each time a violent incident is reported in the media.

I also feel that they want to keep us in a tranny ghetto, all to themselves.

On the stealth issue, I didn't transition to be a transsexual, I transitioned to be the woman I am. I am all for helping the cause, but all I've ever wanted was a normal, hetero, mainstream, 9 -5 life, which is what I have.

So guys, when you have walked in our Payless or Ferragamo shoes then you can speak on this issue, till then I must say that you know not whereof you speak.

Passing?

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 12:19:17 +0200

Do I pass? How the f^$k would I know? Makes no sense based on public perception, self perspective and low confidence. It's the most vicious thing in my life right now. I have made myself just sick over being passable. Really can't go into detail about how bad it is and just how upset I get but I swear, I would do anything to be confident in passing.
Some tell me I do, others tell me I don't. Sometimes, I believe I do... other times I look in horrid disgust.
Hurts, this is for sure. If I'm insulted, it really bothers me. I know I should be who I am but I have some things I would like to do before I expire. Give, maybe, a handful of years to enjoy it, I need to improve to a certain level.
Is anybody else doing this kind of self affliction? Are you passable but believe you are not?
Given all indication that I do, I still beat myself up bad.
So, ya..... Do you pass?
What works to better be passable for you if you do?

Obtaining Hormones for girls

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:01:54 +0200

I've gotten myself into a bit of a tough situation. I recently moved to a new town and have been without an endo.
The soonest appointment I can get is months away, and I'm out of E. It's really starting to mess with me.

I'm looking for any info for what I can do in the mean time, as I wait seemingly forever for my doctor's visit.

Islam And The Transwoman

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:45:40 +0100

Transsexuality is seen as a treatable medical condition by many of the Islamic nations, and fatwas allowing GRS have been issued in a number of Isamic countries, including Iran, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and others, however homosexuality for the most part is not condoned.

A fatwa is a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar, judge or mufti. It is based upon the Qur'an, Sunnah and Islamic Shari'ah. The Shari'ah is the revealed and the canonical laws of the religion of Islam.

Many imams (Arabic: إمام plural ائمة A'immah‎, Persian: امام), Islamic scholars, and clerics have heeded the advice and opinions of medical professionals in their countries, and have come to a consensus that transsexuality is a medical and treatable condition.

They have come to understand the effectiveness and medical necessity of mental health care, hormone therapy, and sex reassignment surgery in the treatment of patients diagnosed with GID, indeed Iran, shares the title with Thailand as the "sex change capitals" of the world.

They have also looked to the Qur`ann which mentions the "mukhannath", (Arabicمخنثون ") the Arabic word for transsexual on numerous occasions:

The mukhannath is the one who looks so much like a woman physically that he resembles women in his softness, speech, appearance, accent and thinking. If he is like this, he would have no desire for women and he would not notice anything about them. This is one of those who have no interest in women who were permitted to enter upon women." (Al-Mughni, 7/463; al Sharh al Kabeer `ala Matan al Muqni ´, 7/347 - 348)

And Ibn Qudaamah mentioned : " or a mukhannath who feels no desire (towards women) , the ruling that applies to such a "man" is the same as the ruling that applies to close relatives (mahram) regarding looking at women, because Allah says (the scholar cites Surah 24:31)."

And also Ibn `Abbaas said, regarding the phrase from Surah 24:31,: "This is the one of whom women do not feel shy. This is the mukhannath who is without male potence."

Sometimes there was a case of a "fake mukhannath" or a "mukhannath" who could still have a "drive for women", as it is mentioned by Ibn `Abd al-Barr (refering to a well known report by A`isha, the Prophet`s wife): "Do you not see that the Prophet (s.a.s.) did not prevent that mukhannath from entering upon his wives [whose realm was even more sacred than that of ordinary women] at first, but when he heard him describing the daughter of Ghaylaan and realized that he knew about women, he commanded that he should be kept away."

However, in the regular case of a male to female transgender not openly declaring any leanings towards women, the mukhannathun were allowed by Allah and his noble Prophet to enter freely the "harem".

That way they fulfilled an important social function; they served as servants or employees in the houses of noble Muslims and were an important link between the sacred realm of women and the profane realm of men. Indeed, they were the guardians of the "harem"! The reports from earlier times show us that they were the only ones who could move freely in every area. They could enter the "harem" as well as the "men only" parts of the mosque. Muhammad (s.a.s.) had given them a very special position in society, elevating them to a special freedom.

Unfortunately, male mistrust arose after the death of noble Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.). The fear from "fake mukhannathun" who could "hurt the virtue of women" was so strong that a mukhannath had to be castrated to be a loyal household servant.

In the 8th century A.C. the Khalifah Sulayman ordered the castration of all the mukhannathun of Makkah (Mecca), although Muhammad (s.a.s.) did severely speak against "creating eunuchs"!

However, some of the mukhannathun obviously accepted castration as some kind of a "sex change operation", taking from them the male parts that they never wanted (that is how today`s Indian and Pakistani hijras understand "becoming an eunuch", too)

In summation as we are aware there are number of different sects or denominations in Islam (Sunni, Shiite,Sufi, Wahhabi and others), much as there is in Christianity or Judaism. And much as there are differing degreess of understanding and tolerance amongst Chistians and Jews, the same is true in Islam. And though homosexuality is universally condemned within Islam, there is more and more, an understanding that transsexuality is a medical and treatable condition thus the fatwas.

HRT via pellet administration

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:04:46 +0100

What are Pellets?

Pellets are made up of either estradiol or testosterone. The hormones, estradiol or testosterone, are pressed or fused into very small solid cylinders. These pellets are larger than a grain of rice and smaller than a ‘Tic Tac’. In the United States, pellets are made by a compounding pharmacist and delivered in sterile glass vials

Pellets deliver consistent, healthy levels of hormones for 4-6 months. They avoid the fluctuations, or ups and downs, of hormone levels seen with every other method of delivery.

How and where do you insert pellets?

The insertion of pellets is a simple, relatively painless procedure done under local anesthesia. The pellets are usually inserted in the lower abdominal wall or hip through a small incision which is taped closed.

What are the costs?

Was reading that the cost for the insertion of pellets is between $230 and $600 depending on the dose of the hormone and the number of pellets needed.

Pellets need to be inserted 2 to 3 times a year depending on how rapidly a patient metabolizes hormones.

Some insurance companies cover the cost, some won't

Harvard University - New Policy Covers Transgender Health

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:09:13 +0100

At Harvard’s behest, Blue Cross Blue Shield modified their University-specific policy on transgender services. Employee coverage went into effect on Jan. 1, and student coverage will begin on Aug. 1, 2010.

Blue Cross developed a policy outlining generic medical coverage criteria for both top and bottom surgeries. However, Harvard has decided to remove the exclusion only for top surgeries—that is, breast augmentation and mastectomies—for now, as the possibility of covering genital surgeries is still being investigated.

“One concern they have is with the lack of qualified local providers,” says Noah E. Lewis, staff attorney for the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund and a 2005 graduate of Harvard Law School. “Which, of course, is the result of insurance exclusions in the first place.”

Prior to the modification, Harvard subscribed to a standard plan from Blue Cross that specifically excluded “services and supplies that are related to sex change surgery or to the reversal of a sex change.”

According to Lewis, the UHS exclusion forced transgender people to pay the same insurance premiums as other members of the Harvard community, without receiving equal benefits in return.

“The exclusion for transgender services stuck out like a sore thumb,” he says. “If transgender health care were not explicitly singled out for exclusion, these services would be covered, as would any other medically necessary drug or surgery.”

or surgery.”

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/3/1...ical-insurance/

http://theipowa.org/?q=content/harvard-uni...nsgender-health

Pesticide changes male into female

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 01:42:25 +0100

One of the world's most widely used pesticides, Atrazine, emasucalates 3/4 of male frogs, and turns 10% from male to female - capable of copulating with and producing viable offspring from unexposed males.

The 10 percent or more that turn from males into females ‑ something not known to occur under natural conditions in amphibians ‑ can successfully mate with male frogs but, because they are genetically male, all their offspring are male.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/...00301151927.htm

Does My Vagina Look Normal?

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:34:34 +0100

Does My Vagina Look Normal?

Does my vagina look normal, is a question asked by trans and natal women the world round, and quite likely for centuries, indeed there are books, plays, entire monolouges devoted to the vagina.

Given the Internet, men's magazines and other media exposure, we are now seeing the vagina more and more. And this is a wonderful thing, because for too long we have lived in a phallo-centric world, and the vagina has oft-times been feared, misunderstood, and even demonized.

But even with this new found appreciattion for the vagina it does not always get the accurate portrayal that it should.

What we are now seeing are these idealized images put forth in men's magazines and porn of what our vagina's should look like. And to conform to these images many of us will seek labiaplasty, hoodectomies, or other cosmetic surgeries so that we can fit in with this perceived norm.

As stated trans and natal women both question whether their vaginas look "normal". But for post operative transwomen the situation is exacerbated.

Due to their gender dysphoria many transwomen may never have been sexually intimate with a female, and thus may not have ever seen a genetic vagina. Of the vaginas that they may have seen, they may have only seen the surgically modified, photoshopped, airbrushed ones profferred by the media.

To compound their fear, many post op transwomen may wonder if their vaginas will be appealing, acceptable, and or convincing to men that they plan to be intimate with. Given that some post op women are deep stealth and do not always divulge their past, this issue becomes more pressing.

I always say that vaginas are like snow flakes, or fingerprints, with no two being identical. The odds that your vagina will look exactly like the next women are astronomical. Your labia majora, the outer labia, the larger lips of your vagina will differ, as will your labia minora, the inner labia. The size of your clitoris will vary, as will your pubic mound or mons pubis. My pubic mound is fatty due to the amount of adipose or fatty tissue I have in my pubic region, your's may not be.

Much as the amount that you will lubricate when aroused or your orgasmic capacity will vary, so too will the appearance of your vagina.

There are many in the transcommunity, both male and female who will attempt to make us feel bad about our personal decision to have gender reassignment surgery. There are those who will speak ill of our surgical results. If you truly feel a need to have further surgery on your vagina, by all means do so, but by no means feel compelled to do so because others have lead you to believe that your vagina isn't normal.

For the edification of the reader here is a link to photos of natal vaginas.

http://theipowa.org/?q=content/does-my-vagina-look-normal

Sex Change Tax Benefits

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 23:25:19 +0100

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 3, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/us/03brf...nyt&emc=rss

The United States Tax Court has ruled that a Massachusetts woman should be allowed to deduct the costs of her sex-change operation in a decision that could have wide-ranging consequences. Rhiannon O’Donnabhain, who was born a man, sued the Internal Revenue Service in 2007. The agency had disallowed a $5,000 deduction for $25,000 in medical expenses associated with the sex-change surgery, saying it was cosmetic and not medically necessary. The tax court said the I.R.S. position was rebutted by medical evidence.

Post Op Transwoman Receives An Obama Appointment

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 06:41:42 +0100

Post Op Transwoman Receives An Appointment To The Obama Administration

Amanda Simpson, a post operative transwoman has been appointed to the Department of Commerce, to their Bureau of Industry and Security as a Senior Technical Advisor, by the administration of President Obama. Ms. Simpson had previously worked for twenty-three years at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona, where she was a Director of Advanced Technology, and had transitioned on the job.

Ms. Simpson is a holder of a number of degrees and certifications: A Bachelor of Science in Physics, a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of California, and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Arizona, in addition to being a certified flight instructor and licensed pilot.

In 2004, she was recognized by the YWCA as one of their "Women on the Move". In 2005 she ran as a candidate to the Arizona House of Representatives, and in 2008 she was an at-large delegate to the Democratic National Convention. She has served on the Board of Directors of The National Center for Transgender Equality, the Southern Arizona ACLU, as well as Out & Equal.