| How do I know so much about Gender anyway?
I am not transgender myself -- not in the binary sense of wanting to transition from female to male. But I have always questioned traditional gender rules. I read Ms. Magazine at the tender age of 12 - I have the first issue with Wonder Woman on the cover in my office.
In my twenties, I played with gender expression - I shaved only one arm pit and sported what I thought of as a masculine/feminine haircut, which I now sheepishly recognize as a "mullet." These days, you might call my presentation non-binary - back then, we called it "androgynous." Either way, I did not let myself be confined by society's ideas of who I should be, even when people thought I was a guy in drag.
Back in 1995, I conducted a two-semester research project on "crossdressers" at Kutztown University. While most of the journal articles I found at the time gave a distorted and incomplete picture of gender issues, I discovered a different story in the heartfelt letters the respondents sent me.
Ten years later, I rebooted my interest in gender hen I dicovered that a family member assigned male at birth identified as female. As I learned more, I resolved to share this information with other families.
Dr. Lisa O'Connor, a hormone doctor who founded Health Transitions, acted as a menotr, assigning books for me to read and consulting with me on cases. I continued learning by listening to my clients, attending conferences such as the Philadelphia Wellness Conference, the Gender Conference East, Garden State Equality and others. After a few years, I started presenting at conferences, schools, hospitals, and doctors' offices.
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Transgender Resources
Click for a list of doctors in North Jersey area and nearby Pennsylvania and New York who prescribe hormones to transgender individuals.
The Institute for Personal Growth, which has locations in Jersey City, Highland Park and Freehold, NJ, posts a comprehensive Transgender Resource Guide which lists 60 pages of resources, including Advocacy, Crossgender supplies, Electrolysis, Legal Services, Support Groups, and Vocal Coaching.
GROUPS
Sponsors youth groups, parties, proms, arts and cultural programs, rides to Pride Marches and other events. Check out their Facebook page.
is a social and educational group for gender-fluid/gender-creative and transgender youth and their parents. The group offers a safe space for gender-fluid children and teens to be completely themselves and for parents to share their challenges, joys and questions. This project is fully funded by North Jersey Pride.
Transgender Family Support group in Somerville. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset and The Pride Center of New Jersey have launched this group to help spouses, partners and adult children better understand, accept and cope with their transgender family members.
CONFERENCES:
The Philadelphia Trans-Wellness Conference offers workshops and networking events for transgender individuals and their allies, families, and providers for free. This year the conference will take place August 2 to 4, 2018.
The Gender Conference East offers a safe space for children and youth across the gender spectrum, as well as their families and the professionals working with them. While parents go to workshops, kids can do creative play activities that allow them to express their gender.
DOWNLOADABLE BROCHURES:
The Standards of Care describes the criteria doctors generally require patients to meet in order to be considered for Hormone Replacement Therapy or Sex Reassignment Surgery.
Parents of transgender children should be advised that today's recommendations on how to treat gender variant children are different than the recommendations made in the 1970s. Despite the Free to Be You and Me program, parents were told to allow their children only "gender appropriate toys, dress and activities." This practice is now considered to be harmful. Margie Nichols, Ph.D. explains the change in approaches in this essay.
The Family Acceptance Program offers on-line brochures describing how families can help support their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) children. These family education booklets have been designated as a “Best Practice” resource for suicide prevention for LGBT people by the national Best Practices Registry for Suicide Prevention.
Schools in Transition brochures, developed by The National Education Association, the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Campaign, Gender Spectrum and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, outline the best practices in supporting Transgender Students in School.
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