Download Polare 96 - The Gender Centre Inc.

Issue Ninety-SixThen I was told I needed an angiogram andpossibly a stent. For those of you who don’tknow, a stent is a little tube of stainless steelmesh with a balloon inside it. It is fed up anartery to the point identified by the angiogramas a blockage and the balloon is then inflated,pushing the stent outwards and enlarging theconstricted part of the artery. The balloon iscollapsed and withdrawn and lo and behold! afunctioning heart!I was admitted to the hospital toward the end ofJune for my angiogram etc. and was interestedto find that I was to be awake throughout andcould actually watch proceeding on a largetelevision screen (black and white, not colour,boo!).Unfortunately I bent their stent, or I kinked theirlink, I’m not sure which, and the stent had to bewithdrawn and I was despatched to my ward forthe remainder of the night.The stent and angiogram tube had gone inthrough my femoral artery (in the groin) whichresulted in the world’s gaudiest bruise. I feel Ishould be known for the time being as theWoman With The Rainbow Groin.Thefollowing week I was readmitted and wentthrough the process again. This time I managedto bend the cannula they tried to put into theback of my hand (I must be eating too muchspinach, which is easy because any amount ofspinach is too much spinach). The stents,however, worked perfectly and they insertedtwo of them into my aorta.Which is a long-winded and even prolix way ofapologising for my lateness ... again. At leastyou know that now I have a good (or at least afunctioning) heart. I will try to live up to it.STOP PRESS AND BAD NEWSI have just been informed by an email from theAnti-Discrimination Board that the AttorneyGeneral intends to appeal the result of theSupreme Court decision to the High Court.What on earth possesses them to persist in thispointless pursuit of the binary gender model?Admittedly society will be affected when thePolare page 8July-September 2013binary model goes, but society was always goingto be affected by the developing recognition ofgender diversity and laws have been modified toallow transgenders to be legally recognised intheir affirmed genders and laws have beenchanged to permit Intersex people to have theirbirth certificates and passports modified to reflecttheir status.I was tempted to pull Norrie’s article and EmilyChristie’s piece from this issue, and re-write myeditorial, but I won’t. I leave them as a record ofwhat might have been and what will be, whensanity, compassion and respect for human rightsbecome the rule rather than the exception. KCSex and GenderEducation(SAGE) Needs You!SAGE is a grassroots organisationthat educates, campaigns andlobbies for the rights of all sexand gender diverse people inAustralia: transsexual,transgender, intersex,androgynous, without sex andgender identityMembership is FREE!SAGE no longer sends out printednewsletters - instead we send outoccasional news and updates via email, andalso post news items, articles anddocuments on the SAGE website.To join SAGE, and receive occasionalnews updates, go tohttp://lists.cat.org.au/mailman/lisinfo/sageand sign up to our low-volume mailing listFor more information visit our websitewww.sageaustralia.orgSAGE - campaigning for your rights!