Nashville considers sexual orientation ordinance - Out & About ...

26 • OUT & ABOUT NASHVILLE • JANUARY, 2003
O&AN
by Big Daddy Darrell
O&AN contributor
LIVING
Big Daddy shows you how to cook in the new year right
Hello and welcome to a New Year of cooking with Big
Daddy. With a New Year usually comes a new resolution
and if yours is dieting then I have some great recipes just
for you.
Baked Chicken
4 skinless breast (boneless)
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 slices onion
1 stalk celery (chopped)
salt and pepper
1 pkg. wild rice
1 tbs. corn starch
Prepare rice per directions (set aside)
Salt and pepper breasts, place in baking dish and add
1/2 cup water.
by Pamela DeGroff
O&AN Contributing Writer
Discrimination is
a word our community
is all too familiar
with. Many of us in
the GLBT family
have had to deal with
harassment on the
job, and sometimes
even the loss of our
employment. Some
DeGroff
have had to deal with
unfair housing practices, which sounds
more like something out of the 1960s civil
rights era.
Still others have experienced problems
with what is known as public accommodation,
or the right to be in a public place
without facing hostility.
Space doesn't permit a discussion of
hate crimes, parental rights, partner benefits,
or persecution from our religious
institutions. We're all familiar, too familiar,
with all of the above.
There are still those in the gay/lesbian
world who feel that the Transgender part
of GLBT doesn't share the same concerns
as the rest of the community. They couldn't
be more wrong.
Two events recently, one public and the
other private, help to illustrate different
levels of experience within the transgender
community.
On Nov. 20 members of Nashville's
Tennessee Vals conducted a Day of
Remembrance service at the Unity Church
Place sliced onion on the breast and cover dish tightly,
cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. After breasts are
done cooking in a small sauce pan, pour the juice from
the chicken and add the carrots, celery and let cook until
tender. In a cup take 1/3 cup water and 1 tbs. corn starch
and mix well pour in pot and using a wire wisk stir until
smooth. Place breast on a bed of rice and cover with
sauce. If wild rice is not for you, then you can use white
rice. Serve with a salad and a low-fat dressing, and
rolls. Time to prepare this meal is about 1 hour and it
is delicious.
Frozen Cranberry Conjelled Salad
2 boxes cranberry Jello (sugar-free)
1/2 cup cranberries (frozen or fresh)
2 cups Cool Whip
1 small orange (sliced)
Prepare jello per instructions, add cranberries
and refrigerate until jello starts to gel then add Cool
An example of transgender discrimination
on Franklin Road. Nationwide, this was
the fourth annual commemoration of
Transgender victims of hate crimes, but it
was the first time the T.Vals participated.
The service was low-key, even somber
at times. There were presentations of statistics
detailing the extent of violence
against TG people, dating back to the
1970s. There was a candle lighting ceremony
as well as live music. Perhaps the
most emotional part of the evening, however,
was the reading of the names of local
individuals who died as a result of transrelated
violence. Of the nine names mentioned,
two died of suicide, and two were
non-trans people who were either associated
or thought to be associated with transgender
individuals.
Channel 4 sent a reporter and cameraman
to cover the service, and they were
respectful enough not to film anyone who
might not wish to be "outed" during the
service. Although the reporter was highly
professional and did ask intelligent questions
of those she did interview, the final
story as aired later left something to be
desired because of the inclusion of one
very slanted point of view. More on this
later, perhaps.
The aforementioned private incident
involves a Transgender individual who has
faced medical discrimination from one of
Nashville's hospitals. Because this particular
incident might have certain legal ramifications,
the names of the medical facility
or medical personnel involved cannot be
used. Bridgette, the 40-something trans
person involved, has written a detailed
account of the situation, has consulted an
attorney, and has even approached
Equality Tennessee for their input.
What should have been a routine examination
turned into an extremely embarrassing
and stressful situation. As with
most cross dressers, Bridgette shaves her
entire body. The nurse who took
Bridgette's blood pressure and administered
an EKG made note of this fact, but
went beyond mere curiosity to ask some
extremely pointed, personal questions, and
then proceed to tell the rest of the nursing
staff in the office about what she perceived
as a threat.
Upon leaving the office, Bridgette was
subjected to stares, rude comments, and
even laughter by the assembled nursing
staff. "Apparently, the nurses approached
the doctor and complained about me as a
possible risk," Bridgette said.
"Together...the doctor and his staff decided
I shouldn't be a patient of his any
longer."
Being a person with diabetes, Bridgette
is extremely concerned about the possibility
of not having the availability of medical
treatment over the holiday season
should the need arise. She was finally able
to reach the doctor by phone a few days
later to explain her situation and to assert
that she is not a risk to the staff. She
knows that their main concern was that
she might be HIV positive.
"I felt compelled to explain that I am
transgendered," she said. "He replied that
there is '...no such thing.' He said he
doesn't understand these sort of things,
Whip using a wire whip, beat in Cool Whip. Place in
freezer until frozen, and cut into squares and serve on a
lettuce leaf with a slice of orange. Any other fruit can be
used.
Thank you for trying my recipes and if you need any
suggestions or have any, just e-mail me.
Have a great New Year. �
and does not wish to have contact with
these issues."
Through her attorney, Bridgette learned
that the medical facility in question takes
the official view that a "doctor has the
right to decline a patient based on criteria
he or she deems germane." She was further
informed that the facility's legal
department "took an aggressive stance
against my claim and threatened me with a
lawsuit."
The only concession offered was a cancellation
of account balances owed to both
the facility and the doctor in question.
Bridgette has had further negative experiences
with this same hospital. Her elderly
father was treated in a very unethical
manner by the facility's ER right before
his death. "Over the past year, I have
heard first-hand accounts from the indigent
poor, blacks, Hispanics and may
other minorities outlining the same pattern
of indifferent behavior," she said. "They
have a developing history of callousness
and detachment with all sorts of minorities,
be it gender, sexual preference, economic,
or ethnic."
For the female to male segment of the
Transgender community, medical indifference
is nothing new. T-Men, as they preferred
to be known, experience harsh
treatment at almost every turn when dealing
with the medical establishment. The
effects of testosterone on T-Men make
many so passable they're never even given
a second glance. But since the cost of sur-
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