Florida Agenda

By Rajindra Narinesingh

Unless you have been under a rock for the last week-and-a-half, I know you’ve heard about the transgender woman Oneal Ron Morris here in South Florida, who got arrested for injecting a concoction of cement, Fix-A-Flat and mineral oil into a woman’s buttocks. This story actually went viral and made international news and was on the front page of The Sun newspaper in the UK.

The woman who was injected, traveled down here to South Florida from Tampa, and paid Oneal $700 for what she thought was medical silicone injections. However, when she returned home, she ended up seriously ill in a Tampa hospital.

In recent years, there have been a number of nightmare stories of people getting seriously ill and even dying from black market silicone injections.

These stories hit very close to home for me, because I too have gotten black market silicone injections. As a matter of fact, I am one of the people that went to Ms. Morris for injections. Many transgender women end up getting black market silicone mainly because it’s a lot less expensive than going to a plastic surgeon and the results can be pretty quick. When you’re transgender, matching ones physical body with the way one feels inside becomes dire. Getting silicone injections in the T-Girl community is almost like a rite of passage.

I realize now I too could have become very ill or even died from the injections. I had injections in my face, chest, buttocks and hips.

All of my body work, so far, has been fine. However, I suffered a horrible reaction in my face especially on the left side where three huge nodules formed and had my face looking quite distorted. I also experienced a bad facial infection and an extreme amount of pain. I ended up having to have surgery to remove the tumor-like nodules. And thanks to the great work of Dr.

John J. Martin Jr. in Coral Gables, Florida, my face has improved although I continue to have to go for medical treatment.

Despite what I went through with my face overall, the black market injections did help me a great deal to feminize my look. I know that I may sound a bit contradictory but for transgender people achieving the look of the gender one feels is that important. As far as my face is concerned the injections gave me more of an oval looking face, which definitely gave me a  more feminine look.

As far as my body is concerned my breasts are what I’m most proud of. Breasts are a major part of the body that distinguishes a female from a male. There are many transgendered girls that have gotten black market silicone injection and been fine. For them, silicone has been a best friend.

Seriously though, going to someone’s house or hotel room to get injections is really rolling the dice. Most of the people administering the injections are not medically trained and you don’t know if they are using medical silicone or some sort of chemically toxic concoction. As I look at my transitional journey and the journey of my trans sisters and brothers, I know that the system needs to be revamped. Maybe if insurance companies would cover gender reassignment, trans people could transition in a safe manner!

Rajindra Narinesingh is a Transgender Activist, a writer, an actress, and a public speaker. She has her own show on Youtube called T-Talk which can be found by searching for Rajindramiami

By Rajindra Narinesingh

Two spirited people are what we are called by many of the Native American tribes. Many of the tribes at one time looked at transgender people as holy! During colonization in the 1870s and 80s the US government put pressure on the Indian nations to stop allowing the free expressions of two spirited people. However in 1886 transgender Native American, We Wha (from the Zuni Tribe), spent six months in Washington DC meeting President Grover-Cleveland and others who never realized the six-foot Indian woman was transexual. We Wha was an accomplished weaver and potter. She pased away in 1896 and was buried in a traditional Zuni’s women dress with a pair of pants underneath.

As you can see, this transgender thing is not a new phenomenon. We have been on the planet for a very long time. The very old Hindu statue of Ardhanariswara (pictured) is that of a woman with male genitalia, this provides us with  more evidence that transgenderism has been around for a long time. We too have a history. The difference now is that trans people have access to medical technology that really enables us to alter our physical bodies to match how we feel on the inside.

Transexuality is a part of nature. Just as there are males and females born, there are also transgender people born. The fact that we are present in different nationalities around the world shows that transexuality isn’t the product of culture. It’s human nature. In India, we are known as “hisras” or ”eunuchs”. In Fiji, we are called “fa afafina” (which means – like a woman). And in Thailand – “lady-boys.”

A few years ago, one of my best friends from childhood went to Pattaya, Thailand. When Brian got back, he couldn’t wait to tell me about Thai transgender people. First, he said that the population of trans people there was large. He stated it seemed every third person he saw walking in the street was trans. He also told me many of the trans people held regular jobs in the society.

As of 2008, Muslim Clerics in Iran have been more supportive of transexuals. Iran carries out more sex change operations than any other nation in the world besides Thailand. The Iranian government provides up to half the cost for those needing financial assistance, and a sex change is recognized on the birth certificate.

Then there are places like Jamaica where being LGBT can be a matter of life and death. There has been a number of reports of violence and even murders against the LGBT community there. For many years, violence against gay people was even promoted in many of the reggae songs. The song “Boom Bye Bye,” by reggae singer Buju Banton, was one of the most popular ones. The lyrics talked about shooting gay men in the head. There have also been recent reports of LGBT executions throughout Africa. Uganda even recently passed an Anti-Gay law, stating that homosexuality is illegal and if enacted, would mean being gay would be punishable by death or life imprisonment.

So as I look at different cultures around the world both then and now, it really is Trans Relative! I guess we trans Americans could be dealing with worse situations. As trans Americans, we have come a long way. Thanks to the many trans sisters and brothers that have come before us. On November 19 at the Sunshine Cathedral at 6 p.m., the Transgender Day of Remembrance Service will be held. It’s a great opportunity for us to honor the lives of transgender people that have passed away and have helped us to get to where we are today.

We as a community are making great strides and reaching bigger turning points.

President Obama appointed the first transgender person, Amanda  Simpson, to the Commerce Department at the White House and Chaz Bono’s stint on “Dancing With The Stars” really took us into mainstream America. These are major steps for our community!

For more information on transgender history, check out “Transgender Warrior” by Leslie Feinberg.

By Rajindra Narinesingh

Transgender revolution! Well more  like transgender empowerment! That is how I would describe the 2nd Annual TransCon: Justice Summit this past weekend at F.I.U. Biscayne Campus. As a transgender woman who has endured great discrimination, I have often felt alone in my plight. Getting together with other transgender people affirmed to me that I am not alone and that many of my trans sisters and brothers have had similar experiences.

Besides members of the transgender community, there were a host of trans and non-transgender advocates in attendance. Medical professionals, activist, friends and family made up the group of about 70. The two-day conference was  presented by the Aqua Foundation for women and featured a group of dynamic speakers and presenters, including Jessica Lam – Transgender Activist (who developed the idea for TransCon), Rodrigo Lehtinen, son of Congress-women Illiana Ros Lehtinen (Transgen-der Activist from Gender Justice L.A.), Holiday Simmons (Community Educator for Lambda Legal Southern Division),  Dr. Carol Clark (facilitator of the transgender support group at the Pride Center, Wilton Manors), C.J. Otoma (Executive Director of Save Dade), Carrington “Rusty” Mead Esq. (dealing with LGBT legal issues), Daniel Redman (N.C.L.R. head of LGBT Elder advocacy), Dr. Christopher Estes (board certified Gynecologist and member of the University of Miami Center for Aesthetic and Corrective Genital Surgery), Jody Marksamer (who overseas N.C.L.R.’s  policy and advocacy work), Dr. Marilyn Volker (well known transgender counseler and has been a pioneer in the field of transgender studies), and 11-year-old Jazz – transgender male-to-female who was featured on the Barbara Walters  special with transgender children and played the principle role of my niece in the all-trans cast movie “Bella Maddo”.

Quite a number of topics concerning our community were covered. The presenters from NCLR referenced the “Injustice at Every Turn” report in which over five thousand transgender people were surveyed regarding their experiences with discrimination. The results produced some sad and disturbing statistics in the areas of health care, housing and employment discrimination. Overall, the entire conference was extremely informative. I was very enlightened to learn about some of the new laws regarding our community.

In speaking to other trans people at the conference, they too seem to really appreciate the legal information. I had no idea that in 2010, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that medical treatment (i.e. hormones, surgery, etc.) for gender identity is tax deductible. And here in the State of Florida, a trans person can now get the gender marker changed on their driver’s license by taking a medical affidavit signed by their physician, social security card, your old state ID and two pieces of mail with your current address to the driver’s license office.

The workshop “Building Leaders in Our Community” presented by Gender Justice and Save Dade provided a wealth of information on putting the activism into action. And gave effective ways on how our community can rally together to win the changes we want.
For a 40-something trans woman like me, who often times feels like 80-something, this conference was a breath of fresh air. A transgender life can be a  very challenging one. And after many years of advocacy work for the LGBT community, lately I had begun to feel  like a lot of it had been in vain. I left this conference with a renewed spirit, truly feeling empowered.

Eleven-year-old Jazz really confirmed for me the importance of my advocacy work, and that all of us LGBT adults have a responsibility to pave the way for future LGBT generations. Just as we stand on the shoulders of the ones that came before us, we all play an important role in our liberty. None of our efforts are in vain!

For more information on the TransCon conference, visit the Aqua Foundation online at www.aquafoundation.org