——<:*"..“'.‘.<.' '* "rr IIYBER SHARK by milri llinmas Transgendered Web Resources promised I would high- light some of the trans- gender sites available on the Web, but I wound up sick just before deadline. However, 1 do eventually deliver on promises and/or threats, so what follows are some of the best sites I found for information on the “T” in GLBT. I n my November column, I enjoyed doing the research for this month’s column. I was blown away by the amount of information available on the Web on the transgender community.‘ Given how overwhelmed I felt, I figured the best approach was to _visit a few resource sites. _ The first one I came across was Christy’s Place. Transhistory Lily Tomlin www.li|ytomlin.com Christy's Place www.newbies.netId1risty TG Resouces www.tgnall.comlinfoIRsrc HoT LINKS The Intemafional journal of Transgenderism wvvw.synposion.comlijt Transgendered Christian Resource homel .gu. The Tnmsgender Enployment I.iri(s wvv\nI.cris.com/~Merkinslresom'ces Butch-Femme.Com www.butdi-femne.com American Boyz www.netgsi.com.'-amboyzl l have to admit that I do not know much about issues affecting the transgender community, which is why I Christy describes her site as a “transgender resource megasite,” and she isn’t bragging. Click on any icon and you are greeted to a plethora of sites for TG chats, Web rings, support groups, and hormone infor- mation. However, the focus of this site is mostly Male to Female (MtF). TG Resources is a huge resource list ‘from Transgender Forum. The site offers two searchable databases for support groups and resources aswell as a listing of sites grouped in commercial, non-'commer- cial, political and news- group categories. ‘ . Transhistory is another great resource site; it offers articles and site listings on transgender history, organi- zations, and medical resources. For a more schol- arly look at the subject, M check out The International ‘ Journal of Transgenderism, an online quarterly that is peer-reviewed. In addition to full text articles and abstracts, there are some al aside — but accepting Bardo on literary terms isn’t such a leap if one can accept the fol- lowing sentence: Doesn ’t every life unfold, one possibility at a time, only to reveal that all possibilities were present all along? Reading Bardo l was reminded of two other fine novels: Mark Merlis’s American Stua'ies"and Dale Peck’s Martin and John. Bardo resembles American Studies in that it involves a bed-ridden man reassessing his life. Structurally, it’s more in keep- ing with Martin and John, in which characters with the same names are viewed from myriad perspectives, and certain small details are repeated over and over until they acquire an almost hypnotic power. While not quite up to the level of those essential gay readings, Bardo, at its best — which, ironically, is often when Kraus’s prose is most pared down — has a hypnotic power and honestyof its own. It con- tains some of the most dis- turbingly erotic scenes I’ve read recently, and some of the most plainly tender. The novel, comprised of so many dis- parate elements, never quite coheres ~ if it was meant to - but there are a number of scenes worth returning to, just as Kraus does, just as we all might if we are fortunate and strong enough to re-envision our existence in the state known as bardo. V January 2000 I Out in the Mountains I27 classic books on the subject available for free at the site. When I switched my research from general trans- gender resource sites "to more specific sites, I came across topics that, for some reason, never occurred to me as relevant to the lives of transgender individuals. Of course, in retrospect, it seems obvious that they would. Take spirituality, for instance. Of course there are spiritual concerns among transgenders! Among the Web sites addressing those concerns is the Transgendered Christian Resource. Its focus is pri- marily on the community in Tampa, Florida, which is especially reflected in the links page, but there are some interesting features such as the “inspirational messages” from Pastor Calvin Tate, “online clergy.” Employment is another concern. The Transgender Employment Links offers articles on transitioning on the job, diversity training, and transgender-friendly employers. In case you think that there are no Web sources specifically for FtM (female to male) people, there’s the American Boyz site American Boyz is a nation- wide organization for FtMs, drag kings, butches, and their allies. Its Web site offers articles and links of interest to FtMs. However, some of the links are out of date or dead ends. An excellent web site along similar lines is Butch- Femme.Com. It’s dedicated to butches and femmes and it features a FAQ, forums, email groups, and resources. It is a wonderful page and it isa must see even if you are neither butch nor femme. This is simply a sampler of what’s available on the Web for transgender people. However, as I quickly found out, many of these sites are also great resources for those of us who want to learn more about a commu- nity that has until fairly recently been mostly on the back burner in the struggle for civil rights. FYI Lily Tomlin is God! I was among the many lucky indi- viduals who caught her when she hit the state with her show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe. If you missed her — or if you are like me and simply can’t get enough of her - check out her Web site. It is a wonderful site, with graphics of her many characters as well as pho- tographs from her childhood and early career sprinkled liberally throughout. I guar- antee you’ll want to spend hours perusing this site. 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