DOCSLIB.ORG

“I Moved from a Home That I Shared with a Wife Whom I Loved.”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“I Moved from a Home That I Shared with a Wife Whom I Loved.” Exclusive Catherine FindingMcGREGOR “I moved the from a home that I shared with a wife whom I PHOTOGRAPHY by KRISTINA SOLJO • STYLING by MATTIE CRONAN loved.” realeeting Cate McGregor, me the first thing you notice She was the world’s highest ranking transgender is her gentle bygone era elegance. Cate is tall with military officer and after seven years transitioning beauty salon grooming and a lot of sacrifice, Cate McGregor is finally Mand a chic dress sense. Behind the tailored exterior, there’s a tentative happy in her skin, she tells Juliet Rieden. ‘I can’t believe I’m here’ vulnerability, but then the whip smart intellect kicks of international competition cricket to express myself, there was an awful in and this extraordinary, courageous, evaporate. “I suspect I appeared lot of grief.” deep-thinking former Group Captain in happier and better adjusted than I was, Cate had spent her whole life fighting the Royal Australian Air Force cannot but I think I probably was in full-on an inner turmoil that unpicked the very help but take centre stage and shine. survival mode. A lot of the reality sank heart of her being. Externally she was a It’s five years since Cate first spoke to in years later. With hindsight I should super fit, high-functioning member of The Weekly. It was a pivotal interview have let my transition settle more the armed forces, publicly admired and in the early days of her gender before I went public, both in terms of successful. But internally she was falling transition from Malcolm, decorated the physiology of it and having more apart and felt compelled to embark on army officer, married man, cricket grasp of what I was going through,” the most cataclysmic journey of her commentator and political adviser, to says Cate who admits that while the life even though she knew it was likely Catherine, the trans woman she says story gave her confidence, it also to crush everything she held dear. she was always “meant to be”. sparked a backlash she hadn’t foreseen. “I had got to a point with the To come out from the shadows of a “The fact is, I was pretty traumatised. [gender] dysphoria that I couldn’t have lifetime in the wrong body in the pages There was a lot of public abuse and lived any other way, but there have been of Australia’s most iconic women’s vitriol directed through social media substantial losses.” The most distressing magazine was the stuff of dreams for and there was also plenty of fame and was the collapse of her marriage. Cate. “It helped me to feel that my adulation suddenly thrust on me and “I moved from a home that I shared claim to function socially as a woman I had no road map for that. I’d gone with a wife whom I loved into a single was not totally insane.” But, sadly, it from having a fairly normal anonymous bedroom apartment,” Cate explains in also heralded the start of a traumatic life doing my work in the military and quiet, measured tones, trying not to give journey which took Cate to the verge happily married, to being relatively well in to the emotion that engulfs her every of suicide, wrecked the most important known fairly quickly and despite the time she talks about her ex-wife. relationship in her life and saw her fact that I had a certain amount of In 1995 Cate – then Malcolm – met beloved connection with the world experience at surviving and being able Tritia. They wed in 2001. It was a → THROUGHOUT. CUTTON PERRI WEARS CATE POWELL. SAMANTHA BY MAKE-UP AND HAIR 44 The Australian Women’s Weekly | JULY 2019 JULY 2019 | The Australian Women’s Weekly 45 Exclusive blissful union which for a while papered with conflict and deeply distressed. and I’ve had a history of alcohol Lovers and haters over the cracks of what was later I couldn’t see a way forward and I just abuse a long time ago. I haven’t had a Cate’s transition is now complete and diagnosed as classic gender dysphoria. wanted to go to sleep and not wake up. drink for nearly 30 years. But I got at 63 she feels she’s arrived. A few The marriage was the first and most There were two things that intervened habituated on sedatives for a while months ago she received a deeply painful casualty of Cate’s new identity. – one was some cricket friends who and had trouble stopping them, poignant letter from fellow trans Tritia had no idea what the man she “This is who didn’t know there was anything wrong including around surgery time. I put woman Amanda Taylor, who had read had married was going through. “It but insisted I come to dinner. And then them down but coming off sedation Cate’s story in The Weekly when she was the last thing she expected. She I am, it’s who I met Rahul Dravid [a former captain can be quite challenging, too.” was sent it by a concerned friend. had no inkling,” says Cate. “There was of India’s cricket team] and we had To her delight, Cate began to develop Amanda was contemplating suicide nothing effeminate about me. I wasn’t I’m meant this happenstance meeting that was a bust and buttocks, her shape softened and says the story saved her life. “The a cross-dresser and I didn’t have secret extremely influential. I went home and she saw a light at the end of the impact was instantly so profound it wardrobes. I’d experimented with my to be.” and flushed the pills away.” tunnel. “It felt really wonderful, deeply was life changing,” Amanda tells me. gender younger, a long time before The process of transitioning gender is gratifying and I was very fortunate that “Catherine and my stories had so many I met her, and walked away from the strictly regulated and takes years. “In it seemed to work reasonably well.” similarities, but there were some distinct process back in the ’80s. I thought, it’s my first year and a bit, once the psychs For the first time in her life Cate felt differences: Catherine had forged ahead not an option, I can’t do this, you’ve concluded that I didn’t have any other that her external body matched her and acted on her gender dysphoria (and just got to get on with it.” indicated conditions – I wasn’t schizoid, internal self. “You hear the Christian come out the other side with respect Looking back, Cate can see that her I wasn’t bipolar, I wasn’t hallucinating, Lobby and others going on about and dignity) where I was defeated and embrace of a macho world, as a crack it wasn’t a dissociative disorder, it was sex change regret and they wheel out ready to give in.” The two have now soldier, an accomplished sportsman a pretty textbook case of gender incredibly isolated instances. I know met and Amanda credits Catherine and a political dynamo, was part of dysphoria – I started oestrogen thousands of trans people now and with turning her life around. her way of eclipsing her femininity. treatment which feminises the body. the incidence of trans regret, gender Cate is used to getting letters – some But in November 2011, suffering from “The thing that people don’t talk reassignment regret or sex change from fans but also hate mail. The acute depression and anxiety, Cate’s about very much, and it can sound regret, is infinitesimal compared with haters largely choose the cowardly feelings of being trapped in the wrong insensitive to born women is the those who are fulfilled and happy. anonymity of social media to voice body took hold with what she hormonal process. Injecting huge “In my case, I just think, this is who their bile. “My impulse control is poor describes as “an incredible intensity”. amounts of hormones into someone I am, it’s who I’m meant to be. I think and I shouldn’t have got dragged into “I thought, I’ve been here before who’s assigned male at birth and it’s abundantly clear and people who the fights I got into on social media and this will probably blow over so they look male; you go through an knew me, people who see me now, with a lot of these idiots,” confesses don’t alarm Tritia or say anything adjustment period and you’re quite can see I’m more fulfilled and more Cate. “Their behaviour is appalling but about it. But I was in dire straits. I’d hormonal at periods. I had no idea centred and more present than I ever it doesn’t mean I have to respond and lost weight and I wasn’t sleeping. She why I was so emotional and it took was. They can see the essential I no longer do. I’m happy living my life [Tritia] knew that something was a while for that to even out. The rightness in this.” as I am and they can rant and rave and deeply wrong and, in her mind, endocrinologists don’t prepare you The next step was gender reassignment call me a man and use my male name thought that I was probably grappling Both of us were conscious that we were people – and there are many, particularly for that. They’re very conscious of surgery. “It took a while to make up my as much as they like; but I’m winning.” with some kind of repressed memory.” trying to keep something alive between in the Christian Lobby, who continually heightened risk of breast cancer and mind.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Defence Week Premium Edition
    ISSUE 562 NEWS | INTELLIGENCE | BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES | EVENTS DEFENCE WEEK PREMIUM EDITION PTE Levi Wauchope of NORFORCE’s Darwin squadron supporting COL Papalitsas at the summit. ABC NEWS: ALEX TIGHE The north is getting busier IN THIS ISSUE The north is getting busier 1 Ewen Levick | Darwin NZ brings in updated procurement rules 4 ADM’s seventh annual Northern Australia Defence The Pacific slip up? 5 summit took place in Darwin this week, attract- Penten partners with CSIRO ing close to 200 delegates and a range of speakers on cyber defences 8 to discuss growing changes to the military and Jeumont Electric tapped for Attack class propulsion 10 industry outlook for Australia’s north. New seminars to boost This year’s highlights included NT Chief Minister opportunities for SMEs 11 Michael Gunner, RFSG Commander Colonel John Forthcoming Events 13 Papalitsas, Defence Export Advocate David Johnston, Marine Corps Attaché Lieutenant Colonel Robert Burrell, US Force Posture Initiative Director Brigadier Mark Brewer, Defence’s Director of US Alliance Policy Mikaela James, and former Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne. Minister Gunner opened proceedings with an overview of Darwin and the NT’s strategic value for Australia, including as an ingress and egress for power projec- tion on and around the Australian continent. “I am here to support the case for the north, highlighting our significance as a www.australiandefence.com.au | Defence Week Premium 25 OCTOBER 2019 | ISSUE 562 | 1 ADM’s Defence Week Premium Edition This publication is copyright and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publisher.
    [Show full text]
  • Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leaders
    2018 Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leaders In 2016, Deloitte released Australia’s first list of 50 LGBTI Executives, with the purpose of providing visible business role models to LGBTI Australians of all ages. This year, Deloitte is collaborating with Google to celebrate our Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leaders of 2018. Together, we are extremely proud to be recognising the many role models in business, beyond traditional large corporate organisations. We have taken an inclusive approach to include remarkable leaders from the public sector, government and small to medium-sized businesses alongside those in traditional corporate roles. For more on our Outstanding 50 LGBTI leaders of 2018 please visit www.deloitte.com/au/out50 2018 #out50 03 04 Message from Cindy Hook 08 Feyi Akindoyeni 46 Virginia Lovett 11 Dean Allright 49 Denise Lucero 06 Message from Jason Pellegrino 14 Andrew Barr MLA 50 Graeme Mason 15 Simone Bartley 51 Matthew McCarron 08 Profiles and interviews 16 Mark Baxter 52 Jennifer Morris 20 Nicole Brennan 53 Jude Munro AO 84 Our alumni 21 Councillor Tony Briffa JP 54 Rachel Nicolson 24 David Brine 55 Steve Odell 89 Diversity and inclusion 25 John Caldwell 56 Lisa Paul AO PSM 27 Magali De Castro 57 Luke Pellegrini 30 Emma Dunch 61 Neil Pharaoh 31 Cathy Eccles 62 Janet Rice 32 Luci Ellis 63 Anthony Schembri 33 Tiziano Galipo 64 Tracy Smart 34 Mark Gay 65 Dean Smith 35 Alasdair Godfrey 66 Jarther Taylor 36 Dr Cassandra Goldie 67 Michael Tennant 37 Matthew Groskorth 68 Amy Tildesley 39 Manda Hatter 69 Sam Turner 40 Jane Hill 74 Tea Uglow 41 Dawn Hough 75 Louis Vega 42 Steve Jacques 76 Tess Walsh 43 Leigh Johns OAM 79 Benjamin Wash 44 David Jones 80 Lisa Watts Contents 45 Jason Laufer 83 Penny Wong 04 2018 #out50 2018 #out50 05 Message from Cindy Hook, Chief involvement in bringing this next list of Executive Officer, Deloitte Australia: One of dynamic LGBTI Leaders into the public eye.
    [Show full text]
  • Reviewed Article International Journal of Gender, Sexuality and Law
    Reviewed Article International Journal of Gender, Sexuality and Law “There are only two genders – male and female…”1 An Analysis of Online Responses to Tasmania Removing ‘Gender’ from Birth Certificates Louise Richardson-Self2 Abstract This article details and analyses some of the public online response to the Tasmanian Government’s decision to make the recording of gender on birth certificates an opt-in process. Tasmania is the first jurisdiction in Australia to make such a change, which aims to simplify the legal processes involved in affirming a person’s gender identity (including agender and non-binary status). The data set is comprised of comments posted on Facebook in response to The Australian newspaper’s coverage of this event; The Australian is Australia’s only truly national daily broadsheet. This article argues that the effect of this overwhelmingly negative ciscentric response, as revealed by the aesthetic of this digital social space, is the generation of an impression of Australians as trans- (and intersex-) averse. This risks undermining the basic good of assurance that transgender and intersex people ought to have: an assurance that they can inhabit public spaces and be treated with dignity and respect (cf. Waldron). To prevent this kind of hostile response in the future, we must find a way to communicate and make resonant to the general public what queer and feminist theorists have been arguing for quite some time: that sex and gender are not synonymous and that both gender and sex are social constructs. Keywords Birth Certificates; Online Comments; Hate Speech; LGBTI Issues; Cissexism Biography Dr Louise Richardson-Self is a feminist philosopher and Lecturer in Philosophy and Gender Studies at the University of Tasmania.
    [Show full text]
  • UNE Postgraduate Conference 2017
    UNE Postgraduate Conference 2017 ‘Intersections of Knowledge’ 17-18 January 2017 Conference Proceedings Postgraduate Conference Conference Proceedings “Intersections of Knowledge” UNE Postgraduate Conference 2017 17th and 18th January 2017 Resource Management Building University of New England Acknowledgement Phillip Thomas – UNE Research Services Co-chair and convenor Postgraduate Conference Organising Committee: – Stuart Fisher (Co-Chair) Eliza Kent, Grace Jeffery, Emma Lockyer, Bezaye Tessema, Kristal Spreadborough, Kerry Gleeson, Marguerite Jones, Anne O’Donnell-Ostini, Rubeca Fancy, Maximillian Obiakor, Jane Michie, John Cook, Sanaz Alian, Julie Orr, Vivek Nemane, Nadiezhda Ramirez Cabral. Back row left to right: Stuart Fisher, Julie Orr, Vivek Nemane, Philip Thomas, Maximillian Obiakor Front row left to right: Emma Lockyer, Bezaye Tessema, Nadiezhda Ramirez Cabral, Kerry Gleeson, Kristal Spreadborough, Rubeca Fancy, Anne O’Donnell-Ostini, Grace Jeffery. Absent: Eliza Kent, Marguerite Jones, John Cook, Jane Michie, UNE Areas: IT Training, Research Services, Audio-Visual Support, Marketing and Public Relations, Corporate Communications, Strategic Projects Group, School of Science and Technology, VC’s Unit, Workforce Strategy, Information Technology Directorate and Development Unit. Sponsor: UNE Life, University of New England Student Association (UNESA) Research creates knowledge and when we share what we have discovered we create rich intersections that self-generate new thinking, ideas and actions within and across networks. With
    [Show full text]
  • The Logics of Social News: How Buzzfeed, Junkee, and Pedestrian.Tv Are Making News More Engaging, Sociable, and Personal
    The Logics of Social News: How BuzzFeed, Junkee, and Pedestrian.tv are Making News More Engaging, Sociable, and Personal Edward Hurcombe BA(Hons). University of Melbourne Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Communication Creative Industries Faculty Queensland University of Technology 2019 ii Keywords BuzzFeed Junkee Pedestrian.tv News Journalism Digital journalism Audience engagement Sharing Personalisation Sociability Popular culture Social media Platforms Textual analysis Social media analytics iii Abstract In recent years, disruptive digital technologies, monopolising platforms, fragmented and partisan news publics, and failing revenue streams have led to growing concerns regarding the health of journalism. Yet a number of commercially successful news outlets, that share common stylistics and operate in similar ways, have arisen from these developments. Journalism researchers, however, currently lack categories in which understand and evaluate these outlets. In response, this thesis proposes, conceptualises, and illustrates the emerging genre of “social news”, comprising specific forms and practices that are recognisably journalistic yet deeply embedded in the everyday cultures of social media platforms and the broader Internet. Specifically, it examines three exemplary Australian born- digital publications – BuzzFeed Oz News, Junkee, and Pedestrian.tv. These outlets are critically evaluated using a mixed methods approach that combines textual analysis of content and self-representational
    [Show full text]
  • Research Bank Pride in Defence : the Australian Military and LGBTI
    Research Bank Book Pride in defence : The Australian military and LGBTI service since 1945 Riseman, Noah and Robinson, Shirleene This is an accepted manuscript version made available by permission of the authors and Melbourne University Press. First published 2020. Text © Noah Riseman and Shirleene Robinson, 2020. All rights reserved. Riseman, N. and Robinson, S. (2020). Pride in Defence: The Australian Military and LGBTI Service since 1945. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. https://www.mup.com.au/books/pride-in-defence-paperback-softback p i: half title Pride in Defence p ii: blank p iii: title page Pride in Defence The Australian Military and LGBTI Service Since 1945 Noah Riseman and Shirleene Robinson [insert MUP logo bottom of page, centre] page iv MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY PRESS An imprint of Melbourne University Publishing Limited Level 1, 715 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia [email protected] www.mup.com.au First published 2020 Text © Noah Riseman and Shirleene Robinson, 2020 Design and typography © Melbourne University Publishing Limited, 2020 This book is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means or process whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publishers. Every attempt has been made to locate the copyright holders for material quoted in this book. Any person or organisation that may have been overlooked or misattributed may contact the publisher.
    [Show full text]
  • Women Speak Tasmania
    WOMEN SPEAK TASMANIA WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND TRANSGENDER LAW REFORM In recent years, ‘gender’ and ‘gender identity’ have become a feature of anti-discrimination law in Australia at both the federal and state levels. Transgender rights proponents are now lobbying for radical changes to the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 (Tas) that will enable transgender persons to change the sex marker on their birth certificate on the basis on self-identification alone. Local transgender rights group, Transforming Tasmania, is even advocating that ‘gender markers’ be removed from birth certificates entirely. Women Speak Tasmania is developing a series of policies addressing all aspects of the trans right debate. Initially, we have proposed policies dealing with the issue of ‘gender’ and ‘gender’ identity as protected characteristics in anti-discrimination law, and the suggested changes to the law regulating birth certificates put forward by trans rights group. Our policies provide a solution to the confusion surrounding the terms ‘gender’ and ‘gender identity’ and protect the integrity of the historical record contained in birth certificates, as they are now recorded. The draft policies for Tasmania are as follows – ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW POLICY • ‘Biological sex’ to replace ‘gender’ in the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) as a protected characteristic, with definitions of ‘biological sex’ and ‘intersex’. • New part of Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) titled ‘Discrimination on the Basis of ‘Biological Sex’ – discrimination not permitted, with exemptions for female or male biological sex specific services, facilities, groups and sports where it is in the best interests of those of either female or male biological sex to have exclusive access to those sex specific services, facilities, groups or sports, including the right to safety, free association and fair competition.
    [Show full text]
  • Impacts of Transactivism on the Human Rights of Women and Girls
    Impacts of Transactivism on the Human Rights of Women and Girls Acknowledgment of graphics: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2 and http://www.debutart.com/artist/alex- williamson/transgender -the-newyorker Impacts of transactivism on the human rights of women and girls Contents 1. Introduction 2. Impact on Safety a. Loss of women’s safe spaces b. Impact on women’s prisons c. Skewing of crime statistics 3. Impact on Gender Inequities a. Impact on women’s participation in sport and culture b. Erasure of lesbian community 4. Impact on Reproductive Rights a. Dangers of hormone interventions on children 5. Conclusion 1 Impacts of transactivism on the human rights of women and girls 1. Introduction and background Within Australia there is a mounting campaign for transgender people to be able to alter the sex stated on their birth certificates, even without having had gender reassignment surgery or having to obtain a court approval.1 The ACT2 and South Australia3 have been the first to introduce legislation with this effect. However, the Victorian Parliament narrowly voted down a similar bill following a speech by the MP Louise Staley opposing it on feminist grounds – rejecting the idea as ‘postmodern mumbo jumbo’ and an example of ‘mansplaining, telling women what really makes a woman’.4 Similar measures have also been suggested in the United Kingdom, where a Parliamentary Women and Equalities Committee has recommended a simple online form procedure for change of gender.5 This procedure is available to all individuals even if they have not undergone gender reassignment surgery, and has also been criticised by MPs as having ‘a profound impact on the rights of others to maintain sex-based boundaries, protections and rights’.6 Tension in relation to transgenderism has also been evident in the anxiety surrounding the Safe Schools Program.7 This opposition extends beyond the Christian lobby and conservative forces.
    [Show full text]
  • The Australian Workplace Equality Index (Awei) 33
    CONTENTS CELEBRATING10 YEARS OF PRIDE IN DIVERSITY 1 President of ACON Dr. Justin Koonin, CEO Nic Parkhill 2 Director Dawn Hough 4 Pride Inclusion Programs Team 2020 6 Our Patrons, Past & Present 11 THE BIRTH OF A PROGRAM 19 Program Beginnings 20 THE AUSTRALIAN WORKPLACE EQUALITY INDEX (AWEI) 33 Launch of the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) 34 10 years of AWEI Results & Recognition 42 Small Employer Gold Achievements 53 10 Years of Achievement Awards 54 PRIDE IN DIVERSITY IN ACTION 67 10 Years of Key Initiatives 75 THE BIRTH OF TWO NEW PRIDE INCLUSION PROGRAMS 85 Pride In Sport 86 Pride In Health + Wellbeing 89 RESPONDING TO COVID-19 91 LOOKING AHEAD: NEXT 5 YEARS FOR PRIDE IN DIVERSITY 93 A THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS 97 In our work with Pride in Diversity in Australia we should, without delay, be considering how we can help Australian and other multinational companies to take the lead in neighbouring regions. To spread the word that homophobia and transphobia are bad for business and bad for human rights. Increasingly, we must look beyond Australia. We should insist on equality in our own country. But we should also reach out to promote and support equality and good example beyond our borders. Pride in Diversity’s message must reach the four corners of the planet. THE HON. MICHAEL KIRBY AC CMG CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF PRIDE IN DIVERSITY While many will remember 2020 ACON’S as a year of upheaval and change, we hope to remember it also as a PRESIDENT time to honour Pride in Diversity’s AND CEO extraordinary achievements over the past ten years.
    [Show full text]
  • Entertaining Australian Troops at War in Afghanistan and Iraq
    128 Richard Gehrmann University of Southern Queensland, Australia Entertaining Australian troops at war in Afghanistan and Iraq _____________________________________________________________________________________________ This article examines the Australian forces concert tours during the War on Terror in the Middle East area of operations. From 2001 members of the Australian Defence Force were deployed to the Middle East for service in Afghanistan and later in Iraq. Following the tradition established in earlier conflicts both by Australian and American performers, Australian artists entertained troops in a series of live concert performances. Despite the prevalence of alternatives such as easily accessible online forms of entertainment and DVDs, the practice of military concert tour entertainment has survived and appears to show little sign of redundancy. For the troops, the experience could provide a break from routine, stress, and boredom, as well as the opportunity to reconnect with the world they had left behind. However, these tours were far more significant for the civilian entertainers. Performing in the Middle East could be an exhilarating and in some cases a life changing event. Apart from being physically dangerous, participation could potentially harm or enhance an entertainer’s reputation at home due to the highly politicised responses to the conflict. Most significantly, touring entertainers briefly experienced something unfamiliar to most people in contemporary developed societies—the experience of being in a war. Richard Gehrmann is a Senior Lecturer in Humanities and Communication at the University of Southern Queensland. His research interests include war and memory, and he served as an Australian Army reservist in Iraq in 2006-07, and in southern Afghanistan in 2008-09.
    [Show full text]
  • Transgender Policy in the Australian Defence Force: Medicalization and Its Discontents
    Transgender Policy in the Australian Defence Force: Medicalization and Its Discontents ABSTRACT: In 2010, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) repealed a Defence Instruction that had effectively barred transgender people from serving. Transgender personnel have slowly been coming out since 2010, positioning Australia as an international leader in terms of recognizing the contribution that transgender and gender diverse people can make to military institutions. Yet Defence documents, media reports and the testimonies of transgender personnel, past and present, suggest a more complex picture of evolving ADF policies towards transgender personnel. This article traces the history of ADF policies towards transgender service and focuses on the medical frameworks deployed. Repealing the ban on transgender service in 2010 left what was essentially a policy vacuum, and gradually medical regulations have filled that void. Medicalized understandings of gender dysphoria (as distinct from transgender identity) had the potential to support transgender personnel through health benefits not available to civilian Australians. Yet as policies evolved, the ADF developed directives around particular treatments for gender dysphoria, adopting subjective timeframes, medical downgrades and restricting transition options. So whilst ADF rhetoric has emphasized diversity and transgender (among LGBTI) inclusion within the ADF, gradually the medicalized approach to transgenderism has disempowered and restricted transgender service members’ opportunities. Keywords: military, Australia, defense In July 2013, the Australian press ran stories about Lieutenant Colonel Cate McGregor, Chief of Army Lieutenant General David Morrison’s speechwriter. McGregor talked about her recent transition and her life as a transgender servicewoman in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). She mentioned the vicious verbal and online abuse she had received, as well as strong support from individuals, such as Morrison.
    [Show full text]
  • Portfolio Committee No. 3 – Education Corrected
    REPORT ON PROCEEDINGS BEFORE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO. 3 – EDUCATION EDUCATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (PARENTAL RIGHTS) BILL 2020 CORRECTED At Macquarie Room, Parliament House, Sydney, on Tuesday, 20 April 2021 The Committee met at 9:30. PRESENT The Hon. Mark Latham (Chair) The Hon. Anthony D'Adam The Hon. Wes Fang The Hon. Scott Farlow The Hon. Courtney Houssos The Hon. Matthew Mason-Cox (Deputy Chair) Mr David Shoebridge Tuesday, 20 April 2021 Legislative Council Page 1 The CHAIR: Welcome to the first hearing of Portfolio Committee No. 3 – Education, and its inquiry into the Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020. Before I commence it is the custom of this Parliament to acknowledge the traditional inhabitants of this land, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I do that with all due respect as well as acknowledging other important contributors to the history of this site, those who constructed the Parliament House building, very often working in a dangerous industry, and the parliamentary staff over many decades who have supported members of Parliament and made their work in a representative role possible. We acknowledge and thank them all. Today the Committee will hear from a number of organisations, including faith-based groups, social policy think tanks, human rights and civil liberty organisations and gay, lesbian and transgender lobby groups. [Interruption from public gallery] (Short adjournment) The CHAIR: I believe I was mentioning gay, lesbian and transgender lobby groups, who have certainly made their presence felt. While we have many witnesses with us in person, some will be appearing by via videoconference today.
    [Show full text]