. !]\fnaissance ~ws 1l. Volume 6, No. 3 Vision - Integrity - Quality March, 1992 Police departments cop out on transsexual's civil rights by Elsa Larson the "male" of"female" blocks on the male, and was unconvinced when and Paula Jordan Sinclair A transsexual member of the application, instead noting that she she explained that she had followed Lower Susquehanna Valley chap­ is a male-to-female transsexual. the Pennsylvania Department of ter of Renaissance ran afoul of two That didn't fly with officials, and Motor Vehicles procedure for chang­ police departments when she tried they forced her to check the male ing the sex designation of licenses. to get hired as a cop. A detective at block. Now that she is two years He also was unmoved when she the Harrisburg police department into the "real life test" required produced documentation from her was so incensed that her drivers' before sexual reassignment surgery, counselor. license said she is female that he she returned to the police depart­ Glad called in another officer, an detained her for four hours and ment to change her sex designation "expert" on drivers' licenses, Cpl. threatened her with arrest and a to female. Isaac Nixon. Both Glad and Nixon strip search. Shortly afterward, The process seemed to be pro­ made it clear to Streeper that they police in Upper Allen said she was a ceeding smoothly with routine in­ were going to arrest her for carrying prime suspect in a criminal case. terviews and fingerprinting. The false identification. They repeatedly Markely Streeper's problems trouble began when police detective · told her that they would order a began in mid-January when she Larry Glad, assigned to the depart­ strip search and have her confined went to the Harrisburg bureau of ment's internal affairs section, in the male section of the jail. police to update her job application, asked to see Streeper's drivers' li­ "They were bound and deter­ originally filed two years earlier. At cense. He questioned the fact that mined they were going to write a that time, she did not check either the license showed her sex as fe- (continued on page 12) Female impersonator held in murder of roommate in Center City Philadelphia A well-known Philadelphia fe­ several local clubs and carried the 1218 Walnut Street. Police went to maleimpersonator has been charged title Miss West Side Club. the apartment and found Griffin with the January 20 murder of his Most recently, DeVeareaux has dead after receiving a call from roommate. Shawn DeVeareaux, 25, been performing stand-up comedy De Veareaux. Griffin had been hit in was ordered held for trial in late in drag at local gay bars and emceed the head several times with a ham­ January for the killing of Frank various drag shows. He has written mer. The following day, DeVear­ Griffin, 42. Bail was setat$200,000. and directed two plays, one of them eaux turned himself in to the police De Veareaux, who is identified in was a satire of the local gay commu­ Homicide Unit and confessed to the police records as Jonathan Brown nity. The other, titled Murder Is A slaying. but who is known legally as John Drag, was a mystery in which a According to statements made by Allen, Jr., has been active in com­ transsexual character is falsely DeVeareaux to police and read into munity events for nearly a decade accused of killing a person with a the record at his January 29 pre­ as an actor, playwright, and female baseball bat. DeVeareaux cast liminary hearing, he killed Griffin impersonator. Two years ago, he himself in the role of the innocent following an argument. He said the received the Lambda Award from transsexual. older man wanted DeVeareaux to the Philadelphia Gay N ews as up Griffin's body was found in the pay him money or move out of the a nd coming young community apartment he shared with DeVear­ apartment that day. leader. He performed in drag in eaux in the Mid-Town Apartments, (continued on page 4) ~naissance 'fi&ws o/o{ 6, 9{p. 3 Announcements... Events to note ... Background Papers ... are available for $1 each plus $.25 postage for each pair March ordered. Eight papers are available: 1-Myths & Misconcep­ 7th South Jersey Chapter meeting: Dr. tions About Crossdressing, 2-Reasons for Male to Female Reynolds on child abuse Crossdressing, 3-PARTNERS: Spouses & Significant Others, 4-The Matter of Children, 5-An Annotated Bibliography, 6- 7th Lower Susquehanna Valley Chapter Tellingthe Children: A Transsexual's PointofView, 7-What ls meeting : Makeup demo by Mary Renaissance?, and 8-AIDS & HIV Safety and Ethics. Kay Pen Pal Project 21st Greater Philadelphia Chapter If you are willing to write letters to pen pals, please inform meeting : Shelia Kirk, M.D., on Maryann Kirkland, or write to the main office, c/o Dept. PP. hormones Prisoner Project A gift of only $8 gives a trans-gendered inmate 12 issues of April the Renaissance News. Please help provide this needed sup­ 4tht South Jersey Chapter meeting port to our sisters in prison. 4th Lower Susquehanna Valley Chapter The Transsexual Phenomenon meeting : Dinner meeting A few copies of the deluxe edition of this book by Dr. Harry Benjamin are still are available at $39.95 postpaid. 15th Greater Philadelphia Chapter Our chapters ... meeting May Greater Philadelphia 2nd South Jersey Chapter meeting Meets third Saturday of the month in King of Prussia, Pa. Fall/winter meetings start at 8:00 p.m. For information, call 2nd Lower Susquehanna Valley Chapter (215) 946-8887, or write Renaissance PHL, Box 530, Bensalem, meeting: Herb Merchant with PA 19020. Michelle Lynn, chapter leader. fragrance ideas Lower Susquehana Valley 9th Renaissance 5th anniversary gala! Meets the first Saturday of the month at Cameron Cut Rate, 16th Greater Philadelphia Chapter Cameron and Market Streets, Harrisburg. Call (71 7) 780- meeting 1578 for latest information, or write Renaissance LSV, Box 2122, Harrisburg, PA 17105. Brenda Davidson, chapterleader. South Jersey !l\g,naiss ance 9\[f,ws Meets on the first Saturday of the month at the Atlantic © 1992 RENAISSANCE Ecuc.<TIOH AssociATIOH, JNC., Mental Health Center, Inc., 2002 Black Horse Pike, McKee, P.O. Box 60552, KINGo< f'Russ1A, PA 19406 N.J. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. Call (609) 641-3782, or write Renaissance SJ, c/o P. 0. Box 189, Mays Landing, NJ 08330. SENIOR EDITOR Kara Foreward, chapter leader. Paula Jordan Sinclair CONTRIBUTING EDITOR JoAnn Roberts Our affiliates... POETRY EDITOR Groups wishing to become a Renaissance affiliate must pay Gloria Lee Mundy a small annual fee for services normally afforded to chapters ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANTS for free. Affiliates have no legal connection to Renaissance and Beth and Rachel Marshall remain autonomous. Services include unlimited access to $2/copy; $16/year (12 issues). No reproduction reference publications and newsletter copy. of any articles without the written permission of the Write for details to Alison Laing, Co-Director of Outreach, editor. The NewsQueen and The Iconoclast are P. 0. Box 60552, King of Prussia, PA 19406. trademarks of Renaissance. Our affiliated organizations are: Artticles must be submitted for publication one • Monmouth/Ocean Group, P.O. Box 1326, Brick, NJ month in advance. Renaissance is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organiza­ 08723 tion providing education and support to the gender • AEGIS, P.O. Box 33724, Decatur, GA 30033 (404) 939- community and the general public. 0240 2 ~naissance 9{/,ws 'J/o{ 6, 'J{sJ. 3 Military court OKs drag, but ... The Court of Military Appeals in The court's senior judge, Robin­ appeal his case to the U.S.Supreme Washington has ruled that even son 0. Everett, disagreed with Court. though crossdressingcan sometimes upholding the conviction on the His attorney, GregoryZitani, said "enhance morale and discipline" in second charge. "Even though Guer­ the case centered around the "ques­ the armed forces, the Navy acted rero had been seen casually by oth­ tion of when does the impact of good properly when it gave a senior en­ ers 'crossdressed,'he was away from order and discipline outweigh the listed man a bad conduct discharge any military installation and was in right to privacy." He added that for wearing women's clothes in a his apartment," Everett said. "while Guerrero's conduct was cer­ way that brought discredit to the "Under these circumstances, to tainly eccentric, I didn't believe it sea service. uphold his conviction - and the was a crime" even in the military. The case concerns former Navy sentence to bad conduct discharge Before the appeals court upheld Petty Officer 1st Class Virgilio which is based in part thereon - is the court-martial sentence last Guerrero who was given a bad con­ not within the law." September, the Naval Clemency and duct discharge and demoted to the Everett said the appeals court Parole Board upgraded Guerrero's lowest enlisted rank after his 1989 ruling was "an invitation for the separation to a general discharge. court-martial conviction of two Supreme Court to re-examine its EEi> Thanks to Crossroads Chat­ charges of crossdressing, both of holding there." ter, the newsletter of Crossroads, which took place in his apartment Guerrero took the hint from Royal Oak, Mich., for first reporting in National City, Calif. Judge Everett and said he would on this case. According to the court-martial records, Guerrero, a storekeeper, dressed in women's clothes after he and a Navy recruit went to Guer­ Sports radio is latest outreach rero's apartment for drinks. The second crossdressing charge was mediumfor Greater Phila.