Transsexualism will no longer be classified in France as a mental illness, a government decision hailed Saturday as “historic” by the associations concerned, on the eve of the International Day Against Homophobia and transphobia.

The Minister of Health, Roselyne Bachelot, has appealed “in recent days” to the High Authority of Health in order to make a decree that transsexualism be removed from the category of psychiatric disorders, a spokesman for the department stated.

Until now, transsexuals benefited from a fee waiver for their medical care by being classified under ALD23 (affection de longue durée 23 – long term condition 23) for “recurring or persistent disorders”.

For the Department of Health, it is a “strong signal sent to the whole community”, since transsexuals felt that being included under the ALD23 was stigmatizing.

This classification, arising from that of the World Health Organization (WHO), was also linked to the fact that transsexualism appeared on the list of pathologies identified in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) to which the medical profession refers, as was the case for homosexuality a few years ago.

In a forum published in Le Monde (newspaper) dated Sunday-Monday, numerous personalities including first secretary of the Socialist Party Martine Aubry, the communist Marie-George Buffet, Green (party member) Daniel Cohn-Bendit and even Nobel Prize winners such as Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (medicine) and Elfriede Jelinek (literature), asked the WHO “to no longer consider transsexuals as being affected by a mental disorder”.

It is because the WHO decided on the 17th of May 1990 to remove homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses, that this date has been retained for the International Day Against Homophobia and transphobia, celebrated Sunday, starting Saturday in many places.

It is therefore symbolic that France chose this time and date to be “the first country in the world” to “remove transgender identity from the list of mental diseases”, commented the IDAHO Committee. This “historic decision” is also “an explosion of hope for all trans persons around the world”, according to Joël Bedos, secretary-general of the IDAHO Committee.

The HES (Association for Homosexuality and Socialism) also “hailed” this announcement which is in response to “demands that the LGBT community have been making for a long time in France.” For HES, it is time, at present, to go beyond the symbolic and take concrete actions to fight against the violence and discrimination facing trans persons.

Because beyond “this measure for declassification, there is still much to be done before transsexuals (…) are recognized as full-fledged citizens”, insisted the coordinator of the group Inter-LGBT.

Two days later, on Monday May 19th in the United States, activists were both inside and outside of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) annual convention in San Francisco, presenting to attendees (by Dr. Kelley Winters), and protesting outside, calling for the reform of gender identity related diagnoses.

Judy Berman on Salon.com reported:

“We got homosexuality out of the DSM because of protests at the APA,” [Ehrensaft] told Psychiatric Times. “Now it’s time to do the same with GID.” She also noted that a movement within the association is moving toward a “more balanced” Task Force. With psychologists and activists working together to reform the APA’s position on gender identity, it may be only a matter of time before we stop labeling perfectly sane transpeople mentally ill. Imagine that!

Ruby Cymrot-Wu, a local Bay Area LGBTQ Jewish organizer protested outside the APA convention:

Last Monday, I participated in a protest as part of the larger fight for liberation from institutional gender oppression. I was honored to be part of something so powerful. We called for the APA to recognize gender identity and expression as natural human variation, not as disease or mental illness to be systematically diagnosed. Activists from all over the country, including several queer, genderqueer, and trans-identified health care professionals, took up the megaphone in a collective cry for justice from institutional discrimination. In a time when the debate about access to services for LGBTQ people is often only in terms of how it relates to marriage rights, the GID rally was truly refreshing and empowering for me. Access to high-quality, holistic health care is a must. I hope my work as an activist and advocate for LGBTQ people in the Jewish community creates room for dialogue about making comprehensive change, like health care reform, rather than continuing to pour resources and energy into efforts that secure rights for only some of us.

I wish I had this prayer to share with all of you yesterday, this fabulous prayer penned by none other than the fabulous Reuben. For those that do not have places where they can pray, for those that do not live in cities with services led by trans and gender non-conforming people, for those who in moments of communal and individual experience long for seeing their images reflected back, may this prayer be just one source, one source of finding a home for your experience.

For surely, our lives are a fierce and loving reminder of hope and survival.

Prayer for Transgender Day of Remembrance

God full of mercy, bless the souls of all who are in your hearts on this Transgender Day of Remembrance. We call to mind today young and old, of every race, faith, and gender experience, who have died by violence. We remember those who have died because they would not hide, or did not pass, or did pass, or stood too proud. Today we name them: the reluctant activist; the fiery hurler of heels; the warrior for quiet truth; the one whom no one really knew.

As many as we can name, there are thousands more whom we cannot, and for whom no Kaddish may have been said. We mourn their senseless deaths, and give thanks for their lives, for their teaching, and for the brief glow of each holy flame. We pray for the strength to carry on their legacy of vision, bravery, and love.

And as we remember them, we remember with them the thousands more who have taken their own lives. We prayer for resolves to root out the injustice, ignorance, and cruelty that grow despair. And we pray, God, that all those who perpetrate hate and violence will speedily come to understand that Your creation has many faces, many genders, many holy expressions.

Blessed are thy, who have allowed their divine image to shine in the world.

Blessed is God, in Whom no light is extinguished.

-Reuben Zellman

(Photo of S. Isaac Dowds)

I chose the name “Isaac” as my legal name because it means “laughter,” and because I relate to Isaac’s story. It is what I do in times of adversity, a trait I inherited from my father. No matter how dire the circumstances, when the going gets tough, I laugh. A lot.

November 20th, Transgender Day of Remembrance, is not a day I observe out of mere obligation. It is necessary to my very existence to commemorate the ones who might not be as lucky as me. Anyone who knows me would find this amusing. I am a 26-year-old, Jew by choice, transman who came out and began physically transitioning in the wondrous state of Kansas, well-known both for its Jewish-friendly ways and its overwhelmingly liberal acceptance of people outside of the binary gender system. I say this, tongue in cheek, because I have been outrageously lucky. I go to a small Catholic liberal arts university where the Order the sisters belong to is liberal, (The Vatican finds their Pro-Queer-Catholic support annoying) and the faculty consists largely of Unitarian Universalists, Episcopalians and the odd liberal Mormon.

Even with a conservative and moderate student body, the atmosphere on campus is one of the most welcoming ones I have ever had the chance to experience. Strangely enough, as I have said time and time again on LGBTQ Coming Out Panels, the local state university would be (and *has been*) far less accepting of someone like me. Even though I count myself lucky, I have been bashed before — both verbally and physically.

Back story aside, I will be spending this Day of Remembrance at local ZoomDweebie’s Tea Bar lighting a yahrzeit candle and saying Kaddish for 30 souls who were not as fortunate. 30 people who were killed for the simple “crime” of being who they were. There are some beautiful souls on the list this year. A few on the list are so beautiful, I can only assume they were executed for passing better than most biologically gendered folk. While I am sipping tea and reminding Kansans that the T is not silent, I can’t help but think about how tea leaves are always multicolored. Even the white tea has brown and yellow hues in the leaves. Which brings me to my next point.

Over two thirds of the names on the list of those who were killed are people of color. That’s right. Beautiful trans people of color are being killed left and right and all we can spare is one day a year? I can’t believe the number of the dead has more than doubled in the past year. I can’t believe only Washington has the guts to declare (as a state) November 20th as Transgender Day of Remembrance. I can’t believe people are still as close-minded as they were last year. Haven’t we evolved as a nation past this point yet?

Of course, Thomas Beatie and his wife have just recently announced that he is pregnant with their second child. We live in exciting times where people are no longer afraid to be who they are…even if that means pregnant men and mothers who donate sperm. Fear can cause the destruction of entire groups of people, as we all well know. And people shouldn’t have to be afraid of who they are. People should *never* have to fear themselves.

Other things on my mind are of course the “Twilight” movie that comes out at midnight. I’ll admit that even I have fallen for fictional perfect vampire boyfriends like Edward Cullen. I even purport to have found my own Edward in my current FTM partner. And of course, my 27th birthday is on Sunday, regardless of the fact that I look like I’m 15. My next testosterone injection will either be today or Friday. I say B’rachot with each shot.

“Barukh Ata Ad-nai Eloykeinu Melekh Ha-Olam, Ha’Ma’avir et ha’Ovrim.” before and “Barukh Ata Ad-nai Eloykeinu Melekh Ha-Olam Sh’asani B’tzalmo v’kirtzonah. Barukh Ata Ad-nai Eloykeinu Melekh Ha-Olam Sh’hechianu, v’kiyimanu, v’higiyanu, la-zman hazeh.” (courtesy of Rabbi Eli Kukla).

So, what do I think about on Transgender Day of Remembrance? Life. I’m thinking about how I will survive until the next memorial. How will we survive as a people in the upcoming year? I’m praying that this will be the last time we’ll need to meet like this. I’m hoping that this will be the last time we’ll have to educate to avoid being killed. L’Chaim!

I didn’t want to write about it then. I was beyond annoyed at the sensationalist and grossly offensive reporting.

I was also beyond annoyed that many didn’t discuss her accomplishments as a writer. Joy is the author of two books of poetry, “Alternatives to History,” and “The Book of Anna,” both published by Sheep Meadow Press; has been published in many magazines, including “Parnassus,” “North American Review,” “The Michigan Quarterly” and “Exquisite Corpse;” and was nominated for the 2007 Pushcart Prize. Ladin has also taught at Princeton and Reed College, and served as Poet-in-Residence at Tel Aviv University on a Fulbright scholarship. During her time away from YU, she taught at Sarah Lawrence College. She’s working on her memoir, “Inside/Out: Woman Caught in the Act of Becoming.”

I will say that I was warmed by the loving testimony of her students and of trans women who have also been part of the Y.U. community.

So, what did I do on Monday instead?

I did what happens less and less these days — I wrote Joy first, directly, to personally wish her well.

I wanted to do what I know I’ve needed at times in the past; to let her know that her community loves her, and that she is not alone, and that there are more of us than we know — Jewish, coming from spiritual or observant backgrounds, artists and creative writers, and who live beautifully rich gender lives.

So Joy, I wish you nothing but nachas in the coming months ahead. May you continue to thrive, share your joy with all of us, and that we get to hear more of your wonderful writing!

Baruch Ata Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha’Olam Sh’hechianu, v’kimanu, v’higiyanu, la’zman hazeh.

Blessed are You, Eternal One, our God Ruler of Time and Space who has kept us alive, and sustained us, and helped us to arrive at this moment.

• ICE Raids hit the Bay Area a day after May Day, including scaring the shit kids at Berkeley schools
• After the exchange with Eden last week about transgender youth, I thought I’d plug this amazing, indepth interview series that NPR is doing right now on trans youth.
• Joseph Gindi gave one of the best talks I’ve heard in awhile about Israel, Palestine, and why ethnic nationalism strikes a discordant note in the goal of achieving true democracy at the Righteous Indignation conference. What I appreciated most about this panel was not that the ideas were new, but how much the panelists strived to use language that moved beyond the rhetoric we all often fall prey to that divides people.
• Police brutality in Philadephia has raised alarms, particularly because the vicious beating of three Black men, Brian Hall, 23, Pete Hopkins,19, and Dwayne Duches, 24, was caught on tape by FOX helicopters. Folks in the media world always say, that when it comes to talking about race and racism in the U.S. media and larger public domain, documentation is paramount.
• Before I headed to the RI conference, I had the pleasure of joining JVoices contributors’ Robin Washington and Rabbi Capers Funnye at the Be’chol Lashon think tank, which you can read a bit about in the Forward and JTA. On a personal note, it was BEYOND refreshing to be in a room with folks whose perspective on Jewish life was not limited to the U.S. mainstream-dominated narrative of intermarriage or continuity, but rather the breadth of Jewish life in Global Jewry. I should also say, a hearty mazel tov to Alysa Stanton for being the first African-American female to receive her semicha as a reform Rabbi in the next two weeks!
• And I’ll round this out by plugging a really great fact sheet on “Jews from the Middle East,” written by Sephardic scholar Ilise Cohen and up on Jewish Voice for Peace’s site. This sheet gives a much broader perspective on Jewish global migration, and the impact of the founding of Israel on Sephardi and Mizrahi communities. “Of a total Israeli population of 7 million, over 2.5 million (35-40%) are Mizrahim, about 1 million (15%) are Russian immigrants who came in the last 20 years, about 1.4 million (20%) are Palestinian Israelis, 154,000 (2.2%) are Ethiopian, and about 2 million (25-30%) are Ashkenazi Jews and others. This means 55-60% of the Israeli population is ‘non-white’; together, Mizrahim and Palestinian Israelis form a majority. Knowledge of these demographics has the potential to change the perception and treatment of these marginalized communities. Despite being the majority Jewish population in Israel, Mizrahim are represented in small numbers in the Israeli Parliament and in elite positions such as professorships. Many still live in poor ‘development towns,’ agricultural Moshavim, or urban peripheries such as South Tel Aviv that receive fewer municipal funds than more central and majority-Ashkenazi Jewish cities, towns, and Kibbutzim.”
• Oh, and of course I can’t leave out the conversion controversy sparked by the Israeli Rabbinate, could I? Some I’ve talked to actually see this as a “good sign” in the long-term, believing that the Supreme Court would totally strike the religious ruling down, further separating religion from rule of the state. While I commend this wishful thinking, this doesn’t change what, again, Gindi stated out so well, which is the inevitable and inherent tension, particularly amongst Jews in the U.S. who believe so strongly in a secular democratic state, still holding onto the idea that ethnic nationalism in Israel is OK–and not just OK, but possible to have along with a “true” full, and robust democracy for all of Israel’s citizens? Yeah, the irony is apparent, no? Saying a country is for a particular set of people, and yet being a “democracy for all” does seem problematic, no?

What was written seems to have had an impact. So, something must have resonated. So why would Eden only link to the post to point out his disagreement?

If I hadn’t written the post and challenged him on it, along with other commenters, would he have edited the post to now have a bit more context, even be a bit more trans-friendly and with more of an understanding of his own perspective?

Has it now become “ancient history” that blogs are a means for us to have a greater ability to challenge and interact with larger media outlets when coverage of an issue isn’t on par? And can this interactivity be seen not only as disagreements, but as tochlecha, thoughtful engaged critique? What is the difference? How can one discern? For even now living in a different region of the U.S., I know that the way that I speak impacts people so differently than when I am back on the east coast. So how can we always tell, and how do we learn to both say, “hey thanks for showing me that I needed to be clearer on some aspects, and yet, I still also have a different perspective.”

One of my main points, which he’s now somewhat rectified, was that there was no context for the comments at all. If he had, at the very least wrote what he wrote in the update, more of his aim would have come through, and would have led to a different discussion, and undoubtedly, a different post on my end.

But that wasn’t the original post. He’s now written at least a little bit more about why he was posting this, and his own opinions, although still very little about Dr. Spack’s work. (And I’m actually glad a commenter later accurately pointed out that Dr. Spack actually isn’t performing sex-change operations on children, but rather hormonal treatment, which is different.)

And I think it’s great Eden was open to updating his piece.

But isn’t there a lesson about how this interactivity can be positive, not just about disagreeing?

Being able to say sometimes our haste leaves us with new lessons to be learned by the impact of our words. And that we are able to learn and grow from them.

Lord knows, I’ve experienced this myself a handful of times in blogging, and have learned a lot of good and important lessons about the impact of how when I post sometimes too quickly, and am not clear enough, what I write can hurt or be inaccurate. (Hence going back to apologize on that very post that I had first misread along with another commenter what the site was that he was quoting from.)

So, is it possible for us to challenge one another without only acknowledging each other for what we disagree on?

I see the exchange as a good one. An interesting lesson in many ways on what is sometimes great about blogs, and sometimes hard and challenging about blogs–great for opening up the conversation more, but still hard in how different it is from face to face conversations and discussions, and how sometimes in quickness and speed we end up effecting our readers differently than we hope to have.

With that, I still think, even with the update, it’s good to discuss our disagreements.

So, I still find it important to call out media bias in LGBT coverage if an issue isn’t covered accurately, and “fair and balanced” or “differing viewpoints” ends up being doctors and researchers “versus” not even, say, conservative doctors or researchers, but ultra-conservative commentators.

This is a long standing issue in media coverage of LGBT people, and a pattern that advocates are working to rectify. Do I think Eden knew this when he posted a blog that in some ways was cheeky, and probably to him, relatively harmless? Probably not. But do I still think it’s a problem and important to point out, even if it’s meant to just be a quick post. Yes.

So yes, in that Eden and I probably do disagree. But hey, healthy disagreement is part of it, and part of change.

Not only did Eden not link to the original article in the Globe (here you go) and provide no context, he sadly fell into the trap that many fall into, that I remember reporting on for the Advocate around gay parenting, that more often than not, news sources are more than happy to pit researchers and doctors who are supporting LGBT folks against opinion makers who are against.

Eden pulled the quote from a piece in One News Now, a division of American Family Network:

AFN is a Christian news service – with more than 1200 broadcast, print and online affiliates in 45 states and 11 foreign countries – that exists to present the day’s stories from a biblical perspective. We not only feature the latest breaking stories from across the United States and around the world, but also news of the challenges facing Christians in today’s society.

At OneNewsNow.com, you will get your news from reporters you can trust to give the latest news without the liberal bias that characterizes so much of the “mainstream” media.

For a refreshing and informative change in where you get your news, log on to OneNewsNow.com.

Here we are again. We’re not being offered two researchers or doctors who are working on this issue and have varying opinions. No, we’re being given the voice of a doctor who works everyday with trans youth, and then because he’s asked about how his Jewish faith impacts his work, and he gives a loving answer, then that opens up for the “family values” religion doesn’t support trans people opinion-maker?

Come on. Aren’t we tired of this yet?

We see time and time again in LGBT communities, and reporting on LGBT issues. The “pro-family man,” as he’s quoted in the piece, spouting bigotry, and being put up then by a media outlet as a valid counter argument against people who are researchers, medical providers, doctors who work on the issues day in and day out. Couching it in saying that the quote is only about how they have two different opinions in regards to how this impacts Jewish faith just won’t fly. Come on JTA! Y’all are smarter than to fall into some ultra-conservative Christian trap, I know you are! Sadly, you took the bait.

As Spack stated in the Boston Globe article:

SPACK: All I know is that when I see preadolescents, they have been dressing in the underwear of the other sex for years. These kids are almost certainly transgendered. They’re a unique population of patients. By the time a kid comes in to see me, both parents have agreed that the child is in danger and needs some form of intervention. And that has led to heavy-duty counselling for the child and parents. Therefore I see young people and families who have been evaluated by skilled professionals.

That, my friends, is the heart of the issue. To derail the conversation by saying it takes a “Jewish turn” because the head of an anti-LGBT organization not surprisingly condones the issue and takes offense to Spack believing that trans people are made in the image of G-d, well sh*t, not only should we condone Carmenker’s bigotry, but we should be celebrating Spack, and telling Carmeneker, “yes, it’s true, we are all made in the image of G-d. And guess what? The rabbis have “discussed gender-variant bodies and people for hundreds of years. We, today, are more closed than the rabbis of old were, who grappled more explicitly with the two creation stories, and the more than two sexes and genders that were, and are, part of human life.”

Give me the number of Dr. Spack’s Rabbi! I want to give him a big ole hug, and say thank you to another Jewish faith leader who works to embrace all of our communities.

Today, Oprah did a show on Thomas Beatie, a mixed race transgender man living in Oregon, who is 6 months pregnant, and happily married to Nancy.

Thomas and Nancy wanted to tell their story for themselves, as already their story has taken the media by storm. From Access Hollywood to People and the numerous bloggers who are, sadly, blogging more on the ignorant tip of David Letterman’s not so funny top 10 list, everyone wants to know. And Oprah definitely didn’t hold back from asking incredibly sensitive (well, mostly) questions that Thomas answered with grace.

Thomas’ story hasn’t only taken the media by storm.

While the question on Oprah was, “is the world ready?”, some of us are well aware that, sadly, some folks in transgender communities aren’t ready. Filled with fear, internalized shame, and I’m sure in their own way, genuine concern, there are many on list servs and blogs, that have told Thomas he shouldn’t be speaking publicly. (I’m also unaware if any trans organizations or LGBT organizations have publicly supported Thomas).

I, for one, am incredible grateful to Thomas.

Thomas’ courage to speak about what are often such hidden stories–true desires and yearnings of trans people to have our identities valued, and our physical bodies not being censored, policed and controlled–is so important.

I am saddened to see how sometimes, we can still be our own worst enemy. How we can tear each other down. People want to tear Thomas down, or excuse why Thomas is doing it because Nancy is not able to. None of this should matter. Whether Nancy could have children or not, shouldn’t matter.

Thomas is doing an important service to trans communities by showing our variance, and by showing that, yes, we have more than one story. I say thank you to a story where someone says, no it’s not that I felt I was in the wrong body. It’s that I’m the person, the human being I was always meant to be! I say thank you to a story that says, yes I can be pregnant and feel strong as who I am as a man! I say thank you to a story that isn’t focused on being a victim, and also doesn’t hide the discrimination that is being experienced in this process! I say thank you to a story of people who are genuinely trying to live a full and happy life, and want a family as part of that picture. These are the many stories that make up our communities. And I for one am so thankful that there’s more than one being told, and that there’s this amazing story being syndicated nationally and internationally in such a positive and wonderful way. And that the story is moving beyond how typically young white FTM’s are the voices and stories covered in mainstream media.

Thomas put it so well when he asked all of us to be open and embrace: “the gamut of human possibility.”

Thomas says the desire to have children doesn’t make him feel like less of a man. “I have a very stable male gender identity. I see pregnancy as a process, and it doesn’t define who I am. It’s not a male or female desire to want to have a child…it’s a human desire,” he says. “I’m a person, and I have the right to have my own biological child.”

If I wasn’t moved enough already, I was bowled over when the interview turned to Nancy’s daughters from a previous marriage.

Nancy has two daughters from a previous marriage, Amber and Jen. Amber says she thinks Thomas and Nancy have a great marriage. “They’re an incredible couple,” she says. “They’re very much in love and they’ve been role models for my husband and I. We definitely look up to their marriage and model our lives after theirs.”

When Jen heard Thomas was pregnant, she says she was very excited. “There probably was a little bit of jealousy going on thinking that this little girl’s going to have such a great life with Thomas and my mom,” she says.

Although she’s excited to have another sister, Amber is also nervous about how people will react to Thomas’s pregnancy. “It’s a little scary,” she says. “We’re scared for them because I don’t know that the world is all that prepared, but we’re just regular, boring people and a regular family.”

Thank you Thomas, for giving me, and I have no doubt many people, the courage to also see ourselves, and give ourselves, the permission to live in our lives, our bodies, and our communities with as much honesty and integrity to how we want to build our families, and our tomorrows, as you have shown in this time.

I, for one, support you. Kol Hakavod!

If you have already written an essay on this broad topic that has been published elsewhere, please be aware that I am also interested in reprinting selected pieces that track transJewish voices in history.

I am looking both for new essays AND for permission to reprint certain essays from other sources.

Details about the anthology below.

Thank you in advance for your contribution.

Noach Dzmura
Editor, Jews and Transgender (Summer 2009)

submissions in MS Word format to luke@dzmura.net
2000-3000 words

The book (with a tentative title Jews and Transgender) will be the first in a new series on Jews and Gender that will explore cutting-edge issues in Jewish gender and sexuality studies. If discussions between the prospective publisher and the editor continue along the path we anticipate, Jews and TransGender is slated to go to press in June, 2009. This places the project into an aggressive production schedule that requires a draft manuscript by April 23, 2008.

Intention and Argument
In this anthology, transgender writers and their allies incorporate a trans-inclusive refrain into the multi-vocal Jewish tradition. This unprecedented collection of academic, autobiographical, secular and homiletic essays records triumph as well as struggle, as transgender commentators first encounter the tradition, struggle with it, and ultimately recognize the authority of their unique lens into the texts and rituals of Jewish tradition. An introductory chapter locates and contextualizes the essays in the intersections between Jewish Studies, Feminism and Queer Theory. A concluding chapter attempts to draw from the collected essays a vision of a transgender inclusive Jewish world.

Overview
Noted scholars and activists from the transgender community document the life experience of transgender Jews encountering Judaism—whether they are Female-to-Male (FtM), Male-to-Female (MtF), intersex, “genderqueer” or otherwise gendered. The essays document a journey through fear, doubt and isolation to hope, transformation, and community. They record the discomfort of bringing a transgender body to worship and secular spaces and ritual forms that were not designed to accommodate such bodies. They catalog the unexpected and hopeful encounter of transpersons with the hermaphrodite Androgynos and the intersex Tumtum and other gender variant role models in the Jewish canon. Finally, the essays reflect joy and empowerment as transgender Jewish leaders emerge to create life-cycle events in Jewish space that honor a change from the gender one is assigned at birth, to the gender God has revealed within their hearts.

Chapter 1: Transgender Encounters with Judaism in the Press and in Literature
This chapter will contain an overview of transgender Jews as they have appeared in print, including reprints of watershed articles and first-person accounts

Chapter 2: Contested Spaces
This chapter will contain essays from transgender activists in Jewish spaces (large and small, real and metaphoric spaces) where transgender people encounter challenges with the gender binary in Judaism, where they are struggling to find access and inclusion. There are also essays about expected challenges that never materialized, about the unexpected ease of access to Jewish spaces, and the circumstances that facilitated that easy welcome. These spaces might include Israel, the public restroom, the mechitza, the “brotherhood” and “sisterhood” and the classroom.

Chapter 3: Role Models in Jewish Canon
This chapter will contain essays from transgender scholars, allies, activists and spiritual leaders who have studied Jewish texts and found remarkable support for gender variance in the Jewish canon. Includes essays about Tumtum, androgynos, and the notion of flexibility within even the most orthodox of interpretive traditions.

Chapter 4: Transgender Bodies transform Non-Transgender Rituals, Congregations, and Communal Spaces
This chapter will contain rituals and blessings for transgender life-cycle events and blessings commemorative of phases of transition and tools for congregations interested in extending welcome to gender variant persons. This chapter will also include the voices of Jewish communal organizations leading the way in a drive toward transgender inclusion.

Chapter 5: Closing Words in Support of a Trans-Inclusive Judaism
This chapter will contain a single summarizing essay that draws forth those aspects required for building a trans-inclusive Jewish world.

Editor’s Qualifications
For the past four years Noach Dzmura has been a student of trans/gender and sexuality in Jewish life and scholarship. For the past two years he has served as a teacher and an advocate in service to the transgender Jewish community, and he has been writing essays concerning the need for awareness, welcome and transformation in Jewish communities around transgender issues. Mr Dzmura holds an MA (2007) in Jewish Studies from the Richard S Dinner Center for Jewish Studies of the Graduate Theological Union. His thesis is titled, “Androgynos, Intersubjectivity and the Performance of Gender.” Mr Dzmura spent 2006-07 in Israel courtesy of the Haas-Koshland Award sponsored by the Jewish Community Endowment Fund in San Francisco, CA. He has taught about gender variance in Rabbinic texts at Keshet Ga’avah during World Pride in Israel, he has led workshops at Nehirim GLBT Retreats in New York (on Mishnah Androgynos) and San Francisco (on Isaac Bashevis Singers’ short story Androgynous), and he has guest lectured at the Graduate Theological Union. He has written for the anthology Genderqueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary edited by Joan Nestle, Riki Anne Wilchins and Clare Howell. He has also written essays for Sh’ma, for the Jewish Chronicle (UK) and for Zeek: A Jewish Journal of Thought and Culture. He is a transgender activist for a project tentatively called the Trans Think Tank, which is working to identify and address the needs of transgender Jews in the Bay Area, sponsored by the LGBT Alliance of the Jewish Community Federation, the Progressive Jewish Alliance and Jewish Mosaic: The National Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity. Mr Dzmura maintains a resource site for transgender Jews called BrerRabbi, online at http://www.brerrabbi.com.

A few months back, Jewish Mosaic launched a new project, TransTexts: Exploring Gender in Jewish Sacred Texts, that Rabbi Elliot Rose Kukla and Rabbinical student Reuben Zellman have been working on for quite some time.

I’ve had the honor and privilege of studying with both of these phenomenal teachers. They’ve both been incredible, and humble, leaders in opening up spaces for queer, trans and gender-variant people to not just explore Jewish texts, but to confront the sharp and often contested places that have been used against us for so long. Along with the advisory board, many of the people involved with this project have definitely been inspirations in my own life, passion, and study–their leadership has already had an amazing impact in my own life, and ability to see my reflection in Jewish tradition, rather than thinking I have to turn away.

So I offer this to the many like me, who at times thought that the only option was to turn away.

The goal of this project in their words is:

to create a portal to Jewish traditions. It is not our intention to provide a complete or “authoritative” interpretation of these multi-faceted texts. Rather, we want to offer a variety of ways of looking at these remarkable texts — which have been, and still are, largely inaccessible to the general public. Some of the content of this site may be familiar to you; some of it might be very surprising. We invite you to read on and engage with all of it, in the great Jewish tradition of study and discussion.

They’re working on three different sections: queerly created; cross-dressing and drag; and created beings of our own. So far, queerly created is the only section that’s up and running, offering the opportunity to explore what many might find as surprising possibilities for the gender and sex of the first human being.

So, this is an invitation to take a step into the teaching from a lens that you may, or may never, have experienced before. I have no doubt it will, at minimum, spark an interesting conversation, and at most, over time offer such important, and broader ways, to engage Jewish texts.