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Posted on 01/06/2004 10:15:09 PM PST by chance33_98
LGBTI Working Group Status & Responsibility
The LGBTIDWG is a formally chartered diversity working group and falls under the direction and management of the Diversity Office. It is chaired by one or two individuals who are responsible to the Diversity Office Director for the operations, financial management and responsibility, and the activity and operations of the working group.
Diversity working group chair persons are considered an extension of management and are expected to conduct themselves in like fashion. Laboratory Management considers LGBTI Diversity Working Group to be a key asset and consults with the group before addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & intersex issues.
The Laboratory maintains a positive environment so that it is viewed as the employer of choice who attracts and retains the best workers.
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Team-enhancing Diversity Behaviors
Ask individuals to stop disrespectful and hurtful behavior if they communicate their perspective or fear using racial, ethnic, sexual orientation slurs, e-mails, gestures, etc.
Support all team members even if they are different from you.
Give balanced, caring, and immediate feedback to individuals who personally hurt you through language or behaviors.
Educate yourself on world history, diversity and differences by through resources such as the Diversity Office Online Library—
http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/dvo/DVOLibrary/Index.html
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Orientation
We often confuse sexual orientation with gender orientation. Given the awareness that the pubic has today about the wide range of sexual orientation in the population, we often hear questions in the area of gender orientation.
There is much confusion about this subject, and much fear. The fear that emerges when someone is different varies, but we can see extreme examples in today's media. One such example is the recent brutal murder of a young man in California who dressed and lived as a woman.
How we react to people who seem so different is very much an educational process. In our country’s early history many Native American communities viewed men who took on the female role and women who took on the male role as special and gifted individuals, and called them “The Two Spirit People”. The fear that early settlers experienced at encountering these special people gave rise to the their pursuit and execution.
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Transgender Basics (TGB)
The transgender phenomenon seems to have come from out of nowhere in the last few years. But there’s a long history of transgender experience and activism all over the world, though it wasn’t always called transgender.
Social scientists have been studying human sexual behavior for fewer than 150 years, and for much of that time the transgender experience has been misunderstood as the gay and/or lesbian experience. Why? Simply because the most obvious or available transgender subjects often were attracted to people of the same sex but usually opposite genders, as in butch/femme.
Gender wasn’t considered part of the equation because genitalia alone defined people. In the last 50 years we’ve learned how problematic it is to view people in such limited ways, and the landscape of sexual history and behavioral studies is receiving a gender overlay.
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Transgender Basics (TGB) Definitions
Sex — A system of classification describing presumed reproductive capacity based on the appearance of external genitalia or other readily observable physical characteristics.
Gender — A system of classification describing attributes commonly associated with bodies. Masculine characteristics are associated with persons who have male bodies; feminine characteristics are associated with persons who have female bodies. The exact characteristics are culturally defined and therefore variable across cultures or across time.
Gender Identity — A deeply felt sense of self as having characteristics associated with one sex or the other, or some combination.
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Gender Role or Sex Role — The behavior associated with a particular gender or sex. Here is where we tend to get all confused because we think of gender and sex as the same thing, and they are not. People whose sex and gender roles are aligned often have difficulty distinguishing between the two because the sex and gender roles are the same within themselves. Transgender people experience the difference.
Sexual Orientation —Attraction to people of the same or opposite or both or other sex relative to yourself. Sometimes gender is a factor in sexual attraction, but this adds a layer of complexity that can only be hinted at here.
Transgender Basics (TGB) Definitions, cont’
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Transgender — A grass-roots umbrella term describing anyone who exhibits characteristics of a gender that does not match their apparent or actual physical sex. The term can include people who are transsexual, cross dressers (transvestites), drag kings and queens, two-spirit people, and anyone who breaks gender boundaries, regardless of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Transsexual — A medical term applied to those transgender people who feel such incongruity between their body and their gender that they seek medical assistance in transforming their body to address the incongruity, regardless of sexual orientation.
Transgender Basics (TGB) Definitions, cont’
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Transvestite or Cross dresser — A person who is compelled to or enjoys wearing the clothing of the opposite sex on an occasional basis. These people are usually heterosexual men; often they are married and have children. The behavior is often carried out in isolation, but many social clubs offer emotional support for cross dressers and their partners and may host events that provide opportunities for people to socialize while experiencing the role of the opposite sex.
Drag Queens and Kings — Usually gay, lesbian, or bisexual people who crossdress for entertainment purposes or personal satisfaction. Recently it has become stylish for some heterosexual people to “do drag” which differs from traditional crossdressing insofar as there is no secrecy or presumption of sexual motive associated with the behavior.
Transgender Basics (TGB) Definitions, cont’
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Female and Male Impersonator — People who perform an entertainment act imitating persons of the opposite sex, often-famous personalities. These individuals are usually career professional actors, singers and dancers, and this performance is not indicative of a particular sexual orientation or gender identity.
Transgenderist — A person who lives full time in the gender of his or her choice (different from the body type) without desiring gender confirmation surgery. Some transgenderists consider themselves to be “non-operative” transsexuals. Transgenderists may or may not choose to take hormones to permanently alter their appearance.
Transgender Basics (TGB) Definitions, cont’
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Transgender Basics (TGB), Conclusion
There are many new and evolving terms associated with the transgender movement: boi-chicks, tranny-fags, transwomen and transmen, and so on.
There are no rules; there’s no “right” way to be “trans.” Trans people ask only for recognition of their personal integrity, and insist on human dignity for all people, regardless of sex, gender or sexual orientation.
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Resources
LANL Diversity Office — http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/dvo/
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FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794
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It is in the breaking news sidebar! |
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I don't even know where to start...
Think I'll stick to good ole fashion men and women. Works for me.
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