Transexual woman ran out of town
12:00a.m. 11th December 2008 | By Amy Remeikis
A transexual has fled the Sunshine Coast after an alleged vicious attack on a Caloundra street left her afraid to venture outside.
Alice (not her real name), was born male but has identified as a female since she was five.
On Tuesday evening, Alice, 40, said she and her daughter, 13, set out along Landsborough Parade in Golden Beach to buy groceries to prepare for dinner.
Sometime before 5.30pm, Alice said she passed a small group of women pushing a pram accompanied by a gentleman who she alleged was abusive to her as she walked by.
Alice said she heard what the man said and questioned the man about it.
"He just started screaming abuse at me, swearing and calling me a 'trannie fag'," Alice said.
Alice said she had been previously advised to record such attacks.
"I held up my phone to record what he was saying and he turned physically abusive," she said.
She said the man chased her into a nearby playground where he allegedly threatened anyone who came to her aid.
She alleged the man smashed a bottle and hit a man who had tried to protect her.
Another car arrived at the scene and a man holding a base ball bat stepped out of the car and allegedly chased Alice down the street.
Alice said she called for help from those driving by and a family eventually stopped and took Alice to the police station.
She said she had lived full time as a woman since she was 14 and has medical approval for a sex change operation but can not afford the surgery.
Alice, her best friend and her daughter have spent the past 18 months travelling around Australia.
She says once knowledge of her transsexual nature is made public, she is chased from the towns.
The Sunshine Coast, she said, had been no different.
"We are leaving the Sunshine Coast though because I am afraid to walk down the street," she said.
"I don't want to leave my room.
"I can't understand why normal people act like this.
I harm no one but I am always subjected to people's abuse because they don't like me for who I am."
Police have charged a man with one count of public nuisance and two counts of common assault.
He will appear in the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on January 6.
The story has since been condensed and re-written, but is available at the Sunshine Coast Daily. No other paper has picked it up.
I've contacted the reporter, Amy Remeikis, as follows:
Re : Your recent story about "Alice" atATSN and ATSA(Qld) have been informed.
http://www.thedaily.com.au/news/2008/dec/11/transexual-woman -ran-out-town-caloundra/
Could you please inform her about some resources that may be of help:
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Australian Transgender Support Association of Queensland Inc.
http://atsaq.com/
ATSAQ can be contacted on -
Phone: +61 7 3843 5024 (8am - 6pm)
Email: trans.atsa@bigpond.com
PO Box 212
NEW FARM QLD 4005
Australia
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(Qld) LGBT Police Liaison Officers
Police Liaison Officers to the GLBT community are available to discuss your issues in confidence. For details about the officers located at the closest police station.
Mobile: +61 419 768 732
http://www.police.qld.gov.au/programs/community/lgbti/lias_off.htm
---
Australian Transsexual Support Network
http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/atsn/
Feel free to give "Alice" my e-mail address, or at least refer her to my website:
http://aebrain.blogspot.com
My thanks for writing this story, and I hope you can tell her that she's not alone, and that she doesn't have to go through all this.
Regards, Zoe E Brain
This is not acceptable in this country. And we're not going to accept it. Nor let the story be buried in a regional newspaper.
One thing though... perfect strangers came to her aid. We must remember that - that some exist who are willing to put themselves at personal risk to help us. And that number is increasing. If any of them get to read this article, then I hope they will accept my thanks.
8 comments:
Zoe,
How do we contribute to Alice's surgery fund?
That this is left to be consumed by silence by our media is a despicable outrage!
interesting brain zoe..
greets from indonesia
Consider 2 cases:
A person X has a personality trait P, that is socially considered embarrassing, so that person covers it up and slanders anyone else with personality trait P while they themselves pretend they don't have it.
A person Y has a personality trait P, and after much soul searching and reflection decides to finally hold true to trait P and accept it, either trying to improve or simply living it honestly.
Person Y I think would in the end live a much healthier life, even if trait P is found to be immoral.
Interesting argument SDA.
It substantially depends on how you measure a healthier life.
If person Y goes to jail for acting on P their life may be less healthy.
If P is ethical but inconsistent with social mores then person Y may act on P, live a virtuous life yet be punished for it if it goes against social mores.
Now which is better? To act on P, suffer on account of doing so yet defy an unjust rule? Or to suffer as person X by not acting on P but avoiding societies penalties?
What if acting on P were to have a chance however small of changing social mores? Would then it be healtheir for Y to go to jail, even be executed if there was the chance of causing change let alone living a life however shorter free of internal conflict with P?
And then what if P is Unethical?
What if it directly causes harm to others?
What if it is immoral and unethical?
What if it is moral and unethical?
Ah then we have some really meaty things to contemplate there!
In a racist society if P is wanting to marry someone of another race it may lead to tragedy by opposing social mores but is still ethical.
However if P is to murder people it is not ethical.
In a society where murdering people in certain circumstaces is actually within social mores such as honour killings of family members it remains unethical but is moral.
So if person X's P is murdering people and eating their flesh (unethical-harms others) then by struggling constantly against P all their lives may be the more virtuous.
While if person Y's P is being openly Gay in a homophobic society (ethical-doesn't harm others) then their sticking by their P is more virtuous.
Don't you think?
battybattybats,
Good points. The only thing is, what is ethical? I think we can all agree that murder is unethical, but then you get people with traditional views and religious views and they expand that definition. It's like with a person who decides that they don't care that society disapproves of the fact they're gay and will go and live the life, from his view:
He is being true to himself and his nature by going ahead and having gay relationships and is willing to suffer the cost of the disapproval.
From the view of that society:
He is going against nature (and the law) and just satiating his bodily desires; we need to show him that he is wrong.
(But perhaps, with your divorce of morals and ethics, in that ethics (I suppose) can be considered universal, where morals are specific to a society, you would see that man as being ethical while being immoral.)
It is these 2 divergent views that take 2 completely divergent perspectives of an event. It seems to become just a "If-by-whiskey" argument:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If-by-whiskey
I do agree with those who seperate subjective personal morality, social majority morality (mores) and objective ethics into seperate groups.
Personal morals can be entirely arbitrary. Social ones may also be quite arbitrary.
However objective ethics require that basic precepts be true without regard to religion or culture.
If we consider the principles from which we get Human Rights, that all people should be equal, free and for the group to have obligations to all its constituants for muual benefit then we can consider that gives us a fairly good set of measures.
So a person could apply their cultural, religious etc morality to their own actions fairly still, but not over others who may not share those. Yet for one to impinge over the human rights of the other without consent would be bad.
It has it's issues though.
Some people are a blight on the face of the world - and it isn't the transgendered folks, nor the homosexuals, nor a variety of other persecuted minorities - it is the mass of violent, ignorant morons that infest our civilizations.
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