Joanne Herman, a transgender woman who read everything in sight to understand her own gender incongruity, has been helping others with her non-complicated explanations of transgender for almost a decade. Now she has written down her explanations for all to read in Transgender Explained For Those Who Are Not. Organized by topic into short, easy-to-read chapters, Transgender Explained is perfect for parents, relatives, colleagues, friends, allies and even journalists who want to quickly get up to speed on what it means to be transgender.
After almost half a century living as a male, Joanne Herman transitioned in 2002 to live as a female in order to resolve a gender incongruity she had felt for as long as she remembers. She has since been increasingly active as a spokeswoman for transgender awareness and understanding. Joanne’s numerous columns written for Advocate.com, a popular LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) news website, have helped educate readers about transgender and gender non-conforming people and the issues they face, and are the foundation for this book.
Joanne is the first transgender person ever elected the Boards of Directors of Fenway Health, Point Foundation, and GLAD. She is the first openly transgender member of the congregation of Old South Church in Boston (United Church of Christ), the same church where Benjamin Franklin was baptized and Samuel Adams served as a deacon. And she is one of the first openly transgender alumnae of Dartmouth College, as a graduate of the last all-male class. Dartmouth‘s then-President Jim Wright awarded her a Class of 1975 diploma in her new name in 2006.
Joanne holds a BA in Government and Economics from Dartmouth and an MS/MBA from Northeastern University. She is currently Financial Controller at New England Foundation for the Arts and lives in Boston with her fiancée, Theresa (Terry) Fallon. Joanne is also fluent in French and an avid bowler.
For more information, go to www. joanneherman.com.
But the worriers need to look at the big picture. Any gender transition, whether it involves surgery or not, is a major life change. It impacts details of your daily life far beyond the wearing of a different wardrobe, especially if it includes the loss of ties to loved ones, loss of work, or the need to move. Transgender people respond to any major change just like the population at large does. Some navigate change with incredible resilience, many have their ups and downs, and a few are positively consumed by it.
Transitioning also makes you a member of a minority group, perhaps for the first time. Like racial and ethnic minorities, transgender people often cannot hide their “uniqueness” and as a result can face discrimination in employment, housing, education, and public accommodation. Of course, if you are a transgender person and a member of a racial or ethnic minority, expect your challenges to be compounded.
You also have a problem unique to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender) minority group. That is, few (if any) members of your family share your minority status. In a racial or ethnic minority at least the family stands with you as a minority, while as an LGBT individual family solidarity is not assured. In fact, one or more family members may even become the most ardent “opponent(s)” of your transition, out of supposed love and concern for you.