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Website categories–
Healthcare • NW Regional Resources • Legal/Political/Educational • Miscellaneous

Great websites

Gender Neutral Bathrooms

Gender Neutral Bathoom listings. This website contains information so important to many transgender people, I put it first. If you know of a gender-neutral bathroom that isn't on this list, please add it via the above website.

Binders

Informtion about Binders. This website contains information about chest binding, which is so important to many transguys, I put it near the top of this web page.

Healthcare Resources

Chrysalis Counseling (Hawaii) - Laura Acevedo, a former Portland resident, has set up a private practice as a therapist, on Hawaii Island. She is specializing in sexual orientation and gender identity issues. For information you may e-mail Laura.
Clinic Sanssouci - I recently met an FTM who is about to undergo phalloplasty; he did a great deal of research and selected this clinic in Germany. If you are interested yourself, e-mail me and I will put you in touch with this client so you can discuss his process and results.
FTM Health Guide – Excellent resource for medical information.
Harry Benjamin Standards of Care – The complete text of the current SOC.
Health Care Information Resources – Excellent resource for links to surgeons' and doctors' websites, as well as links to various articles about trans health issues.
Health-Law Standards of Care – Informed-consent based replacement for the Benjamin Standards of Care.
MTF Aesthetic Surgery Center - A client had SRS through this Bangkok clinic in the fall of 2007 and was very pleased with her results.
Dr. Sara Becker – Dr. Sara Becker's website. A trans physician located near Portland, she has over 500 trans patients in her practice, and no learning curve about trans issues.
Strohecker's Pharmacy - Strohecker's is a compounding pharmacy specializing in fertility issues. This expertise in hormones serves their trans clients well. Their hormones cost considerably less than the name-brand, because they are compounding their own. They do mail order.
Dr. Suzanne Scopes – Dr. Suzanne Scopes is a Portland naturopathic physician with excellent knowledge about caring for transgender patients. For those who prefer a naturopathic approach, she's a great resource. (She can prescribe hormones.)
Dr. Tyler Smith – Dr. Tyler Smith is a trans-identified Portland-based naturopath. For those who prefer a naturopathic approach and would like to work with a trans-identified healthcare provider, Tyler is a great resource. (He can prescribe hormones)


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Regional Resources (Oregon/Washington)

Basic Rights Oregon – Basic Rights Oregon is an organization working toward civil rights for GLB and/or T Oregonians. This organization has an excellent commitment to really incorporating that "T" component into all its work toward equal rights. (I am a former board member of BRO)
Be a New Creation Spa – Seattle-based business providing a holistic approach to well-being, offering various services from massage to permanent hair removal.
Human Rights Commission, Washington State - Washington state has changed its policy re changing the gender designation on driver's licenses or state ID cards, and not for the better. If you are a Washington resident considering this sort of documentation change, contact Seth Kirby at HRC.
Ingersoll Gender Center – Seattle-based support organization focused on trans issues.
NW Gender Alliance – Northwest Gender Alliance website (MTF/crossdresser support organization based in Portland).
Oregon/SW Washington Social Service Agencies – Online directory of health and human services for Oregon and SW Washington. This information is provided by the organizations. Note: these are not trans-specific services. Nevertheless, having these links all on one website is helpful. If you access any of these agencies and encounter a problem that seems related to your gender identity or gender expression, please let me know.
Portland PFLAG – Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays - excellent support organization also offering support for friends/families of trans people.
Portland Transgender Resources – Transgender resources in Portland, Oregon. This resource list is maintained by T/IRC (Trans/Identity Resource Center).
Q Center – Portland's new (April, 2006) queer community center.
Salem Transgender Resources – Transgender resources in Salem, Oregon.
Washington County Unitarians - Looking for a spiritual connection in Washington County, Oregon? Try the Unitarians! I did a presentation to a group within this congregation, and felt like I was talking to PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Families of Lesbians and Gays).
Wash. Gender Alliance – Resource for transgender folks in northern Washington state. Based in Bellingham, north of Seattle.

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Legal/Political/Educational Issues (National-Level)

Human Rights Campaign – HRC has put together some excellent resources about various aspects of coming out, particularly useful for workplace transition issues.
International Foundation for Gender Education – IFGE is an excellent resource for printed materials and books related to transgender issues. IFGE publishes Transgender Tapestry, an excellent journal with a wide range of articles about various aspects of the trans experience.
National Center for Transgender Equality – NCTE works at a national level, but also supports local and regional organizations when issues come up at those levels.
Phyllis Frye – Trans attorney Phyllis Frye has done a great deal of work on issues of trans civil rights, both in her home-base (Houston, Texas) and at the national level.
Transgender Law and Policy Institute – Excellent resource for news about legal/policy aspects of living trans.
Trans Youth Family Advocates – TYFA's mission statement: TransYouth Family Advocates (TYFA) are parents, family, friends and caring adults dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the medical and cultural challenges faced by children with gender variant and gender questioning identities and the families who love them.

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Miscellaneous Useful Websites

COLAGE - Support network for children of GLBT people. Their mission statement: To engage, connect, and empower people to make the world a better place for children of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and/or transgender parents and families.
Dr. Becky – Informative website, maintained by a physician. Includes name change/birth certificate change information for all states.
Families Joined by Love - Support network for LGBT families. Books, resources and various discussion forums.
F.O.R.G.E. – Wisconsin-based support organization: For Ourselves Reworking Gender Expression.
FTM International – FTM International is one of the oldest FTM-support organizations in the world. Gender Public Advocacy Coalition - Good information about trans children's and youth issues, as well as information about political work around workplace fairness.
Helen Boyd's blog (en)gender - Helen Boyd is the author of "My Husband Betty." If you would rather receive her blog in e-mail newsletter format, go to (en)gender newsletter.
Hudson's FTM Guide – Extremely comprehensive site geared toward FTMs.
International List of Therapists - Though I can't guarantee this is comprehensive (or up-to-date), it can provide a start for those who would like to find a trans-savvy therapist.
Love Tribe – Website devoted to helping people find community, wherever they live. Open to trans people, but not trans specific.
TransFaith Online - TransFaith Online is dedicated to supporting transgender folks in our faith journeys, while providing useful resources to help Church folks become better educated trans-allies.
Trans support site – Some thought-provoking articles, with an upbeat attitude.
Transgender Guide - Great website with lots of good articles, and potential contacts with other transgender people.
Transgender Soul – Excellent resource for information on a variety of mental healthcare related topics.
TS Road Map – Excellent site for helping people plan their transition step by step.

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Recommended Reading

Recommended reading

If you have read a book you'd like to see me add to this list, please e-mail me.

Boenke, Mary (ed.) Trans Forming Families: Real Stories About Transgendered Loved Ones. The only book I'm aware of that includes stories by trans and non-trans people, by, for and about families.

Bornstein, Kate. Kate has published four books: Gender Outlaw; Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws;, Nearly Roadkill; and My Gender Workbook. Kate deconstructs gender in a humorous, gentle way. Highly recommended.

Boyd, Helen. My Husband Betty. Very well-written account by the wife of a cross-dresser, covering the various issues she went through in the ongoing process of coming to terms with her husband's identity. In 2006, Helen also published She's Not the Man I Married, continuing the process of coming to terms with Betty's identity.

Boylan, Jennifer. She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. Memoir of an MTF, especially focusing on the changes wrought in her marriage by her transition. Some partners have told me this book was especially meaningful to them, as it addressed some of their issues more than most trans autobiographies. (Many have said that this book combined with Helen Boyd's "My Husband Betty" pretty much addressed the various issues they faced.)

Brown, Mildred. True Selves. A classic "Trans 101" that many trans people send to friends and families to try to convey something of what it means to them to transition. More reflective of the older MTF experience.

Califia, Patrick. Sex Changes: The Politics of Transgenderism. Patrick is a therapist and transman who lives in the SF Bay Area.

Colapinto, John. As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who was Raised as a Girl. Very well-written and researched book that tells the true story of David Reimer. This book is very important, as it exposes the truth of the "twins study" that was the basis for John Money's claim that an infant could be raised to any particular gender role successfully, as long as the socialization began by about age 2. As the leading sex expert of his day, Money's claims determined the medical treatment protocols for intersexed and transsexual people for several decades.

Green, Jamison. Becoming a Visible Man. Memoir of a well-known transman activist, the founder of FTMI. Good medical information and sociological insights into the transition process. Highly recommended.

Jorgensen, Christine. The Christine Jorgensen Story. This classic is a "must-read," whether MTF or FTM. Jorgensen's experiences make it so clear what it was like to transition at a time when doctors really had no idea precisely how a body can morph from male to female (or vice versa). Every single person who transitioned at that time was an experiment, and the result of that accumulated knowledge is that we have it much easier today. It's a brave thing to transition now; to transition before doctors really had any idea how the human body would react was an incredible leap of faith!

Kailey, Matt. Just Add Hormones. Well-written autobiography, told with humor and a different perspective than most of the autobiographies I've read, in that Matt did not take refuge in the lesbian community prior to his transition. He lived as a heterosexual woman, and now identifies as a gay transman.

Khosla, Dhillon. Both Sides Now: One Man's Journey Through Womanhood. I read this book and Matt Kailey's "Just Add Hormones" in the same weekend and was struck by how valuable it is to have various autobiograhies to read. Different people will resonate with different stories, as some will reflect their personal experience more than others. Matt and Dhillon are very different from each other, yet both underwent a similar transformation of self, from living female to living male. Dhillon's book is very engaging, and inspiring, because he transitioned and retained his job as an attorney.

Kotula, Dean. Phallus Palace. Photos and stories of transmen. Some of the surgery photos are very graphic, making this book unsuitable for use in educating many people's families. (It might raise more fears than it will allay!) But it is an excellent resource for transmen seeking detailed surgical information, which is often unavailable in print form.

Lev, Arlene. Transgender Emergence. Written by a therapist, this book is a great reference text for therapists. Good historical treatment about how we got to where we are in terms of the standards of care, the medical model currently in use in the U.S., etc. This is a highly academic book, not as accessible to the general public as True Selves.

Martino, Mario. Emergence (Out of print, but you might get lucky on some used book sites) One of the first FTM autobiographies I know of, the story of a man who transitioned in the early to mid-1960s.

McCloskey, Deirdre. Crossing: A Memoir. Autobiography of an MTF who transitioned on the job within academia. McCloskey is an economist, and professor of Human Sciences at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Morris, Jan. Conundrum. A classic, the autobiography of Jan Morris, who transitioned in the 1960s. Morris has some thought-provoking ideas about gender, sex and being born trans.

Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. A book destined to be a classic, a series of essays providing excellent social and personal commentary.

Valerio, Max. The Testosterone Files. Excellent autobiographical account of one FTM's experience with transition.

Walworth, Janis. Transexual Workers: An Employer's Guide. Recommended by a client who found it useful in approaching her Human Resources department during her transition.

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