Happy Birthday Renaissance! ._ Teri & Beth put their heads together. Michelle & Jennifer pose for the camera ----

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1 ~naissanc ~ws T h L a d 1 s 0 f Volum 2, No. 5 P.O. Box 1263, King of Prussia, PA May,1988 Happy Birthday Rnaissanc! Donna's glittring smil.._ Tri & Bth put thir hads togthr. Michll & Jnnifr pos for th camra ----._Thrs and hr gorgous gams. Noll looking pnsiv & dmur. +---Robyn Dormr, Editor of En Fmm, and mmbr of Rniassanc. Photos by Angla Gardnr Angla pauss for rfrshmnt. Th May mting will bgin our Spring/Summr schdul. Mtings start at 9:00pm R n a I s s a n c

2 'l{?naissanc 'J.&ws 'l/o{ 2, 'J{p.5 Birthday Clbration To Host Maritt Alln Rnissanc will clbrat its first annivrsary this month and will host Maritt Pathy Alln for its birthday party mting May 21st. Ms. Alln will prsnt a slid show of hr photographs. Th subjct is, of cours, our community. Ms. Alln's work has bn on display in svral shows and will soon b publishd as a book. Many of th photos ar of facs Highlights From Th April Mting Th main program for April focusd on Color Analysis. L.M. Cozzi & Associats (Lois, Cynthia & Jan) dmonstratd th tchniqus of color analysis on our couragous modl Crystin (I'd nvr show up without my makup-ed!). Th analysis took about 90 minuts and svral popl xprssd an intrst aftrwards in schduling privat sssions. Thank you ladis for a grat and intrsting program. Paula Kisr was busy with hr familiar to Rnaissanc mmbrs. Th aftrnoon bfor th mting, Maritt will b availabl to tak portrait photos for thos who ar inttstd. Th cost is $75( plus. film and procssing fs) for a 1 hour sitting. Th hour is yours to us as you wish. Th location will b at our mting sit. Call ASAP for a rsrvation as w ar tim limitd to fiv sittings. daughtr so Jacki K took charg of th TS Rap group in hr stad. Sh rports that th sssion wnt vry wll and it looks as though this group will b ongoing. Our othr gusts wr Mark, Joy and Bill from th Had First Bauty Salon in Chrry Hill. Mark, th ownr, wants Rnaissanc mmbrs to know that w can gt a 10% discount on his srvics, such as mak-ovrs, nail applications and wig styling. Call for an appointmnt. POST Gts Angry Backlash Ovr Pok At TVs In a sris of storis bginning on March 16th th NY POST blastd Maritt Alln, and othrs, for rciving grants from th Nw Yrok Stat Arts Council, saying that such grants promotd transvstism and th gay lifstyl. Th hadlins usd by th POST wr such that on was lad to bliv that th stat of Nw York had givn mony to a TV group in ordr to promot its activitis. Th papr singld out Ms. Alln who rcivd a $7200 grant to display hr photographic work of th gndr community. Th POST printd, without prmission, Maritt's work as sn in Amrican Photographr magazin. In rspons to th articls in th POST, th Board of Rnaissanc snt a lttr to th Editor of th Postdcryingthwayin which Ms. Alln and our community wr portrayd. W also snt th lttr to ach display advrtisr in that issu of th POST. In a convrsation with ETVC's coordinator, Gloria Ptrs, sh informd us that thy hav takn a proactiv rol in ltting th POST know what our community thinks of thir rporting. In addition to attacking our community, th POST also took aftr som Gay and Lsbian groups that rcivd grants. Thy, too, hav rspondd with lttrs and a dmonstration in front of th POST offics on March 29th. Marritt has rtaind counsl to pursu th POST in a copyright infringmnt suit ovr th photographs usd in thir articls. It will b an xpnsiv xrcis. In a rlatd dvlopmnt, Ginny Knuth, of ETVC, has bn in contact with T.I.G.E.R. a Civil Rights organization for th gndr community and an outgrowth of th Gndr Idntity Cntr in Dnvr. This group has a lgal fund and is intrstd in supporting Ms. Alln in hr suit against th POST. Anyon who would lik to mak a contribution to th lgal fund is ncouragd to do so by writing to TIGER, Lgal Fund, Attntion: Christin M., Box 17442, Dnvr, CO Rnaissanc Nws Staff Snior Editor: JoAnn Robrts National Editor: Paula Sinclair Ovrsas Editor: Trudi Hnry Corrspondnt: Angla Gardnr Admin. Assistant: Susan P. Copy & Layout: Crativ Dsign Srvics, King of Prussia, PA. Phon: , 24 hrs. Businss Rport Thru April 30th April Attndnc: 60 Paid Mmbrs: 126 Starting Balanc; Incom: Donations Publications Mmbr Dus Subtotal Expnss: Mtings Nwslttr llifill: Subtotal Ending Balanc $} $98.05 $16.00 $ $ $ $86.94 a6..1lli $ $ Coming Evnts: May 21st,Rnaissanc Mtin First Anniv. Partr Maritt Alln Slid Show 9:00PM Start 31st to Jun 6, 8th Annual Tiffany P-town Spring Outing. Jun 8-12, 6th Annual "B All..." wknd, Dtroit, MI 18th Rnaissanc Mtin Tommi Avcolli, PGN Usd Clothing Swap July 1 7thRnaissanc Mtin- August 21st Rnaissanc Mtin-

3 ~naissanac 1{f,ws '//o{ 2, 'l{p.5 Th Opinion Pag Sunshin of My Lif... Hathr Prson, rprintd from th Cross-Port InnrViw I bliv this articl will b th most difficult on I'll vr writ. I want to writ about a subjct that many transsxuals avoid bcaus it is too painful to addrss; namly th loss of our lovd on during transition. In my cas, I am spaking about my wif who I am still living with and who I'll call Sunshin. I first mt sunshin in 1968, but w did not bgin dating until January Whil I did not know th tru xtnt of my crossdrssing thn, I did know that I could not, would n.ot try to liv my lif without it. I flt I had alrady lost on girl bcaus I had told hr, but I knw th risk had to b takn. On what was our first big dat, I told hr about my drssing. Sh admittd sh did not undrstand, but flt sh could dal with it. In Fbruary 1972, w wr ngagd just a wk and a half bfor my fathr did. A wk latr, I was arrstd for staling cloths from th laundry room. Somhow w mad it through all that and w wr marrid in Octobr of1972. W truly lovd ach othr thn and w still do. W had many happy tims togthr, but for m thr was always an undr-riding sadnss. Mor than onc during our marriag, sh rmarkd that I had such "sad ys". Evn I couldn't undrstand why. I always drssd at hom whnvr I wantd. What mor could I nd? Rough tims hit us in 1982 whn w both found ourslvs out of work. I bliv w found that, of all our frinds and family w had, w rally could only dpnd on ourslvs. I still don't know how sh did it, but sh managd to kp us afloat vn though w wr going furthr and furthr into dbt. In January of 1985, I found myslf in a dp dprssion. I ndd to do somthing about my flings and th drssing, but didn't know what. I crid as I nvr hav as I watchd th HBO Spcial," what Sx Am I?" I had to do somthing. I had to find othrs and talk to othrs. In Jun, I startd Cross-Port. Through all of this, Sunshin was thr hlping, supporting, ncouraging. Always hoping that somhow w/i would b abl to find th happinss that smd thr on th surfac, but was lacking dp within. My sarch for myslf bcam mor intns. I bgan to tak hr for grantd. I did and said things that hurt hr and I didn't vn know how much. I was all wrappd up in ~yslf. But sh stayd and kpt hoping that I would find out who I was. Much of th joy had alrady gon, but sh still had hop that somhow w would find it again. Thn, in Novmbr of 1987, disastr struck a final blow. I ralizd and admittd that I was a transsxual. I didn't want to b but I was. For m, suddnly vrything mad sns. All th discomfort, sarching, and sadnss bgan to lift. But in Sunshin's ys I saw th last ray of hop giv way to a mlancholy that said, "At last you'll b happy." Th ralization that our tim togthr is short mad us look at ach day as if on of us is dying. 3 I hav askd myslf why somon so kind, tndr and loving has to b hurt so much in ordr for m to liv my lif as I was mant. Why should sh bar th burdn of my idntity dilmma? Why must sh los hr lif (th on sh xpctd to liv) so that I can hav min? It isn't fair. No, lif isn't fair. If it wr, I would not hav bn born lik this in th first plac. I hav not found th answrs and I'm not sur I will, bcaus I don't bliv thr ar any. Why must I lav? I hav dcisions which must b mad. Staying would man making thos choics togthr and this on I must mak alon. This nw lif must b right for -m, not influncd by what ffct it has on othrs bcaus, in th nd, I will always hav to liv with m. It is hard to los frinds that cannot accpt who you ar, but to los somon who lovs you so much bcaus it has to b is th hardst loss of all. It is asy to start to play th hurting gam in th hops of making th loss asir. Ifl can just hat hr, I won't miss hr. But I can't hat Sunshin. Thr is too much lov in hr for m. Sunshin now has th "sad ys" and I can hardly bar to look at thm. I know I m,ust for I must try to comfort hr as sh did m for so many yars. So w liv ach day as if it wr our last until th tim whn I can financially afford to lav. It is vry much lik dying, yt from this dath a nw cratur will mrg and th ral m will liv for th first tim. Whn I do, I will fl warm and aliv bcaus I was lovd by Sunshin.

4 'R.?naissanc 'J{s,ws 'J/o{ 2, 'J{p.5 Th Opinion Pag, Too A Tim & A Plac... a lsson in tiqutt by Angla Gardnr Evrybody knows by now that crossdrssing can b fun: rotic, snsual, fun. That's grat and it's on big rason why w do it. It should b njoyd and intgratd into your lif. But, as th titl says, thr's a tim and plac for vrything. W hav had rports from th businss community srving crossdrssrs that ar dprssing to say th last. Thy hav opnd thir shops to our patronag, trid to b supportiv of us and our hobby, and thn had things that happn that do littl to hlp our imag in th community. To b spcific; on hairdrssr rportd an incidnt involving an ovr-stimulatd TV.[Not a Rnaissanc mmbr-ed.] This prson was apparntly ovrwhlmd by th xprinc of having hr hair and makup don in a salon and dcidd to ngag in mor activ, manual stimulation undr covr of th cap. Th hairdrssr was nithr xcitd nor amusd. This kind of bhavior is immatur and irrsponsibl. It casts a shadow on all our community. If you ar going to go out in public in a fminin rol, thn control your passions. Thr ar appropriat tims to act sxy or trashy, lik onstag in a show or in th privacy of your boudoir. Whn you ar in th public y, and that includs srvic stablishmnts, kp it in your pantyhos. Grantd, th abov is an xtrm cas that w hard about, but w hav also hard of stors having problms with CDs trying on cloths and damaging thm. Again, it is oftn a cas of bing too xcitd about what you ar doing and not rally paying attntion to what you ar doing. B considrat of ths shops that opn thir doors to us. Whn trying on cloths rmov jwlry that may caus snags. B vry carful not to gt makup on th garmnt, and if you do, offr to hav it cland. Pay attntion to how tight th clothing is. If you ar having that much troubl gtting into it, thn chancs ar you'r not rally a siz four. Gt a salsprson to hlp you find a largr siz. Whn out in public, act matur, rsponsibl and us common sns. If you do othrwis, you may b suitabl to appar in th nxt Porkis' movi, but you crtainly won't do much that's positiv for th imag of crossdrssrs. W nd all th good PR w can gt. On Th Road To Civilization Rcntly, Paula Sinclair and Angla Gardnr journyd to Baltimor with Dr. Bill Stayton. Th purpos was to addrss a confrnc of Rconstructionist Jwish Rabbis on sxuality and gndr-rols. To pass th tim in th car on th way, th convrsation turnd to th dclin of civilizd bhavior. Various root causs wr discussd such as th all too prvalnt "m first" attitud. Imagin thir chagrin, thn, whn upon thir arrival at th confrnc thy wr subjctd to a dmonstration of most uncivilizd bhavior. Th thr of thm, agr to mt thir hosts for dinnr and an vning of intrsting convrsation, bustld into th prstigious Harbor Court Hotl. Th staff was hlpful and courtous. Thy dirctd th trio to th dining room whr th Rconstructionists procdd to ignor Paula and Angla whil Dr. Stayton trid in vain to introduc thm. Dr. Stayton informd our sistrs that th Rconstructionists did not want to har what thy had to say. Thy would listn to an acadmic discussion of sxuality but, plas, no xampls. This lft Paula and Angla on thir own for svral hours whil Dr. Stayton fulfilld his obligation to spak. Th girls procdd first to th hotl loung and latr to th rstaurant whil thy waitd for Bill to finish. Th hotl patrons smd not to notic anything amiss and th staff, onc again, 4 bhavd with all courtsy. Our ladis wr mad to fl so at as by th hotl popl that Paula and Angla approachd th night managr to complimnt hr on hr staff and lft a Rnaissanc businss card with hr. At vning's nd Dr. Stayton, Paula and Angla chattd brifly with som of th mor sympathtic Rconstructionists who would hav likd to har thm spak. Thy wr happy to inform thm that though thy may hav bn victims of an uncivilizd faction in thir confrnc, thy had indd found civilization aliv and wll in th staff of th Harbor Court Hotl in Bal timor, Maryland. Thy hop to rturn thr in th futur.

5 ~naissanac 9{f,ws 'llo{ 2, ~-5 Nws & Nots Editd by Paula Sinclair So you finally savd up nough and bought your hart's dsirs, a human hair wig. But whil you know whr th "hair" in your synthtic wigs cam from (a hol in th ground), do you know who was waring your nw hair bfor? Do you want to? According to xprts in th human hair trad (ys, thr is such a businss, but it is not as visibl as,say, th diamond trad), most of th womn who sll thir hair ar hard up for mony. Rmmbr th short story by 0. Hnry ntitld Th Gift of th Magi? But slling hair, at last your own, is not a way to gt rich. Th ral mony is mad by th middl mn. Contrary to popular blif, not all human hair for wigs coms from Asia. Eastrn Europ, spcially th nations of Poland, Yugoslavia and th Sovit Union, provids a larg sgmnt of th supply vn though a on major sourc has bn cut off, so to spak. In formr tims, womn had thir hair cut off whn th ntrd convnts. But now that nuns ar allowd to kp thir hair, that sourc is no longr availabl. In on xprt's opinion, th bst hair coms from Italy. It costs th most too. Italian hair 30 inchs long can cost mor than $1,000 a pound in a markt whr th avrag pric pr pound rangs btwn $220 and $300. Asian hair is chapst bcaus it is most plntiful and also bcaus it is coars. W not with saddnss th passing of two important popl. Divin, that most outragous of CDs, did in his slp in Los Angls on March 8. Of spcial intrst is that Divin nvr accptd th labl of TV, but rathr wantd to b thought of as a charactr actor who portrayd womn's rols. Also, in th sam wk, Joyc Dwhurst was found dad in hr apartmnt from hart failur. Joyc, known as "Amrica's Formost Crossdrssr", was a vry spcial prson to many mrging TVs/TSs. Sh was wll known for hr NYC partis, but will b bst rmmbrd for hr Pocono Fantasy wknds. - JoAnn Robrts Th Pnnsylvania Suprior Court rcntly affirmd th sanctity of womns' public rst rooms whn it uphld th criminal trspass conviction of a mal intrudr in a Philadlphia halth club ladis' room. But according to a lawyr who is familar with crossdrssing issus, transvstits and pr-op transsxuals who us womn's rst rooms for lgitimat purposs nd not worry about arrst. Th cas involvd Anthony Whit who hid in th womn's rst room of th Socity Hill Club. Whn a woman ntrd th room, Whit blockd th door, mad thratning gsturs and xposd himslf to th woman. H was latr convictd of criminal trspassing. In appaling this conviction to th Suprior Court, Whit's attorny argud that th rst room was not sparatly st asid for th xclusiv us of th club's fmal mmbrs. But th court did not agr, and hld that whil thy ar in a rst room, womn hav th "lgal protction to th xpctation of privacy." A local attorny who is familiar with som of th issus surrounding crossdrssing said that th ruling should hav no ffct on crossdrssrs who us womn's rst rooms bcaus, h said, thy ar in thos facilitis for lgitimat rasons, not to commit a crim as Whit was. Harlow, Philadlphia's most clbratd transsxual, will opn what sh calls a "sophisticatd nightclub" by th summr. Sh rcntly said sh will turn th shuttrd Rusty Scuppr in Socity Hill's Nw Markt into a "1940s suppr club-vry drssy, dancing and dining combind." 5 Harlow hops that hr nw vntur will hav th sam sort of magic of hr prvious watring hol at 2nd and Bank Sts. Btwn 1972 and 1977, Harlow's was th plac to b sn. On rason for th clintl's high visibility was that "Harlow's was vry drssy. I was drssd all of th tim." Sh is crtain that th sam glamourous atmosphr will b prsnt in th nw club. ''Womn will drss whn thy know othr womn will b drssd," sh said. "And whn th womn drss, th mn will drss up." W prsum sh is spaking of tuxdos for th mn. In anothr lgal mattr rlating to crossdrssing, a California attorny facs disbarmnt bcaus sh took th stat bar xam whil imprsonating hr husband. Bcaus Morgan Lamb, 34, finishd in th bottom 20 prcnt whn h took th xam last yar, his wif, LauraSalant, 31, took his plac for this yar's tst. Two months bfor th xam, sh had an idntification pictur takn with hr hair slickd back, thick, mannish ybrows pncild on hr forhad and waring mn's cloths. But on th day of th xam sh did away with th mal drag bcaus sh was svn months prgnant. Howvr, sh still usd th ID photo which idntifid hr as hr husband. Th coupl's schm was uncovrd by a tlphon tipstr. Stat officials wr unabl to say why an obviously prgnant woman was allowd to complt th xam whil posing as a man. Boy Gorg fans in drag chasd svral ral womn from a London concrt rcntly aftr th fmals wr told "Gorg hats womn." Ann Foti and hr sistr Lorna Bdford told rportrs that "ral fmals arn't wlcom" at th concrt. Thy said th angry crossdrssd fans of th popular singr pourd drinks on thir sats and vn hit on of thm.

6 ~naissanc ~ws o/o{ 2, 'l{p.5 Mor Photos From Rnaissanc Mtings. Etinn & Trudi pass th buck. JoAnn says, "Not so clos!" Paula gluing Nancy's fingrs togthr. / Just kidding, it's a nail dmo. Alison and Mlani, our own Krystal & Alxis. Eulogy For A Rol Modl... Trudi Hnry I'm writing this a fw days aftr th dath of Divin, crtainly on of th world's bst known crossdrssrs. I'v hard th snickrs and snrs of th morning driv-tim DJ's and sn th look of confusion amid th sriousnss of local nws anchors. I think it's tim for sombody to mom th passing of a frind. Divin will b rmmbrd by socity at larg for som outragous scns in films mad with his frind John Watrs. That's a pity. H dsrvs to b rmmbrd, spcially by our community, bcaus h stood up and insistd that th world dal with him on his own trms. H thumbd his nos at socity's notion that som popl ar scond-class citizns. H showd us all that w can b what w want to b if w'r willing to pay th pric. Each stp of frdom in on's lif carris with it a cost in prsonal scurity. H was willing to risk all of his to b what h knw h was: an actrss wrappd in th shll of a 300 pound man. H could b raunchy and outragous, but h had talnt and was finally bginning to b accptd for it. Ys, lts all rmmbr Sistr Divin. H was a tru original and, in attitud, ifnot dd, a rol modl for us all. 6 ~naissanc ~ws is th publication of th Rnaissanc Education Association, Inc No matrial may b rproducd in any mannr unlss crdit is givn to th sourc. Subscription & Associat Mmbrship is $12/yar. Full Mmbrship in th group is $30/yar. Rnaissanc is a non-profit corporation which has th purpos of providing ducation about transgndrd bhavior. Rnaissanc mts onc a month, on th 3rd Saturday of th month, unlss othrwis notd. Starting tim is 9:00 PM in th lat Spring/Summr, and 8:00 PM in th Fall/Wintr. Rgular mtings ar hld in th Vally Forg ara. For th latst information call, , any tim.