“It’s a blatant act of discrimination based on transphobia.” That’s what Natasharhia Charise Dubeau had to say about her rejection letter from the Consolidated Space Program Inc. human resources department. Dubeau, who recently applied for the position of Principle Scientist with CSPI, stated she was more than qualified for the position. Citing her experience in rocketry, Dubeau said she was as qualified as anyone. “They [CSPT] know full well I built one of those little water rocket thingies when I was seven and every Christmas it’s me they choose to shoot off the fireworks.” When Dubeau was asked by this reporter about her higher educational credentials she stated she was “most proud” of her scholarly achievements. “I was at the top of my class at Hollyhock Elementary and Newbie Junior High.” And, then was quick to add. “I’ve been working on my GED since 2009…I expect to graduate some time next year.” Dubeau said that though she was upset at her latest rejection she would not quit seeking a job in the space exploration field. “I’m optimistic that when ENDA is passed CSPI will see the light.” Dubeau is currently enrolled in typing and home economics courses at a local vocational-technical college to further her education.
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Chrysanthemum LeFlores is not happy. Mum, as she prefers to be called, was recently terminated from her position as a foundry operator at the Upstate Steel Company in northern Minnesota.
Mum, formerly Gilbert Boggs, is a male-to-female transsexual who recently transitioned on the job of Upstate Steel. He now walks with a limp. Last Tuesday she was terminated. “They said it was a safety issue, but I know better…the real reason they fired my ass is they just won’t let me be the woman I’ve always known I am.” Mum says that after a twenty year career in the Army, a wife, family of four, and several stints as the president of her local steelworkers union she suddenly realized something wasn’t quite right. “After I was arrested in my car while giving head to Destiny Marie [a local drag performer and known prostitute] it “suddenly came to me that I was really a woman” Mum says. “I went to Southern Comfort [ a crossdresser convention] down in Georgia and they confirmed it.” LeFlores then approached Upstate Steel about transitioning on the job. “We pride ourselves in being an open, liberal and diverse company here at Upstate” said Robert Grange, President and CEO. “We fully supported Gilbert in his lifestyle choice.” We asked Grange what went wrong. Grange stated that when “Mum” showed up on the foundry floor the first day he was in five inch rhinestone platform heels and a dress. “While the safety inspector was trying usher Mum off the line she tripped on her skirt and her left foot slipped into a pot of molten steel…burned three toes right off.” Mum, for her part, admits she “may not have dressed appropriately” that time, but still fails to understand why she was written up for a safety infraction. Grange goes on to say it was the second infraction that sunk Mum’s boat. “Our metallurgist came to me last Monday complaining about what looked like plastic in the latest batch of steel’s analysis. He couldn’t understand how plastic could contaminate our steel. Mum, was the supervisor of that pour…we called her in for an explanation. Her entire head was wrapped in what looked like a bandage. She admitted she had leaned too close to the crucible and her wig had caught fire. She said she tried to put it out but in her enthusiasm her wig fell off into the pot, charring the bottom part of her earlobe and singing the entire back of her neck in the process.” Grange said it was another near fatality not to mention a dent in his production. “Do you have any idea how badly five pounds of Kanekalon can contaminate a batch of molten steel?” Mum was terminated and OSHA was called in. Our editors tried to get a comment from Bob Hopkins, regional director of OSHA but a source, on condition of remaining anonymous, said Hopkins would have no comment “until he quits laughing hysterically.”
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Sashalise Annalise Jones is finally at peace with herself. Kim Pierce interviewed Peggy for this edition of the Sunday Supplement on a snowy December day for our human interest series. In spite of the below freezing weather, Sashalise was resplendent in a pink camisole and chiffon mini. Her make-up was immaculate, from her long eyelashes to her thick red lip gloss…her nails were perfectly manicured. She looked every bit the renowned transgender activist she’d become.
KP - Sashalise, thank you so much for having me out this afternoon.
SA - You’re welcome, Kim.
KP - I’d like to ask you how you came to this place in life.
SA - Kim, it’s been a long journey. I’d always known I was a woman deep inside. When I turned forty nine I thought it was about time I did something about it. The rest is history, as they say.
KP - Amazing…
SA - Yes, it really is.
KP - Tell me about it.
SA - Well, Kim, after my wife of twenty seven years helped me through college and walked with me up the corporate ladder I figured I had enough in our 401K for me to just walk out and follow my dreams…the kids were grown and out of the house…it was time.
KP - Was your wife supportive of your change?
SA - Oh, yes…absolutely. She supported me entirely right up until her death.
KP – Oh?
SA - Yes, she committed suicide two days after I came out.
KP - I’m sorry for your loss.
SA - Thank you.
KP - You have seven children and twelve grandchildren. How have they taken the change?
SA - They’re fine with it. They are the best…very supportive. I don’t see them as much as I’d like to though.
KP - When kids are far away that can happen I suppose…
SA – Well, my daughter lives next door, three of my sons live in the neighborhood, my other daughter lives just across town…only my last two live far away…over in Chelsey, twenty miles away…but they have there own lives now that they have grown up. One has to cherish the time we have together…We all got together four years ago and had a great time. It was one day after I came out…they were very surprised, but quite supportive…very supportive.
KP - Your house is lovely. I really like that high fence you have.
SA - Thank you. My daughter who lives next door put the fence in. She ran right out and had that done the day after we all got together last.
KP - I see…
SA - She said it was to keep the wierdos out.
KP - Tell me about your transition.
SA - There’s really not much to tell, Kim. I got fed up with living a lie and just decided it was time to be the woman I always knew I was.
KP - At forty nine years old.
SA - At forty nine years old, yes.
KP - Amazing…
SA - Yes…isn’t it.
KP - Was transitioning painful for you.
SA - Yes…very painful. Every time I pluck my eyebrows or remove these plastic nails it’s excruciating.
KP - What about the surgeries…
SA - I haven’t had any surgeries.
KP - No?
SA - No. I don’t need to have surgery to be a woman. Being a female is between the ears, not between the legs. Besides, I don’t have a penis anymore, I have a neo-clit…it give me pleasure.
KP - What is the difference between a penis and a neo-clit, Sash?
SA - A penis is what boys have…a neo-clit is what woman like us have.
KP - So…there is no difference then?
SA - None…
KP - Is it hard finding gay lovers?
SA - Oh…I don’t have any problem finding lovers, but I don’t date gay men.
KP - Then, who do you date?
SA - I only date straight men when I go out. There are loads and loads of straight men at the gay bars that only enjoy real women like me. Men want women who look and act like real women should…like I look. They are so turned on with us that they don’t even take us anywhere else but bed. Kim, I have one girlfriend who has been dating the same straight man for years now…every few days he comes by and sucks on her neo-clit and she porks him, but they’ve never been anywhere else but her apartment because he’s so turned on with her…
KP - You mean turned on by her neo-clit that’s really a penis but which is different?
SA - Yes.
KP - Amazing…I had no idea that straight me liked to suck neo-clits and get banged in the ass with them.
SA - Amazing, yes, but there are straight men like that.
KP - Have you found Mr. Right yet.
SA - No…I’m a lesbian.
KP - A lesbian?
SA - Yes, I don’t like straight men or gay men. I like women…real women like me who also have neo-clits. Real women with neo-clits are the true females of the world. We know what feminism is better than anyone.
KP - Sashalise, you are on the board of four national GLBT organizations, all six of your state organizations, you speak at countless transgender conventions, have lobbied at both the state and federal level for GLBT equality, have six blogs, and coordinate the local TDOR. How do you do it?
SA - Easy…I don’t define myself as being transgender. I’m just another woman…just as much of a woman as you are.
Sashalise moves for the first time during our interview. She dusts the snow off that’s been building up on her camisole and, in the process, brushes her face…one of her false eyelashes has frozen solid and flakes off, falling into the snow that has built up on her bare legs. Sashalise picks it up nonchalantly, as if I hadn’t noticed, and flicks it onto the floor. It lands on a high heeled foot that covered with three inches of snow. Real woman or not, with only one eyelash she looks like a raccoon whose make-up job has gone terribly wrong…
KP - Isn’t it a little cool for you outside, Sash…it’s almost a blizzard out this afternoon.
SA - Kim, real women must suffer to be beautiful.
KP - Even if that means ignoring the icicles that are forming on your nose, Sash?
SA - You don’t have to be insulting, Kim.
KP - Well, forgive me, Sash, but it’s freezing out here and you’re half naked…I’m just trying to understand, that’s all.
SA - You can’t understand, Kim…you’re not a diva.
KP - No, I’m definitely not a Diva…I apologize. Let’s move on and wrap this up. I’m still trying to understand. You always knew deep inside you were a woman but waited until you were forty nine years old to admit it…when you did, your wife supported you whole heartedly and completely for two days after you came out before she committed suicide…you haven’t seen your family for years since they found out you were transgender the day after you came out, even your daughter who lives next door, who installed a fence between the two of you…you’ve not had gender reassignment surgery nor intend to and you’ve got a neo-clit that is really a penis, but not really…you don’t date gay men only straight men who like to have sex with real women who have neo-clits, which are really a penis…and virtually every spare minute of your free time is involved with fighting for the rights of others just like you, yet you don’t define yourself by being transgender but as just another woman who is as real a woman as any other. Can you possibly understand why your story and you, yourself, sound like the craziest fucking thing that ever came out of the mouth of a human being?
SA - No, I can’t. But, I can see how you don’t understand…you’re not intersex.
KP - WHAT! Intersex? Now you are intersex? When did you find that out?
SA - Yes, I’m intersex. I found out when I measured one of my fingers and found out it was longer than it should have been for a guy. Thinking back about it, that finger probably explains everything. From what I’ve read me being intersex and being able to father children was probably a miracle. I think it may be even more than that…I found a scar on my tummy and think maybe when I was an infant the doctors removed my female organs. I checked my medical records and they say it was appendicitis…but there are a few words that I can’t read on the report and I know in my heart it was just a cover-up because they didn’t want me know I was really a girl…happens all the time. The internet is full of stories like that.
KP - With all of your activism surely you know that many people in society – even those women who have had gender reassignment surgery – find narratives like yours to be extremely suspect. What do you have to say about those people.
SA - Those who have had gender reassignment surgery are separatist who don’t count…that group are sick and mean people who refuse to let the GLBT assimilate them for the better cause. The rest are right wing religious zealots, self loathing hate mongers who suffer from internalized homophobia and are actively transphobic in there quest to deny those like me the same equality and rights as everyone else.
KP - Amazing…
SA - Isn’t it…
This fascinating interview ended with the author just as confused as she’d ever been with the enigmatic transgender diva, Sashalise. When the tape recorder was turned off, Sash immediately jumped up from the outside patio chair, brushed the snow off of her and ran to the adjoining jacuzi. Once submerged by the warm water she lit a cigar and called her bookie…and, then winked at me from the only eye that had eyelashes.
