April 09, 2007
Transgender Navy vet protests war in U.S. Congress
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When former CIA operative Valerie Plame testified at a congressional hearing bristling with TV cameras, Midge Potts was right there, a distracting figure in a shocking pink shirt emblazoned with "Impeach Bush Now."
She's been ejected, arrested and detained for protests demanding U.S. troops leave Iraq, but that hasn't deterred the Gulf War veteran, former Republican congressional candidate and transgender woman.
"We shouldn't be afraid to vocalise our opinion to our elected leaders," said Potts, one of several members of the Code Pink anti-war group who frequently show up for congressional hearings and debates on Iraq.
Now she and the group are aggressively targeting Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) and other presidential contenders they believe have failed to push for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.
"Neither Obama or Hillary Clinton are peace candidates at this point," Potts said. "They're not showing any good faith to really end the war now."
For the 38-year-old Potts, anti-war sentiments began to surface while serving in the U.S. Navy during the first Gulf War. She was Mitchell Eugene Potts then, and worked on the USS Yosemite, a destroyer tender, calibrating pressure gauges.
"I was proud to be in the military," she said. "But I did wonder why we were there and what we were doing, especially when it seemed like we were occupying the Persian Gulf after."
Potts inhaled evaporated mercury in a pressure gauge accident in a hot engine room shortly before her tour of duty was up. She began to suffer from migraines and emotional problems.
After failing to get the treatment she needed, Potts said she was offered an honourable discharge and took it.
A judge ultimately awarded her disability benefits under the
Social Security program, and that pays her living expenses now while she spends long days as an anti-war activist on Capitol Hill.
Potts married after being discharged from the Navy and fathered a daughter, now 7, but the marriage ended in divorce in 2003. She began dressing and living as a woman full time after that.
"It's been about four years since I've really been living as a woman," she said. "Although I've always felt like this. I felt like a little girl when I was a kid."
She began protesting with Code Pink after the start of the war in
Afghanistan and before the invasion of Iraq.
CHALLENGES TOP REPUBLICAN
Then last year she challenged Rep. Roy Blunt (news, bio, voting record), the House Republican whip, in the Republican primary for a congressional seat in southwestern Missouri.
"I ran as a Republican during the last election because I'm a fiscal conservative definitely," said Potts, who is from Springfield, Missouri.
She campaigned as the first openly transgender candidate in the state and changed her name to Midgelle Regina Potts. She said she was initially concerned about campaigning in some areas, but her worries proved unfounded.
"Maybe one in a thousand people would have something derogatory to say to me," she said.
She finished third, with about 7 percent of the vote.
"I was a little disappointed. I was going for at least 10 percent. I really worked hard," Potts said. "I went all over southwest Missouri to talk to farmers, went to Fourth of July things, went and talked to Republican functions. I was pretty well received in general."
She is mulling another run in 2008, this time on the progressive party ticket. Meanwhile, she has been trying to make her voice heard in Congress even though not a member.
She has interrupted testimony by Henry Kissinger, shouted questions at Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker during a hearing and spoken up from the gallery at the close of a Senate debate.
"I walked up and said, 'The American people voted against the war in Iraq. Bring the troops home now. Take care of them when they get here,'" Potts said.
That got her arrested on charges of disrupting Congress. Potts said she faces a May 15 court date and could get up to six months in jail and a $500 fine if she loses her jury trial.
"It's a small price to pay really," she said. "I got to represent myself in Congress."
Posted by ronnie at 10:24 PM | Comments (0)
March 30, 2007
Tenn. inmate held as man really a woman
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - An inmate was jailed as a man for more than a week on a statutory rape charge before a shower revealed the prisoner was a woman.
Alexander David Cross, also known as Elaine Ann Cross, had been in the Hamilton County Jail awaiting a court appearance Wednesday. Cross pleaded guilty to the charge in a deal with prosecutors.
The charge stems from an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Prosecutors allege Cross, 42, and the teenager had sexual contact at least three times during June and July 2006.
Officials said Cross' gender was revealed when jail authorities forced the inmate to take a shower.
"After about 10 days in jail, they figure out Alex Cross is a female," prosecutor Boyd Patterson said in court.
The plea means no jail time will be required if Cross stays out of trouble for six years. Cross must register as a convicted sex offender and have no contact with the teen. The gender designation also must be changed to female on Cross' driver's license.
Cross couldn't immediately be located for comment.
Posted by ronnie at 01:23 PM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2007
Man: Ex' sex change should end alimony
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Lawrence Roach agreed to pay alimony to the woman he divorced, not the man she became after a sex change, his lawyers argued Tuesday in an effort to end the payments. But the ex-wife's attorneys said the operation doesn't alter the agreement.
The lawyers and Circuit Judge Jack R. St. Arnold agreed the case delves into relatively unchartered legal territory. They found only a 2004 Ohio case that addressed whether or not a transsexual could still collect alimony after a sex change.
"There is not a lot out there to help us," St. Arnold said.
Roach and his wife, Julia, divorced in 2004 after 18 years of marriage. The 48-year-old utility worker agreed to pay her $1,250 a month in alimony. Since then, Julia Roach, 55, had a sex change and legally changed her name to Julio Roberto Silverwolf.
"It's illegal for a man to marry a man and it should likewise be illegal for a man to pay alimony to a man," Roach's attorney John McGuire said. "When she changed to man, I believe she terminated that alimony."
Silverwolf did not appear in court Tuesday and has declined to talk about the divorce. His lawyer, Gregory Nevins, said the language of the divorce decree is clear and firm — Roach agreed to pay alimony until his ex-wife dies or remarries.
"Those two things haven't happened," said Nevins, a senior staff attorney with the national gay rights group Lambda Legal.
St. Arnold is considering the arguments. But lawyers on both sides agreed Tuesday that Roach will likely have to keep paying alimony to Silverwolf.
The judge poked holes in several of Roach's legal arguments and noted that appeals courts have declined to legally recognize a sex change in Florida when it comes to marriage. The appellate court "is telling us you are what you are when you are born," St. Arnold said.
In the Ohio case, an appeals court ruled in September 2004 that a Montgomery County man must continue to pay $750 a month in alimony to his transsexual ex-wife because her sex change wasn't reason enough to violate the agreement.
Roach's other attorney, John Smitten, said the case falls into a legal void.
"It's probably something that has to be addressed by the Legislature," Smitten said. "There is one other case in the entire United States. It really needs to be addressed either for or against the concept of eliminating alimony for that reason."
Roach, who has since remarried, said has been unable to convince state and federal lawmakers to tackle the issue. He said he will continue to fight.
"This is definitely wrong. I have a right to move forward with my life. I wish no harm and hardship to that person," Roach said of his ex-wife. "They can be the person they want to be, to find happiness and peace within themselves. I have the right to do the same. But I can't rest because I'm paying a lot of money every month."
The legal fight is the second transsexual rights showdown in Pinellas County in less than a week. On Friday, transsexual activists from around the country packed a City Commission meeting in neighboring Largo to oppose the firing of City Manager Steve Stanton after he announced he was a transsexual.
Despite the support, commissioners voted 5-2 to fire Stanton.
Posted by ronnie at 06:25 PM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2007
Mo. judge rules in transvestite case
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Even in the messy legal world of dividing property after a failed romance, this case was exceptional. A Jackson County judge was asked to consider whether a transvestite had misled a former male fiance into believing she was a woman. Ferris Griggs of Kansas City, Kan., sued Josie Garcia of Kansas City, claiming that Garcia had defrauded him by pretending to be a woman.
Griggs wanted the judge to remove Garcia's name from a deed to a $20,000 house they co-own. Griggs also gave Garcia a $2,500 engagement ring, but didn't ask for that back.
Garcia, who goes by the name Cindy, testified that Griggs knew all along that she was a man, and that they often had sex during a relationship that lasted many months. Garcia dressed as a woman in court.
Griggs denied that the couple had sex. He said someone else told him that Garcia was a man. And he claimed that Garcia blackmailed him into putting her name on the house after the two quarreled while in Texas.
Griggs violated his parole on a rape conviction by taking Garcia to Texas. Griggs testified that after he got the ticket, Garcia threatened to tell Griggs' Kansas parole officer unless he gave her things.
A relative of Griggs testified that he heard Garcia make blackmail threats on phone voice messages.
But Garcia testified that she did not blackmail Griggs, and said they had a troubled relationship because Griggs was a control freak and hermit while she was sociable and normal.
And Garcia's friends testified that Griggs knew all along Garcia was a man.
Jackson County Judge J.D. Williamson said in issuing his ruling that both sides had serious credibility issues.
But he said Griggs had not proved that Garcia committed fraud. He ordered lawyers to start work on selling the house and dividing the money between Griggs and Garcia.
Posted by ronnie at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)