Transsexual 'Always a Woman' Lawyer Says
by Camille Bains, Vancouver Sun, February 23, 2001
Kimberly Nixon should have been allowed to counsel rape victims because she was always a woman in her mind, even though she was born with a "humiliating appendage," the lawyer for the transsexual argued during a human rights hearing Thursday.
barbara findlay said Nixon was wrongly discriminated against by the Vancouver Rape Relief Society when she was barred from a training program to become a volunteer counsellor because she was once a man.
Nixon filed a complaint against the society in 1995.
"Ms. Nixon is not a man, was not a man and didn't grow up as a man," findlay said during a case that is being closely watched by women's support groups across the country.
"If a woman were born with a third arm we would not think her less woman if she had it removed, but the penis in this society is invested with so much symbolism that having one pollutes one's gender identity in a manner which seems to make it impossible for people to see the girl, see the woman, who grew up with the humiliating appendage."
Nixon, who worked as a pilot before she had surgery to become a woman in 1990, is seeking $10,000 in compensation and other remedies from Rape Relief.
She said in earlier testimony that she always felt like a female in her mind.
Rape Relief members say Nixon does not share the same life experiences as women who are born females and who have often been oppressed by men.
A former client of the non-profit organization has testified she would never have sought counselling from a transsexual woman who couldn't relate to her.
Suzanne Jay, a Rape Relief spokeswoman, said members of women's support groups fear they'll be forced to close their doors if transgendered women are allowed to work or volunteer there.
That was the case for the Vancouver Lesbian Connection, which shut down two years ago after a man who hadn't yet had surgery to become a woman launched a complaint against that group for banning him from its drop-in centre.
Susan Memela won a $3,000 settlement and has said he will not have surgery to become a woman.
Jay said Rape Relief offered Nixon $500 for "hurting her feelings" along with a personal and written apology. Nixon refused.
She said the organization also encouraged Nixon to get involved by working on a fund-raising committee.
Nixon, who speaks in a female-sounding voice, said outside the hearing that she wasn't interested because the committee includes men.
"I was perceived as a man and I'm not a man," she said.
In addition to financial compensation, Nixon wants Rape Relief to provide a so-called transphobia workshop to all its staff and members.
The hearing is expected to wrap up today.