¡une 15.2ÛÛ1 ’ JiMt «Mt35
to realize maybe I’m not a woman at all. You see,
I’m a gender-complicated person.”
The 22-year-old college graduate just came
out of the closet for the second time. He iden
tifies as a trans guy attracted to guys but sees
himself as someone more attracted to individ
uals than genders.
“Coming out wasn’t easy,” Nelson explains.
“But people were much more comfortable to see
me as a lesbian than a gay man.”
Nelson must have skin 2 inches thick,
because he has to deal with prejudice all the
time. On the bus, he endures verbal attacks on
an almost daily basis.
“They ask me what my gender is and get
angry,” Nelson says. “They stare at my throat
and see if 1 have an Adam’s apple. They don’t
even realize they’re being prejudiced and
transphobic.
“You need to know my name and the correct
pronoun to use,” Nelson says, leaning forward as
his voice becomes serious. “But don’t ask me
what sex I am. I think I know which bathroom
to use.”
Still, Nelson has a remarkably sober view of
his persecutors. “I understand that prejudiced
people are people with potential for change, and
I’m also a person with potential for change.”
Nelson, a member of COQSURE and Gen
der Machine Works, has been a Buddhist for
seven years, actively involves himself in anti
oppression work and provides ground support for
tree sitters at Eagle Creek. He recently moved in
with his boyfriend and is getting married in a
few months.
Last year Nelson went to Gay Pride, openly
identifying himself as trans. This year he plans
to organize a whole group of trans, intersex and
cross-dressing people and march with them in
the parade.
“Most people don’t wear shirts that say, ‘I am
trans,’ ” Nelson says. “It can get lonely walking
around the city. It’s a great feeling to be among
trans people and visible to the wider community."
—PZ
Who can you turn to
in times like these?
There is no question the markets are more volatile these days.
S K.D. PARMAN
sinking its claws into personal decisions. “We
should extend freedom to do what we choose,”
she explains. “It enrages me that some guys can
put into law that my lifestyle is illegal."
As a result of this conviction, Parman has
worked on political campaigns for the past five
years. She oversaw volunteers and staff as
statewide field director for No on 9 in 2000.
“I couldn’t just volunteer. I had to work,” she
remarks.
Like a lot of people, Parman still has some
kinks to work out with her family. Although she
is out to them, she describes their relationship as
“don’t ask, don’t tell.”
As a 27-year-old graduate student at Port
land State University pursuing a master’s degree
in education, Parman plans to become a high
school science teacher. She lives with her part
ner of four years, Jeana Frazzini, and says they
became close “while traveling around the coun
try for four months in a ’70s Volkswagen bus."
Parman also plays soccer on the women’s team
Artemis, which is training to go to the Gay
Games in Australia next year.
—PZ
he first time K.D. Parman went to Pride,
she saw something that scared her. Macho
women climbed up the pedestrian cross
ing signs, ripped off their shirts and hurled them
into the crowd.
This year, Parman will join those grrls, the
Lesbian Avengers, for the Dyke March. Then
atricia Raicht and Ann Marie Chinn
she plans to kick back.
have known one and other for more than
“I just want to hang out, sit and watch every
20 years and have been a family for the
one—from drag queens to Dykes on Bikes,” she
past eight years. Today the center of that family
says. “Everyone comes out full force. For one
weekend no one has to be discreet. Everyone’s is a 3-year-old “Sprout” Dakota Grace Chinn.
like, ‘Yeah, damn it, I’m gay, so get over it.’
Continued on Page 36
Parman thinks the government should stop
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O PATRICIA RAICHT
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