Jo Bernardo y Gavriel Ansara
Jó Bernardo
Dear Colleagues,
As a co-participant of the research work conducted in 1998 by the PPortuguese AIDS Association Abraço, I would ask the authors of the article the rectification of certain inaccuracies contained in the article:
1 - ILGA-Portugal never funded the research project concerned: the financing was the sole responsibility of the Association Abraço in collaboration with the CNLCS - National Commission of Fight Against AIDS;
The participation of ILGA-Portugal in this project is do to the exclusive fact that at the time of the elaboration of the project, I together with Dra. Maria José Campos ware respectively founder and collaborator at GAT-(Transgender Support Group of the Association ILGA-Portugal;
2 - Just as there was no specific law that enshrines rights to Portuguese transgender population, such laws still do not exist today. The text referred to in the article published by ILGA Word is performed the case law in recent decades that served and continues to serve as a legal reference in Portugal and showing that the latest decision is leaning in the opposite direction of legal developments in other countries.
On behalf of the team that conducted the study in question, we appreciate your disclosure and ask their rectification.
Yours sincerely,
Jó Bernardo
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Gavriel Ansara
Interesting and disturbing that you provide the Diane Arbus photo "Hermaphrodite and Dog at Carnival" without any commentary, as this photo is blatantly dehumanising, offensive, and objectifying. The term “hermaphrodite" is also now considered offensive by most intersex people and those who use it consider it an in-group term inappropriate for usage by non-intersex people.
I'm surprised and disappointed at this, since I have previously experienced ILGA as an excellent resource. Now I will think twice before referring anyone to ILGA. Simply displaying anything that pertains to or depicts trans or intersex people does not make you a supportive or affirming resource.
Critical enquiry when displaying imagery about marginalised populations is crucial to ensuring that you do not reinscribe oppressive meanings and connotations.
Please consider these comments and edit your site accordingly.
Gavi
Dear Jó Bernardo:
Thank you very much for clarify ILGA's participation in the research about trans people in Portugal as well as legal issues, we will replace the article in our webpage with the respective correction. Also we will publish your explanation in order to correct the mistake. We are very sorry about any trouble we could cause for this error that is all our. Problems of translation are also part of the misunderstanding but we are trying to resolve them in the short time.
Yours sincerily,
Bethsabé Huamán Andía
Bethsabé Huamán Andía
Editor Investigator
Bulletin T-Informa
ILGA Trans Secretariat
http://trans.ilga.org/
See the study The portuguese transgender community: An unknown reality
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Dear Gavriel Ansara:
We are very pleased for your critical commentary about our webpage, we think the idea of a ILGA Trans Webpage is to offer different points of view of any of the aspect about trans diversity and trans identity. The photograph you comment is part of a review about Diane Arbus.
So it is part of a brief gallery of her photographs. In that resume we describe the style of Diane Arbus as one in which she feel very close to those who had been marginalized in society but also close to that what is consider bizarre for society. We don't know that the name hermaphrodite had been questioned by intersex people as is part of medical documents and also academic documents as some of Michel Foucault, we only respect the name that the same Arbus gave to her photograph. Also we don't consider that photograph is offensive in any aspect, it is showing a person that is difficult to define as man or woman and that is part of the characteristic of Arbu's photographs, in our perspective. The dog, according our opinion, give her or him a sense of loving and kindness. Anyway as pictures as all in art is able to be interpret in different ways we ask you give us your opinion in an article that we will be very pleased to publish because surely it will give another point of view of this photograph and maybe also about Diane Arbus hole artistic production. We also will eliminate the photograph in order to your considerations.
We are very sorry this gave you a bad impression about ILGA's Trans Webpage and also about ILGA Trans Secretariat, we in anyway want to give an idea of dehumanize, specially about intersex people that we are very interested in integrate in a better way in the trans community of ILGA. If that was your impression please accept our apology but we don't think stop considering our webpage as a reference could be the solution, you could participate in this page as part of it, giving your opinion. We invite you to help us to create a constructive and interesting webpage that could show different point of view in trans and intersex community as part of becoming a reference of them.
Yours sincerely,
Bethsabé
Bethsabé Huamán Andía
Editor Investigator
Bulletin T-Informa
ILGA Trans Secretariat
http://trans.ilga.org/
