Last year I wrote an article entitled "Are we crazy or what?" It was a discussion of Gender Identity Disorder, a mental disorder listed in the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-IV. Well, it looks like we are crazy after all! In fact, we are so crazy that the Illinois Human Rights Commission ruled that we qualify as having a "handicap" and are now eligible for protection under the Illinois Human Rights Act due to disability.

Well, I guess I should be happy to be crazy. It explains a lot of things. Why else would I be spending my free time writing articles for Nightlines? Must be nuts! Why else would I be working my tail off trying to get some non-discrimination bill passed in Springfield? What an insane thing to do! Why else would we be trying to amend the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance, if it includes us wackos already?

Here's the facts. There was an obscure ruling passed just a few months ago (8/18/99) by the Illinois Human Rights Commission that "transsexualism" may be covered as a "handicap" under the Illinois Human Rights Act.

It was in the case of Jess Evans v. Hamburger Hamlet. Evans, a transsexual woman, was fired from Hamburger Hamlet for her gender presentation. Seems like her hair was too long for biological male. This is interesting in it's own right, since I didn't know that hair length was genetically controlled.

Evans filed complaints in Chicago and with the state. In Chicago, she filed based on sexual orientation, sex, and disability. With the state commission, she filed only on sex and disability, as Illinois law does not include sexual orientation. As you know, it is legal, and in some places preferable, to fire gays and lesbians because of our sexual orientation. (We gotta get HB474 into law!)

In Chicago, Evans' claim of sexual orientation was thrown out because she couldn't prove that her employer called her "faggot" or did something else to indicate his homophobia. And in both Illinois and Chicago, her claim of sex discrimination was thrown out because, as the Supreme Court ruled, "sex" doesn't apply to someone who changed sex. We are fortunate that the Supreme Court doesn't apply that same logic to someone who changed religion!

But the claim of disability could not be denied. After all, the APA says we're all crazy, and who are we to argue with the high and mighty, omniscient and omnipotent, headshrinkers union. After testimony by one of the country's most respected psychologists in the field of gender dysphoria, the judge ruled in the favor of Ms. Evans, and confirmed that she is undeniably nuts and therefore can sue the pants off Hamburger Hamlet. That is, if Hamburger Hamlet has any pants left since they are currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

I guess I should be grateful. I can now qualify under the Illinois Human Rights Act if I get fired for acting weird at work. And I can now sue if my landlord doesn't want to rent to me, or the restaurant proprietor doesn't want to serve me, because I may get violent and cause a scene.

But why, oh why, do my human rights have to rely on dehumanizing me? Where is the justice in making me out to be "handicapped" so that I can get the same rights that everyone else has? (Except gays and lesbians outside of Cook County… we gotta get HB474 passed!) I hope I am not offending people with disabilities, but transsexualism is not a "handicap." I would never want to trade it in… and in fact I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to have "looked at life from both sides now", and for the most part, I like what I've seen.

Miranda Stevens-Miller, Chair of It's Time Illinois welcomes your comments at MirandaSt1@aol.com