From: Annie (dlvdisc@geekbabe.com)
Date: Fri Mar 10 2006 - 21:19:28 CST
>Your advice is tremendous! Thank you so very much!
You're very welcome. :)
>May I ask some questions here ?
Uh-huh?
>If you should make an honest mistake and it's apparent that you are not
>quite who you appear to be, who is the most likely type of person to
>"out" you? A smart aleck tourist, a local, anybody bent on trouble,
>police, someone else?
With very rare exception, the person who comments loudly or in any way
calls attention to the fact that you are transgendered will be a teenage
boy or 20-ish male, most likely in the company of others of their type.
>If this happens, what's your advice?
First of all, an ounce of prevention. Don't knowingly go where crowds
of twentybopper guys hang out, and in particular not where they hang
out consuming alcohol. The combination of too much alcohol and too much
testosterone can be very bad.
Another couple ounces of prevention ... don't overdress for the occasion
(dress like a GG of your age, size, and fitness level would for the same
time, place, and circumstance) and don't hang around in groups (of
TG's).
The latter may be impossible at some DLV gatherings. Yes, the group will
be quite obvious in some circumstances.
>Stand up to them? Slink off sheepishly? Run for your life!?
First of all, don't do anything to escalate the situation or to
reinforce the behavior of the jer^H^H^Hmisguided youth. Don't say
anything. You don't have to justify or defend yourself. If the
cree^H^H^H^Hyoung man persists, get out of the situation promptly
but without making a fuss.
Genuinely threatening incidents are very few and far between.
If indeed you sincerely feel that your safety is threatened, let those
whose job it is to deal with it, deal with it. If in a casino, seek out
a security person. They are everywhere. If on the street, duck into a
casino quickly. Guards often hang around the door area. If in a bar or
lounge, seek assistance from the bartender and/or bouncer. (In the bars
and such which we will be using there should be no concern about being
hassled.)
>Trouble in the toliets: Most likely place to have a problem?
Yes, unfortunately, over the history of DLV (soon to be 10 years)
there have been some restroom incidents.
Not to appear to be playing devil's advocate, but in all cases I can
remember except one, the individual DLV people have been at fault. :(
Using a public ladies room in groups has been the worst problem for
us. Don't even *THINK* of going in groups! Go individually, if at all.
Overdressing, or dressing inappropriately for the circumstances covers
a lot of our past restroom incidents. See the links below for more
restroom discussion.
>Imagine it's -- get the hell out of there as fast as possible?
If you are confronted (by security, an employee, another patron) you
should BRIEFLY apologize and GET OUT IMMEDIATELY! The less said, the
better.
>Alternative?
Use your hotel room's restroom, seek out family or unisex restrooms,
find a restroom in a less-traveled area.
>Help! What's the law in Vegas on this!?
I am not a lawyer, but one who is told me the following, and this was
confirmed by a Metro Police officer several years ago.
There is no law on the books (Nevada Revised Statutes, Clark County
Code, Las Vegas Municipal Code) that prohibits you from using the
restroom of your choice. (One important exception, public parks. Don't
go there.)
That's the good news.
Here's the bad news. There's nothing on the books that asserts your
right to use a particular restroom. Use of private property in Nevada
is "at will" of the management, and they can legally bar you from the
property as a whole, or from a part of the property (such as a restroom)
if they want to.
Although it's never happened in the history of DLV, there are various
"laws of public conduct" that could actually be used for a complaint if
somebody pushes things. If you use a ladies room after being told not
to, you may be guilty of trespass. If you create a fuss in a ladies
room, even passively, you may be guilty of disorderly conduct.
One very important thing to consider is that for a good percentage of
our restroom incidents, it's not the original perp who gets the snotty
end of the stick. If a complaint of "there's a guy in the ladies room"
is made to security, it will be radioed to all officers on the floor
and they will zero in on the first person they see who may look
transgendered.
I'm going to recommend that you look over the following links:
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/guide.html
http://www.geekbabe.com/dlv/rroom.html
Hope this answers ...
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