Tony Peregrin

About a hundred transsexuals, cross-dressers and their friends are at the Rikki Swin Institute for a Sunday morning brunch to commemorate the grand opening of this new transgender facility -- which feels more like an after-church social than a gathering of gender benders.

Men in tailored blazers and women in elegant floral-print dresses munch on pastries, sip mimosas and make cooing noises at the two adorable infants that have captured nearly everyone's attention. From a distance, the scene looks like the typical Sunday being played out in church halls, restaurants and living rooms throughout Chicago. But look closer and you will see women who used to be men, men who used to be women and cross-dressers who thrive on wearing women's apparel.

"We want to fit in -- not fight our way in -- to society," explains Rikki Swin, founder of the $3.5-million education and research center dedicated to the needs of transgendered persons. The institute features an archival library, an in-house produced DVD educational series, conference facilities and anecdotal research.

Fitting in, not fighting in, according to Swin, is a philosophy that will propel the institute's mission of education and open new doors in the future. Doors like... bathroom doors. Toward the end of the morning, I notice an older gentleman pause outside a pair of bathroom doors, each featuring the universal male and female signs. He looks momentarily flummoxed, but a few seconds later, with a shrug of his shoulder, he opens one of the doors and walks on through.

(2001-03-29)

Also by Tony Peregrin

LAVENDER HAZE
Do the growing number of novels displayed under the lavender-tinged banner of "gay fiction" have what it takes to inspire that pang of emotional identification for a heterosexual readership? Or do most heterosexual readers pass by bookstore shelves marked "gay literature," with bags over their heads to avoid being compromised by a genre that many consider to be too sexual or controversial?
(2001-03-01)

GREAT SEXPECTATIONS
I rushed up to the TV screen to get a closer look, ignoring my friends who were yelling at me to get my perverted ass out of the way. And there, bathed in the blue glow of the screen, I became reacquainted with every nook and cranny of my ex-boyfriend.
(2001-02-15)

COLD COMFORT
The Blues and the Pinks cast snide, sidelong glances at me, one of the few yellow cardholders who dared to be punctual. None of the yellow-bellies make it into the studio. We stand there looking like dateless adolescents at a high school dance, until the audience coordinator offers to let us view the taping through a monitor.
(2001-01-18)

BROTHER'S KEEPER
Trotting out a dysfunctional childhood and crazy siblings for contemporary readers to ooh and aah over, like an adult version of show-and-tell, is anything but new. However, Bottoms' narrative manages to explore new terrain by offering an adolescent male point of view, one complicated by the thorny, competitive relationship that exist between brothers.
(2000-12-14)

GOLDEN NUGGET
(2000-12-07)

BLOODLETTING
(2000-10-19)

GAY CHICAGO
(2000-09-21)

MANIFEST "DENSITY"
(2000-09-21)

TRUTH ACHE
(2000-08-24)

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