JAMISON GREEN

 

 

He took the name Jamison when he was 15 years old (1964) and started going by the androgynous name "Jamie" (he now prefers James as his nickname). He achieved a number of accomplishments as the "first female-bodied person" to perform various feats, such as: first girl to climb the ropes in the boys' gym, first girl to take woodshop in his junior high school (1960 - 1963), first girl on his high school ski team, only female in his graduate program (he holds an MFA in English/Creative Writing, June, 1972), and the first woman employed as a construction cable splicer with a division of Bell Telephone (February, 1973 - August, 1976).

 

By the time he was in his early 20's, James knew he was probably transsexual, but he was afraid to obtain treatment because he believed the social mythology that one must be seriously psychologically imbalanced to perform such a radical act as changing sex, and he did not want to risk losing all his social support. By the time he was in his mid-30's, he knew he was "not going to grow up to be a woman," and he realized that he was going to have to choose between seeking treatment for transsexualism or become debilitated by his incapacity to take on the social role of an adult woman. He also was living openly as a lesbian in a long-term relationship, with one child by donor insemination and another on the way (James's partner gave birth to both children, and he was named as father on their birth certificates, even though both children were born before James was legally male.

 

His partner ended their relationship in 1989, but he maintained contact with her, and he has excellent relationships with his children).

 

James has been legally male since April, 1991, and his birth certificate was corrected and reissued at that time.

 

James pursued a career in technical writing and had been promoted to publications manager and manager of publications and engineering services at several high technology manufacturing companies and a major financial services company, and he rose to the level of Vice President of Operations at a publicly-held software publishing firm. Mr. Green has also worked as a medical writer and an instructor of legal writing, and both disciplines have contributed to his unique capacity to articulate and address the issues that face transgendered and transsexual people. He has 30 years of work experience, including over 12 years of corporate management experience. For more than 15 years, he has also been a director or advisory board member for many non-profit organizations working to improve health, safety, and civil rights for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people.

 

In October, 2003, Jamison married Ms. Heidi Bruins, a corporate finance training consultant and a long-time political activist committed to ending racism and homophobia. Together they have dedicated themselves to work for social justice and to make the world a better place for everyone. In addition to his training, policy consulting, writing, and public speaking, Mr. Green is also a Ph.D. candidate in Law a Manchester Metropolitan University in England, and he plans to defend his dissertation in 2009.