Who's the person behind Transgender Health?

Well I’m Maria, a midlde aged trans activist, gender-variant woman and intersectionalist queerfeminist from Sweden. If you wish you can mail at ms.mariasundin@gmail.com

Born in Karlstad, and spent youth and childhood in Karlstad, Gothenburg, London and Grenna At six years of age incarcerated at the children’s psychiatric ward, Karlstad for GID in childhood – treatment not successful then treatment with Hibernal (powerful outlawed antipsychotic drug – but not diagnosed as psychotic just for GID). Sufferd abuse by other children and grown ups on a daily basis, I would bescribe my child hood and adolesence as living hell.

An the reason behind all this, I acted, walked, talked and behaved lika a girl, so a Freudian pshrink said to my parents, that I was a severly disturbed child and there was an iminent risk that I’d try to kill my new born baby brother, whom I adored and fussed about like any big sister.

After an even worse adolescence with suicide attemps and a botched autocastration attempts I had a mental breakdown. At puberty I changed from a thin stick insect of a child into a boy of sorts. My pelvis was wide as a girl’s (basically inherited my mother’s body shape), my breasts started to grow and my voice never broke.

The good thing finally was that I came to a boarding school in my late teens where people most of the time accepted me for who I was. After school, started out as a reporter/ journalist and left wing activist. Later trained in Social work and worked as a socialworker and councellor since the late 70-ies and from the mid 1990-ies in a senior position in social work and healthcare for the elderly and disabled.

Began building networks with trans activists on a personal level in the USA in San Francisco, late 70-ies and then in a more organised for from the early 1990-ies. Networking with gender activists in the USA and Canada such as the Transgender Nation people, TNT – Transsexual News Telegraph in San Francisco ( people such as Gail Sondegaard, Susan Stryker etc), TransSisters in St. Louis, Mo – the AEGIS Group at Atlanta, Ga, and Riki Anne Wilchins and the Transexual Menace groups. In Canada the Gender Trash people (Mirha Soleil Ross, Viviane Ki Namaste etc) and with Press For Change and Stephen Whittle and a number of German groups. Joined Benjamin, the Swedish TS group under the chairmanship of Anna Kristjansdottir and was active at various levels until it disbanded 1996. One of three trans women that founded RFTS in february 1997, later on in history changed it’s name to Benjamin and became a hotbed of TS separatism.

Worked as an activist for trans issues since then as well as extensive work with support groups, hotlines and individual counselling. Main focuses today is counselling, building support groups, and networking for trans human rights and for a paradigm shift in trans care – se my email for details.

I began HRT in the early 90-ies and came out as woman in 1997 and got my GRS and legal gender change in 1999. In 2000 I met my present partner and we got married in 2002.

I serve on the board of RFSL, the Swedish Federation for LGBTQI rights and my main focus are transgender health and human rights issues. I also serve on the board of the trans organsation KIM, and am in charge of the Local Organiazing Committee for the 3rd European Transgender Council in Malmo 2010. I’m also a member of the World Profesisonal Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and serve on it’s Membership Committee. Representing RFSL and Sweden at the International Congress on Gender Identity and Human Rights in barcelona in June 2010.