News Item

JAYCEES HONOR TRANSSEXUAL WITH HIGHEST AWARD

June 11, 2002
From: the NATIONAL TRANSGENDER ADVOCACY COALITION (NTAC)

The San Jose Chapter of the U.S. Jaycees made history on Saturday, May 18, 2002, bestowing its first award to a transsexual. J. Dianne Bishop, 40, became that chapter's first recipient of the Ambassadorship Award at the California Jaycees'second quarter state retreat. She is also the first woman in California, as well as the first open lesbian in the nation to be honored with the award.

The Jaycees' Ambassadorship Award is the highest honor that can be given to a member of the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.

"This was a complete surprise," commented Bishop of her award. "It was a shock... disbelief... All I ever wanted to do was connect Jaycees across America."

This accomplishment came at the end of a lengthy membership wherein Ms. Bishop, transitioned while still a member of the San Jose Chapter and remained active within her chapter during the entire length of her transition. Ms. Bishop participated as webmaster/mistress, founding technology committee chairperson on both the local and national level, as well as management development vice president.

The Jaycees are a volunteer leadership training organization for young adults, 21-40. Bishop followed her father, a Junior Chamber International (JCI) Senator, into the San Jose Jaycees in February of 1995. At the officer elections meeting in May that year, Bishop was elected as Chapter Secretary.

It would be another four years before Bishop came out to the Chamber and her family, and began her transition in earnest.

"My transition news sent a shockwave through the entire organization" Bishop related. "I heard that two years later, my transition was [still] being discussed among the Iowa Jaycees!".

However, not all reactions were so stereotypical. Of the Jaycees national, Bishop said that "he felt that I had always done a fantastic job for him, and what my gender was didn't really matter."

During her tenure, Bishop was responsible for the first RealAudio broadcast of National Convention, and designed and implemented Junior Chamber Rapid Communications System, among her many other accomplishments.

"The stuff I did for Jaycees, I did for love." Bishop and her partner, BATLAW founder, Merrisa Coleman, reside in San Jose.