For this organization and its email list to serve its true function, and for all of us to feel safe and supported, all members need to subscribe to and follow certain rules of basic respect and courtesy, so that each of us can feel free to be our true selves, to share our innermost dreams, to seek solutions to problems, and to tell the truth, both to ourselves and to each other. We ALL heal and grow stronger in an atmosphere of trust, confidence and frank sharing and disclosure.

Accordingly, in light of the many different needs, desires, stages and circumstances of each of our members, including all our transgendered members from closeted to fully out, and, including all our spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends, significant others and family members who are a part of or tangential to our group, the following rules apply, both in person and by email or for posts into our group files on the internet:

1. All conversations between two members are confidential, unless you have permission to share the content further, by explicitly asking the other person before you even consider sharing something he or she said.

2. All posts to our email list are confidential. No posts may be forwarded out of the group to a third party who is not a member of the group without the author's explicit consent. No presumptions of affiliation with any other trans group should be made, nor should any permission from the individual, the director or the board to forward anything posted to our own group list be presumed.

3. No photos may be taken without the consent of the person photographed, in person or in any public forum. In addition, no photos may be posted or otherwise made public in any forum, including our own group files, without the consent of any and all person who are in the photos. This includes photos at private gatherings, TransCentralPA meetings, dinners "out" and Pride parades, to list a few examples. Being "in public" in a particular case should not be construed as authorization for the taking of photos or for the posting or re-publication in person or on any site of those photos.

4. No post from another organization or individual not a member of the group may be posted to the group list without the consent of the director. If the director's decision is challenged by appeal in writing to three other members of the board of directors, and is overturned by a unanimous vote of those three other members, in writing, with written notice to the director, after a delay of 48 hours for all the members including the director to discuss the matter with each other, then the post from another organization or member may be posted to the group, with a note regarding the procedure that was followed to get approval from the board. This does not prohibit the posting of news articles or notices from nationally recognized groups that might be of interest to all members, such as postings from newspapers, civil rights groups and transgendered rights groups.

5. Respect of each other is critical; if there is any other situation which raises the issue of a possible breach of the personal privacy interests of any other member, please raise the issue with the person involved, first, and, if necessary, with the director, and, if further necessary, with three other members of the board of directors. Each member should know, however, that the personal rights of the person whose standards of privacy might be violated will be considered paramount. When there is any doubt, the director and the board will "err" on the side of the individual who feels his or her privacy might be violated.

Many of us use names other than our legal names, in the group context. Occasionally, members' "real names", legal identities, places of work or other personal information about the person may become known to another member. Disclosure of this information for ANY purpose is strictly prohibited without the consent of the person involved.

The violation of any of these rules may result in the persons' expulsion from TransCentralPA and from our group email list and group files

Copyright November 2007 TransCentralPA