Presenters / Bios

Calpernia Addams, Performer (Speaker & Special Guest Performer) Calpernia Addams is an actress, musician, author and activist known for her work in and for the transsexual community through Deep Stealth Productions. Deep Stealth produces entertainment and educational material promoting understanding and growth centering on the trans community. Recently she performed alongside Jane Fonda in the 10th anniversary production of "The Vagina Monologues" at the New Orleans Super Dome to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Calpernia starred in MTV/Logo's "Transamerican Love Story", a show examining dating and romance for trans people. Her memoir, Mark 947, details her Southern childhood and service as a field medical combat specialist with the Navy and Marines in Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War. She is a Peabody Award Recipient, GLAAD Media Award Recipient, Randy Shilts Visibility Award Recipient and a NGLTF Leadership Award Recipient.

Rev. Skye Anderson, MCC Pastor (Panelist) Rev. Sky Anderson is a clergy person from MCC (Metropolitan Community Churches), an International ministry to the LGBTQ communities since 1968.
He was ordained in 1979 as an open FTM Transexual. Sky served as Pastor of MCC in San Jose during the Brigg's Initiative and to pass Propositions A&B for the right for LGBT people to work, teach and live
in peace. He was the Program Director for the Emergency Housing Consortium in the late 80's. He worked in Tent City and helped build programs for single men and women and for the Mentally Ill. In the 90's Skye was a Pastoral Associate in the Catholic Church with a membership of 5,000 people a week. MCC was the place people came to when they arrived in this area. Skye set up a medical clinic on site, got doctors to volunteer, and set up a Food Program for the poor.  All his life he has worked for social justice and for the rights of disenfranchised and marginalized people.
Sky graduated from Middlesex Community College in Mass, attented Boston College and is a graduate of the Insitute for Leadership in Minsitry, He is married and has five incredible children.

Danielle Anderson-Castro (Panelist) Danielle Anderson-Castro is a Latina trans-identified woman born in San Jose, CA, and is pursuing a master's degree in psychology. Her educational goal is to be able to provide unconditional love and support to and for transgender youth and their families through her counseling services. Mrs. Anderson-Castro is a heartfelt and passionate community leader who seeks to create positive change wherever she is. Her efforts include but are not limited to: Co-founder of a transgender youth group at the Billy DeFrank Community Center in San Jose, past Human Relations Commissioner of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, past Santa Clara County HIV Planning Council for Prevention and Care Executive Committee member, present Board of Supervisor for ProLatino de San Jose, past Co-Chair of the San Mateo County PRIDE Initiative, San Jose Transgender Day of Remembrance steering committee member, transgender service provider, cultural sensitivity training educator, HIV test counselor, and Center of Excellence for Transgender Health and Care Vice-Chair.

Beth (Photo Exhibit Panelist) Beth was the subject of a series of portraits for Transfigurations that followed her through the process of her physical transition from male to female. While she doesn't consider herself an activist, she enjoys speaking on Trans Speaker Panels and has repeatedly spoken to students at SJSU about her experiences.
Beth grew up in a very religious family and spent most of her life struggling with her gender. She maintained a perfect white-picket-fence existence until her catastrophic mental breakdown in 2004. Afterwards she lived in the Castro district of San Francisco, lending support to her local Trans community by night and helping to develop her company's provisions for Trans employees by day. She transitioned on that job in 2005 and had SRS in 2006. More recently she has switched jobs; she is presently working for a large local software company where she won two prestigious awards for Women's Leadership in 2009.
Beth was previously married and has a wonderful seven-year-old daughter that she misses every day. She currently lives on the peninsula with her boyfriend, one grandma dog and a punk cat.

Cecilia Chung (Film Panelist) Cecilia Chung is an immigrant from Hong Kong and has been a San Francisco resident for almost 20 years. An openly trans and HIV+ woman, Cecilia was a member of the Transgender Discrimination Task Force in 1994 that led to a groundbreaking report by the SF Human Rights Commission. She has worked for UCSF AIDS Health Project as HIV test counselor and residential counselor for Ferguson Place, a residential treatment program for people living with HIV where she successfully increased the agencies' sensitivity for transgender people. In 1998, Cecilia joined the Board of Directors of San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration Committee. In 2001, Cecilia became the first Asian and first transgender woman elected as President of the Board and led the organization to a new standard of inclusion and excellence. Cecilia was one of the producers of Transgender March, one of San Francisco's largest transgender events, and in 2005 produced the first ever Trans Stage at San Francisco Pride. Cecilia was a writer for Gay.com's HIV Life Channel and was appointed by Mayor Gavin Newsom to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in 2004, where she co-chairs the San Francisco LGBT Advisory Committee. She is currently the Chair of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.

Amanda Clark (Panelist) Amanda Clark spent 4 years in the Army Reserve as an interrogator/Korean linguist. While at the Defense Language Institute she started transitioning from male to female and was honorably discharged after coming out to the Army as trans. After she got out of the military she attended SJSU, and is currently majoring in computer information systems at De Anza College.

Dante (Panelist) A Bay Area native, Dante is a SJSU senior majoring in Graphic Design. He's half Southeast Asian, first generation, and makes a mean chicken curry. He has served as a mentor in the "Peers in Pride" LGBTQ peer mentoring program at SJSU, and provides graphic support to the LGBT Resource Center when he's able. Dante is also part of the LGBT Resource Center's Speakers Bureau and enjoys being able to share his experiences with other SJSU students. He began transition in 2009 on the job and on campus. Dante is trained in zombie defense tactics and always eats his burritos with a knife and fork. He lives in Burlingame, except for when he doesn't. 

Julie Freitas MFT, Clinical Supervisor, LGBTQ Youth Space (Film Panelist) Julie Freitas is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has been working in the counseling field since 1998. She received a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology and Somatic Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. She received a Bachelors degree in Psychology and Neurophysiology from Sonoma State University. She has worked for Seneca Center for Children and Families, San Benito County Behavioral Health, Fremont Hospital and currently works for a collaborative of Family and Children Services and the Billy De Frank LGBT Community Center of San Jose. She is the Clinical Supervisor and Program Manager of the LGBTQ Transition Age Youth Counseling Collaborative.

Kara (Photo Exhibit Panelist) Kara is a mechanical engineer that works at a local biotech company.  She has lived in the Bay Area since 2001 and hopes to never leave.  She is socially liberal, morally sound, and fiscally responsible.  In her spare time, she enjoys exercising and running along the bay.  She has played numerous sports and has participated in a number of leagues.  A geek at heart, she also enjoys surfing the internet and writing about everything from real life to fiction.
Kara won the title of Ms. Transgender San Francisco 2009 last year and is a former board member of Transgender San Francisco.  She has been involved with numerous Bay Area transgender and LGBT organizations and has enjoyed speaking on a variety of LGBT Speaker Panels.  She has talked to students at UC-Berkeley, Stanford, Santa Clara University, City College of San Francisco, University of San Francisco, San Jose State, and a number of local high schools.
Kara transitioned on the job in 2004 and had SRS in 2005.  She currently maintains a blog about life after transition.

Angela Krumm PhD, Psychologist, SJSU Counseling Services (Film Panelist) Angela Krumm is a Counseling Psychologist at Counseling Services, San Jose State University. She provides short-term mental health counseling to all students, with a specialization in working with students exploring sexual and gender identity. Angela founded and co-leads the "Peers in Pride" LGBTQ peer mentoring program at SJSU. She also serves as Voluntary Adjunct Clinical Faculty for the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University.

Lyle (Photo Exhibit Panelist) Lyle has been active in the LGBT community since 1980. He has lead workshop discussions on maturity, leadership, and body image at conferences across the country, with an emphasis on reaching out to men of color. He is a co-founder of Gender Identity Foundation for Transmen (www.thegift-foundation.org); a participant and supporter of Transfigurations, the award-winning photo-documentary by Jana Marcus (www.janamarcus.com/docus/docus.htm); and a participant and supporter of the Transgender Oral History Project by Martin Rawlings-Fein (www.feindesign.org/oral-history.html).

Jana Marcus, Artist, Transfigurations (Photo Exhibit) Jana has been creating award-winning documentary photography for over 18 years. Her current work on transgendered people, "Transfigurations", has toured the U.S. For the last five years and won numerous awards including Photo District News' Photo Annual 2004 & 2005, as part of their Best Pictures of the Year. It was also included in The Center for Photographic Arts Award 2004, The International Photography Awards 2005, the Phelan Art Award 2005, and the Excellence in Photography Award from San Jose State. She is also the winner of UC Berkeley's International Photojournalism contest in 1994 for After Midnight.
Jana works as a professional photographer in the California Bay Area focusing in the documentary, editorial and performing arts genres. Her work has been exhibited on both Coasts, and extensively published in newspapers and magazines. She received her MFA in photography from San Jose State University, a BA in Sociology/Community Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and studied photography at The School Of Visual Arts in New York City.  Her first book, "In The Shadow of the Vampire: Reflections From The World Of Anne Rice," was published by Thunder's Mouth Press of New York in 1997.

Annalise Ophelian PhD, Director, Diagnosing Difference (Film Panelist) Dr. Annalise Ophelian is a San Francisco-based human sexuality consultant, trans ally, and filmmaker with a doctorate in clinical psychology. Her clinical experience includes working at New Leaf: Services for Our Community, one of the nation's leading LGBT community mental health clinics, as well as running a drop-in group for trans youth at the Dimensions Health Clinic. She has most recently worked for a private sector mental health agency specializing in relapse prevention for violent and sexual offenders. Since 1998, Dr. Ophelian has worked as a community-based sex educator, specializing on alternative sexualities and communication skills for sexual partners. She has lectured at colleges and universities around the country, and provides clinical competency workshops on issues of human sexuality for medical and mental health providers. Dr. Ophelian is the director and producer of “Diagnosing Difference,” a documentary exploring the impact of the Gender Identity Disorder diagnosis on transgender lives and communities.

Renata J. Razza (Film Panelist) bio will be available soon.

Stephan (Photo Exhibit Panelist) bio will be available soon.