Thursday, November 1, 2012

Updated Bio 11/01/2012


Jennifer McCreath is a woman born transsexual, who is best-known for parlaying her trans status with her athletic legacy as a marathon runner, her political activism, and her flamboyant personality; into public educational and advocacy work regarding issues affecting transgender, transsexual, panssexual, and intersexxed individuals.

Born in Halifax, raised in Toronto, she moved to St. John's Newfoundland in 2007 to accept employment as a senior policy analyst with the Provincial Government. Shortly after coming to terms with her transsexuality, she sought a better job, and sought to get herself into better physical condition. While she initially planned to return to Toronto to transition, she quickly fell in love with Newfoundland and decided to transition there. Likewise, while she took up long distance running simply to get in shape, her passion for the sport led her to run 30 marathons between 2007-2011, including 2 qualifications for the legendary Boston Marathon, which she ran in 2009 and 2010.

McCreath quickly became a public figure in Newfoundland when she made mainstream news, first, for being a transsexual government policy analyst, and then, for being a transsexual policy analyst who suddenly lost what was supposedly a safe and secure job, in 2009. Ever since, McCreath has been on a mission to make this world a more accepting place for members of the trans community, both for the benefit of herself, the people around her, and the global trans community.

McCreath successfully played a key role in helping to break down the gender binary barriers, in international sports, when she penned and helped implement a gender-inclusion policy that allowed for the sanctioning of trans athletes into their own sex category, at the 2009 World Outgames in Copenhagen, Denmark, where she participated, and laid claim to becoming the first formally-sanctioned transsexual marathon runner and 1500M freestyle swimmer, in world history.

McCreath continues to work on an ongoing battle with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, to get them to amend their Human Rights Act to explicitly protect members of the trans community; and to get them to provide funding for trans-related procedures that are deemed medically-necessary by Newfoundland doctors.

McCreath has provided policy advise to a variety of government and non-profit organizations, including Canadian Professional Association for Transgender Health, PFLAG Canada, EGALE Canada, Canada Blood Services, the Human Rights Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Newfoundland Office of the Chief Information Officer, the Liberal Party of Canada, and the New Democratic Party of Canada.

McCreath has appeared on mainstream provincial and national media outlets, to speak on issues including transsexualism, information access and privacy, human rights, athletics, health care, assisted reproduction, sexual health, air transport safety, and government transparency & accountability. She has also delivered university lectures on these topics, as well as been featured as a keynote speaker at major conferences.  She has also been profiled numerously in biographical television and newspaper programs

McCreath lays claim to being one of the few openly-trans individuals in the world, to have founded and managed, a legally-registered non-profit gay-pride organization, in a major city. She has also launched several grassroots trans-specific advocacy and support groups.

McCreath is a frequent newspaper journalist and video and text blogger. She also has experience producing and directing television shows, live entertainment events, and live public demonstrations. She also runs a volunteer transition consulting business.

McCreath has 7 years of professional work experience in the field of Information Management & Privacy Protection. She has worked for the Education Safety Association of Ontario, and Governments of Canada, Ontario and Newfoundland.  She holds a Bachelor of Administration (Management Concentration) from Athabasca University; a Diploma from Humber College, in Business Administration; and a certificate in Managing Information Technology Projects; accredited by George Washington University. She also holds Newfoundland Provincial accreditation as a Workplace Safety Representative.

She is passionate about animal rights, environmental issues, professional sports, music, and politics; and she aspires to have biological children, and aspires to become the first openly-trans person to be elected into political office in Canada.

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