(Sunday, April 9, 2006, p. A3)

 A Cross Country Journey of Love:

Pair to raise awareness for transgendered friend who committed suicide

      TARA BRADBURY MULLOWNEY

      The Trans-Canada Highway will take on a new meaning for two men from
Victoria, B.C., this summer.

      Keenan Pinder and Noah Adams will take to bicycles and cycle across
the country in an effort to honour a deceased friend and increase awareness
about transgender issues and suicide.

      Alexandria Tucker was originally from St. John's, but moved to
Victoria at the age of 20. Tucker was in the midst of a physical transition
from male to female in the mid 1990s when she went on a vacation in Montana
with her partner.

      While there, her partner's ex-husband attacked her with a knife.
Tucker, who had a black belt in karate, was able to get the knife away from
him, but stabbed him in the process.

      Tucker was charged with aggravated assault and sentenced to more than
two years in a maximum-security men's prison in Montana, where she was
allegedly abused.

      "She had to stop her transition," Pinder explained. "They made sure
the inmates knew she was transgendered. They put her male and female name on
the forms, and they wrote on the list in the infirmary that she had female
parts - because she had been taking hormones and had breasts - for everyone
to read it."

      Pinder met Tucker after she returned to Victoria in 2000, and the two
attended a community consultation at the Justice Institute on protocol for
law enforcement officers dealing with transgendered people. The pair soon
became close friends.

      Tucker took a job at the library at the University of Victoria, and
enrolled in biology and psychology courses there. Pinder said Tucker had a
goal to eventually become a lawyer, so she could help other transgendered
people.

      "She was a real go-getter," Pinder said of his friend. "She was an
avid gardener, was always trying to learn and always trying to help people.
She was really outgoing and really friendly."

      Tucker eventually completed her transition and underwent surgery in
Montreal.

      Then, last April, Pinder said Tucker began acting strangely.

      "Her partner called me and said Alex had been acting weird, and had
been talking about going on a journey and things like that," Pinder
explained.

      Pinder spoke to Tucker on the phone and invited her to come and stay
with him in Vancouver for a while, but she refused.

      Later that day, Tucker left her home. When her partner found videos
Tucker had made of herself on the computer, saying goodbye, she called the
police.

      Police later found Tucker's body in a hotel room. She had committed
suicide. She was 30

      Pinder said he was devastated by the news.

      "It's surreal to me, even a year later," he said. "Even now, I look
at her photo and I can't believe it."

      At the time of Tucker's death, Noah Adams was Pinder's roommate. Last
summer, the pair came up with the idea of a cross-country bike ride as a way
to honour Tucker's memory and inform the public about suicide and
transgendered issues.

      "Alex was larger than life, and I wanted to do something that would
make me as visible as possible, to help out the trans community," Pinder
said.

      Pinder and Adams will begin the Trans Cycling Odyssey in Vancouver
May 1, and will cycle across Canada, ending in St. John's in August. Pinder
said it was Tucker's wish to have half of her ashes scattered in Victoria,
which he did last summer, and the other half in St. John's.

      Pinder and Adams have been given the use of two road bikes from a
bike shop in Vancouver, and are looking for donations of other cycling
equipment. They will be selling specially designed T-shirts along the route
for $20.

      To prepare for the trip, Pinder and Adams have been distance
training, working out at the gym and cycling about 60 kilometres every
second day.

      The duo are also collecting monetary donations to support their trip,
and any money left over will go into a scholarship fund in Tucker's name for
transgendered or two-spirited people studying at the University of Victoria.

      They hope to get speaking engagements in every city they can, where
they will share Tucker's story and talk about other issues.

      "I think Alex would be really happy and excited, and maybe think we
were a little crazy," Pinder said with a laugh. "Hopefully, somewhere, she's
smiling."

      More information on the Trans Cycling Odyssey is available online at
www.flyingtrannys.com.
and
tbm@thetelegram.com