[citation |title=Een nieuw levensdoel bij de Dalai Lama |periodical=de Volkskrant |date=13 August, 2001 |first=Sacha |last=Kester |url=http://zoek.volkskrant.nl/artikel?text=%22veronique%20renard%22&FDOC=0&SORT=presence&PRD=20y&SEC=*&SO=*&DAT=*&ADOC=0 |accessdate=2008-09-13 ] There she focused on her activities as a writer and pro-Tibet activist. Concerned with the well-being of the Tibetan people and preservation of Tibetan culture, Renard hopes to create more awareness regarding the Tibetan plight by means of the written word. [Het Nieuwsblad (Belgium) 02 Dec 2003 - Veronique Renard fights for the plight of the Tibetans - by Dirk Moorsel] In 2000 and 2001 she published three books in the English in India and Nepal regarding the Tibetan Freedom Struggle ("Pantau in Dharamsala, The Fire of Hell, Pantau in India"). A Dutch version of her autobiography "Pantau in India" has also been published in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2003. [Top Sante Magazine Feb 04 issue, The writer & The Book. A portrait of Veronique Renard.] In 2006, "Pantau in India" has also been published in the English in the United States.In June 2007, Renard published her follow-up memoir, "Pholomolo - No Man No Woman". This book focuses on her experiences with Gender Identity Disorder. Currently, Renard is carrying out research for a new fiction novel.]After living in the Himalayas for nearly seven years, Renard moved to Thailand in October 2006. She is married to a Chinese professor. She lives with her family in Bangkok. [Press Release, 18 August 2008 http://www.pantau.blogspot.com/]
Gender Dysphoria
Apart from her disabilities of dyslexia and colour blindness, Renard has also been troubled by intense Gender Dysphoria Syndrome. In 1982, at the age of 17, she transitioned from male to female and completed her transition 18 months later. In 1983, Renard was granted permission by a court in Utrecht to change her legal male given names into female given names.Renard was one of the first 150 persons to receive contemporary Gender Reassignment Surgery in the Netherlands. Prof. Dr. Louis Gooren M.D. Ph.D. [Prof. Louis Gooren http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:U2Cukx1I9ZsJ:www.asiaandro.com/journal/board/gooren.htm+Free+University+Hospital+Amsterdam+louis+gooren&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=th] (professor of endocrinology at the special chair of transsexology at the Free University Amsterdam) guided Renard through the process of her gender reassignment. The medical team involved in Renard's gender reassignment (hormone replacement therapy, breast augmentation, penectomy, orchiectomy, vulvaplasty, neo-cliteroplasty, colovaginoplasty, trachea-reduction) are Prof. Dr. Louis Gooren, (Free University Hospital, Amsterdam) Dr. Gorter, plastic surgeon (Westeinde Hospital, The Hague), Dr. Auke de Boer, plastic surgeon (Academic Hospital of Groningen), Dr. J. Joris Hage, plastic surgeon (Free University Hospital, Amsterdam), Dr. Drogendijk and Dr. Jager, gynaecologists, (Dijkzigt Hospital, Rotterdam.) In 1984, at age 18, Renard learned from the Amsterdam Gender Team that she was most likely the youngest person in the world to receive complete contemporary Gender Reassignment Surgery. In the early 1980s, Prof. Louis Gooren put pressure on the Dutch parliament to discuss the option of legal recognition of post-operative transsexuals in the Netherlands. The Netherlands became the first country in the world to legally and fully recognise post-operative transsexuals by accepting a new law in 1985. [Volkskrant http://www.europeants.org/WTPS/Papers/nl_erkent.htm] The Dutch Government granted Renard permission to have her legal gender corrected on her birth certificate. Renard was among the first post-operative Male to Female transsexuals in the world to be legally recognized as a female.
Fearing rejection and discrimination, Renard never mentioned her gender reassignment to friends, colleagues and lovers. Since the publication of her transsexual memoir in 2007, Renard is selectively open about her medical history, though she considers her transsexualism not to be an important aspect of her being and prefers to speak about her work as a pro Tibet activist and novelist.
Pantau Foundation
In May 2000, Veronique Renard established the Pantau Foundation to raise funds and help destitute Tibetan refugee children living in exile in India. Together with her Dharamsala-based spokesperson, Jonathan Tenzin Blair, and New York-based friends Bobbie John Parker Jr. and Sebastian Bond, the foundation supports a growing number of Tibetan children.
Works
* Pantau in Dharamsala, by Veronique Renard (2000) English edition published by Everest Press, New Delhi, India
* The Fire of Hell, by Lobsang Yonten and Veronique Renard (2001), published by Pilgrims Publishers, New Delhi, India
* Pantau in India, by Veronique Renard (2001), First English edition published by Pilgrims Publishers, New Delhi, India
* Pantau in India, by Veronique Renard (2003), Dutch edition published by Aspekt Publishers, Soesterberg, The Netherlands
* Pantau in India, by Veronique Renard (2006), Revised English edition published by IUniverse, Lincoln, New York, Shanghai
* Pholomolo - No man No Woman (2007), English edition published by IUniverse, Lincoln, New York, Shanghai
References
External links
* [http://www.veroniquerenard.com Veronique Renard's personal website]
* [http://www.pantau.blogspot.com Veronique Renard's Press & Media page] An overview of newspaper, magazine articles, books, and press releases, in both the Dutch and the English.
