Damn! I'm Old!

In this day and age when more than a few transgender women want to throw the "I am more trans than you card" and many of my most asked questions pertain to when did I know I was gender dysphoric , this newspaper article pretty much says it all: (kind of-or at least a starting point)

 ((Originally published by the Daily News on December 1, 1952. This story was written by Ben White.)
At that time, I was approximately three.

Of course my reading skills at that age were less than stellar, so I can't tell you I went out and read my parents newspaper about the story.

What I can tell you is, not so many years later I did hear of the Christine Jorgensen story and was fascinated. So, I guess my trans pedigree is blurred. I can't say the first time I read the Jorgensen story at the age of three I knew I was transgender or transsexual or any other of the words which had not even been invented yet. So i guess I am not trans enough for most. Blah, blah, blah.

On the other end of the age spectrum, I was listening to one of the national sports talk radio shows this morning and they were having quite the Bruce Jenner discussion. With no particular horse in the race, Dan Patrick matter of factly pointed out most younger peeps never knew how much of a famous athlete Jenner was. Plus he (Patrick) could not shake the idea the subject was very serious but Jenner was using the interview as a "teaser" promo show for the upcoming reality series.

Growing up Transgender?

As with most of you, I have spent an exorbitant amount of time looking back into my formative gender years wondering what, if anything could have been done for me, not to me due to my condition. 

Back in the 50's through  the early 60's and much longer, let's not forget just being gay was considered a mental illness and God knows what could happen if you wanted to follow in the footsteps of Christine Jorgensen.

Sure there were signs as early as the age of twelve with me. Similar to so many of you, I too wanted a doll baby not a truck for Christmas. I know, blah, blah, blah. Be happy with the truck you inconsiderate brat!

I have passed along the stories of growing up in a rural area and having very few real live girls in my neighborhood at all.  One to be exact in a group of about ten boys. I can imagine now the torture she went through.  So, you wouldn't think in the land of strict gender binaries, I would encounter another possible "sister of the cloth".

Amazingly though, I did have a friend in those days who shared a very definite desire to play in his Mom's clothes and makeup-with her permission! You would think I would remember him first before all the others but somehow his memory has just began to come back to me in my old age. My most vivid memory was a day when his Mom "caught" us doing a little "dress up". Even back in those days I was more than a little envious of the way he looked.  I'm not saying he was a natural but Momma was attractive and she could get him there too.

I wonder now what would have happened if his family had stayed around where I lived and not moved three states away.  Most certainly he was in the same situation I was and our little "fascination" with women's clothes was much more than a passing phase or fetish.

It seems our little group of kids may have had way more than it's share of transgender individuals.  Of course living in the past is a waste of time but.... How much fun/trouble could both of us gotten into in his Mom's clothes and damn I could have used mega makeup advice at that age!!!!

Transsexual History

Although there are questions if Christine Jorgenson actually was the first sex change patient, there is no question she was a true pioneer in the transgender community. To commemorate her 1953 return to New York, this video has been re-released: