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| Female Impersonator Kim Christy. |
Redemption is a largely vague term, and I am oversimplifying it for use here, but I do use it to describe the very few humans are ever given the chance to stop our lives and start all over again.
Fortunately, transgender women and transgender men are part
of the very few who can put the brakes on their life, stop and then start over.
In my life, I was always trying to outrun my gender dysphoria and was usually
going too fast to slow down. Let alone stop. Another problem was, when I did
slow down enough to look around, I became scared and then sped up again so essentially,
I was just chasing my own tail.
As I did, I just eventually learned, I was just where I
belonged. On my way to my dream of living full time as a transgender woman. I
can not stress enough, how paranoid I was of ever reaching my dream. The
massive hurdles of family (spousal approval), friends and jobs always come to
mind.
Redemption for me also meant when I transitioned into a
feminine world, I needed to do it in a graceful way. I certainly did not want
to be one of the mean, frustrated older women I knew in my life. I always
thought those women suffered from large amounts of testosterone gained in their
lives when their estrogen naturally goes down. I had already suffered from
testosterone poisoning through much of my life and never wanted to go back. I
was fortunate when I learned my inner feminine woman believed the same ideas I had,
and she was very gracious when she was finally released to lead her own life. She
had the chance to experience the world in a positive way and did. She was able
to get along well as she sought out the guidance, she needed to enter a dark
new world and give it light anyway.
Fear turned out to be my powerful motivator and, as
difficult as it was, I used it to my advantage. I guess it worked because my
world opened in a magical way. I also can’t stress enough how my appearance
only was a starting point, and I had to use it only to open very basic doors. Then
when I went through those doors, I needed to begin to carve out a real life as
a transgender woman. Much of my new life started when I picked up my dog and
moved in with my future wife Liz in Cincinnati. My biggest example was when Liz
and I began to go to various “Meet Up” groups and I began to meet strangers for
the first time in different settings. I went to craft groups, writer’s groups
and even a knitting group or two. The bottom line was I was able to build my
confidence in my new self, and I highly recommend “Meet Up” groups if any exist
in your area.
Through it all, I was prepared for rejection but only really
received it once when Liz and I went to a lesbian Valentine’s Dance years long
ago. At the dance, I was busy minding my own business when this evil woman comes
up to me and started to be very nasty. She kept asking me what my “real” name
was. It took a while to rid myself of her bigoted self, but I managed to before
Liz came back with appetizers from the serving line. In all the time I had
dealing with the lesbian community, this woman was the only gender bigot I ever
had to directly deal with. I am/was fortunate.
I feel redemption was not as severe as it could have been.
During my life in my male years, I did my best to be kind to others, especially
in the LGBTQ community all the way to hiring a transgender waitress at one of
the restaurants I managed. Even though she was a natural for the job, when I left,
the next manager ended up running her off the job. I also had to deal with
bigoted guests in another restaurant I managed when they refused to be waited
on by a gay waiter. Instead, I told them to leave. Anytime I could, I tried to
pay my experiences forward to a time I would need it.
Another very important set of lessons I learned by working
in the food business was how cisgender women navigated their worlds when they
were basically under stress. Or, how important it was for the women to form cliques
when men formed teams. The importance of being accepted by an alpha female was
not lost on me when I transitioned into transgender womanhood.
Speaking of transgender, today is the birthday of my oldest grandchild
who also happens to be a trans graduate of The Ohio State University. They are pursuing
a career as a civilian in the Navy this fall, so I am very proud! They are a nuclear engineer.
Happy Birthday.
Also, thanks to Susie Jay for writing in and commenting on
the blog! It’s good to have you along. I agree with your question about Kim
Christy. I had forgotten about them as a female impersonator. It's a term I saw in the Wikipedia reference on Kim. Been awhile since I have used it.
