Cyrsti's Condo

Last night National Geographic's presentation of the Gender Revolution aired in this part of the world at least with host Katie Couric. Dr. Marci Bowers Some on social media called it boring or at the best a Transgender 101 primer. For those of us who have lived a trans experience, indeed some of the show seemed a little tedious to me. Except for the exchange between trans pioneer Renee Richards, and  Hari Nef  a self described "gender fluid" 20 something.  I for one have never really liked Richards persona although obviously I don't know her. She is like someone's mean grandmother. The gender fluid girl talked of a time when gender wouldn't matter and Richards huffed "Utopia" before the interview came to a rather uncomfortable end. Hari Nef Renee Richards Other parts of the two hour show contained an interview with famed SRS surgeon Marci Bowers, and later a look at the El Pollo Loco franchise in California owned by a transge

Check this out: "The gay rights movement has added a few more letters onto its initialism: LGBTQIA. LGBTQIA stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual. The new acronym allows the sexuality and gender identity-based community to include individuals who may not conventionally identify themselves as a man or woman." From the The University Daily Kansan (University of Kansas) Let me add three more, OMG! Renee Richards (78) on Katie Couric this week said something to the effect the transgender word wasn't even invented when she was young. Hopefully Renee will be around this world long enough to see the entire alphabet not included in descriptors for our culture. Furthermore I disagree with the first sentence: gay rights movement  and transgender being lumped together at all. That's the subject of a whole other post and a whole other alphabet.

This article comes from the "South Florida Gay News" "The fifth annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival will include the world premiere of Renée, a documentary exploring the story of Renée Richards, the first transgender tennis player to compete in the women’s US Open. Directed by Eric Drath, Renée is full of rare archival footage and interviews with close friends and family members -- as well as tennis legends Martina Navratilova, John McEnroe and Billie Jean King – and explores the surprising and affecting human story behind one of America’s first transgender people in the public eye." Living in the fast moving world as we do, I believe it is important  to remember our "transgendered pioneers." Dr. Richards was certainly one of them. If you haven't read her first book, it's a great read about her journey...and inexpensive!