Cyrsti's Condo

No it's not a new television show (unfortunately). My friend Bobbie  was kind enough to send along this information from a police publication called "Dealing with Transgender Subjects". Here is an excerpt: "Officers must often protect and serve members of special groups. Providing this service can bring challenges that demand agency guidance or targeted training. One such group that has rarely been seen or contacted by officers in the past has become empowered to step out and live openly in their communities. They are the transgender individuals. On every continent there is at least one culture that gives social recognition to individuals who don't fit the gender binary of male or female. Only until recently has medicine made it possible to match the individual to their appearance with surgical procedures. Our Western societies have forced these individuals underground (into "the closet") to survive by avoiding ridicule and persecution. Being trans

No, not that "B" word- the bully word. I can't say enough negative about bullying and in fact haven't written much about it's tragic effects here in Cyrsti's Condo much at all. The reason (or excuse) is I really did not know where to start. I do think we transgender individuals sometimes think we have the market cornered and certainly it seems that way in our world. Ironically, one of the woman in the group I went out with last night told me the saddest story of her youth as a very obese kid.  Without going too deep into it, she said the torture such as bubble gum in the hair became so bad she nearly couldn't stand it...and ballooned to over 400 pounds as a young adult. The good news is she survived the experience, had surgery and literally has lost hundreds of pounds. Other's of course haven't- inside the transgender, gay or straight world. Amanda Todd is one of those: She was a Vancouver-area teenager who posted a story to YouTube last mo