Cyrsti's Condo

I read with interest today a blog post from whom I consider a "Trans-Terf" (Terf is a trans exclusionary radical feminist.) The person writing the post was transgender and right off the bat she excluded me (I hadn't transitioned long enough)? As I read on, then I understood why I was not worthy.  She said and I paraphrase- almost no one had the gender experiences she lived through (Really? Me thinks what she didn't lose in her transition was her male ego.) Well OK! Now I understood!  First the woymn born woymn crowd excluded me because I wasn't born with the proper equipment between my legs.  First,  I lived my life for years as one of those evil male privileged humans who beat and slandered every genetic woman I could find. And now, here I was, trying to sneak into the hen house through the back door. Shame on me! Then, there was this person excluding me in almost the same way as the woymn born woymn crowd she purported to be against..Dammit! It seems I did

Recently I read a post by Autumn Sandeen called "Paying it forward for future generations of trans people". You regular visitors here in Cyrsti's Condo know how I feel about transgender women or men transitioning into another closet-which is called stealth. And of course Autumn is completely correct in her assessment of  "paying forward" into the trans community. I have three powerful reasons not to run away and hide as a transgender woman- my grand kids.This afternoon I had yet another powerful opportunity to pay forward to my grand kids. Who I'm out to. It was my first chance to talk to them about how great the Boy Scout inclusion move was. But, as I was told it was  only  a beginning and they couldn't wait to show me some sort of new "badges" to wear on their uniforms. I know what you are thinking, Cyrsti got side tracked again and forgot Autumn! Relax!  Here is her beginning thoughts: "Why should I personally go forward as a tr

On too many occasions, I hear from transgender women who are painfully stuck in the closet. There are ways out of your dark room and every once in a while someone steps forward with a great idea. This one comes from Toni D'Orsay and her Dyssonance blog. (Disclaimer. Sometimes Toni gets a little "wordy" for my tastes but she does incredible with this!) "Idea: for the month of March, volunteer for 20 hours with an organization or project that specifically deals with trans folk, or solve a local problem. Without getting involved in politics. When I say without getting involved in politics, I mean without becoming embroiled in the online arguments we see, without lobbying for a law to change, without going to see a politician and getting them to vote for something. Kinda different for a request, isn't it? It is a suggestion to you in order to get you to help yourself. The difficulty is that the way that it helps you is indirect -- far more so than working o

In this age of extreme media in every area of our lives it's easy to be a trans activist- or be confused with one. Then again, what exactly defines a trans activist? Let's use transgender broadcaster Eden Lane as an example. She was interviewed recently by Michelangelo Signorile: “Once in a while, I may be asked to identify myself and make a statement in a certain way, I think that would undermine the meaning of my work, not just for my work's sake, but for the very reason they're wanting to identify me as a transgender broadcaster. If I were to make political statements, then that undermines my credibility as a journalist. And if that's the point, that I'm a journalist first, and that people are tuning in to watch my program not because I'm talking exclusively about LGBT issues, but all sorts of things, then for me to step up and try to be a political figure would undermine that work and really rob us all of a chance to have a different kind of example