Ohio Proud

I'm from Ohio and know many who are happy to say they are from Ohio and not here now. It's a totally frustrating place which features the best (and worst) of rust belt urban settings all the way to a strong agricultural base.

This is the state which for some reason banned casino gambling for so many years while Indiana and Michigan made money from Ohioians crossing the border to gamble.  Ohio also is the state which stubbornly refuses to grant sweeping protections to all the TGLB community but at the same time it's capital city of Columbus is one of the top gay areas of the country.

You can compare Ohio to the warm and cold fronts which cause big storms when they collide. From the most liberal at places such as Antioch College to people speaking in tongues at the church down the street. It's all here.

Recently Columbus' 10TV ran a story of an Ohio mother who stood up and said "enough is enough" stop the bullying of her young transgender daughter:

You can comment on the video 10TV's Facebook page too.

Katie's Transgender Show

Tuesday afternoon in my part of the world, one of the more impressive television shows on transgender youth issues I have ever seen aired on one of my local television affiliates.

Katie Couric hosted a show billed as "Raising a Transgender Child".
Two impressive points were the fact the show was not presented as a sensationalized Anderson Cooper ratings booster and took a serious look at the lives of young transgender children female and male. All of them pounded home the very important point to the casual observer that gender and sexuality were different.
Above I have added a picture from the show including the youngest Coy (six) to icon Renee Richards (78) and yes the other two are transgender also.

Of course the subject of "puberty blockers" was prominently mentioned and experts were plentiful to discuss them. I would guess the more jaded of the public and the transphobic folks would have wanted a few naysayers on the show. In my mind a debate on the subject would have destroyed the continuity of the show.

Of course, I'm sure more than a couple trans nazi's will find something wrong in this show but I'm sure soon you will be able to judge it for yourself on line somewhere. Follow the link above for more!

No Surprise...

Julie Ross has had the courage, conviction and compassion to step and out to discuss her own transgender child.
Of course she has been vilified as well as praised for the decision. Note the use of the word vilification. Not the criticism word. Big difference-no surprise.
Just take a look at the trans community for examples!
I felt it for the first time on one of the big transgender transsexual social sites when I tried to write about my own experiences. I learned my lesson early but I still am stunned on occasion by comments I get here.
Examples?
I have been trashed for waiting so long in life to transition, having a prom date as a guy all the way to having any fond memories of my male life.  Plus, I left the best for last-I'm not worthy to lead a feminine life at all because I don't have a store bought vagina.
No chance for discussion or questions just bitterness and even almost hate-all right here in our so called trans sisterhood.
So I can sympathize with Julie's thoughts:

"Over the past several months I have been venturesome (or perhaps stupid?) enough to publicly share my interpretation and personal feelings from my front row seat as the parent of a child who has identified as transgender. (You can find them here on HuffPost... they may be helpful in grasping the back story.) I have been equally supported and vilified by readers far and wide. I have been told that I am an "incredible parent" only to be corrected by a different reader that I am actually a horrible parent and that G-d does not make mistakes, just I do. Compliments for my honesty and style of writing are usurped by bashing for "rambling" and being a "horrible writer." I have been called "wonderful" and "self-centered" in the same thread written (sometimes viciously) from the comfort of computers around the world that I will neither find nor seek to find. And it all makes me wonder."

From the comfort of my computer - Julie Ross has done wonders by stepping up and out for present and future transgender transsexual kids everywhere.  Way to GO!!!!!
For more go here.