Cyrsti's Condo

As we pause to remember our transgendered sisters and brothers who have died for whatever reason, it is time to consider our past and future. Here on the blog I try to present the positive and minimize the violence which does plague the transgender culture. Why? I try to be a positive person and perceive my cup as half full. Rehashing transgendered violence would make me no better than the 11 local television news. The news motto is "the bloodier, the better." Having said that, the overwhelming sadness when someone is physically harmed just because of gender differences is just crazy. Add the torment of emotional abuse from family and peer groups and this is a time to remember the ones who have suffered the ultimate penalty. It is also a time to not forget. Transgender violence stories should serve as a constant reminder to all of us to be aware of our surroundings at all times. Maybe you should add that Mace pepper spray you have been thinking of buying and keep it

This story from the "San Diego LGBT Weekly" caught my eye for it's delicious touch of irony. "It seems Transgender Human Rights Campaign board member Megan Stabler (pictured above) has married another woman in Texas by legally declaring her gender as male, a development that could be considered controversial (and perhaps hypocritical) because of Stabler’s national prominence, and because of her position at HRC as the only known trans person sitting on the board. The lesbian couple could not legally marry in Texas as such. But by declaring male gender-identity, presumably by way of a birth certificate that reflected her gender at birth, their union is recognized by that largely far-right leaning state." Sure the whole marriage could be seen as hypocritical. Then again, why not turn a system around and use a "loop hole" as a positvie in your life? My bottom line reaction is judging from Megan's picture, it's the men of Texas who lost

From the " The Huffington Post " comes a post on a subject near and not so dear to me...restroom priviledges. As any accomplished transgender person knows , the whole affair of simply going to the bathroom can turn into a major event. This perspective comes from a trans man: "Believe it or not, I am a guy who likes to leave my house from time to time. Occasionally I'll be out, you know, people-watching in the local park, shopping downtown, or cruising around and making frequent stops at the tiny indie cafe in my gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood, inhaling pints of coffee on the hour. Sometimes I'll even drink water. Eventually the time comes when my bladder has successfully been filled and I'll have to, you know, empty it . I'll find the nearest public restroom and use it. As long as there's a stall with a door, of course. As a "transitioned" transsexual man, it's easy for me. Again, as long as there is a stall involved. I ca

From "The Advocate" comes this update near and dear to my heart! The story is called "Trans American Military Stories" and features interviews with four transgendered vets. The four transgendered vets are a very small part of the nearly 300,000 transgender people who may have served in the military — even though the government won’t officially allow it. For you new visitors to the blog I am a transgendered vet and I am testing the hormone waters with them. The number comes from The Transgender American Veterans Association. "TAVA"  reports there could be up to 300,000 transgender military veterans in the U.S. today. In 2005, when the TAVA put a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, there was a transgender person representing every U.S. military conflict since WWII. Still, the very psychological diagnosis that allows transgender folks to get medical care — Gender Identity Disorder — makes them ineligible to serve. And those who’ve gone through c

NPR is running a story on " Michelle Enfield " a transgendered woman from Los Angeles. Michelle is part of the Navajo nation. She has been on hormone replacement therapy since 1997 and recounts the story of her family accepting her. Here is an excerpt: My family had already been accepting of me through all the different stages of my life because as a Dine' (Navajo), our people see LGBT individuals as having many healing energies. I have been discriminated against; I've been sexually and physically abused; I've loved and have been loved. Learning to take care of myself emotionally requires me to be happy with all of me. I must accept and learn from all of my experiences because they make me who I am today. Michelle Enfield I have said before how fascinated I am with the Dine' and their culture.

Texas widow "Nikki Araguz" must sit and wonder what a long strange trip it's been. From the talk show circuit as a young transgendered woman to a marriage in Texas that ended tragically in her husband's death...she seems to be always on some sort of hot seat. She lost her court case to claim death benefits in Texas and now is considering taking the case to the Supreme Court. How does a person do this? John Wright from the " dallasvoice.com " provided some insight. "Nikki Araguz, who until now has been represented by Frye & Associations, said she expects Katine & Nechman will partner with national LGBT advocacy groups on the appeal. Araguz said she chose to switch law firms because the high-profile case could have broad implications for transgender equality, possibly addressing fundamental legal questions about how gender is determined. “I think that collaborating with multiple national organizations’ legal teams, and the Supreme Cour

The Veteran's Administration (VA) recently released this statement concerning transgendered vets. I am a a transgendered vet. This statement could certainly change my life! I will add more later! From the " Sacramento Bee " The Veterans Health Administration has informed its hospitals and clinics that transgender veterans are eligible for hormones, care before and after gender change surgery, and mental health counseling as part of their regular benefits. In a directive issued Thursday, the VA reiterated that its facilities are not permitted to perform genital or breast surgeries on veterans in the process of changing genders. But the agency confirmed that transgender patients are entitled to routine health care that takes their special needs into account and to transgender-specific treatments such as hormone therapy and "non-surgical, supportive care for complications of sex-reassignment surgery."

From Stamford, Connecticut comes a story which occurred at the exact wrong time. The " Stamford Times " covered this story  " Transvestite arrested for alleged sex assault   "Isaiah Johnson"           " Police said a transvestite from Stamford ( Isaiah Johnson ) was arrested early Wednesday morning for allegedly sexually assaulting a Stamford  teenager with special needs."   All of this is bad enough. When you take into consideration Connecticut just rejected legislation to restrict "transvestite" males from using women's restroom facilities. It makes it all so very worse. (Please note the use of the transvestite word is not mine.) Check out this response to the story! "Just to think that the Connecticut Senate recently rejected an amendment for HB6599, to restrict transvestite males (biologically) from entering men's bathrooms.(He corrected it to "women's") Unfortunately the democrat majority wants t

Or is it? We do so much with mirrors in a transgendered life. We mirror a gender we weren't born as but feel at piece with. All of society is a mirror. We are not unique in that aspect. Growing up in our birth gender, most of us tried hard to to mirror what we thought society and families wanted us to be. The problem was the mirror was distorted. The image it gave us was different than we felt and even different than we really looked. I've mentioned my confusion and frustration with my mirror several times Here is an example from a post I wrote last summer called "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall". Please tell me I'm the fairest of them all! On occasion, the mirror does tell me that. Then again, the mirror has been known to fib! I have always had a struggle with that mean old mirror. It told more than a thousand times I was beautiful only to be stared and laughed at in the first public venue I visited. More than once the mirror said "you are plain and unattr

I'm always fascinated by the different facets of the transgendered culture. The transgendered woman is truly in the fabric of society as much as any group as evidenced during the "Lilith ritual" at " pantheacon ". Evidently, some transgendered women were turned away leading to responses such as this. "This struggle has been going since the Women’s Mysteries first appeared. These individuals selfishly never think about the following: if women allow men to be incorporated into Dianic Mysteries,What will women own on their own? Nothing! Again! Transies who attack us only care about themselves. We women need our own culture, our own resourcing, our own traditions. You can tell these are men, They don’t care if women loose the Only tradition reclaimed after much research and practice ,the Dianic Tradition. Men simply want in. its their will. How dare us women not let them in and give away the ONLY spiritual home we have! Men want to wors

But don't call me a transvestite or a crossdresser or a transgendered or a transsexual. Blah, blah,blah! Perhaps you have read some or all of the endless rhetoric about our group and labels...but here is more. From "down under" even! The time has come again to talk about terminology. The biggie is the ongoing furore caused by those who want to make distinctions between various sub-classes of the transgendered community, partly, I fear, because they want to assert a pecking order in a range which includes cross-dressers, pre-ops, post-ops, androgynes and drag adopted for various reasons — some commercial, some for personal and temporary amusement without an ongoing commitment to gender change, temporary or permanent. For many years I thought of myself as a transvestite and acted accordingly but the time came when I admitted to myself, and the world, that I was transgendered. For years I imagined the correct term was transsexual, because I accepted the term

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness has been proven time and again to not be so true for transgendered citizens of the US. From the recent report on transgendered poverty and violence to transgendered rights being systematically ignored (Ohio), we seem to be winning on the runways (transgendered supermodels) but losing our civil rights. If we had many to start with. In the meantime, our neighbor to the North, Canada is trying to pass a bill guaranteeing basic transgendered rights. In India " Project Kalki " is trying to empower poor transgendered women as community journalists. Maybe our country will stand up and do the right thing! Hopefully I will live to see it! You know, I really don't care what most people think of me as as transgendered person. Liking me or not liking me should not be a factor in taking away my rights as an American!

I chat with a very interesting, educated and intelligent woman at least once a week.  I would have had no way of knowing she was not born female from her pictures until she told me. I really respected her for that. In her part of the world, she is going to interact with a government agency about discrimination. I immediately thought "transgendered" and she told me not necessarily.  Unless "outed" she was going to protest as a "bi female". I thought wow, our group and her group just got left out again. I started to think about it and here is part of my response:. I read "stealth" into much of your ideas. I used to feel that the trans people who finished their journey just went away and vanished into thin air somehow hurt our group as a whole. Our true role models disappear and we are left with Jerry Springer . More and more, my ideas are changing. Realistically, if I was taking the path that you and many others have taken to evolve into

Who would have "thunk" it? It seems the "pink and blue" has been around since the cavemen. In fact, that is not the case at all. According to an article in the " Record Gazette" . "Erin Steele" tells us just how special we used to be "back in the day." Way back in the day as a matter of fact. There is anthropological evidence from early North American native tribal cultures that there were three genders: the male, the female and the male-female, called the two-spirit, who showed both male and female characteristics. The two-spirited person was believed to have received a gift from the Creator – the gift to see everything from two perspectives at one time, and were respected as teachers and healers, caregivers and more in their communities. Tests were given to children at a young age if thought to be two-spirited, so they would have the precious opportunity to fully bloom. Unfortunately, as we all know, European settlers i

Passing by the wall of employee info, I happened to glance at the "Equal Opportunity Statement" Of course I have seen it a million times and like everything else, it kind of just blends in after a while. This time it didn't. I realized it did not refer to me.  As an older white male, I have been conditioned in the rules and regulations of equal opportunity hiring. Primarily, questions you can ask or not ask in a interview situation. It occurred to me that if I asked "are you transgendered" and the answer was yes I could basically say thanks and we will save your application. (Don't call us...we'll call you) I also thought if I changed my clothing to meet my chosen gender, I would be gone shortly at my job.  Sure, I could sue and make a big deal about the whole thing. I would but the end result would be the same. I have no equal rights. What am I doing about all of this? I feel the acquaintances I meet and the columns I write help a little. I wish I