Transgender-2015

From the EdgeMediaNetwork  - What's going to happen to the transgender community in 2015? Will we build on 2014, or fall back and what may any of it mean to you anyway?  I'm sure each group's crystal balls will vary, but here is one of the first I have seen: Or, the top three:

(Bala Cynwyd, PA) Dr. Sherman Leis, founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, has identified 10 important trends that will affect America and its transgender community in 2015.

"Although society has made a great deal of progress for the transgender community this past year, we still have a long way to go," said Dr. Leis. "Having recently observed Transgender Remembrance Day (November 20), it's sad to see that there are still too many victims of transgender violence," he said.

Dr. Leis' annual list of trends include:

1) More children and teenagers are coming out identifying as transgender. Thanks to expanding transgender education, supportive institutions and societal acceptance, transgender children will be able to reach balance with gender dysphoria at an earlier age, resulting in an improved quality of life.

2) More mainstream health institutions are recognizing a need for specialized transgender care. Major children's hospitals in Philadelphia and Boston, for example, have opened separate departments for transgender health and care for children.

3) More insurance companies are covering transgender surgery and health care because a growing majority of Fortune 500 companies request it, influencing the entire business community.

We are going to skip to number ten:

10) There has been a significant increase in media interest in transgender news and issues this year. As well, in the entertainment industry, there has been an increase in the number of transgender characters included in mainstream plays and television shows, such as "Orange is the New Black," on Netflix.

For the other six, follow the link!

While My Blog Gently Weeps

As Liz and I were watching the Cincinnati evening news last night, one of the lead stories was the all too familiar tragic story of a young transgender girl ending her life-essentially before it started. This is so frustrating and sad, I'm crying as I write this post. NOT a post I wanted to write on New Years Eve:


Quoting the USA Today and Sharon Coolidge of the Cincinnati Enquirer: 
Leelah's suicide and the conversation her note inspired has rocked families in the Ohio region, becoming part of a national conversation. Here, we share the facts and report what happened.

In life, Leelah Alcorn felt alone. Born male, she feared she would never be the woman she felt like inside. In death, the transgender 17-year-old -- born Josh Alcorn -- wanted to make sure others never felt that way she did.
"The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was, they're treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights," Alcorn wrote in a post on Tumblr.
Her parents, she wrote, wanted her to be a "perfect little straight Christian boy."
"My death needs to mean something," she wrote in the post, which she scheduled to appear the day after her death.


"My death needs to mean something," she wrote in the post, which she scheduled to appear the day after her death.
Her final public words: "Fix society. Please."

On Sunday, just before 2:30 a.m., Alcorn was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on I-71 in Ohio, about four miles from her home in Kings Mills.

Leelah Alcorn, who was born Josh Alcorn.(Photo: Provided/Abigail Jones)

No charges have been filed, and the State Highway Patrol continues to investigate. Her body was sent to the Montgomery County Coroner for an autopsy, which will take several weeks.
"She was super bubbly and upbeat with a really brash sense of humor; she could make anyone laugh," said Abigail Jones, 17, one of Alcorn's co-workers and friends. They were caricature artists at Kinds Island, an Ohio amusement park.
Jones even drew Alcorn as Elsa from Frozen, "her favorite thing ever."
The duo was close -- going to see movies, getting ice cream and texting. In July, Alcorn told Jones that she was transgender.
Alcorn's family declined to comment to The Enquirer. In a statement via the Kings Local School District, they requested privacy. According to the statement, Alcorn was most recently enrolled as an 11th grader at the Ohio Virtual Academy, an online school.




There is more as you follow the link but Liz and I's question was can Leelah's conservative Christian family learn too late from their daughter's death?  (I'm saying no.)


One way or another, her death is another hell the preachers make their money sermonizing on. 


Another tremendous sad shame is around here in Cincinnati and increasingly in other locations, LBGTQ groups provide outreach education to youth. In my area of the world there is GLSEN  in Cincinnati and the Dayton LGBTQ center has reached out to several transgender women and men (including me) to establish an outreach.
I'm not saying you should use me as an example but even if you have to wait a long time-it does get better.

Remembering

I have no idea of when this picture was taken - or of who. However, it was one of the more unique womanless beauty pageant pix we featured in Cyrsti's Condo last year:

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Hart"

Cyrsti's Condo "Woman of the Day/Year"

I can't/won't even begin to look back on last year and pretend to have the knowledge or skill to pick a transgender "woman" of the year.  I can tell you I wouldn't pick the prettiest face.  That's typically a real insult to generics as well as trans women.  Sort of like picking  a cheer leader for her looks when the girl across the room is ready to discover a new law of physics.

I am as guilty as most though in getting tangled in the culture of looks. Truly, I am astounded at the mtf gender transitions of some of the women I see and  pass along to you. Also,  I will not backtrack on the impact of the Laverne Cox's and Janet Mock's of the world. Both are obviously talented, smart and beautiful women. But then, there are the other trans women we don't hear so much about such as  Dr. Jillian T. Weiss (left) a  Professor of Law and Society at Ramapo College of New Jersey, and a researcher in the area of transgender workplace law and policy.


She has authored numerous academic publications, presentations and other scholarly works, as well as articles and interviews for media organizations including The New York Times and Associated Press. She is a member of the Board of GetEqual, a direct action non-profit organization dedicated to LGBT rights, as well as a member of The Williams Institute Advisory Board, an LGBT rights think-tank at UCLA Law School, and former member of the Board of Advisors of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

She also provides consulting services for private and public employers, including Harvard University, Boeing and New York City, and pro bono legal representation in cases involving gender identity and gender expression discrimination. She is a member of the National LGBT Bar Association, and Chair of the Planning Committee for its annual Transgender Law Institute.

What a beautiful year 2015 could be if for once the transgender community could pull together in one unified direction?

Don't I HAVE to Have Lists?

Well, sure I do!  The problem I have is remembering 2014 because it was a blur and it is easy to get stuck on tons of individual events.

Easily though the #1 Worst happening of the year was when I was gender slurred at the LOKI Group dance near Cincinnati. My partner Liz identifies as lesbian and she wanted to go so I did and for all intents and purposes got bounced. Later I got this message:  "An Organizer removed you from this Meetup Group. Check out other LGBT Meetups near you." As I said at the time, I ran into an obvious radical feminist protecting her pile of sand in the girls sandbox.  It just brought to me the reality of bigots in the world.

Easily, the #1 Best happening of 2014 came on the night Liz and I went to a big sports bar/tavern close to her to watch our "The Ohio State Buckeyes" play Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. Sure, the Buckeyes won big (an incredibly tough task coming up against Alabama this week) but even bigger was the fact absolutely no one gave me a second look.  Groups of guys playing darts, families, other women-no one. 

(Don't ask me to speculate WHY the most likely transgender bigots come from within the LGBTQ community?)

The biggest surprise of the year actually came recently in the month of December. For some reason, my HRT hormones went into hyper-drive. I became moody, my breasts were sore and other minor changes happened.  Often I am not the sharpest tack in the box and after I was whining for probably the thousandth time to Liz, she said relax, you just had a period.  You couldn't bleed of course, but the rest of you had a period.  It's taken a while and normal is difficult for me to relate to; I'm getting back there now.

Looking back at 2014 though, I have to toss you a cop out.  Without question, the year was the most exciting, scary and satisfying one of my life.  I am sure I will think of other "additions" to this post later. Maybe 2015?

Cyrsti's Condo "Star Grazing"

It turns out my stars have saved the best for last in 2014!  Gather around all you Libra's:

(September 23-October 22): It’s going to be good to be you now, when all those quirky things about yourself that you try to hide will be endearing for another to peep at. Forget trying to be perfect, because it’s just a silly game you play in your head. The world outside will feel warmer than ever, as there will be lots of arms outstretched that want to hold you.

And all this time, I thought I was perfect! Quirky? You "betcha!!!" Our guest sign this week  comes from you Leo's! (July 23-August 22): Brace yourself because beauty will seduce you. The fact is, you have a reflex when it comes to hotness and that is to pounce on it. Sometimes you leap too quickly and realize the catch doesn’t live up to its first impression. And then there are other times when you go too fast and eat it up too quickly. This week, change it up. Be the prey and commit to it.

As always, we know where your sign is too!!!  Go here to theFrisky.  

Playing in the Trenches

Accidentally, as I was writing another Cyrsti's Condo post the other day, I used MtF transgender woman Kimberly Reed as a stereotypical example of a point I was trying to make on the physical part of transitioning.  During her sports career in football, Kimberly was the young blond slim quarterback, during mine I played in the trenches as a defensive end.  NO, I did not play on Kimberly's team, against her and we are different ages from different places.  She is an example kids!!!

Sure, a physical transition is never easy and if you are blessed to have the support and resources to do it-the earlier the better.  I can tell you from personal experience, taking a 60 + year old male body and changing gender gears is no picnic. As you all know though, I have been at it for a long time now and found myself "back in the trenches" on several fronts.

The first "battle" ironically came quickly from within what I considered "my own community." I was naive though and thought any of the successful strides I made discovering my inner femininity could/should be shared with others.  I found instead until I spent thousands on surgery and endured years of pain, I wasn't worthy.  Although on occasion I did get my feelings hurt, I considered the source, began to call them "Trans-Nazi's" and moved on-into the real world.

Like so many others, I was spending most all of my early public time in gay venues.  I didn't take long to find myself in a different set of trenches.  Back in those days, gay and lesbian venues had even less knowledge of what a transgender woman or trans man was all about.  Worse than that, they didn't care to. After a night of getting ignored in a gay bar trying to get served, I said to hell with them and began to go to straight venues. It worked and I moved on.

On occasion I landed back in my own transgender community.  This time, I was called a transgender "pretender" by the purists of the trans world-after all, why had I waited so long to transition?  You know, it's a good question, but essentially none of their business. But, how much fun would that be, and all you regulars know I have answered the "whys and hows" of my life and even wrote a book "Stilettos on Thin Ice"  to explain it.

So, if you are considering making the transgender gender jump, chances are you are not living in a feminine ready body right now.  If you are ready to get in the trenches and do it,  be ready, the process will be incredibly tough.  The rewards though, can be just as incredibly wonderful.

I love those who tell me I could  never transition-I look like a linebacker. I just say, remember me? I was the defensive end - just down the line from you. .

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our cover feature today is the gorgeous MtF transgender beauty Raika Ferraz from Brazil.

Don't Ask if you Don't Want to Know

It's time already to dump a couple boxes of color on my hair.  Obviously, at my age, keeping up with the gray is a big deal.  Liz and I are planning on staying with a version of my current color (dark/auburn) for the foreseeable future.  Per instructions, she likes me to "warsh" it (southern Ohio pronunciation) one night and she colors it the next night.


I knew my hair had quite a bit natural soft curl to it which I have had a tendency to flat iron or brush out.  Partly because of my first trips to a professional salon and partly I became enamored with it and partly I became lazy.


What also happens is I think sometimes I end up looking like an old hippie with his hair tied back.  NOT the effect I am looking for.


So, last night, I asked Liz "Riddle me this, what if I want to keep and even enhance the curls in my hair?" OMG! I got the answer and whole bunches of instructions Liz thinks I can follow or even remember.  She forgets in girl time, I am still a beginner and it wasn't sooo long ago I was styling my hair where I could see all of it- on a wig head.


All of the sudden, we started with mousse, proceeded to broad tooth combs, picks and finally (before my normal short term memory failure-failed) we went to how much, how often and other minutia. 


So, the plan is to roll out the curls on New Years Eve.  If I end up looking like a dark haired "Little Orphan Annie"-there will be no pictures! Guaranteed!

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

"Ker Plunk!" It's hard to believe the last Sunday Edition for 2014 is hitting your virtual front porch!!! Get that "Cup-O-Joe" brewing!

Page One-The Week that Was-or Wasn't.  The big topic around here and elsewhere in the transgender world was (basically) do the seemingly ever growing group of very attractive trans women coming out help the rest of us at all.  Very simply, does Kimberly Reed's (left ) public image help me in my life?  Yes, a lot and no not so much.  Sure, there is such a thing as a "passing privilege" and Kimberly has her share. On the other hand, using a gender stereo type, Kimberly was the blond slim (dare I say pretty boy quarterback in football, while some of the other of us played in the trenches.)  Might as well face it girls, as far as "passing privilege" goes, most of us will always be playing in the trenches,

Last year though,   Carmen Carrera, Laverne Cox  and Janet Mock, helped us when they took the conversation away from "passing privilege" into "genital privilege". Or, what you happened to be born with does not give you the privilege to discriminate against those of us who don't define our gender by what's between our legs.

Page Two- We Got Mail!   

J.AlainaS wrote in and asked: I'm curious, how many therapy sessions did you have between the diagnosis and getting the referral/prescription? Good question!  I had four.  My therapist and I got along famously and her final comment was "You are out, really OUT!"  On the serious side, her main focus was did I have a support system and a plan in place to support a MtF gender transition.  I did, and I got the letter.  Seems like a lifetime ago, when it will be just four in 2015.


Page Three-The YEAR that Was or Wasn't.  Needless to say, 2014 was quite the year.  Most certainly, HRT changes would be towards the top of any top list I may yet come up with, but not the top by far.  HRT is just an end to a means and does give me a small gift of "passing privilege" What it didn't give me was the in-depth, high voltage look of what the girl's sandbox looked like from the inside. I can thank Liz for that!!! 2014 also provided me with thrills & chills such as androgyny and gender acceptance all the way to gender slurs and rejection.


Page Four-The Back Page.  If you celebrated Christmas, I hope you found it to be festive and loving!  Soon, we will be given a chance to stop and at the least note the coming of a New Year.  In the next couple of days, we will take our own special look here in Cyrsti's Condo!