Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Trans Woman of the Day."

Beyer and Jenner (inset)

Our feature today is Georgina Beyer from New Zealand :

"Given the circus surrounding E! reality star Caitlyn’s transition from male to female, and the fact that Georgina, 57, is New Zealand’s most famous transsexual, the comparison is only natural. And Georgina seems just as fascinated by the 65-year-old former Olympic champion’s transformation from Bruce to Caitlyn as the rest of us.

“It’s such a brave and courageous thing she’s doing,” says Georgina. “Caitlyn has lived in her own prison for so many years and she didn’t want to die wondering, ‘What if?’ It reminds me of a drag show I did at a pub in Greymouth in the ’80s.

“Afterwards, this elderly gentleman came up to me and started crying. He felt he was a transsexual, but he was never able to fulfil it because of his marriage and family. I dissolved into tears because this was a pain he was taking to the grave. That’s not going to happen to Caitlyn.”

Of course, Georgina and Caitlyn’s journeys are wildly different. Georgina started taking hormones at the age of 16 and had sex-reassignment surgery at 27. After a stint as a sex worker, Georgina went on to become the world’s first transsexual mayor and later its first transsexual MP.

Besides the new found acceptance of transgender people in the mainstream, the brightest spot in Georgina’s life at the moment is the fact a film about her life is back in development after years on the back-burner.

“They’ve got the money now and the director is really excited,” smiles Georgina. “I don’t have a clue who’ll play me. I’m a bit scared, to be honest. I’d want a good actor. It’s a big deal. I mean, how many good New Zealand life stories have you seen on film? Hopefully, with all this Caitlyn Jenner stuff, we’re not all trans out!”

For more, go to Woman's Day here.

Working the Room?

Saturday night as I mentioned in the Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"- a bunch of us went to an amateur boxing event in downtown Dayton, Ohio. 

First of all, let me try to explain the physical set up. The ring itself for lack of a better term sat against the back wall in a space under a parking garage over hang. Chairs surrounded the ring in a semi circle with a beer truck on the left, and food concessions on the right (including the rest rooms.) Of course we ended up sitting on the left side. 

As it turned out, just before the boxing matches began, Liz and I thought a trip to the restrooms would be a good idea - so we did.  We headed along the semi circle aisle to the other side. I am sure the trip wasn't the mile and a half it felt like and I wasn't the visual cannon fodder to every woman in the seats behind me. On the other hand, I kept telling myself "shoulders back and chest out."

I found two things out for certain-the trip was not a mile and I survived.    

As far as being "cannon fodder?" I'm used to that!!!! I was busy looking for any other transgender women watching the event. 

"Houston - We DON'T Have a Problem."--Anymore

Seemingly, it has been nearly  four decades ago when Bobbie sent me the story about Phyllis Randolph Frye's story. The story was in the New York Times via Houston, Texas and represents why stealth was basically the only way to come out-back in the day. Unless you were blessed with incredible "natural" passing privilege.

Read on, (for Phyllis),  It was the summer of 1976. As Bruce Jenner, 26, was celebrating his decathlon victory at the Montreal Olympics, Phillip Frye, 28, was admitting defeat in suppressing his gender identity. He, becoming she, had already lost a lot: He had been forced to resign from the military for “sexual deviation.” He had been disowned by his parents, divorced by his first wife and separated from his son. He had been dismissed from several engineering jobs.

And there was more:

In response, (to coming out) she got her house egged, her tires slashed, and her driveway spray-painted with obscenities. Teenagers openly mocked her, the engineering profession blackballed her and the federal government rejected her for a job because of her “desire to impersonate the opposite sex.”

In the early days of writing Cyrsti's Condo, one my fave rants was an "anti-stealth" one. Perhaps age really does "dim" the memory to protect the innocent-or the guilty as far as the transgender community goes.

Cyrsti's Condo 'Quote of the DAY"

From the "reality" show Port Protection:

"Where the Women are Men and the Men are Animals."

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Ker Plunk another Sunday edition is hitting your virtual front porch. Here in Southwestern Ohio, we are back to what traditionally is called "Indian Summer" when much of our traditional summer heat and humidity returns for it's last "hurrah" before fall. Let's grab a cup 'o' joe (coffee) and get started!

Page One-The Week that Was or Wasn't: To me the biggest thing that has happened to me for awhile in the transgender world was the announcement from the Pentagon that an actual timetable has been set for allowing active duty transgender troops to serve openly for the first time in their military careers.

Also, along the way- the news of  Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, (left) a former policy adviser at the National Center for Transgender Equality, will serve as an outreach and recruitment director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. Obviously, great news on both!
Page Two- Opinion.- Pronouns and the Trans Person: To me at least, they shouldn't but the use of gender pronouns people use with me define me. Often though, it's not fair to a public who is just getting familiar with trans women and transgender men at all. Plus, we are asking a person to make a split second gender decision on us. I had plenty of examples this weekend alone. There was the clerk girl at the shoe store yesterday who started to call me "sir" (at the check out) and to her I just said "No, thank you sir."  

Then there was the receptionist at the Veteran's Administration a couple weeks ago who changed  pronouns on me seemingly ten times a minute until she was totally frustrated. The list goes on endlessly of course. The woman taking tickets at the amateur boxing match we went to last night (Thanks Kim!) he/she'd me instantly when she took my ticket.
Of course, I'm not alone (with many of you) in the fact "passing privilege" will never be 100% ours, and pronouns may always be a problem or embarrassment of sorts for both parties.  

I do have a solution though. Most of the offenders I encounter aren't doing anything inherently evil. They are just confused and uneducated. I am thinking of printing up a very short list of alleviating the public's questions and when I do encounter a person, I will give them one.

Page Three .-The Back Page: Most of you know, I am not much of a "fashionista" but this weekend I grabbed Liz (she smiled) and we went shoe shopping. I did get "radical" and dipped into my limited funds and bought a pair of "short" boots that come just above my ankles and a pair of green/teal actual women's tennis shoes. (I know neither are very sexy-but both are very functional.) So looking ahead at the tons of fall festivals in the area and later into the winter weather-I m set up fairly well with my three pairs of boots.
Well kids, I have to get going and rustle up another cup o joe As always, thanks for stopping by!!!! 'Luv ya' all!!!