Mini-Me?

I write often here in Cyrsti's Condo about my "30 something" daughter. As I transition ever further, it turns out now couple of my friends now have met her-with interesting reactions. If you don't know, she has completely supported me as a Mtf trans woman.

The first was short and sweet-literally. "Your daughter is-well-short!" Yep, her Mom and my Mom worked hard to get to that 5'2" mark. My daughter did not escape the height part of genetics.

On another plane, it seems she did.  The other comment was "Don't take this the wrong way but your daughter is so-normal." And no, the person was not equating being transgender with normal in any way. In fact, the commenter was a transgender woman too!

So it seems my daughter is doing a great job in hiding the fact that once you know her and she is not tied down with three kids, there is no mistaking whose kid she is!

Poor kid, the apple didn't fall so far from the tree and no Connie-not because it was rotten!

Busy-Busy-Busy

All kinds of positive things are happening in the transgender community-regardless of what Bruce Jenner's upcoming Diane Sawyer interview turns out to be. Here are a couple to look for:  The first from the Windy City Media Group:

( San Francisco ) - At a time when transgender and gender nonconforming people across the U.S. and around the world have achieved unprecedented visibility in popular culture, but continue to suffer extreme violence, harassment, discrimination, and isolation, Independent Lens presents Kumu Hina,

a moving film from Hawaii that offers a bold new perspective on gender diversity and inclusion through cultural empowerment. Directed and produced by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, Kumu Hina premieres on Independent Lens Monday, May 4, 2015, 10:00-11:00 PM ET ( check local listings ) as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month programming on PBS.

Kumu Hina is the inspiring story of Hina Wong-Kalu, a transgender native Hawaiian teacher and cultural icon who brings to life Hawaii's traditional embrace of mahu — those who embody both male and female spirit. The film traces Hina's evolution from a timid high school boy to her position as a married woman and cultural director of a school in one of Honolulu's grittier neighborhoods. As she contemplates who should lead the school's all-male hula troupe in their final performance, a surprising candidate presents herself: Ho'onani, a sixth grader who is proud to be seen as a mixture of boy and girl. As Kumu Hina helps Ho'onani to negotiate the mixed reactions of her classmates and her family, the power of culture to instill a sense of pride and acceptance becomes clear.

Then, there is the Entertainment Weekly piece we mentioned in a previous Cyrsti's Condo post.

And finally, for this post-there is yet another post concerning issues with the Thailand Army draft (left). Check it out here from Rueters. 

Cyrsti's Condo OOOOPPPS!

"Those who protest the loudest are often the most guilty" when it comes to LGBT haters.

In between all of the pictures of squeaky clean white people gleefully pronouncing they won't serve any of us (cause we got cooties.) They will go to any extent possible not to raise diverse kids.

Out of that mess comes this story passed along by Bobbie:  

34-year-old Steve Wiles is a GOP candidate for the North Carolina Senate. He supports Amendment 1, North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage. However, there is another side to Mr. Wiles. According Randy Duggins, former owner of the gay bar Club Odyssey, Wiles was a frequent patron of the club in the 1990’s. Further, circa 2001-2002, Wiles began working for the club as the performance booker and show director for drag shows. Wiles emceed the drag shows as a female impersonator named Miss Mona Sinclair, The Raw Story reports. 

Of course, Steve is a great politician and is refusing to come up with rational explanations to why he still has heels in the back of his closet. Plus, he still hangs on to the idea marriage is a religious institution.  The last time I checked Steve, here in Ohio you still have to get a marriage license to get married.  At that point you can go to the faith of your choice and get married under the God or Goddess  of your choice. Here in Ohio of course, we have an ancient Republican Attorney General who is against that idea - except if you talked about taking marriage license fees out of the coffers of Ohio municipalities. 

Hey Steve! You could stick with that political career and move to Indiana! Then again, I'm sure Miss Mona can still make a buck!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Elle Bonita. American Mtf transgender model. 

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Hart"

Obsession and the Cross Dresser

Ever hear of the idea, cross dressers simply develop some sort of fetish for women's clothes. The more he pursues the fetish, the more it becomes a full blown obsession. No amount of money is too much for clothes and pictures or whatever. Before his spouse knows it, he drains the family savings and is heading to Thailand for SRS.

Interestingly, years ago one of the people I knew in the 1980's talked about it with me. He wondered if he was "obsessed" with cross dressing or if it meant more.  On top of that he was a fireman and also wondered if his addiction to adrenaline on the job was similar to going out dressed as a woman. Before we lost touch I know she completed SRS years ago, so I hope she had the answer.

In many ways, she was a role model for me as I was obsessed too. My obsession however came though from the chase to discovery.  Quickly my feminine existence in the real world became less and less involved with appearance and more and more with the "feel" of what the world would be like if I transitioned. I wondered to make sure if going full time as a trans woman was right for me-with out a shadow of a doubt. (It was.)

So,  my obsession now is what I call "back filling" - or - finding relevant parts of my previous life and adding them into my current one.  Sometimes, obsessions aren't such a bad thing after all!

Cyrsti's Condo "Recognize Her?"

Andreja Pejic at the Tiffany & Co. National Designer Award, Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival, March 16 2015.Credits: Lucas Dawson/...

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Vin 

Ker Plunk! Another virtual Easter Sunday edition is hitting your front porch! It's chilly and and sunny around here. So, let's get started with a big "cup o joe!"

Page 1.- The Week that Was: The state of Indiana dominated the week of course and igniting my passion to the point of being called a hater because of my opinions. I'm sure by now, you have heard of Indiana being "persuaded" to rewrite it's potentially discriminating religious freedom law essentially because of two sentences which included a business's right to keep us out. (The others uphold a person's personal right.) OK, an over simplification but enough is enough and Indiana is moving on to attempting to pass complete legal rights for the LGBT community. Of course this morning I just watched a story on the local television news here in Cincinnati, Ohio showing a gay/lesbian group supporting a bill that would include them-but not transgender women and men. I refused to get "passionate" this morning about stupidity!
Page 2.- Movie Reviews: Yesterday, Liz, myself and her 17 year of son went to see the movie "Furious 7".  Because he was peeing down his leg to see it. I used my senior discount and told myself I would not go to sleep during the action film of the year. I most certainly will not give you any "spoiler" alerts-except to say I did stay awake and positively loved Vin Diesel. Other of the lead stars like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) is just too much of a steroid pumped action hero doll for me, and most of the other actors in it were just too "pretty boy" for me. Vin just struck a cord. Maybe one of many ideas sudden trans "expert"  Zoey Tur  spewed was that sooner of later, estrogen would "overcome" my years of testosterone and I would wake up desiring men sexually was true-with Vin!

Sue Aikens

Page 3.- Arctic Circle Sue.- Don't tell anyone, but I am absolutely addicted to certain "reality TV shows" no matter how much "reality" they really have. Mike on "Dirty Jobs" is another man I love, but then- there is Sue Aikens! Sue operates a camp very close to the Arctic Circle called "Kavik". She is part of a reality show on the "National Geographic Channel" called Life Below Zero.  She is positively one of the top women I am more than fascinated with (and maybe a little scared of) on television! And oh, by the way, I have come to consider why those pesky aliens just can't stay away from our world! Maybe it's because it is we are just so damn cute? Or maybe is it we are so good at discriminating against and killing our own? Often under the guise of religion? Beam me up Scotty-there is no intelligent life down here?

Page 4.- The Back Page.- I believe this is the first time I have ever featured two non transgender or cross dresser pictures in one of my blog posts but I am sure I will make up for it in the future!

Thanks sooooo much for visiting Cyrsti's Condo!

Can't You Pee Outside?

As soon as Indiana calms down, then of course the discriminatory bigots are busy tossing restroom bills at us as fast as spring training baseballs. Thanks to Bobbie for passing this along:

Not surprisingly the "excuse" of protecting women's restrooms from sexual predators is unfounded. In fact, there are zero reported cases of this happening. However, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Kentucky are considering "bathroom bills" which restrict transgender people from using the bathroom in line with their gender identity,But these bills are not protective. They're vehicles for instilling fear of trans and gender-nonconforming people.

Of course they are and again go way past the trans man we see on the left. Most certainly his passing privilege would make it easier for him to gain stealth bathroom privileges. Would you question his gender in a man's room? 

For the rest of us though, it's a simple matter of waiting  for more and more unisex bathrooms showing up and/or being a good citizen when we are forced to use the indoor bathroom.

For more, go here. (NO! not really!-I already cleaned up after the dog!!!)

Cyrsti's Condo OOOPPS!

Unidentified-Pinterest

Well honey, this is not the way it looks-oh hell-it is. Do you want a drink? And yes, I love your new jacket!

Do the Right Thing

Well, as it stands now, the dominoes have started to fall in the direction of the LGBT community, starting in Indiana. Having said all of that-I have not started my happy dance yet.

It was interesting to me all the different directions where supporting our discrimination came from this time. First and foremost of course the was the omni present religious right. Very simply, they love to make us a very scary example of society's moral decay. Oh, by the way-don't forget to throw whatever you can't afford in the alter plate to build another "super church" this Sunday.

Then-there were who thought simply extending American rights to the LGBT population represented extra government "interference" in society. That was true of course but is far from the first time Just take the Women's Suffrage Movement or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as examples of our government doing the right thing. Come on now-did all those members of American society deserve equal rights? Generics gaining the right to vote was the beginning to the end of America as we know it?

That's all good but as we all know, perhaps the biggest factor in Indiana's reversal was money.

Many of you who don't know, the state is not just the bucolic, basketball rural state from the classic Hoosiers Gene Hackman movie. It does have it's rural parts of course (as does Ohio) but it also has big cities too, including one called Indianapolis which hosts such "small" events such as the Super Bowl and The NCAA Final Four Basketball Tournament. In case the people in the churches and the conservative legislative community haven't figured it out yet- JOBS are coming more and more from diverse based companies. PLUS, the competition for those companies in this part of the country is incredibly intense. The Cincinnati or Dayton Ohio mayors weren't playing when they said they would welcome Indiana's business.

So here we are, with a little breather. What does it mean on the grass roots level to the typical transgender woman and trans man looking for passing privilege? Very simply, not much and everything. I already know where I can and can't go for the most part. And I am not looking to go to redneck bars on the east side of Cincinnati when Liz and I can go down along the Ohio River and sip coffee or an adult beverage. To the owners there, Liz and I are simply green not lesbian or transgender.

For whatever reason, the right thing happened in Indiana-for the moment. Just have to relax, enjoy it and look for the next challenge. It's just part of the LGBT existence.