Veterans Administration Update

In the midst of everything else that has happened around here in Cyrsti's Condo I neglected to pass along a very important directive from the VA.
The good news is the transgender directive was renewed from last year. The bad news is it is the same. Briefly the directive mandates the Veterans Administration to provide us with treatment up to the surgical threshold.
Now I'm not looking at this directive as a small deal and when the U.S. military as a whole refuses to allow transgender men and women to serve, I'm surprised it has happened at all.
Plus financially, if you are a transgender vet, this directive does have the potential to save you thousands of dollars should you decide to go the HRT route the right way...with medical supervision.

Here are two of the VHA DIRECTIVE 2013-003 provisions:


a. VA provides health care for transgender patients, including those who present at various points on their transition from one gender to the next. This applies to all Veterans who are enrolled in VA’s health care system or are otherwise eligible for VA care, including those who have had sex reassignment surgery outside of VHA, those who might be considering such surgical intervention, and those who do not wish to undergo sex reassignment surgery but self identify as transgender. Intersex individuals may or may not have interest in changing gender or in acting in ways that are discordant with their assigned gender.

b. VA does not provide sex reassignment surgery or plastic reconstructive surgery for strictly cosmetic purposes.

Finally, as with everything else in life this directive is not permanent but a renewable deal. So if you are considering getting into the system you may want to consider it!

Inspiration Transgender Style

From the Idaho Statesman the story certainly is not new to those in the transgender culture but the ending just could be:

"Growing up throughout your life as a correct gender is … taken for granted. As (girls) grow up, they get their life experiences. They get to go to prom as the date that gets picked up. They get to have kids, have parties and do each other's hair. I've always wanted to do that stuff. I never could. "You can't do that as a guy."
Erika is now 28. It took her 26 years to figure out why she felt so different, why she was so depressed and angry and so frustrated with life. It took 26 years, a growing sense of desperation and a random Internet post for her to begin to understand herself. "

The random internet post led her to Liz:


"Liz Kandziolka, 30, was also born a boy. She declines to give her birth name, the one belonging to her as a boy. "I'd rather just leave it in the past where it belongs," she says. Erika concurs: "That old person is gone." But as a young man, seeking both direction and a marketable career, Liz joined the military. In retrospect, she says that was a way of trying to "hyper-masculinize" herself. Liz was stationed at Mountain Home Air Force Base and deployed to the United Arab Emirates. Liz: "A group of online friends pointed me towards transgender. 'Look it up,' (they said). So I did. I was reading through it: Click. That's exactly what I'm feeling. Everything. Right there." A woman can serve in the military, but a transgender woman cannot. "They still consider it a mental disorder," says Liz. It would be an angry and frustrating five years until she was discharged as a man, before Liz could begin living as a woman."

As we know the basis of our life is so simple under the "gender binary" and so difficult when we add our layers of life. The bottom line from Liz and Erika says it all:

Liz: "We just want to like what we like and be who we want to be, regardless of what anyone else thinks. …

Read the entire story here.  

As a side note for all of you who recoil at the idea of an internet contact...I also met my serious partner through a "random internet contact".

Truck Stop Girl

One of the humorous stories of the trip to Mardi Gras happened when we had to stop at a very busy truck stop just before we got to New Orleans. The driver had to fuel up the bus and the rest of us were on our own to potty and get a refreshment before we actually went over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway and into the city itself.

So here I was in a very visible situation in a truck stop dammit! Yes I was just dressed in jeans, sweater and tennis shoes but...this part of doing the full time girl thing was not quite what I envisioned getting tossed into on this trip.  I didn't panic though and actually the whole situation turned out to be almost humorous.  Why not try out my femininity in a truck stop?

Thirty minutes seemed like 30 hours though as I confirmed my superhuman transgender powers didn't include becoming invisible. What did happen was I certainly did get quite a few glances from the clientele filling up their big rigs but no offers for a ride!
Just kidding!

Once again, I decided to never delude myself into thinking I should try anything the easy way.