Living Trans in Rural America

Not long ago I wrote a post here in Cyrsti's Condo which included a link to a topic called "Transphobia in Rural America."

Shelle, who lives in rural Indiana responded:

Some thoughts from the rural location I live in,my area consists of Lafayette,and West Lafayette,In. two small cities separated by the Wabash river,and a very intellectual divide as well.I grew up on the Lafayette side of the river a mostly redneck farming community,on the other side of the river lies Purdue University,while there are very minimal resources for girls on my side of the river,there are pretty good resources available on Campus at Purdue 

I have managed to become friends with the guy who runs the office of Diversity and Inclusion so have something but I find the people there look at themselves as better than the rest of us.One Of the persons there has also taken over the Transgender part of our local pride office,I have tried to understand how to deal with this person but am failing miserably she/he claims to be Transgender but gender fluid Identifying as what ever from day to day,I can't even wrap my head around what pronouns to use around her/him.

She/he recently posted on the pride site that Transgender,now includes these people. Transmasculine,Genderqueer,MT3,Third gender,Gender Questioning,Gender Binary,Neutrois,Gender fluid,FtX,FtL,Transfeminine,Two Spirit,Pangender,MtX,Bigender,Ft3,Androgynous,FtM,Trans* man,MtF,Omnigender,Agender,Trans*woman,Gender non-binary,Abigender,MtI,Fourth Gender,Transgender. Hell I used to think I sort of understood my condition,But now now not having a clue what some of these things even are I'm more confused than ever?

Thanks Shelle, I think there is always the person who tries to "overdo" it and in some cases is trying to justify their "diversity" job. I did bring it up at the Trans Ohio meeting that simply discussing genders in a class room setting is only that.  Unless the system is trying to bring real life individuals in from the community along with the occasional transgender student on campus who has come out, then the overall benefit is diminished.

I use the amazing concentration of resources in Stana's part of the world as an example of what could be. But those of us who don't live on the right or left coasts know how limited our resources are.  Not to say things aren't improving, but there still is a long way to go.

It's just me Shelle, but I think the "50" genders similar to the new Facebook classifications are merely the beginning of the younger gen beginning to figure this mess out. They are doing a great job already but just don't know it yet!

We Got Mail!

I have bunches of responses from many of you to get to!  Thanks!

First of all, a touch of politics from our Gender Proud post from Pat:

I wonder if Geena's group 'Gender Proud' will be confused with GOProud (www.goproud.org) which is a group that I follow. GOProud was formed after the 2008 election. I also follow the much older and established Log Cabin Republicans (www.logcabin.org). 

While these groups support many causes and do what they can to push their political positions forward their primary goal is to promote the LG causes from a position of conservative libertarian inclusiveness. While most of the participation is from LG Republicans and I would like to see more participation from T folks I believe that both groups would be more than accepting of T people. You should check them out to see who are the active movers in these groups and who have worked with them.

An interesting point.  Any more Pat, I think it's a shame too many people dismiss one or the other of the major political parties out of hand-without looking a little deeper.

Jennifer commented on our "In the Company of Women" post and my "ring selfie":

Thank you for sharing. I love the rings. I myself follow nature in my spiritual journey. It feels right to me. I am glad your exploring this. Be blessed and keep the positive thoughts flowing.

Thanks Jennifer!  As I have pointed out, I have such a long way to go with yet another journey but indeed this one feels right. In my part of the world too, I'm trying to experience more how the native American people related to the earth. Allow me to send some positive thoughts back your way!

Speaking of relating to the earth, I know Paula is a serious gardener and sent along the hint that raking is a good way to tighten the tummy muscles...and riding a motorcycle on a cold wet day isn't the top way to travel. From what I gathered about the UK weather recently, you have had your share of rain and other folks share too.  Finally, thanks Paula for your compliment on the new blog design!

Terrance, a transgender Navy man of color,  commented how much he loved our transgender military service member quote:  I Fought for your right to Hate Me!"  Terrance, as much as I dislike using the "hate" word, I'm thinking of getting the slogan put on a T-Shirt for a few of the pride events this summer. Thanks for checking in!

There is one more comment to get to and I am going to save it back for a future post.

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our feature cover today is China's transsexual model Liu Shihan