2015 in the "Nati"

Well, New Years Eve has come and gone and yes (no thanks to Liz, The Kracken and several hometown Cincinnati beers) I survived.  

The best way I can describe the experience is with this picture - it's as blurry as Liz and I felt!

It was taken in the "Moerline Lager House" which overlooks the Ohio River in the "Nati".

I was OK when Liz explained where the camera was!

Christianity and the Transgender Person

Quite the question and one which needs a book to discuss-not just a Cyrsti's Condo blog post, but here we go. The motivations to write this come from a couple sources: the recent tragic suicide of young Leelah Alcorn from the Cincinnati, Ohio area, another blog post I just read AND a comment I received from a trans woman friend who grew up under similar circumstances.


First of all, you could say I am a non practicing Christian, baptized in the Methodist church.  Personally, I am becoming a stronger and stronger earth based spiritual person and that is another post unto itself and  not relevant to the topic.




The blog post I read was called "7 Deadly Sins Parents Commit Against Their Transgender Kids" – In Memory of Leelah Alcorn written by Susan Cottrell on a site called "Patheo's"  Here is an excerpt from her number one:  

"When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong. Who said anything about God making mistakes? Why do we keep hearing about God not making mistakes – from the people who consider others’ expression of identity and orientation a mistake? You’re the ones threatened by what you call a mistake."

She goes on to write about misguided treatment by misguided parents operating their lives and the lives of their kids under the guise of Christianity.  Even to the point of using "therapies" which the CIA would have been in trouble for.


One who knows more than a little about growing up in an ultra Christian family is the friend I mentioned above:

Raquel FosterDecember 31, 2014 at 12:44 PM

"The parents created a terrible environment for Leelah, and that was probably encouraged by their church, and their church is probably telling them now that their 'son' is the victim of being brainwashed by some horrible left-wing agenda. This all would've been swept under the rug in Cinci if it hadn't happened to get picked up nationally. All the Cinci news sources used to say 'him'. When I first saw the story, I was horrified that her note was going to be completely ignored. But all those news sources seem to have been updated to 'her'. This is only because of the national coverage and the fact that they realized they looked so ignorant. Maybe this kind of attention is enough that the parents will learn something, but I doubt it. The aggressive fundamentalists already tend to think that the whole world is conspiring against them, and this will likely just reinforce that feeling."

Thanks Racquel, I agree with her (unfortunately) and she was right pointing out the media in Cincinnati got rocked hard about their initial ignorance when first reporting this. In fact, in the space of three or four hours (from the time Racquel saw the story to when I saw it-the Cincinnati television station we were watching got it right, pronouns and all.

Then :

MichellewhoisDecember 31, 2014 at 9:28 AM

It always saddens me to learn about a life so young and full of hope being extinguished. Many of us know first hand the torments of growing up in a world that as you put it "Is another hell the preachers make their money sermonizing on".

You are right Michelle- follow the money! I'm afraid I'm speaking to the choir here to even open the door to religion and Leelah Alcorn.  To not do it though would be a huge disservice to Leehlah's memory.  R.I.P, Leelah, I'm sure by now you have found what Christianity was trying to tell you before it got distorted by the very humans it was trying to help.

Girl Things

Over the holidays, I inadvertently ran into a couple examples of feminine privilege. Before you set out to rock me, I'm not defining true gender privilege-just stereotypes which caught up with me.


1.- Liz's family Christmas dinner.  The men around the dinner table began to talk about which automatic weapons they had ever fired. (Remember, Liz's Dad is a lifetime NRA member.) I am careful not to discuss politics!  At any rate, I just assumed somewhere along the line I would be asked also. My only experience of course came in the US Army.  Liz and I were the only two women at the table and never asked and of course I never volunteered. Liz would fire, hopefully with me not in range at the wrong time! (I'm always charming!)


Ironically, her Dad (89) "counsel's" Liz on her choice to be with a woman not a man.  Can't win them all?


2.- One of the most irritating actions to me-almost up there with being called "Sir" is when another woman passes along something for me to open.  Really?  First of all, they don't realize how HRT does sap traditional "male strength" and do they pass something to open to another of their girlfriends? But-  During the holidays, I'm learned to pass whatever I need opened over to Liz's 17 year old son and he loved it.


It's about time, since I lost a ton of intelligence when I MtF transitioned, I may as well regain whatever I can in my new world.