Between A Rock and a Hard Place And a ----

I really did not know what to expect from today's radio show on WAIF in Cincinnati.  I come away from it still not knowing.  I want to thank Connie and others for your support.  The show was moderated by a teen therapist with a lesbian and I called in for the first half hour and then for approximately ten minutes later.The therapist actually knew Leelah but only as Josh and was definitely trying to walk a type rope over a canyon he knew nothing about.  Then again I question if he wanted to understand at all.

Bowing to forces he would not identify, he refused to use Leelah's first name, referring to her only as "Alcorn."  I pretty much stuck by my guns and went in for the understanding of transgender youth everywhere.  I have to say, he was pretty slick.  He would say if one of his three teen children was transgender, he would support them and he wasn't a Christian therapist -he was a therapist who was Christian.  Then, later on he said "Alcorn's parents didn't know the extent of his concerns." I just said aren't they the parents and shouldn't they?

About this time another transgender woman called and waded in, with more force than I and with the same results-none.  I was remembering about what Racquel told me about fundamental conservative Christians at this point, "They would simply circle their wagons, find others to blame and move on."  Racquel was right and I'm not so sure I wasn't wasting an hour or so out of my life today.

As far as the lesbian co-host went, she was typical too. I wouldn't expect her to spend her life worrying much about the differences in sexuality and gender anyhow. She had her own "cross to bear" coming out to a Pentecostal/ Baptist family. No fun doing that.

So my expectations were exceeded - zero plus zero equals zero.  The therapy peep will to go back to his peeps with no perceived real knowledge or sympathy. After all,  "don't all 17 year old's rebel against their parents like this?" And, by the way, how does Cyrsti get through life if his er her voice sounds like a man on the phone?

The world goes on, I just wish I could have slowed it down a bit more.

A Trans Girl Should Be Three Things

Recently, I saw this fashion board on Pinterest called "A Girl should be Two Things-Classy and Fabulous."

Being a trans girl, I added a third because we transgender women have to try harder.  We have to be Fabulous, Classy and Act Like We Have Been Here.  It's nearly impossible for me to pull up an example, but I am going to use boxing legend Kellie Maloney (left) who went through a publicized Mtf gender transition in 2014. Kelli looks genuine, happy and like she belongs.

So, when I read comments from haters within our community who want to emphasize ONLY appearance.  I was watching a show on Oxygen called Living Different .  The show features several different generics including one who is in love with a Ftm transitioning transgender man and one of the most androgynous models I have seen-known as Rain. "Rain" dates both genders and in the show had one of her prospective photographers (generic) locked eye to eye.  My sister in law was watching it with me and said the photographer without a doubt would go out with Rain.  I said not so fast...when I meet civilians, many times I can see they are locked "onto me".  I am "fabulous" because they have never met anyone like me, not because they want to run off and do insane things with me.  Class follows quickly because indeed I need to downplay any idea I am brave or courageous because I am living life on my terms.  Finally, I have to be calm and play the moment because most of the time I am the teacher.  Fortunately I can, because increasingly I have been here and are doing it.

It's just another reason I believe in attitude over appearance when we transgender people interact with the world.

Cyrsti's Condo "Woman of the Day"

Our feature cover of the day is MtF transgender woman Carol Marra  (left)

As a young boy in Brazil’s heartland, Carol Marra watched her parents politely correct strangers who said what a pretty daughter they had. In her teenage years, she coveted the boyfriends of her female classmates and tried out androgynous outfits, dutifully changing back into a young man’s clothes in her car before returning home.

Now a favorite among Brazil’s growing class of transgender models, Ms. Marra, 26, has become a star. She filmed two mini-series for major Brazilian television channels, is starting a lingerie line, and was the first transgender model to walk Fashion Rio — considered a top national runway event — and also the first to pose for Revista Trip, a Brazilian culture magazine that features female nudes.