Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Trans Woman of the Day."

Beyer and Jenner (inset)

Our feature today is Georgina Beyer from New Zealand :

"Given the circus surrounding E! reality star Caitlyn’s transition from male to female, and the fact that Georgina, 57, is New Zealand’s most famous transsexual, the comparison is only natural. And Georgina seems just as fascinated by the 65-year-old former Olympic champion’s transformation from Bruce to Caitlyn as the rest of us.

“It’s such a brave and courageous thing she’s doing,” says Georgina. “Caitlyn has lived in her own prison for so many years and she didn’t want to die wondering, ‘What if?’ It reminds me of a drag show I did at a pub in Greymouth in the ’80s.

“Afterwards, this elderly gentleman came up to me and started crying. He felt he was a transsexual, but he was never able to fulfil it because of his marriage and family. I dissolved into tears because this was a pain he was taking to the grave. That’s not going to happen to Caitlyn.”

Of course, Georgina and Caitlyn’s journeys are wildly different. Georgina started taking hormones at the age of 16 and had sex-reassignment surgery at 27. After a stint as a sex worker, Georgina went on to become the world’s first transsexual mayor and later its first transsexual MP.

Besides the new found acceptance of transgender people in the mainstream, the brightest spot in Georgina’s life at the moment is the fact a film about her life is back in development after years on the back-burner.

“They’ve got the money now and the director is really excited,” smiles Georgina. “I don’t have a clue who’ll play me. I’m a bit scared, to be honest. I’d want a good actor. It’s a big deal. I mean, how many good New Zealand life stories have you seen on film? Hopefully, with all this Caitlyn Jenner stuff, we’re not all trans out!”

For more, go to Woman's Day here.

Working the Room?

Saturday night as I mentioned in the Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"- a bunch of us went to an amateur boxing event in downtown Dayton, Ohio. 

First of all, let me try to explain the physical set up. The ring itself for lack of a better term sat against the back wall in a space under a parking garage over hang. Chairs surrounded the ring in a semi circle with a beer truck on the left, and food concessions on the right (including the rest rooms.) Of course we ended up sitting on the left side. 

As it turned out, just before the boxing matches began, Liz and I thought a trip to the restrooms would be a good idea - so we did.  We headed along the semi circle aisle to the other side. I am sure the trip wasn't the mile and a half it felt like and I wasn't the visual cannon fodder to every woman in the seats behind me. On the other hand, I kept telling myself "shoulders back and chest out."

I found two things out for certain-the trip was not a mile and I survived.    

As far as being "cannon fodder?" I'm used to that!!!! I was busy looking for any other transgender women watching the event. 

"Houston - We DON'T Have a Problem."--Anymore

Seemingly, it has been nearly  four decades ago when Bobbie sent me the story about Phyllis Randolph Frye's story. The story was in the New York Times via Houston, Texas and represents why stealth was basically the only way to come out-back in the day. Unless you were blessed with incredible "natural" passing privilege.

Read on, (for Phyllis),  It was the summer of 1976. As Bruce Jenner, 26, was celebrating his decathlon victory at the Montreal Olympics, Phillip Frye, 28, was admitting defeat in suppressing his gender identity. He, becoming she, had already lost a lot: He had been forced to resign from the military for “sexual deviation.” He had been disowned by his parents, divorced by his first wife and separated from his son. He had been dismissed from several engineering jobs.

And there was more:

In response, (to coming out) she got her house egged, her tires slashed, and her driveway spray-painted with obscenities. Teenagers openly mocked her, the engineering profession blackballed her and the federal government rejected her for a job because of her “desire to impersonate the opposite sex.”

In the early days of writing Cyrsti's Condo, one my fave rants was an "anti-stealth" one. Perhaps age really does "dim" the memory to protect the innocent-or the guilty as far as the transgender community goes.