TGIF

Indeed, another Friday is here in the Cyrsti's Condo and since I have exhausted my life story experiences (mostly), material is sketchy.

This post goes way back to a simpler day in the early 1960's before LGBT and transgender were part of my and most others thought patterns. As you may or may not remember, transvestites were considered to be mentally ill. For me at least, these days even predated Virginia Prince.

I did have a few more responses to being "home alone" and the precious times we all remember. I was fortunate in that both of my parents worked but I had a two year younger super inquisitive brother who seemingly was always hanging around being a pest. So being totally alone and having free roam of the house and yard (since we didn't have any neighbors) was rare.

Dad built his own house and little did he know the long straight hallway he built in was a cross dresser's dream up to and including the full length mirror at the end.

Our mailbox was about 50 yards from the house down a winding driveway to the road which back in those days was very untraveled. Most of the time I could walk down the driveway feeling the delicious air on my nylon covered legs without ever seeing a car. Which was probably a good thing.

Unlike some of you (Connie) I never was able to spend the night by myself as a girl, so the nightgown experience was mostly out.

Of course the fear of discovery was always there, which truthfully added a little spice to the whole experience. But, as good experiences always go, the time alone went all too soon.

Mayor Comes Out of Closet!

"NEW HOPE, Texas - The mayor of a small town in Collin County announced she is transgender.

Jess Herbst is the mayor of New Hope, Texas. It’s a town of 600 people east of McKinney.

Mayor Herbst posted a letter on the town’s website explaining her transition from Jeff to Jess and her decision to live her life as a female."

In today's political climate, we need more of Jess in the LGBT community!

Just Take the Train

Another experience from Connie:

"In 1964, at the age of 13, I attended the Boy Scout Jamboree at Valley Forge. The council arranged for us to be transported across the country in Pullman railroad cars. The compartments were designed for one person, two if intimacy was desired. Despite the intimacy thing, we were made to "buddy up". To this day, I'm not sure why the "buddy" assigned to me happened to be the most obviously gay kid in the troupe. Maybe I wasn't as convincing with my overcompensation as I thought. For two weeks, as we choo-chooed across the country, I was teased by many of the boys and called "homo". All I could do was up my overcompensation, and I got in a couple of fist fights (something I had tried hard to avoid my whole life). 

Inside the compartment, it was like "The Odd Couple" - my Oscar to Bruce's (yes, his name really was Bruce) Felix. At night, attempting to sleep with a gay boy in a single bed really brought out the homophobia in me. Of course, in those days, I wasn't sure just what I was myself - but being gay was one of the possibilities that I was reluctantly imagining. (to play on your words, I was not interested in "finding" Bruce's "accepting unit"). It's not that he ever tried to do anything, but I worked at being as antagonistic as I could toward him so that he wouldn't take a liking to me at all. It's really too bad, as we each had our respective "secrets" and could have bonded and supported each other had we felt free to talk about them.

Just as we reached New York, I picked a fight with Bruce that ended our "roomie" arrangement, as the scoutmaster finally realized we were not a good match. The teasing stopped for me then, but, looking back at it, I imagine we all looked a little gay in our summer uniforms - shorts with knee-highs held up by tasseled garters - as we walked the streets of NYC. If only I could have been a Girl Scout and have been able to wear a skirt with those knee-highs!"

Could have been a kilt!!! Even in 1964 that had to have been one hell of a long train ride with a bunch of "tweener" boys!