Tom Petty

Sort of lost in the Las Vegas terrorist tragedy was the untimely passing of musician Tom Petty.

Perhaps a little known fact about him was his support of the LGBT

transgender community.

In fact, in his later shows he included a picture of the late Alexis Arquette. (left)

Although Tom Petty's music will be sorely missed by many of us, his legacy will live on.

Another R.I.P! All too soon.

Better Late Than Never...A Transgender Life

this comment comes from Connie, and reveals her struggles transitioning into her trans life today:

"Yes, opportunity is maybe the thing that makes transitioning a possibility. For those of us who are transitioning now in our 60's, there was very little in the way of opportunity when we first struggled with our gender identities. If I had an oldest known picture of myself, it would be from a Polaroid camera, and I think still in black and white, as the color cameras had not been invented yet (getting a roll of film developed through the local drug store was NOT an option, for fear of outing myself). It never occurred to me to take my own pic as a child, though, because I was always very careful not to leave any evidence of my cross dressing "opportunities." Those are not the opportunities we're talking about, however. The opportunities we need to consider are, more precisely, found in the available options. There were few, if any, available to us 50 -60 years ago.

I've never subscribed to the saying: "a woman trapped in a man's body." The trap, for me, had always been the lack of available options - no exit door from my closet, so to speak. So, I must say that it was much harder to live with that than the transition process has been. I had become more than entrenched; I had dug a very deep hole for myself.

I would not recommend waiting for nature to reduce testosterone levels. I don't know if my "softer features" are the result of that, or just that I have a fat face. :-) I only know that I would have been better off had I had much less of it (testosterone) in the first place. I'd be much better off without much of the fat now, but I'm hoping to become the white Queen Latifa these days, anyway. ;-)

I remember when my own kids paid me almost no attention, but that had nothing to do with my gender identity back then. :-)" 

I remember the embarrassment of outing myself unknowingly to a guy I knew at a drugstore once when I took a chance and had a roll of film developed! Plus, like you, I too have never accepted the "trapped woman" theory of why I was a cross dresser or later, transgender.

Thanks (as always) for the input, Connie. 

R.I.P Hef

How many cross dressers and/or transgender women have dreamed of donning the Playboy Bunny ears and fuzzy tails? How many of us have gone to Halloween parties dressed as a Bunny? More than a few, I am sure.

On the passing of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, it is only fitting to remember the one transgender Playboy model and former "Bond" 007 girl Caroline Cossey:

It's also fitting to note (as Coffey) recently did, that Hefner didn't have to feature her and "did an incredible job for those times."

Playboy was threatened with losing millions in advertising revenue if they went ahead with featuring Cossey but in the end refused to cave in to the pressure and ran the issue anyway!

A true LGBT pioneer...in the flesh.