"Gangsta-Revisited"

Well, although it didn't take all day :) to see if Liz's old "Gangster Moll" costume didn't really fit all the way, it is close enough to fix with her considerable sewing skills and a little elastic.

Now I get to pay the price for my considerable increase in appetite and weight. While I know I can blame some of it on the effects of HRT, I know I am to blame and I doubt if I can walk off enough weight before the witches ball this weekend. Sigh!

Maybe Connie's right...wear something orange and come as Trump.

Other than Halloween fast approaching, the "Me Too" campaign protesting male molestation of women is gaining ground. It is so entrenched, it will be interesting to see how much of a dent will be made in the problem. Perhaps you have seen, even Harvey Weinstein's brother has distanced himself from the "perve." However, as long as many people (including women) continue to think treating women this way is just a right of "male passage", it will continue to be a wrong of female passage.

Halloween with friend from five years ago. NOT my hair :)

I told you of my up bringing, and it was shocking and more than a little scary. In a split second I found out what it would be like to be held powerless against your will. And no, the experience was not a validation of my femininity, it was a lesson learned against my humanity. Cross dresser, transgender woman or whatever.

 

Short Sunday

Not much to write about today. Busy day coming up trying to see if an older "gangster moll" costume of Liz's still fits me. If it does, I may have to get a new pair of fishnets, Fedora hat and wear the costume to this years' Cincinnati Witches Ball. The whole event should be great fun with this years theme "The Mad Hatter." Free music and food treats with admission, pirates, belly dancers and so much more!

Those of you who are Saturday Night Live fans probably saw last night the show caught up with Harvey Weinstein. He was harpooned on the "Weekend News Update" segment after a weak attempt earlier in the show. Sadly it seems, men such as Weinstein see it as their duty to provide a very tragic and distasteful right of passage for some/most women. The process is just not limited to cis-women as even I was cornered one night at a cross dresser-transgender party by an "admirer." He was much bigger than I and had managed to maneuver me into a corner before my deceased wife came in to protect me. Lesson learned!

Past that, the Cincinnati Bengals won't lose (because they don't play today) and my "The Ohio State Buckeyes"  continued their march towards a terrific game in a couple of weeks against Penn State and Connie, how many undefeated teams are left in Washington State?

Enough football already! (If there is such a thing.) I must get on with my Sunday. I hope you all are getting along OK and my thoughts go out to all the victims of the California wildfires. May the force be with you all!

LGBT Coming Out Day

Actually, "Coming Out Day" was a couple days ago, so I am a little late writing about it. But, here it goes anyway.

Coming out for me was certainly the slippery slope. I was entertaining the idea literally for years until I could figure out a way to do it as easy as possible. What happened to me was a series of gentle/not so gentle nudges from friends until the deed was done. They were viewing me as a transgender woman with no strings attached, so, why shouldn't I?

One person, my partner Liz, gets the most credit for making me a trans believer in myself, although there were others too!

My daughter's total acceptance of me really helped and there was so much more like being asked to tag along to events such as an NFL Monday Night Football game, lesbian happy hour parties and many others.

After much consternation, it all became increasingly routine as I reached the point when I could start HRT, retire, grow my hair out and eventually change my MtF

Pre-HRT transition picture

gender markers. Again it was Liz pushing me ever so slightly to be myself.

So, I can't celebrate an actual "Coming Out Day" as some do. I can celebrate though, my partner, daughter and friends who wouldn't give up on me until I got it done.

What is next? Living my dream of navigating the world daily as a woman after jumping through all the LGBT hurdles I had to jump through.

I'm walking everyday to help jump anymore hurdles I may have to negotiate in the future and maybe there will be fewer of them too!