The signs of an aging population in our country has reached our transgendered culture.
In an article I found from a site called
"10,000 Couples", a woman tells the story of her transgendered mother in law her husband was so reluctant to talk about or even know.
Here is part of the story:
"I wanted to be sure in the early days of our courtship that we were
aligned on the values and principles of life, and accordingly, I put him
to a few tests. Among the first was the acceptance test. Tolerance was a
deciding factor, so being from San Francisco and thrilled by the
opportunity, I took him to a transgender bar.
Asia SF
was well reputed for gorgeous transgender starlets and amazing food.
Not realizing, of course, that I was exposing him to the world I found
so normal and fun, he had a heck of a time wrapping his head around the
idea that the headliner, “Jasmine,” was a transgender, as she cooed to
him to the tune of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” in her provocative and
skimpy wedding dress and promised abundant and firm cleavage that, quite
honestly, gave me a run for my money. Later that evening, while we
talked of the fun we had had, he blurted out, “My father is
transgender.” I remember smacking him in the arm hard, telling him that
it wasn’t funny to make a joke, and then I watched all the color drain
from his face, and he cast his eyes downward in what I perceived at the
time as shame. Barely audibly, he whispered, “No joke.”
When we began to plan our wedding, I wrote a personal letter to his
“dad,” expounding on my personality, tolerance, and absolute acceptance,
and I made clear that “he” was welcome in our lives at any time. I
didn’t share this with my husband-to-be, writing the letter instead in
confidence and quiet, as we never spoke much of “Dad.” A few days
later, we got a phone call from “Dad,” who told my future husband about
the letter and the relief "he" had felt upon receiving it.
Ann made her transformation in the years before modern medicine
recognized the possibility. Funded entirely by Stanford Hospital in the
late 1970s and cared for in the children’s wing to assure privacy and
avoid media sensationalism, this remarkable man, after a life of
inauthenticity, joining the Navy as a man, marrying his high school
sweetheart, seeding three children, and ultimately discovering he could
no longer live this lie, saw fit to allow science to use him to pioneer
the way for medical alterations that are all but customary on many
fronts today, almost 40 years later.
Thirty-plus years later, Ann is now 72, and although many deal with the
needs of aging parents, our aging parent in need is much different than
the norm. Being a “lab rat” for modern medicine to pave the way for the
future left in its wake medical obstacles and an entirely new
understanding of the human condition in aging."
This story sheds a huge amount of light into some of the transgendered or transsexual "pioneers" in our culture and the absolute resolve to follow their path into another gender. Not to mention the wonderful courage and caring soul of the woman who wrote it.
More to come...follow the link to experience it!
As "Chaz Bono" whirls and twirls on "Dancing With the Stars". As ABC "Primetime" runs a hour show on transgender adults and kids. As the New York City Fire Department becomes home to it's first transgendered fire fighter; is it a real surprise segments of society in any country are expressing misdirected views and even hate at the trans community.
