Fun Stuff!

Enough already!
Let's get back to real life.
Friday was a great day with my two fave girls.
In a previous post, i mentioned the conversation my daughter and I had concerning the girl scouts.
As we finished breakfast I took the opportunity to give her a little history of how this gender journey of mine unfolded.  As it turned out, the conversation was more comfortable and less awkward than I expected.
If I put myself in her shoes I suppose I would wonder how all of this happened right before her eyes with three people all hiding it from her. The three peeps were myself of course. My first wife (her Mom) and my second wife (Step Mother).
I would wonder how my beer drinking, sports loving sometimes bearded father is crossing gender lines.
Much of the conversation centered on the attributes of both women she called Mom.
I spoke of the time her Mom  really didn't know which gender of me would be picking her up at the airport when she got out of the Army and was coming to live with me.
I told the time her Step Mom told me "I wasn't man enough to be a woman."
Once I started the easier it became to explain who I was really becoming and how long the process took.
All too soon our time was up and the best part was yet to come when she said she wanted to take me shopping! I was just amazed, proud and simply blown away with the experience.  I'm not sure how I got to this point with her or deserve it, but it sure is nice!
Part two of the day was a date with my fave Wiccan girl. She invited me to meet her group and sit in on a psychic reading. Other than enjoying her company, our dates are a total feminine experience for me. We are two women, nothing more, nothing less. Interestingly, we were the best dressed in the room and only one of two obvious couples.
Oh! I almost forgot to tell you the psychic didn't look at me and say "I see BIG changes in your future!"
At the end of the day I was desperately trying to determine what amount of Karma I have saved up to deserve this treatment from those two girls.
I just hope I have more in my savings!

REALLY?

A transgender woman in South Florida faces charges of practicing cosmetic surgery without a license, after police say she injected an unwitting patient’s buttocks with a handful of unsafe substances, including tire mender Fix-A-Flat, NBC reported.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/transgender-woman-arrested-injecting-fix-a-flat-patient-rear-article-1.980273#ixzz1eIhWE4AX

Seeking Attention To Get None

Transgender folk have to seek attention to get none.  Once we get attention the world finds we are just real people like everyone else. We are good people and we are bad people. Same thoughts, same normal life. Yes, I said it normal.
We get up in the morning and go to bed at night and yes we are a part of the human race.
Once we are in the spotlight as transgendered women or men, it takes most of the fun away. Most of the population seems to to say Oh? and moves on.
I have mentioned the show being aired on the UK's Channel 4, "My Transsexual Summer". This show in particular looks in depth at 7 transgendered lives.  You can watch a sample of it on YouTube and here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cts4nFWHvDs
Of course the British can have a more open look at some of the sexuality of our situations especially in the clip I saw. Female to Male transmen were having a realitively graphic look at a few male sexual "aids".
To use a big word, are all these spotlights the antithesis to the transgender stealth mode? "Stealth" is when  one becomes so entrenched and comfortable in their chosen gender they simply disapeer into society?
If we as a transgender culture experience spotlights and publcity, will we too simply vanish into society?
Before any of us are too quick to scream yes we have to take a step back.
Sure the transsexual woman who has been living a quiet life for years next door to you deserves a lot of credit. She built her to the point she wanted. At the same time though, she wasn't the one to step forward and be out and active enough to push our cause forward.
My statement is an observation not an condemnation. I have no right to suggest how someone should live their life. I have a hard enough time with my own.
Only one thing is certain. If the spotlight shines on us and we don't push to make the time a positive one for transgendered people everywhere, we all deserve stealth or the closet.
After all, they may be similar except for the size.

More To The Song?

1. Dude looks like a lady? Always a fan of feminine fashion, "Aerosmith" frontman Steven Tyler, 63, donned a tank top, ladies' straw hat, and nail polish during his vacation in Hawaii this week, where the rocker was joined by his 38-year-old girlfriend Erin Brady,picture and story from Yahoo.

   

                                                                    

A Transgendered "It" Really?

Just when I thought the world was getting just a bit more well adjusted (just a bit) to our transgender world, out jumps another sophmoric comment about us.
This time the comment jumped out and slapped me from my radio on the way to work.
If you are familiar with the "Clear Channel" company, it is a mega broadcasting giant in this country-and a right wing one at that.
The station was one of Clear Channel's anchor's,  700 WLW in Cincinnati and the person who said it was "Gary Jeff Walker".  Normally I just let all this shallow thinking go in one ear and out the other. This comment though (which screamed at me from my radio speakers) went totally past right wing thinking directly into bigotry.
I decided to check into Walker and read his blog.
Amazingly enough, I found a post celebrating "diversity" and Martin Luther King. Obviously Walker's Diversity begins and ends with race and I had to say something.
 I placed this comment on his blog:
"Saturday morning November 19th at approximately 7:50 am you must have tossed your self serving comments on "diversity" out the window when you tossed out the "it" word when you somehow thought it would cute to go back to your high school days and make fun of "Chaz Bono" and other transgender people.
Nice try on trying to cover your bigotry by saying something to the fact it was OK to be transgendered but why did you have to hear about it. Really?
If that was the case, why did you even bring it up?
Shame on you and when you discover someone in your family is a transgendered "it" someday...what will you say then?"
I'm a firm believer in "karma" and I'm sure Walker will get his share of payback in the quest for ratings.
In the meantime, I wonder what female name Walker uses when he parties in the clubs of Cincinnati...or does he go to Columbus to be discrete?

Thank YOU Girl Scouts

I have a granddaughter who is in the girl scouts and my daughter is very active in the scouts too.
I have been very out to my daughter since last spring.
Along the way we have discussed how we would approach the three grand kids with my transgender issue. I would like to publicly thank the girl scouts for their help.
If you remember the story, a young transgender girl wanted to join the girl scouts in Colorado. The local girl scout pack said "no" but the national organization said "yes".
My granddaughter was curious what transgendered even met and my daughter took the time to carefully explain what being transgendered met and used the whole time to open the door to future discussions about my transgender status.
 She told her and then left it alone to give her daughter a chance to come to her own understanding.
The two of us then went on to discuss how much better life would be if other parents would simply allow their kids to understand that difference isn't bad.
Of course we are biased!

Making a Transgender Difference

Women like these are fighting to make our lives easier!

Dionne

Dionne Malikowski was recently suspended from
Fort Collins High School for violating a policy by using a girls' restroom. She was told to use the faculty restrooms.
The 16 year old transgender woman
believes she should have the same rights as any student to use the bathroom of her choice. But the fallout from following her convictions
is prompting her to transfer to another school.
She said: "I just want people to understand that there are so many kinds of
people out there, and people who are a little different shouldn't have
to be treated differently or looked down on."
Yes!!!!!

Vandy Beth Glenn

Vandy Beth Glenn was fired from her state job in Georgia after informing her employer
she was transitioning from male to female.
She fought the decision and won.
Greg Nevins, Lambda Legal
supervising senior staff attorney from Atlanta who will be arguing the
case on behalf of Glenn issued this statement.  "It is clear Vandy Beth Glenn was fired because her boss didn’t like
her as she is. That is unfair and illegal.
The law is on our side here, but transgender employees are still vulnerable to sex discrimination from their employers who don’t understand it.
A clear statement from Congress — made by passing the Employment
Nondiscrimination Act — would protect LGBT employees and provide
helpful, clear guidance to employers. Because nobody wants the right
to sue as much as they want to be free of work-place discrimination in
the first place."
Glenn has been receiving a paycheck based on her 2007 earnings but has not been allowed to return to work.
Can't say enough about brave transgender women such as Vandy and Dionne!

VA Transgender Update

During my time away from all of you, much has happened in my push to get the Veterans Adminstration to help my transgender status with hormones.
Here is a short recap for those of you who maybe are little newer here. (Forgive me if my knowledge of the positions and titles of some of  the VA peeps I deal with are a little vague).
To begin with, the person who monitors the meds I receive from the VA said she was qualified to prescribe BUT...she preferred a consultation first.
I went through that process with four meetings with a psychologist and she approved me for hormone therapy BUT...no one in the Dayton, Ohio VA Medical Center would would or could actually prescribe BUT...there may be some other options.
One of the options was to go to an outside medical doctor and petition the VA for a co-pay of sorts. The first appointment with this highly recommended doctor was supposed to have happened today but didn't BECAUSE...I had a flat tire on the way to the appointment and couldn't get there.  Really.
I was devastated and was able to reschedule in a couple of weeks.
I then backtracked and tried a recommended source within the VA for copay information AND..hit a brick wall.
BUT...we all know brick walls can be climbed or ran around and here is the latest idea from yet another VA person. The one person who had been left out of this loop for whatever reason was my primary care physician.
I was told if he approved the hormones, I may be able to get them from the in house pharmacy.
SO...I asked him and he responded he didn't really know if he would because I was absolutely the first transgendered person he had ever treated. SO...if I did follow through with the private phyiscian on the whys, when and hows of the proposed hormone therapy, he would consider it.
NOW...I'm very much in the game with a couple very realistic opportunities to make this happen plus some of you have added a few great ideas.
MY...final point is and has been, if a transgendered vet in California can be prescribed hormones; why can't I in Ohio.
I know where "where there is will, there is a way". Not a single step of my transgendered journey has been easy and I didn't expect this one to be any different. I only need the one person who is more concerned with helping me than covering their own rear.
If I can't find that person I will consider a few of the recommendations I have received on petitioning the higher ups.
If the VA is serious about their recent directives on helping trans vets then I'm serious about taking them up on it. 
I will keep you posted!

Transgender Repair Visit

I started this post a couple weeks ago. Just found it and thought I would pass it along to all of you.
The day my internet connection was finally scheduled to be fixed I gave absolutely no thought to the internet repair guy being on time and wanting in my house.
The connection problem has been an ongoing one and has always been on the outside of the building.
This time, he wanted to fix it right and run a line directly to my computer.  That of course was the good news. The bad news is he wanted in my house to do it.
Of course living by myself in two genders means articles of clothing, shoes and hair are all over the place. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Should have just faced the future and met him as Cyrsti. Truthfully, I didn't even think of it. I wonder how long it will take for the opposite to happen?
That in itself is surprising because I constantly think about the scenerios I haven't faced as a girl.
The whole situation would have been interesting as I explained how my messy boyfriend just leaves his things just laying around. You know how men are!
Fortunately most of this "middle ground" existence will be going away and I will be forced to "woman-up" and face the world and it's surprises.
Experience tells me one thing already. I have to get used to my IQ being lowered and knowing less around men!