Are Transgender Times Better?

I heard a line "That depends on where you sit and what cards you hold".
Over the past week or so we have witnessed several positive influences on the transgender community.
Three I can think of are the Ontario Canadian ruling, the Melissa Harris- interview and the Glee program.
I am going to refer to "Janie's Blog" a Canadian herself about the decision to allowing a gender change on documentation with out SRS.
She recently wrote: "
A court decision in Canada has struck down a law requiring SRS as a precondition to having one’s gender changed on their documentation.
There are undoubtedly people on both sides of this issue who will be unhappy about it – post-op transsexuals who may feel that anyone who can tolerate the “bits” of the opposite gender is not truly transsexual, and others who may feel that this just makes it too easy to play games with one’s gender and official documentation.
But, remember that most people who eventually undergo gender reassignment surgery spend years living as the gender opposite to what their identification indicates. They do this for financial reasons, or even for reasons of uncertainty and fear of going through with the surgery. They are not fooling around; this is serious business in their lives, and having a passport or ID that matches the gender they are living is important.
(Read the whole post here.)
A show two Sunday's ago saw MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry featuring being Transgendered in America.
(It's  posted  here in the condo in our "Home Entertainment Center" .)
Guest "Mara Keisling" pointed out
"For one of the first times that I can remember, trans people got to outline to the public at least part of the trans political agenda for ourselves. From health care access, to barriers to updating identity documents, to talking about jail and detention reform and raising awareness of CeCe McDonald's story, we finally had a chance to bring trans issues to a national audience as trans people."
Then, lets not forget the "Glee" episode which featured a real live transgendered character in a very mainstream television program.
So, where I sit, have sat and looking at the cards I hold, my hand definitely is improving as a transgender person in this country.
I'm going to quote an old song "You got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them and know when to run".
Well, I'm not going to run (tried that), not going to fold them (**purged a couple times like the rest of you) and I certainly will want to hold them.
As with any good player, I know the game is far from over but I like the progress so far!

**Purged is totally throwing away all your items you were using to present as your chosen gender.

Womanless Beauty Pageants

I would like to thank Alice for passing this along to me!
Over the years, "Womanless Beauty Pageants" have been the source of entertainment and fund raising efforts around the country.  Seemingly a boy or man in a dress has provided innocent fun provided of course it wasn't a serious or full time gig for the male involved.
I for one have always thought that some of the participants have taken the effort way to seriously. In addition, some of the participants look way to good and seem to be having way to much fun! (Who wouldn't?)
As I have mentioned a couple of times here Stana at "Femulate" really covers the Womanless Beauty scene wonderfully. Alice in turn passed along a Femulate reader's "Flickr" womanless pageant picture compilations.
Thank you Alice and I would like to direct all of you to another of Stana's posts on womanless yearbook pictures here.
After viewing all of these pictures, I sometimes wonder if I was one of the only guys around who never had the opportunity to compete in a womanless pageant.
Truthfully, there weren't any in my part of the country until very recently with the "Relay for Life" cancer fundraisers.
I do think I would have been too scared to take part in fear the whole thing would blow my cover. It's obviously too late now to do anything about it now, so I will just have to be a very interested observer!
Thanks again Alice, Stana and all you "civilians" who look so good in your first and only time in a prom dress!

Quote of the Day

Once you figure out there is nothing else you can do-then you need to find what it is you need to do.
Cyrsti

Another Myth Destroyed?

In transgendered history the legendary "Chevalier D'Eon" was a French spy, diplomat, international traveler and transvestite.
He was rumored to have spied on a Russian Czar dressed as a maid and London Stock Exchange members even ran a pool about his true sex.
All wonderful fireside stories to tell the young cross dresser in your family- BUT!
This portrait was just found and sold which ruined all of my preconceived notions about the "Chevalier".
Either this is not really him, was not a good day for him or was painted on a "male" day. Whatever the cause he is probably turning over in his grave knowing this portrait came to light!
This has to be the "before"!

Quote of the Day

"No matter where you go-there you are!!!"
Unknown

Being Transgender in America

If you haven't seen or heard this yet, MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry featured a show last Sunday on being Transgendered in America.
I'm going to post this video here in the condo in our "Home Entertainment Center" .
Here's a quick look from guest "Mara Keisling" who is the Founding Executive Director, National Center for Transgender Equality who said:
"For one of the first times that I can remember, trans people got to outline to the public at least part of the trans political agenda for ourselves. From health care access, to barriers to updating identity documents, to talking about jail and detention reform and raising awareness of CeCe McDonald's story, we finally had a chance to bring trans issues to a national audience as trans people. 
From the first appearance at a trans event by a sitting Cabinet Secretary to the incredible list of policy victories we’ve achieved in the past year, trans policy is now firmly part of the political debate.  Of equal importance is that now, the conversation around the country is moving in our favor, symbolic of  important cultural progress in our movement."

She will join the Melissa-Harris Perry Show on a nationally televised panel discussing the movement for transgender equality. Mara will join other trans advocates Kate Bornstein and N.Y.C Council Candidate Council Candidate Mel Wymore to examine recent trans policy victories and current challenges.
The whole video to me took on a surreal feel to me.  All these years of watching all the other groups explaining their feelings, lifestyles and rights-now I'm watching my group.
It's about time!

Transgender Comics?

On the heels of the huge "Glee" episode we featured when they added a real live transgendered character. Not a gay or a lesbian character-a transgender character. For once we get separation from the other two.
Now Archie Comics has announced that Issue #636, which is scheduled for release on August 22, will focus on issues related to gender and perceived gender roles by featuring gender-swapped versions of the three main characters.
In "The Great Switcheroo," Archie, Betty and Veronica will become Archina, Billy and Ronnie thanks to a magical spell cast by two special visitors to Riverdale -- Sabrina the Teenage Witch and her cat Salem.

I picked up this story from the "Huffington Post"
Check the story for a couple more very interesting links plus I'm going to post a couple other illustrations here (in the "Gallery") and on "Trannsnation"!

Fluid Transsexuals?

As we continue to beat one another up internally and as a community for what we are,  yet another fascinating study is coming to light which proves once again much of our anguish is something we had no control over.
This look at being a man in the morning and a woman at night comes from the "Scientific American" site:

"A graduate student of famed neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran has found a group of men and women who report that their sexual identity can switch involuntarily to that of the opposite sex and back again. The transgender metamorphosis, these people assert, can occur several times a day and at inopportune moments. It is also accompanied by the sensation of phantom breasts or genitalia of the non-biological sex.
The research grows out of Ramachandran’s long-standing fascination with the study of body image and how it contributes to a basic sense of the self, work that has included investigations into the phantom limbs of amputees.
The preliminary study by Laura Case, Ramachandran’s student, raises the prospect of a new category of transgenderism. “Alternating gender incongruity (AGI),” the neuropsychiatric term the researchers have tentatively proposed, describes the involuntary change of gender identity, along with perceived phantom sex characteristics, a tendency toward ambidexterity and bipolar disorder, all signs that suggest a biological basis for AGI. (A related term, bigender, defined as blending or alternating gender states, precedes AGI.)"

Of course there is much more to this study. Just go to the "Scientific American" link above to read more. 

Another Look at Our Transgendered Image

Every once in awhile, I read a post which really describes a huge portion of my life as I know it and
this post certainly jumped out at me.
It's called "De Facto, Defect or Defector" from "Andie's Place" and this is part of the post:

"Defector

And then there are the gender politics. Am I an intruder, as far as women are concerned? To some I certainly am. Why are you in the ladies’ loo?! Well, it’s because I am not a man, and I am not disabled. And I am not a spy either. I am who I am, and I know where I fit easily and best. I do not think about you like a man does.
More to the point, for some men I am a threat. I am a defector from a place of privilege and power, who is undermining the solidarity of the male realm. Goodness! What would happen to male authority if too many people like me started to climb down and join the other side? If that is you, and you need reassurance, I was never on your side, never a part of your tribe, even though I made a decent presentation of it most of the time. I don’t hate men, I just never did man stuff very well and I never liked the idea of male privilege. Some people were most persuaded by my ‘male skills’ – that I was taught in school just because it was a boys’ school.
I am not defecting; I was just never legitimately in the right team. And I’m not taking sides now either. I am just being myself.

Summary for the newly puzzled

I understand that I have changed you without your permission. You are now the person who knows a transsexual, or a transgender person (please just don’t say tranny), and the closer you are the more difficult that may feel. I got over it, so can you.
De facto: this is how I am, so get used to it. "

Read the entire post here.