Blog-A-Rama!

Every once in a while life seems to move at "warped" speed (my term-not Spock on Star Trek)
First of all, let's get the fun "stuff" out of the way!
Yesterday I was featured on "Jessica Who's" site! Jessica has one of the most entertaining and informative sites on the web (and she is gorgeous!). I'm flattered to have been a part!
I'm always also flattered to have "Sherri Lynn" read and comment on my prisoner care blog post. Her comment seems to mirror most of the feedback I have received that hormonal treatment should be as far as prisons should go!
While I'm mentioning Sherri check out her latest blog post on driver license gender markers in Virginia here.
It's a very positive move which I hope my home state of Ohio follows since my license comes up for renewal this year!
Looking ahead a bit, the month of May looks as if I will have the chance to participate in a couple of study programs seeking information about the transgender, transsexual culture and all the many layers in between.
I always welcome the opportunity to pass along any of my experiences in the world if it can help anyone to understand where we come from.
Let's see, this post puts me over the 1000 mark here on "Cyrsti's Condo"! Wow! Who would have "thunk" it!
None of it would have been possible without all of YOU! -Trans women, trans-men, cross dressers, transvestites and all!
Thanks! Can't wait for the next 1000 if the force is with me!!!!!!!

France's Transgender Pictures from the 1960's

From ABC News comes a story called: 
 
Les Amies de Place Blanche: Transvestites of 1960′s Paris Christer Strömholm (1918-2002) is considered one of the great photographers of the 20th century, though he is little known outside of his native Sweden.
Arriving in Paris in the late 1950′s, Strömholm settled in the Place Blanche, home to the Moulin Rouge, in the heart of the city’s red-light district.  There he befriended the “ladies of the night,” transgendered males who were struggling to live as women and raising money for sex-change operations.

"Gina"

At the time in President Charles de Gaulle’s ultra-conservative France, transvestites were outlawed and regularly harassed and arrested by the gendarmes for being “men dressed as women outside the period of carnival.”
Strömholm photographed his subjects, whom he called his “les amies de Place Blanche (girlfriends of Place Blanche) in their hotel rooms, in bars and on the streets of Paris.
There are several photos. I will post one here now and then later move a couple to "The Gallery" here and "Trannsnation.Com".

Kind of Says It All?

Thanks Bobbie!!!

What Do You Think?

Should taxpayers foot the bill for transsexual prisoners?
This story concerning transgender inmates in New York is the latest from Auburn.Pub.com.
"There are about 1,700 inmates at Auburn Correctional Facility, of whom 1,698 or so are indisputably men.
Then there are Jessica Marie Brooks and Leslieann Marie Manning.
They are part of the small population of transgender inmates in New York prisons. Both say they're receiving hormone therapy, and the physical changes are subtle but apparent.
Their hair is fine, their skin is soft and their walk and talk are plainly feminine.
Brooks, Manning and others like them occupy an intersection of intense social stigma - convicted felons receiving taxpayer-funded health care for a scorned condition."
The bottom line seems to be the growing belief that the transgendered or transsexual condition is a medical condition not unlike the others that convicts are being treated for.

Personally, I can connect the treatment dots with the care I get from the Veterans Administration. Taxpayers are paying for it too-even if for radically different reasons.
I can argue convicts are coddled too much already but I can also argue if one prisoner is treated for a medical condition, another should be also.
Follow the link above for more discussion and here is one of the prisoners in question:

Leslieann Manning was born Ronald Manning.

Yet Another Transsexual Girl Update

Perhaps you remember the story of Jack/Jackie not so long ago.

"Ohio parents Lynn and Michael pose with their children Jackie, left, and Samantha. Jackie began life 11 years ago as Jack — a boy. After trying for years to modify their son’s effeminate manner, the couple decided to let Jackie live as a girl."

It's fortunately becoming more of a increasingly common story in the media. A family accepting a transgender child in their family. Please note I'm not saying this is an everyday occurrence but it is good our culture is portrayed in a positive nature. Maybe more will react in the same way.
This story hits closer to home for me in a couple ways. First, the family lives within a hundred miles of me in Ohio and Meral Crane, clinical director of the Gender Program of Central Ohio counseled my wife and I years and years ago is quoted as saying:
"No one’s sure how many children wrestle with gender dysphoria, a condition in which people feel uncomfortable because their bodies don’t match their perceived gender. Some studies suggest that 1 in 1,000 individuals has gender dysphoria; others put the rate at closer to 1 in 30,000.
Regardless of the statistics, it’s clear that awareness is growing and attitudes are changing."

You can read the story from the "Columbus Dispatch" here.

TS Words to Live By.

Actually I should have used "Tina Phillips" initials in the title instead of the well known transsexual abbreviation.
More importantly, her Facebook post I'm featuring here I believe applies to the great majority of the people stopping by Cyrsti's Condo. If you identify as a crossdresser (transvestite), transsexual, transgender or gender queer female, read the 12 steps to womanhood.

Step 01. NEVER, EVER LET ANYONE TELL YOU WHO YOU ARE.

Step 02. NEVER, EVER let anyone tell you, you will not make a decent woman.

Step 03. NEVER, EVER be someone you're not.

Step 04. NEVER, EVER let others judge you, cause you can't be judged unless you let them.

Step 05. NEVER, EVER let words make you. Instead you make the words.

Step 06. NEVER, EVER be ashamed of who you are.

Step 07. NEVER, EVER let public opinion sway you into thinking what you are doing is wrong.

Step 08. NEVER, EVER think you have failed. You can only fail if you stop trying.

Step 09. NEVER, EVER give into your fears. They will kill your dreams and keep you from your happiness.

Step 10. NEVER, EVER rush into a life changing situation, unless you are sure that is what you want to do.

Step 11. NEVER, EVER be a man because people expect that of you. Always be the woman you are and always have been.

Step 12. NEVER, EVER be embarrassed by emotions - They are a woman's soul and a woman's strength.

Quote of the Day

"Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find everything."
Spoken by Burt Reynolds in "Deliverance" the movie. 1972

Transgender Twin at 14

"Nicole at Glad dinner in Boston 2011"

Do you remember the remarkable story of Wyatt Maines? At four years old, Wyatt Maines asked his mother when he would get to be a girl. Born into a pair of male twins, Maines knew he was living in the wrong body. By the time the twins reached elementary school, Maines told people he was a “girl-boy.” As years progressed, Maines began going by the name Nicole, and living life as a girl. At age 11, Nicole underwent puberty suppression (which blocks male hormones and puberty changes from occurring).
She now is 14 and Nicole family are activists for transgender rights. After a student complained about Nicole using the women’s bathroom, the family took a stand by filing a Maine Human Rights Commission complaint. They also successfully lobbied to defeat a bill introduced in Maine legislature that would have repealed protections for transgender people in public restrooms.
You can read more of the story here. Another wonderful point to make is I found this article in "TeenVoices *Changing the World for Girls through Media". Exactly the exposure our culture needs!!!

Alex's Story-Clair's Journey and More

By "Alison Walsh" of National Geographic Channels.
Male or female? Boy or girl? Most of us can answer that question without a second thought, but for some people, the answer isn’t so simple. American Transgender takes us firsthand into the daily lives of three individuals—Clair, Jim, and Eli—who each identify with a different gender from the one in which they were born and raised. We witness their struggles and triumphs, and experience their hopes and fears. How do they manage at work, build careers, maintain friendships, and nurture lasting, intimate partnerships? Each of the characters in the film tells their story in their own words as we follow them through life’s daily battles and victories, both large and small.


Go here for more!