I grew up within a 20 mile radius of one of America's biggest air bases. We were educated at a very early age as to the purpose of those B-52 bombers flying over our house. Thank goodness the "Cold War" thawed years ago but somehow I'm still fascinated with how far the "thaw" has come. Check out this video on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:
Friday, May 31, 2013
Out and About
 |
| Cody (center) and friends |
Cody Tubman, 18, who is graduating Saturday,will be Middleboro School's first transgender student to become prom queen. Earlier, Tubman said she felt she had a good chance of winning, but was still surprised when it was announced at the dance on Tuesday night. “It feels really good because when I was younger I looked up to Jeffree Star,” a transgender singer-songwriter, Tubman said. “It’s great that other kids might hear about this and feel more comfortable with who they are,” she added.
You can go here for more on the story, just ignore the younger sister's comments when she mis pronouns her sister twice in the same sentence.
What the Hell is Wrong with Kasich?
Most of you Cyrsti's Condo readers know I'm from Ohio but probably fewer of you know the Governor is Republican John Kasich. The good news is at the start of his term in 2010, Gov. John Kasich renewed an executive order to protect gay state workers. The bad news was he removed language about gender identity.
For the life of me, I can't understand why emotionally. Why would Kasich on purpose exclude the transgender population of Ohio? At that point, I started to try to redirect my thinking to what politics is really about- behind the scenes power.
It's no real secret in Ohio and probably elsewhere opposition to equal transgender rights in any form comes from the social right which includes a huge entrenched religious base. So I tried to connect the dots between them and Kasich's desire to deny us with basic rights every American should be entitled to.
I don't know of course which group Kasich was catering to on this move. Perhaps it was a last ditch "line in the sand" deal with right wing social and religious groups-to be compared with someone who will tolerate a transgender person in public until the person wants to use the bathroom. Or maybe some in the statehouse felt an approval by Kasich would set the stage for Ohio employees to fight for more transgender coverage in their insurance plans?
Like I said- no one called me from Columbus. Perhaps another idea could be Kasich's "responsibility" to other Republicans in the Ohio legislature. What pressure came to bear from them?
On the positive side, the wind of change seems to be blowing in Columbus. I recently read an article in the Columbus Dispatch detailing some of the changes:
"The 2010 election brought a wave of fresh Republicans to Columbus. And at the start of his term, Gov. John Kasich renewed an executive order to protect gay state workers but removed language about gender identity. “Largely, I think there’s a younger generation of Republicans that may be more open to this,” said Sen. Frank LaRose, R-Copley, who was elected in 2010 and is co-sponsoring the Senate bill.
There’s also been growing support on the national level, including from U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who made headlines in March when he announced his support for gay marriage. “I think more and more, it’s not a partisan issue,” said state Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, who is co-sponsoring the House bill with Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield. “We have fair-minded people on both sides of the aisle — I know we do.” Eighty of the top 98 employers listed on the JobsOhio website include sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies."
So, here we go again:
"After years of trying to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers is mustering another attempt. The package is nearly identical to previous efforts and would add a number of anti-discrimination protections, including housing, wages, certain government contracts and mental-health services. A set of bills — one in the House and one in the Senate — are sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats."
My problem is I don't see "gender orientation" included here. Plus this final excerpt may be the dot I was trying to connect- explaining in part why we were excluded:
"Small-business advocates are wary of possible side effects. Any time lawmakers expand the discrimination umbrella, owners are vulnerable to costly lawsuits and court cases, said Chris Ferruso, legislative director for National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio. “It creates a new avenue for employers to be sued,” Ferruso said. He said the federation has reviewed the bill but has not officially sided either way."
This business dynamic could be changing too though. To attract new progressive business to the state requires equal protection under the law for all employees. Showing support from the state level would give Ohio a chance to take another step out of the dark ages- before everyone else does that we are competing with.
As I said, time will tell. For more of the article in the Dispatch go here.
For the life of me, I can't understand why emotionally. Why would Kasich on purpose exclude the transgender population of Ohio? At that point, I started to try to redirect my thinking to what politics is really about- behind the scenes power.
It's no real secret in Ohio and probably elsewhere opposition to equal transgender rights in any form comes from the social right which includes a huge entrenched religious base. So I tried to connect the dots between them and Kasich's desire to deny us with basic rights every American should be entitled to.
I don't know of course which group Kasich was catering to on this move. Perhaps it was a last ditch "line in the sand" deal with right wing social and religious groups-to be compared with someone who will tolerate a transgender person in public until the person wants to use the bathroom. Or maybe some in the statehouse felt an approval by Kasich would set the stage for Ohio employees to fight for more transgender coverage in their insurance plans?
Like I said- no one called me from Columbus. Perhaps another idea could be Kasich's "responsibility" to other Republicans in the Ohio legislature. What pressure came to bear from them?
On the positive side, the wind of change seems to be blowing in Columbus. I recently read an article in the Columbus Dispatch detailing some of the changes:
"The 2010 election brought a wave of fresh Republicans to Columbus. And at the start of his term, Gov. John Kasich renewed an executive order to protect gay state workers but removed language about gender identity. “Largely, I think there’s a younger generation of Republicans that may be more open to this,” said Sen. Frank LaRose, R-Copley, who was elected in 2010 and is co-sponsoring the Senate bill.
There’s also been growing support on the national level, including from U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, who made headlines in March when he announced his support for gay marriage. “I think more and more, it’s not a partisan issue,” said state Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, who is co-sponsoring the House bill with Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield. “We have fair-minded people on both sides of the aisle — I know we do.” Eighty of the top 98 employers listed on the JobsOhio website include sexual orientation in their anti-discrimination policies."
So, here we go again:
"After years of trying to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers is mustering another attempt. The package is nearly identical to previous efforts and would add a number of anti-discrimination protections, including housing, wages, certain government contracts and mental-health services. A set of bills — one in the House and one in the Senate — are sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats."
My problem is I don't see "gender orientation" included here. Plus this final excerpt may be the dot I was trying to connect- explaining in part why we were excluded:
"Small-business advocates are wary of possible side effects. Any time lawmakers expand the discrimination umbrella, owners are vulnerable to costly lawsuits and court cases, said Chris Ferruso, legislative director for National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio. “It creates a new avenue for employers to be sued,” Ferruso said. He said the federation has reviewed the bill but has not officially sided either way."
This business dynamic could be changing too though. To attract new progressive business to the state requires equal protection under the law for all employees. Showing support from the state level would give Ohio a chance to take another step out of the dark ages- before everyone else does that we are competing with.
As I said, time will tell. For more of the article in the Dispatch go here.
Captain Cross Dresser
I love this video! Thanks to Angel for passing (no pun intended) it along for the Cyrsti's Condo big screen. It's Captain Cross Dresser :
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Quote of the Day
"A lot of people disappear from view if they can no longer face a mirror...."
I didn't write this and it is taken out of context, but if you just sit and think about it- it makes a lot of sense!
A touch of Korean for your Thursday
From Xinmsn Entertainment :"Harisu made a shocking debut in 2001. When the beauty with a voluptuous body revealed her Adam’s apple in a TV commercial, the term “transgender” was brought to the forefront in Korea for the first time. And unlike other sexual minorities, Harisu has been catapulted to stardom suited to her stage name, which originates from the term “hot issue.”
Since then, she had enjoyed huge popularity as a singer, actress and entertainer on TV shows and has often been described as “more beautiful than women.” She left the spotlight in 2007 after marrying celebrity Mickey Jung but recently returned in the musical “Drag Queen” in which she plays a show girl."
This is actually part of a very revealing interview with Harisu as she talks about familiar topics within the transgender community. Prejudice, suicide as well as the omnipresent criticism from within from Trans Nazi's and others are discussed. Follow the link above for a look.
Long Cool Organic Woman
The other day here in Cyrsti's Condo, I mentioned my fascination with style and the genetic woman and how it carries over into my transgender world.
I see style (no pun intended) as bits and pieces of reality- clothes, shoes etc assembled in a process dominated by the senses.
A couple recent examples I can think of were my meeting with Stana of Femulate and a woman I saw on my book store trip the other day. Stana is what I refer to as a "niner". She dresses to the nines. From head to toe she has in her mind what she wants to look like, acquires the items to do and does it well! The other example was a woman going through a parking lot headed for a small group of three or four stores. I will call her the ultimate "organic woman". Tall and slim, she was wearing what appeared to be a long cotton skirt, short sleeved top and a woven sash around her waste with sandals-of course. Just for kicks and giggles, I waited a second to see if she was going into one of the stores which happened to be an organic food store. Of course she was!
From the closeted cross dresser to SRS transsexual, we certainly have done battles with the style "demons". I could start another blog with mine and in fact recently did battle with my makeup demons. As you remember.
It is easy to say we didn't have the benefit of moms, sisters or girlfriends to play with our style during our lives and it used to be you couldn't even begin to purchase any stylish clothes in larger feminine sizes. Today we have the benefit of so many on line style sites which can help us to close the style gap and needless to say there are many clothing store options in all price ranges to do it.
You must be patient though. One word of advice is to observe women in your age bracket. Remember the "over done" and the "under done" and put yourself in the middle. BUT specifically remember the the pleasant ones who are put together just right. Dressing to the nines can indeed be a jeans inspired outfit.
More than likely if you don't become the ugly cross dresser at the mall stereo type (big blond wig and tiny mini with 4 inch heels), you will be fine. In my case it seems the whole world notices I'm trans someday's and other times no one.
Here's the fun part: Being a girl allows you to experiment and change your look with the seasons. Who knows? Maybe the next time I see "organic woman" she will be tripping the light fantastic in her four inch heels?
Finally, a few basics. Sit down and listen to your inner feminine soul and visualize how she wants to be presented. Remember, there will be tons of trial and error along the way. Don't get discouraged. As a genetic woman would tell you "welcome to our world". And the biggest one of all: own who you are and how you look-the world will notice.
I see style (no pun intended) as bits and pieces of reality- clothes, shoes etc assembled in a process dominated by the senses.
A couple recent examples I can think of were my meeting with Stana of Femulate and a woman I saw on my book store trip the other day. Stana is what I refer to as a "niner". She dresses to the nines. From head to toe she has in her mind what she wants to look like, acquires the items to do and does it well! The other example was a woman going through a parking lot headed for a small group of three or four stores. I will call her the ultimate "organic woman". Tall and slim, she was wearing what appeared to be a long cotton skirt, short sleeved top and a woven sash around her waste with sandals-of course. Just for kicks and giggles, I waited a second to see if she was going into one of the stores which happened to be an organic food store. Of course she was!
From the closeted cross dresser to SRS transsexual, we certainly have done battles with the style "demons". I could start another blog with mine and in fact recently did battle with my makeup demons. As you remember.
It is easy to say we didn't have the benefit of moms, sisters or girlfriends to play with our style during our lives and it used to be you couldn't even begin to purchase any stylish clothes in larger feminine sizes. Today we have the benefit of so many on line style sites which can help us to close the style gap and needless to say there are many clothing store options in all price ranges to do it.
You must be patient though. One word of advice is to observe women in your age bracket. Remember the "over done" and the "under done" and put yourself in the middle. BUT specifically remember the the pleasant ones who are put together just right. Dressing to the nines can indeed be a jeans inspired outfit.
More than likely if you don't become the ugly cross dresser at the mall stereo type (big blond wig and tiny mini with 4 inch heels), you will be fine. In my case it seems the whole world notices I'm trans someday's and other times no one.
Here's the fun part: Being a girl allows you to experiment and change your look with the seasons. Who knows? Maybe the next time I see "organic woman" she will be tripping the light fantastic in her four inch heels?
Finally, a few basics. Sit down and listen to your inner feminine soul and visualize how she wants to be presented. Remember, there will be tons of trial and error along the way. Don't get discouraged. As a genetic woman would tell you "welcome to our world". And the biggest one of all: own who you are and how you look-the world will notice.
HorrorScope
Wow! I think I'm a couple days late on this Cyrsti's Condo "HorrorScope"!Better late than never with this one:
Libra (September 23-October 22): You know how bullshit sounds, and it’s never very pretty, unless it’s coming out of your mouth. Yes, you know how to make even the worst predicament sound enticing. It’s your talent and this is your week to exploit that skill. However, stay conscious of your lies now, because you sometimes are so good that you wind up believing in them too.
Really? Well if I said anything right now, you wouldn't believe me anyhow?
As always this is a "scope" for all of us Libra's. For the rest of you unfortunates go here to
theFrisky.
Plus, while you are there check out "Becoming Diana: One Transgender Woman's Journey to Self Acceptance" or "Girl Talk: I transitioned from female to male."
I have mentioned theFrisky before- they on occasion pass along really in depth transition transgender stories!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Every Kid's Dream?
This Saturday the Children's network The Hub is introducing an animated series with a new super-heroine named SheZow Turns out that SheZow's alter-ego is actually a 12-year-old boy named Guy. Guy magically transforms into a female costumed crime-fighter by uttering the phrase "You Go Girl!" and using a power ring inherited from his dead aunt.
ShaZam! How I would have loved a ring like that when I was 12! I'm pretty sure I would have "misplaced" the ring when it was time to switch back!
As I was looking at the above pix, I noticed the girl behind SheZow and her raised eyebrow thinking Wow I wish I looked as good in those boots. The kid on the floor? Typical first time reaction from insecure male. Tomorrow, he will be asking to borrow the ring.
Go to the Los Angeles Times to catch more on this upcoming series and then figure out how to commandeer the television from your kids to watch it.
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