Reflections on the Water

Aren't words fun?
I was going to start this post off by saying I was on my back deck here in Cyrsti's Condo with a "hot steamy cup o joe" enjoying the view of the snow capped peaks in the distance.  Well, it's difficult to find much of a snow capped peak here in Ohio and during our humid summers we already have plenty of  steaminess to go around!

What I was going to do is catch you up where my life is right now.  I'm going to call this phase a very uncool "the elephant in the room" phase. Examples are as abundant as one of the not so dainty beasts coming through your living room.

Yesterday was my Granddaughter's birthday. I had the interesting choice to come as my real self (who everyone knows about) or my old self. For reasons I will get into, I chose my old self. For the most part I stayed with the old because of my youngest two grandson's (9 and 5).  They had friends at the party and my rule of thumb is to never cause them undue stress because of me.  My daughter, as I have mentioned many times and son in law, have done an amazing job informing grand kids of my transgender status. The other reason was less positive and more just me.

I have a genuine inherited deeply embedded streak in my personality which drives me to "play" with people's sensibilities at times.  Yesterday, among the people who knew I was trans-maybe three or four out of ten had ever seen the real me.  But, the others are seeing the changes of HRT and you can bet I was the subject of more than one or two conversations on the way home.  Something to the effect of my softer smoother skin, hairless arms, ponytail to the middle of my back and pierced ears. I dressed in my own "boy friend" jeans and a t-shirt which gave just the slightest hint of breast development and always stayed in the circles of women at the party.

Sure, I wanted to and could have tossed on some basic makeup to further the process with them.  On the other hand it's fun for me to play with whatever expectations they had or didn't have of seeing me again.  Far be it for me not part of their entertainment. I just thought they should be part of mine.

I guess being the elephant in the room is not so bad except I better step up my diet!

Quote of the Day

"A chance to fail on your own terms-is all you can ask for!"

Paraphrased:  Clint Eastwood

Androgyny in Vogue?

Well at the least,  androgynous super model Andrej Pejic Is posing almost nude in the Brazilian Vogue magazine!

That's in vogue - right?

Doll Love

Another kid who really missed not getting dolls for Christmas growing up! On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

Is Cross Dressing Addictive?

Is cross dressing the equivalent of a "gateway" drug? Can it be compared to  the "supposed" connection between marijuana and more addicting drugs?
No! Just as the greatest majority of partakers of the weed never venture into the destructive worlds of cocaine and heroine-just as many cross dressers never take the step into transsexualism.

Just for the sake of discussion though how would our lives have been if we presented as well as the "CD to TS" transition video I'm going to present on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen. Here is my disclaimer though...in no way do I think appearance leads to a transgender or transsexual life. It's much deeper than that. Now on to You Tube:

Thawing the Cold War - Again

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:

Out and About

Cody (center) and friends

Congrats to another young transgender woman breaking the trans barrier and being elected prom queen at her school!


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.

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 :