Closet Transgender Activists

You regulars here in Cyrsti's Condo know the low regard for what I call the "higher end" peeps of our trans culture. My stereotypical example is the person who had the resources to run off to Thailand and come back a "changed person" then "Poof" they are gone.  We all hope they are becoming the exception rather than the rule. We need things done. Just look at the exceedingly high rates of suicide, violence and unemployment in the trans community-big problems to be solved.

Rather than me ranting here, let's come up with a few workable ideas to solve these problems. Even if you are a closeted cross dresser or a closeted transsexual woman who moves freely through society. You too can be an activist in your own small way and not jeopardize your life.

Number one is political. No, you don't have to run for office or even picket at your local courthouse. What you need to do is pay attention to your local elections. My example is I have an election coming up this fall in the town I live in.  A swing of one candidate getting elected over another could forge an all important majority on our city commission and an equality amendment getting passed.

I would have known nothing about this until I went to a local "Equality" meeting. Again, you don't have to go to the meeting, most of these groups on the local and state levels publish information on websites. I now know exactly who voted against my rights and if they are up for re election this fall.

Number two is grassroots.  Not all of us are beautiful attractive humans-male or female but sometimes we are the ones who build transgender understanding-one person at a time.  I have published comments from one specific person like that who is a regular visitor to the "condo". She simply loves to get dressed up and go to gay venues.  By her own admission, not a beauty but takes the time to listen to questions from the other clientele and educate them. Remember the gay and lesbian community is very well organized. Never assume they know anything about us and we need them to further our cause.
So no, you don't have to go to the neighbors in heels and hose to do this...read on:

Number three is be an apostle.  When someone says something about one of us-don't let it slide.  You don't have to say you have a closet full of dresses or went through SRS in the 1970's but you can gently say how unfair the person is-especially in a church.  My examples are a couple of middle aged women I have seen on various talk shows who have made wonderful transitions into "the woman next door".  Not glamorous by any means but completely feminine. Unless you saw the show, you wouldn't think the woman in the back of the church helping with refreshments wasn't born as one. The reason I bring the two together here is where I live in the Midwest U.S., churches provide the most resistance to our very most basic transgender rights. If and when "one of us" infiltrates the system I would hope that at the least he or she would do the right thing.

There you go. I'm sure many of you have other great ideas which blow these away.

Sure, ranting is fun on occasion. It blows off a lot of frustration and steam but in the end result creative solutions provide true progress!

Thank God!

Every once in a while I wonder if all the transsexual stealth people look out of their closet doors and wonder just how our world would be if everyone ran and hid like they did?

Here are 24 who didn't from BuzzFeed LGBT.

Follow the link to read about those transgender pioneers who had the courage to push change while others did nothing more than changed closets. If you are like me, there are some names here I have never heard of!

Just Your Basic Androgynous Discussion?

This young transsexual woman covers a lot of ground in the Crysti's Condo big screen video. She talks fast as she goes into gender identities, sexual identities and how the world views her...or how she wants the world to view her.  Listen for the part where she want's the body of a woman and the logic of a man!:

WTH?

I started watching this video when I was sleepy and simply got lost...so what the hell...why not pass it along to you on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen? Nothing like an over the top drag queen to get your attention? It's long and about 6 minutes into it...he starts playing in the makeup. I love the accent!!!!

Where Have All the Sisters Gone?

A friend who I have mentioned more than once here in Cyrsti's Condo found ourselves in the middle of a pretty interesting chat/question recently concerning the seeming "non availability" of other trans sisters in any segment of the culture.

My friend and I go way back to the early 80's and actually met indirectly through one of the old Tri Ess chapters in Cleveland, Ohio. Through those "get together's" in discreet motels, we came to the conclusion we got to meet and know more people than in the present social media dominated society.

Why? I believe the in culture social stratification between the so called "haves and have not's" is a huge culprit.  Cross Dressers, Transgender folks and Transsexuals all have managed to exclude each other on one level or another.

Identifying transgender as I do, I feel the pressure from both sides. The cross dressers prejudge me as someone who looks down on them and I'm guilty of feeling that way about transsexual women judging me. "Back in the day", the prettier cross dressers did form their own cliques but we were still too naive to know the process would go so far past the immature high school antics. Way past!

Taking the process a step further, it's interesting to me how seemingly rare we are to ourselves. If you take me for an example (again) in the past five plus years of being really out - I have developed friendships with only two other transgender folk, one male, one female. Only 2. I won't bore you with how many different ways I was out looking- just for a friend or two. The positive twist on the story is I found them and they weren't trans.

I've always have been fascinated by the very few CD/TG/TS women I have seen over the years. I'm going to leave trans men out of this for a second. I can go back as far as 20 years in my mind and think maybe 5? Say what you will about maybe I missed more than a couple top notch presenters which is true but how about the girls like me just trying to "learn the ropes" 5?

I left the trans guys out of this for a reason. The reason is where I live these days I am seeing more and more individuals who I could possibly categorize in the trans man status.  But that is an entire other subject for another time. Just don't give me the BS it is easier for a trans guy to negotiate society. The demeanor of the person in with a Mo Hawk haircut in a big loose sweatshirt just didn't seem to indicate that was true.

Finally, I'm not going to be naive here and ignore the sexual component of meeting others in our culture.  For good or bad, sexual questions can be asked, accepted or rejected early in the game with the impact of social media. So those of us who feel that's a none of your business intrusion find our way to the social curb quickly.

So there you go, a few theories of why it's a lonely world in our culture...still.

Here is an example months ago when I saw this question on another site I go to on occasion:  "I want to meet a transgender person" After two months or so, I was one of two replies. I simply said I guessed no one really did. Even if they are transgender themselves.

Trans Man Security

A television show who has a main transgender character has pretty much flown under the radar, at least to me.
It's called Small Town Security on the AMC Channel.

One of the characters on the show is a transgender man, Dennis Croft seen in the picture on the right. Dennis is the man on the left in uniform.

Like I said, I really missed all of this and this is one of my "better late than never" posts here in Cyrsti's Condo.

Regardless of how the quality of the show may be perceived, Dennis's public journey should not be minimized.

I'm also going to add a YouTube video on the big screen:

Trans Travelin' to Thailand

Pattaya certainly wasn't like this in 1973 when the B-52's were flying over heading for Hanoi.

Traveling the Transgender World

On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen, "Transpinay Beauty Pageant" from the Philippines:

Beauty and the Brow

Surely one of the major road blocks we face in our feminine presentations are the eye brows. These days the gay and the metro sexual guys are paving the way for a better looking brow and less attention to it. For most of us though, just walking in to your barber shop and asking to have your brows waxed and shaped just isn't possible.

As I went through my "formative" cross dressing days, I decided to "gradually" pluck and trim my brows. A great plan until on occasion I got carried away and went a little farther with the process than I should. Luckily my glasses covered my increasingly feminine brows until they grew back. But they didn't. On the positive side my brows were a tremendous plus to my looks and eyes.  On the negative side I received a couple "suggestions" a mustache or beard would make me appear "more manly".

Of course I embraced the positive but have always viewed with great interest the extent drag queens work to cover their brows.  Good for the stage, not so much for a trip to the grocery store.

I know much depends on who you live with and how they feel about your transition (even into cross dressing).  But you too can try a "gradual" eyebrow shaping regimen.  Back in the day when I started my hair and brows were almost black and I began by "thinning" some of the hairs in the middle...then I began to shape the brow later.

Two words of warning. You need to be careful to match each side and never assume your eyebrows will grow back quickly!