Dancin' Lessons with Pat!

Some days I think Pat should just write part of Cyrsti's Condo!!!  She is busy though-I see her popping up with comments on many blogs I follow.  Another who I think should write a post every now and then is my partner Liz. Being one of "them there" genetic women, she could add some spice into our lives from the "other half" who were "born with it."

This comment from Pat after a post about a very closeted cross dresser who was simply paranoid about being arrested for just wearing women's clothes.  The CD was about the same age as me and yes-that was a very real problem when we were growing up. Pat took it a step further when she was stopped by a cop and how the whole situation can become very crazy-quickly and she had to put on her "dancin shoes" at home:

I can understand and empathize with your closeted friend. It is scary enough for us part time closeted CDs to go out at all but the idea of an encounter with the police is really something to be avoided. A few years ago I was in a pretty coral lace dress driving home from an LGBT friendly bar where I had consumed several adult beverages when I was pulled over. Sitting in the car this dress rode up my pantyhose clad leg. I did not think that I had been speeding but the cop (young enough to be my son) wrote me a ticket for doing 41 in a 30. Had I been dressed as a guy I likely would have given him a piece of my mind. It is almost more embarassing to be ticketed for doing 41 MPH than for being out in a dress. While he asked me if I had been drinking I told him I only and one or two. I suppose I should be thankful that all I got was a speeding ticket and did not have to blow into the machine.

Of course, I did not mention this event to my wife. As soon as I could I paid the ticket along with what I thought were two surcharges. A few days after I got the ticket I got two letters from local law firms who found my name in the police blotter offering to represent me. Since I already sent in the money I did not need a lawyer but my wife was wondering why I was getting letters from law firms. Two weeks later I got a letter from the local town court sending me a check for $5.00 for overpaying the ticket. My wife wondered why I was getting money back from the town court. That entire incident had me dancing up a storm for about a month.

Of course, I too have been stopped by the police and even assisted a couple times when I needed help with my car-all of which without fail- scared me to death.  But obviously I'm still here and writing this.

 I will have to relate a couple of my experiences in another post!!!

Class

I recently found former Navy Seal and transgender veteran Kristin Beck's Facebook page and sent her a friend request.

Here was her reply:  "Thank you for the support and for your service.  Welcome home sister on two fronts."

Class!

I Get It-I Think?

Step by step as I go through my MtF transition, little thoughts get into my noggin and stay there for a bit.

As I get closer to my first mammogram Friday, I have given quite a bit of thought to my small growing "girls", and how they do give me an instant sense of who I have become.  For the first time in my life I have some sort of gender inner "peace" when I wake up.

I think the closet genetic women around me think I'm going a bit overboard with the mammogram procedure, but then again none of them (fortunately) had to live through a maternal grandmother dying from breast cancer and a Mom who was constantly paranoiac about it.  If I can help it, I don't want to have come this far and suffer the complete irony of breast cancer.

So grudgingly this week, my partner Liz and the others have told me a mammogram is not a walk in the park and they know I'm a total sissy when it comes to pain.

This time, they don't get it. I'm not doing this as some right of passage I can write about here in Cyrsti's Condo or some stupid ego blitz like the trans nazi's love so much. (Haha! I've had a mammogram and you haven't!)

As far as pain goes, I'm not a fan. Getting my ears pierced was a brief shot of pain and even thinking of a tatoo puts me in pain.

That's OK though, my friends don't have to understand and that's all good.  Most certainly I haven't understood all that has happened to me.  Somehow though I know the mammogram is the right thing to do and maybe that's my Mom talking to me as the daughter she thought she never had.

Maybe I do get it?

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

Words of wisdom when you get out of the mirror and into the world.

Cyrsti's Condo "What IF?"

Dammit!!! I Locked my keys and my coat in the house!!!! I only have five minutes until my wife gets home!!!
There is NO WAY she will believe my story of an intruder who broke in, made me shave my legs and put on her clothes-then locked me out as he left!!!!

Kristin Beck

Perhaps you didn't know there is an on line "portal" where anyone can report transgender violence-anywhere in the world.  The name of it, is just about that:  The Transgender Violence Tracking Portal.



Yesterday the group made a great move by naming retired Navy Seal and Transgender Woman Kristin Beck as it's spokesperson (Shown above.)  Here's the story:

The Transgender Violence Tracking Portal is proud to announce Kristin Beck as our new National Spokeswoman.  Ms. Beck is an activist, author, and retired Navy SEAL who has embraced a journey towards her true self as portrayed in a CNN Films documentary called "Lady Valor: The Kristin Beck Story."  A book by the same name will be released this fall which details her true journey.   

Ms. Beck will greatly aid the TVTP in its mission to grow greater awareness of the epidemic of anti-transgender violence, harassment and victimization of transgender people across the world.

Transgender   people make up 1 to 1.5% of the world’s population but are about 400 times more likely to be assaulted or murdered than the rest of the population. These crimes are more likely to be violent, and are often meant to intimidate the entire community. Many of these crimes are left unsolved, which makes it doubly important to track and hold law enforcement accountable to solving these crimes.

Go here for more.

Cyrsti's Condo "What If?"

I KNEW I should have checked the oil in this car BEFORE I got all dressed up to meet my wife and her friends tonight at the bar!

Not So Long Ago...

As I look ahead at the TGLBQ Pride events coming up-it's also time to look back at a time which some of us still remember...when cross dressing was against the law.  Check the picture on the left of a cross dresser being arrested in New York City.

Just last summer a closeted cross dresser asked me if he just went to a gay venue in nearby downtown Dayton, Ohio was he in danger of being arrested for simply dressing like a woman.

Told him I could not say for sure if any law like that was still on the books but if it was-it had never been enforced with me.

Don't I Know You?

This is finally the blog post I promised all of you here in Cyrsti's Condo about my surprise meeting Saturday with an old friend I hadn't seen for awhile.  It's a classic cross dressing story with a transgender finish.

To briefly catch all of you up, my grand daughter's bat mitzfah was Saturday and for a couple of reasons I decided to cross dress as a guy. Over 100 people attended including a small contingent of my brothers family.  I am in one of those places with them where they know-but they don't- I'm trans.   

My partner Liz and I were sitting under a big tree with them eating after the ceremony when a 20 something woman drifts by and gets every adult person's attention.  My 12 year old  grand daughter had declared the "dress code" for the day to be "island chic" and this woman had no problems with the concept.  All she wore basically, was a matching halter top, Capri pants-and her tattoos.  You know how it works, the genetic women were staring her down for a totally different reason than the men. Then, there was Liz and I.  Liz is a lesbian, artist and has a few "tats" of her own.  She had her own reasons of "acting" like she wasn't looking. Of course I just wanted to look like her.

As I did take a closer look though, she was looking back at me and a split second later, she stopped quickly and came over to Liz and I.  Of all people, I have known her for nearly five years now and she is the one who introduced me to her lesbian Mom, who I am still good friends with.  The classic part of the chance meeting was she had only ever met my old male self years ago once.   Even back then I hated for that to happen. I presented as only feminine to my new group of friends and since I had not transitioned yet, male to my old world.

Saturday, I said her name and she was good-real good-she stayed with my male pronouns and began to use my male name-when I told it to her. Needless to say, Liz, myself and the woman were in a little shock (for the obvious) but also, my family was wondering how I knew this exotic woman at all?

The meeting made for a classic gender comedy, as a little later we all got out of ear shot of my family and were able to talk.  After a while, my daughter was able to join in. She had only met her once.  The three of us had quite the chat about the irony of the afternoon and how two of them were able to very admirably mis-pronoun me as "he" when I wanted them to.  To put a little icing on the cake, as we were having the chat just outside of the restroom complex in the park we were in, a guy came out of the men's room and said he was sorry he had to interrupt our "women talk." The whole conversation I think was good for my daughter who of course knows of my feminine life but had never had the chance to connect any dots.

If you want to talk about a day which completely reminded of the MtF gender transition path  I have taken- Saturday was it.

Oh, by the way, the woman's Mom is the one who took me along to a NFL Monday Night Football game and she has never seen me cross dressed as a guy.  Which is the way I plan to keep it.