2015 in the "Nati"

Well, New Years Eve has come and gone and yes (no thanks to Liz, The Kracken and several hometown Cincinnati beers) I survived.  

The best way I can describe the experience is with this picture - it's as blurry as Liz and I felt!

It was taken in the "Moerline Lager House" which overlooks the Ohio River in the "Nati".

I was OK when Liz explained where the camera was!

Christianity and the Transgender Person

Quite the question and one which needs a book to discuss-not just a Cyrsti's Condo blog post, but here we go. The motivations to write this come from a couple sources: the recent tragic suicide of young Leelah Alcorn from the Cincinnati, Ohio area, another blog post I just read AND a comment I received from a trans woman friend who grew up under similar circumstances.


First of all, you could say I am a non practicing Christian, baptized in the Methodist church.  Personally, I am becoming a stronger and stronger earth based spiritual person and that is another post unto itself and  not relevant to the topic.




The blog post I read was called "7 Deadly Sins Parents Commit Against Their Transgender Kids" – In Memory of Leelah Alcorn written by Susan Cottrell on a site called "Patheo's"  Here is an excerpt from her number one:  

"When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong. Who said anything about God making mistakes? Why do we keep hearing about God not making mistakes – from the people who consider others’ expression of identity and orientation a mistake? You’re the ones threatened by what you call a mistake."

She goes on to write about misguided treatment by misguided parents operating their lives and the lives of their kids under the guise of Christianity.  Even to the point of using "therapies" which the CIA would have been in trouble for.


One who knows more than a little about growing up in an ultra Christian family is the friend I mentioned above:

Raquel FosterDecember 31, 2014 at 12:44 PM

"The parents created a terrible environment for Leelah, and that was probably encouraged by their church, and their church is probably telling them now that their 'son' is the victim of being brainwashed by some horrible left-wing agenda. This all would've been swept under the rug in Cinci if it hadn't happened to get picked up nationally. All the Cinci news sources used to say 'him'. When I first saw the story, I was horrified that her note was going to be completely ignored. But all those news sources seem to have been updated to 'her'. This is only because of the national coverage and the fact that they realized they looked so ignorant. Maybe this kind of attention is enough that the parents will learn something, but I doubt it. The aggressive fundamentalists already tend to think that the whole world is conspiring against them, and this will likely just reinforce that feeling."

Thanks Racquel, I agree with her (unfortunately) and she was right pointing out the media in Cincinnati got rocked hard about their initial ignorance when first reporting this. In fact, in the space of three or four hours (from the time Racquel saw the story to when I saw it-the Cincinnati television station we were watching got it right, pronouns and all.

Then :

MichellewhoisDecember 31, 2014 at 9:28 AM

It always saddens me to learn about a life so young and full of hope being extinguished. Many of us know first hand the torments of growing up in a world that as you put it "Is another hell the preachers make their money sermonizing on".

You are right Michelle- follow the money! I'm afraid I'm speaking to the choir here to even open the door to religion and Leelah Alcorn.  To not do it though would be a huge disservice to Leehlah's memory.  R.I.P, Leelah, I'm sure by now you have found what Christianity was trying to tell you before it got distorted by the very humans it was trying to help.

Girl Things

Over the holidays, I inadvertently ran into a couple examples of feminine privilege. Before you set out to rock me, I'm not defining true gender privilege-just stereotypes which caught up with me.


1.- Liz's family Christmas dinner.  The men around the dinner table began to talk about which automatic weapons they had ever fired. (Remember, Liz's Dad is a lifetime NRA member.) I am careful not to discuss politics!  At any rate, I just assumed somewhere along the line I would be asked also. My only experience of course came in the US Army.  Liz and I were the only two women at the table and never asked and of course I never volunteered. Liz would fire, hopefully with me not in range at the wrong time! (I'm always charming!)


Ironically, her Dad (89) "counsel's" Liz on her choice to be with a woman not a man.  Can't win them all?


2.- One of the most irritating actions to me-almost up there with being called "Sir" is when another woman passes along something for me to open.  Really?  First of all, they don't realize how HRT does sap traditional "male strength" and do they pass something to open to another of their girlfriends? But-  During the holidays, I'm learned to pass whatever I need opened over to Liz's 17 year old son and he loved it.


It's about time, since I lost a ton of intelligence when I MtF transitioned, I may as well regain whatever I can in my new world.

Transgender-2015

From the EdgeMediaNetwork  - What's going to happen to the transgender community in 2015? Will we build on 2014, or fall back and what may any of it mean to you anyway?  I'm sure each group's crystal balls will vary, but here is one of the first I have seen: Or, the top three:

(Bala Cynwyd, PA) Dr. Sherman Leis, founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, has identified 10 important trends that will affect America and its transgender community in 2015.

"Although society has made a great deal of progress for the transgender community this past year, we still have a long way to go," said Dr. Leis. "Having recently observed Transgender Remembrance Day (November 20), it's sad to see that there are still too many victims of transgender violence," he said.

Dr. Leis' annual list of trends include:

1) More children and teenagers are coming out identifying as transgender. Thanks to expanding transgender education, supportive institutions and societal acceptance, transgender children will be able to reach balance with gender dysphoria at an earlier age, resulting in an improved quality of life.

2) More mainstream health institutions are recognizing a need for specialized transgender care. Major children's hospitals in Philadelphia and Boston, for example, have opened separate departments for transgender health and care for children.

3) More insurance companies are covering transgender surgery and health care because a growing majority of Fortune 500 companies request it, influencing the entire business community.

We are going to skip to number ten:

10) There has been a significant increase in media interest in transgender news and issues this year. As well, in the entertainment industry, there has been an increase in the number of transgender characters included in mainstream plays and television shows, such as "Orange is the New Black," on Netflix.

For the other six, follow the link!

While My Blog Gently Weeps

As Liz and I were watching the Cincinnati evening news last night, one of the lead stories was the all too familiar tragic story of a young transgender girl ending her life-essentially before it started. This is so frustrating and sad, I'm crying as I write this post. NOT a post I wanted to write on New Years Eve:


Quoting the USA Today and Sharon Coolidge of the Cincinnati Enquirer: 
Leelah's suicide and the conversation her note inspired has rocked families in the Ohio region, becoming part of a national conversation. Here, we share the facts and report what happened.

In life, Leelah Alcorn felt alone. Born male, she feared she would never be the woman she felt like inside. In death, the transgender 17-year-old -- born Josh Alcorn -- wanted to make sure others never felt that way she did.
"The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren't treated the way I was, they're treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights," Alcorn wrote in a post on Tumblr.
Her parents, she wrote, wanted her to be a "perfect little straight Christian boy."
"My death needs to mean something," she wrote in the post, which she scheduled to appear the day after her death.


"My death needs to mean something," she wrote in the post, which she scheduled to appear the day after her death.
Her final public words: "Fix society. Please."

On Sunday, just before 2:30 a.m., Alcorn was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer on I-71 in Ohio, about four miles from her home in Kings Mills.

Leelah Alcorn, who was born Josh Alcorn.(Photo: Provided/Abigail Jones)

No charges have been filed, and the State Highway Patrol continues to investigate. Her body was sent to the Montgomery County Coroner for an autopsy, which will take several weeks.
"She was super bubbly and upbeat with a really brash sense of humor; she could make anyone laugh," said Abigail Jones, 17, one of Alcorn's co-workers and friends. They were caricature artists at Kinds Island, an Ohio amusement park.
Jones even drew Alcorn as Elsa from Frozen, "her favorite thing ever."
The duo was close -- going to see movies, getting ice cream and texting. In July, Alcorn told Jones that she was transgender.
Alcorn's family declined to comment to The Enquirer. In a statement via the Kings Local School District, they requested privacy. According to the statement, Alcorn was most recently enrolled as an 11th grader at the Ohio Virtual Academy, an online school.




There is more as you follow the link but Liz and I's question was can Leelah's conservative Christian family learn too late from their daughter's death?  (I'm saying no.)


One way or another, her death is another hell the preachers make their money sermonizing on. 


Another tremendous sad shame is around here in Cincinnati and increasingly in other locations, LBGTQ groups provide outreach education to youth. In my area of the world there is GLSEN  in Cincinnati and the Dayton LGBTQ center has reached out to several transgender women and men (including me) to establish an outreach.
I'm not saying you should use me as an example but even if you have to wait a long time-it does get better.

Remembering

I have no idea of when this picture was taken - or of who. However, it was one of the more unique womanless beauty pageant pix we featured in Cyrsti's Condo last year:

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Hart"

Cyrsti's Condo "Woman of the Day/Year"

I can't/won't even begin to look back on last year and pretend to have the knowledge or skill to pick a transgender "woman" of the year.  I can tell you I wouldn't pick the prettiest face.  That's typically a real insult to generics as well as trans women.  Sort of like picking  a cheer leader for her looks when the girl across the room is ready to discover a new law of physics.

I am as guilty as most though in getting tangled in the culture of looks. Truly, I am astounded at the mtf gender transitions of some of the women I see and  pass along to you. Also,  I will not backtrack on the impact of the Laverne Cox's and Janet Mock's of the world. Both are obviously talented, smart and beautiful women. But then, there are the other trans women we don't hear so much about such as  Dr. Jillian T. Weiss (left) a  Professor of Law and Society at Ramapo College of New Jersey, and a researcher in the area of transgender workplace law and policy.


She has authored numerous academic publications, presentations and other scholarly works, as well as articles and interviews for media organizations including The New York Times and Associated Press. She is a member of the Board of GetEqual, a direct action non-profit organization dedicated to LGBT rights, as well as a member of The Williams Institute Advisory Board, an LGBT rights think-tank at UCLA Law School, and former member of the Board of Advisors of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

She also provides consulting services for private and public employers, including Harvard University, Boeing and New York City, and pro bono legal representation in cases involving gender identity and gender expression discrimination. She is a member of the National LGBT Bar Association, and Chair of the Planning Committee for its annual Transgender Law Institute.

What a beautiful year 2015 could be if for once the transgender community could pull together in one unified direction?

Don't I HAVE to Have Lists?

Well, sure I do!  The problem I have is remembering 2014 because it was a blur and it is easy to get stuck on tons of individual events.

Easily though the #1 Worst happening of the year was when I was gender slurred at the LOKI Group dance near Cincinnati. My partner Liz identifies as lesbian and she wanted to go so I did and for all intents and purposes got bounced. Later I got this message:  "An Organizer removed you from this Meetup Group. Check out other LGBT Meetups near you." As I said at the time, I ran into an obvious radical feminist protecting her pile of sand in the girls sandbox.  It just brought to me the reality of bigots in the world.

Easily, the #1 Best happening of 2014 came on the night Liz and I went to a big sports bar/tavern close to her to watch our "The Ohio State Buckeyes" play Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. Sure, the Buckeyes won big (an incredibly tough task coming up against Alabama this week) but even bigger was the fact absolutely no one gave me a second look.  Groups of guys playing darts, families, other women-no one. 

(Don't ask me to speculate WHY the most likely transgender bigots come from within the LGBTQ community?)

The biggest surprise of the year actually came recently in the month of December. For some reason, my HRT hormones went into hyper-drive. I became moody, my breasts were sore and other minor changes happened.  Often I am not the sharpest tack in the box and after I was whining for probably the thousandth time to Liz, she said relax, you just had a period.  You couldn't bleed of course, but the rest of you had a period.  It's taken a while and normal is difficult for me to relate to; I'm getting back there now.

Looking back at 2014 though, I have to toss you a cop out.  Without question, the year was the most exciting, scary and satisfying one of my life.  I am sure I will think of other "additions" to this post later. Maybe 2015?