Bagging Saks?

Sorry for the delay in answering my mail! First of all- our Cyrsti's Condo post on the Sak's transgender discrimination debacle stirred up several great comments:


The first from Mandy Sherman who mentioned her trips as a youngest with her Mom to Saks and then commented:   Saks management apparently doesn't believe that we, as a group, have sufficient disposable income to patronize their stores. Thus they make it known of their scorn for us, and they can't see that they are suffering any harm from their actions.... If they treated us right, I (for one) would prefer shopping in the manner Mom did, with all the attention she got from clerks. (Obviously not as often as she did, but then, I'm not an executive's wife!) 


The second from Alana Jane:  I suspect that it's because of Texas and their neo-con far right evangelical beliefs. I say if you want a good shopping experience go to Nordstroms or Bloomingdales. You can get a personal shopper to assist you. That said, a judge needs to slap these Texas yahoo's with a sever damages penalty. 


And the "Fabulous Connie Dee" added:  Sure, Sak's can get by without making sales to transgender people, but they are really concerned about losing sales because of having a transgender employee. They should recognize that this negative publicity may cause them to lose much more than a transgender employee ever could. We, as a group, can boycott, but we really need to expose these people and their ideals [sic] for what they are - [SICK]


Last but far from least -Pat:  It would seem to me that they have the wrong team of high priced, white shoe, lawyers handling this case. From my experience there are some lawyers who will habitually 'over-lawyer' the case and throw every gauntlet down. A defense lawyer should keep in mind that he is a simple and humble defense lawyer. The job is to parry the thrust of the plaintiff's case, not to strike back and enrage the opposition.


I took excerpts from all the posts due to length constraints but you read them in their entirety here.  Good job ladies (and Connie) for providing every idea from geographical bias, to legal angles, to financial considerations on this story.  I'm a firm believer if you follow the money, you will discover the true basis of many decisions.  Like Mandy said, if you can indeed afford the Saks shopping experience-you can afford not to shop there.

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Hart"

Cyrsti's Condo "Star Grazing"

Here we go kids, a look at our astrological signs, as always beginning with my home sign "Libra"

 (September 23-October 22): You’ll be hearing every excuse in the book, as the flakes will be out in full force this week. Forget trying to set your schedule to any timeline, because there won’t be one that will work out. Avoid the disappointments and be ready to see there are a lot of choices in how you can spend your time, as last minute changes will be your life for the next few weeks — and happily so, if you let it.

My "scope" certainly does reflect how my schedule looks for the next week or so-or how it doesn't look. I'm just rolling with the punches! Also "rolling" in a different way will be all you Pisces: 

(February 20-March 20): Just as your lusts were bordering on irrelevancy, you’ll connect to a new part of yourself that will want to jump into the thick of things, causing you to feel sensations in a more profound way than you have had in ages. Call it a spontaneous rejuvenation and thank those lucky stars for this miracle.


Well, that's it for our look at the stars for this weeks "Star Grazing". If we didn't get to your sign-go here to theFrisky.

Cyrsti's Condo "From the Hart"

Transparent Wins!

For all of you who disagree somehow on the Laverne Cox's, Janet Mock's and Carmen Carerra's of the transgender women's world, being strong role models of the trans community- because of how attractive they are, here you go: 

Transparent, an Amazon original drama about a family struggling with its father’s admission that he is transgender, won this year’s Golden Globe award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.

Jeffrey Tambor, (above) best known for his roles in There’s Something About Mary, Entourage, and the Hangover movies, stars as Maura Pfefferman in the show, and accepted the award alongside fellow Transparent cast and crew. 

I don't think you can necessarily make the argument either, a transgender actor should have been involved with the role (rather than Tambor) precisely because of the "passing privilege"  he doesn't possess. I saw one of his appearances on a talk show and they showed a clip from "Transparent" coming back from a break. Predictably, I heard a smattering of laughter-until Tambor started to talk about the show and the audience became completely silent.  Nothing funny about this topic. What the hell? How can this be? He doesn't look like a woman????

I'm sure though in the greater transgender community, someone will find something wrong.

The Tortoise and the Hair

As I stood on the Woodward Theater Stage Saturday night during the Leelah Alcorn vigil in Cincinnati Saturday night with thirty plus other transgender persons of all types - of course I wondered what was and is about my life.  We all were encouraged to get up on the stage and honor the memory of Leelah by letting the world know there is so much more to our uncover, closeted world than anyone knows.

When the microphone came to me, in front of 600 people, I said "I'm Cyrsti Hart, a PROUD transgender veteran and senior citizen."  Casually looking through the crowd during the evening, I'm fairly sure I was close to one of the oldest in the room.  I'm the gender survivor with the HRT changes and the hugely age inappropriate hair.

Since my hair became long enough to discard all my wigs, it has defined my transition to the world.  Age inappropriate or not, I use a version of one of Aesop's Fables to explain the life of my hair. Looking back, one of the less than the happiest moments of my life, was when I was riding a night bus into Ft. Knox in January of 1972 to begin Army basic training. Literally, several a few of the other guys on the bus were crying. I was lucky, I was older (21) and had been away from home in college.  Plus, I had several other friends who had been through the Vietnam Army experience came back and coached me.

A few days later in basic, it was haircut time.  The "barbers" were having a great time asking all of us how we would like out hair cut, when there was only one choice- gone!  I look at that point in my life as the beginning of where I am today.  It may have taken me awhile like the tortoise in the fable but I have made it to a point of being able to have age inappropriate hair. Sure, genetics have played a part, but I prefer to think karma has too.

Overall, the memories Saturday, just refueled the tragic frustration I feel about Leelah Alcorn's suicide and the surviving transgender youth who told their stories on the stage. I came away just knowing as much as I think I do-I'm missing way too many of the answers.

Vive La France!

Taking just a moment to remember all of you in France after the terrible cowardly terrorist tragedy in Paris.  May the "force" be with all of you!

Cyrsti's Condo "Woman of the Day"

From Taiwan MtF model Peng Baa:

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

"Ker Plunk!" Another robust version of the Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition" has hit your virtual front porch. Get ready, it's been a busy one around here!


Page One: Tragedy Strikes.  If Leelah Alcorn wanted her suicide to "mean something" it has.  The LGBTQ community has responded with vigils beginning in her hometown of Cincinnati and spanning the globe all the way to New Zealand-so far.  This last week, I attended vigils in Springfield and Cincinnati, Ohio plus made a radio show appearance with an actual therapist who knew "Josh" and never managed (refused) to call her Leelah. 

Cincinnati's WCPO TV reported an estimated 600 people attended.  It was a moving experience as all of the trans women and men (young and old) were encouraged to appear on stage.  The courageous transgender youth were encouraged to tell their stories - which they did.  I came away from the evening knowing it takes more than a village to nourish a young transgender youth, it takes a city.

To all of you who have refused to mention another true clueless victim to all of this tragedy-the truck driver was mentioned too.

Page Two: I'm Invisible at Saks?  I'm a simple person with a simple noggin.  (Calm down with the cheap shots Connie, Bobbie and all!!)  So, I can never quite figure when a company seemingly draws a line in the sand and decides to support discriminating against one of it's transgender women employees:  In December 2014, Saks Fifth Avenue responded to a sex discrimination lawsuit filed by Leyth O. Jamal, a former employee at a Saks store in Texas who claims she was harassed, then fired, for being a trans woman. Saks could have fought Jamal’s suit by insisting that her claims of harassment are false, or that she was terminated for reasons unrelated to her gender. But instead, Saks has claimed that it has a legal right to discriminate against trans employees based on their trans status...Huh? Really? Of course, there are several theories of why Saks would screw this up so bad- go here to read one and stay the hell out of Saks where you are invisible anyhow.


Page Three: Move Over Bitches.  After the vigil last night, Liz and I went to an ancient looking tavern down the street called Motr Pub.  We had never been there, but were attracted by the sign on the window that they had "writer's night" every Tuesday-so in we went.  I knew I was in the right place when a guy who seemed to be a manager was wearing a jacket with a "Zappa for President" patch.  Before too long, the place began to fill up with 20 and 30 something's before the band began to play.  Also (all too soon) the Hudepohl draft beer I was drinking caught up with me and I was headed to the women's room.  The first visit was quiet and harmless enough but my second became interesting when I came out of my stall right into three rather predatory blonds looking at me.  I thought Whoa! said "excuse me" and headed to the sinks-washed my hands and left.  As I returned to my seat next to Liz, I asked her for the proper "generic protocol" for bitches on "man prowl" in the restroom.  She said they weren't much interested in me except to size me up and I did well.
Page Four: The Back Page.  As I said, it has been quite the week.  All of the sudden, I was in the right place at the right time to rethink how I pay forward into the transgender community. More on those ideas later! Thanks for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo!