The Pentagon's "Hippocratic Oath."

Capt. Peace in civilian clothes

Every so often we read of the "huge strides" the branches of the American military are making towards granting transgender active military members the basic freedoms they are on the front line fighting for. Then I run across yet another story like this from the Cronkite News:

"When Capt. Jennifer Peace looks in the mirror, she sees a woman who serves her country like more than 200,000 other women in the military.

She wears a uniform, goes to work and serves like all the others. But when the Army looks at Capt. Peace, it sees a man.

Peace, an intelligence officer who has served a little more than 10 years in the Army, is a transgender soldier who came out in January to her unit at Fort Lewis, Washington. While her fellow soldiers have been supportive, Peace said, they still have to live by Army rules and are concerned about stepping over the line. She said soldiers working for her were told, “We use male pronouns. No one will use female pronouns with Capt. Peace.”

Many consider the current state of affairs with trans troops a throw back to the "don't ask-don't tell days" with gay and lesbians. But, as we all know, gender is a much deeper issue to not "ask or tell about."

Plus once again we are in the midst of yet ANOTHER Pentagon study on the situation, which will take us close enough to election time to see nothing decided AGAIN. And, after listening to the Republican debates I see all hope is lost with the next prez for LGBT rights.

Follow the link above for the full story.

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Model" of the Day

Our feature model today is "Philly" born Hari Nef (who identifies as transgender!)

Obviously the person on the couch wasn't too excited!!!

Trans Generational Gap

This morning was yet another re-visit to the VA (I am a transgender Army veteran). It was time for a check up on why my body seems to be in love with processing and storing all the iron it can. The doctor doing all the diagnosing is one of the few I have ran into who is close to my age. He is also the one I showed for the first time in "Boy Drag". So I guess I had it coming-being called "he" throughout the whole appointment. 

In this case I didn't give a "rat's arse" what he called me-as long as he told me a little good news-which he did.  I was really paranoid he would say "you need to get off HRT"-he didn't. 

Plus, what was really heartening was, his female assistant kept saying "she" and glancing at me everytime he mis-pronouned me. And to take it farther , all the nurses I encountered - so I could set up my next round of appointments-called me she-all 20 something and comfortable with a trans person.

So maybe Connie, my closet in the back of the nursing home may have high speed WiFi for my computer yet. Because,today (once again) the  younger generation continue to impress me with it's lack gender bigotry! 

A Tale of Three Blonds"

Saturday night (as I have written previously here in Cyrsti's Condo) Liz and I stopped for a late dinner at a place called "The Senate" known for it's "gourmet street food." (In Cincinnati) The venue itself is in a long straight room and everyone sits at tables along the wall-the bar is on the other side. Liz ended up sitting against the wall and I sat with my back facing the aisle. 

Where I sat, to my left was one (older?) blond in a little black dress - positively entranced with the man she was with. I think she was a 40 something girl, not small but well put together. What I found to be interesting was how positively uncomfortable she was in that dress.  Now, I believe every woman has a goal or an idea of what she is trying to achieve in an outfit. This woman's idea was good-she just got ambushed when she learned she couldn't cross her legs under the table easily (the dress was very short) and she became uncomfortable. She did make a couple rest room trips of course for "adjustments" and he hit his cell phone immediately.  I will leave the rest to your imagination!!!

The other two blondes were to the right of me and were with a guy who sat in the center. The three were most definitely 20 somethings out for a night on the town. I found the girl almost directly across from me to be interesting because she was going bra less, looked to be very athletic in her shorts and breasts about my size. Why? Because my breasts look about the same if I go bra-less. I would have killed for her legs though. As is the norm all the women were bare legged. The "older" girl you could see her leg veins were just starting. The younger ones of course were flawless.

I have always said it has been interesting living life as a transgender woman. Rarely did I ever have a physical attraction to a generic-mostly I had deep feelings of wanting to be them. One thing though, I doubt if very many other people on the earth study woman any closer.  

Cyrsti's Condo "Potty Break"

Taking a much needed trip to the women's room has always been a tough post for me to write. For several reasons. 

1. Using the rest room of your chosen gender separates the casual "oh well" bystander into the not in my restroom you don't "separatist."
2. There are no hard and fast rules on rest room usage. Every time in the past when I came up with five, someone would come up with five more. All just as good.
3. Common sense is always a good way to start looking ahead for a potty. Obviously, using the rest room in an upscale bookstore is smarter than a redneck bar on a Friday night.
4. Any idea which "demographic" could give you the biggest fits? Over the years, mine has changed. Except- women in the 45+ age bracket seem to be the most negative to me. (Then again, they may hate the length of my hair or what I'm wearing and they are from the generation who grew up with the idea with the restroom being a place to hide, fix make up/hair and gossip-let alone pee.)
5. Don't panic and don't run. Remember in most establishments these days, staff and management may be trained to deal with a transgender person-in fact embrace us.

OK, I know those are very broad strokes but as I wrote, many of you have your own- based on where you go and how many times. I do believe though, I am seeing more and more unisex restrooms. After all, it makes economic sense for a new business or public building to build in unisex restrooms.

Ancient  Cross Dressing "ego" selfie from a woman's bathroom

And, oh yes, can't resist-I haven't seen Caitlin Jenner even discuss or consider the idea-then again too-she could build her. Or, take a "Porta Potty" behind her motor home.

What Came First?

The trans girl-or the beer?

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Morning Edition"

Ker Plunk! Welcome to a sultry summer Sunday edition of Cyrsti's Condo. Here in Ohio, it's actually a beautiful sunny day with highs in the 80's and a hotter fresh cup of "Joe" (coffee)-let's get started:
Page One-The Week that Was or Wasn't: To me, the week went by so fast-it was the week which wasn't - as far as the transgender world went. Much to my chagrin, I couldn't resist temptation and got sucked backed into the Caitlin Jenner "Kartrashian" media circus, was charmed, uplifted by Jazz Jennings and concerned by Carly's heart attack on Becoming Us. Selfishly, at my age, I'm trying to slow time down!

Page Two- A Tale of Two Restrooms? My partner Liz and I had a busy day on the road yesterday getting "errands" done between my old house and life in Springfield (Ohio) and here in Cincinnati. It's a trip one way of approximately an hour and a half-plenty of "quality time to spend with each other. We started the day at a "Meetup" Creative Group we attend when we can for conversation, coffee,ideas,food,coffee and oh yes-more coffee. After an hour or so it was time to hit the road to Springfield. 

The trip is mainly rural and restroom access is rare. In fact, since one of main interstate rest stops along the way has been closed for repair-the only alternative is a fast food restaurant cluster about half way. Yesterday we had two options-a cornfield-or Mac's. So Mac's for the potty and more coffee was the choice. I have stopped there by myself many times-without nary a glance, but not yesterday. I came out of my stall (Liz was done and waiting) right into the stares of a young girl and her Mom who was trying literally to escape through the wall. It was soooo bad, Liz reached out and gently touched my back as I washed up and we went out to order. 

The other end of the spectrum happened later last night as we went out for food and an adult beverage in the "Over the Rhine" section of downtown Cincinnati -you guessed it-we were called "ladies" all night long.

Page Three: The Back Page: I know this is a very short Sunday Edition but I do promise several more posts coming up with ideas I came up with during my "travel's" this weekend plus people I met along the way. In the meantime, thanks for being a part of Cyrsti's Condo!

Cyrsti's Condo "Out" and About

Unidentified Pinterest Cross Dresser

Heather! You don't recognize me from your brother's wedding party?? It's me- Jim!

Cyrsti's Condo Vintage "Southern Belle"

Belaire HS (Baton Rouge LA) 1982

I wonder if he knows his high school drag picture will seemingly live on forever?