Think Before You Answer

I read a story not long ago about a working friend (male)/boss who had an employee in a professional situation who came she came out to him as a transgender woman. 

It turned out, the boss accompanied her to a dinner or and saw up close and personal how difficult a journey his friend/coworker had undertaken. Seemingly, she couldn't shake the ravages of being mis-pronouned as well as other gender problems the boss could only imagine.

It's not a new story and you can read it here, but the trans woman attempted to return to her old life-which ended in a suicide. Sadly, perhaps as relevant today as when the story was written.

My question to you is: would you take a "Get Out of Jail Free" card and jump back into being a guy. But, before you answer-a guy with no transgender or crossdresser wiring AT ALL?

I know I would (no matter how I know it can/will never happen.) To this day I can look at a group of guys with pitchers of beer and plates of wings and wonder how it would be to in that group again.

My problem is though I was never really a part.  But I have always thought, doing what is right for me (the girl thing) felt as right as the sun coming up in the morning. Even though I know I will never escape the ravages of a life of testosterone on my body.

I just thought it was a good question to ponder!!!!

Houston Women-Is It YOU That Has The Problem???

Thanks Jennifer Cross for sending this in from the Huffington Post:

One trans woman in Chicago, Illinois, is making a bold, tongue-in-cheek statement in response to Houston, Texas, voters striking down proposed legislation this week that would extend nondiscrimination protections to the LGBT community, including enabling trans people to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

Kelly Lauren, a transgender woman who has performed as a drag entertainer for 37 years, shared the following photo on her Facebook account Wednesday with the caption "Houston, do you REALLY want me in the same restroom as your husband or boyfriend?"

Is the World Really Flat?

One of the suppositions in the "What the Bleep" Quantum Physics group I'm in is when Columbus's first ships arrived on the Caribbean horizons, the "average" man or woman on the beach couldn't see them. Because they had never been there before. It took one of the native "Shaman's" to notice something/somehow was different.

I was fascinated by the idea but still didn't attach much more importance to it-in my noggin. Until after I read these stats: (Please note I am paraphrasing much of this.) Only 24% of the population is believed to be what are called "cultural creatives" - or for ecological sustainability and advocates for change.  Another 47% are called Modernists who aren't paranoid of a reshaping globe. (You can buy the movie on Amazon.)

That leaves us with the guy above- a traditionalist. Or in this case "good old American ways."

If you break it down that way, the guy above would have never noticed Columbus on the horizon.

The moral to the story is good old "Tricky Dick Nixon" is looking around the corner at us smirking. He worked his so called "Silent Majority" for years.

Dick (and a lot of religions have proved over the years) misinformed ignorance can win handsomely with a traditionalist and hidden agenda - especially one which starts on the altar.

If you watched the numbers here though, the Modernist percentage is the most positive. 

Now, I know it has to  be scary for a lot of traditionalists when they are seeing an increasing percentage of ethnics in every sector of our society. Especially when you can't afford to live in a fancy white suburb, with social media and/or their new Black or Hispanic neighbors down the street. They just can't move away from them like my parents did- Or when your Sunday fanatic is babbling endlessly about transgender sexual predators-when many more quite likely came from the Catholic Church.

But----We transgender women just could be their last frontier before admitting they do see the ships on the horizon. 

Could Have Knocked Me Over with a Vampire?

I have written here in Cyrsti's Condo previously about my love/lust for the latest "FX Network's" series "American Horror Story-Hotel" Not to be a spoiler here, but maybe you can imagine just a bit of the blood, guts and glamour assembled under "Lady Gaga"  at the very lush "Art Deco" Cortez Hotel.


One of the characters (of course?) is a cross dressing person called "Liz Taylor" who wears beaded gowns, dangling earrings and heavy makeup-all with a bald head. "Liz" preforms many jobs in the hotel including bartender.

A curious but not an unusual character to say the least. Liz took me back to a very unpleasant time in transvestite - cross dressing history when we all were evil and nefarious in some way on television - last night this scene came along and I was floored as: The chilling character (Lady Gaga) on Wednesday's episode showed her incredibly tender side as she helped turn an unhappy married man into the hotel's most loyal and flamboyant staffer, Liz Taylor.

In the episode titled Room Service, Liz told desk clerk Iris, played by Kathey Bates, how 'a married man from Topeka could wind up as Liz Taylor in the Hotel Cortez'. AND-how Liz was neither evil or nefarious (one of the few.)

Having written all of that of course, I am sure that three fourths of the transgender world will go berserk over this as completely as they did the "Laverne Cox" Rocky Horror Show" remake. But there is more to my point: 

The only other portion of the episode I am going to pass along is when "Liz" described the experience of "just" leaving her room at the hotel to get ice. I remembered so vividly having the same feelings so long ago. You will have to find the show for the rest.

I did wonder though, which one of the writers had experienced that very personal experience-or knew someone who had. 

Plus, let's not forget how supportive Lady Gaga is of the LGBT community!

  

Jur-ass-ic Park and Transgender Americans?

I often used to wonder where (or if) the cut off point in age was for gender bias I encounter. The great majority of the very young kids I see-see me at the least as a curiosity and most have no reaction at all. The world is getting better---but---at the same time, what the hell is up with the lack of LGBTQ protections under law? And, dare I mention (with yet another U.S. Veterans Day around the corner, we mark another year of  U.S. active trans military members not being allowed to openly serve.

By "Jur-ass-ic" Park I mean, the group of Dinosaur Americans I am most likely to run into problems with. Three times out of four (a number derived from my very unscientific experiment) the majority of stares and glares I receive anymore are from women close to my age. (66) Not all mind you, because many of my friends are "more mature" women too and have opened their hearts and warmth to me more than they can ever know.

So, I don't know. Transgender "Cloud Nine" looks pretty dreamy at times, until I saw an old fat red neck in Texas protesting "No Men in the Womens Room" on his T-shirt, or Good Ol' Boy Rick from Pawn Stars, who essentially has said the same thing. Somewhere along along the line it's sad but the definition of conservative has been intermingled with ignorance these days. One can be conservative if you bother to bring the right set of facts to the table. (Example of course are the rest room 'wars')

At any rate, I have a tendency to think the "Jur-Ass-ic" crowd will go the way of the other "big-ot-suars" over the coming years. Especially when I read stories like this: "Reform Jews poised to pass Transgender Resolution."

For sure, parents call the shots here and they are the ones who do or don't line up to buy tickets to these parks.

You can tell it in their kids.

Another One Bites the Dust

Perhaps you have heard of the television show Pawn Stars? Check this out from the Advocate :

"Rick Harrison, star of the hit show Pawn Stars on the History Channel, said his support for presidential candidate Marco Rubio has cost him product endorsements, and he's worried his conservative views will cost him his show. Harrison told CNN he believes his endorsement last month will enrage the "massive liberal PC police" an — and he cited transgender bathroom accommodations as an example of what he fears. "

Really Rick??? Why ya got to be picking on us? 

Truly, I wouldn't care as much as he had an opinion, it is more to the point his opinion is misinformed, ignorant and downright wrong. While I know the show is a set up for Rick to inform us on all the unique, old or otherwise fun objects to come through his pawn shop door in Las Vegas, I still labored under a little fantasy the man was as educated as he appears.

One more thing-at one point in time a couple years ago, I was approached about one of my vintage items for his show.

Now, I won't even watch it. Unlike the Duck Dynasty rip off show-I used to be a fan. 

What IS Possible

Recently I found these two stories of hope from within the transgender world-from very different ends of the age spectrum and the world.  The first comes from the Advocate.com and Canada:For Gabrielle Diana Gladu, 16 is particularly sweet. Two years after a suicide attempt, she is thriving — a transgender teen who beat the odds.

Tall, blond, sharp-witted, and stylish, she lives in Ottawa, Canada, with her predominantly Catholic family, who immigrated a generation ago from Poland and France. Her family is not fabulously wealthy, but they work hard and organize their resources well to support her. 

But Gladu is all too aware that increasing transgender visibility and fresh legal protections seem to go hand-in-hand with continuing discrimination in almost every sphere of trans people’s lives — be it travel, education, health care, or employment.

The second comes from Australia and Gay Star News: One of the most prominent transgender Australians has been named as Queensland’s Australian of the Year and as a result is eligible to go on to be named Australian of the Year for 2016.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Group Captain Catherine McGregor is being honored for her work as a diversity champion three years after she transitioned to being a woman and went public as the highest ranking military officer in the world who is transgender.

Follow the links for more!

The Day the Earth Chilled in Cincinnati

Yesterday the Bengals became the 7-0 Bengals on the season by beating the Squeelers in Pittsburgh. Those of us who are old enough and "in the know"-remembered the Bengals have never done this before. When I went out yesterday, I happened to feel a distinct chill under my feet and thought "The Bengals are 7-0 and hell might be beginning to freeze over."  Plus, you can't go far now in Cincinnati without having to stop for an overloaded Bengals Bandwagon.(Hint-take the points this Thursday against the Cleveland Browns!)

On the medical front, all is quiet this week in wait of the next round of being prodded next week. Monday is my Gastrointestinal visit, plus coffee with my brother (which we will discuss later.) Either Tuesday or Wednesday (yet to be decided), is my second mammogram; and Thursday is a fun filled day with the vampire crowd - including my hematologist. To put it into perspective, I go give blood for my lab work, wait a half hour for it to be checked and then give a pint for the cause (mine). Finally, after that, I get to see the Doc.

Seriously, I am not complaining. Even though my hands are not healing as fast as I would like, my over all levels of iron have decreased dramatically.

Hopefully dramatically enough that I can beg my way back on my HRT estrogen in December. My appointment with my endocrinologist is December eighth. No matter what anyone says about the "mystical" effects of estrogen, I am very definitely a different person off it. And, not in a good way. I never wanted to go back to seeing and feeling the world more as a guy-but I do.

But we will see! First I have to live through all the medical appointments! 

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Ker Plunk! Listen up! Another Sunday Edition is hitting your virtual front porch. Here in Southwestern Ohio it's still a blustery chilly Sunday morning - but by Wednesday it is supposed to be near 74 around here. Let's grab a "cup o joe" and get started.

Page One: The Week That Was-or Wasn't: I hope your week was topped off (literally) by a fun,safe and festive Halloween. If you used the occasion as a safe night to sneak out of your closet-good for you!!! If you were fairly good at it (and thorough) you will find the evening will have a lasting effect. I used a Halloween Party weeks later as my first successful attempt to come out as a "transvestite" to three close friends. I found the sky didn't fall, but what the hell was I supposed to do until the next Halloween.

Page Two: The Fight Goes On: Perhaps you live near an area where the LGBTQ community is still fighting for basic protections afforded to other American's. Even to the point of the continuing paranoia of transgender restroom freedoms. Of course with elections coming up in a year, we know change is coming? (Not) Change only comes where it is being fought-on the local levels (where we see it.) Take Ohio for example, of course same sex marriage is legal, the issue to legalize marijuana is on the ballot and yet another push to place LGBT protections in place here by the minority Democrats only to be rejected by Republican majorities.

Page Three: Bring on the Doc's! November is a big month for my medical future. As I have written, my Iron levels in my liver, which once were high enough to sell to AK Steel in Middletown, have come down dramatically. So, I have appointments coming up with gastroenterolgists, hematologists, a psychiatrist - and even another mammogram tossed in for kicks and giggles. By the time I get to the Thanksgiving Turkey, I am sure I will feel as if I was the one who was carved first!

Page Four: The Back Page: Before we go, my quest to compile all the gender marker paper work I need actually is proceeding nicely. A major hold up right now is for a person called the "privacy officer" at the Dayton, Ohio VA to get back.  The  quote was: "to go through the huge amount of mail on his desk." Other than that, I need to wait until I get my check in a week or so before I can file for my legal name change. All I can say is, the process should be more intricate than I can imagine. But then again, I am rather persistent-or a "Pita" (Pain in the Ass) according to Liz.

Time to go kids! Lotz of undefeated teams around here such as The Ohio State Buckeyes (idle this weekend) and the Bengals who travel to Pittsburgh today to play the Squeelers. Both are 6-0 - an embarrassment of sports riches gifted by a very fickle sports Goddess. In the meantime, I love you all and thanks for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo.