The Devil Went Down to Georgia

Perhaps you have heard of the latest so called "religious freedom bills" which are sweeping America. The same one that was shot down in South Dakota and Indiana but was rushed through a legislature in North Carolina. The latest bill is in Georgia and is due to be signed (or not) by it's governor this week.

Essentially, these bills discriminate the LGBTQ community by claiming our rights infringe upon a person's religious freedom. At this point, don't we have to pause and ask whatever happened to the separation between church and state? But that is another story. I know one thing, I am not infringing on anyone's right to worship. 

What is really happening is, the big companies in Georgia, Coca Cola the NFL etc, are saying whoa rednecks, let's rethink this. Especially the NFL. Atlanta is building a new stadium to get ready for a future Super Bowl, and the NFL is saying No boys, we may pick up our marbles and play elsewhere unless you pick yours up and put them back into your noggin (much like Indianapolis)

It also just happens quite a few television shows and movies are being filmed in Georgia and those companies (of course) are coming out against this bill.

It will be interesting to see who will be around to pick up the extra business if the Georgia Governor signs this highly discriminatory bill. Here in Ohio, both Dayton and Cincinnati gladly offered to open their doors to Indiana businesses who wanted to relocate.

Some day (maybe) religion will stay in the church and commerce will stay out of it!  

The Ultimate Purge

From the Cyrsti's Condo archives:

I promise honey-I will never wear your clothes again! (At least not these!)

Billion Dollar Mama?

Gay News Network, Australia


Aussie millionaire comes out as trans

LAST UPDATED Monday, 21 March 2016 14:44

Written by Cec Busby

[Photo]

Australian multi-millionaire and financial wizard, Savannah Jackson, has come out as transgender on national television.

Jackson chose to go public with her transition on popular interview show, Sunday Night. The 43-year-old who runs the financial advisory firm, Trading Pursuits, with her former wife Julie, said she can now just be herself.

Savannah told Sunday Night getting to this point had taken years of counseling, surgeries and hormone treatments.

"It’s surreal that it’s here. Like it’s a dream, it’s a thought, it’s a hope and a wish that you have every single day of your life. And then, to actually be here in this moment now it’s just like every Christmas all come at once," Savannah said.

"I can just be myself and that, to me, has been the greatest single gift that I have given myself is the freedom to be myself."

Holy Cross to Set Up Transgender Scholarship

Alison Laing Circa 1956-65

The DTA is designed to increase the accessibility of transgender history by providing an online hub for digitized historical materials, born-digital materials, and information on archival holdings throughout the world.

For more from the "Advocate" go here. 

Worcester Massachusetts,  K.J. Rawson, assistant professor of English at the College of the Holy Cross, recently launched the world’s first Digital Transgender Archive (DTA), a collection of transgender-related historical materials. Rawson’s project was recognized in 2013-14 with funding from the American Council of Learned Societies Digital Innovation Fellowship, awarded each year to a handful of academics to advance digital humanistic scholarship.

From left: Alison Laing, Ariadne Kane, Dottie Laing, Dallas Denny, Marilyn Volker, and Pam Geddes at Fantasia Fair.

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Ker Plunk! Listen up! Another Sunday edition is hitting your virtual front porch! It's a chilly Spring day here in Cincinnati, so grab a cup o joe (coffee) and get started,

Page One: The Week that Was or Wasn't: On the national scene battles continue to rage on the local and state scenes on transgender rights. Good luck on yours, even though luck is secondary and activism is first. Speaking of activism, I was pleasantly surprised Friday night when the "Circle" Meetup group Liz and I are part of announced they would be supporting a table at this year's Cincinnati Pride weekend. Keep in mind, only about three out fifty members are LGBT orientated and I would have never suggested doing this.

Page Two: Seeing is Good: I mentioned earlier this week that I ordered feminine glasses for the first time in my life. Previously, I wore none at all or just wore my old male glasses. In a serious twist on a funny saying, A blind squirrel roots out an acorn, this squirrel found the acorn and I kind of like the glasses I picked out. More importantly, my fashion coordinator (Liz) approved too and Connie, the glasses actually hide some of my wrinkles. I do have bifocals without lines so as I write this with glasses is different. Not that it will be making my writing any better.

Page Four: The Back Page: Today's edition is short because it seems, every second of the day is planned, including a two hour meeting of my writer's meet up group. You all have a great Sunday and thanks for stopping by Cyrsti's Condo!

Gender Fluid?

Recently, I saw a comment on a blog I follow which I totally disagreed with.

Basically the commenter was totally against the idea of a person feeling one gender one day and another the next. The argument was essentially you can't have your cake and eat it too.

Obviously the person had not heard of, considered or believed in the idea of "gender fluidity." It's relatively new and tough on a lot of people who want to stay within the binaries. This time the gender ones.

For the longest time, I have felt I have been gender fluid more than a strict transgender woman. Now though, I am tipping the scale to the feminine side, except for a couple days coming up I know I will have to tip to what's left of my guy self.

So I find very little problem with claiming both my shares of the cake -and with ice cream!  Why? Because I deserve it for all the hell I have gotten over the years. Plus, it's fun to be dressed totally as a guy with Liz and be called a girl.

So those you reject the gender fluid term out of hand should feel fortunate they did not have to wake up most mornings trying to figure out which gender you were.

By The Numbers

If there was ever a survey I didn't want to see Ohio show up towards the top in, it's the one I saw on Femulate from Twitter:










Or:


Thanks Stana!!!

Who Put the "S" in Stealth?

I remember 'back in the day' when stealth was a dirty word among some(including me). Somehow it just seemed like those transgender or transsexual individuals who were blessed with the looks or the money, to jump the gender fence and ...disappear. Then, the more I discovered the trans community, I could understand why.

It seemed those who stayed close enough to shine a light on the process also weren't the most pleasant peeps in the world.

So now, I often wonder who put the 'S' in my increasing degree of stealth. I can say no one "ran me out" and I will (in the foreseeable future) continue my writings on the state of being a transgender woman will continue.

In the meantime, I also am not going into any public places where I am not noticed and scream "Hey! I'm trans."


Guilt somehow enters into all of this. The Goddess has blessed me with all my acquaintances who for the most part are non LGBT peeps and my partner for a reason to be named later.

If you ever hear it from me, assume I have passed to the other side and since I am not Houdini I am not coming back. 

All of this sounds like a topic for my therapist and I to talk about at my next Veterans Administration visit.

Speaking of the VA, I was in the Social Services office the other day asking for info they provide on setting up a living will etc. I was standing at the desk when a genuine transgender veteran woman comes out of one of the offices. Wow!

I said "hello" but didn't have a chance to talk. I will in the future.

The Good News or the Bad News

When someone asks me that I say "Give me the bad first, the good will feel better!" 

Sort of like yesterday, I received my new checks to use, but now I have to use them.

Then today as I showed up for my blood letting (Phlebotomy), as I was checking in, the only two guys in the waiting room asked was it "a boy or girl." I tensed up and whirled around ready to go to war with them until it turned out they were talking about a story on CBS This Morning called "Raising Ryland. About an eight year old transgender boy.

Ryland and Mom

The good news happened to be both of them seemingly did not have a negative attitude about it. They were just amazed he used be "a girl" at all (their words.)