Pride

Yesterday was a very long day for my partner Liz and I. It was Cincinnati Pride Day.  A medium sized event (as far as Prides go) with around 100,000 people attending.

Our day started around eight in the morning since we also set up a promotional booth for our fall Cincinnati Witches Ball. I stayed in the booth while Liz and a couple others walked in the parade. Doing so, I was able to escape the early showers that ended early in the afternoon.

Since we set up a booth, we had to stay all day until nine at night, so as I wrote, it made for a long exciting day.

Cincinnati, Ohio Pride Parade

During the day, I was able to "escape" a couple times and visit the booth the cross dresser - transgender group I am part of too. They did so well they passed out all the information they brought by around four in the afternoon.

Of course what I like about Pride the most were the younger people being able to celebrate being themselves in a totally inclusive environment. The whole day gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling for the future. Once the majority of the old white power dinosaurs finish dying off and the kids take over, they can change the world.

As for me yesterday, by the time the day was over, I was feeling every bit of my nearly seventy years on this planet. Part of me was happy the day was over but another part of me was sad too.

Even though I live my own Pride 24/7, I can't wait for next year!

Staying up Late

Last night's monthly dinner social with the transgender - cross dresser group we are part of came off as predicted...good food and over by nine. About that time, word started to spread about a Cincinnati Pride kick off party at a old restored theater. Since Liz had the day off Friday, we decided to go.

The crowd at the kick off party was predictable but fun. I am fairly sure I was one of the few transgender people in the venue. Most of the participants were gay men interspersed by lesbians and drag queens. In particular one drag king performer put on a sexy burlesque show which was dynamite.

To make a long story short, I drank too many beers and stayed out late but a good time was had by all.

Janet Mock

From Out Magazine:

After writing, producing, and directing for FX’s Pose as well as being signed on to direct an episode of Ryan Murphy’s upcoming series The Politician, Janet Mock has announced an overall deal with Netflix. The announcement makes history as she is the first trans person to establish an overall deal with a major studio.

“This deal is so bonkers,” she said in the announcement video, released today. “I, of course, will be writing and directing a few hush hush projects that I can’t really talk about, but one of them is a half-hour drama and another is a college series. So I’m really excited for that.” The latest episode of Pose, the ballroom drama, now set in the early 1990s, was titled “Worth It” and written by Mock. Mock’s directorial debut “Love Is the Message,” the sixth episode in Pose’s first season is also being considered for an Emmy.

“This is the first kind of deal of its kind for a trans person, no less a trans woman of color,” she continued in the announcement. You know 84% of Americans say that they don’t know and or work with a trans person, and so there’s potential now with Netflix’s worldwide audience to introduce millions, hundreds of millions of viewers to trans people and showing people who may not understand us that we can tell our own stories.”

Can't wait to hear more!

"Bee" in the Bonnet

Connie reacted to my relatively radical post about transgender women versus drag queens:

 ConnieJune 17, 2019 at 5:02 PM

"Oh my! How did that bee get in your bonnet? While you may get some argument on that statement from some people, you won't get one from me. I sometimes wonder if drag queens should be under the transgender umbrella, either.

There are transgender women who do drag, and there are even some cis women who admit to doing drag, as well. There is some entertainment value to both the drag-or and the drag-ee, I suppose, but -to me - it's all about flaunting a caricature of a woman. I would never want to be perceived as doing that, myself, but it is disconcerting to know that there are quite a few people who think that transgender women are drag queens.
When I perform on stage, my makeup and attire are certainly more edgy than what my ordinary look is. It's sometimes difficult for me to be happy with my stage appearance because I feel that I might be seen as a drag queen. I don't do a drag act, by any means, however.

Nowadays, I may even be pegged a drag queen if I read a story to a group of children - since the popularity of "Drag Queen Story Time," anyway. :-)"

I am glad you asked. What really got me going the other day was when I watched coverage promoting the upcoming Cincinnati Pride parade. Of course, I saw the usual cross dresser in a prom dress riding along on the first car followed by a garishly painted drag queen in the second. Fortunately, this must have been old stock footage the station used, because I know for a fact (counting this year) two out of the last three parade marshals have been real live transgender women. Not a caricature of a woman who doesn't represent me at all. 

While I realize not all drag queens aren't gay guys, I still don't want the average citizen watching the news to think it's true and miss the whole point of celebrating the transgender world as a whole.  

I guess transgender is a lifestyle while drag is entertainment.

Hunter Schafer

From Rachel Paige:

"You’ve probably heard the name Hunter Schafer before, and if you haven’t you should definitely learn it. She’s only 20 years old and already a star on the rise in the worlds of modeling, acting, and maybe most important especially in this day in age, LGBTQ rights.

Schafer is a trans woman who stars as Jules in HBO’s brand new series Euphoria where she’s also playing a trans teenager who’s just transferred to a new school. Much like everyone else on Euphoria, Jules gets into some rather difficult to watch scenes that are sure to have audiences talking — but maybe for the right reasons. Even in 2019, it’s rare to see trans characters on screen, and even rarer for them to actually be played by transgender actors (GLAAD's survey of 2017 and 2018 media found only 17 trans characters in all of television — a measly five percent)."

For more, follow the link above.

A VERY Important Distinction

Transgender women are NOT drag queens!!!

Busier Week

All sorts of things are happening this week.

Today I had my "Parent's Day" breakfast with my accepting daughter. It was very enjoyable, especially when the server finished up our meal with "You ladies have a nice day."

Tomorrow is my monthly visit to my therapist. One of these month's I am going to keep tract of who asked the most questions...her or me. Of course since I don't lead the most exciting life, sometimes there just isn't much to talk about except in the rare instances I am dealing with a lot of anxiety.

It's Pride week here in Cincinnati and Wednesday I have volunteered to help the transgender - cross dresser group I am in with an information table at the local VA hospital.  I went last year and it was a very nice event.

Thursday my partner Liz and I are going to the regular monthly dinner for the same group. Hopefully the server who called me "he" last time, get's my gender right this time. If she doesn't, she will hear about it.

Friday, I return to my hair stylist for a trim and shaping of my hair. I think I can go another appointment without having her color it again.

Friday night we have a another spiritual meetup celebrating the longest day of the year.

Finally, Saturday the main Cincinnati LGBTQ Pride parade and festival is taking place. We are all hoping for good weather this year! It's a very long day since we set up and promote our October Witches Ball Halloween Party. Normally though, a good time is had by all. 

Happy "Parent's Day"

Today is Father's Day, or Parent's Day as my daughter prefers to call it.

As far as my Dad was concerned, he seemed to follow a trend I saw this morning on the news. Current Fathers spend three times the amount of time with their kids as Dad's did back in 1965. I would have been approximately halfway through high school.

I respected my Dad but I can't say we were ever able to express any love between each other. Our roles seemed to be deeply predefined.  Plus we were deeply divided on what was going on in the country in the 60's.

He was a child of the Great Depression and a survivor of World War II. Very much the self made man.

He passed on years ago and to my knowledge never had any idea of my gender problems.

Happy Father's Day Dad!

Transgender Racer

During our lives, most of us are busy trying to out run our own gender disorders. Charlie Martin is literally trying to do the same thing. From CNN:

"Standing amid the fevered atmosphere of the Le Mans 24 Hour race, Charlie Martin had an epiphany.

One day he wanted to race at the iconic French cathedral of motorsport -- home to the world's oldest endurance race that takes place again this weekend -- instead of watching rain-soaked from the sidelines.

But this dream was secondary to another, more urgent desire that beat inside his body like a pulse.

If he raced it would be as a woman.

Charlie Martin 

"Back then I wasn't even racing," Martin explained to CNN Sport. "But if you could have granted me any wish -- apart from changing my gender which was always the default answer -- it would have been to race at Le Mans.

"It is such a festival for petrol-heads and I came away spellbound; it was everything, the feat of endurance, what the cars go through, the scale of it in front of 300,000 fans."

For more, follow the links above.