Summer has always been Sophie’s favorite time of year. Not just because it’s warm and you get enough sun to create the vitamin D your body needs. Summer was the time when her parents and older brother would go to their vacation home and Sophie stayed so she could work at the hamburger place. During that alone time she dressed in women’s clothes as often as she could.
Sophie Lynne is done hitting the books and composing compositions in her quest for n advanced degree. For now. She takes some time to decompress and share her thoughts on Pennsylvania politics in the race for governor and a Senate seat.
Sophie Lynne examines the prevalence of the “trans panic defense” in the murder trials of men who have killed trans women. Supposedly these men, according to their attorneys, were so shocked to learn that the woman they hooked up with was trans their only recourse was to murder their would-be sex partner. The number of murderers who get away with using the TPD make it look like these senseless killings are legal in many states.
Sophie Lynne has had her share of troubles. Some much that it’s given her the blues. Today she gives voice to her pain with Transgender Talking Blues.
Holly Boswell was an author, a trans activist and a force in the evolving transgender community. She passed away in 2017. For all she did for promoting understanding of transgender issues she should have gained greater noteriety. Today our TGForum contributor Sophie Lynne admits that she had never heard of Holly Boswell. Then she mentions a few other people that should be well known in the transgender community.
Sophie Lynne writes about loss and how secrecy over gender identity can mean that people we know in their true gender often just disappear when they pass away. When family and friends are not aware of of their loved one’s real self obituaries and tombstones only display the legal name of the deceased. Meanwhile their “found family” never gets to say goodbye.
Our condolences go to Sophie Lynne whose mother passed away just recently. Sophie’s blog today looks back on the time when she was young and her mother’s jewelry attracted her. So much so that felt compelled to wear some of it. Guilt made it only a one time thing. Except for that gold locket.
Sophie Lynne is sick as a dog today, so she wrote, “I’m going to have a guest writer. I share this piece every year on Facialbook. It was written by my dear sister Lisa Empanada in 2012 — her last Christmas. It really shows who she was. She died in September 2013.”
Sophie Lynne participated in Penn State University’s Transgender Day of Remembrance. While she read the names of trans people who were killed for being trans she began to think about the many trans people she knows. Either in person or online. And she recalls how she felt when she was not living her true life/
Sophie Lynne has written about how Halloween is the holiday that pushed her toward coming out as her true self. She has also written about how to have a fun femme time at various Halloween parties. Today she writes about what not to do on Halloween, particularly if you are not out to your friends and neighbors.
Last weekend, Penn State played Auburn. This was a big game: a “white out” where everyone wears all white and gets really drunk and noisy, etc. A bunch of the brothers from Sophie’s frat returned for the game, and were having a tailgate. Despite her contacting them they never responded. But she found another organization that welcomed her fully.
Today Sophie has listed some behaviors that out you as fast as wearing a sign reading “I am crossdressed.” Heed her advice on these few simple modifications in the areas of walking talking and basic interaction with others and you may avoid hearing whispers saying “I think that’s a man.”
Sophie reflects on the death of her friend Lisa as Lisa’s birthday nears. She would have been 60-years-old on August third. No one knows why she took her own life. Not even her friend Sophie. All she knows is that she misses her friend and Lisa’s birthday turns up the memories Sophie carries with her.
Sophie Lynne lost a friend a few days ago, someone who was very active in her local support organization and was very comfortable relating to the world from a feminine place. But she was not out to her family, meaning a friend from the trans community had to go to her home and clean out all hints that a woman was living there. Sophie’s friend will be laid to rest as a male and her friends from the community won’t even know that name. Sophie writes about how that feels.
Here comes the sun and the bad old days are done. Well, not entirely but at least the increased vaccinations have made it possible for people, including our Sophie Lynne, to get out and socialise a bit. After a year or more of isolating and distancing it could just be time to have fun again. Sophie blogs about that and how supporting those places that provide social interaction for trans folks is a good idea.
Our blogger Sophie Lynne is working on an advanced degree at Penn State University. The amount of reading and writing for a PhD can be overwhelming. That means that Sophie has had to take a break from writing her normal blog and wait for the carpal tunnel to calm down. In place of a normal blog Sophie is sharing one of her academic papers, an investigates of what it means to be transgender in the global south. Take notes as there will be a test.
Sophie writes about the manner in which the pandemic has affected her and other trans people. She wonders how bad it might have been for her if the pandemic had hit while she was still in the closet, dressing only once a month for events that would have been canceled by the virus.
Sophie and her roommate Linda took a trip to Michigan. After they arrived in her roommate’s hometown they stopped in at a local restaurant that her roommate remembered as a decent place to get a meal. They had not reckoned on having to deal with a member of the waitstaff who refused to serve them. Was it because Sophie and Linda are trans? And was the food as good as Linda remembered?
Sophie Lynne shows examples of what the new administration has done to the benefit of transgender people in the first few weeks of his administration. Then she shows how much the Republican Party has done to make laws that undermine transgender rights. It’s a stark contrast to say the least.
Sophie Lynne is attending graduate school in central Pennsylvania at PSU and working in State College to pay the bills. Between her studies, work, and the pandemic she is feeling more and more isolated. The area seems to have no trans community and Sophie finds herself missing the companionship of other trans women.
Sophie has handed in her last her last paper of the semester at PSU and Happy Valley is not so happy cause a snowstorm has covered everything in a thick carpet of white. But on one hand things are looking up. Her candidate won the presidential election and she doesn’t have sleep apnea. But on other hand. . .
When Joe Biden won the election Sophie paused for a momentary sigh of relief. Then the reality of having to live with the current president in office for two more months and there is a load of people on the right who believe Biden did not win, that the Democrats rigged the election and there may well be trouble from the right wing militia groups who back 45. Read her other thoughts about the right wing bullies.
Sophie Lynne gives you a spooky story for spooky time. A tale told by a bartender to a young woman while snow falls heavily outside and even though the lights are on it starts to get dark inside. She gets to drink one on the house while the bartender, who happens to own the place, tells her stories about the fella who used to own it and a strange violent incident that happened in that very room.
Sophie Lynne is concerned that the coming election could maintain the current administration with disastrous results for transgender people. The president made a promise during his campaign in 2016 that he would be the most friendly president to the LGBTQ community, ever. For the past three and a half years the administration has done nothing positive for transgender people. Sophie offers some advice on what every trans person should do on November third.
Sophie Lynne joins us today with some musing over the question, are you working on your resume or your obituary? The question comes from a friend of Sophie’s who said “At this point in my life, I am working on my obituary, not my resume. I want to be thought of, and remembered for having the right priorities, few regrets, and helping others.” This prompted Sophie to do some heavy thinking and she shares her conclusion with you in today’s blog.
Sophie Lynne, Penn State University graduate student got and email from the school with the subject line, “Are You Prepared? Real Talk About Race and Identity in the Classroom.” The talk will be by Dr. Seria Chatters and will take place over Zoom. Participants are to submit questions ahead of time. Sophie felt it incumbent on her to ask the doctor what about transgender students on the PSU campus? How “safe’ can a transgender or non-binary student be at PSU? Read the full text of her question today and in coming weeks she will, if she gets one, post the answer.
