A Place For Us
By and large we don’t live in a world where a person born male can embrace his feminine side and explore feminine glamor unhindered by the disapproval of society. The general public do not understand why a male would find femininity attractive within himself. Men are supposed to appreciate it in the opposite sex but to indulge in it in their own lifestyle is thought to be unmanly, effeminate, and probably gay.
Faced with this attitude from those around us men who are attracted to expressing femininity most often chose to hide it. And so we have the birth of the closet cross dresser. Since for many CDs the act of dressing up, or having fantasies of dressing up, is sexually arousing makes it even harder (no pun intended) to ever discuss the urge with anyone. That is why we need places to go, both physical and cyber, where we can talk with others like ourselves and share common experiences.
Angela at work in the old Renaissance office.
JoAnn Roberts and I were both just starting to poke our heads out of the closet in the late 1980s when we met and shortly thereafter decided that our area needed a place where transgender people could go to meet others, get information and grow as males who embraced their femininity. With several other people’s help we started Renaissance.
Then in the 1990s JoAnn got together with two other TGs to create TGForum on the Internet. Before the proliferation of social networking sites and services TGF served as a place where people at all spots on the TG spectrum could network, communicate and share. Like all things created by humans, for a period of time TGF boomed with members who were active and vital, then, inevitably, it didn’t keep up with the changing times and slid into disuse. Things had gotten a little bit slow around here by last year and the decision was made to pull the site into the 21st century. That process is still underway.
Much has changed since the days when Cindy Martin would get author’s copy via email, format it and upload it to the TGF server. The very nature of HTML code has changed since those first pages hit the Web. Modern Web software gives Web based publishers so many more option for presenting content that when contrasted with those early days of TGF it is astonishing. Video, slide shows, instant commenting. All these things are made possible by the advances in software that allowed us to upgrade TGF.
But, the upgrade is an ongoing process and to continue to follow our chosen path of providing the best darned site possible with information and networking for members of the TG community we need your support. Please take a moment today to visit our donation page and make a contribution to support our work to speed up TGF’s delivery of information, and to help us find and present more content of interest to you, our users. The donation doesn’t have to be large. What do you spend on a pair of pantyhose or a new lipstick? Less than that will be adequate to help us out as long as a number of users make donations. And, be sure to patronize our advertisers! They are here on TGF because they want to serve the needs of people like us.
Thanks for your continued support! With your help we will make TGForum the best site for transgender people anywhere.
Category: All TGForum Posts
About the Author (Author Profile)
Angela Gardner is a founding member of The Renaissance Transgender Assoc., Inc., former editor of its newsletter and magazine, Transgender Community News. She was the Diva of Dish for TGF in the late 1990s and Editor of LadyLike magazine until its untimely demise. She has appeared in film and television shows portraying TG characters, as well as representing Renaissance on numerous talk shows.Subscribe
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As a member of TG Forum since the early days, I’ll have to say to you newer girls, TG Forum is here today because of the dedication JoAnn and Angela have given to the site for you and for me.
Thinking of a request for a few bucks to help out financing upgrades to the site isn’t much. In TG Forum’s early days annual membership fee was $35.00. When was the last time you paid a membership fee here? Have you ever had to pay a fee?
Please do us all a favor and dig in to your purse and donate a few bucks to not only keep TG Forum alive, but to help bring it in to the 21st century.
While you’re at it, use the site. It’s being modified for your use. Have you visited the “Forum” section yet? There’s a wealth of knowledge available in the girls who are site members. To get answers to your questions…and who doesn’t have questions, drop by the forum and post your questions.
JoAnn and Angela, again, from a user since the beginning, thanks for all you’ve given to the Transgender Community.
Kristyn
Thanks Kristyn!