Remembering Jenny Jensen
Sophie muses on a bad week made sadder by the loss of one of her mentors who was there to help when Sophie was beginning to find herself.
Category: Transgender Body & Soul
Happy New Year
Every major religion has language of peace and love in its traditions. Sadly many so-called Christians have stopped reading the parts of their holy book that speaks of peace and love. Of treating your neighbor as you wish to be treated and helping those who are in need of help. Instead there are Christians who want God to smite those with whom they disagree. They pray for storms and floods to afflict those they see as enemies while ignoring our shared humanity.
How Well Do I Pass?
Passing. At times the community can become focussed on passing. And most of us go through the obsession with passing phase. Admittedly, in some areas of the U.S. passing is more important than in other areas. Our Contributor Michelle Rogers lives in one of those not-so tolerant areas. In her blog today she takes a look at herself and grades her performance in the passing game.
The Road Not Taken, Part II
Linda continues her friend Sally’s story of Melissa, a part-time T-girl who had balanced a successful career as a male educator with years of going out on the town as a fun-loving female. This time she tells how her life could have unfolded with one little twist in her story.
Trans Loneliness
A recent report from the U.S. Surgeon General warned of significant increases in loneliness. The transgender community has been dealing with loneliness for a considerable amount of time. Dana Bevan looks at the problem and has several suggestions on how lonely trans people can move from lonely to connected.
“My wife is not a controversy!”
Amanita contributed to TGForum with an advice column titled Ask Amanita. She is a gender counselor and activist who advocates for the transgender community. Her spouse is a trans woman. This post is about how her wife’s transition, which Amanita fully supported, caused changes in their social standing in their community. How they had to make new friends when the old ones retreated, and how much the discrimination hurts. Share this post with any cisgender allies.
Trans Day of Visibility Special
Friday March 31 was Transgender Day of Visibility. This is a day where we work to bring ourselves out and bring justice for those in our community who are being oppressed. Rabbah Rona writes that this year TDOV happened the weekend before Passover begins and there are connections between TDOV and Passover.
Discovery of Lesbians
Dana Bevan spent years trying to cover up her feminine nature and present a masculine front to the world. With the passing of her wife Dana began a serious look at herself and realized that she needed to be her true self. After transitioning she thought that the door to dating and romantic relationships was closed and locked. Being sexually attracted to women was the way she was and she had no interest in dating men. A light bulb went on when she learned about lesbians. How did visiting lesbian hangouts work out? Read this post by Dana Bevan.
Retro Rerun 1998: The Need To Be Seen
Our Retro Rerun today is from 1998. Diane Hutchison wrote about her battle with gender dysphoria. She describes how she felt when she was presenting herself to the world as a male but feeling feminine longing, and how painful it was to try and hide her true nature from family and friends.
CenterPeace Conference
On November 3-5,2022, Elizabeth Marie attended Center Peace “A Place at the Table” conference in Dallas Texas. The conference. As a religious trans woman Elizabeth was happy to find a conference that might help her reconcile her faith with her feelings of womanhood. After she arrived she found that it wasn’t just the panels and seminars on religion and transgender issues. It was the wonderful people who were attending. Just meeting others who follow the teachings of Jesus but don’t confirm to what most religions expect was wonderful. She reports on the conference and offers other resources for those like her.
Coping
Kandi Robbins spent many years in the closet using many strategies to cope with the stress of hiding her feminine side. Work and being a good husband and father took up a lot of time. Time that she could push aside the desire that came from deep inside. After she came out people have asked her how she coped with the stress. She tells you in today’s post.
So Lonely
This article explores some of the same issues that Michelle discussed in an earlier article about being alone as a transgender person. However, while this piece has some personal insights, it is more of a general look at a similar but distinct situation for the overall transgender community. That makes it worth a separate article.
Double Vision
Today Christy Lewis likens her existence before she transitioned to having double vision. With the strain of living in two genders and making sure no one she knew as one gender never met her when she was presenting as a gender they were unaware of no wonder things were blurry.
Trauma Passed Down
Rabbah Rona Matlow recently submitted a scholarly paper about generational trauma in the Book of Genesis, in the Hebrew Bible. She has found evidence that the trauma experienced by previous generations is passed down to children and grandchildren of those who experienced the original pain. Not only does she find it in the Book of Genesis but in members of the transgender community.
The Day My Dad Died
When Cassandra Williamson’s father was dying Cassandra had not yet come out and was keeping any hint of her true self hidden from sight. She was a manly Marine Corp officer who had a reputation for doing what needed to be done, more like a machine than a person. She was used to tamping down her emotions when she interacted with others but in private her grief over her father’s condition spilled out. Cassandra shares the story of the day her father died.
Aging While Trans and Happy Holidays
We again this year have the Winter Solstice occur with a new moon, making things extremely dark. This is why so many far northern cultures developed the Yule festivals in the first place. Of course practices from the Yule are what are seen now in the Christmas tree, the Hanukkah and Kwanzaa candles and many other winter holiday features. We work to bring light into a very dark time in our lives.
If It Doesn’t Taste Good Stop Eating It
Someone viewed Liberty Storer’s blog on living with a crossdresser and found it nasty. They didn’t like it so much that they sent her a message outlining all the reasons it made them ill. This caused Liberty to try and imagine why someone would keep eating something that tasted bad.
Families We Choose
Many times people become separated from their families. This occurs for a variety of reasons. Oftentimes transgender people either leave their biological family rather than face coming out to them, or, more often, they do come out and are rejected by those who should offer love and support. Today Dana Bevan looks at the idea of finding home in a chosen family.
Trans Spirituality – Veterans Day Special Edition
In keeping with Veteran’s Day Rabbah Rona Matlow reflects on her time in the service and how she had a revelation that changed her destination in life. She knew that she was meant to rabbi. She also looks at the way the U.S. uses its military might around the world.
The Origins of Transgender Day of Remembrance
November 20 is the Transgender Day of Remembrance and Ms. Bob Davis writes story of how it came to be. It began as one person’s quest to preserve transgender history and to memorialize those who died by violence year after year. Now it is observed far and wide as transgender people fall victim to violence.
A Sabrina Symington Cartoon: It’s Gonna Be Okay
Sabrina Symington pulls our attention away from the meanies and haters and shows what’s important in life.
The Importance of “Transparent”
Recently Liberty Storer binge watched Transparent and finds that it marked forward movement in people’s understanding of transgenderism. She now believes it was an important step in raising awareness among cisgender people about an often misunderstood and growing segment of our society. Read on for her other conclusions regarding the show.
Project-ing Halloween
Sophie Lynne is working on getting a graduate degree at Penn State. That’s a hard lift and studies tend to take up most of one’s time. And the stress is a bigger load than the homework. So Sophie needs to de-stress and she turns to an activity that has worked for her in the past.
Re-domestication
Christy Lewis feels that due to the pandemic restrictions people have spent too much time homebound and remote in the previous two years. She has hopes of a return to a domesticated state in which they are warm, humane, and genuine.
Trans Spirituality, Sukkot
Rabbah Rona Matlow writes about the Fall Festival of Sukkot. A celebration that requires Jews to make a temporary structure outside their homes. The structure is meant to remind the faithful of the image of God spreading a Sukkah or covering of Peace over them as they lay down to sleep.
