Rabbah Rona Matlow uses the just passed Transgender Day of Visibility as a starting point for today’s post. The need for such a day shows that being visible can be dangerous. And, while all major religions preach love there are too many that promote orthodox doctrines which makes “othering” people easy.
Felicia Jeen is a 63-year-old transgender woman born and raised in New York City (NYC). Her entire business career was also experienced in the Big Apple. And as you will learn, for Felicia, if you can make it there (NYC), you can make it anywhere. Today she is the subject of Tell Shelley Anne.
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?
Early spring greetings to TGForum readers! The snow is clearing, the days are getting longer, the weather is warming up, and the trees and shrubs are budding — unmistakable signs of a long-awaited spring. For those of us who love to garden and landscape, it’s finally time to prepare and assemble this year’s annuals, perennials, […]
Rabah Rona Matlow takes a look at how the words of ancient religious texts are too often cherry picked for justification of modern prejudices. A deeper study of the texts would reveal the true meaning but too many people cling to the superficial understanding as it agrees with what they believe.
While Claire Hall is normally an optimistic person a few weeks ago she found herself sliding to the dark side. Various things triggered her into a funk over how long she took to finally admit she had to embrace being a woman. Today she writes about how she came back from that dark place.
Dana Bevan posted six of her 12 Suggested Rules for Transgender Flourishing in her last post. The rules are designed to help boost transgender visibility and promote the existence of trans people as just another part of our society. Today Dana posts the remaining six rules.
A couple of years ago TGForum founding momma Cindy Martin wrote about breast pumping to enlarge male breasts and that post has been very popular. Today she reports that pumping did increase her bust but not to the extent she was hoping for. And it took a long time to get any results. Now she has a post on silicone breastplates. She outlines the pros and cons of wearing one and shows how to modify them for more ease of use.
When Claire Hall heard about the #nowandthenchallenge she gave in and decided to share the enormous change she went through from 2000 to 2021. In 2000 she was bearded, obese, and miserable. Take a look at the photo she shows from this year and you could use it to illustrate the word “happy”.
Today Rabbah Rona looks at holy texts and concludes that being nonbinary, transgender, intersexed or asexual is far from being the abomination that many who profess to adhere to Christianity believe. God created the world (and the whole universe) with many different options. Being LGBTQ+ is just as natural as anything in that universe.
Coach Char has some advice that would benefit most everyone but works for transgender people, too. Try practicing what she advocates and see if you don’t have an easier time going through life.
Kandi doesn’t believe she “passes” when she interacts with the larger community but she appreciates it when those she interacts with, whether in church, out shopping, or dining out, refer to her as “her” and “she”. She always feels a thrill when she hears those words used to describe her.
From time to time most transgender people get asked questions by people who don’t want to learn about being trans but want to embarass and demean the transgender person. Asking what your “real” name is or if you’re gay and dress up to attract men are questions that should not be asked. If you find yourself in a situation where mean questions are coming your way Chrissy Gann has some standard answers you might like to know.
Christy Lewis writes about what happiness means to her. In the old days a good rock concert could make her happy. Now she has other things that make her glow with happiness. She outlines a few of them in The View From Christy’s World.
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.
With Martin Luther King day coming soon Rabbah Rona Matlow finds a connection between the struggles of the Black community fighting for quality and freedom, and the suffering of the Israelites under the foot of an insecure pharaoh in ancient Egypt.
Dana Bevan began exploring asexuality in transgender people and it made her come out as a gyne-sapio-romantic asexual stone butch transgender lesbian. If you would like to know just what that strand of words means you will have to read her thoughts on the incidence of asexuality in the transgender community.
Sometimes people get into relationships that become toxic. The thing to do is leave that relationship but as Charee writes today, it’s not that simple. Many things can stand in the way of leaving behind the drama and conflict. But, if you decide that you won’t take it anymore things can improve. You may experience A Magical Paradox like Charee did.
Chrissy takes a look back at the beginning of her transition and sees how far she has come. Just a few years ago she was complaining to her therapist that people were constantly misgendering her. She shares a photo she found recently that gave her a clue about the misgendering.
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. . .
Rabbah Rona goes into the reasons that many of the world’s holidays happen in the darkest times of winter. Ze points to ancient pre-biblical texts that instruct people to light up these dark times. But ze points out, not everyone, like trans people who are alone on the holidays, can push back the darkness.
Today Claire Hall sends a letter to her ten-year-old-self. Does she tell little Claire to invest in certain stocks or place bets on teams that have won the World Series? No, she just has advice she would have loved to get when she was ten and feeling like she was the only person in the world who had a boy body but knew she was a girl. See what thoughts Claire would send to her young self it was possible.
Sophie Marie needed to update her life insurance coverage. She had concerns that her change in gender status would negatively affect how the company measured their risk. Would they give her male rates, female rates? After some research she found that each company has a different policy on transgender people. And, she was going to have to go for a physical. How would that go? Read on!
The saying goes, “Let a smile be your umbrella.” While it’s not normal to go around smiling all the time the smile is a tool in women’s tool kit that they use to deal with social situations. It certainly works much better than not making eye contact, staring at the floor while you mumble something. Today Kandi elaborates on one of her important rules — be confident. That means when you go to an event don’t be shy. Don’t act like you’re nervous or worried that people might “read” you. Just look them in the eye, smile and say hello. Of course during the pandemic you have to convey the smile using only your eyes, but once we get through with the virus be sure to utilize those pearly whites.
Dr. Dana Bevan had some time recently to sit down and read through the backlog of scientific papers she had accumulated. Among them she found three papers that dealt with genetic factors that may actually have direct implications for transgender folks and why we are who we are.
Charee took coming out as her true self in small steps. But one small step led to another and soon she found herself completely out. Then two month ago a custom home builder friend of hers called to ask if she was available to work on a job. When she reported to work she was introduced as Char. Read on to find out how it went from there.
