Within the trans community there are different factions, cliques, gender identities and opinionated people. Today Cate O’Malley writes about how all those different types of people need to get along and that everyone who identities outside cisgender norms is entitled to full membership in the trans community. Also, they need they need the support of that community.
Restrooms and locker rooms. The ban of many a trans woman’s existence. Should she go into the lady’s room to do what is necessary or should she hold it till she can get home. Many trans people plan their public outings around when they will be able to use the facilities or around a single stall restroom they are familiar with. Why the paranoia? Because of the straight world’s fear that trans women represent a threat to cisgender women in women’s “safe spaces.” Angela Gardner has some thoughts on the matter in a Dispatch From The Restroom Wars.
When The Artist D says that her husband is a coffee table she means that he has a fetish for being used as a coffee table by dominates. There are plenty of other what could be considered “odd” fetishes but is there really a line separating the ones that seem strange from more everyday fetishes? Could baking apple pies with a willing partner also be a fetish? Expand your thoughts and read this post from The Artist D.
Babs Casbar Siperstien helped to get anti-discrimination legislation passed in New Jersey in 2006. That passage took a full court press and featured testimony from trans people and their families, a television ad and a lot of time spent walking the halls of the state capital. Babs feels that the efforts in Houston to get the HERO bill passed fell short in reaching many of the demographics that needed to be won over. See what she believes went wrong in Houston and how it could have been handled better.
When Southern Comfort pulled up stakes and moved to Florida many of the people in the Atlanta area who had volunteered and done work for that conference were left with skills in conference producing that were no longer needed. The Transgender Health Education Alliance stepped in the produce a new conference with a focus on trans health and improving the lives of LGBTQ people. Dana Bevan reports on how the conference turned out.
He, him, she, her, hers, his. Pronouns used in the English language to denote the gender of the person being mentioned in conversation. Markers that put you in the male or female category upon which how you are treated by society rests. Lately a new term has entered the language: preferred gender pronoun. Cate O’Malley isn’t too happy with that term. Do you wonder why? Read on.
Now that Halloween is done people begin to turn their attention to the other holidays that are more family oriented. Thanksgiving and Christmas are approaching. For many people these holidays with with family focus are not joyful. They can be lonely and painful. Especially in the case of people who have been rejected by their families because of who they are. Sophie Lynne has a suggestion that may help some people through the holiday season.
Dina Amberle has cooked up a big hearty pot of Diner stew to keep you warm on a cool fall day. She’s added in such ingredients as a short history of lady’s leg-wear, some Fook-Yi & Fook-Yu, a touch of jewelry designer Betony Vernon, a dash of a crossdresser robber, and she seasons it with some spicy Rocky Horror Picture Show. Take a seat at the counter or slide into a booth and order your entree down at Dina’s Diner.
Our late founder JoAnn Roberts called Halloween a holy day of obligation for crossdressers. It is the one day in the year that regular guys can experiment with wearing women’s clothing without repercussions from their friends. The Artist D believes that Halloween should happen everyday and what the world needs is more straight men wearing dresses. If they did that the whole world would shift and anything would be cool.
Dina Amberle has been working in the kitchen at her diner and she has grilled up some tasty treats for you today. There are 5 specials on the menu. An appetizer of Kellie Maloney starts the specials. Then Dina tosses in the reincarnation of the Hee Haw Honeys, followed by a serving of a new play that features drag queens and tops it off with a dessert featuring a large helping of short-shorts. You can find it all in Dina’s Diner.
The general public, thanks to the burst of publicity generated by Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner, and others, has come to know the word “transgender.” But do they know the diversity of the people that fall under the transgender umbrella? Is it possible that crossdressers are being seen as trans women? If so, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Do CDs want to be the invisible transvestites?
Is it good to be seated at the popular girls’ table? Groucho Marx said he wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would accept him as a member. Being out in the open and popular could dim the glamor that shown so strong as part of the underground. Even a cool club get’s boring when the “bridge and tunnel” crowd shows up. This year Southern Comfort has moved from Atlanta to Florida. Will Florida be too “bridge and tunnel”? Ch, ch, ch, changes.
Cate O’Malley has learned that no matter how supportive people in your life would like to be they may not be 100% on board with your gender choice. Sure, when you first tell them they be with you all the way but might that be them just wanting to not hurt your feelings with their doubts? Or maybe after some time spent with the new you negative feeling might surface. Today Cate runs through some of the “I support you but…” things she has gotten from family and friends.
When you’re contemplating gender transition it’s important to remember that there will be many challenges ahead. Even with the greater awareness of trans issues in recent years the trans road can be a bumpy one. It’s best to be aware of all the challenges that await you so you can do your best to prepare for meeting them head on.
The march from summer into fall and eventually to winter has a tendency to bring some people down. The falling leaves and the colder temperatures don’t evoke the pleasures that can be found in fall. For some it brings on depression. Sophie Lynne sees the world sliding into the autumn and she feels like this year we should seize the change and turn it positive by working to educate, agitate and make the world better for trans people.
The grill down at Dina’s Diner is heated up and ready to cook up some new dishes with ingredients gleaned from the press. Today Dina brings us Caitlyn costumes, gender-nuetral clothing, and a McDonald’s worker who is becoming a star. She also throws in some lightly sautéed musings on whether greater visibility for trans folk means CDs have more trouble passing. And some breast reduction for a TV star rounds out the menu. Where? Down at Dina’s Diner.
During a chance encounter with a feminist lesbian on a train The Artist D learns that feminist lesbians, at least this one, believe that trans women have no right to call themselves women. In their world if it has a penis, or ever did, it just can’t be a woman. And The Artist D knows that is not true.
Chanelle Nirok reminisces about the first time she went out for a night on the town as Chanelle. Like all beginning crossdressers she made some mistakes. One of them was to overdress. She found herself to center of attention when she had hoped to just be another woman in the crowd. See what it was like Turning Heads in Tampa.
A opinion piece in the Sunday edition of The New York Times has sparked an opinion piece by our editor, Angela Gardner. The Times piece talked about the large number of suicides in the post surgery trans community. The writer wondered why these suicides should occur. Angela thinks there are many reasons.
Amanda F. has been on the transition road, living her gender journey and getting near the point when she will need to take the surgical step. Today she examines where she’s been, how far she has come, and muses on what she has learned along the way. But today, rather than seeing transition as a journey down a road she likens it to jumping into the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland. Tag along with Amanda today while she patiently makes her way down.
Get ready! Dina Amberle has gotten all fresh ingredients, only the finest herbs and spices and whipped up another taste pleasing treat for this edition of Dina’s Diner. She stirs in some women athletes with too much testosterone. Then she adds some womanless beauty pageant info, a Japanese artist and the Herkie Jump. What’s the Herkie Jump? You’ll have to read this edition of Dina’s Diner to find out! (Unless you have some pompons in your closet.)
Despite it being possible to have any and all necessary surgery in the US or one of the European countries, many trans women opt to come to Thailand–but why? Christine Burr has a number of reasons why people make the trek to Thailand to complete their transition.
Chanelle Nirok, our young crossdresser, admits today that she is a poser. Oh! How could she? But who among the crossdressing community isn’t? And her admission is only so she can pass on some of her tips from how to work with the camera to get a photo you can be proud of years later. She has five suggestions she feels will make you look sexy and desirable as a female in your photos. See if you agree.
There has been a lot of bitching about Caitlyn Jenner and the way she is living her transition so publicly. Many in the trans community have this, that, or the other thing to say about how she has “come out” and how she is doing it as a celebrity with a reality TV show. The Artist D has a different take on Caitlyn’s life and she shares it with you today.
We get closer every day to the time when trans people can serve openly in the military. The Defense Department has now authorized conducting a study to determine the affect openly trans soldiers will have on the various branches of the service. Today Babs Casbar Seperstein runs through some of the important steps that lead to the start of the study and mentions some of the trans advocated who played a large role in moving open trans service along.
Dana Bevan was in the military for a long time. She served as a a stealth trans soldier and devoted much effort to keeping her gender status secret. Today she writes about what it was like to hide for all that time and how she did it. She then discusses what the changes will be with trans people serving openly.
