Our Colombian correspondent starts her blog today in English but then returns to her native tongue to blog about her philosophy of crossdressing. And she has another video that displays her grace and beauty. For a South American take on the crossdresser’s experience give Katherine Diaz’s blog a read. Don’t read Spanish? Never fear. That’s what they created Google Translate for.
We experience life in our own unique way as an expression of our values, beliefs and aspirations. I participate in a religious faith, and I attend an inclusive church, but I’m not a religious person. When I found something deeper than religion during a crisis many years ago, I found myself. I found that a […]
Life is, for some, a constant reevaluation of self. For others it is a set-in-stone path that leads straight from birth to death. Our contributor M is one of those evaluating types. They had been identifying as “gender queer” or “gender fluid” and accepting feminine or masculine pronouns. After coming to an epiphany about themselves M has realized they are “agender.” What does that mean? Is it another step on their journey or have they reached a final position in their relationship to gender? In a world that demands that people pick a gender and start playing will an agender identity work? Read on and see how M came to identify as agender and what it means to them.
Our newest contributor has come on board at the very last moment. We just got her first blog today. Her name is Claire H. and she is just beginning to explore the world of femininity after hiding her true nature for over fifty years. Today she writes about how she decided that she couldn’t put it off any longer and had to move into creating the identity she had always wanted to express.
Linda is musing on the path she took in life. She asks herself “Would my life have been different if I had not worked that summer in Toronto, if I had not wandered into that drag bar and if I had not gone home with one of the most beautiful girls I had ever met? I wonder about those ‘roads not taken.’” Of course there is a story attached to the night she wandered into that drag bar. Today she tells you the first part of the story.
Given the political atmosphere we find ourselves living in is it any wonder that trans people have grown fearful? The last administration worked on our behalf to make sure we were given our rights. The Justice Department went to bat for trans people who were discriminated against or attacked. The military was working on letting trans soldiers serve openly. Then with one election all protections and assistance from the federal level was snuffed out. Sophie Lynne is not optimistic that she will be able to survive the Trump administration. She does have an idea of what we all need to do. She discusses that in her blog today.
Raquel and Mark, two parts of one person that became separated after drinking a strange potion, have been transported to another land. They trek to the north to do battle with “the Magistrate” but have been told one of them will not survive the confrontation. In a house that is a duplicate of their childhood home Raquel meets her “mother” and then her “father.” Are these people who they seem to be? Is her father the Magistrate? Is any of this experience real? Could she be passed out on the floor inside a hut in the wood? Learn more in Chapter 14 of Metamorphosis.
It’s easy to forget just how large the United States of America is. In just a few hours you can fly from one coast to the other. Telephones and the internet put you in instant communication with people who live and work far from your locality. But try driving across the country like our Amanda F. Steele did. It took her days and she landed in the San Francisco area hoping for a better life. What she found is not what she hoped for, and she feels that in the vastness of our country she is very isolated.
Why are there so many trans people coming out and showing their true selves? Is it simply that the media has started to cover the story and more people have come to realize that they don’t have to keep themselves hidden? Or is it that the transgender support group movement and trans activism that burgeoned at the end of the last century achieved its goal? Maybe it’s bigger than that. It could be that there is a spiritual evolution taking place. That’s the theory that Tommie Smith expounds on today.
Saturday day was just another night for Sophie Lynne. A dinner of hamburger helper and relaxing after a long day at work. But for other transgender people there either was no Saturday night or they had to tolerate another night of mistreatment by bigoted people who use “difference” as a focus for their hate. Today Sophie reflects on her Saturday night and how other people with trans identities were treated.
Our Page Pundit Sophie Lynne takes a look at the latest book from trans advocate, activist, writer and editor Janet Mock. It’s title is Surpassing Certainty: What My Twenties Taught Me. Does Sophie feel the book teaches readers anything? She praises Janet Mock’s contributions to the continuing fight for trans rights, but as for the book. . . ? Read her review and see.
A teacher reads to her class from the Jazz Jennings’ book I Am Jazz and parents are outraged. A male student is allowed to wear dresses at school and the parents of another student remove their child from the school. If everything doesn’t comply with how people think it should be then they explode. Meanwhile the things that should create outrage are quietly ignored or swept under the rug. The Artist D! has a few words this month about the oppression of kids that comes from their parent’s expectations. And then there’s the outrage over those different colored crayons. . . .
Does the plethora of gender identities sometimes seem overwhelming? If it is for trans people then just imagine what the vanilla gendered population makes of it all. There’s gender non-conforming; non-binary; gender fluid’ gender queer, and that’s not to mention the load of new pronouns that have been created to use when talking about the differently gendered. “I’ll have to ask per and see what zee thinks.” Our Correspondent in Thailand, Christine Burr, would like to return sanity to the gender labelling process. Read on to get her view on the subject.
A gender clinic in Canada was diagnosing children as transgender and then subjecting them to “reparative” therapy. The clinic claimed that their therapy was effective in getting eighty percent of the children to stop acting out trans behavior. There was only one major flaw in their data (along with several small flaws). The majority of the children were not transgender. Dr. Dana Bevan looks at the studies based on data from the now-closed clinic and shows why it was wrong and how it has been used to dismiss the accepted fact that being trans is something you are born with.
Raquel and Mark, two parts of one person that became separated after drinking a strange potion, have been transported to another land. They have been told by a witch, who first appeared as old and ugly but later was young and beautiful, that they must trek to the north and battle “the Magistrate” but that one of them will not survive the confrontation. They have crossed empty fields and in the distance, incongruously, they see a house. A familiar house. Learn more in Chapter 12 of Metamorphosis.
Sophie Lynne has gotten a raw deal. She is separated from her family. She works a low paying retail job that barely lets her cover the rent. She is college educated, intelligent, and capable. But she’s also a trans woman. Conservatives attack trans people with allegations that they are mentally ill or just acting out to cause trouble. That’s not true. Being trans is not a choice. Sophie only had one choice; she could either live as a trans woman in a low paying job with all the problems that go along with that, or she could end it all. She shouldn’t have to consider that choice because she didn’t ask for any of this.
Today M is happy to let everyone know that she/he/they has a job. Their first real job, working as a cashier in a casual dining spot. And being aware of her differences M wonders what the many customers she interacts with during a shift think about her. She can only tell if they have made a judgement about her gender by what they say. Since M is gender fluid they can be presenting anywhere on the binary or in-between. See how M feels about “passing”with co-workers and customers in today’s blog post.
When “scientific studies” present conclusions about the nature or occurrence of transgenderism our resident scientist Dr. Dana J. Bevan digs into the data and takes a closer look at the numbers. Recently conservatives have based their opposition to treating trans children by giving them hormone blockers and letting them express their true gender by saying that there is no evidence that trans children won’t “grow out of it.” They base this assertion on “clinical data” from psychiatric gender clinics. Dr. Bevan examines that clinical data and comes to a different conclusion.
We catch up with Amanda on day two of her road trip to meet up in the middle of the country with her mom and younger brother. Rolling down the highway gives a person a lot of time to think about where they are on the road of life. Amanda’s trip is not exception. Amanda and her family haven’t been together for several years and now they will be together for several days as they visit places they saw on a trip in 1982. How will things go? Read on and see what happens on Amanda’s road reunion.
In 1968 Cate O’Malley enlisted in the United States Coast Guard. While she was not “out” as a trans woman she volunteered to join the military and serve our country. Now she finds herself decades later being told that she and her trans brothers and sisters are not wanted in the United State armed forces. She has some words for our Commander-in-Chief in her blog post today.
Raquel and Mark, two parts of one person that became separated after drinking a strange potion, have been transported to another land. They have been told by a witch, who first appeared as old and ugly but later was young and beautiful, that they must trek to the north and battle “the Magistrate” but that one of them will not survive the confrontation. They are now crossing an empty land but obstacles are thrown in their path. Some of the obstacles are internal. Learn more in Chapter 11 of Metamorphosis.
Kimberly is living in both worlds. She spends time expressing a male identity and time spent expressing her female identity. While she is not comfortable being seen as male she has not fully accepted the idea of permanent transition. Today she pause in her adventure and ponders what path to choose. Give up being a part time woman or continue as she has been, shifting gender to suit circumstances.
On Saturday, August 5, 2017 Sophie was asked to speak at a rally against hate toward trans people. Today she shares the text of the speech she delivered that day. We at TGForum say, well done Sophie.
(Philadelphia, PA) “Transgender people want to be treated “normally” just like other people – the key word is respect,” says transgender surgery pioneer, Dr. Sherman Leis. As people head back to school and work from summer activities, Dr. Leis, founder of The Philadelphia Center for Transgender Surgery, offers some valuable tips on enhancing a work […]
Aleshia Bravard, a trans woman who got her start in show business working as a female impersonator before having GRS in 1962 passed away on July 1 of this year. After her surgery she returned to her home state of Tennessee and got a degree in the arts from Middle Tennessee State. She then worked as a theater professor and eventually returned to California to pursue and acting career with appearances on numerous shows from The Red Skelton Show to The Partridge Family, Night Gallery and many more. In 2001 she wrote her autobiography and did a sequel in 2010. Before she passed away our own David de Alba did an in-depth interview with her. We present it here with David’s permission.
Here at TGForum we have always used the word “transgender” as a term that covers all “trans” activity from fetishistic crossdressers enjoying lingerie in the privacy of their own homes to trans women, fully transitioned and making their mark on the world. Between those two extremes is a broad spectrum of behaviors, identities, and gender expression. To help sort things out and provide some definitions to terms that have come into use over the years Dr. Dana Bevan has written an informative post on Transgender Definitions.
