Claire Hall spent 58 years presenting to the world as a male. When she reached a certain point and could no longer live the lie she came out and transitioned. That was many months before the pandemic arrived and leaving the lie behind felt wonderful for almost a year. But then COVID struck and that along with other issues sent her into a tailspin. Today Claire talks about healing and how it isn’t a linear process.
Purge is a word with several meanings. Authoritarian dictators remove anyone who threatens their power in a purge. In the past few years the word became part of movie titles for films in which once a year any crime could be committed with no punishment. Have a beef with a neighbor? Wait for The Purge and get rid of him. But, the most common application of purge as used by trans women is getting rid of all their feminine clothes and accessories. Usually in the middle of the night in a dumpster far from their home. Christy Lewis writes about several meanings of the P word.
Like many part time ladies Julie Slowinski balances her responsibilities as a father and bread winner with her need to dress up and be a party girl. Today’s report from Julie is not the usual rundown of what she wore and where she went while wearing it. It’s a look at that balancing act and why she is content being dad and being Julie. And don’t worry, she manages to get some photos into the post.
Last weekend, Penn State played Auburn. This was a big game: a “white out” where everyone wears all white and gets really drunk and noisy, etc. A bunch of the brothers from Sophie’s frat returned for the game, and were having a tailgate. Despite her contacting them they never responded. But she found another organization that welcomed her fully.
She’s back! Who? Christy Lewis is back from working from home and is behind her desk in the office. Read on and learn how her co-workers react to her physical presence nine to five, five days a week.
Michelle L. Rogers transitioned later in life and having lived a male lifestyle for a long while has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to adopting a feminine lifestyle. There is so much that women learn by growing up from childhood experiencing all that goes with the traditional female role. Trying to be the best woman she can be Michelle learns that It’s Not Easy Being She.
Christy Lewis blogs about taking chances. Whether it’s leaving a relationship to go out on your own, trying something in life that you may not be totally suited for, or finally making a move to be who you really are, sometimes staying safe is not a good option and it can pay to take your chances.
Chrissy Gann writes a story about how things went when a guy comes out as a transgender woman. She lost her wife who said she married a man and didn’t want to be married to a woman. She ran into some problems at work from a fearful co-worker and after that got help from another co-worker.
When Char came out to her boss as a trans woman he listened to her story then looked her in the eye and told her that he could support her during her transition but she had to “own it”. At the time Char didn’t have a firm idea of what that entailed but now she knows what it means and shares it with you in this blog.
Christy Lewis feels as if she has been enclosed in a chrysalis, slowly transforming into the beautiful butterfly she was meant to be, and now she has broken through the confining wall. Now she’s living her life as she always wanted, being “out” to all her friends and coworkers.
Claire Hall knew that the number of transgender people who contemplate suicide is as high as 90 percent. She thought she would be one of the ones in the 10%. And that was true for a good while. Then pressures from her job, tension caused by the pandemic, and personal troubles like a car that died suddenly all conspired to send her to the the ER, and then into counseling for depression that had paved the way for suicidal thoughts.
Christy Lewis wonders today about how things would have turned out in her life if just one or two things had been different. WIth just one small alteration her life would have been a lot different. She would have been born a cisgender female. But on the other hand, what about the lessons learned and skills practiced in her current life as a trans woman? Read on for her conclusion.
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.
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.
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”.
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. . .
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!
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.
Welcome a new blogger to TGF! Char Edwards is a trans woman who spent decades suffering, turning to drug abuse and resorting to suicide attempts before she decided to make a positive change in her life. She joins us today to blog about the way she turned her life around in hopes that her story will help other struggling with their gender issues.
Our new Contributor is Sophie Marie White. In her first blog for TGForum Sophie writes about the stages she went through to finally arrive at acceptance of herself and her gender identity. She outlines five stages and says that they don’t stick to a specific order. They can show up at any point and cause problems.
Our new contributor Christy is back this week with the story of how she slowly, very slowly, made a transition at work. Like many in the transgender community she used Halloween as a way to introduce herself as a feminine person in her workplace. She feels that by taking the introduction of Christy to coworkers and management she was more successful in fitting in with very little, if any, problems.
Today Chrissy Gann devotes The Butterfly Chronicles to the differences she has found between the time in her life when she was pretending to be a man and what it’s like to now be seen by her friends and co-workers as a woman. For one thing she has to accept mansplaining about things she already understands. And now that they see her as a woman co-workers feel free to comment on her weight. Her therapist says that’s good as they are accepting her gender and treating her within societal norms. Find out what other differences transition has shown Chrissy in the edition of The Butterfly Chronicles.
Claire Hall had a higher profile than most who begin transition. She was prominent in county government and before she came out to her colleagues she had concerns that there would be opposition to her gender change. Happily she didn’t face very much negativity when she announced her transition and the ridicule she had been anticipating didn’t occur. Things went well — until the arrival of the COVID019 pandemic. After her county made a decision on mandatory masks the anti-mask crowd descended on her like evil pigeons on someone in a birdseed covered suit. Today she writes about how tough the abuse has been.
Chrissy Gann devotes today’s Butterfly Chronicle to her own progress in transition and then goes on to acknowledge the contributions to transgender visibility and and rights by those who came before. For a short course on the progress of trans people in modern times be sure to take a look. You may find validation and inspiration in what Chrissy has written.
Our social correspondent Lynda Martini is back with us today. Since no one has a social life now, at least in the real world, she has submitted a blog that reports on her recent gender confirmation surgery. She has some “interesting facts” about what to expect when you have your GCS, and lays them out in nine points.
