Author:
I have researched the path of transsexuals for more years than I care of share. The early ones faced a litany of horror and torture to cure them of the thought they weren't the gender the doctor put on their birth certificate. April Ashley was one of those.
That any survived at all is a testament to their internal strength, courage, and intelligence. Their will to be themselves not what society demands they be is beyond the imagination of most. Sadly, today's society still has those who believe transgender is a mental sickness and can be cured by the same horrors the previous ones went through. Electric shock has gone out of favor along with using an apple corer to drill in and remove part of the brain. But we have so many designer drugs to fry their brain with now. It is a lot easier to turn them into peaceful vegetables and leave no trace of what happened to them. We lose too many to suicide for too many reasons. The biggest reason is they receive no support, emotional or physical.
This is a very short story of one of those pioneers. A beautiful lady who made it despite all odds.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10313565/Elvis-John-Presc...
May God grant them all a place in His Kingdom for they faced Hell here on earth.
Comments
Changes
An interesting read that as well as showing changes in medical attitudes highlights the problems of a being publicly known as having transitioned.
For me biggest improvement in the UK has been the ability to have my birth certificate corrected. When I transitioned (1970s) effectively my career was over along with my qualifications being useless unless I was willing to become a public fighter in the vanguard with those seeking transgender rights - I chose a totally new path away from my family and early friends and with no mention of my past. In my social life I was always aware that I could not marry, things like insurance and pensions were problematic and any increase in status came with the risk of being publicly 'outed'.
Now I am so happy that the younger online friends I have made through BC have the opportunity to put their difficult start in life behind them. We seem to agree that it would be foolish to marry without letting our partner know our past but other than that there is no reason to see our situation as different to any other of our gender.
I understand that some who transition will visibly carry their past with them and admire the bravery they show in being honest in public whilst being thankful that I didn't have to share that load. There is the question of why I have been drawn to BC and I think it is that the experience of transitioning is profound but not something I can share with those who haven't experienced it either themselves or in someone they love.
Rhona McCloud
I transitioned relatively early
It was 1990 and being TS was just starting to become more mainstream. It was still touch and go though as driving licenses and such were only just starting to become 'malleable', at the discretion of the person behind the counter and then that was from state to state here in the US.
It was also pre-FFS so far fewer were able to transition comparatively painlessly on a public presentation POV.
Young kids can now moan and groan about it and transition early which is the most important sign of progress. That they have such support now is due to all those who have broken the trail for them. It is hoped they appreciate it.
1951
I "Knew" for sure in 1951. Mom and I talked about it, but she cautioned me not to tell. She named me Gwen. I was 4. "Mommy I'm a girl". Stepfather beat it out of me, said he'd kill me if I did not act like a boy. By the time I was 8 or so I "forgot". My siblings were asses. Later after puberty my fantasies were about being a girl. Tried all my life to be what they wanted. Married, but my wife always said that I was not masculine. Hah, if she only knew. One time we bought a Dodge Cummins 4x4 pickup to pull her trailer. When we got in, she said,"Now maybe this will make you more manly". You learn to absorb those hurts and tell yourself that it's OK, it doesn't hurt. You tell yourself you are tough, it doesn't hurt. I got angry, swore a lot, better than anyone. One time a woman said I should not swear, that I'd never get it right, that I didn't know how. It was insulting and hurtful, but I'd never admit it.
I got outed in 2004. No one knew what a TG was, they just thought I was a "fagot". It was rough for us in those days and many of us were murdered. In the last part of 2013 I noticed a change, and in 2015 I can say it is better, much better.
Maybe those born now will have a reason to live.
I dithered
Having attended CCH in the mid seventies I dithered around for another ten years meaning I was 33 when I took the plunge, so I suppose I was in the second wave. In lots of ways I was fortunate, my employers were very helpful so I stayed in work. In those days, I took the 'softly softly' approach in winning people over rather than the 'in your face' favoured by many today. I had no problems with officialdom, except the passport office who declined to put a title on my passport, but after a long chat with one of their managers, we agreed to differ amicably. Ironically, they don't put titles on passports now anyway and besides, with the new found sympathy from official bodies, discrimination would cause ructions.
Life is certainly easier today, especially for those starting young. I like to think I helped a bit both as an officer of the Beaumont Society for a few years, a trustee of the Gender Trust for a few years and the originator of their help line, which I ran for four years. Now I just write silly stories but some people enjoy them.
Angharad
EU passports
If you had an old British passport with no Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms title the new EU passport which replaced it continued that way but I was told that there was a period when those who applied for their first transitioned EU passport were stuck with an unwanted and inappropriate title - this had to be explained and worked round in my The Transit of Venus story with a 2001 transition.
Don't underestimate the benefit to others of your stories Angharad - as most early transitioners never had children your tales offer a needed reminder we are all part of a larger story.
Rhona McCloud
Beaumont Society rang a bell
But alas it was the wrong bell. I thought I remembered the support group as being in Georgia. Nay, twus not. My mind always leaked like a minnow bucket and it hasn't improved with age. Sadly many of those early groups rose and then disappeared such as "Genderflec" which was an awesome bunch in their time. I tried to find them on the Way Back Machine. They must have collapsed before the Machine began logging the web.
As it was and is, many charge the windmills like Don Quixote and tire of the quest which to them seems to never improve. I promise to all who did and those who still tilt at the windmills, each one makes a difference whether they can see it or not. I also applaud those who were themselves and accepted nothing less. And those who never managed to step out, they also are applauded for they made a difference. And those who support those who are different even if they don't understand.
As one lady told me moments ago. "There will always be prejudice." Of course there will but maybe in time they will be so few, they no longer count?
Have fun with life
And if it ain't working fer yuh, poke it with a stick.
It will make you feel better even it it doesn't change.
always,
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Only now,
only now, very late in life after a middle age of suppression and sacrifice living mostly to please others and keep the peace. Another reason why I am finally transitioning very, very late in life is because throughout my early years and young adulthood I tended to 'flip-flop' between genders, sometimes being female, sometimes male. Ironically this 'gender-bilateralism' served me both well or ill at different times thus causing uncertainty and confusion all through my later adulthood. These personal circumstances plus an ingrained wish to try and please or support those around me served to leave me in a twilight world when it came to gender appreciation. It was only in later adulthood (fifties and sixties) that my pendulum started to 'stick' for longer and longer intervals in the female spectrum until finally I came to the realisation that I preferred being female. I never actually felt with any certainty that I WAS male or female so I could never state unequivocally that I needed to transition, only that I wanted to transition. This low-level gender dichotomy is probably also mirrored and/or paralleled by a low level sex drive and that serves to remove the desperation or urgency associated with the physical aspects of my gender. I now seek only to harmonise my body with the SOCIAL aspects of womanhood and thus appear as female to allay some of the fears other women might have upon encountering me. I far prefer women's company.