Author:
Not everyone passes when they make that trip to be the person their mind tells them they are. Even for those who do, as they grow older they find the bigotry and hate toward those who aren't the norm is always there.
https://www.rt.com/news/319966-australian-senior-transgender...
I don't have the time but I would make the time if possible. I wish with all my heart I could be there and have a couple days to talk to them. Give them a shoulder to cry on and tell them they have those who care about them. Before they make that final choice in life.
Transgender teen asks for her suicide to ‘mean something’ and ‘fix society’
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/31/us/ohio-transgender-teen-suicide/
She was crowned as Miss Las Vegas. It seemed her life was complete until she was outed and then her world fell apart. They took back the title, the awards, the money and she was fired from her job. A high profile figure she would never find decent employment again because everyone knew she wasn't a "real woman". Sadly, I knew Jahna Steele was struggling but I didn't think she would take that last step. None of the pictures do her justice.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Jahna+Steele
Life isn't always a bowl of cherries for those who aren't dealing with transgender. For those who are trans it is multiplied by a hundred or thousand fold. Even for those who have money for a buffer against the bigots. Ask Caitlyn Jenner
Down Barb, down..., I'm going out to the chicken house and pet the chickens for awhile. The cats will have to wait.
Comments
It was not worth it.
In spite of the fact that I have enjoyed 10 good years of passing really well, lately I am getting fat and jowly despite the estrogen and all that. I read the other day where MtF trans folk life 15-20 years longer because they get rid of the testosterone.
In many ways, depending on where you live, life is getting better. Was it worth the loss of family, friends, job, church and to be treated like a nutter?
No. No suicide or anything.
Gwen
I transitioned relatively
I transitioned relatively young, at 28. I had a few happy years before chronic illness kicked in, at 32. I wouldn't trade that for anything, though I wish I'd started transition earlier, and lived more in the interval.
I take this personally. I don
I take this personally. I don't know what goes through the mind of someone who was not born of the right gender but I do know about bullying for having a different body. I went through it for years in school and in my own family. I wish that there were more people who do understand would come forward and try to make a difference. We know the pain and suffering from being alone and feeling that it wasn't worth living anymore. We are all in this together.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Taking it personally
That's fine but don't turn on our own. In the 50's T folk were seen as gay and many were simply murdered. I was beaten enough to know that to live I had to "be" male. It never worked that well and I was often seen as gay, in spite of having a wife and three children.
I mostly buried myself in my family and religion, trying not to think about who I was and that was so effective that I did not even remember I was a girl until my mid 30's. Even then there was enough horror from beatings and molestation that I did not even remember Gwen for a long time.
I hope that to a decreasing extent coming out and transitioning does not mean the loss of everything. So many of us die during and before transition either by murder or suicide.
In the years since 1995 when I first became aware that T folk exist, I have seen the gradual enactment of laws, increasing public awareness, and yes, even compassion and care toward us. Even the gays and lesbians who I thought did not care are showing they actually do more than I had thought.
In time, I hope that we are identified close to birth. I was, but the Doctor just made the wrong decision.
Gwen
Ummm...
Upon reading this post, two things came to my mind. There was the lyrics to this old song: "The world is a vampire, set to drain. Secret destroyers, hold you up to the flame..." And the second thought was an old adage I'd heard: 'If you stick your head above the crowd, somebody is going to throw a tomato.'
I was born passable and transitioned at a very young age for the States. I was almost fifteen and had yet to enter puberty for physiological reasons. I was in a safe home more than fifteen hundred miles from the horror show I was tossed into. My guardians, being European and quite educated, sensed something different about me and I knew I was not like other boys and couldn't figure out why I didn't like the things that they did.
I have lived more than half my life as a female and early on I never gave my 'rebirth' a second thought. In other words, I have always been female. Only my closest (adopted) kinsmen, and my very understanding significant other, know of my rebirth. I didn't even tell my half sisters until they were in their early teens. It made no difference to any of them and they always recognize me as a woman.
I am, however, in stealth mode for two reasons. If I came out to the world...my world...as a trans person, I would not be able to work in my chosen field and would find myself to work with trans people. I chose to work with pediatrics who have experienced sexual, physical and emotional abuse. This is something I know too much about. My rebirth story is so very different from most trans people that I would have a harder time relating to their challenges and issues.
The second reason I'm in stealth mode is that it's simply nobody else's business. I do not tell everyone, or anyone (other than those close to me), that I was subjected to horrid sexual, emotional, and physical abuse. In a real sense I would rather be known for who I am now and not who I was more than half a lifetime ago.
The incidences cited in this blog are absolute nightmares for the poor souls involved. Although things are changing in the States, the ignorance and brutishness is still profound. Prejudice seems to be everywhere whether you happen to be gay, trans, black, Hispanic or whatever. There is definitely a culture of violence against women in general and the supply of bullies (people of inferior intellect who deem themselves to be superior to anyone and everyone who is unlike them) ready to pick up any foul cause.
Not that things are much better in Europe but...and a very big BUT...there is far more tolerance. I read about young children (as young as seven and eight, that are already transitioning and only receiving support from their parents and schoolmates. Years ago the head of NATO's military force, a Dutch general, was openly gay. While total acceptance may not be the mainstay of European society, certainly tolerance has really become more the norm (although that's beginning to change with the huge wave of Middle East refugees 'invading).
I must say that those amongst us who choose to undergo 'rebirth', even at a not so young age, and become activist are truly heroines in my eyes. I can't begin to imagine the rejection from friends and family...especially family. I can't image the difficulties of those who cannot afford the surgeries to 'round out the features' to become more 'passable' and yet refuse to go back on their decision to truly be themselves. They too are truly heroines in my eyes.
I think I've blithered long enough but I felt I had to write something. Maybe it's simply too many trips to Lord Blarney's residence.
May We All Know Peace...
Kelly