Right now I am currently in the stages of moving. The Announcement I have is when I do move I will no longer be a Transgender here at kos. I plan to see a counciler about starting Hormone therapy. Yes I am finially moving into the stages of beign pre-op.

For many who do not know SRS surgery is the final outcome for those wishing to change gender. I have known since I was 17 that I was Transgender. For about 10 years I have debated on how far I wanted to go. Some options have open up for me.

When I move I will be living with someone who has lived with a Transsexual before. The person accepts who I am and is encouraging what I feel comfortable with. I do not know how long it will take for the SRS surgery due to the price of it, but I do plan to start down the path.

During this evening’s "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on MSNBC there was a commercial for the "Doc Block."

The "Doc Block" is two one-hour documentaries broadcast back-to-back most evenings on MSNBC.  They generally center around prisons, prostitutes and predators.  While it is mildly interesting seeing the motel that’s a couple of blocks from my apartment featured prominently on TV ("Ohh, look, it’s the hooker who’s always at the Wendy’s!"), I usually tune them out.

Anyway, here’s the commercial (forgive the crappy video):

I'm glad Doris Lessing has won the Nobel. She is the eleventh woman to win it, and is one of our most articulate feminist voices. That's fantastic. But there are aspects of her writing that have made me--and other 21st century feminist writers-- sad, too.

This is a general response to discussions I've read and heard from a variety of places about the ENDA bill.  While every item I mention below is something that I did observe, I don't mean to imply that all things below happened in any one forum.  I am writing this in second person as a rhetorical device.  Please do not assume I am accusing you, personally, of anything specific.

July 11 - 13, 1994

Here's what's happening.  I'm working on my auto-biographical creation, which requires resurrection of the past.  This is part of that.  All is as it was then, except You Are There.

A little background:  On Wednesday, June 30, 1993, one of my students (named Rachel) suggested that I might be interested in attending the Rainbow Gathering near Mount Victory, KY.  I think that's surrounded by the Daniel Boone National Forest, if not actually part of it.  The Rainbow Family is a collection of assorted people, loosely categorized as "hippies" who have been meeting at a US national park for the last 22 years [+14--ed] in order to commune with nature, to seek self‑healing, and to try to join their energies in quest for world peace, social harmony, and ecological balance (and maybe get stoned a bit also :-) ).  

This is a part of my auto-biographical thingy...

I'm working on an autobiographical thingy.  The backbone of the summer will be the proto-blog online diary I did in 1994, reformatted for modern technology and annotated/commented upon from the perspective of an additional 13 years, which is running on Wednesdays and Sundays for now.  Sometimes there is background information needed to elucidate understanding.  This is one of those.

It's also my 150^th diary at Daily Kos...

July 7 - 10, 1994

Here's what's happening.  I'm working on my auto-biographical creation, which requires resurrection of the past.  This is part of that.  All is as it was then, except You Are There.

How can you be a friend to a transperson in transition?

Specifically, I was asked, "That is, what can nonTranny friends offer?"

My initial reaction was, "How the hell should I know?"  I am not a non-transperson.  I am also probably unlike any transperson you will meet.  That's part of the thing about this.  We are all different and will eventually come to our individual conceptions of ourselves and our condition.  Thus all information, insights, admonitions, and suggestions must necessarily be couched in so many qualifiers and hedges as to almost render whatever I say to be useless, if not nearly unreadable.  But excluding them is fraught with danger.

I will do what I can and say what I can say.  I asked some friends to help.  I hope more of that help will be available in the comments.  This can at best be a work in progress.  But so are we...

July 4 - 6, 1994

Here's what's happening.  I'm working on my auto-biographical creation, which requires resurrection of the past.  This is part of that.  All is as it was then, except You Are There.

It was almost exactly 13 years ago that I had my sex-reassignment surgery.  Currently I'm working on an autobiographical piece...my life's work, as it were.  I work better with audience interaction, so I'm going to be doing some of that work here...so that people can, and hopefully do, actually interact, as they may so choose.    Please remember:

1.  You don't have to watch.

2.  Of course it will seem self-centered.  It's an autobiography.  You have my permission to be self-centered when you do your autobiography.

This segment is longer than most will be...

It was almost exactly 13 years ago that I had my sex-reassignment surgery.  Currently I'm working on an autobiographical piece...my life's work, as it were.  I work better with audience interaction, so I'm going to be doing some of that work here...so that people can, and hopefully do, actually interact, as they may so choose.    Please remember:

1.  You don't have to watch.

2.  Of course it will seem self-centered.  It's an autobiography.  You have my permission to be self-centered when you do your autobiography.

I am transgendered. And I'm pissed off.

This diary is partially a vent; but I hope there will be at least a wee bit of educational content.

First of all, I think we need to talk about a few definitions. TG, TS, transman, transwoman, what does it all mean? Talking about that may help some of you realize where I, and others here, are coming from.

Follow me over the flip.

Led by born-again Republican Mary Black, the City Commissioners of Largo, Florida voted to fire City Manager Steve Stanton. Stanton had been City Commissioner for 15 years, but once his intention to get a sex-change operation become know the good Republicans and Christians of Largo couldn't bear to let him be employed a moment longer.

According to local activist Peggy Schaefer of the First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks:

I don’t want that man in office. I don’t think we should be paying him $150,000 a year when he’s not been truthful. We have to speak up. Of course, we don’t believe in sex changes or lesbianism. They have their rights, but we do, too.

An email I just received from the National Sexuality Resource Center.

Dear Friend,

Less than a week after Largo City Manager Steve Stanton announced he was transgendered, the small Florida community's city commission fired him. This is workplace discrimination, plain and simple. Click here to sign our 'Stand with Stanton' petition.

"It's really a win-win situation, because she really loved the job and she was really great at it."

• Attorney Mari Newman following agreement to end lawsuit against a company (Intermountain Testing Co.) by a transgender worker

From 365gay.com:

Newsflash: Anne Coulter is easily one of the nastiest commentators to slither forth in many years.      

With the release of her controversial book last week, and subsequent TV appearances, she's opened herself to judgement yet again.  Her recent statements about 9/11 widows 'basking in misery' were especially horrible.  

Unfortunately, a few progressives have taken their criticism way too far.  They know who they are, and this diary is written for them.  

Follow me to the other side...

A couple of months back, I stumbled upon a document almost 10 years old.  I published it at DKos, but it happened right during one of those usability belches and when the site came back up, it scrolled off the Recent list in record fashion, as happens upon such occasions.

With all of the attention being paid to Coulter lately, which has resulted in all the hateful speech directed to those of us whom I sometimes refer to as "my people", the gender-variant, the transgendered, or whatever one would like to call us, I'm going to give it another go.  Maybe it might have an effect on a few people.  One can always hope...