erased from history again

It appears that the TG community has once again been stabbed in the back by just about everyone, including our normal allies, the gay and lesbian community. The spineless Democrats in the House of Representatives (the Senate already passed a version that included the T) are bailing on protections for the T in the LGBT ENDA bill, and instead offering a "compromise" bill that separates out (excludes) TG protections.

From the Washington Post (my emphasis below):
"It requires time and patience to educate the public and lawmakers about how prejudice harms some people. That's what gays and lesbians have been doing in their quest for equality for nearly 40 years. And that's what transgender people will have to do. Delaying passage of ENDA, which was first introduced in the House in the mid-1970s by Rep. Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.), until the transgender community changes enough hearts and minds would be a mistake."

As if the TG community hasn't been centrally involved at all in the LGBT rights movement from the start!!! And as if the morons in Congress really opposed to this give a shit about who gets excluded, as long as there is still someone left at the bottom to push around and help themselves feel superior! Ummm, remember Stonewall you fucking idiots?!!! Do we need to have another riot to be heard! Perhaps a mass TG peaceful protest in DC is what's needed?

Worst of all, it looks like the HRC (please e-mail them - hrc@hrc.org - your opinion on this matter!) is not standing behind the many other LGBT orgs calling this omission a travesty. It's one thing for the ultra-conservative Washington Post editors to try to erase us from history, but it's another entirely when those organizations that are supposedly representing us try it...

back to NYC

We are headed back to NYC this saturday for an all-day trip. We are going to see a matinee showing of a soon-to-close play that Mirian Shor is in by Lucy Thurber called Scarcity. Then we go to a punk show with minor demi-gods, The Vibrators and our fave NYC garage-glam band opening, Semi Precious Weapons.

This weekend: Hedwig shadowcast

It's that time again! - this weekend in New York City at midnight (this friday and saturday) the IFC Theater, The Midnight Checkout Queens will be performing a shadowcast in front of a screening of John Cameron Mitchell's classic film of a classic musical, Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

The original Yitszak, the awesome Miriam Shor will be in attendance for a Q&A and there will be a costume contest, so dress up as your fave charater from the movie to win fab prizes.

In addition, yours truly will be performing as one of the Hedwigs! My first time ever, so please come out and support us - I need all the help I can get!

the infinitesimal risks of LGBT equality

"For here again we come within range of that very interesting and obscure masculine complex which has had so much influence upon the women's movement; that deep-seated desire, not so much that she shall be inferior as that he shall be superior, which plants him wherever one looks, not only in front of the arts, but barring the way to politics too, even when the risk to himself seems infinitesimal..."

-Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own, pg.57 (1929)

I came across this quote last night while rereading her essay on the struggle of women writers and I thought by substituting a few pronouns and select words the sentence would pretty well sum up at least a portion of today's struggle for LGBT rights:

For here again we come within range of that very interesting and all too common conservative complex which has had so much influence upon the LGBT rights movement; that deep-seated desire, not so much that we shall be inferior as that they shall be superior, which plants them wherever one looks, not only in front of marriage and equal employment opportunities, but barring the way to basic human rights and dignity too, even when the risk to themselves seems infinitesimal...

In other words, these mostly white, christian people oppose anything that would place us on an even level with themselves, not necessarily because they hate us, but because they have a burning need to themselves feel superior to those around them who are different (and we seem like an easy target, just like Iraq seemed like an easy target to Bush in 2001).

hungry hunter slinks home empty-handed again

My prey is one elusive sonafabitch, I can tell you that. But truth be told, I have little real idea what she looks, smells, feels like. I'm now a solid seven months post-op, six since I've been able to have sex, yet the reclusive orgasm continues to escape my grasp. I've caught glimpses of her fleeting form in the tangled jungle of intercourse a couple times. Tinglies of tantalizing sensation taunt me like dancing stars at the corners of a stunned boxer's vision…

end of ages

Yesterday was my last therapy session. Of course it all started because I "had" to go to therapy to get my letters of recommendation for surgery, but I continued on with it past when I had to because it was beneficial - it helped me become a better person, a more balanced person. Things in my life have started coming together and I'm actually happy and have an awesome, loving relationship. The side result of that was I found myself with little to discuss in therapy. So my therapist and I decided to discontinue our sessions (they were only once a month anyways, so it isn't a radical change).

In our last session we did a little review of how far I've come - from a timid, totally confused transsexual with lots of self-hatred, sexual identity problems and social phobia and just entering the first stages of transition - to the confident, slightly more outgoing, definitely happier and more self-aware woman I am today. Not to say I still don't have lots to work on! I'm still fucked up like the rest of the human race, but now I have the self-confidence to tackle issues that arise myself. It took me a while to figure out how to get the most out of therapy, but I'm glad I went.

In other news:

• I'm an aunt again! Her name is McKinley and she is a shining star with dark hair! I can't wait to head out west at some point and see her!
• Had my 3rd electrolysis session last night to get rid of the remaining facial hairs that came back after laser (and there are lots of 'em!). Wow, electrolysis fucking hurts! My face looked like I'd been stung by a hundred bees last night and is still puffy today. Alas, the price of beauty...
• Jenn and I are now moved into our new apartment in Albany. It's huge and the dog and cat I think like it. We have mostly finished unpacking, with a few odds and ends to complete. It's right next to Lark St., and Washington Park and Emmitt now gets to mingle with the other dogs after work most nights.
• Emmitt is getting old. He's 12 now and has bad arthritis and limps alot. I give him some pills which helps, but they also make him drink and eat more and so he occasionally has an accident in the apartment, which pisses Jenn (and myself) off to no end. He has been in my life for almost his entire 12 years (I got him when he was about 2 months old) and I can't imagine life without him. But I just don't know how much longer he can last. It will be a truly sad day when he leaves me and I'm crying now just thinking about it.
• I sold my house about a month ago and made enough profit to pay off most of my credit card debt and put a down payment on a new used car. I am now the proud owner of a shiny silver 2005 Prius. This car should cut in half the costs of my daily commute! It's a cool car as well and I got it for a decent price. I guess I've also joined the 21st century - this is the first car I've owned that has power windows! My old Prizm was on it's last legs and luckily it survived long enough to get me a respectable trade-in value and physically get me to the dealership without conking out. It had been making some increasingly loud noises the past couple weeks and I was half expecting the piece of shit to break down a day before the trade-in and lose me that $2700 value! But my luck held out and I can travel without stress again.