Transgender Liberty

One Year Later This one is personal. It's my truth, my side. Other people in this story will tell it differently, and they're entitled to that. But this is what I lived, how I see it, and where I think I'm going. Maybe it gives you hope. Maybe insight. Maybe a gasp or a laugh. We'll see. Keep reading. I've written it here over and over: most of my life I was confused. Out of sync with myself. Out of resonance. Out of focus with the world, and never able to explain why. If you want the long version, it's in Sparkly Purple Bicycle.. and pieces never fitting . The label for that is transgender. Most of my family walked away when I told them. They couldn't believe it, because their experience of me was the version I let them see — the version that coped like a functioning alcoholic. I lived hetero, normal, presentable, and a wreck underneath. Nobody knew. Nobody wanted to know. Not even the partner I was with. I wrote about what that wreckage actually looked lik...

They Did It in Daylight: Kansas SB 244 and the People Who Voted for It  On February 23, transgender Kansans opened their mail and found a letter from the Division of Vehicles. Their driver's licenses would no longer be valid as of February 26. Three days. Not "renew at your convenience." Not "at your next scheduled renewal." Surrender the license. Get a new one that says what the state has decided you are, regardless of how you look, how you live, or what happens to you when you hand it to a stranger. I recently wrote a post called People Are Not Things , about the dehumanizing I see everywhere right now — the demonizing, the hate, the intolerance, the total absence of empathy or basic decency. In Kansas, that dehumanizing has a bill number. What SB 244 actually does It is called a bathroom bill. It is much more than that. It voids existing IDs. Kansas driver's licenses and birth certificates that reflect a transgender person's gender are invali...

People Are Not Things ** I was browsing the Internet and came across this picture This is my journey to get my passport and WHY Civil rights and fighting for them are so important.  I am not a thing, I am not a number I am a person just like you.  "It May Be Too White" That was the first thing she said to me. I had been standing at the counter for maybe ninety seconds. I handed over my DS-11 and my passport photo, and she held the photo up and told me it might be too white. What does "too white" even mean? It was a decent photo. It was as good as the one on my driver's license. I had gone to a listed provider to get it taken — FedEx, in my case, and I hate FedEx — precisely so this wouldn't happen. She hmm'd and haw'd. She suggested I go get another one, and warned me that if she submitted this one it might get rejected. I told her to submit it anyway. Then she moved on to my birth certificate. She studied it. Then my driver's license. She studie...

As a transgender woman, I face a lot of challenges that cis men and cis women take for granted, or flat out abuse. In this post I want to talk about four forms of toxic behavior I deal with, why they're damaging, and why they need to be recognized. Edit: I want to add here that as a transgender woman I forgive and look past much. Yet, there are times when you can't. Writing about the failings of myself and others helps me in some therapeutic way and I hope helps you too. Please read on with this in mind  Misgendering First is misgendering. I run into this from time to time. Last night I was at New Seasons. I'd gotten my food and was checking out when the register malfunctioned — the receipt mechanism popped out and paper went everywhere. An older woman waiting nearby leaned in and said, warmly, "Oh, it's been doing that all day. It's not your fault." That was kind. She didn't have to say anything. She saw a stranger standing in a small mess and decided...

  Cause It's some kind of sin To live your whole life On a "Might've been" I'm ready now These are the outro ...fading lyrics to a song from a band I love to listen too.  And this is the sort of thing I remind myself about whenever there is any doubt of my story, my journey, the pain I have carried. I've spoken (well written) before about another song which resonated with me long ago. When I had that moment of awakening to my true nature. That moment of realization that all the pieces of my life, the puzzle pieces I could not figure out, the questions, the dissonance, the self hate, anger, the stranger in the mirror, the feelings, the self destruction, the trouble with peace, was because I am transgender.  And the realization became poetry, and as moments like this, there was a song that played that fit what I was going through.  The song  Will they hate me for all the choices I've made? Will they stop when they see me again? I can't stop, now I know w...

 I was listening to a story about a woman who lived in Cuba as a child. Her life was so difficult that they would wake up wondering what they might eat (if anything) for breakfast. They wore the same shoes for 3 or more years and Soap, A piece of Soap was a luxury.  And I concluded that Americans are rotten and spoiled.  This thought was earlier confirmed by my experiences traveling to Costa Rica, renting a 4x4 and just experiencing the country and its people. All of them kind and nice though not having a lot of money.  So how do we fix America? MAGA thinks it is achieved through Force, Oppression, Control(ICE), Fear and Hate. Division.  And Right Wing Christian Nationalist (RWCN) think it is through weaponized versus of condemnation and burning in hell if you don't conform to their idea of what their bible says (See my blog that talks about weaponizing the bible). Like Their Religion is the only one. Laughable... But we all know that doesn't work. Oppression do...

  It is Unfathomable that the United States has fallen to the point to where the Supreme Court Of The United States (SCOTUS) , now Sides with Fascism and Unconstitutional Directives.   https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-allows-trump-administration-to-enforce-discriminatory-passport-policy Consequently the US Government, you know...the organization that is supposed to serve the people.. now enforces discrimination against transgender people. I'm including a screenshot, because it is my hope that in time history will need it.... https://travel.state.gov/en/passports/apply/unique-needs/sex-markers.html This is an Honest and Angry Vent, to the point of tears. I'm working on getting my passport. and I'm ... Angry about it. I'm so upset that our Supreme Court Sided with a Fascist Rapist Monster and his Fascist RWCN Groups. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-allows-trump-administration-to-enforce-discriminatory-passport-policy and now... https://...