The Old Neighborhood

Susan's post on Sunday ("Not like other boys") inspired me to write this post today.

Growing up, I thought I was just like the other boys, but some of the other boys disagreed. They thought I was a "sissy," a "fairy," a "faggot," etcetera and the bullies did what bullies do.

I did not understand what caused them to treat me that way.

One day, an older neighborhood kid took me aside and said I needed to "man up" or I would continue to be the bullies favorite target. I shrugged off his advice because I still thought I was just like the other boys, so why should I do anything different.

When I went away to college, nothing changed except that there was a new set of bullies.

After I completed my higher education, I moved back home, but the bullies had moved on.

I moved out of the neighborhood 35 years ago and slowly discovered why I had such a hard time in the old neighborhood. I was really a girl in a boy's body and I played the part so well in so many ways that the bullies could not abide by it.

I will return to the old neighborhood in a couple of weeks. PFLAG is organizing a new chapter in my old hometown. The first meeting will be held in a church two blocks from my old home and right next to the grammar school where I was bullied for so many years.

It will be the first time in my old neighborhood presenting as a woman. How can I not go!

Alison Krauss

Michał Rudaś femulates on the Polish version of television's Your Face Sounds Familiar.