Fridays are from Venus

Cabin Fever No More Dept.

After months of winter weather and weeks of the flu, I have a bad case of cabin fever. Just in the nick of time, Diana of Diana's Little Corner in the Nutmeg State fame asked me to join her and another friend, Maryann, for lunch today.

It was touch and go when 15 inches of snow fell here Wednesday night, but the snow melted quickly and the roads are clear and ready to transport me on a day out en femme.  

Very Good News Dept.

Religion does not justify firing a transgender employee, appeals court rules. Click here to read all about it.

Same Day Dept.

Coincidentally, yesterday was International Women's Day and my birthday.

Wearing Ramy Brook (Source: Ramy Brook)

I may be in error, but I believe that all the showgirls in this photo are femulators except for the girl sitting on the knee of the boy presenting as a boy (from the Australian television film Carlotta).

Indiana

The so-called religious freedom law is more onerous to transgender folks than LGB folks because civilians are more likely to clock transgender folks than LGB folks (and then proceed to exercise their religious beliefs against us).

Put a transwoman, transman, gay man, lesbian woman, and bisexual bisexual in a line-up and who is your average civilian most likely to pick as belonging to the LGBT crowd? The transwoman and transman, of course.

More so than the folks in the LGB crowd, a lot of folks in the trans crowd will get clocked by civilians who are scrutinizing people to determine whether or not we are discrimination-worthy. Size is often our giveaway (big transwomen and small transmen) and there is not much we can do about that.

And stop calling it a "religious freedom" law. It's a freedom to discriminate law, that is, you are free to discriminate according to your prejudices and then use religion as an excuse. How twisted is that?

Tell me, Mr. Christian, if a transwoman needed some carpentry work done, what would Jesus do?

 

 

 

Wearing Kate Spade.

 

 

 

Actor John Lithgow in the 1992 film Raising Cain.

Got God?

I read "Conservative Christianity and the transgender question" in The Washington Post‘s On Faith column on Friday and it made me sick. I wanted to go medieval on Russell Moore for his despicable column and I spent the weekend trying to come up with the right words to answer Moore's piece.

Monday, Sharon Groves answered Moore in the On Faith column ("What transgender people teach us about God, and our humanity") and saved me the trouble of going medieval.

(Actually, I don't mind going medieval. It's the clean up afterwards that I don't care for.)

Just a thought: What if God was trans? That would be the last laugh for a lot of people!

Later.

 

Kuranosuke cosplay by Feeracie.

 

Wearing DailyLook.

Never on a Sunday

Anita asked, "Do you dress en femme when you go to church?"

My answer is a mash-up of two past blog posts: June 16, 2009 and January 21, 2010.

In June 2008, when I spent a long weekend in New York City en femme, I visited Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.
This was a big deal for me. I was raised a Roman Catholic and my religion was the source of much needless guilt about crossdressing throughout my life. I overcame the guilt years ago and now I was entering the church for the first time en femme.

I thought that my visit would be like spitting in the eye of the Church of Rome. "Take that for all the pain and suffering you brought down upon me for so long."

Instead of feeling vengeful, I felt wonderful. Your prodigal son has returned, but your son is now your daughter!

I decided to attend the Mass. I remembered and recited all the prayers and when it was time for the Sign of Peace, I exchange handshakes and "peace be with you's" with all the folks around me, or so I thought.

From behind me came an anxious voice, "Peace be with you, Ma'am. Peace be with you, Ma'am."

I realized I missed someone, so I turned around and exchanged another handshake and "peace be with you" with a fellow two rows behind me.

During the Mass, I noticed a reproduction of the famous painting, the Black Madonna of Częstochowa in one of the side altars of the cathedral.

Being a Pole, I checked it out and discovered that that side altar was dedicated to the saints of Poland. It included biographies, paintings, and sculptures of all the saints. After saying a prayer for all my deceased relatives at the side altar, I exited the cathedral.

I stopped attending church about ten years ago. I began doubting the existence of a God about that time and about a year ago, switched from being an agnostic to an atheist.

“You’re too scientific,” my daughter said upon hearing that news.

I don’t know about being “too” scientific, but I do hold science in a much higher regard than religion.

So, why did I feel “wonderful” when I attended Mass en femme at Saint Pat’s?

Do I have some doubts about atheism like I do about religion?

Did I feel spiritual because I was in such a spiritual place?

Was it nostalgia for something that had previously been part of my weekly routine?

Was it simply the thrill of being out en femme in a new venue?

Anita also asked, "Do you know what other girls do?

I don't know about all the other girls, but Barbara, one of the girls I have known for over 20 years, has been attending a local Episcopal church en femme for quite awhile. The church community has accepted her feminine persona wholeheartedly and she not only attends services, but is very active in other church activities.

When Transwomen Go To Church

Aundaray Guess has an interesting post on The Huffington Post about Tyler Perry's film character Madea and the faith communities.

"It's no secret that in the black church there is a great divide over LGBT issues. Although Madea is not transgender, there are aspects of the character that raise questions about acceptance of black transgender women. Many gay men can blend in without being marked as gay, but for many women who are transgender, it is more difficult to blend in and avoid ignorance or rejection from faith communities. Whether transgender or gay, to be accepted in the church one has to 'butch' oneself up, but even then one wouldn't be fully accepted but relegated to the fringe instead. Or one could just join the choir, where there's a sort of unofficial don't ask, don't tell' policy."

Read the rest of the post here.

My Two Cents

Although, Mr. Guess restricts his discussion to the black church, I believe that transgender women and men run into similar walls of rejection in other faith communities.

For example, I attended Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral en femme without incident (mainly because I was under the radar). However, I doubt if my presence in the Catholic Church would be accepted with open arms if it was known that I was a transgender woman.

What Would Jesus Do?

I am aware that there are other churches that do accept transwomen with open arms, but not the one I attended the first three-quarters of my life.

I truly believe that Jesus would accept me; it’s too bad that many of his followers would except me.

Worship En Femme Poll Results

I ran a poll last week that asked, "Did you ever attend a service of your religion en femme?"

There were 313 votes; 91 Yes votes and 222 No votes (29% and 70%, respectively).

I was surprised at the results; I expected fewer Yes votes. Less than one-third of the respondents said they attended a religious service en femme, but I expected maybe 10% because the trans crowds I hang out with don't talk much about the subject. There are a few exceptions, but the vast majority are mum on the topic and that silent majority was the cause of my low expectations.

Worship En Femme Poll

On weekends, be it Saturday or Sunday, people attend services of their chosen religion to worship their God.

Since it is Sunday and I missed Mass again, I had religious matters on my mind and thought this question would be an interesting topic for a poll: Did you ever attended a service of your religion en femme?

The poll is accessible in the right sidebar and runs until next Sunday, so vote today.

(By the way, I attended Mass en femme one time… two years ago at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.)

ex-Catholic in a dress

Last June, when I spent a long weekend in New York City en femme, I visited Saint Patrick’s Cathedral.

This was a big deal for me. I was raised a Roman Catholic and my religion was the source of much needless guilt about crossdressing throughout my life. I overcame the guilt years ago and now I was entering the church for the first time en femme.

I thought that my visit would be like spitting in the eye of the Church of Rome. "Take that for all the pain and suffering you brought down upon me for so long." Instead of feeling vengeful, I felt wonderful. Your prodigal son has returned, but your son is now your daughter!

I stopped attending church about ten years ago. I began doubting the existence of a God about that time and about a year ago, switched from being an agnostic to an atheist.

“You’re too scientific,” my daughter said upon hearing that news.

I don’t know about being “too” scientific, but I do hold science in a much higher regard than religion.

So, why did I feel “wonderful” when I attended Mass en femme at Saint Pat’s last June?

Do I have some doubts about atheism like I do about religion?

Did I feel spiritual because I was in such a spiritual place?

Was it nostalgia for something that had previously been part of my weekly routine?

Was it simply the thrill of being out en femme in a new venue?

Can One Be Transgender and Catholic? (I Was)

Joanne Herman wrote an interesting article in The Huffington Post.

In the article, Ms. Herman addresses the following question:

If the Catholic Church instructs those who believe their inward gender is different from their outward gender to battle that belief as a psychological problem, not with surgery, why then would a transgender person choose to be Catholic?

never on a Sunday

This Sunday finds some controversy on the femulation front.

On the right side of the Atlantic, there is a big brouhaha over a calendar released by a Spanish LGBT rights organization. The calendar mimics religious paintings and features transgender models dressed like the Virgin Mary. (photo right)

This is not sitting well in the predominantly Catholic Spain.

Meanwhile back in the States, Peaches alerted me to this story about Morehouse College's new dress code that bans its students from wearing female attire.

Morehouse is an all male college and the crossdressing ban is aimed at "about five students who are living a gay lifestyle."

The campus' gay organization supported the ban with a 24 to 3 vote.

So far, I have been unable to determine whether the crossdressing students are transgender or not.

Born to Be a Woman of God

On a dreary morning in Yogyakarta, in a brick house, some 10 meters from the main road in Gedong Tengen, Notoyudan hamlet, an 8-year-old girl is folding yellow paper napkins with a friend. They work slowly, whispering comments about boys and giggling as they form perfect little paper triangles.

“Mom, how many of these napkins should I cut and fold?” the 8-year-old calls out to a woman wearing a long-sleeved black shirt and Muslim headscarf.

“Make it 40,” the woman answers. “There will be a lot of people coming today.”

The girl’s mother, Mariyani, is a transvestite.

In July, Mariyani established Indonesia’s first pesantren for transvestites.

By definition a pesantren is an Islamic boarding school. Mariyani uses the word pointedly, to improve her school’s credibility with the public as a place of learning.

Read the rest of the story here.