My Transgender Visibility

Transgender Day of Visibility and Easter were a perfect match. When I realized they were the same day, I thought how better to be visible than to go to Easter Sunday Mass en femme.

Mass was at 9:30 AM, so I had to get up early to get ready. Shaved, showered, made-up and dressed-up, I was out the door at 9:10 AM for a 10-minute ride to church.

It was chilly, so I dressed for winter, not spring and wore my Venus plaid blazer dress, dark hosiery and Nine West black high heels, the same outfit I wore for my Christmas card photo. I skipped outerwear because I would only be outdoors briefly – between my car and the church.

The church parking lot was very full, but I managed to find a spot in front of the church.

Mass was about to start, so I did not hesitate and exited my car and walked quickly into the church. Inside, I found a seat about halfway down the main aisle next to a couple of middle-aged women (I assume they were mother and daughter).

I did not recognize anyone, but it is not easy to recognize people just seeing the backs of their heads. I am sure there were people I knew in the church having lived in town for over 40 years and being very active in a town civic organization. Anyone I knew would probably not recognize me (girl me looks nothing like boy me), however, they might recognize me as a trans person, so I did my part for trans visibility.

Being Easter, Mass was longer than usual and lasted to almost 11 AM. Exiting church, I exchange smiles with a lot of people and I recognized a few, but they were not people I knew by name – just people I’ve seen around town. 

A priest said goodbye and shook my hand on the way out and I was quickly back on the road and back home 10 minutes later. 

And so it goes.

Wearing Elie Tahari

Femulating at the Kottankulangara Festival.

The April Fool's Joke was the Joke

 

Wearing Amanda Uprichard

This image from Pinterest sparked a debate as to whether the bride in this photo was actually a male... a crossdresser, gay male bride or what? In my opinion, the bride is a male and in fact, is the groom en femme with some trick photography to unite the happy couple.

Transgender Day of Visibility

A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024

On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives.  

I am proud that my Administration has stood for justice from the start, working to ensure that the LGBTQI+ community can live openly, in safety, with dignity and respect.  I am proud to have appointed transgender leaders to my Administration and to have ended the ban on transgender Americans serving openly in our military.  I am proud to have signed historic Executive Orders that strengthen civil rights protections in housing, employment, health care, education, the justice system, and more.  I am proud to have signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, ensuring that every American can marry the person they love. 

Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation.  Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive.  They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves.  But extremists are proposing hundreds of hateful laws that target and terrify transgender kids and their families — silencing teachers; banning books; and even threatening parents, doctors, and nurses with prison for helping parents get care for their children.  These bills attack our most basic American values:  the freedom to be yourself, the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and even the right to raise your own child.  It is no surprise that the bullying and discrimination that transgender Americans face is worsening our Nation’s mental health crisis, leading half of transgender youth to consider suicide in the past year.  At the same time, an epidemic of violence against transgender women and girls, especially women and girls of color, continues to take too many lives.  Let me be clear:  All of these attacks are un-American and must end.  No one should have to be brave just to be themselves.  

At the same time, my Administration is working to stop the bullying and harassment of transgender children and their families.  The Department of Justice has taken action to push back against extreme and un-American State laws targeting transgender youth and their families and the Department of Justice is partnering with law enforcement and community groups to combat hate and violence.  My Administration is also providing dedicated emergency mental health support through our nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline — any LGBTQI+ young person in need can call “988” and press “3” to speak with a counselor trained to support them.  We are making public services more accessible for transgender Americans, including with more inclusive passports and easier access to Social Security benefits.  There is much more to do.  I continue to call on the Congress to pass the Equality Act, to codify civil rights protections for all LGBTQI+ Americans.

Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans:  You are loved.  You are heard.  You are understood.  You belong.  You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility.  I call upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.

     IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

                             JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

Wearing Tory Burch

Excuse Me?

 

Wearing Bardot

Femulator beauty pageant in Poth, Texas, 1975

In Her Shoes

Wearing Ann Taylor

William Bendix and Dennis O'Keefe femulating in the 1944 film Abroad With Two Yanks.

Frat Girls

Cool Good News!

'American Idol' contestant from Waterbury is going to Hollywood after Katy Perry calls her 'full of light'

This is a big deal because a transwoman appeared on American Idol (that may or may not be a first – I dunno) and it is a little deal because she is from Waterbury, my hometown! 

You can read all about it by clicking here.

Wearing Altuzarra

Simon Hanselmann, award-winning Australian-born cartoonist

Bagged Man

Wearing Tory Burch

Femulators in the 2016 Menlo College Drag Show
Click here to see video clips of the show on YouTube.

Weather or Not

 

Wearing ModCloth

Moorish Stevens, 1960's professional femulator

Future "Men" of the House

Recommended Reading: The Gender Refugees

When the Andersons fled Iowa City in 2022, they joined a growing group of American families escaping states that have become hostile for transgender communities. Where do they go from here?

By Jess Swanson

Nora Anderson has left a lot of places. When administrators forgot to unlock the only unisex bathroom at her high school in Iowa City, Iowa, the transgender 15-year-old (who felt uncomfortable using the girls’ restroom) got picked up by her parents so she could use one at home or a nearby grocery store. After a classmate suggested starting an “anti-trans club,” she transferred out of the public school system and switched to homeschooling. Nora couldn’t even get a German pastry at the farmers market without a blonde middle-aged woman shouting, “Look! There’s a boy in a dress!” She left without buying anything. Then, in 2022, the governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, aired a campaign ad saying, “We still know right from wrong, boys from girls.” Nora and her family no longer felt welcome—or safe—in their home state. So they packed up and moved to Portland, Oregon. “It’s pretty sad having to leave all the time,” Nora says with a sigh.

Refugees flee war, violence, conflict, and persecution. They are displaced families who have lost their homes in battle. They are environmental migrants forced to escape famine due to historic droughts. They are not, as we traditionally think of them, American families driving SUVs cross-country. Though the Andersons didn’t flash their passports at the border or submit to questioning by immigration officers, leaving Iowa meant they joined a growing group of so-called gender refugees escaping states that have become increasingly hostile for the transgender community.

Click here to read the rest of the article on Elle.

Wearing Bebe 

Another "Man" of the House

Wearing Nine West

Vickie Jordan, professional femulator