crossdresser has coming-out party at town meeting

By Fred Hanson, The Patriot Ledger

RANDOLPH, MA — You could call it Stephanie Edwards' first town meeting, even though she has attended the sessions for more than two decades.

Under a different name and persona.

“What better place to come out for the first time in the general public than at town meeting?” Edwards asked.

The decision to appear in her female persona at town meeting wasn't difficult.

Edwards, 53, has been attending events and going to social occasions as a woman for more than a decade.

“I go to the bank and the supermarket. Why should town meeting be any different? I dress (as a woman) as much as I can when I can. This is the other half of my identity,” she said.

Edwards has gone to government meetings as a woman, testifying before the Boston City Council on legislation that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identification.

She is also working on behalf of similar legislation at the state level. About the only place she dresses as a man is to work. Her male persona, Stuart Glass, works for the state, but does not want to identify the agency or position.

Her appearance in a long purple dress on the opening night of town meeting on May 15 created a buzz of conversation among other elected town meeting members and spectators.

Most smaller towns in Massachusetts have an open town meeting, with any registered voter allowed to take part in decision-making. But Randolph is among the communities run by a representative town meeting, with 200 members elected to conduct the town's business at annual and special town meetings.

A town meeting member since 1985, Glass rarely spoke on town meeting floor. Edwards did not go to the microphone once during the four nights of town meeting, which concluded Tuesday night.

Town Moderator Kevin Reilly, who presides over the sessions, said he didn't get any complaints about Edwards.

"Other than it was pointed out to me the first evening, I didn't hear about it," Reilly said. "It didn't become an issue."

Town Clerk Brian Howard said there were a couple of minor procedural questions. Edwards checked in as Glass, whose name appeared on the ballot and voters' list.

"Is it unique? Yes, it's unique," Howard said. "We're a tolerant community."

The town's population is racially, ethnically and religiously diverse. Its School Committee includes an openly gay member.

Edwards said the comments she's heard have been positive.

"It's been good so far. People have been polite," Edwards said. "People have complimented me on my appearance, mainly women."

Fashions at town meeting can vary widely, from town officials in jacket and tie to backbenchers in shorts and Red Sox T-shirts.

Edwards performs a couple of times a month at the Randolph Country Club, which caters to gay people. She's also starting a "drag queen entertainment" business, performing everything from Barbara Streisand songs to country music and current hits.

"I got loads of wigs, loads of outfits and loads of CDs," she said.

Glass has an image consulting business for transgendered people, men who identify themselves as women and women who identify themselves as men. Edwards has not undergone the treatments and surgery to change her gender, saying she has problems with the medical process.

Married for many years, Glass' divorce is about to become final.

Edwards believes her action has helped raise awareness of transgender individuals in the community.

"You don't become transgender; you're born that way," said Edwards. "I was just born the wrong sex. I feel better about myself as a woman."

This story appeared here in the online edition of The Patriot Ledger on June 31, 2007. This link is correct, but it looks like somebody hacked it. I contacted The Patriot Ledger about the problem and they are working on it. They did e-mail the whole story to me and I have posted it above.

a pride trans-formation

D.C.'s trans community organizes its first dedicated Capital Pride event

Washington, DC — With new protections for transgender people going into effect in October 2006, Washington has the distinction of leading the country in protecting the transgender community from discrimination, according to the D.C. Trans Coalition.

Among the protections offered by the city, transgender people cannot be prevented from using gender-specific facilities, such as restrooms; employers must treat transgender medical needs as they would any other legitimate medical need; and neither businesses nor city agencies can require a person to disclose information about gender transition.

But on June 3, D.C.'s trans community will achieve another milestone, this time outside of the legal realm. On that Sunday, the community will celebrate the first Trans Pride.

"It's very, very, very important," says SaVanna Wanzer, chair of Capital Pride's transgender committee, a board member at the Whitman-Walker Clinic, and a self-identified trans woman. "It's been a terrible fight just getting this event together, with budget issues. The transgender community needs its own event, rather than just using us as entertainment. That's all we've been allowed to do."

Read the rest of the story here.

comments

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a reader of this blog. She wrote that she liked my blog, but added that my blog does not get a lot of comments.

This is true. Reader comments here are scarce.

It is not the nature of the beast. I read a lot of other trans-oriented blogs regularly and some have few, if any, comments, while other trans-blogs that have lots of comments.

I can surmise that my blog readers agree with what I write 100% and have nothing to add or they so disagree with me that they don't know where to begin and just don't bother. Another thought is that what I write here is just so much fluff and readers don't think it is worth their time to comment on the fluff.

In reality, I just don't know. Nevertheless, comments or not, I plan to keep on blogging for the foreseeable future.

engendering change

Read one writer's take on all the recent happy transgender news: engendering change.

it's hard to be a dude these days

It's hard to be a dude these days, so put on a dress and embrace your feminine side.

church to hold transgender forum

male-to-female minister will preach at service

CHAPEL HILL, NC — John Thompson has never met a transgender person, that he knows of.

"I've met someone I think might be, but that person has not said they are," Thompson said Tuesday.

"But I'm going to," he added.

That's because Thompson, an elder at The Church of Reconciliation, is helping to bring a transgender minister to town next month for a free weekend workshop on transgender issues.

Read the rest of the story here.

dressing like a Primer Impacto woman

Primer Impacto is a news program broadcast twice daily by Univision. It features gorgeous newswomen, who are usually dressed to kill. [My favorite fashion plates are news anchor, Barbara Bermudo (left), and weather woman, Jackie Guerrido.]

Typically, the women on Primer Impacto wear beautiful clothes (dresses and heels), which are a little over the top for the average television newswoman. For example, the woman often wear strappy high heel sandals, i.e., footwear that you are more likely to see on something like Dancing With the Stars rather than CBS Evening News.

In my next life, I want to come back as a Primer Impacto newswoman, but in the meantime, I can dress like one.

what he wrote

Surprise! I just received a reply to my e-mail asking my state representative to support the gender anti-discrimination legislation .

My state rep wrote (his name has been changed to protect this crossdresser):

Staci,

Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate your stance on S.B. 1044, and I will take your thoughts and concerns into consideration as this legislation moves forward.

Best Regards,

X

I hope his reply is a good sign. My state senator never replied to my e-mail and he ended up being one of the few senators to vote against the bill.

what she wrote

The Connecticut state legislature is considering gender anti-discrimination legislation. The bill passed in the senate with flying colors (by a vote of 30-4) and is likely to come up for a vote in the house of representatives in the next few days.

I wrote to my state senator asking him to support the bill when it came up for a vote. The bum was one of the four to vote against it.

Last night, I wrote to my state representative to support the bill. Here is what I wrote (the names have been changed to protect the crossdresser):

Hello Representative X,

I am one of your constituents, who lives in Podunk. I am writing to you today to urge you to vote in favor of SB-1044, An Act Concerning Discrimination.

Every day I fear that I may be fired, denied basic housing, denied credit and otherwise, suffer from discrimination just because I am transgendered.

I urge you to seriously consider all the stories presented as part of the public hearing in support of this legislation and to support the transgender community as being productive, useful and contributory citizens of this state.

This legislation is not about "special" rights; it is about "basic human and equal rights"! Please vote in favor of SB-1044.

Sincerely,

Staci Ann Hunter*
staci-staci@sbcglobal.net
Podunk, CT

* Staci Ann Hunter Is not my legal name. It is the name I use when I present as a woman in order to protect my male identity, another burden that would be lessened by the passage of SB-1044.

nightmare girls

My spouse and I watched Dream Girls last night. It was excruciating! I can't believe it was considered for the Academy Awards best picture! Jennifer Hudson was good and probably deserved the various awards she won for her role in the film, but I dunno for sure because half way through the film, I asked my spouse if she thought the film was as bad as I thought it was. She agreed and we stopped watching it.

The music was not my cup of tea. I wanted to hear a Motown-like sound. Instead, I heard a Broadway sound, not that there is anything wrong with that. I like show tunes as much as the next guy wearing a sequins dress, but the movie was supposed to be about Detroit music in the 1960s, not NYC. What a disappointment!

On the positive side, Beyoncé Knowles was gorgeous and the retro gowns that the Dream Girls wore in the film were to die for! I will probably fast-forward the second half of the film to catch any other Beyoncé and evening gown highlights.

on the radio

With my new car came a free three-month subscription to Sirius satellite radio.

Looking at the Sirius literature that came in the mail a few days ago, I noticed that channel 109 is Sirius OutQ Radio, which provides "news, interviews and music on America's only 24/7 radio station from and for the GLBT community."

So, I dialed up channel 109 to check it out and see how much of the T part of that GLBT community gets airplay. The jury is still out, but I have heard some T-related items during the short time I have been monitoring channel 109. I will keep on listening and report back here after I have a larger sample.

the crossdresser's diet

Saturday night, while we were deciding what to order for dinner, I mentioned how I eat less when I am en femme.

Jade Catherine chimed in that she also eats less when she is en femme and that her spouse calls it "the Jade Catherine diet."

It turns out that we have different reason for eating less en femme.

Jade Catherine eats less because she wants to maintain her girlish figure.

I eat less because when I am en femme, I usually wear some kind of foundation garment intended to shrink my tummy and waistline. If I eat too much, the foundation garment pressing on my full tummy is very uncomfortable; "my girdle is killing me" like they used to say in the Playtex ads. So, I eat less to avoid discomfort.

Sometimes, in boy mode, I eat less to achieve a slimmer figure in girl mode and have successfully dropped weight with that goal in mind, but I have never gotten down where I would like to be, i.e., thin enough to not need a girdle, waist cincher, or corset.

By the way, Jade Catherine has a great figure and does it without the aid of a girdle, waist cincher, or corset. I'm so jealous!

Connecticut state senate passes anti-discrimination bill

According to Diana, the Connecticut state senate passed the gender anti-discrimination bill today. That is absolutely wonderful news!

Bad news is that the gutless little worm, who is my state senator voted against it. That does not surprise me. He is one of those Republicans, who is so proud of his party affiliation that when he ran for the senate last fall, his campaign literature did not indicate that he was a Republican.

embarrassing moment

So, I am shopping in boy mode at Wal*Mart during my lunch hour today and I need to buy some Nair (to remove leg and arm hair). I find it for sale in a cheesy cardboard display rack in the pharmaceutical section of the store. The display is so cheesy that when I removed one container of Nair from the rack, another container came tumbling out and went splat on the floor.

As I exited the scene with all due speed, I informed a woman stacking shelves in the next aisle about the problem and she said she would take care of it.

bar groups endorse transgender rights

Read the good news out of Massachusetts. (I wish there was good news like this here in Connecticut.)

ten simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life

Go here for some good advice for trans-folks and non-trans-folks alike.

I especially need to work on these two:

Give up on feeling guilty. Guilt changes nothing. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go. If you’re feeling guilty about what someone else did, see a psychiatrist. That’s insane.

Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you. Nasty people can’t make you mad. Nice people can’t make you happy. Events or people are simply events or people. They can’t make you anything. You have to do that for yourself. Whatever emotions arise in you as a result of external events, they’re powerless until you pick them up and decide to act on them. Besides, most people are far too busy thinking about themselves (and worry what you are are thinking and saying about them) to be concerned about you.

fall fashions

Yesterday, I received the Newport-News fall fashion preview catalog. I love fall fashions and when the preview catalog arrives, it reminds me back when I was a kid and the Christmas toy catalog arrived!

This year's fall fashion catalog did not let me down. Page after page, I found something that I would like to wear. I probably will not buy anything until it is on sale or shows up in their clearance catalog, but then again, maybe my ship is finally coming in and I can buy one of each of everything in the catalog, on sale or otherwise.

dressing in drag for Ed Wood

"I'd get home, put a slip on, some high heels, hang out. Wearing bullet bras, garters, the whole shebang has given me newfound respect for women and profound respect for transvestites. It takes serious commitment for a man to really want to dress as a woman." – Johnny Depp at EW.com

dressing in dayton

In addition to being an amateur female impersonator, I am an amateur radio operator and attended the Dayton Hamvention this past weekend.

While in Dayton, I wanted to go out en femme Saturday night. When I mentioned my plans on (en)gender – the my husband betty message board, Jade Catherine contacted me. Jade Catherine ("JC" from hereon) lives near Dayton and had a friend staying at her house for the Hamvention, who is also a crossdresser. We decided to get together Saturday night en femme. Great! I would not have to go out crossdressed alone.

After two full days at the Hamvention, I was exhausted when I returned to my hotel room early Saturday evening; so exhausted that I was reconsidering my plans to go out en femme. But after a quick shower, I was reinvigorated and I prepared to go out.

I phoned JC and we decided to dine and go clubbing/dancing after dinner. JC, her spouse, her ham friend, Sarah, and I agreed to dine at Uno Chicago Grill in downtown Dayton.

I grabbed my keys and purse and walked down the hallway to the hotel lobby. (The accompanying photo shows how I looked before I left my hotel room.) A handful of people mingling in the lobby paid no attention to me despite my heels clicking loudly on the lobby floor.

I exited the hotel, walked to my car, drove downtown and found the restaurant, but circled the area for over ten minutes trying to find a parking space. I phoned JC for advice and her spouse suggested that I park in the same parking ramp where they had parked. She gave me directions to the ramp and I found it easily.

After parking my car, I had to walk about three blocks to the restaurant. There was not much foot traffic on my route, so I was a little worried about walking alone, but I wasn't going to let that stop me now.

On the way, a hotel shuttle bus was waiting at a traffic light and the bus driver smiled and waved at me (I smiled back). A block from the restaurant, there were groups of well-dressed people mingling outside the Schuster Center. They were probably attending an event in the center. No one paid much attention to me except one fellow, who was alone. He seemed very interested; maybe he was looking for a date!

I entered the restaurant and a waitress accompanied me to the booth where JC and company were already seated. I was stunned: What a group of beautiful woman! And so young, too!

After introductions, we chatted. I did not recognize Sarah's ham radio call sign and she did not recognize mine, so we likely have not crossed paths in the ham radio world. Turns out another ham, a non-crossdresser would be joining us. When he arrived, we exchanged call signs. I did not recognize his call sign, but he was familiar with mine having read some of the things I have written for the ham radio media.

We had a wonderful time getting acquainted, talking about our lives and careers. JC and Sarah are like me: plain vanilla crossdressers, not interested in sex-reassignment surgery, so we had a lot in common.

JC actually worked as a woman for a long time. And I can see why: she passes very well. Her photos on the Internet do not do her justice: she is even more beautiful in person. In addition to her very passable looks, she knows how to act, walk, and talk like a woman, too. She inspired me to stop being lazy and start practicing using a femme voice myself.

After a delicious pizza dinner, JC and I went clubbing, while her wife and the other hams returned home. Our first stop was a lesbian bar called Up On Main. The place was an old neighborhood bar with 15 or so lesbians inside. A DJ was playing music, but there was no one on the dance floor. Since JC was a dancer and not a drinker, she went straight to the dance floor and began dancing. I joined her and danced a bit, but JC is 20 years younger than me, so she kept on dancing while I sat out a song or two to rest.

After a half hour, JC was frustrated that no one else was dancing, so we decided to leave and go to a gay club downtown called Masque. Masque was jumping! Walking into Masque reminded me of those movies about the disco era, where the hero or heroine of the movie walks into Studio 54 or someplace similar.

Downstairs was a bar and a small stage, but no dance floor. At first, we thought the stage was the dance floor because when we came in, a couple were dancing on the stage. After walking around the bar and finding no other place to dance, JC decided to climb up on stage to dance and I agreed to join her, but before we did, I suggested we ask the DJ. Good thing we did because the stage was for a drag show! The real dance floor was upstairs. So I followed JC upstairs.

The dance floor upstairs was beautiful with fog and a fantastic light show, but the sound was deafening (my ears are still ringing). After one dance, JC wanted to leave because it was just too loud. She said next time we should bring earplugs.

By the way, while we were in Masque, a half dozen or so young females smiled at me. Maybe they were happy to see a mother figure in attendance! When I went clubbing in boy mode in my youth, I can count on one finger the number of young females that smiled at the boy mode Staci!

The women at Up On Main were friendly, too! I don't know if they had us figured out or not. For what it's worth, when I ordered a glass of water, the bartender called me "Sweetie" and not "Sir," so go figure!

We called it a night around midnight. I drove JC home. She invited me in, but I declined because I had a long drive home ahead of me on Sunday and wanted to get some sleep before I began my journey.

I had a wonderful time en femme in Dayton and I can't thank Jade Catherine enough for making it happen.

Kent State University bathrooms accommodate trans-students

May 18 2007 7:54AM

KENT, Ohio - Kent State University is accommodating transgender students with a newly relabeled unisex restroom that has four images on the door: a man, a woman, a person in a wheelchair and a man and a woman separated by a slash.

Read the rest of the restroom story here.