Saturday, November 20 is the official Transgender Day of Remembrance. On that day, transgenders and their allies all over the world will honor our brothers and sisters whose lives were snuffed out solely because they were trans.
If you wish to participate in the Day, the Transgender Day of Remembrance web site lists the location and specifics of all the planned events. There are a lot to choose from; I count 15 in New England alone and 14 in the Tri-State Area (CT-NJ-NY).
Reflecting on my Saturday night out, a few thoughts come to mind.
• Signs on the doors of the men's and women's restrooms declared that the restrooms were "trans-inclusive." I had a laugh when I saw the signs because in Connecticut, those signs are like carrying coals to Newcastle. Years ago, Connecticut courts decided that its citizens could use the restroom facility that matched their gender presentation (if you’re dressed like a boy, use the men’s room; if you’re dressed like a girl, use the ladies’ room). I guess the signs were there to clue in the clueless, but I was amused nonetheless.
• While I was dancing, I noticed an attractive 30-something woman dancing nearby who was checking me out. Our eyes met an inordinate number of times. Finally she flashed a smile in my direction and I returned the favor. She wore no make-up and she was dancing with another woman, who I assumed was her date or partner. Her dance partner had her back to me, but when the song ended and they walked off the dance floor hand-in-hand, I was able to see her partner. She resembled me! She was a tall 50-something blonde wearing full make-up and a short hair style very similar to mine. Go figure.
• The photo accompanying this post is another of me dressed at home before heading out to Hartford Saturday night.
• Going out en femme is now so natural to me that I don't think about it. Saturday night, I interacted with civilians both male and female without giving it a thought.
That is in contrast to my outings in the not too distant past when I'd be inside my female embodiment wondering if the person I am about to encounter is going to figure me out or whether the person I just encountered did figure me out or Goddess forbid, if the next person I am about to encounter is male and is there anyway I can avoid him!
Those days age long gone.
Now that I am not thinking about how other people react to me, I am able to let my personality out of the box and really be me. For example, while I was waiting for the elevator at the hotel hosting the dinner-dance, I made small talk with two guys who were also waiting for the elevator and I even cracked a joke that made them laugh.
All I have to say is that I've come a long way, baby, and it is wonderful!
Transgender fashion model Lea T appears on the new cover of Lurve magazine, wearing couture Givenchy.
Today, Salon.com published this interesting story about transgender people finding their voice at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.
"To me, there's nothing worse than seeing someone dressed as a woman, a beautiful woman. Then she opens her mouth and she sounds like a sailor. It's very off-putting for people."
Read all about it here.
I tired quickly watching the country and western music award show last night, so I perused the competing television fare and discovered a 1919 silent film on Turner Classic Movies. Titled Yankee Doodle in Berlin, its description read "A U.S. spy infiltrates the German Army disguised as a woman."
I was intrigued.
The film starred Bothwell Browne.
That name rang a bell, so I looked him up and, voila!, Mr. Browne was "a noted theatrical female impersonator at the top of his profession when this movie was filmed," according to IMDB.
I decided to watch the film, which turned out to be a farcical romp.
Mr. Browne's femulation was excellent (see photo). Despite his flat-chested female presentation, he definitely passed.
Gina sent me this photo from a large New Zealand chain store.
I especially like the baby blue menswear on the left!
Saturday, I will attend One Big Event, a benefit dinner-dance for the Hartford Gay and Lesbian Health Collective. I attended last year and had a wonderful time and look forward to attending again.
(Updated Below)
Keira Knightley is a British film actress. The only film I ever saw her in was Love Actually, but her image turns up occasionally at the some of the Internet sites that I haunt.
Whenever I see her photo, her eyebrows delight me. They are full, thick, and look very natural, as well as very feminine, as opposed to being pencil thin, extremely arched, and very artificial.
I like her eyebrows because my eyebrows are very similar to hers – our eyebrows could have been separated at birth! (In case you’re confused, that is Ms. Knightley in the photo on the left and me on the right.)
Since I present as a girl some of the time and do boy drag the rest of the time, I am hesitant to go too femme with my eyebrows. I have cleaned, shaped, and transitioned them from a near uni-brow to brows that can pass as feminine. They still work when I do boy drag, but they are feminine enough to pass as Keira Knightley’s eyebrows and that is just fine with me.
On Salon today, Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote about a mother's anti-homophobia rant that went viral. Her son's gender-bending Halloween costume outraged other parents -- so she penned an eloquent, moving response
I changed my name to Stana in May, but I was not sure how to pronounce my new name.My U.S. Congressman Chris Murphy defeated the Republican nominee Sam Caligiuri, who consistently voted against Connecticut state legislation that attempted to protect transgenders while he served as a State Senator.
This is a double victory for trans folks in Connecticut because in addition to Caligiuri not winning the congressional seat, he will no longer be a State Senator after his term ends this year.
