What I fear most as a transgender person

 

When I started this entry, I thought I could make it as long or as short as I wanted.  But life has a habit of throwing me curve balls, and I have a nasty habit of trying to hit them.  Luckily, I have hit enough of them to still be around to play again and again.

Lately, we've seen the governor of Florida attempting to censor both business and educational entities because they believe that all people have a right to be treated with dignity, and that we should not be watering down our history to avoid showing a past which is still uncomfortable for many to confront. This man, someone I consider as evil as our 45th president, has attacked his state's largest economic driver simply because the Disney corporation believes in treating the LGBT community with respect. Although I am not a fan of Disney or most of its products, I have to stand with the corporation as it fights this evil man.

Sadly, the governors of Florida and Texas reflect the feelings of a large part of the American population, and show how dangerous it can be for members of the LGBT community.  We've again seen a growth in "Bathroom Bills", laws which are specifically aimed at the transgender community.  We are often easy to pick on, as we usually stand out from the crowd by our appearance. M2F transgenders often have a masculine body build (facial features, hair/beard patterns, hands, feet, waist and hip development), speak in a deeper voice than cisgender females, and often wear wigs to deal with male pattern alopecia.  F2M transgenders tend to be smaller than typical cisgender males and have similar issues with body development as well.  Gender dimorphism is a problem for transgenders because it makes us easier to identify by intolerant people.

I've been careful NOT to travel in states where intolerant people are in charge.  But what happens if someone like Florida's governor becomes president?  I expect that America will become a much more intolerant nation, and that people like me will need to go into stealth mode.  People like Fran (who I've talked about in other blog entries) will be the first people to suffer.  But this will not be the end of things..  I will have it easy compared with people like Fran unless they take intolerance to its next step - using computers to sort through business records to find people ordering goods not conforming with one's assigned gender.  At that point, I will be leaving the USA, as to avoid the possible herding up of us "undesirables" into camps.  And if you think this won't be done, ask any Japanese-American (or his/her descendants) about the camps set up by our own government during WW2.

Yes, I have my fears.  And I don't think they are unreasonable.  We have a chance to stop this from happening. And I'm going to do what I can to help stop these people from gaining any more power than they already have.

Zooming with a Texas Friend

 

 

It's hard to believe that I've only met Stephanie once in person.  Yet, the two of us have developed a friendship thanks to Zoom and the Pandemic.

Today, Stephanie reminded me that we were supposed to have a zoom meeting this evening.  So, I set it up, and proceeded to get showered and dressed to spend the evening as Marian.  I ended up rushing to get to the post office before it closed, as I had a box to send to Pat at her care facility in Rockland county.  In the box was a photo shopped picture of my two gender presentations together, as if two separate people had posed for a formal picture on a cruise.

Once done with the post office, I decided to take a drive to Uncle Giuseppe's in Yorktown, to see how the store's new location looks.  And they did a great job with the space.  In the past, it housed a "Food Emporium" before A&P took over Shopwell and other smaller chains, causing the space to be empty for years.  Now, the store is much better than any of the supermarkets that previously occupied the space.

After killing time, I returned home and opened the zoom meeting with Stephanie.  As usual, we talked for a long time. Although she would like for me to come down and visit, I don't think I'll be visiting Texas anytime soon.  Texas is not a place where a TG like me can feel comfortable, given all the Radical Conservatives one finds down there.  The last thing I need is someone trying to cause me problems because I violated their "bathroom laws".

Sooner or later, I will have to get around to visiting Stephanie.  Only one problem - how can I make it worthwhile for RQS to accompany me on the trip?  Also, how would we describe our relationship with each other?