No, I am not a big Elvis fan. Yet, I enjoy most of his music. It's a shame that his life was cut short by excess. But this post is not going to be about Elvis, other than it will be public on the anniversary of his birthday.
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Most of my readers know that I write things one day and publish them around 2 weeks later. I do this, so that I can travel and not let people I'm away from the house until I've returned home. This means that I rarely post on cruise-specific travel forums, as I don't want thieves to have the knowledge that I'll be away for a given period of time. However, I just left the following post (from a different blog I occasionally write for people new to cruising) covering the cruise I took on December 9-16.
MSC Meraviglia - Florida and Bahamas Cruise (12/09/23 - 12/16/24)
It's written differently from the journal of the trip covered in successive entries in this transgender related blog, as no mention is given to any transgender issues. Shortly after posting, I got a lot of people reading the blog, as it was of interest to a wider group of people.
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Why do I mention the unexpected popularity of my other blog? Simple. It's to remind our community that we are small and not on the minds of most people. We are under attack by many, But most people are inclined to let us be, as I was on this cruise. I simply blended in to what people were expecting from a fat 66 y/o woman. And for most of us, that's what we want - to be treated with the respect normally shown to a person of our identified genders.
We must not forget that we are under attack from some quarters. When my ship made an unplanned stop in Miami, I refuse to spend any time or money helping the economy of that state as long as that homophobe/transphobe governor is in office. (Yes, I broke down and spent $2.00 on some soda, as I was thirsty.) I'm not as self righteous as I was practical - why take any last minute shore excursions in the rain? If I have to pass through Florida, I will spend some money there. But I won't plan a vacation that involves me staying there, save to visit a friend or to visit family.
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I've said before that living as a transgender person has a lot of mundane issues that are common to most people. When I see transgender people like Danica Roem get elected to office, they don't focus on being different, save that they will do more for their constituents than their opposition. We are part of a larger society. Maybe our goals of acceptance
from the larger society should focus on how much alike we are to the
rest of society instead of focusing on our differences....
