GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

i don't really know. i have to think way far back. the first person i was aware of wasn't famous. thinking: how did i become aware of the word 'transsexual'? i really can't remember. i remember having issues with that word. it sounded gross to me. deviant. dirty. i didn't want to be labeled with a trans word, like transvestite for example. first trans person i was aware of was me. when i was a teen (i say age 12 13 or 14) i went searching for answers on line for why i felt the way i did and that is where i became aware of the word transsexual and any one of the individuals conflicted. it was no boubt just some random trans sister posting her concerns online. the first one that i got to know, other than myself, was a friend i located in my area in utah by seaching keywords like 'transsexual' in the yahoo memeber directory. she was just starting her transition. i was 5 years lagging.


oh but i just remembered a neat experience with my first time up close and personal with one. i was at a rave party in detroit. i was probably 16 or 17. i was trying my hardest to live as a male in society. i was on an intense hallucinogenic trip after previously scarfing several microdots. i found my way to a seat in the middle of a foggy room and right across from me was a transitioned transsexual. i moved next to her and had a very intense moment at which time i revealed to her my secret. the first time i ever told anybody. revealing my secret progressively became more and more frequent after that.

no, i take that back. i had told my recent girlfriend of the time. wait i had told another girlfriend before that too. getting all this history in order is a task. i hated the entire experience all the way through tho. like others i didn't want to be different. i just wanted to be normal.

Christine Jorgenson, I think I was like 7 or 8 years old. The reason I remember it was because I thought she was beautiful and the family discussed it, albeit mostly in the negative. She has always been my inspiration.

Christine Jorgenson when I was about 10 years old ..

Later .. Jan Morris, when she wrote her book titled "Conundrum"

Also --- For you Trivia buffs who have ever listened to the album "Switched On Bach" .... It was done by Walter Carlos, who later became Wendy Carlos ... I had both versions of the album covers at one time ...

Okay, don't laugh: The first TS person I knew of was a character in an L. Frank Baum book! She was the boy Tip, who is actually Ozma, a princess of Oz who has been enchanted and who is changed back to her normal princess self at the end of the book. I read that in 5th grade or so and thought, "Wow, that's like me."

I'm not sure who was the first actual trans woman I knew of. Maybe Chris Jorgenson or Nancy Hunt.

ZOMG! I totally went looking for The Land Of Oz recently when I went to buy back the great books of my childhood.

I used to read that one under the covers with a flashlight and cry when I got to the ending where Glinda took Tip aside, and when my sister asked me why I was crying, I couldn't tell her and...

Crap.

I've just had keyboard diarrhea again, haven't I?

Anyhow, I have very vague recollections of Canary Conn.

Heh, I was *just* talking about this in the chat room.

Andrea James, for me.

I found her website about 7 or 8 years ago, I guess. I had never heard of the word transsexual before. When I found her website, I called out of work the next day and read every page on the site and visited every link I found reading about it. Her pictures amazed me, too (though I heard she took them down a few years back). I remember telling myself 'Wow, I can do this and maybe end up that hot? Awesome!'

It was like someone turned on a flashlight in a dark room and finally gave a glimpse of what was inside. Tsroadmap gave me a name to put on all the feelings I'd had all my life.

PS: I always felt so sorry for the Gump. He didn't ask to be brought into this world, but he did the best he could for his friends. And the Scarecrow was a mensch in the Jackdaw's nest...