Put a 'Transsexual' off my bus tonight!!!

[ElaineB]

...I'm also not to sure that he was there for the 'shock' that some people try to do. He spent the time to apply for a disability fare card with a female name on it. Can't remember what her name was. If he was acting that way just for the shock of it, I doubt he would spend the time to file all the necessary paperwork.

We spend a lot of our time here reassuring each other that there's nothing wrong with crossdressing, that there are lots of common reasons why we do it, that "normal" doesnt mean much and everybody has their kinks etc etc ... so its easy to forget that there is that small minority of us who really are just plain nuts. We've probably all run into them online at one time or another, too.

I think the same is true of any group of "eccentric" people with unusual pastimes. Probably 98% of Trekkies are normal, if geeky... but there's that 2% you wouldn't want to be locked in a closet with. I'm sure there are reasons why these people are the way they are, but we have no hope of understanding them after just one or two casual encounters. All we can do is tolerate them, and we can only do that up to certain limits. I think you handled this just right.

About "representing us"... this is an old argument that doesn't wash anywhere. Judging a whole group of people by one or two bad experiences is prejudice, by definition. (If many-most of us were like that, that would be a different matter). Its not anything related to CDing or TGism either. You don't have to look far to find men who are pigs or women who are gold-diggers, but if anybody suggested that made it ok to label all people of either sex that way, we'd roast them - and we wouldn't even bother discussing whether that was a reasonable viewpoint. I don't see this is any different.

[linda allen]

.....About "representing us"... this is an old argument that doesn't wash anywhere. Judging a whole group of people by one or two bad experiences is prejudice, by definition.

Unfortunately, it does still "wash" with many people. Sure it's prejudice, but it still happens and it won't do us any good to pretend it doesn't. There are a lot of prejudiced people out there. Prejudiced against members of another race or religion, predudiced against rich or poor people, predudiced against gay people, and yes, predudiced against people who dress differently that they are expected to.

I'm not saying it's right and I'm not defending it, I'm just saying it's the reality that we must deal with. Pretending it's not reality will just cause problems when dealing with society.

[MicheleCooper]

When I used to take the bus we had the 'fern' lady, she used to sit with her potted fern next to her, hold it's 'limbs' and talk to it like a child, or even sing to it. I will say one thing not one person was ever disrespectful to her, when the seats were filled guys(including myself) would offer our seat to her and her fern. When the punks came on board and tried to start something people came to her defense quick. The thing about this jackass he was looking for a fight, he had something to prove and he got it - at least in his mind - the world is full of homophobic people who hate his kind and so on. And it is sad that some people are going to equate the clothes he wore to a lifestyle that we enjoy on this website, however, you mention the black guy who wears dresses, and I think if punks gave him a hard time and those who see him on a regular basis would hopefully defend him, like those who defended the fern lady. At that time it becomes a matter of respecting a person who has shown respect to others no matter what he was or wasn't wearing. So don't think this assclown ruined our image, he ruined HIS image and you did a good job taking care of the situation.