In the past 10 years there has been so much in the new about gay rights and gay pride marches. Gay folks are really making great strides and are much more readily accepted by society. Why isn't the same happening for crossdressers? Crossdressers are never in the news and when they are, it is always in a negative light.
You will become stronger in the ways of the Pink Fog. May the Pink Fog guide you and be with you now and forever.
Probably several reasons. Foremost I would say the media. They like to cover stories about the guy trying to bras or something, usually the seedy stuff. The media also likes to cover stories about cd in general, usually negative. For example. "Man pulled over wearing a halter top and high heels." A combination of the weirdo to being mocked. When was the last time you heard about a women getting pulled over wearing jeans and tennis shoes?
Then there is the separation in the cd community. The causal wear jeans to sandals guy, certainly doesn't want to be lumped in the guys who are wearing bras and breast forms.
I'd love to see the cd community get more active politically. But even more than that, I don't wish it was a "cd" thing. It should be an everybody thing. Do you hear from womens cd groups they have the right to wear pants? Certainly not.
Women who wear pants and skirts are shocked, just shocked a husband would do the same thing.
There are a lot more lesbians and gays that are out than crossdressers who are out. The majority of us are locked in the dark recesses of our closets.
You can take action:
Contact your local, state and federal legislators and ask them to support transgender rights.
Stand up for transgender rights in your workplace. It is not necessary to out yourself by standing up against discrimination.
If you are out, be a positive role model.
Most Pride events include transgendered people, find out when your local Pride event is and participate.
Remember, if you do not choose to stand up for your rights don't expect anyone else to.
It takes a real man to wear a dress.
I agree with what you said if you do nothing then nothing will ever change.Originally Posted by trannie T
Good bye i'm at wacko taco .com now
i think it's very easy to focus on the current state of affairs and forget how much progress has already been made by our sisters that have gone before us. You only need read the stories of those growing up in the the post war era and later to see that it wasn't uncommon for us to be 'treated' by doctors for our condition with utterly barbaric methods such as electric shock and so forth. Whilst we still have a long way to go before we reach the levels of public acceptance that the gay and lesbian movement has reached we must also understand the pain and effort that they have put in to get to where they are now.
It doesn't help either that , as has already been said , there are so many sub groups within the TG umbrella that we virtually have no unity identity on which to campaign. We fight and bicker within ourselves and present so many different identities that if we have trouble understanding ourselves the average joe member of public has even less chance of doing so.
Society and it's perspective of us is changing and i think this thread only shows too well . it may not be where we wish is to be and it never will be unless we are willing to go out there and fight for the advances that gay right movement have rightfully achieved
I think that all of the above post`s are about right, the thing is that if you are gay then that is it "you are gay" but if you are a cross dresser then that can mean so many different things and i think that is where the problem lies, the diversity of cross dressing is are own enemy the man in the skirt doe`s not want to be classed the same as the man who go`s 24/7 and vice averse but what they should all realise is that they will all help one another in the long run.
joanne
The problem is that how can members of the TG community come out and shout for their rights in the public domain when the majority of them are hiding it from their own partners/spouses and family.
Mostly the general public puts us in the Gay group. They think that because we dress like females that we want to be with males, which is not the case with most CDers. We are heterosexual and this is the point that many people out there do not know.
I agree we need to be recongnised as being different from Gays and so called normal people. But bad publicity is what we get most of the time.
Like was mentioned earlier, most CDers are still in the closet and haver not come out yet and are afraid to do so. If it were not for this forum many of us would still be unknown. Many of us would think that we were the only ones who felt the way we do. Thank GOD for this forum.
We could use some fresh Ideas about how to show the world we are here and most of us are not GAY! As a matter of fact many of us have normal lives in the so called real world. Doctor, Lawyers, Truck Drivers, Racers, We are everywhere, but not ready to come out yet as we would probably get the wrong reaction.
Ladies have a GREAT time!
Smile GOD LOVES you!!!
GOD BLESS US ALL!!!
AMY Hepker
ROSES ARE RED
VIOLETS ARE BLUE
I'LL BE ME
AND YOU BE YOU
Very true. It is a closeted community.
I am a crossdresser who does the full transformation thing - wig, makeup, breast forms etc - and I go out in public that way, and to be honest, I don't feel I have much in common with a man who only wears women's underwear under his male clothing. Yet we are both labeled crossdressers. I don't see how my needs dove-tail with someone like that.
I don't think crossdressers are ready to be politically active. I think we have to be socially active and that means being visible. Politicians no longer seem willing to stick their necks out for small segments of their constituencies (even Barny Frank couldn't support the TG community).
What I have noticed over the past dozen years or so is that the transgender community seems to wait for other people - Oprah, Phil, whatever - to tell our stories for us, rather than tell our own stories ourselves. Then we sit around and complain about how no one understands.
Oh great, now you've got me started!
Amy, I agree with you, but this proves the the original claim of this thread - nothing has changed much. Twelve years ago I thought I was the only one.
Last edited by Di; 04-28-2008 at 07:44 AM.
It's mostly an individual thing by nature. Folks will get "involved" only when and if they are ready to.
Second star to the right and straight on till morning
Yvonne, yes but now you know differently. With the help of the Internet more and more of us are coming out and more and more becomming active. Still not enough to tilt the balance but improving day by day. Rome wasn't built in a day and it will be a long, long struggle - but I genuinely think things are improving - particularly the greater tolerence of the young.
I strut my stuff, I feel so proud,
I need to shout, to scream out loud,
I am Tricia I am she,
I am who I want to be
http://tricia-dale.blogspot.com/
MANY would be a better word. And why is it so important for the world to hear you say you're not gay?
If you want to be seen, step outside your home.
[SIZE="3"]Gender is a state of mind[/SIZE]
LGBTQ PRIDE
As of Oct. 5th, go here to see my pics:http://www.flickr.com/people/fab_karen/
A Yankee Doodle T-Girl
proud of my President
It seems to me many religius groups also label us a gay and throw readings in our faces.
I will follow my heart
When Eddie Izzard became famous, I was hopeful that his CDing would be a catalyst to new thinking on behalf of the drab majority.
Sadly, it looks as though he has now become a total straight. He famously used to wear glamourous nail polish whatever he was doing - television shows, standup gigs etc., but even that has gone. Sacrificed on the altar of commercial success. Ah well.....
[SIZE="4"][/SIZE]"You can have my stilletoes when you can prise them from my cold, dead feet"
There are "women cd groups"? Where?
You took the words right outta my mouth, Karen.
But doesn't Eddie have the right to NOT dress if he so desires? He's not the poster child for the CD community. Anyone who wants equality should get out there and speak up and not depend on others to do it for them. People who live in glass houses and all that.
But why is the rum gone?! - Capt. Jack Sparrow[SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl[/SIZE]
Why is the rum always gone? - Capt. Jack Sparrow[SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest[/SIZE]
Why is all but the rum gone? No, the rum's gone too . . .- [SIZE="1"]Pirates of the Caribbean: At World End[/SIZE]
[SIZE="3"]Lex on the Beach[/SIZE]. . . [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I think that the media views cross dressers as some kind of weird part of our varied society and yet people who are openly gay can operate as normal and have the protection from the very same media.It does'nt seem fair and though i have no axe to grind with gay people, I found when my wife and i realised that i liked to dress en femme,at first I had to explain that it wasn't a gay thing,and that was her initial fear that she was losing her husband.Thankfully she was very understanding.
Why is it so bad that a guy who wants to wear a dress is looked upon as someone strange,while a woman can wear a mans suit and still look very sexy and be accepted?
Well I could go on and on ,but I expect you all feel a similar way,
Thanks Gina( Still trying todecide between Gina and Gena)
If we look at the gay community as a model for how our community might evolve, two events really focused them.
1. Stonewall, when the police tried to bust yet another gay club, to enforce the old "sodomy" statutes. The gays fought back, at first physically, then in the streets, in the press, and in the courts. It really unified the gay community, and henceforth they would unite under the single banner word "gay" rather than the subcommunities of "leather", "drag", and so on. Within a few months, for example, there was an unofficial "gay dress code" which almost all gays were wearing--polo shirt, short hair, chinos or jeans, regardless of subcommunity. This was part of a move to make daily appearance more mainstream. Sodomy laws were challenged and overturned, employment discrimination was replaced with employment rights guarantees, and so on.
2. The AIDS epidemic. The Religious Right tried to capitalize it as "The Gay Disease." Instead the gay community united once again to spearhead funding for research to find the cure. Millions of dollars were raised, and medical advances happened. The gay community turned the popular perception of them from "the spreaders of disease" to "the people who saved us from an epidemic" and won huge popular support in the process.
I'm not trying to ask for the negative, but only to comment that we need to be willing to unite as a community and to turn negative events into positive ones and publicize that.
Blessings,
Rikki
I was very surprised and delighted to find out there are, here is a quote from an article in the Winter 2007 edition of the "The Mirror" by Jayme Fay a MtF CD.There are "women cd groups"? Where?
"I was recently a contestant in the 2007 Ms. Transgender Beauty Pageant of Houston. Sorry I didn't win but I had a lot of fun. This was really a Unity type event. All of the different groups in the Houston area were involved. Our escorts for the ball gown event were from S.T.A.G.(Some Transgenders Are Guys). It was interesting meeting female crossdressers as guys. They were great."
There was also a pic in the article showing Jayme and her FtM escort together. Pretty awesome IMO.
Crossdressers, Drag Queens etc were at the heart of the Stonewall Riots. One of the laws used to arrest people was about wearing clothes of the opposite gender! The first punch is attributed by some to have been thrown by a transexual.
And before that there was the Compton Cafeteria riot!
Somewhere though the transgender component got largely forgotten.
Often movements need 1 or more of the following:
A) A charismatic and inspiring leader.
B) A general mood of rebellion and change that inspires people broadly,a grassroots groundswell or popularity of activism as 'cool' or worthwhile.
C) A feeling of being cheated or of great injustice, often this comes surprisingly not when things are at their worst but when they are getting better but then fail to reach the foreseen levels or take a retrograde step
Though I think it was the rise of positive portrayels of gays in the entertainment media rather than just as tragic figures that gained gay people more acceptance.
Transguys, yes, but do they actually identify as crossdressers or as transmen? It's been my experience that very few transguys consider themselves crossdressers (not that there's anything wrong with that).
But why is the rum gone?! - Capt. Jack Sparrow
Why is the rum always gone? - Capt. Jack Sparrow
Why is all but the rum gone? No, the rum's gone too . . .
[SIZE="3"]Lex on the Beach[/SIZE]. . . [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I don't know, I took it as they identified as crossdressers, but that's an interesting question. I'll look into it some more, I'd like to know the same thing.Transguys, yes, but do they actually identify as crossdressers or as transmen?
Update: Ah well, your right, they're not crossdressers after all. It was nice for a little while anyway to think there were brothers who were actually sisters who had formed a group, I'll just have to keep looking.
Last edited by Maria2004; 04-28-2008 at 11:17 AM. Reason: Update
I do think we are looked upon as being weird.. that everyone thinks we should be shamed, and made to feel ashamed.. I usually run for the bathroom or the bedroom when the doorbell rings unexpectedly.. and that has to do with how I feel dressed in whatever mode I am in.. as far as how I would like to feel when dressed, I'd like to feel like I'm not a pervert.. that I am the same person weather dressed up or in regular male mode clothing...
This is what I mean by "every guy can look like a girl from the right angles".. this is one of the first pictures of me dressed up.. very vague look.. almost fem...
Not so long ago, gay/lesbians/bis were all in the closet just as much and many still are. Its a frightening experience to know you'll be hated for who you are (as you all are very well aware). But it was the act of coming out of that proverbial closet that really started to make the changes needed in society.
The fear of what GLB meant really started to fade more and more as "normal" people announced their sexuality.
Same would hold true for crossdressers.
It is the showing that you aren't a walking threat/virus/pervert or anything else negative (well... no more than the average person, lol) that will make the greatest impact on society over time. Its educating the masses that will ever make any of this acceptable behavior in any society.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
[SIZE="3"]"We're all born naked. Everything we wear is drag," said Boy George
[/SIZE]
I have tried that in a bigger way than you know but it back fired on me and i paid a very heavy price for it so that doe`s not always work for the individualThere are "women cd groups"? Where?
You took the words right outta my mouth, Karen.
Anyone who wants equality should get out there and speak up and not depend on others to do it for them. People who live in glass houses and all that.
joanne
We have come a long ways if you look over the last 50 years.
1950's
Cding was illegal in many states.
No discrimination protection anywhere
Getting beat up for being a CD was common and NOT against the law.
Most CDer were deep in the closet.
Never talked about on TV or media.
No SRS/FFS
TODAY
CDing is now legal in all states
Many states and cities have anti-discrimination laws that protect us.
Getting beat up for being a CD is NOW against the law.
With the invention of the Internet, more CDers are coming out of the closet.
Hardly a week does not go by that there is some form of media or TV exposure to CD/TSing.
SRS/FFS common today.
If I had gone out in public fully dress back then, I am sure someone would have pointed me out. Today even if someone does notice, they usually keep to themselves and/or done care.
So we have gain a lot over the last 50 years.
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