hi all,
I managed to attend my first support group outing and at my wife's concerns i did not go dressed,
out of respect of privacy i will just say i was held at a church a few towns over, it was comfortable and had near 30 participants once everyone slowly showed up...i was impressed....thought it would be much fewer.
we went around and introduced ourselves and at my turn stated my name and professed to be transgender, a first for me in a public setting.
the mix was MtF, FtM, parents, sisters, brothers, most pre-op and full time, as well as post op. each was afforded to share something about themselves as the curator moved around the circle, (our became an oval as folks showed up after the meet began), when my turn came i shared the fact that i was a participant of an online group and was surprised at the participants use of "transgendered" and apologized if i used it errantly, i was told yes its transgender and transsexual is an outdated term with hints of disrespect, that the term is "transgender' and an umbrella term and is not a verb, no one is "transgendered". I thanked them for explaining this but all the while felt here we have a section devoted and didnt think those watering theyre felt it was outdated or insulting. so i came away confused by that, being here a year i felt like i was getting this LGBT thing down.

what was also apparent and contrary to popular belief there were more FtM participants both pre-op as well as post-op which had me compelled to make a note about that here.....just for the fact that anytime i read something its states the opposite....

so first time sharing myself to a group....still not out dressed...but i think i would have been comfortable there....some of the stories were truly sad, some were very inspirational....

just wanted to share....thanks for reading....