Going to see Laverne Cox

[Suzanne F]

I am so excited about tonight! I am going to see the transgender activist Laverne Cox. She is an actress on the series Orange is the New Black. She is one of the most visible transgender women in the country. I will be going with 3 other transgender ladies. Two of which are Allie and Mikki from this forum.

My life seems to be developing in front of my eyes. This seems like such a natural thing to do now. I Am out as Suzanne on a regular basis. I am going tonight with my wife's full knowledge and support. It was only a year ago when I had never told anyone about being a girl on the inside. I had never ventured out into the world as a woman. I am so grateful that a crisis erupted and I was compelled to come clean. Finally, I am so grateful for all of you women who had blazed a path for me!
Hugs
Suzanne

[dreamer_2.0]

Jealous! I'd love to see her. Hope you have a great time!

[Barbara Ella]

WOnderful that you have the chance to see Laverne. What is even more wonderful is your development over the last year. So happy for you on all counts dear.

Barbara

[kimdl93]

That's great, Suzanne. I haven't seem the show, but heard the author of the book interviewed a few weeks ago and she discussed the great performance by Ms Cox in that role.

And congratulations on the realization of yourself with your wife's support. It's wonderful.

[queenie]

What?! I missed a chance to meet Laverne? Hope it was fun! Next time send a memo to the rest of us sooner. ;-)

[Suzanne F]

It was a wonderful night. I have never seen so many of us in one place! Laverne was excellent. She is not only beautiful and talented, but also very intelligent and well read. She made me think and I always appreciate that. One if the questions to her was did she wish she had been born genetically female. I thought well of course. She said no. She said she had been anointed to be who she was. I then realized yes I was born to be this way. It was for a purpose. My experience can be and must be useful to others! What a beautiful realization!
Suzanne

[mikiSJ]

Suzanne: it is Miki, Miki, Miki, Miki NOT Mikki :):battingeyelashes:

Laverne is a very beautiful woman, tall, curvy and leggy, with a feminine baritone voice (yes, there is hope for us girls with long vocal cords).

Her story is a common one for many of us here. Being a woman of color and raised in the very deep Baptist South added to her story, but it is not very different from some of our stories - bullied in school, Doctors want to give her testosterone to make her more of a boy, mother can't understand why she wants ballet and not jazz dance lessons, getting sent to the Principal's office because she bought and used a beautiful Asian fan. She didn't really begin to blossom until she moved to New York City.

While I did find the talk interesting, it was more of a homage to her success as a transwoman of color, than a roadmap for individual success. For those of us, like myself and Suzanne, who have decided we want to be our new person, we have been there before in some manner. I am glad I went with Suzanne, Allie and Nalani as Laverne's talk was a good subject for comparison during our dinner afterwards.
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During the Q&A period afterwards, a six year old girl wrote out a question that was hand delivered to the stage. The question was about how can she stop the bullying at her school. She can't use the bathroom of her choice and must use the office restroom. She was asked to come up on stage and she is a cutey with a very small voice, but shy. She received a standing ovation from the crowd as her very supportive Father carried her out to meet Laverne.

Even though California has a new law requiring gender of choice use of restrooms, it will be a very long time before we can be free of bullies, for any issue.
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BTW, if you are ever in the Bay Area, take Allie to dinner. IT IS AN EXPERIENCE you'll not soon forget and you will meet any number of new friends.

[AllieSF]

I was not at first that interested in going to see her talk. But when Suzanne said that an extra ticket became available, I decided to go for it and listen to her presentation. I too was very impressed by her very good background education, family and work history that led her to the stage and activist for all LGBTQ rights. She has probably given this same talk many times with many variations, and yes it was about her own struggles and successes, which can be used as one example of making your life work with a lot of extra effort and determination.

The one phrase of the evening that seemed to mean a lot for me was, "Not to be the transgender police". Meaning to me, to love and support everyone even if they do not seem to meet our own personal standards.

[Suzanne F]

So sorry Miki!

[Annaliese]

It sound so fun, to see someone of her caliber, and going with your wife.WOW

[flatlander_48]

One if the questions to her was did she wish she had been born genetically female. I thought well of course. She said no. She said she had been anointed to be who she was.

I can understand the reasoning. For those of us who believe in Destiny, we start at some point, there is a path that we follow (often unknown but sometimes revealed in hindsight) on the way to where ever it is that we are supposed to be. I would think that if you change the path, you change the person. We might get to the same point eventually, but our experiences, sensibilities, priorities, etc. would all be different.