...said my adult daughter to my wife right in front of me when she herself brought up the subject of my crossdressing during a particularly heated multi-level argument between the three of us...an argument that ironically pertained to a totally different subject matter initially...

A little backstory before I continue here, though, for all of this to make any sense:

My daughter (early 40's, married, a mother herself, and very open-minded) has known about my crossdressing for over 10 years now. This came about unplanned and as a result of a tearful confession on my part one day after I was forced to act pro-actively when my wife threatened to "out" me to her as a way of getting back at me during a particularly difficult period in our relationship (3 guesses as to what one of the main drivers here was).

My daughter - while being surprised initially that this was something her otherwise "manly" Dad would be into nevertheless took it all in stride and was very supportive, understanding, and non-judgemental in her reaction. Of course, being a high school teacher and keenly aware of current LGBTQ-related issues from her own classroom experience was a big factor in this. She has since volunteered to be the school staff liaison/mentor/coordinator for her school's Gay-Straight Alliance for students, and I like to think that knowing about this part of me may have had some influence in steering her in that direction. But I digress...

It was clear from my daughter's reaction to my "reveal" that she was very shaken by my distress and embarrassment over having to admit to this, whereas for her it was really no big deal aside from the surprise factor. Consequently, we have never talked any further about my crossdressing, she has never seen "Leslie" in the flesh or in pictures, our relationship never changed one iota in the interim, and to this day I am still her cherished masculine Dad and a valued mentor and role model as Grandpa to her (now almost teenaged) son. In other words, it's as though it had all never happened. Or so I thought...

I won't go into the details of the aforementioned argument...suffice it to say, my wife has a very controlling and somewhat anxiety-driven personality which often makes her act irrationally and difficult to deal with. My daughter knows how challenging this can be for me, is occasionally subjected to the same drama, simply had had enough of it in this particular instance, and had called my wife on her B.S. while I was present.

I was stunned that my daughter not only brought up the subject of my crossdressing unasked on my behalf as one more example of how my wife was making life unreasonably hard for me similar to what she was doing to her in other ways, but that she had even thought to do so in the first place. As I mentioned earlier, I have never discussed my crossdressing any further with her, nor the degree to which it was negatively impacting my marriage. Still, somehow she just KNEW, and spontaneously sprang to my defense over it.

I will never forget my daughter's words to my wife when she confronted her over her disdain towards my crossdressing..."Why are you giving Dad such a hard time over this crossdressing thing? C'mon, Mom, get over it! It's no big deal, and besides, it's 2018!

Did I mention just how proud I was of my daughter at that very moment? Oh, and by the way, in a couple of weeks she and her husband will be attending the same-sex marriage of a (male) work colleague and dear friend of hers, and neither one of them sees this as being anything but perfectly normal.

I guess I must have done something right in instilling these liberal views in my daughter while helping raise her despite the opposing pull of my wife's more rigid and conservative take on life and the type of fundamentalist "values" she espouses.

As far as my wife coming around and maybe allowing my daughter's comments resonate with her in due course is concerned...well, that's a whole other matter, and time will tell. I'm not holding my breath, but at least I now know unequivocally that my daughter is fully on board with my crossdressing.