Stand up, Be proud! Fight for your rights, take a stand.

[tekla west]

Most people think
Great god will come from the skies
Take away everything
And make everybody feel high
But if you know what life is worth
You would look for yours on earth
And now you've seen the light
You stand up for your rights

Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up, don't give up the fight

St. Bob Marley, of course. And old Bob has a point - at least for some of us. When I finally made the "what the hell" decision (and granted, it was in San Francisco so it was not exactly bold or revolutionary) I first sought out support groups. But I did not need support. I needed shopping, dinner, and dancing. In that order. But I did see a need for some CD representation on the Transgender Civil Rights Board here. It was all TS, and that is fine, they have different needs, and they can't hide. But we CDs were part of this umbrella so I stood up and was appointed. At first they were a bit unsure, after all I pass about as good as a VW Bug going up a mountian. But I made myself of value, particulary in reaching out to TGs involved in the Sex Industy where they had - as you might imagine - frequent encounters with the police.

About the only true CD cause I could push was for unisex bathrooms and the phrasing in the law that one should use the correct room for your presentation. Not a big deal. But its good. The big deal turned out to be how much it changed me. I went from being an academic always using the correct fork and never using bad grammer & being a closet CD more or less - to a person who went out to some of the worst places (I didn't even know such places existed) and dealing with people who I had no idea even existed, much less ever encountered. Them girls learned me a lesson or two no doubt. I got a master's course in TG for sure.

Its been good for me. I love to dance at raves and techno clubs, and where a fifty year old guy is looked upon as some sort of odd freak, a CD is just the belle of the ball. So that has been good.

But its not for everyone. And perhaps for some it will be later, just not now. I only did this once my kids were in college, once my wife had run away with her 28year old BF. Once I left Iowa for home in SF. Once I quit teaching at the university and found myself back in the theatre, which has always been my first love. ("we all have major changes in life that are more or less a second chance." Harrison Ford)

I don't regret that it took so long. Everything takes as long as it takes after all. There is a time for everything. So for some that time is not yet here. For others, it will never come in.

Do not push people out. That is bad. Let them find thier own way, choose thier own day. If some of us are out, setting a good example, fighting for political change, or educating, then that's good. Do that. Thrive in it. Perhaps others might join us later. Or not. Either way, its THIER decision, not ours.