Likes: 
Faceplams: Wow.
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Wow.
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Interesting turn
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/0...ale-95791.html
This will be the same legal fight the prison system has been fighting in my state against a convicted murderer who wants to transition. The state doesn't want to pay. This story is federal and can set a massive precedent either way.
Throbbing Member
.Originally Posted by Dra508
This has long been known, or at least known within my circles. It was form of torture the government used. The inability to identify as she pleased. She's been through enough, I'm glad she feels comfortable to put this out for wide consumption, but knowing this country and the picture they've tried to paint of her already. This "gender change" will probably be seen as the reason these "illegal" act were committed. I bet this becomes more of a scandal than the actual crimes that were committed.
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^^^ I'm going to bet it was not widely known amongst the average citizenry. I didn't know and I'm way not average, reading at least three different newspaper/websites a day.
I don't know about the news/topic becoming more of a scandal. I was reacting to this news from the perspective of how will this be handled with a person entering the prison. Her desire to 'begin therapy' while a resident in the federal corrections system will be interesting to see how it is handled.
Massachusetts, a very progressive state in some areas, is pushing back on funding
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/201...xYO/story.html
*and I notice that Politico used the wrong pronoun.
Throbbing Member
I thought more people knew. Before the trial even began one of the arguments being used was that the stress over her "gender confusion" led to self hatred and hatred for the country. I'm not sure if that was brought up during the actual trial, but that might just be most infuriating cases of character assassination I've seen. As for the scandal part there shouldn't be any, but people in this country never seem to get angry at the things they most likely need to be angry at.
Chelsea Manning goes to prison for having a working conscience and handles it better than a large percentage of people ever would. She's become a personal hero of mine.
Stubby Member
The defence also fought for questions to be asked upon jury selection to determine whether or not potential jurors were in anyway homophobic/transphobic. They were denied.
I've known about Manning's gender dysmorphia for a while, easily a few years. It was quite widely reported in European media.
The amount of horrible transphobic comments I've read, heard and seen today has made me feel sick. It's a shame that this is going to be spun in a "this horrible she-man is a fucking psycho fag that wants to hurt our country" angle. But at the same time, it brings trans people into the forefront of the news and will hopefully also bring up more discussion and healthy debate.
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Edit: I actually feel bad that I wasn't aware this. I am officially under a rock and will work to be more informed.
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You know, it's really nice to know that this board tends to be very accepting and progressive on things like this. After seeing all the horrible comments the last few days about this (and, in spite of me knowing better, I couldn't help but read some of them) I have been reminded of just how ostracized we are as a community. Quite honestly, not that I'm considering anything, but there are times when I see and hear some of the horrible things people say about trans* people and part of me- a small part- almost feels like killing myself. I'm not saying that to be dramatic or anything, that's just genuinely the way I feel. It just feels like most of the god damn world hates who I am and it is so incredibly depressing. This is difficult enough to deal with under the best of circumstances, let alone being confused, let alone not knowing exactly HOW I'm going to pull this off (or if I even can) if I decide to transition let alone the increasing feeling of depression lately that's come about anyway without having to be reminded, over and over again, how much people would think I was a freak for trying to be who I am. Hell, I heard a co-worker refer to someone a couple weeks ago as a "he/she." Of course, she's also incredibly homophobic so this doesn't surprise me.
Anyway, like I said, it's just nice to know this is a safe place to go where I can be reminded that there are people out there who aren't assholes.
On another personal note, I'm really starting to feel like I'm edging closer and closer to deciding to transition. I was talking to my best friend a couple weeks ago about the subject for the first time in awhile and she made a really great point: in spite of my confusion, she thinks (and she stressed that she's not saying this for sure, this is just her gut feeling) that transition is probably right for me because of how much pain this is causing me. As she said, I am a very anxious person anyway, and I mull over even simple decisions, so it makes sense that I just haven't been able to feel convinced enough to do this yet. But she said she thinks the pain I feel whenever I see women, the intense, sad, agonizing pain and the feeling that that's really who I am, is probably my gut telling me my answer. I think she might be right.
*=You know, having been immersed in this community for years I still am not entire sure what the phrasing should be. Transgender? Transgendered? Transsexual? My understanding is that transgender is an umbrella term that sort of encompasses anyone who doesn't feel that their gender conforms to society's expectations, where as transsexual (raises hand) means someone who actually physically wants to change their sex, but they fall under the transgender umbrella, too. Anyway, neither here nor there, I suppose.
Last edited by theruiner; 08-23-2013 at 06:55 PM.
Throbbing Member
I haven't heard anyone out in public say anything about Manning yet. I honestly don't think people care about any part of this. The trans part or the political part, which they need to be concerned about.
I also saw footage earlier this week of a trans woman being beaten in Russia by ordinary citizens in daylight while others just watched and admired.
Theruiner, while I'm not trans, I understand your thinking. If you look at a map and point out which places it's ok to be an out LGBT and you have political protection, you see the world is a hell of a lot smaller.
Throbbing Member
http://jjarichardson.tumblr.com/image/59320334333 It's worse than I thought it was.
Administrator
If anyone would like to write to Chelsea Manning, here is her address (must be addressed as Bradley)
Bradley E. Manning
89289
1300 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-2304
Throbbing Member
How kind of them.
You know I would, but I feel that would put the NSA on my ass so fast.
Active Member
Traveling in Texas, I happened upon this segment on the local NPR show:
http://www.kera.org/2013/09/05/makin...ch-the-inside/
she/her/hers
once again, a thread that i didn't even know existed on this board and am happy to find (though i'm a bit sad about all of the horrible things going on in the world regarding the trans* community).
a brief history of me, as a trans* individual:
for a very, very long time, i wanted to transition (from male to female). it took me a while to figure out why i was always so uncomfortable in my own skin, but when i was about 13, the pieces started falling into place. during high school, i actually started a small fund to put toward my eventual SRS, but plans for that fell through. after high school, i was still very uncomfortable and very confused, and ended up in a 4-year (abusive) relationship with a woman who crammed the need to "be a man" and "man up" down my throat. i lost a lot of myself during those years, but i have worked to find those parts of me again.
i eventually came to terms (and later become about 75% comfortable) with the fact that i'm just a woman in the body of a man, who happens to like having a beard. i consider myself queer in several ways: genderqueer, pansexual, and just plain weird, so i feel the word "queer" is the best way to describe myself. my fiancee loves that i'm extremely feminine but also loves my beard, though i know that if i ever got back to a place where i felt the need to transition, she would fully support me.
anyway, sorry if i'm just randomly jumping into the middle of a conversation, but i got really excited when i saw this thread!
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^^We have a lot in common (including, sadly, an abusive relationship). I also have a beard which I don't mind terribly. That made me feel really weird and uncomfortable for awhile (the fact that I don't mind it) and still kind of does, but my brother put it this way: dude, it's just an outfit. Which actually makes a lot of sense. It's not so much that I like having a beard as it is that it looks decent on me. For someone who has struggled their whole lives to actually feel like I'm not really ugly, the fact that I found something that fits me (for now) is ok. I'm not wearing it to feel manly, I'm wearing it because it looks decent. But I would drop this thing like a bad habit the minute I decide to transition (and it may happen soon).
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One of my closest friends wears a beard with waist-length hair and full make-up. He also likes to wear suits and suck cock. Whatever works.
I have another friend that's a few steps behind eversonpoe. He's GQ, and has just come out of a 20 year marriage with a woman who wanted him to be 100% masculine; she even gets weirded out by his latex clothes. But they've split up and he's moved into a new place and is just starting to flourish as himself. It's really lovely to watch. One thing he mentions is that when he started coming out to people - his friends, his cleaner, his personal trainer - he was both liberated by their acceptance but also mad at his ex-wife for suppressing him for so long and making him feel wrong.
Active Member
^^I appreciate it.
Make no mistake, though, the minute I decide to transition the beard is gone. And then electrolysis to make sure it never comes back. I already have mixed feelings about it and may shave it off at some point.
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Hmmm...
(ten characters)
she/her/hers
if they manage to do it right, this would make me SO HAPPY.
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This hurts SO BAD.
I feel like I'm at the point where I can't even wait until I can get to a psychologist (which should be soon). I feel like I can't go another day like this.Depression is creeping up on me again, big time.
Last edited by theruiner; 09-18-2013 at 09:16 PM.
Active Member
Is there a place where you can read up on how psychology sessions for this usually go? I knew that for my (non-gender) stuff that she'd ask me to keep a mood diary and write a summary of significant events in my life, so I turned up with that and said "I've been waiting too long, let's do this".
24.24.1.1397
This hurts SO BAD.
I feel like I'm at the point where I can't even wait until I can get to a psychologist (which should be soon). I feel like I can't go another day like this.
Hang in there, ruiner. The worst part is leading up to the psychologist visit. Not that it's all rainbows (ok, there are some rainbows) after that, but that was the (emotionally/mentally) hardest part. You can do it.
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That's the point I'm getting to. I honestly feel like I'm losing my mind. My depression is so bad right now. I'm in the process of trying to find a psychologist, so we'll see how that goes. I need to see someone ASAP.
Thanks. I'm trying. The hardest part is the doubt. I'm finally at a place where I can financially pull this off (which was the biggest hurdle for years). If I need to transition, I can do it now. So now it's just a matter of working through the confusion and figuring out if this is really right for me which, frankly, appears to be the case more and more. I was telling my best friend the other night that I honestly could see myself living as a woman within a year. If things go well, I really do think that's a possibility. It's crazy, scary and exciting to possibly be this close. But in the meantime, every day that I'm stuck in gender/sex is killing me.
Last edited by theruiner; 09-23-2013 at 02:41 AM.
Active Member
I think your hunger/desperation is the thing that's going to propel you forward re: getting through the stages quickly. It feels like shit, but people are going to listen.
Bored
http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-presenter...sge-1421596988
A "comedian" was trying to be "funny". He only prove to be a major jerk.
Active Member
I can't even begin to tell you how much shit like that hurts and the impact it has on people. I have internalized a lot of the hatred and ignorance I've seen and heard about trans people my entire life and it is such a deep, deep pain I just can't explain it. I know logically that I'm not a freak but I know that as soon as I come out and start living in my real gender and sex what most of the people I meet will be thinking about me. People like this have no clue- absolutely no IDEA- what this does to people, how this affects them and hurts them on such a deep level and the consequences of the things they say. Truly sickening.
she/her/hers
i had a dream the other night that i transitioned. i hadn't really thought about it as a serious option in a while, but the dream has my mind racing about it. and not just because i was a babe
when i told my fiancee, her only negative response was "but what about your beard?!" which i thought was very sweet.
Active Member
Transitioning has finally become a serious option for me and it scares me and excites me at the same time. Just wish I could clear away the confusion and know whether I really want it or not. :/
On the other hand, at least I'm actually at a point where I can finally do something about this if that's the way it's going to go.
Throbbing Member
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-...b_4030525.html
People are cruel, but man the gaming community can be unrelentless.
Stubby Member
I'm at that point too. It's shitty. Even with a somewhat supportive wife, there's still a chance of things turning sour if I start hrt. But if I don't transition, I'll probably regret it every single day for the rest of my life and holy FUCK the keyboard in ios7 is horrible. It seriously took 3 goddamn minutes to type that.
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