TG on the Lawn.....a SUCCESS!!

[miarising]

Hi, All!

Well, I call it a success..we had a small crowd by some standards, but I think it was a great number...full total by the end of the end of the daywas 23-4 I THINK.... small enough that the panel became more of a 'round table' discussion.... Lots of good questions and wonderful comments. Olivea and Rachel, two of the panel, brought WONDERFUL handouts that if you WANT a copy, you can ask in a post here or pm to me and we can get them to you! Many comments were made about how helpful the 'notes' were...

We did not have any FtoM panelists, one who wished to come had to work (As a policeman!!!)..so he could not make it. But what we did have were not only the invited members of the panel (Thank you, Olivea, Rachel, Kelly, Katie, Dana! and Joney and Faith and Courtney and Joleen who sat in the audience) and people in the audience, (Margo, Michelle and Susan, Jan and Kim, Sparky and Dawn, Heather Lee, The boys from 'Pink Spectrum', Doc, and CathyB!!! If I forgot anyone, Im so sorrrrrry)

I hope others who were there get on and post their thoughts. There was a lot of discussion about acceptance of being Transgendered by the GLBT community, as well as dealing with employment and being transgendered and other situations. The boys from Pink Spectrum were more than willing, asking and insisting actually to help in any way they could further whatever was next for the TG/Supporter contingent within the diversity crowd..and of course, everyone was supportive too!

As for what may come next, there's now a body of sorts of people, several who are really interested in more events, etc. not just for the transgendered but to acquaint the community with TGness....and what's great is a lot of the desire to do more events came not as much from the transgendered people there, but supporters, such as Susan and Faith..and others..... So, who knows what may be next with all these minds working on it!

I've been glad to be a part of what we did today...Thank you all who were there and carry on!!!!

always,
mia

[DrLewall]

Was VERY interesting and Educational! There are still ALOT of questions and feelings out there that need to be addressed, but this was a good start. Glad to have been able to listen in!

[miarising]

oh yeah, this was a SINGLE step, but a necessary one..there is much more for all of us to learn!
always
mia

[CathyB59]

Mz Mia,
THANK you for your part making this happen. There were many more panelists than I thought in attendance. All had very good experiences to share. You should be proud, and anyone interested in gender variant people would be too.
so T H A N K Y O U

[Kim]

It was great. Jan and I were talking about it later and she said, I agreed, that the entire world ought to be required to listen to discussions like the ones that happened at TG on the Lawn so we wouldn't be so ... well... so stupid and hurtful.

Did you see the movie, "A Clockwork Orange?" If so, do you remember the part where the lead character was strapped in a chair with his eyelids held open while he watched "retraining" movies? I'm thinking of something like that.

The conversation that intrigued me most (as you might have noticed from my OCD questions about it) was the one started by Rachel when she said, "There is prejudice against gays & lesbians, but the prejudice against TG people is something different."

At the time, I genuinely didn't get it. The description of what happens when someone comes out and says, "I've been a woman all my life and it's time I started acting like one," sounded hauntingly familiar from the "L" in "GLBT" perspective. People shun you. They don't want to be seen with you in public because they fear that others will think they're "like that." They're afraid your condition is contagious.

In my own case, I used to make jokes about having amazing super powers. "Look, Ma! I'm invisible!" I still make jokes about "Gay Spray," as in, "You'd better not sit in that chair because I've cleaned it with Gay Spray and, if you sit there, you're going to rise up with the uncontrollable urge to style my hair."

Who said it? Joney? Somebody made the comment that she could never understand how members of one oppressed minority could so gleefully oppress another oppressed minority. And that was me. I agreed with that. I've never been able to understand that concept either.

And then I told an "L" friend about "T" on the Lawn. She's what you might call a "radical dyke." We "L's" of a certain age will recognize the genre: They're not women. They're womyn. They all got together at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in 1969, took on "festival names" so they wouldn't be "bound to the patriarchy by using the name of their fathers." (Think: Cher. Divine. Maple Tree. Happy Squirrel. Un-patriarchal names.) Then they moved to Arkansas to form lesbian, vegetarian communes ... free of all male influence. No bulls, boars, roosters, male children over the age of one. [If you know what I'm talking about, please raise your hand.]

Anyway, this woman (excuse me: womyn) gave me a long and vigorous lecture on, basically, how "biology is destiny." She absolutely refused to refer to the TG women as anything other than "he" because, as she put it, "They're not womyn until they've got all the parts." And I got it...or, at least, I think I did. You tell me.

At the moment (TG enlightenment pending), it seems like being gay or lesbian is more "acceptable" than being TG because it can be classified as gender patriotism. Lesbians identify with women. Gay men identify with men. That idea seems to make sense to the biggest blockheads on the block.

But TG's are in a different category ... people who have a body/soul mismatch. You can't look at a TG on a nude beach and figure out who he or she is. If you want to figure out who a TG person is, you have to be willing to accept that there is such a thing as the ambiguous, invisible thing known as a "soul," and that it is possible for a soul to be stored in an inappropriate container.

It's like ... there are straight people, who fulfill the rules of biology and society. And then there are gay and lesbian people, who break the rules of society. And then there are TG people ... who take us all way out there to the far reaches of consciousness and understanding ... way out there to the bleeding edge where we have to consider the idea that there is, in fact, something more to us all than the bodies we currently inhabit.

And there you have it. My theory so far and my deliberate attempt to provoke discussion.

Comments? :?:

[Sparky]

I have so many MANY more questions to ask.

We had KathyB to visit with at our late night Tradewinds pool party.

what a kewl chick she iz.

If we could get our parents who KNOW MORE THEN WE DO when we our so young to do as the Bear Comedian Bobaloo related to us ...

something to the effect of when sitting us down to tell us the truth about Santa Clause if they know or suspect we are G or L or T then they should tell us we are Gay or Tg or Lesbian and not to worry to much about it right now... someday we will understand :wink: then we won't have to ruin Christmas or Thanksgiving when we we break the news to them later in our young adult lives.


i wonder what it would be like if the Tg's dressed me a Boy that likes being a Boy as a Girl and had me live the entire weekend dressed and intoduced as a girl or better yet take Dawn who Knows she is a Babe and FORCE her into being a man. Insist she behave, act and live as a man for the entire weekend. No Makeup :lol: NO PINK :shock: Must fart and belch :oops: Jockey shorts. mens room, buzz her hair, strapping down the boobies may be a chalange. Don... woops I ment Dawn... is all girl and if we forced her to spend the weekend as all man I bet she wouldn't make it 24 hours.

TG's on the Lawn was indeed an experience.

The boyyz from Pink Spectrum sat amazed and touched at the stories that we listened to.

when we do this again...AND WE WILL... plan lots of mini breaks
LOTS OF HIGH EMOTION and i was no way ready for the shocking :shock:
personal stories

[CathyB59]

Sparky,
Some TG's defer emotional turmoil as it hinders ability to keep your lives separate. Once a TG starts to process the turmoil - and finds others who can sympathize - long silent observations will be expressed forcefully.
IMHO, it is vital to process issues by any means, to get it out of your system. The more you face them, the weaker their effect on you.
While it makes me uncomfortable - that is as it should be.
If you or anyone else has any questions, either post them here, or email myself or one of the other people on this fine board.
Later, you handsome Pig-Dawg
Oh, HDG says HEY!

[DrLewall]

IF we were to take Princess Dawn and make her into Prince Don for a day, and if I would be so lucky enuff to stand at the urinals next to her, then know this, I would be the GAYEST man alive!! But just for that brief moment, or how ever long Dawn would be Don. :mrgreen:

[angela]

:lol: And some of the lesbians would go straight.
Angela

[miarising]

Sparky and Jan and all


Thank you for your posts about this....Im glad that the forum opened up a field and hopefully a TON of questions and discussion.....


More TG stuff in the fall??? All you TG and supporter type people keep that in mind and start thinking of ideas

always
mia