Crossdressing Mayors, part 1

Okay, maybe the title of the article is assuming too much about the most recent mayoral figure publicly involved in some form of crossdressing (for all I know, the figure could very well have gender dysphoria and actually identify as female of one extent or another) but this topic is honestly nothing new. There's former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani who summoned his inner Marilyn Monroe for this public appearance. Gaining some steam, but not really enough to gain a large disdain from his contemporaries. Next, there is the story of Stu Rasmussen who is actually the first openly out transgender mayor in Silverton Oregon. Stu has gained much applause from the both the LGBT community as well as the general Silverton population, even with more or less failed attempts at mudslinging primarily by conservatives and the media based off an instance of one of Stu's outfits on a hot summer day. Finally this brings us to the story of East Cleveland mayor, Eric Brewer. Controversy publicly began on Thursday 24 September 2009 when Brewer held a press conference from his office addressing recently surfaced pictures of Mayor Brewer en femme that have allegedly surfaced from Brewer's personal hard drive. Brewer, in light of the allegations, is chalking the matter to a mudslinging attempt on him by his campaign opponent, the East Cleveland Police Department (who support his opponent), and WKYC, and WOIO television stations for running and as he put "instigating" the story.

Okay, so there's most of the background, the full article ran by WOIO Action 19 News Cleveland can be found here. Now, there are several things wrong with this most recent story of Mayor Brewer (and I am not just referring to the heinous comments left by some citizens of this "fair" and "progressive" city in response). For starters, there is the way the media has covered the entire episode, using sharp, direct, negative connotations of a man in women's clothing. Instead of viewing it objectively, the chosen route was to seemingly address the entire issue of being transgender as something abominating and disrespectful. Second, there is the issue of Mayor Brewer's campaign members, addressing the entire matter as a "circus" and unbecoming. Now notice I stressed the usage of the term "entire", this is because that some of the near 40 snapshots released were of a graphic adult nature, and for photographs of that nature for any individual, rather they be trans/cis-gender, hetero,homo,bi,pan-sexual, or anything especially for a member of public office to surface would be unacceptable. That's unacceptable not on the part of actually taking the pictures (because that is up to a persons own prerogative and private life) but for; 1. not securing such documents safely, confidentially, and securely 2. the long-standing desire for exposure of persons private lives and 3. the handling of the issue by all parties if/when such information is revealed. Finally, there are the wonderfully open minded citizens of Cleveland, Ohio and it's neighboring cities. I become enraged when on any page dealing with LGBTPQQI issues and there is non objective commentary. Yes, people are entitled to their opinions, yes there is a free speech amendment (with limitations), but as in the matter of a crossdressing or transexual mayor that doesn't want such information publicly exposed, keep it to yourself. It seems as in a city so poor, but trying to move so forward into the future with proactive thinking and societal living, it is so terribly behind. Before I become further engulfed in frustration, I will leave any further commentary to the city of Cleveland to myself until further notice :)

Finally, I am anxious to see the community reaction to the recent events in East Cleveland. East Cleveland, Ohio is a predominately African American populated city in the northeast suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio. With that said, being African American and a transgender person I am really curious to see just how many bibles may or may not be thrown at this matter. I am not going to assume anything because yes, people can and will surprise you, however, once faith systems start getting into the mix, it's a whole different story. I agree with Chris Rock and his role in the film Dogma, in that it's better for people to have idea systems than belief systems, you can change your mind on an idea, but a belief, people will go to war for that. I hope that this latest issue in my backyard will turn around into an enlightening (and hopefully positive) experience for Mayor Brewer, the citizens of East Cleveland, and the city of Cleveland and it's surrounding areas. This issue may be so much more than what it seems to be about when you look at it on a larger scale, depending on how you look at it, this is not only about gender and sexuality, this is about race, politics, the media, the people, the city, the wealth, the poverty, so much more. Please share your views, praises, or criticisms-just keep it objective.

In the meantime, my Canadian flag is still waving in the background, Cleveland is not for me :)

Perception; It's More About Mannerisms than Makeup

This is an article based off a comment I posted on Lori's blog about gaining self acceptance with your reflected image, realizing your true beauty through your internal image, and the limits of external validation. My response to the article was as follows:

It's true, external validation can only get someone so far in terms of being genuinely comfortable in their own skin, however, I believe that virtually every woman goes through a struggle one way or another with being accepting of the reflection in the mirror. I have known well established professional models that endure a battle in self acceptance. There are too many external pressures from our supposedly 'objective' outlets in society, there is not enough celebration in the diversity of the beauty that makes us all individually unique and whole. When I am doing makeup for clients, I firmly believe in emphasizing the natural beauty the person has, and if they dare to object, then I dare to prove them wrong. I think as transgender people we suffer a greater burden of accepting our true selves in our reflective and in our internal images. A question that is brought up to me from time to time is if I wasn't passable, would I still transition. My answer, most definitely, being a woman is not necc accounted on by how well you blend into society but how much you shine as a woman. So much more relies on mannerisms than makeup.

Look at what society has done (or attempted to do based off of whom you ask) to Caster Semenya, Venus and Serena Williams, Lady Gaga, etc based off of these poorly perceived notions of what it really means to be a woman. I am fully aware that it is difficult, damn near impossible for me to be perceived as a genetic woman in most areas, simply because of my height (~6'6") But I am not ashamed of being a transwoman, I am not ashamed of my struggle, my dicothomy/dysphoria, my identity, my being, even my height, and with that being said-I would rather be perceived as a transwoman than being perceived as a person who I am truly not. I am growing a greater comfort in my own skin as I continue in the journey of transition, and further realising the truth that a persons inner beauty will project who they really are. Now don't get me wrong, I love makeup, a lot. I'm an artist, I love playing with colour and technique, however, I don't believe that makeup is going to be an end-all-cure-all. Makeup, in my opinion, is to help a person (feel better about their self by highlighting their natural beauty in subtle or dramatic ways) not to make a person.

A lot of people that I have known before transition upon meeting me in my true self for the first time, react in a matter of clarity as opposed to shock. I want to close this article and thought with a statement a good friend of mine told me when she first met me as Zoe; "it makes sense, you have always been Zoe, now you are just finally shining through". I have a bit of a ways to go, physically, emotionally, etc but I think with the support of family and friends and logic, I am stepping in with my best foot forward.

The Story of Caster Semenya

This is the story of another wonderful individual who just happens to lay under the transgender umbrella. Caster Semenya is the South African runner who has come into recent fame not only for an astonishing performance in the 800m (1'55.45") but who has also been revealed as intersexed, beginning with nonsensical speculation over the athletes' facial hair and supposed masculine appearance (possible paranoia & poor profiling mixed with sore loser-ness??). An Australian newspaper; the Sydney Daily Telegraph recently stated that the International Association of Athletes Federation (IAFF) reports the 18 year old athlete having three times the standard level of testosterone for a woman and internal testes as opposed to a uterus and ovaries. Unfortunately, I feel that this situation was a giant media disaster, using derogatory terms (ie. hermaphrodite) as well as the nature of this initial context; making very private medical information public, without consultation of the party involved. It is not only highly intrusive, but also dangerous. Semenya has rightfully chosen not to discuss the matter and maintain a rather low profile throughout the ordeal stating to South Africa's You Magazine; "God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I'm proud of myself." A very tremendous, apt, and yet understated comment; we are all proud of you Semenya.

Vogue Evolution, Family & Pronouns, Etc....

Greetings all!! Well if MTV keeps up just positive representation of transwomen, I may have to buy stock or something! As you are currently witnessing Jaila Simms blow everyone out the water on Making His Band, I advise you to also direct your attention to the hit show America's Best Dance Crew. Hosted by Mr Randy Jackson, this show is another reality competition show focusing on dance crews across the country, you may remember the famous Jabbawockeez crew (pictured top right), that have rightfully propelled to the top, that were season winners of the show. Well in this new season, there is another crew on the rise that is just amazing and will hopefully reach the same pinnacle as previous champions. This crew is known as Vogue Evolution (pictured top left) they hail from NYC and are simply amazing. They draw influences from the house/ballroom scene of the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance, and making their national/international debut on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, their timing couldn't be any more impeccable. They are determined to bring the house/ballroom scene to the mainstream eye and I wish them all the success in the world! This groundbreaking openly gay/trans dance crew is nearly impossible to describe in words so I will allow the following video to speak for me.


The next thing I would like to express/ask of my readers is this; How did you handle family situations with proper pronoun uses during the beginning of your transition? Is it so much as right for me to ask my family to practice and use proper pronouns for me or should I just continue to allow them to slip until it becomes a more serious issue within my transition (living full time) I'm honestly grateful to have my family accept me and acknowledge my transition, I have recently given my mother a copy of the book True Selves and she has actually started reading and enjoying it so maybe that will give her insight before I have to. I only ask this question because me and my non-biological little sister were out dancing the other night and my biological big sister was in town and met up with us. My 'little sis' who only refers to me as Zoe and uses female pronouns with and about me (and she has known me before transition) asked me why my big sister still called me 'little brother' and the only truthful response I could think was "it's family, they can slip for now, as long as their on my side". I stood for a moment in my own confusion as I said that and began to over think, per usual. I honestly don't know how to feel about the situation, like I said, my family accepts me and loves me as my true self (well of who they know me to be, we haven't actually all formally met yet) so is the pronoun thing a big deal right now when it comes to family or not, any insight/experiences would be more than helpful, thank you all so much :)

Jaila Simms!!

Good morning all!! Just in case you missed it, Diddy (fka P Diddy, P, Puff Daddy, Sean John, etc) has a new reality show on the MTV network called "Making His Band". Unlike his previous series; "Making the Band" this show is requires Mr. Diddy creating his own back up band. Like all musical reality series, it starts with a hefty amount of contestants in a giant open audition. Some of the contestants are snooze-worthy, boring, even dull, however, one of these contestants is by far a superstar on the rise. Her name is Jaila Simms, she is a young transwoman from Chicago, IL and unlike many of the karaoke-superstars that appeared on the premier episode, this girl has some seriously trained pipes! Sadly, yet realistically, the judges on the show go in to some serious shock and awe and horrid pronoun misusage while discussing her identity during her audition (never, ever, ever use the term "it" when referring to us! when will the world learn? maybe when more phenoms like Jaila are live in the scene, in the flesh, and in your faces, ears, eyes, etc) Anyway, let us continue our celebration of another succesfull and talented sister in our community by watching the video of her audition!

180 days, 180 degrees.

Well for starters I really don't know if it has been 180 days since my last post but if it was then the coincidence is awesome, and I apologize for my absence. As for the 180 degrees, let's put it like this; my name is Zoe Renee which translates "life reborn", which is exactly what I have gone through. Long story short, I am full speed ahead in transition, completely open about my gender identity (::gasps:: even to the other DJs!), and I did it all without the previous feel for need that I had to move far away to do so! Granted, I still have yet to take the extra large step and live full time, and truth be told I still have no desire to stay here in Cleveland but the weight of feeling that I need to "hide" myself from the world is diminished forever. My coming out, actually has gone quite well in terms of acceptance, and the joy I get for being able to express myself is second to none. As for a little insight on exactly how I did it, it wasn't a gigantic public spectacle, on my most active and used social network site I changed my profile picture to the transgender flag and enclosed a status message simply saying; "if you need to know, ask." I have gotten a small amount of fuss from some of my fellow transisters for being so 'public' and not 'stealth' about transitioning and abandoning my male side completely, yadda yadda yadda. Don't get me wrong, I understand the need for some people to do it like that, hell, I even felt that was the way I had to do it myself. In my lifetime, I have never denied being transgender but never before had I openly expressed being transgender, and this next comment is only meant as a personal reflection (so this is not intended to say anything about anyone else except me); I am not ashamed of who I am! I feel that as transpeople we are misrepresented, misunderstood, and underestimated, and whilst everything I do in my life hereon may not be in the name of 'fighting for the people' I am on the front lines making myself and making our voices clear. If there is one thing I have learned from my coming out experience is that good or bad, people need to be aware, it is the only way we will learn and it is the only way we will grow. I am blessed for the friends I have made through here as well as the friendships I am maintaining from my "present past life", I am even grateful for the friendships that were lost due to my coming out; with that in mind I close on a quote I came across on the awesome Monica Roberts blog;

“No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.” -Alice Walker

For once throughout this over 20 year journey, things are in the right place and I have never felt more confident in my life about anything.

life 2.0

So I obviously am no champion at the blog game such as my sister Monica (your rock btw) and sadly it's not because there's nothing in my life worth writing about. It's actually quite the opposite, mylife has been frazzled, busy, and more frazzled in the past months. I never realized how difficult it is to balance two completely different personas, halfs, beings, whatever you want to call it until I began to take my transition to the next stage. While exciting, I constantly felt torn to either be myself or be the person that my contemporaries, fans, anyone else that knew 'me'. So often would I get the 'grow your beard back' talk by my fellow DJs,because sadly that had become os strongly attatched to my image of the DJ I am. It didn't and hasn't wound down to what you hear, but who you see. Needless to say, I'm stuck and I feel trapped, and need an outlet, friend, resource, something or someone that can relate to me and my constantly evolviong situation or just give me an insight...I don't typically depend on others in this gravity because I've always been a very autonomous person, I just don't think it will work this time.. :\

Zoe

well....

::sneaks around the corner slightly frayed and scared:: Hi!! remember me anybody?? I am so sorry I have not updated my blog in so long, life has been extremely crazy yet it has been quite a blessing! Transition is coming along well, still not ft but that is perfectly fine with me. I have been DJing a lot more and I am getting closer to acheiving that all mighty elusive doctorate!! In other news, I have adopted officially a name, and it was given to me by my mother! She stated that the name she has been thinking best for me was Zoe Renee, which I think is awesome! Which translasted means, reborn faith :) which in a way describes my greater sense of being. Anyway, I have moved back into the city and spending some time catching up with some old friends I grew up with, I have even come out with a couple of them and they were suprisingly accepting which was a huge relief. Anyway things have steadied out a bit finally and my life is resuming some order, I promise you I will be back to blogging multiple times a week now and look forward to talking with all of you once again very soon (oooohh and I promise to put a picture of me on here for once too haha). I have a lot to talk about in the upcoming days/ weeks and I can't wait to hear about your lives!! Oh yeah, and thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes!!! XOXO

Happy Birthday!

To................................Me!!! 24 years friends and still going strong!! Have a great weekend friends!

Introduction to a Wish List

These are things, rather satirical, material, or just plain ole nice that I would like to see happen not only for the good of myself but also the world. This reminded me of a post over at Monica's blog and I just had to add this as one of my first wishes! **the wish being the fulfillment of the MSNBC prophecy with a little extra 'get the network shut down' to boot**



In other news, the first week of HRT is now complete, and I have never felt so sore but so good, ever! Stay tuned!

bottom side of the glass

That was the sight that my eyes embarked on as I finished the first glass of water to womanhood today. My HRT has officially begun :) My nerves are calm and I am terribly excited all at the same time, I really don't know how else to describe this sense of satisfaction and completion, it's definitely not something I'm used to-but it's definitely something I enjoy.

Where It All Began (It Was All A Dream) pt1

It's really hard for me to explain how I ended up this way in a more conventional sense ( maybe in terms of genetic mapping, chemical balances, etc), and the why is still being discovered; but what I can tell you is that somewhere in early in my existence I grew the insight that being a woman was a lot more comfortable for me. What I can say in respects to 'how' in a conventional sense on how I am where I am today is that I was stubborn as hell, just not adament on sticking to my guns long enough. I think naturally like most people begining in their exploration of gender it began with a model figure, being raised by three women after my father passed-I jokingly feel I didn't have any other choice but to idolize and strive to be like the women of my family.
Sadly, most of my passions and feelings went inhibited and would exhibit thereselves usually with not the best of results. I can't admit to ever standing firm on my soapbox and telling my mother or sister or grandmother that I wanted to be a woman, but I can recall the first time I was caught in drag haha. I remember the pain and embarassment I felt of being caught, but I can remember the pride and comfort I felt in what I was caught for. I knew I was different from my classmates, I just didn't know how necc at that young age (8 years old)-but I did once I was older. Growing up, the 'male' of the family, I felt obligated to be masculine and even to this day sadly I am 'forced into repression' of my true self.
Some things have changed, for instance; I was able to come out to my mother about my gender-dysphoria as well as my indecision on a long term plan (hrt, srs, etc), in fact I came out twice lol (maybe the first time was a trial run *shrugs*) but for those two times I was able to be honest and upfront I still felt that I was forced back into repression and that I have never been fully able to be myself. I thank God for the opportunities I had to come out to my mother; my main inspirations coming from reading articles by Monica Roberts to countless conversations with inspiring women such as Lexi and Christine, if it wasn't for that encouragement and inspiration well I'd prob be close to crazy or in my grave by now. My life is currently set on a very indelicate balance between my male and female side and everyday leads to new dicoveries, inspirations, friends, and risks. On one hand there is a personality that is completely controlled by the 'dj' side of me; this is the alpha male, club & globe-trotting, record-spinning superstar, yet on the other half there is me; Lola.
To even structure the latter portion of that sentence took years, believe it or not. I am seeking a better sense of balance or a better situation to let me be and still do what I love. As for what I love, well that's simple: I love good people and sharing good music, my ultimate dream is to get my PhD in Higher Education and Student Development, so I can prepare some good students to become great and succesful people, as well as to be able to establish my own mark as not only a performance based DJ, but as a transgendered one at that. Which if anyone who is familiar with a certain level of DJing (i.e. DJs A-Trak, Nu Mark, Shadow, Diplo, Blaqstarr, AM, MixMasterMike, etc) it is primarily dominated by straight men (well seemingly straight men haha) and there is seemingly no room for a girl like me to play with the boys (unless I were to restrain myself musically and play within settings socially more acceptable but musically intolerable-no offense Honey DiJon, trust me you are one of my idols).
So ultimately, I guess the question is to attempt to create a better grounded balance or to be an outlaw completely, just come out to my family and my music community and say "here I am damnit! take it or leave it!!" Sorry for the legnthy post, friends, just something that was running through my head today while having a conversation about the LGBT community with one of my DJ friends and naturally had to repress the urge to say "hey, I'm TG". *sigh*