Part of the reason I started coming out about being trans, besides the fact that
I just couldnt keep hiding it completely anymore, was the recognition that
there really has never been historically a better time - in terms
of public acceptance (and most people will accept you to some extent when
you walk around in public in a dress - will they accept you as a woman?
no but then you yourself know that you're not a woman -you're something else
and if it's confusing to you, don't you think it's confusing to someone else?)
But there really is a large degree of public acceptance of gay people especially,
but trans people also to a much lesser extent, but any acceptance is about
all one can ask for, and in today's society there is some significant level of
grudging acceptance of people like me.
So like I said I felt that I had to do it regardless, but I also felt that the
social and political climate was right - in that there are huge benefits to
being out -certainly there are immense benefits to being out about being
gay -your social world expands dramatically -even if, like me, being gay does
not mean being sexually active -but socially there are benefits to being out
about being gay, but there are also huge benefits to being out about being trans
- I have about 20 trans friends in my phone contact list now and two years
ago my phone contacts where my employer, my mother, a musician who hired
me occasionally - that was it I had no friends, no social life - it was really bad.
Now obviously a lot of these trans friends are people I met once, we talked,
exchanged numbers,talked once or twice more or just as commonly have'nt
talked since, but I'm not alone, not like I once was.
Statistically, about two or three percent of the population is gay. The best
figure I've seen is about 1 in 12,000 genetic males ever go so far as to
get the surgery and become women. from that, I'd interpolate and
estimate that the incidence of people like me - men who are going out
publicly dressed as woman on a regular basis but not living as a woman
would be around 1 in 1000 "males" -which is not a lot and if you are
very shy and not meeting a lot of people the odds of meeting even
one other trans person is not all that great if you are just going out
amongst the general population. But I have a pilot's license and something
like 1% of the population is active pilots, but I know a lot of pilots -because
I fly, or at least used to when I could afford it, and hang out at airports -
the point being that if you fly you should hang out at airports and meet other
pilots and learn from them and all and if you're trans -it's really not good to
be alone and hiding it -especially now that the political climate is likely
changing - the Santorum surge is making it increasingly likely that this brand
of women-hating, gay-hating self-righteous paganism is gaining increasing
acceptance and political power - I can't imagine Santorum getting elected,
but I can imagine him starting a powerful political movement where
hate is the currency and this is the future of American politics, even if it
doesn't dominate politics it will guide where the country is going.
The idea of coming out as trans in a climate where women are treated as second class
citizens and gays are an abomination and trans people are sick perverts, and this
view is given legitimacy by a significant and powerful segment of the society is horrific
-but to the extent that this is what is coming, if you are out about being gay or trans
and have all ready been accepted to some extent by society you are a million times
better off than trying to seek sympathy and understanding from these people when
they start assuming positions of power. At least, that's my thinking and part of the
reason I started coming out when I did. It's not going to be getting easier,
if you wait too long.
Anyways, I haven't pimped my two plays in a while -so here's the second
one: - a musical about a Blues musician (I wrote all the songs,
and there are recordings of the songs on the blog)
http://catfishbones.blogspot.com -there are links to two
of the songs on this page but there isn't any trans material
or anything in the song
and here's the first play -believe it or not I made $7000
off this play http://theactsofcain.blogspot.com/
A couple songs written by me (and copyrighted):
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