69 years young dear  winks it's just a number..   transcend it n be fabulous  hugs

Not to bump this up or anything, but I just want to put one more note on the end of this...   Thank you for allowing me to post this here and thank you for all who have responded.  This step has been a huge help to me on my political journey.  I've made several key decisions in the last few days that allow me to run a better campaign for the next 4 years.  I worked my way off of the streets 20 years ago by writing math and computer programming on paper.  10 years later I was able to buy a house with the software engineering work that I was doing.  Now 20 years after getting off of the streets and having two failed bids for US Representative and likely another failed bid in the next couple weeks, I've come to the point of selling my house to run a very frugal campaign for vice-president (it's a thing even though it is an appointed position) for the next 4 years, all on the money I have earned from that work I did on the streets.   My policy going forward is that I'm not going to ask for money and I'm not going to ask for people's votes.  The vice-presidency is an appointed position.  I'm also not going to run for legislative offices anymore.  I'm simply going to tour the country on my own dime looking for good people and a strong millennial female who sees my logic and would like to be president.   I have reached out to tens of thousands of people on my own dime in the last 7 years.  Famous people, ultra-famous people, business leaders, civil engineers, random people, news people, educators, unions, politicians.  I certainly got less than 5 emails from those efforts.  Actually, I only really remember one person.  He is an educator and we had a good Zoom meeting.   I'm not bitter.  I'm not complaining.  Those of you who have followed me on this site know I like to keep things positive and talk about cooking and living healthy.  I hope that this post doesn't get buried.  I think the title is strong and my message is clear.  I don't want to bog this site down with the details of the whole thing.  I simply want people to know that there is a transwoman working to be vice-president.  Notice that I didn't title this a-transwoman-as-us-respresentative.  My politics are executive level.  I'm a whistleblower, not a complainer.  I aim to educate and inspire.

Photos posted in the general forums are visible to anyone or anything. Photos in the gallery are visible only to members. non members cannot see them.

You’re welcome, Vidanjali. Now I have to actually start writing!

Society is preserved by passing on proper roles for people, which works for the 90+ percent that it works for.   We were all taught from an early age that breaking out of the classification was a shameful thing, even when, actually, it is not. 

I'm probably showing my age.  I haven't looked at a guest count in a long time.  Doing FB and staying off forums for a while.  Previous forum use had fewer bots if any and guests were actual people, mostly, unlike today.    Any AIs or bots struggling with GD are welcome.  I would love to read your introduction.

I've seen this on a lot of forums tbh. That's how a lot of content ends up on internet archives. You've got loads of bots scanning the site at all times and archiving it. Forums are actually nice (in comparison to social media) in that the guest count gives you a pretty good idea of how actively the site's content is being archived. Basically just don't post anything you don't want archived.

Kids are resiliant with therapy and strong support ;-)    They were all elementary age when their dad died and are teens now, and how they've grown and developed as young people, already, takes my breath away.   I'm working on communicating changes clearly and without shame, which is difficult basically all the time because of feeling guilty over doing gender "wrong" for so long. Working on that myself! <3 

Allow me to add that people should think twice about posting pictures of themselves, with the facial recognition software that is out there.  Those in stealth or who are not fully out may discover they are suddenly and unwillingly fully out in ways they wish had not happened.

Funny how when i read the topic name i thought you were asking about the study of plants and animals.  I'm a bit into that as a farmer at va time when a cell phone makes plant  for insect identification easier than it has ever been.    Now on to your topic.  I don't farm in the nude.  I have wondered at whether i would skinny dip as i did as a kid without thought of how my body might affect others.  The effects of hormones makes me different from the average person and perhaps i'm "neither fish nor fowl".  I would certainly depend on who my fellow passengers on that cruise would be.   Hugs,   Charlize

This is also a relatively small forum and it can take a long time, seemingly, for someone to get around to replying to a post. 

I am also pretty sure that several of them are folks who are "trans curious".  Sometimes folks who are trying to find their own identity, are attracted to trans folks or who are simply interested in the trans community.   There may also be some who wish to do us harm which is why ......... I've just learned to smile figuring "i'm on candid camera".   I'm sure many of our younger members never experienced that show so my age is showing.   Hugs,   Charlize

He deserves it,is a disgrace

Most of those "guests" are web bots from China, Indonesia, France etc. looking us over. They are mostly benign.  All they can see or gain access to are the general forums.  Members should be careful not to post anything that could readily identify themselves such as real names, addresses, phone numbers, etc. They do not have access to our gallery, blogs or private messenger. They seem to haunt all forums. Not just us. I should add that they can make us known across the internet. That's how prospective members find us. Google would be a good example.