Welcome Lillis! Glad you're here & finding your way on your journey! I hope you find the wonderful advice, support & acceptance here as I have.   Hugs! Delcina

Dealing with uncomfortable emotions is never easy. But no matter the struggle, you have the power to overcome anything through perseverance and strength. It's important to remember nothing is forever. In other words, this too shall pass, and your resilience will grow  

Dealing with uncomfortable emotions is never easy. But no matter the struggle, you have the power to overcome anything through perseverance and strength. It's important to remember nothing is forever. In other words, this too shall pass, and your resilience will grow

Dealing with uncomfortable emotions is never easy. But no matter the struggle, you have the power to overcome anything through perseverance and strength. It's important to remember nothing is forever. In other words, this too shall pass, and your resilience will grow

So sorry you had to go through that, it is awful. I am glad you were able to have the right attitude and got BETTER not BITTER.. Hugs

Welcome it is so nice to meet you.  Hugs Heather

Not much to say this morning things are still chilly, or at least they were when she came to bed and tried to yank the covers off me.   Even the dog knew better than to sleep in our room last night. She could have come in anytime as the door was open. Instead she slept on the floor right outside our door.      

My first wife was grossed out by the fact that I was just as comfortable washing dishes and cleaning house as I was going to work. My feminine side made her very uneasy.    Being intersex kind of blends both worlds, and my personal belief that that has a lot to do with hormones.    The 45 years I spent in boy-mode were only 90% successful. Everyone knew I was different. My baggy shirts, bib overalls, layers, etc... could only hide my curves but not my persona.    I'm AMAB/intersex, I have testes and no penis and I have a uterus. I will NEVER be just like everyone else, but I can be me. And it's take it or leave it.    I believe that holds true for everyone. Just be you!

Well, in my case I was the one threatened and assaulted by a housemate after he was goaded into it by my landlord. I reported it to the police just to get it on the record. The housemate was a naive immigrant who could have been deported, so I never pressed charges on him. I did report the landlord who got nailed for state fraud and I got the respect and a settlement I liked. I got peace at home and the landlord entered hospice care. Was mostly out of my hands but I stood up for myself for once. It only cost me a few panic attacks and a gender therapist--sometimes god can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

I have been told at least 100 times by staff at the centre I attend, "we only believe in two genders."   That of course falls under "freedom of speech!"   I can't expect my "situation" to change their opinions any more than they can expect their opinions to change me.    They have not dismissed me from the program, nor acted in violence in any manner. So far everything is under the "free speech" umbrella.  "As disturbing as it is", they are within their constitutional rights.    Other rules and regulations passed specifically aimed at me are another story, but I do NEED their services so I have been electing to go along with things. If I had another program to go to I would have left already.    Words are not violence unless they are physical threats. If we keep attacking "free speech", we soon enough won't have any. Then the government will dictate what we can say or not.

Impossible to prove intent on something like this.  And honestly, intent to inflict harm isn't the usual bar for freedom of speech.  How was harm actually demonstrated?  Was there a riot?  Assault or property damage? Or just some folks' feelings got hurt?  I doubt a reasonable court would call the statement "There are only two genders" any kind of threat.  Would the same thing be said about the statement "There are more than two genders?"  Of course not.  This ruling is partisan.  The 1st Circuit is in in the Northeast...   Wearing a swastika is freedom of speech.  Wearing a hammer-and-sickle is freedom of speech.  Burning the US flag is freedom of speech.  Supporting multiple genders, two genders, or none at all... its a political opinion that should be protected speech.  If we start banning what can be said because somebody is offended or feels bad about it, we don't have much freedom left.  That blade cuts in two directions.   I don't think that school is a good place for political speech such as this.  But that's solved by dress code or school uniforms, banning text or political speech broadly rather than singling out one opinion. 

Believes in climate change, anti-gun, etc...  Just being trans doesn't mean she'd have anything in common with me, even if I lived there.  Just the usual Democrat stuff, and no surprise for Biden's home state.    If you want progress, it would be interesting to see LGBTQ+ candidates who AREN'T Democrats.  Maybe Blaire White would run for office? 

I am not aware of her politics or record, but it's heartening to see increased respect and representation of minority voices.

I have met Sarah in person, and our lives intersect through a few other people as well.   I admire her immensely, and can  attest to her wonderful humanity.  She is a "Neighborhood Politician" in the sense that she is very open and close to her constituents both in daily interaction and even in presenting interests they have that may not fully line up with her political party, but give actual service.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2024-06-12/democrat-sarah-mcbride-could-become-first-transgender-member-of-us-house   Wow, this would be tremendous, and is close to a sure bet in heavily democratic Delaware.  Her appeal goes far beyond the LGBT community, as she has proven herself to be an effective voice for her constituents and at getting legislation enacted.  Nothing is certain in politics, though, so I'll keep the Champaign in the closet for now.    Carolyn Marie

If the intent is to inflict harm, free speech does not provide protection. Wearing a shirt alone does not, ipso facto, necessarily inflict harm. Nor does unprotected speech require to meet the bar of profanity. However, if there was intended harm or demonstrable harm (such as incitement or threats) then first amendment protections are not provided--which a judge decided was so in this case.

https://apnews.com/article/swimming-transgender-rules-lia-thomas-8a626b5e7f7eafe5088b643c4d804c56     Not at all surprised by this.  In the end, allowing this controversy to die down may be of benefit to the trans community in the long run.  She was a lightning rod.   Carolyn Marie

This will eventually have to be decided by the Supreme Court... a court which seems to have avoided most trans-related stuff recently.  This ruling seems to get perilously close to violating the precedent set by Tinker vs. Des Moines in 1969.  Given that the shirt in question does not contain "profanity" as usually considered in American society, but merely a political opinion in common language....can it be said that it violates the "substantial disruption" test according to the Tinker ruling?    Personally, I'm not offended by a shirt that says "There are only two genders" nor do I believe that it causes disruption even in a school environment.  Impolite? Sure.  Substantial?  Hardly.  Yet none of this needs to happen.  Schools can easily avoid this by implementing a basic dress code or even a uniform, rather than singling out individual cases.  Problem solved in a way that is consistent with the law. 

Thank you, Ash and @Mirrabooka! You're too kind.   I have a nail salon around the corner, but my wife and kiddos had a bad experience there once. I think a lot of the issue is I have a bit of perfectionism in me (thanks mom!) and I want them to look nice and clean. This time the lacquer is a bit thin and needed extra coats to provide a fully opaque color, so they took an extra long time to dry--and got dinged or smeared because they hadn't fully set (we're talking probably close to two hours after the last coat), so I kept redoing each that got wrecked.   @Ashley0616, I haven't gone so far as to ask to be called anything different by all of my family yet. So I haven't run into problems with being misnamed. I kind of just persist and try to let the misgendering, "my boy", "nephew", "Mikey", etc. roll off my back. As for volunteering, I'm told my eldest and I may be set for some amount of volunteering for "the main event" Pride weekend at the end of the month, the group I'm registered with isn't doing anything this weekend. So instead I get to go to a D&D night at a local bar and a house party at a friend's of ours. Action packed weekend, here we come!   Oddly we ordered pizza tonight and when I went to pick it up, the cashier asked me how I spelled Maeve. He told me he had two "Maeves" order that night, the other spelled it in Gaelic fashion (Maebh) and he'd mixed up our orders. Two Maeves ordering pizza at the same joint from a little pizza joint in the Twin Cities at the same time!   Another update, I got my termination notice today (finally). Friday is my last day. 10 years there are coming to a close. Now to sell the house, pack up, move the family half-way across the country, and find a new place to live in the next two months! Wahoo!

Sitting here tonight wondering.... I was AFAB, but for some reason its like my husband understands me emotionally way better than my GF does.  So strange.