I'm debating at the moment whether to request that this Topic be killed - not
least because it has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with gender.
Chris was wonderfully supportative and I was most amused by his remark.
Now - 2 years before that, at the IAML International Conference in Perugia, I
told three people in strict confidence. One of them outed me & unbeknownst to
me, it was the talk of the conference. Once I found out I spent a year debating
whether to resign or stay. I decided to 'test the water' at the next year's
conference in Geneva by keeping my head down and seeing what happened. As I
had thought, there was more than a little objection to the idea of a TG being
a member of the Association. I discussed this with close colleagues and finally
decided that the best course was to resign - at least as an individual member.
I was committed to giving a paper at the '98 Congress in San Sebasti�n and went
there a week after my resignation became effective. I went prepared for either
eventuality for the Farewell Dinner. I made no secret of my resignation - or of
why I had done so. Reaction was mixed, the paper - and the week - went very well
and, by the Friday, I decided that I had nothing (more) to lose. (Incidentally,
the final 'plus point' that made up my mind was Chris' telling me about a
secondhand music shop in the town, where I purchased some marvellous illustrated
covers for my collection - by then I thought, "If it's going THIS well...")
And so the Farewell Dinner. I'm jolly glad I came out - I felt no qualms or
embarassment at any point in the evening - and for those who did, I feel sorry
for them. Aside from personal satisfaction and growth, I also resigned AND 'came
out' in the hopes that the NEXT transgendered member of IAML would be treated a
bit better than I had been.
If you want a bit more prespective on this issue there are many serious sites
on the Net that deal with the matter. You might also want to take a look at a
small site of mine - still under construction:
http://www.nessaglen.freeserve.co.uk
So how did I find this site? I didn't - one of my colleagues ran a search
under my name on Altavista and this was the only reference that came up; he
let me know about it.
There probably are any number of Richard Steeles out there but I have never
met any. Even WERE that my name (and it isn't) none of my friends would have
EVER considered me macho enough to warrant the nickname "Steel Dick".
Sex? Rather boring, don't you know - I'd rather go to a good opera...
PS. Context 2 - it's all coming together; I'm having a wonderful time. My first
commission actually addressed to Nessa Glen was performed in the Esterh�zy
Landesmuseum during the Haydn-Festspiele last September. Attending the concert
was one of the most memorable events of my life - and I LOOKED GOOD, too!
PPS. There's a big difference between the literal and philosophical when it
comes to 'having balls' - the 'op' is MY business but in the latter case, I
still have 'em when I NEED them. That's MS. to you, honey!