I just read that the nut who confessed to the murder of Jonbenet Ramsey was looking at having SRS in Thailand. That's all the tranny community needs...another nut for people to point at and say that people with transgendered issues are freaks...the news article also referred to the SRS clinic as being "seedy" but being a popular destination for people seeking SRS because of the much lower costs...

I just didn't like the tone of the article and I hope this doesn't cause people, who might otherwise be tolerant/supportive of people with genger issues, to change their views on the TG community.

Hugs & kisses,

Monika

Wow.

(Which I say in place of a few less pleasant expletives that shouldn't be on this forum)

I actually hadn't heard any of that, which might be a positive thing. Hopefully, the media isn't making as much of a thing about it as they could (I suppose we'll have to wait to see what happens in the tabloids). OTOH, I haven't had much time to read or follow much of what's happening in that case, so I might end up eating crow on that.

Trisha's exactly right about being representatives of our community. People seem to fixate on every infraction. I'm not out at work yet (just to my boss and H.O. as we sort out how to handle transition at work), but there was an incident last week where someone robbed a bank in a wig, dress and heels and seemed to be "on" something. A customer commented on it when looking through the newspaper, saying that it always seemed that when you hear about "those" people, they're doing things like this.

I got a little upset and reminded him that it's not exactly easy for transpeople to find jobs (let alone good paying jobs), keep the support of families and friends, and deal with an overall expensive process with essentially nothing available to them -- that it can be an extreme and desperate situation to be in. He kind of relented at that, with a "I suppose you're right."

But the trouble is, this JonBenet person is NOT someone we could or would defend in any way. Those things are just too far gone, and can only hurt us -- whether or not he's making the whole thing up (which I believe he is, maybe for the cash and notoriety).

Wow.

Crossing my fingers and biting my tongue.

The whole story seemed to me somehow unbelievable. How come a guy "is looking for a sex change" in Thailand? I myself had my SRS in Thailand, but I had to show proofs of my process and RLE (female passport plus my diagnosis as a transsexual) before I could proceed in getting the SRS date.
This kind of stories are stabbing us into our backs, making people believe that trans people are criminals and killers.

Laura

The other day I read in the paper that John Mark Karr, the suspect who confessed to killing little JonBenet Ramsey, has been cleared of the murder due to lack of DNA evidence and some other evidence. He is however going to California to face some other pedophile related charges. Let's hope that's the last we hear of him.

Monika

Karr was actually with his former wife ,many states away while JonBenet was murdered. She admitted that right away. But look into those eyes the next time you see him. If I EVER saw evil,(and I HAVE) this guys eyes give him away. Of course as this progresses his pedophilia will be brought out and we will have to fight THAT
for a while I suspect. I really wish people would realize because ONE person does something and he happens to be of one particular group. That doesn't make ALL the group the same.
One bad cop, all bad cops? One bad attorney, all..... oops
um, er,never mind.... anyway, maybe someday I hope.....

I couldn't agree more with you monika, the Last thing we need is some psycho sayin things like that cos we have a bl**dy hard enough time without the "possble discrimination" that this piece may bring

LOL xxxxxxxxx
Anna-Marie

Trisha said, “Whenever I'm out and dealing with the public, I always try and remember that I am , in a way, a sort of representative of the TG community…”
Something we all must remember and be aware of at all times. Just by being ourselves (assuming we are all as nice as me…) we can do a lot to influence opinion on transgender people, maybe it’s all we can do, but it will make a big difference. We can’t go out and change society’s opinion of us, but we can change individuals’ opinions, and they of course are all part of a whole, pieces of the jigsaw.
And yes, the times they are a-changing. The UK has laws to protect us, to give us equal rights, to enable us to change our birth certificate to say that we were born female. But it’s not just laws and government policies that are changing. I remember 15 years ago one of my colleagues at work always read The Sun newspaper everyday (tabloid garbage), and loved to read out any “juicy” stories, occasionally about people undergoing sex-changes. I remember one story about an ex-army officer, pictured in her summer dress, the interview using patronising language; winking and giggling and generally acting flirtatiously. Basically they were trying to find an amusing angle for what is really quite a serious condition.
I haven’t seen a story written that way in the English press for a long time, maybe some of the even more garbage papers still do it I don’t know, but I think generally speaking people don’t laugh at us any more, they have been made more aware of the realities, and when people understand something better, they know not to mock it, or to fear it. English television over the last few years has shown a number of documentaries on TS and TV people, well-informed, non-prejudice treatments of real people, and I think this has gone a long way to raising people’s awareness. But like I said at the start, we can’t just rely on television or the media to do it for us – we have to get out there and show people our true selves.
xx

“The suspect who confessed… cleared due to lack of evidence…”
The law is an ass.