I just took a look at my local newspaper website and apparently i am most popular! .

Thats not a bad thing in the sense that the artical is attracting attention to the fact that we are human and do have a right to live our lives as we wish .

I did not allow this to be published to bring attention to myself as i get enough of that already but i felt i had to do something , i cannot just sit back and die before making a difference or at least trying too and i am not stopping there either , there are 3 more newspapers working on bigger articals to get this message out that we have a right to a normal life .

I now consider myself to be lucky to be alive and have so many friends even if i am an old woman now .

If you wish to read the artical you can at,

http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news

and click on "Julia still fighting battle" on the right hand side of the home page . And yes Julia ford is my real name , Sands is an old nick name i use on profiles .

I am not one bit ashamed of myself being transsexual , ok its been bloody hard work getting here but now "at least hopefully" have a few years of happiness ahead .

Please ignore the picture they had a very expensive camera and it picked up every wrinkle and i could,nt be bothered to make up as i had just taken it off , anyway its not the face thats important its the story .

Julia xx

Hugs Julia, I find my life very similar to what is currently going on with you. You might say I have my friends and my enemies. Like you I am fully out, the only thing stealth about me is when I'm naked in my bubble baths. I would have never believed it if someone one day told me I would be more of an activist/advocate for the TG community, yet that is where I now find myself. We will never win all the popularity contests, but I feel what gals like you and I have to say, needs to be said.

Here is a clickable link that will take everyone directly to Julia's article. http://www.dissexpress.co[...]_814144

Hugs and best wishes,
Marsha

Hi Melody and Marsha .
Thanks for your kind comments . I know i am not liked on this site mainly for my honesty and making points about others dishonesty , the way i see it is if anyone can,t be honest on a place such as this then i and others who are trying to get others to accept us are just wasting our time .

Back to the artical . Well done Melody! Diss is a small town in norfolk close to suffolk , some bloke named Nelson once lived here and i have grown to like the place but the best thing is that nearly everyone accepts me as me and that is a good feeling .

Marsha! i do think we are alike in some ways , i know we are both scorpios and we both have strong opinions on matters , god knows where i get my strength from (any ideas? ) but officialy i should be dead ! .

If that piece in the newspaper helps just one person then it has done some good and hopefully when the other 3 articals go to press it will help more as it will hit a huge area of the UK , i think the Diss express reaches 100,000 people in various ways and as the artical was published well over a week ago and people are still reading it must mean it is creating interest which can only be a good thing for us, plus that awfull picture is not detering people from reading it , all of my friends have said " that is a realy bad photo its not you wheres your smile?" , i have told the paper to give the photographer a kick up the butt from me .

Hugs to you both Julia xx xx .

Hi Anna-Marie.
Yes we have had words in the past and that is it "the past" its the future i am concerned about . The young gereration of TGs are having a realy hard time! i believe they are having it harder than we have mainly due to the internet , if anyone puts Trangedered into a search engine all they get is porn sites , if they think "is that what i am? - is this my life? " its easy to see why they don,t want to be here and end it and with the grief they get off the general public too just pushes them over the edge.

I have been told it took guts and courage from my friends and even strangers to have that put in print but it did not , it was easy and the response has been positive (excluding pic) .

We all make mistakes and in the heat of the moment say things we do/don,t mean and i will be the first to admit i have done to you' and if i hurt you in anyway i am truely sorry but i say what i feel, , , that goes for others too, but my time on this site is ticking away as i don,t think this place needs me and i can,t realy find many reasons to stay and one day you will log on to find me gone! as Tommy Cooper would say " Just like that" .

Thanks and all the best Julia xxxx xx .

Hi Crissie.
You are a very respected person on here and you have my greatest respect .

As i said i know i am not a liked person on this site because i am honest and speak my mind , i made a very big mistake regarding you and i learned from that and we became friends .

I read a lot on here in the forums and articals ect and some are just made up bull s#@t , as i have pointed out before there is no need for it on a safe place like this .

You know as i do what the real world is like and it needs to change "soon" , sometimes i feel like i am banging my head again,st a brick wall , how can people like yourself and even me make a difference if everyone else is living in the bloody clouds? , they need to come back down to earth and face up to facts "we are who we are so be proud" and make the most of it.

I am going knowhere just yet , you say it would be a loss to the GS if i did go and i thank you for that as i respect your opinions .

This thread is not realy about me its for others who have a lot to face up to if they are to have any kind of a future to look forward to .

Hope Cassie is looking after your navel . Big hugs Julia xx.

Thanks to you all .
I never expected this response from anyone , this one small artical has spread all over the place some how . I have just come home from work and have a message on my phone from someone from the BBC wishing to arrange an interview with me , i realy could do without this publicity but if is going to help others then i will agree to it .

I am going to try my hardest to at least do something to stop us being treated as some kind of wierdos by the few that feel they "have to stick the boot in" . I proberbly won,t make much difference but every little helps i suppose .

As i have said my life is realy good now, it has,nt been better than this for years and i want others to feel that thier lives can be the same, ethnic minorities get help and support and protection but we are pushed aside on the scrap heap to sort our own problems out and for some sadly it is to late , and where teenagers are concerned it is "realy bad" they cannot handle the abuse .I have said before that i thought i had run out of tears but i realy do cry every time i read another young TG has ended it , there has got to be somewhere for people to go to get help and support 24/7 . I know the samaritans do a great job but having had to phone them myself many times in the past and speaking to a different person everytime and having to explain why i am calling everytime is a bit of a crazy situation .

I was asked today by a stranger "are you Julia from the paper?" , i said no i am Julia from Diss , she said "you know what i mean" she then went on to say i am brave and she was pleased she met me in real life , i had to put her straight and tell her "i am not brave i am just me" and i care, then she hugged me and said well done , the fact that she cared enough to give me a big hug brought a little tear to my eye .

I hope i live long enough to see a change then i can go on to where ever it is we go knowing that i "just may" have made a difference or at least i tried .

Love to you all and thanks again Julia xxxx.

Hi Wendy .
Thanks i have been a bit gob smacked at the reaction from everyone from all over the world and more so from people i have never met . I want to make a difference before i die and i think i can even if its just a tiny bit .

If my plans go as i hope them to my ugly mug will be a household name!!!!! like eeeeeeerrrrrrrrr Cillit/Clit Bang or what ever it is .

As i have said its not about me its about the kids , the future generation of Transgendered people who need some help to get through the first years of coming to terms with finding themselves without prejudice and hate from narrow minded idiots knocking them down so much they feel the need to end it all .

Thanks again hugs Julia xxxx PS did you just call me a drug???? Whoops sorry you said heroine , no not me . xx

Marsha-you look wondrful and really womanly!xx

Hi Julia,

Thank you for sharing your article. Hope it helps gender-confused young folks in your area to realize they are not alone and that help is available.

Best,
Melody

ps, I was confused by the name of the paper, the Diss Express. The term "diss" has a negative meaning in the United States - to disrespect someone. Thought maybe this was a paper that specialized in insults, but a bit of search on Wikipedia gave me a geography lesson: Diss is a town in Norfolk near Suffolk.

Julia, i know we've had words in the past but i have to say fair play to you for getting your story onto the Diss Express website. I had a good read & can see some similarities between what you've gone through & whats happened to me recently. I've got to the point now where if people give me grief when they pass me, i just smile sweetly & walk past.. There's a line from a certain song which sums up my attiude to life and thats " When the world gets in my face i say, HAVE A NICE DAY!!"


Good on you for posting your story hon.



Lol xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Anna-Marie

Excellent article, thanks for the link.
Have to say, hunni, I thought you looked good in the photo!
Much love
Rae

Julia,

I did not make the connection, but your story link IS on our GS TG NEWS FEED. When I saw it, during my daily news story searches, I thought it important news for the Internet TG community. Remember:

"It is better to be hated for what you are than loved for what you're not." - Andre Gide (French writer)

***********

If you're able to, then take the publicity. Pick up the ball and run with it. Go as far as you can and do as much as you can. The cause you are heralding is a good one.
I am fortunate in having had a good transition thus far with support from all and sundry. No negative instances. But I know that my experience is not necesarily the norm.
Good luck and best wishes
Rae

Julia,

I was proud of the person in that article, when I posted it. That is why it went up at GS. Have another <hug>. You are a heroine.

Julia,

I know it is not about you. If it was about you, you would have your head down trying to get your privacy back. One only makes this kind of sacrifice for others when you feel it is worth the high price. A heroine is not someone who is not afraid of danger, we call that an fool. A heroine is someone aware of the consequences who goes ahead anyway.

If I can be of help, let me know. I am a pretty decent manuscript editor.