Transgender news and views for Friday …

#1 – Here’s the latest (‘Random, “Conventional” Thoughts…‘ and ‘Log Cabin Republican’s Apparently Have An Interesting Definition Of “Inclusive Republican”‘) at PHB from Autumn, who’s been a bit of a tease, and obviously in need of help.

#2 – I’m a lifelong “Yankee Yellow Dog” … but I’ll not likely be voting for the Obama-Biden ticket come election time. Time enough to share my simple thoughts about that later. Meanwhile, let’s say I can’t disagree with Serena Freewomyn today over at Bilerico …

… the Democrats are chicken shits who will pander to the least common denominator …

Of course, I’ve held the same view (but multiply it by an appropriate double-digit — at least — numerator) of the Republicans for the past 40 years … as long as I’ve been voting.

Sorry, call me a curmudgeon (or whatever you may prefer) if you wish, but no apologies, I conscientiously object to ‘em all.

#3 – Lynn Conway‘s posted a critique on her site regarding the prevalence of GID. News of this sort of apparent “undercounting” came out earlier this year. Kelly Winters has also touched on the subject recently.

#4 – Marti Abernathey, who’s been busy with the Obama campaign, among other things, I’m sure, has a post up at Transadvocate (and Bilerico) today about “St. Barney” (as Kat Rose refers to him) …

On Tuesday I attended the HRC/Victory Fund luncheon and on Wednesday I attended the LGBT caucus at the convention center in Denver. Many stories were broke in the past few days, but one event passed by without a word. In a very consistent manner, Barney Frank again signaled that when ENDA is introduced, it will not be fully inclusive.

#5 – Some trans people in the news …

• “Teacher Chooses Gender Change” [Video here]
• “The Second Most Beautiful Girl in New York“
• “Transsexual’s old online ad won’t derail parks board bid“

Some of the transgender news and views we came across on Tuesday …

#1 – Autumn spoke with Shannon Minter And Mara Keisling yesterday at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. You can hear that here. And, if it’s your cup of tea, there’s plenty more coverage of the DNC at Pam’s House Blend.

#2 – “Removing ‘some’ of the inequalities” … “still a political problem” … “has enough lobbying been done?” … so, to whom do you think Barney Frank’s referring?

…

He added that the Employment Non Discrimination Act still presented “a political problem.”

It was originally designed to make it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or promote a person based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The decision to remove trans people from the scope of the legislation caused anger among the LGBT community in the US, with many demanding an “all or nothing” stance.

“The question now is whether enough lobbying has been done to include people who are transgender,” Congressman Frank said.

“We need more lobbying on that. We had a very good hearing on that issue and it helped. Previously, we were running into problems getting it out of committee, and I think the hearing we had a major impact on that. It also depends on if we get more Democrats.”

…

Congressman attacks gays who support McCain

Kat Rose over at ENDAblog had something to say about “more Democrats” …

And wait for those 15 to be ‘educated’ by those who say that they have our best interests at heart.

And then wait for him to say 15 more are needed.

#3 – Joshua Lynsen of the Washington Blade spoke with Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley at the DNC in Denver on Monday. Lynsen asked O’Malley about Montgomery County’s (Md.) upcoming transgender rights referendum …

Blade: Last question. There is a transgender rights measure that is going to the ballot in Montgomery County in November. Do you expect to become involved in that battle at all to help protect the rights of transgender people?

O’Malley: You know, I think we passed a similar bill in the city of Baltimore when I was mayor, if my memory serves me correctly. So, you know, there are bills at the local level. There’s bills at the state level. I typically don’t get involved with local ordinances. I try to focus my attention on statewide bills. But we did it in the city of Baltimore and dogs and cats didn’t fall from the sky. You know? It was — I think these bills — I don’t know. I think it would probably be a good thing for Montgomery County to do. I don’t have the legislation in front of me, but if it’s like what we did in Baltimore, it caused no problems whatsoever.

Blade: So it’s got your thumbs up?

O’Malley: Yes.

O’Malley reiterates call for civil unions

#4 – We haven’t heard much about Susan Stanton since early April (“Wife Seeks Amicable Divorce From Ex-Largo Manager Susan“). As a follow-up to that news, the Tampa Tribune reported yesterday …

Susan Stanton, the former Largo city manager known as Steven Stanton before a sex change, has mediated his divorce from his wife of 18 years, according to court documents.

The agreement was signed off on by a Pinellas-Pasco judge on Aug. 6.

…

Transgendered Ex-Largo Manager Gets Divorce Terms

The St. Petersburg Times noted (“Stanton’s marriage comes to an end“) that Stanton “has a good relationship with her ex-wife, but she has lost most of her friends” and “has been unable to find work.”

#5 – In the UK, the late Lynne Braithwaite was honored last Friday …

A FLY-PAST of a lone Vulcan bomber across Morecambe on Friday was a
fitting tribute to a leading transgender activist, author and RAF veteran of 40 years.

The life of Lynne Janine Braithwaite BEM, who died on August 12, was celebrated at a packed Lancaster Cremator-ium where friends and family said their farewells to a remarkable person.

They included the Deputy Chief Constable of Lancashire police force, who gave a speech outlining Lynne’s involvement as a volunteer advisor on transgender issues, who toured the country speaking at various seminars and workshops – fighting for the rights of all transgender people.

The fly-past of the Vulcan bomber was in honour of the work carried out by Lynne as an engineer on the Vulcan to the Sky project – a campaign to get the Vulcan airborne again which was only achieved months before Lynne passed away.

Lynne, of Westfield Grove in Morecambe, certainly led an inspirational life.

She was born Lawrence James Braithwaite on July 1, 1934 in one of Beatrix Potter’s houses at Near Sawrey in the Lake District.

She left school to join the RAF in September 1949, retiring as a Flight Sergeant on July 1 1989.

Lynne was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Honours List in 1976.

Her expertise was maintenance of Vulcan bombers. It was with this experience that she was called out of retirement as engineering consultant to the Vulcan to the Sky Trust.

In early 2008 the Vulcan bomber XH558 passed its airworthiness tests and flew once again. Lynne was very proud of this achievement and it was therfore entirely appropriate that the plane was present at her funeral.

After leaving the RAF Lynne ran her own business making silver model aircraft until 1992, when it went bust during the recession.

Not long after her transition to female in 1994 aged 60, she contacted Lancashire Constabulary asking what policies and procedures they had regarding transgender people.

Lynne had significant input advising on best practice for trans people as service users and employees in the police service.

Until July 2008 she remained an active member of Lancashire Northern Police Division’s Independent Advisors Group where, over the years, she was consulted on a number of policing issues and policies. At the time of her death she was also an active member of Trans Lancs group – an advisory team for the constabulary, keeping them up to date with the legal and social issues affecting trans people.

She wrote several books including ‘Diaries of a Transfemale’ and ‘From Brigands to V Bombers’.

The Press For Change website, which campaigns for respect and equality for all transgender people, paid tribute to her: “Lynne was a vibrant, indefatigable person who was always active and approach-ed life with the enthusiasm of someone decades younger. She will be greatly missed.”

Fly-past tribute to RAF veteran

Transgender news and views for Monday …

#1 – Autumn flew into Denver yesterday where she will be covering the Democratic National Convention for Pam’s House Blend. Among the other trans folks in Denver for the Convention (as delegates) are Marisa Richmond and Vanessa Foster.

#2 – Testimony concluded last Friday in Diane Schroer’s bias suit against the Library of Congress …

A federal judge yesterday concluded a four-day bench trial in a lawsuit brought by a former Special Forces commander who lost a job offer as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress because he disclosed he was undergoing the medical process of becoming a woman.

U.S. District Judge James Robertson heard testimony from more than a dozen witnesses, including scientific experts, officials at the Library of Congress and Diane Schroer, the former Army colonel who brought the suit. Robertson said he would issue a ruling soon.

Schroer, who applied for the job in 2004 under the name of David and has since completed the medical transition to become a woman, testified that she was hurt when she lost the job offer after disclosing the transition to the person she thought would be her future boss. She filed the sex discrimination suit under the Civil Rights Act. The Library of Congress has argued that the Civil Rights Act does not prohibit discrimination against transsexuals or on the basis of gender identity.

Testimony Ends in Transsexual Bias Suit

#3 – JimK at Vigilance, who’s been closely following the fate of Montgomery County’s (Md.) recently-passed transgender rights law, expressed some exasperation yesterday with the wimpy, “croquet” tactics of the law’s supporters …

Look, this isn’t croquet we’re playing here, this is a fistfight. The other side has been throwing punches for months, and our side is waiting for funding so we can have a poll so we can decide what we want to tell people. “Making information available” is important and so obvious it shouldn’t need to be said. It is also not a persuasion strategy. People who want information need to be able to find it, I agree. But your average ignorant voter doesn’t care that much and isn’t going to look for it. If you want to give them information you’ve got to give it to them. In their face.

“Prohibit discrimination” is the wimpiest campaign slogan I can imagine. It’s got more syllables than impact. The people of our Blue county oppose discrimination, and would support this bill if they knew what it said. That’s why we elected the Council who passed it unanimously and the County Executive who was happy to sign it. But the anti-gay, anti-transgender bigots are making sure people don’t know what the law is about. They’re not conducting polls and adjusting their message for the “median voter,” they’re waving their arms and getting red in the face, telling lies and misrepresenting the law in any way that will get people’s attention. When one side is saying your daughter will be raped and dead girls will be turning up all over the county, “prohibit discrimination” is not an effective response.

…

Woman Fired For Wearing Pants

Over at the Maryland Politics Watch blog, Montgomery County trans woman Maryanne Arnow recounts the discrimination she has faced …

In the last year, I’ve had to face distinct increases in discrimination and denigration from the general public in the normal course of my daily life. This is occurring directly as a result of a local campaign from conservative groups that continually foster unwarranted fears, stereotypical misrepresentations, and highly negative references to transgender people, in the public eye of perception.

I have faced extreme social and workplace humiliations in the last several years since beginning my transition (change) of gender. I have applied at dozens of restaurants, retail stores, warehouses, and even major hotel chains such as Marriott, most located in Montgomery County.

…

As it now stands, it is both legal and apparently still socially acceptable to discriminate against anyone like myself in hiring, workplace, housing, public services, and public accommodations. I once again have no civil rights or legal protections at any level. Not federal, state, or county, and mainly as a direct result of the actions of these groups to force a referendum on this law.

We have been burned at the stake, in the use of guilt by association to other highly negative stereotypes such as pedophiles and sexual predators. This has nothing to do with transgender people whatsoever. This is an outright lie. It is a crass, cruel, and disgusting distortion. This is an utter fallacy to the fullest extent that it has been used by these groups.

As a fellow citizen, neighbor, wife, and daughter – as a warm and articulate person, and skilled professional Culinary Artist, I have found this intolerably painful. This is entirely unacceptable by any ethical standard that I know of. There have been direct, and deeply negative impacts on my life as a result of such discriminatory behaviors.

Enough is enough. Help restore my most basic civil rights, and overrule the falsehoods being spread by these groups, once and for all.

Living with Discrimination as a Transgender Woman

#4 – Over at Trans Universe, Angela Brightfeather would like a “simple question” answered …

That simple question is:

“Senator Obama, would you veto an exclusive version of the Employment Non Discrimination Act if it did not include employment protections for transgender people?”

It’s a tough question to ask a man who believes in not impeding any rights bill from passing, but it is an important question to ask. If the answer is anything but “Yes,” I will take my vote on November and either find someone else to vote for, or just sit this one out and encourage everyone to do the same until people come to realize that this makes common sense.

And, the big question for Senator Obama is . . . . ?

#5 – It’s raining a bit tonight in Asheville … it’s been so long I feel like streaking into the night. Night all.

Some of the gender and transgender-related items we’ve been reading on our daily blog run, all of which may also be found here …

At hiding in plain sight …

Instead, there is only Grannan’s exploitation of her subjects’ confusion and unhappiness. The extent of that exploitation is best illustrated by reference to another woman who photographed outsiders and was accused, in her day, of exploiting them. In fact, Diane Arbus’s freaks are paragons of dignity in comparison. Some of them are even joyful. That’s because Arbus knew all along that she was one of them. Grannan is just a tourist.

Katy Grannan

At dented blue mercedes …

Don’t you just love that phrase, “used to be a man?”

Can You Ever Leave Behind the Evil Twin?

At Righteous Anger …

Now sure I’m all for individual rights, but really why can’t these sissies stop complaining about what genetics cursed themselves with and learn to cope with the reality of the world they were born into.

A TransNational Geographic Outlook

At Bilerico Project …

If progressives want to choose the lesser evil, that’s a position to take, but to claim that an insider politician backed by every establishment figure he can get his hands on is going to heal anything besides his own hemorrhoids is dangerous and embarrassing.

Barack Obama: a transcendent person of color

At Trans Universe …

In the spring of this year, Haworth Press will be releasing a new book called “Trans People in Love,” edited by Tracie O’Keefe and Katrina Fox from Sydney, Australia. This book has 25 chapters, all written by different authors from around the world about their experiences with love. I am one of the contributing writers for this book and my chapter is called, “Sex and the Single Trannie.” In my chapter, I speak about libido and how I vowed not to loseWeight Exercise it when I started hormones.

Sex, Love and Transsexuals

Some of the gender and transgender-related blogs we’re reading today (Super Tuesday – please vote!), all of which may be found here too …

At BEING “T” …

Border Patrol

At Bi Girl Friday …

EQCA to honor transgender and marriage equality leaders

At author interviews …

Jennifer Finney Boylan

At Transsexual Road Map Notes …

Protest vigil outside HRC Annual Dinner 2/9 Philadelphia

At The View From (Ab)Normal Heights …

Sen. Clinton Today Wrote The Words “Fully Inclusive” With Regards To ENDA

At ATRANS.PT (a video from The Center in NYC) …

Transgender Basics

At Crossing the T …

Transgender Religious Summit themes … part 2

At Bilerico Project …

Sex(ism) and gender and everything that comes next

Some of the gender and transgender-related writings we’re reading today …

At Towleroad …

Hillary Clinton on ENDA, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, McCain, and Coulter

At (Ab)Normal Heights …

Donna Rose Comments On The LGBT Americans For Hillary Steering Committee

At Gender and Life’s Paths …

Transgender: Why Don’t We Matter

At Phred’s Blog …

Human hatred on display in Gainesville

At Bilerico Project …

The Gender Anarchist

What Man and What Woman?

And at Intersex Pride …

Elizabeth Reis defames and trivializes intersex people

DSD: North American Medical fascism and manufacturing consent

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Tuesday, July 31st …

David Roberts with a “film review” …

This video was released almost two weeks ago by Focus on the Family through their political mouthpiece, CitizenLink, so you may have already seen it or read commentary about it. Regardless of where you might stand on hate crimes laws, this kind of glib, heartless characterization seems unwarranted and cruel. It may also signify a certain amount of desperation. When you watch, pay attention to the last few comments.

We’ve heard gross distortions of this legislation apparently designed to scare people with the idea that, if it passes, free speech will be curtailed, pastors will be jailed, and innocent little grandmothers will be arrested for standing on a lonely street corner doing nothing more than offering tracts to passersby. What you will find at the end of this clip is what I believe is actually at the heart of the matter. Focus, et al, simply can’t allow sexual orientation to be codified into federal statutes as real and fixed, even as a byproduct.

…

The Real Reason Focus On The Family Mocks Hate Crimes

Kate Bornstein waxes poetic on “Neither/Nor” …

Gender As Neither/Nor

Great ending line …

Kiss kiss, and remember: we are everywhere.

Jenny Boylan has put some of the “storm and stress” behind her …

… I also know that I am happy now, and that gender issues are not so much at the center of my life. Like a lot of people, I have found that the long journey brought me to a place where I was free of gender. And by “free of gender” I mean two contradictory things: on the one hand, free like, I understand how random and contructed gender is now; but yes, I also mean free of gender like most other women are– free in the sense that most of the time I DON’T THINK ABOUT IT CAUSE IT’S NOT AN ISSUE.

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Make Me One With Everything

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Monday, July 30th …

ENDA and the Matthew Shepard Act are on the minds of many of us. There are probably few people in the trans community as qualified as Ethan St. Pierre to write about rights … and pain, loss, suffering, indignity and unfairness …

…

Transgender Americans are not asking for special rights but for the same rights that other people have. The fact that transgender Americans are NOT treated equally in employment, housing, credit..etc. begs for legislation to stop discriminatory acts towards transgender people. Transgender Americans are not asking for rights that others don’t have. Transgender Americans are not asking to be treated better than everyone else or to have something that other Americans don’t have.

When I began transitioning on the job and I started exhibiting male characteristics, I was fired from my job and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. I was told by every lawyer that I did not have a case because there was no law to protect transgender people from being fired in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

…

It would be nice to think that we are all human and therefore we should all be treated as human beings, that we should all be treated fairly and that all laws should apply to all of us. The simple fact is that we are not and we are dying as a result.

We are not disposable people and if Congress can’t pass a law that sends that message, they might as well just paint a target on our asses.

Read all of Ethan’s post at Bilerico here.

Jillian Weiss’ been traveling …

I’ve been away at the Law and Society Conference in Berlin and it’s been wonderful. Ich spreche kaum Deutche. (I hardly speak much German.) Eine tasse kaffee bitte. (A cup of coffee please.) Anyway, I went to some wonderful presentations on transgender issues and got to know some new people. There was one from Andrew Sharpe, whom I knew from his book entitled “Transgender Jurisprudence,” and Dean Spade, who founded the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a project specializing in transgender issues in New York. I’ll give more details on those presentations in my next post. I gave one entitled “Relationships between Transgender Non-Discrimination Law and Corporate Policies.” …

At the Law & Society Conference in Berlin

Monica Roberts, a phenomenal writer and exceptional person …

It’s ignorance in motion
The science hating GOP
They’re causing a commotion
Hating peeps that are GLBT
But the GOP hates science
“The GOP hates science!”
Because they failed biology

…

The GOP Hates Science

… and …

When W.E.B DuBois first envisioned the Talented Tenth in his book The Souls of Black Folk it wasn’t intended to be interpreted as being exclusionary or elitist. But that’s the connotation that has been placed on the concept by many peeps in the African-American community.

DuBois concept was that the Talented Tenth would be given the mission to uplift the race and help it thrive through a combination of economic and political empowerment with a strong moral center as its core.

I believe that The Talented Tenth concept is one that is sorely needed at this juncture in the African-American transcommunity.

…

The Transgender Talented Tenth

… and much more.

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Saturday, July 28th …

GLAD wraps up the week in the Rhiannon O’Donnabhain trial …

Yesterday was the final day of trial (for a while) in GLAD’s case representing Rhiannon O’Donnabhain in U.S. Tax Court. And that has meant that for the first time ever in tax court there was a rich and full discussion about transgender identities.

At the heart of the case is the question of whether one transgender woman will be guaranteed equal treatment by the Internal Revenue Service. But this case goes beyond Rhiannon as an individual. Having a court consider the experience of one trans woman has been an important opportunity to show the pervasive discrimination that transgender people face every day.

…

One of the striking things about the trial was the level of discussion about trans identities, and about how trans people live in and experience the world. People in the courtroom seemed moved by the discussion. It’s hard to imagine that anyone left without a richer understanding of transgender people’s lives.

The trial will continue August 23, with testimony from the government’s second and final expert witness, followed by closing statements from both parties.

O’Donnabhain Trial Wrap Up

Zoe asks where in the universe could you conceivably find …

Tax Accountants questioning the evaluation of medics who specialise in the area, even arguing that the disease itself is imaginary, and doesn’t exist.

Well, in this Universe…

…

On the second day of the trial Mikalchus continued the tactic of questioning O’Donnabhain’s GID diagnosis, this time through his cross-examination of Brown. He asked Brown if people seeking treatment for GID might instead have autogynephilia, a concept promoted by controversial sexologist Ray Blanchard that suggests some transwomen may be men who are aroused by the thought of having a vagina. Brown said he did not subscribe to Blanchard’s theories, which have been widely rejected by the transgender community.

Mikalchus also posited that O’Donnabhain’s therapists misdiagnosed her and that she may suffer from transvestic fetishism, a disorder in which men are sexually aroused by dressing in women’s clothes.

Brown countered by saying, “People who are transvestic fetishists don’t want their penises cut off … It’s very important to them.”

The trial is expected to run through the end of this week. After that the trial will resume later next month to allow one more witness to testify.

Some more about the man whose theories the IRS finds so convincing:

Dr. Ray Blanchard resigned from the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA) in protest to the ethics investigation of his protégé, J. Michael Bailey. Blanchard, a psychiatrist, member of a eugenics think tank, and vocal proponent of repathologizing homosexuality as a mental illness, still runs Toronto’s Clarke Institute as a maximum security processing facility, using the same procedures, locked rooms and shared space areas for pedophiles, rapists, homosexuals, and transsexuals.

Bailey admitted later that there were bits of his book that he just made up.

…

In a Unverse Next Door … #2

Marti Abernathey with a “one picture is worth … ” …

Some folks don’t like to see their own reflection, or refuse to believe it and react violently when they do.

This Says It Better Than I Ever Could

(“Does this mean we can’t be friends?” … Priceless.)

Pam sums up my present feelings regarding hate crimes legislation …

No, there’s no need for hate crimes legislation…none at all. Tell that to the family of Kenneth Cummings Jr., a Southwest flight attendant, who was killed by a man who believed he was doing God’s work. (Houston Chronicle)

…

Cummings was stabbed with a six-inch blade, and his charred body was found near San Antonio on property owned by Mangum’s grandfather.

While not everyone can agree on whether there should be hate crime laws, the fact is that if it’s on the books, why shouldn’t sexual orientation and gender identity be added to the list, which includes religion — protection you won’t see fundies ready to give up any time soon.

…

As far as the status of the hate crimes bill on the Hill is concerned, the Matthew Shepard Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act was recently attached as an amendment to the defense authorization bill. The latter was subsequently pulled from the floor in the Senate by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). It’s unlikely to be reconsidered until September or October, according to the Washington Blade.

…

Ah yes, we put those Dems in office and they are ready to stab us in the back. Thanks very much.

Pay no attention to the hate crime behind the curtain

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Thursday, July 26th …

nexy …

stuff of nightmares

Marti Abernathey …

Woman’s Space To Hate With Heart

Helen Boyd …

A reviewer recently misquoted me as having written that I was called a “dyke” when I was a kid, when in fact the word I used was “butch.”

That mistake, while minor on the surface, has got me thinking.

The difference between the words is that essential difference between sexual orientation and gender presentation, which are often conflated in the first place, but which I tried to dissect in She’s Not the Man I Married. Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t issues like this that cause some of the rift between the gay/lesbian community and the trans community …

The Importance of Being Earnest, or Accurate, or Both

Some of the folks we’re reading today, Tuesday, July 24th …

Christine Daniels …

Right now I am looking at a priceless piece of paper I just pulled from my wallet and unfolded. I am thinking of having it laminated, or framed, or both, although a frame might make it a tad too bulky for my handbag.

“INTERIM DRIVERS LICENSE” it says at the top.

“CHRISTINE MICHELLE DANIELS” its says a few lines below.

And then, finally, the moment I’ve been waiting for, for as long as I was old enough to dream impossible dreams:

“SEX: F”

I got my “F”! Yesterday, at long last, I got the grade I always wanted.

It began with a lot of paperwork. I needed a document proving I had undergone a legal name change, which required six weeks to process, including a legal notice required to be published in a newspaper one day a week for four consecutive weeks. That notice read in part:

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS:
Petitioner filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows:
Michael Daniel Penner to Christine Michelle Daniels

…

I got an “F”!

Marti Abernathey …

I’ve been home a little over a week from my vacation on the R Family Vacation summer cruise to the Bahamas. I’ve had a week to sit back and reflect on the trip.

…

To see a ship full of gay and lesbian families concentrated in one place was amazing. I had a wonderful time, and the entire trip was empowering. But one thing has lingered with me since I got off the ship was the lack of visible transfamilies.

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R We Family?

ReidPDX …

I asked Helen for a topic to write about, and she sent me the following suggestion: How to help someone who is not transitioning “come out” in ways that are healthy but still respectful of their possible concerns re: privacy.

Whether a person transitions physically or not, the issues remain the same. Is it stealth, or is it a closet, if a person chooses to not disclose their journey? Can a person retain their self-esteem and sense of self-worth if they feel compelled to keep the fullness of their true selves a secret? The differentiation to make is between privacy and living a lie. There is nothing wrong with being private about how we live our lives; this is another way of saying there is nothing wrong with having boundaries.

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Finding the balance