Amanda's First Blog Entry

Well, here is the first entry into our Renaissance blog. I was wondering about what to write and how to make the blog current and interesting. I could write about me but I'm really not all that interesting! I mean, nobody really wants to know what I had for breakfast! So I think that this web log might different than most. I hope to contribute frequently but I also want other Renaissance members to write in it. (For future reference, I'll abbreviate Renaissance as Ren because I hate typing Renaissance all the time!) Ren is a support group and writing can be very cathartic. Our entire purpose is to help people to deal with their gender dysphoria and the trials & tribulations of being transgender.

However, I must put in a disclaimer at this time. Please be aware that the personal opinions presented by each author are just that, their own views and are not necessarily those of the Renaissance Transgender Association of the Lehigh Valley. As you read each authors blog, please keep in mind that sometimes the need to "vent" can overpower reason, fact and logic. I do not want this blog to succumb to personal attacks and accusational defenses. Nor will it be a platform for political views. Quite frankly, that kind of thing will be edited out. It is my hope that the authors writing the blog will write about their own personal experiences as a member of the transgender community. I hope that they enjoy writing it and that the readers of the blog will benefit from it.

So here is blog entry number 1. Not unsurprisingly, it is about me! I'm not going to go into my life story or anything. My guess is that my story probably doesn't differ too much from the life experiences that many of you have had. I will give you a little personal information though, just so that you can get an idea of who I am. I am a 65 year old retired teacher. Although I have been transgender all of my life (MTF), it has only been in the last 10 years or so that I have been able to acknowledge that fact on a semi-public basis. I now label myself as a dual gender, non-transitioning transgender female. That acknowledgement has come about, in no small amount , as a result of my association with the people in Renaissance. At this point, I get great joy in going out publically as Amanda and doing things and acting just as any other woman would. Naturally, the more I go out the more people I meet. So, as I have developed as a transgender woman, I have come to realize a few things. These things are based strictly on my experiences when I am "out and about."

The first conclusion that I have come to is that I really doubt if I am fooling anyone. Maybe some people believe me to be a cisgender woman. I don't know because I always present myself as being transgender. I much prefer this approach rather than trying to camouflage myself as cisgender. Being proud to be trans is much more than a slogan or rallying cry. It is admitting to those who you meet that you aware of who you are and that you are OK with it. When people meet me and get to know me they can see that being transgender is not weird or scary. I might be a little different but they realize that they have nothing to fear from me. They can see that I am just a regular person doing the things that regular people do. This is true whether I am in the mall, a restaurant or the ladies room. It is my view that as more transgender people mainstream themselves into society and identify themselves as transgender, the more comfortable the general public will become and being transgender will only be a point of interest, not a subject of distain or hatred.

I will discuss a few of my other conclusions in future blog entries. I hope that you find our blog interesting and informative.

Bye for now.

Amanda