Trans Appreciation
 

Hi All! I didn't see a thread for this so I thought I'd start one. I'll kick it off with a list of things I'd like to thank the butches (and transguys and studs and female born masculine folks in general) for:

1. Thanks for knowing that we do have brains between our pretty little ears.

2. Thanks for not minding if our heels make us a little taller than you…or a lot taller.

3. Thanks for appreciating all the work that goes into looking as fabulous as we do.

4. Thanks for knowing the difference between being protective and being jealous.

5. Thanks for your brutal hands, huge cocks and filthy minds.

6. Thanks for the cuddles and spooning and those strong, safe arms.

7. Thanks for smelling like wonderful things: sweat, old spice, sawdust, whiskey, coffee and (if I’m a lucky ladyface) sometimes even delicious desserts.

8. Thanks for recognizing that we femmefolk don’t do femininity for you. (Except sometimes, when we do.)

9. Thanks for being patient and kind in those moments when we are…flustered, insecure, crestfallen or just plain grumpy.

10. Thanks for the chivalry. It is noticed and appreciated and no matter how many times you open a door for me, I still get that wonderful warm squiggly feeling in my tummy. Really.

every. time.

:bunchflowers:

Alright, I'm just gonna go ahead and nudge this thread. Ladies, what else do you appreciate about your trans lovers? I'm certain that mine isn't an exhaustive list...

Thinking
 

Thanks for acknowledging our masculinity.

Thanks for getting that our kids come first...

Even though She isn't trans...
 

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Thanks for not assuming that because I'm Femne I'm not strong...

Thanks for being okay with yourself wherever you are in journey--I love that!

Thanks for being you, all the time, not just when you think I'm watching.

Thanks for being masculine enough that it balances my femininity perfectly.

Thanks for that light touch of your hand in the small of my back when we leave a room and understanding that its very much okay with me.

Thanks for knowing that I go weak at the knees when you flirt with me, no matter how long its been.

Thanks for cheering me up when I'm down and for knowing when that is.

Thanks for loving me. And for letting me love you, back.

I just love my husband sooooooo much! He's everything I ever wanted from a woman (and never got) and everything I never thought I would get from a man! He's my best friend, most amazing lover, he's kind, he's romantic, he's generous, he's caring, he brings out the best in me, he's just so wonderful! Sometimes I have to pinch myself to believe it's true.

Plus he's really sexy! Some boi was eyeing him up at a party last night and I thought 'ha ha ha, no, he's mine!'

Oh yes, this makes me melty too. :)

And thanks for always being up for spider evacuation or extermination duty. (evacuation or extermination is determined by the size, location and scariness of the spider)

Thats awesome
 

Anytime! I really enjoyed reading that.

I know I started it, but this is one of my favorite threads to lurk. The responses are so much fun to read and they often make my heart hurt (in a good way). Thanks for sharing!!!

Thanks so much for this thread, and for this list! I have to say that although I love every item on the list, #4, 5, and 6 are my favorites, especially #4! My appreciation for the protectiveness is enormous and heartfelt.

"Small Town Security" boasts a FTM transgendered employee
 

A shout out to Sgt. Dennis Croft a featured player on the reality show "Small Town Security"on AMC. I started to watch the show on a lark; having seen a preview featuring an outrageously quirky, attention seeking character named Joan or 'chief' as she is fondly referred to by her employees at the security service office;which is the setting of the show. I came for Joan but will stay for Dennis. It remains to be seen how this series will ultimately handle the subject of transition but the sentiment voiced by Sgt. Croft in an all too brief but intense interview on local access in Ringgold, Georgia cannot be erased. The first episode airs the interview which contains a clip of D. Croft being interviewed prior to beginning his T therapy as he watches and comments in the present.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis...b_1676342.html

Liking it...
 

Just found this thread. Loved reading all the amazing posts from the ladies. Believe me, we love to know what we're doing right & the appreciation is intensely felt. No matter who you are or your personal situation, it's always a feel good when someone not only accepts all that you are, but appreciates & likes it. Thank you, Ladies.

Thank you for your fierceness. The protective nature that you have for me, that quality that makes you want to stand up for me even when you know I'm more than capable to stand up for myself.

Thank you for showing me love in a discreet and (not so discreet-not pda) way sometimes, in front of my family and friends. The kindness and courtesy you give me that moves even straight couples to reassess their own behaviors....

Thank you for making me the Queen of our world/life/relationship and understanding your own place as our King.

Thank you for committing to us, to our life and to our loved ones. Being you is the only way I can love you, and thank you for receiving my love in it's entirety.

Thank you for letting me be me with you, the girl, the mama, the wifey the kitten, the tigress, the lamb, the big baby. Thank you for being my bf, man, husband, daddy, mister, sir, friend, lover, (big baby) among others and for understanding that masculine terms are natural to me for you, and I revel in being able to use them. That means more to me than you know.


Thank you for appreciating me in all my many facets. For making me feel good about being a girl/woman who loves her bf/TG/FtM/Transman.

Thank you for"getting" it.

My best friend of 15-years identifies as a Trans Bear.

When we met, we were both baby dykes, fledgling butch and femme baby dykes full of bravado, trying to find ourselves and our way (and having an awful lot of fun along the way). Over the course of the past decade and a half we have been through so much - many highs, and oh so many lows. I'm grateful for his friendship. He is my touchstone. He's taught me and inspired me, and propped me up when I've needed it. He's also let me take care of him, he's shared the good, the bad and the ugly. And every step of the way I have been so proud of him (even on those days I've wanted to shake him).

I am so proud of his bravery. Every stage of his transition has required renewed and refreshed courage.

I am so proud that every step of the way he has followed his own path, even when it diverged from anything he knew, from anything he saw, from anything written or talked about. He has let his internal compass lead the way.

I am so proud of the role he has taken on as community educator, both within our local queer community, and within the regional and wider bear and leather communities. As we all know, fear and intolerance are human conditions, being a pioneer within the community is as hard and sometimes harder and often requires MORE courage, than educating the heterosexual community.

And I am so proud of the every day education he does, with the guys he manages in the warehouse, with his family, with 100s of other people who have never ever met anyone like him, never even conceived of someone like him. He's smoothed the paths for dozens of queer kids of every stripe, by being open and honest and a warm, positive reassuring role model with their families.

I'm so proud of every obstacle he's overcome. Of every barrier he's broken through. And of his ability to lift himself up and keep going, again and again and again - because none of those obstacles were overcome easily, and none of those barriers were broken down swiftly.

I am so proud, *beamingly proud*, of the full, happy, healthy, loving person he is.

Today he entered himself as a contestant in the Mr. CT Leather competition.
It is an enormous step for him, to not just find a place within the gay leather community, but to step up and put himself on display.

It has been a long time coming, a long journey for him to find this level of self-confidence; and in finding himself, and joy in himself, he has opened hearts and minds like no one else I know.

Not in big flashy splashy ways; in every day, real face-to-face ways.

So go on you brave sexy M.F. -- be bold!
I'll always be your biggest fan.




And random fact: He's not the first trans man to break this ground, Tyler McCormick won International Man of Leather in 2010. Bravo, Mr. McCormick.

Thanks for letting me go.

Woops didn't realize I was in the Trans appreciation thread when I posted that :|


Kinda jittery weekend. But not without its good times.

DAAAYUUM...well, i can't take credit for all of that...that is why i didn't give a thank you to your post when i first saw this awhile back. Now, i can say thank you. Cause I know i can't take credit for a thank you like that from a woman i don't know. However, now that i can take the time
to extend a little more information on the thank you return i will.

I know i can take credit for each one of those or even all of those together(and them some) at various times in my life...some of them just come naturally. Others, have to admit, i have to work on being a better man.

Is this a top ten list? Definately a list to aspire to ...
Thank you for the post Ladyface. And i dig that blogspot!
Take care now,
DMW

I wish folks would not conflate butch with trans. The above post wants to thank 'butches' and others. It's in 'the trans zone' folder and is titled 'trans appreciation'.

As a butch woman I do not feel thanked.

Toughy, I am asking these questions in the spirit of understanding the perspective of others that may not have similar views and to learn. First, I respect you and many of your views, a great deal.

My question is why must there be such a hard line distinction between Trans and Butch? Through all of the discussions we have had in this community, I think many of us do make an effort to be respectful of gender I.D. I do not think that to be Trans necessarily erases all female markers, biological, genetics and socialized attributes. I don't think to be a woman identified butch makes one less butch or not butch.

What about people born cisgender men, that transition, really are women, MTF and now lesbian? (No I am not referring to any specific person in this community. It is a generalization.) What if they are not woman identified lesbians now but just Butch? Are they not butch? Are they not trans women?

I get that your post is about you and how you feel. I am not challenging that at all. Your feelings are real. What I am trying to understand is how are many of us on the masculine spectrum and queer so very different?

I do apologize if I have offended you or others. Honestly, that is not my goal. My goal is to find some clarity, resolution on what feels like some sort of line in the sand.

As a Butch, do you feel any thanks? I ask this because she did include "butch" in her post. Albeit, not "Woman identified butch."

P.S. It feels risky to post this and I decided to do it because I really am looking for a discussion that may reveal, offer something to myself and maybe others.

Because this belongs here and not in the CIJS thread or any other. I want to say thank you and how much I am appreciating friends like Kent that sent me a private message. One that actually left me almost speechless. I was able to type Wow thank you. It was a simple message of Alix are you okay? That has been happening since I started coming here even when I was just posting in the butch thread where a guy would just say the right thing and leave me speechless. Well sometimes I think we need to appreciate each other and just really Kent and others since I joined this site just wow.

Thank you on my journey as it continues and even when everything else is loud and crazy. Those little messages and helps have kept me sane.

And Tough thank you as well because without your post this thread would not have been on the front page. Sometimes I am just in the right spot at the right time. Seems many of you are too and it is not just the ladies that should appreciate a good guy.

My friend..........your post should not feel risky because of me.....I'm so not offended or upset. I am happy to have this conversation. You know I totally respect you and your feelings/ideas....

just not tonite........I have a man with a hammer in my head and it's not making me happy......so tomorrow

me in this color and I'm doing it this way to keep me on track...

My life would be incomplete without femmes. I am grateful every day of my life that femme exists. There are some femmes I am not so grateful about........such as the ones who refuse to use female pronouns and see butch as male/man, who always default butch away from woman and feminine.....

So yes I feel thanks from many of my femme sisters. That was never my point. The point is where this thread was placed and the incongruity between the title and the content of the post.

Hope this helps....happy to clarify if needed.

thank you for writing that particular sentence.

i am consistently guilty of applying male ID'd pronouns to the butch folk in my life, though out of insensitivity or habit rather than any unwillingness to use female - or neutral - pronouns. i appreciate your candor as well as the constant and gentle - and even not so gentle - reminders of that misstep that i find in many threads. i keep reminding myself that my own invisibility usually makes me feel dismissed and heartworn. i really dont want to be the source of a similar kind of negation for others.

something else that i'm guilty of is projecting the privilege of my own "outness" onto others. specifically, i have made mistakes with regard to friends who choose not to be overt about being transgendered. i really feel like an asshat when i do it. i dont want to tell anyone elses story or expose anyone elses life to scrutiny - or G*d help them, danger - but i have been known to be insensitive about the degree to which people in my life share themselves with others. for the transmen and women who have not told me to go f*ck myself i am truly appreciative. and for those who have, i have to admit that i understand. i think that i just wish it were the same non-issue for others that it is for me.

i'd like to hear more about the things you and Greyson are talking about so i'm going to sit back and be quiet now. just wanted to throw my own appreciation and attempt at accountability into the mix because i have a great deal of admiration for the ways people embrace and express their self-respect and really hope i can learn to do the same for myself.

an open apology
 

I understand that there are female IDed butches and I've dated several of them. My initial post was intended to be inclusive, not hurtful. I posted it in trans appreciation bc I was dating a transguy at the time and my 10 things list was written about him. I included butch and other IDs in that first post bc I realized as i was posting it that i didn't want anyone to feel like they couldn't post some appreciative words just bc their person is female IDed. I wasn't trying to disrespect anyone or negate the experiences of female IDed butches. I thought I was just being inclusive. I'm sorry if you were offended.

This is one of those things that can be a cluster bomb for a femme generally..i have a great friend that is trans and at times i would innocently forget he preferred to be addressed in only male pronouns ie he, his etc..one day he just blew-up and dressed me down about it..i was a little bewildered because it wasn't intentional but to him it was an insult every time i slipped..When in mixed company it can be very difficult exactly how to address a person who is butch..visual cues are not always enough, I have learned to listen very carefully to how they express themselves and usually can put things together rather quickly in real time, here it's a slightly different dynamic and the politics can be a little baffling..when in doubt i usually post in the general forum for a thread i'm not sure of.

It's important for all of us to know that it is not a minor thing to most people -- the pronoun. On the other hand, getting yelled at is bullshit.

I am happy (well not happy, but you know) to be corrected. But yell at me and you can go **** yourself. Not volunteering for that.

lol..yes, depending on the situation i feel the same but he's a hot-head ..this was one of those rare times i didn't appreciate it:readfineprint:

I get you meant no harm and I appreciate your apology..... But.......and yes there is a but........

It's not just female id'd butch folks. There are male id'd butch folks who are not trans. There are butch folks who do not identify with masculinity in any form, who view butch as a different kind of femininity.

And I brought this up because I cannot and will not be silent when I see butch of the non-trans varieties conflated with trans and/or man.

1ladyface.... I did not bring it up to call you out on anything because it's not really about you as an individual. And the learning curve here is a monster......the post would have been entirely appropriate in the Trans Zone folder speaking your thanks (thread titled Trans Appreciation) to trans/men and leaving out the 'inclusive' aspects and no reason for any non-trans person to get our panties/boxers in a bunch ..........at least that is my nickels worth....

I see nothing wrong with where you posted your appreciation. Makes sense to me and it appears you posted in the right place making your best effort to be inclusive. Enough said, to me.

A little offered help from a guy that can be hot headed and does get offended about pronoun use. First I agree it is hard here on a computer screen and always trying to be politically correct and just not knowing depending on the threads and the person but the biggest clue even for me is spelling. I mean if I see a post in any thread and I see "hy" in reference to themselves they do not ID as trans. Now if I see "he" or any form it screams at me that person is male in some form. I think it just takes picking up on the little clues we leave. I will go out of my way when typing and addressing this person to use their chosen pronoun including "she". Now do I make mistake sure who cant especially in the heat of the moment or trying to get "your" point across. I find though it becomes habit even for me when addressing the person in a post or other written form.

Do I get upset when I see "hy" when referred to me by others? Yes and No. No if that person does not know me. No if that person is getting to know me and it is a slip (that I do gently correct). Yes if this person knows me. Yes if this person has been told more then once. Yes if I am having a bad day.

Will I loose my temper yup I will admit I will. However I will not dress down or try not to dress down anyone for an honest mistake. You should see the look on a persons first when the call me "mama' or "her" in public and I do the deepest voice I can and say I think you meant "Sir" in a very calm voice. The look is priceless.
In our community though the anger is just easier to tap into sometimes. More along the fuck why don't you of all people "get it" feeling.
Now the folders on this site do help but you know what I have to admit that I will see a name of a thread on the front page and not pay attention to what category it comes from and make an idiot out of myself. So it must really be hard for others depending on "their" intent behind the post.
The biggest compliment and appreciation any femme, butch, queer, simply anyone can give me is ask me how I would like to be addressed and make it a habit to do so everywhere.

[QUOTE=Toughy;658395]

And I brought this up because I cannot and will not be silent when I see butch of the non-trans varieties conflated with trans and/or man.

[QUOTE]

I disagree with you Toughy. Based on 1ladyface's response I don't see conflation.

[quote=Blue_Daddy-O;658410][QUOTE=Toughy;658395]

And I brought this up because I cannot and will not be silent when I see butch of the non-trans varieties conflated with trans and/or man.

Any time butch and trans are put together we are automatically seen as he/male and referred to or compared to that.

It seems people are good about respecting those who do not wish to be called she or a woman. We would like the same courtesy in return.

I think it is nice to have a trans appreciation thread.

---------------

Dapper
I agree with you completely. My post is actually out of order and not is response to the current topic. Sometimes I truly do take to long to write my posts *laughs*.
Mine was in response to posts I now know I should have quoted. Again my mistake. I was just offering clues that may help here and else where not this thread.

To be clear when I see hy I do not assume male and I do not assume not male. What I do assume is I should use it with that person until I know them or I ask.
In most threads it is just simpler not to use pronouns period accept foe me and I.
But as always thank you for your response you always make me think.

I have noticed a lot of coercive behavior from femmes of the type Toughy mentioned: refusing to address a butch with female pronouns is an example.

But I have also seen femmes take a disproportionate amount of abuse -- being yelled at, for example -- for making errors with pronouns or failing to acknowledge someone's gender correctly.

I guess it is more offensive somehow coming from a femme. I don't know. I don't care.

There is no excuse for yelling at anyone about this. None. If you are hurt, let the person know. Yelling and screaming is not OK.