Onwards.

Crazy.  Things have been just crazy here over the last couple of days.

First, I"m still living in a hotel room - not that that's bad or anything because I really don't do much more than sleep here.  But still - it's not a home.  It's a hotel room.  The next major thing to achieve in my world is to find a place to live.  I'm actively working on several options.

I've been exchanging emails with someone about a potential place to live.  In or most recent exchange I shared where I work and they did some research on me and learned about my background - not that I was trying to hide it.  She wrote me an email this evening:

I have no problem with you or your lifestyle or being transgendered. However, I am a young woman with a mother who is very active in my life. To be quite frank, she would have a heart attack if she knew about your transition.

Whoah.  That's heavy stuff.  I respect her decision and appreciate her honesty but it's amazing to me how people make so many assumptions based on nothing at all but their own fears.  I suppose when I worked in corporate America is was easy to simply live life without having to face these realities but the fact of the matter is that working for an openly LGBT organization invites extra scrutiny.  For someone who never knowingly experienced discrimination of any kind until age 40 this kind of stuff is a reminder of why it's so important to do what we do.

That brings me to the second point.  In a county just north of our service area, only 40 miles or so from Harrisburg, a teenage boy walked 13 miles to end his life by throwing himself in front of a semi on a highway.  Details of why this happened are only now coming out, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that at least part of the reason was anti-gay bullying (read about it here).  That's heartbreaking.

From our local news:



Because we're the largest major city to this horrific situation and we house the most significant LGBT Youth Program in the region we had calls and visits today from local TV and radio news shows.  I'll probably have some video from today on my next entry.  Our youth program manager, Louie, did a wonderful job.

The sunset tonight was spectacular.  I stepped out in front of the Center and took a bunch of photos over the Susquehanna that I think came out very well.  I may post one of those tomorrow, too.  Weather here this week is heavenly.  Highs are in the low 60's with abundant sunshine and it's supposed to stay this way thru the weekend.  I realize that something more wintry is certainly on it's way but the fact that it's holding off like this is helping to ease the transition....

Speaking of this work - I got an email today from the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco about some opportunities there:

Can you please help me spread the word about two open positions at the Transgender Law Center? We are recruiting for a leadership-level operations professional for our San Francisco office, as well as a part-time advocate in Los Angeles. These are both incredibly important jobs, and I would appreciate your help finding fabulous candidates.

Thanks tons for your help!

In solidarity,
Masen

Masen Davis, Executive Director
Transgender Law Center
870 Market Street, Suite 400 | San Francisco, CA 94102
415-865-0176 x301 (w) | 323-309-0459 (c)
masen@transgenderlawcenter.org

If you're interested, please contact Masen.

Part of my day tomorrow involves talking with a reporter.  I'm meeting with a local hotel to get pricing for our benefit dinner next fall.  And in the evening I'm participating in a discussion on trans health.  From TransCentralPA:

Don't forget, the Alder Health Services, formerly AIDS Community Alliance, is conducting a Trans Health Forum at the MCC of the Spirit on Wednesday, November 10th at 7:00 pm.  Key speakers include Mul Kim, trans health care expert and counsel for the National Center for Transgender Equality (www.TransEquality.org) and nationally renowned motivational speaker and transgender activist Donna Rose, who recently accepted the position of Executive Director of the LGBT Community Center of Central Pennsylvania (www.centralpalgbtcenter.org).

The Trans Health Forum is free and open to everyone, so come, listen and ask your questions about the current status of Transgender Health.  

This is an important topic and I'm looking forward to being part of the discussion.


Lastly for tonight:  I rarely share humor that gets sent my way here but here's something from my sister worth posting:

The Washington Post's Mensa Invitational once again invited  readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding,  subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new  definition.

Here are the  winners:

1. Cashtration
(n.): The act of buying a house,  which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period of  time.

2. Ignoranus
: A person who's both stupid and an  asshole.

3. Intaxicaton
: Euphoria at getting a tax refund,  which lasts until you realize it was your money to start  with.

4. Reintarnation
: Coming back to life as a  hillbilly.

6. Foreploy
: Any misrepresentation about yourself  for the purpose of getting laid.

8. Sarchasm
: The gulf between the author of  sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get  it.


I dunno.  I think that's funny.

Onwards!