Hello Jake,

I really appreciated your post. For one thing, youstated my thinking on the subject better than I have. I love that! Besides that, you provided something tomull on. I love that too!

I like how you phrased being 'a man and...' versusbeing 'a man but....' when referring to a female (inthis case) history. It's certainly a more positiveturn of a phrase and it does address the problem ofundermining to some degree. The other point you madeabout 'passing' as a non-transsexual person is alsointeresting. It's an odd burden that we sometimesimpose upon ourselves but it still makes thetransperson into the liar for unequivacally stating their sex.

You briefly touched on a comparison of a more complicated Jewish identity and I think thatcomparison is worth exploring further. For a personwho has undergone conversion to Judiasm, they areJewish and they get to say so and they get to havethat honored. Sure, there are lower minded people whowill quibble, but they are Jewish and they own Judiasmas much as any other Jew does. Thats' Jewish law. They are also not obligated to disclose their journeyto Judiasm unless they want to. If they chose not toin some or all circumstances, are they closeted?dishonest? hiding? passing? lesser than? If they saysimply 'I am a Jew' are the masses entitled to moreinformation? Should they be 'outed'? or is that concept not even relevant?

I think that transition is very much like aconversion. There's the deeply held desire to change,the self exploration, the study of changing andlearning the ways of the new sex, preparing for and then taking the small and large steps to actualize becoming the new sex, disclosing to the importantpeople and then finally growing and fitting into that skin for everyone to see. A true 'shehekianu lahzmanhazeh' moment. At a certain point, perhaps after abit of time, the converted is not called the converted anymore but simply a Jew. At some point, a personshould take for themselves the right to call themselves a man or a woman unencumbered by their history. It should be owned free and clear like it is for other men and women. To do otherwise makes it less than what it is for other people. I'm not saying that sharing histories and stories from ones' past isn't important or shouldn't be done.

I'm only saying the self imposed obligation to automatically disclose is the wrong way to go IMHO. Around here, the San Francisco Bay Area and a few other places, many transpeople are self-congratulating about their decision to disclose to everyone. They see themselves as so much more brave and evolved than other transsexuals because of this decision while inthe next breath they put down those who chose not to disclose. I just see all of this as on the complete wrong track in terms of what transition is truly about. It shouldn't be about a bragging right. "Hey everyone, Look at me, I tell everyone I used to be female. I could never be a closet case like those other trannies". The issue just becomes so distorted and away from what is true about transition.

Chuck