This was my "Coming Out Day" Status.

Since there are still eight minutes left of coming out day, I'd like to explain something because it is probably the one major source of depression in my life. I know that not all of you understand it, but I do not use female pronouns, I use male pronouns. I do not use female labels (sister, girlfriend, etc.), I use male ones. I am transsexual. I am not just saying this, I have a medical diagnosis from a gender professional, it is written in black and white on paper and in my medical records. This is present-tense. It is not future-tense, like "some day I will be male." I get hormones in January, but I already am male. It says so on my identifying documents, my school records, and my work records. If you really wanted, I could even get you numerous references from people who know me as a man and have for several years. And since it seems to come up really often now, if comparing me to Chaz Bono helps you understand it, then fine. I'm like Chaz Bono.

I already consider myself "out." There is nowhere I cannot refer to myself as either trans or male. So this "coming out" is not really "coming out" so much as an explanation that when I came out to you, I actually did mean it. If that fact makes you uncomfortable, consider how uncomfortable you would feel if every time somebody referred to you they used the wrong gender pronoun. Wouldn't that just suck?

Australian trans men no longer need bottom surgery for recogintion.

First off, a "Gender Reassignment Board?"  Jesus!

Two trans men in Australia appealed a decision the Western Australia state Gender Reassignment Board made that they could not be recognized as male because they had not had sex reassignment surgery, and won because gendered characteristics are (to quote the ruling) "confined to external physical characteristics that are socially recognisable" and not stuff most people don't see, anyway.

Doctor appointment scheduled.

Today I scheduled my appointment with an endocrinologist.  December 19th.  Four days later than I intended, but you know, who cares?

Got it with my second phone call.  The first wasn't taking new patients, although the receptionist seemed to try very hard to get me to set up an appointment with someone else at the same hospital.

"Are they experienced with transgender patients?"
"Well, err.... uh... I don't know, I can ask."
"I have some other people I can call who I know are, I think I'll call them."
"Are you sure?!  I can ask, it won't take that long!"

She starts rattling off doctor's names, which I don't recognize, and I'm trying to find someone who might take my insurance and I know all of the people on my list at least take it for non-transgender stuff.  So I tell her I'll call back if I don't find someone else.

Next call, I asked if the endo was taking new patients, she said "yes."  I say I want to start hormone replacement therapy.  She asks if I have a letter (angelic noise).  I say I will have one, but that's not the point, the point is that the receptionist actually knew something about the subject.  She said I couldn't set up an appointment without bringing in a letter, but somehow she still set it up.  I think I may have misheard that first bit, maybe she meant I couldn't have the appointment until then, but again, that's a moot point because my therapist and I already planned out when I should go in, so the letter will be done by that time.

Not my T-date, though.  My T-date is probably going to be in early January if there are no problems found (fingers crossed).

Herp derping around the Internet...

I know I'm not the only person who has taken it.

My results were 50 in the male range, which as it turns out is absolutely average:

Not that I take too much stock in quizzes like this.  My favorite part of reading the results was when they were showing the average scores for men and women and they were exactly the same.  What?  Really?

Actually, no, I take that back.  My favorite part of reading the results was this:

Not because I nailed it, but because I remember that part of tests from when I was in elementary and middle school and how confused all of my chromosomal-essentialist teachers got when someone who at least looks to be lacking a Y chromosome can actually *gasp* move pictures in their mind!

I actually have a really bitter viewpoint of how teachers underestimate girls in math and stuff like that because when I was little they basically went "Well, Jackie, you got another D, but you're a girl, so it's OK."

The problem is that I'm really good at math.  They just decided that my decision not to apply myself was because as a girl I was bad at math.  Which is the problem with quizzes like this.  The fact that men and women are different (I know some of you will slam me for saying it, but we are) does not make women or men inherently good or bad at anything, at least not to the point where you can just give up on a child's abilities over it.

But yeah, that's my soapbox for the day.

In today's appalling trans male news...

Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Chains Trans Man to Jail Restroom for Eight Hours

From the article:

A transgender man arrested Saturday as part of the Occupy Wall Street protest at the Brooklyn Bridge was verbally and physically humiliated by the New York Police Department (NYPD), including being inappropriately patted-​down, segregated from other arrested persons, refused repeated requests for food — despite the fact that other prisoners were fed — and chained for eight hours to the wall of a restroom in an NYC jail, according to a statement he released.

Really guy? Really?

Sometimes there's stuff out there that's so well-meaning but which still makes my head hurt:

I added the mars symbol to point out that this is a guy because I don't post real names.  Usually.

Clearly this is supposed to tell me that you cannot be either bisexual, transgender, or Pagan, and since my cissexism sense is rapidly tingling I assume you mean that you aren't trans because OMFGLOL no straight woman wants a trans guy, right?  Or a trans woman, for that matter, because it clearly has never happened that a straight woman married a trans woman who didn't know she was a trans woman yet and just happened to still love her enough to say.  Crazy world, say I.

Honestly, I think this kind of thing in some ways this kind of thing annoys me more than any bullshit Keith Ablow could pull out of his ass, simply because people in general are so ill-informed that they think this sort of thing is supportive.  And he's really trying to be, don't get me wrong, but seriously, straight allies, don't do this.