Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

Morality cannot be legislated, but behavior can be regulated. Judicial decrees may not change the heart, but they can restrain the heartless.

Martin Luther King Jr.

Saturday, June 30, 2007

Getting To Know You

Photo Day! Thursday: SIGNS of Summer

This week, it's all about "signs"...no, not the kind you wish for to see if you've made a good decision...we are talkin' actual signs. So... take a picture of a sign you are drawn to in your travels around town or away from home. (For me, summer means that I stop for antique signs...much to my family's dismay).

This is a photograph of a sign that I took in May which was in front of a cottage in Perkin's Cove ME. I guess they don't like tourists parking in front of their cottage, but at least they wish you to have a nice day.

Getting To Know You

Dialog Friday - Independence Day

Has there been a pivotal time in your life when you declared independence (even if just to yourself)? Independence from a job that was sucking the life out of you? Independence from a bad habit finally dropped? Independence from a toxic relationship?

Yesterday (Friday) was my Independence Day
I am free from working for a living.
I am free to be myself.
On Friday I got laid off and I am taking early retirement. I have already started going back to college to get my Masters so that I can better help the non-profit agencies that I do volunteer work with. I want to give back to the community what I have taking out of the community.
Because I do not have to worry about work, I am beginning my transition (Living full time as Diana) today and to celebrate I went and had my ears pieced. Kind of a “Right of Passage”

Friday Fiver

Friday Fiver: There's no telling

1. What troubles you?
Everything, I worry way too much, I think I worry because I am always think about the worst that can happen and then I am surprised when everything comes out good.

2. Do you like thunderstorms?
I love them, as long as no one gets hurts. I like the raw power that they display; just think just by heating and cooling air and water vapor you get those massive storms.

3. Do you sleep easily or toss and turn?
Yes, see my answer to question number 1. because I worry I do not sleep well at night.

4. What do you offer a friend?
An ear to listen with and a shoulder to lean on.

5. Friday fill-in: Please don't ___.
eat the daisies.

Friday, June 29, 2007

A Very Emotional Day!

Today was my last day at work and the first day of living full time.
At work there were a lot of tears and hugs and goodbyes, I was almost crying the full time as I walked around the shop saying my goodbyes. Most of us have worked together for over twenty years and we are like a family. I will miss everyone but not the company.

Also I went to the nursing home for the first time as Diana and my aunt’s reaction to seeing me was mixed. At first she asked “Why am I doing this?” and “I don’t like you like this.” After awhile she start to talking to me on other subjects but asked questions now and then about why I am doing this. She also asked about me hair a couple of times. The nursing home administrator was talking to her before I came, so that helped a little. My aunt seemed, I wouldn’t say alright with it, but OK with it when I was leaving and wanted to know when I was coming again.
She did not want the picture and she made a face when I offered it a second time.
So I guess I just have to see how she does with it in the future.

To celebrate my new freedom and got two more holes added to my head. I went to the mall and got my ears pierced for the first time.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Getting To Know You

GTKY Wednesday: Food, bcuz we luv it!

Create a Connections and casa de Charlotte della luna


~~ Lobster Newburg ~~

* 1 1/2 pounds lobster meat, fresh cooked - cut in large chunks
* 3 tablespoons flour
* 1 tablespoon paprika
* 1 tablespoon chopped shallots
* 1/2 cup dry sherry
* 1 cup light cream
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 dash salt
* 1 dash white pepper
* 1 dash cayenne pepper
* 1 tablespoon chopped chives
* 4 tablespoons butter
* 4 Slices of toast

In a pan with 1-tablespoon butter add shallots and lobster meat. Sauté until meat is warmed through, now remove and keep warm. Melt butter in a saucepan then add the flour and cook on low stirring for 4-5 minutes. Let this (roux) cool in the pot. Add paprika and sherry. Continue to cook for two minutes. Add fresh cream and cook until mixture is almost boiling. Whisk in the roux and cook slowly for 10 minutes stirring so the sauce doesn't scorch. Now add warm lobster and stir gently until thoroughly blended. Add the salt and white and cayenne peppers to taste. Place on plates and sprinkle with chopped chives. Serve over toast (my mother always used toast but you can also serve it over pasta or corn bread or rice.)

I remember my mother always making this for me on my birthday. Whenever I now have Lobster Newberg it brings back memories the family sitting around the dinning room table eating Lobster Newberg and the party hats. My brother the year my father died inviting me up to their condo in Maine on my birthday and they surprised me with Lobster Newberg.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Pride Festival

I just came back from a Pride Festival and I have to say it was unique. As usual I got a call asking if I would be interested in helping out at a Pride Festival and as usual I said yes. Then I asked about the details; where, when, what do we need to bring, etc. and I was a little surprised when the answer came back, that it was at a local mental health hospital. Hmm… that’s different. It was to be a Pride Festival for the patients and I didn’t really know what to expect. So I packed everything in the car and off I went this afternoon.

But let me digress for a moment. Because this is my last week of work I had planned to go out to lunch today with the HR Director and a friend, the Outreach was at one and I wouldn’t have time to run home and change. I asked them if they would mind if I came as Diana and they didn’t. So they meet me as Diana for the first time and lunch (It was at a local lobster pound and I had a lobster roll with clam chowder.) went very well, we all had a good time.

At the hospital I signed in and was given directions to the room where the Pride Festival was to be held and I went and set up the table. The patients came drifting in and started to dance to the music provide by a DJ, a few of them from time to time stopped by the table to ask questions. They all seemed to have a good time and the only problem that I had was trying to eat the cake without a fork.

So I was glad that I went and I was glad that my friends from work got to meet me before I leave.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Busy Day Yesterday (and Today)

I took the day off yesterday and today (Its not like they are going to fire me.) to do an Outreach at a college in New Haven and afterward we had a lazy lunch with the professor. By the time I got home it was time to head off to Poughkeepsie New York to hear a book reading by the author of “She’s No the Man I Married”, Helen Boyd. I wanted to get my book autographed and say “Hi” to Helen and Betty. Besides reading from the book she talked about some of the problems being married to a transsexual. I finally got home after midnight and I was gone all day today.

“One of my first moments of Wow, has my life gotten weird happened on Betty’s and my first Valentine Day together. I went to Macy’s to buy her a present. As I traveled up the escalator, bypassing all the women who were shopping in the men’s department for their boyfriends, I momentarily thought of Betty’s face if she opened a clothes box to find a pair of boxer shorts and a tie flashed through my heads. I stayed put on the escalator, I was going to Women’s Lingerie, sixth floor.”
“I’ve been there a few times since. And I’m not quite used to it yet. A friend who was coming out as lesbian told me years ago that when you check “Rubyfruit Jungle” out at the library, the librarian stamps the due date in your book and LESBIAN on your forehead. But buying a handful of panties for Betty – and I mean a handful precisely – causes Macy’s sales clerk to look at my ass. Maybe she was trying to be helpful, but the cogs were turning in her head as she scanned tags – SM, SM, and SM – and again looked at my butt. No jokes can lighten the mood while she’s figuring out whether I’m delusional or a lesbian, and saying “They’re for my husband” wouldn’t help anything at all. I don’t want to know what name she’d ring up for me in the register in her head if I said that.”

“… But still, I feel protective of Betty. I often fell like Thelma, warning Louise’ that waling down to the corner bodega to get a beer in really tight jeans at 2:00 AM really isn’t a good idea. In an essay written for the now-defunct magazine “Anything That’s Moves”, the bisexual girlfriend of a pre-op MtF trans woman mentioned the kind of fear you can experience as the partner of a trans person: She and her girlfriend were waiting at a bus stop when some men only stare at them. She found herself hoping her girlfriend would get her genital surgery soon, because then ‘they’ll only rape her, not murder her.’ And unfortunately, that’s the reality of living with someone who is trans, which is maybe part of the reason I feel I come up short in terms of playing the male role. What can anyone do against that kind of ignorance and hate?” (Helen Boyd, "She is Not the Man I Married", pages 161 - 162, 164)


Everyone thinks we have courage to transition, but the person who has the real courage is the spouse who stays with their partner, because for them they have also to reassess their identity and sexual orientation out of love for the partner. If they are in a straight relationship, they with now be in a lesbian or gay relationship and conversely if they are in a lesbian or gay relationship they will now be perceived to be in a straight relationship.

Manic Monday

Manic Monday: Monday, June 25, 2007

Are you strict about wearing your sunscreen in the summer?
No, if I am going to be out in the sun for an hour, I do not use any. I use sunscreen only if I am going to have a day in the sun.

Do you frequently wear sandals in the summer? Any favorites you'd like to share?
Yes, I wear sandals a lot during the summer; I cannot wear the type of sandals that goes between the toes. They just hurt too much.

What are a few great books that you've taken along to the beach or on vacation in years past? If you aren't a big reader, what do you do to while away the lazy hours?
I will be cured up on the beach with the new Harry Potter book; “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” that is coming out early next month

How do you feel about swimsuit shopping? Love it, hate it, indifferent? What's your color of choice?
Indifferent, I just have your basic one piece bathing suit and the colors that I like are solid red or blue suits.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Nightingale

I just got back from the Hartford Stage Company production of Lynn Redgrave’s play Nightingale. The play was very good; it chronicles her grandmother’s life from when she was a teenager in 1908 until she dies in 1972. I was great to watch Ms. Redgrave portray her grandmother at different ages but using just her posture, voice and lighting.
In the play, Redgrave chronicles her own journey back to her family in England. "I went looking for Beanie's grave and to my dismay found that her name had been washed away by the acid rain. The gravestone was blank." Thus began Redgrave's efforts to fill in the details of her grandmother's story by creating a fictional biography."; I've given her a new name, Mildred. And I've dreamed up a life. A memorial. For no one dies who is remembered." Spanning seventy years, Mildred's story includes the practicalities of marriage and the possibilities of love, sexual innocence and raising a family, emotional imprisonment and, eventually, rescue by a granddaughter who barely knew her.

Earlier in the day we had brunch at the Pond House in Elizabeth Park, the park was having their annual rose festival and the gardens were in full bloom. The park was mobbed I had to park my car in a lot on the other side of the park.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Patrick’s Weekender

Patrick’s Weekender: Saturday Six - Episode 167

1. How far from your home is your nearest fire station?
The volunteer fire department is two miles away.

2. Have you ever made a call to your local 911 service? If so, how long did it take for emergency personnel -- whatever type you needed -- to arrive?
Yes, it took about five minutes for the ambulance to arrive. But a police officer a arrived a minute or two before the ambulance and he had an AED.

3. If you had to choose one of the following, which emergency employee would you want to be: police officer, dispatcher, paramedic, firefighter; and why would you choose that one?
A dispatcher, you do not have to get involved with people first hand. You can be sitting safely in an office.

4. Take the quiz: What firefighter tool are you?

What Firefighter tool are you



Boston Rake
you like hooking stuff, moving stuff around for further overhall and extinguishing
Take The Quiz Now!Quizzes by myYearbook.com


5. When you were little, did you ever dream of being a first responder?
Of course, I dreamed of being a doctor, a firefighter and a police officer.

6. What is your favorite first-responder-related movie or television show; and how realistically do you think it depicts what they really go through?
Do you remember “Emergency” from the seventies (But then I am prejudice because we made the radios for the show.), it wasn’t very realistic and the acting wasn’t that great.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Friday Fiver

Friday Fiver: The sun goes down alone

1. Have any road trips planned?
Not really, just going up to the family cottage in New Hampshire or visiting my brother in Maine.

2. What is out of your reach?
I do not know until I try it. Sometimes your reach can be amazing.

3. Are you more likely to watch a sunset or the sun rise?
Sunset, sunrises come too early in the morning.

4. What night will you never forget?
The night I ended up in the emergency room.

5. What's the last thing that made you scream?
The frustrating paperwork at work.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Politics Test

From "what if this is as good as it gets?"


You are a

Social Liberal
(80% permissive)

and an...

Economic Liberal
(16% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist (16e/80s)




Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test


So was anyone surprised?

New York State Assembly Votes in Favor of Marriage Equality.

Gay Rites Advance in Albany, as Assembly Gives Its Okay

By JACOB GERSHMAN
Staff Reporter of the Sun
June 20, 2007

ALBANY — For gay rights advocates, yesterday's vote in the Assembly to legalize same-sex marriage was a watershed moment to be celebrated. For many lawmakers in the chamber, it was a day of hard political calculations, painful choices, and apprehension.

The Democrat-led Assembly last night voted to 85 to 61 to allow same-sex couples to wed in New York, the first time that a legislative body in the state has approved gay marriage. The vote pushed New York closer to becoming the second state in the nation to legalize gay marriage, after Massachusetts, and the first to do so through a legislative process.

About 80% of Democrats in the body voted in favor of the bill; only four out of 42 Republicans did so.


Slowly the tide is turning in favor of equal right as more northeast states start to realize the by not allowing everyone the to get married is discrimination.
There was also a light side to the debate…

Mr. Hikind, an Orthodox Jew who represents Borough Park in Brooklyn, warned that lawmakers by supporting gay marriage were paving the path toward sanctioning incest. He said he would support gay marriage if God gave him a signal. Moments later, there was a loud crack of thunder, provoking laughter.


I guess that didn’t even sway him because he voted against the bill.

A New Poem

All types of emotion and memories are running through me as I get ready to change my name and go full time or what is called ‘transitioning”. I am both scared and hopeful, so many thoughts are in my head that this poem coalesced and formed.

A Christening

Birth.
Death.
Rebirth.
Phoenix rising.
No! Not from ashes.
On a foundation
On a pedestal
Of stone.
A new chapter
But not
A new name
A new life
But still the same
But a new page
Memories
Still the same
Still me.
But reborn
A crystalis

Getting To Know You

GTKY: Get Your Groove On

Wow! Great question. As a former Hippie and Flower Child all my songs are from the sixties and early seventies; “the Classics”.

Today's GTKY challenge is to share with us some of the songs that make up your memories and a little bit about the memory itself. Or maybe you'll share a certain summer and the music you grooved to while cruising main street on a Friday night. Or the music you danced to at street parties.
There are alot of good writers out there and I can't wait to read your musical memories, so .....


Beach Boys (California Girls)
Beatles (Let It Be)
Bob Seger (Turn The Page)
Bruce Springsteen (Born To Run)
Chicago (I’m a Man)
Cream (White Room)
Credence Clearwater Revival (Badmoon Rising)
Doobie Brothers (China Grove)
Eric Clapton (Layla)
Foreigner (Waiting For A Girl Like You)
Grateful Dead (Trunkin’)
Kinks (Lola)
Led Zeplin (Stairway To Heaven)
Melissa Etheridge (Come To My Window)
Momma's And The Pappa's (California Dreamin)
Moody Blues (Knights In White Satin)
Pat Benatar (Hit Me With Your Best Shot)
Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon)
Pure Prairie League (Amie)
Queen (We Will Rock You)
Steppeinwolf (Born to be Wild)
Steve Miller (Fly Like An Eagle)
Styx (The Grand Illusion)
The Doors (Riders On The Storm)
The Rolling Stones (Paint It, Black)

These are only a small percentage of the songs that I grew up listening. They bring back both good and bad memories, memories of crusin’ Mc Donald’s, eight tracks, Vietnam and the draft, “Sex, Drugs and Rock an’ Roll”.

I remember the first time I heard “Lola”. It was a summer day and I was washing the family car, I heard the lyrics “Girls will be boys and boys will be girls”, I was stunned and I sat down the grass listening to the rest of the song. It was the first time I realized that I was not alone.

“I met her in a club down in old soho
Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry-cola
C-o-l-a cola
She walked up to me and she asked me to dance
I asked her her name and in a dark brown voice she said lola
L-o-l-a lola lo-lo-lo-lo lola”…

“Lo-lo-lo-lo lola
Girls will be boys and boys will be girls
Its a mixed up muddled up shook up world except for lola
Lo-lo-lo-lo lola”

Chicago’s “I’m a Man” brings back sadder memories; even though I was dancing and singing the song when we had patries, I remember that somehow the song just didn’t feel right to me. It felt like a lie.

But then other songs bring back memories of pot smoke full dorm rooms. Laying on floor tripping and smoking pot in a blacklight lit room on a Saturday night listen to Pink Floyd, Led Zeplin, The Rolling Stones, Cream, The Doors and Jimmie Hindrix’s “Purple Haze”. Watching the Sunrise on a Sunday morning. Watching the snow flakes melting. Staring at the footprints in the snow, one side illuminated by the blue Mercury vapor lights and the other side lit by the yellow sodium vapor lights.
Here is a poem that I wrote four or five years ago about my memories…..

Memories
I look up, clutching my mother’s dress.
The big lady says “My aren’t you a pretty young lady”
I am not! I am a boy!
Click.
I look up, clutching my mother’s dress.
The big lady says, “I bet you were wishing for a girl.”
Click.
Big brother says, “Mommy wanted a girl. And she got you instead!”
Click.
A big closet with all nice little dresses.
Click.
You can’t play any more with the little girl down the street.
Why not?
Because, we say so Davy.
Click.
Howdy Dowdy Puppet
Ha, ha. You got a doll for Christmas.
It’s not a doll! Throwing it away in the bushes.
Click.
Sister Mary Ellen says we all have to wear a skirt and high heel shoes.
It’s only for Freshman Initiation.
My, don’t you look pretty.
Click.
Davy, I have to go out. You don’t mind being left alone?
Run to the bedroom open the closet.
My don’t I look pretty.
Click
Oh my God! It’s my brother.
Run to the bedroom.
What are you doing in bed in the middle of the day?
Click.
Washing the car. On the radio, “It’s a mixed up shook up world.” Huh?
Click.
Slide ruler. Diff-E-Que. Maxwell Equations.
Beard, long hair, old army jacket. Here man try some of this, it’s dy-omite.
Clllliiiiiick.
Backpacking, skiing, fishing, scuba diving. I’m a man.
Click.
Renee Richards.
What Sex am I?
Jan Morris.
Click.
We’re getting Internet connections for everyone here at the office.
Let’s see, search for transformers and inductors.
What’s this? Transsexuals?
I got to get me one of these computers for home.
Click.
Melanie Phillips, Lynn LeFevre, Becky Allison, MD., Dr Anne
Lawrence.
Click.
COS
Click
Meetings. Banquet. Picnics, Fantasia Fair. First Event.
New friends. Walking down a street. Restaurants.
Rain on my stockings.
Laughing…

Monday, June 18, 2007

Father’s Day

I have read blogs of friends and blogs of other transpeople today and those with children all have a common theme in them yesterday. I am not a parent so I cannot comment on this first hand, but I feel that the subject deserves to be address.
Many in our community are parents and two of the hardest days I think for them are Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. It is hard on them and on their children. Many in our community have been denied all contact with their children once they came out as transgendered, they have either been cut off from their children by the courts or their children have broken off contact with them.
If they are one of the lucky one who still see their kids and are part of their lives, it is still isn’t easy. It is hard when trans-woman goes out to eat with her child on Father’s Day or a trans-man goes out with his child on Mother’s Day, it is hard on the parent and child, its hard all around.
Their must be an empty spot in their heart that I cannot even begin to imagine how it feels.
It’s hard being trans….

How Real Are You?

You Are 91% Real

There's hardly a person on this earth more real than you are.
You have no problem showing people who you are, flaws and all.
For you, there couldn't be any other way. Because it's way too stressful to live an inauthentic life.
You're very comfortable with yourself. And because of this, you're able to live an exciting, interesting, and challenging life.

Manic Monday

Manic Monday: Monday, June 18, 2007

Do you listen to music regularly? What's your favorite way to listen-- radio, CD, iPod...?
I listen to music mostly in the car; on short trip I listen to the radio and on long trips to the MP3 player. I found that when you set the selections to Random you can listen for hours without a repeat.

When listening to music do you tend to focus more on the lyrics or the melody?
I focus on the lyrics, but it also depends on the song

If you had to pick a theme song to sum up your life right now, what would it be?
Judy Collin’s “Both Sides Now
I've looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Tagged

The Cat at Sweet Memes reads me, and she tagged me.

If tagged, and you accept, these are the rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.


Here are my EIGHT RANDOMNITIES (new word, eh?):

1. I love to smell of the air after a thunderstorm. The air smells so clean and cool right afterwards.
2. I hate Chinese food; actually it is all Asian foods. I just do not like the spices that they use.
3. I hate cleaning the house. I am a binge cleaner, I get discussed and then I clean the house or I have a party There is nothing better then having a party to get me to clean the house.
4. I am a worrier (No surprise there.)
5. Someday I would like to travel out west again. Fly out to Denver and drive out to San Francisco.
6. I have visited 37 states.
7. I love going out to dinner and a play
8. I am shy

Now I am suppose to tagged eight other bloggers; well I am going to break the rules and not tag anyone. I do not mind being tagged; I just don’t like to tag anyone else. See my answer number 8.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Patrick Weekender

Saturday Six - Episode 166

1. Have you ever talked to your doctor about stress levels in your life?
Yes, I have and there is not that much that can be done to relieve the stress. See my post entitled “Do You Think I Am Stressed Out?

2. How likely are you to “let go” of something that stresses you out?
Very unlikely.

3. Does your family or your work cause the most stress in your life? Do you think your family members or co-workers realize how much stress they generate?
The stress is generated by the lay-off and my transitioning which is happening at the same time.

4. Take the quiz: Will You Live to 100?


Chance You'll Live to 100: 36%

Okay, so living until you're 100 is a long shot...
But who knows how good medicine will get in the future.
Take a little better care of your body, and you'll might actually see the triple digits.



5. When you think that you are at the breaking point, are you more likely to have an angry blow-up, a self-contained meltdown, or something in between? When was the last time you had such a moment?
A self-contained meltdown. Once again see my post “Do You Think I Am Stressed Out?

6. When you’re stressed out, what is the first clue someone who knows you well is likely to pick up on?
I am not my usual cheery self, I am quite and withdrawn.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Coming Out to My Aunt

I have been working on a plan to come out to my aunt; one of the suggestions was to give her a picture of myself. So I had a friend last night take some photos of me and I chose this picture.

Friday Fiver

Trying to fit a rectangle into a ball.

1. When do you doubt yourself?
All the time.

2. Who do you owe an apology?
No one, if I have something to apologize over, I apologize.

3. When is the last time you felt embarrassed?
Too often to keep track of. That is why my forehead is so flat; from banging my head against the wall. ;-)

4. What do you ignore?
The supervisor from the other department when she butts in on my department.

5. Do you love yourself?
Do you mean autogynephilia? If that’s what you mean, then the answer is no. But if you mean do I have a positive attitude about myself then yes.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Senate Testimony on SB1044

I apologize for the long post, but I felt it is important to see what some of the concerns were for the bill and how they were addressed. Even though I believe that their concerns are groundless we must address them for in their minds they are valid points of concern. We must show them that their fears are without basis this law has been in effect in numerous states and municipalities since 1975 the first city to do so was Minneapolis, MN and the first state was Minnesota in 1993. You will find that none of these states or municipalities have had any problems with teachers or students.

Here are excerpts from the testimony on SB1044, you can read the complete testimony here, and then use “Find” 1044 to get to the testimony on the bill.

The senators…
Senator McDonald (D) sponsored the bill in the Senate and is the Co-Chair of the Judicial Committee.
Senator Cappiello (R) was one of the sponsors who sponsored an amendment to exclude teachers from the bill.
Senator Kissel (R) is the ranking minority member on the Judicial Committee.

…SEN. CAPPIELLO:

Thank you, Mr. President. If I may, through you, I have a few questions to Senator McDonald.

THE CHAIR:

Please proceed, Sir.

SEN. CAPPIELLO:

Thank you, Mr. President. Senator McDonald, first of all, I would like to say I completely understand and appreciate the intent of this bill and, in most circumstances, would support it fully. But I do have one concern, and that's where my questions will lie.

Through you, Mr. President, if a school teacher in the second grade decides, for whatever reason, whether they are confused, whether they have an intention on changing genders, or they would just like to express themselves in a different manner, can someone, say, Mr. Jones, come into class and choose to dress like a woman? And would that be protected under this bill?

THE CHAIR:

Senator McDonald.

SEN. MCDONALD:

Well, through you, Mr. President, I guess I would at first take issue with some of the choice of words by Senator Cappiello. I don't believe that this is a confusion issue at all. As I indicated in my initial comments, this is an issue that goes to the heart of how an individual understands their life to be.

It's not a matter of confusion at all. It's a core element of their being. But having taken issue with the confusion component of Senator Cappiello's question, let me say that the issue of a school teacher in an elementary setting, or in any setting, is one that we considered.

And I would answer the question in this way. A teacher, or any individual who is in this circumstance, doesn't do anything precipitously or in a cavalier manner. In fact, it is a gut-wrenching process.

And oftentimes, these individuals have to deal with an incredibly complicated set of circumstances, factual, professional, personal, and emotional. And oftentimes, Mr. President, this issue is a life or death issue for transgendered individuals.

In fact, some individuals have only come to this conclusion that they must go through gender reassignment surgery in order to avoid suicide.

So I think it's important to understand that this is a much deeper issue than a choice. It is a much more profound issue than a choice.

And I think, as I said in the Education Committee, the issue of a teacher who is going through this circumstance would have clearly not only taken into consideration his or her personal life and his or her family life but his or her professional life as well.

This is not something that you do when you leave on a Friday and come back on a Monday. In fact, gender reassignment surgery often takes weeks and weeks, if not months, for recovery.

So in the circumstance of a teacher, one would expect that such an individual would be out of the classroom environment for weeks and weeks, if not months.

Having said that, I also said in the Education Committee that it is a medical condition, as I've stated. And I compared it to any other medical condition that a teacher might find him or herself involved with.

And I said, what would we do for a child when the teacher was suffering from cancer and had to have chemotherapy trea