Well, this will likely be my last blog entry before I leave for Brazil.

So many things are happening that it makes my head spin! Here is the condensed version:

• Saturday, Carolyn and I fly out to Brazil.
• The following Saturday (Aug, 23) is my birthday.
• My grandmother’s heart condition can be treated with medication. With medication, she can expect to live another 5 years.
• Jodi, Luke and I are doing very good.
• Carolyn and I fly out to San Francisco in a few weeks.
• I found out that underdeveloped policy and procedures can cause problems! LOL
• Community Crossroads Foundation (CCF) just pulled down a rather large grant (which makes us one of the best funded agencies around. Period.).
• CCF changed it’s name to the Transgender Foundation of America (TFA).
• TFA will use Houston as a laboratory for community empowerment. If we find that providing comprehensive services to the community while simultaneously empowering the local groups results in more TGs being able to reintegrate into society, then we will take this formula and export it to other cities.
• The TFA mission statement is: “TFA is a 501c3 nonprofit that advances the quality of life for transgender people.”
• Our stated goal is now: “To integrate transgender people into society.”
• Luke is going to start college and I get to help pay for it.
• The TG Center will be closed from this coming weekend until the following weekend. The Center will get another face-lift. Tyler (business partner of Vanity) will be redoing the front of the Center.
• Next week’s HTGA and TG Social meetings are canceled.
• Next month, we have 29 separate TG group meetings scheduled at the TG Center.
• And, lastly… I just can’t believe this is my life.

Tonight is the TG Social.

Having a lot of this stuff come together has inspired a lot of people to actively try to encourage people to stay away from the Center because – I think – they are… well… fools who are out of touch with reality and invested in inspiring gossip and ill-will.

I’ve heard that the TG Center will fail just like the CATS Shelter failed. I’ve heard that the TG Center is nothing more than a testament to my elitist post-operative transsexual ego.

So, here are some of the perceptions a handful of unstable people are propagating:

Perception: TransHouston is a transsexual-only website geared only towards TS resources.

Fact: Of active members (ie, logged on in the past 30 days)…

• 349 say they want to date; 435 say they might be interested in dating
• 594 said that they are female, and 537 identify as being male
• Of those active members who gave an identity:
  • Significant Other (SO) = 15
  • Bi-Gendered = 5
  • Bio-Boy = 1
  • Boi = 3
  • Crossdressers = 26
  • Family Member of a TG = 1
  • Friend of a TG = 10
  • FTM = 24
  • Gender-X = 3
  • Girrl = 5
  • Intersexed = 1
  • Just Female = 15
  • Just Male = 41
  • Just Trans = 10
  • MTF = 40
  • Post-operative TS = 11
  • Pre-operative TS = 44
  • Supporter = 4
  • TG Admirer= 15
  • Transgender = 42
  • Transgenderist = 2
  • Transsexual = 22
  • Transvestite = 8
  • Two-Spirited = 6

I think it is interesting that only 77 people have chosen a gender identity that is related to transsexualism. 42 chose an identity related to crossdressing. If you look at TS to CD percentages, 54% are TS and 46% are CD. There is also a wide swath of people who do not identify as being TS or CD.

Perception: The TG Center should be called the “transsexuals-only” Center that hosts only 2 or 3 groups.

Facts: As of September, the TG Center will have 11 TG groups and 29 actual meetings in the month. Only one meeting is designated as being transsexual while four meetings are designated for drag with the remaining 24 meetings designated as simple “transgender” meetings.

Perception: Cristan is an elitist post-op transsexual and only cares about transsexuals.

Facts: When the above facts are contrasted against the perceptions, the rather large difference becomes immediately apparent.

So, if you hear someone propagating malicious rumors and stereotypes of about elitist post-op transsexuals, please enlighten them and suggest that they might want to check their facts.