"…This is a very interesting and important conversation. I hope everyone reads the original post.
I have witnessed a lot of hostility towards guys who transitioned but don’t identify as transgender and it’s really not okay.
I have seen a number of people who identify strongly as transmen (especially those who view their trans identity as more important or just as important as their male identity) be very unaccepting towards guys who identify as male
I even recently got into an argument with someone who is really well known and well respected in the trans community (he apparently has something like 10k tumblr followers) because he flat out said that you could not have been assigned female at birth and identify as simply male. He was just completing policing people’s identities and lived experiences in a way that was really disturbing to me."

—

trans-lucent: An Unremarkable Life: Why I have never and will never associate with other “trans” people

 An important thread about different identities (and the validity of this myriad) among people with trans histories or experiences. I will say this time and time again: we cannot police others’ identities, particularly as people who have fought in one way or another to claim our own. Let’s support each other

(via onlyjxx-deactivated20111114)

» Original Plumbing Issue #8: FAMILY MATTERS

The latest issues of Original Plumbing (the transmasculine quarterly magazine) is all about family! Check it:

Original Plumbing’s Family Matters issue has been a long time coming. The longest OP to date with 60 pages of interviews with every type of family that would share their story with us, this issue isn’t just for OP fans, but is also a personal resource for family members of trans children and trans parents looking for community. Some subjects touched on include: Chosen family, solo parenting (& dating) as trans men, being a supportive parent of a transgender teenager in the public school system, foster parenting, grieving the loss of a family members, trans male pregnancy and more.

    Photo spreads and interviews with: 
  • THOMAS BEATIE: Beyond “The Pregnant Man”
  • 16 pages of portraits and interviews from the 10th annual PHILADELPHIA TRANS-HEALTH CONFERENCE
  • WYATT & MAX: Two trans guy dads dish on solo parenting and the dating strike that lasted a year
  • KY: NYC welder & cover model talks about the adoption process from personal experience
  • YOUR MOM: OP Editors Amos Mac & Rocco Kayiatos shut up and give their mothers the floor
    WITH EXCLUSIVE WORDS BY: 
  • Nick Krieger
  • Sawyer DeVuyst
  • Elliot Foxprince
  • Nick Mwaluko
  • Charlie Stephens
  • Carole Alfe & Diana Kayiatos

    • (The Moms of OP)

To be honest, I don’t usually read OP, but I’m definitely buying this issue!

Let’s Hangout!

So Google Plus has this really great feature called “hangouts” which are essentially well-run group video chats. The idea was for them to be this spontaneous thing where you could set up a group video chat and anyone in yr circle could “drop by.”

But I see potential for some great stuff for our community with Google+. Ira talked to me a while back about getting a hangout discussion group going, and I think that will be great and he is definitely the person to lead that. I’m interested in organizing/facilitating a sort of support group hang out “hangout.” Support group has some weird connotations to it but I don’t know how else to explain it. Well, I’ll try:

When I was first coming out as trans, I had two trans guy friends who had been out for a year or two. We wanted to get a group of trans masculine ppl together to just hang out. Sure, there’d be space to talk about trans-specific issues, but mostly we just wanted a place to talk about anything, every day stuff, with ppl who would understand and affirm our identities. We called it club club because we didn’t want to call it a support group and we couldn’t come up with a name that was as inclusive as we wanted the group to be. It was hard to keep it strictly “hanging out” as many ppl wanted to get theoretical or political, but I want to try again.

I think it was critical for me in that stage to have a group of peers who used my name and pronouns, who saw me for who I was, and I know a lot of guys aren’t lucky enough to have that near them or aren’t able to be out yet so can’t really pursue that. Voila internet and modern technology!

So I want to do a “Club Club 2.0” via hangout. I’m not sure how many ppl can hangout at a time, but I imagine it would get quite crazy with more than 8. I have enough free time in the evenings that I can organize probably three weekly groups of 10 (assuming that there will be a couple of ppl each week who can’t make it). I figure we can get on, talk about our days, the news, and even seek advice on trans-specific stuff if it is really on our mind. Hangouts also allow group chat if we want everyone to read something or group youtube watching (this is fun!)… So there a lot of possibilities for this to be a nice way to sort of relax and unwind. Nothing too heavy.

The way I’m going to do this is if you are interested, please email me at xxboy.tumblr@gmail.com with the subject Club Club Hangout. Include yr preferred name, pronouns, age, location, a short bio (including interests), a transition history including yr specific gender identity, a photo (so we can match name to face when we are video chatting), and yr availability in the evenings. I want to organize the groups so that ppl have similarities. If there is an overwhelming demand for this (which I hope it will be), maybe we can do biweekly meetings, so there can be more groups, or maybe I can just get y’all in contact with each other and you can set it up on yr own time without me!

Anyway, next week, I’ll use the info to get the groups together and I’ll send out emails with the bios, etc. of the ppl in yr groups, the meeting time, and instructions on actually using Google+ and the hangout feature. I’m excited!

» First Event “Partners in Process” (PiP) Spouses & Partners Program

First Event 2011 Transgender Conference welcomes the Partners in Process Program for partners of transgender persons

Welcome to all our partners of transgender persons! Whether you are married or partnered to an FtM, MtF, be they crossdressers, transexual or genderqueer, TCNE’s Partners in Process Program is designed to help you get answers to your questions, find resources to help, and build friendships to encourage you.

A great way to get resources and make contact with other people in yr situation. SO’s and partners get 50% off of registration for the workshops, too. (Follow the link for more information)

The long awaited post on bottom surgery and the trans masculine community.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion online (largely on tumblr) amongst trans men about bottom surgery. This discourse, unfortunately, has been neither factual/informative nor sensitive. Instead, there were a handful of young men publicly stating their personal (but offensive) opinions on surgical options and results for FTM genitalia.

This is not, however, the first time I’ve seen these attitudes expressed publicly, and I do not want to make this post specifically about the few guys who most recently blogged on the topic. It is a problem within our community that I want to address at large. So I will not be reblogging any of the posts, but will be pulling some quotes just to illustrate points. This is not about the guys who wrote these things. It is about our community at large.

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