A true trans anecdote:
A transwoman, a musician for over thirty five years, transitions to living as a woman in her 50s.
She gets the opportunity to play a three song set in Las Vegas. Getting up with her guitar, she sings original works.
When she comes off stage, she sees a man waiting for her. tears in his eyes.
“When you came on stage,” he tells her, “I thought you were disgusting. I started talking with my friends about how we were going to follow you afterwards and beat you up.
“But when you sang those songs, my heart was touched. I felt ashamed that I had even thought of plans to destroy you.”
“Well,” said the transwoman. “I’m sure glad I am talented.”
You choose:
1) This is a lovely story about how someone standing in authenticity and singing their truth opened the heart of a hater.
2) This is a horrible story about someone feeling entitled to project their own fears onto a visible transwoman in a dangerous and threatening way.
For transwomen, who almost never have the safety of a group, this is a real experience of life.
