Susan's Place Transgender Resources

News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: LostInTime on July 12, 2006, 11:34:44 AM

Title: Standin' pretty
Post by: LostInTime on July 12, 2006, 11:34:44 AM
Article (http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=1090&catid=77)

Enormously complex problems such as this almost always have a ridiculously simple solution. On the third night, outside on the patio at the Sagebrush, long before any kind of semiformal introductions could have crossed the mind of even the most conscientious of band leaders, I stepped up to the microphone myself and said, tilting my head toward our usual spokesmanperson (whose hair, by the way, is even longer and probably prettier than mine, although legitimized by a scraggly Fu Manchu mustache), "This is my brother Chris."

Clap clap clap. He tipped his cowboy hat to the crowd.

Then I gestured toward the clean-cut Frenchman to my right and said, "This is my brother Gene."

Clap clap, tip of the cowboy hat, clap.

Problem solved! By way of gravy it occurred to me to keep talking. And this is one of my proudest moments ever in the area of public address. "Two of us come from San Francisco, and the other lives in Pennsylvania," I said, pausing just long enough to make a little eye contact, let them take us in, live and in context, before adding, "Can you guess which are which?"