I have noticed big changes this year. There have been many, many positive stories in the the media about transgender men and women this year. There are a growing number of publicly "Out" transgender political candidates in the U.S. as well as in many other countries. There are a growing group of famous and out transgender people in business.
And in most states in this country, the United States of America, and probably Canada as well, people can use the public restroom matching their gender identity. President Obama has affirmed this, and my own State of Washington has further codified our rights to use any restroom that matches our preferred gender identity.
This is the year that I took 2 separate vacations touring the Pacific Northwest as an out and proud transgender woman.
This is the year that my neighbors at my beach property embraced me as Donna and proudly introduced me to their 5 year old child (who as a child has made an amusing contraction of my male name and my female name as in _(male-name)_/Donna.) Over the summer this child has slowly given up using my male name and just recently refers to me as Donna. His parents are so very kind and supportive.
Well, I'm still working on my wife's acceptance. She says she married a man over 40 years ago. We have reverted to a "Don't ask, don't tell" marital loving relationship. We have romantic, even dare I say sexual, relationship as she is accustomed to having. She plays the woman part and I pretend to play the man part, yet she seems to know exactly, I mean exactly, what intimate thing to do in our private moments to allow me to feel as a woman just at the point of utmost marital intimacy. (I am trying to be discreet and speak in code here.)
I do have faith that one year in the future, maybe not this year, but one year we may live as wife and wife together. It may take us until we are in our '80's, but I do believe one day we will get there.
However I am just so happy that as aging person who must use a public restroom more often than I used to, I can simply use any restroom in my home town that matches my attire.
This has been a good year so far!
