The Transitive Property: Strength in Numbers
Monday, January 10th, 2011 | By Cristopher Bautista
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/01/10/the-transitive-property-strength-in-numbers/Yesterday I was part of an FTM (female-to-male) panel sponsored by the Lou Sullivan Society, an FTM organization in San Francisco. The Lou Sullivan Society was a support group for transmen in the area—I had heard about the society, but I had never been to any of the meetings. I had written a piece on being transgender that was included in an anthology, "Letters to My Brothers," and I had been asked to read my piece from that anthology. I actually left my ski trip early so I could attend—I left from Tahoe around seven in the morning, got back at 11, took a quick shower, and scrambled onto the 11:31 Caltrain. One and a half hours later I found myself in the Castro.
I was nervous as hell. I had transmale friends back at Stanford, but they were my age, and we were all more or less in the same stage of transition. Not to mention there were only about three of them, and if I were to count the entire open transgender community (transmen, transwomen, and those in between), they could easily fit in my room for tea. Here, there were going to be for certain more than three transmen. And this possibility blew my mind.
