Former Transgender Tells His Story    In his own words, this is the story of Darrell, an African-American former transgender.  PFOX raised funds for his reversal surgery

http://pfox.org/Former_Transgender_Tells_His_Story.html

As a boy, I began to feel same sex attractions at age 13.  I acted out with older kids and then became involved with older homosexuals and bisexual men.  When I moved away from home, I encountered a man who I thought was a woman.  He introduced me to other "men" like him, who befriended me.  We spent lots of time together.  I asked them how they got that way.  So one of them introduced me to a downtown doctor, who evaluated me and gave me my first shot of estrogen so I could start looking like a woman too.  At that point I became afraid.  But my friends were there to help me.  The doctor left me with my own estrogen and steroid pills and refills.  I was on my way to becoming a woman just like my transgender friends.

As a result of the estrogen, I became physically developed as a woman, even though I was not one.  The hair on my body and face started to shed.  A month passed by.  I became scared at what I saw in the mirror.  Nonetheless, I was happy with what I was seeing.

[...]

No one reached out to me, so I turned to Christ and stopped taking hormones.  Slowly I began to look like the gender of my birth.  I went back to calling myself by my male name, the one my parents had given me and that I had abandoned all those years when I was trying to make believe I was a female.  I began to see that I was a new creature in Christ.  I began to like myself and associate with people who were Christians.  They loved me unconditionally and I didn't have to always look "beautiful" to be with them.

------

EXPOSED: Ex-Gay organization PFOX Transgender spokesperson exposed by former roommate
02/19/2013 23:23

By Sabrina Samone, Trans Muse Planet

http://www.transmuseplanet.com/news/exposed-ex-gay-organization-pfox-transgender-spokesperson-exposed-by-former-roommate/

Recently I received a news feed titled, 'Former Transgender tells his story.'  I had seen these types of stories and politely deleted.  I've heard of the groups like Exodus that convert Gay men back to heterosexuals.  I remember when, Darrell (Kim Avis to me), first connected with them.  Usually the victims of these organizations backslide as it's called.  They're forgiven and re-entered into more intense therapy over and over again until, some form of self acceptance, regardless how painful, inevitably has to be reached.  Leaving scars of a life not spent  and yet tormented.

[...]

Many in the Trans community referrers to mentors as; trans-mothers, drag mama, gay mom or hormone sisters.  In order to find a girl or boy that feels the same gender dysphoria as you, intentionally or not, friendships of common interest in transitioning are sought after.  These mentors you seek advice from sometimes take on a sort of mother or big sister role to you. That's what Darrel aka Kim Avis became to me.  When I arrived in Florence, SC from Atlanta, I had already begun transitioning.  I became a local showgirl in a nearby gay bar as an outlet to my daily sixteen hour a day job as a C.N.A.  I met Kim one night after a show.  It being a small town with no other known Trans people, I was glad to see another girl like me.  She seemed from the beginning, extremely ecstatic to be making a new friend.  Immediately I wanted to know the names of local doctors she knew.  She took me later that month to her doctor who eventually became mine. I had made many friends both gay and straight as a showgirl there.  My family also lived only thirty minutes away in Hartsville, SC.  Quickly I noticed I seemed to be Kim's only friend that she could be herself with.  Though she was fully developed at the time, she had returned to dressing as male due mainly by her family's persistence.  She and I found refuge in common souls, so we eventually became roommates.

Oh, what a load!  This story has all the earmarks of conservative Christian fictional transgender regret stories used to support the idea of conversion therapy.  Same themes, same misinformation, same allusions to illegal processes and drastic and freakishly rapid physical changes.  "The hair on my body and face started to shed."  Really?  Those must be some SERIOUSLY powerful hormones!

Quote from: Michelle-G on February 22, 2013, 11:36:46 PM
and drastic and freakishly rapid physical changes.  "The hair on my body and face started to shed."  Really?  Those must be some SERIOUSLY powerful hormones!

And grew back in too! Look at his before beardless picture and his after full beard-goatee picture! LOL!

There is so many holes in their story.  Groups like this probably cause more suicides.

And my rebuttal would read:


"Current transgender tells her story"

This is crap.


Seriously, though... pumping parties? Peer pressure from transsexuals to take hormones and get silicone injections? Underground dangerous activities described as if they were an addiction?

And this part just absolutely cracked me up.
"In order to be part of the transgender crowd, men must meet certain criteria.  We must have more dominate female features; in other words, look more like a woman than she actually does.  So we had to have bigger breasts, more shapely hips, flawless complexion, etc.  In order to keep up, I had to buy the most expensive creams, take a regiment of hormone pills, do my makeup in the mirror for hours, etc."

(HA! Very funny, people who obviously don't know what the f*** they are talking about, and have probably never even met a transsexual in real life, let alone understand them.)

You know, I was actually a part of a conservative Christian church for years, so I heard things exactly like this all the time... they try to treat EVERYTHING as if it is this secret underground alien society that encourages people to engage in unholy behavior against their will, and they spiral out of control, and only through the TRUE love of Jesus Christ do people ever become happy. And I call bull->-bleeped-<-. You know what? I AM still a Christian. And I was trying to "pray away" my "problem" for pretty much my entire adult life. That was why I latched onto it so strongly. I really did believe that it was possible, and I really did believe that the only true way was through that. I'm serious. I was baptized, I pronounced myself "cured" after about 2007 or so, and I thought that I was experiencing the greatest happiness of my entire life. But I was wrong. Because not too long ago, in prayer, I felt that it was God Himself that told me "okay, you survived college, and you have a stable job now, and you don't have to worry about your transsexual thoughts consuming your life and stopping you from succeeding anymore. It's time that you stopped fighting them and embrace your true self." And I have. And through it, I have learned something. God is good. He is always there to answer our prayers and talk to us and give us life direction, and He accepts us the way we are, forgiving us unconditionally. The closer I've gotten to Him, the more I've grown to understand this, and realize that it's okay. Conservative Christianity, and all of the "ex" stories about "praying away the gay" are not. It exists only to keep people following some ridiculous unlivable standard of morality, which eventually turns them into people who are so paranoid of anything that even possibly deviates from what they know, that they are not even willing to listen anymore. If that is really what they believe God is like, then we must not be talking about the same God.

Okay, rant over. But yeah, this is something VERY personal to me.

Post edited for profanity
(Oops... sorry, I didn't know that wasn't allowed here. My bad.)

Wow, just wow. I really should stop reading the news posts because they just upset me 

Quote from: cheetaking243 on February 23, 2013, 12:06:32 PM
Because not too long ago, in prayer, I felt that it was God Himself that told me "okay, you survived college, and you have a stable job now, and you don't have to worry about your transsexual thoughts consuming your life and stopping you from succeeding anymore. It's time that you stopped fighting them and embrace your true self." And I have. And through it, I have learned something. God is good. He is always there to answer our prayers and talk to us and give us life direction, and He accepts us the way we are, forgiving us unconditionally.

I can totally relate to you, when I was young, I was questioning myself and did a lot of praying tried to find the answer from Him, and ask Him to give me a sign. At that time I thought what I felt was just a phase and will go away after I had some serious relationships with women. But it never did and I believe it's a way to show me to accept myself for what I am.
And I love how you say that He accepts us for what we are and forgive our sins unconditionally because deep inside I believe that too.

I really have my doubts about this story, while there are a few scenarios for what happened here, however what gets me is that stories like this are used as ammo towards the trans* community, as it can re-affirm the religious propaganda against the trans* community.

-Christina

I think the activists against us should work on being perfect first and let "their God" do the judging since that's what they claim to believe in.

Quote from: Heather on February 23, 2013, 10:59:50 AM
I don't want to outright say his story is bs. But was he ever really trans? I don't see no evidence that he ever was! I mean come on who just meets a transsexual and says oh yeah I want to take hormones too! And what happened to him liking men? I'm sure he was cured of that as well!To me he sounds like a drag queen that went a little to far!

Let me correct a misconception, Heather.  "Drag Queens," "Drag Kings," and crossdressers are "trans" (transgendered).  They are fully part of our community.

Perhaps the first story should point out the need to delve into issues with a trained therapist before medicating.  I see it more as a cautionary tale.

I think some of us don't like the word transsexual so we just use trans or transgender instead, at least that's my take on it, but yeah labeling wise, the word transgender is just an umbrella term for anyone who is essentially gender variant in some form in comparison to "normal" standards.

note, PFOX paid for his operation to revert to male!

QuoteI heard about PFOX, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays, a non-profit organization that had raised funds for the reversal surgery of another former transgender.  PFOX agreed to raise funds for my surgery, anesthesia, and operating room.  They found a Catholic plastic surgeon to perform the operation at a reduced rate.  A Christian woman financed the operation.  Who would believe that people could be so kind to make such contributions for someone like me? 

Quote from: Zythyra on February 23, 2013, 03:39:40 PM
note, PFOX paid for his operation to revert to male!

What I love is that they make it sound like they're just turning a balloon inside out.

Quote from: cheetaking243 on February 23, 2013, 12:06:32 PM
And my rebuttal would read:


"Current transgender tells her story"

This is crap.


Seriously, though... pumping parties? Peer pressure from transsexuals to take hormones and get silicone injections? Underground dangerous activities described as if they were an addiction?

And this part just absolutely cracked me up.
"In order to be part of the transgender crowd, men must meet certain criteria.  We must have more dominate female features; in other words, look more like a woman than she actually does.  So we had to have bigger breasts, more shapely hips, flawless complexion, etc.  In order to keep up, I had to buy the most expensive creams, take a regiment of hormone pills, do my makeup in the mirror for hours, etc."

(HA! Very funny, people who obviously don't know what the f*** they are talking about, and have probably never even met a transsexual in real life, let alone understand them.)

You know, I was actually a part of a conservative Christian church for years, so I heard things exactly like this all the time... they try to treat EVERYTHING as if it is this secret underground alien society that encourages people to engage in unholy behavior against their will, and they spiral out of control, and only through the TRUE love of Jesus Christ do people ever become happy. And I call bull->-bleeped-<-. You know what? I AM still a Christian. And I was trying to "pray away" my "problem" for pretty much my entire adult life. That was why I latched onto it so strongly. I really did believe that it was possible, and I really did believe that the only true way was through that. I'm serious. I was baptized, I pronounced myself "cured" after about 2007 or so, and I thought that I was experiencing the greatest happiness of my entire life. But I was wrong. Because not too long ago, in prayer, I felt that it was God Himself that told me "okay, you survived college, and you have a stable job now, and you don't have to worry about your transsexual thoughts consuming your life and stopping you from succeeding anymore. It's time that you stopped fighting them and embrace your true self." And I have. And through it, I have learned something. God is good. He is always there to answer our prayers and talk to us and give us life direction, and He accepts us the way we are, forgiving us unconditionally. The closer I've gotten to Him, the more I've grown to understand this, and realize that it's okay. Conservative Christianity, and all of the "ex" stories about "praying away the gay" are not. It exists only to keep people following some ridiculous unlivable standard of morality, which eventually turns them into people who are so paranoid of anything that even possibly deviates from what they know, that they are not even willing to listen anymore. If that is really what they believe God is like, then we must not be talking about the same God.

Okay, rant over. But yeah, this is something VERY personal to me.

Post edited for profanity
(Oops... sorry, I didn't know that wasn't allowed here. My bad.)

same here. I thought I had victory over it also. I had to learn to love myself and accept myself for who I am. God used my transsexualism to expain that the outward body (Christianity) does not express the inward spiritual body the way that it should and is going through a transition of its own. The true body of Christ is female not male. But he refurse to the body of sin as the old MAN. Well any way just thought i would add a little to what you said.

Quote from: Heather on February 23, 2013, 10:59:50 AM
I don't want to outright say his story is bs. But was he ever really trans? I don't see no evidence that he ever was! I mean come on who just meets a transsexual and says oh yeah I want to take hormones too! And what happened to him liking men? I'm sure he was cured of that as well!To me he sounds like a drag queen that went a little to far!

Quote from: Pleasingly Plump Jamie D on February 23, 2013, 02:42:38 PM
Let me correct a misconception, Heather.  "Drag Queens," "Drag Kings," and crossdressers are "trans" (transgendered).  They are fully part of our community.

Perhaps the first story should point out the need to delve into issues with a trained therapist before medicating.  I see it more as a cautionary tale.

Quote from: Heather on February 23, 2013, 04:51:55 PM
I have no problems with drag queens. There is just a difference between being trans and drag. Guys that do drag have no interest in changing their gender and see themselves as men. Drag is about the performance and imitation.But I'm not really convinced by this story it comes off as propaganda to me. There is too many holes in his story.

It would lead to clearer communications if you used our Standard Terms and Definitions when you post here. In part:

Transgender: an inclusive umbrella term which covers anyone who transcends their birth gender for any reason. This includes but is not limited to Androgynes, Crossdressers, Drag kings, Drag queens, Intersexuals, Transsexuals, and Transvestites.

I've always felt like a lot of transsexuals don't like crossdressers, drag queens, etc...but I really never understood why. It's not like they are overly privileged and have it easy either. I don't know, that's my thought on it, and while I agree we are very different, we all don't fit the "stereotypical gender norms" of our society.

It's my belief that's why the site is set up so that we're all transgender, and we all support each other. Hugs, Devlyn

I decided to remove my earlier post after reading this I'm sorry to anybody I may have offended. http://transgriot.blogspot.com/2013/02/pfoxs-ex-trans-spokesperson-exposed.html This story breaks my heart. I should have never made a snap judgement without all the facts.