Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011 4:20 PM EDT
When my father became a woman
After Dad had gender reassignment surgery, he promised he'd be the same person. Then why do I miss him so much?
By Danielle Brown

http://www.salon.com/2011/10/25/when_my_father_became_a_woman/singleton/

The Castro. A place we can wander freely, without fearing for my father's safety. All rainbow flags and crowded sidewalks. Ads for nightclubs and escort services stapled to telephone polls. A cookie shop whose walls are plastered with pictures of half-naked people that sells, among other things, penis-shaped macaroons.

My father, dressed in jeans and a sweater with a pashmina wrapped loosely about her neck, walked ahead of me, her girlfriend at her side. My father's extensive collection of jewelry and her outfits still startle me. Everything is so form-fitting! It is cheating, I think, to wear women's jeans and not have hips.

"It's not fair," I told her once. "You get all the perks of being a woman but none of the pain. You don't have to get a period every month."