Thank you Kelly

We are all aware of the media furore there has been recently around Caitlin Jenner ~ or have we? every now and then a little bit appears on main stream TV or radio, but other than the dedicated Kardashian fans I suspect that not a great deal of unaffected people have noticed much on the civilised side of the Atlantic.   Of course we have our own "poster girl" with Kelly Maloney her transition has made more of an impact over here, not least because she was a well known personality in the aggressively masculine world of professional boxing.

These high profile transitions, and the fictional TV series that are hitting our screens all serve to raise our profile and normalise the idea of transgender.   In my own little way I like to think that I do my own little bit of familiarising civilians with the idea, and presence of trans people.   As a performer I like to think that I do my bit in normalising contact with trans people.

However it appears that quite a few of my fellow ladies arn't so keen on some of these celebrity transitions, certainly Caitlin and Kelly haven't had the employment issues or financial insecurities that many of us have to contend with.   When asked how I am I will often reply with "no problems that can't be solved with money", well these two don't have that problem. I suspect that some of us may even be a little bit jealous of some of teh publicity (and extra income) they have been getting through their media exposure.

Until now I have been a little bit ambivalent about all of this until I received a text message from an old friend

"Just been watching Kelly Maloney on TV and wanted to send you a hug. Seriously I think I haven't been as on side as I should have."

People may be afraid to ask us the question they really want answers to, they may not know the questions to ask which will give them true insights into our situations, they may simply assume that they understand when they don't, so now I have to say thank you to every trans woman or man who goes on TV and tells their story, not least becasue it may mean that I don't have to quite as often.