Adrian
Forum Replies Created
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Quote:what I find rather ironic and provocative is the use of the word (s) “choose ” and ‘choice’ in the headline re the sex change
As most now believe , its not a choice and SRS is an attempt to calm the intense conflict that exists within.I’m reluctant to side with “most” on this issue.
Whether gender diversity is the result of nature or nurture the situation we find ourselves in is clearly not by choice.
But the actions we take to reconcile our gender identity DO require us to make choices.In this regard I have no issues with describing the decision to have a sex change as a choice.
If we assert that decision to have SRS is not a choice then we act blindly as victims of destiny and so attract unwanted consequences.
But it isn’t that simple – there are multiple ways we might choose to reconcile our identity, and some of them like SRS involve cosmetic surgery.
It is our choice how we reconcile our needs within our means and abilities; and it is important that we recognise it was a choice. That clears the way for the possibility of admitting sometimes we might not have made the right choice and making adjustments to our journey plan. We often seem to be a long way from such maturity of reflection.
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April 2014
I hope you can join us for our regular monthly get together in Glebe.
Next cafe night is Friday 30th MayTo reserve a spot contact Amanda
amanda@tgr.net.au
OR SMS 0422590598All the details are here:
http://forum.tgr.net.au/cms/forum/F141/3313-313There is a limit of about 10 places at this event.
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A link to the article might help perhaps?
In general the concept of puberty blockers is well established.
Have a watch of this TED talk that I showed at Katoomba.
http://www.ted.com/talks/norman_spack_how_i_help_transgender_teens_become_who_they_want_to_be.html?utm_source=email&source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ios-share -
Transformal Newsletter 2
Put the T back in Katoomba
Here is our second update for those attending the TransFormal formal in two weeks time on the 17th.
That’s right, just two weeks to finish your plans for your weekend!Photos @ TransFormal
Everyone is of course welcome to take their own photos at TransFormal (provided that you respect our photography policy) . But last year we also had some very special photographs taken by Connie.
I’m pleased to announce that Connie enjoyed herself last year and has offered to come back and capture this years excitement and finery on pixels.Quote:Absolutely the best quality photo’s I’ve seen at any event, ever. She took the background of a stunning building and made it work, rich colours, stunning depth of field, sharp focus without that blinding flash that makes us look like shadowy ghouls… best evah!!!! LK 2013Connie is a professional photographer who will take lots of photos of you and your friends during the evening.
This way everyone has a permanent record of the event with lots of happy shots of themselves and friends new and old.Don’t worry if you don’t want to be in the shot – Connie will ask for an OK! And red NO PHOTO stickers will be available as usual.
A disc containing photos of the whole evening will be mailed after the event to those who deposit $10 and their address in an envelope in a BOX which will be located on the Transformal Central wing (1st floor hotel) from Saturday morning to Sunday afternoon .
PLUS PLUS PLUS!!!!
This year Connie has also offered to take studio quality portraits of any guests who are interested using a backdrop and professional lighting. A few lucky guests will have the opportunity to receive 5 high quality pictures from a 10 minute session. Connie will charge just $30 for this service.
To reserve this unique opportunity and capture the moment in style go here:
TransFormal Sunday
Don’t rush home on Sunday!There are lots of reasons for staying in Katoomba as long as your travel commitments allow on Sunday.
It starts with the traditional group photo on the steps of the Carrington at 10:15.
Then it is time to head off on your Quest for the “T: in Katoomba.
Form teams of 2 – 4 (with a car, pencil and umbrella) and start your quest from the Carrington Front Verandah at 10:30.
Each team will have a quest guide that will take them to 10 locations nearby in search of the answers – answers that we hope will start with “T”. This fun exploration of some of Katoombas most interesting sights will finish at 12:45 in time for lunch. For all the details go here: Back at the Carrington Hotel you will have worked up an appetite for lunch. This year we have two suggestions for Sunday lunch.
Option 1 Paragon Cafe 65 Katoomba St. Lunch at the Paragon is very much a part of TransFormal. This year the weekend schedule allows you to have a meal in this iconic restaurant on Sunday at 1pm.Option 2 Katoomba Cafe 175 Katoomba Street. Looking for a more local / less tourist experience for lunch?This year we have been contacted by Geoff who runs the Katoomba St Cafe offering any TransFormal guests who wish to lunch at the cafe a warm welcome.
After lunch at 2pm a reminder that A Bras Kadabras will have private opening just for TransFormal guests on Sunday afternoon at 2pm. This local & web lingerie shop is just down Katoomba Street from the Paragon (and a bit up from the Katoomba Street Cafe). The delightful and accepting owners will offer private fitting and browsing of their extensive range. Just visit Gina in The Library on Saturday from 3:15 onwards and register your interest.
Finally, it would be understandable if you decide to just stay another night in Katoomba. If you do, then we will be having an informal dinner/supper on Sunday night in the Old Bank Hotel Braserrie next to the Carrington Hotel.
The Carrington Old Bank Braserrie (on the north driveway to the hotel) – Sunday 18th May 2014 Time: 7:30pm
Dinner or Supper in company upstairs at the Old Bank Brasserie.
We had a most enjoyable meal at The Old Bank last year and can totally recommend it.
RESERVATIONS ESSENTIAL Table bookings will open on Wednesday 7th May
All food and beverage to own expense. NO SPLIT BILLS. Tables of up to 8. Shared bill. BRING CASH not CREDIT CARDSIf you do have to check out of The Carrington at 10am and want to participate in the exciting Sunday program, then you can use the Traditional Bathrooms during the afternoon to get changed and/or freshen up for the trip home.
Questions?
If you have any questions about TransFormal then please contact us through the website form .
Newsletter 2: 4th May 2014
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Quote:It was unfortunate that “cismale” and “cisfemale” were terms used … they evoke an emotional threatened response in those identifying simply as male or female.
I agree, as I think the terms “cismale” and “cisfemale” are offensive and provocative even though I don’t associate personally associate with the labels.
Why do I find them offensive?
Our quest to find labels to describe our gender identities is inevitable, even though probably futile and counter productive.
But our need to define ourselves does NOT give us the right to redefine others.People who are comfortable with the alignment of physical sex and believed gender identity are entitled to describe themselves as “male” and “female”. If we deny this substantial majority their rights to label themselves in the way they see themselves it will make them much less likely to accept our labels.
I’m reluctant to even use the term misguided to describe the the intent of those compiling this survey – I think the appropriate term is counter-productive. As we struggle for acceptance in society we have to accept the views of others.
If we provoke others by denying them their rights, then we can expect the sort of reaction we see in the article comments.
Don’t blame the bigots. We have only ourselves to blame for the way we sometimes choose present ourselves to the world.
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TF14 is just about sold out… so I can look at the booking data.
And sometimes the compulsion to create misleading statistics is too great…and so here goes.
IF we assume that no one ever changes their email address, and everyone has one, and one only, email address..
THEN
62% of those coming have been to TF before (well actually have used the same email address to book before).
40% of those coming came last year.
And 38% of the guests are TransFormal virgins.
If you believe that…then….
I did warn you…. it was a misleading statistic!
REALITY CHECK:
Because people do change email addresses the number of virgins is an overestimate – and more of the guests are actually return bookings. -
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May be a lack of activity in the forums – but ticketing is currently trending to be a sell-out – the best year so far one month out.
On the last 10 tickets now….the Carrington Bar looks like being a real buzz on Saturday night! A chance for those new to TF to make a lot of new contacts and friends!
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Ok – maybe it is because I haven’t been seeding the chat room and forums with as many TF discussions as I have in the past. But even without all the talk of TF the tickets still sold just as fast (or maybe even faster!). There is no doubt that the ‘specialness’ of TF is no longer a secret held by a few lucky past attendees. It seems that the word of mouth recommendations sell tickets faster than any amount of excited conversations on a forum.
That said, we have to remember that for a quite a few 2014 will be their first TransFormal – and I’m sure they have questions that in the past we have enjoyed discussing here.
So ask away…share your plans and dreams for a weekend in the mountains!
Because TransFormal is getting very close now!
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How about this?
Quote:I am replying to an article where the author suggests that “we are stuck with using a gendered pronoun that seems to fit”.I am not in agreement with their suggestion, as they have overlooked the perfectly acceptable use of the “singular they”. This doesn’t involve the defining of new and ill understood pronouns, and doesn’t involve people trying to guess if my presentation is marginally more boy or girl.
I recommend that they (and anyone else who is interested) read the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they
There you are – I managed to talk about Adina without needing to how Adina was dressed sitting at the computer writing on the forums!!!
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Guest Facilitator/Presenter for TransFormal 2014
I am pleased to announce that Surjay Kentlyn has accepted an invitation to be the guest facilitator/presenter at TransFormal 2014.
Surjay brings to our workshops an impressive background of academic publications and practical work with the Transgender community.
Surjay is currently working to help LGBTI people who are ageing sustain independent, active and healthy lives – a topic that I know is of concern to many attending TransFormal. I look forward to working with Surjay to provide an entertaining, informative, and thought provoking workshops and activities throughout the weekend
Don’t forget the weekend activities are only available to those attendees who have purchased an ADD-ON ticket.
Our guest facilitator/presenter is sponsored this year by a anonymous donor.
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Thanks Jannine.
It was a pleasure meeting you and so many other new happy faces at TransFormal.
It was also gratifying to see so many partners joining in this year.
The success of a weekend like TransFormal is ultimately only a reflection of the attitudes and enthusiasm of those taking part. And this year on those counts you all made the event. From my perspective, making it the best ever.
I hope the TransFormal experience energises your life in the months ahead and sustains you till we have an opportunity to meet again in Katoomba.
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I’m pleased to announce that 50 guests have decided to spend the weekend in Katoomba and enjoy the full program of activities we have lined up.
That means the weekend activities are now at capacity (or perhaps a bit over capacity!!).
So the weekend add-on tickets for the full TransFormal Weekend have sold out.
We still have a very few (<6) tickets left for just the Saturday Formal (and the vendor expo). If you want to be part of TransFormal 2014 grab your ticket quickly.
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Last call for TRANSFORMAL 2014!
Tickets are selling very fast
If you delay you may miss the best transgender weekend in the southern
hemisphere!http://www.trannytix.com/transformal
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*Come for the Formal!*
There are less than 20 tickets left for our formal dinner dance held in the
heritage 1886 Grand Dining Room.
Get your ticket and enjoy:
Plenty of dancing – to the dynamic band “Radio Dynamite”.
Plenty of food – a three course table service meal.
Plenty of cocktails – the Carrington Bar will be staying open to 1am for us
to wind down after the dance floor.
Plenty of good company – goes without saying!Your formal ticket also gives you admission to our vendor expo from 3pm
onwards.
The vendors at the hotel will include Tanya from the BreastForm Store,
Helen from Diva Makeup Solutions, and Gina from A Bra Kada Bra.Ticket holders have access to discounted accommodation at The Carrington –
but be quick as our special accommodation deal ends next weekend.____________________________________________________________________________________
*Or make it a weekend!*
Transformal is so much more than a too short evening at a formal!
The weekend program adds on events such as:
Golf & Friday Lunch
Wine tasting
TransFormal Reception
Over 5 hrs of workshops
And a unique quest to find the T in KatoombaThis is sure to be a weekend to remember for everyone. have a look at the
program here:
http://www.trannytix.com/transformal/programBUT we only have FOUR tickets left to sell.
That’s right just 4 more opportunities to be part of the weekend.A Weekend Ticket includes: Admission to all free events from Friday morning
to Sunday lunchtime. + Reception on Friday evening + Saturday morning
workshops + Saturday lunch
____________________________________________________________________________________*Ticketing*
Tickets will be sent by email. If you are staying for the weekend then you
will have two tickets – one for Saturday night and one for the weekend.
Payment has to be received before the ticket can be issued. If you elect to
pay by bank transfer then don’t forget to put your order number on the
reference- and more importantly don’t forget to pay! Seat reservations
will only be held 7 days after which your order will be cancelled and you
will have to start over again.____________________________________________________________________________________
Transformal Dinner Only $109 + Transformal Weekend Add-on $79
Pay by Credit Card, Direct Deposit or PayPal ($3 booking fee for
Credit/PayPal)
http://www.trannytix.com/transformal
Last tickets now on sale! -
The weekend program for TransFormal is coming together fast, and will be finalised after I have made a planning trip to Katoomba on Friday.
If you were waiting for the details before purchasing your Weekend ADD_ON ticket then you need to act fast.
At the time of writing there were only 6 weekend add-on tickets left.If you have purchased a TransFormal formal ticket but left booking your weekend ticket till later then grab one of the remaining few tickets.
After the last 6 tickets have been sold there will be no more weekend tickets available for 2014.
UPDATE: 9th April – Just 4 weekend tickets left. (Still plenty of tickets to Saturday night though)