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ramblings |
Encounter
2001.12.28
This was certainly an interesting night: I meet another tranny and didn't actually recognize it. I mean, I thought things were slightly out of place with this person, but because she was very congenial I didn't think much of it. In fact, I don't think anyone at the table really clocked her except for the three people who knew already. So the story goes like this:
I knew my roommate was going out to dinner tonight so I figured I'd be on my own as far as food was concerned. I was just going to hop down to the market and pick up a couple of things so I could make dinner. Well, in the afternoon I get a call from this same roommate that they were going out to this place in the City for dinner and asked if I'd come along. I figured I had nothing better to do and I didn't really want to be antisocial so I went. Granted, I really don't know the people at the table very well, but I wasn't a total stranger.
So all the people in this dinner party finally get to the restaurant and we get a table. There's nine of us crowded around this greasy table in a restaurant which epitomizes a hole in the wall. Really, if I hadn't been taken to this place before I never would have set foot in it. The food is awesome spicy Indian food---really good garlic naan and some mean lamb curry. It's the kind of place where all the lights flicker everytime someone starts running the dishwasher or activates the hand dryer in the single-stall bathroom.
In this small, perpetually crowded restaurant, you literally have to yell if you want to make yourself heard over the clanging of pans and the boister of the rowdy crowd that goes to chow down here. At the table, I knew six of the nine people already---one was my roommate and the other five were acquaintances from work and their spouses and friends. Of the remaining three new people, two were married and there was one single girl.
The single girl wore a tan coat, a gold necklace, and a burgandy top that nicely offsetting her light brown and dark brown hair. A pretty girl just shy of 30 years old, she was very animated. She claims to be of mixed descent, something involving a bit of European heritage and Filipina blood. She was in no way self-conscious and seemed pretty sharp. Even the the guy to my right (who has been known to be extremely energetic and quick make a jibe) was just chatting away with her. He didn't even give a thought that she was trans. I didn't even really pick up on it, though I felt something was a little funny. You know, her voice resonanted just a little lower than what I would expect and her bone structure was just a tad less petite for someone as an Asian descendent. Plus, she used a very non-feminine name which sort of caught me by surprise.
On the way back home I carpooled with the same people I had rode up with. Of our car foursome, two people knew about "her". They said there was a story to tell about this particular girl. I had no idea what they meant and neither did the driver. Then the couple said that "she" had been a "he" at one point. The driver was astonished, I paused for a moment as all the clues sort of fell into place.
I seems that everyone was surprised when they found out this information. But, what was nice to see is that there was no hostility towards the trans-person. It was more the case that everyone thought it an interesting fact that we actually had met a transsexual.
What made the difference? Why was "she" treated with respect? Well, I think the first obvious thing is that she passed very well. Yes, there are clues like I said, but unless you think about these clues then you won't probably know. I think the reason she is treated as just any other girl is because she "acted normally", as our driver put it. She wasn't obsessed with trans issues, she didn't bother over her appearance, she projected a real feminine sprit, and she was just a nice person to be around. Because her human side overpowered her physical side, there was little way anyone would have considered her anything other than a her.
| *Just to dispel any rumors, I have never done anything with any sort of drug. Not even alcohol or smoking. I'm just using this reference here as an example, k? |
So, I guess two words of thanks need to go out here: 1) thank you to the trans-person who took the time and preparation to look the part of woman she feel she is and to project her own feminine spirit unabashedly, and 2) thank you to the people at the dinner table (who now know "she" was a "he" previously) for seeing through to her personality and for treating her as the beautiful woman she is.
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