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Sep. 21st, 2016 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dolariI just got some sad news that has hit me pretty hard: Linda Phillips has passed away.
She and Tere Frederickson were quite literally, the first two transgender people I ever met. After meeting with them, I joined my first (and really only) support group, San Antonio's Boulton & Park Society. It was a satellite member of Tri-Ess, which was a cross-dressing only support group, but had decided to open up membership to "transsexuals" (which was the popular term at the time).
They made me feel welcome, they made me feel comfortable, and, most of all, made me feel comfortable in my new life as a woman. Both of them encouraged me to draw a comic for the newsletter. This comic morphed into the Closetspace comic you see today.
I left the group under some duress (not from the group, mind you) in 1994 and slowly I ended that chapter of my life, and began a new journey. My transition had stalled until 1997, but once I did transition, I made it my duty to (1) be the best transgender person I could be to the public and (2) be as welcoming and to mentor other transfolk as best I could - like Linda and Tere, and basically everyone in B&P, had for me.
A few years ago, I came across an article she wrote. Boulton and Park had broken up a few years after I left, and apparently the group had forgotten about her. I remember specifically a line in there: "I don't even get a postcard at Christmas."
So I sent her one - one of the limited edition CS/AWFW/Wishworld postcards where I told her where I was and how far I'd come from the old B&P days. We reconnected for a bit - I sent her a copy of the Girl in the Mirror book, we talked about what had changed in the intervening twenty years. It was a short lived reconnection, but we had reconnected.
Attached is an article about my first pre-screening for joining B&P. It's written by Tere, but Linda was there as well, at the Taco Cabana on San Pedro Road. If you look where it says "WACS" you'll see, faintly, the very first Closetspace comic on the flipside of the paper.
I grew up trans at a time when there weren't many of us out in public. And those who were were squirreled away in private support groups, deeply closeted or in very angry denial. I had few trans mentors - and have now found myself being one of those mentors myself. I hope I end up being as good as she was. Those are some tall heels to fill.
She and Tere Frederickson were quite literally, the first two transgender people I ever met. After meeting with them, I joined my first (and really only) support group, San Antonio's Boulton & Park Society. It was a satellite member of Tri-Ess, which was a cross-dressing only support group, but had decided to open up membership to "transsexuals" (which was the popular term at the time).
They made me feel welcome, they made me feel comfortable, and, most of all, made me feel comfortable in my new life as a woman. Both of them encouraged me to draw a comic for the newsletter. This comic morphed into the Closetspace comic you see today.
I left the group under some duress (not from the group, mind you) in 1994 and slowly I ended that chapter of my life, and began a new journey. My transition had stalled until 1997, but once I did transition, I made it my duty to (1) be the best transgender person I could be to the public and (2) be as welcoming and to mentor other transfolk as best I could - like Linda and Tere, and basically everyone in B&P, had for me.
A few years ago, I came across an article she wrote. Boulton and Park had broken up a few years after I left, and apparently the group had forgotten about her. I remember specifically a line in there: "I don't even get a postcard at Christmas."
So I sent her one - one of the limited edition CS/AWFW/Wishworld postcards where I told her where I was and how far I'd come from the old B&P days. We reconnected for a bit - I sent her a copy of the Girl in the Mirror book, we talked about what had changed in the intervening twenty years. It was a short lived reconnection, but we had reconnected.
Attached is an article about my first pre-screening for joining B&P. It's written by Tere, but Linda was there as well, at the Taco Cabana on San Pedro Road. If you look where it says "WACS" you'll see, faintly, the very first Closetspace comic on the flipside of the paper.
I grew up trans at a time when there weren't many of us out in public. And those who were were squirreled away in private support groups, deeply closeted or in very angry denial. I had few trans mentors - and have now found myself being one of those mentors myself. I hope I end up being as good as she was. Those are some tall heels to fill.
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Date: 2016-09-21 09:13 am (UTC)My parents wanted me in therapy. I couldn’t agree more, as it fit The Plan. But my parents took the lead on this, and instead of going to a therapist of my own choice, I went to one my father trusted. A Veteran’s Administration therapist.
That poor therapist, who dealt with the terrible distresses of Vietnam veterans, had no idea what to do with me, a young transsexual. I only had two sessions with him. One was a “getting to know you” session and the second was “I’m in WAY over my head here, here’s a list of support groups who can help you better.” I later found out how over his head he was when I found out the list not only had transgender support groups, but a BDSM support group and a high-heels fetish group.
I did find one group, though. The Boulton and Park Society. A transgender support group based in my hometown of San Antonio. I contacted them, and they were willing to take me in. But only after a meeting in a public place where they would decide I was joining in good faith.
The meeting took place at a Taco Cabana next to the Taco Bell I waited at for thirty minutes before realizing I was in the wrong place. I came in late, but was flagged down by the two showrunners of the group, Tere Frederickson and Linda Phillips. I showed up male, as I was still living at home, now under the watchful eye of two suspicious parents, but the next hour or so of sneaking out under their noses was one of the most eye opening experiences I’d ever been to.
For the first time in my life, after years of looking for other like me, here were two. They’d both been living as women for some time, and living successfully.
It was a great meeting, I learned a lot, got a lot of paperwork. But I wasn’t allowed to join the group just yet. Unfortunately, I was seventeen at the time. This technically made me a minor. Due to the fact that being transgender was a sexual issue, they couldn’t afford to help me just yet for fear of that bad press that could be generated should my parents decide to come down on them. But I wasn’t crushed. I met other transgender folk.
And there was a promise of more, when I turned eighteen, just a few short weeks away.