Transition and Job-hunting

[soltice.livejournal.com]

My family decided to "talk" with me yesterday morning. They felt they needed to clear the air reguarding my trans-status, their feelings and whatnot. For the most part things went well, no screaming, pronouncments of demoic possession, etc.,  but the conversation led to these points:

1. We don't want you do be that way in this house
2. Once you get your own place, we don't care what you do
3. You won't be able to get your own place without a reail job
4. You won't get such a job without presenting yourself as male

Particularly that last point unnerved me. I was unable to convice them that it was impossible, and that the results of doing so would be far, far, worse. However, I cannot escape the logic behind that last point.

When I sent out resumes, even schedule interviews, I have continued to use my old name and it's associated pronouns. But when I go to the interviews, things seem to go completely wrong. I try to dress andrognyously, and my hair is a little past shoulder length.

For some positions, the interviewer doesn't give any clue if this appearence raises any concerns. These, however, are higher up positions of which I'm certainly underqualified. When it comes to the entry level jobs, the ones I would have no difficulty in working, the opposite occurs. All enthusiasim they've shown me in the phone calls vanishes. Mostly, they act as if they've already rejected me and are simply going through the motions.

I've rationalized for a while that this was kind of a test for them. If the interviewer can't handle this, how could they when I continue to pursue transition while working?  I knew it would be difficult, but now with the situation I must live with at home, I'm not sure what to do.

I won't negate all the progress I've made over the last two years, as they suggest, but I'm afraid that simply continuing on as I am with my job hunt with result in nothing but rejections. The only other choice I seem to have to go the opposite way:

I could have my birth certificate amended, at least in name not if not also in gender. Then I could present as female in my interviews. But this causes another problem. I have several letters of recommendation from all my previous employers, all under my old name. I never came out to any of them, and I'm concerned they might retract those letters if I requested an update.  And those letters have been quite valuable in the few interviews I have received.

Any ideas of what to do?

(no subject)

[kerrizor.livejournal.com]

Olympic committee OKs transsexual athletes

our elders are dying, and very few care...somebody please prove me wrong

[mascot.livejournal.com]

taken from the Q-Study listserve, and cross-posted a lot.

Internationally recognized cultural theorist and creative writer,
Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa, passed away on May 15 from diabetes-related
complications. She was 61 years old. A versatile author, Anzaldúa
published poetry, theoretical essays, short stories, autobiographical
narratives, interviews, children's books, and multigenre anthologies. As
one of
the first openly lesbian Chicana authors, Anzaldúa played a major role
in
redefining contemporary Chicano/a and lesbian/queer identities. And as
editor or
co-editor of three multicultural anthologies, Anzaldúa has also played
a vital role in developing an inclusionary feminist movement.

Anzaldúa is best known for Borderlands/La Frontera: The New
Mestiza (1987), a hybrid collection of poetry and prose which was named
one of
the 100 Best Books of the Century by both Hungry Mind Review and Utne
Reader. Anzaldúa's published works also include This Bridge Called My
Back:
Writings by Radical Women of Color (1981), a ground-breaking collection
of essays and poems widely recognized by scholars as the premiere
multicultural feminist text; Making Face, Making Soul/Haciendo Caras:
Creative and Critical Perspectives by Feminists-of-Color (1990), a
multigenre collection used in many university classrooms; two bilingual
children's books--Friends from the Other Side/Amigos del otro lado
(1993) and Prietita and the Ghost Woman/ Prietita y la Llorona (1995);
Interviews/Entrevistas (2000), a memoir-like collection of interviews;
and this bridge we call home: radical visions for transformation (2002),
a
co-edited collection of essays, poetry, and artwork that examines the
current status of feminist/womanist theorizing. Anzaldúa has won
numerous awards, including the Before Columbus Foundation American Book
Award,
the Lamda Lesbian Small Book Press Award, an NEA Fiction Award, the
Lesbian
Rights Award, the Sappho Award of Distinction, an NEA (National
endowment for the Arts) Fiction Award, and the American Studies
Association
Lifetime Achievement Award.

Anzaldúa was born in the Rio Grande Valley of south Texas in
1942, the eldest child of Urbano and Amalia Anzaldúa. She received her
B.A.
from Pan American University, her M.A. from University of Texas, Austin,
and was
completing her doctorate at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
She is survived by her mother, Amalia, her sister, Hilda, and two
brothers:
Urbano Anzaldúa, Jr. and Oscar Anzaldúa; five nieces, three nephews,
eighteen
grandnieces and grandnephews, a multitude of aunts and uncles, and many
close friends. A public memorial will be planned at a later date.

adios, gloria.