[blindlgbtpride] Intro

[Tyrone White]

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Lyn Gwizdak" <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
Sent: Sunday, November 13, 2011 12:56 PM
To: "Blind LGBT Pride discussion list" <blindlgbtpride at acb.org>
Subject: Re: [blindlgbtpride] Intro

> Hi Dorene,
> I'm Lyn, a Transsexual man and I'm going to be 61 in a few weeks.  I have 
> some sight and use a guide dog.  I live with my sister who is also blind 
> and developmentally developed.
>
> I do pet assisted therapy with my guide dog, Landon, a red Lab/Golden 
> cross who is going to be 6 next week.  We are active at our blind center 
> and with the LGBT community.  I belong to our LGBT Democratic club and we 
> live in San Diego.
>
> I have met a couple of blind LGBT folks here - about seven people - some 
> are Gay, some are Bi, and two of us are Trans.  We don't really meet other 
> than running into each other at some function at the LGBT Center - never 
> at the blind center.
>
> What I run into is that it seems that the majority of the blind people 
> here are older, christian, and somewhat conservative and  a coouple are 
> openly homophobic.  The rest just accept me as I am since they've known me 
> for so many years.  I have been a long time volunteer there and have held 
> office - board of directors and Board President - and was the Activity 
> Coordinator. So, as they find out that I'm Trans, they already know me as 
> the good person they always knew.  One of the senior couples has a Lesbian 
> daughter who is in the military.  They support their daughter and love her 
> dearly and they accept me being Trans.
>
> One of the things I've noticed is the lack of LGBT literature available in 
> formats for the blind.  I'm so lucky that I can read print with 
> magnification.  Sure, there's the Internet, but there are so many great 
> books and they are NOT on tape or Braille.  I look through Talking Book 
> Topics, publication from the National Library Service that lists the 
> available books on tape - or is it almost all digital now.  I enjoy LGBT 
> history books, and Gay male fiction and I borrow these from the library at 
> our LGBT Center.  In general, I enjoy historical fiction, biographies, and 
> dog books.
>
> It seems that most stuff on tape is Westerns, religious, or other stuff 
> very straight orientated - nothing Gay and not much on sexuality in 
> general. Don't know how we can change this.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Lyn
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <dorenefc at aol.com>
> To: <blindlgbtpride at acb.org>
> Sent: Saturday, November 12, 2011 10:52 AM
> Subject: [blindlgbtpride] Intro
>
>
>> Hi All
>>
>> I have been reading people's introductions with interest and decided to 
>> post a little about myself:
>>
>> My name is Dorene.
>>
>> I live in Seattle and identify as bi and have had relationships with 
>> women since college. I listed my relationship status on Facebook as it's 
>> complicated for two days and decided that was too much. I have a husband 
>> from Russia who is deaf, gay and not ethnically Russian. We have been 
>> separated for several years but have not gotten around to getting 
>> divorced. I feel lucky to live in Seattle because it's both socialy and 
>> legally easy to be open about lots of things.
>>
>> I just turned 50 this year. I came of age in the early 1980's when 
>> radical feminist and lesbian were often mixed in people's thinking. 
>> Feminism is more important to me than, say, sports. I like reading, 
>> computers, social justice activism.
>>
>> I have had crummy vision all my life with different variations depending 
>> on the sequence of surgeries. I feel lucky that I could read print allthe 
>> way through my MA but I also feel frustrated not to have had more ways to 
>> think iabout making some things easier, less tiring. I became legally 
>> blind about 7 years ago so I have all kinds of vision dependent habits 
>> and really mediocre skills of blindness. Most of the time I am okay with 
>> embracing the adventure of it all. Well, most of the time.
>>
>> I think it was last summer I posted something wondering how many of us do 
>> things to be visible for younger blind people dealing with sexual 
>> identity issues. I posted the query but I still have not done much about 
>> it.
>>
>> But I am curious, who else is out there on this list.
>>
>> Dorene Cornwell
>> Seattle WA
>>
>>
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