What's it like to live in your town?

[Chico]

So.... How's life? And.... what's going on in your neck of the woods?

[Chico]

I think that is so true what you said Christine regarding naive ate. Although I love my neighbourhood, and I am very fortunate to live in Vancouver. I find I am mistook for a lesbian constantly. Which is fine; I do live in the Dyke area of town. But, when I go to other parts of town, I get read as a guy. Go figure.

Christine L said:

Neck of the woods is such a great term in my case, well maybe a better term in my case would be "neck of the farms". See I live in Chilliwack, corn capital of BC. Those in the know might better know it as "The Wack". I do all my basic errands here and find I am very seldome read. I think this may be due to the fact that most folks in Chilliwack are so far removed from Transgender/Transsexual possibility that they are less likely to think, "that could have been a guy" or a transperson. Men open doors for me and let go infront of them in line ups, now how wonderful is that? I did not grow up here, I did that in Vancouver and will admit I prefer the big city over cornfields. Chilliwack is a refreshing change from the city though. I could call it gender/trans tolerant out of sheer naiveness.

[Rasikâ]

Life is okay. I'm still slightly struggling with getting things happening, and my patience has been lately tried.

Plus, I hate snow; it's just everywhere, and making me not want to go outside at all. XD Eventually, I will need to go outside to do laundry...

[Devon]

Well I promised the Universe I would not move any further than Williams Lake...boy was I wrong. After moving to Victoria I thought I had found a place where I would meet transfolk and get connected into our quaint community. I was rather disappointed to find there were no trans group or community supports in the Victoria area. So here I am up in Dawson Creek BC now. I don't think there are many people that know about transgendered people. So I am quietly enjoying the bliss, plus I have been taking T for years now so I am never seen as anything different then a guy. However it sure is lonely up here...I wish there was a group of transfolk I could connect with. This though is a wonderful site to chat and share.

Thanks for listening

Devon

[Casey Kieran]

I lived in Maple Ridge, Vancouver, North Vancouver, and I spent two months at a shelter in New Westminster. North Vancouver is vying for the "most bigoted city in Canada" award. I was treated miserably there. Transphobia is pervasive and a day didn't go by without a multitude of hurtful experiences. Oddly, Maple Ridge treated me far better and New Westminster even better still. Vancouver was horrible but not as bad as North Van. I don't understand how, but asian women don't seem to think it's rude to unabashedly stare or even giggle out loud (while staring). Vancouver has a large asian population so that caused a great deal of discomfort for me. Interestingly, transsexuals don't seem to be a 'big deal' to asian guys and I always found them to be polite to me (holding doors, all that...)

After a year and a half living the nightmare of transitioning in the Vancouver area, I finally escaped and now I live on Vancouver Island. I love it here. There's a degree of the naivety that Christine mentioned. Teenagers always seem twigged when they see me and that's no different here - except that there seems to be far fewer of them. Pleasantly, many of them are polite and respectful. Obviously raised with far better manners than the mainland brats. I have only been here for a little less than a month but I have had no uncomfortable incidents at all. To contrast, it was less than an hour in North Vancouver before I had my first confrontation.

I have blogged quite a bit about my experiences living in the Greater Vancouver area if you're interested. Um, be forewarned, there's lots of profanity.

[Kerrianne]

Hi folks... newbie bumping a discussion! :P

I have lived on the Sunshine Coast since 1990 (grew up in N.Van), most of those years spent pretending I was male. When I thought about transitioning a few years ago, I was sure I would have to move away because so many people know me here. I could just imagine myself walking down the street and getting, "Kerry? Is that you?"
But the more I thought about it the more I realized that there were a lot of people who really love my partner and I (they proved it by holding a benefit concert and raising money for us when she was diagnosed with cancer three years ago). Those people, and people I have met since, have in fact been amazing and supportive. Even excited for me.
I started by coming out to select people as being transgender while I was still living as male and I got nothing but strong support and kindness. When I went fulltime in May of this year, at the time of my official name change, I decided that even though this community is quite small, the old grape vine wasn't working that well and I wanted more people to know. So I emailed as many people from my past that meant something to me as I could think of with an official coming out letter and photo. I think of 30-40 emails there was only one who never replied with a positive, supportive reply, and that one I kind of figured on. But many many people up here have really surprised and delighted me, once again.
I think I'm probably talked about behind my back more than I realize, and I think lots of people I see that I don't really know, like store clerks, etc, might know, remember me, whatever. But no one has ever given me a bad time.

Before I went fulltime though, I spent about a year really gender-bending, to the point that I was passing as female occassionally with people who didn't know me. I did get lots of stares and looks, but the only person who ever made fun of me was a touristo from Vancouver whose girlfriend smacked him when she saw my partner glare at him. tsk.
When I first went fulltime this year I thought I might get more stares, but in fact I am ignored now, except when I run into people I know who haven't seen me in person yet. They are all so lovely and amazing. It really has made me appreciate what a great and tolerant (for the most part - we do have our frightened-ones up here) community this is. The Sunshine Coast has always been a haven for eccentrics, outlaws, misfits, hermits, etc. I fit in perfectly, lol!

One thing I wish is that I knew more transgender people up here. I have met one lovely lady who transitioned a few years ago, and I know there are a few others, but I really could use some proper support or trans-friends on the Coast. My work makes it impossible for me to get into Vancouver for the support groups or to socialize.

Devon, Dawson Creek? Wow, I bet there isn't a transalliance there. I'm glad it's working out for you though. We just got back from a visit to Whitehorse and I really liked that 'trans' isn't even on their radar. In more sophisticated places they see it more so I think they recognize it more. It's kind of ironic that a smaller place might actually be an easier place to just settle into as yourself. :)