Sylvester took the lovely Brazilian coffee I’d made and tried to look sensible as he sat at my kitchen table. It’s not easy to get him to understand the complexities of the transgender world, but I do my best. It’s rather like trying to teach a monkey to use a calculator. I eyed the bunch of bananas on the windowsill.
“Ok,” I said, ever patient. “I’ll try to explain it again. Think of it like this. I am going through changes.”
“I’ve seen your boobs!” said Sylvester.
“Shut up,” I replied. You know Sylvester really can be quite coarse. “There are shifts in my body, but also in the way I think and process things. Whether or not it’s the hormones, or just that I have become more sensitive, more kindly, more thoughtful, I don’t know.”
At this point Sylvester opened his mouth to speak and I gave him a sharp kick under the table.
“And with all these changes has come a different view of things. A different way of looking at the world,” I said. “But – and this is the complicated bit, Sylvester, concentrate now… But the world at which I am looking is also changing. It’s changing a lot. So, it’s like there’s two moving targets.”
“Oh, I get it,” he said, his brow knotted like an ancient oak tree’s roots clinging to the earth.
“So, as I look at the insanity going on in the world to day, I am looking at it with new eyes. It’s almost impossible to think of things the way I used to before I accepted this part of who I am – and those very same things are now all so different. It’s very confusing. And even sometimes frightening. I mean, there are people who would rather see a dead trans person than have a friendly trans person in their life. And they’re running the country! We used to be the good guys – and now we’re painted as a bunch of freaks!”
“That must be very difficult,” sympathised Sylvester.
“You can think of it like this. It’s like two trains, both moving at different speeds but going in the same direction. One is going a little faster than the other, but if you’re standing on one, the other might only seem to be moving a little faster than the other, but they’re both moving at great speed.”
“Like the two Pride floats on highway one that time?” said Sylvester.
“What?” I said thinking I’d lost him.
“You remember, when we were on Highway one, and we saw that float from First Bank, and we had to race it to get a better place in the Pride procession. Remember, I raced past them and cut them off before the slip road.”
I cringed at the memory.
“I remember the girls hanging on the back of the float as you screamed past, yes. Jenny is still having counselling over that.”
In my mind I saw Sylvester hunched over the steering wheel in the cab of the Kenworth Tractor, pulling on the horns and shouting for all the queens on the flat bed to hold on. As we raced past the other float, the driver flipping Sylvester the bird as we roared past, and taffeta, sequins and crowns flying everywhere as he pulled out and overtook the slower truck, and all just to get a better place in the Pride Parade.
“For the life of me I will never know how Alexa made the jump between the two vehicles,” I muttered. “And in those heels!”
“But we did get a better place in the Pride Parade,” said Sylvester.
“Well,” I replied, “Yes, it’s sort of like that. There’s a lot of moving parts, and at times like this it can be very confusing. And, I mean, we don’t all want to end up like Jenny, do we?”
“I suppose not,” agreed Sylvester.
But that is not the main reason I am writing to you today. Tonight I am going to an event called ‘Coronation’. This is a celebration put on by The Dogwood Monarchist Society, established in 1972 as a registered non-profit society to run the Imperial Court of Vancouver to support the LGBTQIA+ community. The DMS was recognized as the Mother Court of Canada in 1976, and is now part of over 70 courts across Canada, the United States and Mexico. Since its inceptions, the DMS has raised over $2M for deserving LGBTQ charities, and continues to thrive as an organization and as leaders within the Vancouver community. This is not only a wonderful event, Lenni (our very own) and her wife, Crem, are major drivers of the event and the organisation. You may know Lenni from our ‘Lenni And Jules’ discussions – https://fionadobson.com/tag/lenni-and-jules/.
Now, and here’s the important part, in this changing world, if you want to support an organisation that gives to deserving LGBTQ charities you should consider even a small one off donation to the DMS. I know how much good their work does and can vouch for their integrity. Donate Here – https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=3LZ29C5UQ795Q
I know Jules will be down there as well, and I expect they’ll be posting pics to our support group and Whatsapp Elite Group. I am sure some will end up on our Patreon page as well. It’s happening tonight and if you jump into the Whatsapp Group you’ll see content going up as it happens.
Anyway, I have to go now and get my hair done for the event. Have a lovely weekend!
Fiona.
