Working within my Community

Regular readers will be aware that I am Bisexual. I've started volunteering at Manchester's Lesbian and Gay Federation. I am loving it.

I have never been as involved in 'gay life' and 'the scene' before and it is quite a novelty to me as a result. There's so much going on, too!


First weekend in March there is 'Sugar and Spice', a celebration of International Women's Day. I plan to be there, with bells on (possibly quite literally).


Earlier this week I attended 'Stepping Stones' and learnt a lot as part of Gay History Month.
Bisexual history can be found here.



I also gave thought this week to who amongst the lesbian and female bisexual icons might have inspired me. It took me a while to come up with some names, but here's my list:

• Josephine Baker, a fabulous dancer from our earlier history
• Frida Kahlo, a talented Mexican artist whose works I am fascinated by, who was married to Diego Rivera, but numbered Josephine Baker amongst her female lovers
• Jodie Foster, a very talented actress
• Alice Walker, author of 'The Color Purple'
• Sarah Waters, author of 'Tipping the Velvet', 'Fingersmith' and a number of other fabulous period novels
• Jessie Blackwood, author of 'Per Ardua', 'Life Begins at Forty' and more; also my Best Friend!
• Margarethe Cammermeyer, the highest ranking US military official to come out while in the service and campaigner for gay rights in the military
• Angeline Jolie, actress and celebrity and very beautiful woman

Writing Lyle

I spoke about writing Lyle over on my Mistress Moreish blog. I want to share some of what I learnt here too though. The character of Lyle is a transgendered male. He was born into a female body and he wants to change so that his body matches his identity. For Lyle gender is anything but irrelevant.

Lyle starts his story at the point where he has been living as a man for a little over two years, and has just started taking hormones to help change his body to that of a male, which is who he is. Lyle is gay. Our story takes him through his first proper date as a man, with another man, Gil.

I researched this section of the story very carefully. I found a lot out about how Lyle might feel, what he would want and not want in a lover and how the practical aspects of making love would affect his experience. I also found out a lot about how TG persons feel about the way they are portrayed in the media and in fiction.

I'm very grateful to the TG persons and fellow authors who helped me write this entry to the Haven Falls website. It was very challenging and it taught me some things both as a writer and as a supporter of people of ALL genders and gender identitites.

What did I learn? Well I hadn't realised previously what side effects Transmen experience from taking hormones. I had guessed at how they might feel about physical contact, but was glad to confirm I had gotten it right. I found out about the preferred language for addressing the issues and the persons involved and about which areas of the topic of transitioning are most charged for those participating in the process. I found out what the various options for surgery are for Transmen, that not all TG people do transition, and that transitioning is costly in both financial and, more importantly, emotional and social terms. I hope people feel I do justice to the topic and that I am portraying Lyle faithfully and sympathetically. Feedback about my writing is always welcomed, especially if you cvan offer constructive criticism or advice on how to do it better next time.