A Few Good Friends

Celly · Post by **Celly** » Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:36 pm

I come from a time when letter-writing was the means of communication and I am still an inveterate letter-writer. I have tried and tried to find friends who are capable of being reliable email correspondents but so far, unsuccessfully. I lead a pretty boring life in comparison to many of you and I could never pass if my life depended on it. I live in the Bible Belt where underwires might as well be coat hangers because we're so far in the closet. There are clubs where I might go, if I didn't fear losing my job, family and probably having my house burned down so I pick the safe way and keep to myself. It gets lonely lots of the times and I yearn for another of similar persuasion to talk to. How have you handled the loneliness?

RikkiOfLA · Post by **RikkiOfLA** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 2:04 am

Dear Celly,

Here in Los Angeles, the Bible belt is a lot stronger than people realize. This is kind of a city of polarized culture--people tend to belong either to the Liberal Establishment (you work in entertainment, you're friendly toward gays and ethnic minorities, liberal politics, if you're religious, it's Unitarian or Reformed Jewish only), or the Conservative Establishment (you work in aerospace, you're friendly to your own kind only, you vote conservative, and you belong to any of a number of conservative religious groups).

Not much in between. So I can't really relate to the Bible Belt.

But I do know that if I can't be myself, then I'm going to spend my life being someone I'm not.

Beauty · Post by **Beauty** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 6:41 am

Hi Celly,
I agree 100% with Rikki. That was funny about the aerospace comment

Celly please e-mail me or PM me if you just want to talk. You are very brave for coming here and seeking support from others. I think you're doing a great job and hopefully one day you will travel to an event like Southern Comfort or the Eureka Springs GetAway.

I'm sure there are lurkers from the Bible Belt who read what you type and you just gave them lots of relief. That's a hero in my book.

Thank you for being here.

Beauty

Celly · Post by **Celly** » Wed Apr 21, 2004 9:33 pm

I guess that I'm just too cowardly to venture out. I've tried several things and was a member of Tri-Ess back when it first began as Tri-Sigma Sorority. Someone raised a stink about using the name so it was changed to Tri-Ess. While it affords support to many, I did not fall within its boundaries and eventually dropped out.
Incidentally, during a particularly bad time when I was questioning everything and attempting to determine whether my chromosomes were indeed out of kilter (I never found out), I talked with Christine Jorgenson about whether she assumed the role of a female before surgery. She was very nice, concerned and told me that she did not. She just always sensed that she was "different." It took a lot of courage to do what she did and that has meant a lot to all of us.
I suppose I just look at my situation as "Quiet Desperation."