When we Were Against the Law

Talk Show Host Phil Donohue with male vocalist Grae Phillips

I am old enough to remember the days in Dayton, Ohio when transvestites and or cross dressing men were loaded into police vehicles and arrested.

Since I was just discovering my attraction to feminine clothes, of course the whole process scared me. I did not want the police to come in and arrest me. Then, the Stonewall Riots happened in New York City in 1969 and all of a sudden there was a glimmer of hope for me again. The outside world was changing, or so I thought as I watched and learned from my home in faraway Ohio. I was in my second year of college and the world was changing for me also. As the world on occasion seemed to tip in our favor when movies such as “Tootsie” were released in 1982.

Then there were the flood of talk shows from “Phil Donohue” to “Jerry Springer” who focused on the the so called married cross dresser and wives. Many were trash and did the transgender or cross dressing community any good. Donohue ran from 1970 until 1996. Sadly we were left with being items of ridicule on “Springer. “ We were not against the law but close.

Now of course we face the most difficult times a transgender woman can face. If the orange menace and his cronies find their way into power, we in the entire LGBTQ community face a real threat to our very existence. I live in Ohio and the anti-transgender political ads against Democratic Senator…