Is the Presbyterian Church Harmful to My Health - Part 6

I finally did have a bit of a run-in with the TransFamily board. I had met a very religious transgender person on the board, and we’d become friends immediately. This person was stalled in the middle of transition and felt she had to keep it this way in order to keep her job and not hurt her family. She was, however, farther along physically than Donna. For one thing, this person had been a Mormon and really did not want to be completely thrown out of the Mormon Church. This person also had another entire secret life as a well-known Hare Krishna! She was older and very open-minded and interested in a variety of religions. Anyway, people on the board began to object to all our religious talk. My friend finally left the board over it, but we’ve continued our friendship through e-mails. One mother of a young female-to-male trans daughter objected to the religious talk too and made a dig, so I posted a message that I was going to give the board a rest for awhile.

Two people expressed interest in staying friends with me through e-mails. One was the mother of a male-to-female postop trans daughter. The other person was someone who had never posted on the board while I was a member, but she had been reading my posts. She sent me an e-mail saying she would like to be friends with me. Her name was JimmieLee Smith. I can say that because she is very public. She is the firefighter who won the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the Civil Rights Act applied to transgender people. She is one brave person who has fought to the end, and I’ve posted things about her before on my blog. She and Donna are now probably my two closest friends.

Not long after all this transpired, the Pride Parade was upon me. Sixth Presbyterian Church would be marching in the parade. The week before the parade was the church picnic. I told one of the lesbians in charge of the parade that I would be willing to staff the booth for awhile after the parade. I felt a bit sad and left out and ignored at the picnic. I was also starting to feel badly about the fact that I didn’t think I’d ever hear from Erin again. So I didn’t hang around long, and I think my problems with whether the Presbyterian Church is a healthy place for me to be had begun, because I came home quite depressed.

However, the parade seemed to wash all that away temporarily. The lesbians from church all showed up, some with their children. Straight families and their children showed up to march. Some of the elderly members showed up. Marching through Pittsburgh was a ball! My shift was not till three o’clock. We got to the booths. It was a beautiful day. We were right on the river between PNC Park and Heinz Field. You could see the bridges, all three rivers, downtown, the Point, the fountain, and Mt. Washington. Handicapped members of the church showed up to hang out at the booth. The new minister showed up, and we had a great talk about being Presbyterians in San Francisco. I began to feel totally comfortable about her as our new minister. We were right next to the transgender booth, and I was very anxious to meet members of the Pittsburgh community, since I only knew people in Ohio and other parts of Pennsylvania.

While waiting for my shift on the booth, I felt compassion for Bobbie, an older, handicapped, African-American woman who had to walk back across the bridge to her apartment. I offered to give her a ride home, since I could do it and still make it back for my shift. She took me up on it. As we were driving by PNC Park, she told me she had never been there, even though she lived close by. I remarked that I would come to a game if Pedro Martinez were pitching against the Pirates. That’s how our friendship began. She started teasing me about Pedro. By the time I pulled up in front of her building, we were already great friends.

To be continued…