I know, I know, but…

Okay, so it looks like things have come to an ending with both Crystal’s StorySite and FictionMania. Both have stopped accepting new submissions, and in some cases have turned off critical functions such as forum posting.

I have to say in some ways I’m relieved. People can calm down now and allow things to settle some. But it is up in the air as to whether Crystal’s StorySite will continue as it is. FictionMania has made their position clear (in their own way.)

For those of you who aren’t current on the flamewar, basically it comes to one person’s stories.

Click here for a brief history of the problems

So now we have a few alternatives. Go to a pay site like TGFiction, stay with sites like BigCloset and TopShelf and Stardust, create your own archive of stories and post them all there. And this is a very sad state of affairs indeed.

I’m sad things have come to this. I’m sad that problems have caused this fracture. My offer to host stories for authors who are leaving those sites still stands. This will remain a free site. I will even build a new site, complete with URL to host others stories if there is enough call for this.

I’m not really happy about all this, but there’s not a lot I can do. I’ve made my opinion plain as I can, and I stand by it.

Well, things have become confrontational on the message boards of both Crystal’s site and FictionMania. It’s starting to bleed over to TopShelf too, but hopefully it won’t reach there.

The problem is with a gentleman by the name of “Noah Vail” (a cute pun on “no avail”). He wrote several stories featuring an 8 year old being taken by adults in a sexual manner while dressed as a little girl.

The controversy’s shape is about “what is censorship”? There are a lot of people on both sites that want his stories removed posthaste, because they promote kiddie porn. They deal with sex situations with minor children. That is an accurate definition of the problem.

My take on it all? I don’t really have one. You see, I believe deeply in “live and let live”. While I do feel that both FictionMania and Crystal’s should stand by their posted Terms of Service and delete the stories (for promoting illegal acts, which is on their terms of service), I don’t think they should be removed from the Internet.

Let’s be rational. People are going to write stories that fit their perversions and nothing and no one is going to stop them. Him writing this for his own use is fine. Him sharing it with others is also fine. I don’t agree with the content at all, nor do I get aroused by the thought of a 10 year old having sex, but in America speech is protected.

He’s going to advocate that kind of activity, fine. He may do so. I don’t have to read it. The sites he has posted them on have Terms of Service that explicitly prohibit illegal acts, and as such they should stand by it and remove the stories. If they did not have such in their TOS, I wouldn’t ask them to remove the stories.

I can exercise my option and “change the channel” so as not to read what I find offensive.

Point in fact, I started reading one of the stories, just to see what was objectionable. I saw “my mother dressed me as a girl at 8 years old for her Johns” in the first sentence, and that was enough for me. I closed the window.

Let him write it, let him post it to sites that do not have clauses about no illegal activities. I’m fine with that. I don’t have to read it. It is as simple as that.

(I have made comments screened on this post. Don’t be afraid to post your thoughts, only you and I will see them.)

If you haven’t figured this out by now, you REALLY need to get a clue; I’m transgendered. Therefore you would think that I would be interested in the LGBT issues that come up. Things like “can transitioned people get healthcare?” “Will marriages that were made before a sex change still be valid afterward?” “Can a non-gay author write a good book about being gay?” one would think I would be concerned about, but I’m just not.
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One thing that keeps coming up for discussion in various TG/TS forums is fear of the police. There are multiple threads I’ve seen where the original poster is talking about the fear they have of being held by the police for some reason. Part of it is the humiliation of being outted as a TG/TS and the resulting ostracization that can occur from just that all the way to murder at the hands of the police.

Don’t think it’s possible? Take a look at this story and video: Woman Arrested/Striped/Left Naked By Police After Reporting A Crime

That woman is obviously a genetic girl, a real girl, and this happened to her as a victim of a crime. Then contrast that with this story:

Duanna Johnson in Memphis, TN
Memphis Police Officer Beats Transgender Suspect
Duanna Johnson Murdered
Transgender Beating Victim Found Dead in North Memphis

While I’m not going to say that the police murdered Duanna Johnson to stop the lawsuit against them, there is a pattern of violence against those who are considered “different” from the norm. That pattern has been displayed over and over again against not only those who are TS/TG, but those who are gay, those who prefer the company of another sex, and more.

I want to make some sort of grand statement here. I want to say that the entire reason that we fear is because there is truth in the fear, but I’m not that good a writer. I can’t be the voice of those who died like Duanna or Matthew Shepherd, I can’t express in text the nightmare that some feel when they go out dressed up. It is not just the frisson of fear that they will be seen and “outted” as a crossdresser, it is also the fear that there will be a violent, hate mongering, homophobic overreaction that will end with the one who is “different” being in the hospital, or worse, the morgue.

I would ask those who read this blog to pass along this story, to tell others of these experiences in their life. To try to get those who aren’t afraid to go out in clothing appropriate to their sex to understand and to be willing to prevent more of these tragedies.

All I can do is share my thoughts.

Normally I only pay enough attention to Politics to make sure that I still get the government benefits I need, but with the election of President Obama and the landslide of the Democrats taking back the Congress as well as the Executive Branch, I started paying more attention.

Today, I give you some topics that directly affect me and most TS ladies/men. Some topics will seem like I shouldn’t care, but in the words of someone famous, “…and then they came for me”.
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First, read this article:

From Salon

One of my transgenered friends shared this with me via Twitter a little while ago, and all I can say is “RIGHT ON CHAZ”!!!

The only way we, as a group of TS people, will get acceptance is to simply live our lives the way that we want to, to be able to be ourselves.  It’s by not caving to the neanderthals who don’t understand and hiding in our caves that we will finally be accepted as the person we are.

I hope Chaz and his love are happy for many many years to come.