me before I transitioned

I made this video nine years ago at the high school I was teaching at, Hononegah High School in Rockton Illinois. I left mid year so I wanted to say good bye somehow to everyone. Obviously I was the art teacher. I am posting this because I am now a transgender or transsexual female. I am still teaching art.

I transitioned 2 years ago- I left in June as Michael and came back to the same school in August as Michelle. I met this awesome Australian film producer, Rohan Spong, that is making a documentary about teachers that transition in American schools. He asked me to be in the film and we just finished up shooting over the summer. The film should be out by the end of the year.

In this video I paint a landscape on a piece of plexus-glass with "angel" as the background music. I had just come from the staff Christmas party and was very depressed as my wife and kids had already moved to Nevada ahead of me. It was about 12:30 at night and I made this with just 2 takes in the art room that I would never see again. The ironic part of this video is that we ended up moving to the bottom of Hope Valley on the back side of Lake Tahoe. The view from our house looked up the valley through two mountains just like this. It was our dream home. This was the last residence I shared with my wife and kids as my transition was too much for them to handle. The idea was, as I painted you would see less and less of me until I was gone. I was headed to the mountains so I just painted a simple and quick landscape. . . .Read More

MichelleLilith

HRC Praises Obama’s AG Nominee Eric Holder

Dec 1, 2008

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights group, today praised President-Elect Barack Obama’s selection of Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States.

The former deputy attorney general in the Clinton Administration proved himself to be a strong advocate for fairness and basic rights and an unswerving proponent of fully-inclusive federal hate crimes legislation.

"In Eric Holder, President-Elect Obama has chosen an attorney general who has demonstrated his dedication to civil rights, protecting communities from hate violence, and the fair and equal application of our laws," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

"Eric Holder has recognized the deleterious effect that hate and bias crimes have not just on victims, but on entire communities. President-Elect Obama’s appointment continues to prove his commitment to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community." . . .Read More

Dale Belino

by In conversation with Ciara Dwyer

November 30 2008

If I'm on a day shift in the hospital, I start work at 8am. For this, I usually get up at 5.30am. I get up early to make myself beautiful. I have to wash my hair and straighten it. I want to look great for my patients. I work in the orthopaedic surgical ward. The patients are sick and they can be down, so I want to build them up. When I don't fix myself up or have make-up on, they're surprised. They ask me if I am sick, and I tell them that it's just that I have been lazy that day. I have a coffee before I leave the apartment, and I have breakfast later on at work.

I used to shave in the mornings, because I used to be a man. I had stubble and all those problems, but then I went to a laser clinic in London and got rid of all my facial hair. I went through a transformation. At first I was gay, then I started dressing up in women's clothes and becoming effeminate. But I suppose I was always effeminate. I think it's an environmental thing. I'm the youngest in my family -- I have two older sisters. I wasn't allowed to try on their clothes, but I was always playing with their dolls. My father was out working all day, so there wasn't a strong male influence at home. I was with my sisters and my mother and I tended to imitate them when they were doing their hair and make-up. My family is into this whole Catholic thing, and they had all these expectations -- you have to do this, you have to do that -- but eventually I achieved my own expectations by transforming.

I let my hair grow long. I got my eye bags removed and I had my tits done at the same time. I think I'm addicted to surgery. I had my lips plumped with injections, and I've had implants into my bum and hips to make them look curvier. I also had two jobs done on my nose and got my chin fixed too. My pain threshold is very high. . . .Read More

Trans community demands justice!

Ryan Radclyffe-Brown, Canberra

3 December 2008


The following article is based on a speech given at the November 20 Transgender Day of Remembrance in Canberra.

In 1995 a man named Brandon was assaulted in front of his girlfriend, and then later he was raped and murdered, along with his two housemates. The local police force did nothing. Men like Brandon didn’t deserve an investigation, or justice.

Brandon was a transman.

An activist organisation called Transsexual Menace flew 40 people out to Brandon’s home town in Nebraska. They held a candlelit vigil outside the police station and courthouse every night to draw attention to the injustices done to Brandon. They stayed until his killers were tried and found guilty of murder.

Transsexual Menace started holding vigils every time a transperson was murdered or killed by neglect. It demanded justice for our fallen brothers and sisters. As time went on, the number of deaths became too much for a volunteer organisation like Transsexual Menace to hold a separate vigil for each death. . . .Read More