Attention All Queer-Identified College Students

I am a second-year student at Ohio State University. For one of my classes, I am conducting a survey and writing a paper to analyze the experiences of queer-identified college students. I seek to discover if there is a correlation between how “out” a student is about their identity and how accepting their peers are of that identity, and their cumulative GPA. 

Neither the survey or paper will be published. The only people who will ever see it are me and my professor.

So, please, fill it out, reblog it, and share it with all your queer friends.

Thank you!

Trans-safe schools project

Hey guys! Since I’m “out” and about, I decided that I want to make a difference at my school for other transgender teens. Mainly what this involves is a presentation on transpeople and trans-etiquette, getting local LGBT resources made available in the counseling office, creating a LGBT club on campus (since I’m a senior, I’ll have to recruit some sophomores/juniors for this job and start it up next year), and hopefully getting this program spread around in the district high schools and maybe even the entire state of Arizona.

What I need you guys for is the presentation. I was thinking, so that I don’t have to out any local transpeople who don’t want to be out, I thought it would be perfect as part of the presentation to introduce trans-teens from across the nation! I could have you guys email me a video talking about your current or previous high school experiences and if you came out in high school, your coming out story. I think it would be pretty fantastic!

If you’re interested, please contact me at my email- riley_gt@yahoo.com and I will give you more details when I have them! 

Hey everyone!  So after lots of saving and struggling I have come to the realization that I will very likely never be able to get the medical procedures I need to transition because I will not be able to afford them on my own. To that end I am turning to the only place left that might be able to help: The Internet. I have set up a GoFundMe page to try and raise money for my transition operations. http://www.gofundme.com/2d5840 If anyone can spare anything at all, even a dollar is more than I had before, it would be so incredibly helpful.  I understand completely if you can’t donate. The reason I am doing this is because money is incredibly tight and I have a kid to think about, so I know what it’s like. If you can’t donate, can you please reblog? Getting the word out can make all the difference.  Thank you very much for reading. 
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Hey everyone! 

So after lots of saving and struggling I have come to the realization that I will very likely never be able to get the medical procedures I need to transition because I will not be able to afford them on my own. To that end I am turning to the only place left that might be able to help: The Internet.

I have set up a GoFundMe page to try and raise money for my transition operations.

http://www.gofundme.com/2d5840

If anyone can spare anything at all, even a dollar is more than I had before, it would be so incredibly helpful. 

I understand completely if you can’t donate. The reason I am doing this is because money is incredibly tight and I have a kid to think about, so I know what it’s like. If you can’t donate, can you please reblog? Getting the word out can make all the difference. 

Thank you very much for reading. 

Raise Omega- Chest Surgery Fundraising My name is Markko Lovaye and I have created a Surgery Fundraising page. There are reward levels for those who donate specific amounts! Please check it out and pass it on to friends and family. My transition and need story (in a nutshell) is included on the page. Please click here to donate now! Can’t afford the reward levels? Any donation amount will help… EVEN IF IT’S JUST A PENNY!
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Raise Omega- Chest Surgery Fundraising

My name is Markko Lovaye and I have created a Surgery Fundraising page. There are reward levels for those who donate specific amounts! Please check it out and pass it on to friends and family. My transition and need story (in a nutshell) is included on the page. Please click here to donate now!

Can’t afford the reward levels? Any donation amount will help… EVEN IF IT’S JUST A PENNY!

Q: I am a MtF that has been on hormone therapy for over a year now. I’ve recently come out at work (positive) and I’ve got a few friends at work that support me (One of which has become my best friend since ^.^). I’m about to start the name change process, but there’s just one looming catch-all in this process: my voice. I’m trying my best to bring it up to a normal feminine registrar, but it’s very, very difficult and I can basically only do it when I’m at about a whisper tone. I work as both a cashier and a produce clerk, so I usually get a decent amount of time to talk people, most of which seem at least moderately confused as to what to call me. I was wondering if you had any places I could get personalized vocal training with. I’ve been watching the videos on YouTube that say to basically pinch my voice at a spot to work on it, but it’s just not practical to pinch my larynx while I’m running a cash register. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I’d love to get along with the name change process before too long, but I’d like to be able to have a more appropriate sounding voice beforehand.

A: From personal experience with voice therapy, one of the most important things I have been taught is be patient (I know…duh right?). My voice therapist told me early on to think of my vocal chords like a muscle. What we have to do in getting our voice higher is to stretch those vocal chords regularly, but safely. So, find Youtube videos with exercises and do those exercises as regularly as possible, but don’t OVERDO it.

Next, record yourself! It sucks, but you have to practice and document, so that you can make corrections where necessary.

Also, make sure that you stay hydrated. When you don’t properly take care of your vocal chords you risk permanent damage. And make sure you rest your voice. I find it is harder to get good results when I am exhausted, dehydrated, or stressed.

***Look up videos by Ingo Titze. He has an amazing straw exercise that really works well to stretch and work the vocal chords.

***Also, if you look up a website called: Deep Stealth Productions, there is a wealth of resources and even videos you can buy that should help with the voice process of transition.

If you can, depending on your location, look for a speech and hearing clinic. There may be professionals who can help you. Fortunately, I’ve been attending a university that has a clinic…but you don’t have to actually be a student. Tt can be difficult, but search around you and see if there are any voice resources.

I think you have a potentially great opportunity to use your job as a way to practice your voice. Try out different ways of speaking with the people who come to your cash register and you may find that you’ll be better able to pinpoint what works and what doesn’t. It may just not be helpful for you to think about pinching your larynx. In fact, that sounds kind of scary. I know it helps me to maybe practice short phrases under my breath before I say them. That’s how I practice when I’m out and about. Or practice phrases you use regularly and get those to sound the way you want privately.

Lastly, be realistic. Sometimes we get caught up in this ideal picture of what we want our voice to sound like and I know for me it wouldn’t even seem right if I had an overly high-pitched voice. I’ve gotten accustomed to a voice that is rich, but not necessarily that high.

ANOTHER NOTE: Are you sure you need to get your voice to a perfect point before you start the name-change process? My voice was nowhere near where it is now when I started and considering how long both of these processes can take, it may be best to do them concurrently. I’ve found (with myself and friends) that as long as your presentation is pretty good, the name-change process isn’t too difficult. Most of the preliminary name-change stuff revolves around filing paperwork anyway, so you won’t have too much talking or in person stuff to do for a while.

CONCRETE VOICE TIPS

1. Speak forward. (That is…make sure the sounds you are making are coming more from inside of the mouth than the throat.)

2. Speak softer. (Not with a whisper, but with less power behind your voice.)

3. Vary your pitch. (One of the biggest things for me was ridding myself of how monotone my voice could sound. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your levels!)

4. Appropriate breath support. (Make sure you are breathing deeply enough to carry your higher voice… It’s going to take a little more work for a while, but you’ll get accustomed to it and spare your vocal chords from potential injury!) 

Good luck!

- Love, Roxxi <3

Transforming Practice - New Book on Trans Health

Dear T.R.A.N.S.,

Looking over your tumblr it’s clear that you have a strong interest and focus in the health and well being of trans men. In our experience trans men often have to bear the burden of educating many of their health care providers about pertinent (and often impertinent) transgender health issues themselves.

Today we at Ethica Press are launching Transforming Practice: Life Stories of Transgender Men that Change How Health Providers Work, the first book of it’s kind to demonstrate how health providers might better support those questioning or struggling with gender transition on the trans-masculine spectrum. We think this book is important to the T.R.A.N.S. audience and we’d love it if you would share information about its release. The book is now available on our website and Amazon.com, and we’ll soon be launching a Kindle version.

http://www.transformingpractice.net

A trans-ally, social worker and current Medical student, Marcus Greatheart was inspired to write the book after discovering how common it was to find discouraging and despair-filled accounts of gender transition among his trans male friends. In response, he interviewed satisfied, post-transition trans men about the factors and circumstances that contributed to their experiences with gender transition in order to understand what worked well and share it with those initiating or still in the transition process.  

If you’re interested in delving deeper into this topic with your audience we would love to assist you by providing additional press material, setting up one-on-one interviews with Marcus, or writing a guest post for your blog at your request.




Many thanks,


Geoff Watland
Ethica Press
jezabelle@ethicapress.com

PS…Please forward this email to coworkers, friends, family…anyone you think would be interested.
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