I'm Not a Man, but I Play One in Real Life by DC Juris

The AHMAHZING DC Juris agreed to stop by The Purple Fantasy Den today and do a guest blog post. He needs no introduction, we all know that he's an amazing author and we're so lucky that he agreed to stop by and do this guest post for us. So without further ado...take it away DC!




I'mNot a Man, but I Play One in Real Life by DC Juris
Hifolks! ::waves:: I'm DC Juris. For those of you who don't know me, I'm atransgender man who writes GLBTQ and heterosexual romance.
I'vebeen an out and proud member of the transgender community for about three yearsnow. I came out first to my husband and kids. My husband wasn't surprised, andeven though he's the Straightest Straight Guy Who Ever Straighted in StraightTown, he's still with me. Coming out to my family was a little easier - not becausethey're more accepting, but be cause the number of them who still speak to meafter I came out as gay many years ago is pretty low.
Actually,it's just my sister. My sister and I didn't grow up together. In fact, she'sprobably just under 20 years older than me. We have the same mother, butdifferent fathers. I came out to her a couple Thanksgivings ago. We ended uphaving to go to Wal-Mart to buy a new Christmas tree, and I told her abouteverything in the parking lot.
Wedidn't discuss it much after that. This year, when she came to visit forThanksgiving, I showed her my top binder. I was getting ready to go to awedding, so I wore my binder under a dress shirt and a suit jacket. I'm notsure what she thought of the whole situation, exactly, but she asked questionsand seemed genuinely interested.
Shemailed us our Christmas presents this year, and mine was a very lovely gender-neutralbracelet. My sister is a jewelry hound - she loves looking at it, she lovesbuying it for herself, she loves wearing it, and she loves buying it forothers. She was more than a little disappointed, I think, to think jewelry wasoff the list of possibilities for me as presents. But she managed to find theperfect piece, which I loved. I don't get many acknowledgements of who I am, soit was nice to see an actual effort on someone's part. We talked later in theweek and I thanked her and told her how much I liked the gender-neutral aspectof it.
Aweek or so later, I sent her an e-mail asking for a picture. And that's whenthe interesting thing happened. She wrote back and said that the bracelet hadbeen "for Danny" but that it was okay if I liked it, too.Andit struck me - do people think I'm playing a roll? That I'm Daniel when I puton a chest binder and a sport coat, but someone else otherwise?
Becausenothing could be further from the truth. Though I've only officially startedusing the name in the past couple years (though not legally), I've been Danielall my life. Oh, I've had many different names over the years. At one point,when I was eleven, I referred to myself as Lord Osmosis. But I've always beenmale.
Evenmy husband, who is allowed to call me by my legal name and use female pronouns,has started using male pronouns on occasion.
Iguess it's difficult to wrap a mind around the situation of being transgender.I mean, most people don't do through their lives wanting to cut their bodiesparts off, or wear clothing of another gender, or things like that. Most peoplelament about their weight, acne, if their hair is curly or straight – thosekinds of things.
Somaybe to most people, it looks like I'm playing dress up. Or maybe I'm a dragking, or a cross dresser.
Butthe reality is – I'm me. I may have female body parts, but I'm all man on theinside.