People Like Me

When you're different, you don't expect people to understand you. For most of my life, I haven't had family or friends who grasped my struggles, who saw my true self, and who understood what I need to be happy.

Fortunately, society has improved. Forty years ago, information about transgender people wasn't readily available. Today it is. Of course, you need to educate yourself and that's an effort few people make, but the knowledge is attainable if you care to acquire it.

If -- and it's a big "if" -- you want to learn about people like me, there's a documentary that is clear, explicit and engaging. It's called "Just Gender." The film is narrated by Bebe Neuwirth who's won Emmy and Tony awards and is best known for her TV role as Frasier's wife Lilith.

The film is mostly interviews of transgender people, supplemented with lucid explanations of the complexities of our lives. It's not a Hollywood thriller but, for an educational film, it isn't a snore either. It's hard not to empathize with the plight of suffering people and you might cry once or twice. I did.

Just tossin' this out there... Oh, and here's something to look at...