Transsexuals are a group of empowered human beings who have seen what its like to live life as one gender, and have decided quite correctly that its not for them....

well almost..

Transsexuals or People with Gender Identity Dysphoria (GID) are poor people who due to chemical inbalances in the womb or some such medical mumbo jumbo, were born with the brain of one gender and the physical characteristics of the other.. Belive me, its a bummer!

So what do they do? well the lucky few (those who don't spend a lifetime suffering constant depression, angst, abuse from others, discrimation by society, maltreatment by the medical profession, self multilation and far, far to often suicide..) manage to find a sympathetic pshrink who after at least 3 months of analysis will prescribe them hormone replacent therapy (Estrogen and Progesterone for the Girls, Testosterone for the Boys) after a few months of which they will begin to live as their true gender full time..

It is generally around this time that the abuse from society gets even worse, many transsexuals are deserted by their family and friends, lose their jobs and chances of employment (dispite the fact that transsexuals are usually significatly more intelligent than average) and face legal difficulties in changing their documents such as drivers licence, passport and bank accounts.. we won't even enter into the birth certificate debate here...

If they survive this period, which again claims yet more lives, after a year or more of living fulltime and being assesed by a pair of pshrinks, they can be considered for surgery..

The surgery that Transsexuals under go is more effective for the Girls (who recive functioning, if sterile genitals which have fooled many doctors..) than for the Boys (who currently can only really recive breast reduction if they wish to continue having sexual function), though this surgery does cost approximatly half the average annual salery it is a lot cheaper in time than having to continue the preoperative treatment indefinatly..

There are approximatly 5000 Transsexuals living in the United Kingdom alone, and most do not look like men in dresses or butch dykes, most look like normal (if slightly tall/short) members of their gender..

There is still lots of discrimination to be faced living as a post operative transsexual but most people will never know just how many they have met..