Diary

I was living by myself in a little studio in Rotterdam. I could only rent it for four months and that turned out to be far too short to work out all my gender problems.

But then I got a real 'once in a lifetime' opportunity: I was offered a job in Boston. We would be working on a very interesting project and we would also be building up a Boston branch of the company.

It sounded like a great chance to start a completely new life in a completely new environment. But would Boston be safe enough for an inexperienced transgender person? Unfortunately I didn't know Gendertalk yet, because in this case a question to Gendertalk would have been appropriate! I posted some entries in newsgroups to find out and soon I managed to start an email conversation with a Boston cross dresser.

Ze told me there was quite a nice trans community in the Boston area. I learned a lot about the differences between different states in the USA. And I learned that Massachusetts was one of the most liberal ones in gender issues. I started to get a real appetite for this job. I signed the contract and made arrangements with my new employer about the timing of my move to Boston. The plan was I would be starting my work in Holland in January and move to the USA in April.

But soon things started to go wrong. The first thing that went wrong were the presidential elections in the USA in 2000. I didn't expect the climate for transgendered people to improve with Mr. Bush in the White House.
Then the project we were going to work on was cancelled. So we would still be setting up a Boston office for the company, but without the guarantee of an abundance of interesting, well-paid work.

At the end of February 2001 I visited Boston to have a good look around, to meet my new colleagues and to have some meetings with a customer. I haven't tried to go outside in female clothing while I was in Boston. I didn't feel confident enough to do that. Instead I did experiment with some eye-catching androgynous outfits like a pink leather jacket with matching nail polish. I wasn't lynched, but I did get quite a lot of reactions. The two fifteen year old boys who helped me at the check-out counter at Market Basket had such a good laugh, they probably still remember me today!

Of course I also planned a rendez-vous with my email contact. We were to meet at Jacques' in Church street. Unfortunately we missed each other by a few minutes, but I did have the opportunity to talk with some nice people over there. So I got the impression there was indeed a lively transgender scene in Boston, but it was just a niche. Out on the streets the acceptance of gender-variant behavior appeared to be more difficult in Boston than it is in Holland.

And then the company decided to give up the idea of a Boston office altogether. Oh yes, I could still work for them, but that would have to be in California. Well I know almost all Americans want to live in California, but this was too big a step for me. If a company moves your workplace so easily by 5000 miles what will be next? Ohio? Pennsylvania? So I decided I didn't want this job any more. I wanted to stay safely in the Netherlands and that is what I did.


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