I am the woman that runs the firewall.
When I ask you where you need to access your server from please answer me accurately and before making changes.
Please don't make it an urgent problem when your systems break because you didn't talk to me.

That is all.

Ruby holding her first dose of HRT: 2mg Estradiol (sublingual), 25mg spironolactone (oral).

5 years of HRT!!!!

My journey has had some potholes, and progress has not been linear. But the individual days (1826 of them!!!!!) have each been less of a grind.

Life has simply been better since I started caring about myself, and this was an important step.

I paint a picture of the days gone by
When love went blind and you would make me see
I'd stare a lifetime into your eyes
So that I knew that you were there for me
Time after time, you were there for me

“I Remember You” by Skid Row written by Dave Sabo & Rachel Bolan.

😭🕯️

I am not saddened by the retreading of a prior generations achievements. We need to prove the safety of the foundation we intend to build on.

I am deeply disturbed by the political climate this occurs in, especially as we are now fighting for the same human dignity that was contested back then.
🧵 5

I know Artemis II is a stepping stone to grander things. Things I believed were going to happen soon when I was a child.

Apollo 8 was a very similar stepping stone. 57 years ago.

🧵 4

Challenger didn't change my love of space exploration. It did change the expectations of how and why human space flight would be conducted. It took the solar wind out of a lot of my space dreams.

When Columbia broke up on re-entry 17 years later, I was already numb. My dreams already broken.

🧵 3

I did not watch Challenger's last flight because it was an unusually nice day for January, and I wanted to be outside¹. And there would be another launch soon enough.

1) no, I don't have any idea why I had recess at 11 am on a Tuesday. It was 40 years ago.

🧵 2

This has been bugging me since Wednesday, and I feel it's complicated.

Integrity has done something that has not been done since before I was born.

When I was a child, human space flight was a given, and regular enough to lose attention.

🧵 1

The most effective way to prevent trans adults is to eliminate trans children. The far right understands this, so the focus of its anti-trans strategy is to create an unlivable environment for trans children. Trans people also fully understand this. The democrats and mushy center don't understand it and react as if it's just reasonable "adult" things like transgenderism be kept out of schools and kids' media. They act as if those kids aren't trans already, in the schools already

Trans people are a wedge. Attacking gays stopped working, so Republicans attack trans people to get at gays. Trans minors are the wedge of the wedge. They pick on the subgroup that can't defend themselves and which Democrats are least likely to stand up for To Democrats, this is a reasonable "compromise". Let go on the trans children, focus on the more winnable rights for trans adults. For trans adults this is obviously, axiomatically unacceptable because *we are all ex-children*. Anything done to children is something that was done to our past selves

Somewhere right now there is a ten-year-old child who is, for all practical purposes, me. She is experiencing something she cannot explain or yet understand. She is in an unfriendly environment (Texas? Alberta?) that does not help her understand, punishes her when she tries to figure it out herself.

When I see trans children being legislated away, I think: I care more about what happens to this child than what happens to me. I want her to reach forty-one without being broken and damaged, like I am from all the things cis people did to me. I want the next me to have a better life than this one.

This is my trans agenda

Happy Trans Day of Visibility.

To all my siblings out there, I see you even on days when you have trouble seeing yourself (and those days when I have the same difficulty). Be safe, family.

New bathroom law.

Panel one: A male presenting character sits at a desk. Panel two: The character reads a tweet, by @transsalamander: If you're under the assumption that you're a cis guy but have always dreamed of being a girl, and the only reason you haven't transitioned is because you're afraid you'll be an "ugly" girl: That's dysphoria. You're literally a trans girl already, hon. Panel three: the character frowns Panel four: She opens her eyes wide. Comic is RealLife, by Mae Dean.

"If you're trans, you have to live."

Skirt go spinny:
I was knee deep in lockdown with houseguests, and a skirt was a way to be not naked on the way to the bathroom. Never went back.

Also, Reddit "research":
I went looking for trans masc timelines to compare to my husband's progress. Found trans femme timelines and cracked.

Why does Kansas persist in...
well...
being Kansas?

In 1998, there was a three year old girl who discovered that she felt comfier in girl’s pajamas than the boy’s pajamas her parents bought her. It’d be 15 years before she realized she was a girl, and 25 years before she began her transition.

It shouldn’t take this long.

Happy Valentine's day to my relentlessly queer family:
@2ells2tees.bsky.social,
@beigealert.bsky.social, and kiddo who is not on bsky.

Definitely an earbud.
I take you with me on the train all the time.

Blåhaj?

...and I can't math. It was 36 years.

Although there were many times that her egg cracked enough to leak a bit, it was 30 years before she hatched and started to transition.

It should never take this long.

In 1984, there was a lonely 10 year old girl who met the first girl who was ever interested in spending time with her. She felt comfortable and accepted. She thought she might be in love.

She grew up knowing that girls could be anything (except amab). "Love" made more sense than "gender envy.”

Every now and then, I know you'll never be the boy
You always wanted to be

But every now and then, I know you'll always be the only boy
Who wanted me the way that I am

"Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler, written by Jim Steinman

This feels like it's about my husband.

Favorite pic of 2025

Way back in March, about 10 minutes before I told my friend Kelly about my new girlfriend.

It's been amazing spending what time we can together @beigealert.bsky.social

Over 30 selfie thread.

I'm 51, on HRT for 4.5 years and I've never been happier.

There is still time.

The movie that was #1 when you turned 10 years old is how your 2026 will go...

I just don't know.

Ghostbusters, August 1984.

My girlfriend's unofficial city flag is much better than the official one, but it hasn't had many derivative versions made (yet). So she doesn't have a trans version of her city flag like I do.

I didn't see this coming either.
I want you in my life, as close as possible.
That you fit so well into my family unit is amazing.

I am thankful for my queer community:
For the women who gave me hope that I was possible.
For those who believe in me even when I don't.
For friends around the world that remind me daily that we are amazing, messy, loving, ordinary people.

I am thankful for my relentlessly queer family:
For my husband and teen who knew to give me space to pull off today's feast.
For my girlfriend who I will celebrate with soon.
For my family of origin, less queer, and less local, but allies.