LISA SALAZAR — BLOG

I share this story because I want to honor my friend Tori in recognition of her role in my life as I emerged anew.  In 1999, about the time I was being assessed and diagnosed at the Vancouver Hospital’s Gender Clinic, I made a couple of calls to a support group in the area. Their brochure listed a phone number and stated calls could be made on Thursday nights if you needed to speak to someone. Otherwise, you could leave a message, and someone would get back to you. The woman who answered was friendly and explained the group’s purpose and how one would attend their meetings and other events. Membership was reserved for those who had been vetted and approved by the membership committee. Confidentiality and security of personal information were very high on the group’s priority list. Given the group’s stated purpose was to provide a safe place for heterosexual men to cross-dress and socialize, learn from each other, and support each other, I never did follow through with joining or e...

Do you ever get a song stuck in your head, and no matter what you do, the melody or the lyrics keep playing repeatedly like a broken record?   I just dated myself. How many people still remember broken records? The closest equivalent in today's parlance is when a CD player continuously goes into a digital bleep or a sound file loops. Mister Tambourine Man has been looping in one part of my brain while in another region. I have been considering a conversation with a new friend,  Alexandra Henriques , director of Generations at Qmunity, BC's queer resource center. I met her at a recent workshop at the University of British Columbia. As we were learning about each other, she shared a bit about the sensitivity training workshops she gives at Seniors' residences and care facilities. Until then, I had never really thought about aging lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender seniors and the challenges they may face when they move to one of these homes. The reality is that there i...