The official identity crisis…?

During the last weeks my gender identity has been questioned a couple of times. And no, there has been no identity crisis in my head yet. So let’s start from the beginning.

On the first of May I travelled to Budapest for a congress and the assembly of the TransgenderEurope, the all-European organization for the trans people. I was there as a representative of our crossdresser organization Dreamwearclub and the Finnish national lgbti organization Seta.

To be as feminine as possible I left all the male things home except the shaving equipment. So there I was in the security control at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport. First I had some problems with removing my necklace and suddenly a gentleman behind me offered some help and opened the lock. Then the security control lady took my ticket and said: Well, you must have your husband’s ticket!” and I denied. She vinced and apologized for her mistake and I said no problem, actually it was very flattering: She seemed very relieved after that. Next I went to the departure gate to hear the confused words: It’s written (my male name) here…”  I replied “…and (my male name) is also here.”. So I could get to the plain without any problems.

The congress in Budapest was interesting and full of happening, meeting people from every part of the world hearing good and not so good news about the conditions people like us are living.

In the garden of the congress hotel                                                                              

                        A guest from the Tonga Islands teaching us a folk tune

There was very little time to see the city until Sunday the 4^th of May when I had some spare time before my flight back. Even then the problem was most of the shops and historical places were closed.

                                          At the mall

I was a bit worried about the reputation of the right wing extremists In Hungary, but I couldn’t spot any of them – and it seems, neither did they spot me.  At the Budapest Airport I caused no confusion among the staff, either.                                    

                                                                                                                      

                                           Leaving the congress hotel with Kiira and Patricia

Another occurrence took place when I decided to pre-vote for the EU parliamentary elections. I'll have some other things to do in the actual election day and I forgot it so I had to do it on my way to my dance lesson. So I went to the queue in a Post office. The lady handed me the ballot very politely after checking my driving license. After filling the ballot I went to the desk to give it to the another official. He checked my license too and said my gender won’t match, the license is the man’s one. I replied I’m a man in a way, too. He still insisted he cannot identify me. After some conversation he finally allowed me to leave my ballot.

After these two incidents I have to come to the conclusion I must be far more passing than I’ve ever thought. That is not very bad thing to notice.