Spring Break
One Life: Two Genders
Kaylah Baca
Issue date: 10/4/07 Section: Focus
Boylan paused during her reading, many times, and told the crowd that her feelings had nothing to do with whether she was attracted to boys or girls. She said it is not a hobby or even a lifestyle. The way she feels about herself is a fact.
"Transgender people are different because of their history, which many people cannot accept" Boylan said.
The next chapter she read discussed a time she was in her house alone, or so she had thought, and was practicing a speech out loud while wearing a bra. She commented on how her house was perfect for two types of people: someone such as herself and someone who did drugs. Boylan explained that because the paneling in the walls was perfect for hiding things, she would hide pot or bras. The crowd laughed as she recalled how one could tell what type of day she was having by which panel was open.
She continued reading and described how the door to her room creaked open and the sound of the piano downstairs floated into her room. She put the bra away and went downstairs to investigate. Boylan found her dad at the piano and both were alarmed to find each other in the house. She began to converse with her father about playing and about a cancerous mole he just had removed. Boylan asked her father whether he was alright now, but her father said if anything were to happen, she was suppose to take care of her mother and sister.
"Be a man," he said to her.
"I think the whole gender-identity topic is a very touchy issue and to hear the struggle someone like [Boylan] has had to go through, really makes it more real to us who never really understood it before," said Stacie Hernandez, a 6th- semester business major.
Boylan then began to talk about how supportive her mother was and still is about her being a transgender. She also talked about her wife, whom she married while still known as James Boylan. They have two children together and have remained together throughout all of the hard times.
Contact Kaylah Baca at Kaylah.Baca@UConn.edu
"Transgender people are different because of their history, which many people cannot accept" Boylan said.
The next chapter she read discussed a time she was in her house alone, or so she had thought, and was practicing a speech out loud while wearing a bra. She commented on how her house was perfect for two types of people: someone such as herself and someone who did drugs. Boylan explained that because the paneling in the walls was perfect for hiding things, she would hide pot or bras. The crowd laughed as she recalled how one could tell what type of day she was having by which panel was open.
She continued reading and described how the door to her room creaked open and the sound of the piano downstairs floated into her room. She put the bra away and went downstairs to investigate. Boylan found her dad at the piano and both were alarmed to find each other in the house. She began to converse with her father about playing and about a cancerous mole he just had removed. Boylan asked her father whether he was alright now, but her father said if anything were to happen, she was suppose to take care of her mother and sister.
"Be a man," he said to her.
"I think the whole gender-identity topic is a very touchy issue and to hear the struggle someone like [Boylan] has had to go through, really makes it more real to us who never really understood it before," said Stacie Hernandez, a 6th- semester business major.
Boylan then began to talk about how supportive her mother was and still is about her being a transgender. She also talked about her wife, whom she married while still known as James Boylan. They have two children together and have remained together throughout all of the hard times.
Contact Kaylah Baca at Kaylah.Baca@UConn.edu
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