La Vie en Rose

One of my favorite films is an older one entitled Ma Vie en Rose about a little French boy who wanted to be a girl - who was a girl who needed to be who he was - in a situation that simply wasn't having it. The ending was quite sweet and I always hoped he would live his vie en rose once the rest of the folks around him realized he was perfectly okay.

If only this were the case with some bigoted, holy rolling Girl Scout Troops who denied a little child - Bobby Montoya - a chance to be a scout because she had "boy parts." Bobby is living as a little girl and loves it. She is a beautiful child and seems to have been born - as her mother agrees - into the wrong body.  

For all intents and purposes, Bobby is a little girl who can also pee standing up. The National Girl Scout Association seems okay too - they have no problem with it - but there are suddenly disbanded troops and self righteous leaders in Louisiana who find this wrong and dangerous.

Why am I so outraged? Because in West Hollywood we support and celebrate our citizens who are lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (oh and straight too). This is who they are and this is okay with me.  

Bobby's mother is a hero to me, because she supports her daughter's feelings, emotions and determination to be a little girl and a grown woman. (Sorry Chaz - you were my hero previously, but this mother has the title for now). Here's a hot clue for the WWJD crowd. Jesus wouldn't care one bit. The people who are dangerous and wrong are those who force their children and friends and relatives to hate and fear what they do not and will not understand.  

My family must have been even cooler than I thought, because I lived in the trees all summer, wore jeans, and no one seemed to find it wrong at all. I went on to be a vixen (as my 10-year-old son said once) a clotheshorse, a serial bride and the mother of two. I still wear jeans and I know that I would adore this little girl who has miles of bumpy road ahead of her.  

Living in West Hollywood feels good and safe and smart - for anyone who is clever and compassionate enough to love diversity and support the way in which it emerges in each person. My city has a place for a vie en rose or a vie en Dickie's.  

I don't think we have a Girl Scout troop, but that's something we could consider, as long as checking out body parts are not part of the initiation rites. As I recall, when I was a scout, we didn't look up eachother's uniforms.

So this is for Bobby Montoya and all the transgender folks who struggle to realize themselves. I embrace them and I wish them a bright and happy future. Happy Holidays to all!