![]() It bills itself as "the world's first cross-dressing academy," and still operates out of her Chelsea apartment.īefore the term transgender gained traction in the '90s, all trans people were regarded as transvestites, or cross-dressers. Raised as a Roman Catholic in New Jersey, she pursued a career on Wall Street, then one in pornography and sex journalism, before founding Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls in the early 1990s. Veronica Vera, known as Miss Vera, is a prominent mentor on the cross-dressing scene and the only biological female in the room.Part of her mission is to help wives understand and embrace their husbands' cross-dressing desires. But at this point in my life I've realized that becoming trans is not an option, so I will be a cross-dresser."Īnd a gentle Midwesterner named Joan - with the kind of voice that's good for telling stories around a campfire - says, "My wife doesn't want to see me dress, but she will offer makeup advice. "I came to it more through a fetish for high heels, boots, leather. Nancy claims CDI's application to take part in New York's annual LGBT Pride March has been continually rejected in recent years, with organizers telling her each time it was filed too late.Īnother member, Donna, echoes a sentiment heard over and over. Many cross-dressers rely on gay bars as places to feel safe in public, yet that's usually where the association ends. "The gays aren't too pleased with us because they think we are like Punxsutawney Phil - you come out on Groundhog Day, and then you go back down the hole," Nancy adds. "You dress, you go to Macy's, you go to a Broadway show," she says. She's not dressed tonight and looks a bit like Jerry Van Dyke with a manicure. ![]() ![]() About 11 years ago, I was very suicidal," says one member, who has grandchildren and who asked not to be identified by name. "For as long as I remember, I've had gender identity issues. The periphery is lined with lockers and stacks of luggage members pay a fee to keep their wardrobes here and can come and go as they please. There are two sofas and a television in the living room, a shelf for unwanted clothing, and a bulletin board with announcements and resources. In the entry hall of this low-ceiling garden apartment, there's a stack of pigeonholes for passing along communications and sometimes love notes to other members. There are two rules: no photography and never reveal your male name. Since the late 1990s, the New York-based group Crossdressers International, or CDI, has maintained an apartment here.įor its roughly 30 key-holding members, the CDI headquarters serves as a support group and a locker room. ![]() The tableau is like a mote of Old New York dust suspended in the neon beams reaching west from nearby Times Square. Behind Manhattan's Port Authority Bus Terminal lies a grimy, litter-strewn block of brownstones where a half dozen bums have camped outside an abandoned storefront. ![]()
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