Even with 2 letters, though, there are some who have regrets after surgery. Usually those with regrets are those who took months instead of years in their transitions.

In the case of Christine, she had a learning curve of her own, including getting used to the use of heels. One doesn’t gain full femininity overnight, though some do seem to “pass” well as transvestites. Since Oberjuerge wrote this in 2007, the year of Mike/Christine’s initial announcement, awkwardness is to be expected.

One endocrinologist told me that he has many patients who try to fast-track transition and want him to make them women yesterday and that it’s an unrealistic expectation. I agree. If one born female takes years of puberty to present fully as a woman, what can be expected of a middle-age transsexual? Transition is typically a process of several years from the initial assessment by a mental health professional to surgery and legal reassignment.

Mike Penner/Christine Daniels is being mourned in transgender groups throughout the United States, because even though he decided to detransition, he was still embraced both as Mike and as Christine. He is also being eulogized in the Daily Titan,the journal of California State University, Fullerton; acknowledging him as a brilliant writer and alumnus of that school. He (as Mike) and she (as Christine) will be sorely missed by many who regard Mike/Christine as their own.

Jay Leno has long been criticized for cruel jesting against transpeople, especially in 2001 when he was on the cutting edge of ridicule against transition benefits offered by the City and County of San Francisco. The San Francisco program proved to be successful, with a rise of little more than $2 in premiums, and which turned out to be profitable for the insurer as well as beneficial for transitioning employees. Fears of the system being overrun with transition claims have been proven wrong.

Below is part of what Paul Oberjuerge wrote in 07.

“I hate to be judgmental about these things, but Christine is not an attractive woman. Which probably isn’t a surprise when you’re 50 and have spent your in-the-world life as a fairly drab guy. Who has a fairly prominent Adam’s apple (not all of us do) … Who also isn’t exactly petite. Maybe 6-1, 200?

So … she looks like a guy in a dress, pretty much. Except anyone paying any attention isn’t going to be fooled — as some people are by veteran transvestites.

Another guy in the business was sitting near me when “Chris” wobbled by on her mid-size heels, and she demurely said hello to this other guy, who is about the same age as the two of us. And this guy said, “Hey, Mike … uh, Christine.” He was embarrassed because he wanted to get it right, but he didn’t. Christine said something like, “Some habits are hard to break.” She was kind about it.

The thing is, and maybe this is cruel, but there were women in that room who were born women in body as well as soul. And the difference between them and Christine was, in my mind, fairly stark.

It seemed almost as we’re all going along with someone’s dress-up role playing “