It's my eldest daughter's birthday this weekend. She's going to be eleven years old! Astonishing! She's practically a teenager now and I'm sure it was only a few years ago that I was one of those.

Soon she'll be wearing an inadequate amount of clothing, bringing unsavoury boys home and getting all secretive. *Sigh* She's a lovely person, so I just hope a glimmer of that remains visible over the coming years.

This is the email I wanted to send to my work colleagues. See what you think...

All,

This note is to announce that I'm volunteering to setup and run a Pride Network at CompanyX. The aim of the Pride Network will be to provide support to gay, lesbian and transgender people. Simply put; I will act as a point of contact for gay, lesbian and transgender staff and if necesssary, arrange meetings and events allowing people to share their experiences and advice.

The Pride Network will be a self-funded group and I want to make it absolutely clear that the Pride Network has no agenda to secure special treatment for any employee from the Company, in fact quite the reverse. The Pride Network will fight to ensure that all persons are treated equally, whatever their persuasion.

If statistics hold true, it's likely to be a very small network but I believe stongly enough in the cause to start this now so that it becomes an established (if informal) offering within CompanyX.

You will of course be wondering why I'm stepping up to the plate, and the simple answer is that I consider myself to be transgendered. You can scurry off to wikipedia or elsewhere to look this up as I'm not going to offer any explanation in this email. This email is not about me, it's about offering help and support to others who may be less comfortable with their situation than I am.

This communication has been discussed with the board and management team of CompanyX and I enclose a short statement from them.

"CompanyX is an equal opportunities employer and we wholeheartedly approve of any network that might help our staff in minority groups to grow and thrive with us. Anyone who embraces CompanyX's dedication to delivering world class solutions and services to our clients has a place with us."

In the first instance, anyone wishing to communicate with me on this subject should email me. Those who do not wish to use CompanyX mail can use companyXpride@some-email.com or phone me on [my-mobile-number].

Well I'm not in the blogging groove, but this is worth reporting. I had a review with my line manager recently and it was all good stuff. Then I let him in on the worst kept secret in the company, that I'm a cross-dresser!

My reasons were twofold:
1) He can be forewarned and look in-control if anyone mentions it
2) I proposed my idea to set up a support group for gay, lesbian and transgender folk

I knew this was going to be an interesting chat. Mr.H has got a reputation as something of a man's man. Unreconstructed male etc. and Miss.T even warned me against talking to him. However, the precedent was set long ago when I told my previous line manager, so...

Well first of all it was a surprise to him and this meant that the company grapevine had been keeping the news under wraps quite well. Interesting! He was greatly amused it must be said and asked quite a few questions which is always an interesting reaction. It's not a big deal, I'm not asking for any special treatment, so it's just a bald statement of fact. I reassured him that I wasn't about to come to work en-femme but apart from that there was no problem at all. he said he would discuss my idea of a supprt group with the board of the company and the chat moved on to other things and a couple more beers.

Well today I received an email from the MD and he's understanding and supportive which is great, but he doesn't want an email sent out to the company advertising a support network. "It's a private matter and would be counterproductive...". This is a disappointing outcome if it's the end of the story...but is it?