Posted on 09/28/2005 4:08:44 AM PDT by Panerai
Many men have found peace at the Hub's veterans shelter – and one of them is living as a woman.
Jacquelyn Bissett, a former M16-toting Army private who kept his bisexuality secret for fear of retribution, is now accepted as a transsexual woman at the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans.
"A lot of the men here have been cordial,'' said 45-year-old Chelsea native Bissett, who, until she changed her name five years ago, was Michael Blair.
Thanks to a regimen of hormone pills and injections, Blair ``died,'' Bissett told the Herald, ``and Jacquelyn was born.''
Vincent Maloney, the Boston shelter's vice president of operations, said, "You have to change with the times. If breaking down barriers makes them (residents) more productive citizens, so be it.''
Despite her budding breasts, pink paisley top and Lancome-laquered nails, not everyone has embraced Bissett's feminine side – or the fact that a woman who may or may not have male genitals is living in the women's 20-bed dorm.
"He's a project that's not finished,'' spat one female ex-resident who clashed with Bissett. "I have sympathy for what he wants to do, but it shouldn't be shoved down our throats.''
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bostonherald.com ...
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