I was still a little wet behind the ears when I first encountered Virginia Prince back in 1992 at the International Foundation for Gender Education Conference in Houston.  She made a point of attending my Transgender Alternative seminar, and was almost disruptive when she launched her challenges during the Q & A session.  That's how much she cared about our community. 

She had already coined the term "transgenderist" to describe folks like me and her, who believe we can express our true gender without hormones or surgery.  But there I was, all too boldly proposing that the term "transgender" might actually apply to most of us in a transcendent way, and also serve as an umbrella term for us all.  Dr. Richard Ekins in the UK has documented those of us who were first published [see the Oxford English Dictionary] using the word "transgender" in its current all-inclusive form.

All my subsequent encounters with Virginia involved her challenging me on that--- that is, up until she offered me her chocolate.  We were on a shuttle bus to catch our planes after a conference, and she chose to sit down next to me.  It was 6:30am, and we were both spent.  She asked me, "Would you like some chocolate?"  I declined, but asked her why.  She said, "You know, a person could pretty much live on chocolate because of its chemical components.  You know, I used to be a chemist."  That's when I finally felt the true love belying her intellectual toughness, as well as her profound humanity, and her support for me and others to carry the trans-torch forward, even though it wasn't quite how she expected that to play out.

She has unwittingly earned the label, Trans Grandmother, at least in contemporary Western civilization.  No one else has had such an impact.  It won't be all that long until I and others will need to pass the torch again. 

Like Virginia, I ask questions like: Will they honor their past?  Will they be Re-active or Pro-active?  Will they be able to carry the torch that was lit back in the days of our oppression, which actually goes back millennia, when we had to fight for every single freedom that we now take for granted?  And will the powers that be continue to challenge us, as honored colleagues? 

Virginia fought.  She went to jail for us back in the 50s.  And I believe she would applaud anyone now who has the vision and the strength to continue our fight. It is far from over.