There are signs that things are getting interesting. I read an article in the November GQ about Eddie Izzard -- a renowned British comedian and star of Broadway who also happens to be a transvestite. An excerpt from his stand-up act: "Yes, I wear women's clothes, but I fancy girls. I'm a male lesbian, you could say. A male tomboy. A running, jumping tree-climbing transvestite." The article starts out: "You do not have a place in your brain for Eddie Izzard. That's because a heterosexual, lipstick-wearing, unicycle-riding comic genius with Rod Stewart's shage and Mick Jagger's mojo has never walked the earth -- until now" Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that someone like this has never been noticed and accepted by the mainstream?

If you go to Avn.com, you'll see that one of the six chart-topping adult videos is Shemale Domination Nation. It features award-winning porn star female Belladonna playing with Brazilian shemales and male stud Nacho Vidal in hot three-ways (though in keeping with mainstream porn tradition, the cocks don't actually play with one another). It's up there with Up and Cummers and Rocco's Initiations as a top-selling movie. Just a few years ago, mainstream porn stars in scenes with transsexuals would have been unthinkable.

We've gotten to a point where homosexuality is almost completely acceptable. Will & Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, court victories over marriage and sodomy laws. So it would seem a fitting next step to start opening broader society's eyes to even greater diversity in sexuality.

Gender-bending has been around forever and is an acceptable part of some traditional cultures. So it's about time for modern society to catch up. When I try to explain to people that I feel strap-on play is a transgendered experience for me, I sometimes get a blank stare. I think it can be more difficult for people to accept these in-between states. Not completely feminine or masculine -- and no desire to go there either. Limbo can be a destination.