Chloe

Not long after arriving in Melbourne and settling into a sharehouse in Footscray, or otherwise known as
" Foot Scary". I struck up a online friendship with someone from "Trannyradio"
(its an online resource and connection site)

We would regularly chat and discus shopping and numerous other topics . eventually we went from chatting on line and texting to arranging to meet up at a pup in town for a drink. We decided on meeting at the Young &Jackson hotel,made famous for "Chloe" a portrait of a rubenesque young girl something that I have wanted to see for so long

                        

http://www.stevezervos.com/chloe.htm

Click the link for more details about the painting and its history

The history behind "Chloe" the Painting, "Marie" the muse and the hotel all share such a colourful history that no one could easily separate the two. so iconic is this art work that at one stage it was sold and removed only to be bought by a benefactor and returned to its rightful place. Almost everyone I know would find it difficult to separate the three

Still living very much in boy mode at the time. I walked in and was greeted by my friend Peter and a girl he had just met that day. All three of us were getting on famously and both of them soon began to quiz my history and plans for the future, About an hour later I realised that they had both stopped calling me by my boy name and were now using she and her as pronouns and calling me Alice. I couldn't stop blushing as we chatted even though it felt right and natural.
It was a first for me, being respected as a person regardless of my Gender status/preference and it was a truly wonderful experience.

Charlotte and myself got on so well I must admit I was totally in awe of her style, a sort of semi gothic mixed in with that unique Melbourne style. I still remember her dragging me of to the female toilets, where she pulled out her mascara and did my eyes then she messed with my hair and clipped it with a gothic styled cameo clip. Charlotte latter confided in me that she was intersexed, and could easily understand the mental anguish that I was going through. As she too had spent many years coming to terms with herself as an intersexed person


All these years later I still find myself thinking of Peter and Charlotte and that day, with a big smile spreading across my face. I so enjoyed that day in the sun. My first day being called by my real name.
I still have that cameo clip in my memories box.
And with all the excitement of that day I never did get to see "Chloe"