December 5, 2025, was a long-awaited moment of dream fulfillment for me. Six years of delay and interruption of my gender transition preceded it. And ten years of preparation and deliberation preceded that. And prior to that were six decades of concealment and mild-mannered deception. Of course I’m referring  to  a life of dissimulation, living as a man with a male mind but secretly guided by the heart of a woman. At age eleven I spent a night praying that I would wake as a girl. Despite the immediate disappointment of merciless postponement I lived long enough to experience its manifestation. Sixty-six years later my prayers would be answered on that December day at a Los Angeles hospital.

As I laid in a gurney awaiting Gender Confirmation Surgery, it occurred to me that my solitary state was accompanied by a certain anonymity. As though no one knew of my presence or even cared. I mused that the day after would bring a glorious epiphany or a forgettable depressive episode. Neither happened. I did experience a subtle realignment of bodily energies that restored an invigorating balance I’d never felt before. The indescribable relief I experienced revealed itself as the result of  the inaccessible change that had eluded me all my life.

My cousin, Michael Levine, an accomplished musical composer in the entertainment universe known as Hollywood, picked me up after a couple days of recovery and brought me to his house for some needed recuperation. Once at home, he shared with me a musical version of my journey, composed by him – Rita’s Song. It moved me. I cried (I still cry when I hear it…). It accurately described the record of my soul’s struggles. Michael’s brilliance sparkled and his creative sensitivity confirmed our familial closeness.

A few days later I suggested that the song would make a good music video. The response was that it’s a worthy idea but it would cost a small fortune to produce. A few more days later Michael called me to report that a colleague of his, film-maker Marcelle Abeles, volunteered to produce it as a music video and that she would do it gratis!  She delivered the finished piece within a few days. It seemed brilliant to me, though I was conscious of the combined weight of my unyielding bias and astonished gratitude. Marcelle is Maltese and later that week I got my first ever call from the storied isle of Malta. “Are you sitting down” she asked. I wasn’t ready for that sort of question and I sat down. “Rita’s Song has been selected for the Golden State Film Festival at the Grauman Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California in March 2026.” It’s good that I was comfortably seated at that moment, contemplating the unanticipated reality that I had entered an alternative universe.

Michael and I met at the Grauman for the film festival’s final party and awards presentation. There were a few hundred would-be screen personalities in attendance. It was  a cheap affair – drinks and popcorn were available for sale, nothing free for the attending party animals. A dumbed-down version of the Oscars was on display. Michael and I joked about the awards presentation. “What if we win ?” , I quipped. My Cuz countered, “don’t be ridiculous”. 

Ridiculousness did show up when the awards presentation finally addressed our category. To our overwhelmed surprise and delight the Master of Ceremonies proclaimed Rita’s Song the Grand Prize winner for Music Video. My heart responded audibly as we were summoned to the stage. Michael took the mike first and articulately nuanced his professionalism with just the right remarks for this audience. My turn came and I initially struggled to express myself, finally focusing on encouraging Trans people to persist in their quest for the liberation of authenticity. My thirty second message to the public left me speechless. We left the theater in stunned elation.

  And to my surprise, there was more to come. Rita’s Song was distributed by friends to internet contacts without restriction. The response was universally positive. It won similar awards at other film festivals, including Italy and Ukraine, among others back home. A targeted national promotion campaign featured linking the video to my new book, Reimagining Your Garden. It reached three hundred online channels, radio and TV stations, magazines and newspaper. I did several written interviews for popular media magazines. Suddenly I realized that I had become a minor celebrity, just months after celebrating the joy of anonymity that a well-staffed hospital recovery room offers.

Many lessons can be identified in this serendipitous exercise. Among them was that my fated rise to public recognition delivered a consequential public message. Focusing the spotlight  on the private me and revealing a public personality resulted in a visibility victory for Trans People. Celebrating a TransWoman’s journey neutralizes the anti-Trans toxicity of our society’s most regressive elements. It humanizes the Trans experience, illustrating the emotional and material challenges that define our quest for legitimacy.

The Trans crisis is not a unique obstacle to social evolution. It is ultimately wedded to the struggle of every other minority. All of us who deviate from a narrowly defined behavioral norm are subject to disapproval by an unforgiving, oppressive, and deeply ignorant majority. In the case of TransWomen, that disapproval occasionally morphs into tragic, fatal violence. My ascension to minor celebrity status should and will be considered a moment expressing authentic social diversity, effectively subverting obsolete discriminatory norms. It is gratifying to play a role in undermining a dysfunctional social order that conspires to repress and eliminate our innate sense of purpose and identity. It has inspired me to rededicate my efforts to the rehabilitation of our society. Authenticity and the limitless freedom that supports it is our collective birthright.