Michelle Smith

Michelle Smith has known her spouse Debbie since 1980, were married in 1982 and will celebrate a wedding anniversary in August. When they married, Debbie knew nothing of Michelle and would not find out until much later. Before the disclosure they had two boys, both currently in college and accepting of Michelle. Michelle and Debbie have worked their way through Michelle's entire journey from closeted cross-dresser to gender reassignment surgery in November of 2007 sometimes heading down a wayward path and learning many lessons along the way. Michelle and Debbie are passionate about talking about their journey to hopefully help others from straying from the path that leads to the fulfillment sought by both partners.

Michelle is active in her employee resource group as a board member since 2005, spending two years as president. She is also on the boards of the St. Louis Gender Foundation, a transgender support group as Outreach Coordinator and as the secretary of Pride-St. Louis, the community LGBT organization. Debbie also actively supports these community organizations.

Michelle and Danielle Garnich teach the following class:

Preserving the Marriage, Family and/or Committed Relationship Involving a Transgender Partner/Spouse

All too often upon the disclosure of being transgender from cross-dressing to transition do marriages, families, and committed relationships fall apart. This strain manifests itself both personally as well as professionally with a resultant loss in productivity both in your personal life as well as on the job. This workshop examines the key elements discovered by the presenters in their own transitions and from talking to others to arrive at strategies for increasing the likelihood that a marriage and a family can survive.

This workshop will include: 1) An exercise to help the transgender participants understand themselves and their ability to relate to their spouses, family, or significant other what is going on in their lives with respect to being transgender and the level of understanding and support this important part of the transgender individual's life is capable of exhibiting; 2) the lessons learned by the presenters during their journeys as a transgender individual; 3) some strategies to employ during the participant's journey as a couple with a transgender partner; and 4) Open discussions of issues on the minds of the audience.