There are many thousands of places that will greet a crossdresser or trans girl with a smile. We drive by them everyday, and most of the time we don’t give them a second thought. I myself have passed several places, wondering if I could feel comfortable stopping in, but didn’t do so. Ultimately, I end up going to places where I feel safe. Over the years, many such places have earned our business by accepting and catering to girls like us.
For example, there are around 1385 Ulta stores in the US. I have heard many wonderful stories of CDH girls that frequent them for their beautification goals. Additionally, there are over 2700 Sephora stores in 35 countries around the world. Lots of us girls go to these, and feel comfortable and welcome. My point in all of this is to tap into a knowledge base that can help all of us find our place in the world. CDH is eager to help, and this is how we can do it.
We are excited to start a contest in February, to find and document the local places that our members know and love.
We want to have a list of providers that we know are accepting of the LGBTQIA+ community and we will use YOUR contributions to accomplish this.
The contest will start on Monday, February 3rd 2025 and will run for 2 months, ending on FIND A RAINBOW DAY – April 3rd. The member who has the most local places published in that time will receive a free 1-year Princess membership. Second and third places receive a free 1-year Duchess and Baroness membership, respectively. To be eligible for any prize, a minimum of 25 entries will be required. I have done as many as 8 in one evening after dinner so, 25 over 2 months is quite doable.
The site owner, Vanessa Law, has also agreed that during the contest period, every 25 entries will earn that contributor a 2-month Duchess-level membership. 50 entries will translate to 4 months, and so on.
We also want everyone to be kept informed of how the contest is going. So, as the contest proceeds, there are going to be multiple badges, as well as updates on the home page. All the award winners will receive a special badge prominently displayed on their profile page for everyone to see. During the contest, any member that gets 10 places published will earn a badge to celebrate their contribution.
These are the rules for this contest.
1) To qualify for a Local Places entry, the place’s title, description, a category, and a website address will be required. (A Facebook page qualifies as a website, as does their Instagram or Twitter/X.)
2) Two out of three of the following will also be required: Phone, Email, Contact Person.
3) The place description needs to be a minimum of 7 words long.
4) All submissions should be appropriate for the audience. CDH will remain PG-rated.
5) Chain stores will not be accepted for this contest. If the listing you are submitting has more than 20 locations it will be considered a chain store.
6) Submissions need to be uploaded using the Local Places submission form. If you click HERE, you’ll be taken right to the form to get started.
7) Please be discreet. Check with every establishment you intend to submit an entry for, and make sure they are comfortable having their contact information released.
8) Every establishment submitted as a Local Places entry needs to be actively doing business at the time it is submitted.
9) Establishments submitted need to be regarded as safe and accepting of our membership. Please use good judgement.
10) Duplicate entries will only be awarded to the first person to submit them.
We have editors that will be checking each submission for accuracy and relevance. We won’t be able to respond to each submission personally, but we will do our best to publish each submission in a timely manner. You can then look your listing up using the search bar in the Local Places section of CDH.
I am coming up on 5 years of being a part of this wonderful community. I have grown personally, relying on the help, support and generosity of everyone here at CDH. Talk with your friends and help make this contest a success for all of us.
Hugs,
Bree
I don’t know why this article is (currently) showing as written by me. I edited and published it, but the author is Bree Heath @Bree Heath, all credit belongs to her! A site software issue, I imagine?
@Fiona Finlay – ah. Hence the US references. I thought you’d emigrated!
Where in the Heck is that COPYRIGHT button…..
@midwesterngirl
Great article Bree … hopefully there will be some way of getting your name attached to it!
I think this is a wonderful initiative, I’ll certainly be sorting out a list of UK places for you.
I just want to say a HUGE thank you for everything that you and the other Local Places girls, @Kaye Kisses and @Lynne Eden, do for our community. You’re absolute stars, and you deserve all the recognition you can get.
Big hugs
Ellie x
@ellyd22
Thank you Dear. shopping one of your submissions is going to go right in my bucket list. I managed to get to Ireland last year but would definitely love to walk around the UK with a purse full of Sterling…
Huggs
Bree
@midwesterngirl
Just so you know, I’ve ‘stickied’ this article so that it will remain prominent in the forums for a while.
Ellie x
Thanks Hun 🤗
@Fiona Finlay Sorry this was probably my fault.
I noticed that it didn’t automatically cross-post the article to the forums, so I went in after to update this, and the system must’ve gotten confused.
I felt bad about this so went into the database to make sure it was right. Sorry @Bree Heath and @Fiona Finlay – should all be fine now
@cdh
Thanks Hun. Of course, I was enjoying the plausible deniability…Now everyone will know it was my fault if we break the internet.
@finallyfiona
Hi, Fluff, I saw it with you as the topic starter but that Bree had signed it. This has been happening recently, but as far as I’ve seen, only with articles.
Ah, the mystery of software issues, never got these problems with an abacus! But then, we don’t get CDH on an abacus either 🙄.
Allie xxx
great Idea !
Thank you Dear
Did a local place immediately pop into your head. I know down here in the capital of Wisconsin there are lots of places. I like to think its cause there are so progressive in Madison but I think being a college town helps
@midwesterngirl
I’ve assembled a list of UK places, but I’m holding off on submitting any of them until after the competition starts 🙂
As a member of staff I won’t be eligible for any of the prizes, but I AM interested in earning a badge for 10+ contributions.
I just really like badges.
Ellie x
Good Plan Hun…I actually haven’t seen the badges yet….But I want one
🤗
@ellyd22
Badges are nice. You already have a local place published….very nice.
Thanks Dear
Bree
@midwesterngirl
Ohhhh … I have several more lined up 🙂
Ellie x
(PS – I had to read your message twice, since the first time through I thought you were telling me that badgers are nice).
Well….Wisconsin Badgers women’s Volleyball girls are nice. The little furry creatures…not so much. Had one down on the farm…not very sociable..lol
Thank you
Bree
@midwesterngirl
I’ve just contacted ten more UK MTF makeover services to see if they’re up for being included. I’ll contact another ten tomorrow.
As and when they start to reply, I’ll submit the listings.
Once those are all dealt with, I have even more to get through 🙂
Ellie
You go girl….Let me know if it gets to be too much for you. I could find some time to help input a couple for you. Just get me the web address of their storefront.
Extra Huggs
Bree
@midwesterngirl
It’s okay … I’ve got this.
I’m concentrating initially on UK makeover services, and then I’ll move on to venues 🙂
I’m actually enjoying getting in touch with all of the people involved. It’s building up my contacts list and I’m unearthing places I’d never previously heard of.
As of now (early afternoon on Thursday) I’ve emailed 22 providers, I’ve heard back from seven of those and I’ve had five sites published (with two more submitted).
Badges, here I come 🙂
Ellie x
To paraphrase the movie Treasure of Sierra Madre: “ “ Badges? You don’t need no badges!” 👩❤️👩👩❤️👩
@missylinda
I just love a good badge 🙂
Saturday Feb 8th, Ellie-update:
Ten sites already published (nine in the UK, one in the Netherlands), an eleventh pending, and still awaiting responses from another 23 providers 🙂
Love it….Liz was busy but…Badge on the way
🍻
@midwesterngirl
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADGE!
@ellyd22
I’m guessing you’d rather get a badge from ME than fetch it for yourself. You could do that you know 😀
Badge has been awarded!
@lizk
That feels like approving my own photos. It doesn’t seem right somehow. Sort of an abuse of power 🙁
I’m going to wear my badge all day 🙂
@midwesterngirl @lizk
I’m on a mission here. I’ve now submitted 30 UK sites in total 🙂
As staff I’m not eligible to take part the competition, but I’m still aiming to earn at least that ’50’ badge.
@Ellie Davis I’m only 4 behind you Ellie.. and they are only one pesky ocean away!
@emilysouthern
I’m aiming to submit another eight tonight 🙂
My main sticking point is all the people I contact that then don’t get back to me 🙁
Explorer badge has been awarded. The award committee never settled on a name for the 50 badge or the 500 badge. Some nonsense about frozen synapses. I’ll see what I can do.
@lizk
Didn’t I read somewhere that 50 was ‘Pathfinder’ and 100 was ‘Trailblazer’?
Or did I dream it after eating too much cheese close to bedtime?
@ellyd22
Okay. We don’t have a 50….yet. That was my bad. Pathfinder is 100. Trailblazer is 250. We also need a 500 since we discovered someone with well over that number.
@lizk
I think I’ll be on 50 by this weekend …
@ellyd22
It must be nice to have that much free time! Someday. 🙄
Oh My goodness….Its only like 17 days until This contest starts. This ain’t the Oscars but I would like to thank Vanessa, Liz, Kaye, and Lynne for helping this come together. I have been working in the local places space for a while now and I believe this contest will be great for all of Us. Before the Contest was a thing, I had a few conversations with local providers near me. It is wonderful to talk to people that accept and welcome a very diverse population. I have submitted 95 local places so far. (I’m not eligible for the… Read more »
Hey Girls I was thinking about the contest today and wanted to share a thought on one of the rules. 3. The place description needs to be a minimum of 7 words long. I can have a difficult time describing things and sometimes my words come out all wrong.(I think there’s a country song in there somewhere). I usually copy and paste the description that I see on the providers website. Facebook has an About page where this can come from also. So, if your local place has that you would be just fine copying and pasting that info. I… Read more »
I have found getting some businesses email can be a challenge.. web site & phone number.. no problem
I have noticed that also Emily. I have gone to a couple platforms to find Email addresses for providers. We are moving into the new reality where Text messages are replacing email for direct messaging. Hopefully this won’t be be a huge problem.
Hugs
Bree
I was thinking about the contest as it draws closer. I hope that you girls that live in smaller areas contribute as well. It may seem like a small town provider or friendly venue wouldn’t be helpful to us girls. I would like to see more small town listing. I know just by the numbers that Girls like us are everywhere. Maybe even a small town neighbor. Your local places might help another girl find her way out of the closet.
Thank you
Huggs
Bree
When does the listings get released?
Great question. In a perfect world The submissions will be checked on a daily basis. If there is a problem with authentication of the submission it may be delayed. If the editors are very busy also we may not get to everybody’s submission right away. I will keep everybody updated has the contest goes along.
Huggs
Bree
OK Girls.
Im excited and I hope some of you are as well. I am looking forward to confirming your Local Places Entries and Expecting you will be keeping the Editors busy this week. Let’s see who can land that first Badge and bring us together with our Providers/Allies.
Thank you for your participation.
Huggs
Bree