He's quite the celebrity in Nashville's bar scene, but you wouldn't know George if he strutted right past you in slacks and one of the four men's shirts he owns. In fact, you wouldn't know him as a man at all, unless maybe he showed a little leg.
On weekday mornings, a mild-mannered George throws on his menswear to go to work in Nashville as a mechanical engineer. But, it is Ginger, a lusty diva with legs that won't stop and a signature fragrance that lingers long after she has fled the scene, who strolls out on weekends to socialize at her favorite haunts. That's the person that many barflies have grown to appreciate, whether they know his real name or not.
Becoming Ginger isn't a quick transformation or one that started overnight.
George was first drawn to women’s clothing at age 12 when his sister-in-law moved into his family’s Michigan home. When George moved to Nashville for a job in 1989, he realized the opportunity to explore crossdressing. Less than a year later, Ginger started make a name for herself on the Nashville bar scene.
Married and divorced twice, Ginger has no contact with her second wife but has been living as platonic roommates with her first wife for almost three years. The arrangement came together almost accidentally when Ginger’s second wife moved out.
“She wanted me to go totally straight, which was not going to happen at all," Ginger said. "It was going in the opposite direction, in fact."
Her first wife invited her to lunch shortly thereafter and it came up that she was looking for a new place to live. Ginger said the two get along great and the arrangement suits both of them (they never share clothes, though).
Ginger is currently dating a man who lives in another state, but said her ideal partner would identify as a transvestite as well. But, right now she is having fun in Nashville and is not focused on finding a life partner.
Ginger goes to work each day with no sign of her love for women’s clothes and accessories on the outside, but she always wears feminine undergarments, including stockings, under her clothes. No one at her job knows her frilly, lacy, feminine secret.
About 99% of her wardrobe is from the women’s department. She owns three pair of men’s pants and four men’s shirts. She says that she owns just enough pieces of men’s clothing to get through one work week.
Ginger’s love for high heels is so intense, she finds ways to sneak into a pair throughout her day. Although she wears men’s shoes inside the building where she works, she wears high heels in the car to and from her job site and on her lunch break each day.
Going from George to Ginger takes about an hour and a half, assuming there are no distractions. A long fingernail is pressed on to her 10 digits and she wears nearly as many sparkly rings.
It's those details that make up the Ginger-ness she is known for by the majority of regulars at Tribe, her favorite bar.
After a week of playing George, Ginger is most at ease and sure of herself at the pool table or perched on a barstool, with her signature drink in hand, giving both male and female patrons a run for their money.