Alibi.com – By Joni Kay Rose
Tall and slim with natural blond hair, the young lady walking by us exuded a confidence that belied the struggles she must have gone through to be where she was. I gestured toward her. “No matter what I do, I’ll never be able to look like that,” I complained.
“Me neither,” said the middle-aged woman across from me. “Lots of women would love to look like Amanda.” It was 2002, and we were at a gender conference in Tucson’s Sentinel Building. In addition to her successful career at Raytheon and her activism with the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance, the lovely Amanda Simpson was serving on the City of Tucson Commission on LGBT Issues.