Transgender Political Trends
Filed By Dr. Jillian T. Weiss | November 28, 2011 12:00 PM
http://www.bilerico.com/2011/11/transgender_political_trends.phpMy reader and my inbox are stuffed full of the usual: a transgender rights bill, getting fired because of transition, trans children, another murder, questions about the legal status of a marriage involving a transsexual person, abstruse arguments of gender theory about spectra, continuua and polarity. These themes are as familiar to me as the back of my hand, a long line of memories from the dawn of my meter.jpgconsciousness as a transsexual, when I began trolling the nascent internet twenty-something years ago for anything related to my esoteric and ineffable desire. To some extent it seems all the same, as if things are going nowhere fast on a furious merry-go-round, particularly when one compares the state of the trans polity to the gains made by our lesbian and gay community. And yet, much has changed, even if the themes are enduring.
The pointers are moving, but the meters are difficult to read. Trans issues are moving forwards and backwards on dozens of fronts, and there are multiple sides to every issue, with trans people on every side, as well as GLB and straight people espousing opinions right and left. And yet, there are trends, even if the multitudes of events are confusing. Bismarck famously said that "politics is the art of the possible," but the "possible" is often a moving target. It's possible that Newt Gingrich will be the Republican nominee, but that was unthinkable last month. What's "possible" for the trans community politically? Here's my top three "possibilities".
