The Best of Tranifesto: It’s Time to Lose ‘I Didn’t Choose’ (to be Transgender)

[Natasha]

The Best of Tranifesto: It's Time to Lose 'I Didn't Choose' (to be Transgender)

http://tranifesto.com/2013/07/15/the-best-of-tranifesto-its-time-to-lose-i-didnt-choose-to-be-transgender/
7/15/13
Matt Kailey

Last week, for The Best of Tranifesto, I published the post that has gotten the most views over the life of my blog.

This week, I am publishing the post that has gotten the most comments over the life of my blog. It was originally posted on June 1, 2010, and it got so many comments that I felt the need to post a follow-up the next day. Here is the post:

I'm pro-choice, but in this case, I'm not talking about a woman's right to choose. I'm talking about my right to choose, and my right not to be a victim of my birth.

I just finished watching a new indie gay and lesbian film that had an interesting premise, but I felt like I was back in the '70s, with the word "homosexual" being thrown around all the time, even by the gay and lesbian characters, and this little gem coming from one of the young lesbian characters when talking to her father:

"I didn't choose to be this way. I've always been this way. I'd be straight if I could. My life would be so much easier."

[peky]

I am 100% behind the "lets not be victims" and against the "culture of victimization."

BUT I did not choose to be trans either! 

So, a biological mishap in utero and at birth...and I am what I am no more no less than any other woman in the planet...at least not by virtue of my gender identify alone...

[suzifrommd]

A false dichotomy.

"I didn't choose to be trans" and "cis is better" are independent statements. One does not follow logically from the other.

I did not choose to be trans. If I could have chosen (to be cis male or trans woman), however, I would choose to be a trans woman.

I also find the "I didn't choose..." fact to be helpful in explaining why I had to transition against the wishes of my wife and children.

[StellaB]

The choice about being trans to me is pretty much the same I have in being diagnosed as having Type II diabetes. I could choose of course not to adopt any diet, eat unhealthy food and go onto insulin risking heart disease, tissue necrosis and death, or I could respond by changing my diet and lifestyle accordingly.

My being trans isn't a choice, it's how I was born, it's how I'm hardwired and it's something I've learned to embrace, own and even enjoy.

'This is the hand I was dealt, and this is how I'm playing the cards' is how I put it across.

This is how I achieve equality with the cisgendered. Just as they dealt with issues affecting their identity, so have I.