"I do find it disturbing that some would think those offended were somehow not as committed or not as sophisticated or in some how defective"
Please don't for a moment get that idea beth, as that has nothing to do with it at all and should never enter into it as it would be an internal descrimination.
It is quite natural that some would embrace it and others not, even here, it is just that so many of us don't see it as threatning in any way, but that is our opinion, not necessarily the actual fact. Actually for myself, because of some local associations I have personally come to identify more as Queer or Gender Queer, though I suppose that would be objectional to some also.
As to the difference between ">-bleeped-<" and "Trannie" I am not aware of any difference in the context and see it spelled both ways in this local. I just prefer the ie spelly over the y spelling for the same reasons I replaced the Y for I in my own name and commonly identified by that label along with a lot of others prior to more current influences.
I think probably a lot of the midwest and southeastern attitudes about the term come from the popularity of the term by the Night Club Set, which is frequented by people more into a "lifestyle" rather then a gender goal, where yes, the term is probably most prevailent, but for a lot of us, we use it in the same spirit as Homosexuals use the term Queer, and to most averae persons, around here, at least, it is perfectly interchangeable with and means the same thing as Transgendered. Near as I can tell, it is simply looked upon as a short form of Transgendered, for what I run into anyway.
But as to that "NIght Club Set" who Identify as ">-bleeped-<" or "Trannie" are we to discriminate agaist them to keep any negitive attitudes about them from affecting us? Are we to discriminate against them to further our own political and social goals? Sounds like the old TS vs. CD thing to me for the same reasons. Discrimination is descrimination and we are dangerously close to it ourselves here.
And in a way you are right Lana, overall, the west is a much easier place compaired to many other parts of the country for trans people and homosexuals, but give some credit to why that is, what with our more outfront attitudes. We can't be ingored as we are openly living next door, and because we have made friends of those neighbors and they do not see us as a threat, it is harder to condon actions against us. I have no idea how many Transgendered people are in california, a fantastic number to be sure, but during the elections I remember a figure of around 400,000 or almost a half million registered Gay and Lesbian voters being mentioned as a lobby target for poloticians. To put this in persective, for me at least, thats almost half the population of Nevada.
If you look at statistical records though, not just headline news, our record of actual violence against TGs and homosexuals, the type that doesn't make the news, is actually as high as anywhere else, but less publically condoned. When viewed objectively we are as safe as many other minorities who suffer from discriminatory action. Always remember, discrimination wasn't invented just to harrass us with. Actually, a Transgender is statistically much safer then a homosexual.
TG
