A transsexual woman's perspective
GUEST COLUMN / Inclusion isn't inclusion if it stops at the bedroom door
Aleisha Cuff / Vancouver / Thursday, January 01, 2009
http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/A_transsexual_womans_perspective-6079.aspx (http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/A_transsexual_womans_perspective-6079.aspx)
I'll admit I winced when someone handed me a copy of the Dec 4 edition of Xtra West. Two men in bed, not exactly groundbreaking news for an LGBT paper.
Then I saw the title of the piece splashed across the photo: "Shifting Desires: How Trans People are Reshaping Same-Sex Attractions." I winced again.
Truth be told I don't read Xtra West very often. That's not meant as a singular slight against the paper, I just don't do many LGBT community things anymore. I don't go to Pride parades, I haven't been to a bar in years, and I rarely go to any other mainstream LGBT event.
The reason I wince, and why I don't do these things anymore, is because I am a queer transsexual woman, and being a queer transsexual woman in Vancouver is, to put it mildly as I can, a difficult proposition.