Firstly, I hope that no one here minds my posting on the forum here, but I had a couple of questions and wanted to seek some advice, if I may. And hopefully this is in the appropriate section.
I am not transexual, but try to keep myself educated on the struggles of civil rights movements, particularly those which deal with gender rights and personal identity since this is a topic that I vehemently defend. That said, it should be obvious that I am a feminist and gender equalist who has at least a bit of knowledge about the transexual rights movement, which I have always seen as one of the points of interest within feminism. The right to freely express a range of gender identity and not conform to prescribed ideas of manliness or femininity is a key point in the fight for gender rights, and since most of the feminists I associate with and am influenced by are equally concerned with the discrimination and aggression which transexuals face for expressing their personal gender identity, I assumed this was a point of general agreement within the movement.
I got roped into an argument while trying to defend a young transexual lesbian on Twitter, which has left that belief... Shaken. Now I am not completely ignorant to extremism within civil rights groups, I think there are at least a handful in every movement but in some it is fixated on more than others, but I was somewhat taken off guard by how many feminists and LGBT supporters were quick to very personally attack me for saying that a transwoman deserves the same respect right to safety as any other woman. Armed with such irrefutable logic as, 'If you have a penis then you're a man, and men rape women,' they attacked not only the young woman struggling with self-esteem issues and her own identity, but anyone who defended her. My own personal sexual kinks, which I discussed with another user, were brought to light, and even days later they continue to harass and spread the idea that by supporting that a transexual woman can be a lesbian that I am trying to push all lesbians to feeling sexually attracted to all transwomen. I believe one even said something to the effect that if I don't whore myself to a transwoman, that I am a bigot. The young woman, they went as far as to call a man, and claim they 'don't talk to men.'
Frankly, it disgusts me to see this kind of venom from people who claim to advocate for women's rights and sexual expression, but does raise some questions about how frequently the transexual community feels attacked or harassed by people who supposedly fight for equality. Is it common for feminists or LGBT supporters to harass people within the trans-community? What kind of discrimination, if any, have you personally encountered? And, since it doesn't seem these women are going to move on, what can be done to counter their sexist and bigoted attacks?
