Adam Hunt
Nonprofit and corporate special event planner; activist for social justice and equality

Dear Trans Persons Everywhere, I'm Sorry for Being a Bad Gay
Posted: 12/20/2013 8:27 pm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-hunt/dear-trans-persons-everyw_b_4468127.html

I wasn't always an ally to the trans community. In fact, it was only a little over a year ago that I had pretty awful opinions about the trans community and the struggles they face. ("Why can't they just accept that if they have a penis, then they're a dude?")

But then something happened. I met some people who changed my life and the way I see the world, the gender binary, and so forth. You see, it was really easy to judge what a trans person goes through, because I didn't know any trans people. I thought drag queens were exactly the same as trans people (with a little more makeup and an extra boa or two). I also just assumed that a trans woman was just an overly effeminate gay male who wanted so much to be submissive that he decided to get an operation to have his d--- chopped off. I know. I wasn't a great human being, but is it really that far off what many members of the gay male community think? Or society at large? Maybe not, but that doesn't make it okay.

Nice of him to admit his misconceptions!

Good read.

I disagree with his verbiage analysis though.  As "gendered" is a word in its own right (defined as "reflecting the experience, prejudices, or orientations of one sex more than the other"), "transgendered" seems to me to be reasonable.  And I do not always equate "transgender" directly, as an adjective, with "gay," "lesbian," or "bisexual," as does the author.

The third point that he made caught my attention. He's correct in saying being trans isn't about body parts.
In some segments of the gay community it certainly is the case. There was the case at one if you didn't present
a certain way then you weren't considered with the in crowd. What gets me is that some gays and lesbians
unwittingly defend the same gender binary that was used against them.