By Aja Romano on June 02, 2014

The Chicago Sun-Times has syndicated a controversial transphobic opinion piece by Kevin Williamson, a former deputy managing editor of the conservative National Review.

Williamson attacks noted transgender woman Laverne Cox, who recently made the cover of Time magazine, in a piece headlined, "Laverne Cox is not a woman," blaming her and the transgender movement for encouraging "unreality."

Williamson blames the transgender rights movement's "ever-shifting" definitions of what transgender identity is for the claims that Laverne Cox is the "first" transgender woman on the cover of Time. Williamson points out that Chelsea Manning was also on the Time cover, though her cover was shared with Edward Snowden and Aaron Swartz, and appeared two months before she outed herself as fully transgender with a public request to be referred to as Chelsea.

More: http://www.dailydot.com/politics/sun-times-kevin-williamson-says-cox-a-man/
           https://storify.com/plussone/chicago-sun-times-slammed-for-transphobic-reprint

What disgusting drivel!  The Sun-Times have never been known for it's compassionate reporting.  But reprinting this article is below even the Sun-Times almost non-existent editorial standards.

-Sandy 

Quote from: CandiceSkirvin on June 03, 2014, 09:26:31 AM
I just love reading the comments sections of those articles and seeing all of the 'it's all about the chromosomes.  XY and you're a dude.  XX a chick'  comments.  Well no, you morons, it's not all about that. 
I've had arguments with people before about chromosomes and I let it go so far and then ask them 'so if you knew I was xy you'd call me a man?'  The answer is almost always some variation of 'no, look at you.  You're beautiful and definitely a woman.'

Then I tell them that I'm xy and have internal testes and watch their brains explode as I explain cais to them. 

It's not all about chromosomes.  Laverne Cox is every bit  the woman I am, and I'm just as much a woman as any other.  It really is that simple.

Chromosomes are meaningless tbh, from what I've seen its decided by multiple factors, including what genes you have and what your mothers hormonal balance was during pregnancy.

I stumbled on a interesting case over the weekend, some woman born XY, fully fertile, full female anatomy and gave birth to another full anatomical xy female. All the usual genes to cause it were normal male variants and they concluded the y was from the father and the cause was somewhere in the x.

So yes, the usual xx/xy argument is meaningless, but then its kinda a waste of time arguing with people who don't care to inform themselves.

Quote from: CandiceSkirvin on June 03, 2014, 09:52:39 AM
That's pretty incredible.  I wish I were her so I could have a baby.  But I have cais, so no babies for me unless I adopt. 

As I understand it, it's incredibly rare for people who are xy but fully anatomically female and people who are xx but fully anatomically male to be fertile, but seems they do exist.

Also, sorry to hear that :/

When will people understand, that being transgendered IS a fact of life, and that what ever their opinions of impossibility towards it are, that its those opinions that cause most of the dysphoria related depression.

Is it not these typs of opinions, that make our lives unsatisfactory prior to transistion. And the same opinions that make life uncomfatable for us after?

I know without these opinions I would never of felt ashamed to simply want to be happy and not have to hide a part of who I am. And these same attitudes are what make it hard for those people that do accept our inner person to be open about it, because they don't want to face the same kinds of criticisms discrimination and hate from the people they love and care about either. Its one of the things, that are are affecting my love life at the moment, sorry for ranting about it.

But the point is, STRAIT man falls for trans woman and struggles deeply to express that side of himself, because in the eyes of "that's a man people" he will be seen as and treated as gay, when HE knows he's not. And what makes it worse for US as trans is WE NEED to come out, we cant get away from it. But those that are "Trans infatuated" don't need to come out, they can move on and find a none trans woman.

This type of attitude doesn't just affect Trans individuals, but their friends, their families and their lovers, and their lovers families and friends. It goes further then that to, it affects completely cis men and woman too, because they exhibited a behaviour that ticks a box for the opposite sex and become accused of things. Eg two gay men get asked, which ones the woman then? because receiver means woman. And lesbian woman get asked who wears the pants? because pants mean man?

The point is, gendering a person, and applying a gender to behaviours and qualities and imposing those opinions onto people are demeaning to that person identity/personality/soul/perspective/self. The unfortunate thing behind this is that it works both ways. Their are people that identify as male or female due to a few basic traits, and when another person says that, that trait isn't a factor in how they identify this person feels demeaned seeing that their reasons for self Identifying are less substantial as far as woman and man goes.

But its that word, IDENTIFY regardless of how you identify, you identify and its that what makes it the most substantial part of WHO you are. But some people including myself at one point see that what makes them their IDENTIFYING gender is because they have this or these traits, and feel that a person without them are not the same gender. But its more that we identify with those traits because they match us, they feel right to us, they are us, so we are them.

Anyway, I derailed this I think, I'm sorry about that. Its just the words "your not a woman" and fear of being seen as that does more to damage us than being called freak. So I went on a bit of a rage. But I got it out and I feel Better.

Quote from: ButterflyVickster on June 03, 2014, 11:06:21 AM
When will people understand, that being transgendered IS a fact of life, and that what ever their opinions of impossibility towards it are, that its those opinions that cause most of the dysphoria related depression.

This is an easy question to answer.

People will understand when we educate them.

Not a moment before.

No one else is going to teach the world about transgender people, who we are, what we go through, and why we do what we do. If we don't do it, it won't be done. People will understand when we explain it to them.

Quote from: suzifrommd on June 03, 2014, 04:23:25 PM
This is an easy question to answer.

People will understand when we educate them.

Not a moment before.

No one else is going to teach the world about transgender people, who we are, what we go through, and why we do what we do. If we don't do it, it won't be done. People will understand when we explain it to them.

So how do we educate the people who refuse to listen?   This is sadly too often the case.

My response to any "XX/XY" or DNA-based position is, "We are people, and are not limited by any molecule."

+1 to the thought that it's up to us to educate others...and if one person doesn't want to hear, wish him/her well, and be on your way. Don't spend too much time and effort trying to do the impossible.

Quote from: Jill F on June 03, 2014, 04:28:24 PM
So how do we educate the people who refuse to listen?   This is sadly too often the case.

I get this response every time I encourage educating people.

Hasn't it been the case that when people begin to see accurate information, they change their points of view?

Gay marriage, for example. Hasn't support exploded recently? Why is that? Many say, it's because people began to see realistic depictions of gay people and to understand the reality of gay couples. Otherwise, how do you explain the change in public opinion?

How do we educate people? The same way we do for any subject. We give the the facts. We give them a glimpse into the reality of our lives.

We certainly don't do it by sitting around hoping someone else will tell people what we're all about.

Unfortunately too many of the people who need to listen and refuse to do so are lawmakers.  Republicans more often than not think they will stir their base by actively working against us.  Democrats seem to give us little more than lip service and just assume we all vote for them anyway.   

Yes, I'm cynical.

Quote from: Jill F on June 03, 2014, 05:51:48 PM
Unfortunately too many of the people who need to listen and refuse to do so are lawmakers.  Republicans more often than not think they will stir their base by actively working against us.  Democrats seem to give us little more than lip service and just assume we all vote for them anyway.   

Yes, I'm cynical.

You sure got that right Jill.

We can't win them all, but we don't have to. There are still Neo-Nazis out there after all, but Jewish people are still just as safe as anyone else to walk the streets of New York. All we can do is educate and push until we get something similar, just like in 20 years to be opposed to SSM will be an untenable position for any politician so too will transphobia if we ensure it.

Quote from: Jill F on June 03, 2014, 05:51:48 PM
Unfortunately too many of the people who need to listen and refuse to do so are lawmakers.  Republicans more often than not think they will stir their base by actively working against us.  Democrats seem to give us little more than lip service and just assume we all vote for them anyway.   

Yes, I'm cynical.

Haven't you ever opened your eyes to someone else's hardships once they were explained to you?

I know I have.

The cynicism bothers me, because it freezes us to inaction. Yes, you're right. In every room of 100 people there will be some who don't want to hear. Does that mean we shouldn't try to educate the rest?

A decade or two ago, no politician wanted to support same-sex marriage. Even Bill Clinton had to oppose it. Now, a lot of state legislatures have legalized it. Isn't that at least some indication that politicians can change their minds?

Of course the supporters had to put a lot of work into it. Public opinion had to be swayed first. As someone who may want to marry someone of my gender, I'm glad they did.

I'm glad those activists didn't just say, "the politicians will never change their minds, we might as well give up."

I must admit, if they found it as exhausting as I do trying to get the people on their own side to see the benefit of raising people's consciousness, I'm surprised they didn't all just pack it in.

Slow progress is still progress. Not that long ago most, if not all, comments on any kind of trans-related article would have been anti-trans in very crude ways. These days more comments are at least of a "live and let live" mindset, and many folks respond with more educated viewpoints.

Even the type of anti-trans comments shows progress, in a way. The fact that it's now more along the lines of statements about chromosomes - albeit scientifically inaccurate/oversimplified views such as, "Either you're XX or XY" - rather than all comments consisting of transphobic jokes, is still a step up. It's closer to actual discussion.

Articles that inform people of the scientific and medical aspects help. Articles that show we are just regular people, that are much more functional and happy with appropriate treatment, and that it isn't some sort of "sex thing" help. Better, more accurate media depictions help.

A lot of people would rather be ignorant on the subject instead of having to confront it especially people who say they care about other people

Quote from: suzifrommd on June 03, 2014, 04:23:25 PM
This is an easy question to answer.

People will understand when we educate them.

Not a moment before.

No one else is going to teach the world about transgender people, who we are, what we go through, and why we do what we do. If we don't do it, it won't be done. People will understand when we explain it to them.

This. People just don't understand because this isn't as common as lesbians, gays and bisexuals and so they just resort to assuming things.
Ignorance is a disease and can only be cured by educating them or else they'll still be spewing nonsense on things they don't even understand.

After reading the comments I feel quite depressed, not so much by the ignorance but from the blatent unwillingness of people to learn. They may as well have typed "LA, LA, LA I'M NOT LISTENING".

Quote from: Jayne on June 12, 2014, 07:49:55 AM
After reading the comments I feel quite depressed, not so much by the ignorance but from the blatent unwillingness of people to learn. They may as well have typed "LA, LA, LA I'M NOT LISTENING".

That's normal for the human condition...until it happens to them or a loved one...it doesn't exist.

Hopefully one day we'll have universal empathy.