QuoteThundra, I'm really quite astonished that you would think that the TG community hasn't already been "walking a mile" in the "queer community's shoes." The reality is that to the ignorant right, transpeople and crossdressers have long been viewed as "perverted" people who just "want to change their sex." Those of us who are gay need to understand that we ARE all in the same community. Your posts imply that the "T" is just a recent afterthought in GLBT. It's not so.
DWS, I respectfully disagree with you on one point of your POV. While it is true that trans-folk have a long history of being involved in the queer community, that statement is not true of all trans-folk. As is oft rubbed in my face here, those that purport "to pass" claim to not suffer from the same level of distress as many others in the community. And so, in fact, many DO NOT SUPPORT queer folks or our agenda of change. They do not owe anyone anything. They have nothing in common with queers, or the queer agenda. Because they are str8 men and women, for whom the rules against queers do not apply. Simply put, it is not their fight.
Rather, their agenda is one where they find a way to change the current laws and policies so that they can legally slip under the radar as it were. It is their right to do so, but that POV does nothing to help many others that come from the same background that either do not wish to slip under the radar in stealth mode, or that cannot "pass" in their estimation.
If you read the postings here, they draw a very strong line in the sand, as to the distinctions between themselves and those other people. They believe that transgendered people, transsexual people, and people that have completed transition ARE NOT the same, and so their issues are not the same. Why don't you ask THEM when we are all going to get along and fight for a single agenda? There are plenty of them here.
There are two distinct strategies being deployed to battle for the rights of the gender-variant. The mainstream queer formula is to gradually remove the barriers between what is considered "normal" and aberrant, so that without distinctions, all people live their life as they see fit without suffering from discriminatory practices now enshrined in public policy. The second strategy is used by many from the same background, whose aim is strictly to find a way that they themself, and they alone can live that same type of life by finding a way to tweak and circumvent the current rules. And if they can do so without having a to lift a finger themselves, mores the better.
Most queers are moving to the POV that we need a new paradigm for everyone to achieve equality. Whereas, many people here have reminded me that they don't need a new paradigm, they get along just fine the way things are because they "pass," and they don't owe anyone anything. Which, let me state again, is their right. Str8 people are already protected under the current laws, so this battle does not concern them. They can already marry the partner of their choice, as long as no one outs them for instance.
My posting was referring to the fact that as the conservative right becomes more desperate to seek out wedge issues to facilitate finding fears to motivate amerikans to vote against Dems, one of the things they will go after is gender-variant people. And in their POV, there is no difference between someone that "passes," and someone that does not. In fact, to them, those that "pass" are more dangerous and insidious to their belief system.
If the right decides trans-folk are worth going after as a wedge issue, and I think they will, these people with their "heterosexist POV" might be surprised to find out that the nice quiet life of stealth they have been enjoying might come to a sudden grinding halt. DWS, you know as well as I do that even if the conservatives are defeated in this election this is so not over ~ by any means. There will be a backlash. And it will be ugly. The difference is that this time trans-folk will not be considered fringe players, especially if ENDA passes. They will be a target just like queer folks.
And one last thing. Why don't you ask trans-folk whether they want a "T" in GLBT, because from what I've been hearing, most do not. They are not queer. They are just ordinary men and women, and our fight is not their fight.
Posted on: September 23, 2007, 01:16:41 PM
QuoteIf people could wear what they want, then there'd be no thrill for the thrill seekers. You probably wouldn't see a lot of that anymore.
Exactly. If there is no "normal," and no weird, than what exactly is the issue? It's just people making choices for themselves. All the barriers are artificially derived anyway. What is most perturbing to me personally, is when the very people that expected other people to allow them to transition without having barriers placed in their way, then turn around and obfuscate other people on the same path, and even denigrate them in many cases if they are a little different than themselves. It is not very mature or supportive, or attractive.
