"No" to the notion of transgender
Filed by: Ronald Gold
December 10, 2009 4:00 PM

http://www.bilerico.com/2009/12/transgender_a_disease_that_doesnt_exist.php

What is transgender? Well, there are two sorts who seem to be covered by the name, the drag kings and queens so good at portraying cartoon imitations of straight people, and transsexuals, the folks who report that from an early age they've felt themselves trapped in the wrong bodies. Despite the equipment they were born with that belies their assertions, they say they are really men or really women.

What does it mean to be really a man or a woman? Since it's not about genitalia, it must be about personality, and what, one asks, is a male or a female personality? Even straight people nowadays concede that some men are the warm, loving type that used to be thought exclusive to women, and some women are the strong, action-oriented sort that used to be thought exclusive to men. And lesbians and gay men have always known that people of the same gender can be very different from each other. Isn't it true that those we form mated relationships with are always complementary - even polar opposites - to ourselves?

Let me state it categorically. There is no such thing as a male or female personality. Personality is not a function of gender.

epic fail

While "There is no such thing as a male or female personality. Personality is not a function of gender." is spot on since binary "male" and "female" are based partly off of the social roles assigned to said genders, they butcher everything else, especially when it comes to medical treatments to allign body with mind. (which last time I checked, had a very good success rate in treating symptoms of "gender identity dysphoria")

QuoteI would, however, get after the doctors - the psychiatrists who use a phony medical model to invent a disease that doesn't exist, and the surgeons who use such spurious diagnoses to mutilate the bodies of the deluded.

edit: dot and ) added

Wow.
What's his problem?

@!#$%^&*( ignorant f%^&(*&^!!1!

and that's all I have to say about that.

Why do they insist on talking about and judging things they don't know about?

Sorry I'm going to be unlady like,

CRAP

Who or what is this clown?

Another bullet with a name on it

Cindy

what an ignorant a.. i sent a comment to the page about it
jessica

My Responsibility: The difference between "challenging" and "offensive"
Filed by: Bil Browning
December 11, 2009 3:00 AM

http://www.bilerico.com/2009/12/my_responsibility_the_difference_between_challengi.php

Bilerico Project was launched with the knowledge that vast swaths of the LGBT community had no interactions with each other. As much as we love to embrace our rainbows, our color stripes tend to have hard edges like the flag we wave instead of melding gracefully like nature's beauty. The idea behind Bilerico Project is to encourage dialogue among different areas of the LGBT community that might never interact normally.

Ronald Gold's post about gender fluidity yesterday afternoon offended many of our readers. As the site owner, I'd like to apologize to everyone who wrote in to express your displeasure with the post. The editors who reviewed Mr. Gold's op-ed were divided over whether or not we should publish it and I made the final decision; it's my responsibility. I'm sorry that I've let down so many Projectors with my judgment call.

Though, like most people without formal training in it, he writes like a sausage and it comes across as very hacked, I'm not sure that if you RTFA you might not find a lot to agree with.  I kinda liked: Explain to them that, whatever the other kids say, real little girls do like to play with trucks and wear grimy jeans, and real little boys like to prance around in dresses and play with dolls.  And that's true.  And I don't think, that despite a lot of people who seem to believe to the contrary, that choices in toys or differing aptitudes are determined by gender, or determine gender, and I think that is what he is trying to say.  In fact most of those types of deal are culturally determined and socially enforced, and as such, are not determinate of much of anything other than the culture you were raised in.

That, and by in large the psychology professions mostly sucks and is not going to 'cure' anything.

Quote from: Bil Browning
Bilerico Project was launched with the knowledge that vast swaths of the LGBT community had no interactions with each other. As much as we love to embrace our rainbows, our color stripes tend to have hard edges like the flag we wave instead of melding gracefully like nature's beauty. The idea behind Bilerico Project is to encourage dialogue among different areas of the LGBT community that might never interact normally.

Or, "here's my middle finger"...
or, "the beatings will continue until morale improves"...
or, it's just another BS excuse to keep the community divided.

Bilerico Project, burn in hell

(disclaimer: the above was an opinion, mine)

Quote from: Tasha Elizabeth on December 11, 2009, 10:08:04 AM
i'm not here because i want to be.  i'm here because i had no other choice.  its really that simple, and in the end it makes no damn difference if it was biological or societal or mental.

some choices in life are the result of life choosing something

Quote from: tekla on December 11, 2009, 10:12:46 AM
And I don't think, that despite a lot of people who seem to believe to the contrary, that choices in toys or differing aptitudes are determined by gender, or determine gender...

^ This. Thank you for it. This is a concept I've been struggling to find words to explain.

Imagine how people had reacted if the author had been writing about sexuality instead of gender identity....

So Mr Gold thinks we are all crazy. I'm fuming over this article.

Quote from: tekla on December 11, 2009, 10:12:46 AMAnd I don't think, that despite a lot of people who seem to believe to the contrary, that choices in toys or differing aptitudes are determined by gender, or determine gender, and I think that is what he is trying to say.

Well, then, he could have said that and been done with it, and his post would have just been boring and obvious to most readers of Bilerico.

But he goes on, and that's the problem. He seems to think that because gender doesn't without fail determing people's choice in clothes or toys that gender must not exist as anything fundamental to a person's identity. His reasoning is hopelessly flawed and serves to demonstrate his unquestioning privilege.

QuoteThat, and by in large the psychology professions mostly sucks and is not going to 'cure' anything.

Okay, I'll stipulate that, whether I agree or not. It's just not relevant. I don't know of any trans people who are looking to psychologists or psychiatrists to "cure" them. If anything, most are looking to endocrinologists and surgeons. The shrinks are there to help trans people deal with the bigots and to appease the medical malpractice insurance lawyers.

Well I did say 'he wrote like a sausage' and that's pretty bad, and of course a huge part of that is not being able to make the point you are trying to make.  Hack writing always winds up saying things it does not mean to say, because hack writers really don't know how to say anything.

But he may have inadvertently stumbled into a truth, which is that a lot of people are basing this decision (therapists included, they are as trendy as fashion types) on indicators that may, or most likely may not, be a true indicator.  Once diagnosed 'the cure' is pretty much a one way path, very expensive and highly favorable to the medical community.  And then, like so much of Western medicine - 'OK, you're cured now, don't bother us anymore.'  They practice treatment far more then they practice any sort of 'health.'

thanks for publishing it this article bothered me all weekend this felt like an attack from my own community and i wrote the editor as nasty a reply as i could but if you had not posted the original i would never have seen that crap post thanks zythyra for keeping us informed
jessica

I had responded elsewhere to this article, but i will just saw it is one of the most truly bigoted pieces I have seen in a long time.  And coming from someone who could have been an advocate just adds insult to injury.

Kristi