>:(This gay guy on a blog I comment on has basically called me out for saying that there is a difference between gay men and trans women .I said it was insulting to both groups to assume that they are both the same thing.He's  saying that I'm looking down on gays and that trans people are hanging on the coattails of gay activists.He also said that there are no trans activist who fight for the whole LGBT just the T.I wondered are there any lgbt trans activists?

 I'm one.  I am an employee representative for the LGBT community where I work and I work for parity for all LGBT partners even though I am only one of two trans people in the entire company.  And I have pushed for the repeal of DADT to my congress critters even there is ABSOLUTELY NO PROVISION FOR TRANS SOLDIERS TO SERVE IN THE US MILITARY.  DOMA is another issue that is specifically pointed to the L/G community that I support and push for its repeal.

We are a mixed bag in the whole alphabet soup of the LGBT community.  We really shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves but it does happen.

The whole coattail thing I find silly, because the stonewall riots, which mark the start of the modern LGBT movement, was started by cross dressers and trans people who were tired of being shook down by the police at the Stonewall bar in New York.

Sexual orientation and gender identity, are two completely separate issues and have little to do with each other.  For example, since I am a trans woman, regardless of what gender I am attracted to, I am viewed as gay and straight simultaneously.

But we are a minority within a minority and we gain strength by having solidarity with each other.  Most of the rest of the LGBT community feels the same and it is mostly the strident extreme that say otherwise.  But if we were to separate, the LGB community would be seriously weakened in the view of the rest of society.

-Sandy