I think many of us had to deal with the shame factor at least at some length of time in our lives.  What are some arguments you would make and things that you would think to yourself in terms of defending yourself and being unapologetic for who you are?

I've always had the mindset that people should have an open mind.  I'm also somewhat narcissistic and think people who lack an open accepting mind are ignorant and mentally inferior which is a really awful way to look at it but it gets me through the day.  I've always been pretty prideful about myself and defending everything I do regardless of how wacky it is, in this case its me changing gender.  I argue with an iron fist, or tongue rather.  I'll spew so much sarcasm and logical fallacies that they'll feel bad for not questioning their own gender.

But thats just me.

I'll put in a few things:


For people who have the idea that crossdressing is condemned by the bible: 

In the bible, especially the old testament, many laws were given that were relevant to the Jewish people of their time, and really are not relevant to these times.  Crossdressing may have been called "to'ebah" in Deut. 22:5 because crossdressing at the time was done in pagan rituals and involving promiscuity.  Gay people have been hit with similar misunderstandings, as sodomy was a type of humiliation that soldiers did to their victims.  Nothing in the bible condemns sexual / romantic relations between two consenting same sex adults.  Bigoted religious leaders and bible translators through the centuries have misinterpreted and mistranslated the bible erroneously.  Even the word "abomination" used in the english translations of the bible is a mistranslation of the word "to'ebah" since the word's meaning is not that specific and actually may mean something more like "taboo" (as in, something permitted to one group, and forbidden to another) and referring to non-Israelite cultic practice.  More on this here:  http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/sexandgender/2826/does_the_bible_really_call_homosexuality_an_%E2%80%9Cabomination%E2%80%9D

Another thing, would it be fair for someone to be punished with a law that was 150 years ago, lest 3,000 years ago, when the context of the law may have been far different? (thats why we have judges, because laws aren't strictly interpreted but must also be taken into context and as to the reason for the law.)  In addition that same chapter (Deuteronomy 22:5) of the bible says not to wear clothing woven from two kinds of threads, and "you must not sew tassels on the four corners of your cloak", as well as using unequal weights and measures is "to'ebah" (abomination) to God. There are more examples here:  http://www.ladiesknightout.com/CrossDressing_And_The_Bible.htm

Clearly the interpretation that religious leaders love to say of Deuteronomy 22:5 is at the least a fundamentalist, or totally literal, interpretation of the bible, and ignores the clear context.  Anyone that wants to follow such laws in Deuteronomy should not criticize Shariah law, as they are strictly following the bible as badly as the fundamentalist Muslims do with the Koran.  Deuteronomy is interpreted as "second law" and was written by Moses as laws for Israelis entering into the promise land, they were not meant for people nowadays.  Christian religions love to cherrypick the scriptures in order to tell their followers what to do, without taking things into context.  Selective quoting is clearly biased and unfair.


If people insist on being a bigot:  These people are self righteous and their religion many times makes them feel like they should judge or condemn others.  Conservative Christian religions seem to encourage bigotry and their followers believe whatever the ministers say, even if they are wrong.  Even if they aren't religious or are doing it for other reasons, they themselves have a problem and not you, and they usually have bothered other people for different reasons as well (and thus their problems lead to consequences that they have to face.)

One more obvious thing is society being a patriarchy and society forcing people into roles based on their gender for the longest time, because people in society were thought of as taking roles and strictly being in them.  In modern day America and in the western world, that is not the case anymore with so many people freely taking an occupation of their choosing and women going into the military, as well as men taking care of the children while the woman works and some men taking custody of the children when a couple divorces.  Thus, men being masculine and women being feminine really has no societal function anymore, thus not a need anymore and shouldn't be enforced.  Arrogant, bigoted men and women may enforce it on genetic males especially just to be an ->-bleeped-<- and pick on someone they perceive as weak or because they feel like they must tell others what to do (thus, they don't respect other people in general.)

But really, I'd like to emphasize more on being unapologetic for who you are, whether one is a transsexual who has had to endure a lot just to have everyone recognize them as their true gender, or a crossdresser that has a female side and has had to deal with the fear of what others would think of them, or androgynous or whatever...  We have the right to live and be true to ourselves and have society see us for who we really are, and society IS the one that has to open its mind.  Look at the ignorance that society had of Gay people (and still has to some degree), when being gay is just as natural as being straight in the Animal Kingdom.  Same goes with race, before Dr. King led the civil rights movement and got segregation ended, there were ideas in the western world of whites being more intelligent than other races and the idea of eugenics, which ultimately was put to mass use during the Holocaust (leading to the denouncement of scientific racism.)  Social progress must always be made, and this is one of the remaining big frontiers.  Besides, TG people have insight into both genders that most cisgendered people cannot even imagine, whether it is of being raised in the other gender with TS people or with crossdressers that have bi-gendered spirits, or gender queer people that are outside of both genders and get to critique gender.

I just wish that we (as in the TG community in general) would be more united and willing to give support to each other.  Some of us have great strength and confidence, while others of us do not, but we should all deserve support from each other because not all of us born with the same personality traits and traits that would help is in being authentic, and we only have each other that can understand what we are going through and give that level of understanding and emotional support needed, especially on TG related issues.