Nikki's Thoughts
Monday 18th November, 2002.
This won't entirely be a popular view, but it's an interesting thought nonetheless.
I, as a trans female, don't like being grouped together with gays, bisexuals and lesbians. The GLBT thing. Don't misunderstand me. I don't have anything against glb's but grouping t*'s with them is not right. I know plenty of glb people and in fact, I'll probably identify as lesbian, or possibly bisexual. My reason is simply that being transsexual and being either gay, lesbian or bisexual is not the same.
I view transsexualism as a medical condition; a birth defect if you will. There is medical evidence that supports this view and I do believe eventually it's exact cause will be known. The defect is in how the body develops, not in how the brain develops.
No therapy has ever 'cured' (i.e. made the person's brain change to suit the body) transsexualism. No amount of electro-shock therapy, aversion therapy, drugs or anything else has ever made it go away. One thing that pisses me off is that there are still bastard doctors and psychiatrists who still use those methods in a pathetic attempt to make the person 'normal'.
There is evidence that the BSTc region in trans females brains is the same as in non-trans females. With medical evidence such as this, for it to still be classed as a mental delusion is abhorrent.
Therefore, transsexualism is simply a medical condition, and is no less valid as a medical condition as any other condition. e.g. Down's Syndrome.
As such, to group us as a 'sexual minority' is just plain wrong.
Being homosexual or bisexual is not a defect, nor is it a mental problem. It is simply a state, such as being right or left handed.
The whole 'sexual minority' thing is stupid. There is absolutely nothing sexual about being transsexual. For that matter there is nothing sexual about being gay, bi or lesbian either.
We don't want the same things either. We, as transpeople, want for our condition to be recognised as real, instead of as a delusion. We want to be recognised as our true genders. We want people to stop thinking binary. There are simply not two genders. Think of how many times you have to fill out a form and it only has male or female as options. Even if you want to be an ignorant jerk and pretend like transpeople don't exist, you cannot deny that there are intersexed people. Where is the option for them? We want our treatment to be subsidised just as much as any other medical condition.
Gays, lesbians and bisexuals mostly want equal rights in terms of partnerships. The right to marry the person they love, the same rights as hetero couples for things like superannuation, taxation, the ability to have the say over a partners medical treament. Of course, there are things that don't require partnerships, like the ability to serve in the military.
Another thing is, glb people can be just as ignorant about transpeople as anyone else. Lots of glbt material is really just glb material with the t stuck on the end
With all that said, I do enjoy the links to the glb community and we do share common experiences, e.g. coming out, discrimination. But it will only take us so far.
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