Happy Pride 2010, but Maybe Not for Transgender People

Happy Pride 2010, but Maybe Not for Transgender People

The Gay and Lesbian Community has a bastard stepchild that it slaps around called the Transgender community. Even though the transgender community is largely responsible for The Stonewall riots which gave birth to gay liberation, the transgender community remains till today the punchline of the joke and the mascot not allowed to evolve.

In 1969 transgender people were vastly misunderstood. Often labeled as mentally ill, transgender people had nothing to lose when throwing the first beer bottles at the police. Homosexuals could retract back into the closet and re assimilate, while transsexuals and gender variant people could not so easily blend in.

The word transgender is a political umbrella term that encompasses a mixed variety of gender variant people including transsexuals or those who believe that they were born in the wrong bodies, drag queens who are performers, straight and gay cross dressers, what was termed in old fashion language as transvestites (meaning dressing as the opposite gender.

The highly marketable pre-op transsexual prostitutes who have adopted the pornographic term She-males. Also included under the transgender umbrella are people who appear sexually ambiguous i.e.: effeminate appearing men and butch appearing women. Transgender is a highly lucrative incentive when it comes to applying for financial grants, hence transgender people are an auspicious inclusion to the gay and lesbian rights family. Many reported statistics concerning violence towards gay men inclusive of crimes committed towards M2F transgender individuals.

The other side is that many people are born inter-sexed or gender ambiguous for reasons of chromosomal anomalies have ambiguous genitalia. Inter-sexed people are born with this medical condition though nowadays there is more enlightenment about how to treat babies born inter-sexed or gender ambiguous.

In the 1950's a protocol was adopted to streamline the gender of such infants based upon the presence of a phallus or lack thereof. With modern technology the complexities of inter-sexed children can be diagnosed more properly to determine if the are internal male or female reproductive organs or other deformities and most intersexed infants are not born with perfectly functioning genitals. Intersexed people are also included in the mixed bag called Transgender.

The political term of transgender gets very confusing because a cross dresser who dresses for erotic thrills is different from a drag queen or drag king dressing for performances and impersonating women or men.The same can be said for a transsexual who is attempting to change their body in order to be who their mind tells them they really are inside. Modern science is proving that transsexuals are born feeling as though they are placed within the wrong body or have been designated in the wrong anatomical gender.

Most transsexuals are not this way for camp reasons, erotic thrills or to be comical, they are simply displaced within the wrong bodies and desperate to get sorted out to move on with their lives. Nowadays there is such emphasis upon transgender people standing up and being counted.

The gay marriage equality issue has drawn many transsexuals into the spotlight because in many states transsexuals can have surgery, apply for new birth certificates, change legal gender and then legally marry members of the opposite legal sex. The attitude is if a transsexual can marry legally and they were once considered a member of the opposite sex and genetically male or female, then isn't this same sex marriage? Experts will argue that gender identity and life as a man or woman has nothing to do with sexual preference. That said a person can be a male to female transsexual and still be a lesbian, or a female to male transsexual and sill be a gay man.

Many transsexual people are often professionals, intellects and everyday people not looking to be confused by lurid misconceptions of who transsexuals are. Transsexuals definitely do not want to be confused as drag queens, cross dressers, transvestites or fetishists. Unfortunately every community has its own agenda. The gay and lesbian community are not always the most enlightened about the vast differences within the transgender community and often mock transgender people as oddities, pathetic, misled people, mascots and caricatures.

The old fag-dyke oversimplifications of transgender people is that transgender people are embarrassments and liabilities to gay and lesbian political credibility.suspect for really being gays who cannot accept their gayness. Transsexuals change their gender, get new birth certificates, legally marry as heterosexual are frowned upon, thus betraying their still struggling for equality, gay and lesbian family. However many stealth transsexuals ironically find more respect in the everyday world no longer hindered by the institutionalized gay and lesbian back biting. This is a call to heal the overall community of self loathing

Mocking transgender people for a laugh is done regularly by such gay editorial icons such as Michael Musto and in most media. They cover transgender people, but often in a deprecating and freakifying way. Reading between the lines transgender people are always misrepresented as mentally imbalanced gays who change their genders and then have no other recourse than to be professional sex workers, professional kooks and comical circus freaks.

The M2F transgender punchline is oversimplified by referring transgender women as transvestites, she males or simply "a man". This discounts the intense political, physical and emotional ordeal that most transgender women endure, especially those born in third world countries. F2Ms also endure an intense transformational odyssey. Recent tabloid fodder of the pregnant man was more so meant to titillate as opposed to educate the general public.

The irresponsible treatment of the media, including gay and lesbian press, contribute to the misconceptions of who transgender people are. The media, television and cinema at large remain guilty of stereotyping, particularly transgender women. The current popular depictions are: drag queens, prostitutes, or social outcasts to be ridiculed and pitied.

Shows such as "House", "Law and Oder" and HBO's "Bored to Death" have been chocked full of such negative depictions of transgender people. You will systematically see roles written for transgender actors playing prostitutes and freaky characters to serve as punchlines of antiquated jokes. This sets out a clear message to society that the only place for transgender people is the freak box, prostitution and the pseudo humanity of tragic clowns.

Many transgender men and women are intellectuals, parents, highly respected doctors and various esteemed professionals. But the image that the gay and lesbian community and the media at large is comfortable with is: that of the over the top freak, who though tolerated, deserves a chuckle, hence a little less humanity, credibility and respect than say the average gay person.

It is high time that the gay an lesbian community grow up to that next uncomfortable level and learn acceptance of its own members. Not every transgender person is a performer trying to be funny or freaky even if those who have changed their gender. A human being is not simply a set of genitals, they are body, heart and soul, deserving dignity and respect.

In essence, human rights belong to all humans and when one day marriage and all around human equality are a everyday reality, this blog with become one of historic observation. At this time when human dignities within the GLBT communities are challenged worldwide, equality and respect, even within our communities requires some evolutionary development.

Unfortunately many old fashioned beliefs still plague gay and lesbian people, though we now have some political capital and a definite influence in Hollywood, we have very little interest in transgender people unless they can serve as comic relief.

In the transgender community many people make a complex political and spiritual decision: To live in stealth mode:meaning to assimilate into straight society. For many transsexuals, especially F2M transsexuals, assimilating means leaving certain repressions of gay life behind in exchange with divorcing themselves from their past lives. This concept infuriates political activists who prefer that everyone stand up and be counted.

Other transgender people, for reasons of lack of education, cosmetic surgeries or proper psychotherapy can never assimilate convincingly. They do as best that they can often meaning being professionally transsexual and continuing on the performance or sex worker circuit. Unfortunately most gay, lesbian and transgender people grow up facing horrible repressions and must learn to overcome societal induced, internal self loathing.

Transgender people fall as third class citizens in the second class community of gay and lesbian people. If the gay and lesbian community truly want to include the transgender community as part of the greater whole, they must begin to accept and respect their bastard step children: The transgender community! This requires letting go of old stereotypes, honoring every one's unique differences. We must learn to stand strong as a whole community. We must not be lured into an alternative cast system reflecting the numerous bigotries of society.

It is Pride 2010, time for the gay and lesbian press and media to grow up. Discard the antiquated caricatures and tragic myths of what society has told us about transgender people. Get educated that we are all human beings who deserve respect and the right to be who we all are!

Peace Ya'll
Raetta Pierce