LGBTransIQA+

T – Transgender

This letter contains the hot topic of today & we are going to sit down & have a good, long chat about this. You’d better grab a snack.

Some people who I know accept & love the LGB while full out shunning the T. As I mentioned in GBP, the resistance is a product of ignorance & the only solution is education.

Speaking of GPB, let’s get them out here:

When it comes to sex/gender, you can be Trans- or Cis- & there are two, very distinctive, attributes we have to consider when determining which we are:

• Sex assigned at birth (otherwise referred to as Assigned Sex)
• Sex assigned by individual (otherwise referred to as Aligned Sex)

When it comes to how these play a part in a Transgender person’s journey, it’s as simple as “Assigned Sex to Aligned Sex” if a Cisgender person “Assigned Sex is Aligned Sex.” & There’s nothing wrong with either journey, as long as it is authentically you.

Assigned Sex

In western medicine & media, there’s this whole big deal about the reveal of a baby’s genitals & determination is crude at best: An extended butt crack & we’ve got a girl; Anything longer than a thumb & we’ve got a boy; Anything else & you’ll need to refer to my next post about Intersex. How cruel a system? but unless the parents got pre-birth testing to determine the assigned sex genetically, that’s about as much as doctors have to work with right then & there.

Modern psychology tells us that identity is far more a matter of psyche than physique. That many people still believe knowing the chromosomal make up of a fetus is essential to its development is peculiar to me, though you’ll still see me participate in improperly named gender reveal parties for the sake of my friends & family.

One friend of mine, criticized for her gender reveal party, said something to the effect of:

This has all been a lot for me & I needed a party to keep me going. This is what I got. If in 18 years we need to have another gender reveal party, we will. I don’t care! This is for me – let’s be real.

Honestly, since then, I’ve let everyone have their fun. (His favorite movie is Moana BTW)

Assigned Sex is who doctors tell you that you are.

Aligned Sex

This concept is better understood through the Trans- community, but in fact everyone has an aligned sex & assigned sex. However, the Cis- community falls under the category of “lucky guess” & the Trans- community falls under the “maybe we can’t know everything about a human’s whole life at birth.”

It’s important to note that aligned sex has nothing specifically to do with genitals or hormones. So, even with pre-birth genetic testing, doctors may still misgender a baby they likely won’t know as an adult. That being said, realigning one’s sex through surgery may be a part of someone’s transition. Furthermore, we fully understand that chromosomal make up & other genetic information cannot be altered. We ask that you now fully understand chromosomes & other genetic information have nothing to do with sex or gender. It has to do with genetics. Capiche?

Aligned Sex is who you tell doctors you are.

Ok, we’re getting somewhere.

While we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of the explanations members of the Trans- community face, the National Center for Transgender Equality offers many resources for members & allies of the community.

THE MICROAGGRESSIONS

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What’s your real name? The one I introduced myself with.

• If you can accept nicknames-
• If you’re ok when someone has a married name-
• If you have no problem with anyone on this list living their best life-

Then you can call a person by their name…

• Even if when you first met, they went with a different name.
• Even if you think it’s hard to pronounce.

This has literally nothing to do with someone’s gender identity. It’s their name, not your opinion.

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You’re attractive for a Trans- person. Am I not supposed to be?

Being attractive has nothing to do with your sex or identity. For one thing, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The same things you may find attractive, could literally deter someone else. Attraction is subjective, though some will try to make it objective. The rules of attraction apply to all people, which fully include the Trans- community. That should be a, given everyone’s just as human as anyone else.

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But, what do you have going on down there? I’m human, not defective or deformed.

Why would you even ask someone this? I can understand personal curiousity to some level, but honestly I don’t daydream about genitals in the world around me. Unless you’re having sex with someone, their genitals are legitimately none of your business. If you are having sex with someone, you should be fully aware of who you’re with before any intimacy occurs. Furthermore, anyone else’s sexuality & sexual orientation is only a matter of yours for the same reason. Just as you likely haven’t aggressively questioned friends or family what their genitals look like, you shouldn’t do so of complete strangers, especially so honestly because strangers owe strangers no answers or explanations.

I’ve never met a trans- person before! That you know of.

Unless this statement is made in the privacy of each other’s company under a predetermined understanding that you’re both trying to understand each other it’s not just a statement to make. If you are good friends with someone from childhood who transitions later in life, you may be confused. This confusion isn’t warranted as you shouldn’t be so concerned with someone else’s life, but it also isn’t offensive unless you make it that way. Ask questions, don’t make assumptions. Talk to people as people. Listen to them when they really to you. It’s that simple.

There are plenty more unfortunate examples of ignorance that the Trans- community has to face day in and day out. The political level of misunderstanding only reinforces socially accepted ignorance towards the Trans- community. Don’t make matters worse by thinking 1 in 1,000 identify as trans-. You’re only kidding yourself.

They is a plural pronoun. I’ve made this statement. It’s ignorant.

While they/their has been typically correlated with plural verb conjugation in the English language…

The English language:

• Used to have 6 more letters than it does today. (source)
• Linguistics
• • Semantics
  • Pragmatics

I fully understand this could pose a new issue to English & Composition instructors, but it’s literally their job to figure it out for the sake of students.

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DON’T ASK QUESTIONS YOU DON’T WANT ANSWERS TO.

I don’t understand why anyone would need to know about anyone else’s genitals. It doesn’t have to make sense to you, it isn’t your life. What I pee out of is none of your business and whether you were born the same gender you perform as today isn’t any of mine.