Tag: lgbt

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Where does transgender come from?

Born this way but whyLet’s presume you’re a transperson, trans attracted person or a sympathizer or ‘ally’. Why on earth would you willingly choose to be born as something seen by the mainstream as such an affront that the chances of you being killed (in the case of a trans person) or at least ridiculed (in the other cases)?

Lady Gaga says we are all “born this way.”  Ok, but why?

Why were so many people born black in the slavery days, jews during the holocaust, or residents of Hiroshima or Nagasaki on those fateful days in WWII? How about the people born to live in Syria or Iraq? Why would someone be “born this way” only to become a murder victim?

Is it all random?

Really?

I don’t think so. And I don’t think science is going to be much help.

Science admittedly doesn’t know the answer to the question “where does transgender come from?” Hell, they’re still trying to figure out how “boys” and “girls” happen. And so long as it denies existence of a condition requiring no-time and no-space, I don’t think it’s gonna find it.

I believe “transgender” comes from the same place “transamorous” comes from: That no-time and no-space state we all come from. Religion calls this state “heaven”. I have had a long-running beef with this concept, but now I can see why religion calls it that (in various permutations). It is, indeed, a state of pure positivity, where all things are known and possible and All Things are eternal. But it’s not a white robes and harps kind of place.

How do I know? I’ll get to that.

Words come with so much baggage, it’s challenging to talk about our origins.  “Heaven” comes with so much baggage, it makes understanding where transgender and transamorous originate a sticky topic. Especially when, supposedly, the “boss” in heaven, according to some people, abhors what transpeople are.

So I prefer a less-loaded phrase such as “Infinite Intelligence”, “All That Is”, or “Source” to describe our origins. These words tend to come with less past meaning.

What if there were very good reasons for why people come into the world and face such seeming horrendous experiences. What if there were very good reasons why you came into the world as transgender or transamorous? That’s what I’m going to explore over the next series of short, pithy posts.

 

Stay tuned.

 

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All Hail Penelope

 

 

Editor’s note: I wrote this two years ago. But it’s still a relevant story.

 

This is Penelope. Penelope is a boy. He’s transgender. He’s awesome.

When I got clear about my romantic and sexual attraction to transgender women, I came to an additional clarity about what transgender people are. Given how many transwomen desire to be seen as close to cisgender women as possible, I’ve tended to hold my own opinions of what transgender people are to myself, or at least shared with only a few.

Penelope has more balls than I do. And he’s eight.

Transgender people represent a natural extension of humanity. Transwomen for me aren’t cis-women. They never will be. That’s a good thing. The natural extension of humanity as I see transwomen was perfectly expressed in a response Penelope gave to his mother’s question, which was described by his mother in an online article

“How does it feet to be a boy with a vagina?” He replied, “Well, mom, I’m human, so it just feels normal.”

While some trans and even other members of the LGBTQI community have a hard time of it, I’m convinced transpeople have always represented a leading edge aspect of humanity, an extension that doesn’t require conforming one’s body to established societal norms. Some women have penises. Some men have vaginas. Get over it.

I get some transgender women want to be seen as “women”. That’s fine with me.

I find myself most resonating with transwomen who have little or no interest in that defining operation. Call it my preference, but there’s something deeper about that. Penelope’s mother puts it beautifully:

“Is it our job to facilitate body alterations? Or to help move the conversation more towards self-acceptance? Does having a beard make one a man? Will having a stronger jawline validate Penelope? Or is it our responsibility to keep reminding ourselves that we all have the right to simply “be” in the form that we were made?”

I agree with his mother. I love the idea of this expression of humanity emerging in public consciousness and becoming accepted as they are. To do that, humanity has a lot of growing up to do. But that growth isn’t my problem.

Or Penelope’s.

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The first Transgender District

Of course, it’s in San Francisco

This is a long time coming for the US. But I wonder if places overseas have been there done that…

The article linked above says proposed legislation in the Bay City, if passed, will create the first “government-sanctioned” transgender district in the world. Whether it’s history making or not, it’s a significant move forward. Leaders of this initiative hope this move will begin a push across the country by municipalities to protect transgender people, their communities and preserve their history.

Very nice.

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Proof is here!

Several weeks ago I mentioned – kind of as a funny prognostication – that there would be more transgender actors gracing all the stages: big screen, tv, online, etc.

Well, holy-moly, I’ve been proven right! Lol.

It seems more and more trans and other LGBT people are actually getting acting roles as media increasingly recognizes not only these people as real, valid members of the human race, but also as talented actors.

It’s so cool to see Laverne Cox rocking her own show, but there’s even a gender fluid person on one of my favorite shows Billions. 

So cool. <drops mike>

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WallMart: on the right side of history

wal-mart-logoMore than 500 companies – 500! – are now leading the charge in support of LGBT rights, according to the Human Rights Campaign. These companies scored perfect 100 scores on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index. The scale is from 0, where a company is not seen as meeting any requirements of an inclusive workplace, to 100, considered the most welcoming. WallMart has joined the list of over 500 companies earning a perfect 100 score.

 

Companies include Target, Dow Chemical, Marriott International, GE and Apple. More than 1000 companies are planning to fight proposed laws hostile to the LGBT community, including bathroom laws planned in Texas and elsewhere. Read the Bloomberg article here for more information.