Transgender University: Introduction

I am undeniably hot.

Not, perhaps, in the sense of raw individual animal magnetism1, but rather as a member of America’s most explosively trending social phenomenon.    Cover of Time Magazine?  Done.  Ancient history by comparison, Chaz Bono didn’t just come of the closet, he leapt, and  landed on his feet.   Supermodel Andreja Pejic successfully crowd-funded an upcoming independent film autobiography after corporate interests insisted she alter her story to make it more “commercially viable”2.  Jeffrey Tambour brought down the house this week at the Golden Globes by thanking the transgender community for the privilege of being “part of change.”

Orange is the New Black?  Pshaw…transgender is the new lesbian.  Yes, in 2015, we are that cool.

That’s one side of the story.  On the other side, 99.9999% of transgender folks are not successful supermodels or blockbuster actors.  Last month, teen Leelah Alcorn stepped in front of a truck because her parents refused to accept her as transgender and sent her to “reparative therapy”.  Her mom continues to mourn her as “an amazing boy”.  41% of transgender people in a 2011 survey reported having attempted suicide.  Trans people are substantially more likely to live in poverty, face divorce and experience expulsion from families and/or houses of worship3.  It is legal to fire people for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) in 29 states.  Legislation to correct this uniformly offers exemptions for religious institutions, which remain at the forefront of opposition to 14th Amendment4 protection for LGBT citizens.  Trans people are assaulted and murdered worldwide at astounding rates.  In the US, this is particularly true for transwomen of color.  One of my trans friends recently shared with me that she will be moving away from her home city after having been assaulted for the seventh time.

It is clearly too early to light the candles on the cake.  Laverne Cox, in the Time Magazine feature mentioned above, vividly remarked that society is at a tipping point regarding transgender rights.  There is much to inspire hope for the trans community, but the nature of tipping points is that shifts in either direction are still possible.  I would take Laverne one step farther–we are balancing on the edge of a knife, the business end of which, for the moment, is still pressed menacingly between our shoulder blades.

With today’s entry, I begin a series of posts intended to serve as a primer for understanding transgender people.  I am not a trained writer, but I embark cognizant of the imperative to know one’s audience, whom I will assume to consist of my friends and family, many if not most of whom are tolerant of the LGBT community, supportive of me in particular and open to learning about transgender issues and experience.  I also presume that those who have read this far do so out of at least a degree of interest.

I am plunging headlong into an arena where I have more to offer in terms of perspective than expertise.  Even there, I recognize my limitations.  “If you know one transgender person, you know one transgender person.”5  I am the metaphorical teacher who frantically reads one chapter ahead of the class.  Many others have written this story earlier and with greater clarity.  I do not recommend that you see what follows as any sort of a one-stop shop for all things transgender.6  I hope to refer you to some of the better memoirs, movies and resources as we progress.  I acknowledge the hubris in the second word of my title, which was chosen for effect, not out of delusion.

I will try to resist the temptation to lapse into jargon, will attempt to define my terms carefully, and will provide, if necessary, a glossary of terms.  I welcome your feedback on this matter.  Further, I generally invite in general your constructive criticism and non-rhetorical questions.

EDIT:  A reader (hurrah!) has already asked me to clarify  this.  I am open to genuine requests for information.  Perhaps you won’t need to ask, since it is my intent in the following posts to anticipate and answer your questions, but if I don’t cover your interest, fire away.  I only request that you refrain from inquiries that are merely veiled attempts to make a point.  Example, “Have you lost your mind?”  Yes, by the way…RMG

Finally, I realize that I am now committing the sum of my creative energies to a topic which has already captured the bulk of them, whether in my prose or poetry.  To those that wish, kindly or unkindly, that I would “just shut up about it”, I offer both genuine sympathy and validation.  I wish I could just shut up about it.  For the time, however, I cannot, and I choose not to make further attempts to hold back the tide with a spoon.  Gender dysphoria7 for me is the hiss an old-time radio–a sound which can be ignored with some effort in order to hear the broadcast, but cannot be extinguished without pulling the plug.  It has always been there, long before I understood what was making the noise.

Let me tell you about it…

 

1  Although if you are of this opinion, I will not forcefully argue the point.

2  Can you say, “Bad financial decision?”  Pejic also recently disclosed that she has had gender-confirmation surgery (GCS–formerly known as “sex change surgery”), after having spent years dominating both men’s and women’s fashion runways simultaneously.  My understanding is that her transition will be a major focus of the upcoming film, which I predict will launch stratospherically.

3  Fuck you, Bridgewood Church.

4  Which declares, among other things, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws (emphasis added).”

5  Generally attributed to They, of “They say” fame.

6  Particularly fetishwear.  I am way too boring for that stuff.

7  Explanation forthcoming–please bear with me.

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