So in the post about Elders, there was one example given about a lady called M.Macha Nightmare who got into a bit of trouble over signing a change.org petition with others to remove Transgender from the GLBT umbrella or something like that. Now, sadly I could not find this actual petition to see what it said, so we’re going off of other stuff here. This, for once is not going to really be an opinion piece from me, but rather an info piece about this, in case no one has heard of this and merely wants to rage against it as transphobic bullshitery.

I first really heard of this issue not in this Elder’s piece by Folmer, but from Milo Yiannopoulos, hence forth to be refered to as Milo or his twitter handle @Nero…because that last name is nuts. I have to copy/paste it because I cannot even pronounce it, much less spell it. But let us just say that he is as gay, fabulous, offensive, and funny as his last name is unpronounceable. Which is to say, very. (He’s also the only man I know who has managed to write an entire article using nothing but photos of his own tweets…and it was good).

Funnily enough, one of the first articles that pops up on this whole removing the T from GLBT is actually written by a transsexual. And, they make a case for it too. Something of a logical one even.

Lesbian, gay and bisexual are all sexualities, so you’d be forgiven for thinking transgender is as well.

Forms ask you if you’re heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or transgender.

But it’s not a sexuality. It’s a gender. It makes no more sense being included with LGB than if you were to add ‘female’ in there.

I am transgender. That means I was born with female genitalia and socialised as a woman. My brain had other ideas.

Before I came out, I was attracted to women. Being ‘female’ that made me a lesbian.

Now I’m transitioning to male, I’m still attracted to women, so that makes me heterosexual.

If I was attracted to men, I’d be gay.

See how that works? See how you can be transgender and gay, or lesbian, or straight, or bisexual? One does not equal the other.

Sexuality and gender and not the same thing and are independent of one another

It’s pretty short, I’ll include the ending as well.

But when talking about issues that concern sexuality why is transgender included?

Yes, the fight for equality for LGB people is still ongoing but the transgender fight is completely different and is only just beginning.

It’s time we stopped pretending otherwise.

TL:DR version, GLB are sexual orientations where as  T is a gender. sexuality and gender are separate things and should be dealt with separately.

Now, I spent most of my time on things of divinity rather than on how genders and sexual orientations work. Mostly because I’m more concerned with “is it working right now” rather than how it functions on every level of existence. What can I say, I’m more interested in how divine power works than the Stygian depths of sexuality and gender. And there’s no one alive who can understand my sexual preferences, so trying to join in with some group over that would be a waste of my time.

But this is an issue that has been apparently growing for quite some time, at least as reported by Milo and others. Not only are GLB and T different things all together, they desire different things and can even end up working at cross purposes.

Some may have heard recently that Drag Queens have been banned from performing at different “pride” parades and events. If you were as confused as I was as to why something that is a not insignificant part of the Gay community would be banned the answer is simple. It offended Trans people.

Yep, men dressing as women offended women in the bodies of men dressing as women. I’m aware of how confusing that sounds. I’m still not entirely sure about it myself, but there you have it. Transwomen (I think that’s right, gods this stuff is confusing) were offended about men dressing up as women because it…violated their space or something like that, made a mockery of their pain and struggle, etc. etc, etc.

If any of my pagan readers are flashing back to the Dianics when they used that same line of reasoning against transwomen coming into their ritual…congratulations. You have spotted hypocrisy. Or at least, Heresy.

And that’s not all. The Gay community is repeatedly finding itself at serious odds with the Transgender community. The Gay community loves to outrage, to test the bounds of civilization, freedom of expression, and social norms. The Transcommunity…not so much. A good example of some of the struggle that’s been happening is that where as we used to say that a boy interested in fashion and playing with dolls was likely to be gay (as many a gay man loved such things in his youth), now though the transgender community insist that such things are evidence that the boy is a transsexual.

So where as the GLB has been pushing to see gender and sexual orientation and interests as a spectrum T has been coming in and locking down “gender and sexuality” things. Where as a girl who liked sports was a tomboy or boy liking cooking were just interests kids could have, now it’s sometimes used as proof of “Gender disphoria.” That girl likes sports because she’s really a boy inside. Add to the fact that many are pushing to have children diagnosed earlier and earlier as “transgender” over simple behaviors like that (I think I’ve heard of three year olds being labeled as “transgender” because they like things usually reserved for the opposite sex) and you get a very repressive idea of gender and sexuality very much at odds with the usual view of GLB peoples.

And it’s not just Gay men suddenly finding potential new members of the gay community being stripped of their balls and turned into little girls that are upset. Lesbians too find themselves at odds with the transgender community.

Most lesbians are feminists by nature, and there is presently a split in feminism, over the idea of transwomen being women. One side says they are, and one side says they aren’t. Such notable figures as Germaine Greer (of the 2nd wave) have come out and expressed doubts or disbelief in regards to transwomen being women because they have not lived as women, were not born as women, etc, and see transgenderism as an attempt by men to force their way into female spaces. Apparently, a number of prominent lesbian feminists believe this way as well, though they are not as vocal about it due to the amount of sheer hate they receive from the transcommunity and it’s allies over these allegations.

And if you’re flashing back to the Dianics again, well done. The Dianic path is very 2nd wave in its nature, or at least it used to be, and if I recall correctly drew much from Greer and those who believed like her.

One need only look at the outrage of women over Kaitlyn Jenner being elected woman of the year to see some of this as well. This year at least, the best womanhood has to offer comes with an attached organic dildo (PENIS!!!!!), it seems. I wonder what Freud would have to say about that?

There’s a lot more examples of friction with the gay community, the lesbian community and the trans community (oddly enough, the bisexual community seems pretty silent, but then they’ve never really been a big voice have they?) than what I’ve presented here. But it tends to break down into issues of censorship vs freedom (trans vs gay) and issues of womanhood and oppression ( lesbians vs trans over who is what and who suffers more).

So there you have it, a bit of information on something you probably hadn’t heard about, possibly don’t care about, and may accidentally find going off in your face someday. I hope it helps to inform, and I look forwards to any conversations this brings up.

 

Hela Bless