why are the t with the glb?

Personally, I think it would be better if people would start seeing gender dysphoria as something close to an autoimmune disease and understand that this is a real medical issue and start treating it accordingly. The connection to auto immune disease is that our mind is pretty much rejecting our body and attacking it because of a birth defect. The amount of suffering we go through is really closer to that of someone who has a serious medical issue and so many lives are ruined because of lack of early treatment and intervention. Too many people still view gender dysphoria as purely psychological when it is clearly something much more serious.

 

I agree with Yaeli that I would like gender dysphoria to be recognized as a medical issue (now that transgender issues are becoming more visible in the media lots of people are treating it like some trendy identity thing) but I don't mind being grouped with LGB people. From what I've seen, a large percentage of trans people are LGB, so there's a lot of intersection there. Plus the modern LGBT rights movement in the US had many important figures who were trans women, so trans people have been part of the movement since the beginning. Trans issues are often ignored too, at least if we're attached to LGBT then people have to pay us some attention. That's how I view it at least.

 

People show support with the lgb community more than with the transgender community. Yes, gender has nothing to do with sexuality, unless you count of that there's no difference between and trans woman being lesbian and a cis woman being lesbian. That's about the topic where it connects. Transgender rights are honestly never going to given to us (as in we'll be set back even further) if we aren't included in lgb. Lgbt are all people on the gender/sexuality situation because we are seen as queer. LGBTQIA etc, is just queer rights. We're all kinda fighting for the same thing, and we're all grouped in being queer.

On gender dysphoria being seen as a medical issue?
I think that's kind of making it back to the Gender Identity Disorder bullshit and makes it seem like we're mentally ill unless our medication is gonna be HRT.

 

This is something I've thought a good deal about as well. It also works the other way around. The way a gay woman who doesn't like wearing makeup or "looking nice" gets wrongly associated with transgenderism, when she's just a woman.

Sex and gender are apart. Which kind of makes the fusion of LGB and T issues seem counter-intuitive.
However, it did happen. And now this is what we have and we've built a platform of solidarity which I think we can treasure.

But the problem still remains. It suggests that LGB people and T people are somehow inherently similar because they are LGB and T. For one thing, it perpetuates stereotypes of feminine gay men and butch lesbians etc. But mostly, it's just not true. Cis gay people often have little or no more understanding of what it's like being trans compared to cis straight people, so why insinuate that they have things in common?

I really don't know where I am on this.
Great topic, very interesting!

 

I understand that you are frustrated but understand that our connection with the rest of the lgbt+ community is not because we are a sexuality but because we share in a struggle. A struggle for acceptance, both from others and ourselves, a struggle for survival in a world where we are seen as "wrong" by the "normal" people. Cutting off the rest of the community cuts us off from a community of people who understand and support us.... We're in this fight together, you don't just turn to the people who have your back and say "nah guys I don't wanna be associated with you" that isn't fair to them and only hurts us. We strive together as a community of people with different issues but the same struggle, the struggle to just be who we are!

That's how I see it anyway...

 

They're oppressed by the same people in many of the same ways we are, and that unites us.

 

I think this is still an open question in the trans community. Some people think the grouping makes sense. Other's don't. The question is also weighted down by historical issues, like how shitty the Human Rights Campaign has been throwing trans people under the bus like every time and only frontlining sexuality issues.

I get that. But at the same time, my stance as a transfeminine person is I want people to recognize that sexuality issues are gender issues. That is, discrimination around sexuality seems to focus or have epistemic roots in issues of sexism. So I think the trans community should be with the lesbian, gay and bisexual community, but only because they should be with the trans community.

I think the central way to end violence against trans folks is to address gender-based violence itself, and that has a lot of overlap with sexuality justice. It's mostly a matter of LGB people getting their priorities straight and realizing they can't just ignore gender or pretend like it's a separate problem that they can avoid solving and end up getting true equality. They can't.

I definitely understand that trans issues are separate. But really, the only truly distinct trans issues needing to be solved are either gender-based violence (whether it's bathroom exclusion, especially show-me-your-papers or violent or semi-violent altercations with security guards, or encounters with the police) or issues of access to transition care.

The first concern is much more immediate, but transition care is just as important: only by getting access to care where it needs to be will we make any meaningful reduction on trans suicide rates (I think we can all agree it's not just harassment and discrimination that causes suicide among trans people. It's also dysphoria, irrespective of other people's hostility towards us.) I think we're probably going to have single-payer health care sooner than we're going to have guaranteed access to transition care. So why not fight for that? If can get a society compassionate enough (in the US) to recognize the need for basic health care as a social service, then I am certain we can get one compassionate enough to extend transition care--with intelligence means testing--to people who can't afford it, even if it's expensive, because the number of people who will need it is low.

~ Adrienne

 

Well, it's totally fair to ask the question of whether or not LGB people have really been properly supportive as a group. If we're just judging off of HRC, like the major political arms of the LGB movements, it's pretty easy to argue that they have not been.

Just a few years ago in my hometown, we had a nondiscrimination ordinance that was going to provide sexual orientation and gender identity protections. Then bathrooms came up, and the local LGB organizations caved in and stopped pushing for it, exactly like the scumbags I knew they would be. And that's kind of the history. They called it "compromise." They called it "something is better than nothing." They called it "don't let good be the enemy of perfect."

But the fact remains that it's bad for movement building to try and grow your movement by taking on the concerns of a wide range of people, and then always shitting on your minority groups.

(Of course, I mean the liberal Left does this all the fucking time, which is why they are such trash, but I mean, you get the idea.)

 

I suppose you could distant yourself away from the other letters, but you can't complain when progress becomes much slower. While there are certain issues that pertain uniquely to transfolk, much of it, as has been addressed previously, interlinks with the LGB+ community.

Namely the standards and stereotypes men and women are held to. It's much easier to challenge and even break those traditions, when you have the Ts. It demonstrates to society as a whole, hey, maybe there's something to this whole 'be your fucking self' idea. Perhaps expecting women to be docile and a maid, or a man to never express emotion and never engage in feminine behavior, is kind of silly.

There is more to being trans- than just corrective surgery, hormones, and changing documentation.

I'd say transfolk do benefit the LGB+, just by being associated with them. Yes, some folks may use it as a springboard to promote their own warped logic, but that comes with anything. You can't escape that while you live, so it's futile to avoid it, when instead you can make use of it. But the benefit is, we break gender roles and expressions, which accelerate the possibility of folks, just for having a certain body shape or set of organs, have to operate a particular way, with no straying from the narrow lines.

Also, I worry that if we go it alone, we'll be abandoned by many, and left on our own. Folks will think we're delusional or just cross-dressers or, God, who knows what else? It's likely some folks may think transfolk are a parasite to the rest of the community, who are just riding on the backs of others, and you know, that's fine. Assholes come in every group and organization, and I like to know who they are, so that I can tell them to fuck off and get out of my way, I want my rights.

 

I think we all face the same discrimination just for veing who we are. We are all pushed into the closet and a grow up terrified in a world that will alway be a little alien and weird to us.

 

Political reasons, mostly. United, we don't accomplish much, but together, we have more of a voice. Don't forget that many LGB folk are gender-variant in some way or another, and many in the T are also something other than straight. For a long time, people didn't even differentiate between all the specific subgroups.

And yes - many of the issues we have stem from the same (or similar) sources. I'm genderqueer and bisexual, so feel a bit "in between" several groups, but it also helps me to see multiple problems as being connected.

I know not everyone agrees, that we have "little in common", and would be better off going our own ways, especially now with more rights, but if it weren't for the two coming together, we wouldn't be where we are today.

 

As my sister points out, there's a lot of intersection simply because a lot of people fit into more than one category. The vast majority of the trans people I know, with a fairly good sampling are gay or bisexual as well. I only know two who are straight.

 

Then again, you could argue that straight trans folk might find it easier to go stealth. I've met many older trans women who felt they had nothing in common with LGB populations, and basically saw themselves as cis women.

 

Also, because of sexuality, people may have an "unusual" (compared to people who follow all the common social norms) gender expression. Trans people, due to their dysphoria, also often have "unusual" gender expression. So there is a connect there.

There is also the issue of common misconception about trans people and their sexuality. Is a trans man who is attracted to women, but hasn't transitioned yet straight? The answer is yes, but they technically are attracted to the same biological sex (even if it is a different gender), so there is some connection there. Also, due to this, many (straight especially )trans people are involved in L/G communities before they realize they are/come out as trans.

 

I for one appreciate the solidarity. The less threat there is of standing alone, the better.