I think that maybe the lgbt community isn't always right? Obviously we fight a lot of things. But for some things, I feel not that it's necessarily WRONG for us to call something out for being discriminatory, but I feel like it's not the most pressing issue. Or I feel that maybe we aren't looking at the other side of the argument, and we're maybe looking at it the wrong way? For example, I saw an article about a new policy with Canadian blood donation, where trans canadians who go to donate blood will be treated as the sex they were assigned at birth, i.e a trans guy would be seen by a female examiner, and a trans woman in a relationship with someone who is biologically male would be unable to donate blood because it counts as a "homosexual relationship". There are a lot of people up in arms about it, calling it "disgusting transphobia" and an "anti trans policy" and an "attack on trans people". But... is it wrong that I disagree? Because in one regard I feel that as a trans person I need to always side with those saying it's anti trans, but I don't... feel that it is. The thing is, this is very very thin ice. It's blood donation. So like, in terms of the thing about a trans women not being able to donate, there's reasoning behind it, because of the risk of HIV. And I think that changes could definitley be MADE to this policy to make it kinder towards trans people, but I also feel that calling it "disgusting transphobia" and attacking the medical field over it is going... a little too far. This is kind of like an example. what i'm trying to say is, in situations like this, I feel that we aren't looking at the other side of things. If this policy is necessary to prevent someone from becoming ill due to donated blood, then by all means. Because the fact is, of course someone who is trans is the gender they identify as. But, when it comes the medical practice especially, the fact is this. I'm a guy. But my body is female, and that's just the way it is. I was born in the wrong body, but its' still the body I'm stuck with and I can't just ignore that. I'm kind of rambling here, sorry... I just feel like I'm wrong, or some kind of traitor for thinking along these lines. Am I?
Hi,you're definitely not a traitor you're entitled to your own opinion, we all are. EC is a place where you won't be judge for your opinion so feel free to share'em
I don't have enough knowledge about transition to make a solid comment about blood donation. However, i agree with you that simply yelling "Disgusting transphobia! Oppression!" isn't helpful to the cause/situation. You aren't a traitor, and you are free to have your own opinion about anything (and to express it). In fact, if we are going to fight against prejudice in an effective way, we need to constant analyze and criticize ourselves. Otherwise, we become a closed group, yelling words like "Oppression! Prejudice!" without first thinking about what we are doing, and that is dangerous because we will end up labeling some people as our enemies when they aren't necessarily our problem. Again: It is obvious that prejudice exists, and we have enemies to fight against. But not everyone that disagrees with us on one thing or another are enemies. Unfortunately, we already have many groups with that way of thinking. And, many times, they end up hurting our movement, instead of helping (even if this effect is unintentional). It is essential that we constantly think about what we are doing. It is essential that we openly talk about what we are doing. This way, we can analyze our own movement and constantly evolve our fight.
Thank you so much Your words are wise, and you speak very much along the lines of what I'm thinking. My main concern is, that like you said, we are unintentionally hurting our movement instead of helping. I feel like we have to pick our battles.
Yeah, I feel the same way. It's just the fact that we have to think about what we're doing. Actually think about it. The blood donation example, those are instances where I feel people just have to be real. They have to look at the reasoning behind the decision before all out naming it "oppressive" and "transphobic". I don't think you are a traitor, or anything of that sort, I think you're a human being with his own mind, able to have his own opinions. No one should say otherwise.
The whole blood donation argument with regards to HIV is unscientific and incredibly old-fashioned and is a relic of more discriminatory times. There are many many many more diseases than HIV and denying someone who is clearly clean is ridiculous, especially when we can actually test for HIV too. I wouldn't call you a traitor, but certainly not informed to a level where you can make a real argument against it. :/ As a community the small fights are important too, that's what democracy is...protecting the minority in the face of majority, not the other way around.
Thanks. It is nice to see people thinking rationally inside our community. Yup, i agree with you. But we have to think about our methodology. For example, recently, there was a movement in my university that vandalized walls in the city with graffiti. Regardless if it is justified or not, it is a crime, by our law. The messages were nice (things like "Respect the LGBTs!", "Homophobia kills!" and that sort of thing), but, still, they didn't had permission to do that. I then engaged in a discussion with a member of this group, and i explained my opinion: That things like this harm the movement, because the ones who agree with the messages will continue to agree, and the fanatic ones that disagree automatically with everything from LGBTs will not change their minds because of graffiti. People that aren't informed about the situation, or people we can change and educate, instead of opening their minds, will look at the situation and say: "Vandals! How can i support this?!" . Therefore, we lose the opportunity to educate those people. The other guy said "we don't want to educate anyone, just show to the world we are here", "you are a moderate, i hope you don't change anyone with your thinking", "it is a shame that you aren't doing anything for our movement, and instead you sit and complain", etc. In resume, instead of explaining why he disagrees with me, so we can have a healthy discussion, he started to insult me and accuse me of not doing anything to help. I'm telling this history because, like i said, i think we need to talk about our methods. In this case, for example, it is perfectly fine if he disagrees with me. However, if that's the case, let's talk then! Let's see the points from both sides, and then we can discuss what will be best for the movement. Instead, he (and the group supporting him) put himself in a full defensive position, like "if you aren't with me, then you are my enemy". And that's when we risk creating more enemies and damaging our movement, instead of educating people and creating a better world. We need to discuss, we need to talk. We can't act without planning, and planning includes listening to people that disagrees with us, so we can rethink our practice and see if it is really the best option. And that's why i think it is essential to talk between ourselves about all of this. About blood donation, i don't have enough knowledge about this, like i said. But i tend to agree that the restriction doesn't make sense. I need to research a bit more about the subject, however.
I really think that there are sometimes where the LGBT community does go too far. There are situations (mostly medical) where disclosure of your identity is important. If I go to the doctor, I always check the female box on sex. It confuses people sometimes, but later on they thank me because it allows them to know what medical tests that I need. I have looked into both sides of arguments on a lot of issues. I even took time to look into the opposing argument on transgender bathroom usage. It's important that people understand both sides of an issue, otherwise, they risk looking uneducated. They also risk playing into that stereotype that LGBT people just yell oppression every chance that we get.
I tend to disagree with the LGBT community more than I agree with it, to be honest. All this "social justice" garbage makes me sick to my stomach, and frankly I don't believe in there being more than two genders. It's why I'm so self-loathing, because the community I'm inadvertently a part of is such a twisted thing that wants to rewrite history to its liking. It's like watching a goddamn never ending Tumblr post and it makes me nauseated to know that I, in some small way am a part of it. Maybe it's my asexual nature, maybe it's that I'm cynical and jaded but frankly I just don't like the LGBT movements of today. They're going to Orwellian lengths to rewrite what it is already written-- it seems they want to change language to fit their needs when we already have words in place for certain things. At the end of the day, I believe there's two genders, the trans varieties thereof and nothing in between. But that's just me, and maybe I'm a bigoted conservative for it, but I'd rather be a bigoted conservative than trying to change the past to control the future, any day.
