The Truth about TRANSPHOBIA cannot be adequately addressed in just one blog. General consensus among those having minds trapped in the bubble of preconceived beliefs would simply put a period at the end of the word TRANSPHOBIA, and gladly admit, “Yes, I’m transphobic, and I stand proudly upon this as I know all I need to know, and I will fight your every effort to bring these abhorrent behaviors into accepted reality.” We hope following these last blogs on this subject, you will be more aware of this issue facing us today, and to be better able to deal with it in a rational, educated way. As of this writing, there remains so many unanswered questions as to why the “trans” issue is so prevalent. We believe it has been elevated to a state of awareness rivalling the gay and lesbian issues that were brought to the forefront in the Stonewall Riots (Uprising) on June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York City. There is much debate about who actually started the riot, but what is not in dispute is that there were a variety of sexes, and their variants, including the transgendered, who frequented that facility. What is also evident is that from that riot, the gays and lesbians took center stage in the reforms over the following number of years. What had been predominately excluded from the movement were those who were transgendered. It wasn’t until years later when those who were transgendered began to gain a measure of recognition. But even as recently as in 2015, movements were afoot in the LGB community to disassociate from those who were transgendered (reference intellectualtakeout.org, June 29, 2016). We suppose this later acceptance of the transgendered into the social fabric is due in part to them being considered, if you will, the “poor sisters”, and because general awareness of this group has surfaced much later than the others. That could be why so much attention is now being given to this “trans” issue, and the rampant TRANSPHOBIA that is currently present. Why do we find it easier to recognize, relate to, or accept a person who is gay or lesbian, but yet we will ignore, avoid, and abhor those who are transgendered? Our goal in this blog is to delve into The Truth about those who are transgendered, exploring many aspects surrounding their existence.
We’ll start this portion of our blog by reviewing the many facts of human existence we already know. Picture in your mind that horizontal line we drew in a previous discussion of TRANSPHOBIA. On one end of that line is the girly-girl (oozes estrogen, loves Barbies, wouldn’t be caught dead in a pair of pants, and spends time curling her hair while carefully applying the full range of makeup every day). On the opposite end of the line are those macho men (oozes testosterone, loves GI Joe, welcomes a fight, and doesn’t like to shave believing, like Samson of old, that the amount of body hair equates to the amount of his strength). In between the two lies the vast expanse of humanity. Close to the very middle of the line are some women who act and think like tomboys, and some men who think or act more like women. We have all seen and associated with individuals along the whole line. Some were gay, some lesbian, and some we can’t even plot exactly where they might fall along that line. Where would you place yourself along that line? Do you recognize people crossing your daily life path who are either to the right or left of you on that line?
For a moment, let’s all recognize there are idiots, criminals really, men who will slap on a dress and wig and rob a business or molest a girl. These individuals only exacerbate TRANSPHOBIA. Unfortunately, in today’s media, bad and strange events make good news, and those who pretend to be “trans” only give those who struggle daily with being transgendered a bad rap as they are lumped into the same category as those who interlope for personal gain in this transgendered class of the people. The Truth is there is a stark division of morality and decency between the trans pretender and the one who is truly transgendered, and it is grave mistake to lump them into the same category, for they are far from it.
To begin our search for The Truth, consider the following that relates to “trans” issues. When a baby is born, the only test that determines what goes on the birth certificate is what lies between the baby’s legs, in the crotch area. There is usually no extensive blood or any hormone tests, no chromosome or genetic testing, and no brain scans to either confirm or deny the initial declaration, and that declaration may have actually taken place weeks before during an ultrasound. There is usually no study done of the baby’s chemistry or biological impacts within the mother’s womb. Let us all recognize that some babies are born with autism, some with birth defects, some with down syndrome, or a host of other difficult issues that must be dealt with by the parents and the growing child. Some of that is genetics, and the research to find reasons or causes is still on-going. Do you know that some babies are born as hermaphrodites (having both male and female sex organs or other sexual characteristics)? Is this God’s idea of a practical joke or is it the fact that we do not live in a perfect world void of anomalies, sometimes the result of mankind’s unrelenting pursuit of dangerous experimentation? (Does the Wuhan lab bioweapon COVID-19 virus come to mind?) In nature, many animals are hermaphroditic, where the species sex is not determined by the number of X or Y chromosomes but determined by the maturity around the environment of each species, like the earthworm, water fleas, leeches, starfish, corals, the poisonous frog, the guppy and parrot fish (lorecentral.org, July 11, 2019). Do you realize 1,500 animal species are gay (New Medical Life Sciences, Oct. 23, 2006)? Is God messing with us again?
The Truth is, it has been accepted practice in western culture to limit sex to a binary choice in humans, and the external presentation has always been the gold standard. Any baby born deformed, sickly, or simply the wrong sex, faced, by ancient Roman law, religion, and the entire ethos of the ancient world, infanticide (killing/murder of children) by abandoning their newborns on the dung heaps or garbage dumps of cities. “Tertullian says Christians sought out the tiny bodies of newborn babies from the refuse and dung heaps and raised them as their own or tended to them before they died or gave them a decent burial.” (earlychurchhistory.org, “Infanticide in the Ancient World”.) Are we more civilized than they, and do we always choose to accept, love, and raise any newborn regardless of appearance? Do we question that love when the child grows, and we learn that within that child there is variance to our accepted belief of behavioral norms?
In our search for The Truth, let us also be real and understand that any transgendered woman (going from male to female), becoming so after puberty, will never have ovaries, experience childbirth, or have a true understanding of what a sis-female (identified as female from birth) had to endure in the rush of hormones and menstrual cycles every 28 days or so when growing up. Gender Confirmation Surgery (removing the male phallus and creating a female vagina), and even a limited Orchiectomy (the removal of testicles, the source of testosterone), can assist in solving a person’s Gender Dysphoria (“. . . a profound state of unease or dissatisfaction. It is the opposite of euphoria.” Wikipedia). In addition, facial and vocal surgery can make one look and sound more feminine, but all that is simply how you can appear to other people. The person becoming a transgendered woman after puberty will be left predominately with the body that the puberty testosterone gave them, like a bigger bone structure and stronger muscles. While becoming transgendered after puberty, any transgendered woman needs to understand that your life change does not give you the right to invade women sports! Those post-puberty transgendered women who insist on claiming all legal and moral rights to womanhood, only further inflame TRANSPHOBIA. As a transgendered woman, live your life as the person you may now be, but do so understanding that there are now limits to what you honestly have the right and privilege to do. Caitlyn Jenner, as a transgendered woman, has publicly stated she will not participate in a woman’s-only golf tournament, because she knows she can out drive them all. “I play golf and, seven years after my transition, I still have a big advantage over women players. I’m 6ft 1in. I have longer arms than the ladies and I can outdrive them by a hundred yards. Even being off testosterone and on estrogen for seven years now, what I’ve got left over is still more than they’ve ever had. So, it wouldn’t be fair.” (townhall.com; Madeline Leesman; Mar 18, 2022.) Wearing an NBA player’s jersey does not give a fan the right to play in the NBA. If you do not understand all of this, then you have been avoided dealing with The Truth.
Let’s briefly address those who have not yet reached puberty. There has been of late a push to allow teachers, educators and administrators at all levels, to act as a unique form of carpetbagger hired, elected, or appointed, to act as surrogate parents, making decisions for young people apart from those who are the only legal guardians, the parents. The Truth is that without proper parental legal consent, those who inject their own bias and beliefs into the young minds of innocent children are shaping those children into their own image and supplanting the natural order of a parent’s role. Discussions of sex and gender, or any leadings outside the parental approved curriculum, are to be strongly discouraged and avoided, and if necessary, reprimanded.
There is much discussion whether there is a difference between “sex” and “gender”. Those in the grips of TRANSPHOBIA would claim there is no difference. Those who make allowance for those who are “trans” might define the difference this way: “Sex is who you are in bed. Gender is who you are out of bed.” Some might say it this way: “Gender is between the ears while sex is between the legs.” Still, another way it could be stated is that “Sex is biological, while gender is behavioral.” The Truth about the definitions of sex and gender will hopefully be clearer as our series of blogs on TRANSPHOBIA continues.
Before we get into the facts potentially causing this seeming surge in “trans” issues creating TRANSPHOBIA, we want to explore how other cultures, even in our own Nation, deal with those who are “trans”, and why do they seem to find cultural value in these people. Looking to other cultures helps us to better know The Truth. Let’s look to many of the Native North American views of gender and sexuality in pre-colonial times. “A lot of gender and sexuality in Native North American culture is covered in William Roscoe’s ‘Changing Ones’. ‘Two-Spirit’ is the English translation of the Anishinabe/Ojibway term niizh mantoag. This has developed into a pantribal term in the 1990s that tries to cover the gender and sexual variations among all the different tribes across North America.” “According to Roscoe, the Crow’s third gender was called Bote. Bote was determined from whether or not a male/female preferred women’s/men’s work.” “Roscoe points out that in the Navajo tribe, the Nedleehi were more influenced by sexuality.” “. . . being Nedlieehi was a broader spectrum with the Navajos. Nedleehi could just have the sexuality aspect and not crossdress, or perform work of the opposite gender, or a mix of both.” “. . . like the Crow and most other tribes, being Two-Spirit meant you were spiritually gifted and became a shaman.” (Odyssey, Matthew Paige, March 28, 2016.) These “trans” people also included the Winkte of the Lakota society, and more broadly from around the world, the Bakla of the Philippians, and the Hijra from India, just to name a few. “The Zuni Ihamana were born biologically male, but dressed in women’s clothing, and performed typical female roles, such as cooking, weaving and pottery making. They were admired for their skills as artisans, and often served as mediators and teachers.” “. . . Two Spirits were considered a distinct and separate gender – one that combined and balanced both male and female essences. As such, their world view and experiences were unlike those of binary genders. They were therefore seen as extra ordinary, possessing a sacred quality.” “. . . Native people believed a person could be born with both male and female spirits, and that this was a manifestation of the sacred. There was no judgement based on gender or sexuality – A person was valued based upon their contributions to the tribe, and by their character. Two Spirits people and their accomplishments were, and still are, worthy of celebration.” (John Malloy Gallery, “Names and Roles of Two Spirit People: An Historical Perspective”, Cherie Randall.)
Our search for The Truth continues next week as we consider some real-life examples, and as we then explore more deeply the science and potential causes for those who are transgendered. As we aim to stop and reduce the growth of TRANSPHOBIA, we must always be reminded that our individual FREEDOM and LIBERTY applies to all in this great Nation of ours. Tolerance was demanded just a few short years ago, but now, it seems most have drawn a hard line and become rife with intolerance, and that applies to both ends of the political spectrum. As we mentioned in our last blog, the Bible says: “You shall love your neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18, Mark 12:31). Similarity of thought, or joint agreement, is not a prerequisite to love.