Transphobia

Understanding transgender people has been a challenge for me. I’m a gay man. In some respect I feel I should be an expert or more knowledgeable than I am about transgender people. I am not! After speaking with several of my gay friends 40 plus years old we are scared that transphobia being so prominent in right wing circles it will affect our rights as well.

Watching AOC  defend Sarah O’Brien was energizing! Someone who is personally not affected by opinions/ laws against the LGBTQ+ community speaking so passionately prompted me to research. At the end of the day the research I did benefits me. My new knowledge isn’t going to change Republican/ white Christian nationalist fears about trans people, gay people the entire Alphabet crew!

It took many years beginning at Stonewall for “gay“ rights to reach our current point of legitimacy and acceptance. Today we can marry the person we love. Perhaps over the last few years we tried to expand our rights by giving a larger voice to those in our community faster than we should have? Quoting a friend “ramming pronouns and transgender people down everyone’s throats” wasn’t the most effective way to get people on our side. On our side authentically through understanding and acceptance.

Dissecting what we could’ve done, should’ve done is irrelevant because it’s in the past. The question is how are we going to move forward? That’s a far bigger question than I can answer. I would guess most Americans don’t care if you’re a member of LGBTQ+ community. I would say most Americans are happy to see gay marriage. They’re happy to see two people in love express their love through marriage.

The Republicans politicians have a different story to tell. You could probably argue most Republican politicians don’t care either way. They have friends and family members that are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Unfortunately, they receive huge sums of money from Christian white nationalist groups. Those groups want their money justified.

When doing my research about transgender people I had an incredible conversation with a good friend getting his doctorate degree in anthropology and archaeology. He explained things from a scientific perspective. I may not have understood everything but I certainly understand the basics of the science he explained. We are not going to be able to have those conversations with Christian nationalists. They are not interested! In my opinion it’s easier for them to spout falsehoods and create fear to control their people.  Do you remember the news covering kids bringing litter boxes to school? That hit national news. People believe it! Ugh!

At the end of the day I personally have a different understanding of transgender people. For that I’m grateful. For me today the “T” in LGBTQ+ belongs right where it is.

Thank you!