Looking through the entirety of this blog, I see very little about the transgender community. What I do see also hints at confusion. I am certainly not an expert on transgender issues, but in my past few college years I have tried to indulge myself in the community to strengthen my understanding. I have many friends who are transgender or at least gender non-conforming and I think that has given me great insight into the community. Transgender’s have just as much rights as we do, so why do the LGB get all the media and publicity? Let’s focus on everyone’s right’s, shall we?
As Ihavemythings defined back in November, transgender is a person (transexual or transvestite) who identifies and/or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person’s sex at birth, sometimes involving a partial or full reversal of gender.
This is true, transgenders identify and/or express a gender identity that is different than the one assigned to them at birth. I say assigned because doctors (or parents) will choose the sex for intersex children. Intersex being someone with ambiguous genitalia, whether that is primary or secondary sex organs. I’m not getting into intersex in this blog, but I do believe it is another topic that needs to be addressed.
Ok. I’d like to point out that transsexual is not a term people in the transgender community prefer to adopt. I suppose I’m generalizing, but everyone I have ever talked to isn’t thrilled about this word. It’s like calling a queer person a homosexual. Also, it implies post-op. Post-op meaning someone who has taken the steps to alter their sex. IE, sexual re-assignment surgery or hormones (estrogen or testosterone) Transvestite is also really not PC. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever even heard anyone use that term. The great thing about the word transgender is that it is an umbrella term encompassing a variety of individuals whom have tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles. This includes transwomen (male to females), transmen (female to males) people who are gender-queer and gender-varient, crossdressers, and drag kings and queens, among many many more.
Tuesday night Madison Equality co-sponsored with Soulforce for GayMY and brought Peterson Toscano to perform. He is most famous for his skit titled Doin’ Time in the Homo No’Mo’ Halfway House. You have GOT to see it, it’s absolutely hilarious. (The JMU LGBT and Ally Education Program now owns it, you can rent it for free) Peterson was a part of the ex-gay movement (he spent 17 years in the movement and spent over $30,000!!) which is a Christian movement that tries to get men (mostly) to connect with God and no longer be gay. They don’t try to turn these individuals straight, they just can’t be gay. It’s quite interesting, watching this video will teach you more about the movement.
Peterson spoke a lot about religion and how wayyy back in the day, people used to pray to Deity, a Goddess. A woman. Now it’s God. A male figure. People (when I say people I may just mean Jews, I’m not sure what other religions say about this) say God is neither male nor female but…they also refer to him as “He”. It is clear that God is now a man. Anyways, Peterson came out with a new skit entitled “I Can See Sarah Palin from my Window!” which delves into the fact that we used to pray to a Goddess and now a God. Is God transgender?! The idea of God never changed…she and/or he only changed gender. It’s very interesting to think about. Peterson goes very in depth with this concept, and it’s extremely provocative and controversial. You’ll have to hear what he has to say to understand, don’t take my word for it.
Also on Tuesday, Soulforce and Madison Equality hosted a panel on intersectional justice, something grrrir spoke of in yesterdays blog. Intersectional justice is EXTREMELY important. One of the panelists, a highly intelligent transman from Philadelphia, Mason, discussed ENDA. ENDA stands for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Initially, it included gender identity for the trans community. With gender identity included, the bill did not pass through the House of Reps. Gender identity was dropped from ENDA so that the LGB community could at least get their protection in the workplace. Why do the rights for the LGB community supersede the rights for the trans community? How are they not intertwined? Mason responded to this by maintaining that transgender is a new term for some people. Queer people still have the potential to fit in to gender roles. There’s always someone who maintains the role of the man and someone who maintains the role of the woman, right? The trans community is “harder to stomach” said Mason. Some of the general population is starting to understand how people can be attracted to someone of the same sex. They are not understanding of why any one individual would want to be a different sex. That issue goes above and beyond crossing the gender role line. You have men and you have women and they are completely different and everyone is born as a certain gender and their lives should reflect that through the feminine or masculine activities they partake in, behaviors they act out, clothes they dress in, etc. After all, gender is natural, right? People have a long way to go to understand the trans community.
Last night, I attended/hosted a drag show in honor of this weeks GayMU pride celebration. It was at the Artful Dodger and it was a little different from most other drag shows I hosted this year. Not only were there drag queens, but there were drag kings, as well. There were also faux queens (feminine biological females who dress up in even more dramatic feminine clothing) and faux kings (biological men who perform as men) The point was that every type of person has a right to perform and be on stage in whatever they want, and there is no room to exclude anyone.
As I watched the faux king and drag king perform, I realized I wasn’t as into it as when my drag queen friends and faux queen performed. I looked around the room and realized everyone had similar reactions. Especially to the drag king. Why?
I think it’s important to note the audience. Mostly females (of all different orientations) and many queer men. Very few heterosexual males were in the crowd. To generalize, women love dressing up (because they are socialized to do so). They love makeup, they love costumes, and they love dancing and seeing people dance. Some don’t, but they can at least appreciate the beauty of someone else doing it. Many heterosexual males struggle with seeing the beauty in things. Not that they can’t, but they’re told it’s not masculine to do so. To enjoy a drag show would completely emasculate him. Also, homophobia is expressed in the form of fear. You often hear, “oh my God, [insert name here] is gay? I bet they like, totally check me out when I’m changing. That’s so gross. What a pervert.” My point of this is that women see drag queens and have nothing to be afraid of. Women aren’t scary, even if they’re not exactly women, but women impersonators.
To get back to my point, women and queer men enjoy seeing men dress up in fabulous clothing. Drag kings don’t wear fabulous clothing. They dress up in gender normative male attire. Some times there are rhinestones put on the clothing…in the form of spelling out certain words. To be a drag queen, one must wear as feminine and jazzy clothing as possible. To be a drag king, the same rules apply, but reversed. Doesn’t that seem kind of boring? One is a lot more aesthetically pleasing. Take this photo for example…who would you rather see dance? (Assuming you expect both to even be capable of dancing…most drag kings don’t actually “dance” …they just point and move their arms, like a stereotypical man)
ShoutOut! James Madison University 