i came across an article on salon How did the T get in LGBT? and read through the usual unlikely bedfellows arguments. what particularly struck me was panther58’s comment in the letters.

I mean, you might be able to convince a married, straight conservative that a gay man can feel the same thing for another man that a straight feels for his wife. It’s a much harder sell, though, to convince a straight person that some guys will only feel whole after their penis has been lopped off.

here is a perfect showcase for misunderstanding. the stereotypical transgender narrative, created by patriarchal medicine, used to further push us into a corner. in the minds of “married, straight conservatives”, transgender people are simply men who will only feel whole after lopping off their penis.

never mind that transgender people include those assigned female at birth, as well as those assigned male at birth. never mind that a huge majority of transgender people never have their “penis lopped off”. never mind that most transgender people i know date members of the sex opposite to the one they were assigned at birth, rendering them gay after they transition.

don’t confuse them with the facts. it’s much easier to hate someone whose entire existence is defined by their need to cut off their penis.

i don’t believe panther58’s opinion is unique to the straight community. walt baby love, who posted on joe.my.god’s post about donna rose’s resignation from the hrc, says:

I always thought of transsexuals as gays who were so self loathing they were willing to mutilate themselves rather than be labeled gay.
Just being honest about what I think.

thanks for your honesty, walt. at least we know how horribly wrong the narrative forced upon us has manifested in the minds and souls of our fellow human beings. that same narrative trans people are forced to use (or were in some cases, in which therapists and other medical providers finally got a clue) to obtain medical care.

so what can we do? i guess continue the fight. continue the education. continue protesting harmful stereotypes. and wait until these dinosaurs die off.

via bint at my private casbah, i came across another one of those “are you male or female” tests. the results, of course, were not very surprising.

we went to the phoenix rainbow festival today. the weather was beautiful, the food was delicious, the people were friendly, and the merchants were generous. and the star of the show…

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after this past week, i need a vacation from the news. since that’s not possible, i’ll just post some pics from my recent holiday at laughlin, nevada.

our favorite hangout during our stay was the lariat saloon, the only lgbt bar in 120 square miles, according to their website, and the owner deborah, who served our drinks the first day we stopped by. we also met paul, who served us during our subsequent visits. the drinks were great, everyone was very friendly, and they even have a patio out back for us smokers. if you’re in the area, i highly recommend stopping by.

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