I couldn’t imagine a father doing that to a child, just saying.
Why don’t you show us where you read that? It would be nice if you actually back up one of those beliefs of yours.
That’s strange, considering the crap you can imagine.
Found a link. The emphasis is on the early days of programs, in the 1960s and 1970s, but yes, it does mention 24 out of the first 2,000.
Not doing it.
nm. My head doesn’t need to be introduced to a brick wall.
I’ve known a few transgender individuals. They went through hell to be who they wanted to be. The “Benjamin protocol,” psychiatrists, group therapy, you name it, they went through it successfully, and ended up as they wanted to be through surgical means.
But it’s what they went through that should make anyone think twice, and which should make Trump understand just what is involved. (Who am I kidding? Trump doesn’t understand science stuff.) Anyway, the science stuff states that simply put, you cannot change a boy into a girl during school recess. The process takes well over a year. No matter what the MAGAts claim, nobody is interested in turning little kids trans. What would be the point?
To inject a bit of levity into the thread, I’ll mention that back in the 90s, my local pub had a “Ladies’ Day” every year, around Valentines Day. It would be on a Sunday afternoon, and all the ladies got free wine, as much as they could drink. The men, of course, paid full freight for their beer, wine, and spirits. But there was a band playing, and I was dragged out by my girlfriend. “C’mon, Spoons, it’s ladies day! I drink for free!” Yeah, sweetie, but I gotta pay.
Then, one year, one guy had an inspiration: he put on a dress, plopped a wig on his head, and demanded Ladies’ Day free wine. Well, he got it, because what can you do?
The next year, a bunch of us guys did the same. I would have preferred beer, but free wine was fine.
And the year after that, it was expected that men would dress in drag on Ladies’ Day. Hell, we even had a beauty pageant. I lost, but it was a lot of fun. Though I remember needing gas on my way to the pub one Ladies’ Day, and getting out of my car in a miniskirt, hose, and heels to pump it, and getting a few “what the hell?” looks from the other gas station patrons. Judging by the wolf whistles, I guess I’ve got great legs.
Point is, that “transgender” can be extremely serious, involving surgery and psychiatry; or it can be fun and frivolous, as we experienced. There’s a huge grey area in the middle. “Transgender for everyone” is just Trump spouting something he knows nothing about.
This has been wearing on me psychologically for the last several years, and it keeps getting worse.
Cis people’s obsession with the subject is fucking weird. Just leave us alone already. They’re endangering the lives of a marginalized, vulnerable minority just to score cheap political points. It’s inhuman.
I don’t know how I manage to hold up under the constant barrage of hate, but the spirit of resistance burns brightly in me.
Two things:
Firstly, a reminder that dressing in drag and being transgender are different things entirely.
Secondly, I’m pretty sure the phrase is “Transgender for some; miniature American flags for everyone else.”
Sure, and I agree, but try telling that to Trump et al. They won’t believe it.
That is fortunately not the case. Kids who are different have always been bullied. But at least now in many places, the schools are proactive in being anti-bullying. When I was in school sixty years ago, the schools didn’t give a damn about bullying. If kids were bullied, it wasn’t their problem. Now that, dear friends, was the Golden Age of Bullies.
Now there’s a fair amount of right-wing pushback against those anti-bullying programs and I’m sure that in some places they’ve gotten those programs revoked, defunded, whatever. But at least these programs are/were there in the first place.
I’m glad you’re sticking around here! I don’t interact with many trans folks in real life, so it definitely helps me having your perspective here on these boards.
I know, but it’s still worth mentioning for the lurkers who might not have considered it.
I was referring to Trump making bullying acceptable again, and while I’m sure there have been improvements in schools, it’s clear that many adults are feeling empowered to bully people including trans children. A significant portion of the population is now proud of its cruelty and its might-makes-right mentality.
I have known several trans people through my work. Unsurprisingly they tend to be drawn toward education and prevention of domestic and sexual violence - unsurprisingly because they are disproportionately impacted by these issues. We’ve never not had at least one trans staff member, I guess because word gets around that this is a safe place to be out. The one I was closest to I really think of as a minor god because he is exceptionally good at talking about hard issues with difficult people, and he’s given me some life-changing advice. He also advised me when we were developing the rules on this message board with regard to trans issues, because I solicited his input. He helped me through the adoption fiasco. I very seriously considered naming my son after him.
I’ve never asked about the details of his transition because it’s not my business. I’m just glad I got to know him. We don’t work together anymore but he is still working in the field, and we get together occasionally.
What makes me maddest about this is the way people judge without ever trying to begin to understand. Without ever letting trans people just be people. If it were safer to be out, I think more people would just realize the humanity in their friend or neighbor or colleague the same way many people came around with the LGB community. There’s no secret agenda, just people trying to live their lives.
And in this particular case we’re talking about trans people who actively serve the community and work to protect thousands of children every year from violence, which is far more than those judgemental idiots ever do.
Maddening.
I say this with all respect: please use your imagination less in this discussion. You’re relying on it entirely too much.
This was definitely true a half-century ago. Why do you think it’s true? Is it because there were huge numbers of people a half-century ago who were “trying on various personae, often with spectacularly bad consequences”? Or is it because the ideas about what was “acceptable” transsexuality in the sixties were too tied up in gender norms? Or is it another reason? Whatever you think about the cause of this overwhelming rejection of applicatants, what’s your evidence for the belief?
I am sorry. It really fucking sucks.
About three years ago, my trans niece told me that things were worse for trans folks than ever before. I disagreed, looking back on how trans folks were treated in the late eighties when I was growing up; but now, I think she was seeing what I wasn’t seeing. The brutal focus on trans erasure and genocide now is terrifying, and people like @nearwildheaven, with their blithe and ignorant imaginations, are feeding the flames.
I avoided my 40th High School reunion this year, as I was sure that a significant proportion of my classmates from our conservative, Southern boarding school had gone full MAGA in spite of the honor code we’d all lived by, and just didn’t want to deal.
Instead, I attended the reunion of my urban, progressive, DC Jr High with a friend. It was all going pretty well until someone’s husband, apropos of nothing, approached me and stated that he couldn’t possible have voted for Harris, because all of her positions were nonsensical.
I asked, ‘In what way?’ and, of course, was treated to some confused whining about ‘boys in girls’ sports’, as if that were an issue of national consequence on par with, say, suborning insurrection, election fraud, or sexual assault… Gobsmacked that one of my beautiful, intelligent, educated classmates fell for this pathetic twerp.
I also refuse to attend any of my high school reunions for the same reasons. Tiny town in northern Idaho, straight, white, right wing and judging by checks on their Facebook pages, openly homo/trans phobic.
It must be very hard, I can’t imagine.