quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Thing is Level - referring to your question as to how many know a TG person - is that hopefully, one would never know that an acquaintance was TG; the point being after all, to merge into the other gender.

But there is a need for some provisions - its truly amazing once one is in the position, how much of life outside the personal sphere is affected by changing one's gender - legal stuff certainly, but it can also affect employment, finance, insurance - you name it. In a world where, supposedly at least, men and women should be treated equally, one finds this is far from the case, and as a TG person one becomes some special category not covered by the standards applicable either way. All this causes a lot of problems, on top of the personal and family traumas associated with transition and what can be a harsh reaction from the world in general too, for the crime of not looking right.

Now, whilst the situation has some slight resemblance to the issues faced by gay men and lesbian women, its important to realise it really is also very different in nature - even though, under the LGBT / GLBT label, we tend to get boxed up altogether. Our situation is nothing to do with sexuality - its to do with something even more basic to the way society is structured, both formally under the law and informally in the social aspect - our gender. Its also important I feel, to understand that popular lesbian literature at least, frowns upon those of us who are m2f, rejecting the idea that we should ever be considered female. Note, female (gender) not women (sex).

But there is also the issue which many seem to automatically perceive when there is talk of rights for TG people (those of us with TS diagnoses), that the whole issue of crossdressers is confused with us. Naturally there are objections to the idea of a man being considered female by way of his attire, on a temporary basis from time to time, but otherwise being considered male - I can see the unfeasability of such a situation too, given that we recognise only two genders. For such confused folk, let it be clear - we're about changing gender all the time, every day, 24/7 forever, and living as "normal" people; its not the same thing at all as crossdressing. Even with the best will in the world, this is a bloody hard thing to do - its not a whim, its not a fad, its serious and only possible to do out of desperation with living in our birth gender and knowing for sure, that the other gender recognised by society is where we ought to be. We want to be recognised as female all the time, every day, 24/7 forever, and even if those looking at us cant subscribe to treat us that way, then the law and establishment certainly still could?

E

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ORIGINAL: Owner59

I`m ok w/ T/Gs,as long as they`re passable.If not,to the back of the line with`m.

<kidding,of course>

quote:

ORIGINAL: FatDomDaddy

Not very if they want to be elected,.