FirmhandKY
Posts: 8948
Joined: 9/21/2004 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: AAkasha You have trouble entering the country when you don't have the right answers for the questions they ask every single person. "What is the purpose of your trip?" "Who are you staying with?" "How long are you staying?" If you answer any of those questions in a way that generates any suspicion they will pull you aside and grill you. Akasha Exactly. The proximate cause (the one action that inexorably leads to the rest of the events in question) is stella's suspicious answers to these questions, not her transgender status. Her transgender status, and it's implications for her financial status while within the US certainly becomes a relevant area to explore to answer the questions "Does she intend to permanently immigrate?" and "Is there a likelihood that she'll become a burden on the taxpayers and citizens of the US during her stay, regardless of her immigration intentions?" Now, inappropriate comments by officials that are intended to be demeaning to her are unprofessional. However, questions about her physical status, and the degree of her transformation (if any) to the physical attributes of the female sex are wholly appropriate when attempting to determine the best, most appropriate handling and accommodations for her, as well as the likelihood or possibility for her needing medical care within the US. Again, I suspect that she showed a litle 'tude towards some of the officials. Not a good idea in any circumstances, but especially towards bureaucratic officials who have suspicions about you and legal authority over you anyway. This doesn't excuse any unprofessional behavior on the part of any government official ... but neither does it prove malice or prejudice on their part in their decision to refuse her entry into the US simply because of her transgender status, nor does it prove that it was her transgender status that started the chain of events that lead to her being refused entry. But that claim certainly got a lot of sympathy here for her, now didn't it? I suspect because she played to her own stereotypes, and the stereotypes and ignorance to some readers and posters here on CM. Firm
< Message edited by FirmhandKY -- 12/21/2007 12:46:01 PM >
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Some people are just idiots.
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