| |
My
Introduction to Transgender Studies
By Chris Boisvert
I’ve been taking
a class in transgender studies. Being a Baptists, who is also a gay man, I’m
a fairly open minded person. However, I have to admit being in a classroom
where part of the each person’s introduction to other members of the class
is to identify which pronoun we want to be identified by, is a little
different. I’ve never thought of myself as anything other than male. My
emotional, spiritual, affectional and sexual attraction has always been to
others of my same gender. So, like someone who is lesbian or heterosexual,
I’m looking at the transgender issue from the perspective of an outsider.
I guess we should start with a few definitions. A transgender person is
someone who is born male or female but who does not feel that they are in
the correct body. Their psychological and sexual nature is that of the
opposite gender from the sex they were genetically born. The American
Psychiatric Association defines it as “Gender Identity Disorder.” They also
recognize that it is nothing that can or should be changed through any type
of therapy. There are physical differences in the brains of transgender
people that make the brain of a genetic female like that of a male and a
genetic male like that of a female. There is a difference between a
transgender person and a transvestite (someone who likes to dress in
clothing of the opposite sex); and a transsexual (a person who
psychologically identifies with the opposite sex and seeks to live as a
member of the opposite sex by undergoing surgery and hormone therapy to
obtain the necessary physical appearance). I suppose a transgender person
becomes a transsexual when they seek steps to undergo treatment and surgery.
If you’re thinking this is a complex subject, I would agree.
On the first day of class I noticed that the professor has a beard and is
called Lydia. So my instinct was that he was born female and was
transitioning to a male. But I didn’t know for sure. The teaching assistant
looks like a young woman, dresses as a young man, and is named Logan. But
again, I wasn’t sure of the story. Needless to say, from the beginning, the
class was pushing my boundaries of understanding and acceptance.
I decided to take this class because we have transgender people in many of
our churches. Sometimes they are open, other times they are very closeted
with regard to their identity. As Baptists, many of us Welcoming &
Affirming, we should try and keep an open mind to those who are different
from what we perceive to be the norm. What is normal to us, can quite often
be entirely foreign to someone else. Sexual orientation and gender identity
are not something that most of us have a choice in.
It is estimated that there are as many as one-hundred thousand transgender
people in the United States. The realization of the incorrect gender is
often recognized at or before puberty. Because there is far less information
on the subject than homosexuality, transgender people sometimes think they
may be gay or lesbian. But evidence seems to indicate most transgender
people are heterosexual.
Life for a transgender person can be a time of confusion. They feel that
they are male or female in the body of the opposite sex. This is often
heightened during the teen years when the body begins to change. Many
transgender people come to hate the physical changes that make them feel
more like what they feel they are not. Some transgender people live closeted
lives, get married and struggle to conform to their genetic sex. The
struggle to be who they are not, to keep facts hidden from their spouse,
family and friends is emotionally draining. Just like issues related to
sexual orientation, some people think that there is a choice when it comes
to gender identity. In fact there is not a choice. If there is choice
involved, it is be between repressing their identity and living in the
closet, with great emotional distress or acknowledging their gender identity
and processing what that means. Many transgender people feel they are pushed
to the edge and contemplation of suicide is not uncommon.
When someone recognizes they are transgender, seeks treatment, or makes a
decision to change their gender, it can be a time of enlightenment. It is
increasingly easy to seek information over the Internet, that even a decade
ago would have been difficult to unearth. It is easier for transgender
people to put a name to their genetic confusion and to seek resources and
treatment. And the subject is finding its way into mainstream media. Just
last week, the CBS program 48 Hours did an hour segment documenting
the lives of three transgender people, including an eleven year-old girl who
had come to the decision that she was indeed meant to be a boy.
The medical profession has very strict procedures to diagnose and treat
someone with Gender Identity Disorder. The person must first undergo
psychiatric evaluation. This is required before any type of hormone
treatment can be started. There are many stages to the hormone treatment,
but the ultimate goal is to facilitate the changing of the physical
characteristics that the person was born with to that of the sex they should
have been born as. After years of hormone therapy, a transgender person is
required to live for a year as the opposite sex before surgery would be
considered. Not all transgender people seek sexual reassignment surgery, or
even hormone therapy. Part of the reason for this is the danger of the
surgery and the cost, which is not covered by insurance. It can cost in the
neighborhood of $25,000 for male to female reassignment surgery and over
$100,000 for female to male.
One of the most disturbing things that I’ve become aware of the frequency
transgender people are “trans bashed.” Any crime motivated by pure hate of
what people fear out of prejudice or lack of understanding is tragic, but
the percentage of transgender people who get physically or verbally attacked
is much greater than that of gay men or lesbians. The voracity of the
attacks are often worse as well. I cannot begin to understand people who
fear something so much that they would strike out against someone who is
going about their own life. But for some reason, transgender people are at
an even greater risk for such hatred than people that are attacted are
because or race or sexual orientation.
I have only sought here to give you a brief overview of what it is to be a
transgender person. Again, it’s from the perspective of someone who does not
identify as transgender. There are many resources out there that can provide
you with more in-depth information. I do ask that you keep an open mind, and
even extend a greeting of hello to someone you might know is transgender.
I invite transgender people of faith to share their comments and stories
with us. It is only from sharing our stories that we learn that we are more
alike than we are different. We are all one in Christ Jesus and children of
God.
Chris Boisvert,
Online Editor |
|