As a 70 year-old lesbian, I heard your FAIR interview with a mixture of empathy and sadness, as you explained that you transitioned not because you thought you were a man, but in order to eliminate the constant homophobia and sexism you were subjected to as a result of your masculine presentation. I understand. I remember with great fond…
As a 70 year-old lesbian, I heard your FAIR interview with a mixture of empathy and sadness, as you explained that you transitioned not because you thought you were a man, but in order to eliminate the constant homophobia and sexism you were subjected to as a result of your masculine presentation. I understand. I remember with great fondness some of my earliest lesbian role models, the stone butches I met when I came out in 1971. They passed as men as often as they could, because they felt most comfortable that way. I'm positive that many of them would have transitioned for the same reason you did if they'd had the opportunity. Terrifying encounters with the police (including backroom rape), assaults by random, hostile men, loss of jobs and family affiliation, being committed by their parents to mental hospitals where they were given shock therapy…My god, it was hard to be a butch lesbian in the first half of the twentieth century when these women came out.
And now I read your article, in which you describe how members of the trans community, the same people who should have your back, are stabbing you and other trans individuals in the back because you don't conform to their ideological views. How infuriating.
I'll be honest with you. It breaks my heart when lesbians who KNOW they're lesbians decide to transition. Sometimes it feels as though we've lost a whole generation of young butches. Life can really suck for masculine women and it takes a thick skin to carry on, especially these days when the lesbian community I grew up in and helped create has all but disappeared. On the other hand, it's clear that for you, transitioning was the right choice, and ultimately choice is what it's all about. We only live once, and we must make it our best life.
Our society needs candid and caring trans people like yourself, who refuse to endorse the pseudo-scientific ideology of transgenderism or to target gender-nonconforming children, most of whom would grow up to be gay and lesbian if simply left alone. My beefs with the trans movement are its focus on children, its erasure of women, its denial of human biology, and its embrace of authoritarian cancel culture. The way you've been marginalized and abused because you refuse to adhere to the trans movement's cult-like aspects is frankly disgusting. Fortunately, you know who you are. You have carved out a niche of excellence in which you strive — and succeed — to make the world a better place.
I'm grateful to you and other public-facing trans people (e.g., Blaire White, Corinna Cohn) who are secure in their identities and courageous in their willingness to speak the truth in the service of a better world for women, children, and everyone who is marginalized or different.
This is what we need… This is what people interacting with each other as people rather than causes looks like. There's too much activism and not enough engaging and forming relationships with people. We need to listen more than we're talking and we need to be open to the idea that we don't know everything and that others, even others who don't share our perspectives, upbringings, cultural sensitivities, or experiences can teach us a great deal. And we don't have to try to divide into groups or impose one set of values over another. If we can manage this, we can move even beyond coexistence and actually achieve some substantial measure of harmony. We're a long way away from that as a society, I fear, however, and moving farther away in the very influential spaces of academia and news and entertainment media. I'm so impressed with what FAIR has been able to accomplish in such a short time just bringing together people who are sick of being weaponized and set against one another and want to see us continue to progress as a liberal, pluralistic, and free society. Kudos to all!
As a 70 year-old lesbian, I heard your FAIR interview with a mixture of empathy and sadness, as you explained that you transitioned not because you thought you were a man, but in order to eliminate the constant homophobia and sexism you were subjected to as a result of your masculine presentation. I understand. I remember with great fondness some of my earliest lesbian role models, the stone butches I met when I came out in 1971. They passed as men as often as they could, because they felt most comfortable that way. I'm positive that many of them would have transitioned for the same reason you did if they'd had the opportunity. Terrifying encounters with the police (including backroom rape), assaults by random, hostile men, loss of jobs and family affiliation, being committed by their parents to mental hospitals where they were given shock therapy…My god, it was hard to be a butch lesbian in the first half of the twentieth century when these women came out.
And now I read your article, in which you describe how members of the trans community, the same people who should have your back, are stabbing you and other trans individuals in the back because you don't conform to their ideological views. How infuriating.
I'll be honest with you. It breaks my heart when lesbians who KNOW they're lesbians decide to transition. Sometimes it feels as though we've lost a whole generation of young butches. Life can really suck for masculine women and it takes a thick skin to carry on, especially these days when the lesbian community I grew up in and helped create has all but disappeared. On the other hand, it's clear that for you, transitioning was the right choice, and ultimately choice is what it's all about. We only live once, and we must make it our best life.
Our society needs candid and caring trans people like yourself, who refuse to endorse the pseudo-scientific ideology of transgenderism or to target gender-nonconforming children, most of whom would grow up to be gay and lesbian if simply left alone. My beefs with the trans movement are its focus on children, its erasure of women, its denial of human biology, and its embrace of authoritarian cancel culture. The way you've been marginalized and abused because you refuse to adhere to the trans movement's cult-like aspects is frankly disgusting. Fortunately, you know who you are. You have carved out a niche of excellence in which you strive — and succeed — to make the world a better place.
I'm grateful to you and other public-facing trans people (e.g., Blaire White, Corinna Cohn) who are secure in their identities and courageous in their willingness to speak the truth in the service of a better world for women, children, and everyone who is marginalized or different.
What an eloquent comment…
This is what we need… This is what people interacting with each other as people rather than causes looks like. There's too much activism and not enough engaging and forming relationships with people. We need to listen more than we're talking and we need to be open to the idea that we don't know everything and that others, even others who don't share our perspectives, upbringings, cultural sensitivities, or experiences can teach us a great deal. And we don't have to try to divide into groups or impose one set of values over another. If we can manage this, we can move even beyond coexistence and actually achieve some substantial measure of harmony. We're a long way away from that as a society, I fear, however, and moving farther away in the very influential spaces of academia and news and entertainment media. I'm so impressed with what FAIR has been able to accomplish in such a short time just bringing together people who are sick of being weaponized and set against one another and want to see us continue to progress as a liberal, pluralistic, and free society. Kudos to all!
Thank you for taking the time to read the article and leaving such a thoughtful comment
Thank you.