A PSA for Pride: The T in GLBT

Over the years I've encountered many gay men who disliked the fact that transgendered individuals are grouped with gays, lesbians, and bisexuals. The argument is that the latter three groups all have to do with sexual attraction, whereas the former is about gender identity. As a gay man myself, I personally feel it is important be aligned with transgendered folks.

When the Stonewall incident occurred, men in women's clothing retaliated by beating up cops with their pumps. Cross-dressing and defying gender expectations are much more visibly prominent than sexual attraction. Because of this, the transgendered have had to fight harder than the rest of us. As a result of their fighting, the entire GLBT group has been brought to the forefront. To be themselves, they had no choice but to fight. While gays and lesbians wanted public freedom, they had a lot more room for living a discrete lifestyle, as their romantic and sexual lives could take place behind closed doors.

Now, as a result of the journey that has ensued, same-sex relationships have gained support. It would only be an estimate, but I'd venture to say we have a 50% approval rating. Transgenderism, however, is still further behind.

Not only do I feel gays, lesbians, and bisexuals need to help them through this difficult fight, but I also feel that the transgendered movement is important to the evolution of self-expression.

It saddens me how the acceptance of homosexuality has brought about assimilation. I feel that being different - being so remotely alienated from society - gave gays the opportunity to reject tradition and think for themselves. By being "the same," new territories aren't being explored. Everyone is still wearing suits, following trends, going to college, and drinking. Houses still look the same.

Rather than expressing the fact that "unnatural" doesn't even mean something is bad by default, gay sex is defended as being "natural." That shifts the perception of homosexuality's validity into traditional errant territory.

Promiscuity is kept in the same bad place where it has always been. Sexuality is a vehicle for black and white virtues. Safe sex and psychological health still takes the back seat to mandatory monogamy.

I've taken the word "queer" to simply mean "different" or "foreign." This goes more along the lines of the original "weird" definition. But what it means to me is being open minded and recognizing the box we're in for what it is.

That's where the pride is. That's the real movement: shedding light on what is true as a whole. Not a checklist of current conveniences. Sure, the list is important, but the world's false sense of "normalcy" is the bigger issue. Don't abandon radical change.

Do you write for a living? That's the most well written well thought out essay I have read in years.

I don't know why I missed this the first time around.

I agree. Very well written.

And, I continue to thank The Wiz for creating the GLBT corner. I'm not gay, but support gay rights, and always find it interesting to see the gay perspective about stuff.

I agree with DJ - I am straight, but fully support the rights of all GLBT for equal rights in marriage, social acceptance, the right to use whichever restroom you choose, and any other aspect of life. We're with you!

There has always been a difference between what is publicly accepted and what is privately accepted. And always a difference between what was fit for the rich and powerful versus the lower classes. I've written before about the Edwardian era wherein a bell would be sounded before chamber maids would be sent in to air the bed linens but the real reason was that it was actually the signal for gentlemen to return to their rooms. Yet downstairs servants who were caught in improper settings would be instantly dismissed.

Sexual practices that were legally termed deviant were the basis for Frank Lloyd Wright's wife to refuse his desires and she had lawyers and detectives hounding him with constant attempts to photograph his adultery. How much this cost the nation in its architectural treasures is unknown.

The Stonewall Riots in NYC were the result of the sixth precinct cops not realizing that the massive numbers of homosexuals in the bar mourning the death of a star and singing Over The Rainbow in her memory would be in no mood for the regular raids they would otherwise have endured with no great concern.

Homosexuals seem to have always existed since it seems to be a multi-step quirk of nature. The sex of alligators is determined by subsurface temperatures which are largely determined by rainfall. Mammals too seem to have internal and external influences on sex and sexual identity. Something that is viewed as strange and unpleasant can still be viewed as a result of a commonly encountered process of unknown biological developmental steps.

Now social acceptance is a different matter. Surgical sex re-assignment is often a matter of economics. Desperately poor male prostitutes in Asia know they will do much better as female prostitutes. Convicts in prison know that declaring themselves to be seeking gender reassignment surgery will brink them hormones and breasts that bring in far more cigarettes than they would otherwise be able to get. Of course the taxpayers have to pay for those hormones.

Zodies seems to be the gathering place for all manner of sub-cultures in Las Vegas, most notably those who are most deviant these days: Smokers!