If you’ve ever read the comment sections of an article that was written by a trans person or is about transgender people on an LGBT publication’s website, you’ve seen an incredible amount of hatred. Maybe you’ve personally even left a disparaging comment or 50 about trans people in general or the trans author in particular. Why the h-e-double-toothpicks is that?
Well, if you’re gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and you’re not transgender yourself, how much do you see yourself having in common with transgender people? A lot? Some? Nothing at all? According to a June 2013 Pew Research poll, 48 percent of gays, 53 percent of lesbians, 62 percent of bisexual women, and 76 percent of bisexual men see themselves as having nothing in common with transgender people. Nothing. Zippo. As in, “Why do we even have a T in LGBT?”
To a lot of LGBT people, trans people are “the other” — just too different from that small circle of “normal” so many of us have a habit of drawing around ourselves. Trans women are ugly; trans women aren’t women — that’s what we trans peeps hear from some of those who don’t see themselves as having anything to do with the T of LGBT.
Authored By Autumn Sandeen – See the Full Story at The Advocate
