Category: Opinion

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #98, Summer 2002.

by Lisa M. Hartley
? 2001 by Lisa M. Hartley. All Rights Reserved.

Author?s Note: I refers to a voice from the transgender community and you refers to culture, which includes all of us.

I was betrayed?betrayed by you and betrayed unto myself. For half a century I struggled without understanding, without hope, without help. Now I know. Now I?m free. I share my knowledge with you, but still you betray me. You push me into the margins of society. You don?t see me when I?m near. To you, I am invisible. To you, I?m less than I was before. Somehow my victory in becoming the real me has offended you. You think I?m crazy. You think I?m gay. You think all kinds of things, almost all of which is steeped in a kind of mythology, reflective of your fear. You deny me a place. You deny me meaningful work. You take away my standing and greet me with a jaundiced eye.
Strangely, I still love you. I still want to share my story with you. I still need you. I don?t want to be alone any more. So please listen to me. Listen with an open mind and an open heart. This is what happened.

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #98, Summer 2002.

by Tabbas

Transsexual people experience clash between subjective and objective conditions on a personal level. Specifically, their spiritual I occupies a body which materially impedes I?s goals. True?by scientific application, the body can be changed in accordance to I?s need. But science is seldom generous. Scientists are people, and people are political.

Originally Appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.

42 Aspects of Gender June 17-23, 2001
Now Deceased.
May He/she, She/he Rest in Peace
by Paedra / Peter Bramhall

Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #097, Spring 2002.

by Shirley Boughton

What makes us transgendered? Why are we transgendered? Is it a blessing or a curse? These are questions I have struggled with for a lifetime. The answers seem somehow critical to my very survival as well as my ability to accept myself as a transgendered person. My personality drives me to dig deeply into who I am and why.

The question for many of us who are transgendered is whether our transgender nature is a result of a mistake of nature (akin to a club foot) which should be fixed, or whether we have been deliberately designed by the divine creator for a special spiritual purpose. Do we need to seek medical assistance to conform our bodies to match our brain patterns so we can better fit into a two-gender society, or do we represent a third gender with a specific role to play? Do we shape our bodies and our forms of dress to fit gender stereotypes, or do we do these things to achieve harmony with our soul? I have now come to believe my transgenderism was hard-wired before I was born, and that the divine architect intended this for a reason.