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Esper November 18th, 2011 10:45 AM

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

I'm not Christian, nor a follower of any other religion, and never have been. I know there are a lot of gay Christians and supporters in my area (the San Francisco area, of course), but the only Christians I personally know who are supportive are creaters (Christmas and Easter Christians) and not all that big on church stuff as much as they are generally believers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ineffable~ (Post 6933773)
I feel this is more of a stereotype than anything. I've literally never actually known any genuinely religious homophobic person. All of the homophobes and transphobes I have known have been people to whom religion is mostly irrelevant. Even then the only "religious homophobes" I see online are just people who one day found out they can use religion as an excuse to hate people for no good reason and then so became "serious" about being a "Christian". That's not real religion at all, so I think you're really mistaking actual religion for, you know, the thing I just mentioned. Trust me, real good religious people exist. I know many of them.

This is my experience, too. Like in high school there were more than a few who'd say something about how a trans or gay person is wrong "in the eyes of God" or something like that while that same person did plenty of things that I don't think God's eyes would be too pleased to watch, if you know what I mean. They're the kind of people who never question or reflect on their beliefs one way or the other so their understanding/religious conviction is only skin deep and more a tool than anything.

FreakyLocz14 November 18th, 2011 1:07 PM

Are you a Christian (be you Catholic, Baptist, etc) who is either Gay, Lesibian, Bi, Asexual, etc? Or are you a Christian who supports those who are?

I think I talked about how my priest said at mass that same-sex marriage is one of four things that are always wrong when we go vote.

Shiny November 18th, 2011 1:14 PM

If possible, I'd like to ask a new question.

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

FreakyLocz14 November 18th, 2011 1:20 PM

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

Humans have a natural fear of things that are different and that they don't understand.

TheWeirdBadger November 18th, 2011 2:00 PM

I'd love to join this thread!!
I'm gay (I am also Christian and live in the American South)
I came out during the summer of 2010.
I'd be more than happy to be a shoulder to lean on or an ear that will listen for anyone out there that needs help :)

Nakuzami November 18th, 2011 2:01 PM

Well, I think I've been stalking this club long enough (well, maybe only a week or two, but that's long enough for me X3) so... sign me up~!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikapal642 (Post 6933430)
Well, I can speak for at least my family when I say that the Bible, as Holy as it is, was also written by humans. It is completely possible that a human, at some point in time, mistranslated something, left something out, or even possibly snuck something in there as a "take that" to someone they knew at the time.

Oh. My. God. I love you for saying this! I've been thinking- and occasionally saying- that for SO long now, lol. I've never actually read the bible, but people use it as an excuse enough that I'm not too fond of the little book. I'm not fond of it because of what I've heard/know is inside, but because of the people who use it for an excuse all the time.

I believe in God, yes, but my beliefs are perhaps a little... weird. I don't really consider myself to belong to any religion, but a majority of my family are Christians, and most of them (the others I'm not sure of) are supportive of gay couples/marriage/all that good stuff.
My beliefs could be considered weird, I guess, because while I do believe in God, I don't believe in Satan (pity, are birthdays are off by about ~6 minutes. We could have been friends! :D) and, well, there's quite a bit more to it but... well, go read some Sylivia Brown books or something. xD

On a slightly different topic, but still on the topic of "being gay is bad" for all those supposedly "religious" people, it annoys me when people say that gay, bi, lesbian, trans., y'know, all those people like that, are mistakes or something. I mean, if they're all mistakes that are scum in the eyes of God, and God supposedly creates everone... then that God makes a hell of a lot of mistakes. Why does that God make so many mistakes? Why doesn't that God correct those mistakes? Why do I think all people who think like that are idiots?
Questions we may never know the answer to... or at least, those people who believe things like that won't be able to properly answer, at least enough to satisfy.

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

I agree with FreakyLocz14 here. People are just afraid of what is different and they can't understand. It happens so much to so many types of people/things, it makes me sad. Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's wrong or that you're superior to it in any way. That sort of thinking is something that I will never understand. -.-'

Erm... I guess that's all I have to say for now. At least, that I feel like thinking up/typing, lol.

Esper November 18th, 2011 2:15 PM

Where do you think homophobia stems from?

Fear of the unknown, like Freaky said. But more specifically I think homophobia comes from a couple of places. I could ramble on and on about all the things I think are involved in it, but I think the biggest one is related to gender and identity.

The stereotypical man (I'm using a man as an example because that's the slice of the population where I've noticed the most homophobia) builds an identity based on a lot of things, including being attracted to women. When you have men who could be attracted to him, it conflicts with his own sense of identity. In his view of the world women are the desired object and a man is the one who does the desiring. For a man to be the object of another man's desire is the same as making him a woman (in the homophobe's mind). The homophobic man equates this to an attack on his masculinity because homosexual attraction is a foreign concept to him and he therefore fears, and imagines, it happening toward him. He then needs to prove his masculinity and the stereotypical ways a man does this are through acts of violence or asserting power over a woman. That means that he'll act hostile to a gay man because he simultaneously sees the gay man as a male (and therefore rival worthy of fighting) and because he sees him as feminine and therefore below him and deserving of oppression.

This whole thought process isn't actually playing out in the man's head, of course. He's not really aware he's doing it and so he'll use whatever excuse he has handy to justify his actions (if they ever go challenged in the first place).

Ineffable~ November 18th, 2011 6:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scarf (Post 6934454)
Where do you think homophobia stems from?

Fear of the unknown, like Freaky said. But more specifically I think homophobia comes from a couple of places. I could ramble on and on about all the things I think are involved in it, but I think the biggest one is related to gender and identity.

The stereotypical man (I'm using a man as an example because that's the slice of the population where I've noticed the most homophobia) builds an identity based on a lot of things, including being attracted to women. When you have men who could be attracted to him, it conflicts with his own sense of identity. In his view of the world women are the desired object and a man is the one who does the desiring. For a man to be the object of another man's desire is the same as making him a woman (in the homophobe's mind). The homophobic man equates this to an attack on his masculinity because homosexual attraction is a foreign concept to him and he therefore fears, and imagines, it happening toward him. He then needs to prove his masculinity and the stereotypical ways a man does this are through acts of violence or asserting power over a woman. That means that he'll act hostile to a gay man because he simultaneously sees the gay man as a male (and therefore rival worthy of fighting) and because he sees him as feminine and therefore below him and deserving of oppression.

This whole thought process isn't actually playing out in the man's head, of course. He's not really aware he's doing it and so he'll use whatever excuse he has handy to justify his actions (if they ever go challenged in the first place).

It's funny that the man in question doesn't consider the possibility that women can "desire" men. :P

Umm, anyway, yeah this is totally true. I'll just say I agree to avoid trying to reword it and failing. xD
Quote:

Originally Posted by TheWeirdBadger (Post 6934424)
I'd love to join this thread!!
I'm gay (I am also Christian and live in the American South)
I came out during the summer of 2010.
I'd be more than happy to be a shoulder to lean on or an ear that will listen for anyone out there that needs help :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nakuzami (Post 6934425)
Well, I think I've been stalking this club long enough (well, maybe only a week or two, but that's long enough for me X3) so... sign me up~!

Welcome you two! ^^

Kura November 18th, 2011 6:44 PM

Welcome to the club, guys! I hope you make yourself welcome here :3

FreakyLocz14 November 18th, 2011 6:45 PM

It's religion is some, but not all people. There are non-homophobic religious people, and I've even met homophobic atheists.

Shining Raichu November 18th, 2011 8:05 PM

Sorry guys, I've had a terribad busy couple of days lol. I'M HERE NOW.

Welcome to dango989, Nakuzami and TheWeirdBadger!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scarf (Post 6934454)
Where do you think homophobia stems from?

Fear of the unknown, like Freaky said. But more specifically I think homophobia comes from a couple of places. I could ramble on and on about all the things I think are involved in it, but I think the biggest one is related to gender and identity.

The stereotypical man (I'm using a man as an example because that's the slice of the population where I've noticed the most homophobia) builds an identity based on a lot of things, including being attracted to women. When you have men who could be attracted to him, it conflicts with his own sense of identity. In his view of the world women are the desired object and a man is the one who does the desiring. For a man to be the object of another man's desire is the same as making him a woman (in the homophobe's mind). The homophobic man equates this to an attack on his masculinity because homosexual attraction is a foreign concept to him and he therefore fears, and imagines, it happening toward him. He then needs to prove his masculinity and the stereotypical ways a man does this are through acts of violence or asserting power over a woman. That means that he'll act hostile to a gay man because he simultaneously sees the gay man as a male (and therefore rival worthy of fighting) and because he sees him as feminine and therefore below him and deserving of oppression.

I don't think it's humanly possible to put it more eloquently than this. Everybody, pretend I said it :P

Quote:

Originally Posted by dango989 (Post 6934715)
I'd say it comes from how people were brought up.

What you say is true, though I personally don't accept it. I am way past accepting upbringing as an excuse for homophobia, or bigotry of any kind. I was raised in a house that is fairly racist and I've somehow managed to transcend that... if you have a brain, then that's all the equipment you need to know better. Nobody has any reasonable excuse to simply be a mouthpiece for their parents' views.

I swear I've already posted that exact thing somewhere else in this thread lol. But yeah, if you're a homophobe, you'd better come up with a damn good reason. Never tell me that it's because of the way you were raised and think that that makes it OK.

EDIT: Holy crap haha, Legally Blonde was on TV and it was distracting me so I got ninja'd three times in the time it took me to write this post lmao.

-Jared- November 18th, 2011 8:51 PM

First off, what Scarf said, again. xD

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu (Post 6934826)
What you say is true, though I personally don't accept it. I am way past accepting upbringing as an excuse for homophobia, or bigotry of any kind. I was raised in a house that is fairly racist and I've somehow managed to transcend that... if you have a brain, then that's all the equipment you need to know better. Nobody has any reasonable excuse to simply be a mouthpiece for their parents' views.

I swear I've already posted that exact thing somewhere else in this thread lol. But yeah, if you're a homophobe, you'd better come up with a damn good reason. Never tell me that it's because of the way you were raised and think that that makes it OK.

Wow, Ineffable~, you're on a ro- Oh wait, it's Andy...

Anyways, I pretty much agree with this, although I feel a little bad for people who have this as their reason, as they grew up with parents that obviously were fairly intolerant people. :\ Makes it kinda hard to shd your upbringing. But still, do it anyways. :\

Esper November 19th, 2011 6:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ineffable~ (Post 6934760)
It's funny that the man in question doesn't consider the possibility that women can "desire" men. :P

Well, he does. But he only thinks in terms of himself and doesn't want to think about women he doesn't find attractive so he only thinks about women he desires. So in the end the only times he can accept women having sexual desires is when he's already desired them first.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu (Post 6934826)
EDIT: Holy crap haha, Legally Blonde was on TV and it was distracting me so I got ninja'd three times in the time it took me to write this post lmao.

http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/media/upload/1/1f/Spr_5b_079.png
Just kidding. :3 Pay me no mind.

Alice November 19th, 2011 12:46 PM

Speaking of dreams (I know it's been a little bit since we were talking about that, but w/e) I had a dream last night that I was a girl, and was turning into a guy. I don't really remember anything else, other than being really sad when I woke up (I was still mostly asleep though... you know how when you wake up and don't realize your dream was a dream, so you react as if it was real. That kind of thing.) That said, I also dreamed that Mario had a giant robot, and was using its tractor beam to collect stars, instead of playing the game, so I don't think it means anything. rofl

Ineffable~ November 19th, 2011 1:31 PM

I feel like due to the slothful activity lately, it would be helpful to introduce a few new topics:

How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?

(Non-LGBTI allies can answer how long they spent not accepting LGBT people, if at all.)

Who was the first person of the same sex that you had a crush on or were clearly attracted to? Did the feelings for that person ever get more serious than that? What was the experience like, and what was the person like?

(Trans people can answer by saying the first person of their target gender whose body/priveleges they envied, or whatever; allies can say the first time they really had direct contact with LGBT issues/people.)

EDIT: Celebrities totally count.

Quote:

Originally Posted by QuilavaKing (Post 6935527)
Speaking of dreams (I know it's been a little bit since we were talking about that, but w/e) I had a dream last night that I was a girl, and was turning into a guy. I don't really remember anything else, other than being really sad when I woke up

. . . I wish to study you.

Alice November 19th, 2011 1:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ineffable~ (Post 6935578)
How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?
(Non-LGBTI allies can answer how long they spent not accepting LGBT people, if at all.)

About a week. lol
As for not accepting LGBT people, about 18 years.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Ineffable~ (Post 6935578)
Who was the first person of the same sex that you had a crush on or were clearly attracted to? Did the feelings for that person ever get more serious than that? What was the experience like, and what was the person like?

Well, I guess Genki Sudo, but he's a celebrity, so I dunno if he counts. He is easily the most amazing person on this planet though. Look him up if you don't know him.

-Jared- November 19th, 2011 4:19 PM

How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?
Well, there was never any denial, just misunderstanding things. I first understand, "Hey, I am gay" when I was in 8th grade, and on the annual 8th grade trip we went to a water park, so there were shirtless guys and I was like "Huh" to them, and not to the girls. :\

As for self-loathing, AGES. Like, from when I first realized it, to probably when my brother found out this year, and I am 20. I mean, it wasn't ALL self-hate, I was pretty much like "I can't change who I am" but there was still a lot of "Damn it God, why?" going on. But when my brother found out and was all like "Ok, so?" I was like "I should be that way too." SO I am. xD

Who was the first person of the same sex that you had a crush on or were clearly attracted to? Did the feelings for that person ever get more serious than that? What was the experience like, and what was the person like?

Um, other than generally attracted to someone, there was this one guy my senior year in my wood shop class that I had a crush on. He had a good personality and was cute. :3 But alas, I was in the closet, and as far as i know, he was probably straight, so nothing happened.

I have another question, that I thought of when talking about wood shop.

For gay/lesbian people, when you were in the closet, were you ever directly asked your sexuality? How did you respond?
This could apply to straight people as well, of course. xD

For me, in Wood Shop, there was this one kid who constantly would ask me if I was gay because I had said I hadn't had a girlfriend yet, and I was a senior. It was like he couldn't understand a straight person NOT dating in high school. On the one hand, it was super annoying because I hated lying and saying "No." And doing so repeatedly was even worse. >__<

On the other hand, it was slightly flattering because I could take it as "Hey, you'd be a catch!" xD

Alice November 19th, 2011 4:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pikapal642 (Post 6935736)
For gay/lesbian people, when you were in the closet, were you ever directly asked your sexuality? How did you respond?
This could apply to straight people as well, of course. xD


I don't recall anyone ever mentioning my sexuality in any way actually. Some of my friends knew that I liked a girl named Allison, and the rest were all nerds and didn't have girlfriends either, so I don't think anyone had any reason to question it. lol

Nakuzami November 19th, 2011 5:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shining Raichu (Post 6934826)
Welcome to dango989, Nakuzami and TheWeirdBadger!



I don't think it's humanly possible to put it more eloquently than this. Everybody, pretend I said it :P

Thanks, and will do!
Ohmigawd, you're a genius Shining Raichu! However did you manage to dig your claws so deep into the human psyche and sum it up so perfectly? Lol xD

Quote:

How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?
(Non-LGBTI allies can answer how long they spent not accepting LGBT people, if at all.)
Uh... I have no idea... I don't think I ever really denied it, but was confused for a while? Not really denial... I guess I'm denying denial? Yes, that makes sense. xD
I'm not really sure if I hated myself for it. . . I know I've thought about how it's slightly annoying, because it's kinda a big deal compared to being straight. . . and you never know how people will react (or, at least, it can be hard to tell how they'd react sometimes) So. . . never really, I guess.

Quote:

Who was the first person of the same sex that you had a crush on or were clearly attracted to? Did the feelings for that person ever get more serious than that? What was the experience like, and what was the person like?
Er... can't say I've had an actual crush on someone, beyond thinking they're "cute" but I also think girls are cute, and I'm not. . . I know I don't like them like that, lol.


Quote:

For gay/lesbian people, when you were in the closet, were you ever directly asked your sexuality? How did you respond?
This could apply to straight people as well, of course. xD
. . . My sister (well, technically step-sister, but I can't remember a time when she wasn't so she's basically mah sister. :P). She asks me regularly. She is already kinda convinced. Oh well, guess that makes that part easier? Lol...

. . . I kinda want to see how long it'll take people I know to see my posts here. :P Nobody spoil it~! Lol

TheWeirdBadger November 19th, 2011 9:23 PM

Quote:

How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?
I never really denied it or hated myself for it. When the idea was planted in my mind that I could possibly be gay, I kind of just spent the night wrapping my head around it.. From a Christian perspective, I never felt convicted about it, but I knew that according to my 'religion' it was definitely a no no. I did spend some time studying the Bible and praying about it, but one day I felt God's presence descend upon me, and I could feel Him telling me basically that it was okay and that he loved me regardless. Ever since then I have never had a problem with being gay.

Quote:

Who was the first person of the same sex that you had a crush on or were clearly attracted to? Did the feelings for that person ever get more serious than that? What was the experience like, and what was the person like?


About a year ago, when I was a Junior, I had a crush on a Senior. It never became anything too creepy though. Unfortunately for me, he was straight. He never found out that I had a crush on him, but when he did find out that I was gay, he turned into a total jerk. That kind of soured any feelings I may have had for him, and it totally ruined whatever type of friendship we had. I think that my first crush has so far been my strongest crush. All of the guys I've dated up to now haven't quite measured up.


Esper November 19th, 2011 9:49 PM

Hey, everyone. Important thing. Read.

November 20th is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It's a day to remember those people who've died from trans-phobic violence in the past year. I'm not normally really interested in promoting specific days for specific causes because I think it's better to press your cause every day, but I'm going to press this day because it's a segue for me to talk about something I want to talk about. I normally don't like to point out divisions within the group we here call LGBTQIPAAOS, but there are some different problems that those of us not represented by an L, G, or B have to deal with and I don't just mean finding clothes that fit us. There's still a lot of trans-specific hate and discrimination in the world, even some from the gay community where some feel we're an extra burden holding them back from widespread acceptance, that we shouldn't be grouped together, that we reinforce gender stereotypes.

I don't mean that this is a problem with our group at PC because I don't think I've read anything like that here, but it's a problem in the wider world. In any case I'll get off my soapbox soon, but I'd like to ask some questions just so I can get a feel for what everyone's thoughts are.

Do you feel sexual orientation and gender identity should be grouped together in the gay rights movement? Should they be grouped together at all?

Do you feel that transgender people reinforce gender stereotypes, break them down, or do anything either way?

Have you ever witnessed/experienced any anti-trans sentiments/actions (or been the 'culprit' yourself)? If you did how did you respond (or what made you act that way)?

I would like it if people could be as honest with their answers as they can. I'll do my best not to get too angry if I don't like your answers. :p


~*~


How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?
I spent a lot of time in denial and confusion and uncertainty about being trans. Ever since I was little I knew I was a little different, but I didn't really understand what it meant exactly. When I was old enough to understand I was just too worried about being seen as different to come to terms with it so I just kept it hidden. I'm still dealing with the leftovers of my self-hatred, too. So, yay~ baggage.

Who was the first person of the same sex that you had a crush on or were clearly attracted to? Did the feelings for that person ever get more serious than that? What was the experience like, and what was the person like?
Well, the first person that I crushed on who made me realize that I wasn't a normal, straight, cisgendered boy was a friend I had at the beginning of high school. It never got any further, though it did last for a while. He was a lot like me in several ways, a little nerdy and so on. When I found out he was gay it kind of made me hopeful that my crushing could go on to something more, even though it wouldn't have worked because I would only be attractive to him when I wasn't happy with my own appearance. Oh, I thought that was so tragic. lol

Shining Raichu November 19th, 2011 9:53 PM

How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?

Exactly 0.27 seconds. I know I've told this story before, but I was in the changing rooms after PE and guys were in there shirtless. Suddenly I had a... shall we say, bodily reaction?... and my thought process was literally "Huh. Alright then..." and from then on I was gay and I never really gave it too much further thought.


For gay/lesbian people, when you were in the closet, were you ever directly asked your sexuality? How did you respond?

Yeah, I was asked a few times if I was gay, by people who I guess picked up on some little things I didn't know I was doing. I always responded with a nonchalant "no". Even though I was comfortable with it myself, I wasn't comfortable with other people knowing. The interesting thing was, it was only partly out of fear of their reaction. The other part was me being creeped out by the idea of anybody imagining me in any sort of sexual context.

Ineffable~ November 19th, 2011 10:04 PM

Time for me to jump into the active conversation. :3

How long did you spend in denial or self-hate before realising and coming to terms with the fact that you're gay/trans/whatever?
I've said this before, but I never really had denial. As for self-hate, I pretty much hated myself for the first fifteen years of my life but I stopped it (for lack of a better term lmao) about 9-18 months ago. I guess it was pretty easy for me to admit it but not as easy for me to accept it as an okay thing. :p

Who was the first person of the same sex that you had a crush on or were clearly attracted to? Did the feelings for that person ever get more serious than that? What was the experience like, and what was the person like?

I'll answer this by saying that I often had huge envy for random girls around the school. The first one that I actually realised I wanted to look like her was this short blonde "cutie pie". Her name was Maggie . . . no relation lol. A few people apparently think I "stole her name" but I swear I didn't. :P I had a few before that (and a few after that) but I think she was the first girl I actively knew I envied.

For gay/lesbian people, when you were in the closet, were you ever directly asked your sexuality? How did you respond?
I can effectively answer this question.
Before I knew I was a girl, the question often came up as to whether I was gay (i.e. a gay male). I am flamboyant, girly, and I often say inappropriate sexual things to guys. I am honestly surprised the question didn't come up more times than it did. My most frequent answers were "wouldn't you like to know? ;)", "oh hellz yeah", and "well, in a sense". xD
Even beyond being asked, pokejungle once in fact insisted I was gay and wouldn't believe me no matter how many times I said "nope lol".


Old memories are weird. :P

Alice November 19th, 2011 10:13 PM

Do you feel sexual orientation and gender identity should be grouped together in the gay rights movement? Should they be grouped together at all?
I don't know whether they should be grouped together or not, as they really aren't the same thing, but one side definitely shouldn't be left behind, while the other becomes accepted, so I think it's fine that they are.

Do you feel that transgender people reinforce gender stereotypes, break them down, or do anything either way?
No, I don't think so. You should be who you want to be, I don't think stereotypes should matter one way or the other in that.

Have you ever witnessed/experienced any anti-trans sentiments/actions (or been the 'culprit' yourself)? If you did how did you respond (or what made you act that way)?
Not that I can recall. I may have made fun of them as a kid, because... well, I was a kid, and we did that kind of stuff, but that's it.

Shining Raichu November 19th, 2011 10:18 PM

Freaky, I don't think you meant anything malicious with that post, but it was probably at the very least bad timing for such a joke...

Do you feel sexual orientation and gender identity should be grouped together in the gay rights movement? Should they be grouped together at all?

I've learned a lot about the differences between sexual orientation and gender identity just in my time of being part of this club. They used to be grouped together in my mind and I think the fact that we're known as the "LGBT" community does a lot toward that. Speaking now, I think they should be grouped together somewhat because sexual orientation can play a role in confusing a person's gender identity and for those people the issues would need to be dealt with in one package, but one size doesn't fit all - a lot of people only suffer from problems associated with one of the concepts and not both.

I've only ever dealt with sexual orientation, so as much as I've learned I couldn't pretend to completely understand the problems faced by a transgender person, or even a gay person who suffers from gender identity issues. Though as far as the gay rights movement is concerned, I think we're all shooting for the same goal, so if the transgendered people are happy to be associated with us then I'm more than happy to have them as campaigning partners in the fight for equality.

Do you feel that transgender people reinforce gender stereotypes, break them down, or do anything either way?

I must say, I've never really thought about this. I don't know that they do anything for gender stereotypes either way. Gender stereotypes are perpetuated by those who are so obsessed with being seen a certain way that they need to follow the stereotypes in order to feel comfortable with themselves. If transgendered people do this, it's not all that different - no better or worse - than a macho straight man crushing a beer can on his forehead.

Have you ever witnessed/experienced any anti-trans sentiments/actions (or been the 'culprit' yourself)? If you did how did you respond (or what made you act that way)?

Not to my recollection. Honestly, before joining this club, the transgender community was simply not on my radar. I didn't know any transgendered people (or if I did, I was oblivious to it) and I never gave the issue much thought. So I was not presented with any opportunities to either react to transphobic behaviour or partake in it myself. I honestly don't know how I might have reacted, though being gay myself and not particularly invested in showing off stereotypical male behaviour as a denial tool, I think it would have been fairly hypocritical of me to judge or discriminate against the transgender community. Though as I'm a non-confrontational person, I'm not sure I would have had the courage to do anything about it if I saw it either. Now that I'm a more confident person in general, though, things might be different.


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