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THAT is one of the most thoughtful articles I've ever seen in Salon, especially the part about how conservatives have managed to win so many cultural battles.
As a middle-aged, straight white male, who admittedly knows nothing about transexual issues (but strongly favors full rights for gays, lesbians and bisexuals), I can tell you that there's always been something a bit unsettling to me about including the transgendered with those other orientations. It never really crystallized for me until I read this.
It seems, from my limited knowledge of transsexuals, that they really don't fit in with the other groups without some serious shoehorning.
And even if a conservative can suspend disbelief long enough to believe that gays and lesbians are actually people deserving of protection, I think there's something about transsexuals that just doesn't fit for them. I mean, you might be able to convince a married, straight conservative that a gay man can feel the same thing for another man that a straight feels for his wife. It's a much harder sell, though, to convince a straight person that some guys will only feel whole after their penis has been lopped off. That's inelegantly put, but that's the way a lot of conservative straights will think of it.
