...in the past and I double that here.

Zoebrain is also a world-rocker.

And David Sugarman is very, very sweet.

Thank you, Holly, for your kind words. And you're right -- David is very, very sweet. It's a pleasure to read amidst everything on all the blogs such a sensitive disquisition on what life is ultimately all about.

"Dear Abby" has just come out in favor of marriage equality..She is also very trans-supportive as well. From the morning's Pam's House Blend:

And for those out there looking for how she will respond to transgender issues, look at her matter-of-fact outlook when presented with a question from a reader.

>Right now, Abby, as Phillips prefers to be called, is working on a reply to a woman who wanted to know whether she should include childhood photographs of her transgender brother-in-law in a family album. The woman is worried what she will tell her children when they see pictures of their uncle as a little girl.

Phillips' guidance to Worried Reader will be simple, she said: Include the photos, of course. Silence is the enemy. Answer any questions the kids have honestly — Uncle John was born with a body of the wrong sex, so even when he was called Jane he was really John inside.<

My parents asked me the same question about their wall of family photos -- should we take down the ones of you as a boy? I replied, "No, because those are YOUR cherished memories. You knew me as a boy, I looked like one even though I never felt like one. Now you have all the new photos of me as myself, and they hang alongside the older ones. I don't have a problem with that at all."

What I find troubling about jettisoning the trans community from the LGBT movement is what a huge setback that would represent for trans people. If history is any example, groups that successfully win civil rights for themselves are not especially quick to embrace the next group coming along in the struggle -- witness the particularly tepid support of gay rights among many prominent members of the African American community. It's the pull-up-the-bridge-behind-me mentality. Sadly, I don't think the gay community would be any different. I think removing the "T" from "LGBT" would consign the trans community to years and years of discrimination. On their own, they're simply not large enough in numbers for the world to recognize their plight.

I think Hillary Clinton is right when she says that the gay rights movement as a movement is not that old. We've made tremendous progress in a relatively short period of time. I'd like to think we can continue to be inclusive in defining our community even if it means the struggle takes a little longer.

danabeyer

"You say your "brain is silent." What in the world does that mean? Your mind is a function of your brain, and if your brain sex is male, your gender identity is male. We all have a brain sex and a gender identity, and just because that lines up with genital sex in 99% of people doesn't mean it does not in the other 1%. Even if you cannot comprehend it."

Well, then what does the statement "I'm a woman trapped in a man's body" mean? Your brain seems to be telling you that you are a woman, or you "feel" like a woman even though you are biologically male. I'm sorry but my brain doesn't tell me diddly-squat over what sex I am. I don't "feel" male OR female. Just like I don't "feel" white, or Eastern European, or even gay! I just AM all those things based on just natural reality. I don't have to CHANGE anything to match some imagined mental reality.

So I really don't get what your brain is "telling" you about your gender. You also say once again about your specific situation about being intersexed. Well, I hate to say it but that's DIFFERENT. I've heard of plenty of adults who were born as healthy women/men (i.e., not intersexed/partial genitalia, etc) who when they're adults say "I'm the wrong sex". Again, that to me is like saying that "all my life I've felt I'm the wrong race, I really am black on the inside and want to change my skin color."

Arcadia

"I have to say, I'm baffled as to why people who don't want the surgery themselves focus on it so much and can be so vehement about wanting to deny to it to those who do. OK, so it disgusts you."

Arcadia, once again thank you for your extremely thoughtful response. It is a pleasure discussing this topic with you.

I would like to correct one thing: surgery doesn't "disgust" me and I don't think any of my posts focused on it. I'm questioning the whole "I'm a woman trapped in a man's body" mindset from a psychological point of view. That it sometimes results the alteration (some would say mutilation) of a perfectly healthy body to fit a mental image sounds like the wrong way to go about it, but to me is besides the point. And yes, I also think other non-health-related cosmetic surgeries are bad too. I guess part of what I'm saying is that people can look however they want, dress however they want, and even get surgery however they want! I'm talking about whether a transgender person's "problem" is mental or physical (or both).

I would disagree when you say that ethnicity isn't the best comparison. I'm sure plenty of African Americans would tell you they've been drilled since birth by society, by peers, by the class system, by the legal system, etc., that they are black. So their ethnicity is much more "essential" to them than to many whites (as just one example).

"People don't in general identify with other ethnic groups"

That's right! So if a white person were to start to seriously identify as a black person, wouldn't that mean they have a mental body image problem? Their factual race doesn't match their mental picture of themselves. So which part is wrong, the mind or the body?

"But what's the first question people ask about babies? Whether it's a boy or a girl."

Um, sure, because they can't usually see the baby naked to tell. They already know the race just by looking (or knowing the parents!).

"And babies almost immediately begin to exhibit gendered behavior. Girls look at faces more than boys, for example."

Yes, so if you were born male, you (allegedly) exhibited the very same genetic behaviors! Then you grow up and say "now I want to be a woman".

danabeyer seems to say that T-folk are born with ambiguous genitalia or chromosomal anomalies (or worse, those who were sex-reassigned as babies!). I GET that determining which sex they are is more difficult and they have to work harder at it and sometimes have to figure it out as they grow up.

Is that who you are talking about too? Or are you talking about otherwise healthy people? ARE there what we would consider healthy people (i.e., no chromosomal or genital abnormalities) who grow up to want to change sex?

BTW, as much as I've enjoyed talking about this (and despite what the attackers may say about my 'right wing posts'-asking questions IS NOT RIGHT WING!-, I AM learning from your responses), I'm kinda running out of steam here (I DO have to work!), I hope I can continue but no promises.