What an incredibly disappointing and disgusting opinion piece. Considering you are part of a group that has experienced discrimination, hate and marginalization I would have thought you would be just a tad more sensitive. But, when it becomes apparent that a group of people you are associated with may be holding back the passing of a bill (and by the way they have contributed many, many dollars) you throw them away. Their money is good enough, but when they become an embarrassment, you want them to leave the room. Of course, you claim this is the politically expedite thing to do because you think a bill will be passed that will make it "much easier for all of us -- gays and lesbians, bisexuals and eventually even the transgendered -- to realize all of our civil rights in our lifetime". How generous of you to consider the transgendered. All you are asking of them is they sacrifice the fight so maybe they will get the same rights as you have obtained, tomorrow. Of course the operative word here is maybe. And in the mean time, you will have secured some of your rights with no guarantees for the group you have discarded. I certainly wouldn't put money on it that you will be stalwart supporters and you will probably disavow "those people who can't decide if they are boys or girls" after you finally become part of the power structure. Face it, it is human nature. I got mine, now go get yours.

Thank you for writing this. I've been closely following this controversy and have been amazed at the vitriol and intolerance displayed towards those who dare to question the orthodoxy of inclusion on transsexual issues with dominated the GLB community. You've borne a great deal of criticism during the past couple of weeks for speaking openly on this issue but rest assured - you're right. The transsexual community claims they're "friends" of our community. But what kind of friends work to defeat such an important piece of legislation and make common cause with our worst enemies on the Right like Focus on the Family and Eagle Forum? With friends like those - who needs enemies?

You're correct and the Serious Professional Homosexual Beltway Insiders are wrong. Thanks for continuing to speak truth to power.

If it ain't happening to John, who cares?

I guess straight people shouldn't care about gay issues, either.

Any one else you care to throw under the bus, Aravosis?

(especially seeing that a lot of reassigned women are lesbians)

While our interests do diverge, the trangenderd and gay/lesbian communities have always been solid allies when we were both equally ostracized by others. Your logic is the same logic of early feminists who were reluctant to take on causes important to lesbians, instead labeling them a "lavender menace" that would only undo the larger movement. Time has proven them wrong, and will likewise prove wrong more compromising gays like yourself who, after finally gaining some political clout, wish to quickly abandon our closest allies. And for that, shame on you.

how are lesbians like gays? there are HUGE fights in the taxonomy community between the "splitters" and the "lumpers" - that is those who want to put as many individuals as possible into a species and those who wish to separate them. in politics too, the left were notorious splitters while the right were lumpers. some like to think we are all different individuals while others prefer to think humanity is the prime category. it's a fundamental division. i have a solution. why don't you consider yourselves falling under the "Americans for Disabilities Act?" - after all, not being able to reproduce normally is a psychosexual disability? no?

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.

To say that acknowledging transpeople in the GLBT community is some sort of modern quixotic big-tent innovation is absurd. Transgendered people were present from the beginning and played a key part in the infamous 1969 Stonewall Riots, the event that is considered to have touched off the modern gay liberation movement. If Aravosis is unfamiliar with this event, perhaps he could look it up.

Second, Aravosis confuses the issue by flailing about wondering what he and someone trans have in common. If we're going to sit around sticking our thumbs up our asses and navel-gazing about our differences, I sure as hell don't have a lot in common with Aravosis. He's a gay male Washington insider and I'm a small-town dyke. However, the same people beat us up and for the same reasons. It's that simple and there's his answer as to what he has in common with transpeople.

Last but not least, he is confusing the issue by presenting it as only protecting the rights of the transgendered. What is being discussed are protections are for people who *do not follow gender norms* but are not necessarily transgendered or even gay.

As to why this should concern him, since apparently he does not give a flying fuck for anything that doesn't directly concern him, gay people are particularly subject to harassment if they do not follow gender norms. However, every effeminate man or masculine woman benefits from these protections. And trust me, this IS an issue. Talk to anyone who doesn't entirely fit the societies expectations and they'll tell you stories.

Last but not least, this bill is not going to pass. Because Bush is going to veto it. So the choice is between presenting an unpassable good bill that brings the LGBT community together or presenting an unpassable bad bill that proves to the rest of us that a certain "expedient" segment of the LGBT community are a bunch of assholes.