"We are born naked, all the rest is drag." ~RuPaul
In my email yesterday, I received a wonderful announcement - hate crime legislation finally passed, and was signed into law by the President. Finally. A portion of the letter read:
"Today, something extraordinary happened. Love conquered hate. After more than a decade, the inclusive hate crimes bill we’ve fought so hard for has been signed by the president and sealed in law.
I cannot overstate the importance of this moment. This is the first time ANY federal equality measure protecting LGBT rights has become law. The very first time. And it is the first federal law to explicitly protect transgender people. It is a touchstone in our movement, a triumph of what is right."
(Note: emphasis is from the email.)
Since the murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming, this battle has waged. Hate crimes against members of the LGBT community did not begin with Matthew Shepard, of course, but his murder was a landmark situation that made national and international headlines due to the sheer horror and brutality involved. Additionally, the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) brought attention to Laramie, Wyoming by their presence at his funeral. Countless people from before and after Shepard’s murder have been discriminated against, harassed, and even murdered because of gender identity and sexual orientation. Many of us know people who have been harmed by the lack of legal protections for members of the LGBT community.
The passage of this bill into law is one step in ensuring equality and necessary protection as basic human rights. As a friend of mine said, "One small step at a time, the world becomes a better place."
However, the purpose of this writing is not to delve into the controversial politics embedded within this subject. It is to offer some explanation in order to increase understanding.
While celebrating yesterday’s historic and momentous decision, I received a comment from someone I have known since childhood. The comment indicated a lack of understanding of what transgender is, and how it fits into this law. That lack of understanding prompted me to offer a bit of explanation.
At that point, I realized (not for the first time) how little understanding there is in the general population related to specific terms and meanings - and why understanding them is so important. In this writing, I keep details minimal, since there are many sub-categories that go beyond the purpose of aiding in understanding. Additionally, the purpose of this explanation is not about seeking "approval" or "agreement" - it is strictly about understanding terms and definitions.
The LGBT community - "LGBT" stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. This "community" is not a community in the sense of a church or a neighborhood watch or other type of community with which many are familiar. The LGBT community is a network of individuals of all gender identities and sexual orientation who support equality and protection for everyone, regardless of gender identification or sexual orientation. This network is sometimes also called GLBT. Another variation is LGBTQ, where the Q stands for "queer and questioning." Yet another variant is LGBTI, where the I stands for "Intersex" - which is a different type of identification, to be addressed herein. Two community Websites of note are The Center and Human Rights Campaign.
The terms "lesbian," "gay," and "bisexual" are probably the most familiar to many people. The terms are direct and generally easy to understand. Lesbians and gays are women and men who are same-sex attracted. Bisexuals are individuals who are dual-sex attracted. These terms are related to sexual orientation. Many myths surround people who are same-sex and dual-sex attracted, such as victims of sexual trauma as children, pedophilic tendencies, and other completely false notions. The truth of the matter is that the vast majority of homosexual and bisexual women and men did not "become" homosexual or bisexual. They were born that way. Gay is not a disease that can be caught, nor is it a condition that can be "changed" or "fixed." Further, it does not need to be "fixed." It is as much a part of a person as skin color.
The term "transgender" is related to gender identity. There is no singular, universally agreed upon definition for transgender, though Wikipedia has a decent explanation: "The state of one’s "gender identity" (self-identification as woman, man, or neither) not matching one’s "assigned sex" (identification by others as male or female based on physical/genetic sex)." Transgender, like intersexuality, does not imply any specific sexual orientation - just identification of gender.
The term "queer" has long been a controversial word in this specific area, used by many heterosexual people as a derogatory term. While the classic definition means abnormal, strange, or odd - the term "queer" used by heterosexuals toward members of the LGBT community is offensive. That said, within the LGBT community, the word "queer" has been reclaimed as a term of self-empowerment.
The term "intersex," like "transgender," refers to gender identity rather than sexual orientation. These two terms are probably the most confusing for people, because most people self-identify within one half or the other of the gender binary: male or female - and firmly believe that there are strictly two genders. This is true for both heterosexuals and homosexuals, and the sociological implications have been either ignored or misunderstood for generations. Perhaps the most extreme example of intersexuality is hermaphroditism - where an individual possesses both male and female reproductive tissue. This is one example, but there are many other examples of genital ambiguity that have been misunderstood and "corrected" - often to the emotional and psychological detriment of the individual affected.
There are many nuanced layers to this subject, and I could write much more about it, but those nuances go beyond the intent of this article. This article has been an attempt to provide easy-to-understand information about a frequently misunderstood and misinterpreted subject.
