3.You are very critical of many things in both your community and your country of residence. We need more support not criticism.

One of the things I have come to realize about the internet is that even though most of us may elect to ignore blogs, opinions, and Amazon reviews; ultimately, the ones who vocalize their views will mark a presence online. Those who don’t temporarily (or permanently) disappear from the map. Here’s an example: Gay men are stereotypically viewed to be cosmopolitan and flambouyant because those are the ones who are visible and identifiable. Does that mean then there aren’t gay men who are content leading slow, insulated, provincial lives? Does it mean that there are no farmers who think of the warmth of another man? Since they are not visible, nobody ever thinks about their existence. Up till Brokeback Mountain, it probably occurred to a minute number of heterosexuals that cowboys could ever have gay thoughts. It’s not that we need to think about the many different types of trans people out there. It’s simply the notion of familiarity that enables the isolated individuals out there to realize they are not alone, and that it is possible to be different and still be different.

Vocalizing my views is a way to add another voice to the trans presence and expand our collective identity, a way to show that not all trans people set up huge websites detailing the personal history of their transition, their monthly hormone dosage, and a how-to guide on the do’s and don’t's of trans-dating and a full explanation of why they followed the decisions they made. It would be ideal to have a large cross-section of society represented as trans-identified. All too often, it’s the same story and routine over and over again.

It just gives guys an excuse to head straight for the gallery.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 8:10 pm and is filed under 10 Things. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.