In a free and democratic society, a citizen gets to determine for him or herself the sex that they want to date, marry and live as. This right of sexual self-determination is one thing that separates America, the greatest country on earth, from oppressive regimes ruled by fascists, communists and theocrats.
Part of the reason why the “transgender question” conversation seems to denigrate into a shouting match is because people are not familiar with the basic terminology involved. Let us work to change this.
To help illustrate my point, I am going to have to use some outdated terms that more cis-gender people are familiar with.
The transgender community includes transsexuals and hermaphrodites (aka intersexuals). The former refers to people with gender dysphoria and the latter refers to people who are born with reproductive or sex-characteristics that are not clearly male or female. These two classes of people are entitled to accommodations in terms of bathrooms and athletic sports.
Why? Because they are going to have a sex change or sex corrective surgery.
Persons seeking the surgery must be able to convincingly live as the sex that the person will become.
If we bar a male-to-female transsexual from using the lady’s restroom or bar a hermaphrodite from playing on the girl’s team, we are essentially banning their ability to complete the steps necessary to have the surgery. This is something that no free and democratic society can do.
This does not mean that everyone should be entitled to use whatever bathroom or play on whatever sports team that they like.
Genderqueer people are also a part of the transgender community. They do not want to have the surgery and thus are not entitled to the accommodations given to people going through the transitioning process.
This does not mean that gender is to be written in stone, nor should we deny any transgender person their right to equal freedom and protection from harassment and unfair discrimination.
Every generation has its own ideas about what masculinity and femininity mean on a personal level as well as within the broader society.
Genderqueer people are certainly at the vanguard of this conversation, but it's important to realize that many transsexual and intersexual persons do not want to be on the vanguard.
They want specific accommodations to allow them to live a more mundane life. They are entitled to such consideration.
Edward TJ Brown lives in Parkers Prairie, Minn.
This letter does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Forum's editorial board nor Forum ownership.
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