FIRST LGBT+ (A blog by and about LGBT+ people in FIRST)

[anonymous123]

Originally Posted by Madison

The scenario I laid out purposefully draws a comparison between a person's skin color and their sexuality or gender identity. I believe, unequivocally, that those characteristics are as immutable as one's skin color. Further, I believe that a trans person should be treated as one would anyone else who shares the same gender identity (and, more generally, that treating people differently based on gender is an absurd concept on its face).

I don't agree with the supposition that the scenario you describe above is a recipe for disaster. You are valuing the discomfort you feel about placing your daughter in that situation above the discomfort the trans person feels when they are treated as something different than they are. I don't think that's fair and that was the point I was trying to make with my initial comparison. Too often, we consider the experiences of LGBTQ people to be something other than normal and we inconvenience them, to put it mildly, in service of allaying our own misgivings.

And that is the fundamental point where we disagree, Madison. I do not (can not) know what it feels like to be "trapped in a man's body", to “have no choice”. If I showed up to a FIRST event in a dress, to me, I would feel like nothing more than a man wearing a dress. I would still have a man's body, underneath the dress. To me, I would still be a man. Until I made the choice to undergo a complete physical change to transform my body, I do not think I could feel like a woman, and I would not identify myself as a woman until the transformation was complete. For me to do this would be my choice. Unlike some, I do not know what it feels like to "not have a choice". What I know about how I feel determines my stance on this issue, and the way I see it, it seems to me like a choice. I think that the best way I to determine gender of a person is to use the gender of a person's body. This is just my opinion, and it likely won't change until I see scientific fact that proves otherwise. I hope that my explanation can help everyone else to understand my thought process in reaching my opinion and my point of view on this.

Agreed Madison, there is no reason to treat people differently based on their gender (or any other aspect of their appearance). However, the societal norm regularly draws gender lines, for example, gender-specific restrooms. How do you feel about sharing a public restroom with everyone, not just women?

Maybe instead of "recipe for disaster", I should have phrased it "lawsuit waiting to happen". As adult mentors, liable for the well-being and safety of the students that we chaperon, it just doesn't seem like a good position put ourselves, or the students we look out for, in. It would definitely make me very uncomfortable to be in a situation like that. And yes, I value the well-being of myself and my family above that of others around me, regardless of the gender, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation of those around me. Don't we all?