Elitism? Maybe not.

[labrat78.livejournal.com]

In her post previous justanormalgirl quoted.......

"You can't find equality by degrading other groups. We must stick together and support each other in all our diversity!"

Maybe true but I can understand why a few of our older sisters who have moved on are bitter about being pigeon holed with a group that they prefer not to be with. I for one certainly do not appreciate having a person speak for "my right" who has not fully transitioned, and has no plans whatsoever on doing so. I don't consider myself to be a "stuck up" TS woman with HBS but I can sympathize with those who maybe are and why they want to distance themselves as much as possible from the ones who consider being "trans gendered" a "hobby or fetish". Yes, they are out there and some are even on this list and they know who they are.

I certainly do not ever want some hetro-male crossdresser standing up for rights in the halls of Congress just because he thinks that he should not be discriminated against because of his dress. This person when asked will not ever want surgery or may not even be under a doctors or therapists care for his behavioral traits. I don't want his person of anyone like him passing themselves off as representing ME. He has no idea what goes on in my head anymore than I have with his. I KNOW what I AM and have since the age of six. Does he? Chances are the answer is no.

But yet this is the kind of representation that TRUE TS's get when confronting anyone from government officials to religious bigots. This is exactly the kind of crap that gives people like me and some of you a bad name and thats the last thing anyone wants to have is bad publicity. In fact, I don't want any publicity at all. I just want to live my life as a woman (which I am, thank you very much, BTW full time all the time). You ask around and you will find that most true TS's or HBS men and women if you prefer transition quite well when it is all planned out and done diplomatically.

So does this term HBS denote any elitism? I don't think so. Sure there are many older post op's that have a certain amount of bitterness about what is going on as well as possibly having regrets for their own transition no matter how many years ago that may have been. I can understand how they got that way. One big reason may be that they didn't have it as good as this present generation. Times are different, thats for sure and transitioning is not horribly stigmatized like it has been in the past due mostly to more public exposure of the condition.

But all this good publicity will go right down the tank as long as the American public see people out there demanding rights and special treatment for themselves while claiming to represent a mostly unseen and quiet group who, if they did their planning and didn't make asshole out of themselves while doing it, have already slipped into their role that they should have had at birth but were denied it.

Transsexualism or Harry Benjamin Syndrome is a MEDICAL CONDITION! It is NOT a fad, phase, fetish, hobby or anything else. I for one certainly do not want to have the wrong person standing up for me, pretending to know how I feel when that person can go home, change clothes and become whoever they want.

That's my two cents on the matter.

Traci