Thursday, October 6, 2011

A Theory of His Own

[TW: Transbigotry, homobigotry]

There's a new theory coming out of amateur anti-equality blog Opine Editorials: Same-sex parenting causes kids to become transgender.

Citing The Daily Mail [Note: the article's pronoun usage and headline are clusterfucks], Opine ran a brief story about an 11-year-old diagnosed with Gender Identity Disoder whose parents are allowing her to take hormone blockers to prevent her from going through puberty. The child, Tammy, began transitioning at the age of 8 after, by her account, having always felt like a girl.

The parents don't seem to understand Tammy's desire to transition, but they support her. Although the hormone treatment is controversial, they are concerned that not allowing Tammy to transition before puberty could put her at a higher risk for suicide later.

Oh. And also...

The parents are lesbians.

Did I forget that part?

Well, don't worry, because Opine Editorials is All Over It! Let's hear it from Esteemed and Notable World-Wide Expert on Transgender Issues "On Lawn," who makes the connection:

"The untold story is also one of sex-segregation. A boy at an early age sees two mothers, and says he is one of them -- as a girl. The two women who's [sic] own preference is for women naturally go along with their son being a woman. This isn't about homosexuality the activity in the bedroom [sic wut?], but it is about about oppression of the other gender. He'll be happier that way, no bias here."

Sure.

His poorly-written paragraph of course cites no study, no evidence, and no research. It's nothing but his own conjecture that womanliness so imprints itself onto suggestible baby boys who don't have fathers that it causes them to want to become girls. As though transitioning into a girl would be, like, a totally easy, simple, and not-at-all stigmatized natural outcome of not having a father figure.

I'm not trans, but.... I don't think that's how it works. And, if you read the actual story that "On Lawn" actually cited, you quickly learn that that's not how it worked in Tammy's case, either.

But being accurate and informative isn't really what "On Lawn" cares about, is it?

Despite the fact that the actual article "On Lawn" cited states very clearly that the lesbian parents (oogedy boogedy wooga booga!) were quite ambivalent about Tammy's transition, didn't understand it, and were mostly concerned with her mental well-being, "On Lawn" claims that they were totally enthused by Tammy's transition, because they're lesbians, and thus were also motivated by a desire to "oppress... the other gender."

By being lesbians, "On Lawn" says they're engaging in "sex segregation," as though they're are out to neuter their sons as part of their grand scheme to Not Have Any Men Around. (Although, for some reason, the lesbian parents didn't neuter their other two sons, who are cisgender. Oh well, that doesn't fit into On Lawn's "theory," so I guess we'll just all ignore that tidbit of information too.)

At this point, a good first step for "On Lawn" would be to stop talking, stop cismansplaining, and do some more listening and understanding. On Internet, a person can find a myriad of testimonials written by actual transgender people recounting their actual experiences and transition processes. One can also find studies and entire books about the issue, if one is truly interested in learning more!

All that considered, when a cis heterosexual anti-LGBT blogger whose profile puts his area of expertise as being an IT guy tries to "explain" what "causes" transgenderism you can be 99.6% sure it's not going to be embiggening to the discourse.


[I would suggest against engaging "On Lawn" in discussion, at least at his blog. But if you do... well, you'll see. LULZ! #MassiveWasteOfTime, #EvenTheBigotWhispererCan'tWinOverAllTheHaters].

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