Well, without further ado, here it is:
As someone who is an out and proud queer and a strong ally
to the trans* community, I was shocked and upset to read the story about the T
Room Annex and transgender discrimination.
However, regardless of the details and of what truly
happened, I was particularly stuck by the fact that this situation is an
opportunity to learn more about the complexity of sexual orientation, gender
identity, and gender expression. I should mention now that sexual orientation
and gender identity are very complicated issues and what I’m explaining next
are general, overarching definitions. Not everything applies to everyone nor
does everyone fit neatly into each definition.
In the current US society, the acronym LGBT(Q) is often used
towards the sexual minority community, or those who do not identity as
heterosexual or with their biological sex. This societal lump of sexual
orientation and gender identity is often the cause of confusion with the two
concepts. While interrelated, there are some differences between the two.
Sexual orientation refers to whom a person is romantically, emotionally, and
physically attracted to. Gender identity, however, is how a person identifies
with oneself in regards to biological sex and gender. Biological sex is exactly
what it sounds like – primary and secondary sexual organs and characteristics
that people are born with. Gender is different in the sense that it is
constructed of societal norms and traits, such as masculinity, femininity, and
gender roles.
People can identify with their biological sex, with the
other gender/biological sex, with both genders, or with neither. Someone who
identifies their gender with their biological sex is labeled as cisgender.
Chances are that most people reading this are cisgender, as the large majority
of people identify with this label. On the other side of the spectrum, there
are people who identify as the opposite sex, meaning that their gender identity
is often the opposite of their biological sex, and are labeled as transgender.
People can be male to female, meaning they were born male but identify as
female, or female to male, meaning they were born female but identify as male.
Being transgender is different than transsexual, which refers to people who
have made the transition to their preferred gender. This transition means
getting sexual realignment surgery and taking hormones.
Now, this is barely scratching the surface of a very
complicated and wibbly wobbly world of sexual orientation and gender identity.
But I wanted to also take the chance to also say that what you say or do has an
impact on those around you. If someone asks to be referred to in a different
pronoun that may not reflect their biological sex, be respectful of that. Realize
that while you don’t mean to “That’s so gay” as a negative thing towards the
LGBTQ community, it can be taken like that to others around you. Realize that
being homophobic is quite different from being transphobic. Realize that not
everyone is straight or cisgender.
