March 14, 2009 5:41 PM GMT
Avery,
The real issue with gender is that it is in the BRAIN, not the body. The resistance to acceptance of that lies with The Church, which is based, as you know, on writings that are pre-Medieval, Going back to the Roman Empire. People were ignorant of much of what science knows today then. Today people want to continue to believe ideas that passed through the Dark Ages. It just isn't true. It's not what The Creator, created. So if you wish to understand TG persons and the TG spectrum you need to focus on the brain, not the body as the source of femininity in gender. In fact, by living as males when God made us otherwise, we probably are living a perversion of "His Will". God doesn't make mistakes. She made us. Look at the fact that all embryos, XX and XY are females till the 7th week of pregnancy, then in a rush, in "7 days" he changes half of humans to males....except for TG persons who end up as "custom" jobs. Look at it as a "congenital defect" if you wish....which means society is punishing us in a way that is no different than, say, a child born with no legs or arms or spina bifida or any other birth defect. But US they abuse instead of care for. Some kill us. That's like murdering a child with a birth defect. What justifies that.. It seems to me that those fundamentalists are the ones breaking the Lord's Will. So you see what we are up against. Pre-Medieval "science" made current by The Word of God as interpreted by some very ignorant people.
Many people have rejected these old ideas and practice a more enlightened religious outlook. They think a new understanding is not rejection but following God's direction to search for the meaning of His Word. I won't even get into the mistranslations from the Hebrew and Aramaic that have been made, perhaps intentionally in the case of The King James Version. Some people just prefer to live in darkness and ignorance than to face change and revelation.
The second issue is, of course, that we are not in a box but on the Transgender Spectrum, with MtF TS at the pink end with "normal XX women" and FtM TS at the blue end with "normal XY" men. Of course we are all over that spectrum like colors on a rainbow. Without this understanding one cannot even have a basis for communication in a meaningful way with the community. In our minds, we want to live the way we were intended to, mistake or not. It makes no sense to us to follow some pre-Medieval fantasy that we KNOW is wrong. My brother is not a Christian and we disagree on how GLBT persons should be treated. My mother is a devout Christian who is outspoken, even against her Fellows in Christianity, in her agreement with me as to how GLBT persons should be treated. While the "opposition" is mainly fundamentalist-end Christians, Christianity doesn't have to be a barrier to understanding and acceptance. Some people just enjoy being Old Testament, and missed the message God sent with Jesus to say, "Hey, you don't quite have it right, folks. Let me try to explain this again. Pay Attention". And these people say WE are not listening to the Word of God.
Somehow I don't think you are one of those. So welcome here and give it time and understanding will grow as it has for all of us. It's a major change in world view, so don't expect it to come too easily. We are like any other community, good - bad, kind - mean, patient - impatient, clever - obtuse, oversexed - modest. We are just people with a brain and body that don't match being forced to live a perverted life as the gender we are not. Who indeed are the sinners here? Us or the ones who force us to NOT follow the will of the Creator who is omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent? I started out, years ago, to determine why my friend was lesbian. It led me here and to an understanding I find undeniable. I didn't try to prove a theory. I looked for the truth, whatever it might be. Many others found the same answers on different paths. That makes it hard to not accept what I've seen as a biologist, psychologist and a nurse with a non-judeo-christian belief system. What you find will depend on your open-mindedness. Certainly this is one of the best places to start. There are other sites with definitions (which none of us agree with each other on) and descriptions. Here is a community of support and acceptance and sometimes conflict as with any group. Still, I have never felt so loved and accepted in my life, certainly not in the Christian Churches I used to attend and participate in assisting bible classes and as an acolyte, two services every Sunday....for people who would never have accepted me....some would have harmed me. Somehow that feels wrong to me. TW is a Sisterhood with, Brothers, Friends and Significant Others and some who merely want to know the truth and understand us. And now you are one of the Sorority. Welcome Sister.
Two other things: One, I also stayed here, in part, in hopes of understanding the Community better to become a competent Gender Therapist, and I've learned so much. Two, I'm a terrible windbag. I go on forever, lol.
