Final 10th Anniversary PDF For Printer

ALWAYS CONSIDERED
I myself pretty cosmopolitan
and somewhat
educated when it comes
to most things. I thought
I knew what transgender
was WRONG; I just knew
the tip of the iceberg. After
researching the subject, I
hope to share and enlighten
you so you will have a better
appreciation of the term
Transgender.
On April 14 2014, The
Supreme Court of India
recognized the transgender
community as a third gender,
which led human rights
groups to ensure their equal
rights and equal treatment.
Some say that India leads
the way for the LGBT community
in many ways. India,
Indonesia and Thailand, all
seem to be more accepting
of this community. I personally
can attest to this fact
as in 2007 and 2008, I was
teaching English as a second
language in Thailand.
I can remember on a
number of occasions when
Peter was seating in the first
seat on the third row right
on a Monday, and Paulina
would take his place on
Wednesday. No one seemed
to think it was odd; except
me. In the two years I taught
there, I would say this was
a weekly practice. Once
Peter became Paulina, she
never went back to Peter.
My Teaching Assistant
explained that many boys
would wait until they were
13 to change their appearance,
as a sort of coming of
age ceremony if you will.
Hey, Jews have Bar/
Bat Mitzvah, Mexican girls
have a Quinceanera, Native
Americans have Vision
Quests, and Thailand have
28
one day your Peter and the
next day you are Paulina. As
a caveat to my experience
in Thailand, I can also attest
to the fact that these young
men were called “girlie
boys” and they were gorgeous.
I don’t mean beautiful
or nice looking, I mean
knock out breath takingly
gorgeous.
Transgender is often
used as an umbrella term for
people whose gender identity
doesn’t conform with
the sex which they were
assigned at birth. Gender
identity refers to a person’s
gut feeling about being
male, female, or something
else. Gender expression is
the way a person communicates
how they feel about
their sexuality assigned at
birth. And gender identity
is how a person establishes
through how they dress,
hairstyles, voice etc.
There is no single reason
why some people are transgender.
Experts believe a biological
factor is at play and
prenatal hormone levels or
early experiences later in life
contribute to this behavior.
MOM, I THINK
God made a mistake
By Carol Heath
Sex is something assigned at
birth, while gender refers to
what society considers appropriate
behavior for boys,
girls, men and woman. I
hope this information helps
you understand a little about
the transgender community.
I interviewed a transgender
parent recently and
was mostly interested in
finding out how a parent
would feel if their child,
boy or girl, came to them
and said, Mom, I think God
made a mistake, I feel like a
girl, but I’m a boy. This particular
mother never noticed
anything that indicated her
child was struggling with
the gender assigned at birth.
When her child, now in
high school, announced this
fact, the very first thought
that came into her mind was
‘what did I do wrong?’
This Mom, was a very
active member of her
church. She had known
these fellow parishioners for
years, yet when she shared
her child’s announcement,
she and her family was
shunned. She had always
considered her church
members to be part of her
family, and was shocked
at how judgmental these
‘Christians’ really were. She
struggled with trying to explain
to her child the actions
of her extended family.
The family moved to
another state, because Dad
got a promotion. This Mom
sought out what she hoped
would be her safe place, another
church; same religious
sect. After what she felt
was enough time and had
bonded with this church,
the family was shunned
once she shared with them
her child’s struggling gender
identity.
A third family move
ended up with the same results.
Now this Mom began
to question her reason for
living as she put it. She had
devoted her whole life to her
husband and children. She
identified herself as a mother
first. She never worked
at a job that took her away
from her home. She drove
to all the school activities