Lousy Terms

I hate the term "transgender".

While it may have been created to describe a very specific group of people, it is today used as an umbrella term encompassing practically everyone whose gender identity or expression does not match societal norms. Transsexuals, crossdressers, transvestites, drag queens, genderqueer persons, intersexed people... all are considered "transgendered" whether they believe that term should apply to them or not.

So what's the big deal? Why is this a problem? Because people consider things that we lump together under one name to be the same thing.

Consider the term "rock". Unless you're a geologist, you probably think of all rocks as being pretty much the same thing. You don't care (even if you are aware) that some are metamorphic, some igneous, others sedimentary. It doesn't matter to you that some had their origins deep in the earth and others at the bottom of the ocean. Even the difference between pebble, stone and boulder seem relatively unimportant.

The same is true with people.

Someone hears that Susan Stanton, former city manager of Largo, is transgendered. One sees drag queens marching in the pride parade, under the banner of the "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered" community. And one sees a couple of crossdressers teetering on spike heels walking into a 24 hour restaurant after bar closing time, and overhears them talking about being 'transgendered'.

Does one make distinctions between them? No. They are all transgendered persons and they are interchangeable.

So what does someone think of when he is asked to support an ordinance in his town extending employment and housing rights to the transgendered? Does he think of a quiet, hard-working transsexual who is in most ways no different from his neighbors? Or does he think of the outrageous drag queen, or of the towering crossdressers in fishnets and minis? And if he thinks of one of the latter, how sympathetic to the cause can he be expected to be?

There's nothing wrong with being a drag queen or a crossdresser, but they aren't like me and I'm not the same as them. Our motivations, feelings and needs are completely different. Sure, the term 'transgendered' is more convenient than having to learn about all these different people; it's a nicer word in some ways than 'crossdresser' or 'transsexual'. But lumping us all together under one name is just plain wrong.