so well said!

What legal rights are based on your gender exactly?

@Sean Beag: Legal recognition of our true genders.

No that is a circular argument. I’m asking what particular legal rights are affected by your gender.

‘In the wrong gender’

ugh.. really shows where the problem actually lays. They’re not in the wrong gender.. society creates the perceived norms, and pigeonholes people accordingly, and expects people to live their lives within the constrains of those notions. They’re uncomfortable in the pigeonhole that society has placed them in and now want to be placed in a different bloody one. It’s as bizarre as it is tragic.

Do away with pigeonholing and we’d all be better off!

Actually, Mart, no – there is quite a bit more to it than that.

Current scientific thinking suggests that many trans people are born with e.g. a female brain in a male body. Such people need estrogen to function properly – without it, they suffer the same PMT-like symptoms that genetic women suffer when their estrogen levels are low. Except such trans women suffer those PMT-like symptoms 24/7 for their entire lives until they are diagnosed and are given proper hormone treatment.

I know what I am talking about becaus I am one of those people. When my estrogen levels are low, I suffer badly. It’s only when my estrogen levels are at a level typical for women that I feel normal.

Good question. What is it about men and transgender people that women don’t seem to have a problem with?

How do you know there are very few men? Couldn’t they all be men in the biological sense? Isn’t that the meaning of transgender?

No , Sean, it is not. The “meaning of transgender” is that the most important aspect of gender isn’t the biological – it’s your felt sense if your gender.

Right. So everyone in the pictures could actually be a man for all we know. So again I ask, how do you know there are so few men there?

Because, for example, people usually dress in a way that reflects their gender identity, and most of those pictured are dressed in a way that says “female”.

So you now think we should judge peoples gender by how they look. That seems pretty contradictory to your apparent position.

That’s not what I said. Obvious troll is obvious.

Pathetic answer Deirdre. How can you look for people to be recognised for the gender they feel they are and then go on to assume a persons gender based solely on their clothing? You don’t seem to follow what you preach. You’re hear going on about gender neutrality yet feel it is somehow appropriate to single out a particular sex based solely their biological gender.

Sean,

To give you a better answer to your original question – how do I know there were few men there – the answer is because I was at the protest, and most of the people there were female. OK?! From memory, I’d say it was about a 60-40 to 65-35 split.

Now, to try (and probably fail) to give you an education on the nuances of gender expression and how it relates to gender identity. You will agree that most women dress in a way which says “I am female”. Similarly, most men dress in a way which says “I am male”. Why? Because dress is one of the ways we express who we are, and gender is a part of who we are.

So it is in the transgender community. I dress in a way which shows the world that I am female. However, in the transgender community, some trans people don’t dress in a way that is appropriate for their gender identity – usually out of fear of the consequences of doing so. One of the people in the photos is a friend of mine who looks very male, but I know she is actually female. She was presenting as male that day out of fear of the potential consequences of presenting as female in public.

So to answer your other question – in the trans community, we are actually careful around gendering someone based on their dress. My comments above came from reviewing the photos and realising that almost everyone in the photos was dressed in a way consistent with their gender identity (I know many of the people in the photos, and I also know some of what to look out for).

So, yes, you are right, my comments were a bit off the mark, but under the circumstances of almost everyone in the photos presenting in a way consistent with their gender identity (and it is only really in transgender clubs and other safe spaces that you will see significant numbers of people doing otherwise) I went with them anyway.

… and having said that, I realise that my comment on transgender clubs is also off the mark! Look – it’s a complicated issue, and I’m not going to be able to properly explain it over the internet like this. If you’d like to know more, get to know some trans people!!! In the mean time, most of the people at the rally were female, and it is curious (though unfortunately not unexpected) that it was so.

The Government. Regardless of your op status, the Government won’t change your gender on your birth cert. Of course such a change, when it is introduced, needs to be independent of your op status.

They won’t change your sex on the birth cert (and rightly so), stop filling peoples heads with shite

Is that supposed to be funny?

She’d be your granny who was lucky to survive to that old age, because of the 40% attempted suicide rate amongst trans people, and the 78% rate of trans people who consider suicide.

She’d be a Christmas Tree Deirdre, Lighten up.. Its Saturday night! :)

Tele bingo Saturday nights tele bingo Saturday nights….

Have you been watching too many Meteor ads? There is a HUGE difference between trans* and drag.

I can’t apologise for someone else’s comments Deirdre. All I can say is Rugger Bugger Hags (they hate that term) are thicks. Wow several hundred protestors! That’s more than Carer’s, Disability, Lone Parent’s have gotten. I looks like you have support. I hope you had a good day.