32 JUSt OUt• auflust 20. 2004
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eatit
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Gender identity and you
OMt JS
Why nondiscrimination policies
should include trans queers
TREAT YOURSELF!
This essay is the second in a series of four by
Christa-Margaret Nelson reprinted in Just Out
from trans awareness workshops sponsored by
Basic Rights Oregon. "Gender Identity and You"
was first presented in May and is reprinted now in
celebration of the Human Rights Campaign's
recent decision to write a new nondiscnminatu/n
bill that includes gender identity.
enaissance
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Since
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Since
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efore I transitioned my social and physi
cal gender more than five years ago, 1
neyer identified as queer. I lived a fairly
conventional heterosexual lifestyle—1
was romantically involved with people of the
opposite sex, 1 was passable in the perfonnance
of my assigned gender, and I pretty much pur
sued the traditional cultural expectations of
finding a mate, with the hope of eventually
starting my own family.
Yet through all of this 1 always knew I was
trans. Although I wasn’t familiar with much con
cerning the issue and experienced great shame
from even thinking about it, I was always secretly
drawn to stories of transsexuals and
Christa-Margaret Nelson
transvestites, in whatever form I
would run across, no matter how
ing gender in a culturally accepted way doesn’t
tahxi or discouraging.
need to be interpreted. But because queers are
These stories represented a possi
often out with their gender identities as well as
bility of there being a hopeful chance
their sexuality, they are understood as such.
of someday being who I felt I was. I
When a gay man presents himself in a way that
always considered whether or not 1
is not considered appropriate for his gender, he
was gay, as this seemed a more logical
will be outed for his sexuality as well.
conclusion to me for someone who
This means that discrimination can happen
desired to change his gender.
not necessarily because of one’s sexuality but,
Yet I continued to be solely
rather, from one’s gender identity. If a butch les
attracted to women through my
bian is experiencing difficulty with the dress code
transition and spent the first few
of a workplace, this is not an issue of her sexual
years with my pretransition partner.
orientation but of her gender identity. If a man is
It wasn’t until 1 fully transitioned
assaulted after being identified as gay based on
and began to experience negative
nontraditional gender behaviors, then this is an
reactions that I began to realize I
issue of gender identity, not sexual orientation.
was queer—and this arose not from
What all of this means to all queers is that
my sexuality but from manifesting
while the issues of sexual orientation and
my inherent gender identity.
gender identity do at times seem not all-too-
To most people, queemess is immediately
related, they really have a great deal of con
associated with sexuality. For a long time, before
vergence. While the queer community can
the inclusion of the “T” in GLBT, queemess did
point out the distinctions and differences in
seem to revolve around this issue. After trans
our members to the greater world, we’re all
people were included within the queer agenda,
just “gay” to them.
the issue of gender identity began to become
From this perspective, then, most non
more integrated into queemess. Now being
discrimination legislation—even the most
queer can include much more than whom one
well-intentioned—simply includes sexual ori
shares a heart and
entation, and this
body with. Now
language does not
being queer could
cover all cases of
involve a person
discrimination
with whom that
against queers and
isn’t even an issue.
perhaps may not
even apply to a sit
omewhere along
uation where a gay
the line homo
or lesbian person is
sexuality was
being discriminated
equated with gender
against because of
variance—effem i -
gender issues.
nate men were
The inclusion of
immediately considered gay, and masculine
gender identity into nondiscrimination legisla
women were taken as lesbians. While this can
tion not only benefits trans people, but all
be the case, obviously it’s not always true, and
people—queer or otherwise. And the more we
many of these situations arose from not having
recognize and work toward this, the closer we
other identities to choose from. When there’s
come to fully protecting all queers. jFl
no “T,” a masculine woman finds a home for
her gender identity within lesbian culture, a
C hrista -M argaret N elson is a free-lance
man within the traditional gay stereotype.
writer, musician, member of the Trans Advocacy
But another thing that has always led people
Group at Basic Rights Oregon and facilitator of the
to identify queers by sight is gender presenta
Trans Youth Group at the Sexual Minority Youth
tion. To the average stranger, someone present-
Resource Center.
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If a butch lesbian is
experiencing difficulty
with the dress code
of a workplace, this is not
an issue of her sexual
orientation but of
her gender identity