Transphobia at First-Hand

I have never really spoken about transgender rights and issues before but something happened the other day that really got me thinking about the whole subject and society's view on it.

I was out for lunch with a friend last Monday, it was around midday and as you can imagine the lunch rush hour was prominent and the place we were in was packed. Half way through our meal a male-to-female transgender woman walked into the restaurant with her friend. She looked to be in the early stages of her transitioning so (in the least offensive way possible) you could tell she wasn't a biological woman.

There was a family seated next to us, a middle-aged mother and father out with their teenage son who was seated opposite to them, at first they all seemed to be enjoying each other's company and their lunch. Instantly they completely dropped whatever they were discussing as her entrance had grasped their attention. All over the restaurant you could hear them talking about her, talking about how weird she was, making constant distasteful jokes, questioning why "he" couldn't just be wearing normal men's clothes, disputing which bathroom "it" would use and how uncomfortable they were with the entire situation. I was disgusted, the three of them are adults at the end of the day, two of them parents. Had they no sense? Where was their respect for this person? I don't know if this was transphobia or just incredible ignorance.

It made me very sad to see that this was literally the most exciting thing that has ever happened to these people just because there was a transgender woman in the same building as them.

I felt so sorry for this poor girl. I have so much respect for anyone who can go out of the norm and stand out like that just to be themselves. It really, really annoys me when people talk about and judge something they know absolutely nothing about, they don't understand trans people, they don't understand what it feels like to be in the wrong body, they don't understand why someone would want to transition into the other gender. Yet they still feel the need to push their stupidly naive opinion onto others.

It's the twenty-first century for God's sake, nothing any more is completely black and white, educate yourself transgender people are a solid part of our society, if someone isn't happy in their own gender surely they themselves can control their own destiny, they're the only ones equipped to choose what they want to do with their body and life. I consider myself a man , I was born physically male and and identify as one and thankfully it's never been a concern, but there is people out there who feel they were assigned the wrong gender at birth. These poor people who are trapped in the wrong bodies and want to be the other sex, not only do they have to battle with themselves wondering if they are gay or if they truly want to be the other gender or not, but they also face so many difficult legal battles, undergo the most excruciating surgeries (if that's an option they decide to go for), face all these emotional roller-coasters that we couldn't even dare imagine. Some of them end up losing the support of their family and closest friends just to reach a stage where they feel like the person on the inside. Then after all this they still have to deal with society and all these bastards who judge them so ignorantly.

I just cannot grasp the concept that people still don't get that gender expression and gender identity are two complete different things, your body, your genitalia doesn't define who you are. It's what's on the inside that counts. There's a whole spectrum out there, people need to understand this. For example, some people are androgynous and just want to be whatever gender they associate with themselves that day, or often don't even don't want to be linked with a gender at all, they are just a human being.

All these people sacrifice so much just to be the person they want to be. Last Monday was there any point in these people being mean or disrespectful? Was she hurting anyone? What was so different about her eating her lunch than any of the rest of us? Just because she might not have been as passable as others doesn't seem like a valid reason to me.