Are trans issues really gay issues? | Issue Letters

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Are trans issues really gay issues?

Transgendered issues are, indeed, gay issues. In fact, trans issues are the issues that could ultimately save "gay" marriage. The basic premise to the arguments against same-sex marriage is that marriage should be between a man and a woman. The problem is that any arbitrary basis for defining what a "man" is or what a "woman" is is inherently discriminatory to a growing segment of the population.

Everyone knows what a "man" looks like and what a "woman" looks like, right? But what about androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS)? This is when a "male" does not respond to testosterone during development. Genetic analysis would indicate the person is a male, but outwardly she appears female. So I ask, what sex (or gender) is she? Can she get married? Would it be a same a sex marriage if she marries a man?

What about persons who suffer from tetragametic chimera? This is when a person is made up of two sets of DNA, often one DNA is female and one DNA set is male. What sex is this person? Can they get married? What about those persons who suffer from endocrine disruption? This is when a person has normal DNA of a male, but the process of male development is interrupted by unusually high levels of estrogens.

Pregnant woman were often given diethylstilbestrol (DES) or exposed to Dioxin compounds in the 1960s. Both of these compounds act as synthetic estrogens, modifying the normal course of fetal male development, resulting in a "permanently feminized" male. These men often become transsexuals, as their endocrine (hormonal) system is female but their outward appearance is male.

Also, what of persons born intersexed, with one testicle and one ovary? Or those persons born not with the normal XY or XX chromosomes pairs -- but sequences such as XXX, XXY or XYY? Are they doomed to spend their entire life unmarried, without a sex classification until they have, voluntarily or not, genital mutilation (surgery) to make them 'appear' to be one sex or the other, even though they may be actually neither, or both.

Society as a whole needs to learn that sex and gender are naturally diverse and that there are gray areas in-between male and female that do not fit the tidy definitions of "male" and "female." This is the argument that will make laws banning same-sex marriages as discriminatory in the most basic way, by providing for the rights of one group, while denying the rights of others, through no fault or choice of their own. Our notion of what defines sex, or if it even matters, needs to be reconsidered. In nature, there is no gender -- only sex. You can reproduce, or you can't. Many of us, due to a naturally occuring variability at the moment of conception, cannot -- thus there is no correct 'sex' for us. We are the intersexed.

Lauren Alex Scott
Clearwater, FL

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