{"id":6257,"date":"2024-03-30T11:51:29","date_gmt":"2024-03-30T15:51:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/carlgregg\/?p=6257"},"modified":"2024-03-30T11:51:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-30T15:51:29","slug":"a-new-history-of-gender-for-transgender-day-of-visibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/carlgregg\/2024\/03\/a-new-history-of-gender-for-transgender-day-of-visibility\/","title":{"rendered":"A New History of Gender: for Transgender Day of Visibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Back\u00a0 <\/span>in 1994, the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies released a song titled \u201cWhat A Good Boy.\u201d The opening lyrics went like this:<\/p>\n
\n
When I was born, they looked at me and said<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a good<\/i> boy, what a smart<\/i> boy, what a strong<\/i> boy\u201d<\/p>\n
And when you were born, they looked at you and said<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a good<\/i> girl, what a smart<\/i> girl, what a pretty<\/i> girl\u201d<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve got these chains hanging around our necks<\/p>\n
People want to strangle us with them<\/p>\n
Before we take our first breath<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The song is right: there are social constructions around gender that we are born into. And especially for anyone whose gender identity differs from the gender conventions their society assigned them at birth, such limiting and restrictive normative societal constructions can be deeply harmful.<\/p>\n
As the parent of a nine-month-old, I don\u2019t want to offend anyone who has asked me the question I\u2019m about to name, but I do want to reframe it for today\u2019s Transgender Day of Visibility. Often the first question people ask me about our child is, \u201cIs it a boy or a girl?\u201d On the one hand, I truly understand the motivation behind that question. On the other hand, part of me wants to respond, \u201cWhy are you so interested in my baby\u2019s genitals?!\u201d I mean, for real! Why do we feel like we need to know? A gentler response that I\u2019ve heard suggested is for new parents to say, \u201cWe don\u2019t know. Maybe one day our child will tell us.\u201d<\/p>\n
March 31 is International Transgender Day of Visibility, an annual event dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as a celebration of their contributions to society. In 2021, President Biden became the first U.S. president to officially recognize Transgender Day of Visibility. And he called upon \u201call Americans to join in the fight for full equality for all transgender people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defending transgender rights feels particularly urgent these days. In the words of the Executive Director of PFLAG (the first and largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and their families):<\/p>\n
\n
Hundreds of bills across dozens of states are seeking to harm transgender and nonbinary kids and their families. Bills that, if passed, would prevent access to gender-affirming healthcare, prevent trans kids from joining their friends in playing on sports teams, and deny them access to bathrooms and locker-rooms. Bills that could criminalize their parents for making informed, loving, and very private decisions. Still other bills are working to prevent even the mention of gender identity or sexual orientation in the classroom\u2026.<\/p>\n
In truth, no amount of legislation can erase the authentic identities and lives of our trans and nonbinary loved ones; it can only serve to make trans and nonbinary people more vulnerable to harm as they simply try to live their lives. (Gillespie xi-xii)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/a>One of the books I\u2019ve been reading in preparation for this Transgender Day of Visibili ty is Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender<\/i> by Dr. Kit Heyam, who uses both they\/them and he\/him pronouns. They are interested in both deepening and widening how transgender history is told. Our modern understanding of the term \u201ctransgender\u201d dates back only to the early twentieth century, but we know that countless people throughout history have experienced life as what we today call transgender (3).<\/p>\n
The basic claims of the transgender experience seem self-evidently true to me: that we\u2019re all somewhere on a broad spectrum of gender. Our human sexual and gendered identities are simply a lot messier, more interesting, and more complicated than can be contained in the simplistic traditional gender binary of either male or female (8).<\/p>\n
In Heyam\u2019s words describing their own experience:<\/p>\n
"\n*
** If I played professional sports, my testosterone levels would make me a \u2018man\u2019; if I got pregnant, my doctor\u2019s computer system would force me to be labelled \u2018woman.\u2019 If you asked me, I\u2019d tell you neither category is accurate \u2014 instead, I use the term \u2018non-binary\u2019 to describe myself\u2026. (7)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
** Heyam shares further that, \u201cMy own dress also both reflects and<\/i> reshapes my gender.\u201d This example is part of what the philosopher Judith Butler meant when she famously described gender as a \u201cperformance.\u201d More specifically, Heyam says:<\/p>\n
** "\n
** sometimes it\u2019s the case that I put on jewelry and a bright, fitted cardigan because I\u2019m feeling less male and more non-binary on that particular morning, but sometimes the reverse is true. Both kinds of gendered experience are equally true for me: my gender isn\u2019t less authentic because a pair of dangly earrings can change how it feels. (90)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
** Their book includes lots of historical examples. Some are among the most well-known historical examples:<\/p>\n
** \nBilly Tipton \u2013 the American jazz musician who lived as male and whose family and friends were shocked when he was outed as trans after his death in 1989.<\/li>\nJames Barry \u2013 the Irish surgeon who similarly lived a male for all of his adult life, and was outed against his will after his death in 1865.<\/li>\nLile Elbe \u2013 the Danish trans woman who was one of the earliest recipients of a modern Western form of gender reassignment surgery, and<\/li>\nChristine Jorgensen \u2013 who was made famous by the 1952 New York Daily News headline, \u201cEX-GI BECOMES BLONDE BEAUTY.\u201d (8)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
** These examples and many other prominent transgender stories from history are significant. But let me give you one provocative example of what Heyam meant by \u201ca new history of gender.\u201d They are interested in shining a spotlight on previously unrecognized examples of possible transgender ancestors.<\/p>\n
** Let\u2019s turn back the clock 177 years to 1847 and hop the pond over to London where, one night in early June, a twenty-two-year-old John Sullivan was stumbling drunkenly down a street wearing a bonnet, gown, silk apron, a pair of trousers, and a pair of women\u2019s boots. He was carrying a bag with more items of women\u2019s clothing in it.<\/p>\n
** He claimed it was all a big joke, and blamed it on his poor decision-making while intoxicated. He was put on trial for stealing the clothes, and given the outrageous sentence of being sent to a penal colony in Australia for ten years. Heyam challenges us to consider: \u201cIs this story part of trans history\u201d (1)? Ultimately, we don\u2019t have enough information to know with any certainty how Sullivan identified, but I appreciate Heyam\u2019s interest in reading between the lines and looking for transgender precedents during many different, previously-unexplored areas (28).<\/p>\n
** That being said, I don\u2019t want to focus too much on the past to the neglect of the present. To that end, a second book I\u2019ve been reading in the lead-up to our International Transgender Day of Visibility is Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families<\/i> by Peggy Gillespie, published by Skinner House Books, which is part of our own Unitarian Universalist Association. The book is a beautiful collection of interviews, and I\u2019ll have to limit myself to sharing with you only five brief quotes. If these leave you curious to learn more, I recommend the book. In the spirit of our celebration of Transgender Day of Visibility, these photos and quotes will help you hear more directly from people speaking for themselves about how life-affirming coming out as transgender has been for them.<\/p>\n
** First, meet Angelle. She says, \u201cI am still transitioning. I\u2019m happier than I could\u2019ve possibily imagined in my wildest dreams. Every day I wake up and I\u2019m more myself than ever before\u201d (11). Her mother echoes these sentiments: \u201cWhat a gift I have been given these last few years to truly get to know my daughter, the real Angelle!\u201d (16). Similarly, her brother shares that, \u201cAngelle has a certain twinkle to her eyes that not all people have\u2026. Often, back before she came out as trans, that spark wasn\u2019t in her eye (20).<\/p>\n
** Next, meet Josef, a physician associate. He shares, \u201cIn the seven years since I came out as a trans man, I have experienced a lifetime of change\u2026. I\u2019ve felt gender euphoria \u2014 the opposite of gender dysmorphia! My wishes and prayers from fifty years earlier when I was a child were answered by medical science and perseverance. It has all been worth the wait, the challenges, and the mysteries!\u201d (45)<\/p>\n
** Anna is a deputy sheriff. She shares that, \u201cMy county must have spent a million dollars already fighting against covering trans health care. I just can\u2019t believe that they\u2019ve been willing to spend that much money when they said that finances was one of the main reasons they denied my claim. They\u2019ve spent far more defending their case than it would have cost them to cover my surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n
** Sarah McBride was elected in 2020 to the Delaware State Senate, making her the first openly transgender state senator in the country. This year she is a candidate for Delaware\u2019s at-large congressional district. If elected, she would be the first openly transgender member of Congress. In her words, \u201cIf your child is coming out as trans or nonbinary, not only has your child probably been struggling with who they are for a long time, they\u2019ve kept this knowledge inside for a long time. They need your support and love\u201d (69).<\/p>\n
** Finally, Ben is a medical student. He shares, \u201cI made a conscious effort to be very upfront about my gender transition from female to male in medical school because a lot of trans people in my community say that they haven\u2019t really been treated well by the medical system. I wanted to expose the next generation of doctors to what it means to be a trans person and to the fact that we are deserving of respect and good care\u201d (97).<\/p>\n
** In the words of my colleague The Rev. Dr. Maureen Killoran, \u201cWhoever you are, wherever you come from, wherever you are on your journey, however you identify, whomever you love, you are welcome here.\u201d That\u2019s the kind of world, with love at the center<\/i>, that we are seeking to build together for ourselves, for our children, and for our children\u2019s children. And I\u2019m grateful to be on that journey with many of you \u2014 of co-creating a more egalitarian and gender-liberated world, where anyone can express their gender in any way their heart desires.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
** Back\u00a0 in 1994, the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies released a song titled \u201cWhat A Good Boy.\u201d The opening lyrics went like this: When I was born, they looked at me and said \u201cWhat a good boy, what a smart boy, what a strong boy\u201d And when you were born, they looked at you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":6263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nA New History of Gender: for Transgender Day of Visibility<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Back\u00a0 in 1994, the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies released a song titled \u201cWhat A Good Boy.\u201d The opening lyrics went like this: When I was\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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