transphobia

Christina Engela's picture

Lead, Follow Or Get Out Of The Way

Herewith an exclusive special offer - Full Membership of the Methodist Church of South Africa - if you are straight, perfect and sinless - and 2nd Class Membership if you happen to be gay and desperate enough to put up with our hypocritical bullshit to enter the House of God (cough, cough) - but that's just because we can't actually ban you (on account of that annoying Constitution), so we'll just let you in and annoy you, exclude you while seeming to include everybody, keep you at a distance and shame you into eventually going away when you get sick of bashing your head on that well-placed glass ceiling. Welcome to the Methodist Church of South Africa, where we take the Christ out of Christianity.

Last night I posted an article on the dismissal of Ecclesia de Lange, a Methodist minister, for daring to marry her partner. It seems that her being lesbian and a minister was not really an issue here, but the fact that she chose to formalize her relationship with her partner over what the church still views generally as "living in sin", is. Such things force me to question the morality of the Church, the hypocrisy of Christians - and the precise definition of "living in sin".

Instead of grabbing this opportunity to make a real difference and to embrace our community, the leadership of the MCSA instead have just by this act alone, alienated every single GLBTI person in the country and effectively undone and sabotaged all the community building done by activists and inclusive ministers over the past few decades.
Christina Engela's picture

Bonfire Of The Diversities

A few very interesting things have grabbed my attention in the international news this week and I thought I would mention them here.

Right at the top of the list, possibly because I am transgender myself, I want to mention that "France has become the first country in the world to declassify transgenderism as a mental illness. A health minister signalled the change would be made last May and this was confirmed last week by a government decree." And about bloody time too! I can't wait to see which countries will follow this sterling example.

"South African man wins Mr Gay World 2010 A South African man has scooped the title of Mr Gay World 2010. Charl Van den Berg, a 28-year-old restaurateur from Cape Town, was named the winner at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway, yesterday." Fantastic! This is one of the first good reasons I have had to feel proud of this country in ages!

"The European Parliament has confirmed that upholding LGBT rights is a condition for nations to join the European Union"- this is fantastic, and means that if any other country in Europe wishes to join the EU they WILL have to respect and uphold the civil rights and equality of the pink community within their borders." I only hope this will also apply retroactively to all countries ALREADY members of the EU, on pain of expulsion or other penalties should they go back on this principle.
Christina Engela's picture

The South African Dream

 



South Africa is full of potential and possibility and hope. All we need to do is grasp it and realize it. Sitting on the sidelines will let others achieve their own corrupt desires unopposed - and make our nightmares come true.

It is so easy to be caught up in the negativity that says South Africa is a dangerous place, that it is a haven for crime and gangsterism and corrupt government officials and conniving self-interested politicians, a place where dreams suffocate and joining the rat race to greener pastures elsewhere is the solution.

It is so easy to overlook the obvious, that we are now 20 years post-Apartheid, we have weathered the worst of it, that despite the doomsayers and gloom merchants, people of all races, cultures and religions, genders and sexual orientations are living together side by side in relative harmony. People are working together, sharing office space and even sharing jokes and sorrows together in ways we never dreamed possible two decades ago.

This is my dream, the South African dream, an equal opportunity society, where we all can make our dreams come true.

.....Well, not quite yet.
Christina Engela's picture

These Colors Don't Run

 


Considering the events of the past few days, weeks and months - it is quite easy for me to feel negative - but I am not going to.

Nope. Not me, not today.

If you're wondering why, I will tell you. Because there are folks out there who want us to fail, they want our community to be complacent and silent and happy with the way things are. They love our apathy and false sense of security. They love it when we sit quietly by and accept every slap in the face and every kick in the butt they deliver. And because being negative will play into their hands, I am inclined to not play along.

I dance to my own tune, folks, I drum my own beat.
Christina Engela's picture

Man In White Speak With Forked Tongue

 


What message are we receiving when religious leaders consciously undermine and criticize human rights protections and equality laws?

This question presented itself to me when I read of the Pope's planned visit to the UK - upon which he has immediately criticized existing UK laws which protect the lives, equality, humanity and dignity of certain groups of people as violating "natural law" and is viewed as an attack on the legal rights granted to women and gay people. It is a de facto defence of faith-based discrimination. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has said that Benedict "objects to the fact that religious institutions in the UK can no longer lawfully discriminate at will on the grounds of gender and sexual orientation".

Are we to understand that the Pope feels that women, gay and transgender people should not have rights at all?

Does this example not attempt to completely redefine what it means to be Christian, godly, civilized or human? Does it not paint religion with a fresh coat of hypocrisy, tears and bloodshed?
Flutterfury's picture

Transphobic Comments on the Airwaves

I'm starting up a boycott of the sponsor's of WKSE-FM's morning Janet and Nick show for comments made yesterday on the air about Scott Moore "The 2nd Pregnany Man"

 

Christina Engela's picture

Mentally Ill

Assume for a moment that I were to commit a crime of passion - say in true Colombine fashion I were to walk into a shopping mall or a high school carrying a shotgun, and start pumping - or if I were to start playing "Carmageddon" for real. Would I be considered "sane"? What do you think, huh?  Would I make a good case for a shrink to make his career with?  Would I be justified in making an insanity plea in court?

Would I?

What do you think my chances are?

Some people like to claim that transsexuality is a "mental disorder" - and as a case in point, while advocacy and human rights organizations and many, many psych professionals around the world are trying to get transsexuality removed from the list of mental disorders, a particularly nasty group of shrinks is trying to entrench us in the next edition of the Manual.

In other words, according to them, I am mentally ill.  Yet I am not on any medication, not having any counseling, not locked away in a padded cell - and I live a full, productive and happy life - but am supposedly "mentally ill" just because of being transsexual. 

Yet at the same time transsexuals have to go through a strenuous evaluation process to qualify for HRT and surgery - paradoxically to establish that they are in fact NOT mentally ill.  That's right, if you manifest signs of bipolar disorder, or personality disorders and in some countries, even severe clinical depression, you are disqualified.  So in other words, we are just perfectly sane and healthy enough to know that we want surgery - but just "mentally ill" enough to need it.  How does that make me feel?  Just peachy, thanks doc.  Tell me about your mother, lol.
Christina Engela's picture

On The Spot

 



This morning I lost my virginity... my TV interview virginity, that is.

Those who know me, know me as a fairly quiet person, so the last place they would expect to see me is on a live TV broadcast on ETV morning news, talking about international matters. Come to think of it, that's the last place I would expect to see me. Never the less, I found myself there this morning, a bundle of nerves, like a lamb being led to the slaughter.

As press and media liaison for the group, I had written and distributed the press release sent out this week, and was invited to answer a few questions, which I did. Bearing in mind that it is a bit harder to articulate words as well live, unprepared and in one take than it is to write articles such as I do every day, I did the best I could - considering it was my first time in front of a live TV camera. I had participated in a live radio interview before, but this was a bit different as all the instructions were given to me via a headset and the sounds in the background were a little confusing.

Also, I was tense and had a dry mouth - and as people who know me are aware, I have issues with my voice. And there I was, live on ETV morning news, dressed to the nines and afraid I was going to sound like Bea Arthur in front of the whole nation. Well, at least that part of it that was awake at 7am and watching ETV news. So many people were going see a woman on screen, and give the box a smack thinking it was getting the wrong audio channel. I drew comfort from my rather warped sense of humor and a wry grin spread across my face as we went live. Donovan, the video journalist/cameraman/receptionist and resident psychologist, had done his best to make me relax and feel comfortable. He smiled at me and gave me an "OK" sign behind the camera.
Christina Engela's picture

Growing Pains


Over the past few months a war of words has been raging over the activities of "ex-gay" groups in the USA and around the world wherever they have set up affiliates or branches of their own - including in my own country, South Africa. The "ex-gay" movement operates on a purely religious basis and claims solely out of a misinterpretation of religious dogma, that gay (or trans) people can and should either deny their nature - or "change". They claim all sorts of "studies" and "proof" exist to support their theories, but the truth is that no such evidence exists - and that every reputable medical, scientific and psychological institute, authority or body asserts that "conversion therapy" - IE attempts to change sexual orientation by "ex-gay" industry, is dangerous, risky and harmful to those it affects.

All this has prompted me to look back - and inwards, to a time when I was struggling for self-acceptance, and to find my own identity.

The very first thought I can remember which indicated to me that there was something "different" or "abnormal" about me (those are increasingly dangerous and stigmatized words these days) was when I was three years old and sitting on a potty, looking at my genitalia and thinking "that shouldn't be there". I am sure it is no coincidence that many of my best ideas since then have also come to me under similar circumstances. *Grin*
Christina Engela's picture

Cross Purposes

 


The issue of same-gender marriage is a hot topic at present around the world. The USA, the "bastion" of liberal society - at least in theory - is watching closely the current legal review of the Constitutional validity of the Proposition 8 vote which rescinded marriage equality for same-gender couples in California in December 2008. Proponents of Proposition 8 also pushed for the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA) to redefine the legal concept of marriage to mean "one man, one woman".

At present, the trial is filled with emotional appeals of the gay community for the State to recognize human rights, dignity and equality, and opposing statements from the defenders of marriage against the nasty, inhuman gay people - whose existence "threatens" religion, society and "the family" - that marriage "always has been" between males and females - and that this inequality somehow justifies the enforced continuation of this inequality.

Apparently some people seem to think that marriage "always has been" between males and females - and that this inequality somehow justifies the enforced continuation of this inequality.
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