Has Jenner gone too far?

[Michelle789]

I just watched a clip of the interview and some commentary.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz0LetfzMsc

I want to say that I am really proud of you Caitlyn for standing up for the trans community as a whole.

I really like that she sees this not about herself, but as a civil rights frontier for the entire trans community.

I also like that the media is using the correct pronouns and calling her Caitlyn, while in the past the media has had a tendency to mis-gender trans people and refer to them by their birth names.

So yes, Caitlyn Jenner's coming out has done tremendous good for the trans community.

[Robin414]

I heard part of her award speach and I almost cried, way to go Caitlin!!! A local shock jock radio station even made positive comments and complimented her!!

[grace7777]

Watching Caitlyn at the Espy Awards did cause a tear to run down my cheek.

Winning a gold medal in the decathlon was a great achievement, but I feel she will achieve far much more in the future advocating for the transgender community.

I agree with Michelle789 that it was great to see the media not migender her.

Having a reality show is not necessarily a bad thing. Personally, I feel the show will end up doing a lot of good.

[Barbara Dugan]

I only see positive things on the way Caitlyn is handling her transition and moved me to tears the way she is taking a maternal instinct aproach to protect transgender youth

[AletaHawk]

I've lost count of the number of positive conversations I've been able to have in public about trans rights as a result of the attention Caitlyn has brought to the issue. And all without ever having to identify myself as trans. That alone means so much to me.

Having watched her speech live last night, I was amazed at how much she clearly gets it, and understands the importance of awareness. It's not really about her, and she knows that.

[emma5410]

You really can't win if you are TS. If you live in stealth then you are betraying the transgender 'movement', if you are visible like Caitlyn, and lets face it you cannot get much more visible, then you are exploiting it for your own ends.
I really think we should split TS from CD so the TS can get on with being out there and changing minds and the CD can sit in their closets and bitch about how unfair the world is.

[Kaitlyn Michele]

Ilsa you are just singing from your own selfish and hymnbook. You can certainly want what you want but unfortunately you live in a tiny hidden world and are threatened by people that squeeze it.

Your cross dressing has nothing to do with Caitlyn Jenner except that you don't like it because it scares you. Transsexuals would be better off not having anything to do with people like you

Don't go out. Leave us alone. That's my advice

[Princess Chantal]

Looks like the thread has transitioned to a bashing of crossdressers

[mbmeen12]

I was at work yesterday in an all Alpha male environment. A individual mention the the award/show and some rude comments. I rebutted that, "IF " she saves one young person's life whom is contemplates suicide, then its worth 15 mins on TV. I also followed with, "and what if it was your son or daughter who is with the GID"? he replied "wow good point".
//Kara//

[paulaprimo]

Looks like the thread has transitioned to a bashing of crossdressers

its such a shame that we fight for acceptance but can't even get along with each other.
if this is how some of you hardliners communicate to members I can see why we are
not accepted... how can we advance as a group when you shame members deeper
into the closet...

[Dianne S]

Looks like the thread has transitioned to a bashing of crossdressers

I think the OP's first post was not appropriate, and people reacted strongly.

Look, I totally get people who have to stay in the closet. I'm not judging them. But if you stay in the closet, one of the tradeoffs you're making is that you lose the right to have input in how transgender people present themselves to the public, to the press, etc. We, the people who are living this full-time or even part-time but publicly, are the ones who have to fight for our community while the closet-dwellers simply enjoy the fruits of our struggle.

If you choose not to participate, please don't criticize those who do.

[Princess Chantal]

So should a person that transitioned or is going thru the process of transitioning and chooses to live her life in stealth trades off the right of her input as well?
For the record I had participated in the thread previously and was not criticizing just pointing out where direction of the thread was leading to

[Rianna Humble]

You do realize that the Daily Mail is reporting on a story that appeared on an online gossip site, and that the Daily Mail itself is the British version of the National Enquirer with a bit of a Fox Network bent? Not exactly a reliable source!

It's more than the DM.

So basically you are acknowledging that the rumour you are spreading against Caitlyn Jenner came from unreliable Internet gossip and was then picked up by a British Media outlet that has such a tenuous link with the truth that if they reported that Tuesday comes between Monday and Wednesday anyone with half a brain would wonder when that stopped being true.

Looks like the thread has transitioned to a bashing of crossdressers

No Chantal, this thread has always been about a few cross-dressers who hate Caitly Jenner for speaking up successfully about the plight of transsexuals. Then you obbject when some transsexuals take issue with what they are saying.

[emma5410]

So should a person that transitioned or is going thru the process of transitioning and chooses to live her life in stealth trades off the right of her input as well?
For the record I had participated in the thread previously and was not criticizing just pointing out where direction of the thread was leading to

Please tell me how you transition in stealth when you have to change your name, inform banks and utilities, tell everyone you know that you are transitioning. Do you think that work, family and friends do not notice.

[Marcelle]

Goodness,

You leave a page for a day and it just balloons. As someone who is not TS, I read through the posts and did a quick descriptive stats (sorry it is the nerdy social scientist in me) and found that an overwhelming percentage of the posters (CDers I might add) were supportive of Caitlyn's moment. This is mix of open CDers and closeted folks alike. Yes the OP had an opinion and many have chosen not to agree with it state their case in one way or another and I think we can all agree that Caitlyn is doing much for the Trans movement. Is she getting financial gain, notoriety and what not? Probably but she is a public figure and goodness public figures do like the lime light. However, I am sure she is doing from a place in her heart which wants to help others. I think someone here wrote "if she helps one person who is struggling she has done a service". Indeed if we all helped one person who is struggling, even just to accept who they are and move on with life irrespective of if they are CD or TS . . . what a boon that would be to the community writ large n'est pas?

I don't believe anyone is TS bashing or CD bashing to be honest. I think there are opinions being stated driven by emotional response. Opinions are opinions, but it is emotion which drives the debate.

... Thank you Suzanne for mentioning male privilege . . . There are plenty of people with male privilege who simply don't want to fight, and why would they, because being a cis-gender heterosexual white male comes with all the privileges you could ever have in this world - they have nothing to fight for.

Michelle,

I do love your posts and insights. However the generalization of the term "male privilege" from meaning that "men" statistically are better paid, hold more prestigious jobs, are less likely to be the victim of violent crimes to meaning that we are handed everything on a silver platter and have to work for nothing . . . is false. I worked darn hard to get where I am and sometimes I did not get what I wanted and had to work even harder. Nobody pronounced on my birth "Its a boy and here are the keys to the kingdom lad . . . coast along in life and all will be well". I still work darn hard and will probably do so to the day I shuffle off this mortal coil. So please, let's use the term correctly and not generalize that somehow being born white and male means I never have to work for anything or have no dog in the fight when it comes issues like this.

I don't think the situations are remotely comparable. Each requires a different sort of courage and each should be celebrated.

I bet plenty of war vets would not have the courage to do what transitioning people do and vice-versa.

Hi Dianne,

As someone who has done both I can attest the courage is different and in some ways coming out to those same people I shared blood with was harder than combat.

Cheers all

Isha

[Krististeph]

Caitlin has not gone too far, the media has pushed it too far. She is riding the wave of celebrity. Will it hurt the TG community? No. Yes, ther will be some negative outcome, backlash, etc. But Cait is not pushing the issue- the media is focusing on it since she was a (doubly) famous person. And not a bad person in general either, IMO.

Cait is bearing the brunt of a lot more attention than any of us would get, which has both good and bad points. As a celeb, she is vanguarding, not always an enjoyable position, but she is doing it well.

More power to her. Wish she'd stop by and give me a few pointers and such...

[Ashley D.]

As was always the case I agree with you 100% Melissa! The only way to make life better for all TS is for more of us to just say like it or not love me or hate me here I am and I'm HAPPY.

[msniki48]

Really,

I was not aware... as I only watched the clip... I did see Arthur Ashe on the screen behind her..did not realize it was for her Olympic years.

thank you..

She's not getting the award for TG, she's getting it for her Olympic years. It's really a shame when even the TG community doesn't educate themselves on what the award is actually for. Yes, she does deserve it.

Stephania,

thanks for the clarification. theESPY is excellence in sports performance yearly...given to for accomplishments that transcend sports. I believe it now makes sense to me...also I admire her courage

hugs

niki

[Kaitlyn Michele]

I made a strong comment to a specific person about their specific comments.

The support from the vast majority of CDs and people in general has been wonderful.

Here in my town one of the sportscasters made some terrible comments and he was vilified as well.

Anyone that watched the speech saw a humble person asking for nothing but respect.

[Krisi]

Looks like the thread has transitioned to a bashing of crossdressers

Exactly. And that's no better than ordinary people bashing transgendered people.

I have observed that many of the members here are just as bigoted as the people they complain about but bigoted in a different way. If you want respect and acceptance, you have to give respect and acceptance. I'm pretty surprised that some of these comments directed towards fellow members have been allowed to remain.

And remember, this is "crossdressers.com", not "transgender.com".

[wanagione]

I think that she has do a lot to bring transgender issues to the surface. I think it takes a great deal of courage to do what she has done in the public eye. Think how we feel when we get outed, harrassed, or made fun of; she had to do this on a national and world wide scale. Yes she has money,so what! I listened to her acceptance speech and she brought our issues to the world. I think people should know that we are being discriminated against, and that yes, we are even being murdered for who we are. I wish I had half her courage.

[Sara Jessica]

Here in my town one of the sportscasters made some terrible comments and he was vilified as well.

And likewise (Caitlyn's speech was all over talk radio yesterday), a nationally syndicated sports talk host (Colin Cowherd) was eloquent in his defense of everything about Caitlyn and TS in general, slamming a couple callers who tried to play the religion and impossible biology cards. The key to his being able to quash the haters was the question "what does someone being trans matter in your world?"

An internet troll can cough up a statement but there is no good means to challenge. Verbal sparring, all bets are off and Colin completely disarmed and diffused the entire notions presented by the haters. Good for him!

(And later in the day I read Cowherd is leaving ESPN...their loss indeed.)

[Dianne S]

So should a person that transitioned or is going thru the process of transitioning and chooses to live her life in stealth trades off the right of her input as well?

It's pretty evident that if you want to be a spokesperson for a community, you have to self-identify as part of that community, which precludes complete stealth.

And if you successfully go stealth, then you won't be perceived as trans and won't be directly affected by societal attitudes towards trans people. So yeah, such a person can have all the input he or she wants, but can't expect it to be taken as seriously as input from people who are out in front of the struggle.

[Krisi]

Isn't that the goal, to "successfully go stealth"? To be seen by society as a woman? To Live the life of a woman? To feel like a woman?

[Ilsa]

Here's what someone else has to say!

http://www.thewrap.com/transgender-t...ssexual-label/