The Spectator The independent student newspaper of Valdosta State University
Written By: Jordan Barela
Transgendered individuals are constantly being pushed aside when it comes to equal rights.
A recent article on CNN told two separate stories of two transgendered soldiers. One is from Britain and the other is from America; but this is not the only difference between the two.
The first solider is Caroline Paige, a transgendered woman, who serves in the British Air Force. In the article, she discusses difficulties at first, but she tells of how she was eventually accepted. Paige was even rewarded for her performance as a solider.
Landon Wilson, the transgendered male who served in the U.S. Navy, was not so lucky. After learning that he is transgendered, Wilson was honorably discharged under the guise of a promotion.
How can one transgendered individual be treated with respect and rewarded, while another individual is disregarded?
Gender identity is a fluid concept. What needs to be established and accepted into social context is whatever gender a person identifies as, that is his or her gender.
How can “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” be repealed, but a transgendered individual cannot serve openly and proudly? How can the country that a transgendered individual is willing to protect, not offer that same protection to that person?
If a person, transgendered or not, is willing to serve in the military, what is—or isn’t between a person’s legs shouldn’t matter.
One question, in two parts: If gender (as in “gender identity”) is fluid in nature and, thus, subjective, then how can “bigotry” and “discrimination” based on gender exist? Put another way, if gender is subjective, then how can you be “transgendered” and, thus, discriminated against as a “transgendered” person?
If gender identity is subjective then it is is simply based on a persons private sense of their own gender, be it male female or neither. Just because something is subjective doesn’t mean it is somehow immune to criticism or discrimination from those who feel differently.
“…if gender is subjective, then how can you be “transgendered””
I’m not sure what you are really getting at. Its like saying “If gender is subjective, then how can you identify as a person who believes gender is subjective.”
Gender identity is described as a person’s private sense, and subjective experience, of their own gender. Trans people exist BECAUSE they feel their gender is subjective, and doesn’t match their assigned sex.
“Gender identity is a fluid concept.”
REALLY? Gender is NOT a fluid concept, it is what you are born as!
If you choose to change it then it becomes something different in your eyes, but it is NOT fluid!
Of course, I guess the CONSTITUTION is fluid too, huh?