Marriage Equality is one of those things that has become important for the LGBT community. Yet marriage equality is not just limited to a straight/queer binary. The ability to marry someone you love is not an issue that just effects queer people. Sometimes a lot of other people have issues with whom they want to marry.
As some may know and others do not, I am Jewish. Being queer, trans, and jewish person is a lot to deal with. But before I transitioned I was once engaged to be married. In the process of planning the wedding we searched for a suitable Rabbi or marriage celebrant that would take our desire for a Jewish wedding into account.
That was easier said than done. Because I was and still am a progressive jew and a convert to judaism and my then partner would be termed an modern orthodox jew. Our potential marriage created a number of issues, about who was willing to perform the ceremony, whether we would have it inside or outside a synagogue or whether, more importantly, would our marriage be recognised as legitimate by members of our community and by the wider community.
At the crux of the marriage equality debate is the fact that would same sex marriages be legitimate. Because what I am getting at is that, even under the current system not all marriages are equal or real. While current marriages may have a legal recognition, many people do not recognize marriages that they see as intermarriages.
A lot of the opposition to marriage equality is often framed in christian ideology. So what happens if you are not christian and want to get married? Is christian marriage the only legitimate marriage available?
Marriage equality is not just limited to queer people. Sometimes it effects people in the strangest ways and not in the way most people think it will.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Being a transfeminist
Recently there have been a number of articles concerning transwomen (Feminists versus transsexuals, Transsexuals should cut it out,Guardian columnist) and the right of transwomen to be women and whether it is appropriate for transwomen to consider themselves feminists.
From the outset everyone is entitled to their own opinion and should not be punished for that opinion. Yet transwomen being a transwoman is seen as an unforgivable sin. Because like a convert to a religion, a transwoman will always be seen as a convert to womanhood. As such transwomen are seen as fair weather converts who disappear will when things get tough. Yet transwomen have, to use a military/naval concept, nailed their colours to the wall. Those colours show that we are in it for the long haul.
For some of us (transwomen), see being feminists as a chance to make the world better. There is so much about feminism that I love, it offers an opportunity for self improvement, challenging traditions, and seeing the world as it might be, a world that acknowledges and celebrates difference.
Since my transition I have become involved with feminist and women's communities, yet as a transwoman, I am conscious of the fact that I will always be seen as an outsider looking in. Being an transwoman in feminist circles, I have read the blogs, books and articles by some feminists who see transwomen as interlopers or as agents of the patriarchy, into feminist and women spaces.
Transwomen aren't the enemy of feminists, feminism or women and their bodies. We are fellow participants in the ongoing struggle for equality. We are people who want to live our lives, find love and happiness and make the world a little better. We are looking for a place to belong to and to communities that care about us and communities that we love.
Transpeople are still subject to medicalisation and discrimination. Like ciswomen, our bodies have to meet strict definitions and controls. I freely acknowledge that as a transwoman I can't menstruate or get pregnant. But if I was offered the opportunity to have a period I would gladly take that opportunity.
From the outset everyone is entitled to their own opinion and should not be punished for that opinion. Yet transwomen being a transwoman is seen as an unforgivable sin. Because like a convert to a religion, a transwoman will always be seen as a convert to womanhood. As such transwomen are seen as fair weather converts who disappear will when things get tough. Yet transwomen have, to use a military/naval concept, nailed their colours to the wall. Those colours show that we are in it for the long haul.
For some of us (transwomen), see being feminists as a chance to make the world better. There is so much about feminism that I love, it offers an opportunity for self improvement, challenging traditions, and seeing the world as it might be, a world that acknowledges and celebrates difference.
Since my transition I have become involved with feminist and women's communities, yet as a transwoman, I am conscious of the fact that I will always be seen as an outsider looking in. Being an transwoman in feminist circles, I have read the blogs, books and articles by some feminists who see transwomen as interlopers or as agents of the patriarchy, into feminist and women spaces.
Transwomen aren't the enemy of feminists, feminism or women and their bodies. We are fellow participants in the ongoing struggle for equality. We are people who want to live our lives, find love and happiness and make the world a little better. We are looking for a place to belong to and to communities that care about us and communities that we love.
Transpeople are still subject to medicalisation and discrimination. Like ciswomen, our bodies have to meet strict definitions and controls. I freely acknowledge that as a transwoman I can't menstruate or get pregnant. But if I was offered the opportunity to have a period I would gladly take that opportunity.
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