Monday, March 29, 2010

A Little Personal



Something significant happened this year and I wanted to share it. A case went to tax court, an independent body from the IRS. It took 10 years for Glad and their associates to get this case through. The IRS had been rigid and fanatical about disallowing any medical deductions for transsexual women (though many states medically researched and allowed it the IRS did not ) and here is what they said:

""Whether gender reassignment surgery is a treatment for an illness or disease is controversial. For instance, Johns Hopkins Hospital has closed its gender reassignment clinic and ceased performing these operations. See, Surgical Sex, Dr. Paul McHugh, 2004 First Things 147 (November 2004) 34-38. In light of the Congressional emphasis on denying a deduction for procedures relating to appearance in all but a few circumstances and the controversy surrounding whether GRS is a treatment for an illness or disease, the materials submitted do not support a deduction. Only an unequivocal expression of Congressional intent that expenses of this type qualify under section 213 would justify the allowance of the deduction in this case. Otherwise, it would seem we would be moving beyond the generally accepted boundaries that define this type of deduction." -IRS


This year Glad ( Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders ) after 10 long years won a significant court case . Feb 2, 2010 the the U.S. Tax Court ruled that Rhiannon O’Donnabhain , a transsexual woman , should be allowed to deduct the costs of her treatment for gender-identity disorder (keep in mind virtually no insurance companies cover any costs and after surgery you will never get individual medical insurance again ) , including sex-reassignment surgery and hormone treatments stating:

"In its decision yesterday, the tax court said the IRS position was “at best a superficial characterization of the circumstances’’ that is “thoroughly rebutted by the medical evidence.’’

Their denial and threats to audit anyone trying to claim medical costs was based on a religious zealot Paul McHugh, an influential conservative Catholic ideologue ,a transphobic psychiatrist (then adviser to the Vatican on sexual matters) . He convinced the Vatican in 2000 to declare that transsexualism "doesn't exist" and is a mental pathology instead . McHugh fabricated a study and published it in the catholic rag ( an ecumenical journal that claims to "advance Christianity" ) called “First Things”. And this was what the IRS based their ruling on. The religious magazine of a church that allows it's priests to wholesale molest children and hides the perpetrators from the law. Does that sound realistic to you ? Not to me.


The tax court basically said the IRS interpretation was a shallow interpretation and completely refuted by the medical facts. In 2007 McHugh had been ordered by Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison to stop making public statements about physician George Tiller’s work. McHugh disapproved of Tiller’s work providing abortion services. Tiller was later murdered by a fanatic who was influenced by public statements made about Tiller. McHugh is also known for his work defending Catholic priests against sex abuse charges. He was a founder and board member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, and he was named to a lay panel assembled by the Roman Catholic Church in 2002 to look into sexual abuse by priests, which led to protests from victims’ rights groups. That's right, basically he was there to PROVE that the molestation of all these children WAS A FALSE MEMORY. The hellish and unstoppable world wide tsunami of accusations from almost every single part of globe is on McHughs head as well as he had an active part in the attempted cover up by attempting to discredit victims.

So we won , but this was more than about the significance of the refund I received though ( and yes I did receive it ) more it was about the religious prejudice that is endemic in the entire political system. How it can turn truth into lies and lies into truth based on religious desires. Though religious people practice medicine their diagnosis must be secular or they are treating people with their religion and not with their medical knowledge.

To Rhiannon O’Donnabhain and the people at Glad who suffered 10 years of fighting a religious ruling from the IRS thank you so much. This was not just a step forward , it was a historic reversal for ignorance in an age of ignorance. Perhaps one day present day insurance monopolies will allow for medical costs for kids afflicted. Till then to all the wonderful trans activists who take the brutal punishment upfront for all of us , Lynn Conway , Andrea James, Calpernia Addams, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Donna Rose, Deirdre McCloskey, Dr Becky , Meghan Stabler and all of the young ones coming up that burn with a fire for justice like Ashley Love. We do not choose who we are but is an easy mistake for our detractors to make because honestly given the credentials of all these women it would be a damn easy choice.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Women As A Tool To Justify Transphobia


A beautifully logical argument offered up on Womans Musings


http://www.womanist-musings.com/2009/04/women-as-tool-to-justify-transphobia.html#

I have been closely following the conversation about bathroom politics, as in state after state the trans community fights for the right to use the bathroom that most closely reflects the gender identity to which they publicly express. The right wing fundies have fought hard to create a panic about this issue often citing that it would increase incidents of sexual abuse in the bathrooms.

New England is currently working on House Bill 1728 which bans discrimination based on gender identity or expression in the areas of employment, housing, credit, public accommodations and public education. In order to defeat this bill opponents have chosen once again to raise the supposed dreaded spectre of “men in womens bathrooms”.

For instance, at an April 8 lobby day sponsored by the anti-gay Massachusetts Family Institute at the State House, former Fall River school superintendent Joseph Martins addressed attendees and painted a nightmarish scenario in which school officials would be powerless to stop hordes of teenage boys from charging into the girls’ locker rooms to get a peek at their female classmates.
"It is difficult enough to control student behaviour, prevent discrimination of all students, and ensure the safety of all students without having to distinguish between truth and a lie of some student claiming, at will, a gender-related identity, appearance, expression or behaviour other than that assigned sex at birth, simply to gain access to the opposite-at-birth-sex locker-rooms, showers, or lavatory facilities," Martins told the crowd.

Shall we look at this little piece of nonsense. It is absolutely ridiculous to deny transpeople the right to use the correct bathroom because cisgendered people in the above quote have been constructed as deviant. They’re afraid that some hopped on hormones teenage boy would use that as an excuse to violate the rights of women. How nice and convenient. Why is it that people only seem to be concerned about stemming the violence against women when it involves curtailing the rights of another? In this case womanhood is nothing more than a tool.

They need not worry, as with the amount of transphobia in this society the likely hood of a teenage boy owning a trans identity falsely is very slim. A simple look at the ways in which those who are gender variant are treated socially is more than enough to discourage such behaviour. According to the Bay window, in the twelve states in which this has become law falsely posing as a trans person has yet to happen.

"Due to this wording, any man can legally gain access to facilities reserved for women and girls simply by indicating, verbally or non-verbally, that he inwardly feels female at the moment. There is no way to distinguish between someone suffering from ’Gender Identity Disorder’ and a sexual predator looking to exploit this law. This is the dangerous reality of this bill," wrote MFI.

In almost every single rejection that I have seen, never have I witnessed a discussion of trans men in the men or womens bathrooms. Where is their concern that if the trans community is not allowed to use the bathroom of the gender to which they identify and express, that this allows men in the womens bathroom and or change rooms? Stop and think about this for a moment, by their thinking it is acceptable to have someone who not only identifies as male but in some cases but presents as male (beard and all), using the same facilities as women. OOOH I think I get it, this is not about protecting women, this is about denying rights.

Women are constantly used as a tool to justify social wrongs. The US government did not care about the brutality that women lived under when the Taliban ran Afghanistan but suddenly after the invasion it was about “protecting women”. The presence of real men (read trans men) are ignored to protect us against trans women. Can we just deal with the fact that people need to pee period. A trans person in the bathroom of their gender identity is not a threat to anyone and this framing of women in need of protection is not only highly transphobic but sexist. How long are we going to be subject to this wilting flower ideology?

Thursday, July 16, 2009

“Transgender Bathrooms” and other such nonsense

This is a response to GOPMOM and her wacky blog on hate crime legislation. I've decided to edit it down to a manageable side. She was so traumatized after our responses she deleted my comments and blocked me at my domain.

http://www.gopmom.com/2009/07/transgender-bathrooms-and-other-such-nonsense/comment-page-1/#comment-19628

Hi GOPMOM,

I must admit , as provoking as I found your statements I also found myself chuckling from time to time at how massively uninformed you are . I hope you are up to a debate and are as willing to bring clarity to your statements as you are to push them on the public. I will try not to stereotype your position but to be honest your words seem no more original than the talking points most neocons use. A Goldwater republican myself I find the word "republican" used far too often when the term "hardcore religious terrorist " often applies. Lets start shall we ?

" propose that civil rights and hate crimes legislation does little to change people’s minds, if anything and might just possibly increase prejudice because of perceived preference."-GOPMOM

And !

"Everyone has the right .... All citizens already have the right to live safely and peacefully, without threat of harassment or injury. ""-GOPMOM

Well no they don't ! Women, blacks and gays had to fight for the vote and for laws against violence (and as you may note gay people still can't marry ). The idea that this came without legislation is down right knee slapping ! These changes just happened on their own did they ? Just a quote from MLK:

" It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. "
Martin Luther King, Jr.

On your hiding your hate for transgender people so poorly:

"I do not hate transgender people but I also do not want to have to explain to my thankfully blissfully innocent 10 year old what a transgender person is and how they achieve “congruity”. " -GOPMOM

Why are you so lazy ? How do we explain to our kids you let these disgusting priests hurt children ? We have to explain to our kids why you Catholic cultists worship a nonexistent Santa Claus in the sky that supposedly gives virgins "messiah" babies ! ! Never mind the wacky " burn in hell " baloney you spread to mentally torture underage children with ! That is the definition of child abuse is it not ? To terrorize children with lies ? Lets be honest shall we, that's pretty stupid and immature for a grown up adult to be telling kids idiotic things like that . You really should be ashamed.

No one cares about what you and your Catholic cult believe . It's fascinating the chronic apathy you get from catholics when the church admits that no less than 5000 priests have molested children , that none were prosecuted, that the church moved them around , that the church wrote a secret doctrine to intimidate and threaten the children with excommunication for speaking of it ! Yet you are so terribly fascinated with the nonexistent fantasy crimes of a child who has a gender schism ! So how many crimes have these transgender children committed ? Oh wait , NONE ! There isn't one single "bathroom " crime that I know of ! Yet you worship these catholic men in dresses and jeweled women's hats that molest your own children ?!!! YET YOU GO ON AND ON ABOUT THE "POSSIBILITY " OF SOME GENDER CONFUSED KID POSSIBLY CAUSING THE FIRST CASE OF MOLESTATION OF THIS SORT EVER ??! I am in AWE of such a blatantly illogical assumption.

98% of all child molesters self identify as "heterosexual" , even in the case of same sex molestation yet you good "republicans" don't do any more about that then you do the fondling of your children by your "good men of the cloth ". I am firmly committed to the need to license parents as the majority of you are hopelessly confused about reality. Picking on some poor little kid because they don't see the world your way , how incredibly immature .

"Being surrounded by these people today, I realized that these are some of the saddest souls I will ever encounter. Giving them some false sense of hope or acceptance with crappy legislation will not change the fact that their lives are profoundly different than most of us, that they will suffer horribly."-GOPMOM

Lol ! Oh really ?! The lady you are talking to Debra ( a lawyer with Navy service I might add ) is one of three of us in our building , all of us self sufficient and self supporting and NOT ON WELFARE DESPITE LIVING WITH BIGOTS LIKE YOURSELF ! In fact all the transgender people I know are doctors , lawyers , programmers , professors , artists , entertainers and just as happy as we are . Even after having to deal with the occasional ritualized ignorance from your cults . Of out of 400 or so of my friends , about 80 are transsexual and I hear no more whining from them then I do the average person. That you know no transgender people is obvious from your statements but take heart because rather than judge you tit for tat as a pedophiliac child abuser ( from my limited experience with catholics ) I'll give you the benefit of the doubt .

"I do not have to condone a lifestyle/way of living/way of correcting/whatever you want to call it to see the need for some sort of protection"

Condone a "lifestyle" ? Is this like your now defunct stance on global warming where we have to wait for your ignorance to be slapped out of you by facts ?(wasn't it hilarious when Bush had to admit publicly global warming was real after all his work to say it wasn't ? I laughed and laughed ! ) Who cares if you approve anything. We would rather you just stop lying about things you haven't a clue about. Your lack of knowledge about the subjects you are speaking on is obvious even to casual observers and rather than furthering the debate becomes some hilarious sideshow where people are laughing at your crippled argument limp around publicly and making is all feel sorry for your family.

"Lifestyle " . If the best you can do is mimic the ignorance of the crowd I suggest you consult real experts who offer more than your one line musings on the transgendered . You are clearly out of your depth .


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“Wow, Darlie, you’re a nut, aren’t you?”-GOPMOM

So, that was your best response GOPMOM ? One line ? I’m sorry , you are doing nothing to dispel the imagery of a raving religious crazy who believes in some wacky 2000 year old , fake , invisible god , one who is just fine and content to let her cults crossdressing leaders molest her children while persecuting a child who just because she does not see the world in just your closed minded way . I’m nuts ? At least before I speak on a subject I research and I have a clue what I am talking about while you apparently revel in your lack of information !

Oh I know , you all hate that word “proof” and prefer to live life factless but I must insist you try. You have spoken in front of our government claiming some divine insight into “the problem ” yet I see nothing but a farcical pretense at common sense (and common is a vast understatement , rather pedestrian ).

“I’m reminded of the wisdom of my father when he says “the reason the criminals are always one step ahead of us is because we don’t think like the criminals.” -GOPMOM

Oh but you do ! Over and over and over !

“Our schools should not be used as vehicles to further the political agenda of a statistically insignificant group of people who seek to flaunt the traditions and mores of our society.”-GOPMOM

You spout condemnation of people you know nothing about, you attack parents who have suffered trying to deal with the self doubt and guilt that comes with having a transgender child qnd you attack children that do not have an adults ability to respond to the disgusting evil your sick mind can dream up . You are the same people that support reparative therapy for gays and transgenders because you are just too darn lazy to research ! Oh forget the suicides it causes , the destruction of lives, GOPMOM enjoys being thick because she cannot face anything that doesn’t fit in her world of “virgin births”. How proud you must be..

Oh yes dear I’m a nut ! A 30 year animator who’s enjoyed a 6 figure income and NEVER TAKEN A DIME FROM OUR GOVERNMENT EVER ! I’ve paid more in one years income tax than you have probably made in a year. I paid for my education, I paid for my gender correction so you don’t have the right to call me “sad and unhappy “. Your ignorance is a threat to all humanity and the fact you wear it with such pride only points to how lost you are . Try “listening” to one of the families you are talking about and learn something rather than babbling ridiculous hypotheticals based on even more ridiculous factless theories. There is no way on earth this bill could be as bad as the argument you have just fabricated .




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FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2009

And the GOPMOM censors and locks the thread.
These responses were deleted before GOPMOM gave herself the last word and in an act of cowardice locked the thread. Knowing that no christian terrorist can stand opposition for more than mere moments I archived my responses.

July 17, 2009 at 7:51 pm

“I never invoked my church, you did. “-GOPMOM

Funny, this was in your opening statement .

” as a white woman, as a stay-home mom, as a Christian Catholic, as a conservative and Republican”-GOPMOM

” I never accused anyone of committing any crime”-GOPMOM

Oh really ?

“Must we now be subjected to guessing whether or not one of the other patrons in the restroom is a disguised maniac waiting to attack? “-GOPMOM

You created the fear of a crime yet to occur. Perhaps you could dwell on the thousands of victims your catholic cult hurts.

” Actually, he’s( her husband ) not a citizen”-GOPMOM

Ah, an illegal alien living off our taxes. Oh don’t you love foreigners who have opinions on something they haven’t the guts to join. Was he an overseas bride because no one here would have you ?

“And just so that we’re clear - I strongly believe that many of the priests/church members who stood by and did nothing, or committed horrific crimes against children or women themselves, are in Hell”

Would that happen to include the pope ?

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/vatican/esp_vatican40.htm


” What purpose does it serve to have a bad laws on the books, that will be overturned at the first sign of controversy. ”-GOPMOM


You have done as little research on this law as you have ion the transgendered. It wont be overturned because if it could be you would let it through. A badly written , easily squashable law would serve your purpose and you know it isn’t.

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GOPMOM blocked, censored and deleted comments that proved her and her arguements false till finally she blocked me completely. This is the end of any one sided tyrants arguments. The light of truth hurts too much.



"As I said to Darlie, I’m sorry you’ve been offended by my “benign” position."


If it was "benign" I would accept it in a moment. Unfortunately it was an uneducated, un-researched activist stance that traded on fear mongering and said nothing about the actual bill. Did you contest the terminology, the way the law was to be interpreted or perhaps provide proof by example that the law is already working to protect the transgender against the 16 times normal incidence of murder and violence ? No, you talk about how you feel sorry about them yet don't accept their" lifestyle" . You and your friends discriminate, keep them jobless , make them uninsurable and then flaunt your child like her safety is some how compromised by some little kid wearing a dress. How can you claim to be a parent and yet be so full of ice ? Pray to your fake god that you never have a TG child because that would be incredibly tragic for the child because as a mother you aren't worth a dime.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

It's about....



Often I get letters asking me if a person should transition. Here is one reply.


Dear ****.


Quite a letter ! I'm reading a lot of "sex" , "masturbation", " aroused", "fantasy" ... much of your letter seem to be centered around it. Being transsexual is not really about those things and I fear for you if that is entirely your basis my love . You need to be sure about your feelings so what you need is to talk to a professional who can help you explore them . Boobs, a vagina , or even female clothes. While these are things you may get during your journey they are not the journey. The journey is to love who you are , regardless of your gender. Everything else is totally insignificant.

Full transition is brutal, expensive and long. It is not for the weak of heart so it is essential you have no doubts . You must be prepared to live without sexuality if you have SRS and things don't go well . If you have even the slightest doubt don't do it because the hardest part is not living female but what your living female will do to others. Family , friends , loved ones . We can tolerate the indignities that we suffer but it is the cruelty they are treated with that is the hardest to bare. For me ? There was no transition. I felt no change . I am no different as a person really, just happy for once in my life. Sex is not even a factor. I feel .... like I have lived in a prison my entire life and for this last part I was set free. People ask if it was painful but all I feel is a joy that is so soul deep it is not describable.

Now to your question.

"So, the question Im asking is would you recommend me to transgender into a female during the present? "

That is something no one but you can answer because my desires have nothing to do with your life. Just know that testosterone damage ( brow ridges, male jaw and bone structure ) increases with time and it is a hard road back. If you are truly transsexual the earlier you can transition the more you can save yourself some truly horrid and expensive surgery. The one question you need to ask yourself is " How do I see myself when I am old " ?

Hugs

Dars

Sunday, March 8, 2009



This was written to a young animation student who was examining religion and god.

Peter, when I was young I was forced to go to church and indoctrinated in Christianity. Part of me still believes or wishes that it were all true to some degree because my brain was too young to dispute it. It is like Santa, a childhood fantasy that colors my thoughts still. They discovered if you do not indoctrinate children by 16 years old that the chances of getting them to buy Christ was virtually gone. We visit this cruelty on our children and expect them to come out normal. Amazing.

We are taught by religion to hate and to dismiss important things like science , reality and this plane of existence for some fantasy afterlife. Now say you are god and a microbe is us ( not as smart, large or powerful as we are ) , would you as a god want that microbe to worship you ? Really ? Of course not. We are not alone but it is not god who is with us, it's our friends , our family and the entire world filled with people like us . Just like you and me.

It's high time we started treating each other better. That we stop trying to pretend we are smarter or more powerful than we are. We are fragile little bags of water and our life spans are incredibly tiny in comparison to the universe. Do we really think there is a any good time for war or hate ? No, of course not . If we were anywhere as intelligent as we thought we were war would have ceased to exist. We must face the facts that our perspectives are warped and twisted by political ambition, greed and religions need to keep the population as ignorant.

If someone said "Well there is this guy that lives in the sky , gives virgins babies who get tortured and murdered to take on our sins ", sin being a form of shame that this guy in the sky came up with , would you really believe them ? Would you ? Now suppose that the person telling you this is wearing a jeweled dress and a big jeweled crown and who's order had a history of child molestation ? On any other planet we would consider this person a complete mental case and have them put away for their own good yet here we not only let them roam free, we put them in the same category as a doctor , lawyer or some other figure of trust . How is that possible ? We are damaged and we need to reassess. Believe in whatever you need to but make it your belief and not some cults dogma. If you have a relationship with your creator make it your relationship and not a version of some fake prophets pulpit speech. We are here to find and explore life, not to explain it. Have fun.

DG

Friday, November 7, 2008

The TS Revolution

So much has been written about the process of transition with all it's surgical and social consequences it is hard to grasp the greater overview of where we are now historically in the TS community . I call this a revolution and yet no one has been taken prisoner nor has a shot been fired. This revolution , like all social/cultural revolutions, comes on like a slow smoldering fire that consumes the stereotypical myths and legends of the past . It converts enemies into supporters and offers up far greater questions about our society rather than the titillating answers once found in news articles about people changing gender . It's battles are tiny and held in living rooms and workplaces across this country. It is information driven , unstoppable and undeniable .

I sit here 60 days away from an election that could give is our first black president and was nearly going to deliver our first female president . It must seem just like another day for children raised in the last 20 years but for many of us born in the ( ahem , late ) 50's this is the realization of a virtually impossible dream. The suffering from prejudice and hate of people of a different color surely couldn't have ended could it ? The time tested reasons for discrimination against blacks gone ? You felt it end didn't you ? Was there no boom , no click , no signs of it pulling out like the tide ? No, because that is how cultural revolutions happen . Person by person , one by one in a slow but considered change of opinion. The old guard die off and a new generation not so indoctrinated in religious , cultural and traditional myths begin to ask questions that can't be asked being steeped in a primitive social climate like we had in the 50's.

And so now we find ourselves caught in what surely must be the awkward beginning stages of an age of reason for the transgendered . One that women , people of color and gays have had to endure in their struggle to be considered common . And that is really what all those groups were trying to attain , the right to be considered as boring and equal as the norm . This revolution has been marked by a growing awareness that natures plan for gender is not a locked in absolutes . It has been brutal for those who must suffer the constant challenge of their biological vs mental gender but it is equally as hard for those who must suffer change the most , society. Most young transgenders know the truth because they feel absolutely no transition other than some physical changes if they choose HRT or SRS . Indeed it is society that has the hardest time adapting . Your friends , your family , your fellow employees , your employer and your government suffer incredible anguish over not being able to create a barrier that defines them as "normal" . While perfection is an impossible goal there have been huge strides in simply having supporters for the transgendered at all . Again, like a black man becoming president this is a magnificent achievement and a crack in the armor of a once insensative society.

As wonderful as that is not everything is right in magic kingdom . All humans strive for that particular "normal " label because it disarms enemies and as a side effect gives them the impression they have the right to judge others who have not yet achieved the "normal" certification. While 350 GLBT organizations fought like hell to make the Employment Non Discrimination Act inclusive of gender some vocal gays began to shout "Our rights now and the rest can go fight for themselves " ! Understandably many gays have become impatient to have the rights that they have been wrongly denied for a lifetime . There is though an unfortunate logic behind their calls to dump people over the side of the employment discrimination lifeboat and it rests on the belief that they were fighting for gays of a particular class , not for equality of all . For the right to be a straight looking homosexual and not the rights that all people deserve to have . For the transgendered we should not be so bothered because even though those particular people may have damaged a bit of the unity of the LGBT and are bigoted even towards other gays the truth is if they achieve gay marriage it solves many of our problems as well because gender will not matter in marriage . From my point of view the glass is more full than empty.

Ok, so we can see signs of social acceptance all around us for blacks , gays and by golly, even some for us. Big and small companies have transgender policies, they bring in transsexuals/transgenders for training employees if someone is in transition . That's wonderful isn't it ? Well, yes and no. Not if it is done without a certain understanding of privacy . Imagine any of your fellow employees in the same situation where you and the rest of the staff are forced to receive training because they are "different ". Fun huh ? To me that works against the employee because unlike everyone else , they have their privacy removed. It's a wonderful effort and I am in awe of all those who work to make a transitioners life better so this is no criticism but to achieve being boring should require less effort. Indeed, this is not the revolution I spoke of.

And now , the real revolution. Forgive me if I get all emotional in this last section but it is something I never expected . It hit like a hurricane. Like a thousand screaming marmosets whirling around us , each one taking a tiny nibble from societies collective mythology about transsexuals and transgenders. What is this miracle ?

YOUTUBE !

That's right. A lot of Americans don't even turn their TVs on anymore and why ? It is because REAL PEOPLE are more interesting , enlightening and intelligent than fictional characters created by bored TV writers . The media stream that once fed the American consciousness with examples of admirably boring samples of perfectly "normal" has been diverted and it's consumers lured to a place where information is instant and diverse. People merely have to put a word in a search box and then choose from the bite size offerings produced by real people. It challenges one way religious indoctrination and it's portrayal of anyone different as "evil ". It cuts through media domination by right wing media monopolies and offers something the corporate media could never even conceive of , interaction. Don't agree with the ideas you are being handed ? Tell them ! For the first time you can see and hear the people speaking their minds. For those in the LGBT community it offers us unfiltered equal time for the first time in history .

One of the true cornerstones of hate through history has been the purveyors of propaganda's unchallenged in ability to construct the image of the groups they wanted to marginalize . They alone decided what America could and would see. In pandering to Mr and Mrs Viewer they built what were entertaining and mostly fictitious objects of ridicule played humorously against a pretense of American "normality". YouTube has undone that and given anyone with a webcam the ability to reach a decent sized audience regardless of who they were in the pecking order. Now people are seeing TS's who are not only incredibly beautiful but talented, articulate and intelligent. We are no longer staged actors on America's Jerry Springer show of life . No longer bound by how something is edited by people who were looking for our worst qualities while ignoring our humanity . To create hate you need to maintain a carefully created image and objectify your victim so they are presented as less than human. Unfiltered we are making our way to becoming as boring and as common as everyone else on this planet and it is all for the good. All we need now is a transgendered president =)