Transmissions: A walk in my shoes
ebar.comIt is a new year: a chance to start with a clean slate, of course. With this in mind, I want to get back to basics for a moment and discuss something that may be useful for those who might read this column and not have an intimate knowledge of what it means to be transgender.
You see, I've talked before about one of the big troubles with how non-transgender people perceive transgender lives. Because they themselves are not transgender, they cannot comprehend why we do the things we do.
As a result, you'll see expectations that transgender people are only transitioning to gain some sort of advantage. This is at the heart of every argument about transgender restroom and locker room use, with people assuming transgender women only want easy access to such facilities in order to sexually assault other women.
The best example that comes to mind about this is from the right-wing former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, who explained how he might have attempted to ogle teen girls in the showers in his high school years. "Now I wish that someone told me that when I was in high school that I could have felt like a woman when it came time to take showers in P.E.," said Huckabee at the 2015 National Religious Broadcasters' Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. "I'm pretty sure that I would have found my feminine side and said, 'Coach, I think I'd rather shower with the girls today.'" I suppose now might be a good time to note Huckabee's freeing of convicted rapist Wayne DuMond early in his governorship, as well as his standing behind convicted pedophile Josh Duggar.
