Up until recently this wouldn’t have even registered on my radar.
As of late however, I’ve been visiting a few trans related subs on Reddit. One of them is a fairly large group lgbt and as I read through many of the countless comments and topics I realize how far removed I am from any of the topics they are concerned with. To be fair, there is a share of trans related ‘discussions’ but for the most part, questions of passing, hormone therapy, navigating new family dynamics are dwarfed by the never ending stream of help me am I gay/lesbian/omni/Demi/pan etc (and I don’t mean to belittle those people and their struggles but, by and large the needs and questions for trans folks is less about sexuality and more about identity.
Before I faced myself and admitted who I really was I was comfortable labelling anyone under the banner of LGBTQ as an ‘exhibitionist’ (I’m trying to be polite) and written the whole lot off. As I learn more about all the nuances involved in gender identity and expression I see that there needs to be a clear distinction between sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.
Who I am and who I love are 2 separate things. Even rereading this I’m not sure I’ve got it all figured out.
