Diversity

Diversity is a very rich part of the tapestry of the fabric of the human race.

In my view, diversity in people makes life more interesting and opens our eyes to all sorts of knowledge and awareness which otherwise we may never have the chance to experience.

Unfortunately, for almost all minorities, maybe especially T people, the vast majority of people we come into contact with don’t seem to hold the same views. Conservative, outdated views are still being promulgated, still being espoused as the norm — and, as usual, it’s the minorities who suffer and are prejudiced against.

I challenge anyone to state convincingly that the world has not changed, changed dramatically and irreversibly in the last 15-20 years with instant, global communications, social media and the like now to the fore — and very much part of almost everyone’s lives. In terms of knowledge acquisition and awareness and the ability to express themselves, the younger generation, in many ways, have never had it so good.

Yet there are still people who want to stifle creativity and diversity. There are still people in most countries, and who really should know better, who make judgements based on what type of clothes others should wear or on another person’s sexual preferences or choices in a life-partner.

The bottom line is that, provided we stay within the confines of equitable laws, then really it is no-one else’s business how we live or run our lives. Having said this, I can understand to an extent that the general public do get confused by the various labels and designations which seem to be applied to those in our T community. Indeed, even some of us within our community get confused by the diversity and variations we come across and, in some cases, the people concerned are not possible to label or accurately describe.

In fact, sometimes I feel that the diversity of our community really does put a rainbow to shame. I know it’s a cliché about rainbows and the T community at large but the edges of the colors of some of the people I have met in recent times blur so much, no wonder we sometimes need some new labels or definitions to describe the varieties!

Over the last few months in Thailand I have come across a very interesting selection of people from within our community. Some of them include the following:

• an Australian lady who calls herself a lesbian TV and who transitioned to female more than five years ago; she is rampant in the Thai lesbian community, picking up and dropping girlfriends and lovers like butterflies;

• an Italian crossdresser who makes little effort to pass and who has been married twice to genetic women — and is now in a live-in relationship with a pre-op Thai ladyboy (she gave me a memorable quote: “got the best of both worlds: no chance of her getting pregnant and no troubles with the time of the month that genetic  women have”);

• an American who came to Thailand to have gender re-assignment but only got half way (i.e. has had breast implants but no other surgery) and who is actively seeking a man for a long term relationship, yet swears she isn’t gay… terming herself a chick with a xxxx

I can go on and on, but I think you get the general gist — so much obvious diversity that it almost hurts!

Yet, when I take some time to sit down and reflect on my recent meetings, I can but hope that some sort of awakening occurs in society at large and that more and more other people somehow, magically, become more understanding and tolerant of us who inhabit our wonderful rainbow world.

Tags: crossdressing, diversity, featured, opinion, Transgender

Category: Transgender Body & Soul