Transgender kid gets insults screamed at him while mourning friend’s deat

[Blue_Chill]

Yesterday I am at home chillin on my couch watching the news. I see that some guy that escaped on a bike killed a transgender kid. Well this kids friend is leading a tour for the media around the area in which the crime happened. He/she (I couldn't tell and I didn't catch a name) was explaining to the journalist that his friend was a great person that wouldn't hurt a fly, while breaking into tears when from the back ground you hear a bunch of people screaming shit.

"Fucking faggot!" "God damn queer!"

Crap of that nature is coming at people sitting there mourning the death of their friend.

I'm sitting there on my ugly couch simply completely enraged. The journalist had no reaction the cameraman didn't flinch. It was as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

I can't believe people can be that twisted and evil as to heckle a kid mourning his/her murdered friend and no one even bats on eye. What the hell is wrong with people?

This isn't about gay rights; this is simply about giving a damn. I don't fault the poor kid crying over his/her friend, because I figure they get that kind of crap a lot and ignoring it is like a sanity defensive measure. But the people around the area that just stand by and let things like this occur and say nothing sicken me.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” -Edmund Burke

[Parche]

1. compassionate conservatism

Blame the right wing religious wacko conservatives who run their
lives by everything the ignorant bible says
Their is so much hate in this world
And most of it is from the right wingers

[tuck]

2. christ....

do you have a link to this story?

[Blue_Chill]

6. No sorry

I watched it on the local news channel.

[tuck]

27. re: link

i watch the trans news. i haven't heard anything about this. was it maybe in a local paper or something?

[JasonBerry]

3. I like that Burke Quote

Very sad story. People can be so horrible to one another.

[Hamlette]

4. don't you remember Matthew Shephard's funeral?

A christian minister from Colorado led a group of christians to his funeral so they could protest. Had ugly signs. Were screaming insults. The grieving parents had to see it all. The horrid death. Makes me want to cry just thinking about it so many years later.

When you teach people to hate they can do unspeakable things, even in the name of Jesus. Blows my mind.

[Parche]

5. christians

Are a bunch of hypocrites, they are ignorant, I know not all are like that, but most are, they hate, they push their religion on
everyone else.

[Blue_Chill]

8. I wouldn't say most

but too many.

[Blue_Chill]

7. Sick bastards

Weren't those the sickos from godhatesfags.com? Proof that evolution is over-rated.

[ronnykmarshall]

43. Fred Phelps

I think that was Fred Phelps from Kanasas. A worhtless pile of shit and that's an insult to piles of shit.

[mmm]

9. Don't people have balls anymore?

Could not ONE fucking person manage to stand in outrage
and rant against these ditto head bastards?

[JanMichael]

10. Ever watch "Six Feet Under"? In the first season...

...the gay brother was attending a funeral for a victim of a hate crime (I think so, maybe not, but the deceased was gay) and when confronted by the hate filled "God Hates Fags" protestors he slugged one (Some big puffy bigot) square in the face...

It actually felt good to watch it.

I know violence should be avoided but the fact that there are people that can taunt and curse a kid grieving for a lost friend makes me truly furious.

[sexybomber]

35. I'm with you on that one.

Violence should be avoided against all human beings, but then again, when people harbor that much hatred and anger and bigotry, they almost become less than human.

[ArkDem]

11. Doctors will do a sex change operation on a kid?

I had no idea.

[Blue_Chill]

13. Kid looked young but I call 18 year olds kids so.....

Maybe I should have said person. Sorry.

[bicentennial_baby]

17. Transgendered

Does not neccessarily mean "sex change"

[MiltonLeBerle]

45. but without the sex change part-

aren't they just crossdressers?

[tuck]

47. no

see my posts below and post 40 below

[FlaGranny]

19. They do sex change operations

on INFANTS! A newborn hermaphrodite often is "assigned" a sex. Sorry is the child when the doctors don't get it right.

[MiltonLeBerle]

44. but how "often" are truly hermaphroditic children born?

it's not that common an occurance.

[tuck]

46. more common than you think, prolly ...

see post 40 below

[Fescue4u]

12. What is a transgender kid?

Good god don't tell me they are doing sex changes operations on children now!

If so, the parents and doctor should be jailed for child abuse!

I don't care what adults do. But children need to grow up first and be mature enough to make such a decision.

[Blue_Chill]

15. err don't know his/her age

I just use the term kid for someone that looks young. Could have been my age (24) for all I know but looked more like just barely 18.

[Devlzown]

18. Transgender doesn't only refer to

people who've had sex changes. A transgender person can also be someone who is pre-op or someone who lives their life as a person of the opposite sex. Some transgender people never have sex changes. I think the term transgender was coined to differentiate between the people I've just described and transvestites, who are dressing up as the other sex but still primarily identify with the sex they were born with.

[ArkDem]

23. Wow,

I had no idea I was so ignorant. This is something I've never had a thought about, I guess.

[Blue_Chill]

25. Yeah I noticed about myself that too

Before watching this story I never really thought about this group at all.

[Fescue4u]

29. Ah I understand now thanks

damn the birds and bees gets more complicated everyday :)

[greekspeak]

39. Transgender is a bigger umbrella than that

Being transgender has a broader definition than that. Basically, a person is transgendered if they do not fit the "male/female" dichotomy. Some experts broaden that definition even further, and include fetishism and other personality traits. A few would consider me, a pretty "flamey" gay guy, to be transgendered, because I am effeminate. A transgender person in my social circle does not consider the Matthew Shepherd murder to be about poor little old Matt's sexual orientation but about his failure to fit neatly into the "male" pigeonhole. My freind did not come to this conclusion lightly. We all cried out eyes out for days over what happened to Matt--but he went to the funeral and was by far the most hurt person I personally know about Matt.

This is a complicated issue....

[Kamika]

14. Help an ignorant out here

But just what is a Transgender "kid"

[Blue_Chill]

16. Ah damnit FORGET THE KID PART

That's just the moronic way I speak. I think the person was about 18, I wouldn't say any older then 20.

[Kamika]

22. ok

i get it now.. just when i read kid i imagine 10 years or younger

[Blue_Chill]

24. Yeah my mistake

Should've known you guys don't speak Virginian.

[cally]

20. I know one and I've read about a few more

younger teens who think they are transgender. They are living life as the gender that is different than their biological one. No operation, but counseling and proceeding in life. It is so hard on these teens. The one I know personally, is probably transgender and will have an operation later in life. I haven't spoken about this issue with her/him, but she comes to our house sometimes. She is a long time friend of my daughter's. She has faced massive abuse at school.

[NickB79]

21. It is possible to be born transgender

What some call hermaphrodites or shemales can sometimes be a true medical condition; ie babies born with a pseudopenis-vagina mix are one example. Are they male or female? Or, it can be a mental situation, where the child's mental picture of their sex is different from their biological sex (boy thinks he's a girl, girl thinks she's a boy). They don't neccessarily have to have undergone operations to be considered transgender.

[tuck]

26. smacks forehead

no. the condition you are describing is "intersexed"

transgendered: portraying gender cues belonging to non-birth sex

transsexual: identifies as sex different from birth sex.


FYI: the terms "hermaphrodite" and "shemale" are extremely offensive.

[Blue_Chill]

28. Question

I thought the term hermaphrodite was the scientific term used for someone born with some form of both femal and male sexual organs. Is that true if so how is it offensive.

I only ask because I don't want to offend someone by accident.

[FlaGranny]

30. It is a medical term. I used to work at a pediatric

hospital, and that's the term they used there quite often. I do think that now, the term "sexual ambiguity" is used more often. I never heard anyone think of the term as offensive, but I'm learning that everything is offensive to someone. Anyway, the term at one time was not offensive, but now, who knows?

Just a short excerpt from my Stedman's Electronic Medical Dictionary:

hermaphroditism
her-mafcrb-dUt-izm 

The presence in one individual of both ovarian and testicular tissue; i.e., true hermaphroditism. Syn: hermaphrodism.


adrenal hermaphroditism
bilateral hermaphroditism
dimidiate hermaphroditism
false hermaphroditism
female hermaphroditism
lateral hermaphroditism
male hermaphroditism

Edit: Just did a quick google and I did notice one site that considered it derogatory. I didn't check it out to find out why.

[tuck]

31. well, it just is....

of course everyone will take to different terms differently, but in general, intersexed people consider "hermaphrodite" to be offensive.

it's a term you use for an animal more than one you use for a person.

also, it's the whole not-defining-someone-by-just-one-characteristic thing.

it's why many people of color prefer the term "people of color" to "blacks," "hispanics," what have you ...

[Blue_Chill]

32. Whoa I'm learning a lot

I've never heard anyone actually say "people of color". My friends like to be called by the usual "black" and think nothing of it.

On a side note, if you were to call my hispanic friends (the non white ones) "people of color" they would inform you that they are not black. Most hispanics I know (I am a white hispanic) do not like to be lumped into americas Black v White race departments. We are our own people, made up of a culture of mixed race.

Thanks for answering my question. I haven't had so much interaction with certain groups and I sometimes put my foot in my mouth because of my lack of experience.

[tuck]

34. hmmmm interesting....

whenever i get into discussions about race, i always use "people of color" to refer to racial minorities. no one has ever called me on it.

it highlights the common racial discrimination, i've been told....

[FlaGranny]

33. Well, I guess you learn something every day.

I never considered the word derogatory in any way. I've heard physicians use the word for many, many years. Who knew? And, it IS the scientific word for the condition. Although the word is applied to animals, people also belong to the animal kingdom, and throughout my experience, scientists apply the same words to humans and nonhumans alike. But I will remember (and much to my surprise) that some consider it derogatory and will try to come up with some other terminology in the future.

[tuck]

36. much appreciated

thank you

the PC term is intersexed

[FlaGranny]

38. I really have a hard time

coming up with non-medical words sometimes - it's all in the training. I know that it's absolutely horrible to "assign" sex to an infant, though. An intersexed child should be allowed to grow up enough to know whether he or she wants a sex assigning surgery. I hope those physicians are getting the word that it is not a good thing.

[tuck]

50. it is getting better

for a long time, IS people and trans(add ending here) people have had to rely on the queer community for any sort of advancement in rights or status -- and some of the worst IS phobia nad transphobia comes from the queer community.

i do believe that most docs get a sensetivity lesson in med school on these issues now --- but i cann't be sure/.

[Mairead]

40. It's like 'homosexual': popular with physicians, often despised

by the people themselves. Even worse is the traditional medical term 'pseudohermaphrodite'. That REALLY gets intersexed activists going!

Conditions causing an intersexed state range from genetic conditions that might leave no readily-visible signs, such as an XX male or XY female (usually males are XY and females XX), to those that leave people who see the newborn's genitals in considerable doubt about what to put on the birth certificate.

Intersexed conditions of one kind or another are very, very common - 1 in 2000 is a frequent estimate.

If a newborn's genitals appear 'too ambiguous', some physicians will actually schedule the baby for 'corrective' surgery without even consulting the parents. More responsible ones will at least consult the parents, though usually with such a lot of pressure that 'consult' is an inappropriate word.

Unfortunately for the child, these 'corrective' surgeries are often both neurologically destructive AND cosmetically unsatisfactory, so the child loses sexual sensation without even having the satisfaction of looking unexceptional. For this reason, many intersexed activists today strongly urge physicians to avoid meddling, since besides the cosmetic and neuro damage, they might easily guess wrong about what sense of self the child will have, creating unrealistic looking, poorly functioning male genitals for a person who will grow up to be a girl or, more often, unrealistic looking, poorly functioning female genitals on a person who will grow up to be a boy.

Activists urge that, instead of being routinely hacked about, children be raised to appreciate their own personal uniqueness. Then, when they're old enough to take decisions on their own behalf, they can decide for themselves what risks they want to take if any.

The kids who are in the most trouble are the 'psychologically intersexed' --the ones whose sense of self seems not to match anything else. They are the 'transgendered' or 'transsexual' ones. People who like their bodies well enough but don't like the social role that's enforced for their kind of body become 'transgendered' -- they switch their gender presentation and social identity. They're the 'T' in 'LGBT'. Those who can't stand their bodies and feel as though the whole thing was a dreadful mistake are 'transsexual' -- they want to alter their bodies to match their sense of self, and many (most?) stop thinking of themselves as 'transsexual' afterwards (apparently on the same grounds that cause people who undergo cataract surgery to no longer think of themselves as 'blind' afterwards). Most of these kids are looked on as crazy, troublemakers, queer, etc., simply because most people can't get their minds around the idea that biology isn't everything and many aren't even willing to make an effort. These are the kids who end up being thrown out of school, abandoned by their families, living in the street and being killed. It's terribly saddening.

Interestingly, it seems to be impossible to predict an intersexed person's sexual orientation from knowing how they see themselves. Orientation and identity seem to be completely separate variables.

[tuck]

42. that is an EXCELLENT rundown

thank you so much. i'll be bookmarking this to have as a reference for others

[IranianDemocrat]

37. If I heard homophobes yelling that shit...

They'd be picking up their teeth off the floor.

[Mairead]

41. What's ironic

Is that that they might be yelling 'faggot' at someone who is physically a boy and who likes girls rather than boys.

But people who hate are usually rather stupid at the best of times.

[knight_of_the_star]

48. That is pure evil

Those are the kind of people I imagine I'm hitting when I do target practice.

[theboss]

49. Never mind . . .

Edited because I read the rest of the thread.

[Booberdawg]

51. smacks in the face of human decency

Terribly sad. :-(