I just came across this article, which struck me both for the personal connection between writer and subject (as twins) and for the complete open-mindedness and lack of judgement in it.
My twin brother, Eli, is jealous of sea horses. They are the only animal species in which the male gives birth to the offspring. Male sea horses have brood pouches where the female deposits her eggs. The eggs then hatch in the father’s pouch, where the young continue to live until they are expelled into the ocean after strenuous labor that can last several days.
Eli is a transgender man, and lived the first 20 years of our lives as my fraternal twin sister. I have plenty of memories of my twin as a little girl, as Emma, not Eli. More often, though, my memories adjust to represent Eli as I know him now, as my brother.
I am fascinated to read of how the desire for biological children is quite uncoupled from gender identity. I hope that one day Eli will find happiness as a parent.
Filed under: News, Transgender | Tagged: children, family, fertility, ftm, hormones, hrt, new york times, News, pregnancy, reproduction, Transgender | Comments Off on From the NY Times: The Sea Horse, Our Family Mascot
TRANScend GENDER 
“Tragic End for Lesbians” news report
To some people, they may find it strange that I, being born “biologically male” means that my attraction to women would be considered heterosexual. However, I have always identified internally as a lesbian, and this has created a problem between my spouse and me. Working this out logically through reason is really not as easy as it sounds because of the flood of emotions that are evoked in even discussing this.
Well, just when I think I’ve got problems, I stumble onto something that makes me see how others in other cultures or societies are pushed well beyond their own limits.
Take, for example, the following news report from India by Queer Media Watch.
http://qmediawatch.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/pinknews-tragic-end-for-lesbian-couple-tormented-by-family-pressure/
From the site:
“A lesbian couple who committed suicide by setting themselves on fire have been put to rest in a joint cremation this week. Christy Jayanthi Malar [38] and Rukmani [40] set themselves ablaze after their families took objection to their “unnatural relationship.”
“This is common in India where there huge social and legal pressures to live a heterosexual lifestyle. The alarm was raised when smoke was seen coming from Mrs Malar’s home. When neighbours went in they found the bodies of the two women held in an embrace.”
A senior police told The Times of India newspaper:
“We can’t say the relatives pushed the women into suicide. “They might have verbally abused them, but that was to bring them back to normal life.”
Jeez, what the hell is wrong with the world today? Obviously a LOT.
You can read the rest of the article here
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