Letter to the Editor, RE Michael Alvear’s He Said, She Said, Washington Blade (2003)
©2003, 2013 by Dallas Denny
Source: (2003, 23 April). Letter to the editor RE Michael Alvear, He Said, She Said, 11 April, 2003. Washington Blade and Southern Voice.
Thumbnail Photo: Michael Alvear
I wrote this in response to Michael Alvear’s column of 11 April, 2003 in The Washington Blade. I don’t know if it was published.
Dear Editor:
Michael Alvear is not a man.
Well, I think he’s a man, and no doubt he does, too—but any number of less enlightened people would think him something less, for they consider gay men flawed, less than perfect, unmanly.
Unenlightened people—and Alvear falls squarely in this category—have similar opinions about transsexuals; in this case, they place individuals in the male and female camps according to their individual ideas of maleness and femaleness—XX vs. XY chromosomes, penis vs. vagina, gonads vs. ovaries, ability vs. inability to conceive and bear children, M vs. F checked on birth certificates.
Alvear is right in one regard: we can’t control what others think of us. But if someone considers Alvear less than fully male, it hurts only his pride. Transsexuals are affected in very real ways. We must fight for our names, the clothes we wear, the bathrooms we use, our jobs, our ability to serve our country in the military, our right to marry and raise children. We are denied legal name changes and harassed, beaten, or murdered simply because we’re in public areas. Our marriages are invalidated, we lose custody of our children, and we’re excluded from employment, churches, schools, and public services. We’re forced into isolation, poverty, illness, and, in too many cases, death.
There’s a word for someone who ridicules others on the basis of their identities—bigot. Michael Alvear should be called to task for his bigoted “He Said, She Said” column of April 11, and the editor of the Washington Blade should think twice about allowing any more such transphobic drivel in future issues.
Thank you.
Dallas Denny