Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Gender identity is something quite different from sexual orientation. I interviewed Barbra Casbar about her being one of the official NJ Delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Later, on the graanj.org website, I found a profile of her in the "press" section entitled "Transgender Struggles For Respect". Casbar is a truly remarkable person. Not only is she a trailblazer for transgender rights, she was married (to a woman), has biologically 'fathered' two sons and a daughter, got a master's degree in business administration, spent six years in the Army Reserves, was master of a Masonic Lodge, was an owner and breeder of Standardbred racehorses. She is not interested in dating a man because her sexual orientation is heterosexual. (Her wife died in 2001.) If you are slightly confused about all of this, I'll define things by quoting part of that article: "Transgender, according to the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, is "an umbrella term that refers to people whose biological and gender identity or expression may not be the same. This can include preoperative, postoperative or nonoperative transsexuals, female and male cross-dressers, drag queens or kings, female or male impersonators and intersex individuals." The journalists association also recommends using the gender pronoun fit for the person's present appearance. The American Psychiatric Association considers transgenders to be abnormal, labeling them as persons with Gender Identity Disorder.
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