i want lots of opinions on this. you need not be familiar with the issues.

[one4theroad]

an email i received this morning:

There is a major issue in Kalamazoo regarding homeless transgender people.  Today, I had a 20-year-old MTF come into the office looking for temporary housing, as she will be getting an apartment at the beginning of next month.

She has attempted to go to the Gospel Mission but because her ID says she is male, she

Comments

[anniecomplex]

"if we allow someone who is biologically male to come into a shelter and be able to stay with the women because he says he feels like a woman, there will be many problems.
if it is who i think it is, this particular person doesn't even come close to passing as a woman, ever. he looks just like a man wearing a wig."

it sounds like you are still thinking of these women as men. it doesn't matter how well you pass; that is not the measure of how much you identify as a woman. to be honest, transitioning from male to female is a lot harder than female to male, it is expensive either way but even more so for mtf's. thinking about them as male prevents us from allowing them in women's spaces. thinking that they can't "fundamentally" get it or that they would be a threat is totally flawed. these women are not perpetrators- in fact they are more likely to be victims of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and thus need safe spaces. they are discriminated against based on gender much more blatantly than any bio woman and yet we still see them as possessing male privilege (something they gave up at a very high price- a price that should be respected)

why when we talk about it being "sticky" is it always mtf's that pose the threat? i think about my partner and if he were in a shelter, jail, or other institution. he could also be exposed to violence, discrimination, humiliation, rape and other forms of abuse and that thought horrifies me. but for some reason people are more sympathetic to his vulnerability because he has a vagina?! they don't worry about him being a threat to the other men or measure his masculinity and stage of transition as an indicator of how much he feels like a man.

honestly, shelters and jails are not safe for trans people in either the men's or the women's quarters. there is the threat of violence and bigotry whether you are classified by your sex or by your gender. thus in the few instances that i have witnessed safe space in institutions for trans people- the individual was given a private room. and until society can get their head around this, and when it is available at the facility- i think this is the best solution.

(sorry that was so long- hits my hot button you know)

ps- yes jamie lee curtis has AIS (androgen insensitivity syndrome- basically all the parts of a female but an xy chromosome. ) it's not a rumor but i don't think she wants it to be public issue and i respect that.

[one4theroad]

when i think of mtf's as males, it is because i am trying to see things from the perspectives of people who are not allowing them the rights they deserve, and what they base that upon is often what is on their driver's license.
private rooms sounds like a very good solution, if they are available at whichever shelter is in question.
i am also a big advocate of trans rights. my sister is trans (remember i had a little brother named jon? now i have a sister named alice.) and i am also active in the trans support and allies group at our lgbt resource center. i have made many friends there. it seems to usually be a group of very honest, brave, open-minded, and kind people.
also, when it comes to the issue of gender expectations, i am very much opposed to the traditional men-should-be-manly and women-should-be-girly type of thinking. i wish that line could be blurred into extinction.

[anniecomplex]

i may have misinterpreted your phrasing at the end. sorry, i didn't mean to get aggressive. i didn't know about alice, that is awesome that you are so involved in the community.

as a SOFFA i just get really frustrated with the double standard applied to mtf/ftm. in my experience there is so much more negativity directed at mtfs when it comes to women's spaces. and i, honestly, do see how it is tricky on both ends (ie the michfest debate or women's colleges etc.) but when it comes to social safety nets like homeless shelters and domestic abuse centers, those are spaces for people in dire situations. dire situations are not the time to debate the validity of gender in certain spaces. you go to those places because you need safety, you need shelter, and you have no where else to go and being discriminated against or having ones safety compromised is terribly upsetting to me. you know what i mean?

[one4theroad]

yeah, i definitely understand. i really wish more people were educated about trans issues so it could become more normalized in our society. why can't everyone just dress how they want to, behave how they want to, express their gender how they want to, and be in a relationship with who they want to? what's the big fuckin' deal? we're all just human. (maybe that last sentence was a little too cheesy.)
i went to michfest before i really became aware of the issues that we being debated. i wasn't very trans-savy at the time. i saw them camping across the road on my way in and i saw them being escorted off the land one day as well. all of that aside, michfest was a really awesome experience, and i'm glad that now women of any origin are allowed to attend.
i think a lot of the reason that ftms sometimes have it easier than mtfs is that ftms are generally able to pass with less effort.