Because I said so

"Because I said so"

This is a perfectly normal phrase for parents to tell their children, but not so good when you are talking about your identity!

The world sits in judgment of the Trans population, deciding if they really are who they say they are. Currently our Canadian parliament is debating a bill that would enshrine “Gender Identity and Gender Expression” in the Canadian Criminal Code and Canadian Human Rights as a protected ground. The committee and Conservatives have run into a road-block, and that is, how do you legislate who someone is, when your identity is subject to scrutiny. When I say my “Faith” is “Christian”, that is an acceptable statement that no one questions, and I am thereby protected by the Human Rights Code from discrimination as a “Christian”.

When I say, “I am a woman”, or “I am a man” the world seems to have a different set of rules determining the validity of that statement. Both “Faith” and “Gender” are something that you feel, and are a personal truth in my opinion not to be questioned. I will not look a Christian in the eyes and tell them they are not Christian, nor will I look a woman or man in the eyes and tell them they are not who they say they are. There is no level of test that anyone can apply to this person to determine the level of their conviction to their distinct knowledge that they are one or the other(s).

We as a society can attempt to break the person from that belief as happens all the time in the case of Trans people and quite often in the case of religion. If the person can sustain their belief after large amounts of pressure is put upon them to change, then the common belief is that they are what they say they are, in the absence of anyone’s ability to change them. Ken Zucker practices this routinely with children, bombarding them with behaviour modification techniques.

Can society justify this action? The harm that it does to a person in the process of “Breaking” them! How can we expect a person to be healthy after they have been bombarded with such a process of testing their belief?

As in our inbred belief around blame the victim and only the strong survive. The primal human trait that we need to weed out the week and promote the strong is ever so existing in the world of Gender Non-conforming people. “Only the strong will survive”, is a statement of truth within the Trans community with approximately 50% of the community attempting suicide each year. The WPATH standards which ingrain this concept into the hearts and minds of the community itself, where many believe therapy is necessary prior to attempting transition. The test, the breaking, the ever so present concept of determining the indeterminably! The DSM building in this very nature, along with the ICD that trans people are “un natural” and “disordered”. We are at a cross roads in society.

Since the beginning of time Trans people have walked among us! When are we going to just believe them, “Because they say so”!