This post is a response to "Texas may strip away transgender marriage rights" from "The BBB: Blue Blogger Brittany"
Brittany,
Thanks for your comments. I too share your concerns about conservative politicians making yet another grab for minority rights. In this particular situation, I can't help but feel they are being motivated by a strong prejudice, but also by a lack of education concerning modern scientific views on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Conservatives seem to think that sexual orientation and gender identity is a matter of conscious choice, one which there is an obviously right answer too. Modern science, on the other hand tends to strongly show that this is NOT the case and that these traits are established early on in the developmental process and quite possibly have strong genetic components which are set in stone at conception.
It seems like this would be a simple issue to discuss: there aren't any fundamental ideological differences and convincing someone to support transgender rights should only require them to understand basics facts of modern day psychology. Unfortunately, this task is not a simple as it should be, but at the same time I think there is still hope.
It's becoming demonstrably difficult for the previous generations to convince new generations of their logically flawed and bigoted beliefs. Every new generation, there is a sizable group of individuals that casts a skeptic glance to the collective wisdom of their elders. Acceptance of homosexuality and transgender rights is on the rise, even in some conservative circles. While the LGBT community may not be thrilled with the slow pace of human rights reform, they should take a sense of comfort knowing that there it is a matter of time until social attitudes in America are drug kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
