Male-born transgender woman lesbian

For my class on writing and reporting I have to go to a variety of speeches to write stories on them. The one I chose to go to yesterday was about transgenders.

I know I've seen transgenders before but I've never talked to one or heard their story. So I was actually pretty interested when I heard Stephanie Dykes was speaking at my school.

Yes, her name is Stephanie Dykes. No pun intended. She was born Steven Dykes and changed it when she began her transformation 5 years ago. She made a ton of jokes about having a last name like Dykes.

She's a 51 year old male-born transgender woman lesbian. And she has some serious balls. In the courageous sense. Get your mind out of the gutter.

A little rundown on her life: she remembers being an 11-year-old boy and praying every night to wake up as a girl. She always felt different but thought that maybe she just liked to crossdress. Stephanie convinced herself enough that this was the case that she married out of college and had a son. Her wife found out she was a "crossdresser" a few years into the marriage and 13 years after that they divorced. Stephanie hasn't seen her son since. He's 16 and the only time she's talked to him is when he called to beg her for permission to change his last name.

Yall, I don't care if you're transgender, straight, yellow or a kangaroo...that's sad. Every person on this earth would have their heart broken if they were torn away from their son simply because of who they really are.

But Stephanie has a "chosen family," apparently common in the LGBT community. They rally around eachother for support when their biological families abandon them (another argument for another day). She also sings in a gay men's choir. "Gay men?" you might ask. She says, "While I may not identify with "male", and I may not identify with "gay", I do identify with "baritone"." Which she sings beautifully by the way, she belted out the first verse of "Amazing Grace" when asked at the end of the lecture.

Now, if you've read my earlier post on the legalization of gay marriage, you know that I'm a huge advocate of human rights. Naturally, Stephanie Dykes is too. Her argument to the government is this; "If when I was born I had the right to marry any woman I want, if someday I may legally be a woman...can I no longer marry a woman? And, if so, is that basic right being taken from me without my constitutional right to due process?"

Homegirl is smart. Full legal name; Stephanie Dykes, Ph.D. Ahhh, yes. Queer people have the ability to learn just like straight people. They also have the ability to love. She said it like this,"I'm 51, so that cuts down my pool of potential women alot. I'm transgender which cuts it down a LOT, and I'm a lesbian, so I have very very minimal choices. I just want my happily ever after like everyone else. I just want to be held by someone who wants to hold me too."

But seriously, who can blame her? Isn't that what we all want?

So if you read the title of this post and got your judging-face on, wipe it off. When you see a transgender or gay couple don't be quick to stereotype or put them off as different. Cause they just want to be held. Just like you.