Transgender identities cross a fluid spectrum, causing confusion for some, freedom for others
Cole Thaler is a gay man. But, he explained, he was “assigned female at birth.”
Confused?
Many people who fall into the traditional gender binary of male or female, including gay men and lesbians, acknowledge they sometimes can’t quite grasp the wide variety of gender identifications included in the so-called “LGBT” community.
Thaler, 31, lives in Atlanta and serves as the transgender rights attorney for Lambda Legal. He said he understands there can be confusion, but the best way to understand how people identify is to accept people as who they say they are.
Thaler stressed he didn’t have the “classic” transgender experience people hear about, where a person knew as soon as they could think that they were born in the wrong body. For him, and others, identifying as transgender was a gradual process.
“I was assigned female at birth, but as an adult I felt ‘not female,’” he said. “But I was unclear how to be my true self.
“When I came out as transgender in law school [at Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Mass.], I was lucky to come out with a wide range of identities around me — I knew there were large numbers and space between or beyond the binary,” he said. “This allowed me the space and time to find the identity that was right for me.”
Thaler said when he first came out as transgender, he identified as “genderqueer” and declined to take on a male or female identity. But after he graduated and entered the work force, people began identifying him as male and he started thinking and functioning as a man.
“This started solidifying my identity as a male,” he said.
‘ENOUGH BOXES’
Transgender — an umbrella term for people who don’t fit into the established gender roles set up by mainstream society — is often the word used to describe cross dressers, post-operative transsexuals, people transitioning from male to female and those transitioning from female to male.
And then there are so many others, including effeminate gay men and masculine lesbians who may not actually identify as transgender.
“Anyone who is gender variant can fit under the transgender umbrella,” said Cat Turner, business manager for the Southern Comfort Conference, the largest transgender conference in the nation, held annually in Atlanta. This year’s conference, with the theme “Celebrate Life,” is set for Sept. 30-Oct. 5.
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