Would you have a relationship with a transgender person?

I really didn't expect it to blow up into such a massive thing! I was only meaning 'oh wow, you came off a bit strong, should probably be toning that down so that people don't become unnecessarily upset.

I was saying calling the people you replied to biggots not you.

So you support censoring the internet in case it causes a few boo boos to some less tough skinned individuals? The last place you can freely say what you want, the last place you can get away with a tongue in cheek joke which isn't going to cause any personal offense? You'd be prepared to give up that freedom purely for a minority who don't understand how the internet works?

When you invite people to express their opinions on such a sensitive issue, you have to be prepared for the airing of opinions that you may find offensive. That's a part of the free speech that we are entitled to in this country.

No, not at all - people have the right to say what they like ... just in the same way that we have the right to call them on it, and how outdated and bigoted their opinions are...

however, there should be care taken (as i hope any decent person would do) when it comes to topics and areas that could cause real trouble/hurt to someone...

Me neither, as I have consistently said, I was only giving my honest opinion which was directed at no-one - didn't expect anyone to take it as personal attack on them - how they got this from it I don't know.

(I prefer 'Seriously Sick Jokes' on facebook ) But I get what you mean.

It is liberal thinking that calls opinions 'outdated' - meanwhile people who have the opinions still hold to them, as they are entitled to do so.

Not everyone has to side with liberal thinking, even though the modern-day liberal thinking lobby seem to think they should.

yeah you are right...

but thats progress for you, opinions change, and usually the become more liberal..

if you go back 20 years, you could replace your opinion with one about homosexuality:

(all these liberals wanting us to accept homosexuality, but were entitled to our opinion!)

go back 50 years, and you could replace your opinion with one about race

(all these liberals wanting us to accept black people, but we are entilted to our opinions)

go back further, and you do the same with woman...

society is ever progressing towards a more liberal, tolerant and equal, outlook on life - and others.

yeah you are right...

but thats progress for you, opinions change, and usually the become more liberal..

if you go back 20 years, you could replace your opinion with one about homosexuality:

(all these liberals wanting us to accept homosexuality, but were entitled to our opinion!)

go back 50 years, and you could replace your opinion with one about race

(all these liberals wanting us to accept black people, but we are entilted to our opinions)

go back further, and you do the same with woman...

society is ever progressing towards a more liberal, tolerant and equal, outlook on life - and others.

Sometimes opinions change, but sometimes the people dealing with the issues through those periods of years are changed also.

So sometimes opinions are changed for the people (e.g. government law, without everyone's consent).

It may happen, but doesn't make it right.

Do you know what ROFL means?

a change of opinion giving more respect to trans people, would be more then right...

if it lead to a country, where a trans person could walk down the street, without getting stared at. shouted at. attacked, kicked out of pubs, laughed out of toilets, fired from their job... just for trying to confrom to how they feel (in the same way, as everyone else does, and takes for granted)...

then that would be a wonderfull change.

I personally wouldn't.

I do have a genuine question though, and I would like a scientific, referenced if possible, answer - not just "doctors say so":

Exactly what is it that seperates trans people from those who have body dysmorphia or a similar mental illness? Is it not just an extreme form of body dysmorphia? They are both states of mind that consider that the physical body needs to be something other than it is currently due to a mental state. I have heard the term 'gender identity disorder', or GID before. I am curious as to why it is that people who feel they are male/female (when they're biologically the opposite) are treated differently to those who feel they are fat (or another body dysmorphic belief) when they are not? Are they both not mental illnesses? If they are, then I am curious as to why one is treated with counselling and therapy etc and "cured" whilst another is just accepted, told they're not ill and "enabled" (both cured and enabled are horrible sounding words, but I can't think of any others right now, so I apologise for that!)

I genuinely don't mean any offence by this post, and I apologise if anyone is offended. I myself suffer from a mental illness, however I admit I have no experience in the field of trans people.

I personally don't have a problem with those things, but none of those include 'dating' which is what the topic is about and is more personal than any of those.

So for those other things you are talking about, society as a whole has to change your attitudes to those - they still may not wish to date a transgender however and that is up to them.

without going into it alot -trans* is commonly believed to be caused by unsual development of the child in the womb. - this causes the person to have the brain structure of the oposite sex...
because of this, it is not sometihng that can be cured by therapy, or counselling... (unlike a mental illness, such as the ones you have mentioned) - but rather the only known cure for transgender peoples problems, is to freely express, and take social+medical steps to becoming the physical sex, that conforms to how their brain works, and feels (gender) - which almost universally helps, and allows trans people to lead a normal(ish) life...


taken from another site:

'ere have been several studies looking at differences in the human brain. One study (Swaab et al, 1995) examined the brains of heterosexual and homosexual men and women, and six male-to-female transsexuals. They identified a small region in the brain known as the Central region of the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis (also known as the BSTc). They found this area to be significantly larger in men than in women. The BSTc of the six transsexuals was very similar to that of the women in the study, suggesting that the male-to-female transsexuals and the biological females have brains very similar to each other. Both heterosexual and homosexual men showed much larger BSTc's suggesting male brain structuring in this area.'

anyway, thats just a tiny tiny part of what is transgenderism, why it exsist, etc... - its quite an interesting topic, and one that certainly insnt fully understood yet