Last week Roberta Angela Dee wrote an article about two different list serves, Transgen and Wombat. Both of these lists are owned by the same person. Transgen is an e-mail list for all transgendered people and Wombat is an e-mail list for bisexual women that welcomes transwomen as well as genetic women. I have been a long term member of both lists as a transsexual woman.
In her article she states that the position of most of the members of Transgen is pro-SRS for transsexuals and against the non-op or transgendered lifestyle choice. This simply is not true. In all my time on Transgen, I do not remember any single member of the list taking this position, let alone having it be the predominate viewpoint. Transgen has members from the entire transgendered community. All are free to join in the discussions and many do. Transsexuals do post (write) more than other groups, but this is true in almost all transgendered space that deals with the issues we face. Transsexuals just tend to be more vocal. The list exists to share information, and some of that information deals with hormones usage, surgery, transition issues, depression and the whole range of unique experiences we face.
In the article published last week it was alleged that advocating a non-surgical solution for transsexuals was discouraged. This is false. While I was struggling with this issue myself, several post-op ladies encouraged me to consider non-surgical solutions before I decided on SRS.
It was further claimed that one is criticized for recommending alternatives to surgery. If this was true, I would have been among the first to leap the author's defense. However, sadly, that's not what happened.
Instead, there were personal attacks directed at those who disagreed with the author's views. There were several incidents before she was suspended for the first time. The author states that she was suspended for her opinions. The suspension occurred because of the personal attacks on other list members, myself included. She was given chance after chance to apologize for these attacks and refused to do so.
I left the newsgroups last spring because of the infighting among transgendered people there. I hate seeing our community torn apart by such disputes and hesitated to reply to Roberta's article for that very reason. I'm just a simple TS lady, a cabinetmaker, not a published author. I do however, try to do my part for the community. I've spoken to several groups on transgenderedissues, remain openly transsexual at the church I attend, and will be at Lobby Days next month if my truck doesn't break down again.
Transgen is a valuable source of support for transgendered people and it does our community a grave disservice to have it unfairly criticized.