Naturally, we are all for transgender rights and the freedom for everyone to express who they truly are. And in keeping with this position, the Sapphist Gazetteer applauds and celebrates Chaz Bono's decision to transition from female to male. A courageous decision which no doubt will help diminish ignorance about trans issues—considering he is inherently likable and is probably the most famous trans person since Renee Richards. But Chaz's transition has also brought to light the sotto voce conversation in the lesbian realm regarding the concern that our best butches are choosing to become male, and, hence, no longer lesbian.While trans persons are, of course, very much a part of the larger LGBT community, there is some controversy about where female-to-male individuals fit specifically into the lesbian community. Obviously, butch lesbians who become male are no longer lesbians. Yet often their female partners are lesbian. And the community in which they initially express their otherness in gender—or, come out as trans—is almost always the lesbian community. It's a conundrum that was first discussed in the mainstream media in March 2008 in "When Girls Will Be Boys" by Alissa Quart in The New York Times Magazine. This article examined the experience of female-to-male persons—or "transmales"—at women's colleges, and whether they even belong there. The issue was also examined somewhat on the L-Word.
Interestingly, the issue primarily discussed on that show was the hostility and discrimination that Max, played by Daniela Sea, faced during transition (especially when he became pregnant.) But the question of Max's membership in the lesbian community was less prominent. Yes, there was the speechifying by Jenny about how, as a lesbian, she didn't want a boyfriend. But Jenny was pretty much universally hated (except by me! How could you not love a character so arch!), and thus this interesting nugget of conversation was dismissed.Perhaps there is an alternative. In the early 1990s, the Sapphist Gazetteer attended a talk by Leslie Feinberg at the LGBT community center in the West Village in NYC. I recall that Feinberg, author of the seminal trans work, Stone Butch Blues, advocated for a third gender.
A third gender, Feinberg argued, would allow individuals who did not identify with either female or male gender roles to express themselves most authentically. It's important to distinguish here that Feinberg (according to my memory) was not asking for a third sex. (Although a third sex arguably already does exist in nature: hermaphrodites.) While I cannot speak for Feinberg today, I do believe the idea of a third gender, the social construct, would allow some among us to avoid the troublesome issue of sex assignment and, therefore, the difficulties presented by anatomy, plastic surgery, and, one could say, self-mutilation.
