Thomas Beattie: self promotion or trans ploy | Issue Letters

|| Letter ||

Issue 1005
April 08, 2008

Thomas Beatie: Self-Promotion or Trans Ploy?

The current media frenzy both public and in private communities across the net surrounding the pregnant "man" brings to mind two questions, the first being is Beatie's (Tracy Lagondino) public narcissistic plea for 15 minutes simply a stunt at self promotion and the second question being is this a trans ploy at revenge leveled at the gay and lesbian community because the trans agenda was temporarily left off of ENDA in better efforts of getting it passed?

I'll address the former question first, Beatie and self promotion? Before I answer that lets start by summing up trannyism in general so we can tackle both questions head on more easily and with better understanding. All trans ID'd individuals enter through the gates of trannyland via very personal evolutionary routes. Despite the innumerable personalized maps that lead each individual to trannyland all routes must pass through three distinct regions. The region of misogyny, invisibility and that of pathological narcissism. These regions (to pursue the metaphor to its end) are THE three prime factors in all cases of trannyism, not one case for trannyism exist without being affected by all three of these factors.

In brief, by invisibility I am speaking of the overwhelming visibility of the human binary of masculine male and feminine female. Meaning individuals that fall outside of that dominant image/role are essentially invisible, becoming generation by generation the vampires of their age. Peering into society expecting, waiting, looking for their image reflected back, reaffirming to them like all humans, their existence but like the vampire instead sees NOTHING!

By misogyny I am not simply speaking to the standard definition of the word which is hatred of females, because all women know or come to know that the simplicity of that definition doesnt begin to cover the subtle misogynistic messages all humans are bombarded with daily. The most superlative of the overt and subtle messages misogyny inform us with is male equal good/strong therefore since most visible males are masculine, masculine therefore also equals good/strong, leaving the visible female equalling feminine/weak.

And by pathological narcissism I am speaking of narcissism not as subtle vanity, not even as blatant vanity, but self interest to the point of disorder.

Now back to Thomas Beatie/Tracy Lagondino, our "pregnant WOman". We can deduce at least from the surface info we have on thomas/tracy and clearly see how/why she purchased her ticket aboard the tranny-train and headed towards trannyland. She has described herself growing up as a "tomboy" and a "lesbian". Most of us have seen photos of her looking sterotypcially feminine and female, something all females despite their feelings are conditioned to dress/look like in order to please the dominant male gaze of the patriarchy, seemingly she was no different. Around her early 20's when most young people begin asserting their adulthood she became interested in bodybuilding, and from the pics I feel it safe to say also equally interested in steroid use! This no doubt aided in her female insecurites (remember feminine equals weak, and females are the visible feminine), seeing the visible changes bodybuilding and steroid use does to the feminine female body (masculinization) couple that with the donning masculine attire, occasional "passing" and a g/fs (nancy's)internalized homophobia, and its trannyland here we come!

Like I said earlier, each and every trans person has their own individual chart to trannyland. Which is why I mention Nancy's obvious homophobia, as I feel this issue is a large factor in Thomas/Tracy's trannyism. Having a homophobic g/f/wife has been known to push more than one lesbian towards transition. This way if the partner legally becomes a "man", and is publicly read as "man", the internalized homophobia by the other partner is quashed by the legitimation of the now hetero appearance of the couple. Add to that legitimation the right to marry (and the 1100 or so rights that go with) as well as the right to adopt/have children like any other couple in america, and being read as hetero like any other visible couple in america.

Given that pathological narcissism is a primary factor in trannyism, self promotion easily falls under that narcissistic umbrella. But personally I feel its too easy to say thomas/tracy as an individual was self promoting, even though self promotion WAS commited. Look closely at some of the interviews she has given, Oprah included, if you look real close you will notice seeing only one of Nancy's hands, the other hand seems to have disappeared up Thomas/Tracy's ass whilst Nancy flawlessly performs her Edgar Bergen/Charlie imitation! Bravo Nanc!

Before I address the second question, let's first establish if the Beatie/Lagondino debacle has the criteria for trans ploydom, which I believe it does. The most current principle issue being addressed by the gay and lesbian community is the right to legally marry. Does the Beatie/Lagondino fiasco have the capacity to harm the gay and lesbian quest for legal marriage? Yes it does and I'll explain why. Its fairly common knowledge among Joan Q Public that the trans community is currently part of the gay and lesbian community largely because of the commonly used acronym LGBT, T standing of course for trans. Joan Q Public may be ill informed where the LGBT is concerned, but they are aware of it. Throughout this debacle it has been stated in the media by Beatie/Lagondino herself that she and her female partner are legally "married". The legality of the marriage was made possible because despite Beatie/Lagondino's lack of "bottom surgery", she has had her healthy breasts cut off and was injecting T which granted her the legal right to change her birth sex from female to male, this then also granted her the convenience to marry another woman.

Before I delve any further into the gay and lesbian ramifications, let me point out some of the illegalities with the Beatie/Lagondino situation. Beatie/Lagondino claims she has not been on "male" hormones (T) in over two years, currently she is a pregnant woman whom has had both breast removed like thousands of other breast cancer survivors. So should other women whom have had double mastectomies be given the legal rights to willy-nilly change their sex from female to male if they so choose? Maybe in the process also enjoy some of the many many many wonderful male privileges that go with, such as having a legal standing to demand making the same amount of money males do across the board rather than the current 74 cents to a man's dollar, or if the double mastectomied woman happens to be lesbian, she could legally wed (like Beatie/Lagondino) her girlfriend? Or should Beatie/Lagondino's "marriage" have been terminated because her state does not legally recognize "gay marriage"? Was/is Beatie/Lagondino given special privilege/rights by choosing to legally forfeit herself as a female?

Getting back to the question at hand, could the Beatie/Lagondino fiasco be a ploy created by the trans community to quash any chance gays and lesbians have at gaining the right to legally marry? And if this is a ploy, why would the trans community want to harm a community (LGBT) they are supposed to be a part of? The short answer to the latter is ENDA! Briefly, ENDA is the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which in varied forms the gays and lesbian community has been laboring to pass federally for over 30 years. This bill would prohibit employers from discriminating against "sexual orientation". When the bill was introduced again in spring 2007, along with prohibiting "sexual orientation" it also included prohibiting the discrimination of "gender identity". By fall of 2007 ENDA was deemed more likely to pass if "gender identity" was stripped from the current bill since the general heterocentric representatives voting has enough difficulty understanding "sexual orientation", and that by including at this time "gender identity" would have not only been pushing the needle too far, but an outright mistake. Which given the ignorance that can be deduced by the questions alone asked by the general public surrounding the "pregnant man", that even had Oprah asking when Beatie/Lagondino was discussing changes made by her injecting of T, "did you grow testicles" make perfectly clear the suppression of "gender identity" from the ENDA bill WAS in fact the right thing to do.

Since the exclusion of "gender identity" from ENDA the trans community has all but taken up arms against the LGB. Their staunch stance has selfishly been (not surprising given that pathological narcissism is a prime factor of trannyism) ALL or NOTHING! This brings us back full circle to Beatie/Lagondino's publicity stunt as a potential trans attack against the LGB's struggle for the right to marry. As suggested above, there is a great deal of assumptions and ignorance garnered by the heterocentric binaried general public concerning LGB issues and more specifically T(rans) issues. Beatie/Lagondino's stunt could easily muddy the waters for the LGB's "right to marry" by raising such questions by the uninformed as "if gays and lesbians want to get married why can't one of them get a sex change like Beatie/Lagondino did"? There has long since been the assumption that gay and lesbian relationships are nothing more than the mimicry of hetero relationships in that one partner is "the man one" while the other partner is "the woman one". These assumptions are in part because feminine males and masculine females are the visible minority of the greater gay and lesbian community. They can easily be read as gay or lesbian by the general public which is still relatively privy to little info regarding gays and lesbians.

Given these heterocentric binaried assumptions it's easy enough to see exactly how the general public could question after their acquaintance with Beatie/Lagondino the need for "gay marriage" when all gays or lesbians have to do is conform to the hetero binary, receive a "sex change", and thereby open up the "right to marry" as Beatie/Lagondino did. Taking into account the trans rage over ENDA coupled with the given that the Beatie/Lagondino "pregnant man" stunt was sure to be a freak show three ring circus act, is it a stretch to ponder if this exploit was a trans ploy at "revenge" against the GLB. Some could argue why would the trans community choose to hurt the LGB's potential for legal marriage when many trans individuals ID as gay, lesbian and bi themselves. Simple -- the trans community has already proven they will cut off their collective nose to spite their face!

dirtywhiteboi

Write a letter to Advocate.com or The Advocate >