English Language IIB
Debate 11: LGBT Social Movements
Owner:
L-LIIB-G11-1
Members:
ST-LIIB-G11-1
ST-LIIB-G11-2
ST-LIIB-G11-3
Discussion Leaders:
DL-LIIB-G11-1
DL-LIIB-G11-2
- L-LIIB-G11-1
FORUM debate 11/ LGBT Social Movements
Group Name:
Group members:
Discussion leader(s): DL-LIIB-G11-1
STEP 1
Individually write and post an introductory paragraph about yourselves together with four icebreaking questions to get started. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by the other members of your Google+ community.
- ST-LIIB-G11-1
Hello everyone! I am ST-LIIB-G11-1 and I am eighteen years old. I am doing the degree on English Studies at the University of Valencia. I chose this degree because I love languages and literature. I have been fascinated by English and its culture ever since I was a child. This is why I think this degree is perfect for me. Since nobody has started debating in this topic, I was thinking I could briefly give my opnion and bring up some ice-breaking questions afterwards. This way, we can actually start a discussion.
In the last decade the community has conquered so many rights and we are little by little expanding our possibilities. However, I believe that there is a lot of misinformation when it comes to the LGBT community and what it represents. Many people barely know what the acronym stands for. This lack of information makes visibility really difficult and this is something that the community is struggling to change. ,We still encounter homophobia in many ways, from violent attacks from anti-LGBT groups to language usage. Having said this, here are my questions:
– Do you think labels are important? Why? What do you think about the fact that many new names and labels are popping up (pansexuality, demisexuality…)?
– What should be the role of education in all of this?
– Do you believe cyberactivism can be a tool for raising awareness?
– These years, more and more tv shows, films and animated short films are showing LGBT characters in their plots. How is this visibility important for the community?
- ST-LIIB-G11-2
Hello, ST-LIIB-G11-1! First and foremost, I would like to thank you for your contribution and for starting the debate on this forum.
As you have said, I believe that the LGBT community has achieved so many things in the recent years, though there’s still a lot of work to do. I wouldn’t say that people don’t know for what LGBT stands, but that they don’t actually know why is LGBT and only LGBT. There’s some people who are keen on including a plus sign after the T, or just add a lot of initials to the name of the community. However, they shouldn’t do this.
Why is this? Why only «Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans people»? The thing is, these four labels have something in common, something each and every one of them have suffered through history: this is what we call «systematic oppression». This means that these four groups have been chased and harassed, been subjected to torture and, most importantly and this is what it actually differences them from the rest of possible labels, condemned to death by law just for being who they truly are.
I’ll give you an example. Why asexual people are not in the LGBT community? The answer is simple: there’s no law (and there hasn’t been) in any country of the world which condemns asexual people to death just because they are asexual. They suffer from discrimination and harassment, conversion therapy even, just as LGBT people do, but no death.
On the other hand there are intersexual people, which have expressly asked to not be included in the acronym, as their label has to do with their biological sex and not their gender.
Anyway, moving on to your questions, I would say that nowadays labels are completely necessary. It’s very beautiful to think that labels don’t matter, but that’s a lie. They do matter, as they are related to a type of oppression. Imagine there are no labels, then why are people from the LGBT community being targeted, if the acronym LGBT (as labels don’t exist) isn’t a thing? It’s safe to say that the only people who can allow themselves to say that labels don’t matter, are the ones who, in fact, don’t have a label themselves.
Regarding the new labels that are popping out of nowhere (well, actually mostly come from tumblr), they are completely unnecessary. Every person can fit in the labels that already exist, whether they are referred to their gender or sexual orientation. Taking you examples, I’ll start with demisexuality, even when there’s not a lot to be said about it. It states that a demisexual (followed by another sexual orientation label) person only falls in love with another person after having established a friend relationship with them. This is utterly ridiculous, as nobody falls in love with a person in the middle of the street, with nothing more than a glance. Hilariously, we could say that everyone is demisexual, so there’s no point in accepting this label.
Pansexuality, however, is a more delicate topic. Too many people consider themselves pansexuals, especially in the USA, but they don’t really get what is behind that word, and furthermore, they don’t actually know what the word «bisexual» means. Every pansexual person will tell you that pansexuality is the attraction to every person, regardless of their gender. But there is a bunch of them who like to say that bisexuality is the attraction to only two genders, not including trans people or non-binary people in general. And then, they will claim that bisexuality is transphobic, when it is just the other way around: by saying this about bisexuality, they are separating trans-men and trans-woman from cis-men and cis-woman, which is transphobe. They also say that bisexuality does not include non-binary people. Not only that, but that’s not the definition of bisexuality.
In 1990, the bisexual manifesto was published. In it, among other things, the definition of bisexuaility is stated, and it goes along these lines:
«Bisexuality is a whole, fluid identity. Do not assume that bisexuality is binary […]. In fact, don’t assume that there are only two genders.»
Therefore, bisexual people are actually attracted to everyone, regardless of their gender. I encourage you to read the whole manifesto, it isn’t very long and you can easily find it on the Internet.
Of course there are people who identify as pansexual who get the actual meaning of the bisexual label, but then, doesn’t that mean that both labels mean the same? «But I feel more comfortable with the pansexual label!», some of they say. Well, I’m sorry to break it to you, but then you are being biphobic, as bisexuality is an older label with far more history than pansexuality. Using the latter label you are erasing bisexuality.
TL;DR, pansexuality is transphobic and/or biphobic, depending on who is using the term, besides being completely unnecessary.
Answering to the next two questions (as in my opinion they are linked), cyberactivism is very important nowadays regarding these topics. Whoever, as you can guess by the prior things I explained, sometimes it confuses people, this leading to misconceptions and the whole liberal way of thinking that says that «every sexuality is valid», when is not. Thinking that way is extremely harmful. If we were correctly taught about this stuff in schools, there wouldn’t be misconceptions, and hopefully the ratio of homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic people would decrease. Sadly, this is one of the goals the community has yet to conquer.
And, honestly? Visibilization is essential, though only if it’s done properly. There is this saying on the internet, «bury your gays», which refers when a TV series, book, film, or whichever form of media, kills an LGBT character (and, in occasions, only the LGBT character). Of course, there are many things wrong with this, as there are when the character is portrayed full of stereotypes, or is someone who gets mocked every time they appear, or when you combine all those things together and, furthermore, you make the character a villain, the villain being the only LGBT character in the whole series. Fortunately, we don’t see that so often anymore.
Sorry for what it has probably been the longest ramble in this forum. If you consider something I haven’t explained something well enough, please let me know. And now, it’s my time to ask some questions.
-How do you deal with a LGBTphobic person? I try to be patient, but sometimes it doesn’t work, so I’m interested in your methods.
-In your opinion, how does the mass media treat people from the LGBT community?
- ST-LIIB-G11-1
+ ST-LIIB-G11-2 Hello ST-LIIB-G11-2, thank you so much for replying to my post! First of all, I can tell you there are people who don’t know what LGBT stands for because I have experienced it myself. And the reason behind it is that education on these topics is not provided in schools. I can’t think of one time where my school did some kind of talk to explain these issues. This is the real problem. If people grew up learning and hearing about it it would be easier for them to accept it because it would feel already normal. However, schools and educational centers divert this effort to other issues (which are also important) and decide to ignore it.
I agree with your answers and I can see you have a lot of knowledge on the topic, which I love, because this way we can have people learn about it. Regarding labels, I really like that you said this «It’s safe to say that the only people who can allow themselves to say that labels don’t matter, are the ones who, in fact, don’t have a label themselves.» because it’s completely true. Labels are really important because it is easier for people to understand and accept something that has a name. Hopefully in the future they won’t be no longer necessary, but for now they are crucial.
When it comes to visibilization, I totally concur with your answer. As you said, many times this visibilization is not portrayed properly, which is very harmful. Cinema, tv series, cartoons, etc. have a huge influence, so the depiction they show of the community is going to have consequences, either good or bad. You talked about how the only LGBT characters are often the villains. I want to concentrate on this because it is something that many people won’t have noticed and it is very important to know it. This depiction of an LGBT character as a villain is known as «queer coding» and it is very harmful because it makes viewers associate LGBT with something evil, something they have to avoid. Ultimately, they reinforce stereotypes. It might not seem like a big deal, but it really is, especially knowing that Disney and many cartoon series have been doing it repeatedly. For instance, Ursula from «The little mermaid» is a character based on a real-life drag queen; or Him, the villain from «The powerpuff girls», who has androgynous traits. This is very dangerous because this content is addressed at children and it is a step backwards when it comes to acceptance.
As far as your questions are concerned, dealing with LGBT-phobic people is very difficult and stressful. Whenever I am around that kind of people I ask them to explain to me the reason of their ideas. Afterwards, I try to make them see that that way of thinking doesn’t make sense. This only works if they are eager to listen and learn, but unfortunately, most of the times people have a very rigid mentality and they won’t give it up. If this is the case, then it is better to let it go and to get away from them because they are people who are not worth entering your life.
Regarding your second question, I believe the mass media tends to be very sensationalist when it comes to LGBT public figures. By saying this I mean that the press uses information related to their sexuality to provoke morbidity and fascination in the general public. For example, questions about their sexual orientation or their romantic partners are going to pop up almost in every interview. This is very problematic because, if being part of the LGBT community was normalised, these questions wouldn’t be so interesting for the people. Also, by doing this, the media is giving preference to gossip issues rather than focusing on professional ones. In conclusion, LGBT people are treated as scandals, something to «spill the tea» on.
I really think these questions are very interesting, and even if I have answered them already, I would love for other people to join the discussion and expose their opinions on them. Now it is my turn to make some questions:
– What do you think of the hypocrisy of political parties or other institutions that only support the community in specific occasions to clean their appearance?
– What are your thoughts on the inequality of visibility and respect within the community? Are there members of the community who are more accepted than others? Could you give some examples?
- ST-LIIB-G11-3
Hello folks! As an answer to ST-LIIB-G11-1’s first question, I think that the hypocrisy that certain political parties show in anything related to the LGBT community is baffling. For example, I remember that last year, during the Pride celebrations here in Valencia, the Popular Party didn’t participate at all. I didn’t think it was a big deal, since right wing parties tend to be homophobic: Pride was better without their participation. This means that it was surprising when I found out that in Madrid’s Pride—which people from everywhere in the world visited last year, since it was the International Pride Celebration—the Popular Party did participate.
Another example of the hypocrisy that some people dedicated to politics can show is found in many of the things that Donald Trump has done since he started having a career as a politician. I would like to name two: the first one, naming as his vice president a man who is known for, a few years ago, having supported conversion therapy on people who belong to the LGBT community. Conversion therapy is the worst thing that one can do to someone who is a part of the community: most people who go through it end up committing suicide. The ones who survive try to deny themselves for years and years after it ends. It’s a disgusting practice, one that nowadays the vice president, Mike Pence, tries to deny having ever supported. The second one would be stating that he would be, when he was elected, a good friend to the LGBT community, but then trying to deny access to the military to trans people, between other awful things.
Most of the time, politicians—and the worst of them all are right-wing politicians, although it’s true that politicians from the left wing have in the past supported homophobic and transphobic people because they preferred to support “the right to free speech” before openly supporting the community—care more about votes than about the actual people who are voting them. People from the LGBT community are by now tired of thinking that they have someone’s support but then finding out that person doesn’t care about them at all, and was only saying that to get their attention.
Moving on to the next question, the easy answer would be that gay men, lesbian women and trans people are the most visible out of the community, while many people don’t even know that bisexual people exist. While that might be, to an extent, true, the real answer goes deeper than that.
For example, gay men might be the most ‘’normalized’’, for lack of a better word, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own struggles. In the early history of the community, they’re the ones who were the most affected by AIDS, and many of them died. But even nowadays gay men are affected by the homophobia that exists within the community.
Everyone knows trans people exist, but the truth is that there are so many stereotypes of them created in most people’s minds that they might as well be completely invisible. People—and this includes the ones who are a part of the community, too—don’t care about trans people enough to forget about whatever information TV shows might have taught them and to listen to what real-life trans people say about their experiences.
Bisexual people are told, both by homosexual people and heterosexual people to just ‘’pick a side”. It’s also important to say that there are very few bisexual characters who can be found in the media, which means that many people don’t even know what the “B” in LGBT stands for until they meet a bisexual person in real life, as it has been mentioned earlier during this debate.
As for lesbians, it’s a complicated case—of course lesbians are visible outside of the community: if porn is taken into account. Lesbians are extremely sexualized in the media. They’re also always told to “give men a chance”, which is completely disrespectful, both because no one should date anyone they don’t want to date and because most lesbians do try to give men a chance, denying their identities because they think it’s the right thing to do. Inside the community, a homophobic saying that has been becoming more and more known is “everyone is bisexual”. It’s seen as positive for bisexual people, but it isn’t. First of all, because it means that heterosexual people, who have historically been the ones oppressing the LGB part of the community, also belong in the community, and therefore free of feeling any kind of guilt for being homophobic or biphobic. Second of all, because it denies homosexual people’s experiences. Homosexual people, many times, try to deny their homosexuality by identifying as bisexual, because that way they can act like at least they feel a little bit of attraction towards the opposite gender. Saying that they’re bisexual is saying that all the struggle they went through to find out whether or not they were homosexual was useless, and that they feel attraction to the opposite gender, although they don’t.
To finish this comment, I would like to apologize if I made any mistakes, while also making my own question so the debate can continue:
-Can you think of any cases of celebrities who have said that they supported the LGBT community but have after that turned out to be homophobic or transphobic? Do you think that celebrities can say they openly support the community without having made research to back up that support?
- DL-LIIB-G11-2
Thanks for the fantastic contributions everyone. I’m impressed by your posts and they made me think about all the many areas related to LGBT that I don’t know enough about. One thing that caught my attention is the mention to asexual people. I think for a very long time they have been slandered because they didn’t fit the normative pattern. I’m sure everyone would agree that «frigid» has been used as a slur for a very long time, as if there was something inherently wrong or harmful in not feeling sexual desire. However thanks to the efforts of the LGBT community, people whose sexuality do not fit «the norm» are seeing increased social support. Hopefully we can all continue improving society in this manner.
English Language II E
Debate 9: LGBT Rights Movement
Owner:
L-LIIEG.8-G9-1
Members (G.8):
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-2
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-6
Discussion Leader:
DL-LIIEG.8-G9-1
· L-LIIEG.8-G9-1
FORUM debate 9/LGBT Rights Movement
Group Name: LGTB Pride
Discussion Leader(s): DL-LIIEG.8-G9-1
Group members: (G.8):
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-2
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5
ST-LIIEG.8-G9-6
STEP 1: Breaking the Ice:
– Write and post an introductory paragraph together with four ice-breaking questions. Make sure you answer some of the questions posted by your group mates and the discussion leader(s).
STEP 2: Initiating the Discussion:
– With the guidance of the discussion leader assigned to your group, write 4 or 5 posts of about 200 words each during this month (try to write at least one post a week).
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
Hello Ana.
Seeing that DL-LIIEG.8-G9-1 doesn’t start the conversation, we have spoken with Alicia and she has recommended us to start by looking for an article and doing the essays to see if he responds. So we’re looking for an article to start with. DL-LIIEG.8-G9-1 is asked to please guide us through the discussions. Since we don’t have much time, if DL-LIIEG.8-G9-1 hasn’t mentioned anything in a week’s time, we’ll have to look for another article and do his part.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
Digital Newspaper: NCRM
Name of article: Ireland’s Openly-Gay Prime Minister to Meet With Mike Pence – and Press Him on LGBT Rights
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
As we are running out of time the first one we are going to do it like this but we also hope to do the next ones as is expected, with the ice breaking questions and the introduccions in order to know better each other.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1
Hello. My name is ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1 and I am 21 years old. I am from Tavernes de la Valldigna, a village which is 50 km away from Valencia.
I am a nursery school teacher and I have worked 3 months in Ireland teaching children.
I am currently studying translation of languages and I dream to become an interpreter one day.
In my free time I love going out with my friends to catch up with them.
Nice to meet you.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-2
Hello, my name is ST-LIIEG.8-G9-2, I’m from Valencia, I’m studying translation. I like reading, watching movies, traveling and doing sports, all kinds of sports but especially paddle and pilates.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1
In recent times, The LGBT right’s movement has become an important issue to discuss. People seem to be more concerned about this movement than in old times when religion had such an impact on society.
Not many years ago, people who wanted to express themselves and their sexual orientation (such as lesbians, gays…) were chased, in cases even to death.
This article shows how in recent times there is change happening, and not only people from society but also politicians. It is believed that if you have a leader who has power and supports something it can have a big impact on people, especially if he connects with people that other humans being have so much hate against. We also know that Ireland is open and welcoming to all type of people no matter what their sexual condition is, so, basically, it would be a huge advantage for the LGBT Community to get that all the countries have such an open-minded society.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5
Hi! My name’s ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5 and I’m from Ukraine, although I’ve been living in Spain all my life. I speak Spanish, Russian and English, and languages are the main reason why I’m studying Translation.
I’m really passionate about cinema and literature, and I’d love to travel the entire world.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5
Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became the world’s first openly gay head of government in 2009, followed by Elio Di Rupo and Xavier Bettel. Shortly after the election of the latter, Trump won the elections and became President of the United States, a huge regression for the LGTB+ community (and Human Rights in general). Just as Trump, Mike Pence is known by his sexism, racism and specially homophobia. Altought we don’t know what happened in the meeting with Leo Varadkar since the pressed wasn’t allowed to be there, it doesn’t seem like the visit influenced the Vice President, which is not surprising at all. I believe there isn’t much to be done here. Unfortunately, a homophobe won’t change his life-long opinion about gays, just by having a conversation with someone gay. The only thing Americans can do now is wait for 2020 and choose better this time (and no, I don’t mean voting for Kanye West).
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
Hello everyone! My name is ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3 and I’m 19 years old. In my free time I like to do every kind of sport but i especially love playing tennis and running. I also enjoy reading a good book and having a coffe with my friends. At the moment I’m studying Translation at the University of Valencia and I hope to enjoy these 4 years as much as I can.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
Related to the article and as my mate ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1 said before, I think nowadays everyone is more concerned about the LGTB movement. We are in a moment in history that, due to our mobile phones and all technology in general, we can have a big impact in how society thinks.
I personally believe that an openly gay public figure like the Prime Minister of Ireland is beneficial to his whole group, as it helps to make them more visible than they are. Besides, public figures like him can promote new measures such as the legalization of homosexual marriage, that is still forbidden in some countries. In this way, we could fight even more against the exclusion in which they live in these countries.
Finally, i think that everyone can help this movement being more tolerant with this colective as we are all people living in the same world and with the same rights regardless of our sexual orientation.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-6
Hello everyone,
I’m from Petrer, a town near Alicante but now I’m living in a student flat in Valencia. I’m studying Translation and Interpretation because I love languages and I think that they are really useful for the future.
I’m sure this is just the beginning of an unforgettable and rewarding experience.
I’m really into electronic music, in fact my biggest dream is going to Tomorrowland one day. I’m also keen on hiking and handball, I’ve played handball for seven years.
See you later!
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4
Hi! My name is ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4 but everyone calls me ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4. I’m 18 years old. I’m from a small village called Villarta in Cuenca, but now I’m living in Valencia. I’m studying Translation at the University of Valencia because I would like to travel and learn new cultures and customs.
In my free time I like go partying with my friends and I love listening to music, dancing and singing. I’m a member of a rumba group.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4
The United States had always been known as the country of freedom and as the first pioneer of LGBT rights. However, now we see how it came to grief when Donald Trump became president.
Once again Trump shows on Twitter his macho, homophobic, racist, insolent and violent face, with really disrespectful comments and with a foul language to be the president of the United States.
He also continues to harm the environment, to support wars, weapons, violence, harassment of women, etc.
It has turned the United States into a real disaster, where peace and respect no longer reign. Not only attacks the LGTB collective, but also women, immigrants, refugees, etc. Many thought World War III was approaching with this mediocre and mean person.
Finally, I believe that politicians should fight for the defence of LGBT rights, because they are the reflection of society, and we must fight for equality, as Ireland is doing now.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-2
With regard to the article, and as my mate ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5 has said before, before the election of Trump as president, there have already been three heads of government who have openly declared their sexual orientation and have been the basis for a wider visibility of the LGBT movement in USA. As ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4 and ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5 have said, with the mandate of Trump and public figures as the Vice President Pence, these late advances have shown a total decrease with facts such as the foundation of reparative therapy or the open exhibition of hostility towards the LGBT community in the social media. The current puritanical conservatism of the United States is separated in many aspects from the Europe that we are all trying to build, so I personally think that Varadkar’s intervention is very positive, since not only as a gay citizen, but also as the son of Indian immigrants, two strong social stigma that today should not exist, homophobia and racism, stigma that certainly belong to the main attributes of the current US president. At this point of the 21st century it should not be surprising that a public figure openly declares his sexual orientation, his origin or his beliefs. We must fight against all existing types of exclusion and build the basis of a tolerant and respectful society if we want to advance as the modern society that we are.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-6
Nowadays there is more sexual freedom than there used to be a few years ago. However, there are still many countries in which belonging to LGBT group can be punished.
On the one hand, in Iran, two men kissing each other run the risk of 60 lashes and even the maximum penalty if they have sex. On the other hand, in France the LGBT group is generally accepted since it is known as ‘The city of love’.
According to the article, I totally agree with the point that the USA is a role model in its freedom as there is a wide variety of sexualities, but unfortunately its president is racist, homophobic, xenophobic… Besides that, after being elected he has been criticized by the media many times.
Fortunately, there are presidents and members of the government who are open-minded or who are even members of the LGBT group (such as Leo Varadkar). In fact, that is what makes it different from other countries and helps the world progress.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5
The second article that we’re going to comment about is “WHAT IT’S LIKE BEING TRANSGENDER IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM” by the National Geographic.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1
Transgender people are those who have a gender identity or gender expression that differs from their assigned sex.
The term transgender is relatively new and this is why many elderly people don’t know the meaning and don’t understand why people choose to be like this.
Not only do elderly people not agree with transgender people but also a large part of society ranging from all ages disagree with the term transgender.
In religion, transgender people are shunned upon as it is against religious beliefs. This is also why elderly people are against these people, since most elderly people are religious, they think that these people are mentally ill.
According to the National Geographic’s article, they wrote how the transgender people feel like they are “treated like freaks” when they go to the hospital or a health center because the doctors and specialty lack in knowledge and understanding.
Lately there has been improvements related to the knowledge of the LGBT community, but still there is not enough knowledge to change society and the minds of the society.
If society wants to advance as humans we must understand and accept each other. We all need to come as one and understand that we are all human.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5
I feel like the transgender community is one of the most marginalized ones. The suicide attempt rate among transgenders ranges from 32% to 50%, so the fact that sometimes even doctors don’t want to help them only worsens both their physical and mental health. Although the article is about the US, their situation is not much better in Spain. In onder to get hormones or sex reassignment surgery, they have to go through numerous doctors who might not even want to help them and facing a lot of transphobia, of which they already have enough in their every day life. One the one hand, doctors should be trained in med school how to help trans people, and on the other hand, we need to research more about hormones, and lower their cost, because it’s a know fact that transgenders have a hard time finding a job because of the discrimination they face. In general, I believe that medicine needs to make access to hormones easier, because they already have enough difficulties in their lifes.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-2
This article talks about one of the most stigmatized groups in society, the trans. This group is one of the least visible within the LGTB collective and one of those that even today are often overlooked. The article talks about one of the biggest problems they have to face, which is, in a nutshell, the purest ignorance of the staff in the medical area and consequently many times this transforms into phobia and prejudice against them, sometimes unconscious, other times totally conscious. As my mate ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5 says, this transphobia makes this small group refuse to go to the doctor, in addition to the fact that the hormonal treatment they have to undergo for the change of gender is very complicated to access and expensive, so many of the transgender people cannot effectuate the basic need of reassignment. On the one hand and as a solution to this great problem, I think it would be very positive to have a more active participation of society to promote the inclusion of trans people. To achieve this, it would be necessary to create specific courses in all educational centers, such as institutes and universities, that inform and raise awareness about the trans collective (and also the LGBT total). On the other hand, it would require more specific and more accessible courses to train future doctors and those who already work in the area on the subject, as an example, how the reassignment procedure works, ways of treating the patient, how to make them feel more comfortable in the consultation with the doctor, and above all how to eradicate false prejudices and phobias since we all have the right to be cared for and respected. This is one of the most difficult fronts to fight, but I hope we can work against the ignorance of the world starting from tolerance and understanding.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-4
For centuries, transsexual people have been considered «mentally ill», no one respected their rights and did not support them. But fortunately, in recent years we are fighting for the equality of the LGBTI collective because we have to respect the rights of people and support them to feel good about themselves and be happy.
Some university campuses have grown in knowledge and approach to the collective with the proliferation of groups, associations and trans support events. The commercial cinema has approached the subject.
Little by little, the defence of the rights of transgender people has been noticed in the street, while measures are being initiated in secondary education institutes and in work places, to guarantee a true inclusion and diversity, developing protocols of action with respect to the collective to address homotransphobic discrimination in the school and work environment.
The youngest actively defend gender identity in their immediate environment, and in social networks, we exist and we become visible with more prominence and independence than ever before.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
With reference to the new article, I think we should start with the definition of “transgender”. This word is used to designate people who in different ways identify with the opposite gender to their physiological birth characteristics.
Today, although they are more visible than a few years ago, they still live in an atmosphere of rejection and misunderstanding. The article written by National Geographic shows us how, despite living in the 21st century, there are many people who choose not to go to the doctor for fear of being judged.
I believe that we must all be open-minded and help each other, regardless of our gender or our sexual orientation, and that we must adapt themselves to the new times. If people with specific needs arise at the time of going to the doctor, a new branch of science that meets their needs will also have to emerge. Free from discrimination, abuse or hatred.
In conclusion, I know that not everyone shares this way of thinking, but I believe that over time, step by step, we will achieve a change in the way people think as the new generations move forward.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-6
Nowadays fortunately, more and more people are aware of the difficulty of transgender’s situation. However, there is still a high percentage of inhabitants who treat transgender in a different way because of their lack of information or ignorance.
As far as I’m concerned, when children are about 3 years old, they become aware of their bodies and of the anatomical differences between boys and girls. Furthermore, little by little they start to develop and to know their sexual orientation and sexual identity.
Related to the article, I want to point out the fact that most of the transgender don´t receive the same treat than the cisgenders when they go to hospitals or walk-in clinics. In the majority of cases, that is due to the lack of experience with this area of medicine. For that reason, it´s really necessary to provide courses and new subjects in order to train the new health professionals.
In conclusion, throughout the history of the human being the differences have always produced rejection, and this is on account of lack of information and fear of the unknown. Fortunately, bit by bit the society is changing and becoming conscious that variety is a common and beautiful thing.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1
The last new that we are going to talk about is:
No homo has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary
Pink News
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-1
In reference to the new «no homo has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary», I would like to start by saying that this is a great step to be closer to the social inclusion.
As we know, not just nowadays but also most years in the history of the humanity the names referred to express different ways of sexuality have been used and abused to ridicule and bully people since the very first ages.While I believe that people should use these words just to clarify sexual orientation and not to classify the others, because once you classify something you are making up your mind to believe that there are some things better and other ones worse and I am strongly opposed to believe that people ratify as the best or worst depending on who they are, what they have or that kind of varieties.
Furthermore, I also believe that parents, grandparents… or those people who lived in different times need to know the currently and new reality, they should be more open minded because at the end of the day, what matters the most to change the opinion of the new children is what society or old people do or say, they inculcate it.
In conclusion, I feel that the inclusion of these type of words in a superior and ruled institution can help so much to those people who are traditional and conservative to see that even it also appears in the dictionary as a proof that they do exist, they do need recognition and its not a type of illness as before was thought. However, despite all of these changing things that have been occurring all over the world are not enough, and unfortunately there are still many people who do not understand this, and in my opinion there will always be.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-3
Currently we are in an almost globalised society. This means that in countries like ours we have a great deal of power at the disposal of everyone: our mobile phones. These allow us to communicate with whoever we want in the time we want. But, despite this advantage, this can also be dangerous.
Despite being in the 21st century many people, as the article says, still use words like «gay» or «homosexual» in a pejorative sense and this creates a problem much bigger than we think. This is due to, becouse of using these words in a bad sense, we make this use normal and we make people get used to utilizing them in that “pejorative” way as if they were normal. This, over time, makess people associate pejorative uses with the words and, moreover, to generalize it also to all the collective. This is what I consider the beginning of homophobia.
To conclude, I think it is important to measure our words very carefully when we express ourselves both in everyday life and on the Internet as now, due to how connected we are thanks to new technologies, we can do much more damage than we think.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-5
To be quiet honest, I’ve got mixed feelings about this article. On the one hand, “no homo” is a pejorative expression which straight people say so that others don’t think they’re gay (as if being gay is something bad). Though I would never use such an expression myself, I don’t think that it’s the right to blame the dictionary. The key to this issue is understanding that the dictionary collects the different meanings that a word or expression has: it doesn’t invent them, it is just a mere reflection of the society we live in. Some people might argue that the fact that it’s in the dictionary will only contribute to its usage: but I’m not really sure about it. In my opinion, there are small things that we all can do to fight these little yet important injustices: speak up against anyone who uses this or any other anti-LGTB expressions, and try to make them realise how stupid they sound when they say “no homo”.
· ST-LIIEG.8-G9-6
In recent years new words related to the LGBT group have been included in the dictionary. Although it is a good progress to include those words, there are still many people who do not accept the LGBT group and there are also lot of people who use those words in a pejorative way.
The article shows the lack of information or accuracy in some of the definitions, as some of them are used in a pejorative way like “gay”. Over the years there have been inclusions, creating new words, but they still do not give them the correct meaning, as is the case with the OED and in other cases such as the gender-neutral pronoun “thon”.
In conclusion, there is still a great deal of work to be done with the dictionaries, social media, people… In my opinion, a good solution would be to gather together some members of the LGBT community and some members of Cambridge dictionary (or another official dictionary) in order to write the best definitions and translations for those new words.