TS/TG lesbian, for the purpose of this piece, is defined as a female identified male-to-female transsexual/transgender who is attracted to other female identified people whether they be TS/TG or natal. 

There are a lot of TS/TG lesbians…a lot. 

 

How many are there?  I don’t think anyone really knows but it is been estimated, based on several surveys of which I do not have links, to run as high as 50% of all people who are transsexual/transgender.  I use the term transsexual/transgender not  because I’m endeared to it, but to assure the reader that I’m covering everyone the umbrella does, i.e., from the casual crossdresser to the post operative transsexual. 

I see studies now and again, but being trained in statistics leads only to skepticism when I do.  Invariably the statistical sample is too small or filled with so much bias as to render most studies I have seen having anything to do with transsexualism as practically useless.  One thing is certain: there is an inordinately high percentage of TS/TG lesbians taking shade under the TG umbrella. 

In the natal population, according to the Lesbian Life site, A new study done in 2002 out of the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCFHS) report that In response to the question, “Do you think of yourself as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual or something else?”, only 1.3% of the 12,571 people interviewed consider themselves homosexual (lesbian).  90% of the sample considered themselves heterosexual; the rest considered themselves either bisexual or “something else.”  According to a 2000 report by the National Opinion Research Centers, 2.6% of the natal population identified as exclusively lesbian.  If one does an internet search on the percentage of female who are lesbian the number fluctuate wildly, but invariably the number is less than 5% of the female population.  So, the question is begged:  what is going on in the transgender world when as many as 50% of male-to-female transgender (including transsexuals) identify as lesbian…ten times  the prevalence in the natal female population…an entire order of magnitude.  I don’t think anyone knows.  To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever studied this issue.  At least I have never seen such a study.  But, suffice to say and common sense dictates there is something other than  sexual identity going on here. 

Look at the larger picture.  There is an otherwise normal, heterosexual natal male who identifies as a female; for the purposes of this argument we will assume this fictitious natal male is transsexual.  By simple definition, a male-to-female transsexual is a natal male whose brain sex/gender does not match his anatomical sex/gender…a female in a male’s body, so to speak.  Unable to bear life as a male, this MtoF transitions to female…but…she remains attracted to women; she identifes as lesbian.  What has changed in this woman’s life?  Only one thing: how she looks and presents to the public.  Instead of appearing as a male (who is attracted to women), she now appears as a female (who is attracted to women). 

Now, in the case above, we assumed the male is question was transsexual.  But classic transsexuality has long been colonized by the greater transgender umbrella.  Classic transsexuality is ridiculed by the transgender in favor of a spectrum of sex/gender by the TG libertines.  There are full time transvestites, perpetual pre-ops and the amazing non-ops who sit right beside the classic transsexuals – those who have either already had GRS or have been surgery tracked since their earliest remembrance – harping that genitals do not define sex/gender and they are just as female as any other natal or post operative female on the planet.  When this group is added to the mix we find that, anecdoteally, the percentage of lesbianism seems to increase.  Much brouhaha has been riling the internet lately with one well known national activist making the comment that way too much emphasis has been placed on GRS by society and that the truth of the matter is that very few transgender actually want, need, or undergo surgical gender reassignment.  Another way of viewing this statement is that most transgender keep their genitals and do so by making a consious choice…yet want to appear as female in presentation. 

So, what is driving these transsexual/transgender females who are lesbian identified? 

Who knows?  Perhaps it is a fetish that has completely gotten out of control.  That may sound harse until one considers that most of these lesbian identified transsexual/transgender are partnered with yet another lesbian female who is either transsexual or transgendered.  The blogs are saturated with TS/TG sites where the blog owner is involved/partnered with yet another TS/TG lesbian.  Another reason for the very high percentage might simply be loneliness.  Many of the TS/TG, post operative or otherwise, are simply not attractive females.  They don’t pass physically and their mannerisms are so male they may as well have TG written across their forehead.  Even if they were attracted to men (and at one time they may well have been), their chances of connecting with a heterosexual male are limited simply because they do not pass.  Their options decreased, out of sheer lonliness they eventually gravitate to yet another TS/TG lesbian who understands.  And, then it just might be that these TS/TG lesbians are simply in love with the idea of being female…we all know what that  is the definition of.  These AGPs who transition are then limited almost exclusively to other AGPs, for females, as society recognizes them…they are not. 

Through the years, I have observed many of these TS/TG lesbians and find them a sad and depressing group.  Many claim to have dated both natal men and women, insinuating that dating was always at their whim and not of those who asked them out.  These women claim that after all was said and done, though, they decided  that they were attracted to women and not men…and always, but always, it was only coincidence  that their significant other just happened to be TS/TG.  One popular internet site consistently has photos of its owners on it who follow this line.  “I could have had any man I wanted,” one says…”But, then, just by chance, I met…”  Neither of the two could pass in front of a blind man in pitch dark. 

Who does this hurt? 

I don’t know that it hurts anyone.  On the other hand, it seems it is these lesbian TS/TG who are the leaders of the transgender movement.  They are the ones out front fighting the good fight for those who feel it is necessary to fight the good fight…many of us don’t.  I don’t think these lesbian TS/TG realize how downright ridiculous it appears to society to see a male-to-female TS/TG, often one who doesn’t pass as a female in the first place, claim not only to be female, but to also pronounce their love for another lesbian TS/TG…and if the happy couple are non-ops the scenario borders on the absurd. 

Almost certainly there are TS/TG who by any definition would be considered lesbians by the mainstream.  But the ratio of TS/TG lesbians to their natal counterparts is greater by a factor of ten.  There is something more than sexual identity going on here.  The picture is horribly skewed.  With the ratio as it is, it would not be surprising that one day a MtoF TS/TG’s diagnosis might be based on whether they are attracted to others like themselves. 

Will transsexuality one day be defined as an innate condition in which the person is born feeling they should be of the opposite sex and an unexplainable sexual attraction to others who were born feeling the same way?  Well, why not.  After all, there are pregnant men…and we are now told that genitals don’t define sex/gender…things that are at least as strange.