Invisibility is ok

With all the press releases about and public interviews by post-transistion women, but especially the recent appointment of Amanda Simpson to the Department of Commerce, obviously more than qualified for the job but overshadowed by the supposed "first" transgender person in the federal government, and then corrected to be the second, a Congressional staffer took the honor of the first appointment.

Or so we know. And that's my point, the cloak of invisibility, or as some in the transcommunity like to call it, living stealth (which isn't really stealth but that's another and contentuous subject in the transcommunity). All of a sudden, again, the transcommunity wants all the "invisible" transpeople, assuming they want to be identified as transgender after their transistion, to come out into the public spotlight.

And, to me, that's the worst thing they could do, destroy what peace and quiet they had after probably a very tumultuous transistion. To relive all the pain and sorry again, but in the public arena. And it's the dumbest thing the transcommunity can do, to ask them and if necessary, to expose them as (former) transgender people. That's the best way to create hate within the community from in or post-transistion people.

I won't argue invisibility hurts the transcommunity to show present and former transpeople are normal within the population, likely tens of thousands living and working without the knowledge of their history, except by the necessary small group of family, friends, co-workers (often none), professionals (medical, therapists, legal, etc.), and others (past friends, lovers, etal.). The numbers are large, probably on the order of 8-10 stealth persons to each public transperson.

But I will argue they have the right to stay stealth and not to follow the transcommunity. The transcommunity all too often creates more problems for people for their political agenda and goals than they solve for them. I won't argue some public (trans)people (meaning if they identify or not, the media and community identifies them as transgender) are terrific and wonderful advancing the public view of former transpeople.

And I will argue however, those who are public, should rememeber they don't have the right to speak for or represent the invisible ones, nor do they have the right to describe them as transgender for the transcommunity or for public acceptance. None of those people want to find their past becoming their future, and any words by public (trans)people should express that, as a few do very well.

They left the word and world behind, let's honor that decision and only speak for yourself. And only represent yourself.