Bruce Jenner, the Hottentot Venus and Me
Over the last year, I have been asked many times about Bruce Jenner.

Those around me are aware that I am a therapist and activist working with many transgender individuals, and who lectures about these issues publicly. What’s more, I identify as trans* and genderqueer myself, so it is understandable that, when speculation arises about an individual in the public eye possibly being trans*, people in my circle turn to me.

“What about his hair?” people ask. “His body seems to be changing and he’s so secretive. Have you seen his nose?” “Was he wearing nail polish?” “What about how his family is treating him?” And lastly, “Are those… breasts?”

I have thus far kept my mouth firmly sealed shut.

I can’t help but consider history. The “Hottentot Venus” was a stage and sideshow exhibit; for several years in the early part of the 19th century, Saartjie Baartman, a woman and slave born around 1789 in South Africa and sold to a circus showman, was paraded around London and France for the captivation of the masses. She was displayed naked except for a beaded skirt, though accounts say she sometimes wore a skintight bodysuit. She was different; she was a big woman with a particularly large bottom and labia, as well as dark ebony skin, still uncommon throughout Europe except in slaves… the sum of which only accentuated that her shape and mannerisms were utterly unlike those of the prim, Caucasian women of Europe. She was compared occasionally to an orangutan rather than a woman. Saartije, or more accurately Saartije’s body, was the exhibit.

She was scrutinized by anyone with the price of admission. Every inch was subject to public ridicule, open for public discussion. She had become an exotic, fetishized object valued only for her ability to fascinate.

In the end, her celebrity gone, she died poor and in obscurity.

And my own story feels relevant. I transitioned many years ago in college. I was acutely aware that those who had known me as “Larry” could witness I was changing, and though I never hid, now my classmates were gossiping. One September I was approached in the cafeteria and asked if I’d had surgery that summer. I was stunned; I suddenly realized I no longer retained control over information about my identity, or even about my body, in a way that wasn’t the case for other. I wondered if I could ask about what was hidden within the asker’s pants in response. “You show me yours, and I’ll show you mine,” I wish I had replied. Somehow I recognized it wouldn’t be equally okay.

As humans we seem to have a need to question that which we do not understand. The “strange” thing we see can make us uncomfortable; it does not conform to our interpretation of the world, so we are intrigued and feel compelled to peek. We may simultaneously shove the strange thing away. “It” is other than “us,” — odd and different. “It” is bizarre. Perverse. Often unacceptable.

And as gender is a fundamental way we categorize individuals, when we encounter an individual who does not easily fit within the box that matches the gender they were assigned at birth, we have a natural curiosity, a desire to figure out, and an intuitive need to talk.

Bruce has now made a decision to share his transition publicly, a choice that required a great deal of courage. I have nothing but sympathy for his history of suffering, and I applaud his taking charge of his own narrative. On a much lesser scale, I made the same choices and now talk openly about myself when I speak in public, though it is unclear how much of a choice Saartje could make for herself.

Regardless, questioning and possibly altering one’s gender is agonizing and deeply personal. It can rend your family apart, cost your career, relationships and significant amounts of money, even if you are fortunate to have the financial and social privilege to undergo the changes. The process can take years, an entire lifetime.

Everyone who transitions does so somewhat publicly, though not all of us have cameras focused on our every move. When we speak of Bruce, hopefully we can remember that Bruce is, at heart, a person, and give him the dignity he is due.

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www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-a-jacobs-lcswr/bruce-jenner-the-hottentot-venus-and-me_b_7142394.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

PFLAG Canada's Stunning Tribute to the Gay Couples of the Past Who Were Never Able to Legally Marry: VIDEO

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/pflagcanada.html

Gay Youth Group in Israel Reaching Out to Arab LGBTs

In Jaffa, an LGBT organization seeks to begin a dialogue, according to a story from Haaretz.

read more

Thom Senzee

www.advocate.com/world/2015/04/26/gay-youth-group-israel-reaching-out-arab-lgbts

We Can Talk About Bruce's Politics Without Ruining the Moment
Consider this the backlash to the backlash to the backlash.

Bruce Jenner dropped a bombshell Friday night when he came out — as a conservative Republican. Social media treated that revelation as the real news of the evening, though many argued Jenner’s politics were irrelevant and shouldn’t pull focus from a transgender rights milestone.

I get (and share) the impulse to focus on what was wonderful and historic about the interview — and not ruin the moment by picking it apart. But Jenner himself invited the brouhaha by gratuitously injecting his politics. Grudgingly acknowledging Diane Sawyer’s observation that President Obama was the first president to publicly utter the word “transgender,” Jenner chose to add that he doesn’t think much of the President and is a “conservative” Republican who “believe[s] in the Constitution.”

This provoked a wave of social media comments variously shocked and snide about the irony of a closeted trans woman supporting her own oppressors. A returning tide of testy responses (at least in my feeds) bemoaned tone-deaf political correctness at a joyous moment, and celebrated Jenner’s right to defy liberal expectations and be himself.

I found myself on both sides of the question Friday night, and that’s where I remain. Jenner deserves love, compassion and respect for putting himself on the line, regardless of his politics. History will rightfully remember him for creating visibility for a community still fighting scorn, fear and abuse.

But, hey, that does not preclude engagement on subjects where Jenner himself opened the door — including his presumably narrow view of individual rights and liberties, which is what “conservative” Republicans generally mean when they say they “believe in the Constitution.” Can we assume Jenner thinks same-sex couples have no constitutional right to marry? That women have no right to reproductive choice? Does he embrace Republican orthodoxy on matters of race and poverty — and support candidates working to impose those views on the country?

We can’t be sure, but that’s the unsettling message he chose to send. How sad if someone who endured decades in hiding couldn’t appreciate the worse oppression visited on those without his compensating privileges. Or if someone who benefitted from the more welcoming environment created by generations of progressive activism continued to support those who would turn the clock back.

So, I don’t see the contradiction in embracing the good Jenner has done, while respectfully asking “What the heck?” on his apparently discordant politics — not to enforce liberal orthodoxy, but to encourage self-reflection in someone who has a unique public platform. If Jenner’s views are evolving, he could do a lot of good within his party. His comments in the interview highlighting violence against trans women of color were an encouraging sign of concern for the vulnerable and marginalized.

Bruce Jenner will always be a hero for what he did Friday night. It takes nothing away from that to observe that he, and eventually she, has the potential to do so much more by embracing political as well as personal evolution.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-s-trachtman/we-can-talk-about-bruces-politics-without-ruining-the-moment_b_7143456.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices

Towleroad Top 10 Must Watch LGBT Videos of the Week

Kyler Geoffroy

www.towleroad.com/2015/04/roundupapril26.html

'RuPaul's Drag Race' Queens Read Mean Social Media Comments
If you can’t make fun of yourself, how the hell are you gonna make fun of somebody else? Can we get an ‘Amen’?

In this hilarious video from World of Wonder, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” favorites like Bianca Del Rio and Latrice Royale take part in reading mean comments that have been written about them on various social media platforms.

Check it out above or head here to see more from World of Wonder.

— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/26/drag-race-mean-social-media_n_7137544.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices&ir=Gay+Voices