• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Is Transgenderism a choice?

Being transgendered is not a choice. Publicly identifying as a particular gender or transitioning is a choice, though certainly not a light one, I imagine.
 
Last edited:
Who cares if it is a choice, dysphoria, or anything in between.

Whatever gets you through this life.
 
Look at all the bull**** that transgender people have to go through.

If it was a choice, there wouldn't be any transgender people.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

No idea
 
I believe it's not a choice. I dont know any trans folks well enough to get personal enough to discuss it with them, but I know several from work environments and socially. It doesnt really make a difference to me 'who' they are. I feel the need to correct people politely when they incorrectly use the wrong name for me: think "Suzanne, Susan". And just how important is that? Not very. It's just asking people to be accurate about my identity.

So I cant imagine how important it is for trans people to correct people who mistake their gender, to be identified correctly. I dont mind it and I try to remember if it isnt obvious. A person's identity is very important to them...for most people I'd guess anyway.

I'm not really sure why this is so unsettling to so many people.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

It doesn’t appear to be a choice.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

Speaking as a gay man, its refreshing to hear a Conservative voice the truth, its not a choice. I just wish the party had not sent me packing after I voted for Reagan and Bush1. I could not support the GOP on a national level after they cozied up to the Evangelicals and swung the party into gay bashing for religious reasons.

I know a few TG folks, I dont pretend to know there minds, and how they think. I will admit I find it confusing, as they claim its not a sexual thing, they just prefer to be the opposite sex, in dress, manors, and with all the appropiate parts. I say live and let live. Me, I prefer my men in pants, and to act like men.
 
Last edited:
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

Being transsexual is not a choice. Doing something about being transsexual is a choice. One cannot chose their feelings, but one can choose how one acts on those feelings.
 
yankintx said:
Speaking as a gay man, its refreshing to hear a Conservative voice the truth, its not a choice. I just wish the party had not sent me packing after I voted for Reagan and Bush1. I could not support the GOP on a national level after they cozied up to the Evangelicals and swung the party into gay bashing for religious reasons.

I know a few TG folks, I dont pretend to know there minds, and how they think. I will admit I find it confusing, as they claim its not a sexual thing, they just prefer to be the opposite sex, in dress, manors, and with all the appropiate parts. I say live and let live. Me, I prefer my men in pants, and to act like men.
Click to expand...
As a straight guy, I can say I totally get leaving the GOP over their crazy anti-gay position. Of course, they will swear they are not really anti-gay, but that's like saying water isn't really wet.

I'm not sure why straight people want to get in the middle of the whole gay thing. My thoughts on it are, "just be happy you are not gay, and have empathy for those who are." :shrug:

I'd say my feelings on trans are about the same. Although, like everything else, it did take some getting used to.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Being transsexual is not a choice. Doing something about being transsexual is a choice. One cannot chose their feelings, but one can choose how one acts on those feelings.
Click to expand...

Being a transsexual is a choice. Transsexual and transgender are not interchangeable terms, in this sense: A transsexual seeks to medically alter themselves, a Transgender may or may not seek to.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

The action of doing the surgery is a choice, the feeling you are in the wrong gender body is not. The surgery is when the gender dysphoria is at an extreme. Those who go through the surgery (if it gets to that point) have a much lower suicide rate than those who don't. Suicide is a choice, but it certainly isn't a good choice.
 
X Factor said:
Can a person be trans without physically changing anything?
Click to expand...

Yes.. not everyone who is transgender has to go through the full conversion therapy to resolve their discomfort. For some people (I have read), merely presenting as the opposite sex is sufficient. There are different degrees that people can go to that fall short of the surgical remedy.
 
So a few things here....

I think there is a distinct difference between those legitimately suffering with Gender Dysphoria and those that simply are feeling uncomfortable or unsure about their own "gender identity". In the latter extent, it absolutely is a choice. In the former, it is not.

In ALL instances, I would say it's a choice in terms of whether you live your life as a your birth sex or as the opposite sex. As I understand, Gender Dysphoria, in the simplest terms, if the brain and the body disagreeing regarding an individuals gender. As such, it basically comes down to the question as to whether you attempt to make the brain follow the body or the body follow the brain: that is a choice. However, it's a choice right now that, to my limited understanding, is best made having the body follow the brain as it relates to modern medicine and what's believed to have the highest change of the most success for the person having a healthy life.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Being transsexual is not a choice. Doing something about being transsexual is a choice. One cannot chose their feelings, but one can choose how one acts on those feelings.
Click to expand...

Once again, far more succinct than I.
 
CaptainCourtesy said:
Being transsexual is not a choice. Doing something about being transsexual is a choice. One cannot chose their feelings, but one can choose how one acts on those feelings.
Click to expand...

^Best answer.

I believe it is a choice...a choice to be true to oneself, regardless of how ****ty people will be to them as a result, rather than choosing to live a life that makes them miserable for the comfort of others. To say it is not a choice ignores the painful path that all to often lays ahead, the mockery, the abuse, the isolation. I think this represents a big choice, one requiring a level of bravery that I cannot fully comprehend, or have any reason to think I posses.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

No, it's not a choice, and no credible research I've seen has ever suggested that it's a choice. Now, deciding to go through certain hormone treatments, and having a sex change is a choice, but that's besides the point here.
 
X Factor said:
Can a person be trans without physically changing anything?
Click to expand...

There are trans people like that. They can't get the surgery because maybe the society they live in doesn't allow such a thing, etc.
 
Felis Leo said:
No. I think transgender people genuinely believe they are people of a different sex than what they were born with.
Click to expand...

Some do,some don't. The Canadian man who, it was reported last week, declared himself to be a woman to get $1,500 off his car insurance, falls into the latter category.

It seems to be reasonably well established that many, but not all, 'transgender' people have mental health problems.
 
Felis Leo said:
No. I think transgender people genuinely believe they are people of a different sex than what they were born with.
Click to expand...

I look at it as an unfortunate (mental) programming error for those that truly believe they are a different gender than their DNA indicates. For them, I can only wish them well in coping and adjusting in whatever way they can (medically or other) with what has happened during their creation.

Then there are the cross-dressers who are out for jollies who are focused on role play in the act of sex. That's a different issue.
 
Sweden said:
Some do,some don't. The Canadian man who, it was reported last week, declared himself to be a woman to get $1,500 off his car insurance, falls into the latter category.

It seems to be reasonably well established that many, but not all, 'transgender' people have mental health problems.
Click to expand...

He would not really be trans then. In fact, I'm pretty sure he could be charged with fraud. Depending on the situation, so could the doctor that was required to sign off on him being transgender as well.
 
roguenuke said:
He would not really be trans then. In fact, I'm pretty sure he could be charged with fraud. Depending on the situation, so could the doctor that was required to sign off on him being transgender as well.
Click to expand...

No doctor's 'signing off' in Canada. A simple declaration is all that is required. So the car insurance guy IS a woman in the eyes of the mad Canadian law an most certainly cannot be charged with fraud.
 
If the person being discussed is six years old, it's not a choice. It's child abuse.
 
X Factor said:
I, personally, feel the question regarding homosexuality is settled. It isn’t a choice any more than being hetero is. I’m not as sure with regard to being trans. From my extremely limited perspective, there seems to be a lot of choice involved but I don’t think people undertake changing their physical gender lightly. Can this even be answered by a simple yes or no?
Click to expand...

If we're determined to be and to remain a free country, then how can we deny people the right to define themselves as they see fit? Who are any of us to deny anyone else the right to be and to act and to live the way they wish to live so long as the exercise of those freedoms do not impinge on the freedoms of anyone else?

When I was younger, I remember getting served at a fast food place by a gentleman who was pretty flamboyantly homosexual and I remember feeling uneasy about it. I grew up in a pretty small town - pretty conservative - so this was a pretty new experience for me to encounter someone who was so "in-your-face" gay. So I was sitting there eating my burger - I remember this like it was yesterday - it hit me.... if I've got a problem with how he talks or acts or whatever else, then it's my problem - not his. He's being true to who he is... who the hell am I to judge?

So that's something I've carried with me to this day. Fast forward 25 years and now my son has a friend who is trans-gender - she was born male, but now she's a woman. She tried living her life as a gay man, but she found it never suited her. A homosexual man is still every bit a man. He could be the guy you play poker with. He could be the guy who plays 2nd Base on your Softball team. Just because he prefers the company of other men instead of women doesn't make him any less a man. I prefer redheads - does that make me any less a man than a guy who prefers blondes? Of course not... it just means everyone has their own preferences. So, on that level, I think the whole thing about "choosing" to be transgender is a more fundamental one than the whole gay vs. straight thing. If you're not comfortable being a gay man, then why should you be forced to maintain that role any more than we once forced homosexuals to live in the closet? We all make choices... I like redheaded women (especially the one I'm married to) - Greg the 2nd Baseman likes guys. My son's friend like guys, but doesn't like being one. We choose what we choose because that's what makes us happy. We have the right to pursue happiness because we live in a free country and that's what freedom is all about. None of us should be required to justify our choices or to explain our heart's desire... the heart wants what the heart wants. It's as simple as that. And if anyone has a problem with it... well, I guess it's their problem, isn't it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom