Living Trans in Rural America

Not long ago I wrote a post here in Cyrsti's Condo which included a link to a topic called "Transphobia in Rural America."

Shelle, who lives in rural Indiana responded:

Some thoughts from the rural location I live in,my area consists of Lafayette,and West Lafayette,In. two small cities separated by the Wabash river,and a very intellectual divide as well.I grew up on the Lafayette side of the river a mostly redneck farming community,on the other side of the river lies Purdue University,while there are very minimal resources for girls on my side of the river,there are pretty good resources available on Campus at Purdue 

I have managed to become friends with the guy who runs the office of Diversity and Inclusion so have something but I find the people there look at themselves as better than the rest of us.One Of the persons there has also taken over the Transgender part of our local pride office,I have tried to understand how to deal with this person but am failing miserably she/he claims to be Transgender but gender fluid Identifying as what ever from day to day,I can't even wrap my head around what pronouns to use around her/him.

She/he recently posted on the pride site that Transgender,now includes these people. Transmasculine,Genderqueer,MT3,Third gender,Gender Questioning,Gender Binary,Neutrois,Gender fluid,FtX,FtL,Transfeminine,Two Spirit,Pangender,MtX,Bigender,Ft3,Androgynous,FtM,Trans* man,MtF,Omnigender,Agender,Trans*woman,Gender non-binary,Abigender,MtI,Fourth Gender,Transgender. Hell I used to think I sort of understood my condition,But now now not having a clue what some of these things even are I'm more confused than ever?

Thanks Shelle, I think there is always the person who tries to "overdo" it and in some cases is trying to justify their "diversity" job. I did bring it up at the Trans Ohio meeting that simply discussing genders in a class room setting is only that.  Unless the system is trying to bring real life individuals in from the community along with the occasional transgender student on campus who has come out, then the overall benefit is diminished.

I use the amazing concentration of resources in Stana's part of the world as an example of what could be. But those of us who don't live on the right or left coasts know how limited our resources are.  Not to say things aren't improving, but there still is a long way to go.

It's just me Shelle, but I think the "50" genders similar to the new Facebook classifications are merely the beginning of the younger gen beginning to figure this mess out. They are doing a great job already but just don't know it yet!

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