Today there was an online Associated Press news article heading proclaiming, "Shelters slowly adapt to help transgender homeless". In the body of the story, it goes on to explain,"From Phoenix to New York, shelters have fine-tuned policies to recognize preferred gender over birth gender, as they balance the needs of their mainstream clients with those of an unconventional segment of the homeless."
Excuse me? Somewhere along the line I apparently failed to get the memo declaring that personal choice overrides chromosomal, anatomical, and hormonal determination of gender? It must be wherever the memo that said we get to select our skin color disappeared to... perhaps they're both hanging out with the one that requires us to ignore all proof to the contrary of what we personally believe!
Getting back to that AP article - "Having seen few such cases, however, and with limited space that winter night, she wasn't sure where to place the transgender woman. The shelter has space for homeless men and women but not anyone in between."
"Anyone in between?" Perhaps because in nature, there is nothing "in between" male and female. There is an overlap of genders in hermaphrodites, but that really isn't "in between"... it's more of a biological confusion of gender. Anatomically speaking, perhaps people in this category would be more correctly called "intersexual", and if scientific gender examination provides indeterminate results then the choice should be left to the parents (IF they choose to make that selection for their child, within 6 months of the date of birth), or to the individual upon reaching his/her majority if such selection has not been previously made for them. I arbitrarily say "6 months" to insure that such actions are taken prior to the individual psyche developing a personal preference. This would allow the individual to progress through their life in a "more natural" gender identity, and hopefully, avoid gender-related psychological crises later on in their life.
This is one I really could be wrong about. But, thankfully, it's a fight in which I, personally, have no dog ...
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