Stop staring

[Freedomforall]

https://pjmedia.com/parenting/open-lett ... -to-stare/

[moonshadow]

I read the first paragraph and was like "yeah, I can go along with this...."

Then as I started to read the rest, it seemed to quickly devolve into a self righteous religious rant against gender queer people....

I skimmed the remainder.....

To super Christo-mom:

Okay I get it, you don't agree with gender non-conforming people, you think they're sick and twisted. Fine, that's your right, and stare all you want. If you want to be friends, then by all means, reach out, but if that's too far to reach from your pedestal on high, no hard feelings....

Just stay out of my way, and I'll stay out if yours... Fair enough?

Regards,

Andrew C

[moonshadow]

And to the queer and gender nonconforming listening:

She's right about one thing... stop fretting over their glares and stares. That's just the way they are. You can't change them anymore than they can change you. Don't be a fussy b!tch about it, they want to drag you down to their level.

Just walk on by and don't grant them this power to rule your soul and happiness.

Regards,

Andrew C

I swear when I was at the pride event Saturday I saw several participants getting into it with the religious protesters.... you could tell certain LGBT people were getting upset.

I just couldn't help but laugh at the little "fire and brimstone" signs they were holding up. So?... they're religious nutjobs... just walk on by....

[pelmut]

What a bigoted ignorant a***hole!  I pity any child with the misfortune to be brought up by an obnoxious parent like that.

[Freedomforall]

I find it both interesting and contradictory that she keeps repeating, " you don't even try to look like a woman." So, that would be ok with you lady?!!

[Fred in Skirts]

It seems she is hung up on MENTAL ILLNESS. From the way she expresses herself I do believe I know who is the one the needs a doctor. While I don't wear lipstick I do dress in skirts and dresses and at present I have a full beard (pretty much all white). I do sometimes paint my nails, sometimes all or sometimes just one. If people want to stare at me them more power to them I do not care. But condemning someone because they are different from you is a sickness that needs to be eradicated.

[JohnH]

"We are Catholic"

This woman is ill informed in another way. If I'm Presbyterian or Episcopalian or whatever, when I recite the Apostles' Creed I recite the following:

"I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,"

I extracted the above text from the Christian Reformed Church website.

Catholic means Universal, NOT Roman Catholic.
If "Roman Catholic" is too much of a mouthful, use the term "Papist".

John

[JohnH]

It seems she is hung up on MENTAL ILLNESS. From the way she expresses herself I do believe I know who is the one the needs a doctor. While I don't wear lipstick I do dress in skirts and dresses and at present I have a full beard (pretty much all white). I do sometimes paint my nails, sometimes all or sometimes just one. If people want to stare at me them more power to them I do not care. But condemning someone because they are different from you is a sickness that needs to be eradicated.

She is simply ill informed and bigoted. She needs a one-on-one with an open minded close friend to set her straight.

[Sinned]

I notice that she falls into the trap of mixing sex, sexuality, gender etc all in one phrase. What a bigot.

[Grok]

I notice that she falls into the trap of mixing sex, sexuality, gender etc all in one phrase. What a bigot.

There seems to be an assumption that these must all be connected. People who seemed gender-non-conforming would be lumped together as gay, or lately as trans.

[partlyscot]

I read the original open letter she was responding to. I too, notice that kids are often the ones whose expressions are most likely to show their confusion or curiosity. In my case, the only time I overheard a conversation between child and parent walking behind me, the mother's reply, (I didn't hear the child's comment) was, "That's not how it works, anybody can wear whatever they want" I briefly turned to walk backwards for a couple of steps, and gave the mother a big smile.

[moonshadow]

I kinda understand where the mom is coming from, but she didn't have to be a b!tch about it.

To be fair, in these situations, the parent may not be up to date (so to speak) of the latest in trans awareness. Often times adults can be just as confused as their kids. I consider myself a strong trans-ally, but I admit, sometimes it's all hard to understand. Amber and I have talked about it for hours and hours, and I frequently paint myself into corners over this subject.

Often times I've accidentally offended trans people without meaning to for this reason.

Personally if a parent says to their child "its not nice to talk about strangers".

Yeah... there's nothing wrong with that. And I'm not being sarcastic. That's cool with me... God knows I've heard worse.

Hence my second comment in this thread. Gender queer people need to chill too. You can't force people to accept things.

[stevelous]

This sad excuse for a mother has, sadly, forgotten that God made us ALL in his image regardless of colour, race, creed, sex and gender. Thus we all represent part of the supreme being we call God. All to often these religious bigots believe they know better than their God and think that they can 'interpret' his 'real' ideal for human beings.

I would hate to meet this Mother as I find that kind of stupidity gets passed down the generations by indoctrination, free thinking is discouraged and even frowned upon in others. What hope for her kids in the 21st century when they will have to deal with real people, of all kinds with such a stunted upbringing.

As far as being Catholic I know that they were/ are taught that men and women are so different they might as well we separate species. My dear wife, a South East Asian made many nasty comments when I wore my Kilt the first time and when I bought a neon pink t-shirt almost had a fit when I wore it. Strangely it is my favourite shirt and I bought another one for my holiday. All this while she was wearing jeans and a blue t-shirt. Mind she is more masculine than I am.

[Pdxfashionpioneer]

I read that open letter and about the best thing I can say about it is that it sure was a reality check for me! That there are indeed intelligent, educated Americans who are so woefully ill-informed and bigoted. (I'm basing my judgement of the woman's intelligence and education on how articulate she was and her familiarity with out of date psychological information.

Just for the record, I followed the Roman Catholic tradition until about 20 years ago. It is true that when I was growing up things were very cut and dried in that denomination, but after the Second Vatican Council things really loosened up. At least at the local level. The Catholic (as opposed to catholic [universal]) church has always given its parish priests a lot of latitude. Consequently, you'll find that American Roman Catholics' opinions about birth control are within one or two percentage points of the national averages. They cover the whole political spectrum from very conservative to progressive or radical. Indeed, during the Vietnam War a pair of priests, the Baringer brothers, were constantly getting into the newspapers and jail for blocking munitions trains and their other antiwar activities. I have no doubt that amongst American Papists there's the same range of feelings toward the Gender Binary as in the population as a whole. I'm fortunate to not have run into many of them in my travels about the Western US.

I keep using the qualifier "American" because from what I have been told and my personal experience, I know that in the 2nd and 3rd World, like all of the other mainstream Christian denominations, Roman Catholics tend to be much more pious, conservative and closeminded in their beliefs about gender issues. That's while Pope Francis seems like such a radical in his statements on the subject.

Too bad my former pastor couldn't get ahold of Mrs. Megan Fox. With his knowledge of Christian history, the Bible and theology he could make mincemeat of her! Though he probably wouldn't if presented the opportunity; he is too much of a Christian.

While I don't endorse the tone with which she made the statement, I agree with her that when you get gawked at, you should do your best to take it in stride. And fear not, she's dead wrong in her belief that most people feel the way she does. NOT. AT. ALL. Most people live by the motto "Live and let live."

[Sinned]

I came across this post on MSN the other day. http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/reb ... li=BBoPWjQIt's about Muslim women in Saudi Arabia shunning their abaya robes and adopting western dress. One of the participants said the following: "I just want to live the way I want, freely and without restrictions. No one should force me to wear something I don't want." Like most clothes the abaya is only customary and has only been worn recently, apparently. What is important really is modesty. And as we know, generally what women want they will get irrespective of what men think. And, unlike men, they are prepared to become martyrs for what they want. Men are much too cowardly or apathetic. Present company excepted, of course.