The Year in Review

Now, as the year, and the decade, draw to a close it seems an appropriate time to look back at the previous year and reflect on the various events that might have affected those born with Harry Benjamin Syndrome.

The first major event was the inauguration of Barrack Obama. I wrote about this in January. It appears that, for the present, he has had little effect one way, or the other. The year has not brought about the great changes that were hoped for by the LGBT movement. Health care reform may, or may not pass, but again it is unclear if it will have much of an effect on those with HBS.

In February, Barney Frank hired a “trans man” as an aide. Of course, the LGBT community instantly forgave all the slights Frank had committed and groveled at his feet, thanking him.

In March, the hot issue was whether or not TGs should be banned from bathrooms in Gainesville, FL. The problem was that the TGs could not see that the law did provide a loophole that could allow any man to enter the ladies room without fear of arrest.

In April, the hot topic was the trial of Angie Zapata’s murderer. Unfortunately, the TGs were more interested in making her the latest martyr for their cause rather than to take the opportunity to warn people and may prevent another tragedy.

May of 2009 will be remembered for the death of Arnold Lowman, aka Charles “Virginia” Prince. Lowman, of course was the man who coined the term “transgenderist” which evolved into “transgender.” Is also the man who was the chief spokesman for transvestites and crossdressers. He will not be missed by those with HBS.

In June we had the Raychel Roo-Transkid-Murder Hoax. Simply put, an absurd story appeared on Laura's Playground about how Raychel Roo, apparently a regular poster there, had been brutally murdered. The story was so over the top I immediately questioned the veracity of it. Over the next few days after the story broke, the truth began to come out, and it turned out it was all a fraud. The gender fascists were crushed to discover they did not have a new martyr to venerate, and the excuse offered for the whole thing was even more outrageous then the original story.

July was actually a very busy month. It began with the controversy over Lu’s: A Pharmacy for Women which was recently opened by the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective in Canada. The pharmacy was not welcoming to “trans women,” so the TGs went off on a rant. Then, in the blogosphere, Suzan Cooke began to openly endorse and promote compromise with transgender activists. And Chloe Prince appeared on ABC’s Prime Time: Family Secrets. Once again, the world was treated to another classic “transgender claiming to be transsexual being a jerk” story and HBS women everywhere cringed in horror.

In August, this blog celebrated its second anniversary. And in the news, the TG world was aghast that Conan O'Brien did a silly sit that played off of the word “Trannies.”

In September, a gay man on Bilerico presumed to tell transsexual women how they should think. And then they were somewhat surprised at the outrage expressed. This would, of course, soon turn out to be just the tip of the iceberg of their cluelessness.

October was another busy month, with stories ranging from a teenage boy in Georgia having trouble in school because he was showing up in outrageous drag to Julie Bindel’s hateful article attacking transsexual women. And then there was the offensive calendar of transgender men dressed as the Virgin Mary that came out of Spain. It was not a good month for us.

November, sadly, saw the apparent suicide of Mike Penner, the L.A. sportswriter who, for a while, lived as a woman using the name “Christine Daniels.” No one knows what actually led Penner to take his life, but the TG crowd was quick to try to capitalize on it.

And that brings us, finally to December. Bilerico went totally off the deep end with the posting of an article by long-time gay activist Ron Gold in which he viciously attacked transsexual women. It was an incredibly hateful article, which shows how many gay men actually feel about transsexuals (apparently our willingness to have surgery is just too much for them) and it set off a major controversy. Of course, the non-op crowd stepped in, presuming to speak for those who actually seek surgery, and the story revealed just how clueless Bil Browning actually is about transsexuals.

And as the month ends, we have “Autumn” Sandeen being totally insensitive to those who have had surgery. But that is another article.

Well, that was the year in review.