Talking with Shelagh Again (on LBC)

There seems to be a very negative narrative surrounding trans issues and trans rights. It’s almost, to some, that we are less than human, that we don’t deserve the status of human being, that we cannot be seen as equal and important.

It’s very unfortunate that the loudest voices come from the smallest of minorities who see their life as greater and better than others. I can understand some of their confusion or anger that trans people exist. There is a great cognitive dissonance in seeing a person who doesn’t fit the role assigned to them, to look like a man or woman, or should I say what a man and woman should look like according to their very restricted religious or world view.

We are programmed as babies to ‘see’ faces, to look into the eyes of our care givers. We are programmed to see and respond to faces. This function is so deeply ingrained within us that anything that opposes what we believe we should see then we start to question. Sometimes that questioning is good as it give us a chance to evolve within our world and understand it better.

However, when our world view is challenged at such a deep level, to see man and woman only with its binary nature, we react outwards and blame and focus our attention on those who rock our world and our world view. We want those who ‘rock the boat’ to go away, to change, to stop rocking our boat. That’s where victimisation starts, bullying follows then discrimination is written into statute books. We ‘other’ people who are different to ourselves and prefer not to listen. We just shout to get our point the one that is chosen.

The trouble is, is that those who express differences are like the DNA in our bodies. If a particular strand of DNA becomes stronger, and shows differences, it is that which is born in the next generation. It is those who are ‘other’ that cause evolution to happen. Sameness drifts in the DNA soup of outdated concepts and beliefs and eventually becomes rotten to the core, unusable and dystopian in nature.

We evolve by seeing that which pushes boundaries, by seeing something that is possible. We evolve by osmosis, by seeing someone or something that stretches our perceptions.

Until we are willing to talk in depth nothing will change. Individuals must be willing to look within to find those outdated beliefs as they will invariably hurt themselves more in holding onto them. I sense that people are not yet ready for these ideas and concepts. It means taking responsibility. A very big thank you to Shelagh Fogarty and LBC for the opportunity to talk.

14th June 2018