Let's Get a Few Things Straight... or LGBT. I don't know anymore

I hate fake news. This is not news. I think nobody likes fake news. So in the spirit of fairness, I have to call our fake news even when they support my position.

Now, certain memes have been circulating more conservative circles which features Gretchen Diaz (the trans-woman who was denied the use of the female restroom) complaining about things like Jose Mari Chan's Christmas songs which only mention boys and girls. There's a lot more with one I mentioned in a previous post here he suggested that there should be LGBT exclusive schools in every municipality.

This is a caricature of what the LGBT community wants with the SOGIE bill. If we simply want to tear down a caricature of the LGBT's position, then what we're essentially doing is destroying a straw man. Even if this is done for fun and nobody really believes them, these types of jokes overstayed their welcome and actually make the divide between the LGBT community and the non-LGBT community that much larger. I'm of the belief that if we can't talk about the strongest version of the argument, we are actually just dealing with a straw man.

I'm not from the LGBT community nor am I sympathetic to their causes - I'm currently against the legalization of civil partnership and SOGIE - but I know some of the things they do what as opposed to the things we think they want.

• Third bathroom? Nope! The LGBT community doesn't want a third bathroom. Such a thing could "other"-ize them and I know that inclusion is their goal. Not exclusion.
• Trans-women don't want to have another category for sex just for them. What they want is the legal protections that come with being a woman. Their battle cry in this regard could not be more clear - "Trans-women are real women."
• Gay man does not mean the same trans-woman. Also, lesbian does not mean the same was trans-man. I wish I could make a matrix for this but this can be confusing and even I don't get it. Let's just agree that those four things mean different things... I think. Maybe. I don't know - See, this is why I'm not for the SOGIE bill (Joke. But yeah. It's all really confusing).
• The LGBT community does not want special rights. They want equal rights. This is common misconception. I think that if we want to move the conversation forward, it must be established that they do in fact have equal rights.

These are all I can think about at this point. I've said this before but the best way to see if an LGBT cause is worth pursuing, is to hear it out and to listen to it. Adding what we think they're saying will not help the conversation.

If this topic interests you, a good thing to do is to read the full text of the bill which is now in the Senate and to listen to the senate hearings. It's there you can get the information straight from the other side's mouth.