Comments on: The Larry King Tragedy: Seeing Myself in the Gender-Nonconforming Teen

By: Creed

Creed — Thu, 31 May 2012 04:41:05 +0000

so-called straight guys are weird, I know I am one. To me, like most guys the younger we are the more sallow we are for the most part. We look at the good looking girls first but some are shocked or……… appear to be shocked if that girl turns out to be transsexual or transgender or intersex in someway. Me I have always liked girls never had urges for men or to wear women clothes but I seem to like girls who had something extra at a very early age as I remember when looking at nudes in a medical book of my mothers a girl with boy parts just seem to look better to me. At this point in the late 60s I never even heard of transsexuals, never mind transgender. I hear the word hermaphrdite first and thought that what I liked when my buddies where looking at the girls in elementary school. I just thought why can’t a girl have both or just the male parts? So to all you transsexual ladies out there there is guys out there that like you for the pre-op girls you are because of the human being you are and have become so cal us trannie chasers, which I find as derogatory as calling a intersex person a hermaphorodite.

By: Paris

Paris — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 16:35:49 +0000

In reply to April. April, this is a really great post. Janet Mock is the most intriguing writer I've encountered. I haven't been exposed to anyone that I'm aware of that lives as transgender, but I definitely hate hearing about someone being hurt or killed because of it. I read to try and understand other people's differences; so that I won't intentionally or unintentionally be the cause of anyone's internal or external pain.

By: April

April — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:02:07 +0000

This article is heartbreaking as a transwoman, as someone who suffered through bullying in government schools and as an individual who witnessed a murder in my high school. I am sympathetic to the author and to the issues she is writing about but I am a little mystified by the solutions proposed.

How is a government, which is based on coercion and violence, supposed to educate teachers how to foster an environment void of bullying? Government mandates and requires their subjects to act in a certain way and if an individual does not, that individual is fined, shackled and possibly thrown into a cage. How is that not the grandest form of bullying? The relationship between individual and state is not that of a peaceful, voluntary, consensual relationship; it is compulsory, mandatory and that of ruler and the ruled. How is compulsory schooling supposed to foster an environment void of bullying when education is forced upon children? There is no consent, only expectation of submission or consequences. How are teachers in a government school which are based on the martial Prussian model supposed to foster a non-bullying environment for children? Children must ask permission to speak and to use the bathroom in these environments. This only teaches domination, to bullying, and submission, to be bullied. How is a government which is based on a system of “you better pay your taxes or else” supposed to teach children not to say “you better give me your lunch money or else?” These institutions are intrinsically based on bullying. It is impossible for government to teach otherwise. Any child knows the old saying “Do as I say and not as I do” is a bunch of bologna.

Government is bullying on the grandest scale. It is based on “do as I say not as I do.” Next time you see a police officer speeding in a cruiser for no good reason I implore you to pull him over and write him a ticket and see how well that goes. The whole system is rotten. It is based on force and coercion. If we don’t want our kids in environments where they have to deal with force and coercion, we cannot expect to build schools upon this system of government of force and coercion. The system is a failure, rotten and the sooner it is abolished, we can evolve into a more free, peaceful and enlightened society.

I’d suggest checking out these sites if you’re interested:

http://edu-lu-tion.com/
(good site, great podcast)

http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm
(this is a great essay)

By: Cyn

Cyn — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:54:27 +0000

And now, I believe with every fabric of my being that I’ve lived to tell it.

Amen! Thank you for sharing this.

By: Taylor

Taylor — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 19:04:52 +0000

Thank you so, so much for writing this.

By: Eve

Eve — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 18:58:07 +0000

I hadn’t heard of this story …I feel gut punched. That could have so easily been my story . R.I.P. little one.

By: Jack Sage

Jack Sage — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:17:16 +0000

This is a very powerful article, and the first one I have seen that discusses Leticia’s murder as if she was the victim, instead of blaming her for what happened. Thank you.