Everyone acknowledges good and evil

But which is which?

Amphiist is a Greek word meaning both sides

Let’s explore the world of contemporary life

Through the lens of non-judgmental analyses of good and evil

*The newsletter for the average non-extremist*

Contact info: @JaclynHStrauss on Twitter

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Amphiist 7: A plea for tolerance for the LGBTQ2 community

Hi, my name is Jaclyn. I’m about to write a very personal blog in the hopes of trying to explain who I am to people. There’s a point to this blog, and it is that people cannot be categorized in simplistic ways, or at least they should not be. I want to bring the Founding Fathers of the United States into this. They did not want political parties. They thought it would divide people, rather than unite them, and one of the things these men were most concerned about when they were creating their new country was everyone in that new country being united. Of course, the Founding Fathers can justifiably be criticized because they wanted to unite white, landowning men, not so much, black people, women, etc.

I myself am a shemale. I don’t like the word ‘transgender,’ because trans means change and I haven’t changed anything. I am a female with a birth defect. I am not a monster. Recently, there was a Salon article on pedophilia and a pedophile said he was not a monster. I understand what he means. A pedophile is someone who has the urge to have sex with prepubescent children. The act is evil, but the thought is just disgusting, without actually being evil, because no one can help their thoughts. For that reason, there’s a difference between a pedophile and an actual child abuser.

Anyway, I am not a monster just because I’m a shemale. It’s just who I am. Any member of the LGBTQ2 community is just who they are. There are good shemales, bad shemales, and a lot in between. Just because someone is a member of a particular political party you can’t generalize about what type of person they are. And just because someone is a member of the LGBTQ2 community doesn’t mean you can stereotype them, either. The problem with today’s society is if someone can label you, you have become one thing, and no more. If you are interested in a fictionalized account of that part of my story, go to my homepage at jaclynhollandstrauss.com, scroll down on the right-hand side, and click on He Talks To Me, Too. God talks to everyone, not just people who are born with perfect anatomies.

This is the crux of one of the most traumatic experiences in my life, perhaps the most traumatic. In 1991, I joined a church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I stayed with it until around 2001 so almost 10 years, a full decade. In many ways, it was the best decade of my life. I have nothing against organized religion, even now, and definitely I am not anti-Mormon. I admire people like Mitch Mayne who are part of the LGBTQ2 community and also Mormon. On the other hand, religion itself insists that I am the Other, and not worthy of being part of the in-group. This is the Nazi mindset.

Over the years, I have come to realize the dangers of organized religion, Christian conservatives, evangelicals, etc. I know many people who believe deeply in God and are extremely moral people with happy, well-adjusted families. I admire them tremendously. But I also admire the mother who sees that her eight-year-old son wants to be a drag queen and she honours his identity by allowing it. I don’t agree with parents forcing their ideas on children in any area, and if the child doesn’t show an inclination toward being a drag queen, then he should not be forced, obviously. Let the little boy be who he wants to be. If that’s what society deems normal, then great. If he wants to be gay, great. If he wants to be a drag queen great. If he wants to twerk at a gay pride parade, then more power to him. Anyone who sees anything wrong with this might (note the word, ‘might,’ as I don’t like blanket statements) be a homophobe and a bit of a pervert themselves if they imagine that people seeing a little boy twerking is somehow a sexual come-on. I do believe that puberty should occur before any major life decisions should be made.

The people who are most repressed and the least tolerant are those who inflict the most damage, and often have very guilty secrets of their own.

I wish, in closing, that people got equally worked up over violence as they do about matters of sexuality. Society will become a much better place when as many millions of words are typed daily on social media and in governmental policies concerning the dead children in Yemen as there are about people’s private sexuality.

If you would like to see this newspaper in print, so that the average person is exposed to these alternative perspectives, then please consider donating to my Paypal account at jaclyncarter2005@gmail.com.

https://jaclynhollandstrauss.com