I just took a cultural competency course on transgender people

[upaloopa]

I work for a county government and we are required to take cultural competency courses each year.
You get to select the population you want to learn about at times.
I selected transgender people since the topic comes up here often. I learned a lot.
I wish we all would take the course.

[ismnotwasm]

1. Good for you

Sound cool

[NuclearDem]

2. Good!

[randome]

3. So share some of what you learned, please.

My daughters are very much interested in social justice across the spectrum and they'd love it if I could add to their knowledge.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."
Leonard Cohen, Anthem (1992)[/center][/font][hr]

[KamaAina]

5. Yes, please!

[upaloopa]

6. Ok if you promise not to attack me afterwords

The reason we take these courses because we offer treatment services to people and it is important that they have a positive experience.
The main thing I learned is the sex of a transgendered person is what sex they identify with and not the biology they were born with. Now that may be obvious to a lot of people but I questioned if being transgender was even a reality given our physical sexual characteristics.
Being transgender is not a mental illness. Transgender people can be mentally ill and they may not be just as the rest of us.
They should be allowed to use the bathroom of the sex they identify with.
I am not sure i got this one right but here goes. A transferred person my or may not be gay. A cross dresser is heterosexual but is not transgender.
If you are treating a transgender person for the first time and you see their name is George and you call them by name, and they tell you that they are female you reply
"Thank you for sharing that with me."
Transgender people are often very alone because people reject them.
There is a lot more but you get the idea.
I just have a much more positive feelings about transgendered people then I did a few hours ago,

On edit:
Now please let me back into the LBGT
forum. I have a gay brother-in-law and sister-in-law. I was a member of The Courage Campaign and am straight.
What I said I apologize for.

[el_bryanto]

7. That loneliness thing is key -

Even discounting homophobia, people often feel uncomfortable around transgendered people, and slowly cut them out - it's pretty terrible.

Bryant

[randome]

9. One of my daughters is big on using the pronoun he/she/hir prefers.

I think it would be very difficult being around more than, say, one transgendered person, and try to keep the pronouns correct at the same time.

I do understand the need of some to keep their identity straight but I've pointed out that some leeway needs to be shown to those of us who hypothetically might find it difficult to remember.

A simple "I'd prefer you consider me female" or something like that would do.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Heidi]

4. Kick!

[etherealtruth]

8. Probably a good choice

"I wish we all would take the course." .... we all could use more cultural competency. I will admit I have learned a lot in my time at DU about transgender folk ... learning more can only help