I pretty much assume every issue of The Stranger is a "queer" issue.

I... Holy Shit! Dom, I can't believe this. Thank you and the rest of the Stranger for putting this issue together! This is amazing!

Thank you, Dom
<3

I am lucky and so grateful for my daughter all the people in our life that supported my FTM husband during his transition. Seattle is the best place for all genders. Great medical care and a super supportive community.
We live in a red state now and things are soooo different. My husband passes so well that he got into an argument with a doctor who told him that there was no way he could of had a hysterectomy. There isn't much of a gay community unless you hang at the bars. And the trans community is so tight that outsiders are not welcome.
Even though transitioning is difficult, be grateful for places like Seattle.

I really don't think that transgender issues should be wrapped up with gay issues. They just aren't the same set of problems. I think it would actually work better for them to be on the same side, but not have all their bills bundled together. A desire to marry the same sex isn't the same thing as a desire to treat a medical condition. They got lumped together a long time ago, and I don't know that I feel being grouped up is really helping either group.

Trans issues and gay issues are inseperably wrapped up in one another because the discrimination the two groups face is ultimately from the same source. When a child is called "f@&&it" it's most often not because they expressed same sex attraction but rather because of perceived gender nonconformity. Though the battles are on different fields the war is being fought for the rights of all people to live truly to themselves. The t and the lgb belong together, they should allways be allies and work to better stand in solidarity with each other. A fight for one is a fight for all.

I do think that while gay and trans issues are vastly different, there should be some mutual support!
Society isn't in a place yet where it fully accepts either thing, and surely the common goal is to find and create acceptance for both communities.

I say go to Trans Day of Remembrance this November, and hold a candle for somebody, read a name, look at a photo, that will make you have some compassion... Holy CRAP will it..

I did that last year, and cried like a baby all the way through, and was deeply honored as a cis woman, to be asked to go with one of my trans girlfriends in support. One of the most moving events I have ever attended.

Do you know how many trans people were murdered last year? It is a shockingly large number. And a large number of them were murdered here in the USA.

And then there are the many tragic suicides.

Thanks Dominic, for bring attention to the trans community!!

@7,

238 worldwide is a shockingly high number?

Transexuals were considered a subtype of homosexuals for much of the 20th century and that attitude never changed in the general public. To this day most of the people I meet think trans women are an extreme form of feminine gay men or drag queens. It's an EXTREMELY common piece of misinformation that trans women are gay men that are transitioning for easier sexual access to men or even "tricking" them. For this reason, as others have mentioned, gay and trans people often get abused by the same people for the same reasons. Even many supportive liberals I meet are just straight up confused by the concept of trans lesbians and surprised that there are trans men.

Even gay people themselves often classified gay, trans, effeminate, or drag as all part of the same community(not just common allies) decades ago. Participants at Stonewall and Compton's Cafeteria Riot weren't just gay, there were MANY gender non-conforming people there who belonged to those communities, such as trans activist Sylvia Rivera at Stonewall.

Anyway, I'm extremely grateful for this issue. My brothers and sisters are still regularly being kicked out of their homes as minors, beaten, murdered, dehumanized, fired, denied service at business, denied medically necessary treatment by insurance, get accused of being perverts simply for existing, and regularly get harassed for trying to use the bathroom in peace. Many give up and commit suicide. I supported every gay rights issue under the sun, as did many in the trans community going all the way back to the 50's. Yes our issues are harder to lobby for right now, but they're also killing us. Please don' leave us behind.

@10: In fairness, back when The Gay wasn't as widely accepted, there was a substantial number of gay men who ended up living as women so that they could be with men without being as immediately persecuted. (See: Jody Dallas of "Soap", though he didn't go through with it.)
Similarly today, there's the odd few lonely straight men who contemplate becoming women because they figure they'd be more able to get a (female) date as a girl than as a socially-awkward guy. Such people are often known as "transbians".

@8 Shocking to me. I suppose I shouldn't be shocked, but I am. I am shocked by any number greater than 0.

dear The Stranger:
Thank you. Thank you so so much.
- a trans person.

@12,

Considering how many women are murdered for literally no reason other than being female, 200+ transpeople of either gender being murdered is astonishingly low to my mind. My best guess for why it's so low is that many transpeople fly under the radar in cultures that are even more hostile to transpeople than even we are in the West.

@11 Thanks for dismissing the experiences of tran queer women. We keep killing ourselves but there's always more of us. We'll keep trying for ya. ;)

@7 Awesome super accurate unsourced number that you may haves pulled out of your ass. I am sure the majority of trans murders are tracked as such, given detailed investigations and wide reporting are so common for them and trans hate crimes are are the top priority of most jurisdictions. If you find a number that is "shockingly" low, maybe it is a shitty, poorly researched number? It was very nice of you to walk that back and say there might be a few more.

I'm so totally "gayed" out. After everything we have, we're still griping we dont have enough. We still have rampant alcohol and drug addiction, still have rampant gay youth homelessness and still have HIV/AIDS. I say, try living a year in Saudi Arabia and then tell me how put upon we are in this country. And this is coming from a gay man!

@17 How do we know you are a gay man and why should we count your opinion that trans people aren't worth fight for?

although lesbians come first in the LGBTQ acronym we still are a side issue.
I would like to see a day when we can reflect inclusiveness we wish from others outside our community. It is all so new all these new freedoms and rights-- hopefully as the nation is forced to recognize our families and we receive all benefits as other citizens we can all be at the party together.
There was nothing more moving than watching the first weddings in my state--and see them repeated as legal objections were dismissed through out the country.
Or watching the triumph of Eddie Windsor winning in the Supreme Court-- it feels so good to win !! We all just need to keep it going and treat eachother as we wish to be treated.

I look forward to the day when trans lesbians feel safe from assault by cis lesbians in queer spaces.

@10 there are no such thing as transbians. It's a phrase coined by notorious anti-trans hate factory Cathy Brennan. She hates all trans women especially trans women who are lesbian identified and sees them as usurper's and infiltrators. She ironically subscribes to political lesbianism.

I would argue that limiting trans people from accessing the bathrooms appropriate to their identities is worse than marriage inequality because trans people, especially trans women of color, are so often the victims of violence no matter which bathroom they try to use, and legal protection is a step toward normalization and acceptance. Obviously cisgender queer people are also victims of violence, but at lower rates, and legislation to protect trans people can make a big difference.

@16, I didn't actually quote any number in my original post, quite deliberately. That number was put out there by the commenter who responded to me, number 8.

I don't doubt that that number is much higher and under-reported! Sadly. But that number is just the number that was quoted at the Trans Day of Remembrance, because that was all the names and photos they had. There were that many names read, and candles held.
I wish that all those invisible people that doubtless have suffered abuses and worse, also had a name and a candle, and a moment of their own to be remembered.

And we have to do whatever we can to make it a smaller number, what ever the number, next year.