It’s not just Chaz Bono and septuagenarians transitioning. Other famous people have too! Like Alexis Arquette, who, we admit, is one celebrity we actually like hearing from! The level-headed MTF was on Larry King Live the other day to instruct mainstream audiences on what all this transgender stuff is about. Hint: It is not the scary biology lesson you might think.
(Keep watching the clip, ’cause Mayor Stu Rasmussen and America’s Next Top Model‘s Isis King are on there too.)
WHY?
Why didn’t a friend or family member step in and tell Alexis you’re just an average looking man (not ugly) but you’ll make a VERY ugly woman! Which she did! Oy! Whereas the other transgendered on the panel made the right decision.
Now Alexis just looks like an ugly man in drag!!!
Kasio
What I don’t understand is if Alexis belonged to a liberal family and she felt she was a woman since she was a child, why wait until she was middle-aged to transition?
AlanInSLC
where is the clip?
Phil
@AlanInSLC: You must need to update some of your media players such as flash player? It opened up just fine for me.
ggreen
You should see the size of the penis he cut off. OMG
Cam
Alexis has said that he deosn’t try to pass as a woman because he is proud of being a transgendered female. I think part of it maight be growing up in a family with two sucessful acting sisters. Alexis is transgendered, but I think that she also craves attention.
?????
Would Alexis be properly termed “intersexed”? I’m not even sure what that means, but the other TRANSitory terms make it sound like they’ve crossed over the Nevada state line into Coochieville. Whereas, Ms. Arquette seems to be living ‘tween worlds, as it were. Is that what “intersexed” means? I know they’ve added more appellative letters to the already humongous alphabet soup that we are to refer to ourselves with, but I hafta tell ya… I don’t know what half of them mean. Some of those newer ones are just so nebulous.
Celia
“Intersexed” is the newer term for a hermaphrodite, ie, someone who was born with ambiguous genitalia, or aspects of both physical sexes. I don’t think Alexis Arquette falls into that category, and “transgendered” or even “genderqueer” are often acceptable for people who don’t mentally/emotionally fit into gender categories. But which word is used depends on the person.
Also, who gives a shit if she “makes an ugly woman”. I make a fairly ugly woman, and I’m cisgendered. What’s it to you?
Ron
Step off your box girl, you’re a cisgendered mess!
I’m sure you make a fairly ugly man too.
Lydon
I love Alexis, loved him as a man, love her as a woman. Of course, at first I thought that she could have done so much more to feminize her features, it’s not like she didn’t have the money. But now, hearing her explain why it’s so important for her to be recognized as a transgender female I get it, and I think it’s great.
Kudos to her and all the other with their very specific and personal journeys! Particularly the young boy, takes guts to do what he did. If only the mother would stop calling him a her.
j
Starting to dislike queerty. So much fucking hate. You’d think gay people would understand how unnessicary most of it is and chill the fuck out. Posters like Lydon give me hope, though.
Kian
i agree with J. why don’t all of you superficial gays upload your pictures so we can start judging you. also, Cam, if you can’t keep your pronouns straight (first you use ‘he’, then ‘she’), then stop commenting as if you had something to say.
Cam
@Kian: You said “i agree with J. why don’t all of you superficial gays upload your pictures so we can start judging you. also, Cam, if you can’t keep your pronouns straight (first you use ‘he’, then ‘she’), then stop commenting as if you had something to say.”
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Completely disregarding somebody’s entire statement because of a change in pro-nouns is a cheap trick when you really have no response. My comment had nothing to do with hating Alexis. It is a fact that Alexis has said that he is not trying to pass as a women, that he wants to stand out as transgendered. This is a fairly unusual want in the Trans community. I commented that it could be due to growing up in a household where the other siblings got so much attention etc… Your riduculous comment not only added nothing to the discussion but both you and “J” seem to want to live in a world where no matter what anybody says everybody holds hands and says in unison “Gee, how wonderful that is, how great, everything is beautiful.” Well I would suggest that you go back into your house, turn out all the lights, and hide yourself away from the public until you can deal with times when people don’t agree with you without collapsing in a puddle and lashing out. Time to grow up.
TANK
Alexis Arquette has a larger adam’s apple than I do. ANd chazz bono could totally kick my ass…wouldn’t want to arm wrestle chazz for the last piece of pizza.
Tory
@j: Yes, lets all hold hands!
Get real, sister.
M Shane
My mom is a real woman and could beat the daylights out of most strong men even into old age. I think she was happy being a manly woman.
I don’t see why people don’t get that being in an ugly woman’s body wouldn’t be bettert for some people than being in a handsome mans. It’s really just the same as saying to one of you gay men”Well, wouldn’t you have your face stuck in a pretty pussy than on an ugly cock?”
I’s all about empathy?
Kropotkin
Oh Queerty, when will your commenters stop being transphobic assholes? Keep it classy.
TANK
HuH?
hyhybt
@Cam: I don’t quite understand. I thought the point of MTF transitioning was to become a woman; why, then, would you say you’re not trying to “pass as one?”
This language/terminology business gets more headache-inducing almost by the week.
Zoe Brain
@Why
Why don’t Gay men just have a sex change so they fit in with society?
Maybe because…. they’re you know, Men, not Women. They have a male gender identity, and being sexually attracted to other men has nothing to do with which gender they are.
Guess what? Alexis is a woman. Always was female, always will be, no matter what she looks like.
If so, you might ask why is the surgery and appearance change necessary? OK, it helps as regards society, but if she’s really a woman, why does she need a body that reflects that?
It’s the same answer – why don’t gay men just get sex changes to avoid the inconvenience of being gay in a homophobic world? They’ll still be men on the inside.
Just maybe it’s because being castrated and having their penisses re-shaped into vaginas is the stuff of nightmares for them.
Guess what? Trans people feel like that has already happened to them by a congenital abnormality, and they want it reversed. Even if they’re gay. Even if they’re lesbian. It’s not who you want to go to bed with, that’s just sexual orientation. It’s about who you want to go to bed as, that’s gender identity.
Queerty just reflects the GLB stratum of society. Perhaps 1 in 3 are transphobic equine anal sphincters, and the majority, while not bigots, are naturally ignorant.
It’s Ironic that some of the most rabid GLB transphobes complain bitterly that perhaps 1 in 3 of “breeders” are homophobic, and that most of them don’t understand GLB issues. Maybe they should look in a mirror to see why.
M Shane
I’ not sure that anyone here will get this , but I think that it is a legitimate guestion to ask why a gay man would not be transgendered to “legitimately” (re; straight standards) get sex from a man? That is it seems related to the current psychiatric designation of gays as being narcisistic; i.e. we love our own bodies–as well as those of other men. Transgenders do not love their own bodies, but would rather be in a different one. They presumably may love(erotically) either male or female bodies on others. As a gay man I have mostly been very appreciative of my own body and certainly not interested in getting rid of it for another (maybe a newer model at this point).
Clearly there is a degree of narcisism(erotic self love) in ‘straight’ men–look at the panoply of male health mags. they presumably love women too erotically.
Really, I think that we make great errors, always actually , when we see things in black and white, not appreciating the real variations.
hyhybt
I think that it is a legitimate guestion to ask why a gay man would not be transgendered to “legitimately” (re; straight standards) get sex from a man?
A simple, legitimate answer then, leaving everything else out: suppose you’re a top?
Cam
@hyhybt: you said “@Cam: I don’t quite understand. I thought the point of MTF transitioning was to become a woman; why, then, would you say you’re not trying to “pass as one?”
This language/terminology business gets more headache-inducing almost by the week.”
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EXACTLY!!! And that is why I said that Alexis was also craving attention, he has said several times that he purposely doesn’t try to look totally like a woman because he wants people to notice him, to notice that he is a transexual etc… All in all he just wants to be noticed. He used to go around West Hollywood on the weekends dressed in the most outrageous costumes, full Queen Elizabeth drag etc… Somebody not craving attention doesn’t do that.
Kian
@Cam: yes, i was lashing out because i’m sick of reading these comments about how if one thing doesn’t feel right, people automatically assume that the trans person isn’t really trans. do you really think that she went to all this trouble to transition to still be referred to as ‘he’? and maybe the fact that she doesn’t pass is the reason that she doesn’t even try anymore. i don’t care if i pass either, but i still expect people to respect my wishes to be called by the correct gender pronoun. the fact that you don’t care to respect a trans person’s wishes is infuriating to say the least.
and no, i don’t expect anyone to hold my hand and marvel at the beautiful world and expect everyone to get along. i don’t even expect respect from other gay people (yes, i am trans and gay!) because i never get it. if you never got respect from people similar to you, i’m sure you would lash out every now and then too. until you really understand what its like to be trans, stfu!
Stef
I love Alexis Arquette! I think she is a great face for the transgendered movement. She seems very intelligent, very well spoken and very honest!
Isis also looks stellar. This doctor is quite gifted.
And I happen to think she’s actually quite pretty. Little bit of a wonky nose, but overall, I don’t think if she walke dinto my restaurant and I didn’t know who she was, I’d think she was transgendered.
getreal
As a straight ally gay rights activist it saddens me to see so much bigotry on a gay site against transpeople and gender queer people.Transpeople are one of the most vulnerable and disenfranchised populations in this country. One in 10 transpeople is murdered they are the most discriminated segment of the LGBT community.Any bigotry is wrong but gay people being bigoted against transpeople is unforgivable.
Laurens
I think Alexis has become a quite lovely woman. Trans-sexuality is not an easy thing to live with I’m certain and judging by some of the tactless, unkind remarks I see here..I would not have the courage to make the honest choices Alexis has. I respect her for her courage, honesty, and personal integrity.
Glenn1441
Have known transgendered individuals throughout my entire adult life, as friends, but this interview with Alexis Arquette is all over the place. I cite the the host and his inability to keep the discussion on track, but I am also surprised by Alexis’ by Alexis’ clear discomfort — with herself. She speaks from both sides of her mouth — She’s happy to discuss transgender issues with anybody, but the most natural question the uninitiated would have, ‘pre- or post-op?’, upsets her. Okay. But she again seems conflicted about Chaz and about Cher’s statement. From Cher: “… but I will strive to be understanding…’ which Alexis credits as the most anyone could expect from a loved one dealing with a transgendered son, daughter, friend, etc., but still, Alexis is ‘troubled’ by Cher’s use of the word ‘strive.’ HUH? Alexis also alludes, cryptically, to Chaz’s appearance, jumping from her acceptance of any transgendered person’s appearance, to a discussion of transvestites, individuals who achieve sexual enjoyment from dressing the clothing of the opposite sex. Again, HUH? Alexis simply does not come off as comfortable with herself, and I wonder if the startling ‘realness’ of the other panelist or guest intimidated her. Alexis’ many contradictory statements, as well as her body language, truly leads me to believe she should have sat this one out.