Why Won't Kansas State University Pay This Trans Speaker's Fee?
 
 

Speaking[1]

Ryan Sallans was born a woman. He is now a man. And lord, he's cute! He makes money by hitting the public speaking circuit, talking about everything from his "chest surgery" to his "lower surgery" (cost: $21,342.60). This Thanksgiving, he was set to speak at Kansas State University, Salina, for which he'd collect a $1,000 fee. And while the speaking gig is still listed on Ryan's website, he shouldn't make any travel plans: The Student Senate just rejected a funding request to pay Ryan's fee. Supposedly it's because the student body government didn't think anyone would show up during the holiday. Which, uh, might be true.

 
 
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Comments (54)

No. 1 · Jason

Because they are bigots.

For a he-she, he(?) looks pretty nerdy-hot.

I would do him-her.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:09 pm
No. 2 · naprem

I've found that a lot of FTM's end up unexpectedly hot. It confuses me.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:13 pm
No. 3 · scott ny'er

maybe they are speaking the truth, no?

he does look pretty hot. in that pic.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:16 pm
No. 4 · Tara

@ Jason

Him…
Not her-him

Him..

Say it with me.
Him.
Only Him.
Boy.

Male.

I swear to god he-she is so unbelievably offensive.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:22 pm
No. 5 · Mike L.

OMG He's so freaken Hot!!!

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:23 pm
No. 6 · jamesn

Because they are bigots.
For a he-she…

Is this irony intentional?

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:23 pm
No. 7 · Jason

What happened to the reply button?

Is it an effort to make it harder to get into a flame war, as it were?

@Tara: You say he, I say he-she, let's call the whole thing off

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:27 pm
No. 8 · Mike L.

OMG just checked out his site, his transition and OMG what changes! All I have to ask is as a MAN is he gay or straight (you know cus gender identity, biological gender and sexual orintation all all different things).

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:31 pm
No. 9 · scott ny'er

@mike.

ok. u made me check out his site.

whoa. he got all furry and has a nice treasure trail. seriously hot. I'm not certain how I'd feel if I hooked up with him and then found out he wasn't really a he at first.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:47 pm
No. 10 · Fitz

I think using "He-she" isn't the way to go, it sort of sounds derogatory and minimizing of the changes he has made. Frankly, even calling him "she", if you must, seems less offensive. Course– I am not in his boots, so I don't know, but "he she" has a circus freak feel, and your comment seemed otherwise supportive.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:50 pm
No. 11 · Rye

Hey Folks,
Still speaking at KSU-Salina. I'm male, I'm in a relationship going on 6 years with my sweetie, Michelle.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:50 pm
No. 12 · Rye

And to clear a possible spot of confusion, "she," "he-she", "used to be a chick," etc are all offensive. Thanks to those who speak up and call people out, that's part of being an Ally.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:52 pm
No. 13 · Tara

@Rye.

1. You are seriously cute
2. As an MtF I kinda get my hackles up.
3. Glad you are still speaking
4. Congrats on the long term deal!

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:56 pm
No. 14 · Tara

@Jason
No, I wont call the whole thing off. I am telling you. As a Transwoman. Please, if you care at all how other people feel, do NOT use he-she. Please.

It is offensive and derogatory. It denies a person's identity and objectifies them.

It would be analogous to saying that all gay people are actually straight and confused. That who they are does not matter.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 2:59 pm
No. 15 · A T

Seems I'm late putting in my two cents, but as an F2M, "he-she", "shim" and all of those means of maintaining the gender ambiguity are offensive, derogatory and well on the way to launching a diatribe. Not ever trans person feels the pronouns are important, but before the speaker makes that glaring mistake, opt with the visual cues. If you've made an honest mistake (and this is your first or second meeting) most trans people will gently correct you before "blessing your soul" (as they say down these parts).

It saddens me that people still so misunderstand trans citizens that they are willing to completely ignore the steps we take to match the physical identity to the psychological identity.

Good for you, Ryan! If I were near KSU, I'd come to your talk.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 3:06 pm
No. 16 · YellowRanger

Let's see, go home for turkey and cranberries or listen to the story of how doctors jerry rig a cave into a tree.

Tough call for any college student, I'm sure.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 3:13 pm
No. 17 · Jason

I would go!

Sounds like an interesting talk!

Rock on!

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 3:15 pm
No. 18 · Mike L.

I'd seriously go (If I were there), rather than get talked to about gaud etc by my aunt during thnksgvng.

Besides The traditional form of thanksgiving leaves a bitter taste in my mouth b/c of all the Native Americans that suffered and were killed (children, women elderly and men) through the younger years of our country.

I just give thanks for my fam, our health and that fortunately we're doing well even with the recession n all.

peace peaches!

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 3:47 pm
No. 19 · Kian

YellowRanger wrote: "listen to the story of how doctors jerry rig a cave into a tree."

Thank you for reducing transitioning into a pointed comment on genitals.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 4:05 pm
No. 20 · Jason

@KIAN:

Oh be quiet you hot tranny mess.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 5:24 pm
No. 21 · Tara

@Jason

Really man. NOT FUNNY!

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 5:45 pm
No. 22 · Jason

@Tara.

You, also, are a hot tranny mess.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 5:48 pm
No. 23 · Andrew

Wow. Looked at his site — hawt. Nice beard.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 6:34 pm
No. 24 · terrwill

The reason so many of these F2Ms look attractive is that most of them retain femmine features which makes them look kinda twinkish after the transition. What I can't understand is that once they transition many of them who now call themselves boys claim to be attracted to girls. Now what the hell does that make them. If they insist on now being the "correct gender" and they have opposite sex attraction that makes them hetrosexuals. So why then must all of our fights for equal rights be listed as GLBT? If you are transgendered and attracted to the opposite sex, then you are hetrosexual and really have no business getting into the Gay rights struggle…………..PS: go to the internets to search for pics of the "penis" which is created after the surgery. Its more like a Frankenpenis!!

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 6:36 pm
No. 25 · Fitz

@Terrwill- You have a few issues all bundled together, and I think that they are fair questions. I am no expert, but I have 2 Trans friends, and here is where I am on it:

1) It makes them straight, basically. A male attracted to a female is someone most people call straight. The two trans people that I know are fine being called "queer", I think cuz they know they are sort of "other", or at least understand being other. They certainly know what it's like to have people want to kill them because of who they are and love.

2) The bottom surgery leaves a LOT to desired. It's terrible, isn't it? And it's painful and expensive. That is not a reason to insult them with words like Frankenpenis. It's the best modern medicine can do right now. Making fun of the mediocre results is, to me, a lot like making fun of some deaf person's fractured attempt at speech or the limp of someone with a prosthetic foot. They don't choose to have an expensive, semi functional 3" dick…. that is all that our science can do for them.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 6:45 pm
No. 26 · bier

I find a lot of trans men hot too. Ryan is goodlooking, and should not, in an ideal world, ever be denied a living.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 7:11 pm
No. 27 · terrwill

Fitz……..I wasn't insulting them! I was insulting their "penis" ;-P

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 7:29 pm
No. 28 · Andrew

@Fitz: Transgendered people face just as much discrimination as gay people do — and certainly in the same ways.

After all, the reason many gays and lesbians are hated isn't because of who they're attracted to. Rather, it's their gender expression. They might act "too girly" or "too butch." They might not conform to gender norms. This is the same reason transgendered people are discriminated against — just to a different degree.

Transpeople have been part of the gay rights movement ever since it began. They'll continue to be a part of it in spite of those who complain that they don't belong.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 7:49 pm
No. 29 · Kropotkin

Dammit, it's HIM, not he-she, him-her or whatever you want to say. How hard is that to get????

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 7:50 pm
No. 30 · Kropotkin

Terrawill, you are an ignorant bigot, that's all i've got to say to you.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 7:53 pm
No. 31 · Jason

TRANNY!

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 8:08 pm
No. 32 · wmcarpenter

So many of you are so fucking transphobic. Get over it. Grow the fuck up.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 8:20 pm
No. 33 · Fitz

@andrew- I totally agree, I don't know what part of my post wasn't clear about that. Trans people are a part of our community exactly because they face the discrimination and dangers that we face simply because we don't fit the majority's definition of gender or sexuality.

@Terwill- insulting their anatomy is really rude. And judging by your comments here, and about that designer's penis, I would say you seem pretty obsessed with this issue of size. Good luck with that. Might want to talk with someone about it.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 8:48 pm
No. 34 · Andrew

@Fitz: Sorry, mistakenly typed @Fitz instead of @Terrwill. I agreed with you; my comments were directed at Terrwill's thoughtless remarks.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 10:57 pm
No. 35 · Forty2

Dang, Ryan is teh hot.

I'd never dealt with trans issues til recently one of my friends (whom I've only known for a few years) came out to me as F2M, which was a complete shock as he's hairy and buff and such and married to another man (which is legal here). The shock lasted all of maybe two minutes, mostly "OMG WTF HAIRY BUFF YR JUNK?!" nonsense once the magic of hormones and surgery were briefly explained.

It's probably impossible to understand the trans mindset unless you are in fact of a trans mindset. I have no urge to become a woman. My friend had an overwhelming urge to become a man, and acted on it. For that, he is much more courageous than any bunch of silly twinks wiggling their asses at some pride fest.

Posted: Oct 8, 2009 at 11:33 pm
No. 36 · Andrew

Lol @Forty2. "OMG WTF HAIRY BUFF YR JUNK?!" has to be the best FTM coming-out reaction ever.

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 12:17 am
No. 37 · crymeariver

They end up looking good because they were hideous women. That's why they couldn't hack it as lesbians- so they transitioned. Cowards.

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 1:55 am
No. 38 · LenaD

@ Crymeariver — Ah, the smell of transphobia in the morning… And I suppose you're gay because you couldn't hack it as a hetero?

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 3:28 am
No. 39 · FrancoisTrueFaux

agreed. he's fuckin hot. michelle's a lucky girl. . .

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 3:59 am
No. 40 · Fitz

@crymeariver no– ugly is always ugly. And ugly is bone deep. Let's take you, for example.

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 8:00 am
No. 41 · terrwill

KRAPOTKIN: I am tired of having the majority deny us our rights based on our sexuality. If a transgender person choses to change their sex and then claim to be attracted to persons of the opposite sex that makes them HETEROSEXUAL. Therefore they have no right to pry their way into our fight. I have seen first hand too many times the bullshit we encounter from those who can not accept that we were born the way we are. I have absolutley no bias against transgender persons. But once they make the change and are straight, there ain't no more room under our umbrella for them……………….

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 8:37 am
No. 42 · ras

holy f…am i the only one who is so attracted to him even though i'm gay?..kinda hot..

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 11:58 am
No. 43 · Kropotkin

terrwill:
"I am tired of having the majority deny us our rights based on our sexuality."

Yeah, but lot of homophobia is based in the rigid rules of gender presentation and identity put forth by society. We all know how much shit femme gay guys and butch lesbians get for their gender presentation. In fact, in some cases discrimination against queers is more about violating gender boundries than who they love. Plus, DOMA laws affect straight trans people too, courts in Kansas and Texas have decided that gender is decided by what you have at birth, therefore they can't marry people of the opposite sex even if they get their birth certificates changed and no matter how many surgeries they get, DOMA still bans them from the rights of marriage.

"I have absolutley no bias against transgender persons. But once they make the change and are straight, there ain't no more room under our umbrella for them………………."

And many straight trans people didn't "pry" their way in to LGBT movement, in fact many lived as lesbians or gay men before transitioning, and plus there were a bunch of who would be now considered straight trans women at Stonewall (Sylvia Rivera for one), so they've been there from the start.

Why? I thought we were a movement of inclusiveness; instead of the exclusiveness of straight society? It's not like people are flocking to the LGBT community so they can be denied their rights or ostracized by many parts of society. I'm willing to stand up for the fight of my straight trans brothers and sisters. Is it truly all about you and your needs? Or are you bigger than that? I don't think most LGBT people want that narrow vision for our community.

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 5:17 pm
No. 44 · crymeariver

Mary Daley said it best when referring to these people as "Frankenstinian".

And aww, spineless queers trying to be politically correct and w/o enough gens to actually say what everyone's thinking.

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 5:47 pm
No. 45 · Rye

I identify my orientation as queer. I do not look at a person's gender, I'm attracted to so much more than physical presentation. I'm guessing when my sweetie (who has always identified as lesbian) and I go out, we're perceived more as a gay man and butch lesbian woman…so there you go.

I spend my time going out to schools, colleges, and medical provider settings working to break down the barriers for the whole LGBTQQIAA community. Some talks I focus solely on gay and lesbian issues, other I look at the whole umbrella and other are focused specifically on trans issues.

I'm saddened by some reactions that I see happen in the community, why SOME gay and lesbian individuals want to turn their back on bisexual or transgender people is something I don't understand. Why we need to have everyone fit in pretty little-clearly-defined boxes is a disservice to our community.

True, gender identity and expression aren't correlated to sexual orientation, but we all face discrimination whether it be employment, housing, partner immigration, health care access and medical provider discrimination toward us, so to say trans people are "traitors" is a misleading and as others have voiced extremely harmful label.

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 6:47 pm
No. 46 · Fitz

@Rye: and we all share the blissful joy of learning that we can build our lives loving who we love. (just to keep the positive here too).

Why are we looking to exclude a group of people? Are we overwhelmed with support and people who are willing to go shoulder to shoulder with us? I am not saying that we can't have our clubs and cliques, but the umbrella of 'queer' is more powerful when it is large.

Let's not introject the ugly rejecting society that we escaped.

Posted: Oct 9, 2009 at 7:16 pm
No. 47 · Zoe Brain

Looking at the comments by Jason, CryMeARiver and Terwill – you don't deserve human rights. You're not human. You lack humanity.

GLBTs on the other hand, generally don't lack it, and to deny them equal rights just because they have some inhuman monsters in their midst would be as unjust as denying straights equal rights, just because they have some inhuman ministers in theirs.

Posted: Oct 10, 2009 at 7:26 am
No. 48 · Hermitage

Why do some people have to be so insulting and disrespectful? If you have nothing good to say, keep it to yourself. Rye, I support you and I wish you the best. And yes, you are HOT!

Posted: Oct 10, 2009 at 9:14 am
No. 49 · crymeariver

You lack humanity because you're behaving like an ignorant cow. I'm sorry that I lack 'stupidity'. That's probably what you meant.

It's so cute when people just go along with beliefs just because they think they're PC. You're probably the same queer who gives the disabled queers a shitty look because they can't access your facilities/clubs/anything, or gives the queer of a color a nasty look because you're a racist bitch.

Focus on our own community first before you start having pretend sympathy for the selfish Frankenstien's monsters out there.

Posted: Oct 10, 2009 at 3:49 pm
No. 50 · pantherq

Please take your head out of your anal cavity cmar, you obviously do not belong on this site.

Are you still getting paid by the mormons to troll?

Posted: Oct 10, 2009 at 5:43 pm
No. 51 · rudy

No. 47 · Zoe Brain
The whole point of a human rights movement is that they are for everyone – even people we don't approve of.

Posted: Oct 10, 2009 at 5:52 pm
No. 52 · crymeariver

I have my own genitals and am not mentally fucked up with some bs 'gender identity disorder'.

I'm a real queer, not a mormon or a lip-service douchebag like you. :)

Posted: Oct 10, 2009 at 6:03 pm
No. 53 · Tina

So….what does this for me, a bicurious lesbian transgender girl?

It means nothing. Even if I was exclusively into men, there's still the HUGE amount of rejection and difficulty associated with transition that I (normally) can get a comfortably understanding nod from the rest of the queer community.

Posted: Oct 10, 2009 at 7:13 pm
No. 54 · DU

Stratford University and Kansas State University faculty will visit DU for collaboration – Higher education in India is on an upward swing as collaborations with foreign universities are on the rise. Stratford University and Kansas State University from the US, and the Robert Gordon University (RGU) from UK are three such institutes that are looking to establish partnerships and tie-ups in India. “We have teamed up with the KK Modi group for ing campuses in India. We would be providing courses in computer information tems, health services, business administration and hospitality,” Rid Shurtz, president of Stratford University informed Financial Chronicle.

Posted: Nov 10, 2009 at 3:14 pm
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