Although I understand David's perceptions of what he believes to be clear thought, his position is way off the target. To suggest that a trangender person wants to change themself because they can't accept who they are, are worried about how society will view them, and then compare that to a gay man coming out and telling the world this is who I am and I'm not pretending to be straight anymore, is totally absurd. These are totally different issues & different situations.

Gay people seem to believe that trangender people are afraid to accept themselves as they are because of some fear of societies view of them. I spent three years gender fluid, living a girls life, and probably 90% of the public knew I was a biological male. Personally, I couldn't care less. I was well adjusted, accepted myself for who I was, got along with people and they with me. I was not afraid to admit I was gay, and for a long period assumed I was, and presented myself as such. However, I'm not gay, I am actually a straight woman -- which of course is something beyond the comprehention of those who haven't experienced that. Most people tend to have an opinion of the world based on "their" view of it, which is drawn from their own experiences. How can a straight person have an opionion on what it is like to be gay, if they never have experienced that. How does a white suburbanite draw an opinion about a kid from the ghetto without having walked in those shoes? To to so is ignorance, which our society has plenty of, and it's not limited to the conservative right.

Although I too would rejoice the day that one's gender expression, or sexual preference, is of no consequence in our society, David and the feminists are doing to trans people exactly what the mainstream did to gay people: putting them "all" in the same box. And quite frankly, one box doesn't fit all.

There are many different types of transgender people, and though they may similar animals, they each have their own species. Drag queens and she-males have far more in common with gay men than they do with transseuals. And, crossdressers are a category unto themselves.

It has been said time and time again, but perhaps needs to be said again; sexual preference and gender orientation are two separate issues. There are many post operative trassexual woman who in fact prefer "sexual relations" with woman, not men. So, they did not fulfill a need to become a biological female to hide their attraction to men: they didn't have an attraction to men.

It would serve all conserned for people to stop making assumtions about the trangender community, and do their homework, which consists of more than reading a few books before rendering an opinion and adding to the misinformation that already exists.

Asking a Transsexual person to be satisfied with their body is exactly like asking a gay male to be straight.

It's not something you have control over, it's not voluntary, and Society and Parental Upbringing is certainly not to blame.

I suggest David reads the Praeger Book of Transsexuality, which amongst other things details the scientific evidence showing that this is a congenital neurological intersex condition.

"Feminists like myself envisage a time beyond gender when there is no correct way to behave according to body shape."
Maybe she should take some testosterone for a few months, and see just how hideously uncomfortable a female pattern brain in a masculising body can be.

This is not about sex, it's not even about behaviour : it's about the way we think, the way the body doesn't fit. Male device drivers, female body, or the reverse. I suggest you go read some of the medical articles by Gooren et al showing the differences in both gross brain anatomy and cellular receptors between transsexuals born male, and other males - including gay males. Transsexuals born male have female structures.