Serious question: Does anyone actually know a trans gender person?

[Anonymous]

I know two FTM and two MTF. I have to admit, to me (a woman) both FTM seemed very masculine to me. They seemed authentically male. However, both MTF I know seemed very male to me. I wonder if it is common to be more convinced by people transitioning away from your own gender than towards it.

[Anonymous]

Zero.

[Anonymous]

Yes, a friend's son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Three friends (close enough that we've been to each other's houses for dinner but not besties), two acquaintances/distant family. I'm a pretty average soccer mom. Oh wait--just thought of another--a former coworker. It's really not that uncommon.

Yes actually it is. And no op I don't.

I'm PP and I would bet you'd never guess at least one of my trans friends was trans. He's a dad with a lovely wife and two kids. Just because no one you know talks about being trans doesn't mean you don't know someone who is. And I'm sure if you saw this dad walk into a women's room, you'd wonder why!

[Anonymous]

I know 1. He is my aunts 45 year old step son turned step daughter. She is not perceived well, I enjoy her though. She makes family functions more entertaining. I'm a people watcher !

[Anonymous]

Yes. But most of them you would never, ever know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
None at all.

Answers on this thread will be biased, OP, since people who know transgendered people will jump at the change to show how worldly and accepting they are; and people who don't know any, which is to say the majority, will not bother to answer.

I bet you $1,000 you do know someone who is transgendered. You just don't realize it because he or she passes without question, and because his/her gender is totally irrelevant to your relationship.

Doubtful see post above--.3% of population...

If you live in an urban area and have a progressive group of friends, you are likely to have more trans acquiantances than others. I have one trans acquaintance who is an ex of a friend from high school and several trans friends/acquaintances from college. I totally acknowledge this is largely because I went to college at a very liberal SLAC (which drew lgbtq persons because there was a very accepting attitude) and I have lived in Portland and Berkeley.

All contact with minority groups depends on your peer group.

A "progressive" group of friends? Please tell us all what that is supposed to mean, other than you pick your friends based on their political beliefs

I'm not the PP, but the PP probably meant politically progressive, yes. Why is that worth mocking? Personal politics are important to a lot of people, and if something is really important to me (like not being a bigot), I'm not going to seek out friendships with people who believe otherwise. For example, I will probably lose friends over the course of this presidential election - not close friends, but people I know well and see fairly regularly - because of their support of Donald Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. But most of them you would never, ever know.

This just is not true. I have zero issue with trans*people and know quite a few so don't call me a bigot. This whole "you probably would never know" business though is just false.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my college roommate's 12-year-old DD. And a girl in our kids' school.

[Anonymous]

yes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
None at all.

Answers on this thread will be biased, OP, since people who know transgendered people will jump at the change to show how worldly and accepting they are; and people who don't know any, which is to say the majority, will not bother to answer.

I bet you $1,000 you do know someone who is transgendered. You just don't realize it because he or she passes without question, and because his/her gender is totally irrelevant to your relationship.

Doubtful see post above--.3% of population...

You don't know 300 people?

You don't know basic math?

[Anonymous]

Two for sure. One was a former colleague, who at age 50 underwent the transition. The other was one of preschool teachers. I also knew a kid when I was in elementary school who told us all she was a boy, wore boys clothing, and wore a suit and tie on school picture day. The rest of her sibling were totally normal. Not sure what happened to that kid because the family moved.

[Anonymous]

Yes, although not closely. One is an old high school friend I see every few years. There was a woman in my college firm freshman year (she was in a few classes too). The parter of an acquaintance of mine on Facebook. A doctor turned politician in Montgomery county, I've met on a number of occasions and the occasional person that shows up as a client at work.

[Anonymous]

I've come across transgender people in my life, but I wouldn't say I know them in a close & personal sense.

That said, the terminology keeps evolving and I'm sure if I asked some of my liberal friends if they identify as "non-binary" as some one said earlier, I'd get a few yeses, but that's more just an agreement with this idea of gender as a spectrum, more so than specifically identifying as transgender.

[Anonymous]

I know several in passing and one really well. The one I know well, I can tell you, is one of the most level headed and intelligent people I've ever met. They were unhappy with their gender from birth for as long as they could remember, and they are extremely satisfied with their transition FTM. I can't say if this is true for all transgender people, but for this person it was definitely the right decision.