Laura Targownik, a trans woman and associate professor of medicine, shares her personal journey and calls for greater visibility within the transgender community to combat rising transphobia.
I have long lived a quiet life. But I am also trans – and now I need to make myself heard. Laura Targownik is an associate professor of medicine and director of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at the University of Toronto. I am a woman in my early 50s, and every week, I see dozens of patients with any number of gastrointestinal concerns and illnesses. I mentor medical students and advanced trainees, and I connect graduates with jobs in the community.
I’ve been married to my husband for 15 years, and I help my kids with their math (my husband is the accountant, but I have the patience) while he does much of unseen work that has allowed me to achieve my professional success. Which is all to say: I generally strive to make people better, and to make better people. I aim every day to leave the world a slightly better place than I found it – and I think on most days, I hit my marks. I am also a woman who, nearly a quarter-century ago, embarked on a journey to transform my appearance, my body and my life. My goal: to be seen and accepted as a woman in society, and enjoy the legal right to be recognized as such, and to have access to the medical and surgical care required to stay well. And for most of the time since my transition, I’ve lived a primarily assimilated life in my community, keeping my history of transition private. I transitioned not to live as a trans woman, but as a woman, full stop, and I had no intent or desire to ever be publicly identifiable as trans again. However, there has been an unmistakable negative shift in the public’s attitude toward trans people, fuelled by emerging concerns, primarily centred on whether children are being overdiagnosed with gender dysphoria and transitioned unnecessarily, and around fairness in athletic competition. However, these concerns have been weaponized by malevolent right-wing actors into an omnipresent campaign of hatred against trans people, especially trans women, featuring the most abominable stereotypes: the sex predator lurking in a public washroom or community pool; the man in a dress; the groomer of children. This transphobia was a core element of the campaign to elect Donald Trump in the U.S., and now feels firmly embedded in America’s political climate. Canada, for its part, has always prided itself as a nation of tolerance, but I worry that misleading arguments from that right-wing campaign will find similar purchase among my fellow Canadians. A writer in the National Post recently, whose Conservatives are favoured to win the approaching federal election, has said he is “only aware of” two genders, and his political leanings make him the likeliest federal party leader to sympathize with arguments to restrict legal recognitions for trans people. Part of the reason these stereotypes ring true for some may be because trans people like myself, who have assimilated into their part of the gender binary and who may be the most relatable to the general public, have also been the least visible. In choosing private lives, assimilated trans people have shortsightedly abdicated the defence of our rights to activists for whom being trans is a primary identity, and whose priorities are less resonant with the general public. Unsurprisingly, this has led to erosion in support for the set of rights that most trans people had assumed were inviolable. So over the last few years, I began to disclose my history of transition to my colleagues and friends, and have become more actively engaged in the discourse around trans rights. I understand now that it is important to show the public that we transcend those stereotypes. Trans people are your doctors, nurses, lawyers; we are labourers and first responders; we serve in the military and we teach your children. We are mothers, wives and daughters, and we too stress about our children’s future in a changing world – and, increasingly, about our own safety. I firmly believe that the way to preserve the core rights of legal recognition in our preferred gender and access to medication is for assimilated trans people like myself to step up, be recognized, and share their experiences, in spite of the personal cost. In the U.S., my good friend Brianna Wu is reshaping the conversation around trans rights and dignity and has changed minds by meeting people where they are. There are ways that we as Canadians can engage with some of the more reasonable concerns about gender in society; in fact, many trans people share many of the same concerns. But we want these questions addressed with reason, understanding and empathy, and not with rhetoric and hatred. There is safety in numbers. I hope more of my assimilated trans brothers and sisters will join me in making themselves known to our fellow Canadians, to help refocus conversation away from fringe politics and toward what we have in common – lest we see our rights restricted in the same way as America’s trans community
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS VISIBILITY CANADA POLITICS HEALTHCARE TRANS PHOBIA
Canada Latest News, Canada Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Transfer Of Trans Woman To Men's PrisonJessica Schulberg is a senior reporter covering politics and the criminal justice system for HuffPost. Her work has also appeared in The New Republic and The Washington Post. She holds a master's degree in international security from American University. You can contact her at jessica.schulberghuffpost.com or follow her on Twitter jessicaschulb.
Read more »
Woman Gives Her Freeloader Friend A Taste Of Her Own Medicine, Dinner Gets AwkwardFriendships require a give-and-take dynamic. If you’re the one always doing favors for them and constantly feel taken advantage of, something’s off.
Read more »
'It's Unethical': Nurse Pushes Her Hysterectomy 'Values' On Woman Before Pre-Op, Gets Shut DownWoman shocked by nurse who has the audacity to question her about her hysterectomy decision, so she answers back. The nurse writes in her notes that the woman is rude and combative!
Read more »
Best Friend Tries to Seduce Husband While Friend is AwayA woman discovers her best friend attempted to seduce her husband while she was out of town caring for her sick mother. The best friend, after a fight with her own husband, asked to stay at the woman's house. When the woman was away, her husband agreed to let her stay in their guest room. The woman, however, found text messages between her husband and best friend hinting at a sexual encounter.
Read more »
Best Friend Tries to Seduce Husband While Taking Care of Sick MotherA woman discovers her best friend attempted to seduce her husband while she was out of town caring for her sick mother. The best friend, amidst her own marital troubles, asked to stay at the woman's home, but the woman was away. She asked her husband to prepare the guest room, leading to an incident where the best friend tried to kiss the husband, who rejected her advances. The woman ended their friendship after her husband confessed about the incident.
Read more »
Trump pushes border crackdown at House Republican retreat as he caps first week in officeTrump pushes for border crackdown, says ‘we have no apologies and we’re moving very fast’
Read more »