Lesbian Visibility Day: What About Trans Lesbians?
🏳️🌈 26 April is International Lesbian Visibility Day. This could have been a standard calendar post congratulating everyone celebrating the day!
😐 But we are very tired of lesbian experience being discussed exclusively through cis experience… That is why we are here for our trans lesbian audience, to remind you once again that you are valid! 🏳️⚧️
🫶 With love, your women-loving-women trans NGO.
Contents
Beyond the blind spot
As a rule, when people talk about lesbian experience, they mean cis women by default.
Meanwhile, trans women often end up in a “blind spot”, as though trans lesbian experience and identity did not exist within the community.
We do not think that is fair, because transgender lesbians are an integral part of the wider lesbian community!
People often try to make us feel guilty for who we are and how we love. So today, we are reminding you once again:
You are not to blame
You are not to blame for being afraid to meet other women because you already expect transphobia and rejection.
You are not to blame if, despite your identity, your partner still perceived you as a “man” during your relationship.
You are not to blame for never having experienced teenage romance because of dysphoria.
You are not to blame when your crush tells you yet again that she is looking for a “real” or “biological” woman… or a man.
You are not to blame for feeling deeply embarrassed by your parents when they celebrate you “coming to your senses”, mistakenly believing that your relationship with a woman somehow “cancels out” your transition.
You are not to blame if people did not believe you were a lesbian, because “people only transition to being women so they can sleep with men”.
You are not to blame if you and your partner were once again seen as just another heterosexual couple.