Anonymous asked: I was wondering about your thoughts on: Can a trans* man identify as a lesbian. My best friend is a trans* man and has recently been rejected by the lesbian community (and these are local but well-known feminist/lesbians) and told he cannot identify as such. For me it seems that he should be able to still identify as a lesbian despite the fact the he no longer identifies as female. Thoughts?
As a cis-gendered straight male, I really don’t think I’m in a position to really understand the implications of this situation. I don’t want to pretend to have a universal answer to something I’m way too privileged to be confronted to in a way that would allow me to have a strong opinion on it.
I feel like this is an issue around categories that have limitations. I don’t think the solution will be found in an abstract discussion about the definitions and boundaries of categories such as trans*man, lesbian, etc. This is an issue that I would think should be resolved as a consensus based on relationships between the people involved, and the needs of either. On the one hand I think that a trans*man should be able to identify as lesbian, especially if he has spent a good portion of his life as a woman and/or lesbian. On the other hand, I can understand that lesbians would want to have a safe-space in which men are not welcome.
I really have no idea.
