kabloomybuzz,
Thank you for taking the time to write a post that explains the gender spectrum. I strongly believe that in order to fight discrimination, we need to fight ignorance.
Often times, people misunderstand the relationship between gender identity and sexual orientation. Gender identity involves how an individual's psychological perception of themselves relates to their physicality, that is, how he/she feels in his/her own skin.
Societal definitions of gender will likely influence an individual's perceptions, so the determination of gender identity will likely be affected by how an individual feels he/she fits into society's gender roles.
A sexual orientation label is determined by the gender(s) to which an individual finds themselves attracted. IMO, the gender identity, not the biological sex, of the people involved in a sexual relationship determines the label. (Frankly, outside of academic discussions and self-identification, I don't see why labels are required. In other words, let the people involved in a relationship define it for themselves.)
In my experience, when trying to reach out to people who are unsympathetic to the plight of transgendered individuals, describing the gender spectrum (esp. the definition of "intersexed.") is a useful tool.
The rationale I use is this:
1) We know a certain percentage of individuals are born intersexed through no fault of their own.
2) Being intersexed can manifest in a variety of ways: Chromosomal or hormonal differences, differences in internal sex organs with "normal" external genitalia or vice versa.
3) Given that not all intersex variations manifest in the same way or stem from a single cause, it is possible that there may be other intersex conditions that we are not yet able to identify.
4) Knowing the complex forces at work, it would be cruel to criticize an individual with gender identity issues, given that they are likely not in complete control of all of the factors that affect it.
I hope that discussions like these will help to shine a light on this issue and encourage people to treat others with compassion, irrespective of their biological gender, gender identity or sexual orientation.
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