Balaki

There was this woman in a red suit interviewed at Umagang Kay Ganda this morning about "balakis", or people who have undergone sex change. I’m trying to look for the video but I guess it’s too early for someone to upload it (or probably too insignificant). I don’t know if the woman is a lawyer or a doctor, or anyone who might possibly qualify to discuss that sensitive topic with any sense, but whoever she is, the gist of the interview sort of annoyed me.

The bit of it that I can remember is the interviewer asking the woman if a potential transsexual should think about his or her heart first (the desire to be a member of the opposite sex) or to be practical about the decision (meaning, not to go ahead with it because of the social stigma and trauma that will result from it). The woman said that one should think about the kid that might be born from the union. She said the kid should be protected from inheriting the social stigma from his or her transsexual parents and the best way to do this is not to bear children at all or simply say no to one’s heart (or refuse a sex change).

Shouldn’t there be a third option somewhere?

Namely, to say Fuck You to society and live your life the way you want it? To be free to make choices about your body and your gender and your lover? So, a child will be born from a same-sex union (a pregnant man expects his first child this July). The question shouldn’t be. "Does the child deserve to be born to a life of social torture?" but rather "Why should society torture this child and his or her parents? Do we, as members, have the right?"

I understand that I can easily say this since I am not in a transsexual’s shoes. I wouldn’t honestly know how it is and I can’t claim to understand. There might be no third option, in the end. 

I believe in trying, though.