Quote:I haven't read this whole thread, but here's my take:

 

Bruce Jenner should not win an award for this.  He is not a "hero."  What he did takes courage, but coming out transgender is not exactly the same as athletes fighting through disease and the like.  I mean, come on.

 

I do not in any way condone the treatment of LBGT people as "sub-human."  They should not be abused, ridiculed, or harassed.  They should be allowed to do as they please, because our Constitution guarantees that right as long as they aren't breaking the law.

 

That said, when one's mental state demands that their biology is incorrect, we have a mental issue, not a physical one.  This isn't some big reveal of one's true self. 

 

It's akin to me believing my entire life that I am a duck.  I look at my skin and my hair and my lack of wings and think, "Why in the world did I have to be born in this human body?  I know that I'm really a duck on the inside!"  So I begin to behave as a duck.  I quack and eat insects.  I spend most of my life in the water. 

 

One day, I muster up my courage, grab my life savings, and go have the surgeries to web my feet, graft feathers to my skin, and manipulate my genitalia so that it's inflatable and corkscrew shaped.  Finally, I've revealed to the world who I really am.

 

But hey, even if I don't spring for the surgery, I'm still a duck on the inside!

 

This is an extreme example, but it gets my point across.  Men and women are fundamentally different on a genetic level.  Many of you have said that there are complex mental, emotional, and spiritual issues involved here--and I agree wholeheartedly.  But we all know what would happen to me if the above scenario were true.

 

I agree that mistreatment of LBGT individuals needs to be confronted and stopped--everyone has a right to live and exist in the way they so choose. It's a serious problem, much like the way the mentally disabled were once handled.

 

Again, my opinion above does IN NO WAY condones mistreatment of this individuals.  It's just my opinion.

 

That is the other problem with this discussion.  You can't have an opinion that doesn't totally agree with what Jenner does without being look down upon and perceived to hate the lgbt community.  For a very large part of the population, I don't think thats true.

 

Not thinking what she has done isn't deserving of an award for courage doesn't mean you are against the lgbt community.

 

The world is constantly changing, some people are resistant to change and it takes time for everyone to come around.

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