I have a client who is transgender; dude who thinks he's a woman. He told me he had a boyfriend and in conversation I stated that the boyfriend was gay. He/ She said no, he was straight because I am a woman inside. This made little sense to me. So the other night I was at my bar and I started talking about it with a younger girl who hangs there and the bartender. The girl is 24 and when I stated that I believed the boyfriend to be gay she said that it was because of my white male privileged upbringing that I did not understand. Amazed because she knows nothing about me, I asked her to explain herself. She states that it isn't what you look like or what parts you have, it is how you identify yourself. So being a smart ass I said, "OK, I'm black". She did't think it was as funny as the bartender.

It is fine if a person believes him or herself to be a man, woman or cow. It does not bother me in the least. But forcing others to classify them as something or someone they are not goes against all social norms and has negative societal consequences.