Debate 2nd Speaker LGBT

I’m the second speaker for the proposition team and our stand is transgender should be classified as the third gender. My first point is that transgender should be given a proper recognition in the society. Let’s be honest, there’s a good chance that you have not heard of Transgender Day of Remembrance. How often do we actually think about the “T” in LGBT? Over the years, there have been far too many cases of hate crimes that have been motivated by an individual’s sexual preference.

Often, what prompt these crimes are motivations of fear and ignorance. Human sexuality is extremely complicated – how should one view the sexuality of a transgender person? If he or she are post-op, does that mean they’re still technically transgender? Well, one would have to say that all crimes committed against transgender men and women are motivated by homophobia (negative feelings/attitudes against LGBT).

But is this necessarily the right view to view this subject? The Transgender Day of Remembrance started in the late 90s, and it is a day set aside to remember those members of the trans community who have been killed, murdered in the previous years for simply being trans or being perceived to be trans. One such case, being Rita Hester who was 34 years old when she was found dead in her apartment in 1998.

This case was tragic for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that it achieved less national attention than the murder of Matthew Shepard, which happened five weeks earlier (a white male). There are still many more questions that are unanswered, but what is certain is the effect these kinds of crimes have had on the LGBT community and what the lack of attention and action means. In conclusion, my team is clearly right in saying transgender should be classified as the third gender because they should be given a proper recognition in the society.