Kaitlyn Bogas
THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — I’m reprinting a response to the Mischa Popoff ‘trans kids baloney’ article many of us have been following. This one was written by Kaitlyn Bogas:
COLUMNIST’S VIEWS ‘HATEFUL’
Monday, 20 February 2012 02:00 Letter to the Editor (Kelowna Daily Courier)
I’m not really sure where to start, or how to express my outrage over your recently published hateful commentary by Mischa Popoff.
Providing a forum for this type of bigotry goes far beyond the realm of freedom of expression. Where does Popoff claim to have acquired his expertise in the area of transsexualism?
I would venture a guess that his position on trans kids is far more likely to be motivated by religious hatred than any knowledge of scientific fact.
Where are these so-called “regretful” transsexuals? How many exist? Why aren’t their stories as readily available of say that of Chaz Bono?
One would believe, if these people are so concerned about teaching our young about this “abomination,” they would go to great lengths to support their claims with real-life stories of those to whom they refer in such columns.
It is frighteningly obvious these scare tactics employed by Popoff and those whose religious beliefs prevent a belief in science and medicine, are tremendously effective – and, thankfully for him, require no substantiation.
All humans are born with their own set of human rights. Those rights are non-negotiable, and singling out minority groups to oppress is a direct violation of those rights to exist as a human being.
Human rights must always trump religious freedom and the bigoted opinions which find their origins in the darkest corners of the Bible.
As a transsexual woman, who struggled through a tormented life, attempting to conform to my male body despite my female-wired brain, I can tell you with utmost honesty how important it would have been to me, so many years ago, to be given the information to identify a proper course of treatment before the masculinization of my body occurred at puberty.
I knew, as early as five years of age that something was not right, but I was never given the opportunity to do anything to help myself. It simply did not exist in the 1960s.
Today, with advances in science and medicine in general, we can begin to understand and treat this condition with understanding and compassion.
I would venture a guess that I know a far greater number of post-op transexual women than Popoff claims in his piece. As a post-op woman myself, I can vouch for the success of this treatment, as will all of my post-op friends, without exception.
Although specific statistics are hard to come by, my personal experience would suggest the widely stated success rate of gender reassignment surgery is very close to the 95 to 98 percent rate which any online research can provide. Find me another surgery of any type that can provide these results.
In general, any negative results usually stem from the reluctance of society to accept the post-op as their correct gender.
You have done a great disservice to both your community and those trans people who are members of that community who struggle to conform to society’s norms.
Kaitlyn Bogas
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/letters-to-the-editor/columnists-views-hateful.html
Other people have responded to the article as well, including an 81-year old trans woman. My thanks to everyone who wrote to the paper.
Previous posts on this topic: https://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/popoffs-trans-kids-baloney-article-triggers-transgender-hate-response/
Kaitlyn Bogas
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Categories: Discrimination, Equality, Civil Rights, Transgender, Transsexual, Trans
LEXIE CANNES STATE OF TRANS 
I think her comment, “people who’ve gone all the way through with gender-reassignment surgery only to realize after it’s too late that they and everyone who supported them on their journey to “self-discovery” were dead wrong.”, is based on one gentleman’s writings, Walt Heyer. For those that know his story, he had the surgery and then transitioned back because he felt led by God to do it. The truth is that A.) He never followed the standards of care which are meant to more accurately diagnose Gender Identity Disorder (Gender Dysphoria) and B.) in his biography, he claims that he didn’t have gender dysphoria to begin with. He has been invited to speak at several churches, BUT, the ones that tend to believe what he is saying, are the ones who will blindly believe whatever their pastor says as well, which is not scriptural. So, for the record, I am a Bible believing Christian, and I am a Transwoman, and the Bible does not talk about being Trans one way or the other despite comments about Deuteronomy 22:5 and other verses.
Roxanne
Great, great Letter. Well worded, well thought out. Thank you Kaitlyn! Huggz!!
First all that huge Kudos to Ms Bogas that is a great rebuttal to a misinformed and bigoted article. However Gender Identification Disorder ( GID ) is indefinite there are varying degrees of GID in both male to female and female to male transsexuals.Like Ms Bogas I too knew there was something wrong at a very early age and struggled with my birth gender all of my life.Ms Bogas states her personal struggle with GID very well and from the heart,we both struggled to conform to society’s norms and did not transition till later in life living as best we could to the point of marriage and fathering children and unhappily living a lie in our birth gender. As Ms Bogas states specific statistics are hard to come by if there are any at all to be found in regards transsexualism. . However the question is asked where are these “regretful” transsexuals? again these statistics if there are actually to be found are hard to find.I personally know post Op transwomen who knowing what they know now would not have put themselves in strops and had GRS. I know 2 transwomen that could have walked into any room and turned heads including their voice,both of which have returned to their birth gender due to doubts.I totally agree with allowing trans~kids to live in their lives in their preceved gender or if you will.. gender of choice,even giving them hormone blockers to stop the onset of puberty but intense counseling is a must fully informed and no surgery of any kind till at the very least till the age of consent . As I mentioned above there are varying degrees of GID, there are those “Post Op” transwomen that feel if you don’t under go GRS you are not a transsexual I was verbally brutally and viciously attacked by a post “OP” for stating my doubts and concerns about GRS,there is a lot of peer pressure in the trans community to complete our journey to” womanhood.I have all the paper work done letters signed for my GRS but I am seriously reconsidering this after talking to the regretful transsexuals I know.GRS is a one time shot and many documented things can and do go wrong in both of the GRS techniques that are available for the procedure it self.
Thank you for speaking up for the trans* community. It seems that recently we’ve made some real progress, but at the same time, the shadow of ignorance seems a bit darker. By continuing to shine our light when we can; we have a good chance of preventing the darkness from strangling freedom and dignity.
Thank you!
Dear Kaitlyn: You have a very broad and loose definition of the term “hateful.” Tell me, were you aware that I have made no judgments about your lifestyle choices?
And Sheelagh, if I’m really ignorant, please enlighten me. Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t mean they’re ignorant.
All the best.
Still awaiting enlightenment. Anyone?
It was always about you being a dick, no matter whether you wore a dress, or pants.
Everyone struggles with life. It’s so obnoxious that sexual dysphoria has become sainthood by liberal dysfunction. You’re not special. Stop acting all morally superior. No one has to like you or accept you or anyone else. Let’s start talking about hate speech from gays and trans people. They are not above reproach.
Sainthood? We’re still getting killed. What’s up with that? Any more ad hominem comments I’ll have to delete your posts. Post them instead on your FB page.
Michelle Tittler suffers from serious delusions, she’s been off her meds fo too long. she doesn’t just hate trans people, canada’s first nations people are high on her hate list. she has been disowned by her family, and i must say, i feel very sorry for her, and hope that her mental illness is dealt with in a professional, and caring manner. i have known this woman for 40 years…she’s falling fast.