| Jennifer Finney Boylan had me at the cucumber sandwiches — that is, the tray of sandwiches and the accompanying pitcher of gin and tonic that her mother made to introduce Jennifer, newly out as a trans woman, to the ladies in her bridge group. "Conservatives, Republicans, evangelicals," they had known Jennifer since she was a child — but not as Jennifer. "Now that I'd come out as trans, I was being unveiled, like a new iPhone," Boylan writes. "The doorbell rang. My heart pounded in my throat … A woman named Mary Alice looked me up and down. Then she said, 'Damn, Jennifer, you make a fine broad!'" If only. If only the conversation around transgender individuals and transgender rights could be as civilized as that of the bridge ladies, back in 2001. They didn't quite grasp the whole transgender thing, Boylan observes. "What they did understand was that I was a human being, the child of their friend, and that what I needed at that moment, above all, was love." That feels in short supply these days, as "conservatives, Republicans and evangelicals have made anti-transgender rhetoric a central pillar of their ideology." As painful, perhaps even more, are urgings from some progressives that issues of trans rights should be played down, "that we should just lie low until after November," or beyond, Boylan writes. "Try to imagine what it's like to have someone in your own party suggest that your identity, the struggle that in so many ways has defined your life, is a boutique issue," she says. Whatever your political perspective, this is a column that will help you see the world through another person's eyes and, I hope, with the empathy and understanding that are in all too short supply these days. Republicans have made anti-transgender rhetoric a central pillar of their ideology, so now some progressives say we should lie low until after the midterms. By Jennifer Finney Boylan ● Read more » | | | Kara-Murza has been making the case about Vladimir Putin for twenty years. The rest of the world has finally caught up The Opinions Essay ● By Christian Caryl ● Read more » | | | | Carbohydrates, not calories, are to blame for obesity. By David S. Ludwig ● Read more » |    | | | Just being on the app BeReal is itself a performative act. By Molly Roberts ● Read more » | | | Drag is nothing dangerous — including for children. By Sasha Velour ● Read more » | | | Hint: It's not the skirt. By Trey Burnette ● Read more » | | | | After contending with this off-its-rocker country, the last thing you want in entertainment is more uncertainty. By Brian Broome ● Read more » | | | | | |
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