The rehearsal tonight was a complete disaster. Just a week more to the performance and we are still in a mess. No wonder Jennifer was so angry with us. It was our first practice session with the orchestra and the conductor, yet we did so badly. It was really a loss of face for us.
I read from the papers on Sunday about a transsexual getting married - the first of such case in Malaysia. The couple was married in a Christian church, and she (who used to be a he) was recognised as a woman and allowed to marry a man in the Christian way. However, the Malaysian government is not recognising the marriage.
In 1996, when the Women's Charter was changing the rule allowing transsexuals to get married, there was a lot of uproar from the Christian churches who wanted the Bill to be repealed on the basis that transsexuality is going against what God has given. But if one has heard a transsexual's story, one can then empathise on the agony faced by one of them.
Transsexuals are not the same as homosexuals. Homosexuality for some may be just a stage where people may outgrow. Some people choose the homosexuality way of life because they are more inclined towards that aspect. There is no right or wrong as long as they are happy with the way they lead their lives.
Transsexuality, on the other hand, goes much further than just being a plain homosexual. One can be a homosexual and yet behave as manly or as womanly as the gender dictates. Transsexuals often felt they were another gender trapped in the opposite gender's body. A man trapped in a woman's body, or a woman trapped in a man's body.
Transsexuals have to go through a series of psychiatric tests to determine they really want to live the life of the opposite gender before they are recommended to go for the sex change operation. Thus the psychiatrist has to determine that the one that was born a male really yearns to live life as a female, and the one that was born a female really wants to live life as a male.
I feel that transsexuals have rights to have their own happiness too. They cannot help what they are. They are true to themselves as well as their own identities, despite the non-acceptance and being outcast by society in general. More than anything, they will want someone who can accept them for what they are (be it before or after the sex change). And more and more Christian churches in the world are accepting transsexual marriages. This shows that people are getting more open and accepting.
The Women's Charter now has a clause stating that a couple of opposite genders can get married as long as it is indicated on the identity card. So even if someone who was born a woman but changed her sex to be a man and indicated in the identity card that the sex is male, he can marry someone who is either a born female or a transsexual female. Messy and complicated, but that is a facet of life which is slowly gaining acceptance.
I do empathise with transsexuals and the turmoils they have to face before finally being what they finally become. I wish I can reach out to them if I can. However, I am happy remaining a female, despite all the biological "sufferings" we have to go through, and still want a partner who is a straight and real male, without all the complicating sex changes.
I read from the papers on Sunday about a transsexual getting married - the first of such case in Malaysia. The couple was married in a Christian church, and she (who used to be a he) was recognised as a woman and allowed to marry a man in the Christian way. However, the Malaysian government is not recognising the marriage.
In 1996, when the Women's Charter was changing the rule allowing transsexuals to get married, there was a lot of uproar from the Christian churches who wanted the Bill to be repealed on the basis that transsexuality is going against what God has given. But if one has heard a transsexual's story, one can then empathise on the agony faced by one of them.
Transsexuals are not the same as homosexuals. Homosexuality for some may be just a stage where people may outgrow. Some people choose the homosexuality way of life because they are more inclined towards that aspect. There is no right or wrong as long as they are happy with the way they lead their lives.
Transsexuality, on the other hand, goes much further than just being a plain homosexual. One can be a homosexual and yet behave as manly or as womanly as the gender dictates. Transsexuals often felt they were another gender trapped in the opposite gender's body. A man trapped in a woman's body, or a woman trapped in a man's body.
Transsexuals have to go through a series of psychiatric tests to determine they really want to live the life of the opposite gender before they are recommended to go for the sex change operation. Thus the psychiatrist has to determine that the one that was born a male really yearns to live life as a female, and the one that was born a female really wants to live life as a male.
I feel that transsexuals have rights to have their own happiness too. They cannot help what they are. They are true to themselves as well as their own identities, despite the non-acceptance and being outcast by society in general. More than anything, they will want someone who can accept them for what they are (be it before or after the sex change). And more and more Christian churches in the world are accepting transsexual marriages. This shows that people are getting more open and accepting.
The Women's Charter now has a clause stating that a couple of opposite genders can get married as long as it is indicated on the identity card. So even if someone who was born a woman but changed her sex to be a man and indicated in the identity card that the sex is male, he can marry someone who is either a born female or a transsexual female. Messy and complicated, but that is a facet of life which is slowly gaining acceptance.
I do empathise with transsexuals and the turmoils they have to face before finally being what they finally become. I wish I can reach out to them if I can. However, I am happy remaining a female, despite all the biological "sufferings" we have to go through, and still want a partner who is a straight and real male, without all the complicating sex changes.
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