Pink Planet--Crossing Borders

Going through Immigration and Customs is stressful for everyone, but LGBT travellers face a whole other set of challenges. For a variety of perspectives, along with some practical suggestions, check out my August 15 column at www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/680107

On August 27 Maclean's magazine published a piece by Mark Steyn entitled, "Do you notice anything shrivelling?" Steyn quoted from the above-mentioned column, but his intentions were very different. My response was published in the September 28 issue:

Dear Editor,

I was saddened to see how my August 15 Toronto Star column on border crossings was used in Mark Steyn's column entitled, "Do you notice anything shrivelling?" In his column Steyn seems uncomfortable with the level of diversity that has always existed in human societies. He appears to suggest that trans and gender variant travellers should not hope for the same level of respect that many of us expect when crossing borders. The travellers I interviewed are not expecting border guards to be experts on gender theory, they just want them to listen. I wonder if Steyn has listened closely to any trans or gender variant folks describing their experiences; if he had he might understand that their gender is no more a personal choice than his.

Regardless of whether the Toronto Star is on "the hunt for new bigotries," they haven't found a new one here. Transgender and transsexual people have been outlawed, discriminated against and murdered for centuries if not millennia. On the other hand, they've also been held in high esteem for centuries in some cultures, but Steyn doesn't show much interest in that, dismissing two-spirited traditions as "supposedly some First Nations thing."

I'm disappointed that my column was used in this small-minded piece and that the people I interviewed were shown such disrespect.

Julia Steinecke