Transgender student emphasizes identity over orientation
By Melody Hanatani
Oct. 8, 2003 9:00 p.m.
Razi Michael Zarchy spent a lifetime questioning his gender
identity. Born a female, Zarchy always felt he had trouble
identifying with his assigned gender.
“I felt something was wrong my whole life, but I
couldn’t place my finger on it,” said Zarchy, a
third-year linguistics and anthropology student.
It was during the spring quarter of his freshman year that
Zarchy made the life-altering decision to identify as a male
transgendered person.
Zarchy has spent most of his life attracted to women, and since
he made the decision to identify as a transgendered male, he has
considered himself to be a transgendered heterosexual man.
Despite the distinction many transgendered people make between
sexual orientation and sexual identity, society tends to group
transgendered people with gay people ““ which is apparent in
the commonly used term “LGBT.”
In addition, many organizations working for lesbian, gay and
bisexual rights also work for transgendered rights despite the fact
one can be transgendered and have a heterosexual orientation. The
LGBT Resource Center is an example.
Steven Leider, student affairs officer for the LGBT Resource
Center, said many organizations combine these groups’ rights
because like lesbians, gays and bisexuals, transgendered people are
an oppressed minority and are seen to be deviant from accepted
societal norms.
“The reason why most people classify the two (together) is
because they don’t think about the difference,” Leider
said. “When LGBT people are attacked, it’s because they
don’t conform to someone’s idea of appropriate gender
behavior.”
Leider added that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered civil
rights movements are closely aligned for the same reason they are
usually grouped together ““ their oppression comes from a
common non-acceptance.
“Some people perceive them as different struggles for
civil rights, but civil rights are civil rights regardless of
whether they are based on color of skin … or what gender you
identify yourself by,” Leider said.
Emilia Lombardi, a transgendered person and a former UCLA
post-doctoral student, said another reason LGBT is grouped together
is because during the transgender movement of the early 1990s, many
trans-activists were also “queer” identified. As a
result, many networking and political activities occurred between
the two circles.
Lombardi, who was born a male, considers herself to be a
transgendered lesbian female. Lombardi is now a sociology professor
at the University of Pittsburgh.
“I’m not only trans-identified, but queer
identified. I’m not queer because I’m trans, I’m
queer because I like women,” Lombardi said.
In determining whether one is a transgendered person, Zarchy
believes gender identification is the deciding factor, not sexual
assignment at birth.
“If you were assigned as male at birth but identify as
female, it doesn’t matter if you’ve had surgery or not,
if you identify as female and are attracted to men, then
you’re probably straight,” Zarchy said.
Some believe lesbian, gay and bisexual people can identify with
transgendered traits, making the grouping logical.
James Schultz, director of the LGBT studies program, said
because “drag queens” or “butch lesbians”
have traditionally felt aspects of gay or lesbian life,
cross-gendered identification and sexual orientation have always
been linked.
“Even the most feminine-identified lesbian is
transgendered to a small extent,” Schultz said.
Though the association between the two groups is understandable
to some, Zarchy finds the misconception that all transgendered
people are lesbian, gay or bisexual to be offensive.Â
“The general public knows so little,” Zarchy
said.
Since making his transition, Zarchy said he has received no
negative reaction and feels fortunate that his decision to identify
as a transgendered male was supported by loved ones.
“Many parents throw their kids out of the house when
something like this happens. I’m really lucky,” Zarchy
said.
