but there are parallels. There are differences as well, but to pretend as if there are no parallels is also intellectually dishonest. Where the parallel has meaning is in the basic philosophical foundation of one's thinking on why transgendered people should be respected: You are respecting their right to self-identify and not let a social construct (which they find limiting) wholly define who they are. That philosophy is transferrable into the transrace arena.

People's conceptions of race and gender greatly differ as it pertains to identity politics. Some don't want transgendered people to be able to challenge the conventional definitions of what gender, 'male' and 'female' and 'marriage' mean - others don't want what we're calling 'transrace' people to be able to challenge those conventional definitions of race. Both want people to shut up and fit within the conventional boxes of both gender and race, but are approaching that conclusion from very different paths.

There are parallels and there are differences with gender and race, and sometimes those difference don't have as much to do with the social constructs as it does the person who has developed an identity around those constructs, and reflexively seeks to defend those constructs based on how they self-identify.


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