furthermore, the idea they apparently aren't as intrinsically connected as they are is absurd to me. we can push back against the idea that gender = sexuality without removing how important and influential they both are to each other through a cultural lens. 1/10 https://twitter.com/gaysiriusblack/status/1315994969946181632

so many cis gay people have very complicated relationships wit their gender BECAUSE manhood and womanhood are defined in no small part by attraction to *just the opposite gender*. this is why many cisgender he/him lesbians and she/her gay men are a thing, as well as drag. 2/10

so keeping in mind that sexuality complicating gender feelings for CISGENDER people is a thing... when it comes to trans people? It becomes an entire goddamn gender riot. for so, SO many of us. of course it would!!! 3/10

we already have to content with knowingly being seen as 2 or more genders at any given time. because it's hard to ignore how everyone will see you as x when you're pre-transition, as x and y when in the middle, as y but still maybe x if you're really unlucky 4/10

while a lot of us denounce how exclusive the terminology of ftm and mtf is, a lot of us.. genuinely still feel like we had girlhoods and boyhoods of our own, even if we grew out of them to the point we became a gender not typical with that kind of background. 5/10

everyone is socialised the same to learn the rules of being a boy and girl in order to be pressured to not *step out of line*

we just have different expectations. a lot more of us than you'd think imposed our own onto ourselves too while young and not knowing our transness. 6/10

point is: we get a lot more experiences with different genders even early on, even when you would think we really didn't, and that complicates how we CONTEXTUALISE OURSELVES and our past experiences and connections we made to things before coming out as trans. 7/10

and guess what a loooooooad of trans people were before coming out as trans? yeah. we were LGB+.

most transhet people have that background of being oppressed for their attraction to a certain gender. the same one they commonly like after coming out as trans. 8/10

so you have trauma and a genuine understanding of homophobic oppression of a straight trans person, but that's not the end of solidarity.

transphobes don't see us as our genders. so they see transhets as GAY. they are constantly seen as gay people. 9/10

& having lived that experience so long, having to still known thats how youll be seen and treated by a majority of people who won't actually see you for YOU? yeah. transhets are GOING to have a complex relationship with sexuality. they have a sexuality in need of protection.10/10