A left handed view... another analogy

Hi all... well it has been more than a while.. so sorry.

I want to share a little story shared with me by a loving Christian friend Mary Pearson who runs a website called Christian Gays. She is an adorable person and I find this little story so helpful. It's an encouragement and challenge to use that which you have been given to then bless and enlighten others.

I hope you enjoy it too... luv Scott xo

Discrimination against left-handers has historically been one of the deepest prejudices there is.

The bible contains over 100 favourable references to the right-hand and 25 unfavourable references to the left-hand. Example: The right hand of the lord doeth valiantly, the right hand of the lord is exalted (Psalm 118 vv15,16) The sheep are set on Christ's right hand and the goats on the left. Those on the right inherit the kingdom of God while those on the left depart into everlasting fire. The devil is nearly always portrayed as left-handed, and evil spirits lurk over the left shoulder, which is why you throw spilled salt over your left shoulder to ward them off.

Left-handers have been linguistically abused for centuries! There are hundreds of (mainly abusive) terms for left-handers. There are a lot of sayings where "right" is good and "left" is bad example: "being in your right mind", "the divine right of kings", it will be “all right in the end", as against being "left out", “left behind”, having "two left-feet", "a left-handed compliment" (one that is not really meant!)

Throughout history, lefties have been discriminated against. They have been burned as witches, refused as marriage partners, had their hands tied behind their back when they tried to write with the left hand (as in the case of my mother and brother), and beaten into orthodoxy.

I could write a lot on this subject. It’s one of my favourites but the point I’m trying to make is that I don’t believe there is anything wrong with me being left-handed, but for many years society did.

So the point I’m trying to make – maybe it’s getting lost in the analogy – is that I believe God created me left-handed. Many years ago OTHERS might have considered me a witch and burned me at the stake. I would have been made to feel “less than”, imperfect, wrong, bad, etc, but that wouldn’t have made it true. It would have been the wrong perception of OTHERS

So dear Ellie, as Terri said, we are all part of God’s great plan of diversity. We are all on the spectrum of how we feel about ourselves, our bodies, BUT we cannot dismiss that a lot of our issues are due to society’s perception of us (as gays and lesbians too). It’s just that being trans or intersex is a minority, like being left-handed, and in the past minorities were not accepted in society – especially Jewish society where “sameness” was critically important, and from which many of our prejudices have been derived.

Now, today, it’s not a big issue if you’re left-handed. In fact I feel very proud of the fact for many good reasons, but that’s off the track so I don’t want to get into it, but the change in society’s attitude toward lefties has only come by education and the knowledge that we are actually more gifted in some areas than others. Well who do you think did the research to find these things out? Righties???? I don’t think so. I think that left-handed people had to do the research and the education for us (lefties) to become accepted in society.

So who is going to do the research and education re trans people to be accepted in society??? Someone who has never experienced what it’s like? Or perhaps someone who has gone through all the injustices and prejudice, someone who understands the pain and trauma associated with it.

Mary Pearson