My Brother Is Left Handed
The GCTC TRANSMISSION LINE
September 1995
JET TRAILS
by Jackie Evelyn Thorne

Trans-Port is a thriving little gender support group located in Portland, Oregon They have a booklet type newsletter of some 40 pages. The articles therein range from the mundane notices of meeting minutes, to a rather quirky serialized fiction story by Tammy C, the Secretary/Treasurer as well as several informative and educational items from a variety of authors. But to show you that Tammy is not totally warped, (although I do like her sense of humor) here is an interesting and thought provoking article she wrote in the August l995 edition of Trans-Port.

MY BROTHER IS LEFT HANDED
by Tammy C

My brother is a left handed person. Yes. It's true. He does everything with his left hand. He writes, eats, and does all of his other daily activities while favoring his left hand. It all started when he was very young. I was 2 years older than him, so I remember how my parents tried at first to discourage this behavior. They loved him and were very con- cerned about it. They appreciated how difficult life would be for a left handed person in a predominantly right handed culture. No matter what they did, however, it was still his preference to use his left hand.

Finally they accepted it and began to accommodate it. They bought him "special" scissors designed to be used by left handed people. They positioned him at the table so he was on my left so that when we ate we wouldn't be bumping elbows. They began treating him as perfectly normal even though he couldn't use his right hand the way the rest of us did. Now some people claim he was born this way, but I know otherwise. He got a lot of special attention by being left handed. He chose this behavior and my parents let him get away with it. In fact, at times they flaunted it.

I remember once when we went out to eat, my parents had my brother sit at the corner of the table. They explained to the waitress that he was left handed. I failed to see why it was so important to them to shock the waitress with this information. It not only was none of her business what my brother's lifestyle was, but she probably would rather not know about it anyway.

Most people do not care if you are that way, they just don't want to see it. There were many times that we went to a restaurant and the other patrons were subjected to seeing my brother using a fork or spoon with his left hand. It was rather embarrassing.

The interesting thing was, on the outside, he looked nor- mal. Other than his orientation as to hand preference, he was a nice, likable guy. In a million years you would never guess this abnormality about him unless you were observant when he opened a door, hammered a nail, or signed his name. Then it was very apparent that he was a southpaw.

As nice as my brother was, it was apparent that he was unconcerned about his behavior. He must have known that he could change if he really wanted to, but he seemed to be totally unconcerned about his preferring his left hand. This perverse course did not seem to bother his conscience in the least.

We came from a strict religious background, so the oppor- tunity was always available for him to rid himself of these practices. With prayer to God he could have overcome these desires and started using his right hand like everyone else. But he was weak.

His obvious indifference to his conduct and how it affected others is something to be concerned about. I have noticed this same apathy in other left handed people. They are very blatantly left handed and they don't care who they expose to their lifestyle. They vaunt themselves, proudly parading around without concern. I have seen it in banks, super- markets, and workplaces.

Yes, this attitude is getting worse and more widespread. I suspect it already exists in our schools and our children are being subjected to these flagrant acts. Our children, most of all, need protection. I am wondering why they have not passed a law to require people to be right handed before they are allowed to be teachers.

Left handed people have even started putting their propa- ganda out on the Internet where everyone, including child- ren, can have access to their twisted message. At one In- ternet site I found the quotation, "It has been proven that: The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body and the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, so from this we can conclude that left handed people are the only people in their right minds." This teaching implies that it is alright to be left handed, which is clearly contrary to what the Bible says where it glorifies Christ for being at God's right hand. Yes, the audacity of these people is alarming.

I am concerned about how far this attitude will go. Will left handed people start asking for tax cuts and employment protection next? The issues are shocking, but we need to face them no matter how disgusting and repulsive they are. If you feel as strongly about this as I do, then get involved. You may want to write to your state senator or legislative representative. You may even want to form a coalition to pass a ballot measure that would change our state constitution to prevent these kind of things. Don't get me wrong. I am not espousing hate of these people. We should show charity toward all our fellowmen, but we should hate the bad that they practice. If they repent and turn around from these perverse and sinful ways and learn to use their right hands like normal, decent people, then we should be willing to show them love and make an effort to treat them just like anyone else.

I just love satire in humor. Unfortunately the ones being satirized rarely recognize themselves as the subjects. This story can also be used to show how ridiculous the prejudice against gays and lesbians is, as well as the asinine nature of prejudice against transgendered people. Make a copy of this and give it to your favorite bigot.


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