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Jaquelyn Salinas

Professor Batty

English 101

09 May 2018

A Soul Without Gender

Throughout the years, transgenderism has played a huge role in our society, the

transgender community has grown significantly. According to the Williams Institute, there are

about 700,000 people that identify themselves as transgender. They represent about 3% of the

American population. 41% of them try to kill themselves at some point in their lives.

Recognizing who they are and deciding to start gender transition can take a lot of reflection.

Transgender people risk social stigma, discrimination, and harassment when they tell other

people who they really are. Some of them also have to go through poverty because they spend all

their money on surgeries without any medical insurance. A clear example of how hard life for

transgender people can be Azucar, a character from the book ​Still Water Saints.​ She is a

transgender person that was born as a male, but at the age of 13 she discovered her gender to be a

female. She is a dancer and singer at this place called La Chuparosa. She doesn’t like the job but

she needs the money for her surgery. Although people believe being transgender is not right and

that it is against God’s will, I argue that through Azucar we learn that transgender people are

worth some respect because they're fighters and they deserve to be treated with fairness and

equality just like any other human being.

What does it mean to be transgender? A transgender person, not “transgendered,” is

someone whose sex assigned at birth is different from who they know they are on the inside. It
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includes people who have medically transitioned to align their internal knowledge of gender with

their physical presentation, and those who haven’t transitioned (Human Rights Campaign).

Being transgender has nothing to do with sexual orientation. Just like a cisgender woman (a

woman whose gender identity corresponds with her birth sex), a trans woman who is sexually

attracted to only men identifies as straight. According to an article called ​What it Means to be

Transgender, ​a transgender person can identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight, pansexual, etc

(Valens). These people have been around since ancient civilizations, from Asia to the Americas,

in which they were often referred to as the third gender. In 2015, The Washington Post updated

its style guide to include the singular they to describe people who "identify as neither male nor

female." It is increasingly common for people who have a non binary gender identity to use

they/them as their pronoun. Therefore, when referring to a transgender person, we have to

properly address them in a way that they don’t feel disrespected because they deserve to be

treated like any other person.

The transgender community face different challenges throughout their lives. One of them

are mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. For some

transgender people, the difference between the gender they are thought to be at birth and the

gender they know themselves to be can lead to serious emotional distress that affects their health

and everyday lives if not addressed. Gender dysphoria is the medical diagnosis for someone who

experiences this distress (National Center for transgender Equality). Although Azucar never

presented any of these conditions, she did go through bullying and discrimination. As the book

says “ I’ve seen the way they stare at me while I wait with them at the bus stop, the way they roll

their eyes, hiding their mouths behind their hands whispering in Spanish because they think I
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don’t speak it” (Espinoza 90). However, she never lets that get to her because she is very

confident about the way she looks. “It’s all about confidence. The way I hold my shoulders, keep

my back straight, never slouching, always crossing my legs, says to people that I know I’m a

woman. A real chingona”(Espinoza 90). Yet, she believes that transitioning with this surgery will

make people respect her more. In addition, conditions such as anxiety disorders, depression and

other mental health conditions are not caused by having a transgender identity; they're a result of

the intolerance many transgender people have to deal with.

The most common way that transgender people use to have a better appearance to avoid

this intolerance is transitioning; a process that some transgender people undergo when they

decide to live as the gender with which they identify, rather than the one they were assigned at

birth. A transgender person transitioning is not “becoming” a man or a woman; they are starting

to live openly as their true gender. Transitioning can include medical components such as

hormone therapy and surgery. However, not every transition involves medical interventions.

Many people can’t pursue them because of cost, as it happened to Azucar. She has been saving

for this operation for such a long time, and when the time comes she chooses to start a family

over the surgery. “The money will be enough to last us for a while until I find another job. We’ll

settle down. Find a small place with a yard for you to run around in and trees for you to climb”

(Espinoza 101). This act demonstrates how Azucar’s desire to transition is not stronger than her

desire for a family however, this is another example of how transgender people have a lot of

sacrifices to make so they can live as a “normal person.”

Because prejudices and discrimination are so common, transgender people are more

likely to not have a family. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
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foundation, this is because family members don’t accept what these have discovered about

themselves and also because the process of adopting a child is very difficult due to the

psychological problems that having a transgender parent can cause; even though it’s been proved

by The International Journal of Transgenderism that there is no evidence that a parent’s gender

identity affects the gender identity of their children. The process is also difficult because legal

rights for transgender spouses and parents are unclear. Transgender people can be legally

married with a heterosexual or same sex relationship depending on their state but some

transgender people are sometimes denied parental rights due to ignorance and prejudice

(Transgender Adoption). In the book, Azucar is an example of this, she finds this abandoned

child. She’s afraid of keeping him but she’s also afraid of losing the opportunity to have a

family, to have someone look after her when she’s old. Also a person that would tell her story of

how she reunited with the women she should’ve been (Espinoza 101). She knows that if she tries

to adopt the baby they will take him away from her so she decides to run away with him.

Prejudicial acts are more likely to be done by religious people. These people believe that

being transgender is not the way to walk in obedience to Christ. They believe that the Bible

teaches that God made us male or female, and no matter our own feelings or confusion, we

should act in accordance with the biological reality of God’s good design. However, I still argue

that there’s nothing wrong about being transgender because God is love and he loves everyone

regardless of our sins. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet

sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans​ ​5:8​ ​KJV​​). The transgender community is made up of

fighters. Every day of their lives, they wake up and fight with a society that judges them from

head to toes from the moment they step out of their house to the moment they go back inside.
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Transgender people aren’t wrong. The wrong ones are those who judge because God says “ He

that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her” (​​John​ ​8:7​ ​KJV​​). Which means that

everyone has their own demons. Therefore, transgender should be treated with fairness and

equality because they’re just souls with their own demons like the book says.

In conclusion, transgender it’s just a word that describes people who go through different

struggles but they still keep their head up and continue to fight for their right to be treated

equally regardless of their gender and appearance. Being transgender is very difficult but it’s

because we make it difficult for them. If gender was like the color of our eyes no one would

judge or disagree that they’re brown or green because it’s just how they are and no one can

change that. In the book ​Still Water Saints​, we learn about many different characters, we learn

that they struggle with their self esteem, problems with grieving, drugs and many different

things, but I decided to write about Azucar, a successful female that has overcome all her

struggles and is very proud of herself. This character caught my attention because through her I

see the struggles that these people face everyday. This makes me wonder how can we live in

such an unfair world, full of people pretending to be something they’re not with all their

prejudices and fake beliefs about how a person should be. So all I can say is stop judging and

start to spread love. Let’s live a life where the term gender doesn’t exist and doesn’t affect us in

any way.
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Works Cited

Espinoza, Alex. ​Still Water Saints: a Novel​. Picador, 2013.

“Frequently Asked Questions about Transgender People.” National Center for Transgender

Equality, 11 July 2016,

transequality.org/issues/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about-transgender-people.

Human Rights Campaign. “Reporting About Transgender People? Read This.” ​Human Rights

Campaign​, www.hrc.org/resources/reporting-about-transgender-people-read-this.

The Holy Bible: New International Version Containing the Old Testament and the New

Testament​. Zondervan, 2009.

“Transgender Adoption.” ​It's Conceivable​,

itsconceivablenow.com/2011/09/18/transgender-adoption/.

Valens, Ana. “What It Means to Be Transgender: A Guide to a Modern Civil Rights Issue.” The

Daily Dot, 9 June 2017, www.dailydot.com/irl/what-does-transgender-mean/.

“What Does the Bible Say About Transgenderism?” ​The Gospel Coalition​,

www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/what-does-the-bible-say-about-transge

nderism/.