I Changed My Gender, Not My Politics

Lying in bed, contemplating life, thinking about Ludwig von Mises and his Austrian Economics ideas on Human Action… then wondering if, in this dress, inertia might be the stronger force (sorry economics nerd joke)

A two-for-one day. I’m on fire…..

My plan today was simple, head up to the MYTT rooftop bar with my laptop, sip something cold, and write in peace. Instead, my funny little Pattaya taxi, which in this town means climbing into the back of a pick-up truck that endlessly loops the resort, decided to dump me right in the middle of what can only be described as a prime dirty old man prostitute zone. I think the locals call it Treetown. Its VIILE!!

So, me being me, provocative as hell, I thought: why not? Let’s plonk myself down in the heart of this human cesspit and bang out a Substack article. And that’s exactly what I’m doing, right now.

Trigger Warning: I might just piss you off today!

I’ve transitioned. I’ve dealt with the social fallout, the family turmoil, the late-night tears, the surgeries, the lot. And yes, I’ve softened in some ways politically, I’m more compassionate, more open. But fundamentally? My politics haven’t budged.

What has changed is that I see nuance now in ways I never did before. In fact, I’ve become nuance. Most people on the political right despise people like me. To them, I’m either a pervert, an autogynephile, or just some sort of freak. In their eyes, I am not, and never will be, a woman.

But here’s where I land: I’ll never be a biological woman. I’ll always be transgender. You can call me a transgender woman if you want, or just a transgender person. I’m not offended if you don’t. That’s what I am, and I own it. What matters is that I now recognise people have the choice to see me through their own lens, and that’s fine.

The difference is that I see the world with more nuanced eyes than I ever did before. Transition hasn’t rewritten my politics, but it has taught me that reality is messy, identity is complex, and that’s okay. The left want slogans, the right want absolutes but I’m living proof the world isn’t that simple.

My politics - Before transition, I would sit reading Allister Heath in The Telegraph nodding like one of those little dashboard dogs, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep to each of his articles. You would actually find it hard to get a cigarette paper between us on most opinions. After transition? Same dog, same nod. Great article about Europe today btw!!. Europe has become the world’s laughing stock

At my hardest edge, I was an Ayn Rand-style objectivist. At my softest, I was a Milton Friedman-style free-marketeer. These days I’m somewhere in the middle but nearer Milton!!, but one thing I know with certainty: I’m not remotely left-wing or socialist.

And here’s the rub. Since I’ve transitioned and met a lot more trans people, there seems to be an unspoken expectation: that I’ll be left-wing. That I’ll believe government should foot the bill for transition. That I’ll nod along when someone calls breast implants “life-saving surgery.”

Well, I don’t.

If I want a better pair of tits, I get a job and I pay for them. If you want a better pair of tits, you should too. It’s not life-saving, it’s life-improving - its basically better tits. Harsh? Maybe. Honest? Absolutely.

I keep my mouth shut in trans circles, because most don’t agree with me. They see the world through a very different lens. Many are passive observers of economics, reactive observers of society. I studied society, and I lived economics. I invested my money, my life in markets. I have put my money where my mouth us! I know what I believe, and nothing in transition changes that.

That doesn’t mean I don’t like them. Many are lovely. But economically? We’re miles apart.

At times, it feels a bit like an astronomer trying to reason with an astrologist, we might both be looking up at the same sky, but we’re speaking entirely different languages. I’m coming from a place of theory, practice, and markets; they’re often coming from pure emotion. It’s not that their feelings aren’t real, they are but it means we rarely meet on the same ground.

And for the record, no, I’m not a Trump devotee either. He loves spending money and being liked far too much. I don’t think he’ll fix a damn thing. 50 trillion USA debt incoming!! As the economist Lynn Alden says, “nothing stops this train”. The US will keep spending money, as will Europe, wrecking the futures of millions of people. Ironically, she happens to be transgender, but she never talks about it. I have immense respect for that. I’m also happy that I do talk about it, its a personal decision. I also have immense respect that she basically keeps the subject at economics.

So yes: I changed my gender. But not my politics.