One of the most common questions after telling someone you are
transsexual is - "So, are you
gay?" This question is a problem in many areas, but it brings into focus the fact that many people equate the
transgendered with the gay/
lesbian crowd. And in fact, there are often stereotypes connecting sexual orientation back to gender - gay males are often thought to be more feminine than the typical male, and many people conjure up a
butch dyke when they hear the term lesbian.
The fact is, a person's sexual orientation is a compeltely seperate issue from their self-identified gender.
Your sexual orientation defines simply what kind of people you find attractive. It's all about what a person looks like, what they act like, what their phsyical body has and what it doesn't have. It does not define how masculine/feminine one feels.
Your internal gender is how masculine or feminine you feel inside. Whether you identify more with one gender than the other (or somewhere in between). It helps you find a spot to fit into society, but doesn't say anything about the type of relationship you want to be involved in.
The simple fact is finding out one's sexual orientation implies nothing, absolutely nothing, about their gender idenfitication. And similarly, finding out one's gender situation cannot tell you who they are attracted to. It works just as we don't make these judgements when someone's straight, when they're cisgendered.