Allow me to share a couple of articles. You should really read them if you have any doubt of the danger we face. The incoming Trump administration is intending to “eradicate trans people.” This isn’t news. They’ve been saying it openly for a couple of years now.
I’m sure you’ve seen me hypothesize that the Christian Right wants to drive trans people out of the public sphere. That they would be happy if we didn’t exist. And maybe you thought it was hyperbole.
With the widespread idiocy in the last few days regarding the LGBT community at large, and specifically the Trans community, let me explain the Trans experience in the most succinct way I know: Your brain, not your body is the seat, source, and home of your identity. If you, as you are now, with all your likes, dislikes, hates, loves, preferences, tastes, and all those things that define you as you, woke up tomorrow with the opposite gender’s genitals, you would be living in the Trans experience. Now, try for just 10 seconds to imagine not only the internal, “This is wrong!” but also having the entire world tell you that you CAN’T (not shouldn’t) but CANNOT be who you are at the very core of your soul. THAT is what it means to be Transgender.
Whether you understand why a transgender person is transgender or not; whether that is a choice you would make or not; whether you are comfortable around them or not; they deserve tolerance, understanding, support, love, and to be championed. No matter who the person was “before transition” they are still, at the core of their being, the same person “after transition”. If you loved them “before” why can’t you love them “after”. A “sister” doesn’t “become a brother”, they always were one, it’s just that you couldn’t SEE that they were a brother and not a sister. Transition is nothing more than making a physical change so that others can see what’s inside. In many ways, transition is on the same level as dying one’s hair, losing weight, having plastic surgery, or any other form of body modification done to make us feel more comfortable in our own skins. Yes, Transition is an extremely difficult process. Yes, it is far more extreme than dying one’s hair, and I have yet to meet a Trans person who didn’t take their choices with every ounce of the gravity that those choices deserve. Until you have personally had to choose between living a lie, dying a truthful suicide, or going through one of the world’s most humiliating processes of change, do not presume to assume that you “know what those people are really after.” I can tell you, from deep, direct, constant contact with not just one, but many Trans people, what they are really after is love, acceptance, and their own truth of identity. None of that should threaten or frighten you. If seeing them around does either of those things to you, that is ignorance, intolerance, and unacceptable. Get over yourself.
PS: This is not directed at anyone I know personally, but rather some things happening in the society.
Yesterday, I stopped to buy gas, as my tank was low, and it’s a good idea to keep your tank full, even if the price is skyrocketing. I completed my purchase, and was busy recording odometer reading, etc in order to compute MPG. Suddenly, someone knocked on my car window, and startled me greatly.
I turned to see who was wanting my attention at a gas station. To my surprise, it was the attendant. Thinking that perhaps there had been some problem with my credit card, I opened the door to inquire as to the issue. To my great surprise, she looked at me, and asked “How many assholes do you run into in a day?” That caught me more than a bit off-guard, so I replied rather succinctly, “Too many.” As I waited for the punchline to what seemed that it must be a joke, she continued, “I hear you! We sisters have to stick together!”
At that point, I mumbled some sort of agreement, and she turned to return to her little booth. I finished recording my statistical data, all the while pondering the exchange. As I began to leave the station, I realized what must have prompted the attendant to approach me. On the rear window of my (new to me) car, I had recently placed an “EQTX” sticker from Equality Texas. That sticker was in the direct line of sight of the attendant’s booth.
If you are in Texas, and you don’t know about Equality Texas, I encourage you to visit their website and support their work any way you can. Even a simple window sticker can make a big difference! Thanks.
I quote the word representatives, because I am a Progressive Democrat trapped in Texas, in a highly Republican district. These people don’t represent me or my beliefs. Nonetheless, I still take the occasional opportunity to present the minority opinion.
Lately, I’ve been working on a letter in preparation for March 7, designated Lobby Day by Equality Texas (and no doubt other organizations around the country). I’m sending a letter via my pastor, rather than going in person. The reasons are explained in the letter, but likely already self-evident. Continue reading →
WikiLeaks. If you are at all informed, you’ve probably heard of the site. Maybe you have no idea what they do, or you do, and you just aren’t interested. Well, if you believe like me that the First Amendment was first for a reason, you should be interested. Credo Action is circulating a petition to save the site from what is tantamount to official oppression. See below the text of the email they are asking me to send to you, my dear reader. Continue reading →
I am a well educated woman, a lesbian, and an eclectic Pagan. I am loving and giving. I am a caretaker type, who often fails miserably at self care. I have fibromyalgia, seizure disorder, and AFib.
I am complex, complicated, and worth the effort.
An Aging Trans Woman 