I‘m going to say something here that is bound to get me in trouble. I believe that not only do trans people of all types need to band together in a unified “transgender” movement, despite our individual differences. I also believe we have an important place in the larger LGBT movement. Not only that, but I believe we must find ways to support and band with larger movements for social justice and freedom all around the world.
The time is NOW!
If we want trans rights now, we need to speak out with the strikers in Wisconsin. If we demand our basic freedom, we need to support the free peoples of Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Yemen and Bahrain. If we want to end oppression of trans people, we must work to end oppression wherever it may be found. We should concern ourselves with the plight of the poor and the powerless on the streets of New York; in the mountains of Appalachia; and in the fields of Afghanistan.
If you are saying to yourself right now, “But why should I concern myself with all of these other problems? I have my own problems.” Then you have answered your own question. This is the very attitude we, as transpeople are up against. Most folks don’t hate us, they just don’t see why they should be bothered to help. They have their own problems. And everything they hear and read and watch encourages this individual focus.
If we have learned anything from the recent actions in the Middle East and Africa, it is that change will only ever happen when the people band together. When we set aside individual concerns and turn out in numbers to demand freedom for all our Brothers and Sisters. We saw it in Egypt when bands of Christians stood and protected their Muslim allies as they prayed. We are seeing it in Wisconsin in the crowds that flood the Capital to say no to an unjust policy that will do nothing but hurt their neighbors. We see it anywhere people help each other out, simply because there is need.
We must remember that the fight for trans rights is the fight for human rights. We can either stand together and march towards victory or stand apart and suffer under the fists of oppression.
Hellooo California!!! Are you there!?!? Because I’ve got some things to say about this whole Gay Marriage issue.
Forgive me while I resort to internet slang but, OMG, WTF!!!!
Where is the liberal bastion of free thinking and human rights that I used to admire?!?!
What happened to the gleaming Camelot of the West Coast that seemed so open-minded and accepting to me when I was desperate to escape the Midwest 8 years ago?!
What kind of topsy-turvy, bizarro world do we live in where Gay Marriage is legalized in Iowa and Maine, but not California?!?!?!!?!
Seriously, you’re going to make me break the “!” and the “?” buttons on my keyboard if you keep this up Cali!!!
Somehow, I fail to grasp the logic of your Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Prop 8 but also allow to stand the 18,000 Gay Marriages that were performed during the minute and a half that all marriages were considered legal and sacred in your state.
Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t want to be the one to have to tell Mister Sulu that he can’t be married to the man he loves either. I’ve seen that guy wield a sword.
But you just can’t say that a certain group does not deserve the same rights as everyone else, except these folks who managed to cash in on our “Short time limited offer!” If I had known that Equal Marriage Rights were simply an infomercial offer, I would have encouraged my marriage oriented Gay friends to send in their $19.95 +S&H, tout suite!!! Maybe they could have gotten a Popeil Pocket Fisherman along with their marriage license. Or a set of Ginsu Knives as a wedding gift from the State of California!!!
I’m not saying I don’t think these folks don’t deserve to be married. They Do!!!! I’m just saying that the law shouldn’t be allowed to be seen as a “sometimes, if it’s convenient, or if we mess up it’s okay” kind of thing!!!
I just don’t see how your Supreme Court’s decision makes any logical sense California!
Of course I don’t really understand how we could have fought to assure equal marriage rights for all Californians (I was one of you at that time; a proud Angeleno!!), on a constitutional basis no less, only to have what was declared to be a Basic Human Right taken away by a so called “popular vote”!! Huh!?!? I thought Basic Human Rights, especially ones protected by writ of Constitution, were not open to the whims of “popular opinion”. Isn’t it the job of the courts to protect the Constitution from things like this?
Please forgive all the quotation marks I’m using here. I simply don’t believe that Proposition 8 had anything to do with popular opinion at all. I actually believe, foolish though I may be, that most Californians, most Americans in fact, are pretty open-minded and fair people. This is a country founded upon virtues of Tolerance and Respect.
It is my well-researched opinion that Proposition 8 is the result of a well-financed and bigoted campaign of hate and intolerance by a relatively small minority. I won’t name names here. I’ll just say “But isn’t that wrong Davey?”
But I digress. Allow me to reign in the sarcasm here and ask you all a question I have asked before.
Shouldn’t all Americans enjoy the same equal rights? Is there some thing that I’m missing that somehow makes homosexuals fundamentally undeserving of the same privileges that heterosexuals enjoy?
I have never understood the mindset that believes gay people are undermining basic family values whilst at the same time denying them the ability to support those very same values!!!
In the past few months I have heard many arguments for and against the issue of Gay Marriage. Even from people whose inclination would be to support our brothers and sisters in their fight. One argument along these lines that I’ve heard a lot of is that Gay People should leave “Marriage” alone as a strictly Christian Sacrament and settle for civil unions. I disagree.
First and foremost is the fact that our Government treats marriage and civil unions as different entities. With civil unions being a distinctly lower grade with fewer rights. I was “Married” once myself and believe me, whether or not the priest performed the ceremony didn’t amount to a hill of beans without the proper government forms and consents. I know when I did it, I had to get permission and approval from the great State of Illinois, as well as pay a fee. I’m pretty sure that makes it squarely an issue of “The State”. As in that which is separated from “The Church”.
I was somehow under the impression that one of the things that makes this a great democracy is our separation of church and state. I believe marriage is a civic issue. Marriage, although also a religious ceremony, is primarily a civic issue in this country. And we’re supposed to have a separation of church and state. So a civic issue, and I believe, a civil right it is.
It’s not so long ago that the same bigots who oppose Gay Marriage were calling interracial marriages unnatural and wrong. And calling the couples who dared to defy that sentiment perverts.
As for marriage being a Christian sacrament. Yes it is. But the idea and the label for it, long predates Christianity.
In the interest of full disclosure I should mention here that I am in fact an Ordained Minister and Student of Theology, among other things.
I’ve done a bit of digging about this, because I wanted to have something intelligent to say to the 500 people I spoke to at a rally in Northampton, MA back in November when Proposition 8 was first passed. A brief perusal of the history of marriage reveals that our concept of it has changed radically over the last couple thousand years. most noticeably and dramatically in the last century or two.
Arranged Marriages for instance are no longer common in the Western World. In fact this whole idea of marrying the person we love is really new! Women are no longer expected to maintain the home and bear a good crop of chilluns’. Men can no longer summarily dismiss their wives if they feel they have grown tired of her or she is somehow unclean.
And they certainly aren’t allowed to sell their daughters.
Why shouldn’t we allow Gay People to get married? Doesn’t that support the good moral values that religious nuts are always accusing homosexuals of undermining?
I’ll spare you the specific bible quotes. But trust me, for every piece of scripture I hear denigrating homosexuals, I could quote you ten other completely ridiculous scriptural laws forbidding all kinds of things that no Christian I know pays any attention to.
For one thing, The Lord is really effing serious about this whole “Not working on The Sabbath” thing. Violators are supposed to be stoned to death. By contrast, homosexuals are briefly mentioned as not being allowed to be part of His church.
To take this all a step further, Christ Himself was the one who turned all of that Old Testament nonsense on it’s ear and pretty much said we should all love each other and leave the judging up to Him. Presumably he was talking about Gay Folks as well as Sabbath Breakers and Menstruating Women.
To conclude, I believe that it is not Gay People trying to make a religious issue into a civil matter. Nor is it mainstream Christian folks trying to make a civil matter into a religious one.
It’s a few powerful bigots making a mockery of the teachings of Christianity and the Values of Good Americans to support their own closed minded and hateful beliefs.
Please. If you believe in this country. If you believe that all people should be allowed to lead lives of dignity and respect. If you believe that we should judge not, lest we be judged. If you believe in the ability of humanity to rise above our petty differences and move forward into the new Millennia. I urge you to support our Brothers and Sisters in California and around the country in their fight for equal rights and the chance to legally Marry the person they Love.
This is not just an issue for Californians, or for the LGBT Community. It is an issue for all of us.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
