Feb 19, 2008

Tuesday's ramble

Well here it is Tuesday and beyond a nice long weekend I really don't have a lot of personal changes to discuss. Maybe that's a good thing, maybe not who knows. My local paper has been running a series once a month on the transgender community in NH. I'm a bit disappointed in
hateful response by some people who felt it should have never been published. It's sad to think people refer to it as a choice or a deviant lifestyle without ever once educating themselves on what they are talking about. How these people can justify violence, intolerance and discrimination against a class of people simply for being different than they are is beyond me. In the past week I've been referred too as sick, disturbed, a sexual deviant, someone with an agenda and some other not so nice things. What pisses me off is the fact that these are the same people who spew their view of intolerant control are some of the first people that want my tax money to further their own agendas. I'm good enough to foot the bill for them and their families but not to exist in my own right these people need to grow up.

In the past week there have been 2 major headlines about people of gender variance being killed. One story is of a little boy in California that was shot in the back of the head at school. The person who completed this hateful crime was quoted by a friend as stating that this would be this young mans last day alive, he would see to it..

How sad..

The second story was of a Trans woman in Detroit who was stabbed to death in her apartment. The sad part is that with this poor girl being a victim the press still finds ways to strip dignity from us even in a case of a heinous death. Where is the sympathy for the victim here? She doesn't' deserve any because you don't agree with who she was so you stereo type her?

Again ..how sad.

There's been another story of a young 8-year-old boy in Colorado who has gender dysphoria and will be returning to school as a girl. Again this is another story that seems to have a sharp divide. The rights of a majority vs the well being of a trans child. People have even taken to calling the parents of the child abusers for allowing this. That this child could have no idea of sexuality … Jeez .. And better yet .. How do I explain this to my children .. Another cop out for an adult to say, I'm not comfortable talking about this stuff so my child id my scapegoat. Children are more accepting than adults, they aren't born with prejudices, they are taught them at home. If you tell a child the truth they will grow to be more informed and more open. KIds aren't preprogrammed to discriminate .. it's a product of the enviroment ...

Gender isn't so defined as we wish to believe it. It is not determined by who we are attracted to or even who we are physically, it is defined by our brains and how we thing. Gender is a defined box with a label constructed by society. It's a defined rule and as we know, rules are meant to be broken. Society isn't at ease and comfortable with anything unless it has a proper label and is in its proper box. Only then does life have flow to it and if something mistakenly goes in the wrong box, the space-time continuum gets disrupter and the planets stop spinning..

I'll never understand how we can view life as a series of colors and yet anything considered taboo is either black or white. I'm sorry to report to the narrow-minded folk that sometimes there are shades of gray, Those shades of gray keep life diverse and evolving, otherwise we would all be the same. A binary society just doesn't work and as much as we believe that's how it is, it simply isn't.

Is it so hard to believe that all the things that can happen to the human body in birth, life or even death and then step back and say that it is totally impossible for their to be a difference in brain development? Is it totally impossible to believe that we are born this way and that things happen? That these things could even have a basis in our genetic code?

So, I'm a bit different than someone else but the fact is simple.. I'm a decent human being. I'm able to function and contribute to society. I've loved and raised a family and now have a grand child. I've never been arrested. Never done any drugs .no not even marijuana. I've been working since I was 16 and never milked the system once. I pay for my own health
insurance, prescriptions and therapy sessions. I pay taxes and have dreams like any other red blooded American … yet someone in a use of their rights calls me a sexual deviant .. I fail to see the connection. I hold my hopes that hateful people will eventually be drowned out by the caring more tolerant population.

I received and email a few days ago. It was from my counselor and she was forwarding an email sent to her from a local business. This lady saw the series in the newspaper and decided that she wanted to be of assistance to the community. She has a husband that is Transgender. It went on to read that she owns an exotic pole-dancing studio that gives classes. It is designed for women to tap into their inner femininity and eroticism. She made it a point to let us know that it is available to ALL women and that she was even willing to even have private lessons to help people become more comfortable in their transitions.

I wish we had more businesses that were that open and understanding. granted she has experience with the issue but at least she isn't afraid to do something about it.

I'm sure Dee would love me to do pole dancing for her. Somehow I just don't see me being anywhere close enough to be graceful … I have no rhythm ..for now I'll stick to my own art ..Music ..

Keep on Rockin..

~K~

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