A TransGriot post I wrote July 27, 2009.
One of the things that I love about the Net and compiling TransGriot is that it consistently reaffirms for me that I have brothers and sisters all over the planet.
It reminds me that no matter what corner of Planet Earth we call home, we transpeople deal with the same basic issues of fighting for our human rights, dignity and self respect. I’m reminded that we have wonderful cisgender allies who support us in our struggles as well.
One of the fringe benefits is that some of my international sisters like Pau Fontanos in the Philippines or Leona Lo in Singapore have become my friends. I’m looking forward to meeting many others if I’m blessed to one day resume my Air Marshal traveling days or they cross my path here in the States.
But whether the Forces of Intolerance want to admit it or not, transpeople are part of the diverse mosaic of human life.
We have also reached the tipping point that all oppressed peoples soon reach.
Transpeople are fed up with having our human rights trampled upon by cisgender people desperately trying to prop up their specious fundamentalist religious beliefs, their failed political agendas and personal prejudices.
We want the same things cisgender peeps want. To borrow from the United States’ Declaration of Independence, we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
As we courageously stand up and fight for our rights, we also find that it’s liberating and powerful as well. We move beyond the shame and guilt over being trans and proudly embrace that part of our identities.
We transpeople simply want the ability to live our lives peacefully in our various homelands, pursue our versions of happiness, want a fair shot at gainful employment, a roof over our heads, food to eat, and non-judgmental health care.
We want friends and family who love and care about us while maximizing the talents our Creator has given us for the benefits of ourselves and the various nations we reside in.
The Forces of Intolerance can delay, deny, resist and even kill us, but they will lose. The moral arc of the universe is bending toward worldwide justice for transpeople.
I hope I’m blessed to live long enough to see that day.
Part of what I love the most about my job — at the Astraea Foundation — is the way it has started to introduce me to a worldwide movement of queers of all stripes working for justice. It really is amazing to me to realize how much a global thing this is. I think especially in the US it is easy to forget we are just one country in a whole huge world…and then I hear about our grantees and it is amazing. There’s so much going on and so many beautiful people. I’ve gotten to meet activists as a part of my job I never would have otherwise (or I doubt i would have, otherwise) and it’s always an honor.
It bums me out sometimes how far the movement is in the US from the rest of the world, especially in terms of using human rights language. I think this happens a lot more in trans community discussions than I see in the non-trans homos movement…which is a bummer. There are some really interesting human rights law kinds of movements – places where human rights arguments actually have weight – and it is a kind of thinking that doesn’t happen here nearly enough.
I think that when marginalized people understand that their fight for rights isn’t limited to one country, then they become more powerful than ever before.
Ariel,
I think much of the problem as to why the trans movement in the US seems to be behind the rest of the world is its failure to see the intersectionality of trans issues with other isms.
Monica, I think you’re right about the reason behind the lag in the trans movement here in the USA. I still wish that more people in the disability rights movement and the trans movement were able to be work together and stand side by side in the fight for justice. When I read about and listen to some of what has been said by those in the trans movement, it seems most similar to my experiences living in a world where society disables bodies like mine. There are those words that remind me of my experiences as a woman of color, but it’s my PWD life that has made it easier for me to begin to get an idea of what my sisters who are transgendered have tried to explain to the rest of the world.