Once again, I was asked to come on a call-in transgender cable access television show down in southeast Connecticut. We received phone calls from a viewer who just had to call to damn us to hell, and called us freaks and faggots, but what was interesting was what happened after he called each time. We received three or four calls thanking us for having the show, they thanked us for our courage and apologized for the earlier caller.
After the show, I was talking to the co-hosts and they said that is a common response that they receive after calls like that. That they normally receive a few calls from their regular viewers, but when they get hate-calls the phone-lines light up afterward as they did last night.
I think that the Gainesville FL vote reflects what we observed first-hand last night. That no matter how many lies and hate that the bigots spread, the majority of people believe in fairness and equality. In Gainesville that voter rejected Amendment 1, according to the Gainesville Sun, “…approximately 58 percent of city voters who said no Tuesday to Amendment 1 — a ballot initiative that would have made Gainesville's anti-discrimination ordinance the same as Florida's Civil Rights Act.
Those voting no on Tuesday represents 11,717 voters, compared to the 42 percent who voted for the amendment, or 8,375 votes.”
Compare the elections results to a poll that was conducted last year by the Empire State Pride Agenda of New York. They commissioned a poll of New York state voters that was conducted by Global Strategy Group1. The results of the poll showed “that overall 78 percent of registered New York voters support passing a bill that protects transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing, education and other areas of everyday life"
Now if only the legislators would only listen to the majority and not the rhetoric of few rightwing bigots as they try to spread their hate and lies.
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