Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are!

That is paraphrasing what Harvey Milk said,

Gay brothers and sisters,... You must come out. Come out... to your parents... I know that it is hard and will hurt them but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives... come out to your friends... if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors... to your fellow workers... to the people who work where you eat and shop... come out only to the people you know, and who know you. Not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake. For the sake of the youngsters who are becoming scared by the votes from Dade to Eugene.

I don’t believe that coming out is for everyone, I think that you have to first make sure that you are safe and also it is your personal choice to make, you shouldn’t be judged if you decide to come out or not. However, I believe that come out does make a difference, I think the trans-students that spoke up made a difference in defeating the effort to have a recall of AB 1266 School Success and Opportunity Act.

Those who were brave enough to tell their stories to the reporters helped educate the public about gender dysphoria. I strongly believe that when you know someone it is a lot harder to hate them than a stranger. By being “out” as Harvey Milk said you “break down the myths, destroy the lies and distortions.”

I have seen it… I was at the “Town Hall Meetings” by Love Makes a Family after the passage of the marriage equality law they were going around the state to raise support for the gender identity and expression anti-discrimination bill. I told my store after others have spoken about the need to support the bill, after the meeting broke up a lesbian couple came up to me and said that I moved them to continue their support of LMF (Photo is from that meeting).

I think an email from a student of the class that I taught yesterday says it all, "I just wanted to personally thank you for your presentation in our class at UConn yesterday! It was eye-opening and I appreciate you sharing your story."

My hat comes off to the trans-students who stood up when it counted, thank you.