An Umbrella Or A Triangle

Yesterday was the anniversary of Stonewall lets look at what divides us… race, gender, orientation, and socioeconomic status?

Many people see the LGBTQ as homogeneous but others see it as silos, which version is true? 

Sadly, I see it is the fractional one, I see a divide with the rich white gay male on top and the Black trans person on the bottom. At Stonewall it was as Sylvia Rivera described the Stonewall Inn as “a white male bar for middle-class males to pick up young boys of different races” but if you look at the first Pride march it was most white affluent men and women marching.

And I believe this is true of the trans community. When I first came out back in 2000 the word “Transgender” was an umbrella term that included anyone who crossed the gender norm but there are those who are trying to morph it into meaning only those who are on the transition track and to others it means only post-ops. They want to build silos and keep everyone out, they see a hierarchy with them on top looking down on inferiors drag queens, crossdressers, and non-binary.

There are those who only see those who can integrate into society and are post-op as the only “true” trans person, all the others are just “men in dresses.”

Will we exclude those who cannot afford electrolysis. Will we exclude those who cannot take hormones because they are too expensive or have a medical condition that prevents from taking them. Where do we draw the line?

Look at the Connecticut law, it says simply…

(21) "Gender identity or expression" means a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose.

Do you see anything that says that you need medical intervention or surgery. It doesn’t say that you need surgery or taking hormones or that it doesn’t apply to crossdressers or drag queens/kings are exempt them from the law… no it is inclusive. It even covers someone who is thought to be trans by someone else.

Let us be inclusive, not exclusive.

How do we determine who’s trans? Are we going to have a tribunal to determine who is really a trans person are we going to have to go before a tribunal for a verdict? “We find that Jane Doe has met all the requirements to be called “Trans” and cast aside all those who do not meet the standards?

Let us take a lesson from the Black Lives Matter movement and end the pecking order and the lateral discrimination.

United we stand,  divided we fall. 

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