I was a support group junkie!
I first attended Connecticut Outreach Society (COS… not pronounced “kaaz”) meetings and then I attended the Twenty Club. One day during a XX Club meeting a trans woman came in and the others knew her but I never saw her before or after, only for that one meeting.
Her face was all bruised and still a little swollen, she then told her story… she is a carpenter and was working on a large construction project, two men came in with short lengths of two by fours and started beating her.
When she came to, she called 911 and an officer that came to her rescue, when she noticed that he wasn’t taking notes she asked him if he was going to arrest them, he said that he couldn’t because he didn’t see the attack. She started yelling at him and he arrested her for disturbing the peace as the EMT were carrying off on a stretcher. (The charges were latter dropped and the two men arrested, I heard something about them fleeting to Ohio.)
Several months later I meet Jerimarie and I said to her that I want to help, and every time I saw her I asked asked what can I do? Then one day I got an email… we are having a meeting at a book store under the rocks in Hartford. The meeting was about the forming of CT TransAdvocacy Coalition, those there that night went on to become the first Board of Directors for CTAC.
In 2005 I was invited to a fundraiser for GenderPAC down in Stamford, there I met Dannel Malloy the mayor of Stamford, and two other politicians Mike Lawlor and Andrew J. McDonald. It turns out that Lawlor and McDonald were co-chairs for the Judiciary Committee and I would testify before their committee many times, it made it easier the first time that I testified before the committee to see faces that I knew. Malloy went on to become governor, Mike Lawlor was the governor’s Under Secretary for Criminal Justice Policy and Planning at State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management. Andrew McDonald is now a CT Supreme Court justice.
I never used to go to fundraiser for politicians but it is a very good way to meet them one on one and they also remember you.
In 2006 I was invited to sit in on a the Anti-Discrimination Coalition, a lose group of non-profits working together to help pass LGBTQ+ legislation. Many times between 2007 and 2010 I went around the state with the staff from Love Makes a Family talking at town hall meetings about the transgender anti-discrimination legislation.
Also in 2006 CTAC sent me to another three-day workshop on Trans-Rights in Albany NY that was sponsored by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NTCE) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (The Task Force).
In 2007 CTAC sent me to the NY Power Summit Conference also sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force on how to build a grassroots organization, network between organization and door–to-door canvassing. I meet a number of trans-people from across the northeast and attending a trans-caucus, setting up a regional network.
In 2008 and 2009 CTAC sent me to Lobbying Training – Connecticut Lobbying Conference at Gallo & Robinson in Hartford CT.
In 2011 while I was at University of Connecticut School of Social Work I took Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work’s Campaign School for Social Workers and my major at the School of Social Work was Community Organizing.
In 2006 I started attending UConn School of Social Work for my MSW specializing in community organizing and through the school I attended the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work, Campaign School.
Some of the key points that I learned over the years…
Don’t bother with those who are set against us, it is a waste of time; thank those who support us, and then concentrate on the “movable middle.”
Both the inside and outside game is important. By that I mean lobbying legislators is the inside game and protests is the outside game. The protests keep the issues on the front page, while lobbying concentrates on the fence siting legislators.
It you protest do it in a way that the protest puts pressure on the target.
The best way to motivate people to become involved is through their emotions, self-interest, and sense of fair play.
As they say, the rest is history.
In this era of anti-trans legislation we all need to become activists. We cannot sit by and be forced back in the closet because that is what the Republicans are trying to do. You don’t need all the training that I got, all you have to do is call or email your legislators and let them know how you feel about anti-trans or anti-LGBTQ+ bills.
I used to email my one of my legislators so often that I started my emails with “It is trouble maker Diana again.” One day in the Legislative Office Building (LOB) he saw me and said… “Its trouble maker Diana”, we laughed but you know what… he knew me. (Another thing to remember… everyone remembers a 6 foot trans person.)
Sorry to be talking politics here but next Thursday My Story will be about going to college as Diana.
I think it is far more than talking politics. It is the very breath and heartbeat of which you speak. Never should you apologize doing what you do or how you do it. Many of us say of the times today, Make hay while the sun shines, at least in CT. Many places its pouring down rain for the trans community. None of us know if the next president with a stroke of a bigoted pen erases all of our gains. So while the sun shines for some of us lets work for all of us. Whenever I read about new laws that are being written against our communities I write to my reps. in DC, to show my concern and asking them to do whatever they can to use their influence to stop the madness. Simple thing for anyone to do.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I know about Jerimarie is that she was never comfortable with just herself. She finally got a job but knew that many Trans folks did not have one, that many were homeless, and some were beaten like the woman in your story. She knew the whole community had to be lifted up not just one. She also knew that we could not stand alone that roads had to be built into other communities and a united front built. I work mostly outside the system but admire those who do the work inside. First Thank You Diana for all of your work, second keep working and continuing to influence people. My best to you.