The results of fear...
Feb. 18th, 2008 10:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unusualmusic_lj_archiveFrom TerranceDC at Pam's House Blend Blog
I knew instantly what he was about. Late last year, Montgomery County passed legislation prohibiting discrimination against transgender persons in housing and employment. We're proud to live in such a progressive community, and chose it specifically because we want our children to grow up in a progressive community. I was particularly proud when, after the bruising battle over an inclusive ENDA, Montgomery County showed that some Americans are more than "ready" for transgender equality. And here is this guy outside our grocery store, spreading fear and misinformation as part of an effort to repeal the bill, by the same group who attempted to stop our schools from implementing a gay-friendly sex-ed curriculum, that also addressed anti-LGBT harassment and bullying.
I saw red. Some people actually laughed at the guy, but at least one man remarked, "There are more important things to worry about. People are dying, and this is what you're concerned about?"
"People are dying." That's why I saw red. That's why my immediate reaction was anger. People are dying. More specifically, people are being killed.
Maybe it's because I just read about Cameron McWilliams, the gender variant youth who committed suicide in the U.K.
Maybe it's because I just read about the uproar over a school in Colorado accommodating a transgender student, in a news article that revealed just enough information to out the student. Maybe it's because I read about Laura Ingraham's idiotic remark about a transgender conference "killing the culture." Meanwhile Shanesha Stewart was, an actual person, was killed for being transgender. Maybe it's because I've researched the murders other transgender women, like Bella Evangelista and Emonie Spaulding, many of whom were driven to sex work as a means of survival due to employment discrimination that made it impossible for many of them to get "straight jobs."
Tell me, how many more people will we kill with our fear and hate? How many more lives will we stunt and destroy? How much more blood will we bathe in while we turn up our noses, selfrighteously? When will we stop? Will we ever stop?
I knew instantly what he was about. Late last year, Montgomery County passed legislation prohibiting discrimination against transgender persons in housing and employment. We're proud to live in such a progressive community, and chose it specifically because we want our children to grow up in a progressive community. I was particularly proud when, after the bruising battle over an inclusive ENDA, Montgomery County showed that some Americans are more than "ready" for transgender equality. And here is this guy outside our grocery store, spreading fear and misinformation as part of an effort to repeal the bill, by the same group who attempted to stop our schools from implementing a gay-friendly sex-ed curriculum, that also addressed anti-LGBT harassment and bullying.
I saw red. Some people actually laughed at the guy, but at least one man remarked, "There are more important things to worry about. People are dying, and this is what you're concerned about?"
"People are dying." That's why I saw red. That's why my immediate reaction was anger. People are dying. More specifically, people are being killed.
Maybe I was angry because I'd been reading about the murder of Lawrence King all weekend.
King was shot in the head Tuesday morning during a class at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, police said. More than 20 other students were in the room at the time....King sometimes came to school wearing makeup and high heels, eighth-grader Nicholas Cortez, 14, told The Associated Press. Another eighth-grader, Michael Sweeney, said King's appearance was "freaking the guys out," the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
"He would come to school in high-heeled boots, makeup, jewelry and painted nails the whole thing," Sweeney told the Times.
King was pronounced brain dead at St. John's Regional Medical Center on Wednesday, said Craig Stevens, senior deputy medical examiner in Ventura County. Doctors planned to remove some of his organs for donation Thursday, Stevens said.
Maybe it's because I just read about Cameron McWilliams, the gender variant youth who committed suicide in the U.K.
A BOY of 10 has been found hanged at his South Yorkshire home after telling his mum he wanted to be a girl.
Tragic Cameron McWilliams had already asked for permission to wear make-up, and been teased after he was found wearing his half-sister's knickers.His desperate mum Kelly McWilliams told a Doncaster inquest she had bought him girls' underwear to wear in private, but had refused his requests to be allowed to wear make-up. ...He had been teased after once being found in his half-sister's knickers, and had asked if he could wear make-up. His mum told him he would have to wait until he was older.
Mrs McWilliams found her son hanging, with a black leather belt around his neck, in his half-sister's bedroom at the family home in Montrose Avenue, Intake, Doncaster.
"When I got in the room he was not asleep, he was standing by the window with a dressing gown on," she said.
"His head was down and I realised something really serious had happened and I screamed."
The court heard Cameron was a lonely boy with no friends outside school. He spent all his time at home listening to music, playing on his XBox and using a laptop computer.
Maybe it's because I just read about the uproar over a school in Colorado accommodating a transgender student, in a news article that revealed just enough information to out the student. Maybe it's because I read about Laura Ingraham's idiotic remark about a transgender conference "killing the culture." Meanwhile Shanesha Stewart was, an actual person, was killed for being transgender. Maybe it's because I've researched the murders other transgender women, like Bella Evangelista and Emonie Spaulding, many of whom were driven to sex work as a means of survival due to employment discrimination that made it impossible for many of them to get "straight jobs."
Maybe it's because I just read that the murder of Rashawn Brazell remains unsolved after three years despite the efforts of bloggers and activists.
Rest here
Tell me, how many more people will we kill with our fear and hate? How many more lives will we stunt and destroy? How much more blood will we bathe in while we turn up our noses, selfrighteously? When will we stop? Will we ever stop?
