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Last July, a JJ In Chicago posted a comment at the Box Turtle Bulletin that included the following statement:
…How much lobbying are transgendered people doing on behalf of gay men and lesbians?(And no, trans board members on state and national non-profits don’t count. I mean private citizens.)
How many trans folks are lobbying to end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell??
How many trans folks are lobbying to end a relic of the Anita Bryant era- Florida’s complete ban on gay men and lesbians to adopt children??
The truth is very few, if any. That’s because it’s not their issue. They can’t have it both ways.
So, while fresh with same-gender marriage/marriage equality being in the spotlight, I’d like to hightlight that trans people have been involved working on marriage equality here in San Diego. Specifically how trans people were involved in San Diego’s Join The Impact event on Saturday, November 15th, if only just to highlight one example of involement as a representative example.
So although one of the reasons why I’m doing a little documentation is to accentuate the positive about working for change, what JJ in Chicago wrote last July reminds me that sometimes it’s also about stemming off negative perceptions that aren’t necessarily reality based; sometimes it’s about pointing out where people we don’t necessarily expect to be working on broad LGBT issues are working on broad issues.
At the Marriage Equality/Join The Impact march in San Diego a week ago Saturday, there were at least 20,000 participants — There were trans people marching, and there were trans people in the planning process…the GIF above documents just some of these folk, and some of the materials that they created or participated in carrying.
But, let me cite just one who was in the planning process as an example of the many.
In San Diego, the “Face Behind FaceBook” for the march was Kelly Moyer. Never heard of Kelly? Well, that’s not surprising — like so many of the new LGBT grassroots leadership, she’s been somewhat quietly working for LGBT and trans-specific issues before now. She’s a long time volunteer at the Hillcrest Youth Center an San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Center facilitating trans discussion groups; she’s very active in San Diego’s lesbian community, working on event planning (such as for Dyke March) and is a member of a key community standing committee; and, she’s on Sun Microsystems’ Gays, Lesbians and Friends (GLAF) employee resource group, working with Sun to increase the company’s diversity. Basically, she’s been “behind the scenes” — yet in plain view — for awhile.
After the Join the Impact in San Diego, she gave a speech on staying on a positive message with regards to marriage equality. I don’t have to agree with everything she says to understand that her message is important.
Below the fold is the last few paragraphs from her November 15th speech.From Kelly Moyer’s speech to the San Diego Join The Impact rally:
…There are a lot of signs and slogans that talk about fighting hate, and it is true that there are people out there who do hate the LGBT community. We have been subjected to horrible things as a result of hatred, and as a society, we all have an obligation to oppose hatred directed toward any group of people. But ask yourself this: is there anything we can really do to rapidly win the support of people who hate us just because of who we are? I don’t think so.
The answer – like other speakers have already stated – is being out… out on a grander scale than ever before. If you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, be out to the people in your life. If you are an ally, be out about your LGBT friends, parents, children, neighbors and coworkers. Be out about the lesbian couple across the street who watch your dogs when you go on vacation. Be out about the gay couple whose son is your son’s best friend at school. But even more than that…
Could all of the legally married same-sex couples in the crowd please raise your hands? And could all of the same-sex couples in committed relationships please raise your hands?
I want you all to look around at the beautiful people with their hands raised. Learn their names. Remember their faces. Then go and tell everyone you know that these couples share the same hopes and aspirations…
the same trials and tribulations…
the same joys and sorrows…
and the same deep and abiding love for each other…
as every other couple…
that has ever stood…
trembling in front of friends and family…
and said the words “I DO.”
THAT is how we win our majority in California, and THAT is how we win the nation, and THAT – my friends – is how we show the world that EQUALITY MEANS EVERYONE.
Out proudly as a lesbian trans woman, Kelly Moyer really is a grassroots leader in the San Diego LGBT community. She works inside and outside of existing systems to create positive change.
And for those like Chicago’s JJ, it’s important to point out that she isn’t just working for the trans subcommunity’s people, but is working for the entire LGBT community’s broad swath of people.
When we all look to the future of what LGBT activism looks like, my prediction is that it’s going to have a lot previously unheard voices like Kelly’s. The grassroot voices we hear are going to be from an increasingly broader and diverse spectrum of people than we’ve seen in our organized, LGBT civil rights leadership. And these voices voices from the grassroots are going continue to look for what LGBT people have in common with each other — and what our common issues are — rather than focusing on each of our individual subcommunity’s differences are with each other.
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Related:
* Shannon Minter And Mara Keisling On Gender Identity Platform Language And Marriage Equality
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3 Comments
Autumn, I posted a response to JJand I was a bit worked up so there are typos, but the message of disagreement with his premises is clear.
My experience as a Lesbian activist has shown the women of operative history/trans-women that I know to be tireless and energetic activists.
Perhaps having experienced discrimination at its worst, they are even more motivated than the rest of us…..
Inclusiveness is as inclusiveness doesOne question to ask on the visibility of transgender persons in the LGBT movement is how welcoming LGBs are to open Ts, and how likely open Ts are to find other open Ts when they show up at an “LGBT” gathering. (The same goes for queer POCs who show up at any queer gathering.) As a gay male non-transgender, I know I can spot some transgender people and not others (not even if I play with them).
If a transgender person who identifies as heterosexual shows up at a LGBT gathering, will they be welcomed? If they are met with a hostile response, they may reasonably be less likely to return. (For that matter, how much support is there in the LG community for open Bs?)
So, attitudes such as JJ’s perpetuate the separation of LGB and T. When really, the other side lumps us all together in the same clump, so we would best fight it by clumping all of us non-hetero-gender-normative folks under one rubric.
Of course, when we can’t even agree on LGBT vs. GLBT vs. LGBTQ vs. LGBTQQITSBDSM vs. Queer, it is no wonder there is still argument as to who belongs under the rainbow flag.
Re InclusivenessI think the reactions trans folk get at broad-spectrum LGBT* organizations and events varies a lot, both by location and by individual instance, as I’ve seen mixed results at events here in San Diego.
But that’s why it is so important, in my opinion, to engage in diverse activism. I work on trans issues because there are a lot of members of my community who could benefit quite a bit from help, and I owe it to the people who helped pave my trail to make it broader, smoother and longer for the people coming after me. I work on marriage equality because – directly or indirectly – it affects the entire LGBT* continuum, and no matter how many arguments we may have about who is or isn’t part of the family, we’re all in this together. And I work on lesbian and women’s issues partially because they apply to me, but also partially because the non-trans women working on those issues need to see that trans women are right there with them, shoulder to shoulder, fighting the same battles and committed to the same principles.
We all stand to win the most when we take our stands together, united in our pursuit of equality both for ourselves and for each other.
- Kelly Moyer