International Day Against
Homophobia and Transphobia
May 17th is IDAHOT where we wear purple (or rainbow) colors to show our support for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender peoples.
As i address homophobia a lot i will just give a quick overview of the epidemic of transphobia afflicting America at the moment.
So for those who don't know some bigoted people in America are making laws that force trans people to use the public bathroom of the gender that is on their birth certificate.
These bigots claim to be "protecting young girls" by implementing these laws. Despite the fact there is no examples of trans people attacking anyone in toilets and there are already laws against that sort of thing that apply equally to everyone. The fact that these laws will actually force women into the men's toilet and men into the women's toilet isn't addressed. How they intend to police this has not been addressed, will everyone have to carry there birth certificate around will they inspect everyone's genitals as they enter the toilets?. The safety of trans people who are forced to use the wrong toilets by these laws, hasn't been considered.
There has already been an incident of a young woman being forced out of a woman's toilet by an older man (who entered the woman's toilet to harass her). She was not transgender and the justification was that she wasn't dressed like a proper lady should be.
There was another incident of a man approaching a woman as she entered the toilets because he suspected she might be transgender.
These are just the ones caught on camera.
These laws are obvious bigotry and transphobia gone wild, it seems to me to be a knee jerk reaction to America allowing equal rights to gay and lesbians in relation to marriage. As further proof of this, someone must have pointed out to these scaremongers that you can change the gender on your birth certificate, so of course now they are trying to make that even more difficult.
On a personal note, a few years ago i was with some family. and my niece said to me
"You know barney (not his real name), hes now calling himself Betty and wears a dress all the time, and i have to see him-her-it all the time."
Up to that point i hadn't had many interactions with trans people (as far as i know) or done any specific trans activism. I didn't really understand why a person is trans, but i thought they deserved respect and equality as much as anyone else.
At this point i was out, and i had done volunteer work with the local AIDS and LGBT charity's so i knew a little.
What i did know, what i did recognize was the tone of contempt, it was the ridicule that came from ignorance and a lack of compassion and empathy.
I heard my niece talking about this woman like i had heard many people talk about 'the gays' many times.
As a child i knew the person she was speaking a about and when i knew them they were always nice to me.
I was taken aback a little but i managed to regain my composure. i said;
"If she is living as a woman and has taken a woman's name then the correct pronoun is probably her."
Her reply was a quick
"whatever, its just so gross."
I looked at the disgust on her face and just said sadly;
"I cant even imagine growing up with the wrong gender, that must have been so hard, and she is so brave and strong to have come to terms with that and to be living as her real self now."
She looked at me dumbfounded, i just said
"send her my best" before walking away.
I think maybe there should be separate restrooms for bigots.
For more information check out there official websites.
Australia
International
