Second Class?

I don’t know if you caught it, but the recent issue of New Republic had a cover story on transgender people. It called us “Second Class Citizens.” This was not meant as a slight — it was meant as an observation. The article, written by Eliza Gray, states that we are “America’s Next Great Civil Rights Struggle.”

Here’s the URL if you can’t find a copy on the newsstand or your favorite bookstore.

It’s only the beginning of the article and the comments, but, well, there it is.

So. I’m Second Class. Beneath others, as it were. Well, DUH. That’s why I hide my true self and lie (and the fact that my wife would throw me out.) People are scared. Trans people are scared because we get beaten, murdered, discriminated against and mocked. Other people are scared because for some of them the mere sight of us causes discomfort. I get that. Not all of us are pictures of femininity (or masculinity in the cases of my transmen friends.) Should we be punished for that? Of course not.

But we are.

150 years ago, the sight of a black man in some places in the US was enough to cause people to shout slurs and abuse that person. After all, they were slaves then: Sub-human in the eyes of their slavers and abusers. (And before you get all puffed up with “how can you compare hundreds of years of slavery to our issues?” work with me a minute as I develop my point.)

60 years ago, the sight of a black man in some places in the US was enough to cause people to shout slurs and abuse that person. After all, they had to know their place. There were laws and stuff, but who cares? They were second class citizens.

40 years ago, being outed as a Gay person was social and career suicide. So they hid.

A few months ago, being a transwoman was enough to get someone beaten and mauled in a Baltimore McDonalds.

Now we have a black president. And Gay people hold high positions and have achieved so very, very much in securing rights.

And then there’s us. We hide. As being outed can be cause for people to shout slurs and abuse. Social and career suicide.

Now of course we’ve made strides as well. We are in government and some other prominent places. This is because people fought back. Because of brave people at lunch counters and on buses and at Stonewall.

In The US, most people didn’t know about the evils of slavery until Harriet Beecher Stowe brought it into their living rooms with Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Many felt powerless against Jim Crow until Dr. King showed us that a person can stand up to hate. Ms. Gray states in her article that most people are related to or know a gay person these days, so gay rights seem logical and right.

And where are we? Well, we hide. We go stealth because we just want to live, or we live the lie because the ramifications of doing otherwise are very dire indeed. And one in three of us attempt suicide, to say nothing about how many of us are clinically depressed. We are who we are — this isn’t a frivolous choice, and the research is beginning to back this.

And, finally, people are trying to see us as human, not as depraved monsters or twisted souls. Because they are learning that we ARE people.

Thank you, Eliza Gray, for your small contribution to the fight. I just wish I could do more. And hopefully someday I will.

Tags: featured

Category: Transgender Body & Soul, Transgender Opinion