Be Strong! Be Proud!

One of my favorites tv shows is TLC’s I am Jazz, the story of the transition of teenage Jazz Jennings. Jazz is an author and well known transgender advocate. All through the show Jazz makes a point to tell everyone that she is transgender and her brothers declare to everyone that “she is a girl.” Jazz has made a lot of progress in her transition but also has made a lot of enemies along the way. While in elementary school, Jazz was barred from playing on the girls soccer team. Court action allowed her to play. Recently a school in Wisconsin chose to cancel a reading of her book, also titled I Am Jazz, after pressure from an out of state hate group. A new location was found and 600 people attended the reading! Jazz keeps knocking down barriers and refuses to let prejudice stand in her way.

Last year Caitlyn Jenner announced to the world that she was a woman. Since then Caitlyn has been honored for her courage by ESPN and other media outlets. And she has also been made the target of innumerable jokes and slurs. Many still publicly question the motives for her transition. Life would be a lot easier for Caitlyn if she had just quietly blended into the female population, but she has had the courage to stand up and be true to herself.

I recently read an Advocate article that boasted about lawyers who are fighting for the right of transgender people. ‘Terrific!’ I thought. Later when I told some of my transgender friends about this article, they told me that were happy that these lawyers were fighting for us, but that they were also happy that they could sit on the sidelines and didn’t have to get personally involved is this struggle. Their reaction both surprised me and worried me. It surprised me because I know how committed my friends are to our lifestyle, but it worried me since change is rarely neat, or clean, or painless.

The good news is that thanks to the hard work of Jazz Jennings, the lawyers in the Advocate article, Caitlyn Jenner, and many, many others, our lifestyle is becoming more accepted. The bad news is that there is a committed, organized group working very hard to stop and turn back the progress that we have made.

I am a peaceful soul by nature. I was raised to be the serving Cinderella, and not a strong and proud warrior Princess. But I do believe that it is time that we follow the lead of Jazz, Caitlyn, and others and have the courage to stand up for ourselves. If we want a society where we are treated with respect, we cannot just sit back and wait for some one to hand it to us. We are going to have to take the risk to get personally involved and stand up for our lifestyle.

I usually end my emails, articles, etc. with “Be Strong. Be Proud.” My friend Brenda pointed out to me that that would be a good new years resolution or mantra. She is right. If we want to continue our progress in securing the recognition of our rights as transgender people, we need to be Strong, and we need to be Proud in both word and deed.

Be Strong! Be Proud!

Tags: Activist, closeted, featured, opinion, politics

Category: Transgender Opinion