Trans Bonanza in Salt Lake City

A whole lotta transtastic somethun has been going down in the li'l knook that is Salt Lake City within the grand red state of Utah. Just last night I went to Trans Action's "Open Mic" and prior to that sat on a panel with other trans people (and parents of one FTM) to help raise awareness about trans issues (it is Transgender Awareness Month, after all). And before that? Went to a film down at the library and watched the Q&A from the trans panelists there and before that? Went to a trans chili cook- off and just, whew... I'm definitely getting my tranzbonanza fill this month.

It's wonderful, really. First those ordinances passed protecting LGBT individuals from workplace and home discrimination. Throughout there have been little bits of media coverage pertaining to Transgender Awareness Month, especially last Monday when Rosemary Winters published Transgender community pushes for acceptance, awareness in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Some of the reader comments on the site are really empathetic and supportive, while others are incredibly bigoted (and all have numerous thumbs down and become hidden comments, which reflects the getting-tired-of-the-same-ol-hate-rhetoric attitude growing every day). It's astounding to me, how one reader comments, "Guess the next step is the grown men who want to wear diapers, be bottle fed and take naps in a crib. How about everybody feel sorry for them too." or another, "As long as IT is cornfused about or has a overwheling fetish to dress like a woman. Then what do they exopect from society? Get a heartwarming welcome from NORMAL American folks? Sort of like we call a SHE a HE just because they FEEL like a male (Chasity Bono). Vagina or no vagina, this girl is stil a girl. Albeit a damn ugly one."

Wow. Hate much? Trans babe Emily puts it well when she writes, "Transphobia doesn’t work on the level of literal sense, instead it proceeds along a path mapped out long before, relying more on a cis common sense of how things “should be” (and therefore are) than on any real knowledge of trans lives." in an article that hits comments like this in the core: Transphobic Tropes #5 – The “man in a dress”/stealthy deceiver double bind, and various other articles in regards to transphobia in this spot on blog.

"Cis", by the way, is a shortened version of "cisgender", which Wikipedia defines as, "Cisgender is a "newer term" that means "someone who is comfortable in the gender they were assigned at birth. "Cisgender" is used to contrast "transgender" on the gender spectrum."

Back to my giddy gravy train: Just yesterday, November 17th, Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker signed into law the recently approved Fair Workplace and Housing ordinances. As Eric Ethington (a local blogger) puts it, "San Francisco signed Fair Workplace and Housing laws into effect with Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone in 1969, now 40 years later Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker signs his name to the list of champions of human rights."

This past month I've struggled more so than usual with feeling insecure and hopeless internally, so it helps to focus on the positive change that's happening for trans people - even here in Utah. Increasing awareness, acceptance. Protections and hope for a future with equal civil rights.

And this kind of stuff helps, too:



So frickin' cute.

Speaking of the PFLAG (Parents, Friends and Family of Lesbians and Gays) meeting, that was so much fun. They were so receptive to my story and the stories from the other panelists. They had a million inquisitive questions that could've gone on for hours.

There was an older heterosexual couple there, presumably in their 70s who I'd recognized from an awards ceremony I'd attended a couple of years ago from Equality Utah, acknowledging them for their tremendous support to the LGBT community. Turns out that this older homosexual couple and this heterosexual guy had started the Utah PFLAG chapter years ago and, here they were numerous years later hearing about this "transgender" thing and "transsexual" and "genderqueer" and "gender identity" and "gender expression" and "pansexual" and on and on and on. Poor them. However, knowing how thrown through the loop they were, I can't wait for what I'm going to be exposed to that I'd never thought of when I'm in my 70s. Woo!

And watching them in action - in their element - was the best when this woman who had walked in late asked, "Um, am I in the right meeting?" as she had been aiming for a PFLAG meeting and, instead, sat in on a panel of trans people. That must've been a trip.

She shared her story about how she's LDS, but four out of her five children are homosexual. She expressed how difficult it was, worrying that they'd be hurt or not live happy lives because of it. She talked about four years prior her eldest son had been hospitalized from being attacked in downtown Salt Lake City and still has health problems from it to this day. When she asked, "I feel so guilty, and I don't know how to help my children or what to do or why this has happened. Did I do something wrong?" and INSTANTLY, like pigs in mud or peas in a pod or a rabbit on a carrot those PFLAG members reassured her that she wasn't alone, that she had nothing to feel guilty about, that almost every parent in there had had similar worries and concerns and experiences - and they gave her information for support as she cried and encouraged her to come again and just, .. ugh. It was something else. I loved it.