Today Is The Annual Transgender Day Of Remembrance

"I'm from the South..."

I never watch Tyra. But, yesterday I was setting up my new TiVo and stopped to watch this segment while setting up the channels.

I heard this horrible, stupid woman actually say something like, "I'm from the South and people like that get shot" about a transgender woman.

Then, they brought the moron on the show to be confronted. It was ridiculous. She just kept saying, "I'm from the South."

Is stupid a Southern trait?

Anyway, Tyra is still as insipid as they say she is. But, this segment was very revealing about the ignorance and narrow-minded attitudes that exist.

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 10:44:16 AM CST

teh stupid and the South

Is stupid a Southern trait?

Obviously not, I'm a native Southerner and don't say stupid sh*t like that -- nor does anyone I know around here who are locals in this part of the state. As we saw in this election cycle, there was bigotry all over the country exposed for what it is -- and the common factor was that they were uneducated and ignorant. Of course the South has been known for crappy public schools, so that weighs into things, but the region itself doesn't cause it. That woman is a complete moron.

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 11:03:09 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I just didn't get

why she kept saying "I'm from the South."

Of course, I don't think Southerns are stupid. But, that seemed to be the logical conclusion to draw from her declaration. ;-)

When you look for the bad in mankind, expecting to find it, you surely will.

- Abraham Lincoln.

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by: Fritz @ Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 11:13:11 AM CST

[ Parent ]

i've found that

the more someone claims to be "from the South" endlessly the less likely it is that they grew up there.

"it's a long road from law to justice." (Dar Williams)

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by: algormortis @ Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 12:14:53 PM CST

[ Parent ]

"they don't stay in that surrounding"

And yet, the largest transgender conference in teh world is held in Atlanta every year.


http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

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by: dyssonance @ Fri Nov 21, 2008 at 01:45:13 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks

Thanks for letting your readers know that today is Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance.  It is so tragic that anyone is killed for being who they are and by speaking out about issues that affect the GLBT community we can help educate so violence like this will not continue!

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by: rambleredhead @ Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 11:14:25 AM CST

Thank you for posting about this

Violence against trans people is so very hard for many of us to write about.  I formerly lived in Madison, WI.  Two trans Madisonians have been murdered in the past two years (one a few blocks from my former abode, one while vacationing in Mexico).  This summer I moved to Syracuse, not far from where Teish Green lived and died.  I've also struggled through my own issues with verbal and psychological abuse from the outside world, as well as crippling depression prior to my own coming out.  I've lost a friend to those forces.  I consider myself lucky that it was only one friend, but am resigned to the fact that there will be more.

I really wanted to start blogging, or writing or speaking or something about all of this, but it can feel so hopeless at times.  I'm glad others, like Autumn, have the strength to keep speaking out-- it's not easy.  The DOR is a very, very important event for me, and its a big part of speaking out and processing this violence.

I learned of Teish Green's death while looking in the Syracuse paper for coverage of the prop 8 protest my family had attended.  A few days later, I remember sitting in front of the TV with my sweetie and hearing that there would be a vigil, 30 minutes hence.  We immediately packed up and headed for the car, not knowing where exactly the vigil was, or how to get around our new hometown, simply because we felt like we had to be there.   It was the least we could do, and the only thing we could think of.  Ultimately we weren't able to even manage that.  I was on the verge of tears for the first in a long time.  I don't want to feel that sort of fear, anger, frustration and sorrow again, and I sure as hell don't want to see yet another family go through what the Greens have been through this week.

I'm glad to see that there are other people out there that manage to avoid being paralyzed by the situation many trans people (particularly trans women of color face).  Thank you Autumn, Pam and many others for all that you do.

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by: eastsidekate @ Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 12:26:50 PM CST

I got lucky

on June 22nd, 2007, I was walking home from another day of fruitless job hunting.  It was early evening, and I was passing through an area of empty corporate buildings, the sort that are full of life during the day, people working behind dark windows on the business of whatever the company leasing the cubicle space happens to be.

The day had ended for them, and they had gone home, and the parking lots were better lit than the street and I did not have glasses nor contact lenses then.  I saw better in the light.

IT had been a hot day and was going to be a hot night, and here I was in my skirt and my top, my little breasts at the time hidden by extra padding, my shoes hurting my feet, one little strap in particular digging into that pinky toe on my right foot.

I had to cross a tiny side street, and it wa a dark one, stret lamps at the far corner, and I was terrified underneath it all as this was still very new to me and I still had so much to learn.

I heard them a split second before they jogged into my path, and I put my head down and zigged away, shoulder tensing as I heard "faggot" and "gay freak".

They grabbed me.

In my life, I have done many things.  As I sit here and write this, I know that many of them I went through to give me the strength to walk out my front door today, knowing that I face that risk of dying the second I do, and that not even my own home is safe.

They knew.  I'd been clocked already, but it was as if they had to verify it by touch, as if they had to be certain as they pawed me all over, and I found myself stunned that was somehow unable to fight off two punks half my age when I'd been an Army Ranger.

I lived in fear, every day.

Fear of being discovered.  Fear of being hurt.  Fear of being "revealed to be a freak" which is what my fear of being called it really was.

I stopped being afraid as they hit me.

I also stopped being the person I had been.

Because I was trained a an Army Ranger, and I was lucky.

And I got away with only a couple broken ribs that I could never talk about,  little bit of blood on my forearms and my head, my wig and purse and shoes stolen, my house keys in my hand after a fight that left me bruised and cut on my left leg.

I was lucky.

I walked away.  I know how to fight when I have to.

I do not live in fear today.  I say that a lot.

I say it because when I cross a street that is dark still, I remember that I was called gay, and that I was hurt because of it.

I was not yet "full time".

I got lucky, though.

it only lasted for a little while.

Luck does that.

It runs out.

And when it does, you hurt.

http://www.dyssonance.com  Breaking all the rules...

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by: dyssonance @ Thu Nov 20, 2008 at 14:23:14 PM CST