In the fifties or before, you may be hard pressed to find a
Transgender person working in your local grocery store or dare to even step out
of the house. In the sixties and seventies, with the sexual revolution well
underway, the first great Trans-leaders like Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P.Johnson dared to open that envelop. We watched in the eighties and nineties as
countless films and T.V. Shows made us a joke, while Cis-gendered people made
billions off the Transgender Community by fetishizing us in endless degrading
porn titled films. By the turn of the new century we had to sit and watch as
the LGB pondered over whether or not we, the T, was worth their time. Finally
in an unlikely sign of the times in 2013, we are receiving our crowns, literally.
Over the past decade, the plight of Trans-kids has been
gaining recognition and the idea of changing ones gender is becoming more
understood as something not just decided upon overnight at age 40, but began as
far back as in the womb. With acceptance of Transgender students has come a
long dream of millions of Transgender people reliving childhood dreams
vicariously through the next trans-genderation of our future brothers and sisters.
Many have achieved what was once impossible to many of us, to not only be
accepted but applauded by our peers and community and crowned homecoming kings
and queens.
One of the biggest stories may be of Cassidy
Lynn Campbell, who was one of five students nominated for homecoming queen
at Marina High School. Campbell who said of her wins, “If it can just make them
look a little bit differently at myself or anyone else in this world and judge
just a little less harshly than it was all worth it.” The school’s principal
said he’s proud of Campbell’s victory. “We’re proud of the message from the
home of the Vikings has been one of equity, acceptance, tolerance and respect.”
Could any of us have imagined our school being that supportive in 2000 or
before? I remember specifically being told by a science teacher and assistant
principal that if I only tried making an appearance as a boy and date girls, I
would be treated better. It’s great we are able to see the times make a turn
for a better future for all of us.
Where there are Queens there is bound to be a few Kings, like
Ray
Ramsey of New Hampshire who was not only just simply voted recently as
homecoming King but won with a landslide victory at Concord High School. He is
the first transgender student to ever receive the honor and took the crown to
the sound of a thunderous applause and cheers. According to the Concord
Monitor, Ramsey’s father greeted him after he accepted the crown, taking Ramsey
by the shoulders and looking him in the eye, saying, “I am so proud of you.”
Most recently,
Steven Sanchez made history in Des Moines, Iowa being the first gender
queer person to win homecoming queen at the University of Northern Iowa.
Sanchez, 21, was born male and identifies as both male and female. After years
of relentless bullying, Sanchez received a standing ovation at the campus’s
packed auditorium. Sanchez said, “I never would have thought years ago that I’d
be standing on a stage, people cheering for me because they voted me homecoming
queen. It’s unbelievable."
While there are still too many places where the lives of
Transgender people are harsh and cruel, we are all as a society able to take a
deep breath, raise our chest with a little more pride at a world growing more
accepting of one another. I especially think these stories are an inspiration,
not just to those that will follow their footsteps but many who have began to lose
hope, lost in their despair of the daily hardship that many transgender people
continue to endure.
Times are a
changing, just last year the Miss
Universe pageant system announced all pageants are to be opened to post-op
transgender women.
2013 may still go down in history as the year of the T.
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1 comment:
Awesome article. Very insightful and informative. It's inspirational to know parents are supporting their children these days.
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