Invisible Again
I have written about being invisible on a number of occasions here in Cyrsti's Condo but this one hits close to home.
Recently I was invited by a transgender girl friend to go to an equality event in my town. The event was significant primarily because I didn't even think such an activity could happen in my medium sized town. It's not necessarily known as the most liberal place in the world.
At any rate, the presentation revolved around a film which used Bible interpretations and major real and imagined theologians. I use the word "imagined" for the right wing bigots who hate the LGBT community. During the movie I counted the times the transgender word was used and came up with a maximum of five times in two hours. Wasn't surprised. Been part of the silent "T" in and out of my own closet. The icing on the cake though was no mention of the transgender word before or after the event by the presenters.
By this time, I was relatively steamed by all of the missing "T" but I knew being upset meant nothing if I didn't do a thing. So afterward I took up the offer to sign up for the mailing list and asked if I was welcome at all. Of course then I got the blank "well sure but then again what does that mean look" from the gay and lesbian organizers. Hey, I'm used to that and formulated a plan.
I'm heading to the next meeting which I assume will not include the "it's cool to be around gay folks" peeps who were there last night. I plan on discussing the silent "T" and how ironic it is that there aren't any transgender people in my town of 75,000-according to them. The highlight of the evening was when a woman stood up and said she would love it if her daughter was a lesbian. I thought, "how about a trans man?"
My true goal though are the youth who this group wants to help. Pity the poor transgender boy or girl who is exposed to this group and is invisible. At the least, I should be able to light a fire under the gay and lesbian leaders of the group and maybe help a lonely kid. I overheard the gay leader tell my friend that he had once met a transgender person in Columbus. Wow!
Bottom line: None of them have to know me as much as they have to know about me. I'm not invisible and I do live here.
Recently I was invited by a transgender girl friend to go to an equality event in my town. The event was significant primarily because I didn't even think such an activity could happen in my medium sized town. It's not necessarily known as the most liberal place in the world.
At any rate, the presentation revolved around a film which used Bible interpretations and major real and imagined theologians. I use the word "imagined" for the right wing bigots who hate the LGBT community. During the movie I counted the times the transgender word was used and came up with a maximum of five times in two hours. Wasn't surprised. Been part of the silent "T" in and out of my own closet. The icing on the cake though was no mention of the transgender word before or after the event by the presenters.
By this time, I was relatively steamed by all of the missing "T" but I knew being upset meant nothing if I didn't do a thing. So afterward I took up the offer to sign up for the mailing list and asked if I was welcome at all. Of course then I got the blank "well sure but then again what does that mean look" from the gay and lesbian organizers. Hey, I'm used to that and formulated a plan.
I'm heading to the next meeting which I assume will not include the "it's cool to be around gay folks" peeps who were there last night. I plan on discussing the silent "T" and how ironic it is that there aren't any transgender people in my town of 75,000-according to them. The highlight of the evening was when a woman stood up and said she would love it if her daughter was a lesbian. I thought, "how about a trans man?"
My true goal though are the youth who this group wants to help. Pity the poor transgender boy or girl who is exposed to this group and is invisible. At the least, I should be able to light a fire under the gay and lesbian leaders of the group and maybe help a lonely kid. I overheard the gay leader tell my friend that he had once met a transgender person in Columbus. Wow!
Bottom line: None of them have to know me as much as they have to know about me. I'm not invisible and I do live here.
Comments