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| Image from Ben Maher on UnSplash. |
It’s the Fourth of July and a time to celebrate the first two hundred fifty years of the United States.
I don’t want to be negative, but I am wondering what there
is to celebrate if you are a transgender woman or transgender man. Making my
point was the recent crooked Supreme Court decision which rejected helping
trans athletes around the country by denying the request and sending it back to
the states where they know the heavily gerrymandered Republican legislatures
will keep rejecting our rights. Here in my native Ohio, the ruling was the kiss
of death for the very few transgender athletes who could have benefitted from
it.
Then there is the ongoing dilemma of what to do about our
rapidly decaying dementia ridden convict/traitor in the White House he is
trying to destroy. What will he try to do next is the problem when it comes to
the LGBTQIA+ community as a whole.
As I always say, his effects cause harm to current out and
visible transgender people as well as potential future harm to those of you in
the closet who are seeking a way out. The most immediate way out is to NOT stay
home and get out and vote for your freedom in November. You may desperately
need those rights when you decide it is time to come out of the closet.
It is a difficult road we have chosen to live and holidays
such as the Fourth of July spotlight the good and the bad that our country has
chosen to do over the years such as take away the native American lands and
build some of the new country on the backs of slavery. Certainly nothing to be proud
of.
It all brings back remembrances of the T-shirt I wore to
several Pride celebrations so long ago which said: I am a transgender veteran
who fought for your rights to take away mine.
I just hope that none of the bleak scene I have painted is
not too far gone to repair and my Social Security benefits continue to be there
when I need them, and my transgender grandchild will be able to still work
towards a bright future that they have.
I have every hope in the world that the old dinosaurs will
fade away and a new generation can come along and right the ship before it is
too late.
Finally, I am sorry I cannot come up with a more positive post
on such an important day in our country’s history. But it would be dishonest of
me to break my tradition of writing from the heart as the basis of doing this
at all.
In the meantime, I still proudly display the flag I served
in the past and hope for a better future.
