Happy Trans Day of Visibility [and welcome to my blog]

Hey everyone! My name is Jess and this is my very first blog post for my very first blog!! Very exciting, I know… Please hold your virtual applause until the end

Anyway let’s just start things off nice and easy with something completely uncontroversial:

trans rights

via GIPHY

Today, March 31st 2020, is Trans Day of Visibility, not to be confused with International Non-Binary People’s Day (July 14th) International Pronouns Day (third Wednesday in October) LGBTQ+ Pride Month (June) LGBTQ+ History Month (October) Trans Awareness Week (second week of November) or Trans Day of Rememberance (November 20th)

“Wow, that is so many holidays ! ! Why do you need so much attention ?! Can’t everyone just be equal ??” All of these instinctive responses are natural and I do not begrudge you your initial instinctive reaction. But what separates us from incorrigible reactionaries is our ability to look past our initial reaction, to unpack our instincts, to delve deeper into an issue, to ask ourselves “why?”

So let’s ask ourselves “why?” Why do Trans people [and also LGBTQ+ people in general] need so much awareness? Shouldn’t Equal Rights be enough?

Well yes, reader, Equal Rights should indeed be enough. But contrary to popular belief, Equal Rights for LGBTQ+ people don’t actually exist yet!

via GIPHY

Yes, I know this may be surprising to you. How could we not have equal rights? Target sells rainbow shirts in children’s sizes, there appeared to be a brief lesbian kiss in the background at the end of Star Wars Episode 9 [sorry for that incredibly insignificant spoiler], Always tampons removed the female symbol from their wrappers, and the Supreme Court Of The United States ruled gay marriage legal throughout the land in Obergefell v Hodges (2015)

Now, putting aside the hazy memories of how each of the above examples of “Equal Rights” for LGBTQ+ people was met with more acidity and vitriol than a dorm toilet after Tequila Tuesday, it’s important to remember that these are largely symbolic “victories”

via GIPHY

Now I’m not diminishing the significance of Obergefell v Hodges. That landmark case made a huge difference in the lives of millions of people who were previously prohibited from participation in the public proclamation of their passion for their partner [and the accompanying tax benefits]

But that victory becomes slightly hollow when you consider the fact that a queer person can legally be married on Saturday, denied public accommodations on Sunday, denied a loan on Monday, rejected for an adoption application on Tuesday, fired on Wednesday, evicted on Thursday, and rushed to a hospital on Friday where a healthcare provider refuses to treat them, all simply for proudly and openly being who they really are.

This might be the first time you’re learning that each of these forms of discrimination, and more, are completely legal depending on your state.

And that last holiday I mentioned earlier, Trans Day of Remembrance - that day exists to highlight the obscenely disproportionate levels of violence suffered by trans people across the US and around the world. And in almost every state, the perpetrators of these vicious assaults and murders are legally permitted to use the “Trans Panic Defense” aka “I found out they were trans and that made me so uncontrollably panicked that I had no choice but to assault/murder them”

[in cream colored states/territories on the map, the Trans Panic Defense is legally permitted]

I’ll get into these issues in greater detail in future posts. But for now, I just want to say, I’m here, I’m trans (and queer), and I hope you had a happy/meaningful Trans Day of Visibility!

And for today’s [im]polite suggestion: please increase this trans person’s visibility by sharing my blog! Oh and also, next time you feel like trans people (or LGBTQ+ people in general) are getting too much attention for a group that has Equal Rights, try to remember that [at the time of this writing] we actually don’t