Let me start off by saying, I feel quite blessed that I've been VERY fortunate to have received so much love & support from my family and friends during my transition, and for that I'm forever grateful. But even with all that love & support, I know all too well the sting of the many things discussed in this piece. The objectification from those who think that just because I'm trans I must be a hooker or some kind of sex freak. The rude & downright disgusting comments. The weird looks & snickering behind my back and DEFINITELY the discrimination of trying to find a job as a trans woman.
Even with all my trials and tribulations, I still consider myself lucky that I have such a wonderful support network of family & friends, but there are still WAY too many of us out there that aren't so lucky. There is SO much work that needs to be done in letting the world know that we are no different from anyone else walking this earth, and all were asking for is just a little bit of understanding and compassion! We are not jokes, we are not freaks, we are just HUMAN BEINGS trying to live happy, fulfilling lives like everyone else!
This is a VERY SERIOUS matter and I hope you take a few moments to listen to this piece and just try to understand that it's hard enough for us to deal with our own emotional roller coasters, and all we are asking for is to be treated like any other human being, with dignity and basic common decency.
For those that have been so kind and gracious to me and others like me, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. For the rest of you, listen to this and open your minds and hearts!
Thanks so much for posting this Gina!
ReplyDeleteI had chills by the end of the program. It is all so true and so very very frightening sometimes. I have worked all my life in very demanding male rolls and have lived most of it in fear of my peers finding out the truth about me. I know that they never would have accepted me for who I am and even now having adopted a very androgynous look and still get a lot of crap, sideways glances, staggering behind your back reactions. My boss told my wife in a drunken moment after our company Christmastime party, "We all know we like G, we just don't know why". Now what kind of F'ed up statement is that? I hold six job titles that in our other company's are all filled by individuals, I have filled in for him while he was abroad for six weeks, taken over another managers roll for a year after he was fired, all while still doing my own job but the A** can't figure out why? WTF? I have been passed over for promotion and the jobs were given to persons of inferior experience, later they were fired for incompetence but still others were brought in rather then give the job to me. I contemplated suicide a lot in my youth and it still crosses my mind in dark moments. I took the most dangerous jobs, lived on the edge as though my life didn't matter because everyone around me seemed to be sending out signals that it didn't matter. I always felt compelled to prove I was as good or better as those guys. I over compensated until I lost myself in there quagmire of gender rolls. Now I no longer care, what "they" think, I only care about the people I love, and those who love me. Do I sound cold? Well if I am they made me this way. It really is so sad that the majority of people can look past apparency, can't judge a person by there actions instead of the length of there hair or there dress.
How do we change the world around us? I chose to effect change by being who I am, steel myself against those hurtful comments. Let people judge me for my actions, the way I love unconditionally. I don't really have any expectations that this will happen in my life time but still hold hope that it might in my children's and grandchildren's lives.
Thank you again for being the supportive, loving human you are Gina!
And I adore your photos!
Gee