Transmission

[Guest Joanna Phipps]

TransMission

Out, Proud and LOUD

Brothers and Sisters, just what is it going to take get the same rights as our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters?

It is going to take those of us who walk the walk to stand up and be counted.

You don't need to join the protests; what you need to do is find something that can help further the cause then step up to the plate and do it!

It really matters not whether you are:

• raising money for the cause
  
• collecting signatures on a petition
  
• writing letters to all levels of government
  
• writing the mass media to politely but forcefully point out how there coverage of our issues may be improved.
  
• Passing out literature at a rally
  

Remember the saying that not nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something!

Dont sit on the sidelines and bemoan our fate if you arent willing to stand and join the fight. The only language that politicians understand is votes, that is how many votes can you deliver for me next election. We have to let them know that we are a sizable voting block and will back any candidate who takes up our cause.

Dont think that the odds wont be against us, we are not as organized as some of those who stand against us. A lifetime of hinding our true selves has made us not want to fight. It is time for us to stand up and be counted, if you walk in the next Pride Parade mark yourself as transgender. The only way to bring people to our cause is to raise our visibility. Many of us, in the interests of day to day living, have disappeard into the fabric of society; this is good for us as individuals but rotten for the movement as a whole. Our Gay and Lesbian brethren got what they did by being out, proud, and loud. Did they let everyone forget about them? NO!

We are going to need to be the same way if we wish to get things happening that mean as much to us as much of the pending federal legislation does.

If the Gays can have their marches, the Dykes their marches; IT IS TIME THAT THE GENDER VARIENT HAD ONE OF THEIR OWN, WE MUST LET OTHERS KNOW THAT WE EXIST AND ARE NOT GOING TO BACK DOWN.

Does this mean another Stonewall?

No, the conditions that precipitated Stonewall existed at a particular place and time; those conditions are not likely to EVER exist again. However in most of this great country the conditions exist that make it possible for us to do what it is going to take to make ourselves out, proud and loud! In many places we are recognized as part of the LGBT community, but we are very much the forgotten part. As Gays and Lesbians we blend into the croud, as citizens we blend in, as marchers in the pride parades we blend in. It is time that the states, the nation and the world realize that the gender varient population exist, and that we have several things we want to accomplish. NOW IS THE TIME TO RISE AND TELL THE WORLD THAT WE ALWAYS HAVE BEEN HERE AND ALWAYS WILL BE HERE, WE WANT FULL AND EQUAL RIGHTS WITH THE OTHER CITIZENS OF THIS GREAT NATION.

This year was a watershed year for the LGBT movement with the passage of the Hate Crimes Law, that isnt enough. We cannot stop until we have FULL EQUALITY not only with the LGB group but the straights as well. Having federal protections is a good start but what is needed is the Canadian model where not only are LGBT rights enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms but every province protects our rights at that level. Not only that but serveral provinces have included the SRS as a covered service in their health plans. Does DADT exist in the Candian military NO as of the late 1990's Gays and Lesbians were allowed to serve openly, that was the culmination of 21 years of struggle against Ottawa and the NDHQ, it finaly took a Federal Court ruling to make the military cease and decist.

Despite the setbacks we have seen with the same sex marriage proposals in several states, to my mind we lost those battled not because our cause wasnt just and right but because our opposition used fear tactics and simply got more boots on the ground than we did. In many polls the average person has been shown to be infavor of greater LGBT rights, including marriage. The religious right exists to stop things like our movement, BROTHERS AND SISTERS IT IS TIME TO SHOW THEM THE TSUNAMI THAT WE CAN BE. Let us wash their ignorance and bigotry with the strong flowing waters of truth, love and good solid information. They think they have us beatend because they won a couple of balots. THEY MAY HAVE WON THAT BATTLE BUT THE WAR RAGES ON, so in the imortal words of Sir Winston Churchill "we shall fight in the fields and in the streets...we shall never surrender".

Let us find where the next fight is, let us get the boots on the ground, our message on the airways and in print, let us show the rest of the world that we are not to be denied any longer. Nobody is going to give us the tools to finish the job, we have to build our own tools, start the jobsite, and build the foundations and the edifice that we can look at and say yes we fought for that and look now we have it. Even then that is not the time to get complacent, for as much as we win we can lose if we are not vigilant. Let us make the line "With liberty and justice for all" mean exactly what it says and not just some slogan in a pledge. If indeed it is a pledge then those who repeat it everyday need to realize that this nation was SUPPOSED to have been built on liberty and equality, however history has proved that some are more free and equal than others.

It is time that we became full citizens, we have been denigrated, dispised, descriminated against and shunned because we are different. NO MORE, we want equality, protection under and before the law we will never get it by blending in and being part of the croud. Most of the nation doesnt know about us, we must change that, we must level of visibility as our Gay and Lesbian brothers and sisters. "Once more unto the breach dear friends" and lets get out, loud and proud.

[gennee]

I can't add anymore, Joanna. We must continue the fight.

Gennee