Lgbt Pride Month

[Guest NicolaiAE]

LOL *dances* Whoot! Happy Pride Month everyone!

Unfortunately for me the festival doesnt start until Jul 25 (O.o ?) Down here, but I'm gonna show up...maybe in a new car

[Guest Jeannine Bean]

Here on the island of Formosa, we have our parades in September or October. Many people wear masks because, while it is mostly okay for Lesbians and Queer women to walk around openly, for men it is not very accepted. Female professionals might lose their jobs, also. I think this is pretty sad, and it differs from many other parts of Asia. It is partly because of the Western religious influence on this country, I believe. Many people, I'm told, walk the parade from a distance, a block over, or maybe even just stand and watch.

Still, inroads have been made with the young, and Ximen and other cool parts of town have some gay districts. Transgendered people are less accepted in Taiwan than the U.S, though there's usually a constituent of "newhalf" (popular term for transwomen) in the parade, and I don't know what the status is of transgendered men. I've seen a few people who I thought were transgendered men here, but I have not seen mention of them in the parades.

Though I'm very "out and about" in general, I wouldn't necessarily want to be on the cover of a newspaper because I wouldn't want to risk losing my job. I think my boss wouldn't care if I was any permutation of LGB or T but she doesn't want to lose business, and I'm a schoolteacher... though I want to walk. As one of the few foreigners around here, My GF and I could well be the ONLY ones or two of only three or four in the parade and might end up in newspaper photos. I have a few months to decide if I'll go or not.

Meanwhile I'll celebrate from afar, solidarity with all of you lovely people back in the states.

And yes, lots of pride :-).

--Jeannine

[Guest nonamesleft]

I'm proud to be transgender and am not ashamed of it. I am out in public quite a bit. I will be in the march here in New York City because transgender people need to be visible. I have been working to present a more favorable view of transgender people. I believe that a speaking engagement I have coming up on June 23rd will be a start.

I couldn't agree with you any more. I seem to tell people this all the time, but many just dont seem to understand. I don't have a problem with trans people who choose to be stealth or choose to leave their trans past behind when they transition, but at least some of us need to stand up and fight for our rights and recognition. I've been to dozens of pride festivals/parades in cities all over the world, and trans visability is almost always next to nil. As long as no one knows who we are or what we have to deal with, they will not make any effort at helping or sympathizing with us.

All of the progress made in gay rights and social acceptance came about largely because in 1969, a group of lbgt's in New York decided to stop being abused and harassed by the cops, and dared to fight back. This inspired gay people all over the world to come out of hiding and start fighting for rights, which led to the pride festivals, which initially were political movements, and have slowly evolved into very festive events which unite people from all walks of life. As gay people started to come out to the people around them, everyone else started to realize that they were just like everyone else in the world, and they were everyone's family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors, instead of a group of hedonistic perverts hanging out in bars and public restrooms. Trans people are just not nearly significant in numbers to have as much influence on our own, so it is essential that we work with and alongside the LGB community, since we share many of the same battles and enemies.

But enough of my rant, Happy Pride!!

[Guest Evan_J]

.....Meanwhile I'll celebrate from afar, solidarity with all of you lovely people back in the states.

.....

(hug)

And yes, nonamesleft, even though I'm one who is not running to be a posterboy I know that what you say is true. At this years festival, at least here, I gotta say I did see more T people. That was somethin Or maybe they were always there and I just put everybody in their correct gender (actually possible with me, I'm not one to walk around thinking "I wonder what this person 'is' " and that person 'is'....its just not me). But I noted us being present cuz I was thinking consciously about the community making headway.

I even saw a FtM brother I only knew off the internet (It was easy, he had a nametag). If in fact that perception of more visibility was correct I hope its a sign of a more enlightened day on the horizon.