..."Because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss
So as I've already said before, I am a proud, flag-waving, card-carrying Bisexual. I'm also a giant Fag Hag and a huge supporter of Gay Rights. I am also a big fan of the show, "Degrassi: The Next Generation". For those of you who aren't familiar, it is a long-running Canadian teen drama that has tackled every topic under the sun from teen pregnancy to school shootings to domestic abuse to eating disorders and everything in between. This season, they have introduced an FTM (Female-to-Male) Transgendered character named Adam. I think that it it so amazing and progressive that they have done something like this, to give a face to the Trans community and give young kids who are struggling with their identity someone that they can look to and to see their similar struggles play out on TV. It's really so unfortunate that there aren't more LBGT characters on TV - especially not in the U.S. It's even more unfortunate that here and now in the year 2010, we still live in a world where people hate other people for no reason, for things that they are scared of and things they don't understand and are too afraid to try and learn about.
When I first realized I was bisexual, I joined the LGBT group at my college in an effort to try and learn more and be more connected with that community. I had heard of transsexuals and drag queens, but I mostly associated it with men dressing as women. In our group, we had 3 FTM trans-gendered guys - one of them actually lived in my dorm freshman year. I remember seeing him on our all-girl floor and being confused as to why this guy was living on our floor. 2 of them were pre-op trans and one of them had actually gone through sexual reassignment surgery and was a post-op trans man. His story was especially moving because he came from a very strict Middle Eastern household and for him to have come out as trans was probably something completely earth shattering for his family. Apparently, his parents were able to cope with it - as they supported him through the surgery and his new life as a Man. But not as many Trans people are so lucky.
Being trans-gendered has certainly become a lot more public recently than it had been in the past. It has even been glamorized on TV with the VH1 show "TRANSform me!" But obviously there is still a lot of stigma attached to being Transgendered, even within the Gay community. And of course, there is still a stigma attached to being Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual in general, regardless of how public, commercialized, stereotyped and sensationalized the lifestyles have become in the mainstream. We still live in a country where high ranking members of our Military are fired after having long and important careers because of their Sexual Orientation, thanks to Don't Ask, Don't Tell. We still live in a country where Gays and Lesbians cannot legally get married, where our elected Government officials are fighting to define Marriage as the union between "One man and One woman". We may have a Black president in the White house, but is that where the progressiveness of our country ends?
I write this post with tears in my eyes and hope in my heart as I dream of a day where Gays and Lesbians can get married in the state that they live in and have their marriage recognized all across our great nation. Where they can share their love in a world that is open to love instead of hate. Where young gay boys and girls won't have to be afraid to go to school because they will be beat up because of who they choose to love and who to be. Where gay men and women won't be afraid to be who they are in a successful job because they might be fired for loving who they choose to love. People shouldn't be afraid of being who they are or doing what they feel. Because Love is Love - and that's all that really matters.
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