Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Infighting Stops Today

cecilia-chungTransGriot Note: The thinking that went into my post about trans community dissension was jumpstarted by this Facebook one composed by Cecilia Chung.   She's one of our trailblazing and highly respected trans community leaders based in the San Francisco area.

She's one of the people I'm not only looking forward to meeting one day, she's one I have major love and respect for. 
  
This commentary needed to be signal boosted. Here's Cecilia!


Something I need to get off my chest.

Silence = Death
Trans Silence = Death

It is a universal truth.

‪#‎GirlsLikeUs‬: If you know someone who is ‪#‎trans‬ and ‪#‎HIV‬+, ‪#‎HepB‬/C+, ‪#‎Unemployed‬, recently ‪#‎incarcerated‬, struggling with ‪#‎addiction‬, ‪#‎homeless‬, struggling with mental illness, been ‪#‎abused‬ ‪#‎sexually‬/‪#‎emotionally‬/ ‪#‎physically‬ by a stranger/ a family member/ a partner, help them find their own voice. Be their support until they find the strength to fight. We need to organize now more than ever. And the infighting stop today, because we still have sisters and brothers dying and there is too much work to do.

No one will hear us until all our stories are told by us. Transgender, transsexual, trans* or trans? These labels don't dictate our lives so stop letting them drown out our message of freedom, equality, justice and human rights.

Stop making our own sisters and brothers the enemies. The real enemies are stigma, misguided religion, intolerance and ignorance, which are the ingredients of hate and discrimination.

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