In a little more than 17 hours we say goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008. It's been an interesting but tumultuous year not only for the transgender community but for me personally as well.
I started the year with a newspaper column I loved, a job I didn't like and 15 pounds heavier. I lost that job three days into the New Year and got my current one, lost the weight through the course of the year, got a year older and unexpectedly lost my column in September.
And still I rise.
While I don't have my column any more and I miss writing it once a month, I still have this blog. There was a silver lining in the loss of the monthly column although I'm majorly pissed about the way it went down. It allowed me to focus more of my creative energy on TransGriot and other writing projects. I've been blessed to see my readership grow from just 100 hits per day from the time I installed my counter on January 17 to 400 per day.
I set a record for one day hit totals twice. I received 1200 hits for my posts on the Miss Universe pageant and broke it when I received 1500 hits on the blog for my history on HRC-transgender community relations. I composed my 500th post since starting TransGriot. And best of all, thanks to the blog, I'm blessed with the ability to intelligently expound on a wide range of issues. I also get the bonus of corresponding with and meeting some wonderful people and fellow bloggers I wouldn't have otherwise.
The transgender community has gone through similar ups and downs. Here in the States we've not only seen increased coverage of transgender issues in our media, but several television shows that have or debuted with good and bad transgender characters. We've seen a transperson get elected statewide in Hawaii but lose locally in Riverdale, GA and Aurora, CO. We've had several cities and states pass inclusive rights legislation.
But in late September our world got rocked by being messily cut out of ENDA by so-called allies. It's triggered not only a schism in the GLB_t community, but a long overdue American transgender community reexamination of how we do business as a community, how inclusive we really are, what tactics we use to pursue our twin legislative Holy Grails of a transgender inclusive ENDA and hate crimes bills and our place in the GLBT community. We transpeople are also searching for, as Aretha Franklin so eloquently sang, R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
It's been a mixed bag of success and failure in the worldwide community as well. We've had legal reversals mixed with success. They too have experienced increasing popularity and media coverage as well. But at the same time while my transgender cousins in Jamaica and on the African continent are catching hell, my African cousins are garnering more positive press as well. (hey, that rhymed)
Around the world, it's becoming more obvious by the day that being transgender is a worldwide medical issue that calls for a compassionate medical, social and legal response, not faith-based hatred and condemnation. Despite what the Catholic Church, fundamentalists and many conservative pundits think, we exist, we have human rights and we aren't going away.
That's one part of the worldwide struggle that will continue into the New Year, and we'll also see the various societies and governments around the world adjust to varying degrees of success or failure.
As for the Phenomenal Transwoman herself? I've been spending the last few days in my traditional end of the year assessment of my life. Been reassessing goals, rechecking my New Year's resolutions I wrote down at the beginning of 2007 and seeing how much progress I made (or lack thereof) toward achieving them.
I'm also at a personal crossroads in my life on a few fronts. Over the next year I'll be working diligently toward successfully resolving those issues. The issues need to be resolved in order for me to continue maintaining my forward progress toward evolving into the type I woman I want to be.
But the best news about 2008? It's a presidential election year.
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