I got involved in a discussion today on a friend's Facebook page about the transphobic bigotry Yanel Valenzuela was exposed to at a California LA Fitness location back in October When one of the participants in that FB discussion stated that these type of incidents are why transwomen who pass go stealth, I responded that this is exactly why transpeople need to be out and proud about who they are.
Being in stealth doesn't help the trans community. It only helps the individual that is in stealth.
Hiding from the transphobic bigotry and hate doesn't and will never make it go away. The only thing that will make it go away is increased visibility of trans people, increased education about our lives and the issues we face, and getting laws passed to protect our human rights.
I say that because light skinned people in the African-American community that tried to erase their connections to their Black heritage to acquire pseudo White privilege saw it all come crashing down once their Black heritage was discovered.
The salient point I'm making here is that you cannot fight for your human rights in hiding. We have tried that in the trans community at the behest of the medical gatekeepers for the first 30 years post Christine Jorgensen's arrival from Denmark 60 years ago. It didn't work then and it won't work now.
And yes, the Religious Right is now coming for us, and we better be tough minded enough to stand up to them and punch them in the nose when necessary, not cowering in the shadows hoping they'll go away because they won't. .
It's no accident that since more transpeople have come out, are openly living their lives and are being ambassadors for our community, we have made tremendous trans human rights progress.
But our trans human rights job is not yet complete. We still have much work left to do to eradicate anti-trans bigotry and hatred. The journey to full acceptance of our community with codified human rights is not done and we have many miles to go before it is finished.
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