A sexuality agenda

[Pah]

THE TRANS AGENDA
I went to dinner once with a public speaker who, upon learning that I was transgendered, showed annoyance at my existence. "What do you people want?" he insisted. One would have thought the answer obvious: to enjoy the rights everyone else has. But that answer wasn't specific enough. In response, and to conclude this chapter [Evolution’s Rainbow - the author is Joan Roughgarden], here is my list of "what we want." My trans agenda consists of six points:

• 1. We want to be cherished as a normal part of human diversity.
• 2. We demand the freedom to offer our own unfiltered narratives - we demand our own voices.
• 3. We want to be treated with courtesy and dignity. We don't want to lift our skirts to show we're female or drop our trousers to show we're male. We want to be respected as people, not bodies.
• 4. We demand that the killing of transgendered people stop. We support extending existing anti-hate crime legislation to include gender identity as a protected category.
• 5. We want equal participation in public social institutions, including employment, education, housing, marriage, adoption, military service, and religious life. We support extending any existing antidiscrimination legislation to include gender identity. We support legislation to allow any two people to enter into marriage. We support rescinding the don't-ask-don't-tell policy in the u.s. military. We support baptism and ordination, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
• 6. We want full-service health plans to cover gender-transition medical services, similar to the coverage of pregnancy benefits. Although some health plans cover only catastrophic illness, others cover many procedures, from acupuncture to physical therapy, and these comprehensive plans should not exclude transgender benefits.

Of these six points, the first is the most important, and the rest follow from it. I feel we have earned these rights by our collective contributions to family and society, and I know we can be even more productive if we were not laboring under threats to our personal safety, or diminished by stigma. I also feel that a contemporary society must grant these six points if it wishes to be considered moral and civilized.

While this is from a transgenderd person, it has strong applicability to homosexuals and intersexuals.

-pah-

 

[Michelle]

I have tears my eyes after reading this. Well Said Joann

 

[linwood]

While this is from a transgenderd person, it has strong applicability to homosexuals and intersexuals.

-pah-

And just about anyone not in the popular mainstream in any area.

 

[Jaymes]

No words come to me, other than "damn straight."

 

[Sunstone]

I also feel that a contemporary society must grant these six points if it wishes to be considered moral and civilized.

It's a strange thing that even in this day and age there are people of national prominence who disagree with this.

 

[Lightkeeper]

I agree with Linwood. There's an attitude toward anyone who doesn't fit a particular mold, and that's a moldy attitude, pun intended. We forget that everyone has something valuable to offer and many times those who don't seem to fit in have much more to offer than the so-called mainstream. We all need to rethink our attitudes toward anything we consider different.

 

[Sunstone]

One of the strengths of America is its diversity. It seems to me we should be cherishing that diversity rather than trying to quash it.

 

[dolly]

Applauds. Well said.