Oh, HRC.

[lbuckley]

I don't have time to fact check this, but apparently, HRC asked trans*folk at the rally for marriage equality to take down their flags, because marriage equality isn't a trans issueBecause, you know, no trans people are gay, and no trans people are in love with people of the same gender designation as themselves, and it wouldn't be very, very handy

Comments

[acidsunqueen]

Wow, there is so much to reply to here that I don't really know where to begin. No, I do know. I must apologize because I didn't realize that you had different privacy levels and I said something that you did not share with all. Truly, I'm sorry. I hope that doesn't get me kicked out of your filters but if it does, I will understand.

I love you too Lee and don't want this to be a flame war. I started out by saying it was my opinion, my highly unpopular opinion.

I remember going to NYC to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Stonewall. One of the major groups - HRC or NGLTF - can't remember which - decided that the parade would start with a mile long rainbow flag. For a small fee (like $25) you could be one of the lucky ones who got to carry the flag up 5th Ave. I saw it as a convenient way for closeted people to participate and hide. I was with Kate Bornstein and a few other friends. We decided to go on the alternative march, the one with trannies and people with AIDS who also experienced a high degree of marginalization. We dropped to the ground, locked arms and legs when we got to St Patty's Cathedral and were surrounded by police in riot gear. Everyone locked together and chanted "when you say don't fuck, we say fuck you."

I have always been a queer outside of the mainstream. I never wanted to be one of the lesbian poster children for gay rights. I've never been one of those "look at me. I could be your next door neighbor" types of queers, and trust me, I was hot enough to be put on any poster when I was young.

I believe in all of the subgroups that make up the movement as a whole. I did tremendous amounts of volunteer work for both HRC and NGLTF during my 20 years in the DC area only because I needed to do something to promote the gay rights movement as a whole.

I'm a ticking time bomb with cancer. Yeah, I'm in remission. I have no idea how long that will last before recurrence, and when that comes I will be stage 4/terminal. I don't have time to waste and worry about everyone under the big tent. I'm selfish because I've waited a lifetime for equal rights and I want to see them before I'm dead. I hope the Bs and the Ts get all of the rights they are fighting for and I've paid more than my fair share of dues working for those as well. But now, in this time and space, I'm not the baby dyke I was when the movement was young, handing out pamphlets entitled "There's a Turd in My Tropicana" which advocated the firing of Anita Bryant. I'm old now and I care about me. Marriage equality does not need distractions. The large mainstream groups solicit money from all of the groups under the big tent and also do much to promote their causes too, but this one is big. This one does not need to have any other groups hanging onto it's coat tails. It needs to specifically address the right of gay and lesbian people to marry. Period. That's how I feel and I make no apologies for my feelings. I want all of us to have all of the rights and privileges that we are entitled to, but first and foremost I want the right to get married. I fought long and hard and I deserve it. Once granted, all of the others will fall into place.

I understand transgender issues very well. I have been acquainted with people who were on the forefront of the movement so I don't really need to have anything explained to me. I may only hold a masters from an accredited institution but I got my PhD in Queer Studies from four decades of activism. It's easy for all of us to turn into armchair activists and preach from the safety of our living rooms or to do our part on a small local community scale. I have been in situations where skulls were cracked and people were carted off en masse. I put myself out there and was ready to die for my right, and other people's right to exist, so I really don't need no schoolin.'

As far as the issue that prompted your post is concerned, my understanding is that all groups who held anything other than an American flag were asked to move away from the podium. No one decided it was a good day to pick on the transfolk.