Loss of Unity

Monday, August 28, 2006

This past weekend I attended Charlotte Pride as a representative of NCTG UNITY. We were one of perhaps 30 or 40 tables and the only transgender group represented. The concept behind NCTG UNITY is that we are an umbrella organization whose purpose is to provide a unified relationship between all the TG groups in North Carolina, but the truth is that this is the case more in name than it is in practice. Unfortunately, we have been unable to effect the reality of a combined and concerted effort towards a greater understanding of what it means to be transgender. Interestingly, however, this dysfunction is a microcosmic example of the situation within the GLBT community and, at a larger and more macrocosmic level, the relationship between all minorities in general.

It is difficult to imagine how we are to effect change in the world when we are unable to make the leap of faith that would enable us to walk in the shoes of those not so dissimilar from us. How much further it is to walk in the shoes of those whose lives are radically different. There is a lack of understanding amongst Gay and Lesbian individuals regarding the transgender experience. There is a disparity amongst the transgender community with regards to political correctness regarding appropriate language, behavior, etc.

I have always found it to be a strange phenomenon that, as groups achieve a modicum of acceptance, they are quick to manifest the elitist posture that works to exclude others whose goals may not exactly coincide. This is an historic truism that is obvious and evident in any so called hierarchy of minorities. It all boils down to allegations with respect to whose cause is more pressing, whose cause is more "right". Clearly, the truth of the mattter is that either we all achieve basic human rights or none of us do...it is impossible for one group to claim that it has achieved acceptance while excluding another group and have anyone believe that this in any way approaches egalitarianism.

I raise this issue in what may seem to be a circular argument because of a conversation I had with one of the attendees to Charlotte Pride, who was, additionally, a representative of the Green Party contingent. He mentioned that a friend of his from Michigan, a post op transexual, had tried to become affiliated with the Green Party Women's Caucus and was refused admission because his birth gender was not correct. Once a man...always a man they maintain. It confounds me to grasp that another minority... a feminist group...would engage in exclusionary tactics and expressly deny involvement to one who chose to help further their cause. This is the epitome of self defeatism.

Amongst many Native Americans is a tradition known as "winkte"..."Two Spirits"...people born to one gender who, for one reason or another, express a variant gender presentation. In many cases, they are considered to be shamans. As such, they represent a bridge between two worlds. That someone like this would be a pariah in the Green Party Women's Caucus defies understanding. That someone who manifests the nature of Two Spirits would not be expressly suited to working for better communications and new ideas is inexplicable. That it would not be obvious that this person was in the unique position to construct bridges between conceptual worlds goes beyond the pale.

Until we affirm that we are all suffering from marginalization, and until we all work for the commonality of tolerance and understanding, none of us will be free and none of us will have equal rights. We must put aside any sense of partisanship and see the world in broader strokes. I call for an end to the self defeating quibbling between ALL of us who are the victims of disenfranchisement, marginalization and abridgement of our God given rights to equal treatment under the eyes of the law!

trickster108