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| It�s Not a Choice, and in fact, Everybody Is! | |||||||||
| Achievable Goals for PRIDE Week Or ANYTIME! | |||||||||
| Summer was upon us. Leaves were fully out and green. Fresh mown grass scents the velvet air and we were faced with a summer tradition. PRIDE, that exclusive event for the GLBT community to put on its best face and meet the public, is fast approaching. As probably the least well-known sub-group within the community, we T�s are often not sure how to �come across.� Gays, Lesbians, and Bisexuals know who and what they are. The public understands �what� these folks are, although they may not understand the why�s, how�s and wherefor�s. Nor is it necessary for them to �wear signs� stating of which sub-group they are a member. However, our T�s often feel that they need to �portray� what they are during these events. Faced with a dilemma pertaining to our �image,� I gave a great deal of thought about just what we could expect to accomplish by participating in PRIDE. I approached it from a �goals and expectations� perspective and found, for the most part, we are sorely lacking in setting these objectives and achieving them. In general, the GLBT community does not need to further define what a gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transsexual person is. The media has taken care of that for them! We are still in the infancy stages of informing the populace what T is all about! Rome wasn�t built in a day. Accepting wives were not born with those hard-earned lessons in place. Baby steps are called for, and doses small enough to be totally understood in one brief encounter. How best to address this? | |||||||||
| Handouts are fine and well, but are they read? Are they perceived the way we intended them to be? Is our goal truly to have ALL males wear dresses, wigs, and high heels? That might be exactly the message the visitor is receiving! I think about some of the more �fringe� elements that frequent these festivals and some of the �bizarre� displays they demonstrate. I wonder if any of the public ever gets even the foggiest notion of what or why they are portraying that image. And I shudder at what the visitor might take away from a tent filled with a bunch of guys in dresses! For that is NOT the message that we should be delivering if we ever want to be accepted at least as well as the rest of the GLBT community...and I would personally hope, we can do BETTER! | |||||||||
| Bear in mind, your primary motive for being at the PRIDE festival is to share information. In our case, that information is that ALL people are transgendered to some degree! Both you, and the person to whom you are talking! None other in the GLTB community can carry such a strong message of universal understanding! What you are wearing is of little consequence to the fact that all men have some degree of feminism within them and likewise all women a level of masculinity. Clothes only "define" in graphic terms�but the "condition" exists in every single person you speak with. Nothing will do more to further the cause of transgenderism than the open, frank conversation that this exists universally. That could be the strongest message this year's PRIDE can deliver�and you can do it dressed as a clown, if you so desire! Clothes do not make the person, in this instance. The person is there all along. And an element of transgenderism is in every person you meet. Why muddy up the water with "attire" when the message is one of "attitude." | |||||||||
| The other, very important, basic information that needs to be disseminated is that we are not making a �choice� in this matter. Like our GLBT brothers and sisters, it is pre-ordained before birth! In this message, we not only further and strengthen our own stance, but also are supportive of the other members in our community. IF you chose to show up �en femme� be prepared to answer honestly, openly, directly, and intelligently as to �why� you �choose� this behavior or attire. Research, learn, and be able to fully and simply describe just what makes the crossdresser, or T-person, what they are. Be humble, not boastful. Be able to define the changes that take place in uterine, and what causes them. Let them know that we are not �freaks of nature�, as some of those same �fringe� groups would appear, but we are simply an extension of what happens when the three facets of development - the �sex center�...or our physical manifestation, the �mating center�...our sexual behavior, and our �gender center�, our self perceptions are being developed. The three do not develop at the same time, and an imbalance of hormones in the uterus can cause one or more of these to become more feminine than the others. Be sure you �know your stuff� because you will be subjected to more questions than you have ever faced at a PRIDE event! | |||||||||
| We can make a difference in how the world perceives us! Our task is to meet the rest of society in a manner that is not threatening, misleading, or �clownish.� We can deliver two very simple messages and make more difference than all the other members of our community have been delivering for many years. Make it your goal, this year, to make �transgendered� a common, simple, understandable word for everyone. With your commitment, it is an achievable goal! | |||||||||
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