I should preface this by saying I am by no means an authority on all things transgender, I arrive at this moment as a Young Adult Librarian who happens to also be a wife and mother as well as someone who aspires to be, in many facets, kickass.
As all those things, I'd like to thank:
Time Magazine. Even though I'm not sure how relevant it is as a periodical of record today, Time Magazine's May cover story featured actress and activist Laverne Cox (who I love and adore on "Orange Is the New Black") and marked the first time a transgender person was featured on a major national news magazine cover. They even had the audacity to call this year the "transgender tipping point." I dig it, because lots of people who aren't my liberal friends and family read Time even if I haven't seen it in my house since I was a kid.I regard it as a bellwether news source going back to my childhood before the internet when the news was delivered via the mailbox, the front door or the television.
Jill Soloway. I adored "Six Feet Under" (on which Soloway was a staff writer) but have yet to see "Transparent." But I feel like I have based on all that writer/director/producer Jill Soloway has done on its behalf since its release on Amazon last month. She's been a crazy worker horse appearing everywhere talking about her show in all sorts of ways, chief among them in that she's working to provide a voice for transgender people behind the scenes, as members of the writing staff and production team, giving them control over their stories when the entertainment industry typically hires non-LGBT folk for those behind the scenes tasks.
Katie Rain Hill and Arin Andrews. I know it's probably a lot more complicated than what I know to be their story, but here's the short version: two transgender teens meet in a Tulsa support group and start dating and then some time later find themselves in the national spotlight via 20/20 and Inside Edition and the like. What's remarkable about their story is that they were each grappling with both being teenagers and being transgender. Their two memoirs, Hill's Rethinking Normal and Andrew's Some Assembly Required, both released this month by Simon & Schuster, are insightful and well-written and, for the first time as far as I can tell, will prove to be a valuable, very current resource for kids who are beginning to question their gender identity.
Ashton Lee. Lee is a 16 year old transgender boy in Central California who came out to his parents last year and, in his fight to feel comfortable at school, not only defended his right to use the boy's bathroom at school but went on to work for the passage of our state's first transgender equity law, the "School Success and Opportunity Act." And when I say "fought" he testified in Sacramento, he solicited over 5000 signatures and delivered them to Governor Jerry Brown. I don't know about you, but if I were meeting Governor Brown, I'd be sufficiently tongue-tied and freaked out. Not this kid.
I'm sure there are other great people who did other great things too. And I give thanks to them as well. Thank you for loving yourself and showing other people how it's done. Thank you for being an example for others of your strength and determination.
At the same time, I think it's important to remember that 2014 feels like the beginning of things in terms of accepting and respecting transgender people, allowing them to live openly and freely. It's taken gay and lesbian men and women over thirty years (and more) to get where we are today; for transgender people there remains a long road ahead.
In honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance I'd like to remember two of those who died this year. Aniya Parker of East Hollywood and Zoraida Reyes of Santa Ana.
While neither of their deaths have been pronounced hate crimes, there is a growing body of evidence from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs and the Transgender Violence Tracker Portal among others that suggests that being an out transgender person puts one at an increased risk of violence.
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