Equality Iowa

The Center’s Sunday night fundraiser at the Garden nightclub was a huge success. Between the donations at the door, the raffle and the silent auction the event raised just over 1,400 dollars. The money will help keep the Center doors open. It will pay for rent, utilities and other costs.

The Center would like to extended a huge thank you to all of the people who made the event possible, the performers (of course) the garden for providing it’ the space, the volunteers and all the donors.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie talks about the Center

(This was originally posted to my xanga site at: http://racheleliason.xanga.com/ )

At a party in October 2002, Gwen Araujo was “outed” as transgender. Discovering this young woman was not biologically female, three men tied her up, beat her repeatedly, strangled her and dumped the body miles away.

In august of 1995 a car accident turned fatal for Tyra Hunter. Discovering that she had male genitalia, EMT’s stopped caring for her and made crude jokes while she bled to death.

Robert Eads wouldn’t have turned any heads if he walked down the street. He was a man like any other, except that Robert had been born a girl. He still had ovaries, and he developed ovarian cancer. Over twenty doctors refused to treat his cancer because they did not want a transgender patient.

Early last year a good friend of mine decided that he had had one too many slights and assaults from a world that felt “she” should not be allowed to live “her” life as “she” truly was, a man. He was found hanging in his basement by his loving wife. His passing was devastating to all who knew him.

It is stories like this, and there are way too many to mention, that led Gwendolyn Ann Smith to found the first Transgender Day of Remembrance. The day memorializes all those who have died as a result of outright hatred, or simple callous disregard.

This fall the Des Moines LGBT community celebrated the day of remembrance at the state capitol for the first time. We gathered, we spoke our minds, and our hearts. The governor, Chet Chulver issued a proclamation recognizing the day. It was a simple act, motivated I would like to think, by human compassion.

For this he is now being attacked by conservatives. Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center has accused Culver of promoting “sexual confusion and deviant behavior”. They want to paint the governor as evil because he acknowledged to suffering of one small minority.

As a member of the transgender community I am outraged. Apparently it is not enough to prevent my community from having full civil rights. These people spend millions preventing gays from being able to marry, they lobby in Washington to keep words like sexual orientation and gender identity out of the ENDA (employee Non-Discrimination Act) so they can fire us for who we are.

Now they want our sorrow. You can’t have it. You have no right to it. You have 364 days to paint us as “deviants” and call us nasty names. We have one. One day where we remember these people, not as you see them, but as we see them. One day when Gwen is not a “tranny” but a beautiful young woman who had her whole life ahead of her. A life that was taken from her. One day where Robert wasn’t a “freak” but a kind man and a loving husband. One day where my friend did not have to die, because nobody hated him without even knowing him.

Chuck Hurley, if you don’t want us to have a “special day” then stop hating us. Stop telling people it’s okay to hate us because we are different. Stop calling us deviants. Because when you tell people that it’s okay to hate us, some of those people are going to get it into their heads that this means it is also okay to kill us. And that is what has created the need for a Transgender Day of Remembrance in the first place.

Three members of the Des Moines based Transgender group, Transformations Iowa, recently went to the second annual TransOhio conference in Columbia, Ohio. The conference was held at the Columbia Law University in downtown Columbia.

The conference drew over 160 guests from all over the region, from Iowa to New York. Among the presenters were some nationally recognized names.

The keynote speaker for the weekend was Helen Boyd, author of “my husband Betty”. Helen writes, speaks and teaches courses aimed at the significant others and family of transgendered people. Watching her husband go through the process of transition, Helen has become a remarkably insightful and strongly out spoken ally for the entire LGBT community.

Mara Keisling, director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, gave a wonderfully informative speech at the conference, and a witty stand up routine at the Wall Street club later that night. She is truly a woman of many talents.

Also presenting were Dr. Christine McGin, a noted surgeon, Tamara McKenzie Allison, a prominent Columbia Lawyer and Barbie Rogers, noted intersex activist. The presentations were high quality and very informative.

The community of TransOhio was friendly and welcoming, taking conference participants to two different clubs and a nice brunch on Sunday before things wound down. We were treated to a wonderful stand up comedy show by Mara and Karen Patrick, as well as a powerfully moving show by drag king Adam Apple. It was an amazing time for all.

As one of the Iowa contingent, this weekend also brought home to me just how lucky I am to live in Iowa. We live in a great state with clean air, marriage equality and many civil rights that others, even in progressive cities like Columbia, struggle for. We came home with many new ideas, but also a deeper appreciation for the state and community we had left behind.

The CENTER WILL provide a voice and visibility to the un-served and under-served LGBT community, their supporters and families in Central Iowa. To work with progressive, supportive and allied groups to strengthen all of our work.

Come by and check out the resources and hang out with friends! We’re at 1300 Locust in downtown Des Moines.

Monday – Saturday, noon to 6 pm

Keep an eye on the Events Calender for free training classes offered at The CENTER.

We are also accepting donations, including books, furniture, etc – so if you can help out call us at 515-288-9625.