Equality Iowa

Many within the gay community have written off Obama’s comments about repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) this year. Now Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has announced that he will lay the Pentagon’s plan for repealing the unpopular policy next Tuesday, at a Senate Committee hearing.

DADT prevents military officials from directly asking servicemen or women about their sexual orientation, but does not prevent the military from discharging gay servicemen and women. The policy, which was instituted over fifteen years ago, forces those members of LGBT community who wish to serve their country, to do so in silence. It has long been criticized by the gay community, and increasingly by members of the military command as well. High ranking Pentagon officials have complained, off the record, that it is a failed policy.

Now they may have their chance to speak more publicly. The plan laid out by Secretary Gates on Tuesday will not be ambitious. Speaking on CNN he said the Pentagon will move “very, very cautiously” in implementing the repeal. However, already the language is shifting from “if” the policy is repealed to “when”.

Martin Luther King once said, “The arc of history is long, but it bends towards justice.” For the many patriotic gay men and women who have served our country, and for those who still do, the arc of history is finally bending their direction.

(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.