When Your Experiences are Ignored and Dehumanized

The GOP are rolling back civil rights and human rights.

Bigotry keeps NO ONE SAFE. Being a bigot towards trans folks has not only put more trans and gender nonconforming people in more danger, but even folks who are cisgender(you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth) will get caught up in the danger.

I was that "tomboy" but parents encouraged me. I could play video games, watch science/nature shows, play with 'boy's stuff', could watch SFFH/cartoons on TV. One of the few gender-conforming was to wear dresses at church as a kid.

When I was in middle school, my voice changed and instead of it becoming higher, it got lower. 

I was already being bullied for being flat-chested. And now I was bullied for having a deep voice! 

Even when I began trying to be more feminine with clothing and make-up in my 20s, my "womanliness" was never enough. 

I was bullied for being a tomboy in elementary, bullied for not hitting puberty soon enough in middle school. And then, as a college student, when I did dress up, got attention I didn't want. 

I began going back to my tomboyish/masculine-presenting self from my 30s. I'm now 50 and am fully gender nonconforming. 

This is my version of who I am. People should be allowed to present any way they should without harassment and abuse.

Again, BIGOTRY PUTS US ALL IN DANGER.

Another FB Rant--- About Drag Shows

[My piece about the GOP bills against drag shows. I have a LOT MORE TO SAY]

Before I left my former college job, I recall a discussion I had with a former student that caused them to confront their own transphobia when they told me about their kids' school's Dragtime Storytelling.*

They found it disturbing, 'Bearded Man In A Dress' Trope and then said, "It's ok if they entertain me-" and I cut them off and said, "Wait! So drag queens and trans people should only exist to entertain you?"

The student said that's not what they meant. I asked them to explain. When they tried, they turned it to that BS about 'indoctrinating the children'. I stopped them again, saying, "You DO know some folks realize they are trans when they're kids, right? And drag is a specialized and professional lifestyle and some folks' entire careers! Just like we go to school to figure out what our future may be, what if there is a kid in that audience that wants to do drag for a living?"

The student kept telling me, "I'm not a transphobe! I'm not transphobic!"

[*I know, I know being in drag is different from being transgender, but that's a story for another day]