It's About Freedom; It's About Choice
The Week In Review - week ending 1/27/2006

This afternoon I attended the annual Planned Parenthood luncheon at the Arizona Biltmore as a guest of the Arizona Human Rights Fund.  There were over 700 people there, and the crowd included a significant number of local and state politicians.  Even the governor was there.  The "Mistress of Ceremonies" was Wendie Malick - you may remember her as the woman with the active libido on "Just Shoot Me" with David Spade.  After seeing several celebrities who don't look anything like their public personas, the good news is that she looks like herself.  Anyway, it was a well done event.

As I sat, munched on stuffed chicken, and listened to the speakers a couple of things struck me.  First, several speakers talked about a woman's inherent right to make informed decisions about her body and her health.  I find it ironic that the decisions facing transgender people are exactly the same - but somehow receive much less empathy or appreciation.  Whether you believe that the things we do are a "choice" or not - the fact of the matter is that the right of people to make their own decisions about their body and their health in the face of those who would tell them who and what to be, who would throw morality in their faces, is fundamental to Human Rights.  For me, to be pro-"Choice" is to be pro-"Choice" in all it's forms.  It's more than just about the specific issue of reproductive rights.  It's "Choice" rights.

The other thing I realized is that the same people who are likely to be against a woman's right to receive contraception or have an abortion are most likely the very same people who are intolerant of anything "different".  They're very likely the same people who are intolerant of the GLBT community - it's all part of a common mindset.   It's not simply an attack on individual rights - it's an attack on the very essence of personhood. 

The keynote address was given by Dr. Susan Wood, a woman who resigned her high-level position within the FDA because of her feeling that a conservative religious agenda has hijacked the organization (my word, not hers).  That same mindset is a threat to each and every one of us who is somehow different, and the fact that a single zealot can be successful in this kind of thing is an indictment not only of the current administration, but on the underlying manipulation of fear and the self-appointed "Conservative Mandate" upon which it is based.  Hard fought freedoms that Americans have enjoyed for decades are under continued attack and the fact that this president has the power to do what he is doing is nothing short of criminal.  In the end, the American people have nobody to blame but themselves.  Collectively, they put him there.  They knew that this was going to happen but still, they put him there.  Or, they sat by and let it happen.  Sadly, good people will pay for it, and are dying every day because of it.

I look at America today the same way as I envision Europe in the 15 century.  People who were oppressed in their homelands set sail for new worlds where they could live their lives the way they wanted in freedom.  It was certainly a difficult decision - stay at home and endure tyranny or face the dangers of unsettled and unexplored lands.  The people who made the journey here were those for whom freedom was not a choice - it was an ideal worth dying for.  We are facing a very similar dilemma in this country today.  Some would call it "traditional values".  I call it tyranny.  This is a government without a conscious.  This is not democracy as it was originally intended to be.  This is a bully pulpit where the strong victimize the weak, where the loud drown out the quiet, where morality wrapped in a flag is used to beat people into submission.  Only time will tell the full extent of the damage being done.  Time will identify the heroes and villains. 

Not surprisingly, I received much email this week about a recently released government memo.  It is from the Internal Revenue Service, and it is about the deductibility of medical expenses associated with Sex Reassignment procedures.  Anyone who wants to read an overview of it is welcome to do so Here (I also have a copy of the entire memorandum for anyone who is interested).  An article discussing it a little more in depth is Here.

Does this surprise anyone?  In an administration that has been systematically rolling back freedoms was there any doubt where this would lead?  There are those in our community who feel that our very right to have these kinds of surgeries will be under assault next the way that a woman's right to make decisions about her own body is under attack. Unthinkable you say?  Sometimes, I fear they might be right. 

Fundamentally, the fight here isn't about who a person can love, or what gender they are, or whether or not they can choose to take contraception or have an abortion.  Those are merely examples of the key element at play here.  Those are examples of Choice - of Freedom.  The question is, "Who gets to make these decisions about each of us individually as adults?"  Until big-picture people can help little-picture minds understand that we'll be so fragmented that speaking in one voice will be impossible.  Collectively, we ALL need to speak up.  We need to see this assault on individual freedoms for what it really is, and we need to stand united with one voice saying, "NO". 

Have no doubt.  Ultimately, we WILL be successful.  Our community will not be forced back into the closet.  That's no longer an option.  More and more of us are getting involved in doing the grass-roots education to help everyday people realize that we're not the threat that they feared.  And, we're making important progress on any number of fronts (workplace, legislative, mass media).

There was some positive news this week on each of these fronts. 

In the workplace, I received an email indicating that Bristol-Myers just added discrimination protection based on Gender Identity/Expression to their EEO Policy and has become the most recent Fortune 500 company to earn a perfect score of 100 on the Corporate Equality Index. 

As for entertainment, I've identified a couple of specific things to highlight.  First, I just read my favorite review of Transamerica so far.  I've seen dozens of them, and this particular one is by Roger Ebert (read it here).  I think the reason I like it so much is that it demonstrates what an educated viewer can glean from this movie.  I don't want to paraphrase what he says, so I encourage you to read it yourself to see what I mean.  This is the kind of "education" that none of us can provide.  And, it's the kind of empathetic perspective that helps to foster a more realistic understanding of the universal nature of our journey.  He ends his review by acknowledging, "...at the end of Transamerica you realize it was not about sex at all.  It was about family values."  How powerful is that?!  Here's two big "Thumbs Up" for Roger Ebert.

On the justice front, the community received some good news for a change.  The twisted trail of Gwen Araujo's murder trial reached it's Pinnacle on Friday.  The day before, the California State Assembly passed landmark legislation titled "The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act".  This legislation disallows the so-called "Transgender Panic" defense as a viable excuse for murder.  The very next day, two of the defendants who were found guilty of murdering Gwen were sentenced to 15-years to Life prison terms for their crime.  The third is receiving a lesser sentence as part of a plea-bargaining arrangement.  Any satisfaction that something akin to justice was finally achieved here is tempered by both the difficulty in getting to this point, as well as the realization that much of the rest of the country continues to perceive transgender people as disposable. 

And, on the legislative front Washington State passed landmark discrimination protection that included gender identity and expression.  An email from the National Center for Transgender Equality announces the news:

Some may remember what happened with this legislation last year when it was defeated at the last minute.  By a single vote.  Corporate support from Microsoft was pulled at the last minute leading to some frenzied discussions.  This year, corporate support for the bill was steadfast and substantial and I daresay it was one of the key reasons the bill passed.  From HRC's press release:

This has been a busy week.  Although there have been some significant achievements I can't help but be saddened by how difficult it has been to achieve them.  Someone much wiser and more articulate than me once wrote "We hold these truths to be Self Evident", and about "inalienable rights".  The fact that these simple rights, which form the basis of our democracy, are apparently not so self-evident any more, is a sad commentary of our times.  The good news is that there are people out there who will not hide.  They will not accept the current climate of fear and conservative condemnation as acceptable.  And, they're willing to do what it takes to make the right things happen.  When given a choice between hiding and stepping up to do the right thing, they are choosing the latter.  As I said at the outset - it really is about Choice.

Posted 1/27/2006