Live And Let Live
I try to refrain from writing political posts, but after this past week’s fiasco with the Republicans trying to elect a Speaker of the House, I felt the need to say something. Most of my life I have leaned toward the conservative side of center. I have never claimed to be Republican or Democrat, but more of an independent. I have agreed with some things the Republicans thought or did, and same with the Democrats. I have always enjoyed watching closely the politics of running our great nation, and it was no different this past week. The disgust I felt with the Republicans (this time) just made me shake my head. Once again, I know why our government can’t get important issues done. I say “this time” above because Democrats do the exact same thing when they are in the majority.
The issue that has made me, as a transgender woman, want to write something are my concerns over transgender men and women and what the future holds for us. We all know how many conservatives and religious zealots feel about transgender men and women, and LGBTQ in general. Instead of just allowing people to live as themselves and be happy, they want to force their values on everyone. We all saw the many steps we took backward when Donald Trump was elected president. He forced transgender and gay men and women from the military, and just when the Veterans Administration was set to begin plans to conduct GRS he stopped it. I don’t, and never have, liked Donald Trump, but that is not something I will share, or get into.
I am not a big Biden fan either, but he did lift the restrictions on transgender and gays from serving in the military and has also directed the VA to start conducting GRS. The VA has not started doing the surgery but are trying to put plans into place and begin doing the surgery. Not sure why it has taken them two years to do this, but nonetheless, they are working to implement the procedures. They have always provided counseling, provided cross sex hormones, provided prosthetics for both transgender men and women, and provided orchidectomy for transgender women. I am not sure if they performed mastectomy’s for transgender men. They continued to provide all these services while under the Trump Administration.
Now that we have a republican house are many of the rights for transgender men and women going to go away….AGAIN? It seems to me that the general public is becoming more accepting of transgender men and women, at least from my point of view. I know I have been accepted by my family and friends since my transition, and as far as I know, I have never been discriminated against because I am a transgender woman. I feel safe going out every day and don’t fear being assaulted or worse because I am a transgender woman. Maybe that is because I live in liberal Washington State? I have been very lucky in knowing that my wife has stayed with me and stood by my side since my transition and surgery.
Will the steps we have gained since the Biden Administration took office be lost? Will the acceptance be lost, and will transgender men and women no longer be as safe to come and go as they please? I have include transgender men in my comments because I know they are assaulted and killed too, but not to the extent that transgender women are.
I have nothing against conservatives. All I ask is to live and let live. Please, don’t take my rights as a human being away. Let all people be happy and allowed to be themselves.
