Melissa and Paula Go to Washington

I know that a few of you old timers and fans of Jimmy Stewart remember the old film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. Well, this week Paula and I traveled from Columbus Ohio for NCTE’s Lobby Days in DC which involved briefings, meetings and training as well visits to our US Congress members and members of the US Senate seeking what none of us really should have to beg for – rights, dignity and freedoms that every American citizen should have in our society. Specifically we asked them and offered many reasons why they should support the “Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HB 1913) which is established to amend existing laws so as to deter acts of violence and hatred against those in the transgendered community as well as the other equally important categories such as sexual orientation, women (gender) and those with disabilities. The religious right wing Nazis have been hard at work in opposition to this bill on the grounds that their “preachers” will be somehow subject to liability under the Act for condemning us to hell and back! The members of Congress are confused by the laws because they believe this blatant lies.
I can tell you the strategy is one of the old adages….if you tell the lie many times and convince many people of the lies then it somehow becomes true. What bullshit this is…say the lie six million times and it does not make it true. The truth of the matter is that “preachers” will be able to spew their doctrine all they wasn’t because it is protected by the First Amendment freedoms of freedom of religion And expression. However, if some low life moron in the “preachers” congregation decides that because we are all going to hell that it’s ok to attack me and try to harm me or kill me to speed up this process, that person is subject to criminal liability under the provisions NOT the “preacher”. The amendments under the bill increase funding to local agencies and increased resources from FBI to local agencies to aid in the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. Finally the bill expands when the terms apply and does not limit it to just voting and other such actions. Local law enforcement officials, prosecuting attorneys and Sheriffs Association all support the bill. So do many religious organizations that believe in the principles that actions must be taken to discourage hatred and violence against the marginalized communities. The bill has passed the House as of Wednesday April 29th and now heads to the Senate for possible passage. I hope and pray that it does and that those who have worked so hard against its passage from the religious right burn in hell for their support of violence against the LGBT communities! Hate is not any religious value to be promoting and I also believe that lying as they are doing in this smear campaign against this important piece of legislation is also against the principles of the Ten Commandments.
The other issues we lobbied for included ENDA (Employment Non Discrimination Act) as well as the upcoming issues involving health care and insurance for those in the LGBT communities. ENDA is a huge and important piece of legislation for those in the LGBT community because it ends employment non discrimination against the last two unprotected groups in the US (currently the protected classes include gender, race, age national origin, physical handicap, religion etc). The last bastions of discrimination in this country include discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation and gender identity. Of course the objections of extending protection to these groups stems not on legal grounds but on religious grounds. (You know once God condemns us in obscure text sections of the old testament written by men and copulated from many sources and translated so many times one’s head nearly spins that’s it folks – no rights and dignity for you by a government built on the principles of separation of church and state. Never mind there is NOT one single mention of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people or any condemnation thereof based on the new testament which, by the way, is the basis of how Christianity got started in the first place. I swear that these religious right wing zealots believe that the world will come to an end if these pieces of legislation are enacted
Health care issues will also be on the horizon as well. These include prohibiting discrimination against those in the LGBT communities by health care providers and insurance carriers. We will also seek to include transitional health care costs in the legislation. We spent a good part of Sunday evening socializing and meeting others who had come to lobby. This year’s NCTE Lobby days were the largest on record with just over 200 transgendered people and allies involved in the process. Paula and I met so many new and wonderful friends which only served to remind us how beautiful and talented and caring the people of our community are and how many of us are prejudged by so many so wrongly in our society. Hugs felt so good and I so wish that others in society could see the warmth and talent that exists in our community. Monday was a day filled with briefings and training sessions to learn more about the legislation and issues involved as well as practice on lobbying. Finally at the end of the day each state delegation met plan our strategies for meeting our representatives and senators. For Paula and I that met meeting two Republican Congressman and one Republican US Senator (Voinovich) on the capitol for lobbying. The Congressmen both voted against the Hate Crimes bill despite our best efforts but one of them was so paranoid about meeting us he actually stood behind the door and listened to us but would not greet us while we met his aide for fear I guess that we might be contagious. Senator Voinovich is a different story. He has pledged his support for the Hate Crimes Bill and remains undecided on ENDA. More work is needed to educate and seek his support on this crucial piece of legislation. Senator Brown will support us on these bills as well. At the end of a very long day on Tuesday we took our group photo on the capitol steps and had a nice reception on the patio of a local establishment.
We know we have much work to do but I know we will continue to write, call and visit these people and push them on these important issues! If necessary Paula and I will go back to DC! I know we plan to return for lobby days again next year too and I encourage anyone who has not done so to come if you can. If you can’t come to Lobby Days then write and call and meet your representatives and senators in their local offices. I do sense a change in Washington and in this country but we cannot let up one bit my sisters and brothers- as the right wing will only take its setback in the House on the Hate Crimes Bill as a need to step up their attacks and lies against the LGBT communities. It will get vicious before it is all done- believe me. However, I know the talent and passion that exists in our community and if we all work hard on these issues and in our efforts we can be successful in bringing about changes so long needed in society! Maybe someday when hate and prejudices and discrimination will have little role in our society and everyone can see the world will not come to end because all people have rights and dignity and opportunities in this country built on the premise of equality and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!

Pictured above is Paula and I with Erica from Minn and Debbie from Virginia at the NCTE Reception

The Empires Against the LGBT Struggle

Now I know I have written in the past about religion and religious issues and their enormous impact on transgendered rights and issues but I honestly feel I skirted around the where the real meat of this important issue lies. Furthermore, it is not my intention to attack individual members of the religions I am about to discuss here and there are many good, open- minded and accepting members of these groups on an individual basis! However, if anyone tasks offense to this blog I do apologize for the fact upfront and it clearly NOT an attack on individual members. My discussion of what may be one of the most significant stumbling blocks in the drive of my sisters and brothers of our transgendered community for the rights and dignity that all humans deserve is solely focused on the organizational entities themselves and not specifically on the individual members beyond their leadership. And with that preface …..I begin…..
The single most significant factor in the struggle for our rights as transgendered people in the enactment of The Hate Crimes Bill, ENDA and legislation ending discrimination in health care programs and coverage benefits of our community is the enormous opposition to these important pieces of legislation for the LGBT community. This opposition is, has been and will be launched by organized religion and in particular the “big three bullies” as I refer to them …… the Mormons , the Southern Baptists and the biggest offender of them of all- the Roman Catholic Empire!
The Mormons have shown their propensity to throw large sums of money to support Prop 8 in California and similar legislation elsewhere. Yes, according to the church that not only bans alcohol but coffee, tea and soft drinks containing caffeine and who brought us their cult like philosophy of polygamy where it is ok for MEN to have to have many wives, we simply cannot have two people of the same gender who care about each other marrying each other for God’s sake! How awful is this …people who love each other cannot marry each other because it is two men or two woman or even a transgendered person but Mormons thought it was OK for MEN to marry multitudes of women …what a bunch of horse shit hypocrisy!
Southern Baptists are the leftover decedents of the Puritans I wrote about a few years ago in a blog entitled The Pursuit of Happiness and the Puritans. The Puritans were so repressive and rigid in their control and thinking of their members especially when it came to pleasure and in particular and again..God forbid sexual pleasure! The Southern Baptists are the group that reminds me of Adam Ant’s 1980’s big hit Goody Two Shoes (don’t drink don’t smoke what do you do? ). The fire and brimstone bible thumpers forbid drinking, gambling, dancing, premarital sex, and just about any form of fun beyond getting screamed at by some angry and fiery preacher condemning those who do slip into fun and even more so condemning those of us in the LGBT community as sinners who are condemned to an afterlife of hell and God’s wrath! These Southern Baptists are the same bunch who hold woman to subservient positions (hmmm seems to be a theme going here similar to that of the Mormons) and have had their Convention enact resolutions that announce that woman are subservient to their men who happen to be their owners..errr..excuse me …husbands. These same people will however be loaded for bear as they say to oppose every piece of legislation put forth by the LGBT community including the Hate Crimes Bill because what is a good old fashioned revival without some bashing ( errrrr.. “preaching”) of the so called abominations of the LGBT community. Look for the scare tactics to be thrown at us by this group when it comes time for discussion of the important pieces of legislation such as ENDA. (I can almost hear the southern drawl now ….. “Enactment of this bill will let them deviant sinners into our schools to molest our children in the bathrooms”)
Despite how bad these other two groups are as forces to be dealt with on our struggle for dignity and rights they lack the money, size, power, influence and history of the Great Roman Catholic Empire!!! This organization has been around quite a while and claims to be the direct lineal leader of Christianity as established by Jesus Christ himself. They have amassed a fortune in resources and Rome has done everything in its power to conceal secrets of the early days of “the church” allegedly created by the founder of Christianity. Catholics don’t have all the hang-ups about gambling and drinking that other groups mentioned above seem to have and that is fine. However, bring up sex or sexuality issues with the Catholic Empire and they react like you have just mentioned the Holy Grail! Catholics are nervous Nellie’s when the subject of sexuality, homosexuality, divorce and transgendered people is brought up around them.

Why is this and what holds their faith together – the answer is simple…. GUILT! Riddled by the guilt and teachings of the leaders of their group they have more hang-ups on these issues than a transitioning TG has hormones! The Roman Catholic Empire (RCE) is lead by men for men and works its damnedest to see, and has done so for many years, that woman have little if any role in their organization. Women cannot become priests and if a woman begins to have some influence in the group like Mary Magdalene and all of the sudden she is vilified to shreds so she has no respect in the faith. Women are treated as second class citizens in this all male society of the RCE. Priests are forbidden to marry for some crazy theory that has never been properly explained although in the early history of the Church the priests were married and some of the disciples of Christ were also married. Single men running a group which subsequently begins attracting those so pent up with frustrations they begin a long history of sexual abuse of children for which the Church has paid out millions but tried to cover up because it again it something it cannot talk about openly. The RCE is currently led by a pope who is a former Hitler Nazi youth which of course explains his dogmatic approach to turning the clock back on the miniscule progress made over the years. He recently condemned the LGBT community by asserting we were the destruction of civilization, blurring the lines of gender distinction and threatening the fundamental institution of marriage (which was created during a time when woman were mere chattel!) He concluded that we were as much threat to civilization as the destruction of the rain forest was to the world! I can almost hear the goose –stepping brown shirts now marching around at his command to round up these “threats” to civilization. Catholic groups have recentl yprotested transgendered groups having transgendered awareness days on campuses.
Yes my brothers and sisters in the LGBT community -these organizations are the vast and powerful enemies that the LGBT community will face head on lead by their force of history, tradition, money and hatred in an all out battle to defeat each and every piece of legislation we bring forth to seek dignity and rights that all of us and all humans deserve! The Mormons, southern Baptists and it’s fundamental hard core spin-offs like Free Methodists as well the RCE will use every resource and scare and fear tactic known to people on their pulpits to preach that we are this threat and that any legislation that protects us or grants us rights others in society have must be defeated as the work of “Satan”. With these groups preaching the dogma and spreading lies and hate and backed by powerful amounts of money how can we stand a chance to win this battle for dignity we ALL deserve? Furthermore, and I am curious to ask, “why would someone who is part of our community want to stay a member of such groups knowing how these very groups feel about them? I admire you for trying to stay I do. I surely didn’t as I bolted the RCE when I was 13 years old sick of their tired old dogma and treatment of woman. I knew also that I was different and that the difference would not be tolerated by them. I only go where I am fully welcomed, loved and accepted for who I am when it comes to joining any religious groups.
The battle for dignity and rights for the LGBT community will be fought for sure. The gain would mean so much for many of us and for humanity as a whole! But make no mistake about it folks- the enemies who oppose us will be a daunting challenge. They will be richer, filled with more tradition and history and prominence in society and oh by the way…they have God on their side ….don’t believe me – just ask them! The empires of the Mormon , Baptist and Catholic religions and their allies like the Muslins who treat woman like third class property will be a fierce force to take on to win the rights and dignity we all should have enjoyed in this world as humans. They will work diligently, with God by their side, to keep it OK for society to hate us, perfectly acceptable for it to deny us medical treatment and the healthcare coverage to pay for it and equally acceptable to withhold housing and employment to us simply because who we sleep with at the end of the day or the physical shell we were born with even though it did not fit our soul and essence. Such an accomplishment from a large group of organizations which were supposedly founded on love and helping others. My, my …...won’t God be impressed by their efforts??

Courage and Dignity against theTransgendered Blues

Well my world got rocked this week and the wounds really dug in deep because my smug little you –know –what thought it would not happen to me in my profession. I faced and lost a battle with transgendered discrimination and the loss of revenue associated with it hurt-but what hurt even more was the indignity in the manner it was presented so underhandedly and that I did not see it coming. Several years ago when I started into my new profession I began doing some independent contract work for various companies in which you can go onto their job boards to find work in your geographic areas. I did so as a means to get more experience and bring in some income. One of the groups assigned me to a project in which the main planner had screwed up immensely and I commented on the same but offense was taken to my comments to the logistics. A week or two latter the organization that had contracted with me contacted me and said client did not want me working on her projects anymore. The organization said it was no big deal and that she was a difficult client and there were plenty of other clients to work for and I later found out the client subsequently fired the organization I contracted with because the client had troubles working with its staff.
This incident occurred three and half years ago and nothing more was ever said about this matter. In fact, I was told not to worry about it as they knew the client was touchy and difficult to work with on projects. I continued to do work for the organization without any further complaints or problems on a regular basis during remainder of 2005, all of 2006 and 2007 and first half of 2008. Of course, I was working at that time as my male persona hiding the real me beneath the shell. After I came out fully, I informed the organization and others that I was transgendered and was in transition and would be working as Melissa –who I really was and I sent them documentation of name change and other information. I did the same for other contract organizations as well as clients. One client chose to end any relationship and another had to cut back because of economy even before I told them. However, the three other organizations initially said they had no problem with it and changed the information. The one who I had experienced the minor incident with in 2005 assigned me work last fall which I did for their client without incident as had been practice for years and all paperwork was completed and filed in timely manner and as usual I was dressed professionally- albeit as Melissa and pleasant and helpful throughout the functions. No complaints were noted but evidently some of the male reps of client I did the work for figured out who I use to be and expressed some “discomfort” with me doing their projects. The organization did not tell me this but decided to handle it another way. A few weeks after the projects I was no longer finding any jobs posted on their board. I knew the economy was not great so I gave it sometime but after a couple months I wrote to the organization and inquired about this weird phenomenon. Two days later, in February of 2009, I received a letter which had been sent overnight to me stating my contract with them had been terminated because of the incident which happened in 2005. Now I am no rocket scientist for sure but I am also not stupid and know that something that was not important for three years does not suddenly become important three and half years later only after I announce my transition and do work for them as Melissa. The indignity is that they should have told me the truth and not played the silly game of first altering their website so I could not see positions available and then sending me a letter indicating termination based upon that something no one thought was that big a deal back in 2005! Terminate me for being transgendered for God’s sake- it’s not like we have any protections in this country beyond a few state and local laws. They accomplished their goal…get rid of the “freak” who makes some of their people “uncomfortable” but they did it without being upfront and honest about it.
I may have not been so taken back by their egregious actions which cost me income if I did not begin to sense some others acting in same way. I received a job assignment from another organization last week on one day and then in 24 hours suddenly the work assignment was no longer needed by the client. Then my professional organization chapter which I have served on the Board of Directors for two years acts very strangely and was sort of surprised I wanted to remain on the Board next year because they thought I needed time away from the Board to deal with my transition and surgeries which have not interfered at all with my duties and responsibilities. What really bothers me the most is I thought my profession, being nearly 90 % women, would be an easier one to transition in than most. I was wrong indeed! I was a bit smug thinking I was above the fray of the common industrial workplace and office settings and dealing with so many educated professionals as a professional -but I forgot that the organizations are still run by men and in reality discrimination against those of us in the transgendered community is so prevalent that many so called “open minded” people just can’t deal with a concept that many see as so radical such as changing one’s physical anatomy to fit one’s inner soul and essence and men in particular – in fear and sometimes in questioning of their own masculinity issues, cannot see why another “man” would “chose” to not be masculine and actually want to step down the ladder as they see it and live and work as a woman who earns less than a man. All of this comes on the heels of my desperate attempt to find health insurance after facing three rejections because I was transgendered. I finally found one on the fourth try but they refuse to cover anything and now seem content on tearing apart my medical history for last three years because I asked them to pay for a routine doctor’s office visit. Additionally, they also proffer the indignity of addressing all my correspondence to me as “Mr.” How indignant and rude and insulting is this?
The enactment of the ENDA legislation would help the situation immensely but I fear that somehow –someway, the transgendered community will find itself excluded from the bill in the end and left alone to defend itself with only few people to continue the struggle for dignity, rights and respect that all human beings are entitled to in this country as many in community run and scatter and stay hidden in their shells in fear and others trying desperately to life in cloak that is not truly possible and pretending like they have always been known as a woman without any other life before the transition. I don’t blame them considering that nearly 70% of the fulltime transitional transgendered community is unemployed. Some of my friends out there may say I chose this life and that I and others like me knew we were going to face consistent discrimination and that we should have stayed hidden in our shells and appeared only part time in the comfort of functions with other transgendered people. I gave up the comforts of living the life of a male with a family and a job and welcomed in society to be who I truly am but someone that most people don’t want to have to deal with. In other words, for me – keep pretending I am someone else I am not –living a life as a lie and working in the male-dominated society as a male. First of all, I did not “choose” this life any more than I chose being transgendered. I decided I would rather live life as I truly was instead of frustrated in a shell and pretending I was someone I was not to make others happy while I suffered great pain and anguish. If I somehow lose it all and have no income to live on whatsoever in my life after I transition fully, I will never go back to the lies and live my life in any shell pretending I am someone I am not- ever! Frankly, I would rather die living on the street as Melissa than ever go back to living the lie inside the shell just to make everyone else happy including those who run our society and many of its organizations or even my family who has tossed me away like some unwanted piece of garbage!
I have my dignity…I have my soul…I have someone who loves me for who I am in Paula and I have my friends, sisters and brothers in the community and the LGBT community at large and a few that found the courage to accept me for who I am from my old life inside the shell. I would not trade that for any job at any salary if I had to live my live as a lie and pretend I am someone I am not just to make others in society happy and “comfortable”. I decided I will either make it as Melissa who I really am with Paula by my side or I will go down swinging as Melissa living my life with dignity as my true essence and face whatever discrimination, hatred and prejudice await me in whatever life I have left! Courage and dignity requires nothing more or nothing less and courage and dignity may not pay the bills but they clearly free the soul!

Harvey Milk, Closets, Fear and Transgendered Power

Paula and I just got back from viewing an evening out in which we dined at an Irish pub near the OSU campus and took in a movie. The diner was delightful as always love good food and Irish ale and Paula and I chatted about many things in our lives currently. However, despite the fact I love her company and good food and drink, all of that paled in comparison to the movie which we saw- MILK! If you have not seen this film you need to do so my friends! It is an extraordinary and powerful film about the life of Harvey Milk, the first gay man elected to a prominent position when he took office in 1978 in San Francisco. Sean Penn is fabulous in the role of Harvey Milk and clearly captures his essence as a human being. The film is sad at the end because of his tragic, premature death as the result of a man tormented by his own demons (It was suspected Milk’s killer who held the same elected position as that of Milk was a deeply closeted homosexual who tried to live a life of a traditional Irish catholic and “moral” life as a married man with children). The end is a perfect example of the dangers of putting handguns in the hands of mentally disturbed individuals filled with anger and repression and way too much testosterone!

Harvey Milk could have done so much more for the rights and dignity of people if he had not been tragically killed that morning in his own office along with the mayor of San Francisco at that time. The event came shortly after two major victories won by Milk and his allies- the defeat of proposition six which would have made it permissible to fire any school employee in California for being gay or simply supporting the rights of gays as well as the enactment of city wide ordinance protecting individuals from housing and employment discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation. This ordinance has since been amended to include and protect those of the transgendered community. Harvey Milk left a great legacy in the world and many have followed in his footsteps but most importantly he set the example for leadership and changes in our struggle for dignity and human rights.

What I admired most about him was his courage and there is part of the movie where in order to win the tide to defeat proposition six against the likes of a right wing religious zealot and “Nazi” Senator at that time supported, of course, by the likes of Anita Bryant and her “Godly inspired” crusade against rights for gay people. In order to win the vote against the tide of money and power displayed by the so called “Christians” Harvey Milk encouraged his friends and supporters to break down the doors of their own closets and come out to their families and friends as well as their employers so that people could know and connect with a gay person and find out that their sons and daughters and employees were simply people who were gay. According to Harvey Milk the greatest thing holding back the community was the fact that many lived in the closet and only by coming out and coming clean could the movement grow. Power ONLY comes from being free and without power nothing important can ever be accomplished. It takes great courage to let people who you work for and love and care about know who you really are as a person. That courage is what gives you power and with that power much can be accomplished. But courage is what brought about Harvey’s accomplishments personally as well in his movements and causes. It gave him and those that followed and supported him power. I will state this as bluntly as I can put it …… if the transgendered community does not show the same courage we will be left behind in the struggle for dignity and human rights that all people deserve!

So those of us who are transgendered in any way (crossdresser, transvestite, undefined transgendered, pre-op transsexual as well as post- op TS better heed the warning and get out of their damn closets and show some courage and take a voice in our community if we ever want to be able to accomplish anything in this society, achieve power and find ourselves victorious as Harvey and his followers did thirty years ago. The main problem is so many people in the transgendered community live in the closet, fearful of letting other human beings who supposedly love and care about them know about their true selves. So what if your friends desert you and so what if your family casts you aside like some weird freak. As Harvey Milk talks about in the movie….if your friends reject you- they were NOT really your friends and if your family rejects you THEY don’t deserve you! Some of them may later come around and that is great if they do- but do not let the fear of them rejecting you paralyze you and don’t let your family blackmail you into silence because they will cut you off if you come out and come clean. I know I was guilty of the same for so long. The day my ex-wife confronted me she awoke something in me and I decided I needed to come clean. She does not realize the long dormant activist she awoke inside me. Every person I told thereafter gave me more courage and more freedom. I lost friends and family like they were going out of style, BUT I hide from no one and I am truly free. With this freedom, power can come. Fear captures us as humans and the courage found deep inside all of us can overcome that fear and free our soul and our determination to bring about change.

As I have pointed out before transgendered people live in closets both prior to and after transition if they are TS. Cloak and stealth are just more ways to define closets and they keep us from moving forward in achieving rights and dignity for our community. Running and hiding from your past will only leave you without strength and courage and to be quite honest, true stealth and cloak are not really possible in today’s technology driven society. It is a myth! Just for shits and giggles, I used the internet to track down the past history and such for three of my transgendered friends who have transitioned and live fulltime as the men or women they are in their souls. It was done with little effort and almost zero cost. People you are only fooling yourself and no one else if you truly believe you can live in cloak or stealth. The problem in our community and why we will not likely prevail in achieving many of the goals that those in the lesbian and gay communities have and will achieve, is that society only sees a tip of the iceberg of our community and thinks we are a very small, minute group of freaks. Most of the community lies under the water- afraid to emerge from the comfort of the closet, stealth or cloak they have attempted to create in the murky waters below.

We are already a much smaller group than those of the gay and lesbian communities as it is and if most of our community remains hidden, then plain and simply we will find ourselves left out of society and existing with few if any rights and we will have no one to blame but ourselves! Someday someone will tear down your closet and you will be outed but when that day happens and you find yourself with little protections or rights don’t come crying to those who have come clean and let the world know who they really are- whether that be a man who likes to dress and express his feminine side on occasion or a post operative TS who lives life as a man or woman in a gender opposite that of their birth. I am not advocating running around and always announcing yourself to everyone but don’t play the game of denial to those who confront you. We have nothing to be ashamed of as transgendered people. So get out your closets and get living life without fear and with courage. You will feel empowered! Give up your stealth and cloak and be proud of who you are-even your past.

I know many post operative TS who try to pretend they have always been living life in their true gender despite transition. Everyone one of us in the TS community was born either male or female in our outer, genetic gender and we lived life for sometime this way as difficult as it may have been. We transitioned and now life in our true gender but we should not be ashamed of who we are or our past life. I will never be a genetic female no matter how much surgery I incur or hormone compounds I ingest. The very fact I was born genetically male and transitioned to live life as female because it is who I am as a human being means exactly this- I am a transgendered person! I am and always will be transgendered! If I deny who I am as a human being or the existence of part of my life in another gender, even as improper as that past life was to my soul, then I live in shame of who I am as human being. If we act like that in our community then how are we ever to achieve anything in our community or even individually. How are we ever going obtain power? Just as Harvey Milk did in encouraging his community to come out and be open we must do the same to let others know WE EXIST and that we are just people like everyone else: fathers, mothers, spouses, sons and daughters, lawyers, architects, doctors, teachers, bartenders, carpenters, truck drivers and every other profession under the sun- but people who just happen to be transgendered. When we do this we will not only find our personal freedom and power but we will find ourselves accomplishing so much more as a community. “Milk” is about a man’s accomplishments in life when he found his courage and passion for what he believed in and left the confines of his closet at age 40 to live a life without fear and even in his death his work and legacy carried on long afterward. Let’s hope we all find our courage as Harvey Milk did and get involved in moving our push for human rights and dignity forward as transgendered people. Tear down the closet doors and turn off the stealth and our power awaits us!