SPEAKING TRUTH: BUILDING COMMUNITY UNITED  :

PEAKING TRUTH: BUILDING COMMUNITY UNITED :

https://publish.dvlabs.com/democracynow/360/dn2017-0727.mp4?start=758.0&end=1644.0 (nterview with Staff Sergeant Patricia King) 

The militarizing of the transgender rights issue has made me think hard about what really matters here/ While my life has been dedicated to fighting for equality for all the same sex loving and erotically desiring individuals by making a safe space in the world and workplace for any person qualified to do the job they seek. Gender expression should not be the criteria for employment. Ability to do the job must be the bottom line. Period. Yes, there may be, in certain circumstances, additional criteria but I believe we have to essentially endorse a person's ability to perform a job be the essential criteria for employment in the work world.

I also endorse, and always have, that my body belongs to me as does yours to you. As a gay man, this is essential to me. What I do with my body is my business, not yours. Unless physical or mental harm is a result of my choices over my own body.

 I have been a lifelong advocate of de-militarizing our culture be it soldering or policing. I know today that for many young people joining the military is a job choice driven by the economic reality we live in today. It is not a moral choice. So I am not very moved by the patriotism argument  I am hearing so much patriotism around the issue of transgender rights in the military.  It disturbs me, I want to stop the war machine not continue to populate it with young bodies as instruments of torture and death. I also believe in equality in the job front for all. While the claims of the cost being a motivation for the Trump degree on removing and rejecting transgender people in the military, it has been proven statistically that is simply is not true, more is spent in the military on erectile dysfunction medication than on trans health needs.

While, personally,  I do not advocate for myself extreme body interventions to take on the topography of the opposite of my birth sex. (yes BIRTH sex, not assigned sex)  nor do I personally use chemical intervention to blur identify. That is my personal choice. I have always felt myself to be different and it is now been given a name: gender queer. That's is my emotional, mental and spiritual definition of self. My only concern with people who contemplate extreme physical topography body manipulation is that they have done the research necessary to understand the full physical, emotional and long term health ramifications of their choice. 

For some people I have know personally it is a question of life or death. 

It is not my place nor my right to make these decisions for them.  I try to be supportive in my personal relationships and ask for me the appropriate, hard questions when the opportunity arises.   My principal concern and reaction to this sweeping statement with the intention of kicking out and making not the military available as a job choice for any person whose gender expression it's outside the "normal" gender behavior rules. I am not personally in favor propping up the binary definition of gender and see much of transgender gender behavior choices as reinforcing the binary roles defined historically by misogyny and sexism it remains my concern That' theoretical debate that we can have it another time.

 What I am most concerned about today is the physical safety of people who do identify publicly as transgender in all their emotional expression and physical representation. Trump's decree troubles me deeply on this level. I think he has opened the bully door to physical attack and mental rejection of people who look and act differently in their gender expression than that which is considered "normal" in our society.
Safety. I think this is the most important issue today.   For someone my age, I know what it's like to live in fear of physical assault because of my gender expression and my sexual orientation. I also believe it is important to listen to the stories the transgendered identified people tell us about the lives, 
Democracy Now  democracynow.org on  July 27th  devoted almost the entire hour to the transgender military issue. I found myself moved by the interview that I have posted here. I was moved by the sincerity of the person speaking. Now v  has to again make public the difference between v birth sex and v gender expression and identity. I remember a British film called" IT IS DIFFERENT FOR GIRLS",  The film taught me that most individuals who "transition"  simply want to live an integrated life in society without fear for their physical safety or economic survival. The shared desire to simply have a job they want to do well. So I suggest to my friends no matter where you stand on gender identity issues, we need today to unite in the rejection of this insensitive, cruel and dangerous position taken by Donald Trump. 
Physical safety is my issue today for anyone whose gender expression regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation puts them at risk. Gender expression and sexual orientation are not invitations to bullies for violence. We live in dangerous times where civility towards each other that has been the hallmark of communication in a democratic society is under attack. 

So please I hope all of you will join me standing with trans-identified individuals in creating a safe space for them to live in and be in society. Please watch this interview with Staff Sergeant Patricia King and I suggest you might want to watch the entire program democracy now on Thursday  to parse what the issues actually are because of this ugly,  hateful tweet of Donald Trump.  We need to stand together. I as a gay man know that isolation is the cornerstone of repression and creates the opportunity for physical attack.