I express gratitude to transgender individuals for challenging the societal myth of gender roles. However, visionaries should not have to endure persecution in their own time.
The Human Rights Campaign has documented that in 2023, at least 30 trans and gender non-conforming individuals lost their lives in the United States. A staggering 87% of them were individuals of color, with Black trans women accounting for 50%. Firearms were used in 77% of these tragic incidents, and 50% of the victims were misgendered or deadnamed by authorities or the media.
First and foremost, let us honor and remember their names:
Savannah Ryan Williams
Jean Butchart
Kejuan Richardson
Amiri Reid
LaKendra Andrews
London Price
Lisa Love
Dominic Dupree a.k.a. Dominic Palace
A’nee Johnson
Sherlyn Marjorie
Chyna Long
Luis Ángel Díaz Castro
YOKO
Thomas ‘Tom-Tom’ Robertson
DéVonnie J’Rae Johnson
Camdyn Rider
Jacob Williamson
Chanell Perez Ortiz
Ashia Davis
Banko Brown
Koko Da Doll
Ashley Burton
Ta’Siyah Woodland
Tortuguita
Chashay Ashanti Henderson
Maria Jose Rivera Rivera
Zachee Imanitwitaho’
Unique Banks
KC Johnson
Jasmine “Star” Mack
Throughout history, various groups and individuals confronted immense challenges merely for expressing their authentic truth, and tragically, many paid the ultimate price for doing so.
Abolitionists united to advocate for the immediate abolition of slavery and an end to racial discrimination and segregation. They encountered strong opposition, with some Christian denominations even contending that sacred scriptures not only permitted but commanded the practice of slavery.
Young activists organized sit-in demonstrations at Southern lunch counters to protest against Jim Crow laws that enforced the segregation of public facilities. They endured verbal abuse from onlookers and physical violence from local police wielding batons. Many faced imprisonment and the prospect of permanent criminal records.
Feminists initiated a new wave in the struggle for women’s suffrage, facing significant opposition within a patriarchal system marked by male domination and misogyny. Opponents argued that granting women the right to vote would undermine Christianity and civilization itself.
The Church found physicist and astronomer Galileo Galilei guilty of heresy for asserting that the Earth orbits the Sun, contrary to the Church’s stance that the Earth was the stationary center of the universe with the Sun revolving around it. Galileo endured house arrest for the rest of his life as a consequence.
Joan of Arc, the adolescent who played a crucial role in defeating the English in her homeland of France, emerged as one of the most revered war heroes in French history. Despite her achievements, she faced trial by the Catholic Church on charges of heresy for rejecting Church authority in favor of direct inspiration from God, particularly for her choice to wear men’s clothing. Joan met her end through execution by burning at the stake.
Alan Turing, a mathematician, logician, philosopher, and key figure in early computer development, played a significant role in deciphering Nazi coded messages, widely credited with shortening the war by two to four years and saving Great Britain. Despite his invaluable contributions, the British government prosecuted Turing for his homosexuality, sentencing him to “chemical castration” through estrogen injections as an alternative to a two-year prison term. Tragically, Turing took his own life a few weeks before his 42nd birthday.
Governments and influential figures have historically employed various methods to suppress dissent, aiming to preserve and expand their authority.
They perpetrate genocide against the genuine human liberators, the prophets, the visionaries who champion a fair and liberated world. These pioneers, persecuted during their lifetimes, have not only been absolved but, more crucially, are now revered as the visionaries they genuinely are.
Antonio Gramsci articulated the notion of “cultural hegemony,” elucidating how the prevailing group effectively spreads its societal interpretations of reality and its communal visions, presented as “common sense,” “normal,” and “universal.” This hegemony sustains and amplifies the marginalization of groups with diverse identities or dissenting perspectives.
Trans individuals have consistently stood among the truth-tellers within societies. They’ve revealed the reality behind the social construct we term “gender roles,” challenging the societal imposition assigned to each of us alongside our birth-assigned sex.
Labeled as “female” or “male” from birth, society compels us to adhere to its predetermined “feminine” or “masculine” scripts. Similar to scripts given to actors in a play, gender roles were composed long before any of us took the stage of life. These roles bear little connection to our inherent natures, beliefs, interests, and values.
Judith Butler, a social theorist, posits that gender is akin to a rehearsed act or script. It predates an individual’s arrival and persists like a script waiting for actors. Gender, in this view, is an act that necessitates individual actors to be realized and perpetuated as reality.
Defying the societal script of gender roles, akin to challenging a director, can result in severe consequences. Unfortunately, trans individuals, much like historical truth tellers, face harsh repercussions. Between October 2022 and September 2023, 321 trans and gender nonconforming people were murdered, with a significant majority being trans women of color.
Perpetrators of violence against trans individuals exhibit extreme and fanatical reactions, fueled by broader societal pressures to eliminate any deviation from established gender norms. As co-directors in this societal drama, we play a role each time we enforce gender-role conformity and relinquish critical consciousness. It’s essential to challenge and rewrite these scripts for a more inclusive and compassionate society.
Individuals who engage in bullying often serve the social role of upholding and reinforcing the predefined scripts assigned to them within the societal performance.
I’m unable to provide specific quotes from Frederick Douglass due to limitations in my training data. However, if you can provide the specific statement or topic you’re referring to, I can offer a paraphrased version or provide information on the general themes discussed by Frederick Douglass.
Even though the circumstances of Douglass’s era differed significantly from today, his words can be analogously interpreted: “No individual can impose constraints on another without eventually finding those constraints restricting their own freedom.”
While it’s evident that oppression initially benefits those in power, it inevitably rebounds, ensnaring the oppressors. In this intricate web of oppression, individuals in marginalized groups bear the brunt, yet members of dominant groups also suffer, albeit in distinct ways. Despite the differing impacts, the ultimate outcome is a collective loss for everyone involved.
Initially, cissexist (transgender oppressive) conditioning undermines individuals’ integrity, compelling them to engage in harmful behavior that contradicts their fundamental humanity. It hampers the capacity to establish close, intimate connections with trans individuals, constrains communication with a substantial segment of the population, and, more precisely, confines family relationships.
Cissexism confines individuals to inflexible gender-based roles, stifling creativity and self-expression. Additionally, it hinders cisgender individuals from embracing the valuable contributions and insights provided by the trans community, spanning theoretical perspectives, social and spiritual visions, artistic and cultural contributions, educational advancements, family dynamics, and, indeed, all aspects of society.
In the end, it obstructs the acknowledgment of various forms of diversity, creating an unsafe environment for everyone. Each individual possesses distinctive qualities that may fall outside mainstream or dominant norms. Consequently, the degradation of any one of us diminishes the collective well-being of all.
The message is unequivocal: When any community faces oppression, it becomes a shared concern for everyone. Hence, there is a collective self-interest in actively engaging in the dismantling of various oppressive structures, including cissexism.
I am of the opinion that we are born into a world tainted by cissexism, akin to acid rain falling upon us. Some spirits are deeply scarred, while others bear surface marks, and no one is entirely shielded. Hence, we share a collective responsibility and opportunity to unite as allies, building shelters against the corrosive impacts of prejudice and discrimination. Concurrently, we must strive to cleanse the cissexist environment in which we reside. As we take substantial measures to mitigate this pollution, we will all experience a breath of fresh air.
Considering this, every instance in which we revise the scripts to present a genuine and authentic portrayal of life—each effort to break the barriers restricting us from transcending the gender norm by consistently questioning and challenging conventional notions of gender roles—marks the beginning of a journey where both individuals and society can embrace life to its fullest, with our humanity and integrity preserved.
I express my pride in and gratitude to the trans community for bravely challenging the societal myth of gender roles, the predefined boxes that society assigns us, dictating our gender scripts.
Trans individuals have unlocked the boxes, revealing a vast gender continuum that transcends the sex imposed on us by others. The trans community has illuminated the intrinsic fluidity of gender.
Trans visionaries, currently persecuted, will eventually be acknowledged as the truth tellers they truly are. Until that day arrives, the harassment, marginalization, fear, violence, and murders must cease. It is our collective responsibility to actively strive for this every day.
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