Friday, April 13, 2007

One More Step Closer to Writing My Term Paper

I just conducted my second interview for my term paper and have just one more interview to go. The interview was with a lawyer who brought a famous case before the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. The interview was very interesting and now I just have to figure out how to work it into my term paper. She started out on cases that involved gender discrimination by accident, before she even started to transition, before anyone even knew she was trans. She was asked by a client to ask the CHRO if transsexuals were covered by the existing laws. The CHRO ruled that transsexuals were covered and not only them but also all other transgenderd persons.
The first interview was with a transactivist who is the head of Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition of which I am on the Board of Directors and I talked to her about how she built up CTAC. How she went to Washington DC to a Transgender Lobby Day and came back to Connecticut and form “It’s` Time America” which later became CTAC.
The third interview that I am doing is that of a friend who was homeless. She moved to Connecticut from Virginia to avoid persecution and discrimination. She was thrown out of her parent’s house because the father found out she was trangenderd, she was beaten up by the police in Virginia and fled to Connecticut where she lived in shelters. She just recently got her own apartment.
Somehow I have to weave these three stories into my paper on the Anti-Discrimination legislation that is before the state Senate right now.
You know seven years ago I would have NEVER in my wildest dream ever imagined that I would be interviewing wonderful people like these people, let alone being an “Out” transsexual. Nor would I have thought I would be going for my Masters degree in Social Work. I was so deeply closeted that I wouldn’t even go outside in fear of being found out.

1 comment:

  1. Isn't it amazing as to how much our lives can change? Congratulations on this step.

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