Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The Day Of Visibility

 Today is the Transgender of visibility, whatever that means. I say that because I am always out, I don’t know how to be more visible and those who are not out I not going to tell them to “out” themselves. I think those who are already out and proud know that by being so are help the community.

Buzzfeed has Ten Things You Can Do on the TDV

  1. Go to Local Transgender Day of Visibility Events
  2. Learn About Trans history
  3. Support Trans-Led Organizations
  4. Don’t Out Your Trans Friends
  5. Know the Differences Between Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Sex Assigned at Birth, Sexual Orientation, and Romantic Orientation
  6. Recognize the Intersections of Transness and Other Identities
  7. Help Make Women’s Spaces Inclusive of Trans Women
  8. Learn Trans Terminology
  9. Tell People When They Say Something Transphobic or Cissexist
  10. Celebrate Trans Identities

So basically Buzzfeed list is more about what non-trans people can do on today.

Of course anything LGBT is going to stir up controversy,  on the WWMT-TV website has an article about that controversy,
Controversy on International Transgender Day of Visibility

MARSHALL, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Tuesday, March 31st marks International Transgender Day of Visibility.
The goal of this day is to raise awareness about discrimination transgendered people face.

But on this day where transgender visibility is supposed to take center stage, it's being overshadowed by controversy across the county, including at a West Michigan high school.

The rock outside Marshall High School has been at the center of this controversy.

This all started with a bulletin-board in the high school. Students from the school's Gay-Straight Alliance decorated the board for Transgender Visibility Day. It had transgender facts and words of encouragement.

A picture of the board went up on social media, causing outrage from some parents.
Parents on Facebook say they don't believe it's appropriate for school and they suspected some kind of agenda was being pushed.

Several parents say this goes against their Christian beliefs.

The board was soon taken down by school officials.
Of course whenever a LGBT talks about a LGBT issue we are “pushing our agenda,” what the school did was violate the First Amendments rights and violate Title IX of the Civil Rights Act. The U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights has made it very clear LGBT students have just as much rights to post their literature on bulletin boards as non-LGBT students.

The students know better than the school administrators,
"Students have the right to express their beliefs, and to take it down with the only purpose of it being uncomfortable to parents, I think that's infringing on the rights of students," said student Emily Walker.

"We're not trying to press an agenda. All we want to do is advocate for a safe space here for members of the LGBTQ youth," said student Garrett Sander. 
Maybe the administrators can take a lesson from the students.

No comments:

Post a Comment