Trans People: Our Voices Must Be Heard!
So you all might remember that article I penned for my local school and city newspaper, right? Well, both publications declined to publish the article on the basis of requiring a legal first and last name. If I were to publish both, it would out me as a trans woman prematurely, and put me at risk, as there are many people aggressive and violent against trans people in my part of the country. So, it makes sense why I’d try and keep my anonymity. However, both publications I tried posting my op-ed to required both, in an act of extremely unprofessional journalism.
However, my cis friend posted another article of her own to the same publications, and got published. Now while she also posted my article on her Facebook anonymously (which I thank her immensely for), reality of the situation is, social media is not the same as a major news publication. Not only is a newspaper going to reach more people by default, but it will make more change. See, on Facebook, most people whom you’re friends with already agree with you and your views for the most part. There isn’t anybody totally switching sides on an issue per se. But when you publish to a newspaper, you’re reaching people of all sorts of walks of life, with varying opinions, some of whom you might change by showing them the proverbial light.
So at the end of the day, my cis friends voice regarding trans issues is taken more legitimately and seriously than an actual trans woman’s view on the subject regarding her own life. This isn’t to say that the article my friend wrote isn’t great, it totally is. But cis people shouldn’t be the voices of the trans rights movement, in the same way that white people shouldn’t be the lead voices for POC, or men shouldn’t be at the head of the feminist movement. This is just further an example of trans voices not being heard. Hell, because I’m still closeted, I can’t even post this on MY Facebook account. I have no idea how many of you will see this, but know that, as my previous article said, the fight for equal rights in the LGBT community is far from over. Let this serve as an example, that we still have far to go.
