Journal Entries for Michelle Marie Hodges
Why I continue to stand for Equality
May 20th, 2007 7:15 am MDT
This artical has given me new faith that in the face of critizim and condemnation from within my own community and those close to me, that I will continue to stand, proud and strong as who and what I am. It is only through taking a stand and being out in society, letting it see that we are real and normal. Just members of society, living as others do, not the deviant perverts, mentally ill and living outside what is percieved "normal". Only when we stand and are seen and heard will Inclusion and Equality become a reality. Hiding with the notion others will do it, I can not follow. Years of living in a shell I created to please others, was a deceptive lie and caused pain in those I cared and loved as well as a struggle within myself which nearly brought about my destruction. I will never create another, once again pleasing others. Michelle Marie Hodges "The best thing for being sad is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails...you may see the world around you devastated by lunatics; or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for you then - to learn... the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or mistrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you." Your life is yours, you own it, and what you make of it is purely up to you.Others may support you in your aspirations, but, in the end it’s your creation. You have the responsibility.Once you have accepted this responsibility and stopped waiting around for others to make you happy, you will be unstoppable. There will be no denying you. Your life will change. all because of you. So turn on the green light and go.When you find happiness within yourself, you are an authentic person. You know who you are, without reference to the expectations of peers or society. To live an authentic life, you must free yourself from the superficial values. You must think for yourself, decide what is right for you and get in touch with your own thoughts, needs and desirers. Lastly, you must embrace your own values and live what you believe to be true. Then, and only then, are you authentic. Then, and only then, can you live up to your true potential. ***********************************The artical:Talk Against Hate by Gwendolyn Ann Smith History has been made. Again. The United States House of Representatives passed a hate crimes bill, by a vote of 237 yea to 180 nay. A matching bill – both are indeed transgender inclusive this time around – is headed for the United States Senate. This is the second time such a bill has come through the House, but the first time it wasn’t tacked onto another bill as a rider. Last year it was an amendment to the “Children’s Safety Act” and never made it much beyond its House passage. That time, too, the vote margin was much slimmer: 223-199. That it passed may not necessarily be new news, but the very notion that it made it through without needing some other bill’s coattails is. What this says is that we’ve finally reached a point where hate violence is unacceptable. For me, too, it is well worth noting that this is a trans-inclusive bill, including gender-specific language within the afforded protections. What does this mean, though? Does it mean I will be safe from hate violence against me, as a transgender woman? Does this mean I will no longer have to hear of another Gwen Araujo or Brandon Teena? No number of steep penalties will stop hate violence. This bill provided assistance to local law enforcement when investigating and prosecuting bias crimes and adds to the protected classes already in federal law. It does not change minds. People will still target transgender and other people for these sorts of crimes. Ask LGBT people in areas already covered by local hate crime ordinances. Ask the members of any synagogue targeted for anti-semitism. Ask any person who has been attacked by racists. I suspect you won’t have too much difficulty finding people willing to step forward. So this doesn’t solve every problem. It is, however, a step in the right direction. Sometimes legislation comes around late, when public perception has long since come around to the necessity of basic human rights. More often than not, it is legislation that drives the public debate and leads to a change in the way most people act toward this or that group of people. In my time, I have seen legislation to protect people of color, women, the disabled, and other minority groups. They don’t always change much in their enactment. Some, like the Equal Rights Amendment push of the 1970s, don’t even make it through the legislative process. Yet they change minds. They make people think and bring awareness to a problem that might otherwise be overlooked. Before the push for rights and protections for those with special needs, most were looked down on as less than human. The very concept of fighting for those rights changed – for many – that perception. Likewise in the ERA battle, which shaped a lot of how women were viewed in a post-modern world. So maybe this bill is an opportunity to open that debate further and discuss just what we face in the larger society. Explain who we are and what we want. An opportunity to tell our own stories to anyone who listens and who might be curious on the heels of this bill’s House passage. Talk against hate. Tell your own tales and enlighten others. A sizable percentage of transgender and gender-variant people have faced bias and hatred. From my own statistics from the Remembering Our Dead project, one person dies due to such hatred every two weeks. Many, many more face hate violence that does not lead to their deaths. People need to know about this, and the passage of this bill gives us an opportunity to open that dialogue. We need to let people know that this really is a problem, and we do indeed need these protections because, yes, we can and do get hurt due to hate violence. The religious right has not stopped trying to frame this bill in their own special way. They want you to believe that this bill is about punishing “thought crime,” and that this will create a class of “special rights.” Many also wish to claim that such a bill inhibits their religious freedom. It is not a religious right to commit a violent act against another person. At least it should not be, and it definitely is not in the religion that most of the people arguing this point claim to be a member of. This isn’t about punishing “thoughts,” or infringing on anyone’s rights. Bigotry is not a right. The right to exist, however, is about as basic as one can get. I should add that this bill may well die before it can make it to the President’s desk – and if it does make it, George W. Bush has already threatened to veto the bill. It’s quite likely that we’ll be back here again in 2008 and possibly beyond trying to pass such protections at a federal level. Such is the nature of politics at the federal level. Change is not always counted in days or months but years and decades. It requires time to build momentum before change occurs. Naturally, it is also why we need to tell our stories and push this along. Let our government and our fellow citizens know that it is simply not acceptable to attack someone based on their gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability. Now is the time to step up and make it clear that violent acts against us are simply unacceptable. If we do not, who will? Gwen Smith wishes to thank those who have worked to pass this bill. You can find her on the web at www.gwensmith. com. Posted May 18, 2007
MynFrapper Map
December 25th, 2006 1:18 pm MST
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