Vanguard Revisited - GLBT Historical Society

dis/RESPECT
DAY AFTER DAY I FACE DISRESPECT FROM MY TRANS COMMUNITY,
EVEN THOUGH ALL TRANIMALS FACE DISCRIMINATION FROM THE
HETEROSEXIST SOCIETY AT LARGE. MY TRANS SIBLINGS WHY DO WE
READ EACH OTHER AND TEAR EACH OTHER APART WHEN ALL WE
HAVE IS EACH OTHER? WE LAUGH AT THE TGIRL WITH THE TIRED
WIG INSTEAD OF TEACHING HER HOW TO TAKE CARE OF IT. WE HA-
RASS THE BOI FOR NOT BEING ON T, INSTEAD OF LETTING HIM KNOW
WHERE HE CAN GET IT FOR FREE. WE MISPROUNOUN THOSE WHO ARE
GENDER QUEER INSTEAD OF HAVING A DIALOGUE ABOUT HOW THEY
IDENTIFY.
IF WE WANT THE GAY MAINSTREAM AND THE HETERO SOCIETY AT
LARGE TO RESPECT US, WE HAVE TO RESPECT OURSELVES IN ALL OF
OUR GENDER DIVERSITY!!!!
THERE ARE MANY TRANS ORGANIZATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. MOST
OF THEM HAVE RIGID US AND THEM MENTALITIES, YOU ARE EITHER
MALE OR FEMALE, RICH OR POOR, AND PRE-OP OR POST OP.
TRANS PEOPLE ARE A TESTAMENT TO DIVERSITY IN THE HUMAN EXPE-
RIENCE AND HOW BLACK OR WHITE, THIS OR THAT MENTALITIES ARE
UNNATURAL AND “MAN MADE”. WE ALL WANT OUR RIGHTS, BUT FIRST
WE HAVE TO START WITH R-E-S-P-E-C-T. RESPCET YOURSELF,YOUR
TRANS SIBLINGS, YOUR QUEER SIBLINGS. . . RESPECT ALL THINGS AND
EVENTUALLY IT WILL COME BACK TO YOU. IT’S THIS THING CALLED
KARMA, YOU SHOULD GOOGLE IT.
RESPECTFULLY,
MIA TU MUTCH 2011
“There were cracks in society, just places where nobody were not literally looking or figuratively
looking, so we got away with stuff. …It wasn’t on anybody’s radar even though it’s
right there in front of their face. And our survival was based on that.”
-Vanguard member Joel Roberts (oral history with Joey Plaster, 2010)
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