We have come to celebrate and remember ~ Trans PRIDE New England
A most fantastic day with over 500 queer, trans and other comrades marching through the streets of Northamptom. I will post pics, vids and comments in a day or so, though posting a few simple words I shared with those at the Transgender PRIDE Rally… Btw Mr. Metroline Editor and John Crowley: Miss Major a Stonewall Trans Vet opened the ceremonies (or would you like to revise her hirstory to be an assimilist gay/lesbian Stonewall Vet?)
Sylvia Rivera would be proud today and I have no doubt she is smiling upon us; as so many trannies, gender non-conforming, genderqueer and whatever other labels one decides to ascribe to themselves gather here to make a visible statement that OUR TIME has come and we control OUR DESTINY.This Trans Pride March and Rally, which is a statement of VISIBILITY and Empowerment, has special significance not solely because the Trans movement for Employment equality has been sold out by the established corporate indoctrinated gay organizations and politicians; BUT also because of the decades of Trans oppression that our sisters and brothers have experienced!
The rebellions of the sixties, like Stonewall and Compton, were lead by queens, kings and many gender expressive queers as a result of decades of brutal police brutality. However as the Gay Activist Alliance took foothold in the Gay community during the early seventies; the trannies, the dykes, the queens, people of color, street people were cast aside. At the 1973 Pride rally in NYC, Jean O’Leary denounced street Transvestites as men masquerading as women. At that PRIDE, Sylvia Rivera took the stage, almost by force, to express her outrage at the established Gay community for ignoring our trans brothers and sisters in the prisons, on the streets, and in the growing margins of society. Sadly that same evening Sylvia slit her wrists, and would have died, if her long time friend and co-founder of Street Transvestite Activist Revolutionaries (STAR) had not taken her to the Emergency Room. During the sixties and seventies, Sylvia and a small cadre of Trannies bravely fought for Gender Expression and multi-issue queer advocacy, though were marginalized by the assimilist gay community, as were the radical queers in the Gay Liberation Front. In the decades that followed, Trans folks persevered and continued our struggle for equality in spite of the Lesbian Backlash, selling out of Trans rights at the expense of Gay rights and our community being told to wait at the bus station of equality while our good gay and lesbian comrades moved forward without us!
I and many of us are here today TO REMEMBER our past and present Trans comrades who have been fighting a system of oppression that wants to keep an oppressive boot on our collective Tranny necks! We are here today to fight this system of oppression and to say We are Out, We are Proud and we will not take a seat in the back of the bus for Equality! In fact, we don’t need to ride on anyone else’s bus for we are our own power.
One case in point is that both Massachusetts and Connecticut Trans communities are leading the way to assure passage of legislation that will add Gender Identity and Expression within our States non-discrimination statutes. We CANNOT rely on any other community to advocate for us; that we hold the power to our Equality, NOT HRC, Not Gays, Not Lesbians, but us Trans and gender non-conforming folks. However if HRC or any other non-trans organization wants to be at OUR tables of Power, we welcome them as long as they understand what true collaborative work is. And that Gender Identity and Expression is not a dirty word that takes folks time to understand, but that most ALL OF SOCIETY is Transgress Gender to some extent and are by definition Transgender!
However, at the same time we must not get consumed into single issue politics, such as ENDA or Non-Discrimination for we cannot fall into the Marriage trap of single issue politics! We must remember and advocate for needs of ALL of our communities not simply the privileged few. We must be advocates and allies of our many homeless, immigrant, incarcerated, unemployed, differently abled comrades; and that though all our communities have unique differences our rebellion to an oppressive state and society is our bond.
Finally it is imperative that we remember that legislation alone does not affect fundamental Social Change! Laws, politicians and lawyers, though critically important to a movement, will not stop the oppressions that occur and that we must educate, lead by example, build strong and diverse coalitions, and become daily advocates, activists and revolutionaries in the Trans RIGHTS Movement!
EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US MUST USE OUR BODIES AS OUR VEHICLES FOR CHANGE
Peace Love and Solidarity
8 comments
What wonderful remarks! You sure make me proud to know you and work with you on liberation. Sylvia would be proud too. Your last two paragraphs are where it’s at. Please publish it in the next issue of the newsletter so all can share in it. It is an important message to get out there.
We must deal with the editor of the Metroline this week as any erasure,white washing or revising of our queer collective history can not and will not be tolerated.
(for those who haven’t seen the PRIDE issue of the Metroline (g&l magazine in Hartford) the editor when speaking about Stonewall says, “There were no drag Queens there at all.”)
If you feel a fight coming on raise your hand.
Yesterday was FANTASTIC!
I felt so empowered marching that it brought me to tears.
We were marching towards the end of the line of marchers and when we came out from under the railroad bridge, as far up Main St. that I could see was trans-people and their allies marching!
Was great to see ya Saturday. I believe the New England Transgender pride kicked off a new generation of activism and this is where we take transgender rights to the next level.
I posted my pics of the event at http://www.tglynnsplace.com/netp.htm
It was great to see you again. We always seem to have our radical moments together and I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Your speech kicked ass! (and your hair looked great).
Let’s keep the momentum going and not cave to our oppressors.
What a great day! The words of this speech bring home the absolute necessity of our self determination. We cannot allow the entrenched demagogues and power brokers to steal our identity. They can not and will not define who we are.
Brava, Jerimarie! Absolute direct hit with the speech, and I absolutely concur with every bit of it! You impressed me when you joined NTAC’s board on Activism and helped us bring CT into the big push for Day of Remembrance back in ‘01, and I was very pleased meeting you the first time at our gig at Yale.
Your words were not only eloquent, they also prove your mettle as one of the true leaders of merit and principle in the trans community (as opposed to the prevailing legends-in-their own minds). The speech was outstanding, wrapping the historical with the current and establishing us as individuals of our own right, not helpless naifs.
Thank you for all you do and for being there consistently for the community. From NTAC to CTAC, a huge salute for being (as Leslie Feinberg would phrase it) a Transgender Warrior!
Hello to Ethan, Kelli, Diana, Lynn, Vanessa. I invite all of you to post with us. Just go to the Home page and to Blogger Registration. We use a free posting system here. Who Speaks? We all Speak.
QWB is a small group here in Hartford who are multi-issue and reject the single issue stand of the mainstream LGBT movement. Check out our blog. We have lots of good postings through out it going back to 2007 when we began. We welcome all of you.
Thanks for posting and the positive comments diana, lynn, kelli, ethan and ness! It truly was a great day and many thanks to all those who put in the many longgg hours to make this day a reality. I fondly look back as well as forward to all those treasured moments I am side by side with my fellow radical in the movement, ethan! Btw, I looked horrid but I’ll take the kind words. Also thank you Ness for your kind words and especially your unwavering commitment to the movement, as well as those NTAC days where I learned much from yourself and others! I am pleased you noted the connection with NTAC and CTAC. I am a strong believer that for us to organize, mobilize and effect fundamental social change, that we must be concerted in our organizational approach (locally and globally) and yourself and NTAC has served as a long time and pivotal organization to empower! We are many in the movement and we are tireless; as many of you have proven that our voices, our bodies and our souls cannot and will not be bartered away for some mythical assimilation. And that our sisters and brothers who travelled before us and paved our way will NEVER be forgotten!
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