Being yourself is still as complicated as ever.
The world got a little more colorful this June as L.G.B.T.Q. people and allies celebrated Pride Month, which comes to a close next week as we reach the 52nd anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. While rainbow merchandise has been ubiquitous, it's worth remembering that visibility for the L.G.B.T.Q. community does not translate into acceptance. False assumptions abound and, as many Times readers will attest, coming out and living as the person you want to be is still as fraught and as complicated as ever. |
The essays Times Opinion published last week are testament to this. When Thomas McBee received his first testosterone shot a decade ago, for instance, he quickly realized that part of the process of transitioning would also require convincing people he "was not 'a man trapped in a woman's body or any cliché like that,'" but a man who was born trans and who just wanted "to feel more like me." |
Today, we're still navigating how we talk about gender and its evolution, and trying to elucidate the nuances and educate others. For Marlo Mack, a parent of a trans child, that means working to debunk the notion that "transgender children are a liberal American fad." After all, she says, "my child was not channeling postmodern ideology almost a decade ago when she told me, at age 3, that she was not the boy we all believed her to be." Nor were the transgender children of the countless other parents who have written to her from across the world, fearing for their children's future in a world that too often rejects them. |
By reading and learning about other people's experiences, society may eventually come to realize that not everyone fits the "simple, translatable packages," as Thomas puts it, that have been carved out for us. It's hard to fathom that in 2021, with at least a little bit of progress behind us, so many people are still fighting for the right to be accepted and protected just for being themselves. |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment