Now when you're a gay federal employee in the reign of the religious "right", who understands the meaning of the legal term "federal preemption", you know better than to advertise your gayness lest you become suddenly unemployed or worse in said religious right's possible coming witch hunt(s). When I first respectfully took a seat in the back of the sanctuary I noted 2 people with video cameras and one with a still camera. About that time the speaker suggested that anyone with concerns about being photographed contact the photographers. But with the event already underway it was impossible to contact these three photographers without creating a disruption, so I remained silent. Then I noted that the video cameras looked a little better than consumer grade and the stenciled "MTN" (Minneapolis Television Network) on the video camera's cases. None the less I stayed nervously, hoping the camera operators would continue the time honored custom in the gay community of not pointing cameras at the back of the room where folks with jobs to protect and maybe kids to feed too sought privacy. Sure enough, within a minute someone pointed a camera my way and I was forced to leave.
Now granted, the crowd was what I expected, and of the transgender women present none left any doubt as to what sex was recorded on their birth certificate. Thus they were pretty much out whether they liked or not... suffice to say if they show up in MTN and who knows where else on the TV universe no one will be surprised. They were pretty much running the show and a couple I recognized are sadly long term under employed or unemployed. As such, the possibility of someone losing a job, their health care, and pension because they outed them may have not occurred to them. Then again, I hear frequent talk of "outing" gays from this segment of the gay community, so perhaps the camera person's panning of the folks in the back of the room was intentional... perhaps some of the poorest folks in the gay community want to get even by dragging the gay middle class down to their economic level?
In conclusion, after many years when gays could afford to be out we are entering an era when the threat of firings and worse persecutions is very real. The same is true for our immigrant citizens, especially the undocumented. An innocent mention on someone's website or a poorly chosen camera shot could cause an innocent person to lose their job, be deported, or jailed for years without charges. And while the transgendered community may be willing to blindly walk into the 21st century version of the concentration camps, I'd appreciate it if they didn't try to take me and other innocent allies with them.
hanging on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
On Friday, November 19, 2004, at 01:40 AM, David Strand wrote:
In light of the numerous reported violent attacks on transgender people in Minneapolis this summer and fall, here is an opportunity to show the community is opposed to such acts of bias motivated violence.
David Strand Loring Park -------------------------------------------------- This Saturday, November 20 is the 6th Annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, a national day set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice: www.gender.org/remember/day
A community-wide memorial service will be held at 7 p.m. at Spirit of the Lakes United Church of Christ (13th and Lake Streets, 2930 - 13th Ave S), Minneapolis.
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