My two cents...

[manniefaces.livejournal.com]

I for one have no and put no faith in elected officials when it comes to doing the right thing or protecting the rights of all their citizens. I do not give money to political candidates or lobby groups. Why would I expect them to look out for my best interests. As long as we are considered more a novelty and one that is looked down upon even by certain circles of the gay and lesbian community why would I expect my needs and concerns to be addressed. We are years and I do mean years away from reaching a point were we will ever truly feel secure in being ourselves and being able to fairly make a living and live our lives. We have to hope that we work for progressive businesses. We have to hope we live in more progressive communities. I am not angry. What purpose would it serve. The issues and needs of the transgendered community will remain not even a minor blip on the radar of issues in this country and it will not change anytime soon. Keep in mind that a fair amount of us would prefer nothing more than to blend into society and live our lives as our chosen genders. We are pretenders in the eyes of many. They do not understand us and with the overly religious nature of this countries citizens in certain key voting areas we are screwed. So what do we do? How do we fight back? I wish I had a concrete answer. If you feel that you can handle being vocal and out in the front lines then by all means do it. That however is not going to be the case with all. In the end we fight the fight we best feel we can I guess. We have to be more organized and frankly at some point break away from the GLBT bull. In to many cases we are simply an after thought. Unless we can gain a larger voice in the GLBT circles what is the point. I am not tying to be  negative. I just have my concerns and worries. With the passage of time anything is possible and hopefully progress of a positive type can be achieved for us all. Just never forget that politicians are just that and in most cases that first and foremost. Money talks and we do not have the fundraising abilities of the larger lobby groups even those focused exclusively on gay and lesbian issues. When you get included in legislation it is because you are a political force in terms of money or in terms of voting power. That is the only way we will ever change things in Washington.