Uplifting Transgender Stories - Things truly are getting better!
It's easy to miss amid all the negative or even horrific transgender news that there is a lot of support out there for our community. With this in mind I wanted to feature some of the uplifting stories that truly highlight the growing support for the transgender people by friends, families and allies. All too often the large and still growing group of supporters are forgotten. I can speak from personal experience that without finding positive and/or success stories about those who came before me, and the support they received, I would not be where I am today.
In the last handful of years transgender awareness has gotten a huge boost from seeing celebrities like Laverne Cox, the Wachowski Sisters and others. I don't want to take anything away from these brave pioneers, but I do want to share some lesser known and perhaps closer to home stories with you.
Landon Patterson - Kansas City, Missouri
Missouri Teen Named First-Ever Transgender Homecoming Queen at Her High School: 'I Feel Like That Princess'
Being born and still living in Missouri myself, this first story is that much more powerful. Missouri currently is among those states that don't have transgender protection laws on the books, yet we still are able to see a teenage transgirl be voted in as Homecoming Queen at her Kansas City High School almost two years ago to the day. I still tear up when I see this video of her being named Homecoming Queen at Oak Park High School.
Blue Nebeker - Santa Barbara, California
Just earlier this year, students at a Santa Barbara High School voted Blue Nebeker to be the 2016 prom queen along side her bisexual friend Sabrina Dabby as prom king. Quoting from the NPR interview:
Her mother Joanna Nebeker said she never thought she would say the words that she is the mom of the prom queen.
-Story Source
Drew and Danny Cortez - Cypress, California
Now I know that this isn't specifically transgender related, but I still wanted to include this. Support from friends, families and allies deserves praise for both what they themselves have had to over come and what they do for the LGBT community.
This quote from the NPR Story shows the huge heart and courage that allies bring to the table:
The Rev. Danny Cortez is a pastor. He also has a son who recently came out as gay. And when his teenage son came out to him in 2014, he did something more than express his support: He decided to talk to his Southern Baptist congregation about it — even though doing so likely meant getting kicked out of the church.
"That morning I came to church, my blood pressure was super high. I felt so much stress, and everyone was wondering what's going on," Cortez recalls, on a recent visit with StoryCorps. "But I remember as I was speaking, I felt empowered like I hadn't felt in such a long time. I knew that what I was sharing that Sunday was important."
-Source NPR Article
Kristin Beck - Maryland: 20 year Navy Seal and Congressional Candidate
Kristin Beck is a flat out inspiration for many in the transgender community. First being a highly decorated Navy Seal for 20 years to now having run for a Maryland Congressional seat. Up until just a few months ago, the US military still had a ban on transgender people being allowed to serve, in any capacity. Prior to this, those who came out (or were outed) were discharged, usually quietly. First Ms. Beck was an inspiration to many as a soldier and now is also an inspiration as a transgender advocate and pioneer.
Just in the last handful of years we have begun to see a shift of transgender people being portrayed as shock or comedic value into fellow human beings with feelings, hopes and dreams. We would not be anywhere near where we have gotten to without the loving support from those within the LGBT community and our friends, families and allies.
I sincerely thank every single one of you!
Keep Smiling and Steem On!
Other Uplifting News Stories:
- First Transgender Prom Queen Opens Up About Transitioning Before It Was Trendy
- Here Are 8 Of The Most Inspiring LGBT Instagram Stories Of 2015
- We Happy Trans
- Transnews: Good News. Every day.
Image Sources:
Kansas City Homecoming Queen
Santa Barbary Prom Queen
Drew and Danny Cortez
Kristin Beck
@stepcoin Why do you feel this deserves to be flagged? I don't understand how anything here falls under abuse.
I've flagged that fellow's post and explained why. If he responds I will remove it. It's not the kind of thing I would normally do but I just find it taking the piss that he would do this without explanation and then put out a post asking how to make money. It smacks of bigotry to me.
That was the only way I could take it. I haven't flagged his stuff so far, but they might change my mind. I did comment on their 'help me make money' post that random/unexplained flagging doesn't help. Lol
I appreciate the assistance regardless! :)
I've followed this path as well and flagged his post.
It happens so much recently . People just flag for now reason.Sorry to hear it once again.
I unfortunately have to agree. Sigh
Luckily it doesn't really bother me much anymore. I started to just put the reply out there to either easily find and fix an actual issue or let the flagger show their true colors.
Keep Smilin and Steem On! :D
Exactly ! Keep on smiling at those trolls
You should check out my very talented friend and photographer Anja Matthes http://www.anjamatthes.com/kiki-ball-culture-in-progress
You gonna love this !
Wow! Those photos are AMAZING!!! TY!!
The little newsprint clippings at the end of these photos made me start tearing up.
I've got it bookmarked in my browser to I can get through them all.
I am happy you like them . Anja is amazing indeed and is doing a lot for this community. Nice to meet you I follow you for more to read.
West Indian Carnival in Brooklyn
http://visura.co/user/anjamatthes/news/2843#.V9B1sfYSwj4.facebook
This is going to be a really fun rabbit hole to go down! :D
I can only imagine the full impact she has on people. I'm def gonna go through this link too! TYVM!
Nice to meet you too! I've got you followed now :)
enjoy and for sure keep smiling
Great and informative post as always!
I found the stories really interesting. Hope to read some others in the future!
Thank you!
Oh I'm sure you'll see more of me articles. I've got plenty in the pipeline! :D
Grats again on the Robinhood Whale vote! :D
Great post yet again!! Nice to hear some of the good news stories.
Thank you!
I felt this was due, after putting out a few posts on the problems and issues the LGBT community faces. This one brought the good kind of tears to my eye. :)
Is the article you wrote for the financial news out there? I'd love to read it :)
Sure...here it is. It was written from an investor point of you. It's gets interesting in the comments section and i had many not-so-nice messages in my inbox. Once you read the article, its amazing that it caused that much grief. http://seekingalpha.com/article/4001102-yes-another-target-bathroom-article
Thank you! That was a great read, even with it being from an investors point of view. It was pretty entertaining how so few of the comments had anything to do with investment/financials. It was great to see those firing back with rational thought in there.
Thanks again for writing that!
I thought you might get a kick out of this video of a preacher in my town from a few years back at the beginning of creating and passing LGBT protections, later being repealed by support from groups similar to the American Family Association. Give this video a while before clicking off it...it has a fantastic twist near the end.
I liked your post too. It's very well-written and the stories are great.
Thank you! It felt really good to put this one out there. :)
Good JOB !
Thank you!!!
Did you find a headset? I didn't forget about that :D
Loving the post! How do you feel about Chelsea Manning though?
Thank you! I wanted to balance things out the good/bad with this one a little bit. Hearing of success and acceptance stories was immensely helpful to me early on and hopefully for others as well.
With Chelsea Manning, I need to separate out the transgender/transition and the wikileaks/espionage topics from each other. (the espionage is probably better in a separate post)
I've followed transgender affairs in both the military and in prison for a while now, and outside of this being tied to high profile charges, it's really not that different. Up until very recently, transgender people in the military were with forced to keep that they feel/are transgender a secret for fear of being discharged. Often these discharged transgender soldiers lost their benefits from this and/or had a very hard time going through the Dept of Veterans Affairs. I've personally known transgender veterans, who have after 5+ years and all identification paperwork (drivers licence, birth certificate, social security card, etc..) and they STILL can't even be addressed by the correct name. Imagine if I were to incessantly and publicly called you Mandy, instead of William, while you waited in line or rooms.
You can somewhat view this as an extension of the old "don't ask, don't tell" policy from the 90's. This past June, the Pentagon issues the statement/story that it would finally be ending the ban on Transgender people from serving our country.
Prison has also been a very difficult area for transgender people, commonly because for example a transwoman is put into a male prison (either because birth certificate hadn't/couldn't be changed or other identification) where they are treated horrifically by the general prison population there. In many of these cases the 'fix' is to put the transperson into solitary confinement or some other method of separating them 'for their own safety.' While I am all for safety, these issues, in my opinion, are better served by assigning transpeople to the 'correct' prison in the first place.
Now specifically on Ms. Manning...
I am supportive of her transitioning which sounded like something she'd pretty much planned to do even prior to the 'scandal.' I don't have a comment on this as far as her military benefits covering this since the espionage issue greatly convolutes the benefits issue in this case. (The military in general does cover plastic surgery, but not "vanity" procedures like breast enhancements or nose jobs. As of now I've not seen statements from the Pentagon refining this policy with regard to transgender people.)
While I admit the differences between civilian and military prison, I do feel that Ms. Manning should be treated as female and held in a women's facility. From what I have found this is not the case, with her being held in a mens military prison/brig.
I'll leave the wikileaks/espionage issue for another post :)